Game Night

Last night we got together with some of our good friends from College Station. We had the Dallas Newly Wed/ Young Married (NWYM) group game night. Unfortunately I forgot to get my camera out and take pictures. We had such a good time we got together at the Lovelace's house for very tastey tacos and spent the evening playing fun games and lots of laughter. We played Loaded Questions where a person asks a question and the rest of the group answers it on their own sheet and 1 person reads all the answers...the person who read the question has to guess each persons answers. The game gets very silly! After that we played Pictionary Telephone, on a piece of paper each person draws a picture at the top of their paper, then they pass the paper clock wise and the next person looks at the picture and has to write a sentence describing that picture then fold down the picture so that only then sentence is seen and passed to the next person. That person draws a picture to match the statement and so on and so forth until you get your own paper back. You want to end with a sentence so if there is an even number of people you start with drawing a picture but if there is an odd number of people in the group you would start with a statement. When you get your paper back unfold it and read how your picture changed. It got pretty funny last night. We had a great time and cannot wait to have another game night!

BBQ Sausage and Frozen Broccoli

The other night I made BBQ Suasage and Broccoli for dinner (which was in my meal plans). I thought I would post how to make them, and how they turned out. I have made them before and they we absolutely delicious!

I usually buy the "U" shaped smoked sausage...but this was cheaper

Slice the sausage in half length and width...to end up with about 3 inch long pieces

Brown sausage in skillet...I don't add anything to it (no butter or oil)

Add about 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce...we love sweet baby rays original

Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes...flip occasionally

Finished sausage

BROCCOLI

Heat a tbs. of olive oil in skillet add desired amount of garlic and red pepper flakes.

Heat until oil is infused. We love garlic!

Add about a cup of frozen broccoli

Cook until warm...I still like mine crispy (about 8 minutes on medium) I cover them to let the steam do some of the work. Top with parmesan cheese.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 package of smoked sausage

1/4 of BBQ sause (I eyeball it and use how much I like)

Frozen broccoli (1 cup)

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1-2 cloves of garlic (but I do more because we like garlic) So do what you like

a couple pinches of red pepper flakes (I like it spicy though)
Handful of grated parmesan cheese

Meal planning Monday...Tuesday

So I am a day late and this week you will see some repeats because I have yet to make them. But it's nice because less grocery spending!

Monday: James basketball game and dinner at my parents

Tuesday: Chicken Fried Rice...I will make it tonight

Wednesday: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes

Thursday: Smoked sausage with BBQ sauce and salad

How to: I buy the u shaped smoked sausage, cut it in half length wise and width. Then I brown the sausage in a skillet (both sides). Add BBQ sauce (we like sweet baby rays original) cover and simmer for about 20- 30 minutes. This meal is really easy and good!

Friday: Dinner with family

Saturday:

Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch: Sandwiches and soup
Dinner: Game night with the Dallas NWYM group

Sunday: Left overs

A Mini Family Reunion

Last Saturday we got together with my dad's cousins. We have not seen them in over 8 year so it was great getting together with them. The funny thing is that these cousins don't live anywhere rediculous where it is hard to get together (they live in Ft. Worth). My aunt (dad sister) and her kids, my uncle (dad's brother) his wife and their son came over, and the Gerhards (the long lost cousins came oer). It was really nice getting to see everyone...so many things have changed.

• My uncle Geoff and aunt Ilma had their son Geoffrey and he is now 6 years old so this is the first time our cousins have seen him.


• I got married


• My cousin Shannon got married and had a little boy


• I got married and moved into a house


• For my dad's cousins...


• Both of their daughters (Kyla and Kristina) got married...and one has 2 kids


• Their son MJ has moved to Korea and is teaching kids English.

It was a really great time of catching up and we played the name game...really fun with a big group of people. Here's how it goes...

The Name Game!

• Each person gets three peices of paper.


• On each piece they write a proper noun (person, place, or thing). Ex. Julia Roberts, McDonalds, Cat in the Hat ect.


