since everyone who reads this knows what i've been up to since my last post (in early june, yikes!), i'm just going to start fresh from today :) i can't promise my blog to be exciting. to me, it's more of a journal of all the randomness that is my life. it makes me feel like i actually accomplished something when i look through my archives from years ago.

jaren likes homemade rolls and usually uses his moms recipe to make them as often as he can. but it's kind of time consuming for a weekday dinner. *insert my quick fix* winco has these rolls in their freezer section. (i know, weird thing to blog about! but 30 years from now, my grandkids will laugh at all the weird stuff i blog about.)

just spray a pan with pam and place the frozen dough balls in...

spray some wax paper with pam as well and cover...

let them rise 4-5 hours. we usually go to 6 because we like them huge!

then bake them and when they're brown, brush them with some butter. they're plump and taste homemade :)

this next recipe i got from my friend wendy's mom cheryl. hope she doesn't mind me sharing. i will never go back to boxed au gratin potatoes again thanks to her!

ingredients:
5 lbs. potatoes
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 stick butter
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4  tsp. pepper
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 1/2 cups grated cheese

heat oven to 350*. scrub the potatoes, don't peel. cut into 1/8 inch slices.

in a saucepan, heat the cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, garlic and parmesan just until warm and blended. don't boil.

butter the bottom of a pan.

then layer potatoes...

cream mixture...

grated cheese....

repeat layers ending with grated cheese on top. bake for an hour and a half at 350* uncovered.

seriously... nuff said!

new recipe

bbq ranch chicken and chedder pizza roll em' ups
from the picky palate

they were tasty!

oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie

NEW recipe :) here ya go...

Black Angus Cheesy Garlic Bread

my sisters boyfriend got us hooked on this bread and i never remembered to write down the recipe! so last night, i found one online and we HAD to have it with our lasagna!

ingredients:

1 loaf French bread

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup shredded asiago cheese, you could try parmesan

1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

1 bunch green onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, pureed

let me start with this first...

a friend had asked me to sew some ties for her. in exchange, she spoiled me for a week with some of her YUMMY goodies! i got fresh lettuce from her garden, the best chocolate chip cookies ever (seriously!), cake cookies that had rolos and peanut butter in the middle (YUM!) and last night, it was homemade french bread! it was this golden brown soft deliciousness!

back to the recipe... mix it all together in a bowl

spread it on your bread...

 Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes, and place under broiler about 3 minutes longer.

ENJOY!

FOOD!

i'm always on the hunt for a new recipe. here are two i've come across and have made quite frequently since...

hot and sweet drumsticks- the pioneer woman 

i serve it over jasmine rice w/ broccoli and crescent rolls

bacon cheeseburger chicken- kevin and amanda

i also put green onions on top and have it with homemade rolls, cesar salad and a baked potato

recent crafts

picture frame for friends who recently blessed their 4th daughter at church :)

my new kitchen curtains

while camping a few weeks ago, my mom and i discovered the BEST cookie made by the brown butter cookie company in cayucos. when i came home, i just HAD to find the recipe and try my hand at it. no such luck on the exact recipe, so i compiled every recipe i found and used every review suggestion on how to better it and voila! i made them and they rock! the only thing they're missing that the originals had is sea salt.

i found this fleece baby blanket at the 99cent store. i love that place! but the blanket was BLAH! so i crocheted a simple stitch around the edge and appliqued words onto it. (original idea found here) and i love how it turned out!

we made tamales again for a "break the fast" we were having with a group of friends. it's getting to be that time of year soon!

(picture out of order) we recently went down to the LA temple with our ward. have you seen the new re-modeled visitor center? it's AWESOME!

for the break the fast, we also took a dessert. let me introduce you to my new favorite cupcake flavor, CINNABON! here's the recipe for the batter and frosting :) i also tried a new technique when i frosted them. watcha think?

here's what happened to a few cupcakes when i wasn't looking. he had a sand shovel and was scooping them closer to the edge so he could grab them! then he would take off with it!

to me, this is a good craft gone bad. i saw the idea here. and for me, it was much harder than it originally appeared. and i hate how mine turned out :( so good luck to anyone who's going to give this a try!

Boboli Pizza Party

it's been a month since i had the pizza party i "won". what i did was turn it into a competition amongst the guest and we all voted on which pizza we liked best. the flavors were... margherita (w/ DELICIOUS HOMEMADE PESTO), chicken lime cilanto, pepperoni, basil, taco and spicy ham and sausage. they were all soooo good!

it wouldn't have been a proper kathryn party without favors. jaren and i etched on "man cups" for the guys. and they also make smaller ones that we etched for the ladies.

i also made the house hostess an apron for always opening her door to me and my family :)

Boboli/houseparty.com host!

i wish i remember what blog introduced me to houseparty.com, but i don't remember :( and i wish i did so i could tell them thank you for sharing!!

what is houseparty.com?
A House Party™ is thousands of parties across the country, hosted by people like you. Each event is sponsored by a leading brand and focuses on something cool that the sponsor wants its best fans to experience firsthand and share with their friends. As a registered member of House Party you have the opportunity to host a House Party for your friends and family while checking out some kind of new product. If you're selected as a host for a particular House Party, you can use our website to invite your friends and family over for your House Party, share your pictures and videos, and explore thousands of parties being held in homes across the country. Each host for any event receives a Party Package that contains items to help enhance the party for you and your guests – and YES, the Party Package is completely FREE!
*******************************************

so when i went to sign myself up, i immediately "applied" to be a host of the Boboli Beat BBQ Boredom house party. to be honest, i forgot all about it until 6 weeks later i got an email that i was in the running to be a host!! woot woot! they chose a certain amount of people and the first 2000 people that responded and filled out the info, got picked! and again, being honest here, i'm attached to my email! i get alerts on my phone :/ that's sad, i know. but anyways, after freaking out over a crashed website for about 30 minutes, i was finally able to submit my info and got an email a few minutes later that i was chosen!

