What's on your plate? [from the slow cooker]

Tis the season to bust out the slow cooker, aka crock pot.

Yall know I have been trying to jump on the cooking bandwagon right?

Well so far so good. I am really enjoying this more than

I thought I would.  Actually, I am starting to plan meals 

sporadically. True story. I know ... I know ... HUGE step for me.

Sunday, I want to make this ...

Beef Stew (minus the mushrooms because those are fungus-fyi)

I am still paranoid of leaving the slow cooker on and unattended

all day long which is why I have to do this on a weekend day.

(baby steps)

Here is the recipe.

p.s. I LOVE this web site.

I'll let you know how it turns out next week!



Game on Mr.!

Last night, after another 14 hour work day

(gosh I love being busy), I was on the couch watching the

end of a Disney Channel program with Daughter when my

text notification goes off.

Not an unusual thing in the evening since I am a Realtor and I like to be available.

So I grab my phone and see the text is from

my father-in-law who I call 'Pops'.

He and mother-in-law are the Raider season ticket holders and the ones

who introduced us to the Sac Raider Rooters who happen to

be a blast to go to games with, but ANYHOO ...

Let's move on to the content of this text:

Pops: "Next Sunday Raiders vs 49ers. Loser cooks next dinner

and not Jamie (aka Hubber), you and I."

(I like how he says not Jamie because I totally would have sat back

and let them cook. No harm no foul ... right?) :o)

Me: "Sounds good. Lord help me."

Pops: "It's throw down time."

(this is my favorite part of the text) hee hee hee

Me: "I think I can cook a little."

Pops: "I think you are doing wonderful. Keep it going."

Me: "Ahhh thank you!"

So ... I am a little nervous since I am novice and Pops is like a

master in the kitchen. Ah what the heck, it's gonna be FUN!

Game on Mr.!

VS.

photos: credit

It's All Good {& a rib recipe}

I had 3 hopes for this weekend:

1) Kylee and the Rebels have 2 FUNtabulous games.

2) The ribs that I got up at 6:30 Sunday morning to season and get in the oven turn out ok.

3) The SF 49ers beat the Eagles.

Well we all know #3 did not pan out so well so let's move on to the others ...

1) The Rebels were FANtabulous on Sunday winning both of their games.

Game 1: 15-0; Game 2: 3-2

You see, this is big since Saturday they won just 1 of their 2 games.

Kylee decided to start her Sunday with a pregame breakfast.

it's what she wanted & how she wanted it

Cut huh? She's a creative little munchkin.

To change things up we brought a radio yesterday so the

girls could do their warm-ups to music

in an effort to get them pumped up. It worked!

Another mom brought red and blue hairspray and that was also a BIG hit.

They looked adorable!

Then game time ...

The girls were on fire!  They look great!

Put it this way, they were so pumped that I was still

hearing softball cheers in my head this morning.

2) The ribs were YUMMY. It's true.  I ended up doing them

because Hubber left at 4:45am to get some work done before

Daughter's game.  Poor guy. So I said the night before that I would

season and get them in the oven. This was a first for me.

He didn't object. He must of been very tired. :o)

If you are a frequent reader you know I don't cook often.

Anyhoo ...

They turned out DELISH. I know they weren't lying because

all of the ribs were eaten and nobody got sick! HA!

Here is what I did (nothing was measured):

Preheat oven to 195

Seasoned ribs with rib rub, seasoning salt, garlic salt and pepper.

Topped them off with Sweet baby Ray's BBQ Sauce.

Bake in oven for 4 hours

After softball Hubber finished them on the BBQ with a little more bbq sauce.

(sorry no pic of finished product because we ate them too fast)

They were good and I was proud of myself ... again. {pat pat}

Yep, just waiting for an amateur cooking show to call me. heeee

Now on to that #3 ... humpf! I watched the score of the game the entire

time via my blackberry.  After I saw the dissappointing final score

I got on Facebook to see what smack people were going to talk. ha ha ha

No smack but I did get to see this

So cute already. hee hee hee Boy I sure do hope he

takes after his Auntie. ;o)

All in all we had a great day!

Little Miss Hairy Legs ...

Oh boy.

Yes, what I am about to admit really did happen.

Yes, I am about to throw myself under the bus.

Yes, I am sure at least 95% of you can relate to what you are about to read.

So here it goes ...

Yesterday I looked cute. My outfit. My hair. My amazing personality.

(just thought I'd throw that last one in there ~ HA!)

Anyhoo ...

