"There is no love sincerer than the love of food"

For a while I have been debating whether to post recipes on here. I love to bake and am always up for new ideas so why not share with everyone! My plan is to try and share 2 recipes a week. 1 geared towards healthier eating and 1 guilty pleasure. I now have healthier daily eating routines but that doesn't mean I lost my sweet tooth. I just don't bake near as often as I used to. I do not have the greatest will power so lately my method has been NO baking. I also love sharing with family/friends at home & work. I have been itching to bake something so last night I tried out a new recipe...

Hello Dolly Bars





 
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9 cookie sheets)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon water

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup butterscotch morsels

2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I did not toast the pecans)

1 (15-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk (I used regular bc that is what I had on hand)

 I doubled everything except for the milk and put into a 9x13 pan

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper (I used wax paper instead); cut off excess paper around top edge of pan.
3. Place crumbs in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter and 1 tablespoon water; toss with a fork until moist. Gently pat mixture into an even layer in pan (do not press firmly). Sprinkle chips and morsels over crumb mixture. Top evenly with coconut and pecans. Drizzle milk evenly over top. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly around edges. Cool completely on wire rack.

 These can become a sticky mess in the pan, so it's important to line it with the paper. Because the milk needs to seep into the graham cracker crumbs, don't pack the crumbs too tightly in the bottom of the pan.

All I can say is DELISH!!!


Here is a new fish recipe I tried out a couple weeks ago-It is yummy. Rhett liked it too!!

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Ingredients
-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
-1/8 cup butter, softened

-3 tablespoons light mayonnaise

-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

-1/4 teaspoon dried basil

-1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

-1/8 teaspoon onion powder

-1/8 teaspoon celery salt

-2 pounds tilapia fillets (I only used 1 lb)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to broil. Grease pan or line with aluminum foil. (I lined with foil so the juices would stay contained better and the fish doesn't get dry)
2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside
3. Broil a few inches from the heat for 3 minutes. Flip fillets over and broil for 3 minutes more. Remove fillets from oven and cover with Parmesan mixture on top side. Broil until fish flakes easily with a fork, about 2 minutes. ( I think I ended up cooking a bit longer maybe 5-7 minutes) I am always a little nervous with fish so I tend to cook longer.

This is an extremely easy & quick recipe if your in a pinch for time!

This was the 1st time I made both of these recipes and will definitely be adding them to the keeper list.

What's Making Your Day Today??

Happy Friday! I have lots of fun stuff to share today starting with the fact that I get to pick up my wedding Thank You cards from CB!! Literally can not wait to see the finished product. I know without a doubt they will be amazing. I plan to start printing out labels soon so I can get them all mailed out in a timely manner. Since everything wedding has been over for a while now it was so fun to get the Christmas cards, now the thanks you's, eventually our large 16 x 20 for the wall, & last but not least the coveted album. The album is probably what I am most excited about. I finally cleaned the wedding spare bedroom and the floor & bed are visible again. I have plenty of items to sell and get out of this house so please send brides my way if they are looking for rustic decor.

We are currently refinancing our home right now so that is very exciting. I know it sounds quite boring but lowering the amount of interest that has to be paid to a bank is pretty great in our books! Our original rate was 4.875 and that is from 2008 when we built. Now we will have the rate of 2.75. Whoo Hooo!!! We plan to keep making the same payment amount but this will allow us to pay off our loan in less amount of time. Very very excited about this. I know we already have a lake but my dream is to have an in ground pool so maybe once the house is paid off.....

You may remember that we got a really nice bar stool at the time of the bridal shower. It only took me forever but eventually I ordered that 2nd stool from Cabela's. It took 4 weeks to get here. Rhett was kind enough to put it together and then he called me at work to break the bad news.

 First of all please ignore the mess on top of the island especially the trash cans. Ammo still gets into them every single time we leave him home alone (unless they are put up). You would think after 10 years tearing up the trash would get old! More importantly notice the major difference in height. Ughhhhh
The stool on the left is the original and on the right the newest one. I could have sworn I double checked that before pressing the order button. I am going to call and hopefully we can exchange for the right size.

Moving on to more exciting updates we now have working garage doors. This is fantastic!!! Thank you Jason for coming to help Rhett finish installing them. Now I can just press a button and boom they go up, boom they go down. No more pulling on the string to close and pushing up to open. Thank you to my hubby for taking care of this. The little simple things that make my day!

We recently got an IPAD for Rhett to use for work. The first night after it came he was playing with the photo booth option. Fun Fun Fun!

