What's Cook Lately

*Smothered Baked Chicken Burrito's with a side of Mexican Rice- Stuffed inside was a Mexican Chicken that had been cooked in the crock pot all day. Topped with a Homemade Cheesy Green Chili  Sour Cream Sauce. Let me tell you these where fabulous. Stuff a large whole wheat tortilla with the meat mixture a little cheese bake it in the oven for 20 minutes to get nice and crispy, add toppings and there you have it. Mouth watering. 

*Whole Wheat Waffles drizzled with a little Syrup- Theses have defiantly been my go to waffles here lately. They are absolutely fabulous and so quick and easy to put together. Best part is I can freeze the  left over, and pop them in the toaster in the morning for a quick healthy breakfast. 

*PIZZA- Who doesn't love pizza. I took a whole wheat tortilla spread some sauce on top, added the fixings: Cheese, Black Olives, Green Bell Peppers, Mini Pepperoni and Turkey Sausage. I tossed it in the oven and baked it for about 8-10 minutes @350. It was so tasty and filling. I've never made pizza this way before, it def. won't be the last. It was great.  

 *Cornbread Waffles and Chili- I've been wanting to put these two together ever since the hubbs got me a waffle maker for Christmas. Box cornbread (nothing fancy there) and my homemade delicious chili on top. It was quite tasty and fun if I do say so. 

 *Pizza Calzones- A new one for us to try. Why we wanted so long I have no clue. I stuffed it with everything we would top a pizza with, cheese, pepperonis and all the yummy goodness. Topped with Shredded Mozzarella Cheese and baked for 15-18 minutes at 375. Slice it up and it's ready to serve. 

 Buffalo (Bison) Burgers on a Pretzel Bun with the fixin's and a side of Sweet Potato Fries- We purchased the burger patties pre-made from the commissary and the buns. Its not often we do burgers so I let the hubbs pick, knowing he'd choose Bison. Sweet Potato fries was a much healthier option over regular fries but I knew I wasn't going to want to make my own this evening so pre-made it was. This meal did not disappoint at all. 

Walking Down Memory Lane

Up early again for a bike ride around Veterans Park before heading across town to visit with my step dad for a bit. I enjoy that even though him and my mom are not together any more that we have still kept in touch and make that we make a point to visit him when we are in town. 

After our visit we headed to downtown Dallas for breakfast at Hypnotic Donuts. I'd never eaten there before and some how came across their shop online a couple weeks back before our trip. Their donuts looked pretty amazing and let me tell you they did not disappoint. I only managed to get a picture of one or the two I got. Probably because they where so good I gobbled them up quickly.

 After breakfast we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium where we got married almost 8 years ago. (November 9th, 2007) Every time the hubbs and I go back to Texas together we always make a point to go revisit the Aquarium. Very little has changed which makes it that much more enjoyable. I think I'd be really disappointed if it ever went under a drastic change. I remember the day like it was yesterday. From the moment we arrived on the day of our wedding, getting ready, walking through the reception area and the wedding as a whole. Walking through talking about all the fun we had, reminiscing over our special day and looking at the different animals. We've been to several different aquariums (every where we go, we always try to visit the local one if they have one) and nothing ever seems to compare to the DWA. No, I'm not just saying that because we where married there yes I might be a little biased but it really is a neat open aquarium. I highly recommend it if your ever in the area. 

We took a picture in the exact spot where we said our "I Do's", even though its a little dark I love beginning able to compare the two. 

I can't wait till the day when and if we possibly have a little one that we can take her (because we all know it WILL be a girl lol) back to the DWA and show them where we got married. I always wanted to get married some where different, not in a church and this most definitely did it. The DWA will always hold a special place in my heart. 

After we where done we headed back into Arlington for lunch, and to pick up a few things we needed for our flight out that evening before going back to relax for a bit. I've completely given up fast food and really I don't miss it at all. However I did allow myself to splurge on our trip and enjoy a few of my favorites places. I introduced the hubbs to Chicken Express for the first time, I don't know if he enjoyed it as much as I do but that's ok. I got my fix and that's all that matters right.

 After a bit of relaxing the hubbs suggested we ride our bikes up to Braums for a little Ice Cream treat. Umm YES PLEASE. Don't mind if I do. My NeNe lives literally about half a mile from there so it was a perfect little outing. Brahms is my absolute favorite when it comes to Ice Cream. Probably simple because it's what I grew up on. My two favorite go to flavors are Peppermint Ice Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Not even gonna lie each time we went while home on vacay, I got a double scoop waffle cone. One scoop of each flavor and it was fantastic. :) Hey its ok I still managed to work out in some form or fashion every day. When on Vacay right?!?!?!?! 

