Soup Du Jour...

It's mid July, it's averaging 100 degrees across the country, kids smell of sunscreen and chlorine, yet Hobby Lobby has Christmas decorations out. Let's embrace it and make soup, shall we? Soup knows no season in our house. Not interested? Just pin now and make it in October. You'll be glad you did!

My friend, Liz (yes, she's a great writer and no, she hasn't written since November and yes, it's unacceptable), made this one night when we invaded her house for girls' night and it has been a staple in my kitchen since. It's a legit Italian wedding soup recipe passed down from her Italian friend. It's authentic, y'all! You won't be sorry.

Italian Wedding Soup

Meatball Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
3 oz breadcrumbs
½ c Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt

Soup Ingredients:
100 ozs chicken broth
2 bags baby spinach (which is about 8 cups)
½ tsp crushed red pepper
2 Tbsp garlic, minced (if desired)
5 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Additional Ingredients:

Acini Di Pepe noodles

*My store only carries this brand

Instructions:

Mix all meatball ingredients by hand (side note: this completely grosses me out. Raw meat makes my skin crawl. But I do it for this soup.) until fully combined. In a large stockpot, heat 2-3 Tbsp olive oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pot) and add small meatballs. Meatballs should be small enough that you can roll two at a time… about the diameter of a quarter. Gently stir as you add to ensure they don’t burn. Cook until all meatballs are browned. Add crushed red pepper and additional garlic. Add chicken broth and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes – stirring occasionally. Add spinach and cook for 25 minutes, or until spinach is very tender. Stir in cheese and season with salt if needed.

*When you add in the spinach you can begin to cook the Acini Di Pepe noodles. They take about 10 minutes.

The finished product is delicious and hearty. I often serve it with warm french bread or ciabatta bread which is wonderful for dipping. Enjoy!
 

Orange! Orange Who? Orange-you Going to Share the Recipe?

Ok, I admit that was a horrible blog title, but I'm not feeling very creative today. The good news is, I'm feeling generous which is where you benefit. :) I have a delicious recipe to share!

A couple of months ago we were out at a lake party and there were several ice cream freezers of homemade ice cream. Someone brought vanilla, someone brought strawberry (which Dave raved over) and someone brought this Orange-Crush-sorbet-goodness. I was hesitant because I'm not a big sorbet fan but it was approximately 147 degrees, and like the Wicked Witch of the West, I was melting.

It had me at hello.

It was delicious, refreshing, light, and kinda fun! I say fun because the orange crush gave it a bit of a zip! I asked for the recipe and was surprised to learn that it has THREE ingredients! It doesn't get much easier than that...so without further ado...

Orange Crush Sorbet

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

1 can crushed pineapple (you can use crushed or chunks depending on how big you want your pieces to be)

Approximately 3 cans of Orange Crush

*Notes: I made this in my Cuisinart 2-quart Ice Cream maker. If you use a large 1-gallon ice cream maker, double the recipe. Also, just fill your maker with Orange Crush until it's full. Could be 3 cans, could be 4.

Eagle Brand and crushed pineapple...

Adding the Orange Crush goodness...

And off we go! Unfortunately, I was so excited to EAT it when it was done that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. It's Orange. :) Enjoy this perfect summer treat!

It only hurts when I'm awake....

Spring is here! I know that because I have a sunburn, my nails are broken and it hurts when I sit down to go to the bathroom.

Too much information?? Well, David and I put the petal to the medal this weekend and we did yard work until the cows came home (or until the sun went down because we don't have any cows...). We trimmed trees, pulled weeds, pulled out pretty much every bush in our flower beds and I worked for 2 hours digging up monkey grass that has over taken an entire flower bed.

Lots of crazy things were planted by the previous owner and we decided to start fresh and begin to get things the way we want them. But the way we want it takes a lot of work! And on Sunday (day 2) I may or may not have stepped on the end of a rake and the handle popped up and slapped me in the face! For a brief moment I thought it broke my cheek bone it hurt that bad. So I decided that yard work was dead to me and I went inside and started laundry. I'm only halfway through with that project. Can't we just buy new underwear??

But here are a few fun "spring-things" inside my house....

I used a few of the branches we trimmed and put them in a vase on my dining table. My co-worker gave me this cute "Happy Spring" sign for my birthday!

My $4 flowers I picked up at the grocery store really make a colorful splash in my living room....

