Potato Patties My Way...

Today I want to share with you my way of making potato patties.  They come out crispy and delicious!!
  

Let's go over the ingredients:
* 5 lbs of potatoes ( I used Yukon Gold potatoes)
* Water 
* Salt
* Pepper
* 2 C Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
* 2 Scallions sliced
* Oil 
* 1 Egg (optional)
* 1 - 2 C Flour 

Let's get started:
 1. First you want to rinse and scrub your potatoes to make sure they are
     nice and clean.
 2. Place potatoes in a pot of cold water. Make sure that potatoes are 
     covered by water.
 3. Cover the pot and bring the potatoes to a boil. 
 4. When the water starts to boil add 1 tsp of salt. Cover until potatoes 
     are ready.
    (the potatoes will be ready when you can poke them easily with a fork 
     or when the peel of the potato starts to crack and peel on its own.)
 5. Drain the potatoes. and place in cold water to cool or just wait for 
     the potatoes to cool.
     (do NOT let potatoes get to cold. Cool just enough so you can handle 
       them with your hands.)
 6. Once the potatoes have cooled you want to peel and place them in 
     a large bowl.
 7. Mash the potatoes and add cheese and scallions. incorporate into
     potatoes until you have the nice soft consistency of mashed potatoes. 
     Taste the mixture for saltiness and add salt if desired.
 8. Scoop a small amount of the mixture into your hand and shape 
     into a pattie. (you can also make them into croquettes or stick shape)
 9. Place patties on a plate and place in fridge for about 10 minutes to cool. 
     (this will help harden the patties so they wont crumble.)
10. After about 10 minutes take out the patties and heat your oil. 
      (Here is where there are different ways of doing this.)  You can whisk
       an egg in one bowl and place 1 - 2 C of flour in another bowl.  
11. Coat patties in egg then in flour. Make sure you shake off excess flour.
      Then place in hot oil. 

* You can completely skip this step and just fry patties in oil without the egg and flour if you like. Or what I like to do is only coat the patties in flour then fry. The flour help keep the patties together and have them not crumble in the oil.

12. When the patties are browned on one side flip to the other.
13. When both sides are done place on a paper towel lined plate and let cool.

You can serve them on their own or with a salad and sliced avocado.  

TIPS:  
 1. Because of the cheese do not let the oil get to hot or the patties will start losing their shape. 
 2. Remember that the frying is only to brown the patties since everything else is already cooked.
     Therefore you don't need a lot of oil .

Please share your pictures or comments as to how they came out when you try them. Also don't forget to leave any questions or comments ( Which are welcomed and appreciated) and I will answer them gladly as soon as I can.            

Enjoy! 
   

Yummy Orange Chicken Thighs

I want to share the most delicious recipe I have for making Yummy Orange Chicken Thighs! My family loves this chicken and my boys can't get enough of it. Which is great because I have two who are very picky eaters. The little one, well he just loves everything I make. 

First let's go over the ingredients:
* 8 chicken thighs 
      (you can use boneless and skinless or any part of the chicken you like)
* 4 tablespoons of soy sauce 
      (feel free to use light soy sauce)
* 4 tablespoons of water
* 10 tablespoons of sugar 
       (feel free to substitute honey or use less sugar. I recommend adding 
        5 tablespoons and then adding it 1 tablespoon at a time until you get 
        the sweetness you desire)
*10 tablespoons of white vinegar
* The zest of 1 Orange. 

Now the directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F 
2. Rinse and pat dry chicken thighs
3. Place chicken thighs in a baking pan and set aside
4. In a mixing bowl add the sugar, vinegar, water soy sauce and whisk together.
5. Add orange zest to the sauce mixture
6. Pour sauce mixture over the chicken thighs and cover with aluminum foil. 
7. Place in oven for 20 minutes
8. take chicken out of the oven and flip thighs over.
9. Place back in oven for another 20 minutes
10.Take chicken out of the oven and flip thighs again and leave uncovered
11. Place back in oven uncovered for more 10 minutes
12. When the thermometer reads 180° F the chicken is ready!

serve with rice  and enjoy!!!

Let me know how it came out for you and if you liked it. If there any recipes you'd like to see just let me know. Thanks for reading :)

Chantilly Frosting.

Hi, hope you're doing good. I made a carrot cake this week and I didn't want to frost it with the traditional cream cheese frosting. So I thought it would taste great with Chantilly frosting, and I was right! If you don't know what Chantilly frosting is, let me tell you. It's a whipped cream base frosting. You can add any flavoring you like to coordinate it with your cakes or cupcakes. If you'd like to see how to make it just watch my YouTube video. I'll post the link below.

