doTERRA & Maui

Hello all! I know you haven't heard from me much but it's only because I have been enjoying Tiff's recipes so much! I'm going to have to try all of those recipes! For me lately I have been focused on doTERRA and working on ways to help my husband sleep better. He falls asleep quickly but struggles with staying asleep. So doTERRA to the rescue! One thing people think about essential oils is the results should happen immediately. This isn't always the case. It's important when using essential oils to stay consistent and they will assist you as you continue. We have been using White Fir, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Wild Orange, and a doTERRA blend called Breathe. The other doTERRA product I have been using is the On Guard cleaner and I LOVE it! It comes in a concentrate so you only use a little at a time once you dilute it in your spray bottle. It makes my home smell so good and it disinfects the yuck that comes on the counters! LOVE IT! I highly recommend all mentioned products!

My husband and I love reminiscing about our honeymoon in Maui! Photography is and will always be a love of mine and being in such a beautiful place I tried to take full advantage of the scenery. One day we will go back and have the yummy shaved ice (with macadamia nut ice cream and a snow cap-sweetened condensed milk on top!) and lay on our favorite beach at Wailea.

Fish Tacos with Boom Boom Sauce

So this is a meal I made a couple of weeks ago and we LOVED so I wanted to post about it, but kept forgetting. This meal is with shrimp, which would be awesome, but I just bought some frozen breaded fish (better price for us) and it was delicious too! Plus my 2 year old boy will eat that fish. It was a easy sauce and the avocado with it was tasty!

Shrimp Tacos with Boom Boom Sauce

Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
20 mins
Total time
35 mins

Author: Christina Hitchcock
Recipe type: Main Dish
Serves: 4

Ingredients
Shrimp Tacos
1 (10 ounce) package Gorton's Skillet Crisp Shrimp
8 soft flour taco shells
2 cups shredded cabbage (or prepackaged coleslaw mix)
1 avocado, sliced
Boom Boom Sauce (recipe below)
Boom Boom Sauce
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
¾ tsp Sriracha

Instructions

Shrimp Tacos
Prepare shrimp according to package directions
Place about ⅛ cup shredded cabbage in taco shell
Place 2-3 slices of avocado on top of shredded cabbage
Place 4-5 shrimp on top of avocado
Drizzle Boom Boom Sauce on top of shrimp

Boom Boom Sauce
Place all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine.

Try-Day-Friday: Philly Cheesesteaks

I love a great warm sandwich and was interested in making one for our Friday meal this past week. I settled on a cheesesteak recipe! It was a good recipe and I just had to change a few things. We did a sirloin thin sliced steak because it was better for our budget than ribeye like she suggested. It was a little tougher meat and I'm still learning about how to cook steak right but it still did the trick for us. We also wanted some type of condiment on it so we made a sriracha mayo that gave it more flavor.

I found this through Pinterest on thelittlekitchen.net

CHEESESTEAKS
YIELD: 4 SANDWICHES PREP TIME: 35 MIN COOK TIME: 50 MIN TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 25 MIN
Use two ribeye steaks for this recipe and you can’t go wrong.

INGREDIENTS:

4 hoagie rolls, sliced (We love the Publix hoagie rolls!)
1/2 green pepper, sliced
1 large white onion, cut in half and sliced thick
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1.25-1.5 lbs beef ribeye steaks (sliced thinly across the grain and then chopped roughly again so they are small pieces)
salt & pepper
3 1/2 Tbsp salted butter
8 slices of cheese (Provolone or Muenster)

