Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

 This was the first recipe I came across on The Girl Who Ate Everything and the first one I tried.  My college room mate just happened to be at the house as well.  We were chit chatting about lord knows what until I jumped up and told her to hold on!  I went and got the cookie tray of goodness, placed it in the middle of the kitchen table, and we both broke off a piece to try.  Needless to say, we managed to “ugly eat” the whole pan of these things!

Definitely give these a try, they are so simple to make and taste sinful!  They would be great as goodies for a shower, a small gift for the holidays, or just for you to pig out on a rainy day.



Ingredients
1.5 packets of saltine crackers (salted)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips (which ever you prefer, I like milk chocolate!)

Other additional toppings to try
butterschotch chips
white chocolate chips
chopped pecans
slivered almonds

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper (believe me, you will be glad you did!)
Cover the bottom of the cookie sheet with saltine crackers, in a single layer
In a small pot add the sugar and butter
When the sugar/butter mixture has come to a boil, let it boil for about 3 minutes (the mixture should be a deep caramel color)
Pour the mixture over the saltines and spread to cover the crackers (Use a spatula!)
Bake for 5-6 minutes
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips and other toppings of your choice
Once the chocolate has started to melt, spread the chocolate over the crackers evenly
Let the crackers cool completely, then have your way with it!

The months of having an empty house were nice, but we had to start filling her up sometime!  When I go shopping for something, I already have a picture in my mind of what I am looking for, and if I don’t find it, I keep looking until I do.  Also, if I have only been to one store and found something I liked, I still have to go to all the other places on my list to be sure there is nothing better.  So, furniture shopping is just a blast with me 🙂

My mother-in-law and I went looking for a dining room set, and at our first furniture store stop I saw this beauty.  The salesmen offered me a super discounted price and threw in 2 more chairs at no extra price…and I still had to go to the other stores we had on our list before I would be comfortable saying yes!  So after hours and hours of dining room shopping we ended up back where we started and got the first set I laid my eyes on.

I wish I had a hidden camera attached to my shirt to capture the look on peoples faces when I told them I was painting our master bathroom cobalt blue.  But if you know me, you know those reactions just made me want to paint it that color even more!  The color is vibrant but soothing at the same time…seriously!  Especially with the accents of green and white. I was so pleased with the color scheme that I decided to invert it for the guest bathroom down the hall.  The green walls definitely give the bathroom an organic feel. 

Being married to a chef, the number one question I am asked is “Who does all the cooking?” (A: Me) and the question that always follows is “Isn’t it nerve-racking to cook for a chef?” (A: Sometimes).  Imagine standing for 8-12 hours in heat hotter than summer and steam constantly wafting in your face…only to come home and do the exact same thing for dinner.  So yes, I do most of the cooking.  

As far as being nervous to cook for a chef, that is something I had to get over from the get go.  I only get halfway nervous when I don’t know what I’m doing!  But on the bright side, when I don’t know what I am doing in the kitchen, I know I am about to learn.  If anything, cooking for a chef has made me a better cook.  The challenge to make a perfect meal for my hubby is actually something I enjoy.  And boy, do I have a tough critic!  I am never left wondering whether or not he liked it.

So here is where I thought a blog would be helpful.  There have got to be other chef wives out there doing the main cooking for their husbands (or the opposite), who are always searching for recipes that taste great, are simple/easy to prepare, and impress your chef! So wife tested, chef approved!

I got into a crafty, do-it-yourself kind of mood and decided to make a magnetic make-up frame for our bathroom.  I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it was a simple project that would take longer to gather materials than to actually put it together.  I was right.
In the end I think it turned out well, and it inspired other creative projects & uses for something similar to this.  Will post a picture later on once it is actually in our bathroom…but I will have to paint the bathroom before that happens!

No matter how disgusting this couch gets, I will never again get rid of a couch before the replacement has been delivered!  Sitting in lawn chairs for over a month really taught me not to take a cushion for granted…or being able to stretch out.  So finally, our couch was delivered and we love it!

Everyone knows that a new couch means you have to buy new pillows!?  I found these at World Market.  They also had matching curtains, but that would’ve been an overkill.

In the past few months, I’ve become fascinated with blogs.  Having a blog is a great way to keep family/friends in the loop and record yummy recipes… with out wasting paper!  I’ve started blogs in the past, but have failed at keeping up with them.  So no promises, but I will give this my best shot.