Death by Chocolate Brownie Cake

I am the designated dessert maker for people's birthdays at my work.  I really enjoy this role, because it allows me to express my creativity in baking by exploring new recipes that I would never just make for myself and my husband.  Our founder's wife turned 70 this week and to celebrate she requested something chocolate.  I found this recipe on pinterest and it sounded perfect for the occasion.  (original recipe here)  It was simple enough to make but does take time to bake the cake first and wait for it to cool before baking the brownie layer in the same pan.

Ingredients:

-Devil's Food chocolate cake mix
-Brownie mix
-2 cans of chocolate frosting (I chose fudge)
-5 eggs for the mixes
- Vegetable oil
-12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Mix the cake mix and bake as directed for two 8 inch greased round pans.  Let cool 10 minutes in pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
2. Mix the brownie mix and pour in one 8 inch greased round pan.  Bake as directed.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes before attempting to remove.  It is best to try to loosen the brownie with a spatuala underneath the layer before dumping it out of the pan.  (Unfortunately mine fell completely apart but it was still hot and I pieced it back together)
3. Place one of the 8 inch round cakes on a platter and ice it completely.  Then sprinkle that layer with chocolate chips. 
4. Next place the brownie layer on that layer and repeat the icing and chocolate chip step.
5. Lastly, place the second cake layer on top of the iced brownie layer and completely ice the cake.  Sprinkle chocolate chips all over the top and on the sides.  I had trouble getting the side chocolate chips to stay on the brownie layer so just let some fall off around the edges.

my crumbly brownie layer

the brownie layer was slightly larger due to the crumbling
but anything can be covered with enough frosting

Death by Chocolate Brownie Cake

**Warning- this cake is VERY rich so cut your slices small especially if you are serving it with ice cream.  Also, it might induce a chocolate coma.**

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

This dish is my mother-in-law's (one of the best Southern-style cooks out there) recipe that is a staple at our house.  It makes a lot, keeps for days in the fridge, and is scrumptious even for the picky eaters.  In fact, my husband thinks it is much better the next day when it has set up overnight in the fridge. 

Ingredients:

-Rotisserie chicken
-2 boxes of wild rice (Rice-a-roni brand works great)
-8 oz bag of shredded cheese (Colby Jack or Cheddar)
-Can of cream of chicken soup
-8 oz sour cream (I used reduced fat because you can't taste the difference)
-8 oz can of sliced water chesnuts (in the Oriental section of the grocery store)
-Half of an onion (or substitute onion flakes)
-3 stalks of celery finely minced
-2 tbs butter

Directions:

1. Prepare rice as directed on box.
2. While rice is cooking, begin tearing off chicken and dicing it up.  I use about half of the full rotisserie chicken.  Place in large mixing bowl.  Turn your oven on to preheat at 350 degrees.
3. Chop your onion, celery stalks (fairly small pieces for the picky eaters), and water chesnuts and saute them with the butter.
4. Once rice has finished cooking, mix it in with the chopped chicken, sauteed onions, celery, and water chesnuts.  Next add the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and most of the cheese.  Save a little for the topping.
5. Grease a 9x13 glass pyrex dish and pour the mixture in it.  Smooth the mixture out and sprinkle the leftover cheese on top.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 15-20 minutes more to let the top crisp up a little.  Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy :)

mix it all up

looks appetizing I know :)

the edges should be a little crispy

You can serve with a nice salad or whatever you have in your fridge already,
in my case, potatoe casserole and baked beans

Wild Week

This week was just crazy!  My little sister started her first week teaching kindergarten at a local school so I decided to make her a pinterest-inspired "Teacher Survival Kit."  We hung out with Bryce and Hayley on Sunday so I gave it to her then.  She loved it, and told me she ate the whole bag of lifesavers her first day! 

All the essentials for a new teacher

 

 

That night Brian and I went on a date to Polo Grill at Utica.  It was so lovely and the best groupon I've ever bought.  We both ordered the New York Strip, and it was delish!  Seriously, so yummy and fabulous atmosphere.  I am already thinking of excuses to go back to Polo Grill :)

good thing we worked out Sunday

the best caesar salad ever

adorable after dinner cookies

date night

finished the night with a mocha and a walk around Utica Square

Monday night I got to have a sushi filled girls night with Tiffany and Kirsten at Fuji's.  I got the Hung roll and created my own roll filled with shrimp tempura, cream cheese, and jalepenos.  Definitely recommend going to Fuji's if you have never been!

