Sunday, January 31, 2010

Non-Adventure #21 and Rambling #19 FIG & Muffins!

My favorite non-adventures almost always happen when I am out with Robin. She is super fun and almost always up for anything! She is very trendy but realizes that being trendy can be costly so she is an excellent bargain hunter! So somewhere she heard about this finale fashion show where you can find trendy stuff at somewhat affordable prices. It isn't so much a fashion show like runways and stuff but rather lots of racks and tables of clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, and other accessories. It is called the FIG finale show. Here we are all ready to head out to downtown Dallas.

Here is Robin feeding our meter:
Robin trying on somethings. There are never formal dressing rooms just areas they block of with a partition or small curtain so you quickly try things on. I loved this top on Robin but it didn't make the final cut that day.
A nice fur vest (it too stayed here)
I found me a new headband to go with my favorite blue old navy dress.
Robin and all her purchases heading back to the car.
After shopping and trying things on for most of the morning and some of the afternoon we left and headed off to get some grub. And since Robin had a gift card we headed to Chili's. It is and always has been a favorite restaurant of ours.
Now I am going to leave you with a new recipe I tried. It was one that I got off the Tasty Kitchen website. It is called Bakery Blueberry Muffins and you can go here to look at it. I don't know what my deal is but lately I have been really craving me some blueberry muffins so when I came across this I HAD to try them. So here it is:

Bakery Blueberry Muffins

The ingredients: vanilla, salt, eggs, sugar, buttermilk, baking powder, shortening, raw sugar, blueberries (fresh or frozen) and flour. Preheat the oven to 450.
First I washed and dried the blueberries, since I used fresh. I set aside about a 1/2 cup of blueberries for something that we will get to a little later.
Next I sprayed my 12 cup muffin pan with Pam and then I lined it with muffin liners.
In a seperate bowl I put 2 cups flour.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt. Give it a good stir with a fork or a whisk to mix up the ingredients, and set aside. Then in a mixing bowl
put in 1 heaping cup of sugar
and 1/2 cup shortening.
Cream together generously
Then when its all mixed add 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup of buttermilk
and 2 whole eggs. Mix well.
Then add the flour mixture
Mix until just combined. If you mix to much or too long it will make your muffins tough.
Next I added the blueberries (not the half cup you set aside earlier, keep those, I promise we will get to them) and I gently folded them in with a spatula, be careful you don't want to smach your blueberries.
See all mixed together.
I used an ice cream scooper to put a generous amount of muffin mix into each liner. So it looks like below when all is done.
Now remember the 1/2 cup of blueberries you set aside, just push a 3-4 blueberries into the top of each muffin. Push the berries in pretty good (or they will roll of when the muffins rise).
Now take some raw sugar and sprinkle it on top of each muffin.
Ok here they are all ready to go in the oven.
Here is one up close.
Then put them in the oven and bake at 450 for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 375 and continue baking for 20 minutes. Here they are fresh out of the oven. Mmmmmm don't they look yummy!
Look how the raw sugar is all sparkly! It makes a really nice crunch too.
I let them cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Serve while warm or if saving for later store them in a plastic ziplock bag. Just looking at them is making my mouth water! I hope you guys like them as much as I do.

Bakery Blueberry Muffins

2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
½ cups Shortening (butter flavored is fine)
1 cup Sugar, (a heaping cup)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 whole Eggs
½ cups Buttermilk, (Or Vinegar Soured Milk)
2 cups Blueberries (Fresh or frozen, set aside 1/2 cup of blueberries)
Raw Sugar (or Turbinado sugar)

Preheat oven to 450. Wash blueberries and dry blueberries, and set aside 1/2 cup. Grease and line 12 cup muffin tin. In a bowl add 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt, stir to mix together, and set aside. In a mixer add 1 heaping cup of sugar and 1/2 cup shortening, cream together well. Then add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup buttermilk, and 2 whole eggs, mix together. Then add the flour mixture and mix until just combined, not too long or too much or your muffins will be tough. Next, gently fold in the blueberries with a spatula, carefully so that you don't break the berries too bad. Then using the 1/2 cup blueberries you set aside, push 3-4 blueberries into the top of each muffin. Sprinkle each muffin with some raw sugar. Bake in at 450 for 5 minutes. Then turn it down to 375 and bake for 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes and then enjoy!

Rambling #18 Diaper Cake Time Again!

