Cook for the Cure

Melissa, a good friend of mine from church, passed along the Cook for the Cure plate to me last Sunday. If you were like me and have not heard of this before, let me tell you how it works: 1. Fill the cute plate with one of your yummy culinary creations. 2. Pass the plate and yummy creation to a friend or loved one. 3. Register the plate online at CookfortheCure.com/PassthePlate. 4. Have your friend or loved one repeat steps 1-3. Each time someone passes the plate and registers it online, KitchenAid donates $5 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Is that not an AWESOME, AMAZING, WONDERFUL (and any other fabulous word you can think of) idea?!?

Here is the plate of baked goodness that Melissa gave to me.
And here is the plate of deliciousness (hopefully!) that I'm passing along to one of my best friends, Saradee, who loves to bake!
First of all, I know I need to work on my "Bake it Pretty" skills. Now for the 2nd most important information in this blog: the RECIPE.

Pretzel Turtles or a.k.a. Turtles for Ta-tas (ha!)
(found at allrecipes.com, but I adapted it)

Pkg of Dove Chocolate Caramel Candies
Pkg of White Chocolate Chips
Small amount of Crisco
Pkg of Snyder's 'Snaps' Pretzels
Pkg of Pecan halves
Red Food Coloring (optional)(Don't mind Edward. He likes to watch me bake. HA!)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Place pretzels on cookie sheet.
3. Unwrap Dove candies, and place one on each pretzel.4. Put in oven, and cook for 3 minutes.
5. Take out of oven, and gently press a pecan half on each chocolate.6. Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
7. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave (I used a cup for about 35 pieces of candy) with a tiny bit of Crisco in 30 second intervals until all melted.
8. If you wish, add a tiny bit of red food coloring, and drizzle over turtles. (I put the icing in a plastic baggie, and cut a small hole in the corner to make it easier to drizzle.)
9. Chill in the refrigerator until the icing cools and hardens.
10. Enjoy and share with friends and loved ones!

Runza for Robertsons

A friend of mine posted a blog a few weeks ago that included a recipe for Runza casserole (You can read about it here.) It sounded yummy (and after reading it, it sounded super easy to make, too), so I decided to cook it for our little family. What a great decision because it was super delicious! Thanks, Deanna, for sharing so that my family could enjoy it, AND so that I could pass it along to family and friends! (Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it already, Chad got me a new camera for our anniversary--doesn't it make the casserole look mouth-watering?!

Layered goodness waiting to be baked.

Covered in crescent rolls, and headed to the oven...
Finished product. Y.U.M.M.Y.

And here is the recipe:

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef

1/2 head of cabbage

1 can cream of mushroom soup

2 cans crescent rolls

1 cup shredded cheese

1.Preheat oven to 400.
2.Brown beef and drain.
3.Chop cabbage and add to ground beef; cook until cabbage is tender, add salt & pepper (and I always season with garlic salt, too).
4.Add cream of mushroom soup.
5.Press one can of crescent rolls into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
6.Spread beef mixture on top of the rolls.
7.Sprinkle cheese on top and top with other can of crescent rolls.
8.Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Chad, Chalin, and I did!

Chalin's Summer Favorites

Here are just a few of Chalin's favorite things to do this summer.

1. Stickers! Notice all the stickers on his shirt?

2. The Pool--whether it is being thrown in the air, jumping off the diving board, or just plain swimming...he loves it all!

3. Popsicles--need any other explanation?

4. Playing in the sand!

5. Pretend Play--dressing up as a firefighter, construction worker, cowboy, or better yet, all 3 at the same time!

6. Being tickled...especially by Daddy!

7. Park--firetruck, swings, slides, and anything else at the park!

8. T-ball--hitting, running the bases, throwing and catching the ball with all of his new t-ball stuff! Can you even imagine how happy Chad is?!

What are your sweet kiddos enjoying this summer?

7th Anniversary FUN

Chad and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on June 14, 2010. We started out by going to a local winery off of HWY 9. Neither one of us had ever been to one before, so we thought we would try it out. I'm glad we did, because it was a nice, fun experience.

(*please ignore my super shiny forehead.)

Then, we went to eat dinner at Yamato's Sushi Steak House. The food was super yummy! After that, we decided to go to Hey Day. It was SO much fun! Chad finally persuaded me to play laser tag, and I really enjoyed it, although we were the only non-teenagers in there. Chad and I got split up, and the young-ins on my team wanted to know, "Who is that OLD guy? He is really good!" They were obviously talking about Chad--I couldn't decide if the statement was hilarious or a little sad that they considered us "old people." HOWEVER, they only mentioned Chad being the old guy....so, I'm still young! :) After laser tag, we played miniature golf--oh, and just so I don't have to hear about this later, yes, Chad won at laser tag and miniature golf...

Next, we played a few games of Deal or No Deal. Here is a picture of Chad sitting down to play. I believe he won like 6 tickets or something. Haha.

...and here is me posing with my 100, yes 100 tickets that I won on Deal or No Deal.

Here we are posing with our Peach Wine-A-Rita that we made.
Happy 7 years, Chad. I love you!

Happy Father's Day!

Here are just a few pictures from Father's Day. Chalin loves his Daddy and all of his "grandpas" so much, and we are very blessed to have all of them in our lives.

Chalin working hard on making gifts for Grandpa John, Grandpa Jeff, and Pops.

Swimming with Daddy and Ducky in his new life jacket.

Two of my favorite boys sharing a sweet moment

Daddy teaching Chalin how to swim...he is the best teacher!

Super SCARY for Mommy=Super FUN for Daddy & Chalin

Chalin got Daddy some t-ball stuff for Father's Day so they can start practicing.

Super tired boy after a fun filled Father's Day.

I know it's a little late, but Happy Father's Day to all of the amazing fathers in our lives. We love and appreciate every thing that you do for us.