Family Dinner Dessert!

Family dinners are a BIG deal in my family! For as long as I can remember we have been having 'Family Dinner' on Sundays. When I was younger most of our Sunday dinners were at my Grandma's house (My Mom's Mom) and it was something we all looked forward to! Usually dinner was some kind of HUGE Ukrainian feast, followed by something fabulous that my Grandma baked or created for dessert. She was an amazing cook!!! 

Sunday family dinners have changed a bit over the years...Now we have dinner at my parents house, and they are the ones creating the delicious feasts for us! And I am the one in charge of dessert! Sunday dinner is still something we all look forward to...probably even more now, because it is the only time during the week we usually all see each other!! Sad...but true!! Life is just SO busy these days!! 

Soooo... I have decided that every Sunday I am going to blog about MY dessert creation for that weeks family dinner. I LOVE finding new dessert recipes and ideas, and want to share them with YOU! 

So here we go! My first 'Family Dinner Dessert' post! 

Pineapple Delight 

What you need:

2 cups graham crackers crumbs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 can (14 oz) crushed pineapple

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1 tub Cool Whip 

Preheat oven to 325'F.

In a mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.

Press the mixture into a 8 x 8 baking pan.

Bake for 10 minutes, then cool completely. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the icing sugar, butter, egg and vanilla.

Beat with an electric mixer. 

Spread the mixture over the crust and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely. 

In another bowl, mix the cool whip, crushed pineapple, and coconut. 

Spread the whipped topping onto the butter filling. 

Garnish with a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs. 

Refrigerate for 2 hours. 

ENJOY! 

I kinda forgot to take a picture of the graham cracker crust! Oops! 

Butter, icing sugar, egg, vanilla.

Beat using an electric mixer!

Put the icing sugar mixture on
 the crust and bake!

Then make the topping...

Mix Cool Whip, pineapple and
 coconut! YUM!

And the finished product...

This is the perfect 'Spring' dessert! Enjoy!!

Please let me know if you try it! :) 

Yay!

Woo hoo! My blog has 2500 pageviews! That means people actually read this stuff haha who knew?! Although I suppose all of those pageviews ccccccould actually be from my family...ha ha! 

Oh well!! I will continue to be excited about this anyway! 

But there is one thing I need to work on for this lil blog of mine....I NEED more followers!!! I have ONE! ONE!! And he is my husband...so he really has no choice but to follow ha! So pppppplease follow my blog! It will make me very happy!! And mmmyabe if you follow me I will pay you back in baked goods!! Deal?! 

Much Love! :) 

COUNTDOWN TIME!

The countdown is on...

14 Days.....

Until my little bro is home from school for the summer!!!

43 (School) Days.....

Until Summer Vacation!!!! YES!!!

80 Days.....

Until we leave for New York!!!

81 Days.....

Until our FIRST Wedding Anniversary!!!

99 Days.....

Until our 'Kunyk' family trip to
Cobblestone Creek Lodge in Radium!!!

My Mom reminds me all of the time that I should NEVER 'wish time away'....
and I'm not!!!
But I am certainly counting down the days to all of these super exciting things that we have coming up!! 

Weekend relaxation!

This past Saturday we decided that we were going to have a 'home' day! We have been so busy lately so we were soooo looking forward to a day at home together, to just chill. And that is exactly what we did!!!

Damian suggested that "we" do some baking...which normally means, he would like ME to bake HIM something!! However... this time he actually wanted to partake in the baking festivities!

 This was a first for us!! We cook dinner together every night.
But the baking is my thing.

 He decided he wanted to make muffins...but 'girly' muffins would not be acceptable...so we found a recipe for 'Muscle Muffins' from the
Men's Health website!
Nothin' like adding whey protein powder to your baking ingredients ha ha!!
(this was definitely a first for me!!)

He was pretty stoked that he got to
 put protein powder in his muffins! 

I was the 'helper' in the kitchen
for this baking project!

He was VERY proud of his  muscle muffins!!

You may notice that the muffins are shockingly HOT PINK!! ha ha That is from the strawberry protein powder! They were definitely 'pretty' looking!! 

We had a successful afternoon baking together!

 I am very lucky to have a husband that likes to bake and cook with me! 

