Whip it up week 4

For this weeks theme of Healthy Options i decided to let M decide since there was nothing I was dying to make. I gave him the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook and told him to choose something.

He chose Pizza Burgers

I like hamburgers but for whatever reason I never make them at home probably because we dont own a grill and they are never the same on the stove.

But Alas here we go

Here's the cast:


You'll need
1 lb. 96% lean ground beef
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/4 tsp. salt
3 oz. low fat mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup low fat, lower sodium, low sugar Marinara Sauce
4 Whole grain hamburger buns

1. Preheat the grill
2. In a large bowl, mix the beef, oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt until well combined, Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and shape into balls, packing them tightly as you do. Press each into a patty that is about 1/2" larger than the diameter of the bun



3. Grill the burgers for about 2 mins per side for medium rare, or until desired doneness (Do not smash the burgers with a spatula) About minute before the burgers are done top each with the cheese
4. Meanwhile put some marinara sauce in a small bowl and heat up in the microwave about 30-60 seconds. PLace the bun halves cut side down on the upper rach of the grill away from the flame for about 20 seconds or until toasted.
5. Place each bun bottom on a serving plate toasted side upand then place the pattied cheese side up on the bun bottoms. Spread the bun tops with your marinara sauce and place on top of the burger



Since this week is healthy options I thought I would add the nutrition facts

Per Serving 304 Calories, 32g Protein, 27g Carbs, 9g fat (3g saturated), 68 mg cholesterol, 5g fiber, 605mg sodium

1. was this good? Yes, it was good, not my favorite as Im not a big fan of meatball subs and that is basically what this is, but M loved it!

2. would is the recipe easy to follow? YES This recipe was so easy to follow and so easy to make and was done in no time, we didnt make ours on the gril and we used ground turkey instead of beef so ours took a little longer

3. would you make this again? I would make it again if M requested it but not on my own accord only because Im not a huge fan of the meatball sub type dish

Update

If you remember when I wrote about the little girl who was wandering around by herself

Well, M and I were at HEB grocery shopping yesterday and we saw one of the officers who came to the house that day. SO we asked him whatever happened to the little girl.

He said they found the apartment the little girl lives in and the dad was sleeping and the little girl let herself out. The dad had put his mattress in front of the door so the little girl wouldnt get out as he works night shift and was going to sleep and put Barney on TV so the little girl would watch. Apparently she is a little more advanced than Barney because the officer said he asked the girl to show him how she opened the door and lock and she did. Apparently the parents are divorced and this was the dad's weekend to have the little girl but he had to work the night before.

The officer told the dad he needs to get a top lock for the door with a latch that would be out of reach for the child even if she were to put a chair in front of the door.

SO at least its good to know he wasn't passed out, or on drugs or whatever else could have happened. That dad and little girl are very lucky that God was on duty that day!!

Whip it up week 3

Regional favorites was the name of the game and being from south texas i didnt really feel like making southwestern/mexican type food so I hit up my Gram who lives in Slidell which is outside New Orleans and asked for a recipe from her region mainly because many of my memories from childhood come from being at their house and the meals they would prepare... SOOOO GOOD

So I decided to go with Shrimp Creole one of my favorites which I had never made before but brought back memories from my childhood vacations and the few months of 4th grade that we lived there while my mom moved from California to Ohio

Shrimp Creole

1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 Tbs instant minced onion (I actually used about 1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion)
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2Tbs flour
1Tbs Season-all
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp cayenne or red pepper
2tsp parsley flakes
3 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 lb cooked, cleaned shrimp (cook shrimp in boil for spicier taste)



Melt butter in large (10-inch) skillet.
Saute onion, celery, and green peppers in butter until is lightly browned


Blend in flour
Add remaining ingredients except shrimp; mix well
Cover and simmer 30 minutes
Stir in pre-cooked shrimp and continue simmering just until shrimp is heated through


Serve over hot steamed rice



This recipe was so good and very easy to make I would defanitly make it again and it made a good amount of left overs which is always a plus in my book!!