And in random fashion, I thought I'd throw in a recipe for y'all. I went to Lynch and Ryan's house for dinner last night to watch some of the Madness and I was in charge of dessert. Since I didn't have a lot of time and couldn't move parts of my body very well I decided to go the easy route. Ice cream pie!

Ingredients:

• Chocolate pie crust (the Oreo crusts are the best but I can't ever find them anymore. You can make your own with Oreos and butter blended and formed into a pie pan but I wasn't about to go there!)
• 1/2 gallon of Blue Bell Cookies 'n Cream Ice Cream (You can use other cookies and cream ice cream but I'll just feel sorry for you that you don't have Blue Bell!! That's one of my favorite things about Texas! :)
• Tub of Cool Whip

Here's the hard part...it will take you an entire 3 minutes. Ok, maybe 5: Let the ice cream soften and stir it until it's creamy. Dip about 3/4 of the softened ice cream into the pie crust. *You can freeze it at this point for about an hour. If I have time I usually do and let it harden before spreading the Cool Whip. Then spread the tub of cool whip on top and freeze it. It's best if you can freeze it for at least 2 hours before slicing and serving. I find it easiest to slice with a pizza cutter.

Enjoy!!

Winner, Winner, Pork chop Dinner...

I figured 4 good years of marriage was as good of an excuse as any to break the taco/spaghetti/pizza mold, so I consulted the experts. I found an intriguing recipe from trusty Cooking Light and I was so pleased! It was good, it was pretty and it was EASY! It's a spiced pork chop with mango-mint salsa and Dave and I both gave it a thumbs up.

Spiced Chops with Mango-Mint Salsa

Cooking Light April 2007

Ingredients
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops, trimmed
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups finely chopped peeled mango
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper


Preparation
Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly over pork.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork; cook 4 minutes on each side or until done.

Combine mango, mint, lemon rind, lemon juice, sugar, and red pepper in a medium bowl. Serve with pork.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and about 1/3 cup salsa)

The mango and mint may sound random but it was perfect with the pork! I served it with sweet potatoes that I diced and mixed with a tiny bit of olive oil, rosemary, and salt and pepper and then fresh green beans. Outside of the potatoes which take about 45 minutes to cook the preparation and cooking of the meal took about 20 minutes! It's a winner and will be on the table again at the Mendenhall house. Enjoy! (PS...an added bonus is that it is really low in calories. My entire plate was about 425 calories...happy new year's resolution!)

Life's Short...Eat Dessert First!

This weekend we had dinner club and then Eater lunch. My duty for both events was to bring dessert. Now that's a task I can get behind. Dave chose banana pudding for dinner club and Papa chose strawberry shortcake for Easter lunch and I need to choose to go for a nice long walk after partaking in the festivities....


For the recipes click here and here...and also, in case you haven't noticed, I finally labeled my posts! (Most of them....) And you can find a lot of the recipes I have previously posted by clicking on the recipe link on the right hand side of my blog. These are easy and YUMMY desserts perfect for your summer get-togethers!

Suzie Homemaker...

You guys are superwomen! I read so many of your blogs and you have super busy lives and super busy kiddos and you still manage to build sandcastles, fly kites and I'm guessing you feed them because they're still growing!

We've had a really busy spring and it is catching up with me. Every night after work we have a scheduled event (except for Wednesdays) and it's been making it very hard to schedule my meals. I normally go to the store on Sundays right after church and get everything for my meals for the week and then it makes it easy to get home from work, get something together for dinner since it's pre-planned and be done with it. But the last few weeks when I've been going through the store I have just been totally blank on what to make for dinner! I'm out of ideas. I'm starting to recycle tacos, spaghetti and pizza like it's my job. So I'm doing a random McLinky day! Go through your blog archive and link up to a recipe (preferably EASY, but beggars can't be choosers...) to share with all of us. I'll start by letting you know that I've finally started tagging my old posts! You'll notice it on the right. So just click the recipe tab and hopefully you'll find some new ideas for this week.

Here is what we're having this week, and hopefully next week I can shake it up with some of your favorites!

Sunday- Brisket Tacos
Monday- Chili
Tuesday- Dave's having left over brisket tacos. I'm eating out before the baseball game
Wednesday- Barbecued pork chops
Thursday- Pizza and salad
Friday- Dinner Club! Alice and Jeff are hosting and they are doing surf 'n Turf and martinis! YUM!

Have a great week, and share some great recipe ideas with us!

"Wine" not??