That evening the NeNe, the Hubbs and Myself met up with two other couples for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants On The Border, you can't go wrong with Mexican Food, like EVER. Ken and Linda and Eric and Stephanie have been such great role models for me growing up and even more so since I've been married. They are all my parents age but sometimes you'd never know that by the way they act. In a good way that is. They definitely know how to enjoy life and live it up. I look up to each and everyone of them as a parental figure in one way or another and I'm so grateful to have them in our life. I love even more that even though I've moved away and am only able to make it home every so often, that each time we get together its as if no time has passed. They love and care for the both of us just as we where their own children. Eric is the one who married us and has always been such a great supporter. I babysat his two boys for several years when I lived at home and now they are both in college. Crazy how time flies. 

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the six of us together but between the tasty Swirl Frozen Margarita, the Chips and Salsa and the not so great service we where just having to much fun. It was a much needed get together and catch up time with them. I'm so glad we where able to make it work out while we where home. 

Life Happens!!!!

We are in full swing effect for Christmas at school. We've done something different on our outside bulletin board. We split it in two and made one side a count down and the other a side to show case the kiddo's art. I have to say the idea in my head sounded great, trying to explain it to my co-worker and bring the idea to life was a little nerv-wracking. But we pulled it off and it looks great.

The hubbs and I celebrated 6 years of being together on the 29th of November. I can't believe its been 6 years since we've been together. 6 years ago he made that random phone call that has changed both of our lives forever. Its been the best 6 years!!! Sometimes it seems like its been a few months and then there's times it seems like its been about 20 years.

This past Saturday the hubbs had to work and I spent the day with this perky little red head. We went to the park and played for a while, it was such a beautiful day out!!! Sometimes......just sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have my own. with.a.90.trial.error.return.policy.though.

Its the Holiday's the season of giving, and I've got to give back to my belly lol. I'm not a huge rice krispie treat fan (I'll eat them, just not a all time fav.) but these were to die for. Peanut butter and M & M's added in to the mix, melt in your mouth delicious!!!!!

This is the first year we've ever gotten a real Christmas tree. Sunday we went to a local (ok 45 minutes away oops.) tree farm, picked it out and cut it down (well the workers cut it down) and brought it home!!! I love it and it smells so fresh and christmasy!!!! I also picked up a poinsettia when I was at the commissary Saturday. They brighten every ones day!

Monday we added some lights, sadly I couldn't decorate because I didn't have any ornament hooks. Tuesday though we got right to it, or I did. Hubby watched and gave his two sense. He does do the honors of putting the star on the top when I'm done. We kept it simple this year with only putting our personalized ornaments and a few other special ones on the tree. We didn't want to take away from the beautiful tree its self. I'm so happy with the way it turned out.

Our little home is decked out from top to bottom, it's definitely Christmas time here. Although with the weather we've been having you'd never know it was winter. However I'm not complaining, I'll take 70+ degrees any day over anything 50 or below!!!! It's shaping up to be a wonderful Holiday Season!!!!

My little family, gosh they have it so hard. It's a ruff life they live being a true American Hero and two lovable cute cuddly puppies.

I'll be back with more to share and update you on soon enough!!!!
I still have my Thanksgiving trip to recap!!!

"Let's Cook"

Tonight we went to our first cooking class together. I was super excited about it, because this was something completely new for the hubby & I. I've never taken a cooking class but so badly want to. Now after taking this one I want to start taking more.
The class took place down in the Vista at "Lets Cook". Including us two there was a total of 8 people in the class. It made things nice because we got more one on one time and didn't feel as if we were rushed.  Your able to bring in wine or beer of your choice if you'd like so that's kinda nice, although we didn't and just stuck with water.

On the menu for the evening was:

*Pizza

*Fettuccine Pasta
*Stuffed Ravioli
*Broiled Peach w/ Mascarpone Cheese

We got started making our pasta dough first. Which turned out to be much easier than I had though. Using a Kitchen Aide we stretched out the pasta, cutting half of it into fettuccine. We used the other half to make the ravioli shells, which we stuffed with pork & ricotta cheese. The hubbs was such a sport and really in to everything. It made my heart warm to see him enjoy the class as much as me.

On to the pizza's, the chefs had already prepped our dough. We had to roll it out into a pizza pie shape and load it up with our choice of toppings. There was everything from pepperoni, black olives, fresh basil, chopped onion, sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, egg plant, bell pepper, different cheese's & seasonings. Every body raved about how good my pizza look. Hey what can I say, I love a good pizza.

