Have a great weekend :)

Adam came home for lunch today, like usual. He was at the stove and I was looking at his head of hair and made the comment "Are you going to get a haircut this weekend?" He said "Why do you say that?" and I replied with "Cause your neck looks a little WT...." He then said "Thanks babe..." and I knew he was thinking "That was a bitchy comment" so I took this picture to prove it.

Point made... happy weekend!!!!!
XOXO

It's totally awesome having a dog

For all you dog owners, I am sure you will agree with this post. Having a dog makes you feel so cool... you know why? Because:

1)They follow you around everywhere you go

2) If you are in a place they can't get to (ex: for me it's the laundry room) they cry until you come back- because they hate not being with you

3) They always choose a place to sleep that is as close to you as possible (under my chair when I am working)

4) They just love you so much and get so excited to see you EVERYTIME you enter the room

Summary: Tyson thinks I am God.

Here is a video we took of him a few days ago.

Thanks to EpagaFoto!

I am so excited because our wedding was just blogged about on EpagaFoto! I love Jessica Roark's blog anyways, so it is awesome that we are up there.

Here is her blog if anyone is interested: www.epagafoto.blogspot.com It is an excellent blog to follow, as well- just makes you happy, espeically for those of you that are making plans to be hitched!

As Brittany would say: Happy Hump Day! (JK BB)

I'm basically Julia Childs

Ok ya'll. So, this post might come as a surprise to most (if not all) of you. Since Adam and I got married, I have been on a cooking/baking kick. It is pretty much non-stop and I REALLY enjoy it! My specialty are cookies and I have made all types, so thought I would share the wealth of knowledge I have gained and share some of my favorites!

Sidenote: Adam LOVES cookies- I call him cookie monster because he will eat 10 at a time in one sitting and them complain how his stomach hurts. Me on the other hand, love the dough. Typically I don't even try the finished product because I am stuffed from eating the dough. So Adam and I make a great cookie-team.

1) I LOVE boxed cake mix- like you buy from the grocery store. As a kid, I would sneak a box of cake mix out of the pantry and just eat spoonful after spoonful of it. I literally could not get enough of the goodness. I was absolutely thrilled when I found a recipe for cookies that uses cake mix! Who would have thought?! They are super easy to make and this is the one cookie recipe I may have eaten more of than Adam.

Cake Mix Cookies
1 package vanilla flavored cake mix
2 egg yolks
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Beat egg yolks and margarine together until well blended. Stir in vanilla. Gradually add cake mix while beating with an electric mixer. Mixture should be stiff. If it is sticky to the touch, refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Form teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 11 minutes.

**With this recipe, you can use any flavor of mix you want. I think next time, I might try strawberry**

2)Honest-to-God the Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies EVER!!!!! I have been working on this recipe over some-time. The first time I made these, was in Dallas when I lived with Elizabeth. Literally (not lying) her, Adam, and anyone else that tried them said they were the BEST cookies they had ever eaten. I think this is probably Adam's favorite.... I would suggest baking these after a long fight when you know it is your fault, or just to brighten some one's day- because you will be queen for a day with a couple dozen of these suckers... now, like I said, I have experimented with these over the past few years and think this is the best I can make them... hold on... have to figure out where I wrote it down. Be right back.. K found it, on the back on the KSU football schedule. LOL.

Honest-to-God Best Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies EVER

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3 cups oats

1 cup Choc. Chips

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together the butter, brown and white sugar until smooth. Beat in one egg at a time then add vanilla. Combine separately, Flour, Baking soda, salt and add slowly to cream mixture. Mix in the oats and choc. chips and bake for 12 mins.

3)Pretty Dang good basic Choc. Chip cookies. I just made these this week for the first time. I have been searching for quite a while on just a great, basic choc. chip recipe. I feel like whenever I bake choc. chip cookies, they just turn out fine, not great. These were pretty fabulous and would recommend them!

Pretty Dang Good Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies:

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

These have been my favorite cookies baked so far. Other thing I have baked are:

• Cinnamon Rolls- from scratch... they were a flop due to the altitude, I think... need to adjust this somehow... made homemade icing with these, though, that was the BOMB :)
• Butter Cookies
• Brown Sugar Cookies
• Buttermilk Biscuits (which I was forced to do because I didn't want the Buttermilk Adam bought to go to waste)
• Vanilla Brownies
• Coconut Cookies

On to Cooking:

Well, since I have done so much baking, I have also started to experience my culinary side and make some main dishes as well. I have really surprised myself! For those of you that know me, before marriage- I NEVER cooked, I mean NEVER and didn't think I enjoyed it. Well, I have proven myself wrong.

I am not going to list out all the recipes that I have made, but please email me if you are interested (emilyagriffin@gmail.com) in making any of these and I will email you the recipe.

• Chicken Enchiladas- Recipe from Nichole Yocum... AMAZING. I have cooked these a few times. Once just for Adam and I and the other time when Adam's friends were in town. Big Hit! Just as good as restaurant and super easy and fun to make
• Chicken Linguine- Recipe from Liz Ruck. Very Yummy! I have made it with Chicken and with no meat at all, just broccoli and tomatoes.
• Awesome/easy Chicken and Rice with some veggies all baked together in the oven
  
• Another Enchilada Recipe... Spinach, Mushroom and Cheese enchiladas. The more you cook, the better understanding you have of what goes together, what temperature and how long to cook things, etc. I made this recipe up as I went along so I am very proud of these :) simple and absolutely mouth-watering. I am planning on making them again this week and just made these on Sunday for Adam and Phil Mann. Here is this recipe:
  

Spinach, Mushroom, and Cheese Enchiladas. This will make about 10ish

A lot of spinach (probably at least 2 boxes full or 2 heads, depending how you buy it) A lot of mushrooms (at least 8oz.), maybe about 1 half onion, 4 garlic cloves (minced). Cream cheese, sour cream, enchilada sauce (I used green chilie sauce cause they were out of this at the grocery store), Jack shredded cheese and mexican cheese. Oh! And Tortillas of course... the 6 inch ones

Preheat to 350 degrees. Take a 9 x 13 pan and cover the bottom of it with the enchilada sauce and put aside. Put a little olive oil in a pan with the garlic and onion. Get that goin. Next, put in mushrooms to start cooking (few mins )and then add the spinach. I added some taco seasoning to this mixture, I think it won't matter either way. Lastly, Add the cream cheese (about the whole block) and a dallup of sour cream. Mix all together. Get your tortillas ready. Put some of the mixture on the tortilla, cover the mixture with the Jack cheese, roll and place in pan. Continue until mixture is gone and you have your enchiladas all lined up. Cover the enchiladas with enchilada sauce, so there is a layer on the bottom and over the top of them. Put lots of shredded mexican cheese blend and jack cheese on top and stick in over for 20-25 mins. Serve!

A post dedicated to Adam Griffin

Adam just cracks me up sometimes. As you all know, he can be pretty hilarious at times, especially when he is in the limelight with some good friends surrounding him. I think what makes me laugh the most is when he is NOT trying to be funny. It is amazing the things that women/wives just "know" that seem to be commonsense, but that boys just don't know. I have a few quick stories I think you all can get a kick out of. Love you Adam!

• Adam was running to the grocery store to pick up a few things and I asked him to buy me some milk while he was there... he returns with Buttermilk in hand and claims he thought is was the same thing. Thanks Babe!
• Tyson went #2 on the floor the other day, I was getting ready to jump in the shower, so Adam gladly says he will pick it up. We have 2 trashcans in the house (one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom) and one bathroom (which I am in ). He cleans it up and heads out the door to work. After my shower I start pondering where Adam threw the poo away if I was using the bathroom.... no way would he have thrown it in the kitchen trash- would he?? So, when Adam gets home for lunch I ask him "Did you throw Tyson's poo in the kitchen trash?!" he relies with "you caught me..." All I have to say is SICK.
• This next one is from a convo we had last week about how screwed we would be if I got pregnant. Not because we couldn 't handle it, but because we have no money and would definitely need to move to a larger house. That lead into a conversation about how fun it would be to have twins... we both agree that this would be awesome and already have twin boy names picked out. ANYWAYS, this leads to the Adam Griffin quote of the week "I would rather have twins now, then wait and have one later" (talking about the trade-off in life... if that makes sense).

XOXO

OMG It's too hot to say hi (stolen title from The Future Mrs. Wassinger's Blog)

Hello everyone! I got a bit of a laugh from Erica's post on her AC breaking in her house (www.planningforthenextbigthing.blogspot.com) because I can't rememeber the last time our temperature in the house was in the 70's.

In Denver, most people don't have AC because the weather is so temperate. If you can make it through the few really hot weeks in the summer, then why waste the money on installing an AC unit? Yesterday, it was 87 degrees when we went to bed and 82 when we woke up. I have officially become accustomed to this type of sleeping condition, although 87 was a little TOO hot if I do say so myself. Next summer, Adam and I will be investing in some more fans and possibly a few window units to cool us down. Honest to God, if it is in the 70's in our house, I get cold now :) isn't that crazy? I am very sad/glad Ashley Payson has not visited yet. Sad, because I miss her, but glad because she has an extremely sensitive temperature zone and would not be a happy camper in this heat!

Toodles!

Need to clear the air

Adam and I want to formally apologize to our friends and family for the recent news article released in the Kansas City area. We were experimenting and learned our lesson. We feel it is very important to clear the air and let you all know we are extremely sorry for any emotional damage this has done to our relationship.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1392318.html