Our First Christmas Cards

Things are going to be a little busy during December so I decided it would probably be good to get a jump on Christmas cards. As a former designer, you know I couldn't just order one from shutterfly and give up all of my creative power. So I designed my own tonight.

We had photos made after we enjoyed Thanksgiving with my family (Thanks, Mom!) and so we used two photos from that "photo shoot" at the pond in their neighborhood, and one from our wedding day. I LOVE the pictures from our photo shoot, especially the one with Zoe. :) And I dropped them into a cute layout I made, printed them from snapfish, and voila -- For $0.48 each, our Christmas cards are ready (the ones I liked on shutterfly were $1.69 each)!

Well, as soon as they get to the house...

Merry Christmas from the Guin's -- It's our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs.! 


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She Cooks: Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

On Sunday we celebrated my Mom's birthday and fixed lunch. We served a crock pot ham with a brown sugar glaze and pineapple bits, garlic mashed potatoes and bacon-wrapped green beans.

The bacon-wrapped green beans were a hit. My Mom originally wasn't going to try them because she thought they were asparagus, but then she tried them and liked them. Sam LOVED them So much so that he has mentioned it THREE times at least how much he loves them and wants them again, and on Thanksgiving.

Ready to broil!



I originally heard about these babies while listening to WayFM on the way to work. A mom had called in and said it was the only way she could get her son to eat vegetables. So I got online and found a recipe on Pinterest, but altered it a little because the salt overpowered the sauce. So here is my version:

1 pound fresh green beans
5-6 slices of bacon
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash and dry and snap the ends off of the green beans.
3. Grab a handful of beans (7-10) and lay them on a strip of bacon (this worked best for me lying the bacon on my hand, putting the stack of beans in the middle and rolling the bacon around it)
4. Place the bundle seam side down on a broiler pan and repeat until all the beans and bacon are gone
5. Melt the butter in a sauce pan on the stove. Add brown sugar and garlic powder and mix together until well combined.
6. Remove sauce from heat and using a basting brush, brush over the bacon and green beans.
7. Cover the pan of green bean bundles with aluminum foil and roast in the oven for 35 minutes.
8. Remove the foil and roast for another 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is nice and crisp.

Crocheted Boot Cuffs/ Boot Toppers

I was on Pinterest (probably during the last debate) and saw these suuuuper cute boot cuffs:

I found a link to an easy store where they were $30. Um riiiight. So I decided to make my own and I want to share the pattern with you -- it's quick and easy and you could make them in all colors!

[This is my in-progress boot cuff, still had 1/3 of the way to go but had to share it! That's why it's flaring out on the front -- it's not sewn shut yet!]



I used Lion Brand Yarn, Nature's Choice organic cotton because it's soft and fluffy. I like thicker yarns for these. The off white color is called almond. My crochet hook was a size K.

SC=single crochet, CH=chain, TC=treble crochet, SL=slip stich

So here we go:

Chain 11
SC in second chain from the hook and remaining, total 10 SC. Ch 1, turn
SC next two rows for 10, then CH 1 and turn
----This is three rows of SC----
TC one row, CH 1 and turn
*SC three rows, CH 1 at the end of each row and turn
TC one row, CH 1 at the end and turn*
Repeat ** until you have appropriate width for your calf (I ended up with 7 total rows of TC)
Once it's wide enough, cut yarn about 12" tail, SL the first stitch, and using a large needle, sew the two edge together.

Voila! Boot warmers! And because the stitched are so wide, this project goes FAST!



This was in the car on the way back from the UT Bama game with white yarn, not the organic fluffy cotton. :) Had to practice with something! 

Super Easy Shrimp

Tonight we tried a quick and easy recipe from Pinterest to cook shrimp at home! It was VERY good, but next time we will get bigger shrimp and more of them. After we both finished eating the shrimp, peas and fries (random) we were both still hungry :)

I think these shrimp would be GREAT served over linguine with the remainder of the butter sauce dumped on the noodles -- just like at Red Lobster.



To make it -- get a bag of shrimp (uncooked), melt a stick of butter, dump a packet of italian seasoning in the melted butter, and add the juice of a lemon (or 1 1/2 TBSP of ReaLemon) and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Very yummy and almost filling -- next time it will be :)

She Cooks: Chocolate Dump Bundt Cake

The original recipe called it "Death by Chocolate" and Sam said to call it "Slap yo momma cake -- because it's so good it makes you wanna slap yo momma". I laughed typing that. No matter what you call it, it's darn good. And I copied the recipe right here for you.