After sushi and a quick stop at the nail salon, I came home to make my coworker's birthday treat. She wanted cream cheese swirled brownies which took longer to bake than expected, but were tasty and worth the wait.

We have been working on inventory at work for our fiscal year end so these brownies were perfect for a short birthday celebration break.  We have all been getting to work early squirrelly and staying late so TGIF :)

Wednesday night I helped a friend go through her closet and toss the clothes that she didn't wear anymore.  Sometimes it's so hard to get rid of something that you might wear sometime, right??  Wrong, if you didn't wear it this past year, its probably time to make room for an article of clothing you definitely will wear.  We had a good time getting rid of older clothes and remembering the last time it was worn in college or before :)  Plus, Bear got to come over as well and visit his pal Rory and go to Chickfila with me!

Thursday night I ended up staying late at work and then running by Sam's to get some essentials before my inlaws come to town.  Can you tell from my shopping cart that we like our energy drinks?  Ridiculous I know!

That's it for my crazy, busy week!  If only my weekend was going to slow down... Nope, don't think so!  Happy Friday!

Neon Nike Running Outfit

I am just starting to get back into running outside now that the temperatures have cooled off a little bit.  I recently bought some similar Nike capris like this and love them!  They are perfect for the transition from Summer to Autumn.  Plus, the neon colors are so in right now.  I'm loving this outfit and wishing it was in my closet :)

A few of my favorite things

Another blogger I follow recently did a post on some of her favorite things so I decided to follow her lead.  Some of these items are very generic and don't have any particular brand, but being a marketing major in college made me very aware of branding and the importance of brand loyalty.  So here are some products/brands that I love and want to share with you!

My favorite scent no matter the season

I love Yankee Candles!  They burn clean, give off a wonderful fragrance, and last for a long time.  They are the premier candles and priced as so.  I always wait to get these candles at the outlet store where you can get a "bundled" price.  If you walk into my house, you will spot one in almost every room!

I stop by Panera at least once a week for this obsession

Panera coffee beats Starbucks any day in my book.  I opt for the normal drip coffee and doctor it with cinnamon, half & half, sweet n low and nutmeg when they have it in the winter months.  And if you ask for it, they will let you put a shot of their pumpkin flavoring in the autumnal months which makes it pure heaven in a cup for only $2.00.

Physician's Formula Healthy Wear Powder

I recently discovered this powder at my local CVS and have only good things to say about it.  We took a trip to the Illinois River last month and floated all day long.  I put on my powder as usual which has 50 SPF.  I forgot to put on sunscreen on my face and didn't remember until around 2:00 pm after we had floated for about 4 hours.  Even with putting on sunscreen and re-applying it all over my body, I still managed to burn everywhere except my face!  My powder was protecting me from face wrinkles that even the sunscreen didn't protect from :)

I can't get enough of colorful lights

I love holidays, and in particular, I love holiday lights.  I have them for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and of course my favorite is Christmas lights.  They just get you in the Christmas spirit when you start to see them in neighborhoods.  As kids, we would always go look at Christmas lights after Christmas Eve Communion.  Some of the other cousins or my siblings would be ready to go eat, but I loved looking at all the colorful light displays.


Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins.. the list goes on & on

Speaking of holidays, one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is my mom's pumpkin pies.  My love for anything and everything pumpkin started at an early age when I asked to have pumpkin pie for my 13th scavenger hunt birthday in November instead of a birthday cake.  Going to the pumpkin patch has become a tradition in my little family.  I make Brian take a ton of pictures with me and the pumpkins.

From last year's trip to the pumpkin patch

I love 80s music!  I don't really know where this love even came from since I didn't grow up listening to it.  My mom & dad never listened to it either.  I don't know how they went through that decade and missed all the good music: Journey, Duran Duran, Toto, the Police, the Cars, Steve Winwood, Rick Springfield, Pat Benatar, The Outfield, and tons more.

Favorite movie/book ever!

