Trip up North and.....ENGAGED!

Ben and I took a mid-winter mini vacation to Northern MN and stayed at Heston's Resort.  Heston's is a family owned resort north of Grand Marais (it is REALLY far up there, you can see Canada when you look across the lake).  We would highly recommend staying there if you are looking for an affordable winter vacation (if you check out their website, link above, they have winter specials that are extremely affordable, especially if you went with a group of people).  We didn't have internet, TV or any cell phone reception, which was WONDERFUL!  We spent a lot of time talking, reading, playing cards, and, even though it was freezing, snow shoeing and skiing outside!  

These pictures were taken last year, but we stayed in the same cabin again this year.

We stayed at Heston's Monday through Thursday. On Monday night we were sitting in front of the fire talking about life and our few days of vacation ahead.  I got up to use the bathroom and when I came out Ben was standing in the middle of the living room, I was kind of wondering what he was doing but I figured he was just checking on the fire.  I started rambling on about making hot chocolate and Ben said something to the effect of "Can you come here first Nicole?".  I went over to him and he grabbed my hands, got done on one knee, and asked me to marry him!  Of course I said YES!  Since we still have 3 uninterrupted days in front of us we were able to spend time together and bask in the excitement of being engaged as well as talk about ideas, make lists etc.

The ring!

Snowshoeing on the Border Route Trail

Once we arrived home on Thursday we went immediately to Shane Co. to have the ring resized as it was too big.  Then we called and text all our family and friends to let them know the good news.  And of course updated our relationship status on Facebook.  Nothing makes you feel loved and supported like getting engaged.  It was so wonderful to be able to see all the love around us.  Thanks to all of our friends and family for their phone calls, text messages, and Facebook posts and messages!

This blog will probably turn into mostly a wedding planning blog for the next year and a half.  So if you are interested in hearing about our wedding plans stay tuned! :)

Mmmmm breakfast!

Ben's sister, Bri, and her friend Cassie stayed at our house Friday night.  They were in Minneapolis for a gymnastics meet and stayed an extra night so they could spend some time with us and Ben's other sister, Rachel.  On Friday night we went to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner; Rachel is a manager there and since it was Friday night she was working.  After dinner we went to the movie "Zero Dark Thirty".  It was a very good movie, but some parts were extremely hard to watch.

Rachel had to be back to work at 9am Saturday morning so we made breakfast at our place and all had breakfast before she had to leave for work.  For breakfast we ate Blueberry French Toast Casserole, bacon, and fruit.  The French Toast Casserole was very easy to make; we put it together the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  Then in the morning we just needed to pop it in the oven, cut up the fruit and cook the bacon.  Below is the recipe for the casserole, as in normal Nicole fashion I did amend the recipe slightly

6 cups whole wheat bread (cut up into squares)
8 egg whites (I used the egg whites in the carton, much easier than separating 8 whites and yolks)
1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp cinnamon (I added a little more than 2 tsp since I really like cinnamon)
2 cups blueberries (I used frozen)

1. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish and add bread.  (I forgot to spray the pan and it didn't stick too bad)
2.  Mix egg whites, almond milk, honey, vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon and pour over bread.
3.  Let sit for at least 30 minutes (we let it sit in the fridge, covered, overnight).
4.  Add blueberries on top.
5.  Bake in the over for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

It was a hit and I think we will definitely make it again!  I could not believe how easy it was!

After sitting in the fridge all night, before adding blueberries.

The end product.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

For Valentine's Day I made Ben Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk cookies, because who doesn't love cookies?!  The recipe came from the back of the Ocean Spray Craisins bag.  They were pretty good but I think if I made them again I would  make a couple changes.

Recipe:

2/3 cup butter, softened (I used unsalted butter)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat, next time I think I would use 1/2 white 1/2 whole wheat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (next time I will leave this out, the cookies taste a little salty)

1 5-ounce bag of Craisins

2/3 cups white chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix butter and brown sugar together with electric mixer.  Add eggs, and mix.  In separate bowl add oats, flour, and baking soda (this is also where you add the salt).  Add dry mixture to butter and sugar mixture a little at a time, mixing after each addition.  Stir in Craisins and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes (I baked for 9 minutes, as the first batch were over cooked).  

Pot Roast

I have become a huge fan of the crockpot.  It is nice to have leftovers for lunches and/or dinners for the entire week.  This weekend I decided to make something out of my "101 Slow Cooker Recipes" cookbook:

Pot Roast

2 cups baby carrots

5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up (the recipe called for regular potatoes but I really like sweet potatoes)

4 lb. chuck roast

Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic (the recipe called for garlic salt but I put Garlic Garlic in just about everything I make)

Pepper to taste

2 cups water

1 oz. package onion soup mix

Place carrots and potatoes in slow cooker.  Place roast on top (I cut it up into chunks), sprinkle Garlic Garlic and pepper on top.  Stir together water and soup mix, pour over roast.  Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours.