Finally

I finally received a working cd from my photographer with our engagement pics. He had us a dvd promptly 5 days after our pics were taken but for some reason my computer wouldnt read it soooo it then took a while to get the other one for whatever reason but here we are and here are some of my favorite faves.

I must say we chose an awesome photograher and he is really good at photoshop because it was about 112 degrees that day and we were sweating like little piggies!!! But based on the pictures you would never know!

We had planned on wearing several different outfits and yadd yadda but ended up using just the two mainly because we just walked around and stopped to snap pics in different locations so changing often wasnt possible and Im really glad with how the pictures turned out anyway!!

Whip it up week 2

For this weeks theme "Guilty Pleasure" I decided to make some pancakes that have been enticing me for some time and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to make them.

I came across this recipe on Bakerelle I absolutely love that blog and couldnt wait to make these pancakes

Here is the recipe

The night before I made the Maple Butter

You'll need:
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup

-Combine all three in a small bowl with a rubber spatula.
-Spoon the mixture on a piece of wax paper.
-Roll and re-shape back into a stick of butter.
-Twist the ends to secure the wax paper and refrigerate.

I thought this part was slightly unneccesary as it took forever to mix and at that mine didnt really incorporate well and then to me it didnt add anything extra to the pancakes except that I love me some butter on my pancakes!

Then for the pancakes you'll need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar, plus two tsp for blueberries
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
2 cups blueberries
Extra butter for coating griddle
Maple Syrup
(Makes about 16)


-Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
-Whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg in medium bowl.
-Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.
-Toss blueberries in a small bowl with 2 tsp sugar.
-Heat a griddle over medium heat. Take extra butter and run over surface of griddle. Repeat as necessary throughout process.
-Pour batter on griddle 1/4 cup at a time.
-Add some of the sugared blueberries to each pancake.
-Cook for about 3-4 minutes
-Flip and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.





This recipe was very easy to make I have never made pancakes from scratch only from a box so I was really unsure that this would turn out especially since I have had a history of screwing up recipes. But alas, it turned out perfect there was nothing about them that I would change and I love a recipe thats easy to follow

I would defanitly make these again, I kind of want to try them with strawberries though.
The recipe made alot so I am planning on freezing them so I can just heat them up later for a quick breakfast

One of many reasons why I love him

I can always count on a good laugh here and there

M is getting his wisdon teeth out tommorow and has to brush his teeth for thirty minutes tonight, I am not sure why, I guess to kill some mouth bacteria but yet you go to sleep and imsure your mouth will grow some more but what do I know, I have never heard of anyone having to do this but whatevs so

M: Man, I have to still brush my teeth for thirty minutes... good thing I have like 5 toothbrushes

Me: ...what? Why do you need 5?

M: because I have to brush my teeth for thirty minutes and you cant use a wet toothbrush

Me: ...

M: You know when I was a kid someone said you should never use your toothbrush if its wet, why do you think I always have like 2 toothbrushes...

Me: WHAT I am SO confused (while rolling on the floor laughing) But, I wet my toothbrush before I use it

M: Yeah so do I...

Me: Um **speechless** Ok then why do you need 5 toothbrushes again?

M: I dont know cuz that would just be weird to use the same one for all thirty minutes, I have to switch them out

Me: ***speechless, but still rolling on the floor laughing***

Whip it up week 1

I am so thrilled to be participating in whip it up this year I would read everyones posts from last year but i couldnt join in the middle, not sure if it was the official rules but I didnt want to join in the middle so this year when my dear friend Erin started mentioning it I was super excited and jumped on the bandwagon

In case your not sure what whip it up is here is a link to the headquarters
But basically everyweek there is a theme which I can follow or choose not to but I probably will because its morefun that way and then I have to cook a recipe I have never made before and post about it here on my blog with pitures, the recipe, and a recap of the recipe