Watch "Chantilly Frosting" on YouTube

Valentines Day ribbon wreath

I hope the flu hasn't made it to you. We battled it for two weeks. During that time however I was able to make a ribbon wreath for Valentines Day. I an very proud of how it came or because it's the first one I have ever made.
I saw the beautiful Christmas ribbon wreaths that were available and wanted to try to make one but thought it would be a hard thing to do.  Guess what...I was wrong. I want to share with you how easy it was to make.

Materials: wire (a wire hanger works great), ribbon (feel free to use any width 2 inches or bigger, and either mesh or the wired edge one. I used a 2 inch wire end ribbon), transparent tape.

First you want to take the wire and form a circle. if you are using a wire hanger you can either leave the hook and hang your finished wreath from there or cut it off using a wire cutter.I cut mine off and used duct tape to keep the ends together. See the 4th picture. Then take your ribbon and fold the edges in toward the middle of the ribbon and tape it to keep it together. See pictures 1 and 5. Take the taped end and place it on the wire and tape it again to keep it in place. Then I moved down the ribbon about 3  and pinched the ribbon and place the squished part next to the tape you previously placed on the wire and tape it to hold it in place. Keep doing this until you have placed ribbon on the entire wire. The back of the wreath will show all the tape, but the front will be beautiful. All you have to do now is fluff the ribbon so it looks extra nice. See picture 3. You can add decorations to your wreath or leave as is. I added a ribbon and little hearts I made out of foam. See picture 2.

Sorry about the pics being out of order. I tried many times to change this but since I'm publishing from my cell it's acting a little crazy.

I hope you will give it a try and share your creations with me. I'd love to see how beautiful your wreath will be. :-)  until next time xoxo.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

I have the perfect cookie recipe for sugar cookie dough that is great for using cookie cutters and I want to share it. :-)
Ingredients:
* 3 cups of all purpose flour
* 3/4 cups of room temperature butter
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 3 tablespoons whipping cream
* 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup granulated sugar
Equipment:
* Electric hand mixer or stand up mixer
* Parchment lined baking sheet (you can also grease the baking sheet)
* Rolling Pin
* Cookie cutter of your choice
* Lightly floured working surface (when you roll out your dough)
* spatula to transfer cookies smoothly to baking sheet
Directions:
Whip room temperature butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and egg. Stopping mixer to scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Add whipping cream. When the mixture is nice and fluffy begin to add the dry ingredients. Start with adding half of the flour a little at a time then add the salt and baking powder. Then add the remaining half of the flour. And mix until it forms a soft dough.
Once everything is mixed together, stop the mixer. Take half of the dough and form a disk, wrap in plastic wrap. Do the same with the remaining half of dough. And put in fridge to cool and firm up for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Once the dough has chilled, right before you take it out of the fridge. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Make sure dough is nice and firm before you start to roll it out. Flour your working surface and roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Then place cookie cutter as close to the edge as possible to be able to get as many cookies as you can. Take excess dough and roll out again to cut some more cookies. Use spatula to transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place in oven for about 6-8 min. You want to check on them at the 6 min mark. They are ready when the edges are golden brown. Place cookies (still on baking sheet) on cooling rack to cool. once they are cooled you can decorate as you like.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know how they came out for you. And if there is anything else you would like a recipe or video for just let me know. :-)

Snoopy Cupcake & Cake Topper

First of all I want to wish you all the best in this new year. It's an opportunity to work hard to make our dreams come true.

I kept myself busy this holiday season not just with planning and decorating for the holidays but also planning Aaron's 6th birthday. This year he wanted a snoopy theme. I made pretty much everything myself because it's hard to find snoopy birthday things on short notice. I want to share with you what I did so you can get ideas for your party needs.

This video will show you how I made the cupcake and cake toppers. Hope you like it. Let me know if you have any questions, or if there's a project you would like to see. :)

Watch "Snoopy Cupcake & Cake Topper" on YouTube

What a weekend...

What an amazing weekend!

On Saturday I was woken up with breakfast in bed. The boys and daddy made me eggs, sausage and pancakes. Along with coffee and orange juice. It was definitely a great start to my day!

