Valentine's Day

I know that it has been over a week since Valentine's Day but I really wanted to write a post about it since it was mine and Matias' first together as husband and wife. We each really wanted this year to be special because of it being our first as a married couple and also because we always seem to have bad luck on Valentine's Day. (Something would always happen every year to kinda ruin it for us.)

Since I wanted to do something special I of course went to Pinterest for ideas! Matias loves red velvet cake (flavor of his grooms cake) so I decided to start off by making him a cake and happened to find a heart shape springform pan (on sale at TJ-Maxx). 

Red Velvet Cake

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder 
• 1 1/2 tbsp liquid red food coloring
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 2 cake pans. Then sift flour and salt together and set aside for later. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar together and mix until light and fluffy. 

Add each egg one at a time and mix well. Add your flour and salt mixture to the bowl along with the buttermilk but alternate between the two, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add in your vanilla and mix together.

In a small mixing bowl, mix your red food coloring and the cocoa power together until a paste forms. This will give you the bright red color you want for your red velvet cake instead of it looking brownish.

Add the red mixture to the sugar and butter mixture and mix well. In another small bowl, stir together the baking soda and cider vinegar and pour into the batter immediately. Blend on medium-high until batter is consistent. 

Spoon the batter evenly into the pans and level off the top of the batter with a spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed in the center.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4-5 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Gradually pour the sugar into the bowl and mix on low. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. If mixture looks too thick you can add milk to loosen in and if it is too think just add more powdered sugar or put in the refrigerator to let it firm up.

After the cake cools you can decorate it. Sorry that it doesn't look like a heart anymore. :(

On actual Valentine's Day Matias and I went to Cafe Excell for dinner and had a great time there and we exchanged presents at home. He got me some Dove chocolates and this beautiful painting done by a friend of ours, of me in my wedding dress. She did it in water colors and it is absolutely amazing. For his I got the idea off of Pinterest to do the deck of cards with 52 reasons why I love him. He loved his present and thought that it was so special. I do believe that this Valentine's Day was our best yet!

Crescent Roll Ups and Lemonade Sherbet!

With the help of Pinterest Matias and I have been able to get a lot of cool ideas for cooking at home. We have tried several different recipes and we wanted to be able to share this one because it was super good and very easy.

Crescent Pepperoni Roll Ups

• 1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
• Package of pepperoni slices
• 4 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, cut in half
• Pizza sauce (your choice)

Preheat over to 375.

Separate the crescent rolls into their 8 triangle pieces. Grab one of the triangles and spread a little bit of sauce onto the roll (make sure not to cover in sauce because it make it difficult to roll up later) and place 5 slices of the pepperoni and half of the string cheese onto. 

Roll up the crescent like normal and place onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with a side of warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Pink Lemonade Sherbet 

• 1 (12-ounce) can pink lemonade concentrate (I was going to use the Country Time mix I had but glad I went with the frozen kind because it helped mix better)
• 4 cups (1 quart) raspberry sherbet (they didn't have raspberry so we got fruit punch, which tasted just as good)
• 1 (12-ounce) can of Sprite

In a pitcher, mix the lemonade concentrate like normal with the recommended amount of water. Then in a blender combine the sherbet with about half of the lemonade mixture. Mix until combined. The first time we mixed it up a little too much in the blender and didn't let the sherbet natural melt into the mixture. After this add it back to the pitcher and pour into individual glasses. Add the soda, to the glasses and stir gently to mix. 

Once completed enjoy your drink and meal together!

Our Lovely Life with Lilly

We have had Lilly now for 8 months and I have no idea what I would do without her. She just makes are little family complete and provides us with so much entertainment. Our lives would be very boring without her in it.

Matias got Lilly as a graduation/birthday present for me in June. I had previously gotten a beagle named Honey Bun when I was a junior in high school but after I went to college she instantly became my mothers dog. I always knew I wanted another beagle and we spent a long time looking for the perfect breeder.

I am kinda obsessed with beagles and actually watched several litters of beagles that were born in Scotland on Ustream. From there I saw another beagle place called The Beagle Corner that was located closer by and was just having a litter. I got to see Lilly on camera when she was only a couple of hours old and watched her grow up on the camera. I messaged the breeder and told her I wanted one of the girls and she showed them to me on the camera. I instantly recognized the Aggie ring on her finger and realized I had found the perfect breeder. The rest is history.

After getting Lilly we wanted her to be socialized with other dogs and also enrolled her in training classes at the Aggie Pet Zone. She loved them and we still continue to do training with her. We actual start agility this Saturday! We also do weekly playcare dates for her on Friday's, where she can play with the other dogs and just gets a day of fun.

First time at play care!

Advanced Training - Heeling

Heading Home after playcare, look at those tired eyes

Matias and I always joke around that Lilly has three different personalities and we have named all three. The first is called "Anarchy Beagle." Think of the kid from Talladega Nights running around doing crazy things shouting anarchy. Well that is basically what Lilly does. She literally jumps off the walls, runs around the living room from the couch to the chair to our coffee table then outside and does it all over again. She does this a couple of times a week and this is normally how she burns off a lot of her energy. Luckily she is not destructive in doing this. 

Anarchy Beagle

But her next personality we call "Hoodrat Beagle" she can be very destructive. Matias basically came up with this name from the YouTube video I like to do Hoodrat stuff with my friends. In this stage Lilly like to grab things out of the closest off the table, night stand, bookshelves, or anything else she can reach. She will take it off to a little corner and just start shredding it or getting it wet in her mouth. If you try taking it away from her she will run off and become more destructive because she thinks it is a little game. Sometimes we pretend that we don't want her to have stuff that is hers so she will think she is hoodratting. This often actually seems to work! 

Her last personality is what we call "Froggy Legs". This is her calmest and probably cutest stage! If she is laying down or chewing on a chewy or a toy she always sticks both legs out into froggy leg position. This is when she just wants to be loved on and cuddle with her Mommy and Daddy! 

Froggy legs while chewing

Froggy legs on the bed

Laying with her Momma

The Beagle Head Cock!

Because she is just so cute

Getting ready for a walk with Momma

Laying down with Daddy