The Weekend

We had a great weekend full of lots of good friends, fun and yummy food!

Saturday morning we started out by taking all of the pups to White Rock Lake for a little exercise and a swim. It was a really nice day and we had a great time.

We came home and I made a quick little lunch inspired by PW (Portobello-Proscuitto Burgers) I didn't have all of the ingredients so I used what I had. I'll call mine:

Mozzarella and Proscuitto Sandwiches:

Slice Fresh Mozzarella and place on both sides of a hamburger bun.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Cover with Proscuitto and put under broiler until cheese is melted and Proscuitto is crisp.

Mix about 2T of Mayo with 1t of pesto and spread over sandwich. Top with greens and enjoy.

I ended up making this for lunch yesterday as well and instead of pesto I used BBQ sauce for Brett's. It was good that way too.

Saturday afternoon my cousin Megan, her boyfriend and two other friends came over to visit before going down the street to the Granada Theater to hear Chris Knight sing. The boys looked at gory hunting and hospital pics and checked out Brett's jeep while the girls chatted and looked at sweet wedding and honeymoon pics! Short visit but fun!

Saturday night we had plans for dinner with our friends Nic and Licci. They recently got married as well and we really enjoy hanging out with them. Nic is the year above Brett in the same residency. We went to a place called Hector's on Henderson and it was delicious.

This dessert was ridiculous. It was a candied apple filled with carmel creme brulee. So delicious.

All of the food there was amazing. I highly recommend this place.

Sunday morning we lounged around and then went to Cedar Creek Lake with our friend Beth for the afternoon. Her brother has an awesome lake house there. It was so nice to be outside and in water. We just floated around the lake all afternoon. The dogs got to swim and sun all day and they loved that.

We came home and tried to watch a movie. The Redbox near our house had a really limited selection. We rented The Tooth-fairy and it was pretty bad. I'm sure a little one would enjoy it but we couldn't get into it. We did get into this though:

Popcorn with homemade carmel sauce. I just popped a bag of regular butter popcorn and poured PW's carmel sauce over. We inhaled this stuff. It is also good in coffee and on ice cream and probably anything else you may want to try it on!!

It was so nice having Brett off all weekend. We made the most of it and ended up having two tired pups and lots of good memories!

Elevation

Well it's 8 on Friday night and I'm sitting here watching Brett sleep. Good thing I have plans to meet my cousin and a few friends later or I would be stuck hanging out here with this cool dog that likes to hang out on our table outside.

I started thinking that it seems as if our dogs always end up on the highest point they can get reach. Does anyone know why??

Maybe they have short man's syndrome and try to be as tall as their people. Here is a picture of Bandit on my parent's outdoor table.

Then here are the girls. Dot sees a tree and thinks she has to climb it. Sassy isn't quite that daring but as you see she still tries to be tall as long as no risks are involved.

Dot is bad about getting stuck in trees and has to call out for rescue. We will go outside and not seen her and will get worried until we look way UP!

And to verify my point...after coming in from saying hi to Sam, here were these two girls in their favorite spots. I don't get it.

I'm obviously thinking too hard about nothing on this Friday night...or actually I'm just bored. Going to wake Brett up and make him go with me. Wish me luck.

Will Work For Food

Dot got to come back with me this week since Brett is on call and won't be home anyway. She loves to come home and play with her brother, but we have a problem when she is here. She thinks she has to eat everything in sight. This is nothing new for her, it is just harder to control when weare at my parent's house. Her food is measured out 2 times a day in Dallas, but my parent's dogs are disciplined enough to have food out all of the time and they eat when they are hungry. After being here for two days she and I always get in trouble when her dad sees her because her weight gain is obvious. This afternoon when I got home from work I put food out and she instantly started inhaling it. I put it in this ball so she she had to do a little work and only got a little at a time. I got this thing a few years ago at Wal-Mart and the pups enjoy playing with it. They just push it around with their noses and the food works it's way out through a maze like thing. Dot has gotten so good at it she emptied it within a few minutes.

Dot has learned all kinds of great tricks we have taught her because she knows she will get rewarded for doing them. This is one of my favorites that we call "Up Pretty".

Here is Bandit after making a few laps in the pasture. He is "pancaking" on the cool floor next to his water bowl. He is thin and trim like we try to keep Dot.

Sam passed out last night on his bed and his new nick-name is going to be catfish. Look at the way his mouth fell while he slept.

Sassy keeps her girly figure from doing yoga. This is her favorite pose. The well known "Down Dog".

But anyway back to our dog with an eating disorder...how can you tell this cute face no to anything?? Brett is always reminding me I'm going to have to toughen up before we have any kids or he is always going to be the bad guy!

