It's the Small Things in Life

  I know, I know... it has been forever.  We have been in the process of buying a house in the last month and with that comes boxing everything up and getting ready to move.  :)

  I'm so excited about living in our new place (we closed last Friday and we get to stay our first night tomorrow), but it has been a lot of work and very stressful at times.  I know it will be great though.

  Layton and I are not big apartment people.... I have many friends and family who are, but when something breaks Layton and I like to fix it.  I love to paint and make a place my own with the tile I like or that specific ceiling fan.  ;)  And since we have been living in this apartment for almost a year now we have not been able to do anything ourselves... and we are definitely ready to.

  But anyway, through all of this crazy process it has definitely been the small things that have made my day... like

A homemade Frappe on a hot, muggy day.  And it had salted caramel on top...  :)

Or a wonderful walk with my husband to get out of our untidy, boxed up, in the process of moving apartment...

Or coming down stairs in the morning to a lot of clean dishes (done by my husband at 5:30 in the morning).

  Through out it all there have been hard days and easy days.  Those good days and the bad, but I praise the Lord that I can always find a reason to smile.  :)  He has blessed us with so much and now we will be completely blessed with a new dwelling place.  We are very much looking forward to having a place of our own.

~God Bless and Enjoy your Memorial Day!

Grilled Burritos and Cookie Cups!!!

  I just found this recently...  It is a post I did quite a while back before Christmas.  We had not yet discovered food allergies or our new diet, but never-the-less I thought I would share this.  They were extremely yummy and totally worth trying!  I'll have to try making some cookie bowls with some gluten-free/sugar-free cookie dough... if it works, I will let you know.  ;)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

   So, a while back I posted about these grilled enchiladas I had made for dinner one night... this is that concept taken a little farther.
   We made grilled burritos smothered in the easiest homemade queso with guacamole and chips on the side.  It was so good!  Then for dessert I made cookie bowls with salted caramel and cappuccino gelato... a-mazing!  I have to tweek the cookie bowls, but they were still really good.

Layton did the grilling once again and they turned out wonderful!

The guacamole and the queso...

My plate... I really can't even begin to tell you how good it was. :)

Our cookie dough waiting to be molded and formed...

but being snacked on in the mean time.  ;)

So easy!

You just take a handful of dough and put them on the bottom of sprayed muffin tins, though I would suggest not going all the way to the bottom like we did because they will grow.

And the finished product...

They were very yummy indeed!

I had cappuccino gelato and Layton had salted caramel.

  ~LOVE~HOPE~BELIEVE~SING~JOYOUS~CELEBRATE~FELLOWSHIP~

The Best Homemade Granola

  So granola has been a soft spot in Layton and My's house since day one.  We both absolutely love it!  So, when I found out that I couldn't have refined sugars anymore I started a major hunt for some good homemade recipes I could try.

  I found a few that were pretty good, but nothing that tasted like it had come from a box.  ;)  It was always missing those clumps of sugary, gooey-ness.  I kept a few, because some granola is better than none.  Granola and protein shakes are our quick fix breakfasts around here these days.

  So, my search continued... I had almost given up when a friend of mine, who has a blog that is really up and hopping, posted her granola recipe that she always makes.  I changed it up a little so that I could eat it, put it in the oven and our came gooey goodness.  It was perfect!

  The next morning Layton called me from work and asked if the granola was store bought.  I told him no and that I had made it the day before... he could not stop going on about how good it was.  So, I had to figure out what all the fuss was about.  I went and had some and it really is amazing.  So, I wanted to share THE BEST granola recipe out there!

  This past time I made Banana-Nut Granola, which is Layton's favorite.

These are my banana chips that is crushed up.  Mmmmmm....

I used unsweetened banana chips, but you could used sweetened if you preferred.

I buy mine in the bulk section at CM or Sprouts.

This is my bowl of oats and mix-ins.

For the banana nut granola I did 1/3 banana chips and 2/3 almonds.

Finished product!

I did a double batch since we go through it so fast.  :)

Totally yummy, you would never know that it didn't have sugar in it.

The Best Homemade Granola

• 4 1/2 c. oats
• 1/3 c. coconut oil
• 1/3 c. agave
• 1/3 c. maple syrup
• 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. cinnamon (I usually do 1 t.)
• 3/4 t. salt
• 3 c. add-ins (almonds, walnuts, pecans, craisins, apricots, banana chips, etc.)

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

-Melt coconut oil in medium sauce pan.  Whisk in agave, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and cinnamon.

-Pour over oats and mix-ins.  Spread evenly over baking sheet.

-Bake 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

Here is where I got the original recipe:

http://www.packofwolfes.blogspot.com/2013/04/homemade-granola.html

~Happy cooking!

