Housewarming Party

This post will cover my weekend in review post for this week... mostly because my weekend (and the week proceeding it) was all I thought about and did things for.  I really wanted us to throw a party for our friends and family.  I wanted people to come, eat and have a good time... and I'd say that was pretty darn successful. 

As you do with lots of events that you plan months for (I'd known I wanted to have a big party for quite awhile since moving in, but finally set the date almost two months in advance).  I wanted as many people as could to come to planning ahead I felt was fairly important.

I did a fair amount of planning for the party including all the food.  Since Dan is an expert griller I let him handle the meat and I handled all the other food.  I debated in my head quite a bit about what to have - I could seriously make so many different dishes.  I was really worried we wouldn't have enough food, but we had SO MUCH food.  I guess it's better to have more than not enough.

Here are the things I decided to make including links to the recipes

• Macaroni and Cheese - I made double the recipe, but would have gotten by with just one batch
• Cheesy Party Potatoes - I made double this too... and this all did get eaten (and for the record I used the hash browns that are cut into little cubes, not the ones that are shredded... oh and since I decided last minute to make a double batch I only used sour cream meant for one batch, and used cream of celery soup instead of chicken for my vegetarians)... also this is not the exact recipe I used, but based on memory it's the closest
• Beans - I got two very large cans of beans,  and most of them did not get eaten.  I added BBQ sauce and brown sugar to them... only needed one can, maybe not at all
• Veggie Tray - I was going to actually all the veggies by hand, but went with a store bought one.  I'm glad I did because people didn't eat very healthy at the party if you know what I mean
• Fruit Salad - I tasked this one to my mom - she always does a good job!!
• Potato Salad - My step-mom wanted to bring something and I let her decide and she brought this, it was good and got eaten well
• Two bags of chips - it was the right amount
• Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting - Made out of a box.  I made two boxes which end up being approximately 40 cupcakes. I really should have only made one batch
• Sheet Cake and Donut Holes - my mom and grandma brought these too - the donut holes nearly all got eaten, and about half the cake.  It was very sweet of them to bring extras
• Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries - I found this recipe a long time ago and always wanted to make it but never did.  I decided since Strawberries are in season that now was the time.  I pretty much doubled the recipe.  They took a bit of time, but not as bad as I thought (especially now that I have a table I can sit at)  They were SO GOOD.  I will make them again, although I'd pipe the cheesecake in them a little differently b/c I didn't put it right into the bag.  These all got eaten fast and I had to save a few for some friends I knew were coming later in the day.
• Lemonade - I made a batch of lemonade to put in a dispenser (I also got about 4 2-liters of soda).  I don't think I put the right amount of powder in there though, but oh well
• Alcoholic Punch - I added more vodka than the recipe called for, it was good!
• Caramel Apple Dip - Susan made this, and this stuff is like crack good.  I'm so happy she made it for the party.

I think that's all the food except the meat which we had hot dogs, hamburgers, brats and pork steaks... see what I mean about all that food?

I prepared what I could (mac and cheese, potatoes, cupcakes) the day before so I wouldn't be running around too much the morning of... of course I still was but not nearly as bad.

Wow, that's a lot of information y'all probably don't need or want!

So the actual party... and I'm about to get gushy here folks... was amazing!!  I am overflowing with gratitude for the people who came and had a good time.  You never know who all will show up especially when a Facebook invite is involved, but we had such an amazing turn out.  I really REALLY wish I had taken pictures, but atlas I have like 3 - and one is a strawberry and the others are the fresh flowers I put around the house.  It was so fun to see our deck so full and people enjoying the beautiful weather.

I'm going to list the people that came, mostly so I can remember since the lack of pictures.  Dan's family came including his parents, sister Amanda, aunt Julie, aunt Michelle  (and her husband and one of her kids), his grandparents.  My family came including my dad and step mom, Grandpa, mom, Grandma, aunt Ruth, and aunt Pat.  My high school friends Amanda (and her husband) and Beth (including her adorable new son).  Friends - Kyle, Randy (Dan's friend), Andy (and Ashley a bit later), Dave (his girlfriend and her friends later in the night), Ben (and his girlfriend Sherelle), Michelle, Susan, Erin and Matt, John and Amanda (and da baby), Charlie, Caleb, and... I hope I'm not forgetting anyone because I would feel bad if I did. 

It was just such an absolutely perfect day.  It meant so much to me to have my friends and family surrounding me having a good time.  I couldn't ask for anything better.  I just love having so many people I care about and love around us together.  It was truly fantastic.

We stayed up pretty late and had a lot of cleaning up the next day - but all so worth it.  Can't say we'll have parties like this very often, but it left me with such a good feeling that I think we'll have to do it again... maybe with not as much food next time :)

Here are the totally lame pictures.  I shouldn't even post them, but I'm going to...

Added some flowers to a planter on our front porch

The strawberries - so amazing!  I really want to make them again like now

All the beer we had left - we're going to have to have another party to get this drank... plus look at the hot dogs we have left too

Fresh Flowers - I arranged them into a couple of little settings - tall shot glasses worked really well for this.  This one was next to the door bell

In the phone holder in the hallway

These flowers are still making me happy every time I go to the bathroom

Like I said, it was a wonderful day filled with family, friends and love.  Thank you everyone who reads this that made it and for those who didn't, you were missed!

