I *heart* (fill in the blank)

Justin and I have had something of an a-typical relationship. We met as missionaries. Yes, we made out during district meetings and yes we got engaged before we got home. Okay, that last sentance was a lie, BUT we did meet as missionaries in what was the best mission in the world- the Belgium Brussels/Netherlands mission. The French side where we served has since been absorbed into the Paris, France mission and the Flemish part of Belgium and the Netherlands are their own mission. It works. We were essentially two missions under one mission president. But it makes me sad that the mission office and mission home in Brussels have been sold. Ugh.... Pain in the heart.... Anyway! We've also been able to travel to a few different places so after seeing this pin,

I decided to make something to reflect it. I know it will be added to, but I like it right now.

I cut out the map, glued it to cardstock I had on hand to make it stiffer, and the cut that out as well.

I added a grid so that my OCD tendencies wouldn't tingle too much when I saw it and things weren't perfectly centered. In each cross section, I put a black dot using a permanent marker so it would seep through to the other side.

Glue to the hearts onto the dots and frame.

What I did was get a cheap US Atlas from the thrift store ($2.50) and a cheap map of Belgium online ($3). I had this frame already lying around the house but I think I got it for $1 from another thrift store. I had a large heart hole punch and used it to cut out the specific areas we loved (our honeymoon in Cancun being conspicuously omitted becase it was a hellish nightmare for both of us, even if it was beautiful scenery.)

If you enjoy travel and maps, I recommend it. I love this little makeshift piece.

Tie Display

This was actually one of Justin's Christmas gifts. To say the man has a lot of ties is, to put it politely, a gross understatement. I honestly think he has around 100. I wish I had kept the pin, but I deleted it in The Great Purge and have now decided to write about it. But here is the link to the inspiration.

When I saw it, I knew it was a great idea and way to get rid of Justin's ugly ties that he never wears. While he was out one week for a conference I decided to clean out our closet. And yes I specifically targeted his side. I mean, there were items I had never seen him wear in the 4 years since we'd been home from our missions!

I went through the pile of ties, keeping the ones that I liked and that I could remember seeing him wear. The ones I decided not to keep were arranged to fit in the shadow boxes I had found on sale at Michael's for $5/each. I had three graphic ones in one and the rest were rolled up and hot glued to a poster board, to match the other shadow box. How did they all fit, you may ask? Well, this is the secret I've kept to myself until now. I cut them. I cut them to be about 8" and then rolled them up. It made them thinner so that I could close the shadow box. Here is the end result:

Do I think it's a good idea? HECK YES?! Although Justin's sad that he can't wear those ties, he likes seeing them. This way, everyone wins. And considering it only cost me $10, I think it's a great gift. 

Baked Ranch Chicken

Although I haven't posted anything recently, I've been working a lot on pins I have; whittling my amount down to a more realistic size. Okay, it's hardly realistic. But I feel better having less pins. It doesn't make me look like quite the pin-obsessed person I've been this past year. That being said, I now how pictures to go with several pins I've done, so here it goes with pins #1, Baked Ranch Chicken.

I told Justin to take out some chicken to thaw since it was my night to cook dinner. Because our microwave is currently dead with no hopes of resuccitation or a resurrection, and we didn't have fresh parmesan cheese, we had to improvise. Here's the recipe and pin:

Looks are incredibly deceiving

6-8 Chicken breasts
1 cup Corn Flakes
1 cup Shredded Parmesan
1 cube butter (melted)
1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together Corn Flakes, Parmesan and Ranch packet. Cut the chicken in half, dip the chicken in the melted butter then in the corn flake mixture and place into baking dish. Pour the remaining butter on top and bake for 45-50 minutes uncovered. Enjoy!!!

So here's what we did and how it turned out

3 large chicken breasts. Ours didn't thaw in time and since we didn't have a functioning microwave I simply ran them under lukewarm water and cut them into smaller pieces.
1 c Corn Flakes. I used two and I'm glad I did because there wasn't enough coating mix for the chicken we had.
1 c shredded Parmesan. We used the stuff from the green can. We wanted to go classy.
1 cube butter (melted). How much is one cube of butter?! We melted a stick in the oven and towards the end (because that wasn't enough) we added some olive oil.
1 packet of ranch dressing mix. We don't use the packet but we have it in a Sam's issued box. I used the equivalent amount.

Here is what it turned out like:

There's the reality

It was incredibly salty and greasy. I would have used less butter or omitted it completely and just not dried off the chicken breasts before I dredged them in the coating mixture. Because we cut the pieces smaller it only took 30 minutes to bake, but... Yeah... I'm not sure I want to make this again. If I do, I'd definitely switch a few things.

My recommendation? Skip it. Or if you want crispy baked chicken, use the corn flakes and dredge your chicken in a milk/egg mixture.

Cinnamon Breakfast Bites

I agreed to bring treats to celebrate a co-worker's birthday. Normally I wouldn't think twice and bring the standard sopapilla cheesecake, but since I'm on the Wellness Committee and we had a health screening coming up, I couldn't justify the copious amounts of butter and sugar. (Well there's that and the fact that I didn't have crescent rolls in the fridge...but we're going with the "I actually wanted to be healthy" for the purposes of this post.)

So, I went searching on Pinterest for a pin that I could modify to include beans instead of butter/shortening. I remembered this gem:

http://pinterest.com/pin/203365739393831118/

...and got going. The recipe is below for your betterment. Yeah, I was thinking of you when I did this. :)

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat and bean flour)
1 cup crisp rice cereal, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Butter Buds (this is the “secret” ingredient that makes them so delicious)
1/4 cup mashed great northern beans

I used a food processor to get them completely smooth.

1/2 cup skim milk
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 tablespoons of butter, melted

Directions

1. Mix flour, crushed cereal, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, salt and Butter Buds in large bowl.

2. Cut in beans with pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add milk and stir just until moistened. (More mixing making them gummy and dense. Less mixing is light and fluffy!)

4. Roll dough into approximately 2-1/2 dozen 1 inch balls.

5. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar in a small bowl. Drop balls into melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

6. Place balls into a greased or nonstick mini muffin pan.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in pan on wire rack before removing.

Makes approx. 2-1/2 dozen bites and gives you protein and whole grains in a tasty breakfast snack!