DIY Projects {Coasters}

  So, I have been wanting to make some coasters for quite a while now.  I kept putting it off because we don't have a coffee table yet, so it seemed like we could get by okay for now.
  Well, then when my mom and dad moved into their new house my mom found some plain tiles left over from the house and gave them to Tori and I so we could make some coasters.  I decided on a more rustic coaster to match our decor better...

  You can not tear and distress the edges to make a "cleaner" coaster.  I just like how this turned out.  They are super simple though.  You just buy your tile, pick out some cute scrapbook paper, cut the paper the same size as the tile, then rip the paper and distress it, and then decoupage the paper onto the tile.

  Then I put these little rubber stickers on the bottom to make sure the rough tile doesn't scratch up my wooden furniture.  Now I can't wait to get my coffee table and start using these... super excited!!!

  Layton's favorite is the one on the back right... I personally love them all.  Especially when they are together.  :)

~Happy Monday and Happy House Projects!

Gluten-Free/Grain-Free Eating {Chicken Potpie}

  I cannot even begin to tell you how in love I was with Pioneer Woman's Chicken Potpie.  I would continually crave it... the crust, the sauce, the veggies... all of it coming together to make one delicious mouth full of wonderfulness.

  Then we came to find out that I was allergic to wheat and hypoglycemic.  I was in quite a lot of despair when I came to realize that not being able to have wheat or sugar meant that I would have to alter every recipe in my box.

  Then I found this wonderful blog http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2011/12/delicious-urban-parents-nye-menu.html.  She has a lot of recipes and every single one I have tried has ended up in my recipe box.  All of her recipes are grain-free and processed sugar-free so we can eat them without having to alter anything.  I was very anxious to try her Chicken Potpie because the last one I had tried ended up being a major flop.

  I thought she had a lot of the same techniques as Pioneer Woman did with her Chicken Potpie.  These veggies are cooked and waiting for the gravy.

 The crust was super easy to make and was really good!  I have also recently tried her quiche crust which was amazing as well.

  Layton loved them too, which is always encouraging when you are trying to cook happy and healthy.  They are dairy-free as well, if you are trying to stay away from dairy as much as possible.

  Really good and definitely worth trying, even if you don't have to eat grain-free.

~Happy cooking and God bless!

Gluten-Free/Grain-Free Eating {Kabobs}

  Hello once again!  Tonight I would like to introduce you to my latest friend, who makes last minute meals and "I don't know what to make tonight!" nights much better.
  This friend is the kabob.  I've always been a fan, but never so much as I am now.  They do take a little prep work, but not many dirty dishes are made (which is always a plus with me!).  Layton and I always tend to have the ingredients on hand as well and then I usually just roast a side to go with them.
  So, the other night we made just your basic chicken kabob.  I always make mine with bell pepper and onion, but the wonderful thing about them is you can just use whatever you have on hand.  We have done steak with pineapple before too, and it was probably my favorite.  :)

  Don't they look beautiful?!?!  My husband is getting to be quite a whiz at the grill.  :)

  This is our dinner completed.  Quick and fairly easy, considering it is a gluten-free and grain-free meal.  We had roasted asparagus and roasted/mashed cauliflower (also a favorite!) this time.  I've also done green beans or broccoli, sweet potatoes if you want a little starch.

  All-in-all a fairly easy meal with on hand ingredients.  We are starting to get the hang of this gluten-free stuff around here, by God's grace.  But on those nights when I really don't have it all together (because we all know that all of us have those nights) Chipotle is my NEW best friend!!!  ;)

  Have a blessed weekend, people!  And good cooking!

{Together}--The Joys of Married Life

  Layton and I went to our first bed and breakfast a week ago.  We so enjoyed it.  The bed and breakfast was in Grandview, TX on a 860 acre, working cattle ranch.

  We loved every minute of it.  Just a break in every day life.  A time to get away from all the craziness.

    Our room was so pretty!  They had rose petals on our bed and gave us complimentary champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.  :)  My absolute favorite part of the entire room... it had a claw foot tub!  It was wonderful!

  Here are the pictures of our room and bathroom.  It had an old-fashion toilet, beautiful hardwood floors, and a huge king sized bed with feather pillows.

  Along with breakfast we also got to go to dinner on the ranch.  They have a restaurant on the ranch as well and since it was Friday night they had a live band playing.  There was also a huge dance floor in the middle of the room and all these older couples out two-stepping and doing all sorts of fancy moves.  It was really cute... they all looked so happy together.

  They had a pool table in the dining room too, so Layton and I played a few games after dinner.

  It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed our first experience at a bed & breakfast!  So much to be grateful for and so many joys in married life.  We are definitely blessed by the road God has planned for us and we just continue to take it one step at a time!  :)

 {Togetherness}