Weather or Not!

Last week the weather man said there was a good chance for rain in our area. We were hopeful and watched the radar a lot, but when we saw storm clouds we thought for sure it was coming our way (yay for some relief to our water bill for the yard!).

Einstein and I went outside on one of the especially cloudy days to wait for the rain. I brought the camera hoping to catch a few rain drops as proof, but Einstein and I were disappointed. Here is what Einstein did while we waited for the rain.

After an hour of watching the lightening, hearing the thunder, and seeing storm clouds...nothing happened! Apparently the rain was everywhere but at our house. Bummed or not, we still had a great breeze and pretty setting for dinner outside that night. We love good ol' spaghetti!

Yes, I realize most of my pasta pictures have the same salad and bread next to them, but when you find what works for my meat and potatoes husband you stick with it. Considering when I met him he WOULD NOT eat salad, I'd say having a salad every night is a tiny improvement! ;)

In other news, there was a death to report in the Estes family. My beloved CHI is deceased (or 'decreased' as Vanessa Huxtable likes to say on the Cosby show). After over five faithful years trying to tame my horribly wavy/curly hair it passed on Tuesday afternoon. I was attempting to plug it in and make myself look decent after a long day of working out/hanging out/cleaning before Tony came home. When it didn't start I gasped...mostly because I knew how expensive these little guys can be and I dreaded telling Tony some of his money has parted ways with him as well. Ha, we tried and tried to bring that CHI back from death, but it wasn't having it.

So began the search for a new CHI. I knew I had paid about $100 for it back in college, but I had no idea what they went for now. After searching online, they ranged from $100-$160. I was NOT about to pay that and Tony was set on me finding the best deal. Lo and behold good ol' Amazon.com came through for us with a STEAL! I was worried it wouldn't come in in time for our big weekend of showers, trips, and get togethers, but after clicking "two-day shipping" it still was huge discount and it came to our door Friday afternoon. Some may not call this a crisis, but if you know my hair or have hair like it, it's MOST DEFINITELY a crisis!

Other than that, we've been staying pretty busy. I got to watch Tony float the river for the first time yesterday! He looked like a pro! The river was packed with 1000's of people (this is not a picture of our day, just a usual day) because the Guadalupe was closed for floating due to water levels. It was fun and good to catch up with Tony's old elementary friends.

We finished off the night with our neighbors' couples baby shower. All in all we're nicely tanned and ready for a relaxing next weekend. Tonight is all about grilling and a trip to the dog park.

Happy Sunday! :)

Dog Park Nights

We've been trying to make a few more trips to the dog park once the sun goes down. Einstein's back in full-on play mode! Last night a friend of ours caught a few pictures of the 4 way tug of war with a doggie toy. Einstein stuck with it to the end and won!

Last night the weather was perfect for the dog park. Tony missed out since he had to be at a public meeting in New Braunfels for work. There were so many dogs there and it was so cute to see Einstein running around full speed and wrestling with all his doggie friends. The past few nights there have been SO MANY dogs out there! All their owners must feel as guilty as I do for having their dogs cooped up inside all day during this hot weather.

Ah, a dog's life! :)

Birdies & Neighbors

We have a few extra roommates on our lawn...

Tony was mowing Friday afternoon and noticed that while we knew one of our trees had a nest in it, the second oak tree also now has a family living there. He could see the actual momma bird, but I couldn't (because I'm short!). I don't know if you can tell, but here they are! You can definitely see the nest in the first tree, but the second tree looks empty in the picture. Now if only I could get them to pay rent...

Friday night we went over to Katy and Grant's house, our neighbors, to have dinner. It was delicious! Later on in the evening we brought Einstein over so he could spend some time with their dog Dixie. We enjoy their company and we're so glad to call them our neighbors.

Today's a trip to the new vet for Einstein. He's not aware that he's getting a shot today. Thank goodness Tony's going too. Tonight we're off to a wedding in downtown Austin. It's busy, busy around here!

Low-er Fat Stuffed Shells

These get me in trouble.

These get both Tony and I in trouble.

These would get Einstein in trouble if we actually shared some with him.