After we had our main dishes prepared and ready to go in the oven we started on dessert. Peaches must be in season all over the South because they are serving them up every were. Neither of us are huge peach fan and weren't overly excited about dessert but we gave it our best shot. We covered the sliced peaches with brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg. They were then cooked in the oven and topped with mascarpone cheese. I was nervous about trying it with the cheese on top because I've never had it before. But I guess you don't know if you like it till you try it right.  





















While waiting on our pizzas to cook we enjoyed a fresh salad that was prepared before we got to class. A mixture of several greens, a homemade dressing topped with some black olives, a dash of salt and pepper. It was pretty tasty, I'm picky when it comes to salad dressings but this one passed my test. lol.
Our pizzas turned out so good, I kept wanting to eat more and more. But reminded myself we still had our pasta / ravioli dish to try. We decided to only cook a little of ours and bring the rest home to freeze for later. Everything turned out so good, the food was fabulous. The other couples in the class were really nice, offered suggestion on other outings around the area. We will definitely be going back again for another class in the near future. I think I might look more into regular cooking classes, after all it is on my 30 before 30  list.

PS: the dessert tuned out ok, the cheese on top was better than I though it would be. I still don't care much for peaches, lol. But at least I stepped out of my box and tried something new.   

~DAY 280~

My Saturday....

.........while the hubby was at work.

 I made plans about a week & a half ago to have lunch at Schlotzsky's today. I absolutely LOVE there sandwiches, they are so yummy, fresh, hot and gooey. If you've never eaten at a Schlotzsky's you gotta try it, I promise you wont be disappointed. Just go with the Original small, because they are really big, grab yourself a bag of chips, a drink of your choice and enjoy. 

Back up a bit, I bet your wondering how & why I made plans a week ago to have lunch here. Whelp I finally scheduled a appointment to get my windows tinted on my car. The place I decided to go with was in Lexington which is about 15-20 minutes away from post. The only good thing about that was it's near Schlotzsky's. There's only a small hand full in the South so we don't get to enjoy it that much. In fact we've had it one other time since we've moved here. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to indulge while I was over here. 

I'm quite pleased with the way the car turned out I think it looks great. It was suppose to take a hour and I think I was in and out with in like 45 minutes. Totally works for me. I've always had my window tinted, its just taken some time to get these done. I think it makes a world of a difference in the way it looks. I could tell a difference already when I got in the car, those leather seats are killer in the hot summer sun.  

Before 

After

I stopped off at our local farmers market on my way home to pick up a few things. I always enjoy going and getting a few fresh goodies to take home with me. Although I must say I liked the farmers market in Hawaii much better. The ones here have a good selection but I think the people make up a lot of the experience for me. I enjoy talking to them and here they just aren't very personable or friendly but very very pushy. I had some strange guy follow me around the market today and then out to my car as I was leaving. This same person was driving next to me as I was headed into the market. He kept trying to get me to roll my window down which I couldn't & even if I could have I wouldn't of. He turned in to the farmers market just ahead of me, same place I was going. I went straight in hopes to loose him, then I turned back around and went in a little later. Little did I know I would run in to him again. It was really weird, I don't know if he was wanting to look at the car or what but I wasn't giving him a chance. I was by myself and he was really creeping me out. 

Needless to say I don't know that I'll be making a trip back out to the market by myself anytime soon. I told the hubbs about it and he is convinced I need to get a concealed carry. I don't know that its that serious but there have been several times I haven't felt comfortable by myself out and about in our area. 

We ended the evening by going to look at TVs and then on a dinner date to LongHorn Steak House. There's nothing better than a good well done steak, side of potato's and a caesar salad with some strawberry lemonade. We decided over dinner, we aren't going to get a TV to "hold" us over till we get ours back. We are just going to do with out. We will manage, we can think of a million other things to do around the house and out side as well. It's just not worth it to spend the money on one that will later be stuck in a closet some were. Its only a couple weeks it really can't be that bad, and I can watch my shows on line if I want to. It almost makes me want to call and cancel our cable for the month since we aren't using it, but that just sounds like more trouble then its worth. 

~DAY 275~

Georgetown Cupcake

After our travels in the city we ventured over to Georgetown for some dinner, but most important to try some cupcakes!!!!! The Spouse did a bit of research and found out that the TLC show DC Cupcakes had their location right in the heart of Georgetown. Of course we had to make a visit it was on the top must see / do of the day. 

There seemed to be a ton of different flavors to pick from, from your typical every day flavors to the not so typical. I'm not one to try funky flavored cupcakes or cakes, so I played it safe. I picked the German Chocolate Fudge Cupcake and the Chocolate / Vanilla Cupcake. Out of those two I like the German Chocolate one, I wasn't a fan of the Choc. Van. at all, which is strange because its so simple. There was just something about that did set well with me. 