This recipe called for dumplings, which I decided to skip but after eating it I think that next time I will add them.  Without the dumplings to soak up some of the liquid the pot roast was more of a soup.  I will also add more vegetables (maybe green beans, celery, etc.) and spices.  Maybe instead of the onion soup mix I would add spices (bay leaf, garlic powder, onion powder etc.).  This would cut down on the sodium and make it more flavorful.

A Great Start to 2013

I have been avoiding writing a New Year's Resolution update as I haven't done the best during the month of January.  My resolutions were to sleep, eat veggies/fruit and complete the Couch to 5k program.  Well...I did well with the sleeping, I slept 7+ hours every night except 1-2.  I did pretty well with the eating fruits and veggies, I don't have actual statistics but I would say I ate 2+ fruits and 4+ vegetables most days.  And the running, well I am on week 4 (rather than week 8 where I wanted to be).  The goal for January was to have more energy.  Obviously that isn't really a measurable goal so I haven't decided if I was successful or not....

On the other hand, January was a very enjoyable month!
On January 11th, Ben and I had our wonderful friends, Josh and Bri, over for dinner.  We made the most delicious chicken enchiladas (it is such an easy recipe, but for some reason we hardly ever make it), and drank a couple, maybe few, bottles of wine and beer and had great conversation!
On January 12th, I went for coffee with Bri and Natalie.  I know we are becoming real adults because we met for coffee at 8:30am!  If you would have told me not too long ago that I was going to meet friends for coffee at that awful time of the morning I would have told you that you were nuts.  We ended up sitting at the coffee shop chatting for 4 hours!  We talked about everything from family, having children, our significant others, to cooking and painting nails.  It was such great girl time!
The following weekend Chad, Katie, Ben and I drove to Freeport to see Kyle and his girlfriend, Ginny.  It was a great night of talking, laughing, drinking and eating Ginny's wonderful creations in the kitchen.  That night we stayed at Ben's parents' house in Freeport and were to spend a little time with them in the AM before we had to return to the city.
Once we arrived back at our apartment Alison arrived and we headed to Natalie's for a girls night/day.  We spent the afternoon/evening with a group of girls from college.  We caught up, we joked and laughed, we talked about the future and we ate wonderful food.  Natalie decided to have a pot luck, which was such a good idea!  We had appetizers, main dishes and desserts all that were delicious!
The next day, January 20th, Alison, Chelzee, and I went Bridesmaid dress shopping.  That task didn't take all that long so we then went to Michael's, DSW and Trader Joe's.  Possibly the only three stores that a person would ever need :)
On Tuesday, January 22nd I started my job as a Foster Care Social Worker at Anoka County.  This is a part time position so I will also be at Holland Center part time.  I think this will be a great mix, I will still get my fix of direct contact with kids but I will also get my social working fix.  I am excited to see how this goes!
Yesterday, Friday the 25th, we hosted game night at our place.  We made peanut butter cookies, delicious bars (cake mix, 1 stick of butter, sweet condensed milk, and heath chips), beer bread, crackers, veggies, hummus, and Bacon Bacon dip.  The bars and the beer bread were a huge hit!  We played "Jumbling Towers" and "Mine is" (or something to that affect).  We had a great time playing games and spending time together.
This morning we met Kyle and Anna for brunch and Copper Dome in St. Paul.  The food was really great and it is always fun to catch up with Kyle and Anna, unfortunately we don't see them as often as we would like.

As you can see, we spent a lot of time with people we love during January.  As far as I am concerned, being surrounded with supportive people that make us happy is far more important than completing a running program or eating 4 servings of vegetables every single day.  People will make me a lot more happy than broccoli every will!

I LOVE Christmas!

I love everything about Christmas: the music, the lights, the decorations, wrapping presents, COOKIES, and the good moods and kindness that comes in December!  I even like the snow, for the most part...although I would be okay if it left as soon as Christmas was over... :)

We don't have a lot of space to work with in our apartment but here are some pictures of our the decorating that took place this weekend!

Our little tree for our little apartment!

Top of the bookshelf

Table next to our couch.  The table runner on the table was made by my Godmother, you cannot see it very well in this picture but it is really pretty!

The kitchen table.  Ben's family did Christmas early and I received this from his parents.  

How can Christmas NOT make you happy?????!!!!!

Date Ideas - Nerd Date

Last Spring the MN Science Museum had a pirate exhibit.  Ben, with his ship fascination, really wanted to go check out the pirates.  We went to the museum and when exploring our options we decided to buy a year membership as it would pay for itself if we visited the museum only one more time (I attached a link to the membership info here).  That night we went through the pirate exhibit, since that took two hours we didn't have time to check out the regular/permanent exhibits.  

Yesterday, Ben and I have a free Saturday (these are extremely hard to come by) so we decided to go explore the permanent exhibits and the omnitheater show.  My favorite part was the omnitheater presentation: Tornado Alley.  We spent two hours at the museum and watched the movie and only went through about 50% of the permanent exhibits.  It was so much fun going through the museum and playing with all the exhibits, checking out the dinosaurs, and learning about the Mississippi river.  Needless to say we will need to go back to see the rest!  I would also like to go back in January since the BodyWorld will be the special exhibit.