My Heart Melts

Have y'all met my nephew? Because I'm not sure if I've ever posted about him (HA!). Went shopping at Target today with my sis and Aidan. He now sits up in the cart and is just such a joy. Lately he is into this nose-scrunching phase. The nose-scrunch mixed in with his new teeth are just hilarious. He loves me. I love him. I'm obsessed, yes, I have come to terms with it.

Ree Fever

Forget "Beiber Fever"... me, my sisters and several of my friends are suffering with a bad case of "Ree Fever!" Ree Drummond, a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman, is an amazing gal who has a website that is entertaining and full of helpful hints. I can spend hours on her website. She came to the Davis-Kidd Bookstore here in Memphis. My friend Cameron and I took our PW cookbooks and the PW love story with us to get signed. She was beautiful and so sweet.

Thanks for visiting Memphis Ree, come back

now, ya hear?

Black Honey

No... I am not blogging about the latest porn star... but about my latest favorite beauty treat! I am a chapstick junkie,but sometimes I do want to spruce up my look. However, I do not like dry lipsticks or sticky glosses. I have found something that puts the best of both of these into one sleek tube!

Amy introduced me to the Clinique Almost Lipstick shade, Black Honey. It has a lipstick look with a glossy, moist touch. It looks almost black in the tube, but once on your lips it takes on a new color according to your skin tone. It is known to be universally flattering. Plus, it is intriguing because it looks different on each person. How it looks on me is completely different than how it looks on my sister. I can pop it on if I'm running out to do some errands or wear it for a night out on the town!

This product retails for $14 and can be found at the Clinique counter.

Sweet & Spicy Chicken

It's likely you have these 3 ingredients in your fridge! I'm so excited about this easy recipe because it only takes a few ingredients and is super easy. I served with some mashed potatoes and they were a great pair!
You'll need:

12 oz jar of apricot preserves
16 oz bottle Italian dressing
2 lbs Chicken Breasts, cut into tenders



Place the chicken breast tenders in dish and drizzle 16 oz. of Italian dressing over the top, Turn pieces, to coat evenly with the dressing. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate 8 hours or overnight (I marinated for a few hours and it was fine). When ready to fix your chicken breasts, remove them from the dish and place them in the baking dish. Reserve 1 cup of the Italian dressing that was used for the marinade. (You may use all of the leftover marinade, but, unless you have a very deep baking dish, the sauce may bubble up and run over in the oven.) Mix the 1 cup reserved Italian dressing with 12 oz. apricot preserves in a small mixing bowl. Use a spoon (or a mixer, if you like). When the two ingredients are well-blended, pour them over the chicken breast tenders that you have placed in your baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 325 degrees for 1 hour. Then, remove the aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes longer. The chicken breast meat will be very tender and juicy. Remove from the oven, and place the chicken breast tenders on a platter. If desired, top the chicken tenders with the gravy that has formed in the baking dish. This is a magnificent dish! It will fill your house with sweet and spicy aroma, and your guests will love it!

Courtesy of www.bigoven.com

Kris Krinkle

Who knew that when my dearest friend, Cameron, gave me some homemade Christmas treats that it would turn into my latest addiction. They are called Molasses Crinkles, a heart-warming cookie that is good for the soul. I decided to give it a go and try making them and am sure glad I did! As I smell them baking now, my thighs are plumping and my bum is widening. Ah! The joys of Christmas!


You will need:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg (room temperature)
granulated sugar for coating

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Set aside.

Combine the brown sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg in a mixing bowl and mix until blended.

Mix in the flour mixture.



Cover and chill in the refrigerator (you can chill for a few hours or overnight)






When ready to bake:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and dip the tops in granulated sugar.


Arrange the balls with the sugar side up on your greased baking sheet.


Sprinkle each with 2-3 drops of water.


Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light brown.
(I bake right at 10 minutes and then take them out and set on the stovetop for a few minutes to warm!)



(by the way, my pan looks super nasty, but I swear it is clean...) I like to call this look, "distressed."

I like to take them out earlier, while they're still soft, and put them on top of the hot stove to warm there. I also give them a tap with the spatula to flatten them.



ENJOY

and

Merry Christmas!





I'm off to run these crinkles off.......

