project 365 vol. 24

Sunday June 17, 2012

On Sunday I used one of my favorite cookbooks (The Pioneer Woman Cooks) to make some pizza crust.  I get most of my recipes online, but there's something about sticking an actual cookbook on the counter instead of my computer that makes me like an old school baker.  

Monday June 18, 2012

I do my grocery shopping at the Tom Thumb that's right around the corner from our apartment.  They have this awesome section of the store where things are marked down, usually to 50% or more off of the original price.  I always check out that section of the store to see what's up, and last Monday I found these!  One of my favorite bloggers has written about Annie's bunnies/snacks before, so I was really excited that they were on sale!  I picked up the cheddar and cinnamon bunnies, and Austin and I both thought they were a hop above the rest :)

Tuesday June 19, 2012

Last week my aunt, uncle, and cousin Shane came to Dallas for a little mini-vacation because my uncle had to be here for work.  On Tuesday I went to the Galleria with my aunt and Shane, and Shane went ice skating while Lala (that's what I call my aunt Laura) and I ate lunch.  Go Shaner!  Thanks for being our lunch entertainment!

Wednesday June 20, 2012

I don't know if you're aware or not, but Justin Bieber came out with a new album last week.  I spent the majority of my Wednesday in the kitchen prepping for/cooking dinner and listening to the Biebs.  My review of the album?  One million stars...I love me some JB!

Thursday June 21, 2012

Austin had a softball game last Thursday.  I went to watch my man and bring the team some after-game cookies.  It was fun to get out in the sunshine and root root root for the home team.

Friday June 22, 2012

Friday was the first day of our road trip down to Houston.  My sister and I stopped in Waco (yucky) to eat some dinner.  Lucky for us, there was a Wing Stop right along the way!  Yummmm.

Saturday June 23, 2012

I already showed y'all this picture of my big sista and me from last Saturday, but here it is again!  Just sayin' cheese at Pappasito's :)

a weekend with Jimbo

Father's day was about a week ago.  However, my sister and I decided to celebrate this past weekend because I had a wedding to go to on the actual weekend of F.D.

I headed on over to Fort Worth on Friday to meet my sista, and we headed down to Houston.  We got there pretty late that night, so we just watched some Olympic trails and went to sleep.  

Saturday was filled with food and adventure though!  We started off the day with a little brunch (LOVE brunch), but we got to the restaurant kind of early.  Lucky for us, there was this cool antique store right across the street!  They had antiques (duh), cute stuff to decorate your backyard, things in mason jars, puppy food/treats/supplies, and real puppies, kitties, and birds (yuck).  

After our antique time, it was off to brunch at benjy's.

Pretty much everything on their menu looked incredible.  In the end, my sister and I decided to order two different things and switch our plates halfway through the meal.

I got the chicken and waffles:

And Erin got the bacon chocolate chip waffles:

Oh my lanta was this breakfast/lunch ever good!!  The chicken on my chicken and waffles was some of the best chicken I've ever had.  I want to know what they use to crust that stuff.  My favorite thing was my second dish though.  I don't know why I've never had bacon cooked into my waffles before...it was a match made in heaven.  Add some melty chocolate chips and fresh strawberries and good golly miss molly.  I was very full at the end of this particular brunching experience.  

After brunch we decided to hit the outlets off of 290.  

I heart outlet malls

Fox and Jimbo shoppin' it up.

 We had major success at J. Crew, and it was some good daddy/daughter time.

Once we were finished at ze mall, we headed over to our local Pappasito's to eat some more and hang out with Jimbo's side of the fam.

Sisters :)

We ate lots of chips and salsa, had some margs, and ate a fajita or seven.  OH and we also got some of those brochette shrimp.  Those things are the BOMB.  

After dinner, it was over to my aunt's house to eat dessert and play some cards.  My aunt got us these yummy cupcakes from GiGi's:

I had the red velvet (the ones with the red sprinkles)

So, I know what you're thinking.  Just how much can this goober eat in one day?  It was about the time that I was enjoying the custardy center of my cupcake that I started asking myself the same question.  We were in the middle of playing liverpool rummy, and I was scorekeeper, but I had to pass the torch to my sister and go lay down on the couch.

You know that feeling when you know you're going to puke, but you also know it's going to be awhile before it actually happens?  It's just dandy.