Weekend in Review: Saturday BBQ

Another weekend has come and gone.

Dan started to work second shift, so he's not home in the evenings - it's been quite the change.

Friday we did get to see each other a bit.  I decided to make a nice breakfast... mostly because I wanted it, but I thought Dan would appreciate it too.  I made bacon (in the oven, that's seriously the way to cook bacon!), eggs with cheese to make croissant sandwiches.  I made some hash browns and cut up a few strawberries - it was delicious!

The rest of the day was pretty much a ME day, it was nice because I had a sorta rough week and a lingering cold.  I rented Catching Fire from Redbox and made a spring wreath for the front door.  I was in the mood to make something.

Not the greatest picture, but whatevs

I did one of those yarn wrapped wreaths.  I had googled around for ideas and kind of combined a couple I had seen.  I went to the craft store and looked at flowers first.  I settled on these mini daffodils in orange and white.  Then I went back to the yarn and picked out a color.  I originally thought a light blue would look nice, but that just felt like a lot of colors going on with yellow/orange flowers, blue wreath and red door so I went with gray yarn.

It was pretty easy to do and took me about 1.5 hours to complete including gluing on the flowers.  I did burn myself pretty good once (sticking your finger in freshly hot glue will do that) it startled me and I screamed, but I was the only one home so at least I didn't scare anyone.  I'm not sure if I love it or not.  I think it's nice enough, but I'm not sure I love the flower area.  The flowers looked way more fake when I separated them from the plastic stem and I'm not sure if I should add more? Of if it's the right amount - thoughts??

On Saturday Dan and I did some running around.  First we ate at Waffle House.  I hadn't been there in quite awhile, but it's pretty delicious.  Then we went over to Shoe Carnival because Dan really needed some new shoes.  I took a look at their clearance rack and ended up getting a pair myself.  They are cute - white and silver in the Jesus sandal type.  They were only $14 seemed like a good enough deal to me.

After shoe shopping we went over to Home Depot where I followed Dan wander aimlessly around the store.  Do guys not know how to do things in order?  It's like walking from one end back to the other and back again....

We finally escaped that store and headed home.  Dan did some things while I cross-stitched.  At some point we decided to have a BBQ that night.  We invited a bunch of people over.  It was a lot of fun.  We made hamburgers and hot dogs.  We also made corn on the cob.  I made some brownies and Caleb helped me with the mac and cheese (It involved a roux and those things scare me... when it didn't look right after my try I threw it out and waited for Chef Caleb to come over and we did it together and by together I mean he did it while I stood next to him and got ingredients ready.  The mac and cheese was delicious!!  It's Pioneer Woman's recipe - I actually had my roux right, but just didn't trust myself enough.  Oh well - I will make this again!

We had a lot of people over - it ended up being Andy, Matt, Dave, Megan, Caleb, Liz, Ken, Amanda, Lou, Erin, Ashley, and me and Dan.  It was a lot of fun and such a nice night to spend out on our amazing deck.

On Sunday we mostly hung around the house.  We were suppose to go out for our anniversary, but decided to wait until next Saturday - which is way more appealing to me since I won't have to go to work the next day.

I can't wait for the weather to be nice all the time instead of that random little bit of snow we got on Sunday.

It's been a minute and Cake Balls

Well... I haven't posted anything in awhile... geez.  Mostly because I had a couple of weeks off work and just kinda did a computer detox (yes, still checked things on my phone, but writing a whole entry on my phone isn't the most fun)...

Then we had a crazy winter storm and I was teleworking all last week.  By the end of the day I was so sick of my stupid laptop.  I mean, I'm sure I'm about to sound spoiled now, but going from two large monitors to a tiny laptop screen would make anyone crazy!

So here I am... almost the middle of January with SO MUCH to catch up on!

Here are the things I want to write about to capture my own memories:

• Christmas
• Stay-cation
• 2013 Wrap Up
• 2013 Resolutions - How did I do?
• 2014 Resolutions

Since I don't want this post to just be a teaser of all the things I'm meaning to write about... I'll write about cake balls.

These are what I make for Christmas... over at my dad's family they just love them.  I've made them for a few years now... Looking back, I'm not sure I've posted about this before...

Anywho - I always use red velvet cake combined with green chocolate.  This way when you bite into them they are red!  I add Christmas colored sprinkles to the top.

This year I did something a bit different with them.  The last couple of years my dad said he thinks they would be even better with a cream center.  My brother has always disagreed.  This year I decided to research and see if it was possible to put in a cream center.  So I googled and found this recipe.  It seemed easy enough so I went for it.

Making the cream filling was a bit challenging because I did not need to make as much as the recipe called for since I was only filling half of the balls with cream (man I'm feeling like there's some dirty jokes in here or at least a good 'that's what she said')  It was a fair amount of guessimation on my behalf, but I think I figured it all out - just kept tasting and adding things.

