Graduation

This weekend, we ventured down to Beeville to see my cousin graduate from high school. Caleb's family lived about 20 minutes from my house growing up from about the time that I was 10, until the middle of my senior year of high school. Needless to say, our families spent a lot of time together! I have enjoyed watching Caleb grow up and am so proud of the responsible, intelligent and caring man he has grown into. Caleb was the valedictorian of his senior class and gave such a well thought out, humble speech at graduation. Caleb, I cannot wait to see what you decide to do with your life! Whatever it is, I know you will succeed at it and will glorify God in the process!!
BTW, he's headed to BAYLOR! Sic 'em!

Caleb (center) with 8 of the 15 members of our family who are Baylor grads!

Chalkboard Paint

I know that I'm late on the chalkboard paint train and I doubt that this actually merits its own post, but this is my blog, so here we go...
After making this menu board a few months ago, the dry erase board that had been on the fridge (that let me say was originally on the door of my dorm room 8ish years ago) had much less use. I no longer needed it for a menu, but I did still needed it for a shopping list. As a solution, my sweet husband used painter's tape to portion off a part of our top pantry cabinet and he painted the area marked off with Chalkboard spray paint, so now we have a chalkboard for my grocery list! I love it!

Restaurants

We live in Houston. Houston is a huge city with more restaurants than you could possibly hope to visit in a lifetime. I mean Houston restaurants kind of make you ADD. Its hard to focus on one even when you pick a type of food because there's still like 50+ options. We've decided to start trying new places. This week we have tried two (which btw were both on Diners, Drive ins and Dives)
1. My dad was in town on Tuesday for work, so we met up with him near the Galleria for dinner at Kenny and Ziggy's. Its a deli, but not like Jason's Deli, it's a Kosher Deli. Their menu was out of control...think like Cheesecake factory size menu. I honestly had to look up some of the menu items on my phone like farfel (which was like couscous) and kugel. The restaurant gave very large portions and yummy food. So that new restaurant was a success
2. After church today we decided to try out Niko Niko's. It is a Greek restaurant on Montrose. The business of the restaurant seemed like a good sign when we first arrived. Then we ran into one of my best friends who was picking up an order, another good sign. Also they had hummus on the menu, I could live off of hummus, pita chips and fruit. Cody got the Greek Combo, I got the Spinach Chicken Pita. We also got the hummus as an appetizer. AMAZING! It was all so good. We will without a doubt be going back!

Also this weekend, I organized our office closet which gives me without a doubt entirely too much satisfaction..I just love when everything has its place! : )

The Hunger Games

I love to read. There are days when I have started a book that am not able to finish and I think "hmm..if I just didn't have ____ I could read all day." When I was in high school I was a goody two shoes..the main way I remember defying my parents was by staying up past my bedtime to read a book. Since you know that about me as a reader, I feel that you should also know that I do not usually jump on the band wagon of popular books. I have not and will not read Harry Potter. I have not and will not read Twilight. That being said, Cody's cousin, Reagan, gave me The Hunger Games to borrow (which is a very popular book with everyone from teenagers to adults). I took it very unsure of whether or not I would like it, but...I LOVED IT! I finished the first book just before we returned from Christmas break and had not thought much of it until lately. I finished the last two books in a week and secretly wish that there was a fourth. To make it even better, there is a movie coming out in 2012, so read the series now!

Here's a synopsis of the 1st book from Amazon
"In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins' characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing. This book will definitely resonate with the generation raised on reality shows like 'Survivor' and 'American Gladiator."

Red Beans and Rice

Cody is a hunter which means that we have a lot of venison meat. Specifically, we have a plethora of venison sausage. While reading Emily's blog the other day, I came across this recipe for red beans and rice with venison sausage (the spices make it amazing) and corn bread that is to die for.

Red Beans & Rice with Sausage & Spice

from EmLoves

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp dried oregano
• 2 Tbsp black pepper
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp dried basil
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 cups smoked sausage, links halved lengthwise then sliced into 1/2 inch pieces (I used hot venison smoked sausage, but any type will work great)
• 5 (15oz) cans beans (I used 2 cans dark red kidney beans, 2 cans light red kidney beans, and 1 can pinto beans. Any mix will do.)

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
2. While butter is melting, mix all of the seasonings together in a small bowl.
3. Add everything but the beans to the saucepan and saute until vegetables are soft.
4. Add beans and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Serve over cooked rice. Yields 6-8 servings.

Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or sour cream if you do not have buttermilk)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease and flour an 8-inch round cake pan.
3. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
4. Once butter is melted, remove from heat and mix in sugar.
5. Quickly whisk in eggs and beat until well blended.
6. In a small bowl, combine buttermilk and baking soda. Mix into pan.
7. Sift together flour, cornmeal, and salt. Mix into pan.
8. Pour batter into greased pan.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until barely golden around edges.

Pizza Leftovers

Last night we had homemade pizza for dinner which is one of my absolute favorite meals! Even though it was just the two of us, I still went ahead and cut my normal amount of sides (onions, peppers, jalapenos, canadian bacon, mozarella, etc). After we finished making our pizzas, I bagged up the leftover sides with this morning in mind.
For breakfast, I used the leftover sides to make omlettes. Yum-o!

Ingredients
diced onions
diced green peppers
diced canadian bacon
olive oil
eggs
mozarella cheese

Directions
1. Place onions and green peppers into a skillet over medium. Include a small amount of olive oil. Stir until tender, then add in canadian bacon (or regular bacon).