Gone With The Wind, such an epic, classic movie filmed in the greatest year in Hollywood, 1939.  Other hits such as The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Beau Geste, Goodbye Mr. Chips, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach were all vying for academy awards that year.  GWTW swept them with Best Picture, Best Director (Victor Fleming), Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), and Best Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel).  I know Katie Scarlett O'Hara isn't the best role model, but I have always admired her strength and determination in tough situations.  Plus, how can an Irish girl not love this movie?  I even made Brian take me to the GWTW museum in Branson, Missouri.  It was so fun to see actual props from the movie.

The museum curator actually painted this replica of the original movie poster

Well those are just a few of my favorite things... Thanks for reading!

Acura MDX

Last Friday my husband sat me down for some bad news.  Our good ol' Lexus ES 300 had a bad report at the car repair shop.  The decision needed to be made to invest in a new car or put more money into the Lexus with no guarantee on how much longer it would last.  So we decided to start the hunt for a new vehicle since the Lexus had 166,000 miles on it (RIP Lexus).  We looked at multiple options: Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot, Lexus RX350, Ford Edge, and the Acura MDX.  The Acura MDX was the most appealing to both of us because of the optional 3rd of seating/storage room.  After some deliberation and my husband calculating different formulas on all of our options, we decided on a 2010 MDX.  We couldn't be happier with it :)

Looking shiny at the dealership

Looking better in our driveway

Side view

Inside front seat

Looking towards the back of the car

Driver side gizmos

Ignore the workout gear.  It was the first night we had time to take pictures of it.

Ready to go workout

Brian and our new Acura MDX

We feel so blessed to have been able to pay off all my student loans and get a new car this year because of Brian's new job!  God is so good and really does provide for His children!

Philipians 4:19-20
^"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen."

Blessed

It seems like life has just been so crazy this summer.  Enjoyable, but so crazy busy!  In all of this, I just feel God's blessings in my life.  He has been so faithful to us.  Brian is loving his new job and is super busy.  I have such wonderful family (on both sides) that we love to spend time with.  We have great friends, a lovely house, and a fun-loving, crazy dog!  Not to mention, even though it is very hot right now, Autumn is on the way!  I love Autumn and cannot wait for the leaves to fall, the smell of a crackling fire and pumpkin candles, and drinking hot apple cider :)  But back to Summer.. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately.

Hop on Pop.  Bear's new favorite game.. He likes to do this to Aunt Hayley too.

Yes, we are the crazy people that take our dog to doggie daycare, and we love it!

They gave Bear a birthday party and made him special treats.

VCA sent Bear home with pictures from the day, doggie treats, and a new collar & leash!

All his friends were there... We love our doggie daycare!

I made a cake for my boss' 47th wedding anniversary

Red velvet with cream cheese icing roses

Celebrated Scarlett's birthday.  Love this girl! Sad that my picture is so dark

Homemade strawberry cake with cream cheese whipped icing that didn't hold the strawberries on very well.  They definitely slid around on the cake before the party started

It's a Baby Shower!

Last weekend we celebrated the upcoming birth of Stephanie's little girl (we won't know her name until she arrives).  We had a brunch themed shower at 10:30 am with lots of delicious breakfast treats at her mother's lovely home.  Lindsay and I spent the whole week getting ready by making decorations and shopping for food and presents.  It was so good to get to spend quality time with one of my best friends while preparing to shower another of our best friends with love :)

Diaper wreath for baby Huene's door to match the nursery

Huene girl banner & baby Huene baby food jars on the mantle

Dot streamers to add to the fun

Lindsay & my specialty- homemade cinnamon rolls!  Plus a gorgeous cake made by the soon to be aunt Catherine.  And my crazy "bouquet" inspired by Pinterest

Breakfast casserole, bacon spinach quiche, pigs in a blanket, donut strawberry creme puff skewers

Lindsay made cute signs for all of the food

Banana bread muffins, more cinnamon rolls.. We only made 65 lol

Drink station and fresh fruit parfaits

The Fab Four! Love these girls!

Guess the baby food game.  Janna was loving it :)

Lauren was just so cute with baby Amelia

Present time

Awkward pose with the mother to be, but still a cute pic!

tons of presents to welcome baby Huene!

All the girls from our Kalos wing at ORU

Abby & Ty have a pretty cute lil baby :)