Finish the Sentence Linkup

 

1. My favorite Christmas was....The year I begged and pleaded for a 'My Size Barbie', as I was groveling at my parents feet I left out the part that I only wanted it for the dress she was wearing. The second my dad released her from the 10,000 plastic twistie ties I ripped the dress off of the giant Barbie and put it on myself. For the rest of her life in my house she sat in the corner of my room wearing some of my clothes.

What little girl wouldn't want that dress?!

 

2. The worst Christmas I had...was when I had been asking for an "Easy Bake Oven'. My parents kept telling me I would not be receiving one because it was too much of a mess. Christmas morning rolled around and there was an Easy Bake Oven from Santa, I rubbed it in my parents faces that Santa loved me more than they did, and they acted very mad that Santa didn't listen when they said I wasn't allowed to have the oven. They even took it away from me and pretended they were going to send it back to Santa. I got it back a few days later after they 'had a chat with Santa', but I'm pretty sure I was the worst person to be around for the rest of the day.

 

3. That one gift that made me scratch my head and say, "Hmmmm" was...my highschool boyfriend bought me this necklace that he thought was the greatest thing. Well I am here to tell you it was not...we had gone to Disney World earlier in the year for band and I guess he had been hiding it since then. Someone should have told him not to buy anything from a stand at the exit of the Dueling Dragons ride...

Yes, I still have it, we're still pretty good friends and I like to
send a picture of it to him every once and awhile

 

4. One year I....ate so much Pumpkin pie and candy I got sick, thats been about 15 years ago and I haven't had a bite of pumpkin pie since then

 

5. I think the worst gift to give is....jewlery, unless I have gone into the store and picked it out myself.

 

6. At Christmastime I typically....park myself on the couch and watch Its a Wonderful Life as many times as possible.

 

7. Typically, family Christmas....involves a lot of wine, our karaoke machine and some sort of trivia game that we ban my grandma from playing. That woman knows everything and it is completely unfair to the other teams if she is playing, she typically stands off to the side and mumbles the answers under her breath.

 

8. If I could change one thing about the Holiday season....all companies would give their employees 2 weeks off like John Deere does. I miss being in college and having a whole month to do nothing but sleep until noon and drink with my roommates.

 

9. It is so hard to buy for....my boyfriend, he has everything! He is so bad about going on a huge shopping spree right before Christmas. Last year he mentioned some Hawkeye sweatpants he wanted, and I planned on getting them. Later that week we were at the mall and he was going to buy them, I threw a huge fit in the middle of the store and told him I already got them for him. Well, I had not gotten them, and ended up driving to the store in the middle of the biggest snow storm of the winter just for those stupid sweats.

 

10. My favorite Christmas tradition is...getting together with friends the weekend before Christmas. We all wear ugly sweaters and go out to the bars.

 

11. Santa, baby, bring me a ....new car, iPad, St. Bernard Puppy and the perfect swimming suit for my trip to Mexico!

Christmas Traditions!

 

This is my very first link-up so lets see if I do this right! I love Christmas, its probably the only reason I deal with the snow..I can't imagine spending the holiday anywhere without snow!

 

The one Christmas tradition I can remember doing ever since I was little is decorating Christmas cookies at my grandmas house. She usually bakes 200 cookies, in all different shapes, and all of the grandkids come over and we spend a few hours frosting them with her homemade frosting. Each family takes a few home and the rest are left to eat at her house on Christmas Eve. :) When we're all done the different colors of frosting end up in one bowl and my cousin and I usually have a little war putting frosting on each others faces. I also enjoyed getting hot cocoa and driving around looking at all of the Christmas lights. In our town there is one house that times their thousands of lights to music for a little show!

 

When I was in college my roommates and I started a tradition of taking a 'family photo' and sending out Christmas cards with a fake letter of how each person was doing.  We even made up a fake name, for three years we were known as the Gonzales family :)

 

 

Our first year, we were going for an 80s family look?

The second year, Mr & Mrs Claus and the two elves :)

 

 

Now that Kendal and I are older we're starting our own traditions with our fur-baby Nala! This year we took a family picture and sent out Christmas cards. I wanted to take Nala to meet Santa but she tends to just growl at new people..shes such a vicious 15lb dog!

 

Have a great holiday!

 

 

 

Tatertot Casserole, Cornbread and Chicken

Happy Thursday Tuesday!

 

I've been very lazy lately and not wanting to document anything I cook. Plus, my boyfriend laughs at me as I'm taking pictures of the food. Anyway, a few weeks ago I made one of my favorite go-to meals for my dad and I.  This is seriously the easiest thing I've ever made in my life.