I made little holes in half the balls and added the cream through a make-shift piping bag (Ziploc with a corner cut off)... I'm not going to lie - I really enjoyed this part, maybe I need to pipe things more often?  Then you cover the cream with a bit more cake ball mixture.

Half with holes

Cream filling!

I got a mixed reaction at Christmas about which were better - cream or no cream... I think the no cream won out, however everyone told me that both were good.  I know it's weird, but I don't really eat them, so I can't tell you which I think is better either :)

All pretty and finished - the dark green had no cream and the light green did

Oh and for whatever record in case I look back on this next year and wonder what I did - I bought 4 bags of chocolate this year (2 of each color) and ended up only using 2... in years past when I've tried that I always ended up needing more... figures huh?

Baking: Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I decided that I wanted to make a cookie with caramel... so I googled around and found these.

They are delicious!!  I need to get better about reading the full recipe (not just the ingredients) ahead of time... because I made the dough two Sundays ago, and then realized that the dough needed to chill... so that turned into finally baking them two weeks ago... and finally blogging about it today...

They were delicious!  They are a soft, bigger cookie.  The first one I ate I thought I had added too much salt.  But the ones I've eaten since then are perfect!

Ready for some craptastic pictures?

I thought they looked so adorable on the pan

In the cookie jar

Really yummy and totally crappy picture

You may be asking what is this a picture of?  Well it's the inside of the cookie duh!

I'll be making these again!

RECIPE: Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

I was on my way home from work early on Thursday (they let us out early due to the inclement weather) and thought it was probably a good idea to have some food in the house... you know if it really did get that bad out...

I have the hardest time making up my mind on what to make for dinner.  I usually go with the same old things (tacos, pasta, frozen meal)... but I decided to make stuffed peppers... and not only that I kinda sorta made up my own recipe.

It is loosely based on this recipe... mostly because I didn't know times and such...

First I browned my ground turkey

Then I added some spices... paying zero attention to how much I put in... I also added a packet of taco seasons (not pictured)

Then added a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) and a can of Rotel (I didn't drain, but should have), and some frozen corn (not pictured) and added some water and let it sizzle together

Cored the peppers (yes, I got rid of those extra seeds that clung on for dear life

Arranged neatly in a baking pan



Filled up the peppers - it only used about half of what I made and baked them

Here's what they looked like out of the oven



Added some cheese and ate - yum!

Full Recipe:

1 pound of ground turkey
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of Rotel (drained)
1 cup of frozen corn (or whatever looks right)
Cumin
Garlic Powder
Crushed Red Pepper
2 bell peppers
Mexican Cheese

Brown the meat.  Add the taco seasoning, black beans, Rotel, seasonings, and corn.  Add some water (whatever is on the back of the taco seasoning packet).  Cover and let simmer

Cut the peppers in half and core them.  Place in baking pan.

Fill each of the peppers with the meat mixture.  Add some water to the bottom of the pan (the recipe I linked to said 1/3 cup - I had a LOT of water left at the end, so I think a 1/4 a cup would be enough, maybe even less).  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until peppers get soft.  Remove the foil and add cheese and put peppers back in oven for 5 minutes.

Serve them up and eat!!  Like I said, I only used about half of my meat mixture.  The other half would be good for tacos, nachos, or anything like that.

Baking: Chocolate Cookies (with Peanut Butter Chips)

I decided to try to bake some chocolate cookies... those just sounded good and different from what I've already tried.  My mom told me to look at the recipes because a lot of chocolate cookies can end up feeling dry, so I went for a 'chewy' chocolate cookie recipe to help with that.

So I did what I always do - google and pick the one I want... which in this case was the first one from food.com.

At first I thought I may have messed it up... I left the butter on top of my stove to soften, but left it there almost too long, luckily I realized in time (my oven heats up the top fast!)... I also added the cocoa powder to my butter and sugar mixture without thinking (should have gone in the dry ingredients).  I mixed it up the best I could, but it was dry with the powder in there, so I ended up making sure it was all mixed up by hand (totally messy but worth it)

I ended up cooking them a bit differently this time too - only one sheet at a time... I don't always plan on doing that, but was testing it out... that and I forgot to move my racks around while the oven was cool and I'm scared of ovens so I didn't want to do it when it was hot (yes this is a real fear of mine... a stupid stupid, but real fear)

Either way - they were great!! Probably the best cookies I've made - texture-wise I didn't over cook them and had a good balance of chewy and crunchy.  The peanut butter chips in them were awesome (although I will say that I didn't mix them up well enough in the batter as some had a bunch and others not so much... but I also kinda like the variety like that)

Dan seemed to like them too... he's been eating them since I made them.

Here's the recipe from food.com
1 1/4 cups butter or 1 1/4 cups margarine, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups peanut butter chips (12 oz. pkg.) or 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz. pkg.)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. In large mixer bowl; cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter or chocolate chips.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.).
6. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet onto wire rack. Cool completely.

Baking: Toll House Cookies

I decided to make cookies this weekend and decided to just make a classic - Toll House Cookies.

I did over cook some of them (sensing a trend) but I'm starting to get the hang of my oven

Side Note to the story... the stove/oven I have now is the same oven I had in my old house when I was married, so you'd think I'd have it down... but I'm a better baker now (I think, hope, pray) so I'm getting it...  One of these days I'll tell you my cookies were perfectly baked.

