The Domestic Single Gal

Happy Holidays!

2012-01-04T15:47:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone is recovering from a nice holiday break shared with friends and family. If your family is anything like mine, all our holidays are pretty much centered around food! I have another pinterest find to share with you that I made over the holidays, and it is definitely worth making again if I could only find the willpower not to eat it all!

I am sure everyone is familiar with the scrumptious Samoa girl scout cookies? When I was an auditor my coworker and I decided to butter up our client by buying boxes of these from her daughter and we would just eat them over the course of the audit, which was a few weeks long. Those cookies didn't last until the end of the day! It's so hard to eat just one!

Samoa Bark

When I ran across this recipe on pinterest, I was so excited that it looked good, would be a great Christmas item to share, AND it started with an S that I didn't take too much time to read the

instructions. What I normally like to do is make things that are easy with a few ingredients but look and taste like I was cooking for much longer! However, the morning we were supposed to leave for my grandparents and I finally read the entire recipe I was in for a rude awakening! This was my first time to dissolve sugar until it has an "amber" hue and melt chocolate over a glass bowl. Thankfully my mom was there to help, but I am still not sure why you can't just stick the chocolate in the microwave (I still have so much to learn)!

Ingredients

Makes 1 8×8 pan | Preparation: Line pan with parchment or wax paper with a one-inch overhang on each side.

1 11.5oz dark chocolate (Ghirardelli)

1 cup coarsely crushed shortbread

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes, toasted

¾ cup caramel sauce (recipe follows)

Directions

Instructions:

Place coconut on a parchment lined bakesheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes or until coconut starts to brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Make caramel sauce and set aside to cool. Portion out 2 tablespoons for topping. Place chocolate in double boiler or a heat-proof bowl over simmering water and gently stir until chocolate is melted. Portion out 2 tablespoons for topping. Pour half of chocolate into prepared pan, and, using an offset icing spatula smooth out chocolate until an even layer is achieved.

Sprinkle coarsely crushed shortbread on top and gently press it into the chocolate. Transfer pan to the freezer for 5 minutes or until chocolate becomes slightly hardened. Remove pan from freezer and pour caramel sauce on top, then, using an offset icing spatula spread caramel until an even layer is achieved. Transfer pan to the freezer for 5 minutes or until caramel becomes slightly hardened. Remove pan from freezer and pour other half of chocolate on the caramel layer. To finish, sprinkle coconut on top and drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of chocolate and caramel on top of coconut. Transfer pan to refrigerator for about 5-10 or until bark is set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Caramel Filling

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoon butter

7 tablespoon heavy cream

Instructions:

Add sugar and water into a saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Use a wet brush to remove any crystals that form on the side. Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high. Now and then, using the handle give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. Do not stir the mixture directly. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute. As the mixture darkens to a medium amber color, approximately 5-7 minutes, add the butter and heavy cream to saucepan. The mixture will bubble wildly (and it really does!!!). Whisk to combine (bubbles will subside upon cooling). Set aside to cool completely.

As you can see it's pretty sticky but so good! This is after my cousins and I did a taste test just to make sure it was worthy of being included in the Christmas spread. It was a hit!

"Rice" to the occassion

2011-12-06T10:28:00.004-06:00

I decided to take Thanksgiving as another opportunity to cook through the alphabet. “R” provided me with several options, but I think the most fitting to bring to a potluck style meal was something that incorporated rice. This staple alone provides countless possibilities, from rice pilaf to risotto. I wanted something traditional so I made Broccoli, Rice, and Cheese Casserole.

I really like Paula Deen’s recipes, mainly because they are good and fattening! This recipe is a variation of Paula's and did not disappoint, as it came complete with butter and lots of cheese!

Ingredients

2 (10 ounce) packages of frozen, chopped broccoli

2 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup of minced onion

1/4 cup of minced celery

1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup

1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), or to taste, optional

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, optional

2 cups of cooked rice1 cup shredded Cheddar, Swiss cheese, Montery Jack cheese, or any combination, divided

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Place broccoli in a microwave safe bowl, add about 1 tablespoon of water, cover and microwave about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain and roughly chop, if needed. Can also parboil or steam broccoli just until barely fork tender but with a bit of bite, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a skillet and saute the onion and celery over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the two cans of soup and mix until well blended; add the Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, rice and chopped broccoli. Stir gently until combined, taste andadjust seasonings. Turn out into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, sprinkle remaining cheese on top and return to the oven uncovered, for about 5 minutes or until cheese has melted.

I will say that when you buy the broccoli, try to get the florets and not the chunks because then you will end up with a bunch of ends. I will also say that although it doesn't say in the ingredients, I would add some salt and pepper to taste. I also doubled the recipe and it fit nicely in a 9X13 dish.

Happy Cooking!

Thanksgiving Blunders

2011-11-29T12:12:00.007-06:00

Hope everyone has recovered from a fun-filled Thanksgiving break! I spent alot of time travelling to see my grandparents and other family and friends but I am so blessed that I got to see everybody!

My cousins Susanna and Sarah and I taking a break from lunch prep to hang out with my sweet granddaddy! He will be 85 in February!

Here is a pic of Jilly, Lahuta, and myself. Always love a bestie reunion!

I decided that I would make two dishes to share with everyone...one I am going to post later as part of my continued effort to cook through the alphabet but the other was a festive dessert I was so excited about! Like many other recipes I have tried lately, this one came from pinterest. I am not a fan of pumpkin by itself, but put in some sweetening ingredients and I'm sold! :)

Now I am going to post the ingredients and directions, followed by the "blunder", and then the correct way in case you want to make this in the future!

Ingredients & Directions

Cake Layer
1 box yellow/golden butter cake mix (reserve 1 cup of the dry mix)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
2 eggs

Mix together and spread into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.

Pumpkin Pie Layer
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 large can (30 oz.) pumpkin pie mix

Mix together and pour over cake mix layer.

Crumble Topping Layer
1 cup reserved dry cake mix
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over pumpkin layer.

Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes or until middle is firm and a toothpick comes out clean.

NOW...sounds easy enough right? Well a little fact that I wasn't aware of was that when it says "Pumpkin Pie Mix" it means "Pumpkin Pie Mix", not pureed pumpkin like I so naively thought! There's nothing like expecting a sugary treat only to take a bite into a bitter spoonful of pumpkin! So in the future, I will humble myself and follow exactly what the directions say, no more no less!

I tried to salvage this poor dessert by smothering it in Paula Deen's cream cheese frosting, but based on how much I had left to take home with me (joy) I would say the fam wasn't buying it! O well, you live you learn!

Happy Fall!!

2011-10-28T09:50:00.007-05:00

Happy Friday everybody! I wanted to share some photos from my pumpkin carving party last weekend...

Thanks to Pinterest, I got some great ideas for both food and decorations. Here is a Caramel Apple Cheesecake Dip I found. Can you tell which one is mine?

Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3 Tbs. heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Caramel sauce (recipe below) or store bought

Heath milk chocolate pieces

mini chocolate chips

2-4 Granny Smith or other crisp tart apples, sliced and soaking in lemon juice/water until ready to serve

Spread all the cream cheese on a serving platter and top with the caramel, Heath bits, and the mini chocolate chips.

After my friends got here we got to carving....and then I realized I put all my efforts into the food and not enough into the process of carving! But everybody's turned out great!

I decided to make chili as the entree and got the idea from a charity event recently to put the chili in a bag of chips with toppings. Just shake it up and eat with a fork!

I am always worried that I won't have enough food, which has never happened so I am not quite sure where that stems from. But I decided to make Halloween Funfetti cupcakes and pumpkin bars for my sweets because they are delicious and easy for my guests to pack up and take with them!

I saved the best dip for last! This dip really is the result of an accident, but I am proud of the finished product! Here is the original recipe:

Cheddar Bacon Dip

16 oz sour cream

1 packet Ranch dressing mix

3 oz bacon bits (in the bag not jar)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix together and refrigerate 24 hours. Serve with chips and/or veggies.

HOWEVER, I accidentally used cream cheese instead of sour cream. Which makes it super creamy and hard to mix. I didn't realize it until I had an unopened carton of sour cream! So I had to go rogue and start adding my own ingredients. In addition to the left out sour cream, I added chives (that I grew in my courtyard), onion soup mix, and extra cheese!

I had such a great time seeing everybody and catching up! Now I'm looking forward to the holidays!

Que delicioso!

2011-10-10T17:50:00.011-05:00

Happy Columbus Day everybody! I finally completed my Q recipe, which means only 9 more letters to go!

When I first started brainstorming what I was going to make for Q, for some reason I thought I just HAD to do Quinoa. Why that was the first thing that came to mind I'm not sure, especially considering that I have never eaten Quinoa, much less cooked it before. So after browsing through many a quinoa recipe and finding nothing that I thought my friends would eat (which is a requirement), I decided to go back to the drawing board and went with one of my favorite types of food...Mexican!

I made a super easy Mexican dip for an appetizer:

1 can refried beans (I use fat-free)

1 packet taco seasoning

8 oz sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar

cheese

Mix beans and taco seasoning. Spread beans in the bottom of a baking dish.

Spread the sour cream on top of the beans and then top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes - until cheese is bubbly. Serve with Fritos.

This was so quick and with only 4 ingredients it doesn't cost much to make and it's really tasty! Next up was the main course, which I decided on farmers market vegetable

quesadillas and spanish rice.

Vegetable Quesadillas

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped zucchini

1/2 cup chopped yellow squash

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1 tablespoon olive oil

cooking spray

6 (9 inch) whole wheat tortillas

1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large nonstick pan, cook red pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, and mushroo

ms in olive oil over medium to medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until just tender.

