Deserts for Everyone!!!

So the past couple weeks there have been several occasions for making some yummy deserts in my new kitchen.  Truffels are one of those deserts that are easy to make and are so easy to package so it is an easy desert to make when you are making something for someone else.   Joe and I were making a gift basket for Julia who helped us get our beautiful new home, so we wanted to add some home made goodies to put in the basket as well.  I made two different truffles, Oreo and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough as well as a Peanut butter Toffee Cookies.

There was also the wonderful opportunity of celebrating Lisa's bachelorette party!  Mallory (Lisa's sister) had ordered a cake for one night but I volunteered to make some deserts for the other night/lunch desert!  I made two of my favorite recipes.  One is a white chocolate peanut butter brownie that is gooey and rich but not too sweet! The other was a simple oreo cheesecake cupcake, because who doesn't love oreos and cheesecakes.  So, with that, below you will find all the recipes!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz. dark chocolate candy coating

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle, form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in microwave according to package directions. Using toothpicks as a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Oreo Truffles

Ingredients:

1 pack Oreos

1 8 oz. pack of cream cheese

12 oz. white chocolate

Directions:

Beat cream cheese.  Blend Oreos and then add cream cheese mixture.  Roll into balls then freeze for 1 hour.  Melt chocolate then dip balls into chocolate.  Allow to cool.

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 to 1 tablespoon milk (add this at the very end just to make dough smooth and creamy)

1 cup Toffee

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Add milk (from 1/2 Tablespoon to 1 Tablespoon just enough to make the dough moist and creamy. Add toffee and mix till just incorporated. If necessary, cover and chill dough about 1 hour or until easy to handle

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Drop cookies by scooping them out of the bowl with a spoon dropping them in small balls onto your greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 36 cookies.

Oreo Cookie Cheesecake Cupcake

Ingredients:

21 Oreos (12 whole, 6 chopped)

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup sour cream

2 8 oz. packs of cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

Salt

Directions:

Line about 15 muffin pans and place full Oreo at the bottom.  Beat cream cheese in a bowl then add sugar and beat until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla then eggs and then add sour cream and salt.  Stir in chopped cookies.  Pour batter into cupcake cups.  Bake for 22 min at 275°F.

White Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies

Ingredients:

2 cups white sugar

1 cup salted butter softened

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

11/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cube cream cheese softened

1 can Eaglebrand sweet condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

6 oz. peanutbutter chips

6 oz. white chocolate chips

Directions:

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Add one egg in at a time. Mix in cocoa, flour and baking powder. Beat until smooth. Mix peanut butter chips (or cut up Reeses) into batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes in a 9 x 13 inch greased pan. Do NOT over bake.   Allow brownies to cool for one hour.  For the frosting beat together the cream cheese, sweet condensed milk and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Mix in white chocolate chips.  Spread on top of the brownies. Sprinkle the remaining reese's, peanut butter chips, or white chocolate chips on top and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Lisa's Bachelorette Weekend!!!

This past week has been quite an exciting week with getting the house unpacked, buying new decorations, settling in, etc. so I was very ready for the weekend to get here.  Lisa, one of my very good friends from college and a fellow Spring Club member, is getting married in October, and the bachelorette weekend that had been planned months ago had finally arrived. With all of the house buying, I was not sure if I would be able to go, but it all worked out perfectly, and Friday evening was the beginning of a fun filled relaxing weekend!

Although what happens at the lake stays at the lake (just kidding) I did want to write up about the fun filled weekend.  I think as the weekend weather forecast came out, we were all expecting the worst! As many of you know, it is pretty much fall weather here in the SE USA and NOT the weather we are use to at this time.  Although normally it is very enjoyable, it is quite cold to go to the lake.  Luckily, we still got some beautiful lake time.

