After 17 Years

After our social media class yesterday, it was a very strange feeling knowing that after 17 years of school, that was my last class.  (19 years if you count preschool too!)  That has been on my mind a lot lately, every time I'm doing something I always think to myself "this is probably the last time I'll do this!" I'm sure you are all in the same boat too!  The past four years have gone by so quickly, it seems like just yesterday I was moving into Uhall freshman year, excited to be at college but nervous at the same time.  Looking back on that, I can really see how the past four years have shaped my friends and myself into the people we are today, and it is hard to believe that in a week and a half not many of us will be living in the same place!  Now I'm looking forward to where life takes me after graduation!

Extreme Couponing!

Have any of you ever watched the extreme couponing tv show? My roommates and I were all watching earlier today, and it is so crazy how much these people save!  One guy who was on the show bought over 1000 boxes of cereal and only paid about $1!! Most of the people on here had bills totaling about $400-$600 and they paid anywhere from $9-50.  I can't even imagine the time that goes into this!  One lady said she puts about 60 hours a week into finding coupons and researching grocery stores to find out when certain items will be on sale.  It seems like a really cool idea if you can save that much money, but I definitely don't have 60 extra hours a week... If you haven't seen this show at all I definitely recommend checking it out at least once, it's pretty interesting to see how these people save so much money!

Movie review!

Has anyone seen the movie Buried?  I just recently saw it and it was very good!  When I first heard about this movie, I wasn't too sure how I felt about it... the entire movie takes place in one scene, so I thought it might not keep people's attention.  The movie is about an American truck driver who is held hostage in Iraq and is buried alive.  The entire film takes place inside the coffin and shows his attempts to save himself with nothing but a cell phone and a lighter.  I know this probably sounds kind of creepy, but it's really not!  I was surprised how into this movie I was.  Its something that I think everyone should check out at some point just because it's so different from any other movie I have ever seen.  IMDb gave the movie 7.2/10, I definitely agree!

My blog seems to have taken on a new theme..

Since my past few posts have all been about cooking and recipes, I think I'm going to stick with that for now!  Seems to be working out well.  This recipe is a really easy one, thanks to my lovely crock pot!  This is one of my favorite things to make in the winter.

First, here's everything you'll need:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 6 medium sized potatos
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• vegetables of your choice!
• about 1/2 tsp thyme, and pepper

Before adding everything to the crock pot, the ground beef needs to be browned and then drained.  As this is cooking, mix in the thyme and pepper for seasoning.  While the ground beef is browning, peel the potatos, and cut the potatos, onion, and vegetables into small enough pieces to eat.  Before throwing everything into the crock pot, it's important to grease the pot so the food doesn't stick!  Next, place half of the potatos/veggies/onion in the pot, then the ground beef, then remaining potatos/veggies/onions.  Finally, pour the can of soup over the top, pop on the lid, and cook on low for 8 hours!  This ends up pretty similar to a shepherd's pie, just in crock pot form!  Also, plenty of leftovers, always a plus!  Enjoy :)

More recipes to try!

As I have been writing this blog throughout the semester, I’m noticing that a lot of my blog posts revolve around baking or cooking.  I always knew I enjoyed this hobby, but I’m starting to think maybe I like it more than I realized!  Generally, I like to try recipes that don’t use too many ingredients, because hey, we’re all in college, and our refrigerators probably aren’t too well stocked.  I have made this recipe a few times and it’s a simple way to add lots of flavor to some chicken. 

What you need:

(I never really measure any of these, just kind of guess based on how much chicken you are making)

Chicken

Butter

Bread crumbs or crushed crackers if that’s all you have

Grated parmesan cheese, the really finely cut pieces that almost look like powder

Paprika

Preheat the oven to 350 and coat the pan with non stick spray or butter.  Combine everything except the chicken and butter in a gallon size ziplock bag and shake to mix well.  (Should be about 2/3 bread crumbs/crushed crackers, 1/3 parmesan cheese, with a small amount of paprika.)  Melt the butter, you don’t need too much, just enough to coat each piece of chicken.  Then, place the chicken in the ziplock bag with other ingredients and shake to cover the chicken in the mixture.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, then enjoy!  I have found that this goes well with noodles or rice as a side. 

A "Sweet" Recipe

The wonderful time of girl scout cookie season is now upon us. Unfortunately for me, I do not know any girl scouts, so I rarely get to enjoy the cookies, especially my favorite, the Samoas.  I decided to attempt to make some myself, and they taste pretty much the same! You should definitely check out the website with the recipe, I'm pretty sure they also have recipes for other popular girl scout cookies!  For the Samoa cookies, here is the recipe I used:

Cookie Base:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.  Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.
When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).
 

