Chicken Biscuit Rolls

Today is the first day of school for my junior year in my undergrad and I am honestly so excited to be here! Even though the work in college is difficult, it's so rewarding for me. And honestly, I wouldn't have started this blog if it wasn't for one of my classes that I took last year. We were given a project to start a blog of our choosing and post once per week. We used blogs, social media, presentations, and planning throughout the semester and I absolutely loved it! When the time came that the class was over, I decided to keep up with blogging because it was so much fun for me and I seriously enjoyed planning something out and making things the way I liked. It has helped me with social media, cooking better meals, and staying organized so much better. I believe that is one thing about college that some people misunderstand, that they're tyring to push you into a big career or something. When in reality, they're trying to help you find something that you love and enjoy doing. Even though the class I took was for a personal blog and marketing, it helped me find a hobby that I love to do!

Rise and Shine Breakfast For All

A good breakfast always makes my day start off 10x better! I usually go with cereal, granola, or oatmeal. They're simple staples that get me going for the day. But, sometimes you just need to change things up from the ordinary and have a fun breakfast! Six blogs have come together to share with you some of our favorite breakfast meals! From potatoes, to kale, to s'mores, we've got it all covered! Use these for your next breakfast party, family get-together, or even just an overcast Sunday morning. We love breakfast!

Two Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are great because they make 2 dozen! I have halved it and it worked out great for me, so if you're wanting to make 1 dozen cookies, do that and it will work out great! But, I like to share cookies with others, and I still want a lot for myself, so 2 dozen is perfect for us! This recipe makes suuuper soft cookies and they look slightly undercookied, but they end up being perfect! They're very rich and so it makes it a little easier to stop after eating just a couple of them.
I never really liked cookies a ton growing up, but I have come to like them a lot more recently. I don't know why exactly though? I'm a chocolate lover, and usually brownies and ice cream means more chocolate, so that's my only guess. Ice cream is still my dessert of choice, but chocolate chip cookies are coming to be a very close second. Lucky for me, cookies are a lot easier to make than ice cream is, and it's also easier to share cookies with neighbors and friends. The day before my brother left on his mission, we got together and had dinner as a family. I brought these cookies for dessert, but they were gone before we even finished cooking dinner. SO GOOD! I have a favorite recipe, but they make like 8 or 9 dozen cookies, and that's way too many for me because after sharing, I still have about half of them left. And you know, I could eat all of them.

Mashed Potatoes for Two

If you're like me, then you could eat a TON of mashed potatoes every time they are placed in front of your face. I seriously could eat a huge bowl of them all by myself. I used to love those potato pearl thingies when I was younger, and now I don't even get how I could have a little bit of those things because the real stuff is so much better! My mom only cooked potatoes about once each week, usually in a slow cooker but sometimes baked. Rarely did we have mashed potatoes because they were saved for special occasions at our house it seemed like. We regularly ate rice with our dinner and ate pasta too, so these mashed potatoes were sooo good to us growing up. Now, I still cook them just as regularly as my mom did, but I have to make sure to cook the right amount for two people.
The first couple of times I made mashed potatoes, I used about 8 potaotes, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, shredded cheese, you name it. I didn't quite know what was healthy to put in them regularly and definitely not how many potatoes to use when preparing them for only two people. So, after about one year, I've finally gotten it to be able to feed two people for two meals, and it's perfect for us since we do leftovers. So, if you're feeding four people for dinner, you'd be set there too!

Family Favorite Zucchini Brownies

Sunday nights in the summer always meant zucchini brownies at my house growing up. We'd eat zucchini daily over the summer. I have two zucchini favorites and one of them is these brownies. It makes a whole sheet and my family could down them in less than 12 hours, we'd eat them for dessert, before bed snack, and breakfast the next day. And then we'd eat the unwanted edges before lunch. That's how much we love them. The texture is pretty cakey, but not dry and spongy. It's like the perfect cake, all because the zucchini makes it not as dry. But, we still call them brownies instead of cake, and I don't quite get why?...haha! My other favorite is what we called "squished squash" growing up and it's stuck. I think it's technically a zucchini mousse sort of thing? It's steamed zucchini with sour cream, parm and cheddar cheese, and salt and pepper. It's amazing. And, I could eat it every. single. day. We're moving away from family soon and I'll be pretty bummed when I can't pick fresh veggies out of my family's garden.
I can't believe that summer is winding down. We have hiked all summer, hung out with family, and just hung out. My husband has been working like crazy. He is a temporary worker for the Forest Service, and hikes for 40 hours each week, plus overtime almost EVERY SINGLE WEEK! Like 50-60 hours each week, he is hiking straight up the mountains. And it amazes me because, I don't think I could do that. When we hike for 5 hours, I am pretty much dead by that point. So, I am excited to be able to spend time with him when school starts. We are wanting to do one more fun trip before school starts. I'd love to hear any ideas if you have any!

Mixed Roasted Veggies

These roasted veggies are a favorite of mine! They’re as customizable as you’d like them to be. I like to bring them for Sunday dinner at my parents’ house because anyone can eat them. My brothers don’t like a lot of veggies, but they can pick and choose what they like off of the pan and put it on their plates to eat.

Now that it’s August, it means that school is starting this month (not until the 28, but still)….and it has put me in “back-to-school/Autumn mode”. Summer is pretty much over for me it feels like, and these last few weeks are going to be busy ones! Next week, my little brother is leaving on a 2 year service mission in Arkansas, so we won’t see him for two whole years, hopefully it goes by fast because I’m going to miss him! A few days after that, my husband’s brother and his wife are having their wedding reception. They were married just about two months ago, but it had to be kind of rushed because my father-in-law was going to marry them and he was being released as a bishop that next week, so they decided to get married a little earlier than anticipated and have their wedding reception on the planned date. I’m so excited to attend their reception to celebrate their marriage and cute family. And also, because it means family members who have been living in Texas and Wyoming are coming back to Utah and I’m looking forward to seeing them! All my nieces and nephews get to be in one place haha. That’s one of my favorite parts about being married into this family, Michael’s the youngest in his family so everyone has kids already that we get to play with. On my side of the family, I’m the only one married so it’s fun having two such different family dynamics because of the age differences.