They're soooo good. They make enough to have lots of leftovers. If you wanted to double the recipe it would be a breeze. You can change up the cheeses and add in meat if you wanted to. They're yum. We eat too many when we have these, but that's ok because it's a lighter version because of the cottage cheese. Cottage cheese weirds me out. Blech! I would never, ever eat it plain, and I almost didn't make this recipe because it had this in it. But, once put in the food processor you can't even taste it and it saves lots of calories.

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 box jumbo pasta shells
• 1 large bag fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• cooking spray
• 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Asiago cheese (I just use the italian cheese blend in a bag from HEB)
• 1/3 cup grated fresh Paremesan cheese (or the stuff in the tub from HEB)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Cook the spinach in olive oil over medium heat, until the spinach is wilted. Let the spinach cool and then wrap the spinach in cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel; squeeze to drain. Set the spinach aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 13x9 inch baking dish and a 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray; place cooked shells in baking dishes seam side up.

Place cottage cheese and ricotta cheese in a food processor; process until smooth. Combine cottage cheese mixture, Asiago, Parmesan, chives, parsley, garlic, black pepper, salt, and spinach in processor until smooth.

Spoon or pipe 1 tablespoon cheese mixture into each shell. Pour the spaghetti sauce over stuffed shells. Sprinkle 1/2 cup mozzarella over top.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes, or until the tops of the shells are nicely browned.

Enjoy and try to hold yourself back from finishing off the whole batch.

Shower Season!

The next few weekends will be pretty busy around here! We have quite a few friends who have either weddings, couples showers, or baby showers coming up. It's fun times!

Here's a look at our kitchen counter right now. It's filled with fun things for others. :)

During the wrapping this is what Einstein did to keep himself busy. His life really is pretty fabulous and stress-free! He's recovering from a great night at the dog park last night. We were so proud of how well he did with two kids that were there with their dogs. He hasn't had the opportunity to be around lots of little kids growing up, so he's standoffish and scared when he sees them which leads to fear barking, but last night he played around them for an hour with no barking! I wish I would have caught a picture of him, but needless to say he had a blast! There were SO many little dogs there that it was nice to see him race around, chase, and wrestle with other little pups. I think all those puppies just live for when their owners come home and take them out there. What a dog's life!

Other than that, we're just hanging around the house relaxing! I made Paula Deen's Volcano Cake the other night and we're LOVING finishing it off! :)

Garage Sales and Parfaits!

We spent this weekend in Victoria helping my mom put on a garage sale and pack up some of her house to put it on the market. We did lots of yard work, cleaning, running errands, and selling! It was a busy one and we're just excited that it went so well and we're looking forward to relaxing these next few nights together. Anyway, here's a quick and great breakfast we eat alot of around here!

I think it's clear one of my favorite places to eat is Chick-fil-a. Fancy schmancy I know, what can I say, I'm easy to please!

A while back we had coupons (see I'm a coupon girl!) for a free parfait from their breakfast menu. It was the first one I'd ever had and I was skeptical of how good it would be. Well...obviously it's Chick-fil-a so it was DELICIOUS! Lucky for me, it's also super easy to replicate and change up with different kinds of fruit, yogurt, or granola.

Ingredients:

• Fresh cut strawberries
• Lowfat vanilla yogurt (we use the Dannon stuff)
• granola of your choice (we like the strawberry granola)

Directions:

Place about 1/3-1/2 cup of yogurt on bottom of glass. Layer granola of choice on top. Finish with strawberries. Enjoy!

This is a great snack but an even better breakfast. It takes no time to prepare and the end result is very tasty and pretty dang healthy for you too!

What's for Dinner?!?!

This is a question I can only handle once MAYBE twice a week. I probably started planning out our meals weekly about three years ago just out of a desire to try new recipes and not spend $100 bucks each time I go to the store. It's really helped us stay on budget, stay on task at the grocery store (no random packages of oreos in the cart), have whole meals, and stress less during the week because of extra trips to the grocery store during rush hour or figuring out what to eat at 8pm that night.

I always wonder how other people figure out what they need when they're going down the aisles like me at HEB. I see some have lists and some just have that look in their eyes like they know exactly what they're there for. For us it goes something like this:

Around Tuesday of that week I start making a list of meals I'd like to have the next week. A lot of times it revolves around a craving or a new recipe I find online or from a friend. I ask Tony if he has any special requests and he makes up a list and emails it to me at work (during the school year) around Wednesdays. Poor guy, because I get to nix or approve his requests but most of the time the meals he wants I'm up for that week.