Remove vegetables from pan.

Coat the same pan with cooking spray, and place one tortilla in pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese evenly over tortilla, and layer 3/4 cup of the vegetable mixture over the cheese. Sprinkle another 1/8 cup of cheese on the vegetables, and top with a second tortilla. Cook until golden on both sides, for approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove quesadilla from pan, and repeat with remaining ingredients. Cut each quesadilla into 8 triangles with a pizza cutter. Serve hot.

And Whitney made some yummy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for dessert. All in all a great night with dear friends and good food!

My next post will be pics from my pumpkin party but in the meantime here's little Bells in her Halloween outfit (which she hates)!

New York, New York!

2011-09-25T17:30:00.009-05:00

I recently attended an Investor Conference in one of my favorite places, New York! So I invited my mom along and we went up a few days early to shop and tour the city!

Saturday night we stayed in Soho, which is an area that I haven't really been to before. I loved it! It doesn't have the busy touristy feel of places like Times Square, and it's close to NYU so there's lots of bars and coffee shops and great shopping!

We ate dinner at La Esquina, a Mexican restaurant that I have heard Regis and Kelly talk about. The front of the restaurant is actually a taco bar, and after having to ask somebody, the only way to enter the restaurant is to knock on an employee only door and someone has to check your name off the list, super trendy! So of course I was celeb stalking. No luck but the food was good!

A few weeks before we left, my bestie Jilly came to visit and we were in Anthropologie (as always). I saw a cute cookbook that had healthy ways to make my favorite sweets! I looked up the location in NYC and mom and I went to check it out. The place was super cute, but I think I will stick with the fattening cupcakes!

Sunday was the 10th anniversary of September 11th attacks. I will admit I was a super nervous flyer with all the terrorists rumors, but I really felt privileged to be in NYC with the families of the victims. We saw several carrying around pictures of their loved ones.

The other days we walked around and took in the city when I wasn't in meetings. In fact, one day we were sitting outside of the lincoln center watching the models come and go from Fall Fashion Week when lo and behold my favorite person EVER walked right past me! That's right, Hoda Kotbe ladies and gentlemen! In fact, I was in the middle of reading her autobiography when I left for NYC. Such a star crush!

Here is a pic of us before we went to see Jersey Boys

The weather was perfect and I really enjoyed spending time with my mom in my favorite city. O and the conference wasn't so bad either

Cheesy POTATO Salad

2011-08-06T15:49:00.005-05:00

This post takes me one step closer to completing my overly ambitious goal of cooking through the alphabet! I hate to set another deadline that will more than likely pass without me meeting it, but I think I will finish by the end of the year!

I made this potato salad for a 4th of July party with my sunday school class. I am not a big fan of potato salads that have a hint of sweetness, and when I found this recipe I knew I would love it! It basically taste like a stuffed baked potato, yum!

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds red potatoes, cubed

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 bunch green onions, chopped

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon real bacon bits

Directions

Place the potatoes into a pot, and fill with enoughwater to cover.

Bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, oruntil easily pierced with a fork. Drain, and set aside to cool.In a large bowl, mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise, sugar, half of the onions, and half of the cheese. Gently stir in the cooled potatoes. Top with remaining cheese and onions, and sprinkle baconbits over the top.

Enjoy!

Oreo Truffles

2011-07-10T13:27:00.005-05:00

This recipe I have been saving since I made it for my Christmas party this past December. These are super easy and make a great presentation!

Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg. (16.6 oz.) OREO Cookies,finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided

2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted
Directions
MIX cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

And it's hard to dip in the chocolate without getting additional chocolate on the side, so I just took a knife and scraped off the excess chocolate. They are delicious!

Nutella Ooey Gooey Butter Cookies

2011-07-04T11:56:00.009-05:00

Happy 4th of July everybody! If you are looking for a last minute dish to bring to your party (and I mean last minute because it's already lunchtime), these cookies are to die for! I promise they will be a hit, and they're so easy to make!

This is my first time to try Nutella, and it is delicious! If you haven't tried it before, it's a hazelnut spread, similar to peanut butter, but much sweeter! Using this spread in the batter makes the cookies moist and chewy, and they stay that way for severa

l days!

Nutella Gooey Butter Cookies

1 box chocolate cake mix ( I use chocolate fudge)

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nutella (add more if you like)
powdered sugarIn a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the crea

m cheese and butter until smooth. Add the egg. Then beat in the Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in the cake mix.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you

can roll the batter into balls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls (I used a medium cookie scoop) and then roll them in powdered sugar. Place on an cookie sheet lined with parchment. Bake 12-14 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey.

I made these last weekend for a cookout and before I remembered to take a picture of the end result they were all gone! Great excuse though to make them again this weekend when my family came to visit!

June is the month for BIRTHDAYS!

2011-06-23T17:18:00.007-05:00

I want to start off by apologizing for my absence from the blogosphere lately, I have been out enjoying the long summer days! And more importantly this month holds a very special day….my birthday!! Anybody that knows me knows that I still make an unnecessarily big deal out of my birthday so it's no surprise I packed it up and took myself on vacation!

But before I left, my coworkers got me a pretty cookie cake and my sweet friends joined me for a pre birthday dinner at Bottega. YUM!

Then it was off to Sandestin for an extended weekend of sunshine, good food, and lots of dancing! :)

I know I have also neglected my recipe challenge (shocker), but I am making an "N" dish this weekend that I promise to post ASAP!

May is the Month for Music

2011-05-25T19:49:00.010-05:00

I have spent the last few weekends spending time with my besties and listening to all kinds of good music! My first mini road trip adventure took Rach, Whitney, and myself to the music mecca known as Memphis Tennessee. We got to go out on Beale Street, eat some good bar-b-q, and see a variety of bands from oldies like Jerry Lee Lewis to more current faves like Mumford and Sons.

My childhood best friend Cody served as our tour guide and we were glad to have him! One thing I have learned from going to these festivals is that music brings out an eclectic group of people to say the least!

Here are Whitney and I waiting to get into the festival. It's crazy that just a week after we were there this exact spot was completely flooded!

Next up was a beach trip down to Gulf Shores for the Hangout Fest. This was a 3 day festival on the beach jam packed with concerts and concessions and LOTS of people! And as you can see Jilly brought dear old Chicken Socks who was readily embraced by his new friends (and yes I had the same dress on, hate when that happens)!

Here we got to see the Foo Fighters, Cee Lo Green, Pretty Lights, the Avett Brothers..and below Whitney and I are waiting to get in to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals!

I had a great time hanging out with the girls and laying on the beach, I was sad to come home!

Here's the group minus Emily and Jilly. I am truly blessed to have such a great group of friends, I don't know where I would be without them!

Mississippi

2011-05-08T11:27:00.001-05:00

Happy Spring everybody! Spring is quickly becoming my favorite time of year. I just spent my afternoon yesterday reading outside and planting flowers (I am even trying to grow some Juliet tomatoes)! And I can't believe I am already to M...it's only been a year and a half! :)

I grew up in Mississippi, but I didn't appreciate my great home state as much until I moved away. Especially in the Mississippi Delta where my grandparents live. Things seem to move slower there, and life is so simple!

Here's a picture of the sun setting over the bean field in the back of my grandparents house.

So in honor of the magnolia state, I wanted to share one of my favorite dips, aptly named "Mississippi State Sin".

Ingredients

1 (approx. 1 pound) round loaf of crusty bread, optional
1 (8 ounce) block of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1-1/2 cups of sour cream
2 cups of shredded cheddar
1/3 cup of chopped ham
1/3 cup of sliced green onion
1 can of green chilies, undrained
2 tablespoons of pickled jalapenos, chopped
Couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. To serve in a bread bowl, cut the very top off of the bread and hollow out, leaving about a 1-inch shell and reserving the bread from both the top and the inside. Set the top aside and cut the inside bread into cubes or tear into chunks if desired, to use for dipping.

Cream the cream cheese and sour cream together until well blended. Add all of the remaining ingredients and mix in well. Place enough aluminum foil to wrap around the bread on a baking sheet and pour the cheese mixture into the bread bowl, or into a baking dish. Return to top the bread on top and wrap the loaf completely in the foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Can also bake in a baking dish if desired. Serve with the reserved bread.

This dip is so easy, and the best part is you can cook it the hour before and not have to worry about it! And you never have to worry about having leftovers! :)

Chi Town

2011-04-08T17:09:00.009-05:00

I'm back with a recap of my recent vacation to Chicago with my bestie Jillian for her 26th birthday! We had such a good time, Chicago is definitely one of my favorites places to go now! I'll now present my pictorial...

Here's Jilly and I right after we got to Chicago. We were so excited to be there, we ended up walking almost 5 miles that afternoon! Needless to say we were sore and took a taxi the rest of the week!

Here's another pic of us by the river. It was such a pretty day!

Here we are at the bean/cloud. Do you spy Chicken?

(You'll thank me one day for encouraging you to take this sweeping shot Jilly) :)

The night we got there we went to dinner at this amazing sushi place called Sunda. It was so good and we even had a celeb sighting...anybody remember Travis Barker from Blink 182 (or the show he had with his wife on MTV)? Then we went and danced the night away and made some new friends!

Friday was opening day at Wrigley Field, it was amazing! It was misting outside but thankfully our seats were covered. And Robert Redford threw the opening pitch! As Jilly so lovingly pointed out, I am a 50 year old woman trapped in a 20 something's body!

Saturday was the big birthday and we did it up big! We started with a champagne brunch at a restaurant called Hub 51, then went to get a yummy cupcake at Crumbs bakeshop!