I've told you guys before that we are in a dinner club, but I don't think I really explained it did I? I'm going to be 29 soon...my memory is virtually shot! Anywho...Dave and I met right after college through friends. He grew up, went to high school, etc with one of my best friends from college. We (Dave and I) went to college across the state from each other so although I had heard of him I had never met him. So, we met, we started dating, the rest is history...awwww....

Enough of that. You needed that crash course for dinner club. :) So, it just so happened that I knew several of his good friends through my BFF Meredith before ever meeting Dave. Fun huh? His best friends are his high school buddies and it has just been so great to add in spouses that all get along. Almost 2 years ago, one of the couples mentioned getting together a dinner club made up of 5 couples to get together every other month. We were all on board because it gives us an excuse to get together and MAKES us get together. Sure, the guys meet for golf, but the girls want to come too!

Our premise is that we have a new host each time and the "co-host" (the couple that brings the drinks) will be the host the next time. It helps us keep things in order. It has been great because each time we have a theme and it's always interesting to see what the hosting couple comes up with.

We have done a Hawaiian theme, a murder mystery dinner, Valentine's dinner complete with the newlyweds game, of course Mexican themes, Italian, etc. Well, this weekend we had dinner club and Clifton and Tess were our gracious hosts. They decided to do a wine tasting.

Alice and Jeff were the co-hosts so they got the wines together. They got 3 Cabernet's at 3 different price points (cheap, medium, "expensive") They ranged from $5-$25. They did the same with white wine and they chose Chardonnay. They had printed out cards with all of the wine adjectives to assist us in our tasting. We picked our individual favorites and then we chose which one we thought was the least expensive to the most expensive. The other 3 couples brought appetizers to go with wine, so I did 2 cheese dips. It was my first time to make both, but they were a hit! I will share the recipes below!

My favorite of each of the wines were the $5.50 wines!! I told Dave I'm a cheap date! Thank you to Clifton and Tess and Alice and Jeff for a great dinner club!

Alice getting everything set to begin...

The crew after red wine #1

Me and Meredith

Dave tasting his white wine

So dips I made were a baked brie and a blue cheese/walnut dip. Both turned out great! The brie was better though. It's my friend Angie's recipe and it's always a crowd pleaser!

Kahlua Pecan Brie

1 14 oz Brie round
1/4 cup Kahlua
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3 Tablespoons brown sugar

Scrape the white coating off brie. Place brie on an oven safe plate.
In a small bowl, mix Kahlua, pecans and brown sugar until sugar is dissolved.
Pour Kahlua mixture over Brie and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until Brie begins to ooze. Serve with Carr's Water crackers.

Blue Cheese Walnut Dip

3 pkg cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup butter (softened)
4 oz. blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (toasted)

Mix it all together in a bowl and wha-la! Serve with apple slices, pear slices, and/or baguette slices. We had it with apples and baguette slices and it was great.

Enjoy!

What did you do this weekend?

"Super Hostess" Idea Share and GIVEAWAY!

Hey party people! I don't know about you, but I love an excuse for a get-together! "You got a job?? Let's get together and celebrate!" "You lost your job? Let's get together and have a glass of wine!" "You got new carpet?? We'll be over Friday night to see it and we'll bring the pizza!"

It doesn't matter what the justification is, the idea is always the same...food, friends, fun!

This weekend is no exception. Super Bowl weekend is....well, the Super Bowl for pizza companies, beer distributors, tortilla chip makers and Velveeta stockholders. This one Sunday provides as much as 60% more sales than any other given Sunday. Not too shabby!

This Sunday I will be a guest instead of the hostess and I am SO excited! I am going to Bradley's and she has already said she has made Saint's T-Shirts and is working on the King Cake. Lynch and Ryan are bringing the gumbo and I am in charge of appetizers. I have a few ideas up my sleeve! Before I get into my recipe sharing I have to tell you that I could live off of appetizers. They are my favorite part of any meal! I'm more of a snacker rather than sitting down for a full meal, so give me chips and salsa or give me death!

Here are some great recipes (pulled pork sandwiches, guacamole and mint brownies) I shared last year, and below are a few of my favorite quick dips because they are SO easy and very few ingredients...(I don't have pictures for all of them, but I promise they are simple!)

Corn and Black Bean Salsa- Crowd favorite!

• Can of corn- drained
• Can of black beans- drained and rinsed
• 2 avocados sliced (I love avocado so I always put a lot. Use 2-3 depending on the size)
• 1 jar of salsa
• Mix together in a bowl and serve with tortilla chips!