I'll spare you the details, but I basically writhed in pain and agony for the majority of the night, and I finally upchucked at about 4 in the morning.  Happy Father's Day, huh?  

The good news is that I felt a lot better on Sunday morning!  So, my dad opened up his presents, and we had breakfast (I had dry cereal).

After the opening of presents and eating of a late breakfast, Erin and I hit the road.  We stopped at one of our favorite College Station spots along the way, and I had some soup.

Besides the puking, I had such a great weekend with my dad.  I hated that we had to celebrate Father's Day a week late, but we had fun all the same.  My dad is just the best...I love him lots and lots, and I hope that we showed him a good time!  

project 365 vol. 23

Sunday June 10, 2012

Last Sunday was our dance recital!  Look at our pretty program cover!  It went really well, and even though I was on my feet for like 14 hours, I had a great time.  

Monday June 11, 2012

Monday was the day for me to test out our new washer and dryer.  I LOVE those things.  It's so nice to press the start button and not have to cross your fingers and say a little prayer that it will actually work.  

Tuesday June 12, 2012

Last Tuesday was the playoffs for Austin's kickball team, The Big League Chewbaccas.  And do you know what?  THEY WON!  Way to go BACCAS!  Those blue things on the ground are their trophies...I mean duffel bags.

Wednesday June 13, 2012

Wednesday was the day of the storm of the century.  I still can't believe all of the stinkin' hail we had up here.  My leg still has a mark where one hit me...it was nuts!

Thursday June 14, 2012

In case you don't know, I'm pretty good at finding a bargain.  I think this has to do with my shoppin' rule: do not buy unless you love it and it's on sale.  Don't you just hate it when you buy something at full price, and then you go to the store two weeks later and see the same item for half the price you paid?  That's why I have the rule!  Anyway, back to the picture from last Thursday.  Austin and I went to a wedding last Saturday, and I was not really feelin' the love from the current dress section of my closet.  However, I was also not really feelin' the love from my bank account.  So, off to the mall I went with my bargain hunting hat on, and I found that sucker up there.  Original price? $159.99.  The amount I paid? $29.99.  Whoo-hoo!    

Friday June 15, 2012

Last Friday night we braved the land that is known as Uptown to hang out with our Dallas friends and some of our A&M friends that live in other places but came to Dallas for the weekend.  At one point in the night we got in the back seat of this man's bike.  It was a fun ride.  Thanks pedicab man!!

Saturday June 16, 2012

Here are Austin and I before that wedding I was talking about earlier. There I am in that dress I was also talking about earlier.  We had a fun night :)

yummies

Need some ideas for din din this week?  Well here you are!  The following recipes were all prepared in my little kitchen last week, and they were all great!  

Baked Chicken with Sauteed Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, and Spinach

To make this chicken, I sprinkled three chicken breasts with salt, pepper, thyme, and basil.  Then, I put the chickadees in a pyrex dish and cooked those suckers at 375 for about 35 minutes.  Easy peasy!

For the veggies, I chopped up one bell pepper and half of a little box of mushrooms.  I threw those in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I sauteed those for about 5 minutes, and then I added in about 1/3 cup of white wine and 1 tablespoon of butter.  I kept on cooking for another 5 minutes or until the wine had reduced by half.  Once the mushrooms and the peppers were tender, I added in a whole bag of spinach and let that cook down for about 1-2 minutes.  Also easy!

I had one and a half chicken breasts leftover from that baked chicken, so I decided to turn it into two different dinners for Austin and myself.  Here's what I came up with:

Leftover Dinner #1: Chicken and Bell Peppers in Linguine with Marinara 

I had one serving of linguine and marinara leftover from a few weeks ago, so I cooked the pasta, heated up the chicken/peppers/sauce, and tossed it all together.  Austin said it was yummy!

Leftover Dinner #2: Chicken Salad

To make this chicken salad, I chopped up 1/2 of a leftover chicken breast and combined it with 2 chopped up hard boiled eggs, about 2 tablespoons of mayo, a good squirt of mustard, and some salt and pepper.  This is delicious with a few ritz chips and some gwapes!

Baked Panko Shrimp with Mashed Potatoes and Salad

This shrimp is crispy but healthy because it's baked instead of fried.  It was really good with a side of mashed potatoes and a simple salad.  I also made some tartar sauce from a recipe I found on a little website called google.com.  

