Roommates & Recipes

Today, I am grateful for my sweet roommates.  I don't think any of them read this, but I feel as though I should express my gratitude for them.  :)

Shenay

In da middle.  :)

is an example of patience, positivity, love and humility.  She has some pretty rough challenges in her life, and they all seem to be happening around the same time, yet she faces them without fear and continues trucking on in the worst of situations.  She's always so willing to listen to my silly rants about music, love, health and whatever else I endlessly talk about.  She is so reliant on the Savior and knows that He has her best interest.  Such flawless faith...  I wish I were more like her!

 Lauren

On da left.  :)

is always a fun girl to talk with.  :)  She and I share some of the same passions in politics and certain opinions about life, love, movies, books, etc. and I have loved getting to know her little-by-little whilst living here and I look forward to getting to know her much more.  She was the first of my roommates that I met, and we stayed up for a long time my first night of being here just chatting.  She is so committed to her schooling and knows a lot of cool, useful information.  She is also very giving.  Of her time, her knowledge, her possessions and more.  I wish I were more like her!

Tyla

That's her.  :)

is like the glue around here.  She's the one who is always pulling us together to watch movies, suggesting fun things to do, inviting us to go places and most of all, encouraging positivity around the apartment.  She came to me today wanting me to understand that if I needed to talk about anything, especially regarding confusion in my love-life, she is here for me, offering support in very confusing times.  I wish I were more like her!

 I am so very lucky to be living with these sweet ladies.  Already in our short time I have come to appreciate them, and I can't wait to get to know and love them even more over the next while.

The Ladies of D102.  :)

 

Now, about this recipe...  This is a dish that I've seen often and enjoyed over the years, but have never really had the desire to make until now.  Tyla loves the stuff and seeing her make it a couple times made me want to.  I did the other day and MAN it is SO good.  I am NOT a casserole person.  AT ALL.  But I ate half of the dish at one sitting.  If you haven't tried it (or if you HAVE) I definitely recommend it.  It is extremely simple and very yummy.  :) 

Ritz and Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

**Disclaimer**: I make this for one (myself) and it fits perfectly in a 15cm by 23cm Pyrex dish lasting me a few meals.  I THINK if you double it, it will fit perfectly in the standard 9" by 13" casserole dish which is better for families/larger groups.  

•  2-4 Chicken breasts, cooked (boiled is easiest) and shredded or cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup 
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 2 tsp. Poppy Seeds (Leave out if you don't have floss...  Just adds texture)
• 1 roll "Ritz" crackers (I use the Walmart Great Value brand called "Buttery Rounds") crushed into crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter (unsalted if at all possible, soup & crackers=HIGH sodium!)

1.  Mix the Cream of Chicken soup and Sour Cream in a mixing bowl then add shredded or cut chicken and Poppy Seeds. 
2. In a large pan melt butter and add cracker crumbs, stir constantly making sure butter is incorporated throughout and toast until nicely golden.
3. Pour (or plop... :P) chicken mixture into baking dish (see disclaimer above for sizing) and cover evenly with toasted crumbs.
4. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes.  

YUM AND A HALF!  :) 

 Next week I'm going to post my recipe for Rolls or Bread...  Which one??  I home-make my bread, because that NASTY store-bought stuff is, well... Nasty.  :)  In many ways.  My dinner rolls are equally amazing.  My roommates enjoy both.  Comment and let me know what you'd like to read about!  If you have recipes or stories about ANYTHING (I especially love stories about love, adoption, charity, The Gospel, happy religion, missionaries, food, MUSIC, etc.) please just contact me.  I'd love to read and help in any way that I can.  Remember to follow.  :)

 I'll be seeing you.  :)

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

This has been an interesting week, with most of the events happening over this weekend.  On Tuesday there was a cool Relief Society activity on FOOD STORAGE!  I am obsessed with this whole "be prepared" deal and I am not prepared...  It's kind of scary, but that's what this thing was for.  It was also a potluck (always count on LDS Women to have food.  Always!)  I made this really yummy pumpkin dessert that my mom always makes in the Fall.  They're called Pumpkin Bars.  They're super easy and can be easily adapted to a food storage recipe.  Here it is.  :)

Pumpkin Bars/1989 Festival of Trees cookbook
29 oz can pumpkin (JUST pumpkin, not spiced)
3 T pumpkin pie spice mix
3 eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 C butter
1 C evaporated milk
1 yellow cake mix
walnuts or pecans (optional)

Mix all ingredients (except cake mix, butter and nuts) in a bowl well.  Pour into 9x13 pan.

