ENJOY EVERY MINUTE

GUYS... these were so delicious! I'm obsessed. As cute as they were, they were not a simple task. I dumped out TWO different tart shell starters because I was struggling to get the texture right when I was learning how to make these! Just goes to show everyone has a hard time with certain things. So take a look at this easy-to-follow recipe and just go for it! YUMMY! Feel free to message me with any questions you have.

For this recipe, I used semi-sweet and milk chocolate to see which one I liked better. I personally am a milk chocolate kind of gal, but that means the Ganache will be made differently so pay close attention to the recipe for which chocolate you will be using.

Makes one 9-inch tart, 6 medium tarts, or 12 mini tarts

TOOLS YOU'LL NEED:

• Food Processor
• Parchment Paper
• Rolling Pin
• Blender
• Tart Pan with removable bottom <-- if you do not have one then be creative!

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Dark, semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips, one bag
• 1 cup heavy cream

• Cool Whip
• Raspberries, 2 packs

I occasionally get an insane craving for biscuits. I always have one with strawberry jam and one with gravy... best of both worlds. Here is my recipe and tips on how I made these biscuits with simple, easy to follow instructions.

What you'll need:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 sticks of salted butter, cold
• 2 large eggs, plus 1 extra for brushing
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, plus 1 extra tablespoon for brushing
• Strawberry jam or Country gravy

Instructions:

•  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the butter by using a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour until the pieces are even and about the size of peas. (<< tips regarding cutting butter at the end of this recipe!).
• Stir in the beaten eggs with a wood spoon until combined. Stir in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk until the dough comes together in a sticky mass. If it is too dry, add more buttermilk just 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until it reaches the right consistency. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I also sprayed the paper with cooking spray).
• Use a floured round cutter (use anything you can find) to cut out about 20 biscuits. If necessary, collect and patch out the scraps to cut out more biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to the prepared baking sheet, arranging them so that they are all touching.
• In a small dish, beat together the egg and 1 tablespoon buttermilk. Brush the mixture on the top of the biscuits. Baking until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Biscuits are best the day they are made or fresh out of the oven! Serve with Strawberry Jam or Country Gravy!

*** Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days.***

Cutting Butter Tips: When I first read about "cutting" the butter into my product.. I was honestly confused. Good thing it turned out to be simple! I personally did not have a pastry blender my first time making these biscuits, but if you have one it will be a lot easier. WITHOUT pastry blender: I used a cheese grater to slice the butter, then placed it into the flour mixture & then used a fork to cut it up even more into pebble sized pieces.

Hey guys! Life caught up with me and I have not been able to sit down and document ANYTHING! So much has happened since my last post. Me & Jared started our family and had a little boy named Roman. He is now 10 months old and the energy level is always high. I am now a stay-at-home mama to be with my little and I love it. I have more time for the things I really enjoy in life such as baking! I plan to post most of my recipes here for your reference and also our future travels. Here is a pic of my cute family. Feel free to message me with any questions you ever have on any future posts. Thanks everyone!

♥Wow this was such a fun project!
Sorry the pictures are a little blurry for right now! I am figuring it out. Thanks :)

p.s. Pictures don't even do it justice, it actually looks super good in person and is comfy to lay your head against it when watching TV!




Here is what you will need:


- Plywood (I used OSB)
- Slabs of wood for legs and back
- Staple Gun
- Wood Glue
- Mattress foam or roll out foam
- Nail heads or nail trim
- Fabric of choice
- Batting (enough to cover the whole thing)
- Spray Adhesive
- Wood Nails


INSTRUCTIONS:


- I started by getting the exact dimensions I would need for my King sized bed, width, length and actual headboard size, minus legs, by going to Home Depot to get the OSB and wood slabs. Home Depot will cut the exact dimensions you need and give you the extra slabs, which was nice. They do not do décor edges or rounds, just the basic square or rectangle dimensions. We chose OSB because it was the cheaper choice. I was nervous because I heard it could smell etc., but we smelled ours and it honestly was not bad and it is still very strong wood.
(NOTE: When we measured for the headboard we measured down below the first mattress so the finished headboard would go down further and not show any wood or excess fabric.)


- We took the wood home and cut off the top corners using a smaller saw, a table saw works too, because that is the design we wanted for our bed. (Internet has tons of ideas!)
- I went to Joanne's and picked out the fabric I wanted (make sure its something strong, and not see through!), nail trim and batting. They usually have good sales, download the app and check them out before you go!!
- We glued and nailed down the slabs to the corners all around to create the same thickness all the way around for cleanliness so that it would be easier when it came time to start wrapping the fabric around. Picture down below!








- On the front side, we then cut our cheap looking (yes cheap looking because I didn't care for the inner most layer to be the most beautiful thing ever) to fit the inside portion of the wood front. I measured 4 inches in all the way around (besides bottom cause I didn't care) and used the spray adhesive to attach the $10 mattress pad to the wood. (A twin size pad worked great for my king headboard) and make sure you do this process outside and then you can bring it back inside. Picture below.