Tatertot Casserole

1lb ground turkey or beef

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup (you can use cream of anything)

1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables

1/2 bag tatertots

 

 

First preheat oven to 350*, brown turkey or hamburger. (I was a good little blogger and had a picture of this but it is not working.)

 

After the meat is done, drain any grease and mix the soup, roughly 1/2 bag of veggies and meat together in a 9X9 pan

 

Top with tatertots and you're done! I couldn't tell you how many tatertots I use..about 1/2 a bag I'd say. Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes and its ready!

(Normally I will line the tatertots up so they look nice, but I was in a hurry and my dad was hungry) In college someone actually referred to this as trailer park food..I'm not sure what that even means, but this is delicious.

 

I've tried a couple other recipes lately that I did not take 1 photo of.

 

First is THIS cornbread muffin recipe. Kendal and I went to Famous Daves a few weeks ago and he has not shut up about cornbread muffins. He has sent me on a mission to find the recipe for those specific muffins and so far, this is as close as it gets. I'd be interested in trying this without grinding the cornmeal because that was just a pain.

 

Last night for dinner I made THIS chicken bake. For as easy as it was, it was real good...and I think its even relatively 'skinny'! One suggestion I'd make is to make sure your chicken breasts are dried off..mine were not and I think it made the sauce a little runny.

 

Have a great Thanksgiving! This year we're hosting Thanksgiving at my house and I'm in charge of the Turkey! I've made a turkey 3 other times for our 'Friendsgiving' in college so hopefully it turns out ok!

 

 

 



Dorito Taco Bake

Happy Monday Tuesday! Did anyone else have Monday off because Columbus Sailed the ocean blue??

I've determined I'm not cut out to be a blogger because last Friday I had the day off of work and decided to be a good girlfriend and make Kendal lunch instead of forcing him to take me out to eat. I went to the store to get stuff for this taco bake and PROMISED myself I'd remember to take pictures to do a post with. Did I take any pictures? No. Not one. Seriously, unless I write something down, or set a reminder in my phone, I forget. And that is exactly what I did. So, even though I suck here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger
1 pkg. taco seasoning
8 oz. sour cream
1 pkg. crescent rolls (8)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (the recipe calls for optional but I put them in, undrained)
1 c. shredded cheese (I used the taco flavor)
Dorito chips

Brown hambuger, add taco seasoning, a couple tablesoons of water, the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Line a 9X13 baking pan with the crescent rolls. Add the hamburger mixture, then add the sour cream. Now, the recipe says to 'layer' the sour cream...yeah about that. I did more of mixing it in with the hamburger mixture and it worked just fine. Add the cheese..no one uses just 1 cup of cheese so I threw the whole package on..the more cheese the better. Crush the Doritos and add on top, I used about 3/4 of the bag. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.

I've made this before and I forgot I would have baked for about 15 minutes and then added the chips because they started to burn. So, I covered it in foil after 15 minutes to stop the chips from burning and it worked out perfectly. Kendal said he would have liked some black olives or jalapenos in it too, so I think I'll add those in next time.

Sparkling White Peach Sangria

Happy government shutdown day 3! My job is one of the ones effected and I've really feel like Will Smith in I am Legend for the past few days...it's a ghost town!

I know its technically Fall, but Iowa is having an identity crisis and it has been in the high 70s and low 80s for the past couple of weeks. So, I thought I'd share a quick, easy and DELICIOUS summery drink that I stumbled upon on Pinterest. I made this for my Dad's annual summer party and it was a huge hit!

pic

Sparkling White Peach Sangira

2-3 White peaches, sliced

3/4 Cup peach brandy

1 bottle moscato

1 liter peach seltzer water

 

Combine all ingredients in large pitcher, add sliced peaches annnnd you're done!

You can find the recipe I used Here. Once again I'm clueless and had no idea white peaches were a thing..I've heard they're more expensive than regular peaches so you could just use a regular peach. Honestly after I made this for the first time I left out the peaches..it makes it look pretty and thats about it. My grocery store didn't have peach seltzer water so I used some peach flavored sparkling water and it worked just fine!

My roommate made a non-alcoholic version of this and swaped sparkling white wine for the moscato and added in a little bit of peach flavored juice for the brandy. She says it was good, but I didn't try it :)

What are some of your favorite Summer or Fall drinks??

Have a good weekend!

Halloween is near!

Happy Monday! I've really been slacking in the cooking department...in my defense I'm right in the middle of moving and takeout showing up at my parents right around dinner time is much more convenient.

