Go Big Red

Did you know there is a limit to how many pictures you can upload to a blog?? Well there is... and apparently I am at that limit. So if any of you have suggestions about what to do about this, pleaseeee enlighten me. So now you know why I have been silent for the past 2 months. 

I managed to get 3 little pictures uploaded.. after trying multiple times over the past few weeks, for some reason it decided it would let me this time. psh who know's. Again... I am open to suggestions, advice or any little tid bits of info you'd like to give me. 

In other news...For my birthday, Andrew took me to my first husker home game! I'm a big football fan, so it was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

A fun time was had by all. I mean, how could you not have fun?? I don't even remember the score, but the huskers won... a whole lot, to very little. It was such a fun birthday surprise!

Life has been so very busy-- irrigation season has gone later than planned because of this unusually warm November and December weather we've been having. So Andrew's schedule has been very full, and I have been working a couple days a week as well. We are looking forward to heading south in a couple weeks for Christmas. I hope you are all having a wonderfully, blessed Christmas season! :)

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

Fall=pumpkin EVERYTHING! A couple weeks ago, I used this pumpkin bread recipe to make a batch of yummmy of fall flavored bread. To enhance the flavor, I made a cinnamon cream cheese glaze to go on top. It was delicious. I don't have mini loaf pans, so the bread was a bit thick for something so decadent and flavorful. I thought it might be fun to try making them as muffins. So I started playing around. The result? These little cream cheese filled pumpkin muffins. My husband was ALL over them. He absolutely loved them... so I'd say they're a hit. :)

For the original bread recipe click here. Below is my recipe, with the substitutions and additions I made. As I previously stated in my chicken fried quinoa recipe, I do a lot of cooking by taste. So when you see a ** next to something.. just know the amount may need to be more or less depending on how yours tastes. :)

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 cup Sorghum
2-3 tablespoons Agave nectar**
2 eggs
1-1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 heaping teaspoon group cloves
1/2 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Cream Cheese Filling

1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1/4 cup agave nectar **
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon**

-*IN ADVANCED* Prepare cream cheese filling by mixing ingredients together and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pan with cupcake liners.

-In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sorghum, agave, and eggs. 

-In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. 

-Stir flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. 

-Using cookie scoops, spoon enough of the batter to thinly cover the bottom of the cupcake liner. Put a dollop of the cream cheese filling, then cover with remaining dough in scoop.

-Bake in preheated oven for 20-24 minutes.

Fall Fun

One of my favorite fall memories as a child was doing pumpkin carvings. Carving pumpkins is always looked at as a way of celebrating halloween by putting scary faces and such on it. But it doesn't HAVE to be that way. You can carve whatever you want onto a pumpkins! And in my opinion... they look much better without the faces. :) It came to my attention that my husband had never carved a pumpkin before, since it has always a favorite memory of mine, I wanted to share it with my favorite person! :)

Our first pumpkin we made said "Huskers."

Finished Husker pumpkins! 

We had so much fun doing the first pumpkin... we decided to do 2 more! :)

All ready to be traced! 

Andrew was a pro by the time we got to the last pumpkin! 

Tracing the design

Our handy dandy carving tools! 

After Andrew traced it, I cut it out...

...while he moved on to the next pumpkin! Since we did a husker pumpkin, we thought it was only appropriate to do a Gator one as well. :)

We did this one a little differently, because it it was so detailed, and it would be hard to get it to stay together cut out.

We traced it completely with a knife so that we could take off the top layer.

Finished! :)

That night we put a candle in it. Turned out pretty sweet, huh??! :)

Happy Fall Y'all! :)

English Lesson

Happiness (verb): being married to your best friend. 

My beloved is mine,

and I am his.

Song of Solomon 2:16

Chicken Fried Quinoa

Quinoa has been become our newest must have of the summer... Andrew loves to eat it for breakfast, and we've had it cooked several different ways. The cool thing about quinoa is, although it is a grain, it is the only grain that is a complete protein! And if you know my husband {or have just looked at him, for that matter} you know that he likes to get as much protein as he can possibly out of a meal. So, I started searching Pinterest for some recipes that used quinoa. I found this one and instantly wanted to try it, because we both are big fans of fried rice. Weeellll I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I am really bad about that, but i did use it as a great base! For the original recipe {which I am sure is to die for} click the link above ^^ or ...just click this one. >>> Original Recipe. 

Here's what I did. Take my measurements with a grain of salt... I didn't measure anything, so I'm just estimating the amount that I used. If you feel it needs more, add more, if you feel like it's too much, put less! :)

Ingredients:

1 cup Quinoa

2 cups Chicken broth (I used low sodium)

1/2 package of frozen peas and carrots

1/2 a medium size onion, chopped

2 eggs, fried with popped yoke, and chopped

Coconut Oil

2 cups cooked chicken breast

1 cup low sodium Teriyaki sauce, divided

2 tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon ginger

Directions:

-Start by chopping up your chicken breast into bite size pieces. Add chicken, 1/4 cup your teriyaki sauce and ginger to a bowl and set aside to marinade. {you can skip the marinading and just put all of that in a pan to cook if time is limited}

-Add quinoa and chicken broth to a pan, cook as package directs.

-If you haven't started cooking your chicken yet, now would be a good time to start it.
-Chop onion and add to a non-stick pan or wok with 2 or so teaspoons of coconut oil. Add the frozen veggies. Cook until thawed and warmed through
-Add cooked quinoa, fried eggs, remaining teriyaki sauce, and soy sauce. {feel free to add more sauce if you think it needs more... remember I didn't actually measure it. ;)}
-At this point I usually create a little whole in the middle of all the quinoa so I can see the bottom of the pan, and I add more coconut oil... it is called *fried* rice, you know. There's probably an easier way of doing this, but I don't feel like dirtying another pan, or taking all the stuff out! :)

-Mix it all together, then add the cooked chicken.