The next dip...I don't even know what to call it. Maybe Yummy Goodness?? - Another crowd pleaser!

• 1 package cream cheese softened
• 1 package of sausage- browned and drained
• 1 can of rotel- drained
• Mix together in a bowl and serve warm with tortilla chips

Corn Dip- This is my old faithful. Super easy and I usually have the ingredients on hand in a pinch

• 3 cans of corn- drained
• 2 cups of Mexican blend cheese (You can use Cheddar if you prefer...or in a pinch!)
• 1/3 cup diced jalapenos (If you like a little more spice you can add a tbs of the juice, but watch out!)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1-1.5 cups of mayo
• Mix all ingredients together, place in a baking dish and bake on 350 uncovered for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Serve warm with tortilla chips.

And don't forget the Taco Salads! (Click for the full recipe) You could do the corn and black bean salsa, queso, whatever floats your boat for apps and then serve the taco salads in a buffet line. You'll make new friends and keep the old with this one!

Now that we've conquered the food fun, let's talk about the actual party. It's always nice when you can throw a great party but not totally break the bank! Here are some great table/centerpiece ideas (some could be used for super bowl Sunday and some for any other Sunday!) and I just LOVE the idea of using leaves as coasters. I always trim greenery off my trees and bushes and fill the vases around my house.

I hope you are looking forward to your next get together! I'd love to hear your ideas! Food, decorations, great serving ideas, etc. Just link to your blog below and you'll be automatically entered in my "SUPER HOSTESS" giveaway! The winner will get some adorable PJs and my current favorite OPI nail polish. The winner will be announced Monday, so check back!

Party on party people!

Sharing is Caring!

Dinner #1 was a success last night! We got home around 5:20, changed clothes, threw the chicken enchilada casserole in the oven and headed out for a walk. We ran in around 6:15, ate, and were out of the house by 6:45. It was pretty rushed, but It was a gorgeous day (70 degrees!!) so I loved getting a short walk in instead of rushing in the kitchen. Tonight is day 2, but Dave has class and I'm trying to talk my brother into going with me to get a treadmill I bought off Craigslist....I'm NOT going alone even though I'm sure everything is super legit. Besides, I need his truck and his muscles.

A couple of people asked for the recipes yesterday and I am glad to share!! They are honestly 3 of my FAVORITE recipes and the secret is that none of them are mine!! Ha! I got these recipes from friends and friends of friends and these are 3 of my "go-to" dishes. 2 out of the 3 of them are super simple...like so easy I kind of hate to tell you because when you have a kid and need a meal I will be bringing one of the 3 of these to you...

Lasagna- We had a variation of this recipe at Lynch's bachelorette party and it is now my favorite lasagna recipe. I almost can't even eat Stouffer's because I love the homemade one so much more! It is not hard at all, but it is a little more time consuming. My advice, if you like it, is just make 2 while you're already going to the trouble! Freeze one and call it a day!

Ingredients for one lasagna (standard 9x13) or two 8" pans (what I did this time):

• Lasagna noodles- I actually boil my noodles instead of using the ready bake ones. I'm sure ready bake is fine, I just prefer to cook them to my liking.
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 pkg. cream cheese softened
• 8 oz. Sour Cream
• Spaghetti sauce- I use Prego and I use the 26 oz jar. You don't want to run out of sauce!! YUM!
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• Spinach (if desired- I don't use it in mine)

Boil noodles and pat dry. Brown meat and drain (I season my meat with garlic salt, basil and oregano while cooking). In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese and sour cream. You're ready to layer! Layer noodles, cream cheese mixture, ground beef, generous amounts of cheese (I said generous! Keep going!), sauce, and start over! I do 3 layers, so it takes 9 noodles to do a 9x13 pan. A 9x13 pan will easily feed 7-8 people. And the good news is...this is the more time consuming recipe! So that should tell you how easy the other 2 are!! (PS...the picture of my lasagna below is a little sad because I thought I had cheddar cheese and I didn't! So before I bake this one I will add some Cheddar cheese to the top.) Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. (If you freeze it will take about 1.5 hours to cook.)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole- My dear friend Courtney made this for dinner one night and it was SO good! It has since become a regular in our house. Just don't ask Dave how regular! ha! So easy and so yummy! (I might not even put all the ingredients Courtney does, so she is probably going to gasp at this recipe....sorry friend!)