Southern Style Dinner- Sorta

Brett is on call tonight so I didn't want to cook a big meal for myself.

I had some home grown okra from dad's garden I have been wanting to cook. I also had a head of cauliflower that needed to be cooked soon. Here is how I cooked everything:

Okra

Cover with water.

1 heaping Tablespoon of Tomato Bouillon

cracked pepper to taste.

Cook covered on medium high for about 20 minutes until slimy :)

Cheesy, Creamy Cauliflower

1/2 large yellow onion chopped

1 large head of cauliflower cut up into florets

1/3 package cream cheese

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup or more of parmesan cheese

sea salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion until translucent in olive oil.

Add cauliflower and about 1/4 cup of water

Cook cauliflower until it begins to get soft then add the bread crumbs, salt and pepper

Cook until cauliflower breaks into pieces when stirred then add cheeses and stir them in until they melt.

I made this up while cooking so I didn't actually measure anything so if something looks off use your own judgement. These turned out really good. Tasted like cheesy mashed potatoes.

I ended up poking holes in the cornbread and putting chunks of cream cheese in them just because I had some left over. Kind of a bold move I know but it was pretty good!!!

Pulled Pork Pizza - Leftover Makeover

I have been craving Pioneer Woman's Caramelized Onion and Prosciutto Pizzaso I cooked it last night for dinner. It is so good. Everyone should try it.

I used a Pillsbury pizza crust that you get in the biscuit section instead of making my own this time.

Brett's favorite pizza is a BBQ chicken pizza so I made up a variation of it using the leftover pulled pork from our party the other night.

Here is what I did:

Crescent Roll crust topped with:
Pulled pork
Sauteed white onion in olive oil
BBQ sauce
Cheddar Cheese
Fresh Avocado slices
Sprinkle of Tony's
Baked at 425 for about 15 minutes.
Topped it off with some leftover cole slaw.
REALLY GOOD!

I would have eaten it alone if Kari would not have been able to come over. Brett came home at 7:30 after a 14+ hour day and passed out until this morning. I saved him a bite so maybe he can try it tonight if he can stay awake long enough!!!

Cooking For a Crowd

One of Brett's co-residents asked if we could have a welcome dinner for the first year residents at our house. I thought it sounded like fun until I asked Brett if he knew how many guys I would be preparing dinner for. I then found out that 25 guys and their spouses were invited and not a single one of them replied with an RSVP. I was kinda panicking that I could have that many people in our tiny house and that I was going to have to cook for that many! Everything turned out ok. We decided to prepare for 25 and it worked out perfectly. One of my best friends happened to be visiting us that weekend and I am so glad because I would have never been able to pull it off without her (and Pioneer Woman of course)!
Here is what was on the menu:


Pulled Pork Sandwiches
The pork shoulder I used was 13.5 lbs and I cooked it for about 9 hours on 225. I also injected it with 1 jar of Cajun Butter.

Baked Beans

I doubled this recipe.

Cole Slaw

I used 1 bag of cole slaw from Sam's

Mayo, Sour Cream, White Wine Vinegar, Sugar, Pepper and Tony Chachere's

I just added stuff until it tasted good.

Broccoli Salad

As long as you have bacon, broccoli and the sauce you can pretty much add or subtract anything you want. Crowd pleaser. I used about 3/4 of a large bag of Broccoli from Sam's for this one.

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

It really is.

Sipping Margaritas-

These are really good and simple.

1 lg can limeade (use can for following measurements)

1can high grade tequila - Jose Cuervo is fine

1 can club soda

1/3 can triple sec or Cointreau

1/2 can light beer

Stir all together. Pour over ice.

Everyone was asked to bring their drink of choice. We only provided water and the margaritas. We ended up having about 20 people over and had the perfect amount of food. Just a little of everything left over.

Fresh Tomato Pie

We had a great weekend hanging out with Brett's parents. They came to visit and we really enjoyed our time with them. Friday night we went to dinner at one of our favorite places: Daddy Jack's. It is a tiny restaurant on Lower Greenville Avenue with great steaks and fresh seafood. We went there the night we got engaged and Friday night we were celebrating Brett making an awesome score on STEP 2 of his board exams.

If anyone needs any proposal ideas, talk to this guy. Ours was so special and unique!! :)

Anyway, back to the weekend. Saturday we ran a few errands and then came in for the afternoon and Brett's dad helped me to wax up a case I have been struggling with.

See, nobody can say dentist's don't ever work. We were working all afternoon on Saturday!