So here we go... Week 1... Holiday food

I ran across a recipe for a whipped mashed potatoe salad and just HAD to make it, when I was little there was a lady whom my parents were friends with and she made this potatoe salad that was a mashed potatoe salad I loved it because I dont really like all the chuncks that can be involved in Potatoe salad so over all these many many years I was never able to find a recipe similar to this ladies but alas... here we go

I found the recipe here on The Pioneer Woman an awesome blog I read all the time

You will need:

5 pounds russet potatoes (about 8 medium russets)
1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
4 tablespoons prepared mustard (regular, Dijon, or a mixture of both)
5 green onions, sliced up to the darkest green part
8 small sweet pickles (may use dill if that’s more up your alley)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

and here is the whole gang:

Cut potatoes in halves or thirds, then boil until fork tender. Drain.
Mash potatoes or run them through a ricer or food mill to make them extra fluffy.

Roughly chop your pickles, green onions, and boiled eggs

measure out your wet ingredients, ** A little note, slight variation from original recipe, I thought I had plenty of Mayo but apparently someone uses it more than I thought because I only had about a half cup and needed one and a half cups sooo I had to improvise I used sour cream and a little milk and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, also When I measured out the mustard it came out to about 1/3 cup plusI added a little more... I like mustard**

Mix it all up gently (I dont think I was so gentle but it came out ok, plus my bowl was a little too small to be gentle)I also used alittle of the juice from the pickle jar to add some moisture to my mix
And here we go served up in my bowl ready to enter my tummy!!


This potatoe salad was so good!! I loved how smooth it was with just the small chunks of onion and pickle and the eggs YUMMMM I would totally make this again however I would ensure I had enough mayo before starting It was still good using some mayo sour cream and milk but Im sure it would have been ten times better with just mayo!!
It was very easy to make, i did forget to peel the potatoes before boiling them soooo it made things a little more difficult but aside from my own errors the recipe was very easy to follow

Here is the recipe for those of you who want it in its wholeness
P-Dub’s Potato Salad
5 pounds russet potatoes (about 8 medium russets)
1 1/2 cups real mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip)
4 tablespoons prepared mustard (regular, Dijon, or a mixture of both)
5 green onions, sliced up to the darkest green part
8 small sweet pickles (may use dill if that’s more up your alley)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
Cut potatoes in halves or thirds, then boil until fork tender. Drain.
Mash potatoes or run them through a ricer or food mill to make them extra fluffy.
Fold potatoes together with mayonnaise, mustard, green onions, salt, pepper, and other seasonings you like. Fold in pickles and eggs, then taste for seasonings, adding more salt, mustard, or mayo as needed. You may also splash in juice from the pickle jar if salad needs a little moisture.
Serve with baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, burgers…and two pieces of pie.

Dress up time!!

So as previously mentioned I found my wedding dress.

Going into the deal I had always heard that "you will just know" well I had tried on dresses several weeks prior and liked pretty much everything I tried on. I wasnt ready to commit yet and so I waited and the next time I came in town we made another appointment, in that time we also learned that the owner of the bridal salon was a family friend of sorts. My dad drives the school bus at the daycare her children go to. This is why I decided to even look in San Antonio a second time as I was originally planning on buying my dress in Houston.

Well, I had a dress ordered in to try on because I loved it, well in person it was beautiful but just didnt give me that feeling.

I tried on several dresses all where beautiful and then the Lady Teresa who owns Mayfair Bridal pulled out a dress for me and I didnt like it because it had thick off the shoulder straps which Im not into, but she told me they could be taken off and that I should try on the dress anyway, so I did

and Alas we have the dress







Its actually only going to kind of look like this they are actually mixing the neckline of this dress, so it'll have a smoother sweetheart neckline:


onto the body of my dress, but this is what the original neckline looks like on my dress which we will be doing away with asap!


Going into the day as I was trying on dresses and I loved how everything looked I was starting to feel like I would never be able to make a decision but as soon as I put on this dress it was just perfect and I got that feeling that I had to have THIS dress...with some changes of course :) But now I guess I can say I have a custom one of a kind dress