Giving Thanks 2012

This Thanksgiving, Mike and I decided that it would be best if we stayed in San Antonio. We let our parents know they were invited to join us for the holiday, but that we were unable to travel this year. Mike's mom and my mom RSVP'd for our celebration and we had a wonderful time!

Light the Way 2012

Man! I can't believe Valentine's Day is just around the corner!!

Wait, what's that?

It's not even Thanksgiving?

But just this past weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and the 4th of July!

My friend Kristin graciously planned out a wonderful evening for us at the University of Incarnate Word's Light the Way ceremony. Each year around the holidays they decorate their campus with about a billion colored, twinkling holiday lights and it's become customary for us (as I'm sure it is for others) to drive through at least once each holiday season. The Light the Way ceremony includes musical performances from groups around town before they turn on the lights. The ceremony was held this past Saturday and a group of us grabbed some hot chocolate at Starbucks and made our way to UIW. We were relieved that it was actually somewhat "cold" for the festivities. (Walking through Christmas lights in shorts and a t-shirt just isn't the same)

We didn't grab seats on the bleachers, instead we just stood by the fence and socialized while sort of paying attention to the show.

Kristin, Rhonda, Ellie, Veronica and Clarissa (AKA "The Ladies")

Eric, Chris, Mike, Justin and Geoff (AKA "The Dudes")

The ceremony ended with what I thought would be a few fireworks, but really this display rivaled many 4th of July ceremonies (and we were super close to it)!

And of course, since it's San Antonio, a Mariachi Band led the crowd through the lights!

After walking through campus a bit, we headed to a wine bar for more laughs as well as some good wine and good food! What an excellent way to kick off the Holiday Season! :)

October Foodie Pen Pal!

Last month I signed up for a cool new program: Foodie Pen Pal!! Here's how it works: You sign up before the 5th of the month, then you are assigned a recipient and a sender. You pack a box of $15 worth of "foodie" things (can be homemade or local flavors or whatever) and send it to your recipient (you connect with them to find out their preferences and/or dietary restrictions). The sender does the same thing for you!

I sent my recipient some Julio's seasoned corn chips, Native Texan salsa, Taste of Austin coffee, San Antonio Fiesta blend chili powder and habenero pralines!! She lives in Florida and she said that she shared many of the items with her family and they enjoyed all the Tex Mex flavors. She even ordered some of the pralines online!

The box I received was from a woman who blogs at Bake No Prisoners. It was delivered on my birthday, which made it that much more exciting! She did a great job decorating the box for Halloween.

Inside were lots of Halloween- and Fall-themed treats, some homemade, others store-bought.

The box included pumpkin granola bars, pumpkin seeds, Yogi tea (!), Halloween bark, and some cookies (along with the cookie recipe). Everything was awesome (especially the Halloween bark!) and I even used the pumpkin seeds in my homemade bread. The recipe says they're optional and I never had them before so I always left them out, but I was excited that I could include them this time!

I've signed up for November and already sent my match a box of South Texas favorites (very similar to the one I sent my October match). I'll be receiving a box from a fellow Texan from Houston this time! Can't wait to see what's in store!

Feeding Friendship: Irish Food - Sheppard's Pie

It's almost St. Patty's Day, so this round of Feeding Friendship features Irish dishes! :)

I chose to make Shepherd's Pie. I had some in New York when we were there last year at an Irish Pub. It was delicious! Mine turned out a bit different, but still very tasty!

Sidenote: I accidentally had 2 recipes for Shepherd's Pie open on my computer and there was a bit of confusion both when making my shopping list and when getting started. There was a near-meltdown and we ended up with an extra can of fire-roasted tomatoes, but worse things have happened.

Here's how to make it:

Ingredients:

 2  large potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces (I didn't peel mine, but you could)

1/4 cup nonfat sour cream

1  tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine

1/8 teaspoon table salt

2  teaspoons olive oil

1  cup onion (chopped)

2  medium carrots (diced)

2  medium celery ribs, diced

1  lb uncooked ground turkey breast (or morningstar farms recipe crumbles)

3  tablespoons all-purpose flour

1  tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped or 1  teaspoon dried rosemary

1  teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2  cups canned chicken broth or 2  cups beef broth (or vegetable for vegan)

Please ignore the Balsamic Vinegar. That was leftover from the aforementioned confusion...

1.     Preheat oven to 400ºF.  

2.    Place potatoes in a large saucepan and pour in enough water to cover potatoes. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender.

3.    Drain potatoes, transfer to a large bowl and add sour cream and margarine; mash until smooth, season to taste with salt and set aside.

The paddle attachment on the stand mixer makes mashed potatoes EASY!