Here's the recipe I used

Arroz con Pollo

Here's a link to the recipe!

I made a few changes from the original recipe this time around.  First, instead of cooking chicken breasts, I boiled a whole dang chicken!  I think the chicken turns out more tender that way since there's bones and stuff in a whole chicken.  Second, I added in some sliced jalapenos to kick things up a little.  It turned out spicy and delish.

Pepperoni and Pineapple Pizza

To make this pizza I used the Pioneer Woman's pizza crust recipe (click here for the recipe) and then added my own toppings.  

Once I had the dough all stretched out I spread on some pizza sauce, sprinkled some mozzarella, dotted on some pepperonis, and added the pineapple.  8-10 minutes in the 500 degree oven, and it was pizza time!

Snickers Cupcakes  

I made these cupcakes for Austin's kickball team's playoff games last week.  I got the recipe from my sister who bakes all kinds of delicious things all the time.  They were awesome!  

Here's the link for the cupcakes, and here's what I used to make the frosting.

Go make some of this stuff this week!  All of the above were a hit with me and with the boyfriend!

food truck friday

Last Friday Austin and some people from his work went to this thing called "Food Truck Friday".  The name is pretty self-explanatory, but basically there are a bunch of food trucks that gather in the Dallas Arts District during lunch on weekdays, and on Fridays people go and eat!  Austin liked it a lot last week, so yesterday he asked me to meet him up there.  (click here to read more about food trucks in Dally bar)

The first thing that I noticed when I got there was the parking.  "No Parking" signs galore!  Parking in foreign territory always makes me nervous, but I eventually found a spot in between two cars who looked like they knew what they were doing, and I did not get towed.   

I got there kind of early, but I didn't mind because it was a nice day outside and I found the perfect spot:

I parked myself on that bench and cracked open the book I'm reading right now, My Sister's Keeper.  I know I'm about 5 years late to this party, but oh well.  So far, I'm liking it a lot! 

My bench had a perfect view of some more food trucks,

a group of children playing on this water structure thing,

and these stairs.  

Out of all of those things, the stairs were the most entertaining to me.  The reason?  As I was watching the kiddies play in the water, I heard a huge "THUNK" coming from the stairs.  I looked over, and I saw this woman face first on the concrete.  I rushed over to her and asked if she was alright, and she looked up and me and goes, "Well that was embarrassing.  I hope no one else saw," and then she proceeded to sit on the stairs for about 3 minutes.  It was strange, and after she got up and trotted off into the sunset, I had to chuckle to myself.

Once Austin and his friend from worked showed up we chose our truck:     

A truck sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage.  How bad could this food be, right?

This was the menu:

And this is what I ordered:

"Southern Hospitality" and the "Mac N. Beefy"

The Southern Hospitality was fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy (delicious), and the Mac N. Beefy was braised beef with a square of baked mac n cheese (ok).  I would definitely go back to that truck and order about 17 Southern Hospitalities.

So hey, if you're ever in need of some lunch from a truck and you're in the Dallas area, The Dallas Arts District is a good place to go!

oh HAIL no...

If you haven't heard, yesterday Dallas had some bad weather.  Here's my account of the storm:

Austin and I had just finished eating dinner, and Austin was on his way out the door to go to a softball game across town.  I was just starting to do the dishes when I heard something bang against the window.  I poked my head outside, and I saw a bunch of little ice balls falling from the sky.    

The first thing I thought was, "Welp, I guess Austin's game is cancelled."  Then, my thoughts started getting rational, "Oh no!  My car!  Doesn't hail do stuff like break windows and make dents?!"  

That car is doomed.

 I wondered if I should make a run for it and try to save Bevy (my car), but look at how BIG these balls of ice were:

No way was I running out there, sister.  Especially after I took a hail ball to the shin just standing on the porch taking pictures...

I'm hit!!

 It stopped hailing after about 10 minutes, and then it just started to pour down rain.  The rain lasted another 10-15 minutes, and then that was that.  I went outside to assess the damage to my car, but it wasn't anything too bad.  The hood has like two little dinks and that's it.  Whew.  I am kind of annoyed about the dinks, but I know there are people who ended up with a lot worse.  One guy that Austin works with said that his whole back window got knocked out!  Sheesh!

I hope everyone around here is A-OK...let's make Thursday a better, less-ice bally day :)