Feast and be Satisfied

New Blog Name!

I have been stewing over this one - I just didn't like the original name I had. I figured with a fresh start to blogging I could use a fresh name!

As I was thinking about a name that would encompass all I wanted to accomplish here, I was really stuck. Then I stumbled upon this verse in Psalms:

"My soul will feast and be satisfied,
and I will sing glad songs of praise to you.
As I lie in bed, I remember you;
all night long I think of you,
because you have always been my help.
In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
I cling to you,
and your hand keeps me safe."
~Psalm 63: 5-7

It was perfect.


My soul will feast and be satisfied.

In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

Your hand keeps me safe.

Reflect on that today.
<3 Amanda

Hello Old Friend

It's been a while blog world - it's nice to be back.

Life has been crazy busy...and that is no excuse. I've really missed writing and reading some of my friends' blogs has recently made me want to jump back into the blogging atmosphere. I can't promise any sort of commitment - but I will try to be more present here.

I'm honestly not sure where summer went this year. It's practically 2014! We have had some gorgeous Fall weather lately that makes it a little easier to say goodbye to summer.

I had a fantastic trip to North Carolina in September to visit Michelle. It was a much needed break from reality and just an overall fantastic, crazy, hilarious time! There was no shortage of good food that weekend either. From Food Truck Friday to Burgushi at Cowfish to amazing fish tacos - I was one happy camper.

Last week, Mitch and I celebrated 3 years together by going to a cooking class at Sur la Table. The theme was a Taste of Thailand. It was super fun and not like anything I had ever done before. I cooked and ate mussels for the first time and they were surprisingly delicious. We also made a fresh papaya salad with a delicious dressing made with a mortar and pestle. It was so crisp and delicious - I would definitely make that again.

I finally got out my fall decorations last night and now it really feels like Fall in my apartment. I'm excited to embrace this season. Let's just hold off on Winter for now ;)

Until next time 

~Amanda

To do this Week

Hello!! I'm feeling pretty alive at the moment (not sure where that came from). I went to the Brewer game last night (they won! yay!) and I was up until almost 11:30pm. That may not seem too bad, but that's late for me!

I couldn't get up this morning. It's a good thing I didn't have class, I slept until 10:30.. that's the latest I've slept in a long time! Anyway, so I'm posting my goals even though it's Wednesday. Deal with it. ;)

My goals from the last week or so:

Personal:
-Cook at least 3 times this week
-Find my sister a birthday present
-Find time to read a book just for fun
-Learn how to cut hair - Mitchell is going to be my guinea pig ;)  (I did it, it was very difficult, but I think it will go better next time. On the upside, it looked pretty good!)

Financial:
-Clip coupons and deal hunt for grocery shopping this week
-Organize my coupons - cuz they be a mess!
-Finish Budget for June (eh... kinda)
-Go to bank
-Pay WE Energies
-Finalize info for Car
-Call Insurance company
-Figure out benefits/insurance for new job

Blog:
-Blog twice this week (Fail.)

School:
-Read book review book and complete presentation
-International Finance presentation & Homework
-Study for and dominate Managerial Econ Exam  (Didn't quite dominate.. more studying next time!)

Home:
-Clean Living Room and Dining Room
-Keep my room organized

My Goals for THIS week:

Personal:
-Make Dr. Appointment
-Reserve a U-Haul for moving
-Make a meal plan for next week
-Research benefits for work

School:
-RSVP to Honors Ceremony
-International business project
-Scholars Final Paper
-Mgmt. company portfolio

Financial:
-Clip coupons/plan shopping list
-Set up credit card payment
-Finalize budget with new expenses

Home:
-Clean the bathroom
-Keep my room organized

Blog:
Pizza post from two weeks ago now...

Happy Wednesday and Good luck with your goals! :)

Birthdays and stuff

This past week has been busy busy busy! With school wrapping up, I'm loaded with stuff to do.

I got my new car last week! It was an exciting, nervous, frustrating, happy, amazing time! Pretty much all emotions wrapped up in this whole experience. But it feels so amazing to drive something that it is all my own (and the fact that I'm not afraid it's going to fall apart is nice too)!