• All the papers get put in a basket.


• We played guys vs. girls (so it rotated guy, girl, guy, girl)


• Pick a person to start. Round 1


• They Draw a paper and have to describe it (not using any names on the paper) and that persons team has to guess the name. They get 1 minute to figure it out. If they figure it out before the time is up then they get to keep drawing as many names as they can in one minute. (The team has to get the name correct before they can move onto another).


• When the timer ends, the person who had the basket, holds onto all the names that they got correct.


• If they were not able to complete one of the names when the timer goes out then they put that name back in the basket and give it to a person on the other team.


• You continue to go around the whole group until all the names have been pulled.


• Then count the number of names each team got correct. The team with the most names won round 1.


• The second round: Is played like the first (you put all the names back in the basket). But this time when you go around and draw names you can only use 1 word to describe it. So be thinking of what people used to describe that name when you draw it!


• At the end of this round then you count up the names each team got and add that to the number of the last round. The team with the highest number of names wins the game.

Weekly Menu

Monday: El Norte's Fajita night

Tuesday: Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie (thanks Maders!)

Ingredients:

• 1 can cambell's condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (8 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 cups chicken or turkey, cooked and cubed
• 1 (8.5 0z) pkg. corn muffin mix
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg

Directions:

• preheat oven to 400 degrees
• stir the soup, corn, and chicken in a 9" pie plate
• stir the muffin mix, milk, and egg with a fork in a small bowl until the ingredients are mixed
• spoon mixture over chicken
• bake for 30 minutes, or until cornbread is golden brown.
• Sprinkle with Cheese

Wednesday: Something quick before financial peace university...probably french onion soup and loaded baked potatoes

Thursday: Chicken Fried Rice (we never got around to making it last week)

Friday: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes

Saturday:

• Breakfast: bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits
• Lunch: BLTs and fruit
• Dinner: out with family or friends

Sunday:

• Lunch: Out with family
• Dinner: Leftovers

Amanda's Wedding

So it is official...the last of the Pintail house girls is married. My old roomate and good friend Amanda got married last week so I thought I would post some pictures. She was the last of us four girls to get married and I am so happy for her! Their photographers has set up an area at the reception to take pictures of whoever wanted to get pictures taken (like a studio) So we got a picture of the three roomates that were at the wedding together...but I have to wait until Amanda gets her pictures from her photographer for that one. So I have posted pictures of each couple individually!

The bride and groom: Mr. & Mrs. Taylor Abbey

Amanda and Taylor

Drew and I...sorry it's kind of a weird picture of us, but the only one I got :/

Lindsey and Bailey

Chicken Squares

This is one of mine and Drew's favorite meals, thanks to our good friends the Maders. It is really simple and uses ingredients you have on hand.

Ingredients:
1 (3 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 cup chicken, cooked and shredded (or 2 5 oz. cans chicken, drained)
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. onion (or chives), chopped
1 (8 oz) can pillsbury crescent rolls
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
spices (dried): garlic powder, parsley, Mrs. Dash, salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
This amount makes four chicken squares.

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and 2 Tbsp. of butter until smooth.

Add chicken, milk, and onions, Sprinkle spices (to your prefrence), and mix well.

Seperate crescent rolls into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal.

Spoon 1/4 cup of meat mixture into center of each rectangle.

For each rectangle, pull four corners of dough to top center of chicken mixture and twist firmly. (I just fold them together).

Brush tops with remaining 1 Tbsp. melted butter.

Sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

ENJOY!

Weekly Menu

Monday: Turkey Shepherds pie with biscuits
(we are using the left over turkey from Christmas)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/turkey-shepherds-pie-with-leftover-mashed-potatoes-recipe/index.html (reduce the amount of liquid used...I use 1 cup of chicken stock or its too soupy)

Tuesday: Sushi with Megan

Wednesday: Honey Garlic pork chops with rice

1/4 + 1/8 cup of honey
3 tbs soy sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced
6 pork loin chops, boneless, trimmed of excess fat (4 oz each)

Directions:
In a shallow dish, whisk together honey, soy sauce and garlic. Coat the chops in mixture. Reserve leftover honey mixture for basting. Placed chops on greased grill over med. high heat, close lip and cook, basting 2 times.

