No one wants soup in the summer time...

No one, besides Sam that is. He begged me to make some Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Soup. I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone else is craving soup in June.

Chicken and Broccoli Cheese Soup

2-3 cooked chicken breasts
4 c chicken broth
4 c broccoli (chopped into small pieces)
¾ c butter
¾ c flour
1 quart half and half
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

1. Cook 2-3 chicken breasts and chop into small pieces (boiled chicken might work well)
2. Bring 4 cups chicken broth to a boil. Add broccoli, simmer 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. White Sauce: Melt butter in a sauce pan. Whisk in flour until smooth over medium heat. Pour in half and half. Stir until it thickens, then gradually add cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.
4. Bring broccoli and broth to a simmer again and slowly pour in the white cheese sauce. Continue to stir until thickens. Add some coarse black pepper.
5. Add cooked chicken, and heat until chicken is warm again.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just wanted to wish my mom a happy birthday. She is growing up so fast... And mom, congratulations on your new job. It's going to be a great year.

It's all Gravy

So I have been trying for so long to make a tasty white gravy. I have asked every cook I know how they do it. I watch the food network (converted by Christie), I read cookbooks, but I have never been able to master the art of gravy making. Last week I made an attempt and it came out tasting like flour and it was super lumpy.
So today I decided to give it another go so I called my Granny who is an excellent cook. She is one of those grandmothers who makes everything from scratch, grinds her own wheat, and never measures anything, so who better to learn from? I had her explain the process to me in detail and then I kept her on the phone while I cooked and what do you know, it turned out perfectly! Here is how I did it:

Keep all of the chicken grease in the pan from the cooked chicken(assuming you made chicken).
Add about a tablespoon of butter, and make a rue by heating the butter to a strong simmer, then adding enough flour to absorb the butter/oil mix, and stirring vigorously over med/high heat.
Remove the pan from heat for 1-2 minutes.
Add a splash of milk and mix well with a fork.
Return to heat.
Add a little more milk and stir again until mixed well.
Continue to add milk until you get the correct consistency you are looking for.
If you make it a bit too runny, stir on med/high heat until it thickens up.

YUM Thanks Granny!

Ode to my Tide Stick

Have you ever had the commercial experience? Where something happens and you think to yourself, "I totally feel like I'm in a commercial for ________ right now." Well this happened to me just the other day.
I went to BYU where Sam is currently attending school and one of the counselors agreed to give me a little resume help. He is a prominent business man in Provo, and a well respected career advisor. He was running a bit late and as I sat in the waiting room I found two stains on my cute seersucker capris. It looked like one was chocolate, and the other was pen. I grabbed my little tide stick from my purse and started to color on my pants and voila! Both spots instantly disappeared! They also dried in time for my meeting.
Then about an hour later I was at home eating a burrito with salsa, while wearing a white top (dun dun duuuuun). You guessed it; I spilled salsa on my white top. Again I grabbed my Tide Stick and again the stains dissolved.
I love my Tide Stick. I know not every one is a believer but it sure saved my outfit :)

Music to my ears

I have heard a lot of controversy about putting auto play music on blogs. A past associate once told me how annoying they found music on blogs; then again that person tended to be overly opinionated and easily irritated (you know the type) so I didn't give it a second thought. Then my sister Ambyr, whose opinion is significant, was reading something about blog etiquette and it said that music should not be posted on blogs because it can be a nuisance to blog readers.

Now it's no secret how much I love my music. I feel like I always have a million things on my mind and somehow when I turn on my music, it gives me clarity. In fact my favorite part of my blog is my play list; I probably add one or two songs to it every single day. I also love hearing what music my friends and family members put on their blogs (accept when people put "Bubbly" or "Love Song" on their page, barf). Music gives blogs some personality.

So for those of you who do not appreciate my music, feel free not to visit! SamlovesHeather does not want you here. Just kidding. But by all means, you may lower the volume on your computer because my music isn't going anywhere.

Not great

My friend Christie just started a blog and she introduced me to cutestblogonthebolck.blogspot.com. It has the cutest templates I've found. Well I couldn't figure out how to correctly paste the code, so my brilliant husband did it for me. To hurt my pride even more, it took him under 2 minutes to do so. However, neither of us can figure out how to make the rest of the blog settings go away. I have that weird boarder up top and the funky colors to my right. I mean I know how to change the colors, but I can't figure out how to make them just go away. Oh the world of blogging, it's such a challenge ha.

My true loves

We all know Sam is my one true love, no question.
Here are a few other loves in my life:
1. Luke!
2. Music
3. Recipes, I just can't have enough!
4. Spending time with family and friends
5. Being tan, however reality has set in and now I am well aware of cancer risks so to Ambyr's delight I don't tan anymore :(
6. Having a clean house
7. Great weather
8. Living on the peninsula (it's just around the corner)
9. One Tree Hill (a guilty pleasure)
10. Reading
11. Wakeboring (preferably with Kissy, Aunt Shelly, and co.)
12. Beachin it with Heidi, Nat, Jo, Reese, or any of my Hawaii GF's
13. Freshly highlighted hair
14. Cold grapes on a hot summer day
15. Utah lightning storms, they are pretty incredible
16. Editing photos
17. When my friends find there one true love
18. Dancing, luckily my cute husband is a terrific dancer :)
19. My Aunt Shelly's kitchen
20. Waking up at my grandma's house
21. Cuddling with Sam or Luke
22. Shopping with my sisters
23. Eating Chocolate with Ambyr
24. Laughing until I cry (thank you Ben, you seem to bring this out in me more than anyone else)
25. Road trips!
26. Double dating with the Grewal's
27. Blog-stalking
28. Market Street Grill, yum!
29. Baseball games, especially college and minor league
30. Sleeeeeeeeep, which I never get enough of.