2. In a bowl, stir together 2-3 eggs. Pour over the vegetable mixture. Allow it to cook and then if possible keep the omlette together as you flip it over....let's just say that one omlette made it in one piece and one was in shambles (still tasted okay though) Add some cheese right before removing from the stove.


3. Repeat process for other hungry residents of your house : )
I served the omlettes with my favorite granola, yogurt and a cutie : )


Today I also got to lay out with some great girls, which was so relaxing and also helped me discover 2 things 1. I need a hammock 2. not laying out for a while and then laying out = slight sunburn. We also went to see Something Borrowed, which didn't follow the book exactly but was still a good chick flick!

Shrimp Tacos

Before sharing this yummy recipe, I thought I'd give my picture directions to deveining shrimp (as I had to have my husband show me how to do it).
Start by pulling the tail off and peeling the shell off
Make a small slit in the top of the shrimp, opposite the side of where the tail was.
Find the vein and proceed to pull it out of the shrimp. Super easy! Now your shrimp are ready for the recipe! (Our shrimp were fresh gulf shrimp and not from the grocery store)

Shrimp Tacos
from the Little Kitchen that Could

Ingredients
6 corn tortillas
1 1/2- 2 cups uncooked, peeled and deveined shrimp
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 an avocado, sliced
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1/2 cup store bought tomatillo sauce (mexican green sauce)

Directions
1. In a medium sized bowl, toss shrimp with salt, chili powder, garlic powder and pepper. Toss to coat shrimp. Squeeze 3/4 of a lime over shrimp.
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a nonstick skillet.
3. Add shrimp and cook for 5-10 minutes until shrimp are opaque and cooked through. Toss a few times to let shrimp cook evenly. Squeeze the last 1/4 of the lime onto the shrimp.
4. While shrimp are cooking, heat a large skillet over medium to high heat. Place corn tortillas on dry pan one at a time until lightly browned. Turn and brown the other side. Keep warm in foil until all tortillas have been heated.
5. Add 3-4 shrimp to each corn tortilla. Top with 1-2 teaspoons of tomatillo sauce followed by avocado slices and cilantro. Serve Immediately.

Overnight Oats

I debated adding a picture for this post, but have decided that the picture would do nothing to sway you to make this meal, so no picture. As I was blog stalking this weekend, I came across an interesting breakfast recipe from Peanut Butter Runner. I'm always looking for something new to try and this one seemed healthy and quick which is a double plus.

Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Instant Oats
1 tbs chia seeds or ground flax
1/3 cup plain or vanilla greek yogurt (I actually used strawberry)
1/3 cup milk
1 tbs pear or apple butter if using plain yogurt
Dried Cranberries
Bluberries/Blackberries
*I added a smidge of honey for sweetness

Mix all ingredients, cover and store in the fridge overnight.

Add toppings such as
almond butter
fresh fruit
Jam

Obviously this is just a general guideline and your combination could be anything you want. Generally you just want to stick with the even amounts of oats, milk and yogurt. I honestly did not add any toppings as I added honey to my original mixture.

They say it's your birthday...

I LOVE birthdays and luckily one of my favorite friends/my running partner, Carolina, loves birthdays too! Hers was last Thursday and we celebrated Thursday and Saturday!
Thursday, Carolina and her husband Jorge came over along with Lauren and Cody for burgers. We ate, talked, may have ridden our golf cart around (we are so East Texas...) and played Wii fit. What a fun night!

(Note to self: do not lean over when wearing a loose maxi dress..it looks like i'm 6 months pregnant)

Then Saturday Carolina, Lauren and I started out the day with pedis! What a different Saturday morning activity than our long runs!

These toes have run A LOT of miles together!

We also celebrated my teaching partner, Jessica's bday before heading into town for the rest of Carolina's bday celebration!

All the girls

Carolina, Dinah, Meagan, me and Lauren

Meagan, me and Lauren

Had to also share the adorable finisher shirts/medals from the Heels and Hills. My fave medal yet!

Mommas

We are so thankful for these sweet, godly ladies who so selflessly raised us and continue to support us in everything that we do. You are both amazing examples and have shaped how I hope to be when I get to be a mommy too! Happy Mother's Day! We love you!

Heels and Hills

This past weekend, Lauren and I ran the heels and hills half marathon. What a day weather wise! When we got there they were still deciding whether or not to let the event happen due the the forecasted storm. They finally decided it was a go so we geared up for the race. After running about 2 miles, it started pouring...like diagonal hard rain. We ran through it for a few miles before it finally stopped. We were thankful for the cooler weather but not too excited about running soaked...especially the wet shoes. Right as we finished they were getting everyone to take shelter b/c of the lightning that was starting. It was a beautiful race course! Who could have predicted that weather! Not my PR, but I did okay considering the weather and the lack of sleep I had over the course of the weekend!

Before

Soaked afterwards

From a Ms. to a Mrs.

One of my best friends got married this weekend!! Hannah and I became instant friends after ending up in the same sorority our freshman year at Baylor. We've stayed close and she was actually the MOH in our wedding! She is such a selfless friend who I love dearly and I was so happy to get to share in her weekend as she became a Mrs!

Rehearsal Dinner
Bridal Brunch
Just before the ceremony

Alex and Hannah are just so genuinely happy and in love! What a fun wedding! Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Fleming!