Life is good.. ^^

Hey-lloo.. everybody!

How are you guys and girls doing out there? ^^ Doing great I hope..

This is my first post after being absence for months, and yes I do admit I miss blogging and especially you my blogging friends.. T_T 

While my hiatus these several month, I’ve been juggling my 2 lives here in Jakarta and my hometown, I’m still doing my job at the company and also at college so you can see I got my hands full right here. But in my busy and hectic days, I always have the urge to write a blog post again.. But then I thought well, I just don’t have the time to do it no more, but nooo… My passion for blogging is way bigger! I just can’t stop being here and re-connect with all of you.. :) 

Although I don’t have a product review now (I will soon), but I do come with 2 pictures! 

This is what I recently bought, the aromatherapy oil burner made of glass, so beautiful you have to see this. Usually I see the one made of clay or something like that, but this one is made of complex glass-like-crystal, I bought it the moment I saw it.. :D

Great for Christmas, yes? So lovely! ^^

 

And don’t forget my new fave cake! Not so new actually, hehe.. The Blackforest Cheesecake from Secret Recipe! Looks yummy, right?? I’m falling in love, I’m having a relationship with my cheesecake.. *dramatic sigh ala Julia Robert*

 

You know, this is what I wanted to share with you, my dear reader, although there are many people said: oh this is too hard for you! or why don’t you just pick one and concentrate on it? Or this painful one that said I’m not gonna succeed cause I’m not good enough.. Well, you know something? Why can’t I have the best of both worlds? Why living my life out of ‘your’ standard? I am me, and if I have to deal with this condition, I’ll live my life to the fullest! I’m pushing myself to the limit and despite what the others may think about me, I’m just grateful with all the blessings that God gave me with all my family and friends who support me along the way.. Thank You..

Life IS Good.. :’)

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Super Easy Enchiladas

Ingredients:

9x13 Pyrex and another Pyrex for the extra ones that don't fit

12 chicken tenders or 4 chicken breasts

LOTS of grated cheese

12 tortillas

1 can of Enchilada sauce (our fave is Rosarita)

Chives

Sour cream for dipping and garnishing if desired

Instructions:

Bake the chicken at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes until cooked all the way through. No need to season. Once finished cut or shred it into small pieces. Pour some enchilada sauce in the bottom of your Pyrex pans. Make your enchiladas by rolling some chicken and cheese into a tortilla. Place in the pan. Repeat until you're out of chicken. Pour enchilada sauce on top, cover with grated cheese, then chop some chives and throw them on top for some color. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until hot all the way through. Top with sour cream and enjoy!

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Not Your Grandma's Scones

Little Monkey and I spent last night creating a delicious recipe for Chocolate White Chocolate Strawberry scones.  The results were mouthwatering, blissful, and completely incredible.  

Don't they just scream "Tragic Romance"?  Definitely the perfect snack to bring to your Twilight Eclipse movie premier party next weekend.

"Not Your Grandma's" Scones 

(recipe by Chantal and Little Monkey)

4 oz of grated dark chocolate, or 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (crushed in a food processor)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp cold butter

1 egg

3/4 cup half and half cream

1 cup of white chocolate chips

3/4 cup of diced strawberries

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.  In a large mixing bowl, mix dark chocolate, cocoa, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

3.  Cut the cold butter into the mixture.

4.  Add the white chocolate chips into the mixture.

5.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and milk.  Add it to the dry ingredients.

6.  Gently stir in strawberries.

7.  Kneed the dough (it should be dry and crumby).  Roll into 1/4 cup balls, and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

8.  Bake for 14-15 minutes.

9.  ENJOY!

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Comida Para Alma=Food for the Soul

While in marriage preparation, I was encouraged by the priest who was celebrating our marriage to take up a hobby. His suggestion, being the one who tills the soil at St. Michael's abbey, was gardening, because it was something that is not only hard work, exercise, but also can beautify the home and bear fruit (literally). Not until I started gardening did I fully understand this. There's something about pulling weeds that is such good penance, I often feel that with each weed I pull, it's like pulling the weeds from my own soul. Since then, it's been a goal of mine, to learn to garden, specifically building a vegetable garden in our yard. So we finally did it!I wanted to show how for anyone interested in creating something like this:

We opted for a raised garden, which is easier than digging up tons of dirt and replacing with the filler.