Saturday afternoon we went shopping on the Magnificent Mile and that was a workout in itself! That night we had reservations at the Signature room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Observatory. It had an amazing view! And of course dinner was followed up with dancing, a favorite pastime between my group of friends!

I will say that this was by far one of my favorite vacations of all time. I am blessed to have a bestie like Jilly and to get the opportunity to travel. I heart Chicago!!!

Fancy Schmancy Lasagna

2011-03-12T13:57:00.007-06:00

This marks my halfway point in my goal of cooking through the alphabet! Albeit a little behind schedule, I am very proud of this next dish. Usually if a recipe has more than 6 or 7 ingredients I steer clear! But my parents came into town so I knew with a little help from my mom, I could tackle this (what I thought was) a complicated yet gourmet dish!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 ounce)
2 (3 1/2-ounce) packages shiitake mushrooms
Cooking spray
1 (8-ounce) package presliced button mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
6 no-boil lasagna noodles (such as Barilla or Vigo)
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
2 cups chopped plum tomato
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine the water and porcini in a medium bowl; cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain in a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1 cup soaking liquid. Bring the soaking liquid to a boil in small saucepan; reduce heat to medium, and cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 5 minutes). Remove the stems from shiitakes; discard stems. Slice shiitake caps.
Note: You can really use any type of mushrooms that you like, so don't be deterred if you haven't heard of these listed above!

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add porcini, shiitake, and button mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon salt, thyme, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; sauté 12 minutes or until softened. Add wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly with a whisk. Gradually add 1/4 cup porcini mushroom liquid and milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook until mixture thickens (about 4 minutes). Remove from heat. Add the goat cheese, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and1/8 teaspoon pepper, and stir until cheese melts.

Spread 1/2 cup cheese sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over cheese sauce, and top with half of mushroom mixture, half of spinach, 3/4 cup tomato, 1/2 cup cheese sauce, and 1/4 cup mozzarella. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. And since my parents are very health conscious, I opted for whole wheat noodles and it worked just as well!

Spread remaining cheese sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella, 1/2 cup tomato, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Cover and bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.

It turned out even better than I thought it would! The main thing I learned from this dish is to not be hesitant to try something new, even if the ingredient list is a little daunting!

Mardi Gras!

2011-03-01T21:18:00.008-06:00

Happy Mardi Gras! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I went to visit my bestie Jilly in Mobile, and we went to a Mardi Gras ball. This was my first time to attend a ball, and it was so much fun!

I want to share with you my cajun-inspired meal with you, complete with a dessert for my next recipe of the alphabet! My friend Whitney came over to watch the Bachelor on Monday, and she was sweet enough to oblige me and my new recipes! I started with a creamy jambalaya pasta...

Ingredients

1/2 pound Farfalle pasta
1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup heavy cream (or half & half or evaporated milk)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion or 2 Tbsp minced onion flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup white wine
4 tablespoon tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese

In a large pot, boil water for pasta. Salt water. Boil pasta and cook until al dente. Set aside. Brown sausage in a small skillet over medium heat.

Once browned, add onion and saute for two minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add white wine to skillet, making sure to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom. Let wine reduce by half, about two minutes. Stir in Cajun seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper and tomato sauce. Add cream and heat to almost bubbling, then reduce heat to low. Allow the cream mixture to reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet. Toss with parsley and freshly grated Parmesan.

And Whitney was even kind enough to pose for a picture, after I assured her that no more than 5 people would view this! :) Now onto KING CAKE!!!

When researching recipes, every one I found was extremely complicated, involving warm yeast and a thermometer. I knew that I am definitely not ready for that kind of dish, so I finally found this easy alternative to the original cake and although it's not quite as pretty but tastes just as good!

Ingredients:

Filling:
4 ounces (half of a large block) cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake:
2 rolls (total of 12 individual crescent rolls) refrigerated crescent rolls in the can

Icing:
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
3 to 4 Tablespoon (about) milk or cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Purple, green, and yellow colored sugar crystals or food coloring

Preparation:

Place cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon, in the bowl with the metal blade. Process until combined. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a pizza pan or baking sheet with butter-flavored vegetable oil. Unroll crescent roll dough and separate into triangles. Position triangles next to each other with the points toward the center, overlapping the long sides about 1/4-inch, forming a large round. Where the pieces overlap, press the seams together only in the center of each seam, leaving either ends of the seams unsealed so you can fold them up over the filling. Spread the filling around in a ring covering the center sealed seam of each triangle.

Place a small plastic baby or dried bean somewhere in the filling. (The person who gets this piece will have good luck for the year.) Fold the short side of each triangle toward the center just to the edge of the filling to cover. Then pull the point end of the triangles toward the outer rim of the pan to fully enclose the filling, tucking under the points. Lightly press the seams.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Whisk together the confectioners' sugar, milk or cream, and vanilla until smooth. The consistency should be fairly thick, but still thin enough to slowly drip down the sides. Add more milk as necessary. Spoon the icing in a ring over the top of the King Cake and allow it to slowly drip down the sides. To decorate for Mardi Gras, sprinkle wide stripes of purple, green, and yellow colored sugar crystals.

I love cream cheese but you really could use any kind of filling. Also, this recipe had the option of including pecan halves in the filling. The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy!!

President's Day

2011-02-21T16:03:00.004-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! Thanks to old George and Abe, I got to have today off! The weather has been so nice here, it feels like spring. And I had a great weekend with my parents and Bella outside enjoying it!

Today I did something that, in my entire 25 1/2 years, I can say that I have never done. I took the opportunity to go shopping at the outlet mall (now this I had done before) and stumbled into the new Coach outlet that just opened over the weekend. Now anybody who has been anywhere with me knows that I carry my same black Hobo clutch that I have had for years. And it has served me well I will say. But after I saw this beauty pictured below, I knew it was time to bite the bullet and get me a big girl purse! Let me just say, I am in love! I don't even know what I am going to put in it yet, so many possibilities!

Have a great week! Looking forward to my next few posts!

A Sweet for your Sweet!

2011-02-13T21:06:00.006-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day Eve everyone! I wanted to go ahead and post my special Valentine's recipe in case you were still looking for a good treat to make tomorrow! I made these for my friends at work and they are really tasty!

The Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package strawberry cake mix
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries
1 cup whipped cream

As you can see I didn't get to use fresh strawberries because they are not in season, but I used the frozen strawberries and drained some of the juice.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs and strawberries until well blended. Fold in the whipped cream until well blended. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I wanted to make the cookies even more Valentines-esque, so I got these cookie cutters from Wal-Mart. And what I love is that I can use different sizes and edges.

I tried different techniques with the cookie cutters and found the best way to keep the heart shape is to wait until the cookies have cooled and then turn the cookie over to make the cut! That way the front of the cookie still looks untouched!

And Voile!

Hope every have a very happy Valentine's Day!

Tuesday Tunes

2011-02-01T21:14:00.007-06:00

Hello blogosphere! I hope everyone is having a very happy Tuesday! I am still not quite ready to post my next letter recipe (see below for a hint) but in the meantime, I thought I would share some new music!

Recently my friends Whitney and Susu introduced me to the band the Civil Wars. It's so hard to describe their music, so I thought I would let the NY Daily News do if for me:

"The Civil Wars aren't a band but a bi-gender duo. While John Paul White hails from Alabama (woohoo) and Joy Williams from northern California, they met in bohemian East Nashville two years ago as professional songwriters. Along the way, White and Williams found they had a story of their own to tell — one that fell far outside the clichés of the country mainstream. They fashioned their budding chamber-folk songs as convincing duets, communicating such clear characters with their voices, they didn't need separate lyrical personae to tell the story. Williams' high and ghostly vocals contrast, and blend, ideally with White's ambidextrous tones."

If you look past the flowery words, you will see that it's definitely a unique blend of music. Well...their first full album was released today and I LOVE it! And if you want to listen to a sample before you decide if you want to purchase the whole CD (trust me you will) ITunes made the self-titled song from their album Barton Hollow as the free single of the week!

Even better news...I get to see them THIS SATURDAY! There's a bunch of us going to the show here in Birmingham, and I can't wait! Hopefully I will get to meet them after the show!

Ok onto my hints for the next letter...

And in case you still aren't sure...I'll give you one more hint! :)

Stay tuned! Hope ya'll have a great night!

Jellied Meatballs

2011-01-02T14:22:00.005-06:00

Just in time for the New Year, I have a new recipe for the letter J in my alphabet countdown!

So I realize this doesn't sound that good, but I promise it tastes better than it sounds! The jellied part of this dish is cranberry jelly that you mix with the other ingredients shown below and let simmer in a slow cooker. Why don't I just post the recipe!

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons minced onion

1 (8 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce
3/4 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, water, bread crumbs, and minced onion. Roll into small meatballs.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once.

In a slow cooker or large saucepan over low heat, blend the cranberry sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice. Add meatballs, and simmer for 1 hour before serving.

I made these for my party and they were all gone by the end of the night. I hope everyone had a great new years weekend!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-28T11:54:00.005-06:00

Well I had all these plans to blog about my parties, treats, etc. but I failed to calculate how little time I would have over the holidays! Now that things have slowed down, I hope to pick back up where I left off and share my Christmas festivities with you!

Every year I try to have at least one party around Christmastime because I love the holiday and look forward to sharing my recipes and decorations with friends! This year I decided to have an ornament swap, mainly because I have absolutely no ornaments! I envy my friends who have collected ornaments since they were very small and now have a tree overflowing with memories. So I thought what a great way to both give and get an ornament!

Here is the invitation. I actually printed it on my printer at home and after a few aligning tweaks, I think they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

I am going to save some recipes for my alphabet countdown but here are some pictures:

Here Leanne and Julie are showing off their ornaments!