After that, I go through our pantry and fridge to see what I'll need for the meals. This week it looked like this:

Pot Roast: roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, beef broth, can of corn for side

Chicken Fajitas: fajitas, onions, rotel for rice, bell peppers

Meat Loaf: ground beef, seasoned breadcrumbs, egg, onions, potatoes for side

Stuffed Pasta Shells: low fat ricotta, low fat cottage cheese, shells, Italian shredded cheese

Penne pasta: shredded cheese (I already have spaghetti sauce and pasta)

We leave a couple of days (usually Friday and Saturday nights) open for dinner out like Chick-fil-a, Taco C or somewhere sit down.

After the list is made I do my grocery shopping on Thursdays. I don't know what made me pick Thursdays a while back, but I remember when we did it during the weekend I felt like it took away our free time and we had that dreaded "ugh, we have to go grocery shopping" feeling looming. Not to mention the crowd at our store is TERRIBLE during the weekend. Plus, I've found that I don't mind doing my shopping on Thursday afternoons because it's almost Friday and that's enough to put me in a great mood (and do our laundry which is also on Thursdays).

At the store I'm a big deal finder. I full on believe in coupons and always check the "coupon tree" before I get started. I grew up watching my mom clip coupons and it's something I laughed about in college, but today I totally use them. I don't care if I have millions of dollars one day, if I pay $1.00 more for something because I didn't check for a coupon and I find out it'll bug me then like it bugs me now! Habits are habits! We also buy generic for most of what we use to cook. Tony was a big name brand boy when I met him in college so I was surprised how easily he took to the generic world. He LIVES for finding deals now and was blown away by how much he spent buying name brand things when most of the generics taste just as great!

When I get home I unpack everything and usually by then Tony's home and he splits up all the meat for the different meals for me. If I buy a large pack of chicken breasts he'll ask how I want them split up and cut and then put them in freezer bags for meals that week. While he's doing that, I'm rinsing the fruits and veggies, and putting away the groceries. I've also started recycling thanks to one of our neighbors who made me feel guilty for living in our home for 6 months and never using our bin. It really is amazing how many things can be recycled that I use to just chunk in the trash.

All in all our system works pretty well for us and I'm lucky to have such a great partner who helps out so much.

Something I've started doing is making Sundays the day I pre-cut all the fruits and veggies for the week. I love cooking big meals and having leftovers for the next day's lunch, but I've found that I dread it a little more if I know that on a Tuesday night I have to cut up meat, dice onions, and slice up bell peppers. Having them pre-cut cuts down on prep time immensely and leaves us with more time to hang out and do what we want.

And if you know me, you know, I DO WHAT I WANT!

After I cut everything up I put them in Tupperware and stash them in the fridge for that week's meals.

Right now we have diced onions for the meatloaf, sliced onions for both the pot roast and fajitas, carrots ready to go in the crock pot with the pot roast and strawberries for the morning parfaits.

After that, I usually just put a pizza in the oven! It's an exhausting few hours but TOTALLY makes the rest of the week go by pretty smoothly.

I still wonder how others, especially those with a few kids, do it. We try to cut down as much prep time and trips to the store because we know that one day when we have children we won't have the extra time to slice, dice, and run to the store for a meal so we might as well get in good routines now. Plus, we like to eat big ol' real meals!!!

My Mom is Coming to Town!

So I've been quietly holding on to the idea of something for a few months. My mom works in educational consulting and her job requires her to travel to Austin quite a bit. This has been happening for years, even before we moved to the Austin area. Since we've been here, my mom has enjoyed stopping by during her visits to Austin to have dinner with us or to meet me for shopping.

As each trip ended, my mom found herself contemplating the idea of moving here. She of course wants to be closer to me, but she's also wanted a change in pace and scenery for a while now. While Victoria is a nice town, there's not much to see or do aside from the mall and a few other things.