- Then it was time to start adding on the batting and fabric and start stapling away. We decided to lay the fabric down on the floor, then the batting on top, and then the wood headboard down. Making it easier to stretch and staple on that back side. It worked really well! We made sure we had enough to wrap around to give it extra security. We used plenty of staples because I did not want this baby to ever fall apart in any way. Staple side, side, top, bottom. We had excess bottom area of the headboard so we didn't worry about making it the prettiest thing down there. (as you can sort of see in the picture).
We personally took some of the bulge out of the corners before wrapping the corners because I did not want them to look bulgy or out of shape, so feel free to play around in this portion.




-When you are all done, flip it back over to reveal the fabric. YAY!


- Last step is the nail trim. We bought the nail heads that were already in a straight trim from Joanne's which was amazing!! We still measured it out but helped it to be straight. We measured 3 inches from the edge in this time, that way the middle would have a sort of puff out look when we put the nails in.





- You can choose to drill holes in the legs to attach to your frame if you would like, but I didn't. We actually just squished ours against the wall with our purple mattress bed and it holds tight.






I am so happy we decided to go ahead and try this out. I was nervous at first, but it turned out awesome and I love the satisfaction of making something myself (plus husband duh).


Please comment if you have any questions on what products I used or how much I used. I am totally open to going into detail on things.




From my world to yours, Taryn.

Sharing this delicious recipe with you! My husband loves spaghetti squash, but I had yet to find a recipe using spaghetti squash that I craved. I am not a fan of just eating spaghetti squash plain, I HAVE to amp it up a little bit.

RECIPE
- 1 large spaghetti squash (double if you need more)
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup of Four-Cheese Italian Blend (Note: whatever cheese you would like)
- Fresh rhyme
- Fresh found pepper and salt
- Parsley or chives, finely chopped
- Chicken, chopped. (optional)
1. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Grab your spaghetti squash firmly and chop off the tip and tail. Cut in half length-wise and scoop out the innards and seeds. Place both halves on a baking sheet. (Note: I made a little foil ring to place around the halves to keep them from moving around to much!) Place fresh cracked pepper and salt over each half.


2. In a large bowl, combine minced garlic, heavy cream with 1/2 cup water, crumbled bouillon cube, chives, fresh thyme and chicken chunks. Mix well.
3. Sprinkle the first layer of cheese in the cavities of each squash halves. Divide the cream mixture on top of cheese in each halves, then top with additional cheese. (It's okay if you have extra cream mixture, save it!)


4. Roast in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until the flesh of the spaghetti squash is very tender when poked with a fork. Remove from oven and serve immediately. (Note: I took the cooked spaghetti squash out and placed it back in the bowl with the extra cream mixture I had, and just mixed it in and then served, but you can eat straight out of the squash if you would like!!)


One of my new favorites! I will totally be making it again.


QUICK VERSION
- You can cut baking time in half if you put the raw squash halves face down in the microwave for about 5-10 minutes, depending on size. Then proceed with the directions, but only bake 20-25 minutes in the oven.

Who doesn't love going to the fair and getting a Navajo taco and a funnel cake?! It's almost the whole reason I go to a fair. I found a really good way to make Navajo tacos, which I love! I wanted to share the recipe because I know I get ALL my recipes off Pinterest or the internet anyways!


RECIPE!
- Rhodes white dinner rolls
- Ground beef or turkey
- Pinto, black, any kind of bean you want


ANY TOPPING YOU WANT
- Tomato's
- Lettuce
- Olives
- Avocado
- Jalapeno
- Sour cream
- Cheese
- Onion, etc.


DIRECTIONS
- Defrost the amount of rolls you will need for your dinner size. I use 2 rolls per Navajo taco.
- While rolls are defrosting, chop up everything you will be using as a topping.
- Start vegetable oil in a skillet. Fill up enough to cover a Navajo Taco. Turn heat up to medium heat. When you place a pinch of flour in the oil and it sizzles, it is heated enough.
- Squish 2 defrosted rolls together to make one big roll. Flatten and stretch apart to make a dough version of the taco. Place into the oil, it will begin cooking automatically. Leave for 30 seconds, or your best judgment until golden brown. Flip the taco over and repeat.
- Place cooked taco shell onto plate with paper towels to soak up excess oil. Do the same to all the tacos.
- Place meat, beans, and toppings in that order. You can also add any dressing such as ranch, etc., if you desire so!

♥Best day ever

Getting married was by far the best experience of my life. It was also so much fun! Stressful yes, but I think about my wedding day almost everyday of my life. That one day in your life will impact you so much no matter what kind of wedding you want to have.
I just wanted to share with you some of the things I loved about my wedding and things I would have personally changed about my special day.


