Baked Apple Chips!

So I'm a slacker. I know.

These days school and work have the best of my spare time. I'm quite the avid blogger I know.. Okay I'm really horrible at it, but I aspire to be one! It just takes time and time is the last thing I have these days! However, today I didn't have work, went to class, cleaned the house, went to the gym, studied (more of that to come :S), went grocery shopping, and now just waiting for Austin to come home from work! I'd say it's been a proactive day!

While I was at the store I was really tempted to buy those apple chips..the ones that are always by the produce. BUT after looking at the label my nutritional instincts said no no no. I thought to myself that homemade, fresh, warm apple chips would probably be better anyways! So I decided to put my own spin on sugar free HEALTHY apple chips. And I was right.. it was better!! (I just love it when that happens!)

It was extremely EASY, plus it made my apartment smell AMAZING!! If you ever have company coming over just throw some of these in the oven. I'm tellin ya, better then burning a candle.

Here is how it's done.

Pre time: 15 minutes -- Cook time: Depends on your oven ( I say this because our oven is HORRIBLE at baking, I always have to take it down a few notches and the timing is always different then what the directions say)

Step 1 - Wash and Core the apples ( I used three small apples and it filled up an entire sheet). Preheat Over to 275.

Step 2 - Slice the apples into thin slices.

Step 3 - Lay them out on a cookie sheet (lined with parchment paper) sprinkle with cinnamon and stevia (I used about 2 to 3 little packets of stevia).

Step 4 - Place in heated oven . Take them out and FLIP when they start to look a light golden. Flipping them gets the evenly cooked. Place back into oven.

Step 5 - Take out of oven when they look evenly cooked. ENJOY YOUR PERFECTLY HEALTHY SNACK! MMMmmm...

Water never tasted so GOOOOOD!!!!!!

I'm VERY picky when it comes to water. If it tastes too mineraly, old, or warm I can't bring myself to drink it. Austin and I got a Brita water filter as a wedding gift -- pretty much the best thing invented!

Attempts 2... & 3

So I to did some serious digging for good HEALTHY protein bars (again). I came across two more recipes that I wanted to test out.

Here were my results..

Numero dos..

Nutritional Facts

Calories - 226

Protein - 25 g.

Carbs - 18 g.

Fats - 6 g.

The nutritional values on these bars seem pretty decent, the only problem about these bars was the texture. It didn't "set" as much as I would have liked it to after refrigerated. Just a little too sticky for me! However, the taste of these bars were 100xxx better then my first attempt!

Numero Tres..

Nutritional Facts

Calories - 211

Protein - 12 g. (crappppy)

Carbs - 25 g. (craaaappppy again)

Fats - 7 g.

As you can see the nutritional values on these bars didn't come close to the other ones (protein & carbs). BUT they are delicious!! Its a win-lose situation... they taste great but not the healthiest. They don't taste very good...healthier.

I have decided that I'm going to put together my own recipe.. hopefully this will be my final attempt with success!

I'll let ya know how it goes...

EXPECTO PATRONUM!

Austin and I had never really jumped onto the whole Harry Potter train. I remember attempting to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Elementary School when it was first released. I’m pretty sure I never got past the first chapter. From there on out I never paid any attention to the Harry Potter series. A few weeks ago Austin randomly wanted to do a Harry Potter marathon (I was a quite shocked since he’s never been into any sci-fi). Well… because we don’t have TV and I have seen all our movies over 20 times each.. Oh and I rarely ever turn down a movie night – Agreed to do this Harry Potter marathon.

Needless to say we just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 a few nights ago and were pretty thrilled for July 15^th! It definitely makes a lot more sense watching them consecutively starting from the beginning. I’m glad we waited till now to start this marathon because now we only have to wait till next weekend for part 2 to come out!

I really wish I had a wand, could go to Hogwarts, and could do magic chants/spells!!

Attempt #1 – FAILED

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it’s really hard to find a good protein bar that isn’t loaded with all the sugar and actually have more than 10g of protein. Not to mention.. trying to stock up on them can get a little pricey, especially for broke newlyweds. SO – I decided to go on a hunt for a homemade protein bar recipe. Well if you type, ‘homemade protein bar’ into google you’ll see that there are pages full of different recipes. Yet, they all claim to be, ‘great tasting and delicious’. Well I found the first recipe to scratch off my list.

I decided to make this recipe for two reasons:

1. It seemed pretty simple to throw together and I had all the ingredients.

2. All the reviews on this particular recipe were given five stars.

I thought those were pretty good incentives to give it a test drive, don’t you?!

This recipe consisted mainly of protein powder, flax seed, natural applesauce, egg whites, vanilla, and peanut butter (from what I remember – give or take a little). After putting it all together it had the consistency of brownie mix. Then I put it into an 8x8 pan and threw it in the oven to cook for about 15-20 minutes. While it was cooking, the smell reminded me of brownies too - Let’s just say I was getting pretty excited! I took them out of the oven; the top was a nice golden brown and evenly cooked. I cut out a square to taste test…and… let’s just say they did NOT taste like brownies or anything close to that! I think the worst part about them was the texture. NASTY!!