so what happens next is my party supplies are sent to me and i start my planning. this party is sponsored by Boboli Pizza Crust and they want all the pizzas to be grilled on the bbq. they send coupons to purchase the crust, suggested recipes (not mandatory) and other "goodies" for my guest. kind of like a mini swag bag :) and i got my box today!

here's the enclosed letter...

picture frame magnets for my guest

recipe cards to send home with my guest

my coupons as well as coupons to send home with the guest

flyer with grilling tips

food tent (made me laugh because i had to invite 14 people, and there is no way this would cover all the pizzas)

and lastly, the reusable shopping bags. which i'm obsessed with collecting from nearly every store i go to!

i need to get going on the planning aspects of this! it's only 2 weeks away! i'm lucky enough to have a friend wendy (and her husband mark) who have an amazing house for parties and has offered hers up for this event. so far i know we want to turn it into a competition between our families as to who comes up with the best pizza. any other ideas? please share!

MORE crochet

where i live there is an abundance of oranges! one of the local grocery stores has them on sale right now for 18 cents/lb. so of course every weekend we've been buying 10 lbs and they're gone in a few days. what's the worst thing about oranges? peeling them! i hate getting my hands all juicy with citrus and the rine under my fingernails. gag! last year as i was browsing through the pampered chef catalog i saw a citrus peeler (FOR $1!) and figured i'd try it out. now this may not be a new invention to you, but to me it was and oh my goodness it is fabulous! peeling an orange takes seconds with this handy tool. and no more citrus hands! there's a hook on one side that slices the orange and the curved edge slides between the slices and peels the rine. it's just fabulous!

the weather is warming up :) time to start playing outside! nathan can now climb on and off his horse and will sit on it for hours if we'd let him!

look mom! no hands!

i don't have any new sewing projects to show, just yet. they're in the works though :)

to fill my time when i take a break from my machine, i've been learning to crochet via youtube videos, lol.

here's the video tutorial i followed for this baby hat...

then i tried my hand at a hat for myself, video tutorial found here. and the flower was made via a video tutorial thanks to little birdie secrets :)

it's my new obsession!

FABRIC DONATIONS ROCK!

wednesday when i arrived home from running errands, i saw this box waiting on the porch for me. i thought, hmm, i haven't ordered anything lately, i wonder if it's a fabric donation? SURE ENOUGH IT WAS!
notice who it's from ;) yep, AMY BUTLER DESIGNS! i about fainted! i had no clue this was coming! inside was 4 yards of fabric from her midwest modern collection and they even sent along thread!! i already have my rag quilt "designed" and hope to get working on it this weekend... maybe...hopefully?
then on thursday i got my fabric donation from MODA. now this i knew was coming and was excited to see what they'd sent. the brown stripe pattern on the left is by 3 sisters fabric and is from the aster manor collection. the one on the right i have no clue who it's by! if anyone can help me, that'd be great! i'm having a hard time finding coordinates for it. if you've never seen moda's craft blog... click here.
to end the fabulous 2 days i had, we had a fabulous dinner. a super easy and delicious chicken parmesan. recipe found here at the ducks in a row blog. sorry for the poor presentation. i didn't realize how good it was until i started eating it. and once i tasted it, i knew you just had to have a picture of it's deliciousness! LOL.


and now onto friday, MORE UNEXPECTED FABRIC :) i got another box from MODA. inside was a cute little drawstring bag with a nail file, push pins, 2 patterns, 4 embroidery flosses and a honeybun roll of soiree by lila tueller, which is SO CUTE!
the other surprise box was from MICHAEL MILLER FABRICS! AHHH!! inside was a gift box of fabric/ribbon/patterns and book from their first sight collection, which i love and have used before. and also 20 fat quarters of browns, blues and greys. these are going to be great to donate to the silent auction! by the way, have you ever checked out their blog? it's fabulous with many great tutorials!

if you're wondering why i'm getting fabric donations... my husband (jaren) and i are part of a relay for life team this year. our team consist mainly of highschool students, but my friend is the team leader, so that's why we joined her team. well part of being on a team is committing to fundraise $100+/each member that gets donated to the american cancer society. for teenage students, this is a little hard. so they came up with the idea to have a spaghetti dinner/talent show/silent auction to raise money. i wanted to do my part and thought i could donate a few rag quilts to the silent auction. so i sent a letter to many of my favorite fabric designers/distributors asking for 3 yards of any fabric they could donate and voila! and as you see, they've donated more than just 3 yards :)
and remember this post 8 MONTHS AGO about fabric i won through strawberry patches? my main goal for the fabric was to make something to donate to the Ronald McDonald House in my area. unfortuantly i started babysitting for a friend, had a dreadful move, then holidays, and havn't had the time (i know, lame excuse) to volunteer at the house. so i wasn't quit sure what i could make that would be of use to them. so i've been hanging onto the fabric waiting for my chance to use it. well, that's all about to change and i think i came up with a great project. hope to share it with you all very shortly!