the "incident"

I had a little "incident" at the grocery store last Sunday, and I'd like to tell you about it.

My grocery store routine is pretty much down to a science.  On Saturday afternoon, I make a menu plan for the week and a list of groceries to go along with that menu.  I have been shopping at the Tom Thumb around the corner for almost a year, so I know their layout very well.  I even make my grocery list in the order that I am going to put things in my cart.  On Sunday afternoon, I go to the store and buy all of the items on my list.  It works for me.  

Last Sunday, I needed to buy avocados, among other things.  I grabbed a cart and headed in!  The first item on my list was sliced ham and cheese for sandwiches.  I got those things and started to place other produce-y stuff in my buggy.  Cilantro, check.  Yellow onion, check.  Lettuce, check.  Avocados, no check.  All of the avocados were still green...yuck!  That meant they were not ripe yet, and I really needed them to make guacamole that night!  I was in crisis mode.  

Then I had a light bulb moment!

Tom Thumb has this random display of things in the front lobby, and this week they happened to have avocados!   

Crisis averted!

I rolled my cart to the display that would save the day.  My plan was to get some ripe avocados and go about my shopping experience.  However, as I went through the doors, something happened to my shopping cart.

The wheel locked up, so I couldn't move it!!  Also, an alarm started going off and a man with a name tag came running after me!  What in the world?!  

Apparently, leaving one section of the store and going into another section constitutes shoplifting.  I quickly explained the situation, "I NEED RIPE AVOCADOS!", and the name tag man looked at me like I was crazy.  "You're going to have to get another cart, ma'am."

I got another cart.  I finished my shopping.  I paid for my groceries like every other honest, productive member of society.  I figured I was in the clear.  Then I saw this:  

Why do we need THREE police cars?!

I didn't know what the deal was!  I DO know that I'm a little scared to go back.  What if they follow me around the whole time?  What if I'm not allowed to buy avocados anymore?  

What if there is a big sign like this on the door???

Be thinking of me as I shop tomorrow...

back in the swing of things

Last week was my first week of school for 2013, so that meant one thing: it was back to a regular cookin' schedule.  The holidays are always crazy in terms of food and eating, so it was nice to get back on track.

I went to the grocery store last Sunday afternoon and bought all of my goodies for the week.  In addition to the stuff for dinners, I also bought things for breakfast (eggs, Chocolate Cheerios, etc.) and lunch (AMY's soups and frozen meals).   

My food going for a ride...

I made a big ol' green salad for dinner on Sunday night.  

I started with a bed of greens (spinach and romaine), and I put some oven roasted chicken on top (top left).  From there, I loaded on the toppings (top right)!  We had tomatoes, avocados, apples, and feta cheese.  The dressing was a simple dijon vinegrette that went really well with all of our ingredients.  

This salad was delicious!  I think next time I make it I will add in some pecans or walnuts.  Yum!  Here is a link to the salad I originally planned on making: shrimp cobb salad.  However, the only things I kept the same were the dressing and the fact that there is lettuce of some sort.  Oops.  That's what I love about salads though...you can just throw in whatever the heck you want, and it (usually) tastes great!

I kept up the healthy theme on Monday night.  I made a simple pasta from one of my favorite websites, The Pioneer Woman.

I didn't make too many changes to this recipe.  I cut down on the butter because Ree goes a little crazy with it sometimes, and I also used multigrain pasta instead of regular.  

This pasta was another hit!  Austin and I both scarfed it down, and we ate on it for lunch too.  If you want to try it for yourself, click here.

After Monday, my week got a little nutzo.  I worked our school's basketball game on Tuesday night until about 9:15 (I was "gym manager"), so it was up to Austin to hold down the kitchen.  I assembled everything for his dinner in my crockpot on Tuesday morning, Austin turned it on during his lunch break, and come 6:00 he had perfect pulled pork!  

