Turkey Day!!

I was SUPER excited about Turkey day this year. I wanted to test some new recipes for munching during the week.

Apricot White Chocolate Pecan Bread

I forgot to get a picture of them straight out of the oven, but here they are wrapped up and ready to go!

The second bread I made was Apple Butter Banana Bread.

Super easy delicious recipes that require no special equipment! Email me for recipes!

I was eager to see if we were trying any new recipes for Thanksgiving. Mom wanted to make dad's favorite pie that my grandmother use to make. Cranberry apple pie!

Add chopped apples, cranberrys, sugar and flour mixture in layers into a pie crust.

Add top pie crust pinch closed the sides and cute small slits

Bake and enjoy!

We use a SUPER easy recipe for pecan pie. Place 1 1/2 cups of pecans in bottom of pie.

Mix vanilla, sugar, eggs, and Karo and pour into pie. Bake and enjoy!

YUM!!!!!!!

All the other dishes are Fogle family tradition recipes.

Dressing:

Asparagus Pea Casserole...my FAV!



Holiday Yams (technically from Gooseberry patch cookbook but we're making it a Fogle tradition)

Apple Salad....my SECOND FAV!!

Table scape: We use Christmas dishes for Thanksgiving too!

Turned out to be an AWESOME meal with my WONDERFUL family!!

The best part is the boys did the dishes afterwards!

We were so excited to bring home our anniversary cake from my parents freezer. We had heard some horror stories of how bad everyone's cake tasted the next year so we weren't exactly looking forward to  freezer burned wedding cake. However, may parents saved some cupcakes from the wedding and they defrosted on the way home so we decided to taste test two (while almond with butter cream and pina colada (which is what our cake is)). We were SO pleasantly surprised that they still tasted GREAT! The cake part lacked a little moisture but it still had all the flavor. Can't wait to try the real thing!! :)

Chris and I are so thankful for our wonderful families and what they mean to us. We are truly blessed in so many ways!

Many blessings to you and your family. Safe travel to all!

Much Love,
WB

O, Christmas Tree O, Christmas Tree!!!!

So about a month ago we bought our FIRST Christmas tree! We have been looking forward to putting it up since the day we got it! We had a lot of ornaments left over from the wedding but added  some new colors and flare.

Once we got it all put together we pulled out the lights and the strand was WHITE! So we made a late night trip to Wal-mart because we were to excited to stop for the night.

 The first go round we had a bunch of silver and red extra long picks (as pictured above) but we decided to go in a different direction. I went back to Garden Ridge in search of an answer....

POINSETTIAS!! I found green, red and silver! Perfect for our first tree! :)

Bread and pork chop recipes to come!

Much Love,
WB

Shrimp Creole

Wow! It has been FOREVER since I've updated my blog! We have been so busy through October and November getting things in line for the holidays I have just not had time.

Let me share with you my recent purchase.

You could have guessed it was a Willow House product! These sweet tidbits are "technically" tea cups, but I'm going to use them to hold toothpicks/sweet-n-low etc. They match my cinnabar tidbits and accent plates! So exciting!!

Recently (well for a while now) Chris has been asking me to make shrimp creole. I must admit it sounded a little intimidating but after looking at a few recipes I decided I could take it on.

It turned out GREAT! All you do is saute the onions and bell pepper, add tomatoes, okra and creole or Cajun seasoning. Let heat through for about 20 or 30 minutes then add shrimp at the end until they turn pink(about 8 min)! I was afraid it would be a little bland so I added a bit too much creole seasoning and it was SPICY! We served this with white rice and a greek salad! YUM!

A few weeks ago I attempted an artichoke spinach lasagna. I only have the picture of it before it went in the oven, but it turned out super good too...email me if you'd like the recipe!

Every second Thursday of each month my girlfriends and I get together for dinner. We've recently started switching off houses instead of going to restaurants. I of course made a dish I knew everyone would love.

