Cookies on the Go

Recently we got invited for dinner and drinks at the last minute. I knew we needed to bring something for dessert but what?...and only and hour to decide and prepare! I've REALLY become addicted to Whole Food's fruity oatmeal cookies so I decided to try a simple version.

All you need is a Betty Crocker Oatmeal cookie mix (and ingredients it requires) and then add your favorite things.

My first try was white chocolate, cranberries and coconut...they turned out GREAT and only require a maximum of 13 minutes to bake....so EASY!

This week I tried them with dried strawberries, white chocolate, pecans and coconut...might be my favorite yet!

I forgot to take a picture when they were done but trust me, they will be completely gone by the end of the night...and soooooo easy!

I have to give a shout out to my girls. Leanna, Ash and Kim ran a half marathon two weeks ago and I was lucky enough to see them cross the finish line. In fact...I was SO excited I forgot to take a picture! :(

I was sooooo proud of them, I must have told them about 12390821903 times and sent them all a text message afterward! A true inspiration!

Chris and I had our first weekend off together (with no plans) since February. So we tried to not plan a bunch of stuff and just run around and relax. We went to eat Saturday morning at the Original Pancake House (Yum!) and Sunday we FINALLY put together "Man present #2".....the smoker. Thankfully it was not near the project the grill was.

He' so CUTE!

I FINALLY got my champagne flutes. After a long search I settled on some stemless ones from Pier One. I was looking for extra long stemmed ones...but I couldn't find ANY that were just plain glass (no colors, design, etc...). I must say I am stoked to use these at our next brunch or dinner...I've been looking up so many fun cocktail recipes!

Hope everyone had a great week! We're heading to Odessa to see Gran next weekend so I'm sure we'll come home with a few new sayings and plenty of pictures!

Much love,
WB

Brag Board

Our parents have been bragging about us since we were a twinkle in their eye. "Yes, Whitney is at Abilene High and plans to go to Tech." "I'm so proud, Whitney got her first job in the big city." "Our daughter is getting married!"....so on and so on... Well now it's time to turn the tables. Most of you know my Dad is an early retired banker turned home builder. He started his own business and has been building homes for four years now. I am so proud of him not only because he's been successful, but he does it with honesty, integrity, research and providing a product that no one else does. He makes certain that every detail is paid attention to and adds "extras" to each house (pre-wired cable over fire place, switch inside coat closet to control Christmas lights outside..just to name a few).

Abilene Home Builders Association puts on a Parade of Homes each year where HBA builders can showcase their work. Last year Chris and I helped "man" a house while Dad and Mom "manned" another. This year we went back for our yearly "manning" and I was so proud to do so. Not only did both of his houses win awards, one was the runner up to other! The larger home on Dove Creek won best kitchen, best bath,  AND best in show...the home on Stardust Trail won runner up best kitchen and runner up best bath!!! I took a few pictures (that do the homes no justice) but I wanted to share.

(a few I had to steal from his website because my pics did not turn out).

Stardust



Runner-up Best Kitchen

Runner-up Best Bath

There's a rain head shower to the left I forgot to get a picture of.

Dove Creek

Best in Show!

My DREAM kitchen!! Perfect for any entertainer!

Best Kitchen

White antiqued island with butcher block top!

My FAVORITE fireplace!

Yep that's a walk through shower behind it!

His and Her shower heads with a rain shower head (sorry Dad if "rain shower head" is not the correct term).

I love the antiqued cabinets in the bathroom!!

Best Bath

Mudroom

Outdoor grill!

As you can tell my Mom plays a large roll in staging each and every house. She is a Director and Design Consultant with Willow House so most of the houses showcase her awesome work and Willow House products. She also picks out the color schemes for each house and ensures that Dad takes a little risk here and there. It sure paid off! Way to go team!

I'm so proud of my parents and it's about time I gave them some blog time!

Ron Fogle Construction

Willow House

Much Love

WB

A Recipe for You!

Lately I've been trying to do all parts of a meal from scratch. I found a really easy recipe for bread on Betty Crocker's website. It resembles the Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. Here are the ingredients.

Here is the link to the recipe! Superrrrrr easy and YUMMY!

