Whoopie You're Home! Chocolate Whoopie Pies

So yesterday before I started enjoying the Welcome Home festivities with Jason's family for his brother, I decided to make my first ever whoopie pies! They were a little bit messier than I wanted them to be, but that's ok, practice makes perfect!

Although I've tried to stay away from box cakes since I figured how to make one without a box, I steered directly for a box this time because I wasn't sure how exactly to execute the whoopie pie... That makes this recipe really simple, but I will upgrade to completely homemade sometime!

Ingredients for the cookie/cakie part:

• 1 box Devil's Food cake mix
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs 

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350f. 
2. Make the cake mix as directed on the box, but use only 3/4 cup of water. 
3. Mix the batter together. 
4. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
5. Place 2 Tbsp scoops of batter on the sheets and place into the oven. (I used a coffee scoop that measures 2 Tbsp I bought at the grocery store!) 
6. Let cook about 15 minutes. To tell if done stick a toothpick in the middle and they're done if it comes out clean. 

Ingredients for the marshmallow fluff: (this is used in the filling for the center) 

•  3 egg whites
• 2 cups of light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar 
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine egg whites, corn syrup, and salt. 
2. Mix with an electric mixer on high speed for 8 minutes (or until thick). 
3. Turn down to low speed and add in the confectioner's sugar. (I did a half cup at a time to keep the powder cloud under control) 
4. Add the vanilla and mix until well blended. 

**Please note: This recipe makes a whole lot of fluff, so you're going to have to find something else to use this for during the week... Stay tuned for my post of leftover usage!**


Ingredients: (For the frosting filling)

• 2 cups marshmallow fluff 
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs 

Directions:

1. Mix the marshmallow fluff and shortening in a bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. 
2. Turn the speed down to low speed and add the confectioner's sugar. 
3. Add the cup of graham cracker crumbs. 
4. Add the vanilla extract. 
5. When all mixed together, sandwich it between two of each of the cookie/cakies. 

Such a yummy little treat! I want to make some with cream cheese frosting inside, the frosting above is more of a buttercream (which I have said before I'm not the world's biggest fan of). But so yummy and the graham cracker crumbs make a delightful little texture in the whoopie pie center! Now I must figure out what I'm going to do with the marshmallow fluff I have! 

Lucky Number Seven

Today is a HUGE day in my life... For so many reasons: 

1. Jason's step-brother returns from his mission in Brazil... He's been gone for two years and he hardly knows me because Jason and I were barely dating before he left so it's like meeting a whole new family member!
2. Today is my Gramcracker's birthday. Oh how her sweet self is missed today, but I know she's having a giant whoopie pie in heaven to celebrate (since that's what I'm baking this lovely morning!) 
3. Verizon's iPhone comes out today. Now, I already have an iPhone with AT&T, but I'm so very excited to switch back to Verizon and have stellar service when my plan is up. (The trick is getting Jason to join me!) 
4. Finally, but probably the single thing I'm most excited about today: seven, short months from today I will be my Best Friend's wife. Whoa, I just get the chills thinking about it and writing it feels like heaven. I'm going to marry my Best Friend in seven months. (I just can't get enough of it!) 

I hope there is something exciting about today for you... If not, make something up. Maybe celebrate today by making Whoopie Pies and we'll all pretend it's Whoopie Pie Day!

Song of the day: Marry Me
By: Train

Oh man, hearing this sweet song just makes my heart jump and my eyes tear up thinking about what is to come in the next months. And the lyric, "You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love you and you're beautiful".

Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks with Mango Cucumber Salsa

Jason loves seafood. I don't. But I'm learning slowly to enjoy it. Sushi and lightly cooked fish is tasty, it's the cooked stuff I don't like (I know, bizarre right?) But, when Ahi Tuna steaks were on sale at the grocery store the other morning I knew that it was fate, Jason was going to get some yummy fish for dinner! The mango cucumber salsa really makes this dish delicious to me, plus it's so healthy! 

