Friday Favorites

 

 The glad game is totally living on this week!!! If you’ve missed any of my recent friday favorites, check out last weeks post HERE and the week before (when the glad game started) HERE!

So here we go for another fun week with Andrea, Erika, and Narci.

 

 

 

:Spending the day with mom shopping, giggling, and annoying each other.

Sometimes it’s just plain ol’ fun to hang out with your mom. At least for me it is. We see each other a lot…obviously…we live together, but it’s just fun to spend the day together. #momtimeisthebesttime

: Having friends to wake up ridiculously early with.

 

These chicks and I woke up ridiculously early saturday morning (which you can read about here) to run slowly walk in the Susan G. Komen race for the cure together. We got there super early and got tons of free stuff. Winning! Free! And afterwards we went to iHop and they made fun of my food allergies cause I couldn’t get a fat stack of pancakes. Nothin’ out of the ordinary. But seriously, there’s nothing like sweet friends.

: Oktoberfest.

 

While saturday was friend day, sunday was family day, also under my weekend recap. While we were at Morgan’s soccer game, I was on the internet and came across Oktoberfest. It was in a town not too far away from us and we had never been before. I told my mom we should go. I then told dad there would be German food and that’s all I had to say to get him there. It was just fun to do something we hadn’t done before together.

: These booties.

 

I’m glad to have these booties in my life. Booties you make me happy. I posted about booties and bluejeans on wednesday’s Pin-Spired link party with Shay, Sheaffer, and Mel. You should totally check it out if you haven’t. These booties are clouds on my feet, they were so comfortable and I accidentally walked around in the store Monday with them on, because I forgot they weren’t my real shoes. I just love this color because it will go with everything… i’m glad I found you, booties.

: Fall decoration.

 

We finally have our fall decoration up again. This is just our dining room table. My mom did it one morning while we were all gone and it was so cute to come home to.

See. Mom is so creative and crafty, and I love what she does with our house. (Yes…that’s a tube tv in the background of that rooster, we keep it old school around here!!) Hahaha

: Trader Joe’s pumpkin central.

 

Because have you ever seen such a beautiful sight?!?! My beloved Trader Joe’s has a PUMPKIN CENTRAL! They had croutons, crackers, pop tarts, cereal, bread mix, treats, everything pumpkin. We ended up with some of it but this just makes my heart smile. I love me some fall, y’all! Welcome to Texas!! *insert southern accent*

: Rainy days.

 

This is such a dreary looking picture. But I just love rainy days even though I had to go to work last night in this nonsense. I don’t know what it is, I guess I just feel like I need to cozy up with some tea and listen to the rain fall and read a book. Besides the fact that the good lawd knows we need some rain in this dry state! Texas weather for y’all. It was sunny and hot all morning, and all of a sudden around 4:00 it got dark and POURED. Weird.

Happy weekending! Can’t wait to see all your favorites! Is anyone doing something awesome this weekend?!

Weekend Recap

This weekend started off with me driving the cart for mom at Costco, because that is her second home. I swear she’s there at least once a week, if not more. I always tell her how much of a groc-a-holic she is. But it’s fine, our pantry is stocked all the time. And I don’t have to pay for it. So yes mom, I shall drive the grocery cart around for you!

And then Friday night I worked. This is not me, but my friend Maddie had to scrape something off a shelf at work because our manager made her….the things we do to stay employed and this just cracked me up. #shortpeopleproblems

Friday night after work I stayed at my friend Emily’s apartment for the Susan G. Komen race for the cure early Saturday morning. So yes, here we are having been awake at 6:15am for the race. Tired. Don’t want to exercise. Food. Hungry.

And here we are acting exhausted and worn out…after walking the whole 3 miles 😉

And then iHop happened. Because when you burn calories, it’s necessary to go eat your calories again you know. #welovefood

If you look closely across the table is Chicken Fried Steak…um Maddie (scraping things off shelf Maddie) ordered cfs and eggs at 10:00am….debating whether i’m still claiming her as a friend or not. After ihop we went back to Emily’s apartment to hang out, gossip, play would you rather, and do some other girly things. And then I went home and napped in my wonderful dark room, with my king bed. Yes, Tired. Hi, beautiful :-* (kissing face)

I had off work Saturday for the race…whoop, whoop! So I went with my mom and we met up with my dad at Morgan’s soccer game.