My mom gave herself a two year timeline to try to find a new job and move here. She's able to retire at this point, but wants to stay busy for a while. So she put her resume in to a couple of great places and started getting interviews. We were so proud and hopeful and we continued to put her in our prayers. Her results were great, she had second interviews scheduled for two positions and they started calling her references on another. Then Tuesday she got a call from her first choice and they offered her the job!! She of course accepted and we are so happy for her!

I'm very excited about my mom moving closer to us! Not only will my mom be making the move, but my grandma as well since she lives with my mom. It will be so nice to have them close for shopping, lunches and dinners together, and just spending more time with them. Now we're on the prayer wagon again, but this time that her house sells quickly during this tough market. So please pray that everything goes well and timely so they can join us here quickly! :)

Soapapilla Cheesecake...Last Recipe I Promise!

I hadn't realized how many new recipes I've tried in the past week until I went to post them on here. That's what I love about summer vacation, the time and energy to try out new recipes hoping to find great staples to add to our weekly rotation. This most definitely is one of those recipes!

A mom at our school brought this dessert to our team one day at lunch. It was DELICIOUS! Such a great take on classic cheesecake! I ate it and had it one other time at school, but never asked for the recipe. Last month I was surfing the food blogs and came across this one. I'm pretty sure it's the exact same recipe but I think the mom at school must have added red food coloring to the cream cheese mixture because that one was pink and this one is not. Oh well...it's still fabulous!

I originally got this recipe from My Sisters' Cucina and their picture is MUCH more appetizing than mine.

Soapapilla Cheesecake

Ingredients:

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

2-8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter, not margarine) <--I however, used margarine so HA!

Directions:

Spray a 9X13 casserole pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into bottom of pan, pressing the seams together.

In a separate bowl, blend the cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Spread over top of dough. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents. Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture generously over top. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown. Cool in fridge, slice, and enjoy!

Verdict: The tough one in our family in regards to recipes is Tony. He doesn't always like a change in the classics, but he's always willing to try something new. His reaction? I had to move the pan away from him! He LOVED it! Each time we ate it, he demanded he cut his own piece so he could make sure his slice was HUGE! It is delicious, creamy, and a great variation to the classic. I would take this dessert to a potluck or make it whenever we're having Mexican food that night. Let me know how you like it!

Cornmeal-Fried Onion Rings A La Barefoot Contessa

Onion rings...ahh...I can remember when I was little my mom LOVED onion rings and would always ask for them at restaurants when they were an option to french fries. I used to make ugly faces at her and sounds when she ordered them because if they weren't Funyuns I wasn't even going to consider them (I was also the fool that never ate Chinese food when we went to the restaurants I would eat the french fries and chicken nuggets from the buffet...FOOL!)

Anyway, something happened in college and I've fallen in love with onion rings. I love them and would eat them with every meal if I could. I don't think it's a very healthy obsession, but it's a yum one! Now that we're in our new home we love to grill out so I've experimented with a few onion ring recipes. I've tried flour based recipes and those packets you buy at HEB near the onions (yuck by the way!). Anyway good ol Ina Garten won my heart with this recipe and they're so easy to make. The cornmeal helps to make a crunchier onion ring. Delicious in my opinion!

Ingredients:

2 large Spanish onions

2 cups buttermilk

salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 quart vegetable oil

Directions:

Peel the onions, and slice them into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick, and separate them into rings. Combine the buttermilk, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl. Add the onion rings, toss well, and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes. (The onion rings can sit in the buttermilk for a few hours.) In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and set aside.

When you're ready to fry the onion rings, preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and then paper towels.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees in a large pot or dutch oven (a candy thermometer attached to the side will help you keep the constant temperature.) I used a fryer we got for our wedding that automatically sets the desired temperature. Working in batches, lift some onions out of the buttermilk and dredge them in the flour mixture. Drop into the hot oil and fry them for 2 minutes, until golden brown, turning once with tongs. Don't crowd them! Place the finished onion rings on the baking sheet, sprinkle liberally with salt, and keep them warm in the oven while you fry the next batch. Continue frying the onion rings and keep them warm in the oven until all the onions are fried. They will remain crisp and warm in the oven up to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

The verdict: AMAZING! I only used one large onion because it was just the two of us, but I wish I would have made the full batch! If you make these (and you SHOULD!) let me know how you liked them!