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Definitely one of my favorite dessert recipes I have used.  I did have trouble dipping the bars into the bowl of chocolate at the end, and ended up flipping them over and just spreading the chocolate on them with a spoon.  Also, I burned quite a bit of the coconut and had to remake it... Checked it every five minutes, just like the recipe said, and then all of a sudden it went from white to dark brown within no time! Guess it gives me another chance to try making these again :) 

http://bakingbites.com/2009/02/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas-bars/

In the spirit of midterms...

I'm sure basically every college student is insanely busy with lots of tests and projects right now, maybe this is something you'll like.  This is something my Grandpa taught me when I was little, and every time I'm studying for a test it always comes to mind and makes me smile.

The more you study, the more you know.
The more you know, the more you forget.
The more you forget, the less you know. So why study?
The less you study, the less you know.
The less you know, the less you forget.
The less you forget, the more you know. So why study?

Good luck with midterms everyone... (490 especially..)

If you like to bake, check this out!

This is a recipe for brownies which I got from my mom... I'm pretty sure the recipe originally came from the Food Network.  This is definitely the best brownie recipe I have ever had and can't wait to make it again!

All you need to make this recipe is a box of brownie mix (plus the ingredients that you need to make the mix) and 3 symphony candy bars.  Make the brownie mix following the directions on a box.  Line a 9x13 pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Then, pour half of the brownie mix in the pan, lay the candy bars on top of the brownie mix, and pour the rest of the brownie mix on top.  Bake as normal, then just pop the foil out of the pan to cut the brownies!

This recipe is really easy to make and is so good!  Anyone who likes to bake, or eat good food, definitely recommend trying this!

A new season

Tomorrow is the Cubs first spring training game!  This is always my favorite time of the year, ever since I can remember, my family spends lots of time together every summer watching games.  Since high school, it has pretty much become a tradition that one of my brothers and I will go to Wrigley every summer with a few friends.  It's such a fun experience to be in Wrigleyville on a game day.  These are some of my favorite pictures from games over the years.

Traveling memories

Here at Bradley, I am a student worker for the music department.  One of my jobs is to do lighting and recording for concerts and recitals.  Today there was a concert which triggered some of my very vivid memories of a trip I was on during freshman year of high school.

We took a trip to Washington D.C. with the band that I was in, and one of the places we played a concert was at a veterans home.  This was such a great experience and we got to spend an afternoon talking with them and hearing their stories before the concert happened later that night.  During the concert, we played "Armed Forces Salute" when veterans can stand and be recognized during their song.  Many of them were very emotional as their memories were brought back to times of serving our country.  It was a very moving and powerful experience for us as visitors to spend a day getting to know this group of veterans.  The same thing happened at today's concert, and it just reminded me of my time spent in Washington D.C.  It is wonderful to hear people's stories about what they have done for us in their past.

Almost the End...

This past week really made me think a lot about how we will all be graduating in only three short months, and how fast the past four years have gone by!  It really hit me when I was at the job fair, it is so strange to think about moving into the real world and seeing everyone our age spread out and leave the area for new jobs.  Also, after the skype presentation in class the other day, it really made me realize that even though you may have plans for yourself in the future, you never know where you will end up until you get there.  Definitely learned a lot from the presentation and was motivated to do some of the same things myself.

Red Rock Country

All of this cold, snowy weather has been making me think of traveling somewhere warm.  I really like to travel and experience lots of different places, my favorite place I have ever been is probably Arizona.  The cities we visited were Sedona, Flagstaff, Phoenix, and Mesa (for Cubs spring training :) )  The red rocks that are in Arizona are absolutely beautiful!  We took a jeep through, and got to climb in certain areas which was pretty cool.  Everything I saw was just so different from anything else I've ever experienced which is why it was so memorable.  For anyone who likes to travel, would definitely recommend going here!!

Internship at Stroke Camp

This morning as I was heading out to my internship, I couldn't believe it has been a year already since I started working there!  I'm going to write a little bit about the organization, because it is a very inspirational story from local people right here in Peoria.  The organization is called Retreat & Refresh Stroke Camp and is a program that plans activities to support stroke survivors and educate the community about strokes.  About 6 years ago, the first camping weekend was held, and it was such a success that the program has expanded to states all across the country!  The people I work with are very passionate about this organiation and love spending their time doing whatever they can to help other people.  It is a great organization and I'm happy to be a part of it!

Social Media

Thanks to my social media marketing class, I am now writing my first blog entry!  This entry was inspired by a portion of last night's State of the Union Address.  The following exerpt is from the speech:

"The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.  None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from.  Thirty years ago, we couldn’t know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution.  What we can do -- what America does better than anyone else -- is spark the creativity and imagination of our people.  We’re the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.  In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives.  It is how we make our living."

This excerpt seems to fit pretty well with what we are discussing in class.  Social media is becoming such a prominent part of individual's daily lives that is is playing a larger role in the business world.  We don't know where the future will lead us, and how social media may impact this, but what is important is that we keep up with these changes and use them to our advantage.  With the unknown possibilities and future opportunities with social media, we can be sure that this will be a key aspect of marketing in our future careers.