This week I'm thankful for an understanding husband. It's been a stressful couple of weeks and we have had to work extra hard to make sure things run smoothly. Husband has been incredibly sweet and helpful whether it's with housework, finances, emotional support to even helping with work (we work together and he's been helping me like crazy!). I'm so blessed to have him! I'm thankful to be American. I LOVE the Olympics for so many reasons but one thing I have always appreciated is that it's a time for patriotism. It seems like sometimes people need a little motivation to sit back and look at how lucky they are to be from their country and have people representing them. The US has been extremely lucky in their Olympic endeavors over the years and I'm proud to wear my red, white, and blue and support the 528 athletes who are in London competing right now. When I left for work this morning it was still dark out. This time of year is such a great time to ride the bus into downtown during the early hours of the day because I get to catch the sun rising over downtown Houston. The skyline looks so pretty during dusk and when I can see it on my commute to work, I am reminded that fall is just around the corner! Today was the first day that I noticed the days getting just a little bit shorter. Though most people don't like shorter days, I love them because they let me know that the holidays are coming!! Hermano came over for a little bit this week (I may have had to bribe him with food...) and I really enjoyed spending a little bit of time with him! It's so crazy how time flies. Now that he lives about 40 minutes away, I almost NEVER see him! I can't believe we are both grown up and leading different lives. At least I have good pics, like the one I posted here, to help me remember the good ol' days! haha. Love you, Hermano!
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We get an extra hour this weekend!! Don't forget to turn back your clocks at 2am on Sunday morning! I love turning back my clocks because it means an extra hour to sleep on Sunday and a little more time to get stuff done. It's amazing how much of a difference one hour makes this time of year. I'm also excited to have more light when I head into work in the morning. Since I get to the office a little before 7 everyday, I usually end up walking to work in the dark. I'm looking forward to having daylight when I get downtown in the morning. What are you planning to do with your extra hour this weekend??? I feel like the little black kitty getting support when I need it :) This week I'm so, so thankful for all the support and love we have gotten during the hard times with Carrie. She has had someone by her side 24 hours a day and she is so lucky to have such a great support group around her. And I'm grateful for my friends and family who have been praying for her and for us. I'm thankful for the sweet, sweet messages I have gotten from you all supporting us and letting us know you are there. I'm so blessed to have you in my life and Carrie is so blessed to have such love and support. Thank you to EVERYONE. (I wish I could list out a personal thank you to everyone, but there are so many of you!!). GINGERBREAD LATTES ARE BACK! I LOVE gingerbread lattes. They are my favorite holiday drink (even over pumpkin spice lattes!). When I went down to Starbucks this morning, I was so excited to order my first gingerbread latte of the year! I don't know what it is about the sweet and spicy flavor of gingerbread, but it makes me happy :) What a wonderful way to start the morning! The cold front that came through last night. That means I can pull out more of my fall clothes!! I am excited to wear a scarf and blazer this season! There's something about dressing up a pair of jeans with a blazer and a warm scarf. Look how great Jessica Alba makes the scarf/blazer/jean combination look! There are so many fun fall combinations. I hope the front lasts a little while!! I'm thankful that I work downtown. I know most people loathe working downtown but I actually love it. I worked here a few years ago then on the outskirts of town and I couldn't wait to get back to the downtown working life! There is so much going on and I love the tunnel system down here! I can go downstairs and get anything I need! Starbucks, lunch, shoe repair, optometrists, doctors. Everything is at your fingertips! The best part is that you don't even need to drive into town! Our Metro system is amazing so you can ride into town and then walk anywhere you need! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It always has been. I LOVE food and I love that this holiday is all about thanking God for what you have while celebrating with friends and family. Every family celebrates Thanksgiving a little differently but food is always a major part of the day. Since October was "pumpkin recipe month", I thought I'd dedicate November's Wednesday blog posts to Thanksgiving recipes. Most people have turkey (or in my best friend's case, steak) to celebrate Thanksgiving, but each family makes the dinner their own by including sides that have become family traditions. In my house, the sides are what make the meal. I'm going to share some of the foods that make my Thanksgiving so special! Green Beans Almondine INGREDIENTS: 1 lb. fresh green beans 4 oz. slivered almonds 3 tbsp. olive oil 2-3 cloves minced garlic (we are Italian so we like a lot of garlic) DIRECTIONS: First, toast the almonds in a skillet till they are a little brown. Halfway through, you can add the garlic so it begins to cook. Next, add the green beans and olive oil. Stir every once in a while to make sure the green beans don't start to stick to the pan. Let cook until green beans are cooked thoroughly. Then serve! Cranberry Sauce I don't like canned cranberry sauce. It's too sweet and too jelly-ish for me. Instead, I love to make my own cranberry sauce (I've mentioned this before). Here is my favorite recipe! INGREDIENTS: 1 pkg. whole cranberries 1 medium orange diced 1 c. sugar/sugar substitute 1-2 oz. orange liqueur or brandy splash of orange juice if necessary DIRECTIONS: Combine ingredients and boil in a pot stirring frequently. Allow to simmer until cranberries have boiled to a soft consistency. You will hear a "pop" as the cranberries get hot. Stir often. Maple-Pumpkin Custards with Crystallized Ginger I found this delicious dessert at eatingwell.com. I love the taste of pumpkin and maple syrup together! Give it a shot - maybe it will be a new dessert for you and your family this Thanksgiving! INGREDIENTS: 1 1/2 cups 1% milk 4 large eggs 3/4 cup maple syrup, (see Ingredient note) 3/4 cup canned unseasoned pumpkin puree 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons whipped cream 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Put a kettle of water on to heat for the water bath. Line a roasting pan with a folded kitchen towel. 2. Heat milk over low heat in a small saucepan until barely steaming but not boiling. 3. Whisk eggs and syrup in a large bowl until smooth. Gently whisk in the warm milk (a little bit at a time so the eggs don't cook). Add pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; whisk until blended. 4. Divide the mixture among six 6-ounce (3/4-cup) custard cups. Skim foam from the surface. Place custard cups in the prepared roasting pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the custard cups. Place the pan in the oven and bake, uncovered, until custards are just set but still quiver in the center when shaken, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer custards to a wire rack and let cool for 45 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until chilled. 5. To serve, top each custard with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of crystallized ginger. Tips: Ingredient Note: If you can find it, use Grade B dark amber syrup to get the best maple flavor. MAKE AHEAD TIP: Prepare through Step 4. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. NUTRITION FACTS: Calories 212, Total Fat 5 g, Saturated Fat 2 g, Monounsaturated Fat 2 g, Cholesterol 145 mg, Sodium 131 mg, Carbohydrate 37 g, Fiber 1 g, Protein 7 g, Potassium 286 mg. Daily Values: Vitamin A 100%. Exchanges: Reduced-Fat Milk 0.5,Other Carbohydrate 2,Medium-Fat 0.5. I think I have mentioned before that I love one dish meals that include a protein, carbs, and vegetables all in one easy serving. An easy fall dish I especially enjoy is Shepherd's Pie. It's filling and flavorful and an easy way to use some of the frozen venison my husband fills our freezer with after a successful hunting trip. The best part about this meal is that is usually gives us a couple nights worth of leftovers so I don't have to cook again for a while. INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS: Boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to mash. Once they are ready to mash, use half a stick of butter and mash until smooth. While you are waiting for the potatoes to boil, saute the onions in a large frying pan. Combine the olive oil and onions and and cook over medium heat until they are slightly brown. Brown the meat in a skillet. When the meat it no longer pink, season with seasonings of your choice (I generally just use pepper) and pour in half a cup of beef broth. Add the onions and allow it to simmer on low for about 10 minutes. You can add more beef broth if needed to keep the meat mixture moist. Once the potatoes are mashed and the meat and onions have simmered for a few minutes, it is time to put together the pie! Preheat the oven to 400*F. Then use a 9x13 inch glass baking dish to layer the meat, veggies, and mashed potatoes. Cook for about 30 minutes (until bubbling and brown). Then enjoy! I'm back! I was gone the last few days visiting a bunch of my friends from Syracuse. I had such a great time up there and felt like I started off where I left 1.5 years ago. I have really missed everyone up there and the beautiful cold weather. Below is a little outline of my weekend.... Reagan My dear friends Sarah and John took me in for the weekend. I hadn't seen them since my wedding in March. Sarah was one of my bridesmaids. Sarah and John recently got a puppy named Reagan so she and I hung out a lot over the weekend :) I had lunch with my friend Jeff and his girlfriend when I got in on Friday and then went over to Sarah and John's to unpack and meet the pup. Sarah made a delicious dinner and we hung out until my friend Ken's birthday party. Sarah and me