Fortunately, my husband and father-in-law are quite handy, so they constructed the frame of weather-treated wood, 12" high and 3 feet wide is the important sizing info.

I layed down some organic, biodegradable weed blocking mats on the bottom.

Then came the natural liner, which will break down to produce some good natural compost. We used a nice collection of leaves and branches from our yard.

Next, a whole lot of good ol' smelly maneur! Mina was watching saying, "Stinky."

A final thick layer of compost to top it off...

And voila!

Can't wait to reep the fruits of our labor, and eat them!

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New-Baby Recipes

The week my newborn baby arrived, several lovely friends and family of ours brought over ready-to-eat or freezable meals, so that we could enjoy our babymoon with our new little one and not have to worry about doing groceries, cooking and dishes.  I will feel forever grateful for the kindness and the enormous help that this gesture provided for my husband and I. 

We are at "that age" where we spend many of our weekend afternoons showering new mothers.  I would love to be able to return the blessings given to me and help parents' of new babies by bringing meals to them.  It seems like one of the easiest and most popular items to bring over to new parents are casseroles.  I did not grow up eating casseroles however, and have absolutely none in my recipe collection.

Does anyone have any great freezable recipe ideas to make and bring to busy families?  I would love some suggestions...

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Getting Ready for Summer

I grew up in Canada, where our summers are marked by an over-abundance of dark, delicious blueberries.  Since these tiny super-foods are in season right now, I thought that I would share one of my favorite family recipes for a blueberry cheesecake.  Unlike its rich, comforting counterpart, this no-bake "cheesecake" is light, sweet, refreshing and perfect for summer.  Altogether, it tastes exactly like a pool party from my childhood.  Enjoy!

Crust
2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp of sugar
5 tbsp of melted butter

Filling
32 oz cool whip
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz of cream cheese
2 tsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
4 or 5 cups of blueberries (fresh or frozen and thawed)

1.  In a large pan, place graham crumbs on melted butter (keep 1/2 of crumbs for the top of the cake).
2.  Cream together cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice.
3.  Fold in cool whip.
4.  Fold in blueberries.
5.  Pour on top of crust and sprinkle the rest of the graham crumbs on top.
6.  Refrigerate or freeze until time to serve.

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Be one with the donut.

Yesterday I went to a playdate where the hostess made us doughnuts. It was so easy so I figured I'd share it with y'all. Heat up some oil in a pan (she used olive oil but you can also use veggie or corn oil). Open a pack of biscuit mix (the pre-made kind already in a can), then slice it up and cut out holes using a bottle top. Fry until golden brown. She then had the kids put their donuts in a brown bag that either had cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar and they got to shake it to coat it. Freshly made donuts are amazing!!

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A couple of freebies

I found a couple really cute templates for a weekly menu planner and a Honey Dew List. Enjoy!

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My Grocery Deals. Com

I just heard about a wonderful website to help all of us save money on food while still feeling like we're "treating" ourselves! If you're anything like me I have my staple must-haves on my grocery list: bread, milk, cheese, tortillas, salad, turkey meat... etc. and everything else I buy, I try to get on sale or buy the store brand. Sometimes I feel like my shopping gets pretty bland - boy would I love to throw a filet mignon in that basket, but I'd also like to pay my electic bill! I've recently noticed the "special" meat section. This is the area where they put the food that will expire if not used of frozen by a certain date - there are quite a lot of cheap treats in there and I throw them in the freezer when I get home! That's how sometimes we get steak or last night we had a wonderful marinated whole chicken normally at least $10 on sale for $4. Enough chicken to last my husband and I for two meals - chicken, stuffing and vegis last night and chicken tacos tonight for $4!!!

So onto the promised website: Mygrocerydeals.com allows you to enter your zip code and find grocery deals at a lot of the local grocery stores. The website even categorizes the food, so you can compare all the "pork roasts" on sale... then if that's not great enough it lets you make your own grocery list where it tells the location and price of your item! I just found the website so I'm looking forward to using it next week.

Also, I just heard you should try to shop around for store deals as much as you can, if time allows, and it shouldn't waste too much gas but the savings should really add up!

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