Sour Cream-Dill Bread

I also wanted to try another recipe I had found for veggie enchiladas. In the comments section a lot of people had added chicken or shrimp, so I marinated the chicken in hot sauce all day and then baked it in the oven covered to keep it very moist. I then shredded it with two forks and prepared the rest of the enchiladas. They turned out wonderful!

YUM!

One easy weeknight meal for us is chicken pot pie. I found the recipe in my Hungry Girl cookbook awhile back and have tweaked it to our liking.

Ingredients:
1 can of reduced fat crescent rolls
1 large can of Veg-all veggies
2 cans white chunk chicken
1 can cream of celery soup

First, count out five squares of crescent rolls and roll out to line the bottom of a pie plate. Poke the bottom with a fork to ensure it doesn't bubble and bake (at temperature on crescent roll can) for about 10 minutes until slightly cooked. (This is so it's not soggy on the bottom once you add the chicken.)

In a large bowl combine soup and desired amounts of chicken and veggies (we normally use all veggies and 1 1/2 cans of chicken. Season to taste (we used garlic salt, pepper maybe some oregano).

Spread in the half baked pie crust. Roll remaining three crescent rolls and top pie. Cut small slits in crust so it does not bubble. Back for another 10-15 minutes until crust is brown.

Viola!

Last recipe is for Coconut-Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. These bars a a little labor intensive but well worth the efforts. I've been wanting to try them for awhile and decided to make them for a Superbowl party. Here is the link to the recipe below.

Coconut-Blueberry Cheesecake Bars



Yum!!

More recipes to come! :)

Much Love,
WB

Valentine's Day!

We FINALLY got to put together Chris's grill that he got for his birthday! The weather was so nice and we really enjoyed hanging out and working on it together. The instructions said it would only take 45 minutes to put together. Mind you Chris had already started on it and it still took us 2 more HOURS! But the wait was well worth it, Sunday night we cooked jalapeno cheddar burgers....YUM!

For Valentine's day (since all the reservations where either 5 or 9) Chris decided to cook for me. To my surprise he decided to cook LOBSTER! The man sure is an ambitious chef! He found a youtube video on Lobster 101. Check it out if your interested!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmkeWSnxkzY

We both watched it when I came home and then started our lobster endeavor.

They turned out BEAUTIFUL!

Add a few mini sea scallops and asparagus and viola!



I guess I threw away all my old flower vases when I moved into our new place so Chris improvised with one of our decorative vases.

Chris rented Life As We Know It and we had a wonderful date night! Love you babe!

I have a lot more food pictures and recipes to catch up on but I'll save that for another time! Yay for Saturday's blogging in bed!

Much Love,

Whit

National Sales Meeting

Something about traveling makes me want to go get new luggage, travel size everything, my clothes dry cleaned and possibly a new outfit for the trip. Chris was preparing to go to his first National Sales Meeting which is located in Orlando, Florida. Approximately 8,000 store managers and sales reps travel across the country to this seminar. As you can imagine I was super excited to make sure my hubs was SUPER prepared for his first business trip!

First I (of course) raided the Wal-mart "travel size everything" isle!

I was also instructed to get a few protein bars just in case the food was as bad (apparently it's bad every year). I then proceeded to make sure Chris looked as professional as possible. Knowing he'd have to travel with a few business casual outfits and a suit I went in search of a garment bag.

Perfect! So I made sure to take his slacks and shirts to the cleaners so they would be starched a ready for travel.

Orlando bound! His boss even asked him to give a speech! I'm so proud!! Hurry home to me sweetums!

Of course I can't sign off without a little mention of food. Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner so I was determined to make even the bread from scratch. Chris's mom and aunt have an old family recipe that is to DIE for! Rosetta's bread is the most wonderfully magnificent piece of carbohydrate you ever put in your mouth. Of course since it requires yeast and rising time the recipe is a little intimidating.

It didn't turn out with the exact same texture as the Bendel's but it still tasted YUMMY! I also wanted to try my first pork tenderloin. I found a recipe for herbed apricot pork tenderloin.

I forgot to take a picture with it was done cooking, but it was so tender and a great meal to have if you're entertaining!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Much Love
WB