 

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays..mostly for the candy but also because I love making creative costumes that aren't just every day costumes with 'sexy' added in front of them! So I thought I'd go through the past few years of costumes I've made :)




2011-Bumble Bee

 2011-'Thing 1 & 2'

 

Back in my good ol college days we would celebrate Halloween over a whole weekend and only the most intense people would have a different costume for each night. Its like wearing the same outfit two days in a row...can't do it. I made the tutu out of some elastic for the waist and a whoooole lotta tulle! The shirt was a cheap, clearance tank from Wal-mart that I had my mom sew some extra tulle onto and I made the antennas from pipe cleaners and pom-poms.

 

'Thing 1 & Thing 2' was made from a garbage bag 'dress' and we wrapped duct tape around it as tight as possible. Worst. Costume. Ever. Seriously, don't do this unless 1. you want to sweat all night (a plastic bag isn't the most breathable thing on the planet) 2. You don't want to be able to sit down 3. You want to have Thing 2 cut you out of your garbage bag dress at 3am

 

Dr. Seuss Group



 

Circa 2012

On the right is one of my proudest creations, Cindy Lou Who's hair! I did that with pure magic. Kidding, I used a water bottle, a TON of hairspray and some pipe cleaners to make the braids stay staying out in circles. Next up is my loofah costume, after I finished this I swore I would never touch tulle ever again..it's been a year and I'm still standing by that promise. For this I found a website that sold tulle in bulk so I bought like 40 yards for SUPER cheap. I recruited my cousin to help me cut it into smaller pieces, we safety pinned them into individual puff balls and then pinned those onto a strapless dress I had. Braid some rope to make the string and WALLA!

2012

2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Finally my most recent and favorite costume, Olive Oyl and Popeye! Making this was mostly frustrating and very last minute but once it was done I was very happy with it! My shirt was found at Goodwill and I used a Pringles can and an old white shirt to make the scallops. Kendal's shirt was an old work shirt from my grandpa that I added the ribbon, buttons and red felt 'cape' to. His muscles are a pair of tights that I stuffed with pillow batting. And I found some Popeye Spinach at Wal-Mart, cut off the label and taped them to coozies :)

 

Sorry for the book of a post! I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane of Halloween costumes! Any suggestions on what to be this year?? It's been a dream of mine to be Pebbles and Bam Bam or Fred and Wilma!

 

Pumpkin Spice Almonds

Good Morning Friends!

 

Last night on Facebook one of my good friends posted this recipe for roasted almonds. I love all things pumpkin and fall so I HAD to try them out!

 

Pumpkin Spice Almonds

3 Cups raw almonds

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

3 Tablespoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

If you're clueless like me, you've never heard of agave nectar. I found it in the baking aisle right next to the corn syrup. I'd also never heard of Pumpkin Pie Spice, but that was with the rest of the spices (duh Jordan).

 

Preheat oven to 325*, combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well

 

Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Thats it! SO EASY, and SO good!

 

The one direction I didn't follow was lining the pan with parchment paper and if I could do it again, I'd spend the extra money and buy some. I've been soaking my cookie sheet since last night and I'm still dreading cleaning it. I also tasted one of these right out of the oven and I wasn't that impressed..but after they cooled I swear they tasted 100 times better!

 

AND even if you don't like almonds, I would make these just for the smell! Ya know that roasted almond stand in the mall that ALWAYS smells like heaven? Yeah, thats what these make your whole house/apartment smell like. My roommate couldn't believe how good our apartment smelled when she got home from work!

 

Kenal's sister has gotten me hooked on the Instagram trend where every day is a different theme. So, I'll leave you with a lovely Transformation Tuesday :)

 

 

 

Crockpot Chicken

Happy Monday!!

Yesterday I tackled a whole chicken in the crockpot. I had some leftover veggies from last week that I didn't want to go to waste so I figured this was the perfect solution! I'd never made a whole chicken so I used this recipe as a guide.

My dads girlfriend suggested I stick some butter under the skin in a few places, so I did that but I couldn't tell ya if it made a difference haha. Instead of adding all of the spices onto the chicken, I went pretty simple and just seasoned with salt and pepper. I also added celery and ended up cooking it for about 7 hours on low and turned it up to high for one more hour...I was really nervous about it being undercooked! It turned out super good, and after Kendal and I get our fill of leftover chicken I'll use the rest to make some chicken noodle soup this week.

I obviously was not thinking like a blogger because this is the only picture I took..Nala was begging to go on a walk so I rushed! Clearly that walk wore the little princess out and she spent the rest of Sunday snoozing on my lap:)

 

Have a great week, hopefully this Fall weather sticks around!! I pinky promise I'll get more pictures of my next masterpiece! 

 

I'm baaack

Woohoo I started a blog for about the billionth third time..unless we're talking Xanga days, but I'd like to forget those!

My plan for this space is to document new recipes I've tried and keep track of the ones Kendal and I loved and the other 'not so much' ones. Lately I've been a cooking machine so we'll see if I actually keep up with this :)