I made the first batch without any chips in it and added some candy corn M&Ms in the cookies.



Some of the best things ever!

But as you know (and I know, although didn't think too much about at the time haha) so I put three M&Ms per cookie when after they spread looked pretty meager... womp womp...

All the cookies after that I used peanut butter and chocolate chips - which are amazing... overall the cookies were pretty great!! (maybe just a bit crunchy haha)  The fun part was I used the same amount of chips for all the cookies even though I already put a batch in the oven... so they were extra chippy.

There are so many options in the store for different chips - so I might try these again with different chips - sounds fun to me!!



Somday I'll get good at the food staging :)

Baking: Jalapeno Cheese Bread

Dan requested some jalapeno cheese bread.  I did find out afterward that he was craving some cornbread like we had at Mardi Gras... but he didn't tell me that before, so I'm going to try to make cornbread next time...

I looked a lot for this recipe... I read over a bunch and settled on this one because it seemed the easiest...

There is the recipe from allrecipes.com
(mine is altered to show what to use to make one loaf)

Ingredients
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I shredded my own, honestly I'm not sure it made a difference)
1/4 cup minced jalapenos (I may have used more, I'm not sure I chopped up 2.5 jalapenos)
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of white sugar (that's a hard one to divide by 3 haha)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup hot water
1 package of active dry yeast
1 1/3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a very large bowl, combine 2 1/3 cups of flour, cheese, jalapenos, 2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon sugar and the salt; mix well.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the water, yeast and remaining 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit about 10 minutes; stir until all yeast is dissolved.
3. Add the oil to the liquid mixture, stirring . Add half of the liquid mixture to the flour mixture. Mix with hands to moisten flour as much as possible. Add remaining liquid mixture to dough and mix until flour is thoroughly incorporated. (I ended up having to take the dough out of the bowl and start to knead it before I was able to get all the flour/cheese/jalapenos to incorporate)
4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until smooth and elastic to the touch, about 15 minutes, gradually adding only enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking.
5. Place in a large greased bowl and invert dough so top is greased; cover with a dry towel and let stand in a warm place (90 - 100F) until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down dough.
6. To Make Bread: Form each into a ball, then stretch out dough with both hands and tuck edges under to form a smooth surface. Pop any large air bubbles by pinching them. Form into loaves. (Note: I like to use a rolling pin and roll out dough, which pops all bubbles easily and quickly.) Place in 3 greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans. Cover with towel again and allow to rise until almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
7. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) until dark brown and done, about 1 hour, rotating the pans after 25 minutes for more even browning. Remove from pan as soon as bread will easily lift out, after about 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool about 1 hour before slicing.

NOTE: During the rising process I set the dough on the top of my oven while the oven is on the warm setting.  This seems to work great for me.

NOTE:  I'm not sure how long this should be cooked for.  I was looking at my bread and thought it seemed done around 30 minutes or so, but since the recipe called for an hour I left my bread in there WAY too long and the outside was very well done... as in not edible.  I realized last night while I was falling asleep that the longer bake time might be because you were suppose to cook 3 loaves... so...

So, reading my note, I totally overcooked the bread... although the inside was good and we ate  that part.  It had good heat to it, but I wouldn't call it spicy.  I didn't take a picture, and I'm going to have to try this again to get it right.  I also want to try jalapeno cornbread (as I stated above)

Baking: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

**Ok I failed at the blogging every day thing already... haha... but I'm post dating this entry, so at least you'll get 30 entries during the month of November.

This past weekend Dan requested some baking from me... and I've really been enjoying baking so I happily obliged.  The last peanut butter cookies I made were a bit crunchy and he requested some chewy ones.

So I googled Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies and made the first recipe that popped up.  Seemed easy enough and I had all the ingredients except more peanut butter.

Now, I apologize, but I didn't get a picture of the final product, these cookies were more chewy and Dan even called them a bit underdone... (figures last ones over and these under...)  Really though, I was going for a bit under-done since that's what tends to make the cookies chewy... otherwise I think the recipes were very similar.

One of these days I'll find the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe... I actually have an idea I'd like to try out soon!

Recipe for Easy Access (from http://www.unegaminedanslacuisine.com)

Old Fashioned Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

makes about 25-30 cookies

from Peanut Butter Comfort, by Averie Sunshine

ingredients

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 Tablespoon espresso powder (optional) - did not use

1/2 cup (that's 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/4 cup tightly packed, light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons cream or milk (I used 2%)

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 large, room temperature, egg

method

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder (if using). Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, cream, and vanilla. Beat on med-high speed for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and beat for about 30 seconds - until just incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour. {Note: I let mine chill for 6 hours.}

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.

Using a small cookie scoop, form the dough into balls and place them onto the prepared sheets, allowing about 2-inches of space between each cookie. {Note: Each of my cookies weighed approximately .23 grams.} Slightly flatten each ball of dough with the tines of a lightly-floured fork, creating a crisscross pattern.

