"Get in my belly"

Being that it is 100 degrees outside, as well as being 6 months pregnant, I have been trying to eat light refreshing things. I really had to try hard not to go to Rudy's BBQ the other day. I knew I would be miserable so I came home and made grape salad.

Yesterday for lunch I wanted something light as well. I had come across a new chicken salad recipe that I wanted to try. Let me tell you. I have a new one that will be my go to recipe. I made a full batch, and there isn't any left. It was that good. You must go now and mark this to try, I promise you. It's amazing!

Grape Salad: ( I halfed this)

4 pounds of grapes- I used all green because they were on sale.

1 Package Cream Cheese

1 Cup of Sour Cream

1/3 cup sugar - I used powdered

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

3 Tablespoons chopped pecans

Wash and Dry the grapes really well. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla together. Toss with the grapes and top with the chopped nuts and brown sugar. It's delightful.

How to not lose weight...

So now that Adam is a temporary working man, we take our weekends together very seriously. Like today, we had to think REALLY hard about if there was anything we needed to leave the house for. No? " Ok, well I'm not getting out of my Jammie's" Yup, its one of those kinda days.

Last night I had a serious craving for cake. Any kinda cake. Chocolate, cheese, anything really. But of course, we had no cake available. I even came up with some kinda cherry pie filling cake in my head. Some might think of it as a black forest, which I had completely forgotten about until I was looking for recipes. So this morning, first thing. I made a cake. A chocolate cake with cherry pie filling between the layers. It's amazing y'all seriously. I even used some of the buttermilk we had. We never use all of the buttermilk. So here it is folks. I used Cool Whip Free, in an attempt to make myself feel better about eating it. It's the perfect icing in my opinion to keep the cake nice and light.

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Adapted from Ina Garten

Butter, for greasing the pans ( I didn't do this)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

1 21 oz. cherry pie filling

1 container cool whip

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. Place half of cherry pie filling between the layers of cake. Ice cake with cool whip , or icing of your choice, put last of cherry pie filling on top of cake. And enjoy!

Homemade

Well, there are two reasons I love Sunday's today. 1) Chocolate Chip Coconut Bread pudding. 2) Homemade Ginger Ale. I know what you are thinking, Ginger Ale? Yes, Adam is a huge fan of Alton Brown, and we watched him make it so we decided today was a good day to make it. So we'll see, though we won't get to drink if for 2 days because the yeast has to create carbonation!!!

Nothing much else going on this weekend. Friday and Saturday were a little iffy, because I was still not feeling 100%, but today I am! Friday when I got home from work Adam was playing Halo, but since I was home, he stopped pretty quickly. We made dinner, Italian Chicken and Broccoli ( I really should start a food blog, since all we do is cook) and watched some of our many recorded shows. Saturday, we got up and went to Circuit City, since they are going under, in hopes of finding a cord for the computer, which we had sucess, had some Panera for lunch then headed home.

Adam went to play poker, he is very excited because for once in his college career, someone has actually managed to put together a weekly game. I would have gone, but again, didn't feel well! Maybe next week. I watched We are Marshall. Which I thought was going to be like Remember the Titans, until everyone died, then I remembered. Silly Me!

So nothing much happening here. And there probably won't be until Adam goes to Bangladesh, so sorry for the boring updates!:)

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

To everyone!

Adam's parents made the long trip from Dallas yesterday where we picked them up from the airport! Last night we went to the tapas restaurant that Adam and I had gone to called Distrito! We all got the tasting menu, which was amazing. The waiter really sold us because he said they were going to be closed for the next few days so the chef was going to be giving a lot of food in the tasting, so we did it! Man, he was not kidding, for 4 people, we got 14, that's right 14 different tapas plates. Yes, they are small but 14 kinda adds up on you. That along with a pitcher of Margaritas, it was a fantastic night!

Today, is cooking day. We decided that we would cook Christmas dinner today, since we'll be leaving on the 26Th to head up to Vermont for our skiing trip! So we didn't want the left overs to go bad since we'll be gone a week! So tomorrow for Christmas morning we'll be doing the Fenner family tradition of creamed turkey and eggs ( I know it sounds gross, and the first time I ate it I was a little unsure, but it's pretty tasty!) Then we'll be making Turkey Pot Pies! That should probably do the turkey in, and any sides we have left over!