It was a great way to spend a relaxing weekend afternoon!!!

9 Months!

I can't believe that Damian and I have been married for 9 months today!! Time goes bye SO fast these days!! It has been a super exciting and jam packed 9 months, that's for sure! Only a few more months and we will be celebrating our first year of marriage in New York City!! We are so blessed and have so much to look forward to in our life together! 

I sure LOVE this guy!!!

What's Cookin'?

It seems like I have been doing alot of cooking and baking lately, and most of the items have been with new recipes that I have found and tweaked a bit! So today I am going to share a few new recipes that we are currently loving in the "Kirchner House"! :) 

First up... 

Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche! 

This actually isn't a new recipe! It is just one of my favourites!! This Quiche is delicious!! It is super easy to make, healthy, and a quick weeknight meal. 

What you need:

1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

1 cup diced white onion 

1 cup fresh chopped broccoli

5 eggs

1/3 cup miracle whip dressing

1/3 skim milk (we use soy)

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 frozen 'deep dish' pie crust 

-Preheat the oven to 375'F.

-Cook mushrooms, onions, and broccoli in a frying pan with some cooking spray (Pam) for about 5 minutes.

-Beat eggs, miracle whip, and milk in a bowl until well blended.

-Stir in vegetables mixture and cheese. 

-Pour mixture into pie crust, and place on a baking sheet.

-Bake for 40 minutes, or until quiche is set and golden brown on top. 

-Let stand 10 minutes before eating. 

Saute the veggies.

Beat eggs, miracle whip and milk.

Add veggies to egg mixture.

Pour mixture into pie shell.

Bake and ENJOY! YUM!

Next up...

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (No Bake)

I have an obsession with peanut butter!! I LOVE it! I eat peanut butter on toast every single morning for breakfast. I also bring home MANY boxes of peanut butter Cheerios from the United States every time I travel. If it has peanut butter in it...I will eat it!!!! 

So when I found these cookies on Pinterest I knew I had to try them out! I did make a few changes to the recipe, so if you would like the original recipe, check out my Pinterest page!

What you need: 

3 1/2 cups instant oats

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter 

1/2 milk (we use soy)

-Mix together the instant oats, peanut butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

- In a saucepan, mix together white and brown sugar, milk and butter. 

-Cook over medium heat, constantly stirring-allowing it to full boil for 1 minute!

-Pour sugar mixture over the oatmeal mixture, blending well. 

-Spoon cookie size scoops onto waxed paper and let set until firm. 

Instant oats, peanut butter,
and vanilla.

Melt sugars, butter, and milk. 

Spoon onto wax paper.

ENJOY!! Peanut buttery goodness!! 

Last up...

Chicken Broccoli Casserole 

This was another great Pinterest find, with some modifications made by me! It was super easy to make and very tasty!!

What you need:

3 cups shredded chicken

3 cups cooked broccoli

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup diced onions

2 cans mushroom soup

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

'Garlic Plus' seasoning 

-Preheat oven to 350'F. 

-Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. 

-Pour into glass baking dish.

-Cook for 30 minutes.

*To get my 'shredded chicken' I put 3 chicken breast, and 4 cups of chicken broth in my crock pot. Cook for 8 hours on low. Take out of crock pot and shred the chicken with a fork. SOO easy!! 

Mix everything in a bowl!

Bake for 30 minutes. 

Serve with rice and another veggie.
ENJOY!

So this has turned into an eeeeeextremely long post! ha ha! 

The last thing I want to share today is a 'special guest' to my blog! My husbands best friend came over last night and he brought us dessert! He made us a pie!!! It was a Key Lime Pie, and let me tell you...It was delicious!! And I was super impressed that he made it all by himself!! Way to go Steve!! Now you can teach Damian how to make pies! ha ha! 

Proud of his Pie!
And so he should be! 

HAPPY EATING!!!

National Siblings Day!

Today is National Siblings Day! I am very blessed to have two amazing brothers! When I was little I always dreamed of having a sister...but now I look back and I wouldn't trade my brothers for anything! I am so proud of the men they have become and all of the things they have both accomplished in their lives so far.

It was a lil humid...ha!

 

We can rock some NEON!