-Let it cook/fry for 5-7 minutes or until you feel like it's done. 

-Plate it and serve. Eat with chop sticks or, if you're a wimp, a fork. 

Mmmm-mmm! 

This has become one of our favorite meals. Andrew loves it.. and it is super easy. I just love making it! It does make a lot though, so make sure you are using a big enough pan or you're going to make a big mess! :)

Florida

I realized the other day that Andrew and I have not taken a single trip to Florida since we have been married 'just because.' We have taken many trips, but they always have been tied to an event or special occasion. We've never gone solely for the purpose of having a vacation....until now. :) 

We had a WONDERFUL and very relaxing week at home. Our days were mostly spent enjoying the beautiful Florida sunshine, spending time with family, and catching up with friends. I personally loved getting to spend every day with my husband... it's not very often that I get to do that. :)

We flew in late friday night. Traditionally, my dad takes me to Starbucks first before going home. But since it was closed by the time we got in, we had to wait until Saturday morning. This is what was awaiting us when we walked in the door from the Starbucks crew. :)

We spent a day over at the beach. Andrew and my brother, Bryce, had a lot of fun taking the paddle boards into the ocean and surfing. They waves were too big for me to even consider trying it... so I sat on the beach and watched the boys. And played frisbee with friends. 

Don't know what a paddle board is?? Well here's the answer to your question! These beautiful things are paddle boards. They are very similar to a surf board, but are longer so you can stand on them and balance. 

Like so... 

My dog is awesome. Like seriously, awesome. Yes, she really will sit on the front of the board and ride around like a happy little puppy. She loves it! I love watching people on boats and jet-skis do double takes, and people on shore point as we paddled by. My dog really is the greatest dog ever. :)

Andrew and I went on a mini trip across lake butler one day.

My genius dad put his iHome speaker system in that little yellow bag with my iPod attached to it. So as we paddled, we could also listen to music! So cool! 

It was hottttttt! So we randomly took breaks in the middle of the lake and thanks to a waterproof digital camera, we could document our trip, even from the water! Technology these days... what will they think of next?

We paddled all the way across the lake to an island just off the opposite shore called, Bird Island. It has a sand bottom almost 20 ft out because of all the boats and people that come there. 

Another break

Many evenings were spent out on the dock with our lines in the water. There's just something relaxing about fishing. 

A summer storm coming across the lake.

"But I trust in Your unfailing love my heart rejoices in Your salvation.

 I will sing the Lord's praise, for He has been good to me."

Psalm 13:5-6

Oh hi.

I have a blog? I forgot. My bad. :)

Our summer has been so full and busy, I just haven't had time to sit down and blog about it. Let seee... since I last blogged, we went out of town for work at least 5 more times, I went to Florida, attended 4 weddings in one months time, was the 2nd shooter at two of those weddings, drove from Florida to Nebraska with my grandparents, with a stop stop in Birmingham, AL to see my cousin and her husband, went to Virginia and met my littlest niece for the first time and helped pack up Dan and Bethany's house, drove cross-country from Virginia to Nebraska, had my family in Nebraska for 10 days over the 4th of July, as well as having ALL of Andrew's family together in Nebraska for the first time in a very long time (lots of fun times together)... went out of town for work again, traveled to the Lake Itasca Music Festival with Andrew's family, and now, we are spending some time down in Florida with my family. Whew.. I told you we've been busy! Plus, Andrew has been putting in 40+ ours a weeks (since this is his slow season ha!) while also working on school, AND putting in 10-15 hours a weeks going out and checking my family's farms. Luckily, I get to go with him for those hours. :)

Here's a few pictures from the summer...

On our flight from Omaha to Washington DC.

We flew in to DC at night. Dan and Bethany picked us up, took us out to dinner, then took us on a mini tour around the capital. It was SO pretty at night! 

We brought Dan and Bethany HOME to Nebraska. Everyone was thrilled to have them back for a few weeks. :)

This little girl was never lacking for attention. :) 

 The last of the 4 weddings in June. Rachel was such a radiant bride! 

 Such a sweet moment.

 Mr. and Mrs. Alan Busenitz.

 My family. <3 p="p">

 Dan and his brother's played in the 3 on 3 tournament on the 4th of July. They played awesome and were so much fun to watch. They ended up taking 2nd. 

 Andrew participated in the strong man competition again this year. The last even was a bus pull, which he pulled 28 ft. What a beast :)

My brother was in the pie eating contest again this year to try and defend his title Pie eating Champion! He won his preliminary round, but fell short in the final. Next year... 

Singing on the 4th. 

My in-laws were honored as the grand marshals of the parade.

Precious little Arianna was worn out after such a full day. 

 Shooting skeet with my family.

Love that guy! <3 p="p">

 We went out to Chances R one night.

And went on a tour of the University of Nebraska Athletic complex. Which was totally awesome. Here, we are standing in the media room, where all the post game interviews take place.

Andrew headed out in the corn field to work on a pivot. 

 Oh, there is never too many pictures of this little cutie! :)

 Last weekend we were in Minnesota at the Lake Itasca Music festival. Look for details from the weekend on the family blog.

There you go... a Super summarized version of the past few months... I could write TONS more... but there are places to go and people to see. Stay tuned for an update from time this week in Florida. :)