So Brett's dad has started to garden this year and he brought us a huge bag of pretty little tomatoes.

I knew we could never eat all of them in salads so I found this recipe for a Tomato Pie on www.tastykitchen.com (My 2nd favorite website after The Pioneer Woman.)

It was yummy. I changed a few things up on the recipe because I didn't have the exact ingredients but here it is:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/garden-fresh-tomato-pie-with-bacon/

I used mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top instead of what it asked for. I also sautéed onions with garlic instead of using green onions.

I is a really quick an easy recipe that is delicious.

Does anyone have one of these? I got it years ago at CVS when it was still Eckerds. It is called "Makin' Bacon" and it makes it perfct every time. I don't know if you can still buy one but if anyone is a bacon eater this thing is great.

I brought back alot of fresh veggies from my dad's garden to cook this weekend. Homegrown foods are so delicious. We also get to enjoy this Friday night hanging out with my parents and listening to Monte Montgomery sing!! He is an awesome guitarist and singer if you haven't heard him.

Beating the Heat

It's hot here. No surprise. Texas summers are always hot. I am just thankful I have places to go to stay cool. Our little house is trying hard to keep us cool. Whoever re-did our house planted shade trees all around and even put in double pane windows to help with cooling/heating, but the insulation is another story. There is none to speak of. Our attic is has sprinkles of old insulation, therefore our old little old house has a hard time keeping in the cool air.

The wires look really unsafe, but that's another issue. Gotta love an old house.
There must be something in the attic Dot thinks she needs. She does this every time the ladder is down and she gets in trouble for it b/c she can't get down. We are getting a quote for new insulation on Friday and I'm sure she will be trying to help out when he comes.

Our lovely herbs did not survive the heat. My wonderful husband has watered them every night and they had grown to be so big and fresh. One day they were doing well and the next they looked like this. I didn't know they could be scorched but apparently they can.

This is Sam. He is the newest member of our family. He has a story but I'll save that for another day. He is supposed to stay outside but he was barking out of control and I gave in and let him in. He barely got in the door before he collapsed on the cool floor. He stayed there all afternoon and since then when I'm home during the day he gets to come in to cool off.

Good luck trying beat the heat for these last few days of summer!!

Never Too Old To Play Dress-Up

The thing that is almost as cool as becoming the wife of the love of your life is getting to play dress up in your wedding dress with your best friend. "H" and I have been friends since before Kindergarten and have always had fun dressing up together. We got engaged and married within months of each other and were each others Maid/Matron of Honor. I did not take bridal portraits until my wedding day and H was not going to have time to take any before her wedding. So I suggested she bring her wedding dress and we both take bridal portraits on my wedding day since we were both going to be dressed up anyway and were using the same photographer. That was really special to both of us and I thought I would share. But first, here is a little bit of our dress up history!

Here we are in a play in Kindergarten. 2 of the 3 Little Piggies.

Here we are at the Pet Parade with our pups all dressed in our cheer camp outfit.

Gotta love the hair do's!!



Didn't everyone make paper bag clothes on the weekends when they were a Freshman in High School?!?! And we wondered why we couldn't get a date.


Headed to prom. I think this was Jr. Year.

In our wedding dresses on my wedding day!
Now we are two old married girls....but loving it!!

Getting Creative

Any bit of creativity I have I thank my mom for it. She always has some project going. Here are a few things I have done around the house.



I got some place-mats at Crate and Barrel recently and decided that using all of them on the table just didn't look right. I went to Jo-Ann's and got some ribbon and fabric tape and made a little window valance. Super easy and fast. I left the others on the table with the old place-mats.



I found this old chandelier in the garage of this house after we moved in. I think it was an original fixture. I cleaned it up and spray painted it. Then I reattached the crystal drops and hung it with some wire. I think it is the perfect fit for this bedroom.





I needed something on the wall above the bed and I didn't want to spend alot of money. I went to Tuesday Morning and found these great frames for about $15 each. I used pictures from our honeymoon in the frames. The hard part was trying to center these things and get them all level!



This was given to us by a good friend as a wedding gift. It is our initials. I love it and have since copied the idea for a few baby gifts and as a wedding gift. I don't know why I didn't think to take pics of the finished products. It is so much fun finding the letters. Everything you look at becomes a letter if you start looking! I got a frame at Hobby Lobby and got them to cut a mat. They have the stock mats and it only takes a few minutes for them to do it. Get the letters developed in black and white and you are done! It is such a personalized and easy gift!



The "A" is a sawhorse from a construction site near her house. The "S" is from her lights over her bar. The "B" is from the Brookshire's grocery store sign.