(this picture is old because I was not home to take one last Tuesday)

He ate the pork on a sandwich on Tuesday, and we had it on top of baked potatoes the next night (I taught dance on Wednesday night, so Austin was in charge again).  He did a great job making the potatoes.  This pulled pork recipe is good so many different ways!  It's a great thing to make if you need leftovers because it's so versatile.  This is the recipe I use, but you do not necessarily have to use an entire pork shoulder.  This week, I just used a 2 pound pork loin, and it worked very well. 

I taught dance again on Thursday night, so Austin was on his own (poor guy).  He ate Schlotzsky's, and I made myself some noodles when I got home (that is a very weird thing to say, but it's true).  

We usually go out to eat on Friday nights, and this past Friday was no exception.  I found a Groupon for this place called Deep Sushi, so that is where we ventured to!  We met another one of our couple friends there, and we all really enjoyed the meal.  Austin and I got Spring Rolls to start and then shared 3 rolls: California, Caterpillar, and Love at First Sight.  

Saturday was filled with football.  We are officially in playoff season, people.  It was also raining and cold for almost the entire day.  There was only one thing I could think of to make.  Chili.  

This chili comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Jenna at Eat Live Run, and it is always good for a crowd.  We had a couple of our friends over to eat this up and watch the games.  It was the perfect thing for a day like this past Saturday!

Alright, y'all didn't think I could get through a whole post without showing you some dessert, did you?!  I didn't get too fancy with the sweets this week, but what I made turned out great.  If you're on Pinterest, I'm sure you've seen the famous "microwave chocolate brownie in 35 seconds".  I'm here to tell you: that shiz works.  I use my spiffy new ramekins that I got for Christmas to make these (you can also use a coffee mug), and it literally takes me about 5 minutes start to finish.  The original recipe (found here)says to microwave for 40 seconds, but I usually microwave for 40 seconds, let it rest for about a minute, and then microwave for 5-10 seconds longer.  You just have to figure out what works best in your microwave.  Here's how they turn out:

Love in a ramekin.

This week is another busy one for me (I'm a dancing queen Tuesday-Thursday), but we're still cooking some yummy stuff!

current wants

Welp, Christmas is officially over.  All of the gifts have been put away, our tree is down, and I've been back in school for a whole week.  This means a couple of things.  1) I am back to actually putting on pants every day.  2) I have started a countdown to Spring Break. 3) My birthday is near!

It's always been fun to have a birthday right after Christmas.  That way, when people ask what to get me, I can ask for anything that I did not receive from Santa! 

My parents and Austin asked me yesterday to send them a list of items I want/need for my birthday.  I thought I'd share that list here in case you're nosey like me and enjoy seeing what other people crave.

1) An iPad Mini (White, 16 GB)

I have been wanting an e-reader for awhile, so I figured I would just go big or go home.  Actually, in this case, I guess I'm going "mini" or going home...

2) Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker Attachment

I've got the mixer, so now I need all the stuff to make me fat :)  Seriously though, my sister has this attachment, and it makes awesome ice cream!

3) Toms

I think Toms are a teacher's best friend.  They are cute, comfortable, and they help people!  I wear my Toms to school all the time, so I can always use another pair.  I like these grey polkas, but I'm also down with these in "Olive" and "Purple Corduroy". 

4) Books

There are a couple of books I've had my eyeballs on for a little bit.  Going from left to right, we've got:

-White Jacket Required by Jenna Weber
-What I Learned Half Naked: Tales of a Pro Cheerleader by Leslie Shaw Hatchard (<--I work with Leslie at the dance studio, and I can't wait to read her book!!!)
-Joy the Baker Cookbook by Joy Wilson

5) Kitchen Gadgets

A girl's always gotta have new stuff for her kitchen, right?  These are four things I'm wanting right now:

-(Top Left) Oxo Mandoline
-(Top Right) Oxo Dough Blender
-(Bottom Left) Oxo Pastry Brush
-(Bottom Right) Oxo Strainer

Can you tell what my favorite brand of kitchen tools is?

If you're looking for a good gift for a soon to be 24 year old, this post is a good start!  I hope everyone has a happy happy weekend!!

the cotton bowl

I don't know if you guys have heard or not, but A&M played kicked some OU booty in a little football game last night.  