My outfit was a light sweater with a belt, a knee-length skirt

and THE cutest wedge boots I have ever owned.

{Do you see where this is going?}

Under those boots I had unshaven legs & little ankle sport socks ... true story.

Hey, I didn't want to be hot ya know.

Let's move on ...

I meet my clients to view homes.  We pull up to this one house -

beautiful new neighborhood, new home & dead grass in front yard.

The dead grass was an eyesore on the street. The house even appeared to be vacant.

Thinking we were going to look at a mess when we walked

in the front door, I was confident we wouldn't have to remove our shoes.

Then the door opens and there we see this immaculately clean,

perfectly decorated home with sparkling carpet.

And then ...

My client: "Would you like us to remove our shoes?"

Home owner: "That would be great."

CRAP!

And so it happens ... boots off and my hairy little legs and sport socks were exposed.

(thank goodness I have blonde hair ~ it could have been worse)

To my defense, I am a busy girl which makes me a tired girl and not

so much a morning person. heee heee

Hmmm ... ya ... I am still giggling about this.

Lesson learned: Shave legs in the winter as if it were summer.

Check!  Will do. Thank you very much.

What's on your plate? Comfort food!

That's right. Even the uber want to be healthy eaters splurge

from time to time.  I figured since we have had a pleasant

change in the weather here in No. CA comfort food would

be just the topic for this week's What's on your plate?

So here we go ...

When it is chilly outside, I want some chili. Hubber makes

an amazing chili in the slow cooker.

Yum Yum YUMMY!

A few other things I absolutely positively LOVE

are a good cheeseburger ...

Oh my geesh! My mouth is watering. Mmmm

Seriously, when I was prego my mouth would literally water

for a McDs Big Mac. Guess what? I still like them I just

don't indulge too often anymore.

(Hey, I am tucking in my shirts again. Can you blame me? I'm pretty H.O.T!) HA!

And ...

even though I am not a huge sweets/dessert eater I do

enjoy some good ice cream from time to time.

Especially the seasonal flavors ...

HOLLA!

What are your favorite comfort foods?

The Meat Loaf Experiment

I pulled ground turkey out of the freezer a few

days ago.  I figured we would make spaghetting or something with it then
I decided I didn't want spaghetti last night and

I didn't feel like going to the store.  So, I suggested meat loaf.
It sounded good and I was willing to make it. WHOOOAA!
Daughter said she didn't want

meat loaf if it wasn't the one we had before.

(this is the one from Deceptively Delicious - see previous post)

Ahhh ... that's sweet but, um, no we were trying something new.

I quickly jumped online and searched for an easy (you know me)

meat loaf recipe that required ingredients we had on hand and 

wa la! I found this little diddy.

Sooo easy and it required Ritz crackers! (true story)

I gathered the ingredients together then my mind started to

wonder what if? So I got to work.

(keep in mind I am not a chef nor do I claim to be good at this type of

thing but I was feeling very Top Chef like last night for some reason)

See recipe below with my changes in color:

Prep Time: 10 Min ~ Cook Time: 1 Hour ~ 8 Servings

Ingredients

* 1 egg

* 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used ground turkey) 

* 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®), undrained

   (I used 14 ounces of tomatoe sauce and 6 ounces diced green chilis) 

* 1 sleeve buttery round crackers (such as Ritz®), crushed

* 1 teaspoon onion flakes (optional) (I used minced onion - not measured) 

* 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, to taste, and/or (I used 3 small cloves of fresh chopped garlic - Yes I did this on my own HA!)

* 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, to taste, and/or

* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

* Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

* Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, then add the ground beef, tomatoes, and crushed  crackers. Season with onion flakes, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper.

* Mix until evenly combined.

* Pack into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

* Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 246

Total Fat: 14.9g

Cholesterol: 80mg

Guess what? We all liked it! (another true story)

I feel like I could be on an amateur Top Chef series.

You know, one that I don't need to know all of those fancy names of the

foods and spices? Ya, I think I could rock something like that. HA!

 



Well Hello October!

I am so glad to see you.

Boogety boogety BOO!

This is the month for Halloween. All things Halloween.

Yep, I just decided. This is Halloween month.

photo credit

Jack-o-lanterns ... pumpkin patches ... costumes ... pumpkin spice ... OH MY!

My costume is in my possession. Yes it is, but I am not telling the details.

Not elaborate, just cute.

We are hosting a party this year. Weeeeee. Can't wait.

Our town is having a huge festival this weekend.

It's going to be a blast. Such a perfect way to kick off Halloween month!

Have a wonderful weekend!