Bake for 7-8 minutes - do not exceed 9 minutes. The tops should look underdone - they will firm up as the cookies cool. {My cookies were Perfect after only 7 minutes.} Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for about 10 minutes before removing transferring to a cooling rack.

Baking: Martha Stewart Peanut Butter Cookies

Sunday night of the weekend came and I had another urge to bake something... now that I have most ingredients in the house house now I figure why not bake!!

I'm not sure why I choose Peanut Butter cookies, but I did... haha.  So I went looking for a recipe.  A lot of the recipes I saw you needed baking powder... which I didn't end up having in the house.

I found this recipe that is Martha Stewart's recipe.  I had all the ingredients - which made it the winner winner chicken dinner!

Recipe Notes:  They are pretty good, I maybe would like them a bit more chewy than crispy... not sure if I cooked them too long or something, but they were good.  Next time I should put some sugar on top of them.

I also couldn't find my beater attachments for my hand-held mixer... it was driving me crazy.  I looked in every cabinet in my kitchen multiple times, but finally found them hiding behind some plates... thank goodness since all the wet ingredients were already in the bowl ready to get mixed together.

I ate a couple last night and still have a bunch left over.  I'm even bringing some to my mom's house for dessert tonight.

Baking: Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Side Note:  I am trying to figure out the best way to blog about these recipes.  Last week I combined the two into one post.  And while I don't really have that much to talk about a given recipe, I do tend to look back through my blog posts to find recipes to use again... it's my own little recipe repository.  So while these entries might not be long or particularly interesting... this is more for me type of posting.  I think separating them out will do me more good in the future... especially if I continue this baking every weekend thing, not to mention cooking more often... oh the woes of being domestic!

We had some bananas that were going brown and seemed like the perfect time to make some Banana Bread... but since I love Peanut Butter and Bananas together I wanted to try a slightly different recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bread... and hey, while we're at it why not throw in some Chocolate Chips!

I did what I normally do when I decide what I want to make before I actually make it - Google Recipes until I find one I like.  How do I find one I like?  Well, whatever one I already have most of the ingredients for - duh!!

I decided to use this recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

Her pictures are a lot prettier too...

For my notes on the recipe:  Somehow my edges got really done... so maybe I should have tried the foil tent they talk about in the recipe.  I also felt like my bread had a ton of chocolate chips in it... not saying that's a bad thing - just a comment!

Overall this recipe was good, easy, and I would totally try it again.

Still warm - yum!

When it was nearly all gone... shortly after this picture was taken Daddy got up on the counter and ate the rest of it... silly dog!!

I ate too much for dinner - NEW RECIPES

I feel like I have so much to share!  But food is what's on my brain right now so I'm going to start with that. 

Dan has said he wanted some White Chicken Chili.  So this past weekend seemed like as good a time as any to try it out.  I scoped out Pinterest and decided to try this recipe.

Here's the ingredient list with my notes in red
1 can black beans (I used black beans with jalapenos)
1 can corn, undrained
1 can Rotel, undrained (I got the hot can)
1 package ranch dressing mix (forgot to put this in until towards the end... whoops)
1 tsp cumin (probably put more in than this, but since I just guesstimated I'm not sure how much I actually used)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder (didn't have onion powder.  I wasn't going to add anything, but then I remember I had some onion soup packets so I added that way later in the cooking day)
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts
I also used a can of White beans, drained

Directions:
Drain and rinse black beans. (I did not do this, just b/c the sauce it was in tasted good and figured it would be good, I did drain and rinse the white beans I added though.) Place chicken at bottom of pot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), rotel, and black beans. Top with seasonings and ranch mix. Stir together. Place cream cheese on top. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir cream cheese into chili. Use 2 forks to shred chicken (barely needed to do this as the chicken shredded on its own). Stir together and serve.

It really was that easy!! A lot of the other recipes I looked at you had to cook the chicken first.  This one you just put it at the bottom and cooks for you.  It was super duper easy and really really yummy.  Mine was pretty spicy, but we like spice which is why I used things like the black beans with jalapenos and the hot can of Rotel.  We are having it for dinner again tonight and I'll definitely make it again!!

In the crock pot - mine was thicker than the pictures of that blog looked... I will probably add some water or chicken stock when I reheat

In the bowl ready to eat.

On Saturday night, since Dan was going to the hockey game leaving me with no plans, I decided I wanted to bake something.  After going to the grocery store for one of those mondo big trips, there just wasn't enough time on Saturday night, so my baking got pushed to Monday.

I scanned all my pinned dessert recipes and was leaning towards making a bread... specifically this Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread.  It is a lot like Monkey Bread, however I made this from scratch so it feels more special than just Monkey Bread.  It had yeast in it and everything.  I just took my time and followed the directions.  I'm not going to copy and paste like I did last time - go to her blog she tells you what to do like I would never be able to :)

Just wanted to take a picture of the ensuing chaos that was my kitchen during this process... not pictured the sink full of dishes b/c I couldn't wash them b/c the sink was broken... more on that in a different post.

It was fun to roll out dough - here it is with the cinnamon sugar mixture on top - a lot of this ended up falling off... but oh well it still tasted delicious!  (I added some of the excess to the top of the bread when it was in the pan, but not all of it b/c that would have been nuts)

Out of the oven - how pretty

Top view

It was delicious!! Dan and I ate about half of it last night... I love that it pulls apart in slices... and honestly I'm pretty proud of myself for baking bread from scratch.  There's some bananas browning in our kitchen and I'm thinking I'll make banana bread... or peanut butter banana bread.  I'm excited!

Weekend in Review: Surprisingly Full

This past weekend started a bit early for me...

I was sitting around work on Thursday hoping the afternoon would go quickly.  I was actually on a conference call and had another one scheduled later in the day when I got a text from my dad...

In case you don't know what the heck the 'game' is (have you been living under a rock??) That would be Game 1 of the NLDS Cardinals vs. Pirates.  After the conference call I went down and talked to my amazing boss and was out of work by 1:30.

I headed home, got Cardinal-fied up and headed down town to meet my dad.  Of course it was crazy downtown and parking was expensive... and I couldn't decide where to park to save my life (I ended up going with where I normally park even though it's further away).  I was headed to meet my parents.

Red Water in Keiner Plaza

We met by the Stan Musiel Statue and Janet even showed me the brick they bought for my Grandparents.  We've tried looking for it before, but there's just so many!! I would have taken a picture but in the excitement of all of this my phone battery didn't have much juice so I saved it for special occasions haha.

We had some pretty great seats in the outfield.

As you can see above we were in the left fiend right next to the Pirates bullpen.

Panoramic

The game was so much fun... my dad and I had quite a few beers... and best of all THEY WON!!  I was joking around that there's some benefits of being the only kid in town :)  We really had a great time together.  There's just nothing quite like post-season Cardinals baseball and I'm so grateful my parents invited me to come!

After the game we headed over to Flying Saucer. We got some food there... they have a pretty good selection of beers on tap, but honestly I had enough at the game that I just drank water.  Really I couldn't tell you how much fun I had.  It was a perfect night!!

On Friday I slept in a bit and then started my running around for the day.  I went to visit my good friend Susan and her brand new baby Logan.  I brought them Psghetti's and cookies and Pumpkin Beer (hey she can drink now!) and visited.  I held Logan for awhile and he's just so dang sweet and small.  It was nice to reconnect and see the baby.  Since she's on  maternity leave I imagine we might connect a lot on upcoming Fridays.

I headed back home and relaxed a bit more before I got ready and met my friend Beth for a drink.  I found out kind of last minute about a surprise party for a friend.  So we met up ahead of time at 54 Street for a drink (and to catch up!) and headed over to the party.  We thought we got there with enough time to make the actual surprise, but the birthday girl was early so we were kind of a secondary surprise haha.

The party was nice and I enjoyed catching up with my high school friends.  Each of our lives have taken such different directions but always nice to catch up.  I can't believe we are all turning 30... ugh!

On Saturday I made some Apple Pie Shots for a party later in the day and then relaxed.  It actually took a couple of trips to find the Everclear I needed for the shots.  Here's the quick recipe I used:
4 quarts Apple Juice
4 quarts Apple Cider (or whatever that normal size of juice is for these two)
Cinnamon sticks (I used all of them in the container and did not need that many... oh well it was spicy)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 quart-ish of Everclear (probably could have added more)

You boil everything but the Everclear together until the cinnamon sticks lose all their flavor and then add in the Everclear and refrigerate.  They were delicious and made the house smell nice.  I put the shots back in the containers for the juice.  It filled one up completely and the other one half way up.

We ended up watching This is the End and then taking naps.  Then we headed over to Abby's 5th birthday party.  The main part of the party was over, but we knew we'd be staying late so we arrived later.  It was fun... nothing too exciting or crazy...

On Sunday I met up with my mom.  We met for lunch first and then went to the craft store (I'll hopefully share what I'm working on soon) and the antique mall.  We also stopped by a couple of other second hand shops before we parted ways.  It was a real nice time hanging out with her, plus the antique mall is fun.  Seriously if you're looking for a free activity just walk around one of those places I guarantee you'll be entertained!

Sunday night ended with television and Chinese food.  All-in-all a full, but amazing weekend!!

Weekend in Review - The bummer summer weekend (New Recipe)

I wanted to write the house update post first before I got into the weekend post b/c that explains a lot of my mood this past weekend.... I was depressed, grumpy, and just overall not having it.

This weekend I should have done things like purged my clothes, help Dan pack and shop... but I was depressed about the house stuff and couldn't do anything related to it... which seems totally silly now, but at the time I was feeling pretty hopeless!

On Friday was when all that bad news happened... I was talking to my dad on the phone and he's spontaneously invited me to go to happy hour with him at Houlihans and I agreed.  I hoped in the shower and drove on over there.

It's always nice hanging out with my dad and shortly there after my step mom showed up too.  We had some beers and ordered an appetizer (goat cheese and artichoke bites - totally yummy and rich by the way) and ordered some dinner (I had some chicken tortilla soup).  It was really nice catching up with both of them.

After happy hour I went back to Dan's place and we just kept it low key that night.

On Saturday I didn't do a whole lot... however I did start a brand new cross-stitched Christmas stocking.  I have a feeling this one will take me forever... I mean look at all those symbols!

And that's just part of it... ugh!!  Hopefully it will be ready by next Christmas.

Saturday night Dan and I went over to my cousin's house to hang out.  Since I've been out of town so much (past three weekends) it's been awhile since I've seen everything, and it was good to be back.  I love our little group... and of course I missed Abby!

Sadly I left my phone at Andy's that night so on Sunday we had to drive all the way back there to get my phone... so much driving!  We did take Quina (she has a harness and leash thing... she hates it but allows Dan to take her outside).  Abby and Ari were real skeptical of the bird, but eventually they warmed up to her.  It's always fun seeing how people react to her.

Also, on Sunday night we made some burgers (at my request) and I made two side dishes - roasted broccoli (Susan was my inspiration) and chili roasted potatoes.

For the broccoli I got two fresh broccoli bunches and cut them up.  I also cut up about three cloves of garlic.  I put the broccoli in a mixing bowl with some olive oil and mixed in the garlic, some salt and pepper (and a little bit of garlic salt - I like garlic!).  I cooked it for 20-25 minutes - it was delicious!

For the potatoes I cut up three white potatoes (really only needed two...) and put them in the same mixing bowl with some oil (olive and then vegetable since I ran out of olive... and accidentally put a little too much) and then a couple of tablespoons of chili powder and a couple of shakes of crushed red pepper.  I spread them out on a cookie sheet (with the broccoli) and cooked at 425... now I'll say I didn't look the potatoes long enough.  They probably should have been in the oven for 40 minutes... but they were good with the chili powder.  I would make both of these things again... just cooking the potatoes longer.

After so many traveling weekends it was nice to have a low key one at home... especially since I leave again Friday for another weekend outside of St. Louis.

Easy Blondies - NEW RECIPE

(this post would have been better with a picture... hey - look at my weekend posts... at least I'm getting better...)

On Sunday I felt like making something... and I was craving a blondie... not that I've ever made them before, but they are delicious.

After looking at Walmart for a box mix (you'd think they would have that right??) I realized they didn't make that... so I left with nothing.

Later in the day I googled around for an easy blondie recipe.  I could make it the normal way, but honestly didn't want to have to buy every.single.ingredient. (Dan doesn't have anything...)

I googled around and found this recipe that boasted you only needed 4 ingredients - sold!

Dan already had the butter and eggs too - so really I only needed to get to ingredients.

I got a yellow cake mix and decided to change it up by getting peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Since it was just the two of us I also cut the recipe in half (I may have over poured on the chips...)

I wasn't sure it was all going to work out since it was just four ingredients and then I went and cut it in half... but they turned out good.

They were not what I was craving, but they were fluffy and really good.  Dan ate nearly the whole pan so I know he liked them.  They are super easy and not that many ingredients.  I would make them again and vary the recipe even more (different kind of box cake mix, different chips, etc)

Weekend in Review - Dan's Birthday - (new recipe too)

It was quite a full weekend!! 

On Thursday after work my mom took me to get my birthday present from her - a new pair of tennis shoes.  I really needed a new pair now that I'm trying to work out more (hopefully a post about that at some point)

I love them a lot... they feel good on my feet (so far) - and the picture doesn't do the color of the laces justice - they are much more vibrant in person... and they make my feet look smaller - score!

On Friday I woke up and worked out and then headed over to Dan's.  We then headed over to Gateway Race Track for his birthday present - getting to drive a Lamborghini around 3 laps of their road track.  I bought him a Living Social deal, otherwise I think it would have been way too much to be worth it.  He got to choose which car to drive (there was four options).

It was really cold out (luckily they had an indoor observation deck) and I was able to get some pictures (they have packages you can get with real professional pictures)  I think he had a lot of fun... although I think he was too small for the Lambo.

trust me, it's Dan

I have a video of him driving too... very exciting I'm sure

After he finished his driving experience we went grocery shopping for the party the next day.  The rest of that night we relaxed and I began to cook things for the party - the cupcakes and the jello shots.

I decided to make two kinds of jello shots - one of Dan's choosing (which was grape since he likes grape drinks).

That one I followed a recipe online
2 cups boiling water
2 3-oz grape jello packets
1.5 cups of grape vodka (I used 3 olives purple)
1/2 cup cold water

And I made strawberry lemonade since Liz requested strawberry or lemon... so combined (even if she didn't have any of them)... they were REALLY good... I invented my own recipe for this one...
2 cups boiling water
2 3-oz strawberry jello packets
1 1/4 cups lemon vodka (I used skky I believe)
1 cup lemonade

I also added a slice of strawberry to each shot for fun.

I didn't have any of the grape shots, but the strawberry lemonade were really great!!  I heard the grape ones were stronger, but that would make sense since there is more vodka in those already.

On Saturday, I prepped some more food and then we packed up and headed out for the day.  First, we stopped by my mom's house so Dan should look at a light in the kitchen that stopped working.  He was able to fix it (he's so handy!!)