Venue: First off, I loved my venue. We live in a small town of St. George where choices are limited and the weather is VERY unpredictable. If you can have it outside, then I would have it outside and save money! If not, definitely splurge on something that will make you feel like a princess. The month of March can be crazy, so I went with an inside venue that had an outside area, so I had the best of both worlds. Do your research on tons of places before making any decisions. My venue had 2 huge kitchens, upstairs and downstairs, 2 bridal rooms, men's room, balcony, huge outside area, elevator, grand staircase, TVs, sound system, and supplied its own tables and works with other companies as well. Sounds way crazy, right? But it wasn't as expensive and it sounds!
* My venue was at the "Falls Event Center" in St. George, Utah. About $2000 but they also have payment plans and work with you, that was something that pulled me in straight away! Since the venue is the first thing I reserved I got on paying for it right away to get it out of the way.





Dress: I spent about $1,000 on my dress mainly because that was the part I was most excited about. I have always loved watching "say yes to the dress" on TLC so I looked forward to that moment. I found my dress within the first 30 minutes because my mind kept flashing back to that previous dress and I knew that meant something. It was flashing white and lace and beads, the works. It had a medium sized train that I thought was gorgeous. Advice: You wear that amazing dress for one single day, don't be afraid to let it lose and have fun in it. I was so scared to get my train dirty that I carried it around for most of the time. Which in turn means, in the pictures I am carrying my train with me and I didn't capture how gorgeous I thought my dress really was. If I went back and did it again, I would work that dress more. (Man I want to wear that dress everyday!)
*I purchased my dress at "Fantasy Bridal" in Sandy, Utah. They have sooo many choices, awesome place!




Cake: The cake is another main focus when it comes to a wedding. I was so scared that people wouldn't like the taste of my cake. I needed cute and delicious. I got the cute down, but the delicious I am not even sure because I didn't sit down for 5 minutes to even eat my own cake. TAKE TIME AND EAT YOUR CAKE! Even take time to eat whatever else is there. Experience your wedding. I had that single bite handed over by my husband, but I would have loved to have more. My mind was in 50 different places! It was a chocolate cake which is my favorite, yum yum. It's hard when you are so busy the whole time with guests, but I definitely regret not spending more quality time enjoying everything I paid for.
* I had gotten the cake from "Sweet Cakes by Karen" in St. George, Utah. It was really beautiful, and she worked with whatever you had dreamed for your special cake. p.s. it was way bigger then it appears in the picture, haha!




Photographer/videographer: I had heard many times before to make sure you splurge on your photographer, because these are the pictures you will always look at and you want to love them. And I will say it again, SPLUGE ON THE PHOTOGRAPHER! I was lucky enough to win a photo contest and got a free bridal shoot and bouquet. I was the happiest person ever! I used Tyler Rye for my bridals, and I have them all over my house. We look so good ;)
For the videographer, I just had a creative friend make a video and she did awesome! I could not splurge there, but I loved the idea of having a video and I am SO GLAD I did. It is the cutest thing to watch, I relive the day all the time by watching it. So if you are questioning whether or not to have a videographer, I would say do it!
*Photographer TylerRye Photographer. HE'S AMAZING!
*Videographer was a creative friend!




Yes I used fake eyelashes: And I don't regret it at all! I personally hate my eyelashes, they are straight and never look wedding day picture gorgeous. I splurged on the extra beauty products because again, those pictures are forever. I got eyelash extensions, got my nails done, made sure I had a little tan instead of being my normal ghost self. The little things also add up. You don't know it until the actual wedding day how good you will feel about yourself wearing your amazing dress and how the little things just make everything better!




Flowers: I got my flowers at Bloomers flower & décor in St. George, Utah.






Hair & Makeup: I did that myself with just the help of my bridesmaids!


Honeymoon: Be packed and ready to go before your wedding day. Wedding day is way to stressful and you will most likely forget something for your honeymoon, so its just one less thing to worry about day of!


Lastly, please try to take everything in! My wedding day seemed like it was 5 minutes long because I always worry about keeping others happy and had to talk to everyone, etc. If I ever redid that exact day I would have kissed my husband more, took a breath, and ate my dang cake!


-From my world to yours, Taryn.

Hello!


I started this blog because I truthfully love to express myself and I love to research. Most anything I do in life involves me knowing a game plan and my surroundings, so research is key and that research involves reading other blogs as well. I am here to share my experiences with anyone who is interested.


I will tell you a little bit about me and my family. I am currently 22 years old, still learning and growing! I love this life of mine. My main focus is my life and those I love in my life. I try not to get into any outside worldly conflicts that will bring negativity and wasted time. I got married in March of 2016 and have a wonderful supportive husband and no children yet. We are just beginning to experience life together and have made many memories so far.


I graduated from Dixie State University with a degree in Science, but then went on to get certified in Medical Transcription and will be working from home as my next career. I have many passions. I love to travel, cook, visit friends and loved ones, dance, and so much more. Everything is beautiful in my eyes. No matter who, what or where it is. I plan to experience as much I possibly can in this one life of mine.


Please feel free to always ask any questions on anything I post now to forever!


From my world to yours,


Taryn Behunin