Mix together for 2 minutes (I used my pink KitchenAid Stand Mixer because EVERYTHING tastes better when you use a pink mixer):

• 1 box of yellow cake mix
• 1 box of vanilla instant pudding
• 1 box of chocolate instant pudding
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup of oil
• 1 cup of sour cream (all of an 8oz tub, I used lite sour cream)
• half a 12 oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

Pour half the batter in a bunt pan

Then pour half of the remaining chocolate chips in (I made a layer of chocolate chunks between the two pours into the pan)

Pour in the rest of the batter and sprinkle on remaining chocolate chips. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes exactly. I used a dark non-stick bunt pan (from my MIL, thanks Kim!) that was AWESOME and none of the cake stuck to it when I dropped it out. BUT I did let it cool for about 7 minutes before dropping it out.

It smelled wonderful and is super moist and fluffy and delicious. Sam said he would call it "surprising because the outside is chewy but the center is gooey -- it's quite a delicious contrast, if you will."

Yes, he said that. And I laughed at him. Bottom line: It's GOOD!

**A maybe tweak for next time - could drizzle a chocolate icing on top of it. Or caramel. 

New Front Door

Since Sam and I had been dating, he had always talked about getting a new front door on the house. He originally was going to buy one from a friend, then once we got married, we get serious about it.

We knew we wanted glass in it, possible storm door, wood color, and pretty. Anything was better than the 1950's door we had though.

We quickly axed the storm door idea because our front door has to swing to the right due to the fact that when you walk in it, you will walk straight into the chimney wall. So the storm door would swing left to lay against the house. And that would be ridiculous. I could see myself being lat for work and getting stuck between the two doors...

I had a door with cut glass in the home I grew up in and LOVED it. Sam thought they were pretty, but not private. We kept looking (and I kept praying we would find one we both liked) and we settled on 3/4 glass with craftsman class.

We went to Lowe's to order it, they sent a guy to measure our door, and he told us we were going to have to replace all of the fluted trim that is around the door and that our opening was a weird size AND That it was going to cost us A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY TO GET SAID DOOR and we didn't love the color. Um, no thanks.

We were referred to a wonderful, Christian-owned company, called Aluma in Chattanooga. We went and picked out a fiberglass door, with the SAME glass, with woodgrain, for 1/4 of what Lowe's was going to charge.

We waited three weeks, picked up the door and got help drilling the holes for the handle and deadbolt that we got at Lowe's with some of our wedding gift cards (thank you!!).

We then bought a gel stain and polyurethane top coat to stain the fiberglass door with wood grain "pattern". It seriously looks just like a real wood door but is more energy efficient. It took two coats of stain to get it the deep brown color we liked, and two coats of gloss, just like a wood door. This took patience and I couldn't wait to get that thing hung!

Then Sam had a friend come help him hang it. And I came home from work to find this beautiful "after"!!!




We LOVE it. The door itself, the hardware is gorgeous and the glass is, too. The only completely clear parts of the glass are the three little squares that are high up. The other parts of the door are "blurry" and you can't hardly make out shapes in them unless it's really dark outside and super bright inside -- but you can't see details. It's perfect.

Next up on the front porch? Bright cushions for those cute rocking chairs you see in the reflection of the new door.

Hallway Wedding Gallery

We got a lot of great wedding gifts (thank you!) and one that I couldn't wait to use was a wall art framing kit from Bed, Bath and Beyond, and a personalized frame with out wedding date on it. We knew we wanted a "gallery" of photos form the wedding in the hallway, so as soon as we got the hi-res copies of the pictures we put them in the frames.

Because we actually laid out the gallery in the floor and hung it about a month ago. :)

> The gallery frame set was from my coworker and work momma, Tina

> The personalized frame in the middle was from George and Patti Cromie (my adopted grandparents) and has a shot from the church balcony after Dad and I reached the alter

> The top photo that spells GUIN was a gift to Sam from his sis, Sarah, way before I came along -- but it fit in perfectly with this! (thanks Sarah!)