I have made another diaper cake and with the number of friends that I have recently found out are pregnant I am sure I will have many more additions to this category so keep an eye out! I think I like every new one more than the last. My friend Chrissie had a friend who she wanted to give one to, so she asked me to make one for her and of course I said yes! Normally I buy the stuff, put it together, and then if they haven't paid upfront they reimburse me. But it was around the holidays when she asked and funds were low so I gave her a basic list of what I use and she bought what she wanted to include and then I put it together from what she gave me. I actually kind of liked it because it gave me a little challenge. I am so used to making them the same way all the time but she bought somethings not on the list and so I had to rework somethings. So here is the cake I made for Madison:
Side 1
The back:
Side 2:
She wanted the whole name on the cake but that can get kind of expensive so I bought just the first letter and painted it with pink polka dots.
One of the things she got that was out of my normal routine was a clothing set that contained two hats and a set of booties. So I tried to make a flower for the topper out of the items and I actually like it and think it turned out really cute. It is definitely something that I would try and do again.
See bootie, bootie, and then both hats wrapped around that:
All in all the cake consisted of diapers, baby wash, baby lotion, diaper cream, washcloths, onsies, a hooded towel, and q-tips, and the baby set of booties and hats. I think it was cute and I'm glad I was pushed to step out of the routine and work something new. And I heard through the grapevine (of Chrissie) that the mom absolutely loved it! And I did too.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Non-Adventure #18 & #20 and Rambling #17 Holidays! Celebrate! (think Madonna)

I was going to give an update about our Thanksgiving but I fell behind and I have decided to make it more of a holiday season update. This update will include Thanksgiving, some Christmas fun with friends, a road trip with my friend Stacie and Sookie (my dog), Christmas in Kentucky, and to finish it off a recipe from cooking with Baylee!

Sooooo.......

Thanksgiving around our house used to be this giant family thing where we all (aunts, uncles, cousins) went to my Aunt Julie's house and had a huge Thanksgiving feast! But as the years have passed, people have gotten married and the number of people attending has dwindled. So we now just have a meal at our house. My sister Melissa and her husband Michal drove down and we invited my Grandad, my uncle JF, and my aunt Kay. That is the all of them in the picture below.

Our spread of food minus the corn
This year I helped make the food as usual but my main contribution was dessert (oh and breakfast we had the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls). I made pies, three of them this year. I made a cherry (cause it's my dad's fav), apple (my fav), and I made the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Pie.

Here is my cherry and my apple pie

all three pies with fresh whipped cream
the cherry up close
Apple
The chocolate pie (she uses a pie crust and i changed it up and used a graham cracker crust)
The next day we made some more Pioneer Woman recipes. We made the mac and cheese and my dad made the bbq bacon wrapped japaleno peppers. She (my sister) liked my cookbook so much she wanted one of her own. So we headed up to Barnes and Nobles to get her a copy. When we got there, there was a giant bus with Mike Huckabee's name on it. Turns out he was doing a book signing. We called the rents and they came up and my dad got a copy of his book signed right at the end of his time in the store. Here he is signing away.

He was nice and signed really fast. Unlike PW, he didn't personalize with names or anything but he did sign a lot in the 40 minutes he was in store. We had a pretty great Thanksgiving and I am thankful for the family we had there and the time we got to spend together. I only wish Donna (my sister) hadn't had to work so she could have been there with us!

Now that Christmas season had officially started I could start listening to my Christmas music! (I mean I was already listening but now I wouldn't get all the strange looks!)
Here are some of the ways I spent my Christmas season. I went Christmas shopping in Southlake with Robin (here we are in front of the BIG Christmas tree!)
I also met up with some longtime friends Hope and Valinda, we went to The Chestnut Tree on the square. It was beautiful inside! They always have Twinkle lights up but for the holidays they added huge beautiful ornaments. While we were eating, Hope looked behind me and said Baylee! I turned around and there was Baylee! Here they are together! They are so cute! I just love those two!
Baylee was there with her great grandmother Mer. Just two fun gals eatin and chattin!I also got to hang with Baylee before heading out of town. We mixed up some hot chocolate and drove to Dallas to look at Christmas lights in Highland Park. As always the lights there were beautiful and elaborate! And we had a great time listening to Christmas music, talking, and looking at lights.
For Christmas I had planned to go to my sister Melissa's house to celebrate! I of course brought along Sookie (my dog) and my best friend Stacie. Sookie turned out to be a fantastic car dog! She slept practically the whole way. Here she is hanging our on her bed in the backseat.
and sleepin' in Stacie's lap
and again in the backseat
Stacie and I took turns driving and we stopped to spend the night at Homewood Suites in Memphis! It was a nice place with a FULL kitchen and it was a pet suite so I didn't get charged a pet fee for Sookie. Here is Stacie on one of her turns driving!
We arrived on Tuesday afternoon (which practically became night because of a time zone change) unloaded the car, and the we headed off to Cheddar's with my sister to meet one of her friends, Becki. Here they are below.
Becki was 9 months pregnant. She ended up having the baby the day after Christmas on my mom's birthday!
We grocery and gift shopped our way through the next two days. On Christmas Eve we got up and headed out to eat lunch/brunch at this place called Toast on Market. It is such a yummy place to eat. We had eaten there before on a previous visit and we (Stace and I) were dying to eat there again. The front of the menu:
Here we are Melissa, me, and Stacie. We are waiting patiently (or trying to) for our food to arrive. Normally there is a HUGE wait but we lucked out being Christmas Eve and all we didn't have to wait at ALL!!!!!
Melissa's food
Stacie's (ignore her "you'll poke your eye out claws!")
And mine. I didn't eat anything all morning in anticipation of the yumminess!

