4th of July Wreath

I have been quite the slacker in the wreath making department lately.  I haven't found any friends down here that don't make fun of me for crafting and it's not nearly as fun doing it alone- ha.

My door was starting to look really sad and I ran across the cutest idea on Pinterest so I decided to give it a go.  Here was the finalized look:

It turned out pretty cute, huh?  Here's all I needed:

- Wreath form (I actually got a straw wreath because it was cheaper- I just left the plastic on so I wouldn't have to deal with the straw

- Red, white and blue yarn

- Wooden stars (the original one I saw had white buttons on it, but while looking around Michael's I found a bag of different sized stars, so I decided to pick out the small ones and paint them white)

- Hot glue gun

I don't think I've ever used a hot glue gun without burning myself.

... and I did it again this time.  Fail.

Hope you think it's cute (the wreath, not my arm)!!!  It was SUPER easy... I'm pretty sure Valerie could have done it.

Have fun celebrating the 4th!!!  We are heading out to Vail on Tuesday and staying through Saturday, so I'm super excited to spend the holiday on a beautiful mountain in cooler weather!

My Cooking Class!

So, remember when I moved to Dallas 7 months ago and Blake got me that cooking class?  Well, I finally used it and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

I was a bit nervous when I walked in the class because it was a few couples, and a few old people.  I chose to team up with the old people and it was a blast.

I'll do a few posts on some of the recipes because there were some HUGE winners, but wanted to tell you about some cooking tips I learned before I forget.  Remember, I've only been cooking for a couple of years, so don't laugh at me if you already know some (or all) of these.
There are three rules for cooking meat:
1.  You should bring ALL meats (except fish) to room temperature before cooking.
2.  A good sear is great for caramelization.
3.  Always let your meat rest before serving.

Now, I never seared my meat unless the recipe called for it.  Not only does it make it so much prettier, but it cooks in the oven so much faster when you do this.  Just pour some oil in a pan over medium high heat, let it get hot, then throw on the meat.  The "caramelization process" is complete when the meat will easily lift up- make sure to not turn it before the process is complete.

OK, that's all I can think of for now.  Recipes to follow soon!  Oh, and if you want to come do a cooking class with me soon, you're ALL invited- what a great girls' night that would be?!

Pioneer Woman's New Cookbook

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get Pioneer Woman's new cookbook.  I highly recommend it.  It was such a tough decision to decide what would be my first recipe.  After careful consideration, I finally decided it would be...

Drum Roll...

Ranch Style Chicken and Twice-Baked New Potatoes... well, kinda.  But I'll get to that later...  I also did Parmesan Roasted Green Beans- if you haven't made them, you should... so easy and DELICIOUS (thanks for pinning, Emily!).

Blake and I just invested in a new grill, so not only was it the first time for the cookbook, but also the first time for the grill- what a BIG DAY!!!!

The chicken turned out amazing!!!  Make sure you realize you need to marinate it for 2-4 hours... the longer the better!  I almost forgot to do that... oops!

PW hasn't posted the recipe for the potatoes yet, so I will (hope she doesn't mind since we're besties):

12 new potatoes, scrubbed clean

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1.5 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

1 tablespoon minced chives

1 garlic clove, finely minced

Salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Pre-heat oven to 375.

2.  Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil and toss to coat.

3.  Roast the potatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until the are tender and the skin is slightly crisp.

4.  Halve the potatoes.  Use a spoon or small scoop to remove the insides, leaving a small margin of potato intact.

5.  To the scooped-out potatoes, add the cream cheese, sour cream, monterey jack, chives, garlic, salt, and pepper.

6.  Mash until the potato mixture is totally smooth.  Give it a taste and add more salt if needed.

7.  Scoop the mixture into the potato shells.  At this point, you can cover and refrigerate until dinnertime.

8.  Bake the potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

9.  Enjoy!

*** So, you'll notice in the picture that my potatoes don't look like twice-baked potatoes.  Here's what I learned: I chose bigger red potatoes because I thought they would be easier to scoop out than smaller ones.  Since I am blonde, I didn't think "Self, you should cook these longer because they are bigger".  Big mistake... I think I needed to double the time on these.  The flavoring was still great, so I will still highly recommend them... just remember you need to cook them longer than it says!!!