The Pucci's BEAUTIFUL home

Friday was a relaxing evening at the lake getting to know everyone!  It was so good seeing Sarah (Schoeff) Smith at the lake so there was a lot of catching up to do.  It was also great to catch up with Taylor and Kate who had also been on the swim team as well as meet Mallory and Sara (the MOH/sister and Lisa's high school friend).  After getting to the lake, we had an amazing dinner and then took a trip out on the lake with the boat and saw a beautiful sunset.  After getting back for the evening it was relaxation time and we sat by the bonfire and then enjoyed a couple of hours in the hot tun!  We were quite ready for bed and Sarah and I were sharing a room.  Since we had not seen each other in quite a while we stayed up chatting late into the night catching up on our lives!

Fire Pit on the Lake

Piece of Cake Carmel Cake :)

First Boat Trip all bundled up :)

The morning came quick, and we woke up and had an amazing spread of food before heading out on the lake.  Although it wasn't sunny (and at times even rained a bit) we were determined to get some time on the water.  I wasn't going to re-injure my ankle any more than it already is, so I stayed away from the wake boarding, but it was so much fun watching some of the girls stand up on a wake board for the first time!  The water was warm so I did get a swim in with Lisa's doggies.  After some time on the water we headed in and warmed up in the hot tub before eating an amazing lunch prepared by the Pucci family!  After lunch it was raining out so we stayed in and watched a movie/napped before starting to get ready for the evenings festivities!

View while eating Breakfast

Coach Lisa giving lessons!

GTSD :)

 

The Whole Group!

 

After getting all glammed up it was time to take some pictures and open gifts!  Every girl LOVES a lingerie shower and it was so fun watching Lisa open gifts.  After a couple drinks we headed out for dinner at a local restaurant where we all enjoyed some amazing seafood.  While at the restaurant we realized it might be a bit cold in our dresses to stay out in those for the night so we headed back to the house to change before heading out to watch a local band that played.  The bad was amazing and the night was VERY entertaining to say the least!  After getting our fill of entertainment we headed back home for the evening and called it a night shortly after.

Jello Shots!!! Cheers to the Bachelorette

Just hanging out at the downstairs bar :)

All the LOVELY ladies all dressed up :)_

GTSD :)

Sunday (this morning) we ate another amazing breakfast and hung out before it was time to say our goodbyes.  Lisa's mom had made us beautiful gifts to take back with us (YAAAY for more decoration for the new home!) and shortly after we hit the road.  Since I am staying in Raleigh for the week, I took Sarah to the airport and it was so good having company for the trip.  The weekend was exactly what I needed and such a fun girls weekend catching up with old friends, talking weddings and girly stuff, eating way too many deserts, and just having a great time!  This week should be a fun filled week in NC as I slowly make my way back to Atlanta.  This evening will be filled with relaxing (and getting a workout in to work off some of the desert) before hitting the ground running tomorrow morning with a busy schedule!

Skinny Spinach Artichoke Chicken and Whole Wheat Pasta with Homemade Pesto...

So this is the first real meal that I cooked at home and I was very excited about using my new kitchen.  Since Joe is traveling the rest of the week and then I travel at the end of this week to the end of next week, this was the only meal we really had together.  I wanted to try something new so of course I went on Pinterest for inspiration.  I knew we had chicken that had been in the freezer for a while so I figure why not find a Chicken recipe.  I fell in love with the Spinach Artichoke Chicken recipe and was super excited to try it.

While up in Chicago, Marisa had asked if I had ever made pesto, because she loves all of the ingredients in pesto but never found a pesto she liked.  I think homemade pesto taste completely different from store bought pesto and it is so easy to make and modify to your taste!  I am not a huge fan of pine nuts which are found in a lot of pesto's so you will see there aren't any in the recipe I make.  If you want more cheese, just add it!  It is incredibly simple and easy to make.  When I went up to the patio yesterday after the rain I saw our basil was sooooo tall that it was starting to break and fall over so I picked about 5 cups of it (there is still a ton left too!) and decided to make pesto to freeze so that it wouldn't go bad!  With that, the side dish for today's meal was inspired.  I was simply going to make whole wheat orzo and mix in about 3 tbsp. of pesto to have along with the chicken.  I think the pesto complimented the spinach artichoke well and all turned out so well!  So, with that, below is a healthy and light chicken recipe as well as the homemade pesto recipe!