Their is also a spot for reminders so I made sure to update the list. My reminders look like this
*Do something nice for Sara today. 
*Leave my wife love notes 

Rhett's reminder looks like this
*Go Hunting Tomorrow and kill 10 Honkers

Need I say more!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I will be spending mine at work making the moolah!

Aloha

The time is getting closer for us to go on our honeymoon!! In the past I mentioned we wanted to take an Alaskan cruise but we decided to go a different route. Rhett's Dad unexpectedly won a trip through Pioneer (the seed company they work for) to go to Oahu, Hawaii. Justin & Margaret chose not to go so we get to!! Rhett is very involved with everything in Pioneer so he was eligible as well. Totally opposite than what we were set on but it's a good change. Especially since the temperature lately has been 20 flippin degrees. It is an all expenses paid trip so Whoooo Hooooo!!!! It is a 5 day 4 night trip but we are going a few days earlier so we will actually have 8 days total. We do have to pay for everything those 3 days so we plan to use $ we received from wedding gifts. Thank you everyone!!! It will be so worth it though to have the extra time. Here is where we are staying @ JW Marriott Ihilani.

 

I think every single day I ask Rhett if he is getting excited???? He normally just says no, not really, whatever. Men are so silly. Ya know who is getting excited....THIS GIRL!! We have only ever vacationed to Branson so this is a pretty big step up. I can't wait! I am not looking forward to leaving the dogs for that long but I know they will be in good hands.

 

We had to choose from a list of activities what we want to do while in Hawaii. We picked whale watching cruise on a catamaran for 1 day & the island helicopter tour for another day. Rhett does have to attend a few meetings and go on a Pioneer station tour. A little business for him while I get to take the shuttle and go shopping!! We will also attend a Luau show and a  dinner/show at the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. We are definately going to be busy bees. I have no clue what we will do the first 3 days of our trip. Relax, Relax, Relax and take a lot of pictures, and eat lots of Hawaii foods! The hotel has a spa so maybe a nice massage is in my future.

 

I have only flown on a plane once & it was when I was 13. Rhett has only flown once & it was less than 4 months ago a couple days before our wedding. He will totally be the more experienced one in that department. All I remember is chewing a lot of gum during take-off. Haha!! I am not sure what I will be more terrified of the plane flying or helicopter flying.

 

 

Here is a pic of the pool & lagoon

 

Entrance to hotel

 

I plan to take many many pictures to document every single detail of our trip. Now if I can just figure out what to pack and go shopping for a swimsuit!

 

Aloha!!

Oh Baby!

The newest addition to the Simpson Family has joined us niece #12 Roxy Danielle Markotay. She is a precious bundle of cuteness!!! Love her already. Margaret was proud to state that on the both sides of the fam Jefferson & Simpson she & Justin are in the lead for # grandchildren. Then she kindly said and once you & Rhett have your 3........Hmmm 3 sounds like a few too many to me. I picked Brooke & Madison up from school on Friday because Erin was already up at the hospital. We ran a few errands and then headed up to St. Elizabeth's in Belleville. We also stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up a few goodies for Meg, Jason & baby. We attatched the baby balloon to a bottle of germ-x & package of chocolate turtles. Brooke said what in the world do they need the germ-x for & I said oh this is a perfect gift!!! We anxiously waited at the hospital with Erin, Justin, & Jason's parent's. Roxy arrived into this world 

7:15 pm January 11, 2013

  7 lbs 12 oz 

19"

Healthy with a head full of hair

Happy to say Meghan & baby are both doing great!

I had to work early on Saturday morning so was only able to visit Friday evening about 5 minutes and then had to head home. It was around 9 pm when we got to go in and see everyone. On Monday evening Rhett & I spent some time at Meghan & Jason's visiting. I would be a horrible aunt if I did not get more pictures to share of my adorable niece so here we go!

Cute Cute Cute!!!!

On Monday I also spent some time with Jake & Cole so I of course have to share some pictures of our adventures for the day. We chased the dogs, ran around in our p.j.s, watched The Lion King, and wrestled.
Cole even learned how to sneak into the pantry, climb on the lunch boxes, and swipe some mini marshmallows. Crazy man!

What a great MONDAY! 

On another note this t-shirt I have on is pretty darn special! It has been quite a looooong time since it fit me. 10 years old, hole in the armpit, size medium, & lovin it
Thanks Jake for being my photographer

Once a Cheerleader always a cheerleader @ Heart

Special Arrival Coming Soon

I have been a little mia lately from blogging and that would be because of the frequent t.v. show marathons that have been going on in this house lately. Between myself watching True Blood (addicted) & Rhett & I watching SOA (sons of anarchy-even more addicting) nothing productive has been happening. I am a little t.v. junkie so this really should come as no surprise. I am totally making up lost time for the year & a half of wedding planning when I watched literally nothing. If you haven't watched them yet-Do it!! (But only if your into vampires, motorcycles, sex, & people getting killed)
In other news...our house has been smelling like a meat factory. We decided to make some deer jerky with our new jerky gun & the grinder attatchment for my kitchen-aid mixer. Both worked wonderfully! Way better than hand grinding 12 lbs of raw deer meat. Instead of using our dehydrators Rhett used the oven and it worked great too. We needed sandwich bags to package it all for the freezer so I stopped by Evanville Food Mart on my way home from work. It's a sad day when you have to write a check for $2.75. The lady probably thought I was so loony. I am on day 6 of Advocare and everything is going well. During the month of December I had really started back to some bad habits so kicking the junk again feels great. Rhett is doing awesome too. He is on day 5 and hasn't had any soda or milk yet. Both huge victories so far! This man is in love with his milk so this is a big deal. I have actually been cooking full meals again. Today is a very special day... Meg's due date for little Roxy. I am getting so excited to meet her!!! Auntie Sara can not wait to spoil you to pieces with love. Their are so many people I know that are pregnant!! My sweet friend Lindsey is expecting. She totally deserves this & I could not be any happier for her. I gave her the belly book as a gift. When I had it shipped it arrived the day before Christmas so that worked out perfectly. Another little bean to spoil! Can't wait!! Have been going through old pictures recently. Here's a random. No clue when & where this was taken. Makes me smile though!

In honor of babies galore here are some baby pictures through the years

 Cletus

 Cole

Maggie

Claire

Jake

Tess

Will

Max

Jack 

(This was about 4 months after Rhett & I got together. I can distinctly remember all of us hanging out at Red Bud hospital waiting for Jack's arrival. Such a special moment)

Madison

Brooke

Whew some of those were a little difficult to distinguish who was who
It helps when other people/children are also in the pic. If I have any of these wrong honest mistake but I am pretty sure they are all correct. Can't wait to share pic #12

Alright so I had 1 picture wrong it was Brooke's. Clearly I had a good excuse, she was 2 when I came around so I don't have a lot of baby pics of her in my files. Even though it is after the fact I had to change the pic. I found this one of her & Rhett. He is 17 and she is 4 months old.

Hello 2013

Happy New Year (a few days late)!  I hope everyone had a fun exciting New Years Eve. Ours was pretty low key since Rhett ended up with the same 1 day flu bug I had. His evening consisted of bathroom, bedroom, bathroom, bedroom sleep sleep sleep. I spent most of the evening taking down Christmas decorations, cleaning & organizing the house. I did manage to drink a couple of these yummy drinks..I got one of those daiquiri pouches in my stocking from my Mom. I also had a wine one from Schnucks. Super crazy NYE!! Haha

 

Several of our family members were hanging out at Rhett's parents for the evening so I did head over there for a bit. Their were lots of munchies and game playing. I came home around 11:30 and Rhett did wake up 11:45ish so technically we rang in the new year together. I am not normally very into making resolutions but this year I am going to try & be faithful. Here we go...

 

1. Get pregnant & have a baby (This really shouldn't be considered a resolution just my hopes for this year)

 

2. Get healthier & stay healthy (no going backwards even if I do get pregnant)

 

3. Be more organized with our bills (I say this every year and each year gets a tiny bit better)

 

 

4. Get a different job that makes me happier (Enough said)

 

 

5. Change my blog's name and make the layout not so boring (I will eventually figure out how to do this)

 

 

6. Spoil the crap out of my new niece Roxy who will be here anytime (this is way too easy to really even be included)

 

7. Be a great wife and make our 1st year of marriage wonderful

 

There it is all laying out there on the line!!! I know many many people who would be excited for #1 to happen. Even Father Clyde has mentioned he is just waiting for an announcement. Rhett & I are both starting the 24 advocare challenge tomorrow. This will be my 3rd time and his 1st. I think I am more anxious about him doing it then myself. We leave for Hawaii in officially less than 1 month. Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!! 2012 was such an amazing year for my family. My sister moved closer to me, my brother got his first real job, they both purchased their own vehicles, Rhett purchased me a new vehicle (sad day when the saturn was gone), my other brother went off to college, Erin & Mike built a house, Meg got pregnant, Brooke turned 13 officially a teenager, we got married!!!!! Many happy memories. Another huge THANK YOU to any & everyone who helped us with the wedding in any way. Since it is now a new year I should move on & no more wedding talk but who are we kidding. Their will always be wedding talk on this blog!!!