Addicted and I just can't get enough

It's a known fact that I like trying new recipes but the hard part is having an event to go to that people will be able to eat the sweet treats I make. Since Kyle does not like sweets and I don't need to eat 24 cupcakes all by myself I have used YL as my way to try new things and high school kids will eat anything if it's free ;) I made these cupcakes and they were actually pretty good. I'm not sure if they are really 100 calories each but I'll go with it.

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One of my favorite sites to check out daily is Money Saving Mom. I may not be a mom but I love saving money and this site offers all kinds of deals for great stores and shows you how you can use coupons to get cheap stuff. I especially like it for the free samples that they show. I have just started to get some of the free samples I registered for and it's fun to get something in the mail that I can try. I have gotten free things like magazines, detergent, face wash, coffee, and many other things that will be a surprise to me when they show up in my mailbox and I forget that I signed up to get a free one. Even if I don't want the free item I know I can give it to someone I know that likes it, if it's free why not try it out :)

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My friend Sarah turned 21 this weekend and I made her a cute vase to get her ready for her soon-to-be classroom. Sarah will be a Senior next year at Miami and she is will be a Miss Math Teacher before she knows it :) Here is the final product

{inspiration came from here}

Love is in the air

Our house has been looking cheerful the last few weeks.

Our table centerpiece was made of decorations I got from here. The plate was filled with candy, it's hard to keep from eating your centerpiece when it's edible :) These decorations were easy to make and only took maybe five minutes. The house is also decorated with mason jars inspired by these from pinterest. This past weekend we had a girl's sleep over at my co-leaders Audrey's house and I made these sweet treats.

Watch out ladies our pup Bentley is ready for Valentine's Day

This is how he really felt about me taking his picture :)

Happy Valentine's Day to two of my favorites!

Hey Good Lookin

I'm not sure when my blog became all about cooking and baking but when I can't do anything outside because of the cold weather I have decided to stick with my goal of making one new thing every week.

I made three cheese pasta which was really good but Kyle said I should have added chicken to go with it, live and learn :) Kyle doesn't think it is a meal without meat and I thought the pasta and cheese were enough to fill me up :)  I also made chicken lasagna roll ups, these did have meat {which made Kyle happy} but the lasagna noodles got hard for some reason.

Now to my favorite things to make...desserts. I made these simple sugar cookies and put them on a paper plate I decorated with ribbon. I also made these delicious brownie and strawberry cake cupcakes, they were so good and super easy. I love it when desserts turn out the way they are suppose to :)

That's all that has been cookin in my kitchen lately!

They can't all be winners

Pinterest has inspired me to cook {well really bake}more. An endless amount of recipes are at my fingertips and I have made it a goal to start trying these recipes instead of carrying them around in a folder.

I made Pink Lemonade Pound Cake. This was a miss, it was really lemony and too sweet for my taste. Some of the problems I ran into were user error, my pan was not the size they recommend using so it spilled over in the oven {good thing I had a tray under the pan just in case :)} and one side was more done then the other....so with a combination of those things, the cake was just not as good as I thought it would be.

Since I knew the Pink Lemonade Cake was not going to work, I needed a back-up plan to take to Kyle's parents house. We had an awesome meal on New Year's Eve and I wanted to take something that looked somewhat presentable :) I made these Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants. They are good and easy but not my favorite fruity dessert I have made. I will probably not make them again but I'm glad I had an excuse to try them.

It is known around our house that Kyle is the better cook. He can add spices to any dish and make it delicious. I get overwhelmed by all the spices when I see a recipe that I usually stay away and the dishes I make are usually plain. Kyle likes to experiment with cooking and I am a stick-to-the-recipe type of girl. That being said I made Baked Ziti and LOVED it. One of the best things I have made in a long time :) The recipe was simple with not too many ingredients. Whenever I make dinner Kyle will humor me by trying it but this time I knew he liked it because he had leftover {he rarely eats leftovers where I could eat them all the time}.

I can't always make desserts or dinners that will turn out great but that won't stop me from trying new recipes {sorry Kyle} :)

Run Forest Run

Everytime I think of running I think of Forest Gump. The movie has been quoted to me many times since my name is Jenny but since it is a good movie I don't mind it :) Sunday was the annual Cross Country Alumni race where the current CC runners run against the Alumni. Kyle's sister is the head coach at Taylor so we came to support her and also Kyle wanted to "run" the race with Bentley. I must add that Kyle and his siblings all ran in HS so it is always competitive when they do sporting events together.

Here is Kyle and Bentley before the race. Kyle only ran down the main drag and then gave Bentley to me since he was pulling too much :) 

Everyone before the race started. Kyle's "strategy" was to have him & Bentley in the front so Bentley would make everyone trip so that he could get ahead since he had not ran in a loong time. It did not work since he was forced to move to the back :)

This is Kyle's brother Timmy. He beat Kyle and placed 3rd in the race but the real reason for the picture was to showcase his "awesome" shorts :)

Before she says "I Do" {Britt's Bridal Shower}

One of my dear friends Brittany is getting married in two months! We showered her with gifts to let her know how special she is to us! There were 6 adults and 4 kids under 3 years old, my house was full of excitement :) Enjoy some pictures

Brit holding Baby Lyle

Sam with her two kids, Aiden and Shelby

Brit excited about opening her cookware set

There Keepers

I have been trying lots of new recipes. Here are some of the recipes I tried that are keepers!

Strawberry Fluff Pie

{recipe}

I made this for Kyle's Mom birthday, it was REALLY good and easy.

Easy Strawberry Cream Dessert Squares

{recipe}

I made this for the cookout we had after I walked for graduation. I sugar cookie crust was yummy!

Happy Baking!

Something new

I had mentioned here that I wanted to try something new every month. I may not have shared them all on my blog but here are some recent desserts that I have tried. My motto when making a dinner or dessert is that it needs to not have lots of ingredients or take a long time to make. These desserts fit into that category :)

Strawberry Bread

{recipe}

This bread is very moist and delicious! It is a keeper!!

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies were great. The recipe is on the back of the bag.

Inside Out Peanut Butter Cup

{recipe}

I think less is more with this dessert. It was really rich, I love Reese Peanut Butter cups but it was too rich for me. The people at worked loved it and asked for the recipe :)

Happy Baking!