About a week ago, I made my first attempt.

Look at how it rises!

It slowly deflates

add powder sugar

and serve with lemon wedges and syrup!

It was pretty easy to convince Mike to let me buy it.  He would be the primary benefactor.  I’ll try any recipe that’s easy and that’ll taste great!

my first experiment…the buttermilk baked chicken.

It was easy to follow but I didn’t think the recipe was great. Baked chicken is  definitely no match to fried chicken. The wings were good though.  If I make it again, I’m just making wings.

]]> http://anitaandmike.com/2012/04/07/project-buttermilk-baked-chicken-22/feed/ 0 anitaandmike Image Image http://anitaandmike.com/2012/03/31/eggs-benedict/ http://anitaandmike.com/2012/03/31/eggs-benedict/#comments Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:46:21 +0000 the Lue-Yats http://anitaandmike.com/?p=715 ]]> I love love love eggs benedict! love it!

It’s my favorite brunch item.

Last Saturday, Pioneer Woman’s Rise and Shine episode featured eggs benedict. Needless to say, I had to try it.

here’s my first attempt:

not bad, right? I can’t wait to play around with the recipe.

NoHo star serves an Eggs’ n Apples Benedict with Maple Syrup on French Toast that’s delicious.

I can’t wait to re-create this!

inspired by the pb&j graham cracker sandwich

It’s important to know two things:

First, I love Ree Drummond.  I made my first batch of oatmeal bars shortly after watching Ree Drummond make her strawberry oatmeal bars on Pioneer Woman.  We had plenty of jam left over from Christmas gift baskets and plenty of oatmeal (Mike likes to make oatmeal).  It just made sense.

We didn’t have strawberry jam but any kind of jam will work. I used blackberry jam. The result was delicious!

Second, I love peanut butter.  You can give me a spoon and a jar of peanut butter anytime. I often pack myself two pb&j sandwiches.  One to eat during the car ride to work and another to eat for lunch.

and so… I did the math

if pb&j sandwich = delicious and if oatmeal bars = delicious then pb&j + oatmeal bars = 2 x delicious.

it has to work

pressed oatmeal mixture

spread peanut butter (chunky… my fav) and mixed berry jam

I started spreading the peanut butter with a knife but found it much easier to just use my fingers.

sprinkled & patted the other half of oatmeal mixture30 minutes later…. it was delicious

]]> http://anitaandmike.com/2012/03/29/pbj-oatmeal-bars/feed/ 0 anitaandmike DSC_0045 DSC_0048 DSC_0045 DSC_0050 http://anitaandmike.com/2012/03/27/pbj-graham-cracker-sandwich-2/ http://anitaandmike.com/2012/03/27/pbj-graham-cracker-sandwich-2/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:11:26 +0000 the Lue-Yats http://anitaandmike.com/?p=606 ]]> A couple of months ago ms nieves, our guidance counselor left this on my desk

what is this and why did it take so long to find its way to me?

Take a look at this note

“When you grow up you will have a nice man”

Staying late on Wednesday was completely worth it.  I love reading fun notes.

We wrapped up the end of last year by celebrating our first Christmas together as husband and wife. I’m still waiting for my Christmas present.  You might remember the wall-mounted hooks that desperately needed replacing.  Mike has promised to re-create my “perfect solution”.  I already brought the knobs.  I’m just waiting for the assembly.

As Mike is figuring out the assembly,  I’m learning to be more resourceful since we’re trying to “save”.  It’s a work in progress especially since I get easily distracted by pretty things.  Mike might even refer to them as pretty pricey things but learning will take time.  I am extremely patient.

Pinterest has been an amazing help! It has taught me to be resourceful while maintaining the pretty.  I baked three different types of cookies for Christmas (all recipes were found on pinterest) and packaged everything with candy bags (extras from the wedding) and poms (directions were found on pinterest)

we’re a work in progress!

my newest purchase…. Williams-Sonoma’s Brownie Bite Pan

20 minutes in the oven and ta da…. they’re ready to eat

they’re especially delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

the husband loves it =)

the pros… every bite is perfectly proportioned and every piece has four corners. I can’t wait to make more bite size bake goods.  perhaps i can try bite size cupcakes.

the con… it’s incredibly hard to take out the brownie. where can I find a small offset spatula?

our apartment is still cluttered by boxes. as soon as we empty one box, ten more seem to appear. the good news …. i’m almost completely moved out of my old home and moved into my new home.

mike’s favorite addition: the television

can you tell?  he loves it! it’s baseball all the time.  who knew there would be so many baseball channels

my favorite addition: the dining table

i love it! i really wanted this dining set and now it’s finally ours! i assembled the table (almost by myself). mike had to help me with the lifting and with the tightening of the screws but other than that …. i did it all by myself!  i’m just happy to have a table that actually fits in our dining room.  i kept walking into our temporary dining set.  i think it destroyed all my toes.

on a side note, if you haven’t already heard, our Aunt Mimi makes the best pickles! They’re the kind of pickles that you’ll fight for.  They’re seriously delicious!

needless to say, i quickly incorporated it into our dinner.

and the husband loves it!   so delicious! Thanks Auntie Mimi!