Wood Connection Guest Blogger

Hi everyone! I am over here blogging for the Wood Connection today & giving away a $25 gift card! I had so much fun with this project and am grateful for the opportunity. Below is a little peek at what I worked on and to see how to make it, go here!

To enter to win the $25 gift card, please follow my blog via email which you can do by entering your information on the right hand side of the page and then leave me a comment below telling me you did so with your email address. I will announce and contact the winner on Friday afternoon! Good Luck!

Beef Sates

This is one of the best recipes I have and I would recommend it to anyone! My mother in law found it in a cookbook a long time ago and made some revisions and it is phenomenal! I wish I had a picture, but I don't, sorry!


Cook Time: 1 H | Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds flank steak
• 3 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• diced green chilies
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 30-35 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes

Directions:

Slice the beef thinly into strips about 2 inches long and put in a medium bowl. Combine the garlic, diced green chilies, brown sugar, soy sauce, coriander and lime juice in a bowl. Transfer the marinade to a large zip lock and toss the beef to coat evenly, and set in fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
To cook the beef, thread it onto bamboo skewers, pushing pieces together to fill most of the skewer, and leaving about 2 inches at each end. Preheat a gas grill. To grill, place the skewers on the hot grill and cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, using tongs or a long-handled spatula and grill fork to move the skewers off the grill as soon as they are done. Transfer the beef to a serving platter and serve hot or warm.
 

Wood Connection Guest Post

Hi everyone! I am over here blogging for the Wood Connection today & giving away a $25 gift card! I had so much fun guest posting for them and absolutely love their store. Below is a peek at the project I worked on and to see how to make it, go here! For all of those joining from the Wood Connection, welcome! To enter the giveaway, please follow the instructions below.

The Wood Connection has been so generous and is offering one of my readers a $25 gift card! To enter, you just need to follow my blog by email and you can do that by entering your email on the right of this page. Once you have completed that, leave me a comment below with your email so I can contact you if you are the winner!

I will pick a winner on Friday morning. Good luck and thanks for reading!

A Wedding Gift

One of my favorite holidays is Christmas and one tradition I have is to get Spencer a new ornament and give it to him on Christmas Eve. I usually try to get an ornament that represents one big thing we did that year. One of my favorite ornaments we have is the one that I made Spencer the year we got married. I used our wedding invitation to make an ornament and now I try to do that as a gift for all of the couples for weddings that we have the honor of attending. This weekend we had a good friend get married and I was excited to put another one of these together for the cute couple!

What you'll need:

• Invitation
• Clear Glass Ornament (I buy these right after Christmas to stock up but they sell them at most craft stores throughout the entire year)
• Paper Cutter
• Ribbon
• Pen or Marker

First I start by cutting up the invitations with the paper cutter. I cut the pieces into small strips and try to cut different sizes so that I get the wording in the invitation so it is still visible. Make sure to cut around each of the couples names and the wedding date. Those are the important ones and they really stand out in the final product!

Once I have the invitation cut out in strips, I then curl each piece by wrapping it around a pen or marker. 

They will then look like this....

and this...

Then you want to carefully put them inside the ornament. I always keep the best strips for last so I can make sure those go around the edges and that they are the most visible.

After you have added all of them, you just put on the top on and tie a cute ribbon around the top so that it can be hung on a Christmas tree. That is it!

February's Book: Safe Haven

This month's book is Safe Haven by Nicolas Sparks. Yes the movie comes out this week for Lovers Day and I am excited to see it although I do want to finish the book first {wish me luck}! So far I really like it and would recommend it!

Coupons & Deals

If you know me, you know that I absolutely love food but I also hate paying for it! I am not an extreme couponer but I do like a deal. Below are some deals that you need to sign up for! Most give you a free meal or coupon in your birthday month and others just give you good coupons to use. If you visit these places a lot, it can really save you some moolah!

Benihana's: They give you a $30 gift certificate in your Birthday month! They don't spam you with email and really only send you something once a month. Usually it is an email with their specials and every once in a while there is a coupon in there. The $30 for your birthday makes this my favorite deal though!
http://profile.benihana.com/registration/

Noodles & Co.: They give you a free meal in your birthday month and every few months they send you deals for buy one get one free. Perfect for a relaxed date night!
http://www.noodles.com/noodlegram/

Chilis: Expect an email every other week or so with coupons. You should never go to Chili's and not have a coupon for free chips & queso or a free dessert!
http://chilis.fbmta.com/forms/chilis/join.aspx?imm_cid=93-9C&inputsource=HP

Papa John's: If you like pizza, Papa John's has great deals with their email and text club. For the Superbowl, they had a deal where you could pick the outcome of the coin toss and win a free large pizza if you got it right. They have these kinds of deals all the time! Right now you can get 50% off your online order.
http://www.papajohns.com/email/index.shtm

Olive Garden: I love pasta {I think a little too much}! They usually have coupons like $5 off an entree or a buy one get one free lunch. They will also notify you when they have their never ending pasta bowl going on {usually in September} or their 3 course meal and other similar deals.They also send you a free dessert for your birthday!
https://www.olivegarden.com/Secure/Connect/Newsletter-Signup/

