Chocolate Bundles

Here is both an easy and delicious dessert all in one! I made these the other night when we were craving something sweet, but I didn't want to pull out the Kitchen Aid. It calls for you to make chocolate sauce...I didn't make any and it was still really good. The bundles are REALLY good the next morning with hot chocolate or even by themselves at room temperature.

For the bundles:
1 frozen puff pastery sheet, thawed
chocolate chips, or chocolate candy of your choice
sweetened whip cream
strawberries for garnish
egg and a splash of milk (to make an egg wash)

For the chocolate sauce:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

Let the sheet of puff pastery thaw according to the instructions on the box. Carefully unfold the sheet. Cut it into four equal squares. Brush the entire surface of each pastry square with egg wash. In the center of each pastry square, place a small amount of chocolate chips. Pull the corners of each square up around the chocolate, and twist the top of the dough clockwise to complete the "bundle." Brush the exteriors of the chocolate bundles with more egg wash.

For the chocolate sauce:
In a small saucepan bring the heavy cream to a boil. Place the chocolate pieces in a bowl and pour hot cream over the top. Whisk until the sauce is smooth.

Puddle the chocolate sauce on each plate and place a bundle on top. Top with whipped cream and additional chocolate sauce, if desired. Serve the bundles garnished with strawberry slices.

Blog Tag

I was tagged by Tyan to tell 6 non-important/unusual things about myself, so here ya go:

1. I just recently blogged about THIS , but my new found hobby/creative outlet is making home made greeting cards. It's really fun. I have a hard time getting myself to cut the really cute paper. I'd rather just frame it or something and put it on my wall. I probably spend more time just looking at the paper rather than cutting it and making it into something. It's just too pretty:)
2. I have two different colored eyes. It's true. One has more blue in it than the other one. My dad calls me brown-eye-blue-eye girl.

3. I have a slight lisp when I talk. I was made fun of this A LOT when I was younger so I am really self concious about it...so I don't really know why I am telling you. moving on...

4. Any deep body of water freaks me out. I don't like knowing what is underneath me, but I REALLY don't like NOT knowing. There could be fish, whales, sunken ships...squid the size of a bus!! Don't get me started. I don't even like thinking about it.

5. One day I am going to open a little bakery. The treats will be delicious. I already have some recipes that I am going to use. Cookies, cakes, truffles...all kinds of yummies.

6. I don't really like talking on the phone. I don't prefer the awkward pauses and such. I would much rather talk to you face to face. Or even through email or blog comments! :):)

I tag Mandy, Julia and Paris!

The rules:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6) Let the fun begin!

Greeting Cards Anyone??

I love cards! One of my most favorite pass times is card shopping. I don't even have to buy anything. I just love to read all the quirky poems and laugh at the dry humor. I have been known to spend 30 minutes on the card isle at the store, laughing out loud to myself. It's true.

So, a few weeks ago at a church activity, us women were taught how to make homemade greeting cards. I loved it! All it takes is a little creativity and patience and Ta Da!...A card. But not just a card, it's a card that love and carful thought went into. Even better! So, this inspired me to make cards on my own and it looked like a fun hobby I could aquire, because I have zero hobbies. I quickly realized I was lacking material to make these cards of mine, so naturally I ventured my way over to Hobby Lobby this afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were having a 30% off sale off all scrapbooking supplies. Nice. Ryan sent me in there with a 30 dollar limit and that pretty much bought me the basics of what I needed. I easily could have spent 200 dollars, so Ryan, you are welcome. :)

Here are some of the cards I have made. They are really simple, but the paper is so cute I didn't want to froof it up too much. (Froof is a word right?)

This Problem of mine...

Getting to school is hard enough with all of the traffic, but what makes it even harder when I finally do arrive to this home away from home, is finding a parking spot. Have you ever seen that commercial where the cars are playing "musical chairs" but with parking spots? And the last two cars zoom around and only one gets the spot. This is how I feel every single day! Anyone that goes to a university, or anywhere with horrible parking for that matter, probably can understand the frustration that is mine. It's rediculous. In the picture provided, I indicate where I normally park when I arrive to prison, I mean, school. Most of the time I can find a parking spot within the circle, if I'm lucky. I must tell you it takes great skill. I will share with you the skill that is required in order for one to get a parking spot within this zone. The following must take place:
1. One must arrive at least 15 minutes early to school. A must!
2. It is key to position you and your car at the end of a row. This ensures that one can see the entire row and every single car in the row. Be aware of your surroundings. There are other drivers out there that want a spot too. This is a competition.
3. One must have eagle eyes. These are to watch for the swarm of students that will scurry to their vehicles at 10, 20, 30 and 50 minutes after the hour. These are the times that most classes are let out. Carfully planning to arrive in the parking lot at these times will help you find a parking spot because these people are leaving, freeing up precious parking space.
4. As you sit in your vehicle at the end of the row, watch carfully for a person digging in their pocket, bag, or purse. This is an indicator that they are getting out their keys! You now have your target.
5. Immediately begin following this person...slowing creeping behind them. This is a signal to all of the other irritated parking-spot-finders that you claim this person.
6. Once you have identified the vehicle that this person is walking towards and at the first sign of them unlocking the car door, IMMEDIATELY turn on your blinker! Claim your spot! THAT IS YOUR SPOT! You cannot take a chance of someone claiming that spot for themselves!!
7. Pull into parking space. Have a moment of silence. You did it!

These Rules can help anyone find a parking spot. It will not guarentee a spot, but it sure will raise the odds. So, the next time you are playing "musical chairs" in a parking lot...use these tactics.