Ingredients:

• 2 Ahi Tuna Steaks (or more if you're serving more!) 
• 2 mangos (already ripe, if not get the mango salsa in the produce section and it'll work perfect) 
• 1 cucumber
• 1 cup white rice 
• Jalapeno (I use the jarred kind so it's not so brutal on my skin and face) 
• 1 clove garlic, minced 
• 1 red onion (you're only going to use about half) 
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil

Directions:

1. Diced the mangos, 1/2 of the onion, cucumber, jalapeno, and the garlic and place into a bowl. 
2. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the diced fruits and veggies and stir. 
3. Add salt and pepper to taste while stirring. 
4. Put this in the fridge with saran wrap covering it to allow it to ferment. (Yep, just let it get that flavor all perfected on its own) 
5. Boil the one cup rice in a saucepan in two cups water. 
6. Once boiling, turn the heat to low and allow it to simmer until the water is gone. 
7. While the rice is cooking, enjoy a moment of down time. 
8. Four minutes before the rice is done, add the olive oil to a large frying pan making sure the whole bottom is covered. 
9. Allow a moment for the oil to get hot hot HOT! 
10. Coat both sides of the Ahi with salt and pepper before setting it into the hot oily pan. 
11. Allow it to cook for a minute and a half on one side, then flip and let cook for another minute and a half. 
12. Serve it up on two plates with rice and lots of mango-cucumber salsa to boot! 
13. Enjoy! 

Searing the fish can be a little tricky, and as Jason and I have learned, is in fact an art. So if it doesn't go right the first time, that's ok, try again! This time Jason said it was undercooked. I liked it and thought it was quite tasty.

Step One to Getting Married: Check Your Ego at the Door

For some reason I thought my lessons in being a wife were going to begin after Jason and I got married. Nope, maybe my blog was appropriately named, because I'm learning them now and the wedding is still seven months (and one day!) away! Well, I'm learning lots, fast, but not easily!

I have really struggled finding a job that keeps me close to Jason and doesn't overload me with ridiculous hours. Lately this has really weighed on me because I want to be an independent, self-sufficient woman. I didn't go to college just to learn and then do nothing so I must get a good paying job to make my degree worth it.

But today, while I was running of course, God enlightened me. I cannot do this alone. In fact, God has put Jason in my life for me to lean on. For me to learn to trust and depend on. Jason wants to help me stay close. He wants to be sure I'm here with him and not away working hard, but missing his sweet self. He wants us to enjoy our engagement together not apart. In order to make this happen, I must work on dependence. 


The world has taught me to be strong, to be independent, to be sufficient for myself without the help from anyone else -specifically a man; but that's not what God asked of me in becoming a wife. In fact, He asked of me just the opposite in Genesis 2:24:

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." 

He didn't put a little footnote at the bottom of the scripture that says, "Oh except Amber, she can just keep her superego self intact and take care of herself when her sweet Jason wants to be the one for her." Nope, even I, the great Amber (ok, so I'm not so great, but I like to give myself more credit than I deserve quite often), must throw off the expectations and pressures of the world and step into the His presence in order to allow Him to grow me into a stronger wife.

God writes about two becoming one (sounds like a bad Spice Girls song!) again in Mark 10:8:

"And the two shall become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh." 

In being one flesh, Jason and I must work as a unified, solid unit. My big headedness is only going to make this working together so difficult. So, here is my admission: I'm not always right. I need Jason just as much, if not more, than he needs me. God is the only way that I'm going to be the wife that Jason deserves, and even then, I'm going to fall short.

Song of the Day: Humble Me
By: Norah Jones

"You humble me Lord. I am on my knees empty."

Just a prayer from a simple girl learning to be a sweet wife:

Oh, my dear Lord, please help me check my ego at the door so I can skip so freely down the aisle to the lovely altar where the man you have made for me stands waiting to promise you to love me for all time. 

Promises with God

(Here's another engagement picture for you! Lots more to come)

Jason and I met with the pastor that is going to marry us on Friday night. He was so helpful talking with us about the logistics of the ceremony and reliving the two years that has led Jason and I to today! But in all of the conversation he said, "In making this promise, it's not to one another really, but to God in front of one another and about one another." Whoa.

I really thought that I was having a ceremony to show our family and friends how much I really do love him. But that's not what it's about, the ceremony is my promise to God to love Jason to the best of my ability for the rest of my life. Holy smokes. No one has ever put it that way before.

