Ketchup..er, catching up

Hi friends! No, unfortunately, there is no ketchup to be found in this post, but there IS some yummy cranberry mustard, and a whole lotta catching up to do , so let's dive in, shall we?

It's been almost a week since I've posted, but of course the big highlight was my birthday last Thursday. Thanks so much for all the wonderful birthday wishes. You guys are the best, and I was very flattered by all the comments! Anyone tried the SMOATS yet? Gosh, I know they look weird, but they are so good! I'm having them again tomorrow to perk up my day--I have to work all. dang. day. Over 12 hours. Waaah. What a cry baby.

Anyway, I got tons of super sweet and thoughtful presents for my special day, but I'll just show you the fabby foodie ones.

My sister is the bomb and got me the ultra-stylin' polar bear plate and matching sparkly cup that I've had my eye on. Yeah, I'm 26 now and I still like melamine cartoon plates--also to perk up my day at work. What? Cute little beehive tea infuser (I do live in the Beehive State!) and sinfully indulgent walnut green tea from my bro. It tastes like butter. No joke.

And...check it out! Probably like the very first ever home exercise audio! How freakin cool is that? I don't have a record player, so I'll probably never know what it says, but luckily I have the handy-dandy pictures on the cover to assist me if I ever decide to bust out the moves. Thanks Joel! Hubs also got me a gift card to Whole Foods, which is burning a major hole in my pocket! He's so great.

Oh food, glorious food! So many good things on my birthday including a ginormous frosted cupcake from the gals at work, crispy sweet potato fries,
turkey burger with cranberry mustard (told you) on a sweet potato bun and the most decadent and marshmallow-y bread pudding I have ever tasted, courtesy of Acme Burger. Ho-leeeey cow. Everyone's order was very tasty and the service was impeccable. If you are in the SLC, GO!

Of course I was even more spoiled rotten at home where my mama whipped up her signature from-scratch super chocolate cake with extra frosting and tons of SPRINKLES!!!
My mom was so funny--she hunted high and low for just PINK sprinkles, but couldn't find any so she and my dad sat down and hand sorted out a bunch of pink for me. Jeez. I am spoiled!

Daddy Experimentarian obliged my two birthday requests also, by fixing up his perfect pancakes with a side of thick cut bacon for breakfast.

I swear those pancakes are one of my favorite things on this earth. I would probably make them my last meal. Well, pancakes and smoked salmon--which my dad also put together for me.

Seen here as lunch leftovers the other day atop mixed greens, red peppers, onion, mushrooms and dried cranberries. I mixed that with a little BBQ vinaigrette and I never wanted to stop eating it.

Well, that's all for now, and quite enough, I'm sure! A big huge thanks to Kendal for guesting for me on Friday. I don't know about you, but all her food adventures make me long to travel! Luckily, I've had my dose of exotic locales for now (Sweetwater County homies!) and am all settled in at home, at least until next week!

Do you love going home for a little TLC like me? What's the one thing your parents make for you that no one does better? You saw my list above--I'd love to know yours! xoxo

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

Apples, Continued...

Well, our apple stash certainly is dwindling. And after this weekend's first snowfall of the season, we probably are down for the count...that and the fact that I have been eating them nonstop :)

Thanks to all your apple ideas, I have had tons of tasty recipes to experiment with, and this was one of my favorite suggestions. It was suggested by a sweet gal named Nina, but I don't think she has a blog of her own to link back to, so a big heaping thanks to her for this supremely seasonal Sweet Potato Apple Hash.

Based on Nina's suggestions, here's what I used:

• half a small-ish baked sweet potato
• 1 small apple, chopped
• an embarrassing amount of onion
• ~1/3 c. black beans
• chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and garlic
  

I sauteed up the onion, then added the apple and let it cook until it became a tantalizing golden brown. Mixed in the chunks of sweet potato and then added the spices. When everything started to darken a little on the edges, I stirred in my black beans and then dumped the mix over a bed of mixed greens. Topped of with a creamy cool dollop of Fage.
It was almost like a mock taco salad, and it was very delicious. I loved the crisp, juicy burst of flavor the apples offered to the dish and I thought it mellowed so well with the smoky spices and soft sweet potatoes.

More apple deliciousness, this time in the form of the world's best way to use up a $#@!load of apples. Applesauce. It's amazing. I filled up two HUGE pots to the brim with so many chopped apples that it made my head spin, and...well, you'll see how many jars I got out of all that slicing and dicing...

Because we had so many, I actually decided to try my hand at honest-to-goodness canning. It's an art-form and I'm bringin it back peeps :) Just call me Grandma Emily.

It's important to heat the jars first, and then scoop the applesauce into them while the sauce is still hot, too. That is a true adventure in not giving yourself tragic burns, so watch out.

According to my little canning guide, it's also important to get all the air bubbles out of the jar by pressing against the mush with a spatula. I had no idea if this was working because it still looked kind of bubbly. But I figured if it didn't work out and caused the jars not to seal properly, I would just have to eat it faster. Oh the horror.

the hardest thing is trying to work quickly so everything stays warm before you put it into it's big boiling bath. That way the glass kind of tempers itself and you don't end up with applesauce shrapnel all over your kitchen.
Boil for 20 minutes and voila!
Count em, baby. Seven jars. Seven. Over two hours of work and three huge grocery sacks full of apples equals seven jars. Not that I'm complaining. That is seven jars of sweet autumn bliss that I get to dig into until next year. Okay, well two, because I gave most of them away. Sigh....I am nice like that ;)

I mentioned up there that my apple hash reminded me of a taco salad. Ever since eating it, I don't know what my deal is , but I have been CRAVING taco salad in the worst possible fashion. Weird. Is there anything you have been craving recently?

Also, have any of you ever canned or done any preserving?

My mother-in-law lives in an area that is very bounteous in terms of it's local produce, and I first became interested in it when I was up there last summer and saw her and her neighbors bottling everything from peaches to asian pears to plums, grape juice, and yes, applesauce. I thought it was the coolest thing that they actually had that much of a surplus and were putting it to good use. I think I made a few comments to that effect, and sure enough, I got the whole kit n caboodle of canning supplies for my birthday last year (nevermind that I didn't have anything to actually can at that point). Thanks MIL!! Very useful :)

Speaking of being useful, don't forget to click here to send Holly some "well wishes" and over here to help Katie's cause.

Have a great day everyone! xoxo