 I love you boys!! Thanks for making our childhood so much fun!
And adulthood even more entertaining!! Ha ha!!

Kels
 XOXO

Bedroom Makeover!

We have lived in our house for a year and a half already and we are still working at making changes to make it feel more like 'home'. It was definitely love at first sight when we found this house, so there isn't a ton we plan to change! Just a few things over time. Our latest project has been our master bedroom. We have a gigantic bedroom. I LOVE having so much space, especially our big en suite! However there was something that I rrreally did not love about our bedroom when we moved in!! The color!! The people who lived in this house before us cccclearly had an obsession with forest green paint. Because it was everywhere...ick! I realise that many people love forest green, however I am NOT one of those people. Especially in a bedroom. It made our room so dark and gloomy so it.had.to.go! 

Here are some BEFORE pictures of our bedroom:

Just not feeling the green...

I had a vision for our bedroom but I struggled with finding a color I liked, and then matching it to our bedding. I didn't want to make major changes to our room, just some new paint, and a few new accents here and there. My hubby was in charge of painting! He let me do a little bit of rolling, but he is a WAY better painter than me and I am so grateful he agreed to do it!!! Perhaps painting is a time when it isn't so wonderful having a gigantic bedroom...ha ha

GOODBYE UGLY GREEN!!!

Doesn't he look excited to
be painting...ha ha 

Here are the picture of our 'new' bedroom! I really love it! It has brightened up the room SO much!! 

New color! And new lamp shades! 

You might notice in this next picture that our bathroom is still ugly green...that's a project for another day! I'm still trying to find a color scheme I like...

Four new mirrors and decorations!

LOVE our new BIG mirror!!! 

New shelves!

The only major thing I have left to finish in our bedroom is some sort of decorative window treatments. And I'm totally at a loss... I really don't know what to do with all of those darn windows!! They are all so close together so I can't put up curtain rods, and I don't want anything 'old' looking like a drapery...I've been searching on Pinterest for some inspiration but haven't been successful yet! Hopefully soon!! 

Time to 'pretty' up those windows!! 

And this was a little side project I completed to solve my 'jewellery organization' problem...

 Damian passed by the dresser one day and said 'WOW babe, it looks like you have been robbed!' hahaha

No wonder I could never find anything!! 

So I went and bought a black picture frame ($2) and some silver wire ($3) and made myself an earring holder! I also purchased a glass dessert cup ($2) for my bracelets. My necklace tree is still working well, and I have a special Kate Spade box that my Maid of Honor gave me, for my stud earrings and rings! Things are looking MUCH more organized in my little jewellery corner now...and my husband no longer thinks I have been robbed ha! 

That was our bedroom makeover! I will be back to share more home projects, and the elimination of ALL forest green in our home in the near future!! 

Easter!

Easter seemed really early this year! And it's always a bummer when it falls during Spring Break! But we still managed to celebrate and have a great time with family! We hosted Easter at our house this year, but lucky for me my father in law volunteered to cook the turkey!! I have cooked ALOT of different things in my life so far...but I have yet to cook a turkey...one of these days my brand new shiny roaster pan will get taken out of the box and be put to good use!!  ha ha 

Here are a few pic's from our Easter Dinner...

Table all ready to go!

I made everyone a little Easter basket with some treats! I made these using my Silhouette Cameo machine.

 I am seriously LOVING that machine these days!! 

Baskets!

My Mom and Mother in law!

My Dad, Damian, and my Father in law!

My Dad's famous salmon dip!!

"How to cut an avocado" lessons!

I made carrot/zucchini cake
with cinnamon cream cheese icing!
 It was YUMMY!!

This is me cutting my yummy cake! Everyone had just finished singing 'Happy Easter to you' to me...ha ha...I wish I was kidding....but that actually happened!!! 

CAKE!

Me and my hubby!! Love him!!

 After cake my mom decided to read us 'Easter Bunny Trivia' from the newspaper ha ha!! It was actually kinda funny!  

My Ma!

Love my Ma and Pa!!!

This is what happens when adults consume TOO much chocolate and sour jelly beans in one evening...

Me and my bro! Cute! ha ha

They have their eyes closed on purpose...
but I'm not too sure why ha ha 

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating Easter 

with their friends and family and remembering what this day is really about!