Dinner tonight

I brought back an old school recipe from a few years ago. It was circulating big time for awhile but I haven't made it or been served it in a year so I thought I would give it a try.
Green Bean Bundles


I realize that wrapping green beans in bacon takes away some of the benefit to eating veggies but if you have someone in your family that's not a veggie fan, this might just work. I don't eat the bacon because I like my bacon practically burned and I feel this is a disadvantage to this recipe because I cannot get the bacon crisp. I even pre-cooked it a bit this time.
I used fresh green beans and blanched them- cooked them in boiling water then immediately dipped them in ice water to stop the cooking. Then make your bundles using 1/2 slice of bacon. Then drizzle with butter, garlic salt, Creole seasoning, and brown sugar. Then bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I will have to post the rest of dinner tomorrow. I'm tired now!

-- Post From My iPhone

On my way to work this morning

This is what I see:




All things are right in the world again.

-- Post From My iPhone

Flashback to homecoming

Special thanks to my mom who brought this over so I could store it at my house... I was looking for something to fill my extra storage space.




Oh wait, no, no I wasn't.

I was kind of hoping this was one of those things that got to stay in moms closet until the day I was ready to show my kids what I wore in high school. Apparently, that's not the thought mom had.
I can't bring myself to throw it away but what am I supposed to do with it???

-- Post From My iPhone

Oh, yum.

Welcome to another edition of what to stuff in your wonton wrappers. I had to un-freeze the whole package the other day and now I need to use them up. Today we are trying goat cheese, crasins, and walnuts. It it so yummy! I baked it at 350 for about 10 minutes. I sprinkles a pinch (and I mean a tiny pinch) of sugar on the top in hopes that it would melt in the oven and add some flavor to the wrappers. It didn't but they are still good!

Give it a try!




-- Post From My iPhone

Bad Cason

Mr. Adventurous decided to climb on the kitchen table. I have found him here a few times. I only took a picture the first time, the other times he gets a spanking. It's dangerous!

How long until he climbs on the kitchen cabinets???

I think it's time for gymnastics.


-- Post From My iPhone

Target colors

What a relief to find that the colors in my home are still in style. This is a new display at target and its the same colors I have had for years! I would like to think that I was the pioneer of these colors but that is probably not the case. Either way, I won't be changing my color palette any time soon... Maybe adding some new target accessories!


-- Post From My iPhone

Mascarpone, wonton wrappers and other such matters.

Alright, so there were some people who pointed out in the comments section of my last post that while the napoleons sounded yummy, they were not made with typical pantry staples.  Here is the truth, I did have to run to the store for the mascarpone.  I had only used it once before but Giada uses it all the time and I think they use it for tiramisu also so I felt that it would work well in this dish.  The wonton wrappers I did have in my freezer actually.  They are great to keep on hand because they are less calories than bread and you can stuff them and bake them with lots of different things inside.  I stuff them with ham and cheese and make little hot sandwich pockets.  They get crispy in the oven which is nice because a lot of things don't get crispy until you fry them.
I just thought of something else I could stuff in a wonton wrapper.  If it works, i'll post it tomorrow!

Peach Napoleons

I was inspired to make a yummy dessert the other night. Inspired by a restaurant I went to where they had peach napoleons on the menu. I didn't have one but when I saw them on the dessert tray I thought "I can do that". The restaurant used puff pastry for the outside. Puff pastry is one of lifes greatest pleasures but it's loaded with fat and I didn't have any in my pantry. Here's my version:

Slice 2 peaches and toss in a bowl with a tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 tsp almond extract. Set aside in fridge for an hour or so.

Heat oven to 400. Place wonton wrappers on a cookie sheet and lightly sprinkle with sugar. Bake 5 minutes ( or maybe 10, I cant remember).

Mix 1c marscapone cheese with 1/4 c powdered sugar. Set aside.

When ready to serve, place a wonton on the plate, spread with cheese mixture, top with a few peaches. Repeat.

I think it was very yummy and it's an easy, fast, fresh summer treat!


-- Post From My iPhone

Hoops?

I found these great basketball shorts for c. They are a little big but that's the best part. I think thats how all the thugs wear their shorts these days.


I took him to church so he could show off his skills. He had to flirt a bit first.



Then he was ready for some dunking.





He tried a little baseball as well. He just wants to have a sport for every season.




I probably shouldn't let him out in this heat!



-- Post From My iPhone

New coffee table

I re-arranged the furniture in the living room and needed a coffee table so I moved the Nelson bench in.








Then I moved it out.

-- Post From My iPhone

Future gymnast?

Cason loves to climb on anything. The higher the better and he shows no fear!

Here he is sitting on top of our magazine holder.



And the dismount.


He might become a rocket scientist or something too. Here he is playing cranium. It's a very advanced game... Requires higher level language skills. I'm not tryin to brag but... That's a pretty smart kid.



It's possible he might be a magician too.



Is this your card?


-- Post From My iPhone

Hotel zaza

We went to hotel zaza to stay the night for a mini vacation. Summer has been a little crazy and with my new teaching schedule my summer break didn't fall during a time we could do anything. So, that brings us to why we really just wanted to get away for the night.

I've wanted to stay at zaza since it was built. It's very themed and fun.




Here's our bed. It was a big room. Not a great view but we didn't pay for a great view.



We had a sitting area with a full size sofa and this chair and this awesome lamp.



There was a desk too!



We went to the Dragonfly restaurant at the hotel. It's rally nice and super yummy and the best part was, Wednesday nights are 1/2 off the entire menu. I said we were celebrating my birthday when I made the reservation so they gave us a dessert of mini cupcakes!



I had a spa treatment- reflexology. It's basically a foot massage and it was pretty much the only thing I could afford. When I got back I found this-



I love my boys.

-- Post From My iPhone

Splash time

We got Cason a splash table.


Putting it together was a bit of a challenge.


And once he started playing he loved it!


Taste testing.



Maybe a swimsuit would have been a better clothing option.


-- Post From My iPhone

Accessorizing

Just thought this was too cute not to post.


-- Post From My iPhone

The cabin that Jesus built

Many people I have talked with over the past few days have been to falls creek for camp. It's a cool place. Churches in Oklahoma have built cabins there and you rent a cabin for your group.
I don't know what to expect... At all. I had seen a snapshot of some of the cabins online so I knew it would be plain. It is after all, camp.




Here is our quaint little cabin. It's one of the cuter ones. I think it was built in 1930 but the rest of the cabins look like world war 2 bunkers so I liked the homey look of this cabin.



Here's our kitchen with our cook hard at work. The kitchen had everything she needed so she was happy.

All of this would have been fine and good had it not been for this thing next door.




You are probably thinking what I am thinking- what a nice community building. I bet the kids enjoyed having their bible studies in there. Thats what I was thinking. In fact, as soon as I dropped off my stuff at the cabin I was ready to head over there to the Starbucks that was most certainly inside.

It's not a community space. It's a cabin. First baptist Ada's cabin. They felt that in a camp full of WWII bunkers that was the appropriate thing to build. Fully equipped with plasma tv's volleyball and basketball courts and who knows what else. Seriously?! I didn't speak with anyone about their decision to build that (the tour wasn't until Thursday and I left Tuesday) but it seems a little out of line. It's not that it's new it's that it's modeled after one of the Disney resorts. If this were Disney village thats perfectly acceptable, but this is a place to go and focus on God.
Our kids had to wake up every morning and gaze upon that huge structure and wonder why those kids got all the cool stuff.

At least our cook was better.

An we have the awards to prove it.

-- Post From My iPhone