Basil Pesto
Ingredients:
4 medium cloves of garlic
2 cups fresh basil, stems and buds discarded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 shallot, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

Toast the garlic in a small skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until the color of the cloves deepens slightly, about 7 minutes. Transfer garlic to a plate to cool and then peel the cloves and chop coarsely.

Place the basil in a heavy-duty gallon-sized resealable bag. Pound the bag with the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin until all the leaves are lightly bruised. (Bruising the leaves apparently helps to release their oils and intensify their flavor.)

Process the garlic, basil, Parmesan, ricotta, shallot, oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.

The pesto can be covered with plastic wrap pressed flush against its surface and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Yields 1 cup

Spinach Artichoke Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

• olive oil spray
• 8 chicken breasts
• 13.75 oz artichoke hearts packed in water, drained
• 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375º F. Spray baking dish with olive oil nonstick baking spray.
2. Place chicken into baking dish. Salt and pepper chicken and then bake 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients and then pour on top of chicken. Bake 20-25 minutes.
4. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving. 

Closing Day and Moving Weekend!!!!

WOW it has been an exciting couple days.  My whole body is sore (mostly my calves!) but it was all so worth it.  There is still soooo much to get done but all of the furniture is in place thanks to a great group of guys who carried super heavy stuff up to as much as 5 flights of stairs!!!  It seems like all of the heaviest stuff was on the top floor and the patio too :)  But...here is a recap of the weekend as I finally kick my feet up and wait for some cookies to bake (first baking experience in the new kitchen!)

Friday morning started early after a late night of packing.  Since our closing was at Joe's work, I drove him to work and worked from his office.  Since we knew we were closing at 1 we had to get in early to get our work done!  After a couple hours of work, it was finally closing time!  I was under the impression that it would take an hour max, but man was I wrong!  It was so incredibly nice of our mortgage guy to also show up to our closing (Paul Cook!)  I would totally recommend him to anyone looking for a house.  Although Joe did most of the talking with him, I know he was incredibly helpful, and brought us two pies as a congratulations gift!

So, things I learned at closing!  It pays to have a short name because you sign your name a million times! It is also unbelievably awesome to have a fiance that knows so that I didn't have to stress too much about what I was signing!  Last, it is awesome not having a middle initial!  You sign so many pages where you have to write in your  middle initial, but you also initial a million more pages!!! So, for the first time in my life, it was quite significant not having a middle name :)

So, about two and a half hours and hundreds of initials and signatures later, Joe and I were officially home owners!!!

HOME OWNERS!!!!

 After closing we wrapped up work in the next hour or so then it was time to go get the truck and pick up some new furniture.  The majority of what we bought new was coming from ByDesign which is a modern furniture shop that Joe and I fell in love with!  They have an outlet store in Atlanta so it is nice to get stuff at least a bit cheaper!

First car load of many...

After Joe got the furniture, it was time to pack up mine and his car and take a trip down to the house to unload our first boxes!  This trip was all kitchen stuff that was breakable so we wouldn't have to worry about putting it into a truck. Once we got to the house we were so excited we started unpacking and luckily didn't have too many stairs to walk since the kitchen is just up one floor from the garage!  After unpacking the cars, it was time to head home.  We did some more packing then went to bed since I had to be at our place at 8 the next morning.

Told you it was a huge truck!

Bright and early the alarm went off at 7 and it was the big moving day!  We quickly packed my car with all of our hanging clothes (Joe and I both have so many clothes!!!) and then I hit the road with Roxie in my lap since there was no other room!  I now realize we should have just packed the clothes because I had to take so many trips up the stairs with clothes to get them all up in our closet!  It was about 10 AM before I was done with that, and by then I was already exhausted!  In between loads of clothes, I was washing loads of dishes and drying them since most of my kitchen stuff had been packed in boxes for quite some time and was incredibly dusty!  Shortly after I got done with the last dishes and clothes, Joe's mom came with some stuff in her car so we unloaded that.  After that, Joe arrived with Andy Trinkle and Duncan as well as Joe's dad, and the BIG truck that was packed to the fullest!

