baking and building.

My hubby is pretty talented. He's good at lots of things, like cooking, and building, and fixing my hair for weddings. 
So, my grandparents enlisted him for building a fence. Of course, he jumped at the opportunity. So while he spent the day building, I spent the day baking. 

The delicious, ooey gooey cookie cake I made with white chocolate, semi-sweet, and milk chocolate chips.
And sprinkles.

 Sprinkles make everything better.

I also made Cookies and Cream Rice Crispy Treats from the Picky Palate.  While the idea of these is great, they were waayyy too dry. Either mini marshmallows are bigger in California or they just like their rice crispy treats more crunchy out there. I was kind of confused about the ratio, seeing that it was different from any other recipe I had ever used, but I decided to follow it anyway. And then I noticed that all of the blogs that "reused" her recipe added marshmallows or lowered the amount of crispies, so they obviously had problems too. So, word to the wise, if you make these, just use the whole bag of marshmallows. Other than being really dry and not very marshmallowey, they were good! :)

I went outside to check on my manly man, and he was done! Just putting the final touches on the fence.

And looking good while he was doing it, I might add. Nothing like a man in tie-dye, am I right?

The best part about a new fence is old wood for me to build with!! Hoorayy!!

We plan on building a headboard for our bed. And I am sooo excited about it. Know of any other good things to build out of old fence wood?

Icee's Not So Deep Fried Okra

I love fried okra. I have always loved fried okra. If I can order fried okra at a restaurant, I will. Nick had never had it before he met me. He was shocked that I ordered okra and I was shocked he had never had it.
Anyway, my Icee and I have bought fresh okra a couple of times from the grocery store. Although I love okra, I had never cooked it myself. In fact, I don't know if I had ever actually noticed it at the store. True confession: I spend very little time in the produce section. But she took me right to where they were, and sure enough, you can buy okra at the grocery store! :)
I decided to document her "recipe," although she insists that there isn't one.  This is for me, for later on when I want to make fried okra, and for you, if you would like to try this yourself. Just keep in mind, that because there is not a recipe, there is a lot of eye balling instead of exact measurements. No sweat. Just go for it.

Icee's Not So Deep Fried Okra

Ingredients:

Fresh Okra

Olive Oil

Buttermilk

Cornmeal 

Flour

Desired Seasonings

1. Wash and chop the okra, like so:

2. Pour buttermilk over the okra until all of the okra is covered. Let it soak for at least 15 minutes.

3. Pour the olive oil on a skillet until the bottom of the skillet is covered. There should be about half an inch of oil in the pan. Heat the skillet. If you put a piece of okra in it and it sizzles, it's ready!

4. Pour a lot of cornmeal and a little flour in a separate pan and mix.

5. Scoop up some soaked okra, and coat with the cornmeal mixture. Then, add to the skillet.

You don't want to add more to the skillet than this at a time:

 6. When the breading has browned, take the okra off the skillet.

7. Repeat step 5 and 6 until all of the okra is cooked! You can season the okra as you take it off the skillet, or wait until it is all done. We use salt and Mrs. Dash's Garlic and Herbs, of course. Be sure not to under-season!

8. Dig in. Delish!

Truffles!

Well, I have found some new recipes that I just have to try. This time, the category is TRUFFLES. Man, don't you just love truffles? So much goodness in such a small package. Of course, my favorite version of a truffle is a cake ball. A funfetti cake ball with rainbow chip icing and white chocolate bark. Yes please. But these all look pretty delicious too. If you get the chance to try them before I do, let me know how they turned out!

1. No Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Chocolate Truffles from Love, Veggies, and Yoga

Well, these just look delicious. First of all, vanilla. Second of all, cake batter. Third, sweetened condensed milk. Amen.

2. Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffles from Eating Well

(Photo by The Girl Who Ate Everything)

If you want some great pictures of these truffles, check out How Sweet It Is and The Girl Who Ate Everything. The picture that caught my eye was by the latter. I mean, anytime you put chocolate, pretzels, and peanut butter together, you're going to have a hit. Am I right?

3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles from Love and Olive Oil

(photo by Love and Olive Oil)

Oh hi, you look amazing. Anything the words cookie and dough are used together and side by side, I am sold.

Welp, that's all I've got for now. But that's enough to keep anyone busy for at least one day.

Pancakes!!

Over the past couple of days, I have stumbled upon 4 different pancake recipes that I am now dying to try! I figured I would post them here so others can enjoy them and so I can remember to make them!

1. Cake Batter Pancakes from How Sweet It Is

How can you resist something like this? Oh my gosh. The sprinkles... the glaze... it's perfect.

2. Blueberry Vanilla Bean Pancakes from Oh She Glows

These are more healthy than I am used to... I mean, let's be honest... But they look so good. Anything with "vanilla bean" in the name has my vote.

3. Cinnamon Roll Pancakes by Recipe Girl

Back to the sugary options! I doubt I could make them look this great... But I am sure they will taste fine!

4. Orange Chocolate Chip Pancakes by (Never Home) Maker

And ending on a healthy note... The orange is what caught my eye with these... Can't wait to try them!

For those who have the Pioneer Woman cookbook, I can actually recommend her sour cream pancakes. They are great! And I don't like sour cream! If you don't have the cookbook, you can easily do a google search and find multiple people who have reposted her recipe online.

And speaking of cooking, has anyone ever had rhubarb pie or cobbler? I have stumbled across a few different recipes for pie, cobbler, and shortbread recently, but I have never had rhubarb, so I am a little nervous to try it. But the pictures make it look so good!

Two Must Have Seasonings

We have discovered two seasonings that will probably never be missing from our kitchen ever again. I am so in love with them. Both of them. Together, separate... On potatoes, or chicken, or pasta... One word. Yum.

The first is Mrs. Dash's Garlic and Herb seasoning blend.  We had plenty of other Mrs. Dash products, but for some reason, not this one. Never again.

The second is actually salt. But it is the tastiest salt I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. It's Real Salt, and I don't understand why it tastes so good, but trust me, it does. My Papa doesn't like it because the minerals are kind of crunchy, but it hasn't bothered us at all. They have a few different kinds but we use the fine salt. Scrumptious.