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare 4 sheets of foil and slice the hoagie rolls and set aside. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Heat a non-stick skillet with 1 Tbsp butter on medium high heat. Add mushrooms and half of the onions and cook 5-8 minutes or until mushrooms are browned and onions are cooked down. Remove and place on a plate.
Wipe the skillet with a paper towel and add 1/2 Tbsp of butter and return to the stove. Cook remaining onions and bell peppers for 5-8 minutes or until peppers start to brown and blister and the onions are cooked down. Add to a separate plate (unless everyone likes peppers/onions/mushrooms then add to the plate with mushrooms & onions).
Wipe the skillet again with a paper towel and add 1 Tbsp butter and return to stove again. Season half of the steak with salt & pepper and add to the skillet. Reduce to medium heat and cook for 2-4 minutes. Add in peppers & onions or half of the veggie mixture and cook for 1-2 minutes. Divide the meat & veggies in half as pictured above. Add 4 slices of cheese on top and allow the cheese to melt for 1-2 minutes.
Add the cooked meat & veggies and melted cheese to two hoagie rolls. Inside one sheet of foil, roll the hoagie roll tightly and place inside the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Repeat the process with the remaining steak & veggies or like I did with the mushrooms and onions – for the last two hoagie rolls. Serve fresh out of the oven with chips or your favorite French fries.
Notes: If you have leftovers (if that’s possible), refrigerate inside a zippered plastic bag inside (don’t remove it from the foil). Reheat the cheesesteaks in the foil in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

From The Little Kitchen

*While making this meal I watch a episode of Arrow season 1  :) Great show!

Try-Day-Friday: Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy

Oh boy this was delicious! My husband mentioned that we should have chicken fried steak sometime, just assuming we could by the frozen kind which we also like, but I said "Well why don't I try making it from scratch!" I tried looking up different recipes and settled on The Pioneer Woman's recipe. It was so easy and fun because Food Network has the clip of her making it as well as the recipe on the site. So I watched her while I did it and got all her little tips. This meal was also pretty cheap because I was able to find cubed steak for about 6 dollars for four of them and I had pretty much all the other ingredients. My husband thought it was great and so did I! The only worry I had was making sure it was cooked through because red juice kept coming up, but I think I just have to work more on my heat and how high. Just something to keep working on I guess :)

Video link The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

Chicken Fried Steak:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 pounds cube steak (tenderized round steak that's been extra tenderized)
Kosher salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
Gravy:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 to 4 cups whole milk
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Mashed potatoes, for serving
ADD CHECKED ITEMS TO GROCERY LIST
Directions

For the steak: Begin with setting up an assembly line of dishes. Mix the milk with the eggs in one; the flour mixed with the seasoned salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper, paprika and cayenne in another; and the meat in a third. Then have one clean plate at the end to receive the breaded meat.

Work with one piece of meat at a time. Sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and black pepper, then place it in the flour mixture. Turn to coat. Place the meat into the milk/egg mixture, turning to coat. Finally, place it back in the flour and turn to coat (dry mixture/wet mixture/dry mixture). Place the breaded meat on the clean plate, then repeat with the remaining meat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the butter. Drop in a few sprinkles of flour to make sure it's sufficiently hot. When the butter sizzles immediately, you know it's ready. (It should not brown right away, if it does, the fire is too hot.) Cook the meat, 3 pieces at a time, until the edges start to look golden brown, about 2 minutes each side. Remove the meat to a paper towel-lined plate and keep them warm by covering lightly with another plate or a sheet of foil. Repeat until all the meat is cooked.

After all the meat is fried, pour off the grease into a heatproof bowl. Without cleaning the skillet, return it to the stove over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup of the grease back to the skillet and allow it to heat up.

For the gravy: When the grease is hot, sprinkle the flour evenly over the grease. Using a whisk, mix the flour with the grease, creating a golden-brown paste. Add more flour if it looks overly greasy; add a little more grease if it becomes too pasty/clumpy. Keep cooking until the roux reaches a deep golden brown color.

Pour in the milk, whisking constantly. Add the seasoned salt and black pepper to taste and cook, whisking, until the gravy is smooth and thick, 5 to 10 minutes. Be prepared to add more milk if it becomes overly thick. Be sure to taste to make sure gravy is sufficiently seasoned.

Serve the meat next to a big side of mashed potatoes. Pour gravy over the whole shebang!

2011 Ree Drummond, All Rights Reserved
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Try-Day-Friday: Crock Pot Beef Stew

I found this recipe on Pinterest through a site called life-in-the-lofthouse.com. So it does take 8 hours to make so I had to remember to start it in the morning (which I almost forgot). So we really liked this recipe too. We had my brother-in-law over too so had another person to try it. It was a thicker soup. Not really a soup but more like a cream sauce on top of vegetables and stew meat. I really loved the meat with the onion soup mix with it. Lots of great flavor! It reminded my husband and brother-in-law of a casserole their mother would make with leftovers of Sunday dinner. I made corn bread with it which my two year old ate more of but did have some bites of carrots and potatoes. I did half of the recipe and pretty much filled up my large crockpot so it does make a lot.