Rox...not happy while she is waiting on the furniture to arrive!

Thank goodness for all these guys (Matt Trinkle and Andy Olejack also came!) because that allowed me to carry some of the "lighter stuff".  That being said, the drawers full of clothes weren't that light for me :) The first unloaded the truck into the garage then started with furniture and taking it to the right room.  Some of it was quite an adventure with doors having to get taken off and pieces of the furniture getting taken apart but everything is now in its place!  The only thing that had to switch was the office and the guest bedroom since the couch couldn't get into the door of what would have been the office!   It was quite a work out since most of the stuff from the truck was going to the third/fourth/rooftop floors so you can only imagine how tiring it was!

Derby Pie from and flowers from the DiDias!!!

We took a break around 2 or so to eat BBQ that Joe's dad had made the two days before!  Joe's parents were absolutely amazing throughout the whole move and deserve a very special thank you!  They even brought champagne and flowers to make our place a bit more homey even with all of the boxes in it!  They went above and beyond with proving food for Joe and I all weekend so that we would have one less thing to worry about.  It was amazing and I think I ate about 2 lbs of it throughout the day!  After lunch it was time to get boxes to the right.  We finally finished up with all the major things that needed to be moved and got to relax on the rooftop of a bit before the downpour of rain came!  That gave us the inspiration to get showered and go to dinner.  After coming back to our place for a bit, we headed out to Ivy which is a bar right down the street from us!  We were so excited to get to walk to the bar for the first time and it is less than a 5 minute walk!!!!  We went out to celebrate Kellie Ann's birthday, but called it a night fairly early because we were exhausted!  After a quick walk back, it was bed time (Best part about this place is LOCATION!!!)

Birthday Girl!!!!

Sunday morning came quickly and it was time to start getting situated, slowly.  Although looking around it doesn't look like progress had been made, it is coming together slowly.  I got all of my clothes put into the closet in the morning!  After that, it was time to take a trip to the old house and pack up mine and Joe's cars with the millions of things that we realized were left behind.  It was over 90 out so it was hot packing the cars, and would have been much more enjoyable sitting by the pool :)  After getting the cars packed we came home to unpack before heading out for some shopping!

After moving in you realize there are random things missing.  For us, one thing was that none of our bathrooms have toilet paper holders, so we had to buy the standing ones.  I also cannot reach the top cabinets in the kitchen so a stepping stool was a must!  After some shopping it was time to come home and get dinner ready/bake!

I will post recipes tomorrow, but baking today was for a gift basket for Julie, who represented us as our agent.  I still believe she was the reason we got this home under contract and we are so grateful!  I made two different truffles and peanutbutter cookes with a twist as Joe started unpacking his clothes in our room!  No, for the first time this weekend, we kick up our feet and relax for a bit, knowing there is lots to be done, but we deserve a little break!

So, as we get rooms settled, I will be posting before and after pictures room by room, but for now, let's say slowly but surely, it is coming together!  I hope everyone's weekend was super relaxing, and I am one super excited person for getting to work from my new office all this week before traveling to NC!!! 

Last Week Before Home Ownership!!!

So now we finally have everything wrapped up and ready for closing, which was incredibly exciting.  With the townhouse being "almost ours" it was time to furniture shop! Although Joe and I have a lot of furniture already, we had never had to furnish a 3 bedroom house on our own.  This was the first time that we had to work together to pick out what we wanted, and since it was going to be nicer furniture, we had to make sure we loved it before spending a lot of money on it!  One last meal cooked in the old kitchen is below!  It is a very healthy and light recipe with Chicken!

