Recipe: The Perfect Pecan Pie

CT celebrated his 26th year of birth earlier this month, and I wanted to make him something special: pecan pie. I wanted to go for something unlike the traditional birthday cake. 

I had never made a pie so I took to the web to find the perfect recipe!

Here's my rendition of the Pioneer Woman's recipe. 

The Perfect Pecan Pie

(Picture taken prior to baking) 

1 whole Unbaked Pie Crust (I used a store bought frozen one)

1 cup White Sugar
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Corn Syrup
3/4 teaspoons Vanilla
1/3 cup Melted Butter (salted)
3 whole Eggs, Beaten
1 cup (heaping) Chopped Pecans

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- Prepare your pie crust or if you purchased a frozen one like me let it thaw to room temperature

- Mix the sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl = syrup mixture.

- Pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie crust. Make sure you have an even amount of little pieces and bigger pieces. (the little pieces are what crisp up on the top of the pie)

- Pour the syrup mixture over the top. Cover the top and crust gently with foil. Bake the pie at 350º for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, then continue baking for 30 minutes, being careful not to burn the crust or pecans.

 - NOTE: PIE SHOULD NOT BE OVERLY JIGGLY WHEN YOU REMOVE IT FROM THE OVEN. If it extremely jiggly, continue to bake it checking on it periodically. I learned quickly that this pie sets up after you remove it from the oven to cool, so it will still have some jiggle when it's done.

- Allow it to cool for several hours or overnight if possible. 

- Serve with a heaping amount of whipped cream and enjoy!

For my first time baking a pie, it turned out fabulous and CT loved it! 
He ate the whole thing in two days. 
I hope you all enjoy it as much as he did! 

Recipe: Ooey Gooey Cake

Ooey Gooey Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

8oz cream cheese softened

2 cups powdered sugar + extra for topping

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-preheat oven to 350 degrees

-grease a 9x12 pan

1st layer

-mix together cake mix, 2 eggs, and butter 

-spread out in greased pan

2nd layer

-mix together cream cheese, 2 eggs, and powdered sugar

-pour over cake mix

-bake for 40-45 minutes

-sprinkle powdered sugar on top

This is a long time standing family favorite. I remember having this as a little girl at my cousins house. 

I love when food brings back such happy memories! 

Alphabet Weekend Warriors: C

I'm joining in with Kallie over at But first, coffee to showcase various date ideas using all the different letters of the alphabet. 

I was assigned the letter: 

Since Sunday's are usually CT and I's day to cram everything into, this day was no different.

I chose to do a day where I began with some alone time and then end with a day date with CT.

I started my day off bright and early at 6:45am and headed over to a little coffee and donut shop called the Donut Hole. 

They have all type of fun donuts: maple bacon, cherry cobbler, peanut butter and grape, smores, tiramisu, and so many more!

I chose to get the chocolate crunch donut and a coke.

Note to self: next time don't choose the chocolate crunch.
It's WAY to sweet!

I think I'm going to start making this my Sunday morning ritual, because it's only a block away from my apartment and such a fun environment. 
Maybe I'll start working my way through their list of wacky donuts! 

I then began to get caught up on my daily devotional. 

{I am doing the She Reads Truth - Women in the Bible daily devotional and I strongly recommend it to any and everyone!}

Before I headed home to get ready for church, I noticed that there were tons of carvings in the table and I couldn't leave without carving my initials. 

Reppin' TT, all day every day! 

I then went home and got ready for church with CT. 

This is where our day date begins! 

I curled the hair, and whipped out my go to cream shirt, and threw on the cheetah flats. 

{This is the part in my day where I knew I had taken this whole 'c' thing to the extreme, with trying to incorporate it into everything!}

CT and I then headed to church for an hour of worship. 

Our church is crazy.

How fun is this set?

 Living in Mars. . . I love it! 

After church, CT and I headed to Chili's for some lunch. 

Since we are cheap and had some coupons, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use them! 

I ordered a small order of cheese fries with a caesar salad and a coke, and CT ordered chicken fried chicken with corn. 

Their cheese fries are delicious dipped in ranch! 

{I looked into their calories just out of curiosity, and for just a half order of cheese fries they have 1230 calories! Wow!
 I'll make sure to skip these the next time we eat there.}

We ended our meal with our go to dessert at any restaurant, the infamous cookie.