I love Jason. There's absolutely no doubt about that. But I'm going to make a promise with God. That's a big deal in my little book of life. He is going to let me promise to love the man that changed my life forever. What a lucky, blessed, truly grateful girl I am!

Thankfully, in all the times I'm going to fall short of being a perfectly loving wife, God's grace will shine through and provide me with forgiveness for slipping up. How do I know? He told me so!

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" -2 Corinthians 12:9

I am not a great power by any means, so I'm thankful for His strength in my many mini muscles! (Maybe I should pack up on the Holy protein?) He promises things will work in harmony for those who do His will. (Insert big sigh of relief here)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28 

So, start with loving God and loving Jason will work out for good. Woo hoo! I can do this, with His help and Jason's too!

Song of the day: Love Never Fails
By: Brandon Heath

This is going to be the first song that Jason and I dance to as husband and wife. Thank goodness love never fails because we will fail one another at one point or another.

Slow and Easy Cooking Tortellini Stew

The joy of a slow cooker can not be put into words. Jason's mom gave us one that she had and boy, oh boy, it makes delicious meals with no effort by me! And coming home to the fabulous smell of a cooking dinner makes any day a little bit sweeter. 

(Please note that I'm really improving in my food photo taking abilities!)

Ingredients: 

• One package hot Italian sausage
• One bag of frozen, cut green beans 
• One jar of crushed tomatoes with Italian spices (it's bigger than the regular soup jar) 
• One package of cheese tortellini (it depends how much you like tortellini, but I get the big pack!) 
• Italian seasoning
• Oregano (Fresh or the spice... My market was out of fresh so I used the spice and it worked just fine) 

Directions:

1. Remove the contents of the Italian sausage from its casing into the slow cooker. 
2. Add the green beans and a dash of both the Italian seasoning and oregano (it's up to you how much you like!) 
3. In the bottom of the slow cooker, mix the meat, beans, and seasoning together with your hands (or a wooden spoon if you don't want to be quite that involved with your dinner)
4. Add the crushed tomatoes. 
5. Stir this together a little bit and set the slow cooker. (3 hours on high, 6 hours on low - you choose!) 
6. Let sit until you return! 
7. Add the tortellini and a cup of water twenty minutes before the cook time is over. 
8. Let this cook for the remaining time, then ENJOY! 

My Dearest Gramcracker and Why a Heart's Important

On January 1, 2010 my dear Mama Bird made the hardest decision of her life. Just a short 48 hours earlier my Gramcracker (Mama Bird's Mama Bird) suffered her second heart attack and was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted to the ICU and placed on life support. On New Year's Day the doctors said Gramcracker's chances of surviving were slim and she would have to remain on life support to sustain her heart. Knowing this is no life Gramcracker would want to live, Mama Bird prayerfully requested for her dear Mama to have the chance to meet her Maker.

(Here's my sweet Gramcracker with the love of her life, Grandpa John)

(Mama Bird, her sister, and dear Gramcracker)

In honor of my sweet Gramcracker and the Red month of February for hearts, love, and Women's Heart Awareness, I decided to share the benefits of common kitchen spices that are heart healthy. We often hear so much about heart-healthy foods, but these little additions can go with any meal!

The Manila Bulletin Publishing Company published an article with the seven super spices according to McCormick, one of the most renowned spice marketers in the world. 

 

Cinnamon, ginger, oregano, thyme, red peppers (like the flakes), curry powder (specifically turmeric), and rosemary are rich in antioxidants which help prevent cancer as well as keep your heart healthy and clean by keeping you blood flowing through your veins and arteries with little trouble! 

So, although spices can seem expensive (I admit at first I struggled with the price of owning them!) they are well worth the investment. Why? I propose three reasons (1) a little goes a long ways so they last for a long long time, (2) they add flavor to every dish that you use them in, and finally, quite possibly most importantly, (3) the effects of these spices are life sustaining and life long - again, a little goes a long ways!

Find a couple recipes that have these spices in them and get in the kitchen to help your heart and fill your hungry tummy! While you're enjoying your newly spiced meal, think about your heart this month and about the things you can do to help it, whether it's a relaxing bath, a walk to destress after a long day at work, or stirring some spices into your favorite recipe!