Then we went to a Christmas Tree Farm. If you haven't been to one and you like real Christmas trees then I highly recommend you visit one for your tree. We had a great time! When we got there, we were taken out to the trees on a tractor ride. Then we got to walk around the trees to pick the one we wanted. Once we chose our tree, we told one of the employees who then gave us a saw to use. It was a thrilling experience to get to cut down our own tree. Then they put a tag with our name on it and gave us a ticket to give at the register on the way out. We rode the tractor back to the entrance and paid for our tree. We went to get the car and they loaded it and tied it for us.

We came home and decorated our tree. Then we went to the Holiday Stroll in our town. It was great! We visited with Santa, roasted marshmallows,  watched a movie, and at the end of the night we took a hayride around downtown. It was spectacular, definitely got our whole family in the Christmas Spirit!

On Sunday we went to church, and did a little Christmas shopping. I also made the wreath for our door. Here's a pic...

Christmas Advent Calendar...

Today I've decided that I want to make an advent calendar for the boys. I better hurry up seeing as I only have two days left in this month. I don't know if I want to put little candies or something else in the little boxes. I was thinking maybe getting little ornaments and having them put them on the tree as the days go by. Ok well I'm at least going to get the calendar stared while I decide what I want to put in there. If you have any ideas please feel free to share them with me. I will take pictures as I go and will share how I made it with you. talk to you soon. :)

What depression has been like for me...

I want to talk about something that I don't think gets much attention in this busy world we live in. I want to talk about Depression. I was diagnosed with depression in May. I at first didn't want to believe the diagnosis. I guess deep down I knew that it was true, but it's a very hard reality to face.

I have already shared that I have three wonderful little boys. What I haven't shared is that in 2009 I was pregnant with twins. When I found out I was going to be a mommy again after my two older boys I had mixed feelings. Mostly because we had decided that we weren't going to have any more children. We were very happy with our two boys and felt our lives were complete. I had an IUD placed after I had Aaron because I was told that it prevented pregnancy for five years and since my OB at the time didn't want to do tubal ligation because she said I was too young, I felt that this was the best decision to take. But yes even with the IUD I was pregnant. It was scary because I knew that the pregnancy was at risk because I still had the IUD placed.

The OB that I had chosen his time since I was now living back in MA told me that I was going to have to have the IUD removed, and that it would put the pregnancy at risk of miscarriage. I was 7 weeks pregnant when I had the IUD removed and found out that I was carrying twins. Month after month went by and every day I was thankful to God that my pregnancy continued. I couldn't imagine what our life would be like with out those babies. We were elated when we found out that the twins were girls. Now we though our life would truly be complete.  I was 27 weeks along when while eating dinner I had a very bad stomach ache and went to the bathroom on;y to find that I was hemorrhaging. It was the scariest moment of my life. All I could think about was the danger my girls were facing. I was rushed to the hospital but it was to late. I was having a miscarriage and the babies were in distress. When I arrived at the operating room I was told that the babies no longer had a heartbeat. I felt horrible! I received a DNC to clean the uterus. There I was recovering without my baby girls. All I could think about was how I had felt them move and kick inside me. And the fact that he doctor had told me that because of the DNC I wouldn't be able to have anymore children. That was when my depression started.

At first I thought it was the normal grieving that a person goes thru after such a tremendous loss. Then in October of  2010 I  lost my grandmother. She was more than just a grandmother, she raised me and was my mother. I had a very close relationship with her and it was horrible knowing that I wouldn't be able to see or talk to her again. My depression grew even more.

Shortly after my grandmother passed I received the wonderful news that we were expecting a baby.  A little miracle sent from heaven to remind me just how wonderful God is. It was a pregnancy like no other. I had morning sickness all day and the littlest smell would trigger a run to the bathroom. But I wouldn't change a thing! A little angel was growing inside again.  It was amazing when Matias came int this word and completed our family!! I had my tubes tied and now I can say our family is as it should be. But after Matias turned one and it was still so hard to get out of bed and function I mentioned it to my doctor. She thought that it was postpartum depression and I was put on meds. The Medication helped a little but life was still hard for me to live.

I was living with depression by myself because I never told anyone. I mentioned it to my mother but she told me that there was mo such thing and that it was only something that people made up so they had a reason to be lazy. I didn't have the energy to argue with her so I never brought it up again. It's even harder to live with this horrible sickness If you have to keep it a secret from everyone. I would still force myself to get up and get the boys ready for school. I didn't want to do anything except cry and I kept thinking about how the girls would be 3 this year and how the holidays were coming and it was another year without my grandma. That was when my doctor prescribed one more med and recommended talking to a psychiatrist. So here I am...and thanks to both medicines life is a little easier to handle. I'm just taking everything one step at a time, day by day.