CT said it was the best one he's ever had, but I think Old Chicago still has it beat. I would have taken a few less bites of it if I would have looked at the calories of my cheese fries prior to eating this. 

After lunch we headed to a place here in Wichita called the Cow Town Museum. 

This was my first time going and it was really interesting. 

Basically, it's a make believe town here in the middle of Wichita where you can walk through and see how things were back in the old days. 

They had real life churches, a salon, print shop, barber shop, theater, jail, etc. 

We went right when they opened and it was like we had the whole town to ourselves!

CT in the old fashion carriage. 

CT choking the turkey. 

To make it more life like, they had workers dressed up in old fashion attire to replicate how things were back in the day. 

This photo was taken after the gun fight in front of the saloon. 

He must have been part of the losing team, because he doesn't seem to happy!

CT locked up in jail.

They also sold concessions at their saloon and I couldn't resist getting a crush!

After cow town, we came back home for some afternoon cozy time. 

Who doesn't love a nap on a Sunday afternoon?

All in all, CT and I had a really good time!

He thought the idea was silly at first, but the more the day went along, the more he got involved. 

I did learn two things from today:

1. I need to invest in a nice camera for the blog because the phone is no longer cutting it. 

2. I'm super corny and cheesy when it comes to making a day around a letter! I'm pretty proud of myself for how well I incorporated it into the day. 

If you were to plan a day around the letter C, what would you do?

  

We still have spots available for Alphabet Weekend Warriors! e-mail Kallie @ butfirstcoffeeblog@gmail for your chance to join in on the fun!

Good Friday Goodies

Happy Friday ya'll! TGIF! 

Things are getting super busy at my work right now. With the changing of seasons - everyone is wanting to get in to get all their cosmetic needs addressed: a little botox, laser hair removal, and some liposuction! 

Anyways, Good Friday has got me in the mood for some goodies. If only these goodies were flattering for my figure.

 

 Oreo Brown Bites

 

 Snickerdoodle Cookies

 Strawberry Shortcake

YUMM! All these sweets are making my mouth water, especially the snickerdoodle cookies.
 Do you have any indulgences and if so what are they? My husband and I  has a huge sweet tooth so I'm always looking for some great new recipes. I also need some more options for when I'm instructed to bring a dessert dish to family functions. Thankfully, we are going out to eat for Easter dinner so that makes me safe until the 4th of July.

Have a good Easter weekend!

Me Time: Nail Files Link Up

I finally was able to sit down, relax, and have some me time tonight! I decide to link up with Fabulous But Evil to show off my nails. Head on over to her blog to check out some cool new colors and to show off your own!

I decided to do both my finger and toes tonight. I finally took of my candy cane pedicure from Christmas and I decided to paint them a spring color. I figured it was okay to dream of Spring, since I'm constantly in boots and no one will see them but me!

Sinful Colors: Rise & Shine

Paris: with no name sticker =(

Please look past my horribly small nails, aka my nubs. They may be small but I try to keep them polished because they look a little better that way. I'm really liking this color, but it looks darker in person. What do you think??

PS- Look what dessert I'm making for dinner I'm attending Sunday night with some girl friends!! I'm super excited about this. 

The Slutty Brownies

1 Box of cookie mix, 

1 Box of brownie mix, 

2 Eggs,

1 Pack of oreos (double stuffed ones are even better if you can find them)

Some oil 

& your favorite ice-cream (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a baking tray 9x9 with grease proof paper. Follow the instructions on the cookie mix box & stir furiously until you have gooey cookie dough, I usually add a little extra water and oil to what they suggest, it just keeps it moist as you'll be baking it for longer than suggested. An extra teaspoon of each is just right. Squidge (technical term) the cookie dough into a lined baking tray, until it covers the bottom. Cover this layer with your Oreos. Don't use the broken ones, eat them as you go. This recipe is too glorious to use substandard Oreos. Mix up your brownie batter and pour over Oreo layer. Bake for 30 mins, turn off oven keep in for another 5 mins, and remove them and leave to cool. When it's still a little bit warm, use the paper to lift your creation out of the tray and rest it on a chopping board. Use a large, sharp knife to cut it into manageable chunks, sections, slabs... depending on how many calories you think you can handle in one sitting. Drop onto a plate and scoop on your ice cream.

Recipe taken from The Londener

Wow! How delicious do these look? I should probably skip both breakfast and lunch, so I can save enough calories for this dessert! This would crave anyone's sweet tooth for sure!