3 Month Anniversary!

Today marks three months of marriage!

I can't believe it has already been 3 months!

It has flown by but it also seems like we have been married for much longer.

I love being married to my best friend.

I have never been happier or more in love!

XOXO

We love leaving each other little notes every single day.

I have the cutest husband!!

Our new little puppy! 

Since we are not allowed to have pets in our apartment 

and Colton is still warming up to my love for small dogs...

I brought home this little cockapoo stuffed animal. 

I named her "Cali" :)

DATE NIGHT!

To celebrate our anniversary we went to "The Screwtape Letters" at Kingsbury Hall on Saturday night.
My husband was so sweet to surprise me with tickets!
I have been telling him to read this book for a while now and we were so excited for a fun night out.
It was so well done and gave us a lot to think and talk about after. 

On Sunday we walked to the park and fed the ducks, geese, pigeons and seagulls.

This is one of our new favorite things to do!

I call Colton the "goose-whisperer" now because they were eating right out of his hand.

What a perfect Sunday afternoon.

He even climbed this crazy huge tree to get some little kid's soccer ball.

He is constantly impressing me every single day. 

Such a manly man...

Today was our actual 3 month anniversary and it has been the best day. 

We ate breakfast together and spent the afternoon together at home when he got home from class.

Tonight we went to Costco together for the first time, did laundry, watched the new Modern family and cooked dinner. We love being together!

A few little surprises for my sweet husband this morning!

And his little note to me...

P.S. This week I received my social security card and I am officially

"Allison Kristina Matheson"

Mrs. Matheson...I love the sound of that!

Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza and Pandebono!

We loved the BBQ chicken we had the other night so much we made 

BBQ chicken quesadillas for lunch the next day 

and still had enough to make BBQ chicken pizza for dinner! 

This is a great way to stretch one meal. Good thing we love BBQ!

This pizza was incredible and my husband is still talking about it. 

We should have made more than one!

I made the crust from scratch. 

I absolutely love making homemade bread so I thought I would give it a try.

It was so easy, fast and tasted AMAZING.  

If you have some extra time to let it rise it is definitely a delicious way to save some money 

and have a MUCH better pizza crust. 

I just threw it together in the afternoon and let it rise until that night.

I even substituted some whole wheat flour to add flavor and texture. I highly recommend it!

Here is my recipe for the 

Best Pizza Crust:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour **Replace 1 cup all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
• 1 envelope of RapidRise Yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup of very warm water
• 2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
• cornmeal (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. 
• Stir very warm water and olive oil into flour mixture. 
• Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. 
• Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes.
• Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil 1 (14-inch) or 2 (12-inch) round pizza pan(s).** Sprinkle with cornmeal if desired. 
• Shape dough into smooth ball. Divide and roll dough to fit desired pan. 
• Top your pizza and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. 

**I baked it on a Pampered Chef pizza stone. It is amazing. It cooks the crust so evenly and nothing will stick to this stone!

• **Garlic and Herb Pizza Dough: add 2 teaspoons Sweet Basil, Oregano, or Rosemary and 1 clove finely minced garlic along with dry ingredients.
• 
  

BBQ Chicken Pizza:

So I didn't follow a recipe here.

First, I spread Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce over the uncooked crust

Then, I diced 4 chicken tenders baked in the same BBQ sauce
**Chicken tenders are smaller than chicken breasts so this equals about 2 chicken breasts. I like to cook with chicken tenders because they cook much faster and are easier to work with :)

Finally, I sprinkled the sliced red onion, about 1 cup of a pizza cheese blend, and a handful of chopped cilantro on top.

I baked it for about 20-25 minutes and it was perfect! 

Simple. Easy. Delicious.

Pandebono:

While I was cooking the pizza, my husband was making his favorite...Pandebono!

On his mission in Tempe, AZ he served with a mission companion from Colombia who first introduced him to these little cheese breads.

Ever since he has been home, he has been craving them.