Topping:
Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture in pan.  Pour the 1 C melted butter over cake mix. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top of cake mix and butter if desired.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350

Soooo yummy.  :)  It smells like Heaven when it's cooking and it's served best straight out of the oven!  Make them, eat them, love them.  :)  Thanks for the recipe, mommy!  I sure love you.  :)


Wednesday was pretty good, Shenay and I sat around doing NOTHING all day aka. Shenay was on Pinterest and I was surfing random things on the net and we talked and laughed and BONDED.  ;)  She then proceeded to convince me to attend "Citrus & Sage".  Going was a LOT of fun.  I love music.  Almost more than anything else in the entire world!  Literally...  Hanging out with the chicks and Brayden was fun.  Listened to fabulous music, saw friends, went home and made crepes and watched "Pride & Prejudice" which is SERIOUSLY a miracle, because Shenay despises movies with the following attributes: "same-color lighting", accents, "different English".  All of these define a movie as "mel-AHN-kohly" (Megamind's version of melancholy) in her words.  And even better, she LIKED it!  What a fun night...  


Friday was pretty cool.  Hung out with a friend from Weber and went to a Stake Dance down there.  I dressed up as an 80's chick.  My hair was defined as being "as big as Africa" that night, and boy...  It was huge.  I'm sure I took a few adults back to the good ol' days.  

"Hey momma, welcome to the 80's!"

 

I wish you could see the whole outfit...  The heels made the deal.  ;)

 We ended up not getting back to Logan until after one, I got inside at about two...  OI!  Haven't stayed up that late in a llooooong time! 

SO ready to go to bed!!

 Saturday morning, I woke up crazy groggy but very excited because I had another motorcycle ride planned with Sean.  We met up in the morning all bundled up ready to hit the road...  or dirt.  :)  We went up Green Canyon again wanting to ride up the trail we hiked to get up to the lake, but we chickened out when it got too hard.  We ended up riding up to Mount Logan.  It was FREEZING!  On the way down, we almost crashed, it was SO funny!  I fell off the bike because I was laughing so hard.  I don't know why it was so funny, but it was...  Oh my.  :)  Getting back to the car was AWESOME because it was warm!  We sat in my car for a while to defrost.  It was nice.  :)  Then we left to get ready for Stake Conference!!  I was a few minutes late, but DANG!  President Woodland is called of God.  No doubt about it, man...  I could listen to that man speak for hours on end.  I love Church meetings!  I always walk out feeling like I could change the world.  After Stake Conference, I got ready for a Murder Mystery at a friend from the ward's home.  :)  It was a blast!  I should have taken a picture of my costume, because I was an old lady, and boy did I look it!!  Kinda elegant-ish.  :)  I liked it.  Ha ha.  It was an interesting evening...  I invited Sean to come and mostly everyone else there was in the ward, so it was easy to get to know and have fun with everyone.  It got a little awkward sometimes because the script was kinda weird.  :P  BUT it was great, nonetheless.  I was honored to end up being the MURDERER!!  And I was the only one who guessed myself.  :)  (no one knew who the murderer was until the very last minute of the night, not even the murderer)


SUNDAY...  Boy, today has been so wonderful.  And horrible.  :P  Ha ha.  I woke up with a slight headache, and knew it was because I've been dehydrated the past couple of days.  I drank some water, and figured it might go away.  Stake Conference today was incredible!  I love President Monson so much!  He is such a wonderful man!  I learned so much today from the testimonies of Sister Wixom, Elder Anderson and President Monson.  :)  My testimony has expanded a lot recently.  I love the Gospel!  I then attended Ward Choir, where my headache became more... intense.  After choir, I came back to the apartment to clean up before Shenay got back, but I could barely focus.  I ended up falling asleep for almost an hour and a half.  Naps rarely happen for me, and when I woke up I couldn't see straight.  After a while of nothing working, I ended up asking Tyla if any guy friends were coming over, because I desperately wanted a blessing.  She replied with no, and offered an Advil.  I, astonishingly, took it.  But not before I got sick.  Ugh.  Throwing up is the most horrific feeling in the entire world.  I would not wish it on my worst enemy.  BUT I was finally able to fall asleep again afterwards for about an hour, after which I woke up WITHOUT A HEADACHE!! :)  Yahoo!  Now I'm sitting here watching a movie with Shenay, blogging and eating pumpkin bars.  :)


Life is so good.  It's happy and difficult, challenging and rewarding.  I love living in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 


If you need anything, my sweet and few readers, I am always here...

I'll be seeing you.  :)