Greek Chicken Skewers with Avocado Tzatziki

Ingredients:

Chicken:
1 lbs Chicken

1 tbs. Greek Seasoning

½ tbs. garlic powder

½ tsp. rosemary

2 tbsp. olive oil

Dipping Sauce:
1 avocado

½ cup Greek yogurt

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. pepper

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. Greek seasoning

Directions:

• In a blender (or food processor), add avocado (make sure they are ripe enough!), Greek yogurt and lemon juice for tzatziki sauce. Process until smooth. Add remaining sauce ingredients and combine. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate (covered) until ready to eat.
• For the chicken, slice chicken breasts lengthwise into thin strips. Place in a large ziplokc bag. Add seasonings and shake until evenly coated.
• Using a bamboo skewer, thread strips of chicken onto skewer. Cook on grill or use a grill pan on the stove top over medium high heat. Add olive oil and add chicken. Cook about 4 minutes per side, remove when completely cooked.
• Serve hot chicken skewers with avocado tzatziki sauce.

Sooooo Good!

We spent quite a lot of evenings shopping online or in stores, and after deciding what we really needed right away vs. what could wait, we finalized the list for the most part at the end of last week.  Joe was planning on measuring the rooms in the houses on Sunday to make sure that everything would fit before we purchased it, so he would be doing all of the final buying decisions on his own!

Monday of this week I took a quick trip to Texas to visit one of my accounts, but then the remainder if the week was spent working from home.  The week was incredibly busy with work since my accounts are in the last months of getting everything together for next year, so I was very ready for the weekend to get here on Friday!  Meredith and Amber were coming down from Charlotte this weekend so I was VERY ready to see them :)  Friday evening we met up with them at Tin Lizzies for drinks and I got the most exciting surprise!  Amber was super sweet and gave me a beautiful bracelet from J Crew that her, Meredith, and Lauren already had so that I could join the BFF group!  After hanging out there for a bit it was time to head home and get a good night sleep because there was a lot to do Saturday.

BFF Bracelets

LOVE these girls!

 We woke up fairly early Saturday and I got a workout in while Joe started packing stuff up in the house.  After that, we headed to the GA Dome to tailgate for the Kenny& ZBB concert.  We were not going to the concert but this was the only full day I had to spend with them so we tailgated for quite a while!  It was so much fun and although it was a bit warm, it could have been way worse and it wasn't raining!!! That was a big step in itself!  After the concert we headed to Reza's place so that I could see my most favorite couple for a bit!  We watched the Braves game then headed to dinner with them before heading home for the night.  It had been a long day so we were definitely in for the night, especially since I was flying to Chicago in the morning! Since the AC was broken again, we had a wonderful slumber party in the downstairs living room (thank goodness my mattress is at Joe's place for easy set up!)

True Love

 

The Whole Group!

Sunday morning I was up bright and early to catch a flight to Chicago.  I had a early Monday AM meeting outside of Chicago so I would have had to fly up Sunday for the meeting.  I figure this was a wonderful opportunity to spend the day with my lovely Agatha!  I got late morning, and headed to her place.  I don't know how, but she convinced me to do an open water swim with her after that!  Ag, Marissa, and I took bikes down to the drop in point and swam a mile in Lake Michigan!  I prepared myself for it to be freezing but it actually wasn't that bad!  The worst part was the HUGE waves!  Luckily, we were all on the same page and took breaks every once in a while to chat so it broke up the swim because it really was choppy water!  After that we biked home and relaxed for a bit before starting our home made pizza experiment!  We started with the dough and made everything from scratch and it turned out AMAZING!!!!  It was such a fun day that went by way too fast, and before I knew it it was time to head to Michigan City.  It was such an amazing weekend and I always love coming up to Chicago and am looking forward to a great week of meetings up here!

Home Made Pizza!!!

BEAUTIFUL skyline

Old Apartment...man do I miss it!

Post 1 mile swim in Lake Michigan!

  Next time I blog, it will be about buying our new home!!!!! So, for now, have a lovely week :)