Graduation and House Party

Today was a very busy day. In the morning we to headed my sister, Raelleene's graduation. She is graduating from Everest(the school Curbris works at) as a Medical Assistant. We are very proud of her. Good Job Rae!!!

After the graduation we headed home because I had to get ready for my house party. About two months ago I signed up for this website called House Party. It is a great website, House Party™ is thousands of parties across the country, hosted by people like you. Each event is sponsored by a leading brand and focuses on something cool that the sponsor wants its best fans to experience firsthand and share with their friends. I had applied for 2 parties and was not a finalist, but my third party I was picked to be a party host. It was a Febreze Set & Refresh party. The main focus of the party was to introduce the in Set & Refresh that will hit stores in August. Overall the party was great and I had a lot of fun. I plan on signing up for a lot more parties in the future.

All the free stuff I got to hand out at the party. I couldn't believe when I opened the all this free stuff was inside of it

The theme was a beach party. I made these cute gift bags for all my guest and the leftovers were prizes for games.

Showing off the new Set and Refresh by Febreze.

Overall I am very impressed with the new product and recommend you purchasing when it hit stores. If you want to check out more pictures from my party click here. Also if you like to entertain I recommend you sign up for House Party and apply for parties.

6 months

It is hard to believe that Xanyae is already 6 months. He has grown so much in such a short period of time. He is starting to form his own personality and he loves to smile. He gets very excited when Karma and Sadie play with him. He is trying to crawling, but for now he is just going backwards instead of forwards. I just took him in for his 6 month check up and he is 23 lbs. (off the charts) and 27 inches long(9o percentile). He is a my little chunky monkey.



He is trying to talk to me.
He has the cutest smile!

He is just so dang cute. I feel very blessed to be his mom.

Recipe Monday

We love lasagna at our house, so I am always looking for different ways we can get that lasagna taste without all the work. I recently was browsing recipes on Tasty Kitchen and I came across another quick lasagna recipe. So today's recipe is Bowtie Lasagna, it is a quick recipe and it taste great.

Bowtie Lasagna

•1 pound Ground Beef
•5 cups BowTie Noodles
•1 jar of Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer)
•1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
•1 teaspoon Salt
•½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
•1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
•½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
•½ cups Sour Cream

Fry ground chuck in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.
After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce.
Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Recipe Source:Tasty Kitchen

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world. WE LOVE YOU!!

Recipe Monday

Today's recipe is for the easiest and best snickerdoodle cookies you will ever make. A few weeks ago Curbris informed me at the last minute that he needed 6 dozen cookies for a missionary fireside. I know I went to culinary school, but I cant make 6 dozen cookies appear with a snap of my fingers. So I went in my pantry to see what I had on hand and what would be the quickest way to make these cookies. I found a wonderful recipe on the Betty Crocker website for snickerdoodles. It contains only 5 ingredients. Once you make these cookies get ready for people to ask u for the recipe.

Snickerdoodles
1 package Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350°. Mix cake mix, oil and eggs in large bowl with spoon until dough forms (some dry mix will remain).
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Mix sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

French vanilla cake mix is a great stand-in for the white cake mix.

Recipe Source:Betty Crocker

Swim Lesson

This summer the girls are taking swim lesson with my cousin Marissa. They are really excited and I am hoping that Karma will get over her fear of swimming. After the first day they still like swimming, but we will see as the summer progress.
The girls showing off their new bathing suits. Sadie's is my favorite.
Hopies and her crazy faces.

Now all the girls doing a crazy face. Got to love them!!

Recipe Monday

Today's recipe is for the cake I made for Curbris's birthday. Curbris loves s'mores so I thought a s'more cake would be something different. I found a great recipe and overall I liked this cake. The cool thing about this cake is that instead of flour you use graham cracker crumbs.

S'mores Cake

For the cake:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
3 large eggs, separated
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk

For the filling:
Marshmallow fluff or Marshmallow Creme

For the milk chocolate glaze:
8 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
2 tbsp. light corn syrup

Directions:
To make the cake, preheat the oven to 375° F. Line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment or wax paper. Grease and flour the sides of the pans; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; stir together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside. Replace the mixer bowl and fit with the paddle attachment. Cream together the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the egg yolks until well combined. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk on low speed, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold in about a third of the egg whites to lighten the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until completely incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for about 5-10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack, remove the parchment paper and let cool completely.

Once the cake has cooled completely, transfer one of the cake layers to a cardboard cake circle and place on a serving platter. Carefully spread a layer of marshmallow fluff over the cake, not quite reaching the edges. Top with the remaining cake layer and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

To make the milk chocolate glaze, combine the chocolate, cream, butter and corn syrup in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water. Heat until the chocolate has melted, then whisk the ingredients together until completely smooth. Pour glaze over the top of the chilled cake, allowing it to run down the sides in some places. Return to the refrigerator to chill until set.

Recipe Source: Baking Bites or Annie's Eats

Happy Birthday

Happy 29th Birthday to the love of my life. Wow you are getting old just think you will be 30 in a year. I love you and can't wait to spend more birthdays with you.

Recipe Monday (Tuesday)

Because of the holiday I didn't get a chance to post my recipe yesterday. Today's recipe is for Chili Cheese Oven Fries. This is a combination of two recipes I found and I think they paired nicely together. About 2 weeks ago I was watching Down Home with the Neelys on Food Network. Pat was making his famous chili and it looked really good, so I decided I would give it a try. Chili is one of my favorite things to eat even in the dead heat of summer I will eat a hot bowl of chili. One of the best things that goes with chili is potatoes, so I thought I would make Chili Cheese Oven Fries. I did make a few changes to the chili recipe, but I will post the link to the original recipe if you would like to try it.

Chili Cheese Oven Fries
6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15-ounce) can roasted tomatoes
2 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
4 medium Russet potatoes, washed
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Sour cream, for garnish
Shredded Cheddar, for garnish

In large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until lightly crisp, stirring occasionally. Once the bacon is browned, add the garlic,
onions, bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the vegetables are tender and seasonings are aromatic. Add the beef and break it up with a wooden spoon. Once beef is broken up and beginning to brown, add the pork. Break up with wooden spoon like the beef, and brown, until no longer pink, roughly 4 minutes. Stir in the beans. Toss together, then add the crushed and diced tomatoes. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Once the chili has been cooking for an hour start the oven fries. Preheat oven to 400. Mix spices in a medium bowl. Add olive oil and combine well. Cut potatoes into 8 wedges each. Add potato wedges to seasonings and toss to coat. Lightly crumple some aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray and then arrange potato wedges on foil. This makes cleanup easy because your potatoes won't stick and it will also ensures they're cooked evenly. Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes.
Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, if necessary. Transfer oven fries to plate or bowl top with chili, cheese, and sour cream.

Recipe Source:Down Home With The Neelys
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