I am not very crafty, but I have a ton of glass vases I have collected from throwing showers and I wanted to incorporate them into my decorating without spending a lot of money. So I picked these pinecones out of the woods by my house and got some fake snow at Pottery Barn and threw in a few ornaments and ta-da!

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

You scream! I scream!

2010-12-06T12:49:00.006-06:00

We all scream for ICE CREAM!! I know if the temperature at your house this morning was anything like it was at my house, it’s hard to even think about cold treats. But, as most of you know, ice cream is my favorite food, hands down. Give me a heathbar blizzard from Dairy Queen and I am one happy gal!

Doesn't this look amazing? MMM....

So before I take a break from my alphabet menu to share some Christmas treats, I thought I would leave you with one last, simple recipe for low-fat ice cream!

You will need an ice cream maker. I got this one from Cuisinart for Christmas a few years ago and I am in love! I’m sure you grew up as I did, where homemade ice cream was made out of this noisy little contraption that you had to constantly pour ice and salt into while it blended. And I’m not sure if it was because I was little when I remember this, but it seemed to take forever! Well now that method is a thing of the past. This ice cream and yogurt maker from Cuisinart is quiet and doesn't make a mess!

Ingredients

1 can peaches packed in juice
2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup sugar

Directions

Drain peaches, reserving 1/2 cup of the juice. In a blender, pulse to chop the peaches. Add the vanilla yogur, sugar, and reserved peach juice. Process until smooth and the sugar is dissolved, about 1 minute. Turn the machine on, pour the mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for lots of Christmas goodies!

Belated Thanksgiving treat

2010-11-30T19:49:00.007-06:00

I meant to post this before Thanksgiving but time got away from me so...better late than never, right? And maybe by this time pumpkin filling will be on sale! :)

I made this recipe for Thanksgiving last year and it was very popular with the fam! So when I heard my new coworkers had a Thanksgiving feast at work I decided to make these bars because I knew they would turn out (or at least I hoped they would)!

Ingredients
Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

This is a Paula Deen recipe so you knew there would be at least a stick of butter involved!

Here's the finished product! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Hmmmm...us

2010-11-18T19:37:00.009-06:00

In case you didn't get the title after reading it the first time, say it really fast and you'll have my choice for the letter H!!

I was hesitant to make hummus because every recipe I found had some unheard of ingredient called "tahini". I had no idea what this was, but after some research, I found out that tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking.

And it took me awhile to find it, I had to go to Fresh Market where they have more specialized options. Now onto the recipe...

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (4 ounce) jar roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions
In an electric blender or food processor, puree the chickpeas, red peppers, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Process, using long pulses, until the mixture is fairly smooth, and slightly fluffy. Make sure to scrape the mixture off the sides of the food processor or blender in between pulses. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The hummus can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before serving.)
Sprinkle the hummus with the chopped parsley before serving.

This recipe really was so easy and makes a good bit that will last up to a week! And stay tuned because I have a series of pumpkin themed recipes just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday!

The Race is Won (or at least finished)!

2010-11-06T13:05:00.009-05:00

Well... I did it! I officially ran a 10K (6.2miles)!! And I even beat my time from my previous race. I (mainly my legs) am still in shock!

About two and a half years ago, my dad and I ran our first 10K race. I had originally planned to run in the Double Decker race with my best friend Mary Grace the year before, but during our intense training she came down with appendicitis. And if you haven't heard the story, it's only a matter of time! ha ha

So I talked my dad into running with me and my friend Katie and her family. Here's a picture of us after we crossed the finish line.

Well today, my dad and i attempted our second 10K under MUCH cooler conditions. It was about 28 degrees when we woke up in the morning, and reached about 33 by the time the race started. The route went through downtown Birmingham and up through the side of Red Mountain and back down through 20th street (where I work) to the finish line. There were over 1,650 people in the race, and I was the 411th female to finish! My main goal was to beat my time from the previous race and my final time was 1 hour and 2 minutes!

And I had a special surprise waiting for me after the race!

I am really glad I did this race because it gave me a goal to work towards, so hopefully I can keep up the training, especially with the holiday season swiftly approaching!

Changing it up!

2010-10-31T13:22:00.004-05:00

In case you haven't noticed, my blog got a makeover! Whenever I first was persuaded to create a blog by my two besties, Gracie and Jilly, I just couldn't come up with the perfect title that described me and what I wanted my blog to portray. But recently, it came to me... I am still single so that part hasn't changed, but I also love to write about some of the domestic things I love to do. Like I enjoy cooking and still plan to continue my cooking through the alphabet (that has almost hit the year mark). I also love to entertain and am already planning some blog posts getting ready for my 3rd annual Christmas party! I am also in the middle of redoing my living room and bedroom so needless to say I have several things "in the works" if you will and am looking forward to sharing it with you! I also feel that some people think you have to be married to be domestic. Au Contraire mon ami!

in light of my new blog, i decided to post some new recipes I'm trying for my dinner tonight with my friends Susu and Whitney. I started with a slow cooker recipe, because they're usually really easy but taste really good!

Chicken with Wild Rice

2-4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 onion, chopped (I used minced onion flakes)
1 box Long Grain and Wild Rice with Seasonings (I used Uncle Ben's microwave rice)

Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Sprinkle chopped onion over top. Top with cream soup. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours. Cook rice according to package directions*. Before serving, stir rice in. Serve hot.
*Can cook rice the night before and place in refrigerator. Before serving, stir cold rice in and let cook for another ten minutes or until rice is heated through.

I also have really been wanting to try this garlic parmesean skillet bread recipe that I saw recently. I love bread (carbs are my ultimate weakness aside from ice cream of course) and when I saw this picture I was sold!

Garlic Parmesan Cheese Bread
1 can flaky buttermilk biscuits
3 Tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 tsp Italian seasoning or Carrabba's bread dip seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
8" saute pan

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in saute pan. Add garlic, parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Cut biscuits into quarters and toss in saute pan. Place whole pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and slide onto platter for serving.

(to be updated after dinner!)

Fallish Front Porch

2010-10-25T19:26:00.007-05:00

Hi blogging world...I hope you (all three of you) are well! I wanted to share a picture from my weekend! I had such a great weekend just relaxing and running some much needed errands. I got to spin Saturday morning, which even though it's early in the am, it's so much fun! The instructor plays old school rap songs and gets everyone in on the singing. It sounds cheesy but it makes you forget you are about to die on your bike! Then Bella and I went furniture shopping because I am looking for a coffee table. I got a new rug awhile back and now my furniture doesn't match. Stay tuned for the unveiling in a coming post, my deadline to find one is my Christmas party!

Saturday night I went with my friend Whitney to Chuy's, which is a new Mexican place here in Birmingham. It has a really nice view of the city and a great place to enjoy a marg! Then we trucked it over to the movie theater to see Secretariat. It was a good, uplifting movie that I always like to see! And I love Diane Lane, she's so classy! And even looks good as a blonde!

Here's a picture of the real owner of Secretariat, I love true stories!

Sunday was church then I got to plant my pansies that have been sitting in my front yard waiting for a home. I am proud to say that I have successfully kept alive three whole plants! And sometimes I have to pinch myself because I can't believe that I own my own home, even if it is a work in progress!

So I hope you had as wonderful a weekend as I did! Stay tuned for my H recipe this wekeend!

My 5 Fall Favorites

2010-10-03T12:17:00.008-05:00

The fall season to me is synonymous with tradition. And as the weather outside is getting colder, I wanted to share a few of my favorite traditions!

1). - Fall decorations - Since I have lived on my own, I seemed to have acquired more and more cheesy decorations for all sorts of holidays. Next to Christmas, fall is my most festive time of year. I have glass pumpkins and cornucopias, mums and maize corn, it's borderline over the top!

2). Hocus Pocus - I remember my brother taking me to see this movie when I was 8. I have never been a fan of scary movies, and this one is anything but scary! It's got just enough Halloween staples to get me in the holiday spirit! As such, i try to watch it every year and usually get to thanks to ABC family. And it wasn't until recently I realized that Sarah Jessica Parker was the ditzy witch!

3).Candy Corn - No surprise there's a sweet on the list, I believe I have a candy for every holiday! My friend Katie and I would get a bag of candy corn every year in college on the first day it came out, and eat many many more until it was taken off the shelves! Now we try to send each other this delicious candy as a happy every year, and as a reminder of how much i treasure our friendship!

Here's Katie and I the day she got married, and now she's expecting a baby!

4). Pumpkin Spice Latte - My besties Gracie and Jilly introduced me to this coffee from Starbucks a few years ago, and it's by far my favorite! I just got into drinking coffee when I started working and i hate to say I'm becoming a coffaholic.

5). College Football - With the cool air comes my favorite sport to watch, college football. Having graduated from an SEC school (which is undoubtedly the best conference in the nation), I enjoy getting into the rivalry with my friends who went to other schools, especially now that I live in Alabama. And even though my favorite team isn't doing so hot this year, I still stand by them, and even got to attend a game in September. I am very blessed to have gotten the opportunity to graduate from Ole Miss, and will forever be grateful for the friendships i made there! And Hotty Toddy!

Here's a picture of my sorority house, where I lived senior year of college with my bestie MG!

This is the infamous Grove on a game day!

Happy Fall everyone! I hope you partake in some of your favorite traditions and enjoy every minute of it!

Labor of Love

2010-09-19T11:46:00.007-05:00

During the recent labor day holiday, I went home to visit my parents in Mississippi. Although the house they live in now is not the house that I grew up in, it is in the same neighborhood. One of the main reasons they bought this house was for the backyard. At the time it was a work in progress, but my parents have really turned it into a beautifully landscaped backyard.