4.    Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

5.     Add onion, carrots and celery; cook until soft, about 3 minutes.

6.    Add turkey and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes.

7.    Add flour, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper; stir to coat.

8.    Add broth and bring to a simmer; simmer until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.

9.    Transfer turkey mixture to a 9-inch, deep-dish pie plate. Spread mashed potatoes over top and using the back of a spoon, make decorative swirls over the top.

10. Bake until potatoes are golden, about 30 minutes.

If I had to do it again, I'd add more potatoes and bake it for 10-15 min longer!

11. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Feeding Friendship: Valentine's Day Treat!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's day! Mike and I stayed in. I cooked dinner and then we watched Casablanca. Towards the end we could have used some toothpicks to keep our eyes open, but I think we both enjoyed ourselves. Since we're young and don't have kids, there's plenty of date nights at our house so Valentine's Day sort of blurs in with everything else! I did get Mike a card, which then made him feel obligated to reciprocate. He was resourceful and simply repurposed a V-Day card my Grandma sent us. It's the thought that counts, right?


I looked to Pinterest for some ideas on what to make for my FF V-Day treat. There were a lot of red velvet cake recipes and heart-shaped marshmallow recipes, but as you all know, I've already done those!


When I stumbled upon these Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes I knew they'd be perfect!

 Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup champagne (sparkling white wine will work)
1/3 cup strawberry puree
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup applesauce (instead of vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp vanilla

For frosting:
1 cup champagne
1 stick of unsalted butter
2.5-3.5 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp red food coloring
2-3 tablespoons of milk or cream, as needed (I didn't use any and the frosting was fine)


1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with liners or spray with cooking spray. (Hey, I did neither and lived to tell about it!)


2) In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut milk, champagne, strawberry puree, sugar, vanilla, and oil.

If you have a big, strong man in need of an ego boost, you can have him open the champagne bottle!

4) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until relatively smooth.

5) Pour batter into muffin pan/cupcake liners so that each one is about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

6) For the frosting, bring champagne to a simmer in a small saucepan. Continue to boil gently until only 2-3 tablespoons of liquid remain. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Champagne is extra bubbly when boiled!

 7) Cream butter in electric mixer for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Slowly add 1 cup confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Add 2 tablespoons reduced champagne and mix. Add a few drops of food coloring. Continue this process until it tastes and looks good to you.

8) Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes. I used a ziploc bag with a corner cut off.

I had some red sprinkles left over from Christmas, so I added them.

First Annual Yule Log!

I hope the holiday season found everyone well this year! Mike and I had a very happy holiday! Here's a little recap of our December 2011:

I refrained from decorating or listening to holiday music until precisely December 1st...and then it sort of looked like Old St. Nick himself threw up in our living room...

Our first Christmas tree in our San Antonio home -
a 6-foot live fir.

Mike and I had rival each had our respective nutcrackers before we met, ironically.

On the 2nd, the 24th Air Force (where Mike works) had their annual holiday party. Mike was asked to Emcee the event and he did a spectacular job. He and the other Emcee, Lance, conspired to wear tacky Christmas sweaters that evening. Mike already had a puff painted Christmas sweatshirt, but we decided we could do better. So we added some jingle bells and LED, battery-powered Christmas lights:

Perfect!

You already saw our Gingerbread "houses" that we also made that weekend. You can also read about it on Ellie's blog.

Our friend's Onae and Thomas had a Christmas party at their house for our San Antonio group of friends. We played some fun games, to include a gift exchange, and watched the 2011 and 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (why not?!). We had a really great time. I am so happy we have such great friends here after only a couple years! We'll be so sad to leave them!

On Thursday, the 22nd, we left for Opelousas, Louisiana, where we would spend Christmas with Mike's family. We arrived that afternoon and had ribs for dinner in honor of our nephew, Landyn's, birthday. The next day Mike and I took Landyn, 8, and CJ, 5, to lunch and the Children's Museum so that Mike's sister, Courtney, and their mom could do some shopping without the little ones. It was our first time alone with children and I like to think we did an awesome job. We ate lunch at a place called Walk-Ons and the kids were extremely well-behaved. They got their kid's meals on frisbees, so that was pretty cool.

At the museum, the kids put on a puppet show:

Landyn got to get in the front and the back of an ambulance. (He told his mother this after we were done and neglected to mention it was at the museum! I quickly followed with "at the Children's Museum!!" Hahaha!)

Future paramedic?

CJ loves to cook! She whipped up some crawfish, cake and burgers for us! Delish!

Future Iron Chef?

 Perhaps the coolest part of the museum was the bubble section. They had big bubble wands with waist-high trays of bubble solution. They even had one you could stand in and make a bubble around you. The kids were really good at it.

After the museum we picked up Courtney and went to the zoo to see the light displays. The kids played on a playground while the adults sipped hot chocolate. Needless to say, the ride home was very quiet. :)

On Christmas Eve, Mike's step-siblings came over with Gumbo and we had a big Christmas dinner with another gift exchange. Mike and I ended up with Home Depot and Target gift cards so we were happy.