Corner Bakery: They send you a coupon for a free dessert during your birthday month. Their chocolate bundt cakes are AMAZING! They also send you coupons for free meals 3 or 4 times a year. It's a pretty good deal!
http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com/DailyFeed.aspx

Mikado: I love sushi and this is a great deal. They send you a coupon for a free meal for your birthday and also for your anniversary! They also send you info on free sushi making classes twice a year!
http://marketingorange.us4.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=625dfe3636b03b2abd3595b52&id=2ba72504e0

Quizno's: There aren't too many food options by my work in North Salt Lake other than a Subway & Quizno's. I like both but Quizno's usually wins because they have coupons that are emailed every few weeks. You usually get $2 off a sandwich or a free drink and chips with a sandwich purchase.
http://www.quiznos.com/qclub.aspx

Love Notes in Africa

My husband recently went on a business trip to Africa and I was excited for him but terrified at the same time. I don't know much about Africa and the unknown scares me! When I was little and my parents went out of town, they would leave me little gifts and I got to open one each day they were gone. They were usually just dollar store toys but I loved them and it made their trip go much faster for me. I wanted to incorporate the same idea for Spencer since he would be working most of the time and most likely not have Wi-Fi or cell service (the roaming charges are outrageous there!), and I was nervous that I wouldn't get to speak to him at all. I decided to write him little love notes that he could open each day he was gone, just so he would know that I was thinking about him and about what I was up to that day.

I found these cute cards at Target and started writing these notes with the plans I had for the days he was gone and just letting him know how much I love him. On the envelope, I wrote which day to open it and warned him not to open a letter early, because I know he would want to and it's not any fun that way!

Even though Spencer will usually just travel inside the United States in the future, I think I will keep something similar like this up. I think he appreciated the gesture and I loved expressing my feelings and hopes and dreams with him on paper. Even if you aren't into that lovey dovey stuff, it's a nice change to give a card to someone telling them how much you care away from a holiday or birthday.

Have a great day!

Greek Spaghetti

This is my favorite meal, hands down. My Grandma used to make it every conference weekend so we only had it twice a year. I have some of the greatest memories sitting around my grandparents table (or at the kids table) spending time with my amazing family and eating Greek spaghetti, chicken, and spinach pies. I didn't learn how to make this until I went off to college and I made a special trip home one weekend just to learn the ropes. The real Greek spaghetti takes all day to get the lamb broth to cook the noodles in but this is the easy adaptation!

I searched online looking for other Greek Spaghetti recipes and didn't find any that were made like this. There were a lot of other versions and you can add other ingredients like feta cheese, tomatoes, kalamota olives and so on but this is how I prefer it!

Here is the recipe (well, the adapted version!)

Cooking Time: 35 Minutes

Serves: 6

2 12 Oz. Packages of Spaghetti 

13 oz. Chicken Stock

3 cups water

1/4 cup butter

1 to 1 1/2lbs. parmesan cheese 

1. Boil chicken stock & water in a pot big enough to cook noodles in
2. Heat oven to 200 degrees
3. Lay noodles out on baking sheet in a thin layer
4. Put noodles in the oven while the broth is heating up (about 5-7 minutes)
5. Once broth is boiling, add noodles and cook until al dente (usually about 10-12 minutes). Since the noodles have been dried out in the oven, they will absorb a lot of the liquid.
6. Butter a 9x13 baking dish (I like a glass dish for this recipe)
7. Heat oven up to 325 degrees
8. Drain noodles and then layer in baking dish until the bottom is covered
9. Add a layer of parmesan cheese over noodles
10. Layer another round of noodles over cheese and repeat (keep going until all the noodles are used-I usually have two to 3 layers of cheese and make sure you have enough to coat the top, that is the best part!)
11.  Heat the butter up in a frying pan until it just starts to turn brown
12. Remove from heat and pour the browned butter over the spaghetti
13. Place dish into the oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes (or until cheese has melted)
14. Once the cheese has mostly melted, turn the broiler on and cook for another 1-2 minutes to crisp the cheese on top

 Enjoy!

Resolution

My biggest personal resolution this year is to read at least 12 books, which means one a month. The first one I am cheating on a little bit since I started the book last month but since I hope to finish it it in the next few weeks, I am counting it! January's book is called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. While I have been reading this book, I have learned that Gretchen also has a blog and website and is so much fun to follow. You can check her out here: http://www.happiness-project.com. I saw this book featured on the Today Show and thought it would be perfect to read to start out the new year. It's about a personal project to be happier and living in the moment instead of continuously looking forward to the next step in life and how that will FINALLY make you happy. So far I have loved it! Please comment with any book recommendations for me to read this year!

The beginning of Print Mint

I am starting this little blog today, not only as a new years resolution but also because I have wanted to start my own blog for a while now. I follow so many wonderful blogs from fashion, DIY, cooking blogs and so many more and I decided that now is as good of a time as any to start my own. My personal blog started to become more and more random so I wanted to create a new one where I could share my own creations all in one place. I love creating new things and I want to share them with all of you!