So, the other night he researched recipes online to find the best one.

He even went to Rancho Markets to buy all of the exotic ingredients.

Everything from Masarepa to the most important ingredient...Queso Fresco. 

Good thing they sell it by the pound!

After making these three times, and even making the traditional recipe from scratch...it turns out the best version was actually the mix! We brought these to our friend's surprise party and made them for our crepe party and they were gone in seconds.

My little note on our refrigerator to celebrate. :)

Late Night Mexican Dinner

My husband loves Mexican food and I am starting to love it as well! 
I loved surprising him after work with these enchiladas. 
I decided to try a new recipe and found myself frantically running around Walmart when I got off work around 9:30 pm. I raced home to bake them before he got off. 
I some how made the sauce, cooked the chicken, and put it all together to bake just in time for it to come out of the oven when he walked through the door. 
Our schedules are so crazy that we often end up eating dinner at 11:00.
This is such a fun time of life!

My husband kept saying how incredible these were and we are definitely putting them on the list of regulars in the Matheson home!

Cilantro Chicken Enchiladas

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch cilantro 1 cup sour cream 2 (7 ounce) cans jalapeno salsa* 2 (7 ounce) cans prepared green chile salsa 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 1 onion 12 (6 inch) flour tortillas (you can also use corn but my husband loves flour) 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a shredded Mexican cheese blend)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	To Make Sour Cream Mixture: In a blender or food processor, puree cilantro, sour cream, jalapeno salsa and 1/2 can of the green chile salsa. Set aside.
2.	To Make Chicken Mixture: In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, onion and the remaining 1 1/2 cans of green chile salsa. Mix well.
3.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.	Heat tortillas in conventional or microwave oven until soft. Pour enough of the sour cream mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish to coat the bottom. Place 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of the chicken mixture in each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over all and top with shredded cheese.
5.	Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until dish is heated through and bubbling. *I am in love with this jalapeno salsa that I found. It isn't spicy and I put it on everything now!  I put it on this spinach, mushroom, broccoli, onion, and cheese omelet for lunch today! Delicious

Best Black Beans

INGREDIENTS:

1 (16 oz) can black beans

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS: In a medium saucepan, combine beans, onion, and garlic, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Season with cilantro, cayenne, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.

Coconut Macaroons and BBQ

So these are my new favorite dessert of all time. 

My husband mentioned how much he loved macaroons and I decided to make them in celebration of his one year mark of returning home from his mission in Tempe, AZ. 

I can't believe how far we have come this last year and I am so excited for our future together! 

*This was right after I met him in the airport! Such a great day.

These macaroons are perfect. They are crunchy on the outside, soft and creamy on the inside, and an all around perfectly sweet treat!

INGREDIENTS:
4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS:
Whisk together egg whites, sugar and salt in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl over a pot of boiling water. Remove the pan from heat when it is warm and creamy, and stir in the vanilla extract, almond extract, cake flour, and coconut. cover and refrigerate for at least two hours before baking. *If you refrigerate them over night they are the best!!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Coat two cookie sheets with non-stick spray {I use a silicon baking mat -- it makes clean up so much easier and there is no chance of the macaroons sticking} . Place small mounds of the batter on the cookie sheets. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. remove immediately from the cookie sheet and let cool.

We like these plain but they are amazing dipped in chocolate as well! Just make sure to wait until they are completely cool. Then melt either dark or milk chocolate, dip each macaroon and place on wax paper to dry.

P.S. These macaroons are even better the next day!

BBQ Dinner

Tonight I made BBQ Chicken, sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, and buttermilk cornbread. It was simple, delicious and reminded me of how much I miss Texas. We easily took down 5 pieces of chicken each. I tried "Sweet Baby Ray's" BBQ sauce for the first time. It was incredible. Two thumbs up. I miss my internship so much but I am loving being home to cook, clean and just be newly weds

The flowers outside our apartment bloomed this weekend. Yay for warmer weather!