German Chocolate Pie

If you didn't already know, I am an avid pie fan. 

Proof: here, here, and here. 

I even dedicated a whole month to "Pie Month" in my earlier blogging days.

So it's no surprise to me that I found another pie recipe that I am in love with.

As a matter of fact, I got enough stuff to make two of these pies.

What you need:

Pie Crust

4oz. German Sweet Chocolate, chopped

1/4 Cup Butter, cubed

1 Can {12 oz.} Evaporated Milk

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

3 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Dash of Salt

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 1/3 Cups Flaked Coconut

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

For the topping:

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Additional Coconut and Chopped Pecans

What to do:

1. Defrost pie crust according to directions on the package.

2.  Place the chocolate and butter in a small saucepan. Cook on a low temperature until both are melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk. 

3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and chocolate mixture, mix well. Pour into crust, sprinkle coconut and pecans on top.

4. Bake at 375 for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely.

For the topping:

1. In a large bowl, beat cream until it thickens. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue to beat until desired thickness. Spread over pie and sprinkle additional coconut and pecans on top. 

Refrigerate until serving.

Original recipe.

Sunday Confessions

1. I confess that I haven't felt like blogging lately. Or even reading any blogs. What is wrong with me? Usually that is the first thing I look forward to doing in the mornings...getting up, reading your blogs, and writing my own. Lately I have felt like I have nothing to blog about. Do you ever feel this way? Hopefully I snap out of it soon!

2. I confess that I think this whole GFC/Bloglovin' thing is really annoying. I was just getting excited about my new followers on GFC and now that might go away and I have to try and convince them to switch to Bloglovin and follow me there? DUMB. I've heard so many things about this whole ordeal so who knows what's even going on. Maybe it is all a conspiracy by Bloglovin' to get users? I bet that's what it is!

3. I confess that my parents visited last week and I do not have a single picture to prove it. Granted, we didn't really do anything picture-worthy but still, I usually atleast get a couple for the blog. Shame on me.

4. I confess that G and I watched not one, but two John Travolta movies last night. Pulp Fiction and Grease. Guess which one I chose? : )

5. I confess that I somewhat ruined the surprise of Taylor Swift's Red Tour for myself by watching YouTube videos of her first show last week in Omaha. That show is going to be sweet. I can't wait!

And because every post needs atleast a picture, here is a cute picture of my cats:

You're welcome! : )

5 Things About Me

Catherine tagged me to do a "5 Facts About Me" post, so here goes nothing...

Naturally, I wanted to find a really random/embarrassing picture to go with my 5 random facts. This is from our 1 year anniversary in Vegas. I'm not sure why/when I took this, but it's definitely a selfie.

Intense huh?

Now that you are done giggling at that picture...

1. I have been to Italy 3 times and I am dying to go back! I would live there if it weren't such a hassle to up and move. It is such a beautiful country, with nice people and good food. What's not to love? The third time was a study abroad trip and Garrett and I went together. While there I took a ceramics class as well as a cooking class. Saying that makes me feel cool.

Cooking teacher, and me, with my tortellini. YUM!

2. I {sort of} minored in American Sign Language. The classes were fun, for the most part, until the last one. My teacher was actually deaf and therefore we could no longer "cheat" and speak out loud when we were lost. She also made us do embarrassing things like get up in front of the class and sign a song. I hated doing that. I ended up earning a big fat F in that class but A's in all of the other ASL classes I took. That one class kept me from actually earning my minor. Oops.

3. Since I mentioned this with the first picture, I figured it might as well get it's own number. Garrett and I went to Vegas for our 1 year anniversary and it was fun! I want to go back so bad! It's fairly cheap to go there and it's an "up all night" kind of place. I loved it! We stayed at the Stratosphere and I would not recommend staying there. It's not the nicest and it's quite a walk from the strip when you've been walking all day.

Garrett surprised me with a fancy dinner and limo ride around the strip on our actual anniversary. I'm pretty sure that was the first time he legitimately surprised me {besides proposing}. It was awesome. 

 You can see the actual post here.

How cool does G look in this picture? Hahahaha

4. I am left handed. And...that's about all there is to say about that.

5. One of the first things we did when we moved to Denver was go to the Denver Aquarium. I stuck my hand in one of the smaller aquariums because it was about waist high and begging me to stick my hand in there. I got bit by one of the fish and it hurt!

Thanks for tagging me Catherine! : ) 

Happy Hump Day!

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That Time I Got Paid To Stare...

Last night I worked my first and last overnight shift.

I got to work at 12am and left around 10:30am. 

