Something Good is Baking!

Homemade applesauce!

Cardinals Win the World Series!

With the Cardinals winning the World Series tonight in an exciting game 7 (although not as exciting as game 6) it marks the end of the 2011 baseball season. Jordan and I have have enjoyed season tickets with the Angles for the past 4 years. Sadly this year they were not even in the playoffs, but we still enjoy going to the games. We just renewed our season seats for the 2012 season. We share the tickets with 2 other couples. It works out to just the right amount of games for Jordan after we sell a few of the games.We have also seen the Angels on the road at many different stadiums. This past summer we followed the Angels to New York and watched them take on the Mets at Citi Field.

Tonight's Dinner:

Mini Skillet Meatloaves

Ingredients:

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1/3 cup milk

1 large egg

3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 smalled onion, finely minced

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cloves of garlic, grated

2 lbs ground beef

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup ketchup

1 to 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions

1. Mix the bread crumbs, milk, egg, Worcestershire sauce, onion, chili powder, and garlic in a large bowl. Add the meat, season with salt and pepper and mix with your hands until combined. Shape evenly into six oval loaves.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the loaves and brown about 3 minutes per side.

3. Whisk the ketchup, sugar, and vinegar in a bowl and brush a few tablespoons over the meat. Add 1/2 cup of water to the skillet, cover and simmer over low heat until cooked through about 15 minutes.

4. Transfer loaves to a plate and brush with remaining ketchup mixture.



Five Things I Currently Like

1. Gold nail polish. This one is called "Warm and Fozzie" from the new Muppet Collection put out by OPI. It is a nice metallic gold color that is perfect for fall and for the holiday season. OPI is also such a good nail polish that last a long time and tries fairly quickly. 

 2. I love lanterns. They make a nice home decor item. One of the great thing about them is that you change them, and make them fit for any season, The ones above have pine cones in them for winter. You could put acorns and leaves in them for fall, or some green leaves and flowers for spring.

3. Gerber Daisy are so bright and happy They are my favorite flowers, and the bright pink is my favorite color of them. This one is from the bouquet of flowers that Jordan bought me last week,. I also have 4 Gerber Daisy plants in the front garden that I have managed to keep alive for almost a year! Maybe I do not have a brown thumb after all.

4. I have a recent addiction to pizza. But not just any pizza, homemade pizza! Nicole, my older sister, got me hooked on making homemade pizza when she got me this cookbook for my last birthday in March. It has several different pizza dough recipes. I enjoy the Chicago Style and Tony's Pizza dough. Fresh pizza dough is so much better then store bought pizza dough because it is lighter and fluffier. Once you have made your own pizza dough it is hard to go back to Pizza Hut. The cookbook also includes recipes for different types of pizza to like BBQ chicken or white pizza. 

5. I have read so much more with my Kindle then I would have ever read without it. The Kindle makes it so easy and convenient to read. You can buy a book from your own living room and have it downloaded in seconds and ready to read. It is so light and small to toss into your purse or backpack. I got mine last Christmas and use it way more then I thought I would. I love to take it to the gym and read while I am working out. I can even make the font big and read it while running on the treadmill.

Ducks Game and a Little Cooking!

On Sunday night we went to the Ducks Game and to Lazy Dog Cafe before the game. I grew up watching the Ducks, or The Mighty Ducks as they used to get called. My dad would get tickets from time to time and take my sisters and I. One of the highlights when I was little was when I had my picture taken with Wild Wing the Mascot. The Ducks ending up loosing the game, but we still had a really good time with our friends Stephanie and Jon.

Lazy Dog is one of my favorite restaurants to go too. I really enjoy sitting outside on the patio and it was such a nice day on Sunday. The Sangria they serve there is pretty tasty also!

Tonight for dinner I made a new kind of Chicken Enchiladas, and it was delicious! I found a recipe that was similar to this, but then changed it around and it was better then any enchiladas I have made in the past. The top was crispy from the oven and the cooking spay, but the bottom was soft and soaked up the sauce.

 Ingredients:

3 Cups cooked shredded chicken
2 cups Monterey Jack Cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 4.5oz can of chopped green chili's, drained
8 8-inch flour tortillas
Vegetable cooking spray
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 (8-ounce) bottle of green taco sauce

Toppings: Diced tomato and chopped Green Onion
Direction:
Stir together first 4 ingredients. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange in a slightly greased 13 x 9 - inch baking dish. Coat tortillas with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Stir together the sour cream and green taco sauce. Spoon over hot enchiladas, and sprinkle with toppings.

For dessert tonight I made Paula Deen's Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake. Paula Deen's recipe is pretty easy to follow and is AMAZING! Like melt in your mouth good, especially when you just need a little chocolate. It can be served with whip cream or vanilla ice cream. I have made it in the past and taken it to work and every time it is a hot and is gone incredibly fast! Paula Deen also has recipes for other varieties of the butter cake, such as peanut butter or pumpkin. I have had the pumpkin one and it is pretty good. It would make an excellent Thanksgiving dessert if you are looking for something besides pie.

 The ingredients

 Bottom layer down

Making the top layer

Ready to go in the oven

Finished!

Happy Saturday!

I have been enjoying the afternoon with Ashley, my little sister, who is home from ASU for the weekend. We went to the Irvine Spectrum and enjoyed lunch.

I love reality TV, and even more then reality TV, I love reality TV marathons! And as of about 3 hours ago I have a new favorite show. Giuliana & Bill. It is a reality show on the Style Network with Giuliana who is also and E News Co-host and her husband Bill who won The Apprentice. The episodes that I was watching documented her unsuccessful IVF attempts. She also recently was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I was looking through one of my cooking magazine's also today and came across these turkey rice crispy treat. I think I want to make them closer to thanksgiving they are really cute!

And of course I will me making Turkey Cake Pops again! These are one of my favorite cake pops I have made.

I love fall!

I love fall! It is my favorite time of year, and not only because it means that Christmas is almost here.

Here is why I like it:

1.  I love to eat everything pumpkin; pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, etc. Yesterday I had a pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese and it was delicious. One of my all time favorite desserts is The Great Pumpkin Dessert. My mom started making it years ago, as long as I can remember, and it has always been one of my favorites.

2. My favorite coffee aways comes out this time of year.

And for those of you who do not have a Keurig, you are really missing out. I don't think I could live without it, it is wonderful.

3. I love my fall decorations, here are some of the new ones I got this year.

 

4. The weather begins to cool off and I can enjoy some time outside without getting too hot. A few weeks ago Jordan and I went to an apple farm in Oak Glen and enjoyed the day outside.

 

My First Blog

Hello Everyone!!

So I decided to start a blog to write about the different things that I cook, places I go and things that I like.

The weekend before this last one Jordan and I went to Sonoma to visit our friends Jess and Matt who moved up there just over a year ago. We went to several different wineries while in Sonoma and really enjoyed our visit.

If you are ever up in the Sonoma area you have to be sure to check out a winery or two. I really liked the small town feel of the wineries up north. They were very quaint and small. At one of the wineries we were sitting in the owners back yard tasting wine. The wine was really good too, I really enjoyed the reds.