I do have to say the best part of this experience was getting to see Austin’s face when he took a bite into a protein bar. His face was priceless! I have never seem him spit something out so fast! However, I did give him a fair warning…

Welp, back on the hunt for a good recipe!

Ready.. Set.. July?

Tomorrow is July 1st? Really????

Now that's a tear jerker alright! Last time I checked my 'Summer' begun about....... YEP - two hours ago. It's not already suppose to be July.. what happened here?!

May was completely consumed by our wedding, don't get me wrong, it was the best day of my life.. but no doubt, stressful. We got back from our honeymoon and a day later it was back to school, and that's when Human Phys took the month of June away from me. With class everyday, tests every Thursday, and lab quizzes twice a week my head was stuck in books on any down time I had. Not to mention finding a job and thank you cards -- that's an entire new blog post by its self!

However, on the bright side I'm done with Phys, done with thank you cards, and applied for a job --> got an interview --> and started working in less then a week. It's been month of success if I do say so myself!

I say bring on July! Aust and I are both scheduled to work a lot in July, BUT were going to fit in fun play days in there... somehow! We still got camping to do, lakes to go play in, snow cones to eat, BBQ's to plan, and lots of hiking.. and Cedar City is JUST the place for all that!

Happy Summertime!!!!

R.I.P. Juan

I got some bad news.

Juan Died.

For those of you who don't know Juan, he was the beautiful horse in my bridal pictures. He was the horse that I never had and always wanted. However, I'm

glad that he was able to get groomed up one last time to be in my bridals with me. He unexpectedly died of colic a few weeks after our pictures.

Brandy (the owner) was so excited to pretty him up for my pictures. She said that she always wanted to do her bridals with horses too. Unfortunately, at the time of her engagement she didn't have horses. She was so sweet to be willing and excited to watch my dreams come true with her horses. Brandy and her cute daughter helped out so much with positioning the horses and thinking of cute poses to do. It was definitely one of the funnest days preparing for the wedding! I definitely couldn't have done it without the incredible Brandy and Juan!

At the time of the pictures Juan was shedding off his winter coat, so when we were finished we had lots of hair..pretty much everywhere. After many lint rollers and the help of terrific family we got the dark brown horse hair off the white dress!

Juan was such an outstanding horse and I really did love him! I will always remember him and that perfect day taking my bridals. It was definitely worth all the lint rollers!

R.I.P Juan

Let it RAIN!

Well, it's true -- were finally married!

Let me tell ya.. there's nothing better then a down poor for a week straight when your planning an OUTSIDE wedding. I'd like to say that is was a miracle and the day of the wedding the weather was beautiful without a cloud in sight, blah blah blah...but...if you were there, you know it was anything BUT beautiful weather May 19, 2011. I don't think we could have planned a worse week in May for an outside wedding. I always heard those horror stories about hours of labor put into a yard to make it beautiful for a wedding, and then the horrible rainstorm ruined it all. I just never thought I would be one of those stories. When we first decided to do a backyard wedding my mom talked about the 'backup plan' more then the 'actual plan'. I kept getting frustrated saying, "Mom, you need to think positive! It's not going to rain!". Let me just give a little shout out to my mom right now and say THANK YOU! If it wasn't for her and all the last minute help from my amazing family and friends we wouldn't have pulled it off. However, we took the wedding inside the house and it was perfect!

I always dreamed of that beautiful outside wedding growing up. Whats worse then seeing those dreams shattered by crappy weather was knowing how many mornings my Dad and Mom woke up, sore and exhausted from hours put into that yard. Well, for those of you who know my Dad, you know that his main hobby is yard work. He loves spending his free time making his yard a beautiful masterpiece. However, before the wedding we had people telling the family that our Dad had some 'issues' and was seriously addicted to his yard. When in all reality -- I know that he was just trying to make his little girls dream, of a backyard wedding, perfect. When it came closer and closer to the wedding, I prayed hard for good weather..but not because it was going to ruin my outside wedding, mainly because I wanted my parents hard work to finally pay off.

"Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain. But you cant have a rainbow, without a little rain."

I'm sure by now you have a good idea as to why we based our blog around rain. I kept hearing from everyone that rain on your wedding day was good luck. I can now see the truth in that. Honestly, I couldn't be happier!! Marriage hasn't been anything but pure bliss ever since the day we got sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, for time and all eternity.

We can't thank everyone enough for all the love and support that was given to us on our wedding day. It was so great to see all our family and friends come together to celebrate our special day! We are truly blessed with so many great people in our lives! Sure it rained, but the part I'll always remember the best was the feeling I had in the temple... getting sealed to the love of my life and to my best friend, Austin James Thomas.