Sweet Sunlight Style

3.15.2014

Disney! Through our iPhones

Our Trip to Cali was phenomenal! We loved every last moment of it. It was so great to see family and to enjoy the magic of Disney together! I loved seeing it through my niece and nephew's eyes!

Here are just a few pictures of our trip!

Welcome to L.A.

By far the worst ride at Disney has to be the ferris wheel! It swings, Oh my word I was having a heart attack. I literally was sweating so bad and on the verge of a panic attack ha, Im a super wimp when it comes to heights

If You get the chance to go to Disney, Cars Land is a MUST! This tire bumper ride was so fun!

Thanks for these pictures Jos!

Parade at California Adventure

Is there a way to make "pretty" faces on roller coasters? If so let me know, I have yet to master that talent!

The Hubs and my father in law were Obsessed with the architecture of cars land (I think they were obsessed with the whole thing, It was amazing)

Brother in law and his mini me!

E was pretty upset that he couldn't pick these bum bells up.

Love that SMILE!

He's a hunk! And no, I'm not talking about the green one

I felt like I was a 6 year old girl again! Love the Castle!

Love these two, she loved spending time with her uncle!

See what I mean, the Magic of Disney!

The world of color was my FAVORITE show!

These three are so funny! They have a picture like this when they were little

The two best faces ever: The Hubs face of excitement and H's face of Terror. She was not happy about riding Splash Mountain a second time.

LOVE HIM!!!

I was more than apprehensive to ride Tower of Terror. But we rode it twice and I ended up loving it.

My sister in law is the cutest!

The things the make out of Legos, I mean, come on!

This cute little face!

Cars World- Seriously amazing!

Enjoying some yummy milk shakes

I loved hanging out with this little girl! She would tell me all about the rides as we were in line and then say "It's not scary, it's fun!"

This pretty much sums up how we all felt after a long week! But it was amazing and we had so much fun! We miss our family so much already. Can't wait to see them again!

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3.04.2014

Bread!

So, I'm over here baking again!

This weekend we got together with some of our couple friends and had an international food night. Everyone made something from either their mission or just something they really wanted to make. It was so fun and to say it was delicious would be a vast understatement! We ate so much but it was so worth it! The Hubs served his mission in Italy so we had panned on making this really yummy Italian Focaccia, but because life happens, we just didn't have time to make it.

So, I planned it into Sunday Dinner. It took FOREVER and we still didn't get to eat it with our actual dinner but we sure enjoyed munching on it the rest of the night. ( are you like us and eat Sunday Dinner at like 2-4 and then just munch the rest of the day?) We ate till we were overly full and still wanted more ha ha. It was really so good! Then for dinner Monday I made it into Focaccia pizza by just adding salami and mozzarella cheese. I seriously didn't know something could be so good! Ok so here is the recipe. If you decide to make this, give yourself enough time, but I promise it will be so worth it!

Recipe:
5 c. flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fast active yeast or 1 package
6 TBSP olive oil
2 c. water at room temperature
my additions
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
3 TBSP parmesan cheese
Black Olives (NOT FROM A CAN!!!)
cherry tomatoes sliced in half

Directions:
1. Stir together flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and oil and mix on medium speed (using hook attachment) until the ingredients form a wet, sticky ball. Scrape dough from sides and let rest. Stir again adding flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (The dough should be very elastic not sticky but pliable.)
2. Sprinkle enough flour on your counter to make a bed about 6in sq. scrape the dough from the sides of bowl using a wet spatula and place onto the flour bed. Dust the top of your dough with flour and let it relax for 5 min.
3. Dust your hands with flour and press the dough into a rectangle shape twice it's original size. Fold it over letter style, spray with oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap.
4. Let rest for thirty minutes, and repeat steps three and four 2 more times.
5.Allow the dough to rise on the counter for an hour. it should swell but not necessarily double in size.
6. Spray a 7x12 baking pan with olive oil and press your dough into it using your finger tips, before pressing, coat with olive oil and any herbs you wish to add. The shape of the dough should be dimply- lots of little pockets from your finger tips.
7. On step seven you are supposed to place the dough in the Fridge over night or up to three days but I was not waiting for that ha! Im sure it would have been even better had I though. If you decide to do it this way make sure to take the dough out three hours before baking.
8. So if your like me and didn't do it that way, I then added olives, halved cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese.Then I baked in the oven at 425 for 20-25 min.

The bread should be golden brown and crispy on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside.
I was so please with how good this turned out. First try at Focaccia, I say a win!

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2.28.2014

YUM!

I had a day off from work, and although I have a "To Do" list that stretches a mile long I decided to take time and bake! What a great alternative to cleaning and laundry right?

Baking is seriously one of my favorite things to do, I have been baking cookies, cakes (cheese cakes included) breads, cobblers etc. sense I can remember. I think the reason I love baking so much is because it brings others so much happiness. I mean how can you not be happy when you have a decadent cheesecake in your face saying, "EAT ME!"

Although cheesecake was not involved, today, the product was saaaweet!
Ok enough with the suspense I baked scones, Orange Cranberry Scones to be exact and they were scrumptious! (I didn't eat them all just one ;)) Perfect for a lazy saturday (or in my case if you are trying to put off chores.) I got the recipe from the Food Network app and it is by Barefoot Contessa. She does a lot of rustic, yummy food with a french flare. I really like her style.

The Recipe:
Ingredients:
4 c. flour + 1/4 cup
1/4 c. sugar
2 TBSP. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1 TBSP orange zest (although I used more)
3/4 lb. cold butter
4 extra large eggs
1 c. cold heavy cream
1 c. dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 TBSP water or milk for egg wash
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
4 tsp fresh squeezed orange juice.

Directions:
preheat over to 400

In a bowl of an electric mixer with fitted paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, and orange zest. Mix. Add cold butter cut into cubes. Mix on lowest setting until the butter is the size of peas. While mixing, in a separate bowl mix the eggs and milk. Once flour mixture is ready (butter size of peas) slowly add the milk mixture. The mixture will look lumpy but that means it's perfect. Add the extra 1/4 c flour and cranberries and mix together.

On a well floured surface dump the dough and knead into a ball. Flatten with hands so that the dough is 3/4 of an inch thick. Using a cup cut dough and place on a cookie sheet.

Beat one egg, add water to make an egg wash and brush over the scones. Sprinkle sugar over top of that and place in oven. Bake for 20-25 min or until light brown and fully baked, the tops should be stiff.

While that bakes mix orange juice and confectioners' sugar to make icing.

Once baked let cool and then top with icing. and enjoy!

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2.25.2014

California Dream'n

Earrings and stackable necklace: Target

I'm trying to channel my inner free spirit (whatever that means) by getting ready our California trip! The Hubs and I are on our way to visit family, watch a gymnastics meet (my brother in law is AMAZING at gymnastics) and to visit the happiest place on earth, DISNEY LAND! We are soooo excited and in much need of a good vaca! I'm trying to convince the Hubs that while in Cali we need to squeeze in a shopping day. As of now, it looks like a no go :( but I'll be ok as long as my feet get to touch a sandy beach!

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