I know, some people work 12+ hours. But, I don't know how they do that.

If you are one of those people, how the hell do you do that?

After about 10 hours I was ready to drop dead. Or sneak into one of the empty rooms at work and fall asleep on a random girls bed. I didn't care at that point.

I guess I should explain where I work for those who don't know.

I work at Excelsior Youth Center. It's a residential treatment center for teenaged girls who have been abused either physically, sexually, or that have been neglected. Basically, it's a place full of girls aged 11 to 20 that have serious issues due to the fact that their piece of shit {what!? I don't cuss on this blog! : )} crap parents couldn't raise them correctly. If you can't tell, I am a little bitter towards their inadequate "care" givers. 

Anyways, I volunteered to work an overnight shift for the first time ever. 

Y'all. 

I literally got paid to sit at a thick wooden door with a small rectangular window and stare at a girl while she slept. I felt like a total creeper.

At Excelsior, there are girls who self harm. When they self harm, and won't stop, they get put on "Protective Observation". AKA me sitting there staring at you while you sleep. I sat at this girl's door from 1:05am to 6:30am. Mind you, we aren't allowed to face the other direction, we have to continually stare into her room.

I swear my brain turned to mush during that 5 hours.

So, that was the time I got paid to stare.

Have you ever gotten paid to do anything so ridiculously mind numbing??

Baked Fried Chicken

G and I eat alot of chicken. Alot alot. 

I also use Pinterest alot. Alot alot. 

{I know babe, alot is not a word!}

Combine the two and, BAM!, you get Baked Fried Chicken. 

When I first stumbled upon this recipe, I mistakenly thought this was a healthier version of fried chicken. I was wrong. So, if you, like me, thought this was going to be a healthier version of fried chicken, go home, you're drunk! {I know you probably aren't actually drunk. That was just my way of saying this isn't a healthy alternative to fried chicken.}

What you need:

Chicken Breasts, thawed {1 makes 2-3 chicken strips}

1/2 Stick Butter

Mix in a gallon sized Ziploc bag:

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Tablespoon Season All

3/4 Teaspoon Pepper

1 Cup Flour

2 Teaspoons Paprika

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice thawed chicken breasts into strips. Place strips in a bowl and cover with milk. Let soak 15 to 20 minutes.

 2. Cut up 1/2 stick of butter into squares and place them in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in preheated oven. Spread melted butter around pan.

3. Shake off excess milk from strips and place them in the Ziploc bag. Shake until well coated. Place coated strips into pan.

4. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Flip strips over and cook another 20 minutes.

Original recipe here.

This recipe is so easy and makes such delicious chicken strips. I have made this 3 times since I found the recipe! I serve them with gravy and macaroni and cheese. : )

Looking forward to catching up on y'all's weekends!

 

Bread and Milk

They said snow!!

This made me laugh, thought it would make you laugh too!

I swear this was Denver yesterday when I went to the store!

 

 

I'm Loving... And #Backthatazzup

First things first, I just wanted to say a huge {literally}

THANK YOU

for all of the sweet sweet compliments on my last post! Some of you asked me why I was hesitant at posting the outfit in the first place. I was hesitant for several reasons, one being that I am probably one of the most insecure people when it comes to pictures of myself, or just myself in general. Another reason, I know that I am not a tiny "fashion blogger", so I didn't know how me sharing an outfit post would go over. You guys made me feel good about it, and about myself, so thank you so much for that! 

I love you guys! : )

 I'm also loving...

Lays apparently. I've single handedly almost finished an entire family sized bag in less than a week. Those bags are mainly full of air right? I thought so.

{Speaking of Lays, have any of you tried the new Chicken and Waffles kind? What'd ya think??} 

I'm also loving my new bag clips {check it out on that Lays bag!} I got from the Target dollar section. They are bows! Kaitlyn would be SO proud! : )

That my family {minus little sister} is coming to Denver/Dillon for several days. We get to go snowmobiling and eat at Steubens. Can't go wrong with that!

I'm a little embarrassed at this picture, but whatever.

How gorgeous is this? I swear this has to do with snowmobiling and isn't just a random picture.

 That Taylor Swift stood up for herself and said something controversial {for once} and that people are going all crazy over it. Tay Tay, good for you!

That Jennie included me on her "blog crush" list! That warmed my heart and made me smile all day long. Thank you for that!

That I am choosing blogging and TV over cleaning right now. Not really. I really need to get to cleaning before my parents get here. 

I hope y'all have fun weekends! : )

Oh! I'm also loving that I have these left:

 Also, I promise I am almost done, I am linking up with Whitney for #backthatazzup Friday.