It Has Arrived

I have been anxiously waiting on the new flavor for a few months now. Since I got the email from Blue Bell that they are introducing Carmel Turtle Cheesecake in the early fall I have been checking the freezer section at the grocery store every time I go. I am a member of the Blue Bell fan club and if you are ever wondering about the newest or seasonal flavors I am here for you to ask! Here she is:

From Blue Bell website: "The new flavor combines a luscious cheesecake ice cream with chocolate-coated caramel turtles, roasted pecans, and cheesecake pieces with a chocolate cookie crust all surrounded by a smooth caramel sauce."

And yes, it is as delicious as the description. My favorite Blue Bell flavor is seasonal and it is called Candy Jar. Everyone be on the look out for it. It should be out at any time now. It is also a Fall flavor.

I was actually at home when I found this ice cream. I went with my cousin during lunch to get some sandwich stuff to a tiny family-owned grocery store. They have a minimal selection of everything and I thought there was no chance they would have the newest Blue Bell flavor by now. I was shocked to see they did and she was shocked by my excitement!! What a great day.

Check out what we saw on the way to the grocery store:

Yes, that is what you think it is. A mini rocking chair hung by rope on a tree branch to make a swing. Gotta love it. We live in a small town. You can't just go out and get a swing any time you want!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing Labor Day. We had a great weekend. My friend Kari snapped this shot of me snoozing lakeside at our friend's lake house. I thought it was funny. Those are doggy life jackets that are covering my face and aparently the girls stayed on and beside me the entire time I was asleep!

Weekend Recipes

So I like to read recipes. I read them on-line and in books and mark the ones I want to try to cook one day. Other people do this too, right??

I experiment with a lot of meals and adapt them to whatever ingredients I have on hand.

These two recipes inspired this

dish I made the other night: Pasta with Tomato-Blue Cheese Sauce and Bacon Tomato Capellini I'll call mine

Bacon and Feta Pasta

• ~10 strips of thick bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 medium size white onion
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup Feta Cheese
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• Pepper to taste
• Fresh basil
• pasta of choice cooked al dente

-Cook bacon until crispy. Drain off all but enough grease to cover bottom of pan and set bacon aside on a paper towel.

-Saute onion until translucent then add in garlic and saute

-Add the can of tomatoes, pepper and the feta and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

-Mix in the Bacon and a pieces of chopped basil.

-Serve with pasta. I used fettucini noodles.

My brother, his girlfriend and 2 of their friends stayed over Friday night. They were in town to see the John Mayer concert. Friday afternoon I made this casserole and all I had to do Saturday morning was pop it in the oven. It was very good. Didn't have a bite left over.

Breakfast Casserole

• 1lb of pork breakfast sausage. I used HOT
• 1/2 white onion
• 1 bag fresh shredded hash-browns- I find them by the eggs/biscuits at the grocery store.
• 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1.5 cups of milk
• pepper and Tony's to taste
• 9x13 baking dish

-Cook onion and sausage

-spread sausage/onion on bottom of pan

-spread hash-browns over sausage

-mix the 6 eggs with milk, pepper and Tony's and pour over hash-browns

-top with cheese

Cook at 375 for about 30-45 minutes until milk and eggs are no longer runny.

Kristen and I used to make this all of the time in dental school and eat on it all week.

We went to our friend's lake house on Saturday and I took these to snack on:

Salmon and Pesto Bites

• 1 bag of salmon- by the tunafish at the grocery store
• ~3 Tbsp basil pesto
• ~2 Tbsp mayonaise
• 1 can of seamless crescent rolls
• ~1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

-Unroll the crescent rolls and cut them in half lengthwise.

-spread a little pesto over the crescent

-mix salmon, pepper to taste, pesto and mayo together and spread in a line down each sheet of crescent

-sprinkle with parmesan cheese

-pinch each one together to make a roll.

-Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

-slice and serve.

I made this one up and I don't know the exact measurements I used so add or subtract whatever looks good on this one. I also doubled the recipe.

A Little Redecorating

My friend Kari and I were out and about yesterday exploring new places around Dallas on our day off. She was in search of new pillows for her living room and I was just looking for some inspiration to do something different around the house.

I found this great rug at Anthropologie that I couldn't pass up. It was on sale for $29 and had been $298! Even though I had no idea where it would go I just had to have it. I definitely get that from my mom! It was too wide for the bathroom and kitchen so I ended up re-arranging the guest room to make it fit.

Here is the look I ended up with:

The rug is the colorful leafy one.

I had an empty wall that needed something so I pulled out these wall sconces I got a while back and never hung. I found these at Urban Outfitters for $5 each.

I hung some jewelry on them that I thought matched the rest of the room.

I call this room my Grandma Room. The picture is of my Grandma and I also have an old wash stand in there as well. The pearls and black bracelet I hung on these are my Gran Gran's. So now it's got a little touch from both!

Kari has been eyeing some pillows at Pottery Barn so went went to check those out. A few salespeople came over to see what we were doing because we used one of their couches as a model for our pillow arrangements! We had pillows everywhere!

Somehow I ended up getting new living room pillows and she didn't get any. She talked me into it. That's what friends are for right?

Our couches needed them. Even Sassy was thinking it looked a little pitiful. The pillows we had were covered in dog hair that I could not

get off.

I was able to use one of the green pillows from before and used the others to stuff the new covers.

I think they give our living room a new fresh look. The pups obviously approve. I think the deer may even be smiling :)

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.