Tasty Tuesday-Fried Mac & Cheese Balls

If you've ever been to a little restaurant called The Cheesecake Factory you may have marveled over a plethora of tasty foods, namely the cheesecake. After all it is what they're famous for! Believe it or not though there are other delicious things to eat there as well, my personal favorite being the fried macaroni and cheese balls. Well friends...I have the recipe!! Get ready to have your world rocked.

You'll need:

1 pound elbow macaroni

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups warmed milk (plus 2 tablespoons for egg wash)

2 large eggs

1 pound grated smoked gouda

1 pound grated cheddar

3 cups seasoned bread crumbs

vegetable oil for frying

marinara or vodka sauce for serving

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the macaroni according to instructions on the package. Drain, rinse with cold water, then drain again and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the butter and stir it with a whisk. Cook for two minutes. Whisk warmed milk into flour mixture being sure to work out any lumps. Cook until sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add cheeses and then stir until melted and smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the cheese sauce into macaroni. Pour the macaroni and cheese into a shallow pan and refrigerate until completely cold (approximately 2 hours). Shape the cold mac and cheese into meatball-sized balls and place them onto a wax paper-lined tray. Freeze the balls overnight. Beat the eggs and 2 tablespoons milk together to form an egg wash and pour it into a shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl. Remove mac and cheese balls from the freezer . Dip them into egg wash and then into bread crumbs. Put the balls back into the freezer until ready to fry. Heat oil in a fryer at 350 degrees. Fry the balls until they are golden brown and center is hot (approximately 5 minutes). Serve hot with marinara or vodka sauce.

Monday Munchies?

Nah, I still like the sound of Tasty Tuesday. Fear not...Tasty Tuesday is not going away, I'm just going to be out of town until Saturday so I thought I'd do my weekly recipe posting a day early!

My hubby does not cook often. He hardly ever does, actually. But this morning because it is my birthday he decided to make me breakfast. The recipe he used is one I had found on Pinterest and it's too tasty not to share. If you like bacon, you're going to love this. Today I'll teach you how to make bacon and egg breakfast cups.

You'll need:

1 slice of bread per muffin cup

2 slices of bacon per muffin cup

1 egg per muffin cup (or 2 if you really like eggs!)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using a cookie cutter, cut circles out of each piece of bread. Grease a muffin tin and press bread circles into the cups. Place in the oven for about 5 minutes until bread is just slightly toasted, then remove from oven. Cook bacon in a skillet until halfway done (approximately 3 minutes) then place 2 slices of bacon on top of the bread to form a cup. Crack an egg (or eggs if you're using two) into each muffin cup, then place breakfast cups in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the eggs are set. Season with salt and pepper as desired then serve.

My first wedding cake

A month or so ago I posted that I was starting to really get into cake decorating and that a friend had asked me to make her wedding cake. I was nervous since I'd only made two cakes total at that time and I didn't want to ruin her big day by bringing something ugly to her nuptials, but the reality is the cake turned out pretty great if I can say so myself! This is my first wedding cake and it won't be my last since I was asked by a guest at the reception if I would make a cake for her upcoming wedding. I'm so excited that what was just supposed to be a hobby of mine is actually turning into a little side business! I thought I would share a picture with you so you can be excited with me :)

I've hopped on the bandwagon

I'd been avoiding joining the newest social media site out there for awhile for fear it would turn into another giant timesuck. You might have heard of it...it's a little site called Pinterest. The name was popping up everywhere and friends were raving, but still I didn't give in to peer pressure. It wasn't until recently when I got a virus on my computer that wiped out my entire favorites tab that I realized how convenient this site could be. I have broken down and joined so if you care to follow me feel free! You can find my boards at Pinterest.com/cortneyloo. If you haven't joined yet comment me below and I'll be happy to send you an invite so you can get as obsessed with it as I have. By the way I was completely right about it being a huge timesuck. Pinterest definitely hinders my productivity but it's also quite possibly the best website ever invented! It keeps me from doing the work I should be doing around the house, but also gives me some great ideas for the times I can manage to pull myself away from my computer, and I love me some inspiration :)

Tasty Tuesday-Acorn Treats

I have been waiting patiently until the appropriate season came upon us to share this recipe with you all! I love these things! These little treats are ridiculously easy to make and look adorable. I'm going to make a big batch to share with co-workers and my little cousin has already requested that I make some for her to take to her classmates :)

You'll need:

Glazed doughnut holes

Milk chocolate sprinkles

Pretzel sticks

Nutella spread

Spread a small amount of Nutella on the tops of the doughnut holes. Dip into chocolate sprinkles until top halves are coated. Break pretzel sticks into thirds. Insert pretzel into top of acorn and then you're done! Easiest. Recipe. Ever.