Thursday: Chicken fried rice with green beans and mushrooms

4 tbs canola oil
2-3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast (or any part)
1 tbs. fresh ginger minced and peeled
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cup long-grain white rice (or brown rice) cooked
1 1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/2 cup green onions
3 tbs. reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions:
heat 2 tsp canola oil in a large non stick skillet over medium heat. Add eggs and cook. Transfer eggs to a bowl.
Add 1 tsp more of canola oil and the chicken to the skillet. cook stirring occasionally until cooked.
set aside chicken in bowl with eggs
Add the remaining 1 tbs of canola oil, along with ginger, garlic and green onions; cook 1 minute.
Add cooked rice, peas and carrots; cook 2 minutes. Stir in reserved eggs and chicken.
Poor in the soy sauce and sesame oil and cook until heated, 2-5 minutes longer. Enjoy! (Serves 4)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday:
Breakfast: Egg in a basket with bacon
Lunch: Pigs in a blanket and mac & cheese
Dinner: Out with the family

Sunday:
Lunch: clam chowder and sandwiches
Dinner: Ravioli with veggies

Who needs water anyway...

Drew and I have been without water the past three days...YAY to freezing temperatures. I usually love the cold weather but it hit us hard this time. Drew and I made the preperations for the cold weather, we covered our pipes (but forgot to let the water drip). Big OOPS! When I woke up Friday morning to get ready for school no water came out of the faucet, our pipes had frozen. Our biggest fear these past couple of days has been that our pipes may have cracked. Today we discovered that they did in fact break (but from what we see a pretty easy Drew fix). I really hope to have water back soon. You don't realized how big of a luxury running water is until you loose it. We have been using families houses to take showers and go to the restroom. I'm ready to have my unlimited supply of water back. Hopefully the crack that we saw is it, because if not we will probably be ripping up the driveway and looking it a costly repair :/ I hope for the best!

Bad Weather Day

So apparently Frisco ISD decided to close today...Not exactly sure why, it's cold (feels like 9) but there's not much ice on the ground. I know that I should enjoy my unexpected day off, but I'm kind of dissappointed because I won't be off for Good Friday anymore (which is a bad weather make up day). Drew is out of town today he will be home around the same time that I would have gotten off work...but now I have to work on a day that is a holiday for him. It stinks that we won't have the same day off anymore. I'm just upset because I don't see any ice on the road. Stink, stink, stink :(

Ice, Ice baby...

Apparently after coming home from Boston and New York, Drew and I just could not get enough of the cold.
1. The snow followed us back...who knew it would snow 3 times in december (actual snow not sleet!) That was definitely exciting it snowed on Christmas Eve (yay white Christmas) and on our 3rd anniversary (yay snow!)
2. On Christmas Eve we decided to go to the Gaylord Ice...it was so neat. We had a really great time. Ice sculpters are so talented. It was so amazing to see what they could do with the ice.
Here are some of the pictures we took while away in who-ville!

On our way to see the ice sculptures at the Gaylord...we were impressed! The hotel is definitely done Texas style...BIG!

Before entering with our nice toasty parkas

The Grinch is watching us as we enter Who-Ville

Christmas tree made of ice

The Whos preparing for christmas...the ice was true to following the story

Me in a who sized doorway

Santa? I think not...he's a fake trying to steal Christmas

Stealing all the decorations and presents

The ice slides

Stealing some more

Tipping the presents off Mount Crumpit

Ice slides again...they were very fun and fast!

The Whos descovering that Christmas is not about presents and decorations

"His heart grew three sizes that day"

The Grinch serving the Roast Beast

What Christmas is really about, the birth of our Savior