The backyard backs up to the neighborhood golf course so my parents put chairs in the clearing so they can watch the sunset.

Even Bella loves it! She will play outside as long as you will let her!

I hope that one day i will be able to have some beautiful, blooming flowers like this!

Good work mom and dad! It looks really pretty!

Expensive Taste

2010-08-21T20:13:00.006-05:00

I wanted to share my favorite, albeit expensive, home furnishings store, Pottery Barn. I love the saturated tones of the fabric and the rich, dark wood finish of the furniture. If I could furnish my whole house with items from PB I would do it in a heartbeat. There's just one small problem...the price. But a girl can dream can't she?!?

(those pillows will definitely be on my Christmas wishlist)

Whenever a new magazine comes in the mail, I will go over and over every page, getting ideas for what I would love my future rooms to look like. And no matter how hard I try to look for an inexpensive alternative, nothing can replace the original!

It is interesting how as we get older our tastes evolve and our home furnishings say so much about ourselves. If I was asked to pick out one furniture item for each of my best friends, it would be easy because we are all so unique!

P.S. They have decorating classes for free, and the items they show are 10% off! :)

Goaty Goodness

2010-08-15T14:01:00.005-05:00

I'm back with a FABULOUS recipe, if I do say so myself!

When it's time for me to choose a recipe to make and subsequently blog about, I brainstorm my favorite foods beginning with the letter in question and then search recipes that sound good to me. Well with the letter G, there was no question about what I would be using. And in the extremely off chance you didn't get my hint, it's goat cheese!

The first time I experienced goat cheese, I knew I was in love. It's smooth, creamy texture is to die for! I remember I was eating at an Italian restaurant In Florence, AL and I was drawn to this one item on the menu, which was grilled chicken with sun-dried tomatoes (another favorite) and goat cheese. i figured I love tomatoes so much I could just take off this goat cheese. But after I tasted it, there was no turning back!

Ingredients

1 unbaked pizza crust
6 tablespoons prepared pesto sauce
3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 (8 ounce) package seasoned goat cheese
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup fresh arugula
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat oven according to pizza package instructions.
Dab pesto onto the center of the pizza base, and spread toward the outer edges.

Cut the goat cheese into thin coins, and spread or crumble across the pizza.

(please ignore my awful hair and pajamas, my friend Anna took this before I could fix up!)

Arrange tomato slices over goat cheese. Sprinkle with garlic. Brush the crust edges lightly with olive oil.

Place pizza directly on preheated oven rack. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the crust edges are golden.
After taking pizza out of the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes so that the cheese has time to set. After a couple of minutes, cover the pizza with a few handfuls of arugula. Cut, serve, and enjoy!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Sneak Peek!

2010-08-12T09:04:00.007-05:00

I am so excited about the recipe I am making tonight that incorporates the letter G...so I thought I would give a hint to build the anticipation!

Too easy? :) Stay tuned because this you will definitly want to try!

My Favorite Spot

2010-08-05T21:24:00.007-05:00

I wanted to take a break from my food blogging to show you my current favorite spot…my courtyard.

When I first moved into my house, I remember being very hesitant about what to do with this concrete courtyard. It’s tricky because it has no roof so it is technically outside, but it has four walls so you can’t plant anything in the ground. Hmmm.....

So what i came up with was an indoor courtyard with an outdoor feel. My dad helped me build a trellis and my mom and I spray painted it (nothing like a family project). I researched patio furniture for weeks until I found the perfect set to fit my space and got a coordinated rug.

And i am proud to say that I planted this jasmine in April and it hasn't died yet AND I have trained it pretty well. Here's a before...

And here's what it looks like now!

I have been reading a devotional by Donna Partow called Becoming the Woman I Want to Be. One of the posts mentioned finding a separate place in or around your house that you can go and spend time with God, away from distractions like the TV. This courtyard is the perfect place. I can go out and drink my coffee in the mornings (on the rare occasion I have enough time), lay out uninterrupted during the day, and serve dessert to guests after dinner. I just love it!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stayed tuned for G!

Pommes de Terre Frites

2010-07-31T19:18:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to share with you the recipe for F, because not only is it one of my favorite foods, it also has a special meaning to me.

In case you don't speak French, the food I chose to blog about is french fries. And not just the standard french fries you get with the spicy chicken combo at Wendy's (although those are really good). These are homemade french fries that my grandma makes.

My sweet grandma has always been there for me, from the time I was little, through my teenage years when my parents got on my nerves and I needed somebody to talk to, to when I was in college and I needed a little extra spending money! :) Here is a picture of my grandma holding little Bella!

French Fries

1 cup of canola oil
4 potatoes

First, wash and slice the potatoes. A tip that makes these potatoes SO good is that you leave the skin on, DON'T peel them! Next, put your canola oil in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Place the potatoes in the pot and boil until golden brown!

And today is actually my grandma's ___th birthday (she's been 50 since I was little)! Happy birthday grandma, I love you very much!

E is for Eggplant

2010-07-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

Hello blogging world! I am so proud, in my time off I have cooked and saved up some recipes to keep this blog rolling!

I never really had any eggplant dishes growing up (we are more of a squash family)! It wasn't until college when my dear friend Mary Grace mentioned that she liked it that I thought I might try it. And the most popular eggplant dish is eggplant parmesan. And to save a few calories I chose the no-fry version!

Ingredients

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 small eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch thick slices
1 cup dried bread crumbs, seasoned
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a small bowl beat the egg and water together. Place the bread crumbs in shallow dish. Dip eggplant slices in egg mixture then in crumbs, being sure to coat thoroughly.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add eggplant slices and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and tender. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over eggplant during last minute of cooking to melt.

While eggplant is cooking, combine spaghetti sauce and pepper flakes in a microwave-safe measuring cup. Cover with plastic wrap and cook at high power for 2 minutes or until heated through.
Top eggplant with sauce and Parmesan cheese and serve.

I thought this dish turned out well. You might wonder what the bluish purple bits are on top of the eggplant. Well, once I got all the ingredients together to start cooking, I realized that I didn't have the dried bread crumbs. So I had to compromise and use crushed tortilla chips instead!

BONUS

Another E food that I have recently become obsessed with is Edamame! I never can pass it up at sushi restaurants, and when I found out that you can easily buy it at the grocery store, I was really excited!! All you do is put the bag in the microwave for about five minutes, add some salt, and voile! Just like you get at the restaurant!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

And We're Back!

2010-07-15T22:42:00.000-05:00

So after a really extended LOA, I am officially back in the blogging world! Several big things have happened since my last post. The main event is that I got a new job that will allow me to be in town and not on the road all the time. Which means…hold your breath blogging audience….I will be able to pick back up on my cooking through the alphabet challenge! My heart sank a little when I saw the countdown I had posted was flashing that it had been 12 days since I cooked through the alphabet. When in reality, I had only made it through 3 letters! But no worries, I am back on board and ready to catch up!

For D, I chose the word DIP. Dips are such an integral part to any party, no matter what kind! I have hosted several wedding showers during this wedding season 2K10, and each party had a related dip! As I am still working on managing my time in preparation for a party, having a dip ready when the guests arrive allows the guests to have something to eat while I am putting the finishing touches on everything else. Hopefully one day I will be able to do like the entertaining books suggest, and take a few minutes to relax before the party starts. Yea right! ha ha

The recipe I wanted to share is for a super easy 7 layer taco dip.

Ingredients

1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
1 large tomato, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch chopped green onions
1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

The great thing about this recipe is that if there is an ingredient you don't like (say black olives for example, ugh) then you can simply leave it out and it doesn't alter the recipe.

Directions

In a medium bowl, blend the taco seasoning mix and refried beans. Spread the mixture onto a large serving platter.
Mix the sour cream and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Spread over the refried beans.Top the layers with salsa. Place a layer of tomato, green bell pepper, green onions and lettuce over the salsa, and top with Cheddar cheese. Garnish with black olives.

This is a dip that you can make ahead of time. But don't do like I did and leave it in the fridge and forget about it until after the party is over! :(

Stay tuned for more cooking posts!!

Ccccc what I made!

2010-02-02T21:57:00.000-06:00

Chocolate and Chicken…

So no, I did not cook chocolate and chicken together! But I did cook two dishes that are chocked full of C words (count them, there’s 5! And add another c word to the mix, cheating. I have actually made these two dishes before. You wouldn’t realize that though once you read my results!

I was invited to watch the playoff games last Sunday and thought that three letters in, it would be time to share my cooking results with an objective audience…

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I made this dip for my Christmas party and it was a huge success!

Ingredients
2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers

Directions
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.

The recipe says to put the dip into a crockpot, but I just leave it on the stove and turn the heat down low. It’s pretty much the same thing. And I think it tastes best with Fritos, but what you serve is definitely a personal preference!

Now onto dish #2....

Chewy Candy Chocolate Brownies

This recipe I have made since college, courtesy of my first cookbook written by Paula Deen. It’s great for tailgating and is very easy (typically).

Ingredients
1 (17.6-ounce) package brownie mix with walnuts
Vegetable oil cooking spray
3 (6-ounce) candy bars with almonds and toffee chips (recommended: Symphony brand)

Directions
Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions.

Line a 13 by 9-inch cake pan with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil cooking spray. Spoon in half of the brownie batter and smooth with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Place the candy bars side by side on top of the batter. Cover with the remaining batter.

Bake according to package directions. Let cool completely, then lift from the pan using the edges of the foil. This makes it easy to cut the brownies into squares.