Sunday afternoon we all went to Oktoberfest for the first time.

We heard German music.

Sweat outside for a bit.

Saw some weenie dog races.

Taste tested some salsa.

And tried out some German food.

Sunday when we got home, it was back to work for me. Relaxing after being randomly sick saturday night. Working on the blog and working on school work.

A fun weekend in the books. Family, friends, food, and fun! My kinda day/s.

#FoodieToosdy Week 3

#FoodyToosdy this week is going to be Dinner meals.

1. Saturday Night’s Dinner: Pork Chops, Rosemary Potatoes, Broiled Tomatoes, & Cesaer Salad
Get:

• Costco’s Caeser Salad or similar side salad if you don’t have Costco
• Porkchops (centercut, boneless)
• Tomatoes
• Saltines
• Butter
• Lowry’s
• Garlic Salt
• Rosemary Potatoes (We got our box from Aldi’s, scalloped potatoes would do just fine)

To Prepare:

Saturday night we wanted a simple dinner because we were still pretty tired from traveling all day Friday. This dinner probably took a maximum of 30 minutes to make. So, we bought a caesar salad from Costco, which sits usually near the rotisserie chickens. Their salad is simple but wonderful, and you can take out however much you need when you are hungry for it.

Saturday morning I went to the grocery store and bought pork chops and tomatoes. We personally like center cut boneless and the thick kind, but unfortunately Walmart only had center cut with the bone in. It still cooks the same. All we do is season them with Lowry’s, Salt and Pepper, Garlic salt and let them sit for about an hour prior to cooking. Cook until it starts to brown and feels tender. Let them rest for 5 minutes prior to eating.

Broiled tomatoes are a staple in our household. My dad’s dad was the one who originally made them. Cut your tomatoes in half, sprinkle Lowry’s, salt and pepper, put a tablespoon of butter on each and the saltines on top. Cook the tomatoes on 350 in the oven until you can stick your fork in them and they are tender. Once you can do that, broil them so the saltines turn brown. So delicious.

As for the potatoes, we just followed the box. Some of this was homemade and some not, but it was all still delicious.

This is such a pretty dish, try it!

2. Giada’s Shrimp Fra Diavlo
Get:

• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus additional as needed
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 3 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 3 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

To Prepare:

Toss the shrimp in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt and red pepper flakes. Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and saute for about a minute, toss, and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a large plate; set aside. Add the onion to the same skillet, adding 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan, if necessary, and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, wine, garlic, and oregano. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Return the shrimp and any accumulated juices to the tomato mixture; toss to coat, and cook for about a minute so the flavors meld together. Stir in the parsley and basil. Season with more salt, to taste, and serve.

3. Pioneer Woman’s Shrimp Stir Fry
Get:

• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 12 whole Jumbo Shrimp, Peeled, Deveined, Tails Left On
• 2 whole Zucchini, Sliced On A Slight Diagonal
• 2 ears Corn, Kernels Sliced Off
• 1/2 cup Grape Tomatoes, Sliced In Half Lengthwise
• Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper, To Taste
• Chopped Fresh Herbs, If Desired

To Prepare:

Heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic. When oil/butter is hot, add shrimp and cook for 3 minutes. Remove to a plate. Do not clean skillet.
Add the rest of the butter and oil and heat over medium heat. Add zucchini slices in a single layer and cook for one minute, tossing once. Scoot the zucchini to the edges of the pan, then add corn kernels to the middle of the pan. Cook for one minute. Add grape tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and toss around, then add shrimp. Cook for an additional 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Serve on a big platter.
Hint: Much better after it’s been allowed to cool for a bit! Yummy and refreshing. We served corn on the cob and rice with the stir fry.

Happy Cooking!