Sunday, July 24, 2011

Weekly Winners : July 18-July 23, 2011

All shots taken with my Canon Rebel xsi
-Check out other lovely entries by clicking the button below-

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 :)

Photobucket

Friday, July 22, 2011

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

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
Photobucket

Thursday, July 21, 2011

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.



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!

Photobucket

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

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"


Photobucket

Monday, July 18, 2011

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 :)
Photobucket