Pesto Chicken Grilled Cheese

So Brady and I are kind of on this pesto kick right now, so for dinner we decided to make a pesto chicken grilled cheese panini!  And oh heavens oh heavens it was delectable.  We also had tomato soup with kiwi and strawberries to complete the meal. 

Pesto Chicken Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

1 loaf artisan bread
Pesto (you use it as a spread so it would just determine how many sandwiches you would be making)
2 Grilled chicken breasts
1-2 cups mozarella cheese
All of these ingredients vary to how many sandwiches you will be making

1.  Grill the chicken on the stove until the inside is fully cooked
2.  Slice the artisan bread into enough slices for all of the sandwiches you will be making
3.  Spread a thin layer of Pesto on one side of the bread.  It is pretty strong so you won't need too much, but you can do it to your taste.
4.  Put the grilled chicken slices on top of the pesto
5.  Cover chicken in mozarella cheese
6.  Butter or spray the grill or stove that you will use to grill the sandwiches.  Grill both sides until golden brown.

Marilyn's Birthday Dinner-Baked Ravioli and Roasted Garlic and Onion Potatoes

As you know, well for those if any who actually read this, Brady and I love to find recipes on Pinterest and then make them.  So for his step mom's birthday, we decided to make her a great birthday dish.  So for dinner we decided to make Baked Ravioli and Garlic Roasted Potatoes.  Oh my heavens, it was delicious.  We also had a yummy spinach salad to go along with it, oh yes it was great.

Baked Ravioli
Good ole' Martha Stewart gave us this recipe!!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, or oregano

1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes

1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

2 pounds store-bought frozen ravioli

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add thyme (or oregano) and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, until sauce is thickened and reduced to about 5 1/2 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling salted water just until they float to the top (pasta will continue to cook in oven). Drain pasta; return to pot.
4. Toss sauce with pasta. Pour pasta into a large gratin dish or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Pan-Roasted Garlic and Onion  Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 russet potatoes, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 Tbsp butter, divided
1 tsp kosher salt
A few grinds black pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary
Chopped fresh parsley or chives for garnish

   1.   Set oven to 350 degrees.
   2.   In a large skillet over medium high, add olive oil. Once the oil runs quickly in the pan, add the onions and 1/2 tsp salt. Saute until the onions are softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, garlic, 2 Tbsp butter, salt, pepper and rosemary. Toss well and saute potatoes until lightly browned, about 7 minutes.

   3.   Once browned, cut remaining 2 Tbsp butter into small pieces and set on top of potatoes. Cover the pan and put it in the oven for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft. Serve potatoes with a sprinkling of fresh parsley or chives.

Enjoy :)

The big 2-1

Last weekend was my 21st birthday, and it was quite a day.  Brady and I were planning on running a 5k in Salt Lake so we were up in Sandy, we decided we didn't want to wake up at 5:45 am and so Brady, my dad and Nick made me breakfast it was great!  Right after that I met up with a girl who I used to work with in Salt lake for another breakfast/lunch then was off to a bridal shower for my dear friend Alex who gets married next month!

After the craziness of the morning and afternoon, evening came and my amazing boyfriend and friends threw me a birthday party.  It was perfect good friends were there, good food and we played volleyball for most of the night.  Which I found out that Lizzi is a champ at playing so hopefully we will get in some tournaments together this summer.

This one is really blurry sorry, I saved it off of facebook!!

My wizard party  hat and hawaiian party necklace

There was a lot of food, we grilled and had treats

Opening presents, I got a FANTASTIC cupcake book from Brooke and Dan, thanks again guys!

Oh don't worry I just got attacked by people who I used to trust....

It really was such a great day.  Thanks again to everyone who was involved!!

Cruisin Baby, Cruisin

For Christmas my wonderul parents decided to give my siblings and I a cruise as our present.  After knowing for sometime now it finally came!!  We went to the Western Caribbean , we got to go for seven days and had four different ports.  We stopped in Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize and Cozumel.  It was incredible!!

As a family we have been fortunate to go on a few cruises before, but when we went there was only six of us.  This time we got to take the new additions to our family, my sister's husband Brendon and brother's wife Kenzie and fortunately my boyfriend Brady.

We were going, going, going every single day.  On the ship there were activites going non stop.  We could go to shows that were dancers, singers, comedians and magicians.  We could do kareoke, play bingo, go dancing, you name it.  When we weren't on the ship we were snorking, swimming with sting rays, cave tubing, oh and walking along the Mexican highway because we decided to be independent and got lost.  No big deal.

Day 1: 
Relaxing, exploring and enjoying the entertainment on our ship!  The Carnival Valor

Day 2:
Our first stop!  Grand Cayman.  We took a catamaran and our guide took us snorkling then we swam with sting rays

Kenz and Trev snorkling

Sorry Brady this is the best one I could find, it is only covering half of your face, the other ones covered the full face!

Brady told me to do a man face....I don't know what happened...