**Recipe courtesy of Cameron Scott Stimson, via the Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro, AR; Rendezvous on the Ridge cookbook.

Jack in the Boxty

I wasn't planning on blogging another post tonight, because my rear is getting numb from sitting for so long. But I got wrapped up in looking at old pictures on my laptop. Do you ever do that? Start looking at photos and get lost in them all? Well, I do it often - I love remembering what was going on in the photo and how I was feeling when the picture was taken.

I opened up the file folder from my trip to Colorado back in September. I never posted any of the pictures from our day trip to Pueblo. Dad took me up to the HARP (The Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo - http://www.puebloharp.com/). Emily was headed back up to Denver that day - but she joined us for a little fun. The Riverwalk is amazing, it is in the historic downtown of Pueblo. The Arkansas River runs right through the middle of downtown. All sorts of fun shops and stores run alongside the river. Emily and I sought out a coffee shop right away! Here are some photos:

Me and Emily enjoying yummy coffee on the Riverwalk.

Me and Dad on the bridge, looking over the river.

Soon after all of the walking we did, we got hungry! Dad said he knew of an Irish pub he'd been to that was tasty. We made our way the the Shamrock Brewing Company in downtown Pueblo.

It was way too early for a beer. Instead I had my first Boxty... what is a boxty? My thoughts exactly. I usually don't branch out on foods that I am unsure of, but the description was intriguing:

"Boxty: Irish potato pancakes, or Aran Boct Ti, has been around almost as long as the potato itself. A part of a unique tradition in Irish food. Our boxty are stuffed with some of the freshest Irish ingredients and topped with unique sauces."

And unique my boxty was ... I ordered the Vegan Boxty, which contained artichoke hearts, roasted peppers and spinach; topped with sundried tomato pesto cream. I keep kicking myself for not taking a photo of the beautiful boxty, but found a photo online that looks pretty similar to what I had that day...

I'm fairly sure that boxtys did not look or taste this good back in the days of the Irish potato famine. So next time you step into an Irish pub, I hope you order a boxty - at least you'll know what they are.... all 2 of you who read this ;)

Rolling in the Dough

Since I've been out of school and had a lot of time at home, I decided to get into my susie-homemaker outfit and start baking! When I was out in Colorado in September my sister, Emily, made some amazing homemade pizza - dough and all! I have been dreaming of that pizza ever since. I decided today was the day...

The dough recipe is courtesy of Emily Conley, super easy and super fast!

Click on the link for the full recipe: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/easy_pizza_dough.aspx

The dough right after mixing ingredients. Put in the microwave to rise...

It had RISEN!

Added the toppings: sauce, pepperoni, bell pepper, artichoke hearts, and shrooms!

Mmmm the delicious product!

Long Time, No Post...

I just can't hardly believe that it is December 7th and 2011 is right around the corner!

My, how time flies when you are busy...

I haven't posted anything in so long, so much has been going on. This Fall season has been trying on our family, but we just hold onto each other and keep going.

Tomorrow is my last day of student teaching and I couldn't be happier - it has been a long road, with a few bumps along the way, but I am almost there! I presented my final portfolio about 3 weeks ago and received an A in my final portfolio class at Christian Brothers. After tomorrow I will be hoping for a job... I have interviewed with the county school system and am hoping something pops up! If nothing pops up, I can always substitute and that will definitely keep me busy. With a lighter work load in the recent few weeks Greg said he feels as if he has his wife back.

Christmas will be here before we know it. Mom will fly in from Colorado in a couple of weeks and we'll all enjoy Christmas here (although Em & Kevin will stay in Denver and Dad is still in Afghanistan, so we'll be missing them!!) Greg and I are both going to be off the whole week between Christmas and New Years, so we are looking forward to some down time and relaxation. Dad will arrive here in January for a short R&R from Afghanistan, looking forward to that.

The picture I posted is of me and my sweet, precious nephew - Aidan. Have y'all seen him before? I don't know if I talk about him enough or show you enough pictures (ha!)...

This picture was taken last weekend at the Arlington town square, the train was passing by and Aidan was amazed, as you can tell. Happy Christmas, here is to more posting...

Pumpkin Love

The cuteness ...