The Cotton Bowl!  I don't know a lot about football, but I do know that OU is a really good team, and A&M beat them yesterday!  WHOOP!  The game was right next door to us in Arlington, but the tickets were mucho dinero, so some of my friends and I went to plan B.

My friend Ashley works at this really cool office that has a great room to host any sort of "watch party", so that's what we did.  We all met there before the game, munched on some pizza for dinner, and had a ball.  I spent yesterday afternoon making some snacks for the big game...  

Mexican 7-Layer Dip

Snickers Cupcakes on top, stages of caramel sauce below

That dip with some Tostitos Scoops is hard to beat.  I'm pretty sure people have been making it for like 50 years, but it never gets old (at least it doesn't to me).  In case you don't know how to make it, just google "7-layer dip" and about 1,700 recipes will pop up.

A Snickers cupcake, on the other hand, is something that is fairly new to me.  My sister gave me the recipe, and I've made them twice.  I won't lie...they're a bit time consuming, but they are realllllly good.  In my opinion, the best part of these is the caramel sauce.  It's cool to see how the sauce comes together (it's basically just burnt sugar and butter), and it's really cool to taste it.  Yummm!  

Here is the link to the cupcakes: Cakes

Here is the link to the frosting: Frosting

Both of those are crowd pleasers!

Austin and I were some of the first people to arrive yesterday, so I got some good pics of the space!

This was where the majority of the action took place:

    

To the left of this room was an amazing terrace with a view of downtown Dallas!

Austin and me before the game!

The view!

 The view was especially neat because we could see the "ball" flashing the block "ATM" and "OU" the whole night (can you spy the ball in the picture above?  It's towards the left and is maroon!)  Once the game was over, the ball only showed the block "ATM" :)

We had so much fun watching the game and just hanging out.  It definitely would have been cool to be at Jerry World to see everything live, but it was also a blast to be in a room full of Aggies watching it all go down!

The girlies

Johnny Football going in for a touchdown!!

 We were obviously very excited during the second half of the game (if you watched, you know the first half was a liiiiittle nerve wracking).  We always support the Aggies whether they win or lose, but it sure is nice when they win!

Go Johnny Go!

 Once the game was over (41-13 was the final score), we sawed 'em off...

Gotta love Aggies and our crazy traditions!

It was a great night!!!

holiday goodies

One of my favorite parts about being off of work over the holidays is that I have lots of time to bake!  I've dusted off some of my old favorite recipes, and I've also tried out some newbies.  

The first thing I tackled were Christmas treats for Austin's bosses.  I made them some Oreo Balls and Peppermint Bark.  

Oreo Balls

I found some cute containers to put all of the goodies in.  They look like little Chinese take-out boxes, but they were holiday themed!   I put the balls on the bottom...

...and I put the pieces of Peppermint Bark on top.  

I think they turned out cute.  Austin forwarded me all of the "thank you" emails from his bosses, so I was glad that they liked the treats!

Here's the recipe for Oreo Balls in case ya want to try it out: Oreo Balls

  

For the Peppermint Bark, I just melted some dark chocolate then melted white chocolate on top of that after the dark stuff had set.  I sprinkled some crushed peppermint on top, and viola!  

I also made these Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies for a cookie exchange at my school.  

Here is a link to the recipe!

For Christmas Eve I whipped up some Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Here's how I make 'em!

I also made some Chex Mix on Christmas Eve:

This is the recipe I used.

Once we were back in Dallas, I whipped up some Pecan Sandies.  My grandma makes these at Christmas, and I've always wanted to try them for myself.  They turned out really good!  Buttery, flaky, slightly crispy, and sweet.  Yum!

I used this recipe.

For New Year's Eve I made another batch of Chocolate Chippers.  I am loving how easy it is to make these in my new mixer!

One of my other Christmas presents is making my cooking baking a little easier too.  My Aunt Linda gave me this awesome cookie spatula from Oxo.  I used it to transfer my cookies from baking sheet to plate, and I also used it to flip some eggs earlier that day.  It's a great gift for anyone who bakes!