Tonight we're going to the 10PM service at church. I hope that it stops raining, and warms up about 25 Degrees, but I don't think that will happen! Oh well!

So since I'll be in Vermont, I probably won't update until we get back around the 2and, so I hope that everyone has a GREAT Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!!
I leave you with a picture of the dogs, sunbathing, in the sun room the other day!

Better late than never!

So I ( Adam) finally took the pictures off my camera. So here are a few from the first snow, and Thanksgiving. In no particular order!


This is at like 6 AM, and it's just starting to fall!


When I got home from work, this is the bench in our yard!!! Not a whole lot but it was still there!:)



And some Thanksgiving ones!

Adam preparing the Sweet Potatoes!!



Our table. I can't wait to have a dining room table!! Though I did enjoy using our China for the third time!!



And our turkey! It was SOOO BROWN, Adam did a GREAT job! Yummy!


I will not bore you with all the other food pictures that I have of our home made Thanksgiving, but it was probably the best one yet, every year we get a little better with making food.


The boys were going at it. We did a buffet style in the sun room on the table out there. We didn't have enough room for everything in the kitchen!

I'll leave you with this picture. You see how much my husband loves our dog, and how much our dog love him? It's sick really! But I love them both!:)

It's so close!

Thanksgiving, it's right around the corner, which is a good thing. I'm tired of going to the store!:) I feel like that's the only place that I've been in the last week! Though Friday night, Adam and I had a date night. We went to this resturant called Distrito, it's a tapas place right by campus. The chef was actually on Iron Chef America against Bobby Flay, and he WON! Though I have not seen this challenge which kinda suprises me, we didn't even know he was on the show until after we got our reservations. But the food was amazing. After that we headed over to see new new Bond movie. Only knowing that we HAD to see Twilight this coming weekend. But it was a lot of fun:) Sunday night we went over to a friends for a Thanksgiving Dinner. A guy in Adam's class and his wife hosted it, and it was GREAT. I was excited becuase I wanted a Turkey dinner, but I knew I had to wait until Thursday, lucky for me we had one early.

I think I finally have EVERYTHING we need for Turkey Day! Laura will be here tomorrow night, and Eli, a friend from school ( Actually went to A&M also) will be coming to join us in a day of eating and football. Hopefully, I can stay awake for football, that might be asking to much though!!

Oh yes, and my Christmas cards arrived yesterday, now I have to look into who is going to be lucky enough to get one;) Just kidding, I already knew who does!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!:)

OH, What a weekend!

This weekend was possibly one of the best we've had in a long time! Adam worked long nights almost every night last week, but he got Friday and Saturday off. It was awesome. We got a chance to watch the movies we had, and cook and just spend some good quality time together! Sadly that time is over, and today Adam is back at school. Though he'll be back to watch the Cowboys game, which is finally on TV!!! Stupid Eagles.

Well since we were both home, of course we had to bake something. I had been looking at Bakerella.blogspot.com. In the December section she made these great, red velvet cake balls. Well lets, just say they are AMAZING!!! What you do it just get a box mix of Red Velvet cake, bake it according to the box. Let it cool, then crumble it into a bowl and combine with a container ( Though Adam and I think you could maybe use just half of the container) Cream cheese Icing. Then roll into balls, let them sit in the freezing for a little while, then coat them with melted chocolate bark. I Used Bakers dipping chocolate because we don't have Chocolate Bark here.
http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2007/12/red-velvet-cake-balls.html
That is her link, and OF course mine looked at beautiful as hers!!

I'm working all this week, so I went to the Library and checked out THREE books!! I will have to go mid week to get a few more, if I continue to read one a day!!! A week and a Half until THANKSGIVING!

Cheddar Beer Bread

I made this last night, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a quick and easy loaf of bread to go along side with dinner. I made chili to go with mine and it was a HUGE hit in our house!! Here is the recipe

Cheddar Beer Bread
3 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Grated
1/2 Cup Onion, Chopped
3 Garlic Cloves
12 Oz Beer ( I used Bud Light)

Pre heat oven to 350 Degrees

Combine all ingredients ( except beer) until well combined

Add Beer a quarter at a time, until all ingredients are Incorporated

Spoon into a greased 4x8 loaf pan and smooth down with a fork

Bake for 1 hour

Trust me, you won't be disappointed!