The outside of the building
Melissa then wanted to show us her office building in downtown Louisville and since we were full and in the area we headed over! In the lobby they had a beautiful tree. We took turns posing in front of it.

Then we headed back to my sister's house so I could get started making my pies and other desserts for the next day. Here is my Christmas apple pie (one of my best yet!)
We also made the sausage cream cheese pinwheels for breakfast and oreo truffles. We watched Four Christmas' and then we headed out to a 10pm Christmas eve service. The Sanctuary was beautifully decorated and the candlelight ceremony was really good.



We headed home and went to bed. The next morning we woke up I made my last pie (the chocolate one from Thanksgiving from the Pioneer Woman) and made breakfast. After we had eaten our fill we went and opened presents. Here is her house all decorated.



Ater opening all our swag (mine included new phone covers, juicy pants, a cookbook , earrings, and gift cards to my two fav places itunes and Nordstroms!) we started preparing the holiday feast for later. Melissa and Michal got the turkey in the oven and when it was all done it was a gorgeous looking bird!
Our whole Christmas feast! Hashbrown casserole, southern green beans, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs and yummy rolls.
Our yummy and totally dangerous desert table. Chocolate pie, apple pie, fresh whipped cream, and oreo truffles!!!!!!! Oh it was soooooo goood!
That evening we watched some more movies (Christmas ones of course) and played some games and drank hot chocolate!
Saturday we just hung out and then we went and saw the Blindside. It was such a fantastic movie! I just love Sandra Bullock! Before bed we again played some games and snacked on the desserts from our Christmas feast!

Sunday morning we packed up the car and headed home, stopping at a pet friendly Holiday Inn in Little Rock. Which was a very nice hotel but had two doors one leading into a hall and one into an atrium area and Sookie barked all night long. Oh, and when I was taking Sook outside for a potty break , the parking lot appeared wet but was actually frozen because of the drop in temperature. I went to lift her over "the puddle" and in doing so lost my balance and busted so hard in the parking lot! I was ok a little bruised and some strained some muscles, but fine. I was glad that a car didn't come flying around the corner and nail us both or that she didn't bolt off. Here is Sookie doing what she did best on the trip!
While I was gone (up north!) there was a white Christmas at home but up north we had none of that. So when I got home I was glad when a couple of days before NYE I was able to at least watch snow fall. I was even able to catch some pictures.




I am so glad it's still college Christmas break because that means that Baylee is still home from ACU! I'm thrilled she is having a fantastic time but I still miss our good times. On Wednesday (before NYE) she came over and we made Oreo Truffles (the ones we had at Christmas)
Aren't we just so precious! We had to take a picture in our aprons! Hers has a B embroidered on the pocket! And as promised I am finishing this post with a recipe!

Oreo Truffles
Your ingredients: Oreos (any kind, you can even use the mint ones), cream cheese, and melting chocolate. I found this one at Sams it is reallly yummy and super smooth!
You start by dropping the WHOLE bag, that's right I said it the WHOLE bag into a food processor and crush them up into crumbs. You can also crush them in a plastic bag.
It is ok if you stop and eat a couple like Baylee!
Here I am crushing them up!
And Baylee playing around with the camera.
They should look like this when all is said and done
Next drop in the whole box of cream cheese (make sure it's good and softened!)
And mix it up good and well
When it's all mixed up chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes preferably an hour. When your mix is chilled, choose your favorite melting chocolate and melt according to package directions.
UMMMMM! Try and not stick your finger in the yumminess!
Then like Baylee is demonstrating, roll Oreo mixture into 1-inch balls. You can make them big or small really it's upto you.
And place them on a baking sheet with parchment paper.
When all are rolled out dip them into the melted chocolate and get em all good and covered. Use a fork and pull them out making sure to let excess chocolate drip off.
Place them back on the parchment paper. Here is a good time while the chocolate isn't solid where you can add some other things like crushed nuts or crushed peppermints. Don't worry about any holes left in the chocolate from the fork those can be covered with leftover chocolate later.
When all are coated, additions made, and holes filled/covered put the whole tray in the freezer to firm and set the chocolate.
It doesn't have to be long 10-15 min. After they are firmed up you can store them in container in the fridge.
Be prepared for people to think you have slaved for hours to make these yummy treats!

I had a fantastic holiday season and I hope all of you did too!

Oreo Truffles
1 bag of Oreos (your choice on which you would like)
1 box cream cheese, softened
Melting chocoloate (the amount you will need will depend on how many balls you make. Remember you can always melt more!)

Crush the whole bag of Oreo's in a food processor or by hand until only fine crumbs remain. Add in the softened cream cheese and mix well. Chill for at 30 minutes-1 hour. Melt chocolate according to package directions. Roll Oreo mixture into 1-inch balls (or bigger or smaller however you want them). When all are rolled out dip them into melted chocolate and cover them good. Using a fork, lift them out, let all chocolate drip off, and move to parchment paper. When all are dipped and covered add any extras you want and put them into the freezer to firm up for about 10-15 minutes. Store in a container in the fridge and Enjoy!