Must. Eat. NOW!

On Friday, the 13th no less, I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed (a bit later in life than normal, I know. But who cares, they are gone now!) And for all of you who have gone through something like this, you know what my diet is currently consisting of. I've moved up from just chicken broth to tomato soup and even tried some pudding. But what I really want is food. Lots and lots of yummy, chewy, delicious food.
Pizza. Cheesy bread. Thick french fries. A brownie. Bean dip. A bagel and cream cheese. Pretty much anything of good substance. Even better if it's full of carbs....

What about you? What do your cravings consist of??

Carpet Overhaul- Phase One!

We have lived in our house for just over a year now. Before we bought it, I knew that the carpets NEEDED to be replaced. Plus, I'd rather know that it's my dirt in the carpet instead of dozens of people I don't know!
Anyhow, back in October we had a leak in the pipe in the den. We decided then that it was time to get started on replacing carpet and decided to put in wood. After a long and very frustrating two trips to try and match the current wood laminate in the entryway, we gave up and decided to stick with putting carpet back in the den. We got our carpet ordered at the beginning on November and began the wait....and waited....and waited....

Here we are at the beginning of January and our carpet and pad finally arrived! Last weekend we moved all the furniture from the den and living room, pulled out the old carpet and pad, made two trips to the dump, and spent hours pulling out staples and bits of padding. We couldn't wait until Monday when the new carpet came and we could have a put together house complete with carpet instead of plywood. It might have taken all day to get the carpet installed, but it is finished and we love it! I've been sore this week after moving so many things, but it was definitely worth it! And we have definitely completed a large chunk of our home improvement wish list.

Who says you can't be classy without carpet??? This is how we watched the Broncos beat the Steelers!!!
 

  

Our end result!!!! (Sorry, no pictures of the den yet. It's still a work in progress!)

Caramel Cream Browine Trifle

Over Christmas, I found this wonderful dessert recipe and decided to make it for Christmas dinner. And boy was it good!!! (Maybe not for your waistline, but it's the holidays so who's counting!?!?!) Anyhow, I wanted to share the recipe for anyone who might be interested! I did make a few changes, which I'll include.

Caramel Cream Brownie Trifle  

recipe from www.bettycrocker.com

1 box fudge brownie mix (I used a low-fat one and you certainly couldn't tell a difference!)

   water, vegetable oil, and eggs needed for brownie mix

1 box (4 serving size) instant chocolate fudge pudding/pie filling (I used the low-fat box)

2 cups milk

1/4 cup caramel topping

1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed (again, I used low-fat)

1 cup chopped walnuts (Aaron doesn't care for nuts and it didn't sound just right for this recipe. Instead, I got 2 regular sized Snickers bars and chopped them into pieces. I think something like Butterfingers or Reese's would also taste wonderful!)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake brownie mix as directed on box in a 13x9 inch pan. Cool completely, about 1-2 hours. (I actually made mine the night before and covered the pan with foil overnight.)

2. Make pudding as directed, using milk. Refrigerate and let set-up. Meanwhile, cut brownies into 1 inch pieces. Additionally, mix caramel topping completely into thawed whipped topping.

3. In a 3 quart round glass dish (I used a 2.5 quart round casserole dish and it was full to the top, but everything still fit) layer in this order: brownies, pudding, walnuts or candy pieces, whipped topping mixture. Repeat. (It was recommended to only do 2 total layers rather than 3 smaller layers.) Drizzle additional caramel topping over the top and garnish with chocolate curls, raspberries, or other items as you desire. I used the bits and pieces left over from cutting up the Snickers bars.

4. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving but no longer than 24 hours. The longer it sits, the softer the brownies become. Store covered in the refrigerator. (We had a small amount of left overs and they tasted great the next day!)

Depending on the size of your glass bowl, you can easily get anywhere from 10-20 servings. Although it tastes so good, little servings will be hard to stick to!

I hope you enjoy this dessert as much as we did. Everyone at our Christmas gave it 5 stars!!!