Jacey's Wedding

 This weekend I went to my cousin's wedding. She was getting married to the love of her life and it was just perfect. The place was small an intimate with just enough family and friends to feel the love radiating off of everyone.

The place that was selected I had been before. It is called Treebeards and it has a Cajun flare to it. The place fit about 100 people, give or take, and plenty of room for everyone to mingle, sit down, do a little jig or whatever makes them happy. 

The table setting was simple and sweet. Rose petals and candles were the theme along with a place setting of flowers for the bridal party table.

On each table there were, what I would call post cards for the bride and groom. Each guest could write a little note of advise, appreciation for the invite, or words of love. I wrote a little silly note for each of them. Nothing like a good ol' laugh to start of a good marriage.

The event had an open bar so I had to take a snap shot of that.

The food was excellent. I have to make a small confession, I hate going to weddings with terrible food. I guess that is because I am a big foodie and that would be one of my top items on my list. The menu consisted of shrimp etouffee, chicken pesto, roasted potatoes ( these were great! Most of the time the roasted part is a little too roasted and they wind up being burnt), asparagus, corn bread or french bread, and salad. Here are some pictures.

At the end of the meal you are stuffed to the brim but still wanting a little sweetness to end the meal. Instead of a displayed cake there were cupcakes. This has become very popular and they were delicious. It consisted of three flavors: strawberry cheesecake, lemon, and chocolate swirl. If you were not in the mood for cupcakes then you can get a plate of bread pudding. I tried a little from my uncle's plate and it was good, hot, and sweet. Loved it!

The party favors were something I loved also. Jacey made place napkins and a recipe for pizza dough to go along with her little spice mix. Very thoughtful and personal.

It was a good day for the both of us. There was even enough time to go home and take a 3 hour nap...Oh whoops I wasn't supposed to tell you that..Oh well:)

 P.S. One thing is for sure, I hope Antonio and I are as happy as they looked on their special day.

Enchilada Pie

Enchilada Pie! Oh how I love thee!! This is the first time I am making this dish. For reasons unknown I can't find a reason why I didn't make this simple but delicious dish sooner. This literally took only 15 minutes to make and 15 minutes to bake. You know living in Texas is a lot different than living in New Orleans, which is where I grew up. In New Orleans you are either eating seafood with rice or beans with rice. And I love it!! But in Texas it is all about the Mexican food. And man do they know how to make it. So being here for quite a bit of time now, I have grown to love my Mexican food and I just decided to share a little recipe with you. Here it goes.

Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas

Refried Beans

Enchilada Sauce ( you choice of mild, medium, or hot)

Mexican Rice ( you also can choose the minute rice or the old fashion 30 minute rice)

Ground Beef ( I like 93%, its a little more healthy, or you can substitute for chicken)

Mixed Mexican Cheese

First step is to cook your ground beef until it is all browned.

Drain the grease from the pan before adding the enchilada sauce. Let simmer for 10 minutes while you start your pie assembly.

Before you start you need to cook your rice. Just pop it in the microwave or cook on stove top. The assembly goes like this:

Corn Tortillas

Refried Beans

Mexican Rice

Beef Mixture

Cheese

You layer this all the way to the top and put a good heaping of cheese to finish the dish off.

You can put this in the oven for 15 minutes @ 350. This will get everything nice and warm and melt the cheese on top. You can also make this ahead of time and put it in the refrigerator for the next day. I guarantee you hubby and kids will love it! Enjoy!!

P.S. CLOSE UP!

Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak! One of the most famous of the southern foods. Back a couple of years I did not even like this dish. I had never tried it either until one day I got a wild hair and decided to make it. WOW was it good. So this is not my first rodeo with this recipe. So here are your ingredients:

Beef Cubed Steak
Flour
Egg (1)
Milk
Season Salt
Pepper


This recipe is really easy. You start out with a cubed steak, or you can use any thin sliced steak you want. I like this one because someone already pounded the heck out of it.


Then you make your flour mixture. I put season salt, ground black pepper and flour together and mix really well.

Now you have to watch how much season salt you put in it. If you put too much it will be really salty.

Next do your set up. Put the milk and eggs in one bowl and your flour mixture in another. That way it goes from the milk to four to pan. I like useing a paper plate for the four, that way you don't have to clean another plate.

Before doing the assembly line you need to heat your oil. You can put the oil on high for a little bit but turn it down on medium when the steaks are in the pan. We want to cook the meat not burn it.

Now start your assembly like. First dip the steak in milk, then flour and then the pan.

After you fry those babies up real nice and brown you can take all of the grease out of the pan. Don't throw it away just yet but you will have little pieces of broken off steak in the bottom of the pan that you can use for white gravy!!

First get the grease that you are saving and pour about 1/4 a cup into the pan.