So I should also mention that a boy was coming to pick me up to go watch the game and I was going to meet his friends and bring my dishes. I would like to go ahead and get that out there as one added pressure that led to the downfall of my brownies. Paula recommends putting a sheet of aluminum foil down so the brownies are easier to take out of the pan. However, I learned the hard way that it takes longer for them to cook this way. And the dish has to be cool because it’s really hard to cut the brownies until the candy is cold. Needless to say my presentation wasn't great and the brownies got left at home!

I am behind a week, I know, but this week I plan to double up with letters D and E! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Bar-B-Quest

2010-01-19T13:52:00.000-06:00

This week I was challenged by the letter “B”. I was still feeling the massive caloric intake from last week’s apple crisp, so I wanted to do something salty instead of sweet ( and possibly fewer calories). And what’s a better B dish than good ole fashioned BBQ!

To be honest I almost didn’t fulfill my cooking obligation. I had worked a 70 hour work week and, coupled with two nights of minimal sleep, I was pretty sleepy to say the least! But I knew I would let my blogging audience (Jilly and Gracie and possibly my mom) down, so it was off to the grocery store!

I decided on two dishes: BBQ sandwiches and baked beans. Now if you are anything like me, the most I know about cooking baked beans are the commercials for Bush’s baked beans with the amazing talking dog that gives away all the “family secrets”. But I found this amazing recipe on Allrecipes that was super easy and they were sooo good!!!

Baked Beans

Ingredients
2 (15 ounce) cans baked beans with pork
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices bacon

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a 9x9 inch baking dish, combine the pork and beans, brown sugar, onion, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the bacon slices.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until sauce is thickened and bacon is cooked.

Here's what it looks like before I put it in the oven...

I took the advice posted online and cut the brown sugar in half. I learned that most baked beans already come in a sweetened sauce. And I also did not use the bacon, because I normally only eat turkey bacon and I didn’t think it would have the same effect.

The sandwiches proved to be a tiny bit more difficult. The ingredients are as follows:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large (about 2 cups) thinly sliced onion
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup water
4 cups (about 1 pound) leftover chopped cooked turkey breast
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 (1 1/2-ounce) Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, split and warmed
Dill pickles (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)

Now the recipe was designed for people who had leftover turkey in their fridge. I, however, never have leftover anything because I am out of town every week so I actually had to cook the turkey patties. The challenge here was the fact that I had two (essentially three including the beans) things cooking at the same time! I noticed when I was melting the butter that it was burned a little bit. I remembered from my rice krispie treat phase that once the butter burns nothing will turn out! So I had to start over to cook the onions.

Preparation
1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sprinkle with salt; cook, stirring frequently, until soft (about 7-9 minutes). Add vinegar, barbecue sauce, and 1/2 cup water; simmer 5 minutes. Add turkey to sauce mixture, and stir until thoroughly heated (about 3-5 minutes). Add pepper, taste, and season with additional salt, if needed.

2. Arrange turkey evenly on bottom halves of buns; top each portion with additional sauce. Cover with bun tops; serve with pickles and hot sauce, if desired.

Here is an aerial shot of the burgers cooking on the stove!

The sandwich recipe I got out of Health Magazine, and it turned out really well! See below:

Hope everyone is having a great week! Letter C coming soon!

A is for Apple...

2010-01-10T21:02:00.000-06:00

So today marks the first day in my quest to conquer the alphabet: cooking style. All week I thought I was going to make steamed asparagus with hollandaise sauce just like Julie makes in the movie. But the more I thought about it, I really don't like asparagus that much and hollandaise is uber fattening. So I decided to stick with the standard food asssociated with the letter "A", the apple.

(I was going to take a picture of me cooking it, but I was not looking too cute so I thought I would take a picture of my lovely kitchen instead! It's the perfect size and even with all my junk I still haven't run out of cabinet space! I LOVE IT!)

After I did a little research, I decided that an apple crisp would be perfect!

To make an apple crisp, you start out with the following ingredients:

Ingredients
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

I wasn't quite sure what "all-purpose" apples were, so I made an executive decision to go with the green granny smith. Below is a picture of my apples in the middle of the peeling and coring process.

Next I followed these directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C). Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Note: Since I was making this as a trial run, I cut the recipe in half and used a square pan instead.

Here's the finished product! Sorry it's a little blurry, at this point I was running late for church and had to take a pic in a hurry!

A few things I would change after tasting the fruit of my labor...I would reduce the amount of water, because it was a little more runny than I would've liked. Also, I would increase the oats to make it a little more crunchy! :)

Stay tuned for next week and the letter "B". I will actually be cooking for people other than myself so the pressure is on!

Bon Appetit!

Top 5 sites

2010-01-08T19:16:00.000-06:00

This week the top five topic is the top sites that we visit online. This excludes boring work sites and my other besties blogs!

1). Allrecipes: This site is great if you are looking for a recipe. It has everything you could possibly think about cooking. And even better, it has reviews from other site patrons that give you tips on what to do or not to do to make your dish the tastiest!

2). Banana republic: this is my go to site for all my work clothes. Their pants and dresses fit very well and I never have to try anything on. I am also really looking forward to the spring line!

3). E online: So it is no surprise that I don't really keep up with what is going on in the world like I should. But I count my daily visit to E news as an attempt to keep abreast on what's new, even if it is just celebrity gossip. And it also has a running wall of celebrity tweets!

4). Facebook: I hate to admit it but I still make daily visits to facebook, despite how annoyed I get with people's pointless posts. I do like to keep up with my friends from home.

5). Pottery Barn: if I could furnish my entire house with Pottery Barn items I would. It is definitely my style! One day.....

Have a great weekend!

New Years in New York

2010-01-06T14:58:00.000-06:00

Last week during my holiday vacation, my friend Lahuta and I took a mini-vacay to New York City. New York is by far my favorite place to visit…there is always something new to do every time I go. I love the busy streets and the amazing shopping, and during Christmas an added bonus was getting to see all the Christmas decorations that were up. I decided post pictures to help tell a little bit more about what we did during our stay.

The first night we got there we had tickets to go see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. The show was absolutely adorable, and I really like that they incorporate Jesus into the show. There was even a live Nativity with no less than 4 camels on stage! This is a picture of us by the tree in Rockefeller Center on our way to the show.

After dinner we went to Serendipity and waited almost 2 hours in the cold for frozen hot chocolate (crazy I know). Until we met some Canadian girls that were waiting as well so we decided to be the table for "Mira" that hadn't shown up. We ended up sitting together and had the best time. They were our first friends of many we made on the trip.

Wednesday we headed to Lower Manhattan on a quest to cover as many SATC locales as possible and make it to Little Italy by lunch. We got to sit on Carrie's front stoop (seen below), eat cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery, take a picture outside Steve's bar "Scout", and even caught up with the SATC tour where we picked up some interesting facts for free!

That night we rushed over to the met to see the NYC Ballet perform the Nutcracker. We felt very cultural and the ballerinas were so good! I took the picture below before we got in trouble for taking pictures inside the Met.

After leaving the Met we went to a local Mexican restaurant across the street. As we were walking up the steps to our table, I turned to the left and made eye contact with HARRY CONNICK JR!! He was there with his family and he is sooooo much cuter in person. Really he had me from the first time I saw Hope Floats, but getting to eat right by him made me fall in love even more!

New Years Eve we got up and made our way down 5th avenue, looking at all the window displays and even picking up so after Christmas presents for ourselves! The window display below at Bergdorf's reminded me of my friend Gracie, so I wanted to post it.

We spent most of the afternoon in Central Park, from eating at the Boathouse (another SATC spot) to ice skating at Wollman's rink. Being from the Deep South I have not really had many opporunities to go ice skating to this was my first time. And I had a blast! At first I was really nervous but towards the end of it only the Zamboni could get me off the rink!

New Years Eve night we went to Tao, a hip Asian restaurant on the Upper East Side. Sorry the picture is blurry, it was taken by the coat checker with my Iphone.

So that's it, a play by play of one of the best vacations ever!

Must Have Music

2010-01-04T21:22:00.000-06:00

This Monday my blogging buddies and I have switched it up a little bit and decided to list our Must Have Music for the week. Since I have been obsessed with Cosmo Radio lately I haven't been listening to much music. So I thought I would list one of my new favorites (although the song isn't new). The song is Meastro by Hans Zimmer It is off the Holiday soundtrack, one of my favorite movies. I like to turn it up and close my eyes and forget whatevers bothering me. I highly recommend it!

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-01T07:34:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I thought while I had some time at the airport I would go ahead and post my Top 5 Friday: New Year's Edition. I usually do not make New Years resolutions because I never stick to them and they almost always deal with diet and/or exercise. But this year I thought why not?!? So here it goes!

1). Keep my cooking challenge: In case you haven't read my posts lately, a few posts ago I unveiled my cooking challenge to cook my way through the alphabet. Since this challenge will last 26 weeks, it is going to be pretty tricky to keep up with but I am up for the challenge!

2). Read my devotional every day: I picked up a brand new devotional book today and am really excited about reading it on a daily basis. Normally I start out at the beginning of the week reading every night but usually by the end of the week I skip a day and then I get behind on my days. This year I want to make sure I spend time with God daily.

3). Keep a positive attitude: With the worst few months for my profession starting now, it is very easy to be negative. This year I am going to try to be positive about live and try to remember that I am here for a reason, so I should try to make the best of it!

4). Work out early: I am definitely not a morning person, so the idea of waking up early to work out usually only works in theory. But I found out the hard way and several lbs later that if I don't work out in the morning, I won't do it. So in conjunction with eating better, I will work on getting up early to sweat it out!

5). Create a garden retreat: when I moved in my house, I had to decorate in phases. My outdoor courtyard kind of got put on the back burner. But this year, I really want to work on making all my ideas a reality, from a wooden bench to a wall to wall trellis, it's got alot of potential!