Cheesy Baked Mexi-Rigatoni

The other night we tried this new recipe after I stared at it for a few days on a few of the food blogs that I read. They all claimed it was delicious and the picture appeared to say the same thing to me. I think the original recipe came from Picky Palate.

Cheesy Baked Mexi-Rigatoni

(my picture doesn't give it much justice!)

1lb Rigatoni

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion finely chopped

2 Anaheim green chili's finely chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon Lawry's garlic salt

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1/2 cup milk or half and half

1 cup sour cream

2 15 oz cans diced fire roasted tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves (I ommitted this one because I didn't have it and don't really care for that much cilantro).

2 cups mexican blend cheese shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta and drain. Place olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and chiles until softened. Stir in beef, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Cook and crumble until browned. Stir in soup, milk, sour cream, and tomatoes. Stir until well combined. Reduce heat to low and stir in cilantro and cooked pasta. Pour mixture in lasagna dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until cheese is melted and bubbly about 20-25 minutes.

The verdict: It was very good and easy to make! Next time, I may cut back the fire roasted tomatoes to 1 1/2 cans or maybe even 1 can because at times certain bites were overwhelming. We loved it even more for leftovers the next day but we think it was because we were able to pick out the parts of the pasta that we liked the most (i.e. not a scoop with tons of fire roasted tomatoes in it). I'll make it again, but put my own spin on it. If you make it, let me know what you think! :)

Closet Update

We did it! Well, we didn't change much, but after a trip to The Container Store and an hours worth of work we now have a much neater more organized closet. We didn't get much (BUT I did get a FABULOUS new lunch box for school. Seriously cute!) We did get this new shoe tree that is just for my shoes and so far I love it! It's so nice to get most of my shoes off the floor. It makes it feel much more spacious in there. Here's a look at the tree:

We also got rid of a LOT of clothes. I went by the old rule that if you haven't worn it in a year you probably won't wear it again. I went through everything and I got rid of all the tops and pants that I've had for a long time and never really loved to begin with. You know, the ones that maybe don't fit well anymore, not the right cut, or have something about them that when you wear them you just feel off. I got rid of everything that I put on in mornings when I'm running late or frustrated with my clothes because that has a lot to do with how I feel throughout the day and I don't want to have those clothes to turn to on those mornings. It was scary at first to see the amount of options I have to dwindle down so much but when I realized I didn't feel great in these clothes to begin with it made the decision easier. This helped us clear out 4 trash bags worth of clothes, shoes, belts, dresses to donate to Goodwill. It felt so nice to be able to pass these clothes on to people who may need them more than us. I gave up a few homecoming dresses and formal dresses from college so hopefully these can go to someone who can use them for a special night. Our closet went from this:

To this:

We still have piles of shirts, but they are divided into A&M shirts, my school's shirts, and workout shirts. We also have piles up high of sweatshirts and sweats. Tony side was always pretty organized to begin with, but we cleaned up a few things.

Now I have a clear idea of what types of clothes I need to add to my closet (more tops, pair of nice khakis, etc). Hopefully this will help me when I'm out shopping to know when I see a good buy. It also helps Tony keep from getting overwhelmed when I say I need new clothes...ha, well a little! I'll post some new recipes that I've tried lately in a little bit.

I'm Cleanin Out Our Closet...

Today is the day my friends. The day I've been silently dreading yet waiting for...dun dun dun, the day to organize our closet! It's mostly my fault. Every so often Tony will go in and refold all the piles of my shirts, sweaters, etc. I'll think it looks great and vow to keep it looking this way for a while. Then after a few days of running behind it inevitably look like this. Oops! Tony's become really good at walking around my piles of shoes, random bras all over the floor and a laundry basket filled with who knows what. Yikes! It's not so good in there!

Not good! Today we're taking a trip to The Container Store, but instead of walking in like a nut I've already studied the website for things I may be able to use to make our closet more organized. We're not going to drop hundreds of dollars and while our closet won't end up looking like California Closets came and made over our closet (one day though!) I'm hoping for a fresh start. Hopefully I'll also have a pretty good sized pile of clothes to donate to Goodwill. THEN...shopping! :)

I have high hopes for our poor closet...maybe I'll snap my fingers and it will look as good as this one.