My little sister turned two last week also. So I went home for her birthday party over the weekend. She has quite an attitude, so in about 10 years or so... Watch out world! We spent the day trying to get a good picture of her, but she purposely frowns if she knows you're trying. Hence the following pictures. The only semi-good ones I got were while distracting her with my phone while the camera was faced towards her.

It was also Mitchell's dads birthday on Saturday, so we stopped at his house for dinner on the way home. He made ham. I love when he makes ham. Best ham I have ever had! It was a good time, until I was forced to play wrestling with Mitchell's little cousin. She has two older brothers who wrestle and she like to pretend like them. It's so cute! She brought out all these wrestling guys and an arena thing. I'm not good at playing wrestling. That is all.

This week is looking up so far, I'm going to a brewers game tomorrow- first of the season for me! Class on Wednesday morning is optional - so I'm obviously not going. And I have no major projects did this week! Holla!

Happy Monday!

To Do this week

Hello!

I realize it's Wednesday, and it's partly through the week already, however, I'm still going to post my goals for the week. Better late than never, right?

If it's any consolation, I did make the list on Monday with every intention of posting, but I got caught up studying for an exam. An exam that I didn't realize I had until the day before... guess I should show up at my night class more often. But let's be honest, it's SO boring.

This week is busy, exciting, stressful, and so much more and honestly I'm just looking forward to getting it over with. I'm (hopefully) getting my car on Saturday which is very exciting. I can stop driving Mitchell's gas guzzler to work. But, I'm a little nervous about it. It's such a large purchase and although I've done the math and I know I can afford it with my job, but I'm still nervous.. so any prayers would be appreciated! :)

My Goals from last week a couple weeks ago:

Personal:

-Cook a real dinner at least 3 times this week (Honestly, I don't remember...)

-Read the daily verses from church everyday

-Apartment showing Friday at 2pm (I need to find a place to live by June 1st) *I found a place!!!!*

-Read some of my new books over break! (Money Saving Mom's Budget, Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey!, and Redeeming Love) **Completely finished Pick Another Checkout Lane, Honey! and it was a really great couponing book, I really learned a LOT! Got through 3 chapters of Money Saving Mom's Budget**

Financial:

-Pay WE Energies bill

-Do not go out to eat at all this week

-Create a budget for June 1st - after graduation (It's in progress.. planning on completing tonight!!)

-Clip coupons and check for deals (Grocery shopping this week)

Blog:

-Blog at least twice (one - cupcakes!)

School:

-Group paper for Friday

-SPRING BREAK is next week!!

-Do some reading over break

-Try to get a good start on my paper

-Start reading my book review book before it's too late

Home:

-Keep organized

-Deep clean my room over break (I cleaned, just not deeply...)

-Clean the bathroom

-Start going through my stuff in the basement (See my previous post, but I got rid of so much stuff!!)

My goals for THIS week:

Personal:

-Cook at least 3 times this week

-Find my sister a birthday present

-Find time to read a book just for fun

-Learn how to cut hair - Mitchell is going to be my guinea pig ;)

Financial:

-Clip coupons and deal hunt for grocery shopping this week

-Organize my coupons - cuz they be a mess!

-Finish Budget for June

-Go to bank

-Pay WE Energies

-Finalize info for Car

-Call Insurance company

-Figure out benefits/insurance for new job

Blog:

-Blog twice this week

School:

-Read book review book and complete presentation

-International Finance presentation & Homework

-Study for and dominate Managerial Econ Exam

Home:

-Clean Living Room and Dining Room

-Keep my room organized

Good luck on your goals this week! :)

Not Goals and Other Random Happenings

So I realize that I didn't post this week's goals... oh well. That seems to be my attitude for a lot of things lately. Oh. Well. Graduation is in 48 days (Someone else counted, not me.)! I can't believe it!