Happy New Years everybody! Stay tuned for a recap of my trip to New York!

New York state of mind

2009-12-29T08:05:00.000-06:00

Well it is 8:05 central time and I have offcially been up for 4 hours! After a rather too talkative cab ride to the airport, I managed to make the first leg of my flight and my second flight is only delayed 30 minutes. This is much better than I had anticipated, considering it has only been a few days since crazy kid tried to ignite a bomb on the plane. Tonight we will check into the hotel and go see the Radio city Christmas spectacular, then indulge in some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity! Thanks to my handy new phone I will be able to send updates of the trip. Hope everyone has had a great morning so far!

My New Years Epiphany!

2009-12-26T21:46:00.000-06:00

Tonight I watched the movie Julie and Julia (courtesy of Santa) with my family and, just like the first time I watched the movie, I was motivated to get in the kitchen.

I am definitely a novice when it comes to making any sort of dish. And I think I am deterred from cooking for two reasons: I only cook for one, leaving me with a mound of leftovers, and I haven't yet built up all my staples in the kitchen, so cooking can be an expensive endeavour. Nevertheless, this movie inspired me to come up with my own cooking deadline. I want to be practical and I know that I could NEVER do 524 recipes in any timeline, like Julie Powell attempts in the book. Incidentally, she has a rather funny blog that can be found at http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/. Below is a picture of what she looks like in real life ( in case anybody was wondering).

But I thought of something a little more pragmatic....drumroll please..........I have entitled this project the ABC's of the Novice Cook! This is where I will attempt a recipe a week with a dish that begins with every letter of the alphabet. I will vary between healthy and not so healthy, desserts, entrees, sides dishes, and anything else I might come across. All the time blogging about my experience. I should finish just in time for the 4th of July!

I thought with this time of year being the worst for my fellow auditors and myself, I would love to have this challenge to look foward to every weekend. So please stay tuned, because as soon as I get back from the big apple the fun begins! In the words of Julia Child "Bon Apetite"!!

Top 5: Christmas Memories

2009-12-24T14:00:00.000-06:00

This week the Top 5 topic is our top five Christmas memories, in honor of the holiday! It is only fitting as Christmas falls on Friday!

5). Christmas in the ghetto: When I was in high school, I would host (yes my hosting days started early) my bible study's annual Christmas party. we would eat snacks, read the Christmas story out of Luke, and then pile (and I mean PILE) in the car to ride down to the "ghetto" of Hattiesburg and look at lights. It's fascinating that people in rundown shacks can have enough lights on their house to light a small village!

4). The talking Christmas tree: When my cousins and I were little, we would look forward to Santa talking to us "from the Christmas tree." The secret not discovered until years later, my granddaddy had actually hidden a speaker in a present under the tree and he would sneak in the other room while we were opening presents and act like he was Santa Claus. I remember getting so nervous knowing that Santa was watching!

3). Christmas eve awaiting Santa: this isn't one year in particular, but if you have gotten to read any previous posts, you've probably pocked up on the fact that I'm huge on tradition, and most years include the same festivities. The tradition the night before Christmas is as follows: we drive from one gp's house to the next, where my grandma has homeade gumbo waiting for us that is sooo good! Then I get to open one present and we watch Woody Asap, the weatherman on WBLT, show us the Santa radar that tracks how long you have until Santa gets to your house. next mom reads the Polar Express and I hop in bed awItimg Santa's arrival!

2). Christmas lights with my grandma: when I was still the age where I needed a babysitter, my grandma would always come stay close to Christmas while my parents went to my dads bank Christmas party. I would get to eat pizza that my parents never let me have. Then we would get in the car and ride around in search of the tackiest Christmas lights. We would listen to Christmas classics like " Grandma got ran over by a reindeer" and "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch." Some of the decorations people put up are really hilarious!

1). Ice storm of '99: When I was fourteen, my family traveled to my grandparents, like we do every year to spend Christmas, only to get stuck in the after effects of one of the worst ice storms ever to hit the delta. We (all 15 at the time) had to stay at my grandparents because the power was out and the generator could only heat one room. On top of that the water kept freezing, so needless to say we were all roughing it! As soon as we all got our presents opened, the lights turned back on. That Christmas brought my family so much closer and to this day remains my favorite Christmas to date!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Must Have: Cooking

2009-12-22T22:25:00.000-06:00

I am once again a day behind on my Must Have but this week my must have is .....a three in one crock pot! I ran across this in a cooking magazine and thought it was too cute! And it would come in very handy when you are hosting a party and you need to keep multiple items heated at one time.

Manual Slow Cookers - SCRBC750-BS

Happy Tuesday! Only 3 more days until Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2009-12-18T18:55:00.000-06:00

Thanks to me, my dear blogging buddies have to come up with their Top 10 favorite Christmas songs as a special edition of Top 5 Friday. I just couldn’t imagine only choosing 5 songs, narrowing it down to ten is going to be hard enough!

1) There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays by the Carpenters: My mom really loves the Carpenters, and every year during the Christmas holiday she would get out the video camera and turn on the Carpenters Christmas Portrait CD and we would go about decorating the Christmas tree. Now playing this CD is just another family tradition, all the songs are great!

2) Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton: Dolly Parton is by far one of my favorite singers, and when she does her rendition of this song, I get emotional. It is not that I identify with the hard times mentioned as it is more an example of perseverance and getting through a difficult time. I also like Dolly’s I’m Coming Home for Christmas, it serves as my alternate!

3) Baby it’s Cold Outside (Elf Soundtrack): My dear friend Katie and I have been working on this little duet for about 6 years now. Although Katie was not so happy at first that she lost the game to get the girl part, when we tried to switch the roles it just wasn’t the same. Every year we get better and better, and one day we might even take this show on the road!

4) What Christmas Means to Me by Stevie Wonder: This song always reminds me of my besties Jilly, Claire, and Gracie. It is just a happy song that makes you want to get up and dance!

5) Christmas in Dixie by Alabama: As I am writing this, I realize that I like a lot of country Christmas songs! Hmm…anyways, I always liked this song when I was little because it talks about Christmas all over Dixie, and even gives a shout out to my home state of Mississippi!

6) I’ll be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby: Bing Crosby to me epitomizes classic Christmas music. Christmas is all about spending time with your family, and I can’t wait to see mine soon!

7) Silent Night by Nat King Cole: I cannot tell you how many times I sang this sweet hymn at my church and/or school Christmas plays. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the presents and forget that Christmas is also Jesus’ birthday. This hymn is a great reminder of the Reason for the Season.

8) Suzy Snowflake by Rosemary Clooney: I can’t really remember how I came to be obsessed with this song senior year of college, but I even recorded it to play as my ringtone for the holiday season. My bestie Gracie and I lived together in the Chi O house and even had matching phones (cute, right?) that weren’t cool enough to play decent ringtones so we had to make our own. Every time I hear this song now I am reminded of my fuzzy recording that started out “ woop look who’s coming”!

9) Where are You Christmas by Faith Hill: This song is off the How the Grinch Stole Christmas Soundtrack and I feel like it represents how I feel about Christmas as I have gotten older. I am huge on traditions and when you get older and things aren’t the same as they were when you were young it is a little depressing. But Faith belts out the line that “the joy of Christmas stays here inside us” and that if you still believe, Christmas can still be special in a different way.

10) Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Perry Como: This song reminds me of my mom’s “threats” to me when I was a little kid, telling me that I better be good because Santa Claus is coming soon and he is watching me. Good thing they didn’t have those Elf on a Shelf dolls back when I was little, I would have totally believed it!

Hope everybody indulges in all things Christmas, it’s getting close!

Must have Monday (Tuesday really)

2009-12-15T22:03:00.000-06:00

My must have for this Tuesday is........a statement piece! Usually I don't buy items that are too far out of my element, but when I saw this headband I knew it was meant to be! And after so many people commented on it, I realized if nothing else it is a conversation starter. So for Christmas I recommend everybody picking up a signature item and wear it proudly!

Weekend Recap

2009-12-15T21:28:00.001-06:00

My centerpiece!

My work buddies Maggie and Anna

This past weekend was my 2nd annual Christmas party. This year's attendance was over triple that of the first year so I spent most of the weekend getting everything ready. The biggest thing I have learned about getting a new place is that furnishing rooms the way you want has to be a gradual process! So between getting household decor that I had been putting off and my ambitious menu, things were hectic to say the least! I am never a good judge of how much food to make, so I ended up with about 13 items. I made 3 dips: taco, buffalo chicken, and spinach dips. I also made mini quiche, mini hamburgers, and cocktail weenies in BBQ sauce. For dessert, we had caramel bars, butterscotch candy, peanut butter brownie cupcakes, and chocolate kiss cookies. I also made a Christmasy punch that was a big hit. Below is a picture of the layout!

And this is a picture of everybody gathering in the kitchen, closest to the food!

I also had to come up with a way to get rid of all the food since I a traveling this week and I didn't want it to go to waste, so I bought these Christmas take-out boxes and got coordinating paper and everybody got to take some food home with them. It was a win win for everybody!

Then Sunday I spent most of the day recovering and cleaning. Then my friend Susu came over to help me eat the leftovers and we watched White Christmas. Hope everybody had as fabulous of a weekend as I did!

All I want for Christmas is....

2009-12-11T08:48:00.000-06:00

This week’s top 5 lists the current items on our Christmas List. So if I was writing this to Santa, this is what I would ask for….

1). Perfume (more specifically Chanel Chance): Last February my brand new perfume that I had gotten last Christmas busted in my bag. My clothes smelled REALLY good for awhile but since then I have resorted back to middle school using body splash and bumming off my friends! One thing about Christmas when you are a grown up is you can actually think of a lot of items that you want because if you are like me you are too cheap to buy it for yourself!