Pretty pumpkins

The first day of the fall season is coming up in six days, and that makes me think pumpkins! The hubs and I carve pumpkins every fall. It's a tradition that we have. We usually carve faces or some kind of scary Halloween-themed picture, but this year I'm thinking of doing something a little more classy. I've been pinning away on Pinterest looking for pictures of pretty pumpkins to find some inspiration and I'm loving the look of the drill bit pumpkins!

I also love the idea of carving our house numbers into pumpkins for a pretty display beside our door.

I adore the whole arrangement on these stairs!

I've always had an obsession with monograms. This could be really neat to do!

Anyone else still carve pumpkins or is it just me? haha

Tasty Tuesday-Broccoli Potatoes

I'm posting a Tasty Tuesday recipe a bit early to make sure it gets done since my day is going to be a busy one tomorrow! This is a recipe I haven't actually tried myself yet, but am really looking forward to! I found this on Pinterest (which I only recently discovered after finally hopping on the bandwagon) and it looks absolutely delicious, not to mention healthy.

You'll need:

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes-scrubbed and cut into wedges

4 cups broccoli florets

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

Bring an inch of water to a boil in a large saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Add potatoes, then cover and steam for 10 minutes. Remove lid and place broccoli on top of potatoes, cover and steam until both potatoes and broccoli are are tender. Transfer broccoli to a bowl and mash with potato masher. Add potatoes, cheese, milk, and salt and continue mashing to desired consistency.

The power of spray paint

Spray paint is awesome. For three bucks you can completely change the look of something in the easiest way possible. Like, for instance, brass bathroom fixtures. The house we bought came complete with a plethora of brass fixtures all throughout the house but the worst examples were in the bathroom where there were two-tone fixtures featuring both brass and chrome on the same piece. Se-xy. So rather than rush to the nearest home improvement store and spend a ton of moolah to replace everything, I decided to purchase some spray primer and brushed nickel spray paint and go to town. It only took a couple coats and a little drying time and voila! I have all "new" fixtures :) I was so excited to get rid of the ugliness that I forgot to take a before pic, but here is a picture of the work in progress. The light fixture on the right is primed and ready to go while you can see the brushed nickel color on the left pieces.

A close-up of what the brushed nickel looks like. Love it!

Checking in after a reno

I know I've been MIA for a bit, so I thought I'd check in and tell you all what I've been up to! So what have I been up to? Oh, you know, I've just been installing a little bit of this:

And some of this:

One of these:

And for good measure I assembled one of these:

This is in addition to painting trim, painting cabinets, and hanging shelving. I had a very busy Labor Day weekend! Once I get the last coat of paint on the cabinets and get all the tools out of the room I'll post pics of my new and improved laundry room! I'm super excited to share :)

We got a new foster dog!

We just picked up our second foster today. So that means...yep, you guessed it! Myles got adopted :) He found a wonderful home with a co-worker and his wife and they are spoiling him rotten. I'm so happy for him, and I'm happy for me too because I get visitation rights! lol This beautiful little girl below will now be staying with us until she is fortunate enough to find a forever home too.

Bambi is a one year old retriever mix who is very shy and will be learning to trust people with our help. We were told she has never had a home before as she was picked up as a stray and apparently had been wandering around for months. A nice elderly lady had been leaving food out for her during that time but couldn't catch her to bring her to the shelter. Finally someone was able to get a hold of Miss Bambi and now we will be working with her to show her the ropes of being an inside dog so that she'll be good and ready when her forever family shows up! I absolutely love her color. I've seen brindle-colored dogs before but her fur is seriously orange and with her little black stripes she looks like a tiger!