at Ken's party Ken's party was perfect. A small group was invited but it was almost everyone I hang out with regularly when I was in school. It was the perfect way to see everyone without trying to work around schedules. I immediately felt at home and had such a wonderful time! We ended the night with an epic 90's dance party because everyone knows 90s music rocks! Eating delicious apples :) Saturday morning my favorite professor invited me over to have breakfast and meet his wife. We got to catch up and talk about how things have changed since I was there. It was so good to see him and meet his wife. Then we went apple picking!! Sarah and John found an amazing apple orchard and we took full advantage of the fall season. My friend Gretchen drove down from Albany to see us partake in the fall festivities. It was such a blast!! They had apple everything including apple wine and apple vodka! We mainly just enjoyed climbing the trees and finding the best apples to pick! John, Sarah, and me before the race on Sunday morning After apple picking, we decided to take the night off so we made steaks and mashed sweet potatoes and watched a movie back at the house. We called it an early night because we had plans to get up early Sunday morning for a 15K! John hadn't run in over a month but we thought it would be fun to have him join us. He ended up finishing two minutes before Sarah and me.... lol. The hills were definitely a challenge for me but we had a good time running through Syracuse University and downtown Syracuse. A special thank you to all of the police forces that came out to help the race be a success. We enjoyed seeing them cheer us on at all the streets and keeping us safe along the run! My little boy is getting so mature!! He's only 9 months old!! Sadly, the weekend ended a few hours after the race when I boarded the plane to come home. I was sad to say goodbye to everyone but sure happy to see Husband and the pups! He took them on a hunting trip this weekend and sent me this adorable pic of them driving :) How did you spend your weekend?? PUMPKIN PIE BARS, adapted from Joy The Bake INGREDIENTS: 1 1/3 cups flour 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 sticks butter 1 cup old-fashioned oats 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 8oz package cream cheese, softened 3 eggs 1 15oz can pumpkin 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oer to 350. Line 13x9 inch pan with foil, with ends extending over sides, and grease with cooking spray. 2. Combine flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar and all the brown sugar in medium bowl. Add butter and mix with 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can also do this by pulsing in the food processor. Stir in oats and nuts 3. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture and press the rest into the baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. 4. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and spice until well blended and pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture and chips. Bake 25 minutes at 350. 5. Cool 10 minutes and use foil ends to transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely and then cut into squares. 6. Store in refrigerator. CINNAMON ROLLS INGREDIENTS: 1 cup canned pumpkin or squash 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water* 1/4 cup soft butter 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 3/4 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour 1/4 cup Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional 3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons instant yeast DIRECTIONS: Mix to combine then knead till smooth. The dough may be fairly sticky; that’s OK. So long as it holds its shape, you’re good. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other container; I’m using an 8-cup measure here, so I can track how much it’s risen. Cover, and let rise for 1 1/2 hours, until it’s puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk. Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Roll the dough into a 14” x 22” rectangle. It’ll be very thin. Don’t stress if you can’t make it exactly 14” x 22”. Next up: the flavors of fall. Here we have 1/4 cup of dried cranberries on the left, 1/4 cup of diced crystallized ginger on the right. These will be sprinkled on the rolled dough after we’ve spread it with the filling. Combine the following: 3/4 cup Baker’s Cinnamon Filling* 3 tablespoons water *Substitute 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon for the Baker’s Cinnamon Filling and water, if desired. If you use sugar and cinnamon, DO NOT ADD THE WATER. Doesn’t that filling look GOOOOOOD! Spread it over the dough. If you use sugar and cinnamon, brush the dough with water, then sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar. Leave one short edge free of filling. Sprinkle the cranberries and ginger atop the filling. Don’t like cranberries? Leave ’em out. Don’t like crystallized ginger? Leave it out. Don’t like cinnamon filling? Try another recipe! Starting with the end with filling, roll the dough into a log. Seal it closed. Next, you’re going to cut it into 9 rolls. It helps to use a ruler and measure the entire log, divide by 9, then actually make slight cuts, as a guide. A serrated knife is the easiest way to cut this dough. If things start getting too sticky, rinse the knife in hot water (don’t dry it), and continue. There you have it: 9 fat rolls. Lay the rolls in a lightly greased 9” square pan; the pan needs to be at least 2” deep. Flatten them with your fingers, so they’re fairly tightly packed. Then cover, and let them rise for 1 hour, or until they look puffy – like this. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the rolls for 25 to 30 minutes, until they’re lightly browned and feel set. Remove them from the oven, and set them on a rack. Turn them out of the pan, and allow them to cool for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of the cooling time, make the glaze. Weekends at home are my favorite. We seem to have so many commitments in our life that it feels like we never get to relax at home all weekend long. This weekend, Husband and I stayed here and got to focus on what we wanted to do. This is a little recap of how we spent our weekend. The pretty mums husband got me! Friday night we were spent. Both of us had a tiring day at work and we were ready to just take it easy. We stayed in and watched some of our DVR'd shows and hung out with the dogs. We also watched a little baseball before calling it an early night. The next morning we slept in and then started our day with a Starbucks run. We decided to do a little yard work and made a total of 3 trips to Lowes and two more trips to nurseries around town. Husband bought me some beautiful fall mums and two fig trees! He also got some stuff to fix up the backyard. I replanted the fig trees and set up the mums while he did some of the actual manual labor ;) After spending the better part of the afternoon working on the yard, we retreated into our tv room to relax and watch some soccer and football. We were very happy to see the US National Team beat Honduras in soccer and even happier to see the Aggies beat Texas Tech!! Yesterday, we had breakfast with my family before church and then went over to my friend Kim's house to enjoy delicious food and hang out with her family. She has the most adorable little boy and we had a great time! It was even worth the hour long drive in the torrential rain (YAY!). We ended the night watching the newest X-men movie (which was really good) and listening to the rain. It was such a perfect, rainy Sunday! I would also like to send out a huge congratulations to my friend Andrea on her engagement this weekend. Andrea is the doctor (remember the one I'm doing my pumpkin recipe series for?) and on Saturday morning, I had a dream about her getting married. Two hours after I woke up, I got this picture from her. She had been proposed to at sunrise Saturday morning! I'm so excited for her and Eric! Isn't her ring beautiful?? I'm so glad I get to write my Thankful Thursday on Thursday this week instead of Friday! It always gives me a great perspective when I start my morning with "thank yous" because it allows me to think of reasons I am blessed. I am so thankful that Husband came home safe last night. He caught a late flight out yesterday so he could make it back last night instead of this afternoon. He was up north for work the last two days and the sound of him shuffling through the house at 12:45 this morning was music to my ears. Little surprises. I walked out to my car at 6:15 this morning and believe it or not, I was trying to think of what I'm thankful for this week. That's when I saw a single fall leaf on my windshield. It hasn't been below 55* here and it's been so dry that the only leaves falling are dead and brown. I don't know where the leaf came from but I felt like it was God's way of saying "good morning" to me and giving me something else to be thankful for. My job. It's so wonderful to have a job I enjoy going to and to work with people that truly appreciate each other. The picture to the left was taken 4 years ago on a train in Canada. I always thought it was funny and wanted an excuse to use it and say I truly love my job (like the sign above my head) and now I feel like I'm at a place I fit and enjoy going to each day. My dear friend Maria. Yesterday was a bad day. I got about 30 minutes of sleep the night before and woke up cranky. Then, nothing seemed to go right. Maria was in town (remember she moved to North Caroline after her wedding last month) and she drove downtown just to have coffee with me and turn my day around. I skipped my lunch hour so I would have a little time to sit with her and just talk. Thank you, again, Maria for being such a wonderful friend! (And, yes, I found your blog - the one with three entries - and stole this pic!). All of you who are taking the time to actually read what I have to say. I started this just over a month ago and I was getting used to seeing 20-35 page views/day. I found it exciting to see any number of page views because I saw that people were actually reading. I hoped for more but I know it takes time. I checked my stats today and saw that my page was viewed 83 times yesterday!! It's nice to know that more people are taking the time to see what I have to say. Thank you all so much!! |
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