2). Cookbook: I always love how my grandma has so many cookbooks and endless possibilities of options to cook. I am slowly building my cookbook library and am surprised how often I flip through them and always find something new to try.

3). 1 Ticket to see a Broadway show: Since I am going to New York right after Christmas and will probably be broke from the holiday, I decided to add this to my list. This will probably come in the form of money that I will in turn use to purchase the ticket. Right now we are deciding between Billy Elliot and the Jersey Boys. Feel free to comment if you have heard any good or bad reviews for either!

4). Coffee Pot: My current coffee pot and I do not get along. The coffee either comes out too watery or way too strong and no matter my modifications, nothing changes. So I am remedying the situation with a new coffee pot that’s programmable and the water level can easily be seen. I had originally wanted one of the fancy ones that made cappuccinos and lattes but I am not home enough to invest the big bucks. My Mr. Coffee will do!

5). Pearl Ring: Ok this item I know I won’t get but it is perpetually on my wish list. I have been eyeing it online forever and then when I ventured into Saks with my bestie Jilly (when she bought her pretty Louis) I decided to try it on. I thought the woman was going to have to pry it off my finger…needless to say I fell even more in love! What I did not fall in love with was the price tag, the foil in my plan! So again this year, I will add this to my list, albeit knowing that I haven't been good enough for Santa to give it to me!

Weekend Recap

2009-12-08T11:13:00.001-06:00

My den at Christmastime!

I know it is getting closer to the middle of the week but I wanted to get my weekend recap out before my MHM ( I am behind)! This past weekend was very busy but alot of fun. Friday my office participated in Nationwide KPMG Bear Hug where we "built" bears to give to the children at Children's hospital. The little bears are so cute and you even put their little heart inside before you stitch them up! Below is a picture of my work buddies Amanda, Maggie, and Rachel and two bears before they got all dressed up!

Friday night I went to dinner and Christmas shopping with my friend Anna. I absolutely love going into bookstores when it's cold out and while we were there a lady was reading The Night before Christmas. I was really tempted to sit down and listen! Saturday I went to eat lunch with past and present work friends because Christina was in town visiting for the first time since she moved. I am really blessed to have a great group of people to work with, I don't think I would be able to get through it without them!

My mom came to visit Saturday afternoon and we spent the rest of the day getting my house ready for my 2nd annual Christmas party this weekend. I was originally going to use my artificial tree from last year but it looked like a shrub in my new house so we headed to Lowe's to get a real one. This is my first real tree to put up at my own house, I feel like such a grown-up! I definitely appreciate things more when I have to do them myself. I'm just hoping that it can last a week until my party, I tend to kill all living plants! Sunday Bella and I attempted to take our Christmas picture, but Bella hated her outfit and would not look at the camera in protest. Below is the best one that we have so far, so unless I attempt round 2 this will be our official Christmas picture! We also went to Pottery Barn Sunday night and learned all the elegant ways to decorate your house for the holidays. I could live in Pottery Barn if they would let me!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, 3 more days until it's the weekend again!

You'll Shoot your eye out!!!

2009-12-04T14:41:00.001-06:00

Since Christmas is right around the corner, my blogging besties and I decided to share our Top 5 Christmas movies. I have so many, this was VERY hard to narrow down.

1). Elf – I think this movie is on everybody’s list, it is so funny! Will Ferrell does an amazing job as an out-of-place elf that you can’t help but laugh. And if you really want to get into the movie, All Recipes has a themed menu for Elf and several other popular Christmas movies. Below is the link to some of the dishes you can try.

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Movie-Menus-Elf/Detail.aspx

2). Jingle All the Way – This might possibly be one of the worst films ever made. I mean really, Governor Arnold and Sinbad fighting over a doll. So before you judge me for adding this to my list, allow me to explain. My grandmother used to only get three TV channels, which really limits what you can watch. For some reason ABC chose to play this movie 2 years in a row. The third year, it wasn’t scheduled to come on and we were so upset we went and paid $10 to own this little gem forever! This is a picture of my sweet cousins and my little nephew Micah. I love ya’ll very much, and thank you indulging me in traditions!

My cousins and nephew Micah

3). Love Actually – I could watch this movie any time of the year, it’s definitely one of my favorites! I love the part at the beginning when all the loved ones are greeting each other at the airport. And when the couple that speaks too different languages can’t communicate and they learn the other one’s language because they love each other that much. Basically every part is my favorite! I could’ve done without the stunt people in uncompromising positions but other than that I LOVE it!

4). Prancer – My first memory of going to a movie theater was with my mom to see Prancer. I don’t really remember much ( I was only 4) but I do know that we went to eat pizza at the local Pizza Hut and if you know how healthy my family is this is a memorable event in itself! And it’s heartbreaking when the girl in the film cries because she has to let her beloved reindeer free to be with Santa. I try to watch this movie every year, because it reminds me being a little girl and how special I felt when my mom took me out for my first movie night!

5). Christmas Story – Ralphie is the cutest kid, and even though I complain every year when this movie is on, I secretly love it! This movie will no doubt be playing in the background on Christmas day!

Thank you....thank you very much

2009-11-30T20:25:00.000-06:00

So I took a mini-break from technology last week, as I get tired of looking at my computer all day long. But now I am back just in time for must-have Monday. But before I tell my choice for this week, I probably should explain the story of how this came about. Every Thanksgiving, my parents and I go to the Delta to visit my grandparents and extended family. Since I was off work last week,j I drove to Hattiesburg to meet my parents so we could all ride up together. When my dad drives, he ultimately has control of the radio. When I do try to change the channel from 60’s on 6 or Elvis Radio, he will either comment that he doesn’t understand how I can listen to the junk that I chose or he will turn it all the way down until it’s barely audible. So this trip I brought my computer so I wouldn’t have to fight the radio battle. On Elvis Radio, they play clips from Elvis’s old shows and interviews with people that were close to him. I started listening and became fascinated with the life and times of Elvis Aron Presley, from his relationship with Priscilla to his nocturnal routine. I have always been interested in biographies of older stars, like Audrey Hepburn or Natalie Wood. I borrowed Priscilla’s book about her life with Elvis (as seen under books I am reading) and am about to start reading Elvis: What Happened. Next must have in my current obsession...."Elvis by the Presleys".

So if you aren’t interested in Elvis, I encourage you to pick up any celebrity biography. They make for an interesting read!

Must Have Monday

2009-11-23T12:45:00.000-06:00

Hey there! I'm back from a very fun and relaxing weekend with my friend Jilly to share my must have for this Monday.....

I am in love with these Booties from Banana Republic. I don't get too much into fashion but when I do see something I really like it's all I think about! However they are a little pricey for a pair of not completely practical shoes, so for now this is something I am looking to get one day (hopefully this season though)!

Quarter life bucket list

2009-11-20T09:39:00.001-06:00

I am so excited...my first Top 5 Friday! This week my besties and I are listing the top 5 items on our bucket list. These items I hope to accomplish during my lifetime.

1) Run a half marathon : So this goal originally was to run an entire marathon, but I decided I should be a little more pragmatic and set a goal I can achieve (hopefully). This item on my bucket list should be accomplished sooner rather than later, because I’m almost 25 and it’s all downhill from here (totally kidding)!

2) Stay at the Plaza in NY: Ok this is my shallow one but the first time I visited New York City I fell in love! The fast pace, the lights, the noise, I love it all. I had thought I would want to live there for a year, but my little white dog (shown below) would go into shock from all the commotion. She doesn’t get out much! Just to be able to walk into the hotel and not be a tourist but an actual guest is so exciting to me. However, since the Plaza is no longer an option as they made it into condos, the Waldorf is the next best thing. I love the idea that I could be walking in as a famous celebrity is walking out. And this bucket list item I will be able to check off very soon! :)

3) Be fluent in a foreign language: This is something I have wanted to do since I took Spanish in high school. At first I wanted to learn so I would be able to understand the locals when I am on vacation. But now it’s more to be able to help people. There are several ministries at my church that reach out to Spanish-speaking people and they never have enough volunteers. I would love to be able to help somebody assimilate into American Culture and teach them about God at the same time.

4) Host a dinner party: This one seems simple, but to me it would be a huge accomplishment. And not just a small intimate get together, but a big party where I make everything from scratch and serve on my wedding china (this should be a top five item in itself) and everything coordinates. I feel like I am slowly improving on my cooking skills with each party I host but I have a long way to go. I aspire to be someone that organizes parties with ease, and always with a smile!

5) Travel to Italy. I figured travel would be the cliché item on the list but I really want to go overseas, especially to Italy. I just feel like there’s a whole other side of the world out there and I have only seen the United States and neighboring continents. This is something I hope to do (if not before) when I retire. That way I am not worried about vacation days or deadlines and can travel as I please. And this will give me enough time to find a traveling companion :)!

So here it is, my first top 5. Hope you learned a little more about me! And for those of you who already know me well enough, you shouldn't be surprised that it only took two posts for sweet Bella to be included!

I love Technology...

2009-11-19T13:15:00.000-06:00

Ok well, that might be going a little far. Compared to my friends, I am always the last person to indulge in the latest tech craze. And when I do decide to join, I usually end up needing help! So maybe the title of this post should be " I tolerate technology"! If you would've asked me a few months ago if I would ever consider blogging, the answer would have been a firm no. But thanks to a little persistence from my besties Jilly and Gracie, here I am posting for the first time. And I even submitted a topic for Top 5 Fridays. So even though I am a little slow in catching on, I'll get there (with a little help from my friends)!

And stay tuned for a revamped blog page after the weekend....