Chicken Enchilada Casserole:

• 2 cups shredded chicken (I buy a rotisserie chicken from my grocery store)
• 2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• 2 cans green chile enchilada sauce
• Corn tortillas (package of 10 works for a small baking dish)

Cut your tortillas into quarters, open your cans of enchilada sauce and you've got yourself a meal. Layer corn tortillas, chicken, enchilada sauce, then cheese. I make 3 layers. Bake uncovered on 350 for about 35-45 minutes (until bubbly). If you refrigerate it overnight after putting it together it will take a full hour to reheat.

And Finally, my one true love, taco soup. I have no pictures because....well, because I just don't. But this is E-A-S-Y to make and we love it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. beef
• 1 pkg. Taco seasoning
• 1 pkg. Ranch dressing seasoning (dry packet)
• 1 can corn- drained
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 can rotel
• 1 can pinto beans
• Optional: 1 can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (if you want it thicker or you want more tomatoes...I don't add anymore tomatoes, but we don't really like them)

Brown meat, drain, add in your taco seasoning and cook according to package directions. In a stock pot add meat, can of drained corn, can of creamed corn, can of beans, rotel, ranch seasoning mix and 1-2 cups of water (to your desired "soupyness"). Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Done and done! We serve it over tortilla chips with a little shredded cheese on top. If I'm really feeling generous I'll slice an avocado or make corn bread muffins.

Phew! I'm hungry now! :) And for my friends in real life, you know you'll be having one of these items next time you come over for dinner so please try to forget how easy it is!

California Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day! (Plus a dinner recipe and an answered question!)

I tell you what, I am failing miserably on the jealousy thing today because I am totally jealous of anyone in Pasadena to watch the Longhorns kick some Alabama booty tonight! Can I get an amen?? It is FREEZING here today! (I know those of you who live in Minnesota and those of the like are rolling your eyes big time here, but I'm a Texas girl born and bred and it.is.cold!!) The wind is seriously whipping and we are getting the "arctict blast" that makes going outside not so pleasant. California sounds much more appealing!

On a completely unrelated note, thank you guys so much for your kind comments about our wedding and your well wishes for our anniversary! I also got a couple of comments and e-mails after my mom's birthday blog asking about the chalkboard wine glasses...they are from Pier 1, they are only $3 each, and they are so much fun! *PS...whenever you see bold, colored words it's normally a link. Either to a post or to a product. They have stemless wine glasses, high ball glasses, and carafes.

I digress...the other night I made one of my favorite dinners, taco salads. It's one of my favorites because it is really good, but also really easy! The first time I made them Dave complained that there was no way he could eat only a salad for dinner, but he did and he really, really liked it! I'll admit that he actually eats 2, but who's counting? I make my own shells and they are not fried. These are great for a party or for a party of 1!

Ingredients:
Foil
PAM cooking spray
Burrito size tortillas
1 lb ground beef (or fajita chicken, or beef fajita meat)
Pkg taco seasoning if you're using ground beef
lettuce
Pinto beans (Black beans, ranch style beans, refried beans can also be used.)
Any toppings you like! We use cheese, black olives and avocado.

Directions: Preheat oven to 425. Loosely wad a ball of foil and place it on a baking sheet. Drape a tortilla over the top and spray the entire tortilla with PAM cooking spray. You can fit 2-4 shells on your baking sheet depending on the size. You don't want them to overlap because you want them to brown all over.

Place the tortillas in the oven and cook until lightly browned. Generally about 8 minutes. I like mine crispy, so if it is not brown enough I leave it in a bit longer.

Brown your ground beef and drain. Add in taco seasoning and let simmer. Heat up your beans, get out your toppings, and fill your taco shells with lettuce....it's that easy!

You can shape your tortillas around the foil slightly, but they will "fall" and conform more as they cook. Also, just lightly wad your foil otherwise it will take your whole roll to make one foil ball!

Here they are all sprayed and ready to bake...

Wha-la! Your crispy, non-fried taco shells. Since Dave eats 2 I usually cook his second one while we are eating. My oven only cooks 2 comfortably. If you do these for a party, you might want to start cooking your tortillas before your guests get there since you have to bake them in shifts.

We use Chuy's jalapeno ranch as our dressing, but you can use salsa, ranch, whatever you prefer. Enjoy!! HOOK'EM HORNS!!!

Food, Football, Five dollar games and Skinny Jeans...

Well, it's official. Thanksgiving is over, Delilah is playing Christmas music, my trees are lit and I am in Christmas mode full-force. We even had a cold front move through last night and the high today is only 55 degrees. I might even be able to bust out a jacket!