Another thing I made on New Year's Eve were these Chubby Hubby Truffles.  These babies are always a crowd pleaser...

Find the recipe here!

 The last thing I baked over the holidays was this chocolate pie.  My heavens...this thing is GOOD.  I got the recipe from my grandma who got it from my other grandma, so it's extra special to me.

This pie is made in a double boiler, but I had to find a way to use my new mixer because I am obsessed.  Enter freshly whipped cream!

I topped the chocolate with my fresh whipped cream and decorated it with a few chocolate chips.  It turned out great!  

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons flour

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup cocoa powder

pinch salt

1 cup Carnation evaporated milk

1 cup water

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Combine the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and salt in a double boiler (I use a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water).  Once the chocolate chips melt, add in the milk, water, and egg yolks.  Stir the mixture every once in awhile until it starts to bubble.  Once it starts bubbling, add the butter and vanilla.  Allow it to thicken a little bit more, and pour into a graham cracker pie shell.  Let it set in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Top with whipped cream, cool whip, or meringue.  

As you can see, my holidays were definitely sweet!  I think I'll buy some green things the next time I go to the store.  My body could probably use a little break from the sugar :)

project 365 vol. 51 & 52

Sunday December 23, 2012

The day before Christmas Eve was a busy one in terms of shopping, baking, and general Christmas prep.  I made homemade Chex Mix for the first time, and I think it turned out pretty ding dong good!  I was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy it is to make.  All you do is mix up a bunch of dry ingredients, pour on some butter and other spices, and cook it for an hour.  Viola!  Chex Mix!

  

Monday December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve!  If you read my Christmas recap post, you know that we celebrated C.E. with my dad's side of the family.  We went to my Aunt Lana's and had a wonderful time with my wonderful family.

Tuesday December 25, 2012

I was at my grandparent's lake house for Christmas day.  That's my grandma.  We sat next to each other while we opened presents, and I kept telling on her for peeking at her presents before it was her turn to open.  I love my Nanaw :)

Wednesday December 26, 2012

I spent the morning after Christmas being lazy.  I laid on the couch for a good while, and my grandma let me flip through her recipe box.  I found a good one for a chocolate pie!

Thursday December 27, 2012

Even though I'm on my break, I still have some school stuff to do.  The main thing I'm working on over the break is reading this book.  The kids are starting this novel when we get back, so I decided to get a jump start.  I actually finished it this past weekend, and it's pretty good, especially for a middle school aged book.  

Friday December 28, 2012

 Can you tell what that is?

I'll give you a hint.  It's a poster of flesh-eating zombies from a local shooting range.

Ok, that was more than a hint, but oh well.  Austin brought that home on Friday.  He is looking at getting a handgun, so he went to test some out with our friend Zac.  When they came home, Zac and Austin stuck that on the wall.  We obviously have some different ideas about how to decorate...

Saturday December 29, 2012

I got my nails did on Saturday in preparation for NYE.  I found a great deal on Groupon, so that was definitely a bonus.  This is the first time I've ever gone a little crazy and done the "accent nail", and I ended up liking it.  I don't get my nails done very often, but I might start trying these funky trends when I do.

Sunday December 30, 2012

Austin and I went to the movies on Sunday!  We hardly ever find the time to go to the movies, so it was a treat!  We saw Skyfall, and we both really liked it.  Good story line, cool but not super gory action, and a couple of cute James Bond jokes.  I also may or may not have pretended that I was a secret agent once we were in the parking lot after the movie was over...

Monday December 31, 2012

New Years Eve!  Goodbye 2012!  Hellooooo 2013!  Austin and I celebrated with a group of friends, and we had a lot of fun.  I just love having someone to smooch at midnight!

Whew!  Project 365 is officially over for 2012!  I can't believe I made it a whole year.  I'm thinking that in 2013 I'm going to do a monthly recap with pictures and highlights instead of doing one of these every week.  That way, I can focus on getting back into my weekly recipe posts.  I'll also keep up my posts on major life events and activities.  

I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2013!!!