Day 274: Blueberry Panny Cakes

I love breakfast for dinner. Tonight we had pancakes, with a twist. . . 

At first this might look like a normal pancake. 

Look again. 

Under that blueberry goodness is a slice of white cheddar cheese. 

Weird? Yes! Tasty? Yes!  Crazy? Yes! 

It all started with Boyd making blueberry syrup. He wanted to empty our freezer and decided to use up the rest of the blueberries. He was really hungry and I wasn't making pancakes fast enough so he made himself a white cheddar cheese quesadilla. (side note, I love white cheddar. I think it is so yummy) As he was making/eating his quesadilla he decided to dip it in the blueberry syrup he was making. What a discovery! It sounded like a crazy idea, but is honestly one of the best things I have ever eaten! We decided to take it one step further and put the cheddar on our pancakes with the blueberries. Think what you may, but I think this may be a new Bills family tradition.

Day 273: World's Best Dinner Rolls

Hi, my name is Allison and I am a carbaholic. 

Seriously, I am totally addicted to bread. I love it. 

I am also totally currently addicted to Our Best Bites

Thanks for sharing your World's Best Dinner Rolls recipe

Boyd took this amazing picture. 

Day 272: Hands

I love this picture.

It turned out like I wanted it to.

Mostly, I love it because Claire has so much

thick, luscious, soft, baby hair!

Day 271: Lychee

Lychee pronounced Lie Chee (as in Cheese) is a strange little Asian fruit. It has the texture of a rubbery grape, but tastes like a mixture between a grape, apple, and pear (mostly pear). It isn't too sweet, but Boyd and I think it is rather tasty. We normally eat it in Jello form with lychee pieces, but the other week we found fresh lychee at the store! They called it lychee nuts, but what do they know! Boyd took this awesome picture of what it looks like. 

The left is what it looks like on the outside. The shell is hard and rough. The middle picture is the fruit. You are supposed to eat the white, translucent, part. The last picture is the seed that you can use to grow your very own lychee tree. Unfortunately you need a warm climate to grow a lychee tree. If it didn't get so cold here in Ohio Boyd and I would have already planted our tree.

Day 270: Peach Pie

I had no clue but apparently Boyd looks forward to having peach pie every year. Peach pie is pretty much his favorite. "And you don't get it at Thanksgiving" says Boyd.  That is why I didn't blog yesterday, we were too busy making peach pie. Yum! This was my first lattice pie and it turned out ok. I think I need more practice. I feel like Betty Homemaker lately.

Day 269: Broccoli

I love homegrown broccoli. It tastes so much sweeter and is tender as can be. One day when Boyd and I have a house we are probably going to have a garden full of broccoli. I used to not like broccoli so much. When I was a kid my mom would cook it with raw onions. Yuck! I hated it and would just die when I had to eat it. The only thing that got me through my childhood of eating broccoli was pretending that I was a panda bear. I would tell my self, "I'm a panda" and then take a big chomp out of my broccoli "tree." Little did I know that pandas don't eat trees. I thought they did as a kid, and I thought that broccoli looked like a little tree. Therefore pandas ate trees and if I were a panda I could eat the broccoli tree. I must have been crazy.

Day 268: Homemade Tomato Sauce

I hate tomatoes. When I was 8 years old my family was going to a Bees game for the 4th of July. Before the game we were eating salad. My mom loves cherry tomatoes. She made me eat one because I said I didn't like them. I decided that if I swallowed a cherry tomato whole I wouldn't be able to taste it. I ended up choking on it and my dad had to do the Heimlich. I can still remember him dragging me over to the sink and seeing that stupid tomato come flying out of my mouth. Choking hurts! Boyd hates tomatoes (I knew I liked Boyd even more when I found out he doesn't like tomatoes either). So why on earth would we ever have tomatoes in our house? Because I love tomato sauces. Boyd's parents have an awesome garden full of fresh everything. I decided to be ambitious one day and wanted to make homemade tomato sauce. It wasn't as hard as I thought. 

First wash your tomatoes

Then place them in boiling water for 1 minute

Then give it a nice ice bath. You can see the skin peeling off already.

 Then squeeze the end of it and the inside will pop out.

Notice Boyd is wearing gloves? He didn't want his hands to smell like tomatoes. I don't blame him. Sometimes just the smell of them makes me gag.