We had a great Thanksgiving and for once it actually seemed like I had time off! We didn't travel this year because we spent Thanksgiving with my family, so it was 4 days spent sleeping in our bed and we even got a few days to sleep in. Glorious!

I had a few duties for Thanksgiving lunch and I took those duties seriously. Which is why I called on the Pioneer Woman for help. I was in charge of rolls, a side, dessert and a dip for the evening hours of football and laziness. I decided that the buttered rosemary rolls, green beans, and the pear crisp would be my contributions. The fact that these famous rolls would have to rise for 3-4 h0urs was not lost, so I popped out of bed at 7:30 to get going in the kitchen. I'm such a domestic creature...this I know. By 8:30 I had rolls rising, pears peeled, coffee brewing and I was watching Snoopy float down Broadway. Does it get any better?

Pioneer Woman Buttered Rosemary Rolls (click the links above for PW recipes)

Green Beans: wash, snap stem, season with olive oil, salt and pepper, arrange on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (until desired tenderness)

The next dip is SO good. My friend Meredith introduced me to this. It is a can of black beans (drained), a can of corn (drained), 1-2 avocados sliced (depends on how big your avocados are and how much you want. I like a lot of avocado!) and a jar of salsa. Serve with tortilla chips.

Pioneer Woman's Pear Crisp

After letting the rolls rise for what seemed like an eternity I started baking them. I began to wonder if they were really all they were cracked up to be since it had been a 4 hour project. Let me tell you sister friends...it was worth every.single.minute. And truth be told, they are SO easy. You just have to give the yeast time to do it's thang. After I did my share of attempting to cook we headed over to my Nana and Papa's house for lunch. As usual, Teeny outdid herself and we were over served with fabulous dressing, ham, PW's mac and cheese, mom's creamed corn goodness, green beans and then...well, then we had a roll....or 3.

As Thanksgiving's go, we capped off the day with back-to-back football games. The Cowboys provided our afternoon entertainment and then the Longhorns were the nightcap. But I would be withholding information if I didn't throw in that there were 5 of us who felt bad for the poor schmucks having to work Thanksgiving at Old Navy. We didn't want them to be working in vain so we decided to give their $15 jean sale a whirl. 3 pair of skinny jeans later we were headed home for kickoff. Don't judge...

The Aggie's sure put up a fight. We had a few that were really tightly wound at our house. Thank goodness the Horns pulled it out and Thanksgiving 2009 wasn't lost. After the game we charted out our Black Friday plan of Attack. There were $5 board games and drum sets calling our name. The family we adopted has 3 boys and just about everything on their wish list gave us a reason to justify standing outside of Target with 500 of our closest friends at 4:30AM...

If you're jealous now, you don't even want me to throw in your face the fact that we capped off our shopping trip with breakfast at IHOP. I know, sometimes life's not fair. You just slept in and made fun of those of us standing in lines 55 people deep in the name of a discount and a $5 off coupon.

When all of the hoopla was said and done I came home and finished my Christmas decorations. Rookie was highly involved....Ho-Ho-Ho! Now I'm ready for Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, and ornament exchanging! Merry merry!

Add a Little Spice to Your Life!

I'm not a fan of pumpkin. Maybe it's my refined pallet, but normally my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the macaroni and cheese, the honey baked ham and my Nana's dressing capped off with a nice piece of chocolate pie. I can't even remember having pumpkin pie let alone liking it!

You can imagine my surprise when I tried some of my mother-in-law's delicious bread which I thought was "spice bread" only to find out it was pumpkin spice bread! I had unknowingly eaten a version of pumpkin bread....and liked it!! It might have had something to do with the surprise goodies baked inside, but I'll get to that later...

She was kind enough to share the recipe and I whipped up a batch just the other night. I have had it for breakfast the last 2 days and I now feel it is my duty to share the goodness with you. I'm pretty sure I'll be serving it to my family on Thanksgiving morning!

Pumpkin Spice Bread- yields 2 large loaves
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 cup pecans
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 16oz. can pumpkin
*The special ingredient is optional....

Bake at 375 for 1 hour

Mix all of the ingredients together and then add a bag of chocolate chips! (Because my mother in law is the bomb.com like that...) I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate, but I know she uses the Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips and she only uses 1/2 the bag...I like mine with more chocolate.

And wha-la! Yummy goodness even non-pumpkin lovers will love! If you don't tell they really won't even know!