The Second Birthday Party

October 4, 2010 by

For my son’s first birthday last year, we had the whole shebang at our house.  That was exactly what we wanted then, something for close friends and family.  At one, my kiddo hadn’t really made a lot of friends yo, so the party was more for the adults.  This year we decided to do it at The Little Gym.  We attend a weekly class and he loves the HELL out of that place, so it was a no brainer.  We didn’t pick a specific theme, we just decided to have balloons and cupcake toppers of all his favorite characters.  We used the same banners from last year and the same party hats as last year but we added new stickers to showcase what the ole boy looks like at 2.  I think I’m definitely going to make that a tradition, just keep using the same banner and hats as long as we can hack it but update the pic on the sticker–I mean he’s so damn cute! hahahaha!  This year we actually had a few more kids because the lil guy has made a few friends, granted we introduced him because they are the kids of our friends but you know…friends! He’s got friends now!  So we invited them and we had party favors involved this time around.  For the girls we decided to give crayon rolls with princess shaped crayons and for the boys we had car rolls with a little matchbox cars.  Anyway it was a huge hit and everybody had fun and we didn’t have to clean up before and clean up after.  It was the bomb, I highly recommend it.

  1. Sticker, Petit Enfant Designs
  2. Cupcake Toppers, Two Sugar Babies
  3. Invitation, Announcing You
  4. Car & Crayon Rolls, Party Favors & More
  5. My Happy Kid
Filed Under: ak, food, kids, party time, toys Tagged With: , , , ,

Love this damn thing

September 30, 2010 by

So, Sarah recently posted about her love for Pampered Chef products.  There is an item that Pampered Chef offers that helps me to make MY ABSOLUTELY FAVORITEST COMFORT food ever. Chicken Spaghetti People.  Chicken freaking Spaghetti.

So, here goes:

  1. Clean a raw 3 pound chicken raw/thawed and put in microwave, uncovered for 30 minutes.
  2. Once cooked, cover the chicken for 5 minutes (important step)
  3. De-bone and get all the good meat from the chicken
  4. Cook a whole box of spaghetti – drain
  5. Cut up half a box of 2% of Velveeta – dump in with the noodles
  6. Mix in a can of 99% FF Cream of Chicken Soup with the noodles
  7. Mix in a can of Rotel, I go for the mild (drain)
  8. After all of that is done–mix in that BADASS chicken.

I promise you your family and your taste buds with thank you.  And this is all brought to you by that damn covered baker–can’t live with out it.

Filed Under: court, food Tagged With:

Cowboy Cookies

September 27, 2010 by

My aunt makes these cookies and they are DIVINE!  They have everything under the sun in them…including coconut which I don’t like and yet I still LOVE these cookies.

Cowboy Cookies
3 cups flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups chocolate chips
3 cups oats
2 cups coconut
2 cups pecans

Bake 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Definitely eat at least one while it’s warm.

Filed Under: ak, food

Finally Football

September 16, 2010 by

Football season is in full swing, and while I stick to only watching college, my hubby has been ALL football ALL the time for the past two weeks..and I have a feeling it will last well into February.

These are some of my hubby’s “must have foods” while watching the game:

  1. Hot Wings
  2. Nacho Cheese Doritos
  3. Veggie Tray
  4. Chicken Wing Dip (I think he likes this because it basically combines all the above flavors into 1)

Chicken Wing Dip

  • 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot®)
  • 1 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
  • 2 cups diced cooked chicken
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Mix all the ingredients and bake at 350 for 30 minutes…enjoy!

Filed Under: food, sk

Tipsy Favs: Quick Meals

September 7, 2010 by

As with anybody, we like to share new meal ideas with each other.  What’s even better is if the meal is QUICK if you know what I’m sayin’.  So, when we have no time or we are just lazy these are our go-to meals we can fall back on.

  1. Der-Spaghetti-This means so many different things to people. Meat sauce, meatballs, chunky sauce, what type of pasta? I am married to an Italian spaghetti loving man and I am a pretty big pasta fan as well, so it works out well. For us it means angel hair pasta and sauce sans meat. While no sauce will ever compare to his family recipe in his book (and I have to agree its pretty fab) I buy jar sauce and jazz it up. The only jar sauce that he loves is Great Value brand at Wal-mart….. weird, but true story.
  2. AK-Nachos-I could eat Mexican every single day of the week.  My husband is the cook around our house, so when he doesn’t feel like cooking anything too elaborate or I’m on my own for dinner this is generally our go-to meal.  Chips, Ground Beef (w/Taco Seasoning), Grated Cheese…DONE! If we have avocados on hand we’ll whip up some guac.
  3. Sarah-Pork Loin- Sounds like it could be complicated, but it’s not. Our go to grocery store down here, H-E-B, sells small, pre-marinated, pork loins that are the bomb. All you have to do is take them out of the package, throw them on a pan, and in 30 min. dinner is ready! I always pair it with some steamed veggies…a fast and healthy meal for any night of the week!
  4. Court-Turkey dogs-So quick and also comes with cool sides like frito pies which my son loves. I generally do turkey chili and cheese on mine.