Squeeze the juice and seeds out.

Blend. 

 I made mine into a sauce for ziti. It was surprisingly delicious

Day 267: Super Dreamy Roll

I never really liked sushi growing up, until last Christmas when my thoughts on sushi changed. I like warm sushi. Warm sushi is completely different than cold sushi. It doesn't taste fishy, it comes with awesome sauce, and tastes cooked, not raw. Boyd and I love going to Ohashi, up in Lakewood, and getting their super dreamy roll. It is a crab roll with caramelized sauce and  crunchy yummyness on top. It makes me smile when I'm watching the chef make it because they pull out the blow torch and I know that they are making my super dreamy roll. It really is super dreamy. This past weekend Boyd and I went to Ohashi just to get this one roll to go. 

Day 266: Plastic Wrap

First of all I need to start out by saying we have 3,000 sq ft of Costco plastic wrap. I always think it is funny because it takes up a whole drawer in our kitchen. Anyway, one night I was heating something up in the microwave. The container told me to put plastic wrap over the container and heat it up. Boyd and I like to call this entertainment because we like to watch the plastic wrap expand. Which reminds me of being a little kid and my mom would tell me not to put my face near the microwave because it could be harmful.

I'm sad this bubble isn't as big as it was. By the time I opened the door and focused my camera it was gone. This giant puppy filled our entire microwave. The top of the bubble reached the top of the microwave. It was hilarious.

Day 265: Window Picture

In the Sandy house, the house I grew up in, my parents had this picture of my brother hanging up in our library/computer room. It was a picture of him looking out a window (a fake window) in red pajamas. I know Sofia, the girl in my picture, isn't wearing pajamas, but this picture still reminds me of that particular picture from my childhood. I'm not really sure why they had it hanging up, it was kinda random. All I know was that it was used in some church magazine for something. Anyway, I was editing this picture and it took me down memory lane.

Day 264: Baby Claire Sneak Peek

Isn't Claire just a perfect little bundle of baby!?!?

Day 263: Nordstrom

Northern Ohio only has ONE Nordstrom! ONE! Can you believe that! Boyd has been on an epic quest to find his perfect shoe. He was looking for the Asics Tiger Onitsuka Mexico 66 in brown and beige. That is a mouth full! Apparently Nordstrom is the only department store or any store for that matter, that carries this particular shoe. We had to make a special trip up to Beachwood just to find a Nordstrom.

Day 262: Beanie

I made this for baby Claire the other day. It was so fun to make something so cute and so small. I just loved looking at it. 

Day 261: Baby Feet

Today we got to see baby Claire. She is a cutie! I snapped this picture of her adorable feet! I love it! Perhaps one day it will end up in Boyd's office. 

Day 260: End of Exam Week

Hurray! It is the end of a LONG exam week. I can't tell you how long we have been waiting for this week to be over. Boyd is exhausted, I'm exhausted (and I don't even know why, I wasn't the one taking the tests). But we sure are glad they are all over. I was being lazy so I just took the light bulb picture from a while back and made it look cool. In cause you were wondering about our crazy lamp that kills light bulbs, we switched out the bulb from a  100, 150, 250 watt to a 60 watt and haven't had any problems since (cross our fingers). Boyd probably feels like this light bulb, beaten, worn down, kinda broken. But he will recover and be bright and shiny in no time.

Day 259: Personal Progress Book Holder

This Personal Progress Book Holder is super cute and super easy. Thanks Sugardoodle for the idea!

Material: 

2 pieces of fabric that are 18.5" by 13"

30" of 1/4 "ribbon

 

Cut your fabric so it is 18.5" by 13 "

Place right sides together. 

Sew a 1/2" seam around all four sides,
leaving a 3" gap for turning on one of the long sides.

 Meanwhile, use Fray Check or a heat seal on your ribbon to keep it from fraying.

 After you have your sides sewn up clip the corners to lessen the bulk.

 Turn your cover right side out and iron. 

Make sure the corners are turned out all the way. 

Sew a 1/4 " top-stitch around the entire holder.

Fold the ribbon with 10" on one half and 20" on the other. Make sure the right sides are in. 

At this point pin the the ribbon on to the bottom left corner of the holder.    

Sew the ribbon directly on the holder . 

 Fold the bottom edge up 4" and iron.

