Great Harvest

Ok, so if you have a Great Harvest Bread Company in your area and have never been, you should go! They just put one up by where I work so I have been going there a lot. Not only do they have different types of bread, but they have wonderful soups, salads, and sandwiches. The best thing about them is that they use all natural, whole grain, ingredients and no preservatives so their food is, not only delicious, but super healthy for you! So far I have tried the Tuscan chicken sandwich and the broccoli cheddar soup, both threw a party in my mouth! :) They also make this pumpkin chocolate chip loaf and, the one I just tried yesterday, blackberry swirl bread. There are no words to describe the yumminess! The last type of bread that I have tried, so far, is their cinnamon chip blast. They, of course, put cinnamon chips in but then they make a filling that would go into cinnamon rolls and stick that in there too. Oh, so good! This bread would also make the most incredible french toast!

Another great thing that they have there are different types of butter. The sinful cinnamon butter is my fave (which is amazing on the cinnamon chip blast), but they also have a garlic and herb and vanilla butter. Well, yesterday after I bought my blackberry swirl loaf I realized that it would have been even more great with the vanilla butter. Rather than going back to get some I figured I would just make my own. I'm so glad I did! The butter on the bread was absolute wonderful! All you do to make it is whip 3/4 cup, or 12 Tbsp, unsalted butter, very soft at room temperature, about 3/4 cup powdered sugar, and 2 Tbsp of vanilla extract. You could probably use a little less of the vanilla if you wanted to. The 2 Tbsp gave it a very definite vanilla taste so next time I may try to use a little less. Either way the butter was amazing! So good on the blackberry swirl loaf, but would be great on any type of bread. So, moral of this blog, if you have a Great Harvest near you make it a point to stop in and at least get a free sample from them! Your taste buds will be happy you did!

Snow Days

So, yesterday I got to experience one of the perks of living in Colorado, a snow day! I must say that I enjoy warmer weather much more, but my thought is, if it's going to be cold it might as well snow and give me a day off of work! The only sad part was that my hubby had to go into work. :( It's funny how the day seems to fly by though. I wake up thinking I am going to get so much done and then I look at the clock and it's already 4:00! I did, however, get some much needed tasks accomplished. I spent the first part of my day by writing my world view paper for my final, which will allow me to actually have some what of a weekend! I don't know about you, but I love learning about all the different worldviews that are out there in our culture. It is interesting, to say the least, to see what some people actually believe. I find it crazy to think that people can put their hope and faith in things that don't make sense to me, but they would say that believing in God is ridiculous. I'm sure they would probably say the same thing about me though.

Well, after I finished writing the bulk of my paper I decided to something much more enjoyable, cooking! I started by making two loaves of home-made bread! I truly love the process of making bread. My sister, Stacey, and I share a Wonder Mill and have been grinding our own flour, and let me tell you, it makes the most delicious bread! Also, the bread is super healthy because you don't loose any of the nutrients! For example, I grind hard white wheat, millet, and either quinoa or brown rice and I have a complete protein bread! Can't beat that! I love how making bread makes me feel like I am stepping back into time when life was a bit simpler. To add to my atmosphere of simplicity, I watched Pride and Prejudice. I felt like I was in that era, minus the television I was watching it on and all the electricity I was using! :) Hey, you do what you can!

After I got done making by bread, I started on, truly a mix of random ingredients, soup. I haven't been to the grocery store so I pretty much just threw what I had into a pot. I call it sweet potato and lentil soup! The end result was actually pretty good! My hubby loved it so that it really all that matters. So what I did was saute one yellow onion, one shallot, 3 cloves of garlic, and one sweet potato. To them I added some of Jane's crazy salt and an Italian herb mix. Then I added 4 cups of chicken broth and a bay leaf and let that simmer for a bit. After that I put it in the food processor and blended it till it was a bit thicker in consistency. Oh, before I did that I took out the bay leaf of course! Then for the protein part, I added a mix of cooked lentils and millet and Voila, a meal!

All in all a very relaxing and much needed day off!

Still Figuring This Out

Ok, so obviously I am not the best blogger yet. To give an update from my last blog the wedding was great!! I was able to sing for the big day which was such a praise! This was the first time Jordan and I got to put our musical talents together and it was so much fun! He played the piano while I sang. God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful husband who shares the same love for music as I do!

This past weekend was such a blessing for Jordan and I. In February we were able to attend the K-LOVE friends and family cruise with my dad and on it we met a couple who worked for Familylife. This couple was so kind to us and offered to send us to one of the Familylife's Weekend to Remember marriage conference whenever we wanted to go. So, this weekend we went to our first Weekend to Remember conferences and boy it was good. If your married and have never been I HIGLY recommend you attend one. Whatever state your marriage is in. To find if one is coming to you go here. We were so blessed to have such wonderful speakers who spoke the truth with such love and passion. It was a great weekend of good quality time for us, which is hard to do with all the craziness of life, and we don't even have kids yet! Anyway, hope you had a great weekend!!

The Blogging World

Hello!! Well, I have finally given in to this thing called blogging and have entered into its world. I have to say that I have been a little nervous to start one of these because I'm not sure if my life is very interesting at the moment. My husband, Jordan, and I have been married since August of 2008 and are both working and going to school full time. I love cooking and singing and am passionate about so many things it seems, all of which I'm sure will make their way into this blog at some point! I feel like the majority of people I know who have blogs already have kids so they always have stuff to talk about. When you have kids you always have interesting stories to tell. So, I will do the best with what I've got to keep whoever reads this thing entertained.

I guess I'll start by saying that I seem to have caught whatever it is that is going around in terms of sickness. It all started this past weekend with a scratchy throat and turned into a full blown cold. Any other time it would not be a big deal, but it just so happens that I have to sing in one of my dearest friends wedding this weekend! YIKES!!!!! The funny thing is that I hardly ever get sick. God really does have a funny way of getting us to depend on Him sometimes! :) Fortunately, the sore throat has gone away and I'm just a bit stuffy now. However, I am heavily medicated so I should be ok for Sat. Any prayers on this issue are greatly appreciated!

Well, I guess that's all for now. Phew, got that first blog out of the way. That wasn't too bad! :)