Non-Freaky Flashback and I Like it Spicy Part 3

As I mentioned, Wednesday was my third wedding anniversary (Whoo hoo!!), so I thought it would be fun and entertaining to post some pics from our wedding back in 2007. I suppose it's a little narcissistic to have a post filled with almost nothing but pictures of me, but I guess this is my blog and my wedding, so it's ok, right? :)

This is one of my favorite pictures from that day. Oh, and this is D without a beard! He has had one now for so long that I almost forget what he looks like without it. We look so young here!



Young and in love!

I loved my hair--it was so big and poufy! Any you know what they say about big hair don't you?? Well, I guess they don't say anything, but I sawy it's H-O-T! Actually my hair stylist always jokes "the higher the hair, the closer to heaven!" I must be an angel by now :)

As you can see, I did have a cute little (faux) fur-hooded cape, which was smart for January, but I did not actually wear it for most of our pictures outside (not smart). The photographer wanted to show off my dress. I remember it being 19 freaking degrees that day. Brrrr!! Oh well--I guess loves keeps you warm!

We were married here:

But held our reception in an aquarium!

I worked as the Marketing Coordinator there at the time, and we were trying to promote the facility for event rentals. I convinced my bosses to let me host my reception there for free and then we could use the pictures in our marketing materials. It was so awesome! As anyone who has planned a wedding knows, reception rentals can take up a HUGE portion of your budget, so it gave us a lot of leeway (and a lot of fun) to have it there.

Obviously, we had pictures of the food:

Dustin and I had originally wanted to have a carnival theme to our reception with mini hamburgers, popcorn and cotton candy, but our parents threw a big fit so that was out.

I kept the cotton candy--that was non-negotiable!


Instead, we settled on a "dipping" bar with both sweet and savory options. I think we had a spicy cheese and an alfredo, an artichoke dip and a chili dip, all with pretzels, crackers and veggies.

We also had a dipping desserts station with white and dark chocolate, caramel, tons of fruit, brownies, marshmallows and other sweets.

This was just flavored water--it was all in a pink theme, so if I can remember correctly, it was lemon, strawberry, cherry and grapefruit.

As you can see, all the pics have kind of a nautical theme here--all the food was inside the "sunken ship!"

I was so glad to be able to have our reception somewhere fun. Not just for us, but for our guests. I wanted to be able to give everyone something to do, so they got to walk through all the galleries and look at the fish and play in the touchpool.

I mean, how boring is it to go to a wedding where all you do is walk through a greeting line, grab a plate of hors d'ouerves and then try to mix awkwardly with people you don't know? Ugh. A lot of Utah weddings are like that. Not all of them though! And not mine. It always makes me happy because people will still say that they remember it to this day.



I didn't want a wedding cake, since it is so hard to find one that is pretty AND tastes good. I thought cupcakes would be better. I am a cupcake kind of gal, anyway :)

For as fun as our wedding was, I have to say that each day beyond that has been all the more wonderful and filled with love. Our marriage isn't perfect, and neither are our lives. We have had our share of trials and hard times since then, but we love each other, and I am so grateful that we found each other--and that I tricked D into marrying me!

I wish the photographer had taken some more pics of the food for ya, but I didn't get to eat much that day, so I probably couldn't tell you much more about it!

What I CAN tell you about though, is some more wonderful and spicy food that I have had the pleasure of indulging in recently!

Thanks to my sweet friend Abby, I had some luscious Christmas goodies to experiment with:


Super spicy and very gingery ginger snaps. OMG, these were so good! They actually had little pieces of crystallized ginger IN them. Yum!

But my new favorite thing has got to be these guys:

They are the perfect blend of sweet and spicy with tons of cayenne, cinnamon and a touch of cumin. I have been keeping them within arm's reach at all times and loving them in a new CCC.

Cottage cheese with cinnamon and stevia, Fiber One, Quaker Oat Squares and Cinnamon Life sprinkled with a healthy dose of chopped sweet and spicy nuts. So good! Thanks Abby! You are an amazing chef and inspiration!

I also stumbled upon this discovery, which I highly recommend you try as soon as possible...



Sweet potato with Laughing Cow, cinnamon, Sun Crystals and dried cranberries. Maybe not the most original offering, but definitely a delicious one!

What's YOUR favorite spicy creation? Happy Friday everyone! I hope you have a fantastic weekend! xoxo

More Cottage Cheese...and CUPCAKES!

Good morning lovelies! You know, sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed is the thought of breakfast. I know you can relate! Lately I've had just one thing on my mind: April's Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl. How could you NOT want to try this? (P.S. Don't forget to check out April's NEW site here.)

I started in true April fashion by whipping up some cottage cheese is my food processor until it was a delightfully smooth and creamy texture. I almost at this little pillow of dairy delight just by itself, it looked so good.
But I abated and continued on instead. Mixed with 1/2 c. pumpkin, 1 packet of Sun Crystals, and CINNAMON...it looked so pretty all swirled together, I just had to take a picture.