To fill you in on what happened in the last week:
-It was Spring Break, I didn't go anywhere. (Except back home, for a funeral)
-I worked most of the week.
-Some good things did happen though!
#1: I officially signed for my full time position after Graduation! I'm a big girl now! So excited!
#2: I found an apartment that I love and I applied for it, AND I was approved! I just got the lease in the mail yesterday, and I'm sending it back this week! Oh Happy Day!
-My car sucks even more. Check this picture out (and yes, that is a pool of water):

-I was productive on Friday and went through all my stuff in my room and the basement and I donated 2 boxes, a bag, and other random shaped items to Goodwill. I also threw away a bag or so of trash, and I'm organized now and I've moved from 3 stuffed bins and other random bags, to only 2 semi-filled bins and a few other random things. Success!

-I got my hair cut - and it was the haircut from Hell... seriously I looked worse coming out than I did going in. Luckily it was fixable and I'm somewhat still happy with the way it turned out. Needless to say, I am looking for a new hair salon!

Overall, I would say it was a pretty good Spring Break. Saturday morning, Mitchell and I watched the Pioneer Woman's show on the Food Network. It was the first time I actually remembered to tune in. It was wonderful! She made eggs benedict and it made Mitchell and I very hungry, so.... off to the store we went and picked up some ingredients!

It was the first time I had ever poached an egg, and it went surprisingly well. Ree had a great tip on her show, and it was actually very simple! The breakfast was pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.

I would love to stay and chat, but the oven is beeping. Goat cheese and Canadian Bacon stuffed Chicken  breasts! Divine! Oh and by the way, I de-ribbed the breasts myself... pretty proud ;)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I spent my St. Patrick's Day lounging around and I loved it! I didn't go out nor am I planning on it. (I did wear a green Packers shirt though.)

I spent over half the day on the couch, watching HGTV for hours, and sleeping on and off. But then, I realized it was super nice outside and I couldn't waste the day just sitting inside. So, Mitchell and I went for a walk for a while.

Then, I made these:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Chocolate Ganache filling and Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

These are amazing! I've been seeing recipes for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, but I'm not a fan of beer. And I wasn't sure how I would like beer in cupcakes. So, I decided to make my own version. I started with seriously the best chocolate cupcake I think I've ever had. Then I added a chocolate ganache filling and buttercream frosting both spiked with Mint Chocolate Baileys.

Chocolate Ganache. Sounds scary. Honestly, I really had no idea what it was or how to make it, but after making this according to the recipe - it's not that hard at all. You should try it.

Look at that beauty!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Chocolate Ganache filling and Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake Recipe from Cupcakes Take the Cake

Cupcake Ingredients:

½ stick Butter, room temperature

½ c. + 2T. Sugar

1 Egg, room temperature

3/8 (or ¼ +2 T.) C. Flour

½ t. Baking Powder

1/8 t. Salt

1/4 C. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

* You always hear people say this, but truly, using the best cocoa powder you can afford makes a world of difference...

1/4 C. Whole Milk

1/2 t. Vanilla

Yield: 6-7 cupcakes

Method: Preheat oven to 375 degrees, then turn it down to 350 just prior to baking

1. Beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is soft, then add sugar. Beat about 3 minutes.

2. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until they are well combined.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk them to incorporate them.

4. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and beat it just to combine. Add 1/2 of the liquids (milk & vanilla), scrape down bowl and beat to combine. Continue adding the dry and wet ingredients alternately making sure you END WITH THE DRY.

5. Fill muffin tins 2/3's of the way and bake for about 20-22 minutes. Allow to cool, then frost.

For the Bailey’s ganache filling:

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 T. + 2 t. cup heavy cream

1/2 tbsp. butter, at room temperature

1 ½ tsp. Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Irish cream

To make the ganache filling, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate.  Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave (15-20 seconds).  Add the butter and Bailey’s and stir until combined.

Set aside to let the ganache cool until it is thick enough to be piped.  (You can use the refrigerator to speed the cooling process, but be sure to stir every 10 minutes or so to ensure even cooling.)  Meanwhile, cut out a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method (a small paring knife works best for this).  Once the ganache has reached the correct consistency, transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe it into the cupcakes.

For the Bailey’s buttercream frosting:

5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 ½ tbsp. Bailey’s Mint Chocolate Irish cream

To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Gradually add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.  Mix in the Bailey’s until smooth.  Add more if necessary until the frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading.  Frost the cupcakes as desired.

*Ganache/Frosting recipes adapted from Annie's Eats