What’s your go-to meal?

pork loin pic courtesy of foodnetwork.com
Filed Under: food, tipsy favs Tagged With: , , ,

Firehouse Salsa

September 6, 2010 by

I’m the cook around my crib, but apparently at the fire station my hubby shows off some cooking skills that I rarely see around these parts. He whipped up a batch of their station salsa the other night and man was it good.

You will need:

  • One can whole peeled tomatoes
  • Half a medium white onion chopped
  • Two jalapenos chopped(the darker in color the hotter the salsa will be)
  • Bunch of fresh cilantro
  • Two tomatillos chopped
  • Tablespoon garlic powder
  • Tablespoon cumin
  • Dash of salt and pepper

Combine tomatoes, tomatillos, jalepenos, onion and seasonings into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once ingredients are softened from boiling, throw them in a blender with as much fresh cilantro as you can handle and blend throughly.

Filed Under: der, food

Road Trip Staple

September 1, 2010 by

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, I’m on the road a LOT, but do you know my favorite road trip of all? Anywhere that will take me on I-35 through the small town of West, TX.

West is the home of the Czech Stop…part gas station, part bakery, which happens to make the BEST kolaches, breads, baked goods I’VE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE!  Unfortunately I don’t travel up or down I-35 as much as I would like, but my sister-in-law and her family brought about $100 worth of kolaches to my house over the weekend so I’ve officially had my fix for awhile.

PEOPLE, if you’re traveling anywhere near West, make it a priority to go to the Czech Stop, you won’t be disappointed. Don’t believe me? Google it and you’ll see all kinds of love for this place! (If you do stop, hot chubby and hot ham and cheese kolaches are my fave…)

Filed Under: food, sk Tagged With:

Tipsy Favs: Snack Bars

August 31, 2010 by

Snack bars are a great way to keep the hunger at bay when you’re running errands, or just sitting on the couch for that matter! Here are our go to hunger busters:

  1. Der: Nature Valley Chewy Granola, These yogurt bars are about the only snack bar I have ever liked. The funny thing is that I’m not a yogurt fan or a granola fan, but these little suckers are addicting!
  2. AK: Luna Minis, I had a nutritionist recommend these to me when I was preggers because they are a good balance of carb and protein for a snack plus they are high in folic acid and I’ve stuck with them ever since. My absolute fav is the Nutz Over Chocolate.
  3. Sarah: Nature Valley Yogurt Bars, My hubby turned me onto these and ever since he did, I cannot get enough of them! I’m not a huge sweet person, so these are typically my desert-type indulgence…soooooo good!
  4. Court: FiberOne Chewy Bars, ABSOLUTE FAV. Love the taste and act as a meal on the six small a day plan.  I tried to snack myself thin at one point but I think I ended up just downing 5 of these an hour 🙂 
Filed Under: food, tipsy favs Tagged With: , ,

Look again….

August 31, 2010 by

I’m not plastic or paper.  I’ve seen a coupla of coworkers sporting these around.

Hot coffee and iced coffee!  Great for the environment and lookin’ hip in the process.

  1. I’m not a paper cup
  2. Starbucks Acrylic Cup – this one is my fav.  Perfect for iced coffee on the go.
  3. Porcelain Crinkle Cup
  4. Eco Friendly Reusable Cup
  5. ECO Cup
  6. Smart Planet Cup
Filed Under: coffee, court, food, recycle Tagged With: ,

The Cutting Board of Champions

August 26, 2010 by

This is called a bowlboard.  Pretty neato huh? I mean you know when you are making guacamole and you have all these little piles of jalapeno, onion, tomato, etc etc? And then you go to put all that on top of the avocado to mix and it gets stuck in all the crevices of your cutting board? Well this looks like it solves that problemo! And anything that gets that guac on my chip in my mouth in my BELLAY quick, I’m all for it.

(My husband, Jesse, is probably reading this right now, salivating over this new cutting board gadgetry…and if so, just know, I ordered one for you! It’ll be arriving shortly! And the birthday week continues! FTW!)

Bowlboard, Yanko Design

Filed Under: ak, food, gadgets Tagged With: