Weekly Winners : July 18-July 23, 2011

All shots taken with my Canon Rebel xsi

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We had quite the exciting week.

I got a little creative in the baking department...

 My little dude turned 6.....

I tried to be creative in the photography department.....it kind of turned out :)

 We went to the Pioneer Days Rodeo, where Madi tried to stuff Grandma's face with cotton candy...

"Madi?? Can Mommy take a pretty picture of you in your cowboy hat???".....and in her sweet little voice, Madison replied, "No."

  

Sizing up the competition

 Excitement!

 Holding on for dear life......and the chance for $5 from Mom ;)

Thanks for looking :)

Oriental Chicken Salad

Cabbage....

I've got some growing in my garden.  They're all grown up and ready to be picked.  This salad was one of things that I wanted to use with the cabbage; I also have plans to make cabbage rolls, coleslaw, and who knows what else.

Oriental Chicken Salad

{Printable Recipe Here}

The Star of the show.....and I can't tell you what kind of cabbage we planted.  All I told my hubby is that I wanted to grow cabbage in the garden this year.

Chop up the cabbage.  This is the whole head chopped up...it filled up the entire bowl, and I picked one of my bigger bowls.

So I took out half the cabbage to save for another use.

I then added the rest of the ingredients:

And mixed it up.  I figured if I had my tripod out, I might as well take some pictures of me doing things :)

And here is the finished product!

Very delicious.  Very Fresh.  My oldest scarfed it down.  He was trying to beat me :)

Enjoy!

I'm linking up too:
Mouthwatering Mondays

Tomatoe-Basil Alfredo Sauce

Mmmm...Pasta. I'm definitely a carbaholic.

Or a carbasoraus.

Either way...I love bread & pasta.

Tonight I wanted to switch it up and make my alfredo sauce & pair it with some Veggie Pasta.

Printable Recipe Here

First, I started out with some Butter & Flour

And made a Roux

Apparently I like to make funny faces while cooking.  But...nevermind that.  I took some warmed-up milk {with some garlic} & stirred it into my roux.  And stirred, and stirred and stirred away....

Until it thickened up and started to boil.

I took the pan off the stove..waited a couple of minutes, and then added two handfuls of cheese.  I stirred once again.

So, up above I went from a bechamel sauce, to an Alfredo sauce, and now we're going for the tomatoe-basil part.  I just so happened to have some fresh basil from the garden, which I was very excited to use.

I dumped & stirred.  And then I just let it hang out for awhile.

After the pasta had cooked, and before I dumped it, I took some of the pasta water out so I could thin out the alfredo sauce.  I did two splashes, but, I think I should have done a little bit more.  Then the pasta & sauce met each other.....

And gave me dinner :)  My son ate two helpings of this.

And just for added fun....here's another goofy picture of myself:

Thanks for stopping by!

Hamburger Cupcakes

Yes.  I said Hamburger Cupcakes.

Should I be a little more specific and say, "Cupcakes that look like Hamburgers" ??

My little man had a birthday this week.  My husband & I like birthdays because it gives us a chance to be creative.

See???

So my Bubba LOVES hamburgers.  LOVES.  And he can pound them down.  He has eaten the Texas burger {from Burger King} twice.....Twice.  Holy.Cow. kiddo.  So when I found in the Food Network Magazine this Picture {and correlating recipe}, I knew that I needed to make it.  That was, until my son asked for cupcakes...not just a cake.

I had seen it done.  And then last week I saw someone had pinned Bakerella's version of what I would soon create.

I think they turned out so cute!!  I'm very pleased with myself.

The bun is a yellow cupcake {from a box}.

The seeds are rice krispies held on by a powdered sugar glaze.

The patty is brownie {from scratch}.

The mayo is white frosting.

The cheese is orange-tinted fondant.

The fries are sugar cookies with sugar as the "salt".

I'm very proud of my "fries"; I followed a tip from my friend who said to make sure that you cut them small.  I also rubbed the sugar onto the top of the dough before they went into the oven; and it worked out well.

It was very simple.....Just took a little bit of time :)

I think that my little man enjoyed his "Hamburgers"

Adventure Awaits....

My husband & I are embarking on an Adventure.

We've decided to fix the downstairs.

We've taken out a wall.....

Before

Midway

No more wall

What lies ahead:

1. Ceiling: apparently that needs to go to so we can put in new lighting
2. Wiring: relocating some outlets
3. Framing
4. Drywall
5. Paint
6. Carpet
7. Design 
   
    What am I most excited for.....using power tools :)