Next put some four, about 1/4 cup into the pan.

This mixture needs to cook a little to get the flour taste out. You will cook this until a nutty smell comes from the oil and four mixture.

Next pour in some milk to thicken the mixture.

Stir untill it becomes thick. If it gets too thick you can pour in more milk. Salt and peper to taste.

After that is done you plate your work of art! I made mashed potatoes and corn. It was the best Sunday dinner I had made in a while. Enjoy!

P.S. CLOSE UP!

New Year 2012!

WELCOME 2012! This looks like a good year so far. Throwing out the trash and starting fresh. That's what is so great about a new year. You can forget all of the bad things you have done and all of the bad things done unto you. Or as they say...Whipping the slate clean. Yesterday I spent about 4 hours cleaning my house. I did my room (which was a mess), bathroom, eating area (another disaster), kitchen, and living room. I have yet to put up my Christmas decorations but plan on doing that today.

Another good thing about a new year is the resolutions. I have quite a bit and hoping to accomplish all of them this year. Here is my list:

1. Lose 20 lbs by May
2. Stop cracking my knuckles
3. Stop biting my nails
4. Do laundry at least once a week
5. Go to church at least once a month
6. Graduating from college
7. Blogging more....

Here are the challenges that I face with each one.
I know what you are thinking. 20LBS!! I don't look like I need to lose 20 lbs because I hide it real good. The challenging part is the bad weekend food and drink. To loose 20 lbs by May would be easy if there wasn't any weekend. I lose 3 lbs a week until the weekend hits. It is my only time to cook and eat bad (yet tasty) food and drink just a little too much. I have given up alcohol till I loose the weight and will try my hardest to workout 3 time during the week. I will update you after the first 10.

Cracking my knuckles is a nervous thing for me. I have already done it twice this morning. My hands are starting to hurt in the morning and I think a contributing factor is cracking them daily. I will try my hardest but not going good so far. I don't want to be a 50 year old woman with arthritis in the hands.

The biting of the nails is another nervous habit. I always wanted long nails like my sister but developed this nasty habit a while back. If I just remind myself of the biting I can stop, if I can't I might revert back to hot sauce in the nail polish. You know what they say...17 days to break a habit or start a new one.

Doing the laundry is something I detest. I have clothes in my washer and dryer right now as I am typing. I hate that I always have so many dirty clothes and the clothes that are clean are to tight because of my weight. For this issue revert back to weight loss goal paragraph.

Going to church is something that should be automatic. I shouldn't be telling myself to go to church once a month but should be every Sunday. When I was going regularly there was this inner peace that no one could touch. I was not as judgemental, hurt by what other said or did, and would be happy 99% of the time. I miss that and would like to get back to that place. I also have been having a hard time forgiving some people and I need a little help in that area too.

Graduating from college would be my greatest accomplishment this year and maybe for the rest of my life. In my family my grandpa has been the only one to graduate from college and for me to be the second one would be a great honor. Everyone else has quit by choice or being forced to stop going. I hope to get my class ring in a couple of weeks.

Blog more...My sister will be leaving her sweet family to board a ship once more. I am going to go visit her in a week in San Diego. Blogging is just a form of entertainment but keeps her happy.

Though most of these tasks are really mental, I just need to put myself in the right frame of mind. If you just put your mind to something it can get done. Wish me luck in the new year and good luck to your resolutions! HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012

Homemade Chili

Chili is one of those meals that you can just throw everything in one pot, let it simmer for an hour and its ready to eat. Chili is also good for nice cold days or nights. This unfortunately was not a cold night when I made this but I had some hot dogs in my fridge and no chili to put on those suckers! So I decided to make homemade chili. It is easier to go to the store and buy a $3 can but I like homemade better. (I think) So here we go...

Get some ground beef ( I like 93% or better but you can use whatever you like) and brown it in a big pot. I used 2 lbs of beef because I always like to have some leftover for a friend or two.


You also need an onion. I like onion if it is nearly invisible or I just use the powder kind. Since it is always better with the real stuff I ground my onion up in the blender. Good trick for kids that don't like veggies but you want to sneak in the good stuff with a meal. (Not that onion is good for you...)

Just like I said in the beginning..Throw everything into one pot..One can of tomato sauce, one teaspoon of minced garlic

A couple pinches of oregano

A big can of pinto beans ( if you don't like beans you don't have to put them in.)

And this...Basically it is chili powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, and probably some onion and garlic powder. If you don't have this just do 2tablespoons of chili powder and 1 tablespoon of everything else and just a sprinkle of pepper flakes.

Mix it all together and let simmer for 1 hour. Then have it alone, with some rice, Frito's, fries or...

Chili cheese dogs!!! Yummy and enjoy!