Look at that doesn't it look so tasty!!!! The staff was super friendly and welcoming!!! It was the perfect way to end our dinner adventure. We'll definitely be making another stop here before we leave town!!!

(this seriously makes me wanna go make some cupcakes right now)

Canton / 1st Monday

Over the years I have heard so many things about Canton and how much fun it is. Canton / 1st Monday happens the first weekend of EVERY month. This is were THOUSANDS of arts & craft vendors get together and set up booth and sell there items. They say its so big there is no way you can see everything in one day, let alone a whole weekend there. I have never been and my mom was planning to go for the month of October so it was a great chance for me to check out what all the hype was about.
Myself, Kari & my Momma woke up early Saturday morning meeting up with about 10 other ladies to make the hour long drive.
Once we got into town you could see the cars lined up trying to park so they could get in & do some shopping. Now this is a serious thing for a lot of people, many come from far away and spend the weekend here. Many like us had push carts to put all of our fabulous finds in that we picked up through out the day. Trust me you don’t want to go to 1st Monday with out one, its a life saver.



I think saying I was a little overwhelmed in the beginning would be a understatement. There was so much to look at and see so many new things and decorating ideas were running though my head. I am a sucker when it comes to personalization things and there were tons. From cups, picture frames, clothes, wall hangings I could go on forever listing all the different things you could get custom made.


On top of all the wonderful home decor & cooking items they had there was a over whelming amount of food booths & vendors to pick from. You sure weren’t gonna go hungry here. For lunch Kari and I had a loaded STUFFED bake potato with Brisket, BBQ sauce & Cheese and some real southern sweet tea. Later that afternoon we made a pit stop for Roasted Corn on the Cob and for a late evening treat we went for the Funnel Cake. Let say by the end of the day when it was time to go home we were totally stuff and couldn’t eat another thing.



We had loads of fun shopping, people watching......did I say PEOPLE WATCHING, you should see some of the people out there. We passed this one older couple were the husband was riding a electric wheel chair with his wives scooter chair attached to the back and a homemade wooden dog kennel with the dog IN IT attached to the back of that. We all did a double take when we saw it pass, we sure did get plenty of laughs out of the day.
One of my favorite vendors we found was a company called Build-A-Cross. They had tons of finished and unfinished crosses for sale. The men that made them are in a program to help them get back on there feet. Its a year long internship were Build-A-Cross takes them in gives them a job helps them move past there old ways and on to a better life. The stories we heard from one of the owners was just awesome on how the whole process works. Kari & I both bought crosses to make and then a finished one as well, she has inspired me to start a cross wall in our new home. (more to come on our crosses later)



I picked up a few great items for our new house and a birthday gift for my spouse as well as some yummy tortilla soup. I’m looking forward to going back again, I’ll definitely be planning my next trip to TX according to 1st Monday.

More S'mores Please

After the lovely rain clouds continued to mess with our weekend plans, we were determined to make the most of the day. Beach plans with a few friends were set for this afternoon, down near Dillingham. With the clouds looming over us we had to quickly come up with a solution aka plan B. Vic, the host that she is suggested making S'mores on the beach.....ummmmm are you kidding me..... you don't have to ask me twice. I can't even remember the last time I had a S'more, I was totally all over this idea. I quickly sent out a text to everyone with the change of plans and everyone was in. A quick stop by the commissary on the way out for MARSHMALLOWS and we were good to go.
After we all arrived at Vics. place we chatted a bit, the hubbs realized he was the only guy there out of 5 of us girls and opted to head back to the house. It turned into a girls outing. Even the 4 kiddos that were there were lil girls. We walked the 1/2 mile down to the beach from V's house and set up the mini grill and started a fire. Trying to keep the kiddos busy and out of the goods......aka the MARSHMALLOWS was harder then I though.

But once the fire was up and going we were roasting away.

Making melt in your mouth S'MORES, I was in heaven. I miss making bond fires and roasting MARSHMALLOWS at our river house back home. It was always a wonderful way to spend the night after a day on the water. Sitting there on the beach slowly watching the sunset chatting away with some of my fav. chickas I was having a fantastic night.




It's times like this that I will miss when the time comes for us to PCS when ever that maybe. There are plans in the works for another s'more making evening. :) I can't wait just the though of them makes my mouth water. :)

Here are a few pictures from our ride back to post in N's new car. Her convertible blows my sunroof away. We had a great time jamming out to her hubby's work out music :) I was tucked in the back with Madi holding little Jack Jacks car seat but it really wasn't to bad at all, we got some good laughs. (even more going through Lyman gate since she doesn't have decals yet.)




I absolutely couldn't imagine my life with out the friends I've made here in Hawaii!! I'm so grateful for each and every single one of them.