Weekend in Tyler

This weekend Ryan and I went to Tyler with our good friends, Jared and Tyan. We had such a great time! While the boys went to a gun show (sooo macho) us girlies got our hair done. We chopped it! I was definately needing a change. Check out Tyan's new do HERE. So cute!

Tell me what you think!And this is Mocha. I love her and she loves me....but not as much as she loves food...I'll never win.

Aside from our beautiful make-overs, we ate some AWESOME food i.e chicken, the best ribs in the world, fudge, and cake. I feel like I need to fast for the next year, we stuffed ourselves! We made some great friends and can't wait to go back again:)

A Day of LOVE

Oh Valentine's Day, how I love thee...let me count the ways.

Well, Ryan and I had a fun day of LOVE. (Everyone say AWWW! Okay, all together now..."AWWW!" Very good.) I will spare you the ooey gooey romanitical details, but I will share with you the highlights of our day...

It's not very often that I make breakfast. Firstly, I'm not so big on breakfast. Don't get me wrong, I love breakfast foods, just not at the time breakfast is normally eaten. Secondly, I don't do mornings. If you so much as breath the wrong way around me withing 30 minutes of me being awakened from my slumber, fully expect a look from H E double hockey sticks and a wrath of death to come upon you. Ryan usually gets up and leaves the house before my body has even entertained the thought of coming out of hibernation. So the poor guy has to either cook something on his own or resort to the trusty ol' bowl of cereal. Hold the milk, please. So, this morning, to begin Ryan's day off right, I summond some energy from within and made him a scrumptios breakfast (with a Valentine's Day twist, of course) that was waiting for him when he got home from his 7:45 a.m. class. (I give him mad props for going to school that early. yes, he is one of "those"...a morning person.)

Okay, so the one and only thing that Ryan requested from me for Valentine's Day was a Terry's Chocolate Orange. Simple enough right? WRONG! He told me this only a few days before Valentine's day, so in order to fulfill my husband's wishes, I jump onto Amazon.com and search for this delicious treat. I find it, but I can't buy just one. I have to buy six at a time! So, I try to justify this in my head, like we can give them away for gifts, and Easter IS coming up in like a month so I could put one in Ryan's Easter Basket (which by the way, since WHEN was it okay to have Easter in the month of March??? It's just not right...), and I could eat one myself, MMM Thanks. So, I convince myself that 6 orange chocolate balls for less than 20 bucks is a good buy. But here is the kicker... I have to pay almost 30 dollars in shipping in order to get it here by Valentine's Day! UGH! Okay call me crazy, because I know you will, but I bought them. And Ryan loves me 6 chocolate balls more than he did yesterday. :):) Now do not even get me started on the nutrition of these balls of death...yeah, they are SO bad for you. In one ball of death there is, drumroll please.... 1150 CALORIES. 550 of those calories are fat calories. No, I did not type that wrong. So, multiply by 6 and you have 6900 calories and 3300 calories of fat...hense, ball of death. I want to barf just thinking about it.Ryan, bought me a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers. I LOVE flowers!!! They make me happy inside. I think one day, when we have a yard, I will plant a flower garden. That way I can be happy inside at all times:) My favorite flower is the Hydrenga, ahh so pretty. Roxie thought the flowers were pretty, too. Thanks, Ry! I love you!We both had school all day. And none of our professors felt the need to have a Valentine's party so that we could give our fellow students cheezy valentine's. I wish I could zap myself back to second grade so I could do that again. But to make my day even more special, Ryan strategically hid cards for me all throughout the day. One was in my car so I would see it before I went to school. And he stuck one underneath my placemat so I would find it when we ate dinner. ah yes, DINNER! Instead of fighting the awful dinner crowds, especially in a college town, we opted to cook dinner together. It was fun:) We grilled some yummy steaks on the grill, had asparagus and a baked potato to go along with it. Delicious. We had a great day, how about you??!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Need to laugh? We have the answer...

Feel a need to laugh your hinney off? Well you are in luck, my friend. Ryan and I insist you go HERE right this second. Stop whatever you are doing and do yourself a favor.

Chocolate Truffles

Tonight at church we were taught how to make truffles! They looked like the one's in the picture shown. MMMM. I have to say they were quite delicious...Ryan is lucky I came home with some...i was tempted to eat them all. Here is how to make them...really easy! And the variations are endless, just use your imagination.

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1 Pound Semi-sweet Chocolate- Chopped or Chips

1 Pound Melted Chocolate Bark

1/4 Pound Melted Vanilla Bark

In double boiler, heat whipping cream until just before boing point. Quickly add the pound of semi-sweet chocolate, stirring until it is completely smooth. Put into a small dish and cover. Place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours (yeah yeah i know...you have to be patient).

When chocolate is chilled, remove from fridge and scoop chocolate with a melon baller, rounding them with your hands (they don't have to be perfect), and place on parchment paper. Try not to handle them too much because they will start to melt very quickly. Dip each ball in melted chocolate, completely coating in chocolate. Let harden. Then drizzle melted vanilla bark over truffle. Ta Da!...melt in your mouth goodness.

Variation: I want to try this, I love the orange/chocolate combination. Add just a teaspoon or so of orange extract to the cream and semi-sweet chocolate mixture and then at the end garnish with orange zest. sounds so good! If you try it let me know how it turns out.

Cheap Entertainment

19 and Ohhhhhh No!

The Giants beat the Patriots...must have been because of our hardcore game faces....These were the predicted scores...too bad we didn't know it was permenant marker until it was too late. Just kidding you silly goose. It's dry erase marker. Had you worried though, huh?