Margherita PIZZA! I must say I think these might be my prettiest ones yet! One of my favorite things about entertaining is setting the table. Weird I know but I like the way it looks with multiple dishes and glasses etc.

Simplicity is elegance!

Amy brought an amazing salad! I did not last long at a dinner full of girls. I enjoyed it so much I got the recipe from her and made it the next night!

It's lettuce, Mandarin oranges, black olives, almonds, avocado and a homemade dressing (oil, vinegar, salt, sugar) TOTAL BLISS!!!

Tomorrow I'm attempting to bake (for Thanksgiving) apple butter banana bread, apricot pecan white chocolate bread, a bday cake for my mom.....and....onion gravy pork chops! BRING IT ON! haha but many pictures to come!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving!!!

Much Love!
WB

Ephesians 2: 8-10

"⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  ⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
 ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2: 8-10

Pastor Graham preached on Ephesians 2 yesterday in church. It really spoke to me on how so many people view religion these days. If we could train ourselves to see the world through a scripture based lens instead of looking at scripture through a world based lens what a difference it would make.

Some people believe in religion by subtraction, taking away things in their lives that they believe will hinder them from getting in Heaven. Some people believe in religion by multiplication, any religion will get you to Heaven just choose one. Others believe in religion by division, if you divide yourselves into a perfectly cut shape with perfect edges that will get you into Heaven. However, we were saved by grace through faith. Jesus died for all of us, if we would just ask him into our hearts we will one day rejoice in Heaven with the Lord.

Once you ask him into your heart you will be surround by christian brother in sisters that will help and enable you to do good works. Good works do not get you into heaven but allow you to share the word of Jesus Christ with the rest of the world.

How powerful a message....

Early Release!

Today we got out of work early so I decided to update my blog. Granted, we will be working late for the rest of the week and Saturday in order to test count all the department based inventory in the hospital...ewwww!!
Last weekend we went to Mandi and David's wedding and had a BLAST! One of the coolest things about the wedding was David's cake.

It was a GIANT Reece's cup! YUM!!!

We got to hang out with Chris's old boss and a few of his old co-works from the Frisco store...so fun!

That Sunday I traveled to Abilene for the day to watch Katie in ACU's production of Titanic. If you have ever seen one of ACU's plays/musicals you know what a fabulous job they do. If you ever get the opportunity to go see one...go! You're in for a real treat!

Here is Katie and I back stage! Love you KB!!

This past weekend Chris was off work and we had NO plans! Can you believe it!!! We really enjoyed relaxing and just being the Bendels! Saturday we went to pick out our Christmas tree and wanted to put it up that night. More pics of our purchases to come!

Here are a few pics of some of the menu items from the weekend.

Zesty roasted chicken and potatoes with sauteed zucchini! Yum!

Lexi's "Pink" salad recipe, a great "healthier" dessert....DOUBLE YUM!

Cashew chicken and egg rolls! Super easy!

The best part of our weekend was that we FINALLY joined Prestonwood Baptist Church. We've practically been members for a year and a half but it was time to make it official. We are so blessed to have such an awesome church home and bible fellowship group. We love having a group of friends to navigate through life and what it means to be a Christian in the world today.

Tonight I'm trying my Gran's chicken and rice recipe. I have a feeling it will not be the same but I've been wanting to attempt it for a while. Signing off until the end of the week. Wish me luck in inventory, prayers needed!

WB

Cupcakes!

Last night we had our good friend's, the Kisers, over for dinner. I wanted to make something really GOOD for dessert so I decided to take on cupcakes. I make a LOT of cakes but never cupcakes. Last time I made a red velvet cake I used a cream cheese icing recipe that contained cool whip and not much cream cheese therefore being light and not your southern red velvet with cream cheese cake. This time I made the classic, cream cheese and butter icing! YUM!

The best part is even if you don't have icing bags and tips (which I'm putting on my Christmas list) you can use a gallon size freezer bag and cut of a corner. The first round I cut a small corner and the second one I cut a little bigger. They turned out GREAT!

Go Red Raiders! Beat those Bears!!!

WB