I hope that now that you have read a little more about how I have had to live with this horrible sickness and the reasons that caused it, if you are not living with depression may you be kind to those of us that are. And remember that it's not just an excuse, It's a very hard feeling to get over. And if you are living with depression, know that you are not alone. It does take time to heal, and don't be afraid to get help. If you feel like you can't discuss this with your family or friends, look for support groups and even your own doctor for help. Believe me they won't think you are crazy or making anything up. And they won't judge you. I can also lend an ear, sometimes just having someone to talk to who you know is going thru it helps tremendously.

Thank you for reading and for sharing your comments with me. I hope this helps someone.

Thankful...

It's always so good to spend some time with family during Thanksgiving. Or anytime for that matter. This Thanksgiving I had so many things to be thankful for!! I was especially proud of my little niece Milly who celebrated her very first Thanksgiving as well as being 6 months old & being able to taste the wonders of the feast. 

Gratitude is something that comes to all of us eventually, kids or no kids, as we face enough of life’s challenges and come to the realization that life can be really, really, really hard and unpleasant and downright awful sometimes. Believe me when I tell you that when you face enough shouts from angry customers or red marks from hard to please professors and disrespectful comments from disrespectful people who are supposed to know better, you learn really quickly how to be grateful for those who approach life and humanity in the way that God intended…with respect and courtesy and love.

Call it maturity, call it parenthood, call it the lessons learned from the logic of life, if you like; whatever it is that brought me to this point in my maturation, the fact for me is that I now know that being thankful is something that should come very, very easily.  But don’t people who have very good lives still have very bad things sometimes happen to them? And shouldn’t they have the right to complain from time to time? I mean, no matter how good life is, it is still life and life as we all know by now can be very, very, very hard…I think I said that once already.

What do we really know about being grateful? While we are still in an uproar over the airport security measures that promise to delay us (oh, my!) and possibly embarrass us (the horror!) children are dying daily of Cholera in Haiti, 1 million kids are sold into sex slavery every year, mothers in Africa are dying from a disease that is prevented by a 20 cent drug, and roughly 7,600 people worldwide were infected with HIV, mostly among those living in the world’s poorest, most destitute regions where hope is something they know nothing of…by our definition of the word anyway. Given that contrast of ideas, I would have to say that when it comes to being grateful, most Americans are clueless as to what that word really means. I count myself among the clueless, just so you know. I have been accused of being a bit high maintenance and my accusers are more often accurate than they are not. I work hard to gain the fruits of my labor, yes; but how would I react if I woke up to a world that was drastically different from the one I once knew? How would I respond to a bank account that was wiped out, a refrigerator that was empty, and a car that wouldn’t start? How would I respond to God if he had chosen me or my loved ones for the “challenge” of dealing with a fatal, incurable disease? Truthfully, I do not know. How would you respond to these things?

I think we should be thankful for all things, little and big, and be mindful of those things…every single day. Being thankful and unselfish is not merely reserved for the parents among us, though my experience tells me that there are but a very few blessed and fortunate souls who do not yet have children, but have somehow managed to learn the lessons of the grateful kind :)

All of this talk of America being so abundant is not to say that we do not have more than our fair share of struggles and heartaches right here on the home front. Lord knows millions of Americans live in brokenness and poverty and disease with little hope of change. But the opportunities that exist in this country vastly outweigh those available to the world’s poorest individuals.

The weather today was just perfect! I can't believe that being so late in November it's not cold at all! We headed out to the stores, but not at the wee hours of the morning. We went at like 10 am and I'm happy to report that the deals we were looking for we still found. We spent all day enjoying the beautiful weather and time together as a family.

I sincerely hope that you not only had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) but that you enjoyed your precious time with your loved ones. Every person in our life is special in one way or another, and I feel that we need to let them know just how special they are because we never know when God will need them by his side.

I am looking forward to the remainder of the weekend with my family!

Talk about Thanksgiving...

This morning when I woke up it hit me, Thanksgiving is next week!!!! I haven't even started decorating let alone planning the menu.

I always host Thanksgiving at my house and this year I'm so excited because we are in our new place! I absolutely love this special holiday, not just because of the food (although it is amazing) but because I get to spend a fun day with my family. I am thinking of using candles this year for the dinner table. I'm thinking of a votive in glass holder wrapped in corn husks. It looks very nice and it's quick and inexpensive.

As you can see I've done these before but for a fall wedding as favors.