On Christmas Day we went to Mike's mom's house where Santa had brought lots of fun toys for Landyn and CJ. We ooh'd and ahh'd at their gifts before they left to spend the day with Courtney's boyfriend's family. Mike's mom, Mr. Bo, Mike and I had a quiet day with turkey and all the trimmings followed by a nap. When the kids got back we watched "Big" on TV (I forgot how great that movie is!) and then we had a light dinner before playing "Headbandz" with the kids. If you've played that drinking game where you put a card on your forehead, it's very similar to that...minus the alcohol....and with pictures on the cards as opposed to playing cards...oh and you have a little headband that holds it up for you.

We drove home Monday. My mom had flown in to San Antonio the day before to be with my Aunt Rhonda for Christmas. We had a nice dinner with them and enjoyed Mom's visit before she had to leave Thursday. We went to Fredricksburg where we did some shopping and ate German food, we went to the San Antonio Art Museum, and we saw "The Artist" which I highly recommend.

Mom and I at Los Patios after Mike and I ran 8 miles.
Mom and Rhonda went for a walk on the trails, too

In Fredricksburg, TX

For New Year's Eve, Mike and I went to our friends, Justin and Clarissa's, house. We watched some You Tube videos and New Year's Rockin' Eve. We played a game called "Things" which was pretty entertaining.

Surprise!

Around 2:30am Onae and Thomas went home. Mike and I were staying the night since we live about 30 min away. I went to bed, but Mike and Justin stayed up 'til 5am playing video games! They're so funny!

So we had an excellent holiday season! I'm so grateful we could spending it with so many friends and family! I'm really excited to see what 2012 brings us! I hope the New Year finds you well and best of luck in 2012!!

Feeding Friendship: Peppermint Red Velvet Cake Balls

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! How festive that Sarah chose peppermint! I'm always a sucker for peppermint bark, but I went ahead and made it a blowout extravaganza. We were headed to a Christmas party Saturday night and lets just say it's not Christmas unless your shoving lots of high-calorie food down your loved one's throats!

So here we go: Peppermint Red Velvet Cake Balls!

Ingredients
1 box of Red Velvet cake mix and other required ingredients for the cake* (you'll want a 9"x13" cake)
1 tub of vanilla frosting*
1 lb white chocolate morsels
12 candy canes

*Feel free to make either or both of these from scratch. I felt dirty using prepackaged versions, but there just wasn't time.

(not pictured: chocolate!!)

Equipment
mixing bowl
9x13 cake pan
plastic ziploc-esque bags
hammer
large mixing bowl
wax paper
cookie sheet
microwaveable bowl or double boiler set up
spoon or fork to roll and retrieve cake balls in chocolate

Makes about 35 balls

1) Bake the cake according to package directions. (I substituted applesauce for the oil.) Let the cake cool completely.
(I made Flourless Peanut Butter Kiss cookies while I waited for the cake to cool)

2) While cake is cooling, crush the candy canes by putting them in a plastic bags and tapping them with a hammer.

3) Crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl. The recipe I followed mentioned cutting out two big pieces and rubbing them together. This worked really well. What it didn't mention is that edge pieces won't break down very well. I "discarded" many of those. Go back with a fork to get any chunks out. It should look like this:

3) Add about 3/4 of the tub of icing. You want a doughy texture, but not too moist. Just add a bit at a time and see how you feel.

4) Roll cake/frosting mixture into 1/2" balls.

5) Put the cake balls in the refrigerator for a few hours or the freezer for 15 min. (I went with the freezer!) This firms them up so they don't crumble in the chocolate.

6) Melt the chocolate according to the package instructions.

7) Roll the cake balls, one at a time, in the melted chocolate and place on wax paper topped cookie sheet.

8) Sprinkle with crushed candy canes

9) Place coated cake balls in the refrigerator for half an hour or so to set the chocolate.

10) Share with your crazy friends!!

My San Antonio friends and me with our White Elephant gifts!

Homemade Gingerbread "Houses"

On our trip to Wichita, Ellie mentioned she'd like to make homemade gingerbread houses. At the time there were many suggestions: a gingerbread outhouse, a gingerbread trailer, a gingerbread post office, etc.

So on Saturday, Ellie and Geoff came over with the ingredients and we baked the necessary amount of gingerbread for one house and one Alamo (Geoff's idea, with which Mike ran). There was some left over dough for gingerbread men to eat, of course!

On Sunday, a cold and rainy day here in San Antonio, we bought candy decorations and Ellie and Mike worked on their final products while Geoff helped and I provided moral support (and watched Christmas Vacation).

Festive roof!

Perfecting Davy Crockett's facial expression.

Perfect!

The cat's view.

Historically accurate gingerbread replica.

Blood = Siracha

Santa Ana looks sad!