Will and Kate!  Special :)

Day3:                                                                                                                                                       

Honduras!  We decided to get a tour of the side of the island we were on and then we found a beach to lay out and relax on.  We also went kayaking while we were there

Trev and Kenz

The roomies...maybe it was a bad idea to put those two together??

Bren and Shay

My beautiful  parents Trish and Paul

 

Day4:                                                                                                                                                       

Belize!!  We took a little hike through the jungle, ate termites along the way (seriously though) then went tubing down a cave

After hiking through the jungle for a little bit, our guide shows us a termite nest and asks if any of us want to try one.  Of course we do, and guess what?  They taste MINTY!!  Crazy huh?

It was amazing inside of the cave.  A lot of the rock was sparkly, there was a little waterfall, bats and other cool rock formations.

Also, this night was a VERY epic night.  Nick, Brady, Trev, Kenz, Bren and I decided to go dancing (Shay was sick and I don't know where my parents were...) and after a few minutes Trev and Kenz left leaving Nick, Brady, Bren and I dancing.  Alone.  No one else was on the dance floor.  Soon enough we got some girls to come dance and 3 older couples, it was awesome.  It gets better.  A soul train breaks out.  Then guess who shows up??  My parents!!  And they jump right in there with us and dance the night away.  It seriously was amazing.  Probably one of my favorite nights by far, I love my parents!!

 

Day5:                                                                                                                                                         

Cozumel!  This was Brady's last day, he had to fly from Cancun to get home to his brother's wedding so while my parents, Shay and Brendon went scuba diving, Brady, Trev, Kenz, Nick and I went on our own to find a beach.  Of course we didn't look up any beaches or anything in advance so we decided we would walk and find one.  Bad idea.  We ended up walking along side of a Mexican highway!  Too bad I didnt get any pictures of that.  But after finally deciding to be picked up by a taxi and being scammed we found a beautiful beach/resort.  There were pools, monkeys you could hold, and a lot of water toys.  Again I am regretting not getting pictures more on this day

My parents Shay and Brendon scuba diving

Nick snoozing by the pool after a long day of playing on all of the water toys

Brady and I on the beach.  It was gorgeous

Day 6:                                                                                                                                                       

We spent this whole day reading, laying out, ordering pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris (I do not know how to spell that, so I put it in word and this is how it came out...still looks weird to me though)

Okay now I can't forget about dinner.  Each night you had to dress in business casual outfits.  No shorts, no jeans, no flip flops.  Also, two of the nights are formal nights so we got to get dressed up.  And the food was absolutely AMAZING!  You could order as many appetizers, entrees and desserts as you want.  (trust me we all did)  We also had fantastic waiters, they were so great.

Bren and Shay

Kenz and Trev

Mother and Father

Nick Brady Corinne

Tulip Festival

A little over a week ago Brady and I decided to go to the tulip festival, I had never been, actually I have never heard of it before which is strange since I grew up about 15 minutes away from Thanksgiving Point where the Tulip Festival is held.

Anyway, Brady the talented man that he is, entered in a photo competition at last  year's festival and won!  Woo Brady!  Because he won, he got us in for free this year, and it was absolutely AMAZING.

Bridal Shower with a lot of Cupcakes

Alright this is probably going to be a really long post since I have two recipes that I am putting in here.  I guess I could split them up, but I am too lazy to do two seperate posts and the pictures that I have are together so I will just do one. 

Last night was the bridal shower for my best friend all growing up.  Seriously we have known each other since we were like 5 so it is crazy to see that she is actually getting married.  I am so happy for her and was lucky enough to have the pleasure of baking cupcakes for the party.  I ended up making almost 5 dozen, I couldn't believe how much the batter made.  Good thing though, they were delicous.  If any of you guys know me, you know that I don't like to eat my cupcakes, I don't know why, but I am just not a cake person.  I decided to tried these and they were so yummy!  I am glad there are extra :)

My beautiful friend and her Fiance

Keylime with Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

Of course I got this recipe from Pinterest, the food blog it is from is Baked Perfection.

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons key lime juice
zest of two limes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or paper-line 30 baking cups.

1.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2.  In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, key lime juice and lime zest; mix well. Add the flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick).
3.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Blackberry Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup blackberry filling (seedless blackberry jam or preserves can be substituted)
pinch of salt
6 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

1.  Beat butter and vanilla until creamy. Mix in blackberry filling and salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.  When I added the milk it made it a little soft, so be careful when you add it

Devil's Food Cake with a Surprise Reeses with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

1 package Devil's food cake
Bag of Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

1. Prepare Devil's food cake as directed on box
2. Fill the cupcake tins with cake batter to where the bottom of the tin is covered
3. Add 1 Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cup
4. Cover the Peanut Butter Cup with batter
5. Bake as directed on box

Pictures are not great sorry!

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
generous pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
4 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream the butter, peanut butter, salt, and vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time alternating with the milk until you reach the desired consistency.

Enjoy :)