A cook-off and the golden spoon

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving break in Georgia. Really it was perfect... 70 degree weather, family, and lots of food. It made it soo hard to come back to reality. One of the fun things we did was an Iron Chef competition. We had team newlywed & team nearly dead (I think Jake came up with that name), luckily we were on team newlywed. Right before we started cooking we opened our secret ingredient bag---mangos! Then we had an hour to make an appetizer and dessert for the judges.


Team Newlyweds (The incredibles), The Judges, Team Nearly Dead (True Grits)

After deliberating for a few minutes we decided to make mango salsa, homemade tortilla chips, battered shrimp & mango sorbet with a strawberry sauce. I was in charge of the tortilla chips. First batch.. a little toasty, second batch... a little salty.. let's just say it took me a long time. lol Lucky for me Jake is a great sorbet maker and Jordan and Brady made yummy salsa.

Team gritts had a tougher "secret ingredient" that they had to use... blackberries. They made stuffed mushrooms wrapped in bacon with blackberry shrimp & homemade doughnuts with blackberry cream cheese. They also had a little hiccup when the oven lit on fire...

In the end... the Newlywed team was awarded the golden spoon! We had so much fun!

Bright lights

There's something about being under the bright lights of a football field that I just love. Being there to watch my cute husband run around and play football makes it even better! Not going to lie, I hold my breath a little bit every game because his back is so darn fragile. Luckily he made it through the season and he can still walk. Jordan and Brittiany and I had fun cheering on our husbands as we froze our bums off.

To celebrate the win, Jordan, Brady, Jake and I went to Spark for some mock-tails and appetizers. Normally Spark has yummy drinks, this time not so much. Have no fear, I was completely cheered up by seeing one of my favorite bloggers there, Stephanie Nielson. If you haven't heard her story you can check it out here, super inspirational. I tried really hard not to give away my excitement by staring, but secretly I was really excited.

Happenings in the kitchen

Sometimes I hate cooking, and sometimes I think it's pretty fun. I think it all depends on how it turns out. I've had a few disasters in the kitchen {ie. saltiest hashbrowns ever and spicy chicken mush} so I'm always happy when something turns out ok. Last time I went home my mom and I put together a little recipe binder with some of my favorite recipes.The other day I pulled it out and made a little something I had been craving for a while, pear extrodinare... sounds fancy, ya?... It's impossible to mess up, and so good.

This recipe comes from a bed and breakfast in Washington. These warm pears are a great fall breakfast, but we ate them for an afternoon snack and that was perfect too. Try these, you won't be disapointed!

Pears Extrodinare:

• 1/3 c cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 fresh pears, peeled
• 2 tablespoons water

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, honey, and vanilla extract; set aside. Peel and cut pears in half length wise, and remove core. Place cut side down in a microwave-safe baking dish. Add the water. Poach in a microwave at full power until pears are soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon one-fourth of cream cheese mixture into each pear half. Serve immediately. 

Also, this is pretty unrealated but here is a picture of my lovely sister next to our hawain haystack dinner {recipe also from the recipe binder} to celebrate her birthday. Jake and I also had Thanksgiving dinner round one last night, more on that later..

A little break.

Things have been getting a little crazy with school lately. It doesn't help that I have a serious case of 5th-year-senoritis and Jake & I are both getting a little burnt out with school. The other day we took advantage of the warm-ish weather and went to a little waffle shop called, Awful Waffle. Let me tell you, it's anything but awful. Warm cinnamony Belgium waffle topped with cream cheese frosting and fresh raspberries, yes please.

I had an entertaining afternoon with the other volunteers at the mental hospital while we watched the teenagers catapult pumpkins and apples. I came home to hot homemade lasagna from my amazing husband. There's nothing like a great day like that to keep you going!

Halloween Partayy.

Jordan, Brittiany & I decided to put together a little Halloween party. We had fun figuring out all the details and looking on pinterest for inspiration. I'm always excited to have an excuse to dress up & we had a fun time. I was too distracted to take a lot pictures, but here's the few that we took.


Food table. We had mummy dogs, "poisoned apples," "witches wands," "dirt & worms" and other goodies



Jordan's mummy cake pops



dirt & worms

 

I was the little boy from Up, Jake was the old man... Brittiany was a safari girl and Garett was a gorilla man



Elise the mermaid & Rainy the pirate.. Jordan and Brady were cozy sleepers



More models

I am behind on a few blog posts, but I wanted to share a little photo shoot I did today with Brittiany & Garrett. It wast their one year anniversary... a perfect excuse for me to get some photography practice! The sun decided to hide behind thick clouds but we worked with what we had in this chilly fall weather! Thanks again for being my models guys, & we will try again when the sun comes out!