I'm thinking of using this idea and adding to it for the centerpiece. Getting a hurricane vase butting one of those thick pillar candles inside and instead of wrapping that in husks, maybe gluing Indian Corn around it and tying with a burlap string. I'll post a picture when I finish it.

I don't have the menu but usually I do turkey, a few veggie dishes and a dessert. Do you have any ideas you can share with me for the menu? I love to try new things!! How about for decorations?

Thanks for reading and sharing with me on how you decorate and celebrate Thanksgiving Day. :)

What I have learned about relationships.

Here I am preparing to celebrate my thirty-fourth birthday. I can’t believe that It’s been sixteen years since I turned eighteen.  Since then, friends and acquaintances have come and gone, boyfriends have come and gone, and I received the great blessing of becoming a mom.  I've found through my years, through my experience with my own personal relationships that there are certain truths that affect the quality and longevity of our relationships, and of course the impact they have on us.  I want to share them with you today in hopes that they save you from a little heartache and confusion.

1.       I believe that in order to truly have a loving, supportive, and long-lasting relationship with someone else, you need to learn how to be your own best friend first.  It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.

2.      In a few years, people won’t remember what clothes you wore, which car you drove, and maybe not even your full name.  But in a few years, they will remember how you made them feel and the positive memories you gave them.  The impact you make on people will depend on how much you care for those who have less, support those who are striving, and tolerate those who are different than you.

3.      You have to remember that it doesn’t matter what other people think of you.  You wouldn’t worry so much about what people thought of you if you knew just how rarely they do.  No one is ever going to care about your life and the way you choose to live it more than you will. Follow your heart, and take your brain with you every step of the way.  Get to know your true self.  When you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about that one bit.

4.      Always follow your intuition.  Following your intuition means doing what feels right, even if it doesn’t look or sound right to others. Friends and family won’t always support your goals, but pursue them anyway.  So don’t worry about what everyone else thinks; keep living and speaking your truth.  The only people that will get mad at you for doing so are those who want you to live a lie.  

5.        You have to learn to accept that not everyone is who you once knew.  And realize that sometimes it’s not the person you miss, it’s the feeling you had when you were with them.

6.      Always remember that some people are meant to stay in your heart, but not in your life.  If you’re having a tough time letting go of someone who left you, realize that if they wanted to stay they would still be there.  Sometimes you have to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next.  It sucks when you know that you need to let go, but you can’t because you’re still hoping for the impossible to happen.  Yes, it will hurt for a while, but you have to forget about the person who forgot about you, and move on.

7.       Believe it or not everyone has baggage, just like you do.  The minute someone decides to walk out of your life, that is the same moment in which the opportunity and space opens up for someone who actually deserves your love to finally walk in.  Remember, everyone has baggage, so don't be ashamed of yours.  Be patient and find someone who loves you enough to help you unpack.

8.      Also hard to believe is that love doesn't hurt.  Love is not the problem.  Don’t blame love if a failed relationship interfered with your other important relationships, or robbed you of your self-esteem and personal freedoms.  Don’t blame love.  Because it wasn't love that stole from you.  It was possession, obsession, manipulation, and confusion.  Love had nothing to do with it.  Because love doesn't close the door against everything that is good.  It opens it wide to let more goodness in.  Love creates freedom and abundance.

9.      Anyone can hold a grudge, but it takes a person with strong character to forgive.  When you forgive, you release yourself from a painful burden.  And no, forgiveness doesn't mean what happened was OK; and it doesn't mean that person should still be welcome in your life.  It simply means you have made peace with the pain, and are ready to let go and move on with your life.

10.   I believe that love requires three things: acceptance, honesty, and commitment. Love comes when you care more about who the other person really is, rather than about who you think they should become.  It’s about daring to reveal yourself honestly, and daring to be open and vulnerable over the long-term.  It’s about sticking by each other’s side through thick and thin, and truly being there in the flesh and spirit when you’re needed most.  Remember, the most romantic love story is not Romeo and Juliet who died young together; it’s the story of grandma and grandpa who helped each other through life, and grew old together.

11.    Also a big part of who you become is who you choose to surround yourself with. Fate controls who walks into your life, but you decide who you let walk out, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go.  Surround yourself with people who make you a better person, and let go of those who don’t.

12.   In my opinion a soul mate is the person who brings out the best in you. They are far from perfect, but they are a perfect fit for you.  Remember, every relationship has its problems, but what makes it perfect is when you wouldn't want to be anywhere else, especially when times are tough. 

I guess you do learn a lot in 34 years :)