Lay the holder out and measure 5 3/8" from the left. Mark this measurement at the top and bottom of the yellow part that was folded over. Measure 3/4 " for pencil holder from the previous mark. From that mark measure 5 1/2". Draw a line. Measure 5 1/2" again.

Sew down the marked lines, from the top of the pocket to the bottom of the holder. 

Don't forget to back-stitch at each end.

 Normally you would have a For Strength of Youth booklet and a journal to go along with the PP Book.

Fold it in thirds starting with the right side

and tie your cute ribbon around it! 

Day 258: Texas Sheet Cake

I have been meaning to post this recipe for quite some time. Texas sheet cake is Boyd's  absolute favorite thing in the world. The last time I made Texas sheet cake it was a disaster! My oven was too small to fit the jelly roll pan and I didn't realize the rack tilted up in the back. Needless to say we had a 1/3 burnt, 1/3 raw, and 1/3 normal sheet cake. Luckily my oven is big enough now. 

Another reason why I'm posting this recipe is because my current recipe looks like this:

 I didn't quite know what to make of this recipe card. Boyd says it has a lot of character and has been used many, many times. He always tells me a recipe needs to look like it has been used. I didn't really know how to read it or what anything meant. That is why I'm redoing it, so it is user friendly. 

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 C. Shortening (Crisco)
• 1/2 C. Oleo (Margarine)
• 1 C. Water
• 4 TBS Cocoa Powder 

• 1/2 C. Sour Milk or Buttermilk
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

•  2 C. Sugar
• 2 C. Flour
• 1 tsp. Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt 

Topping

• 1/2 C. Oleo (Margarine)
• 4 TBS Cocoa Powder
• 6 tsp. Milk
• 1 LB Powdered Sugar

• Bake at 350 for 15 minutes 

What the recipe card meant to say was. . . . 

Combine dry ingredients (sugar, flour, soda, salt) in a mixing bowl. 

In a medium pot combine Shortening, Oleo (I had no clue oleo meant margarine), water and cocoa powder. Stir on Medium heat until shortening and oleo are melted. Do not boil. 

 If you don't have sour milk you can add a tsp of vinegar to your milk and it will curdle.

Stir, in milk, then add your eggs. 

Make sure it is not too hot so you don't cook your eggs. 

Add vanilla.

Pour your chocolate mixture into your dry ingredients. Mix on low till combined. 

Slowly pour into a 17.25 x 11.5 " Jelly Roll Pan

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes

When you have 10 minutes left on your timer, start to make your topping. 

In a medium sauce pan melt 1/2 C oleo.

Add 4 TBS cocoa powder. 

Stir in 6 tsp milk (I needed more). 

Slowly add in 1 LB of Powdered Sugar (I used less), 

then, as Boyd puts it, "Then beat the snot out of it!"

You want the consistency to be runny, but have it still slightly stick to the spoon.  If you need more milk, like I did, add it a few drops (literal drops) at a time. If you add too much too fast it will just become runny.

 

Insert toothpick into cake and make sure it comes out clean. 

AS SOON AS you pull your cake out of the oven pour chocolate topping over the cake.

(Tin foil trick: Place your hot cookie sheet over some tin foil. Sometimes the topping will spill over the sides, that's ok. It makes for an easy clean up)

Spread topping around with a metal spatula. Be careful not to rip your cake. 

ENJOY!

Upon special request, Boyd wanted toasted marshmallows on top of his sheet cake tonight. I just sprinkled some mini marshmallows on top and threw it under the broiler for a second to toast it. YUM! I will say it is better with the mallows!

Day 257: Boyd's Study Habits

This is how Boyd studies.

He tells me that our couch hurts his back.

Then I look at his posture and wonder 

why he tells me its the couches fault. 

Curse those addicting angry birds!

Day 256: Boyd and Mihai

I found this picture from Boyd's mission. This is Mihai. He had been attending English classes forever. If you know who he is you can chuckle, but if you don't you can ask somebody who does and they will have stories about him. 

Notice how skinny Boyd is? He said at that point on his mission they were walking everywhere because the buses and trains couldn't take them where they need to go.

Day 255: Sweet Sunset

Isn't this an awesome sunset? I took this while we were fishing over labor day. It is exam week which means my posts are going to be lame this week. Sorry. I love this picture because I didn't have to photoshop it to make it look cool.