Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Roasted Vegetables

Oven Roasted Corn
1 can of whole kernel corn drained
Olive oil
Spices

Directions: Preheat oven 400*. Drain corn and pour onto a metal jelly roll pan (you may want to line with foil for easy clean up). Drizzle with olive oil to coat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere's(if you want a kick of spice) Cook until browned it takes about 15-20 minutes This feeds 3 adults a helping, so you can multiply as much as you need to easily.

Roasted Vegetables 
1 medium onion chopped
6 yellow squash chopped
1/2 bag of baby carrots
Olive Oil
Spices

Directions: Preheat oven 400* Cover a jelly roll pan with Reynolds Non-Stick foil for easy clean up. Toss you vegetables onto the pan with a liberal coating of olive oil. If you don't have enough oil the carrots will not really get soft. Sprinkle some kosher salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere's on top and roast for 50 minutes until the carrots are to the bite that you prefer. I enjoy a little over cooking to get the veggies caramelized and a soft bite on the carrots. Also don't limit yourself to just these veggies you really can use anything.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Toffee Dip

Toffee Dip
1 8oz pack of Heath toffee bits*
1 8oz pack of softened (reduced fat)** cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients and serve with cookies or fruits, whatever strikes your fancy. I like to serve with store bought ginger snaps and apple slices.

*These are found on the baking aisle at most stores I used Heath Bar bits that also have chocolate with them and it tasted just as amazing
**In our house we just use reduced fat cream cheese

What a weekend! What a day!

There is so much to write about and talk about and just everything!

Saturday was just crazy busy but oh so much fun! Saturday can be broken into 2 days: Brunch and Birmingham

Brunch:
I threw my chosen sister Katie her first wedding shower in the form of an ornament brunch. Some people have looked at us funny, others in jealousy, but most realize how cute and good of an idea it is. It wasn't anything too complicated but so much fun was had by all. Here is the menu, also I will start posting my recipes soon, just not now because this post will be long enough.

Menu:
Reba's Knock Out Punch(I named it on my way home from Alabama riding down 20)
Sausage Pinwheels
Party Ham Sandwiches
Fruit Salad
Monkey Bread
Cranberry Fruit Dip
Toffee Dip with apples and ginger snaps
Red Velvet Brownie Balls by the fabulous Pindsey Lou
Cheese Grits

Birmingham:
This blog hasn't been introduced to all of my best friends from college and really from my life. Things that I've learned is I have a lot of friends, a lot who care and just a lot of love and it's awesome. Between class, church, camp, church camp, friends-of-friends, I just have a lot and it's awesome. So my trip to Birmingham was an evening with some of my best friends from college. They are awesome, truly awesome. We had dinner at Surin 5 Points-West. I checked another first off my list of many things that I have missed. I HAD MY FIRST SUSHI! (In about 7 months at least) Their Negihama Roll of yellow fin and chives was truly fabulous! After dinner a few of us who were either staying in Birmingham or Tuscaloosa went to Workplay(an awesome music venue in Birmingham) to see A Very Neighborly Christmas with Dave Barnes, Drew and Ellie Holcomb and special guest on the piano Mr. Gabe Dixon whom I LOVE. It was just a great night here is a taste of all 3 marvelous singers!
Drew and Ellie Dave Barnes and my favorite of his songs Gabe Dixon also my favorite song of his

Let's just say it was a great day and night! I just love my people and that I have so many of them.

Today(, well I guess yesterday since it says 1:11 am on my computer as I'm writing this...)
I woke up at 4:30ish to yelling outside and I guess I was overhearing a drunken-domestic dispute because well I know it was drunken because of the slurring words and the fact that I thought I was in a weird dream for a minute, and domestic because Charles had mentioned before that his neighbors some where around him had domestic issues. Anyways I went back to sleep because I was exhausted and we had a fabulous morning of church and a great lunch with some dear friends from his church at Silvertron Cafe. Let me say if you're in the Birmingham area it is completely worth it, I had an excellent meal of pork shanks and cheese grits.

After lunch I packed up and headed out to do some shopping at Leeds, Alabama where the Bass Pro Shop is and now an OUTLET MALL! I picked up some fabulous gifts for the parents from each other, I guess I am the parents' Santa on some level for each other because well it's easy to hide. Also funny part of my day, let me just warn any of you in the Birmingham area thinking about shopping at Bass Pro Shop: IT IS PACKED! I got through line quick and I could get everything I needed there were just a lot of people and a lot of cars. Anyways I pulled into the parking lot and had the thought: "There are a lot of people here, I wonder who I will run into that I know." Sure enough I am in men's clothing browsing for Daddy and a woman catches my eye who looks a lot like one of the girls Daddy graduated with from high school who has followed my whole cancer story, sure enough it was Susan. It was quite funny and a delight to run into Susan and Barry also doing some Christmas shopping.

Once I got home and at around 8 Alabama's bowl was announced and they will be playing in Orlando on New Years Day. I immediately got an email from The University offering tickets and I jumped and got into the system and asked the parents the question: "Can we go?" I was shocked when it was a yes. So instead of my friends coming into town :( we are spending a day at Disney World on New Years Eve and New Years Day watching Alabama play Michigan State. I couldn't have asked for a better Graduation/Christmas present. I would have loved for Alabama to have made it back to the National Championship this year, but it wasn't in the cards. This is why life is funny you think it wasn't a great season because of being 9-3 but now that everything has fallen into place I am thankful for it because as Mama said "I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get your dad down there, now it just works" As you can imagine I am pumped! I am so excited! I haven't had much on my Christmas list this year because there is not much that I need or want because my life is pretty simple currently, but a trip to a bowl game and Disney World is all I need.

I'm going to wrap this up now since I had a nice long sleep in between. Today is PET Scan day! Woo! It's really not that bad as long as I tell my friend to not use saline everything will be golden, if he uses saline it's not the prettiest event in the world.

Happy Monday World!