Dolloped with a spoonful of Bee's Knees...you know I wasn't that impressed with my initial taste of this peanut butter, but it's starting to grow on me. No, I still don't think it tastes like honey, but it does taste delicious...
And topped off with cereal trio: Fiber One (as usual), Quaker Oat Squares and Cinnamon Heart to Heart, plus some banana slices to truly replicate the original.
H-E-A-V-E-N!!! You guys know how much I love cottage cheese, and this is only helping to fuel the obsession! Witness the infatuation here and also here, over at sweet Susan's blog as featured in my guest post.

In fact, guess how many times I've eaten it in the last three days? 8 times. True love baby! I always think to myself that it's too bad that something as yummy as cottage cheese has to have such an unfortunate, unappealing name. It should be called like "refined and cultured dairy droplets" or something...But regardless of what you call it, my adoration has grown thanks to April's addition, which, by the way, I have eaten THREE times in the last three days. It's just that good people. That good. Well done my friend!

April was unsure if this tasted like cheesecake since she's not really a fan, but I can vouch that it tastes almost better than that! It actually reminded me of the Olive Garden's seasonal Pumpkin Cheesecake. I know some ladies that wait all year for that fancy thing. Personally, I would rather concoct my own mess like so. Little tidbit: I used to work at the OG while I was in college. I did take out and it was a pretty decent job, but I can totally live the rest of my life without seeing their food and be perfectly happy.

Speaking of being happy. Thanks again for building me up so wonderfully on my last post. You guys are all so wise and caring, and it's great! I buoy myself with the knowledge that the more I deal with these things now, the more I am able to step into recovery.

Special K had some great thoughts that you may be interested in regarding doughnuts and other office treats here. One doughnut, or two, is not the end of the world, and is not an excuse to hate myself, give in to Ed or otherwise ruin my day/weekend.

I was even able to actually enjoy the time I had planned with my brother, which involved celebrating his birthday with dinner, and yes, CUPCAKES!

My sister and I got these from a little bakery called Mini's in one of our favorite neighborhoods. SLC chicas need to check this place out. To be honest, I have seen cuter cupcakes, but these were by far the best tasting teenies I have ever had. It's always nice when something tastes as good as it looks, or even better.

Obviously I had to have this one. It was chocolate cake with pink cream cheese frosting called "The Diva." Yes, I got it just because it was pink :)

In true Experimentarian style, my sis and I gifted my brother with a new waffle iron and some fun food goodies, including this freaky food find: pancake batter in a can. He was impressed.

Well, it was morning when I started writing this and it's now later in the afternoon, which just goes to show you what kind of a day I'm having. I feel a little badly that I haven't been more productive, but that's what Sundays are for right? I did accomplish taking a loooong shower and partially pedicuring my toes, so I think that counts for something, yes?

Hope you guys had a great weekend and a realxing Sunday as well. xoxo

Sugar

This weekend involved a lot of sugar, spice and everything nice as we celebrated our NEW HOME purchase (whoo hoo!) and my husband's birthday.

I love birthdays, but D doesn't see the need for all the fuss. Nevertheless, we whooped it up by going out to dinner at out fave Mexican place--extra salsa please!--and then staying at home like two old people. Awesome. Here we are at din: And obviously I had to make some of these...

Mmm-mmm. Dubbed Chocolate Overload(is there such thing??) Cupcakes by D, these are quadruple dark chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting (dark chocolate cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips in the cake batter, dark and regular cocoa in the frosting and all topped with dark chocolate chips). Fancy.

Here's the recipe in case you decide you need to celebrate something fancy on your own:

Dark Cocoa Cupcakes

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. splenda
• 1/2 c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. skim milk
• 2 tbs. oil
• 3 heaping spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce (shh...don't tell D they're low fat!)
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together dry ingredients, then add milk, oil, applesauce, vanilla and the egg. Mix in chocolate chips. Scoop into cupcake liners (makes about 18 cupcakes) or pour into a 9-inch round cake pan. Bake about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Frost with Top-Secret Buttercream Icing and top with Hershey's Extra Dark chocolate chips.

I know I used Splenda a.k.a. The Devil in this recipe, but I bought a huge bag of it a while ago and it was just so expensive that I can't stand to throw it out even though I am quite aware of it's evils. I'm sure you can just sub regular sugar instead, but I would recommend adding a little more if you are sensitive to the bitterness of dark chocolate.

I debated about sharing my frosting recipe, since it's the one thing I make that everyone loves and requests. It's sooooo easy, yet no one likes to make it themselves I guess, or it doesn't turn out for them. But in the spirit of blogger love, I will overshare it with you so you can get lots of love and requests too.

Top-Secret Buttercream Icing

• 1 stick of butter (gasp!)
• 1 bag of powdered sugar
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tbs. meringue powder
• 2 tbs. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
• 1 tbs. regular Hershey's Cocoa Powder

Soften butter on the counter top for a few hours, or overnight if you forget about it. Cream butter and vanilla together on low speed until fluffy. Add milk and then powdered sugar gradually, mixing in meringue powder and cocoa about halfway through. Keep adding powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached, or add milk to thin.

The meringue powder was a new addition for me this time, but it really helps to keep the frosting fluffy and stiff enough to hold a pretty swirl on the cupcake.