INGREDIENTS
 (1 oz) packages dry onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 pounds lean beef stew meat (cut up into bite sized pieces)
5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 to 3 cups baby carrots
1 small Onion, chopped
2 (10 oz.) cans cream of celery soup
1 cup ketchup

INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large plastic bag, combine the dry onion soup mix and paprika. Add in meat and shake the bag to coat meat with the seasonings. (You may have to do that step in two batches, for all the meat to fit) Once meat is coated, spread out evenly into a greased 7 quart crock pot.
2. Top meat evenly with diced potatoes, carrots and onion.
3. Mix the cream of celery soup and ketchup in a small bowl. Pour mixture over the meat and vegetables.
4. Cover crock pot with lid. Cook on low heat for 8 hours or until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender. Stir to combine everything then serve.

*Music during meal prep- Rachel Platten Pandora mix

Going Green Smoothie & Watercolors

I love my doTERRA essential oils! Today my hubby surprised me with a new smoothie recipe while I was painting today! It's a new favorite at our place! Enjoy!

Going Green Smoothie

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup green grapes
• 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
• 1/2 banana, peeled
• 2 cups fresh spinach, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup ice cubes
• 1-2 drops doTERRA Lemon oil (depending on how strong you would like the lemon to stand out)

Place all ingredients into the blender in the order listed above. Blend until smooth!

I hope you all love this recipe as much as I do now! It's like happiness in a cup! Yummy! 

Another new project I am working on is watercolors. I have always wanted to try painting but didn't want to spend the money in case I didn't love it. So I decided water coloring was a great alternative and I am LOVING it! Drawing and art has always been a love of mine but I needed something different than my pencil drawings. I am so happy that I gave it a shot! 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and that it is sunny where you are! Toodles! 

Try-Day-Friday: "Cracked Out" Chicken Bubble Up

First Try-Day-Friday post! This recipe was one I found on Pinterest from plainchicken.com. We had this tonight and it was really good and super easy! It's one of those quick casserole meals that's easy to make. I even had to hold my youngest during some of the prep so that shows you how easy :) My two year old enjoyed eating the biscuit parts so kid friendly as well! 

Change it up!:

I decided to defrost the chicken and pan fry the chicken right in the bacon grease from the bacon I fried up. It gave it more flavor. My husband and I both agreed to do a little less Ranch dressing than suggested. I would do maybe 1 Tbsp. Just a little too strong for us! 

• 2 cups cooked chopped chicken
• 1 (10.75oz) can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Ranch dressing mix
• 1/4 cup cooked, chopped bacon
• 1 (12oz) can refrigerated Grands Jr biscuits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside

Combine chicken, soup, sour cream, cheese, Ranch mix, and bacon. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Toss with chicken mixture. Pour chicken mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until bubbly and biscuits are golden brown.

*Music during meal prep: Adele mix on Spotify

My name is Tiffany and this my sister Amanda!

Amanda and I can definitely be a goofy pair! We lived together for a semester while we were attending BYU-Idaho and let's just say we didn't have a great social life because we enjoyed just hanging out and being silly. We did decide to throw a party one time....but that's for another time! :) We, of course, shared food so we tried to figure out a easy way to mark the food for the both of us. Well because of our smarts and incredible intelligence we came up with putting the @ sign on it for both of our initials (A & T). So that's why we decided on our blog name for those who are sitting at home trying to figure out if we've gone coo coo.

Well I'll introduce myself! I currently live in Idaho Falls, Idaho with my husband, Kellan, of almost five years and two little boys, Tucker-2 years old and Everett-9 months old. I met my husband in Idaho Falls and then dated him at BYU-Idaho where he graduated in Recreation Management and I graduated in Child Development. Kellan works for his father's tile store and I'm a stay at home mom. I have loved and embraced all the jobs that come with this title- teacher, cook, housekeeper, peacekeeper, chauffeur, poop cleaner, home designer, nap convincer, reader, and best hot wheel car/monster truck player. This family is my life and the best title I have is being a wife and mother!