> The faith, love and family iron words were from my house and are special to me.

> The architectural elements on each side of the Guin are from Hobby Lobby and cost $3 each -- we needed something to fill up the space with the words. It looked empty and now it doesn't!

> The pictures are some of our favorites:

Top row, L to R - Sam and I right after we walked up the aisle, Sam and I on the firetruck, church shot, Sam and I leaving in the Super Bird, Sam and I acting goofy during pictures

Left of family is me by the stained glass, and right of family is Sam by the stained glass "looking over" to me :)

And the bottom is our WHOLE family and one of my absolute favorite pictures. My parents, grandparents and Sam's parents, grandmothers, brother, and sister, brother-in-law and nephew.

What I really love about this wall is that you see it as soon as you walk in our front door.

Monogrammed Plates

Sam and I have a crazy busy life! Last Monday was our first days back to work, but it was a weird week since he had in-service training every day, so it wasn't "normal". Although I am not sure what normal will be still... but I digress.

Tonight we were able to come home from work and actually cook (he did) and eat together at the table for our first married meal that we cooked from scratch, at home(16 days after our wedding day).



We had cheddar bacon chicken (Kraft, freezer section - think Shake 'n Bake), green beans, and mashed potatoes. :) It was so good! And it was so good to spend time with each other tonight -- it's our only night together until Friday because I am going to Knoxville tomorrow-Thursday, then Thursday he has volunteer fire department.

Check out our AMAZING "every day china" -- we didn't eat off of it, but I just think it's really pretty. :) It's by Legado and only the salad plates are monogrammed. Which happen to be the only plates I bought. The dinner plates are really pretty, though, but very big.




And Zoe hung out on the couch like a good kitty. Or cat. She's huge now. And being good is a rarity for her these days.

She Cooks: Easy Chocolate Ganache Bites

For Mother's Day I made my Mother and Mother-in-Law two-layer chocolate cakes with strawberry filling between the layers, chocolate ganache icing and hand-dipped chocolate strawberries.

Okay, so it hit the side of the cake carrier on the way to my Mom's... but it was delicious!



Well, I had a TON of ganache leftover. So I used it to make these SUPER easy and SUPER yummy raspberry chocolate ganache bites:



Here's how I did it:

1. Make Chocolate Ganache - recipe below
2. Scoop into a ziploc bag, close bag and cut off the bottom corner of the bag
3. Squeeze ganache into mini fillo (phyllo dough) shells - you can find these in the freezer section
4. Place washed raspberry into middle of ganache
5. Store in freezer until one hour before serving time

WARNING: They are sooo yummy. You can't eat just one.

Ganache Recipe  

hands-on time: 5 minutes        total time: 5 hours, 10 minutes 

1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Nestle chocolate chips)
2 cups heavy cream
Pinch kosher salt 

1. Place chocolate in heatproof bowl 

2. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a bare simmer. **NOTE: by bare simmer, it means BARE SIMMER. Once you see baby bubbles, get it off the heat! It will scorch 

3. Pour bare simmering cream over chocolate, add salt, let stand for 2 minutes 

4. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth 

5. Let the frosting cool 4-5 hours, upon cooling, it will harden. 

....and don't you even think about sticking it in the fridge/freezer to speed this step up, it won't work ;) it will become lumpy

First Married Meal

Sam and I have a crazy busy life! Last Monday was our first days back to work, but it was a weird week since he had in-service training every day, so it wasn't "normal". Although I am not sure what normal will be still... but I digress.

Tonight we were able to come home from work and actually cook (he did) and eat together at the table for our first married meal that we cooked from scratch, at home(16 days after our wedding day).



We had cheddar bacon chicken (Kraft, freezer section - think Shake 'n Bake), green beans, and mashed potatoes. :) It was so good! And it was so good to spend time with each other tonight -- it's our only night together until Friday because I am going to Knoxville tomorrow-Thursday, then Thursday he has volunteer fire department.

Check out our AMAZING "every day china" -- we didn't eat off of it, but I just think it's really pretty. :) It's by Legado and only the salad plates are monogrammed. Which happen to be the only plates I bought. The dinner plates are really pretty, though, but very big.




And Zoe hung out on the couch like a good kitty. Or cat. She's huge now. And being good is a rarity for her these days.