My Recipe Book

So, I try extremely hard to keep my dorky-ness under wraps.  But occasionally, there just seems to be a time that I should share something with you... because even though it might be dorky, you're REALLY missing out if you don't have this.

And that's my recipe book.  

I completely stole this idea from some blog, but I feel like I am about to make it famous.

Here's what you need to get it going:

- A cute binder

- Tabs (I recommend the 8-pack)

- Sheet protectors

- Some really good recipes

I've labeled my tabs the following:

- Appetizers

- Salads

- Main Dishes

- Pasta (even though it's technically a main dish, it deserves it's own tab)

- Soups & Stews

- Sides

- Breakfast

- Desserts

It's really that simple!  

Now, ever since my obsession with Pinterest, I decided I needed to figure out how to incorporate this fantastic website with my recipe book... after numerous "trials and errors", I decided the following idea was the best: I use my laptop to follow the recipe the first time.  If it's good, it is printed and added to my recipe book.  If it's not good, it doesn't.  I know, it's pretty deep.  I can tell you I bet Blake is already tired of hearing "Is it recipe book good?" every time I make a new recipe.  

Hope you love your book as much as I love mine!!!

Alan's Birthday/ Creede's Concert

Last Saturday was so. much. fun!  In case you didn't know, Blake's brother-in-law, Creede sings and writes... I was able to hear him play one song a while ago and it was such a tease.  He's an attorney by day, so this is just what he dabbles in for fun, but he's so good.  Anyway, he played at a local bar here in Dallas, which happened to be on Alan's (Blake's best friend since childhood) birthday.

We all got there early to have some fried chicken (for those who wanted that), then the concert started:

One of the boy's good friends got engaged the night before.  He asked Creede to surprise his bride-to-be with their song (which is actually "Angel" by Beyonce).  Believe it or not it was soo good and the sweetest thing ever:

Afterwards, we hung around and had a bit more fun.  Blake's sister (Lori) and I tried to take a picture and there was the most annoying girl that kept photo bombing us:

 Finally, Lori put her foot down and told her to quit and we finally captured a good one:

I'm so lucky Blake has such an awesome family... they are so fun!

It was such a fun night... hope this is the beginning of a great Summer!!!  

St. Patrick's Day 2012

Hi Friends!

So I have been the worst blogger in the entire world... so sorry!  I know I am missing tons of posts, but figured I would start with St. Patrick's Day here in Dallas because it was So. Much. Fun!

I have been looking forward to this holiday since I've moved here... I have always heard that Dallas has one of the best celebrations and I was not disappointed!

Here's a pic of Blake and his cute friends:

Blake's friend, Grayson, lives right of Greenville, which is where the big party is.  He always hosts a super fun party where tons of people come.  It's full of games, fun, friends, etc.

Not only was it my first St. Patrick's Day, but also my first time to get the courage to color block... how "Dallas" of me!!!  You'll have to excuse my hair this day... pretty sure my blow dryer went out that morning and I was in quite the panic!  Hopefully my bright outfit takes your eyes off my hair.  : )

We never made it to Greenville, just stayed in the backyard all day.  : )  We then went to Capital Pub, a fun little bar by my house where the fun continued.

I hope all of you come down next year to experience the fun!!!  Color blocking required.  : )

Goodbye McCarthy's- Part 1

So, I've been here for four months and my original partner in crime is and her husband have decided to move back to Denver.  Boo.  

Amanda and I haven't lived in the same town since college (and we lived together the whole 4.5 years), so it was so nice to have my best friend since 2nd grade right down the road again after all these years.  

Of course, we decided to make this a two week celebration, so we headed to Stephan Pyles for a dinner with just the four of us.  We went over to their house first and had a little cheese and an amazing bottle of champagne to get the party started.  

Then, we jumped on the trolley and headed down the road to dinner.

Dinner was AMAZING!  I decided to go with a Stuffed Chicken (because why would I choose anything else but chicken?!).  Everyone made fun of me for ordering so plain... but the joke was on them.  It was the Best. Chicken. Of. My. Life.  SO GOOD!!!

We decided to take a few more pics (shocker, I know).

We then jumped back on the trolley and headed to a new, fun bar in West Village- I was so tired by that point! It might have been the THREE bottles of wine we had at dinner- ha!  : )

It was such a fun night and we still have the official going away party next weekend!  We'll sure miss you, McCarthy's!!! Can't wait for our summer trip to Vail!