So to say I embraced cooking easily would not be accurate. It took me a long time to figure out a lot of the basics. I never really enjoyed cooking or baking while I was growing up and at college. Funny story- My grandmother was such a fun, out spoken person, as well as a great cook, and one day asked about my cooking. I told her I wasn't really that great of a cook and wasn't in the kitchen much. Well she managed to tell me that I wouldn't be able to find a husband if I didn't at least look the part. So the next time I saw her she had two beautiful aprons for me. She told me to just throw flour on it and stand in the kitchen the next time boys were over. :) Well it eventually did work and I was able to trick my husband into marrying me! ;)

Over these five years I was able to get better at cooking with many calls to my mother, Google searches, and youtube videos. I'm what you can call an anxious chef. I know my heart rate goes up when I'm trying to figure out if something is ready or if I made it right. So if your like me you've been able to master your basic, easy, quick meals that you have every week. With two boys I usually have maybe a half an hour to tackle dinner. Someone is in need of attention and if it's quiet I'm distracted making sure their not up to something. Well my meals were getting boring and consistent so I decided to change up one day in the week to work on my culinary skills (if you can even call it that) and give my family something different for their taste buds. I decided to do it on Fridays and call it Try-Day-Friday. I'll post what I tried that week here and let you know what I would change, rating it on easiness and taste for both 26 year olds and a 2 year old.

I have a love for crafting and design. I enjoy making something ordinary into something more. I'm always looking for ways to change up my home. I have moved six times in the five years I've been married to my husband so I feel like I've had to make five different houses into comfortable homes for us. I love looking up more ways to decorate and beautify my home. I also have a two year old to entertain and I love the hands on fun we can have with crafts.

Lastly, I love continuing my education on child development. I'm always looking for more research and understanding that's been done in my field. As a parent, I'm always learning and trying to understand the best way to take care of my boys. If there's something in articles or from my church leaders that will help me be a better mother I am so excited to learn more!

Well that's me! I am so excited to do this blog with Amanda and if anything it's a place for us to learn from each other. We hope something will be of benefit to you here and teach you something new!

My name is Amanda and this is my sister Tiffany!

A while back Tiffany and I started going to a new LDS singles ward upon moving to a new area. Our first Sunday in Relief Society they asked us to introduce ourselves...they never expected our introduction to be so awkward. We both stood up, I said "My name is Amanda" and pointing my thumb to my sister I said very enthusiastically "And this is my sister Tiffany!" Now that is a lifelong joke of ours and I think of it every time I need to introduce myself.
Tiffany and I no longer live close together but have a lot in common and feel this is the best way to share our love of things to each other and to others. So hopefully our knowledge of random things will help everyone out in this journey we call life. Ha ha!

I currently live in the beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho with my new husband, Bryan. We love it here! Nature has been a huge adjustment for me with all the wildlife walking around my neighborhood. The bunnies sure are cute! Previously upon meeting and dating my husband I worked full time as a professional photographer and LOVED every minute of it. I specialized in portrait photography and will be starting my own photography business here in Sun Valley. Another passion of mine is drawing and art. I love pencil drawing and recreating new things. I once heard that photography is an immediate reaction. Drawing is a meditation. That is so true both are very much therapy for me! :)
My husband is addicted to fitness and we are working together to get in shape. So along with that is cooking healthy food. I love to cook and cooking healthy has been a fun but difficult adventure. But I will share with you all our secrets to healthy eating and exercise.
Last love of mine would be my dōTERRA oils. I am a Wellness Advocate for dōTERRA and am always doing research and wanting to learn more. I have used the product for almost 4 years now and have noticed how much they support my needs. I struggle with migraines from time to time, which is why I first started using essential oils, and the oils help in assisting relieving that pain. I definitely suggest everyone at least give them a try! The oils can help in so many ways; cooking, cleaning, health, and skin care. Who doesn't love that!?!
Well that's me in a nutshell! Until next time! Toodles!