Then we headed over to my aunt and uncle's where the party was.  My cousin secured the house for us (my aunt and uncle gamble a lot at the casino and have free credits for the hotel... it's super nice of them to let us use their house.)  I finished prepping some food and then started drinking and hanging out.  It was so much fun that night.  We were going to have a party for Dan and Liz (since they have the same birthday) but I guess it mostly ended up being a party for Dan.  A lot of people came and everyone seemed to be having a very good time.  I know I had a lot of fun.

I made some food - I made the jello shots, cupcakes (yellow cake with chocolate icing), sausage dip, taco dip (sour cream, two packets of taco seasoning and shredded cheese), and little smokeys.  Dan also made tri-tip and chicken wings and Andy made sausages.  All the food seemed to go over real well.

I really enjoyed the party - I love this time of year when you can sit outside on the porch and just hang out and have a beer... love!

On Sunday, my dad gave us some amazing free tickets to the Blue's game... check out how close we were to the ice

Too bad the Blues lost to the Blackhawks and they didn't even score... boo... but it was fun.  I would say the crowd was at least a third Blackhawks fans...

Sunday afternoon we were just worn out!  We lounged around and took a nap... but the weekend was pretty amazing - just one of those great weekends where you hang out with great people and have a great time.

Already looking forward to the next weekend!

Ragu Chili Mac and Rhubarb Pie - NEW RECIPES

I haven't done this in awhile - but I've tried a couple of new recipes in the last week or so.

First we tried Ragu Chili Mac. I've been seeing this advertised on tv... and if you know much about me you know I love chili... and especially chili mac... so I wanted to try it.

It was super easy to make and while the recipe only calls for one tablespoon of chili power, I probably put double that in.  I also added crushed red pepper because Dan and I like things spicy.

It mostly tasted like meaty pasta with a hint of chili, but I still liked it, and can't beat it being super easy... I might make it again.

The second new thing I made was a Rhubarb Pie.  I have never made a pie much less a rhubarb one so I googled it and ended up going with the first recipe from Allrecipes.com since it had a ton of great reviews.  I made this pie for Dan's 30th birthday since he's told me before he loves it.

I couldn't believe how easy it was.  Pretty much just dump everything in and let it cook.  I cut the rhubarb in about 1-2 inch pieces.  I probably should have gotten more rhubarb and Dan said maybe cut the pieces smaller next time (I really didn't know).  I also added an egg white wash to the top and sprinkled with white sugar - This made it look really good.

Ignore the crust in the bottom right... someone was eager to try it

It tasted really great!!  I wanted to get a picture of the inside, but I totally forgot.  I texted Dan the next day to get a picture, but he said he had eaten it all by then (he must have liked it!).  It was really tasty, I don't think I've ever had a straight rhubarb pie before (I've had strawberry rhubarb).  Rhubarb is a bit tart, so it was a tart pie, but mixed well with the sugar so it was a good kind of tart.

I thought it was strange in the recipe that you mix up the flour and sugar and then put a third of it on the bottom and then put in the chopped fruit and put the rest on top and close it off... one of the comments said don't mix it up b/c it makes the crust better, and that seemed to be correct.

It was sooo easy to make, and I figure since Dan likes it I'll make it again sometime.  Not sure it's as good as his Grandmas, but I think I did a good job!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

A week ago my dad invited us to a trivia night that supported the YMCA by his place.  The 'theme' of the night was luau... there was suppose to be a table decorating contest, although none of us really stepped up to do that one!

Either way, I thought it would be fun to make a luau themed dish.  I decided to make pineapple upside-down cupcakes.  I found the recipe on Pinterest - but you can find the original here.  As it says in this recipe - "...these cupcakes offer a delicious introduction to baking. Whether they're cutting up ingredients with a plastic knife, arranging the fruit in the bottom of each cup, or mixing the batter, beginning bakers get plenty of chances to pitch in."  Now, I know they are probably referring to children by saying an introduction to baking, it's an easy way to know that this recipe isn't going to be waaay difficult.  And it really really wasn't.

At first, I thought it was really weird... I had to get a cupcake pan out and put a pad of butter (not melted) and a half a tablespoon of brown sugar in each spot.  This seemed really strange, but I did it anyway and placed it in the oven and viola - the topping was made. 

Then you place in the fruit.  One thing I would do differently next time is really push the fruit into the sugar topping more.  Some of my cupcakes you couldn't see the pineapple.  Then you make the batter, place it on top and bake away.

Then you take them out.  The recipe says to let the pan cool for 5 minutes before flipping, although my mom said that she would flip way sooner.  I ended up waiting between 3-4 minutes.  Most all of the topping stayed on the cupcakes, however some of it stuck in the pan.  So flipping sooner may be a good idea.

Here's a look at the final product.

There were quite the hit!  I really like pineapple upside-down cake, and what's nice about these cupcakes is they are already individualized.  Which means you get that bit of crust around the edges that makes it that much more delicious!

How did we do at trivia?  Well... we got 5th out of 22 teams.  It was a lot of fun!  I always enjoy trivia nights, especially with this group of people.  There were a couple of categories that were pretty difficult, including a sports one (Who know some many MLS soccer teams thee are??)

So overall - this recipe is a complete success - I would totally recommend it and will hopefully make it again!