Christmas Day dips

I have a new oven to use (clad with super cute snowman towels)!  I cook dinner every night unless we go out to eat or I have a late night gym class (Wednesday Zumba).  So, that means I am cooking up a meal at least 5 nights a week, plus lunch and breakfast on the weekends.  I needed a good oven with functional burners! 

 

 

So, we started a new Christmas day tradition, of eating different kinds of dips. I didn't have a Christmas day meal tradition growing up, the focus was always Christmas Eve.  Someone at work told me about the dip tradition, and seeing as I love dips, I think it is a great idea. 

7 Layer Dip

 

 

Buffalo Chicken dip and Hot Artichoke dip.

 

A fantastic and delicious tradition.

Mrs. Field's Cookies

I was very much in the Christmas spirit this holiday, and we had some friends over on Christmas Eve.  Since there were going to be 6 adults and one cute little girl, I wanted to make some sweet treats for dessert.  I decided to make the Mrs. Fields chocolate/walnut/oatmeal cookie recipe, since we always had it growing up. 

 

 

I quartered my original recipe, since it ends up with about 4 dozen cookies if you use the whole one. 

 

The secret to my recipe?  I use both chocolate chips and chopped up chocolate in the dough.  Delicious!

 

 

This recipe is available online, and so I've included that version below.  Mine is a little different, with some grated chocolate and walnuts added in. 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal

2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. soda
24 ounces. milk chocolate chips

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, oatmeal, baking powder and soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 10-15 minutes.

 

 

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tonight, we had a very successful crockpot chicken tortilla soup.  I've been on the prowl for a good tortilla soup recently, and living in Texas means I am picky!  We have so many great Mexican and Tex-Mex places with tortilla soup that I can compare recipes to.  I wanted a crock pot friendly recipe as well, so I gave it my own spin. 

 

 

 I wanted one without corn or beans, and right down to the home-y taste of just the chicken without the bells and whistles.  I ended up combining a few different recipes to yield this one.  Even my husband, self-proclaimed soup hater, enjoyed this and asked for more. 

 

Recipe follows:

Ingredients:

1 packet fajita seasoning

1.5 boxes chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 chopped onion

3/4 can crushed tomatoes (15 oz can)

1.5 pounds chicken

cilantro

avocado

cheddar or Monterey Jack

tortilla chips

 

Add the first 6 ingredients to the crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours, or until chicken shreds easily.  Shred the chicken, and top with cilantro, avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips.

 

 

 

Also, to be completely honest, I didn't really measure any ingredients.  I just added approximately what I have listed in the recipe, but I could have guesstimated incorrectly.  So, just add things until it looks and tastes good to you! 



Christmas cards

We sent out two different cards this year - one to hold a photo, and one with just a greeting.  See how cute!

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Sauce

I made some ice cream fudge sauce for friends over the holidays, from my kitchen to theirs.  The recipe is simple, and delicious.  Just combine cream, chocolate, and PB to make a sweet, fudgy sauce for dipping fruit or for dressing ice cream with.  

Recipe:

3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 Tablespoons corn syrup

I doubled it since I was making lots of sauce. 

Simply heat your cream.

Add the remaining ingredients, and heat until smooth and melty

Pour into your containers

Dress them up with a bow and a tag!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Let's celebrate with some photos of what my house looks like this year (I took these before Maria V. sent me some more of my decorations, but hers are up and looking great!)

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Wine Corks

Now that everyone has received their Christmas gifts, I can tell you about some of them!  I made some very cute wine corks using Christmas ornaments and plain wine cork stoppers.  They turned out very cute!

Gather your supplies - pliers, liquid nails, an ornament, and a wine cork stopper.

First step - remove the hanger for the ornament.

 Step #2.  Add liquid nails to the cork

 Step 3.  Add ornament to cork and leave to dry.

Step 4:  Wait til they dry

Wrap them up for a cute, handmade gift!



Green Chile Chicken

Dinner tonight was green chile chicken.  Heat your pan, cook your chicken (salt and peppered), add some monterey jack, melt it up nice, smother with green chile salsa.  While you cook, make an avocado-tomato salad as a side!  Easy peasy.

Christmas Party

My work has an annual Christmas party, where we get all glammed up and have some fun.  Each year, they contract a musical act to play for us, and we have had some fantastic bands come.  This year, we had The Band Perry, which I like.  They were on the CMA's recently, and you have probably heard their songs "If I Die Young" or "Postcard from Paris", or their new single "Dig Two", which is one of my favorites.  They sang a great set, and we enjoyed them.   We also had an illusionist, who did some great tricks and was quite humorous. 

The favorite part was the free drinks, dinner, and photo ops we had. 

A Christmas Wreath

My neighbor and I made some Christmas wreaths to go in front of the subdivision for Christmas.  All you need is some greenery, some ornaments, and some glittery fun!  Plus glue guns.

First we laid out what we wanted, then hot glued it on. 

Sunrise in Texas

Gorgeous

Margherita Chicken

Let's talk about chicken.  With fresh basil, tomatoes, parm and mozzarella.  Yum!

Fry your chicken up in a hot pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Saute in some fresh cut tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano.  Get those juices hot!  Add some mozzarella and heat til melted.  Transfer to a plate to rest, add the basil garnish, and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan!

Yum!

Disney!

The first night we got there, we headed to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the Contemporary, the California Grill!

Had some good food and dessert there

Our hotel was super nice!

With a great pool/hot tub/beach area

We headed to Epcot one day.

Met Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale while we were at Thanksgiving lunch

Magic Kingdom Cinderella's Castle all lit up and decorated for Christmas

Went for a nice bike ride around the resort

Obligatory Christmas tree photo

Huge fireplace.  This was a good themed resort for Adam and I.  Geology related in that it was Grand Canyon-esque and had some fossils scattered through, and the rock stratigraphy in the fireplace was supposed to be the strat column at the Grand Canyon.  Also Native American themed, and since Adam is 75% native american, it was very fitting.  

THANKS-giving!

For this Thanksgiving, I was at Disney World with Adam, my dad, and his girlfriend Suzi.  We took the trip to spread my Mom's ashes at one of her favorite places (plus I told my dad for his 60th birthday, I would pay his way there).  So, off we went to Disney World.

I hadn't been since I was a kid, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge,  since I wanted to do Disney BIG!  We had a blast going to all the parks as well as relaxing at the lodge.  Everything from good food, good rides, good shows, good relaxation, and good company.

It was a bittersweet trip, since it's the last of my Mom's ashes to be spread.  I miss her so much.  But we did have fun, and it was Adam's first trip to Disney World.  I don't know of any other place where you can stay at a resort AND visit different theme parks all day AND have millions of places to choose to eat at for dinner.  I think the closest competition would be Universal Studios, or one of the Great Wolf Lodge places (although those are just water parks). 

Pics to come soon!

Fault Architecture field trip

We took a field trip in Texas to see some awesome structural geology.  We saw everything from relay ramps to faults to shear zones to slickensides.  It was great.  Plus we saw some fossils and had nice scenery.

Here are some dinosaur footprints with the field trip leader showing us how they walked.

Baby fossilized "clams"

End of day waterfall sunset

Anniversary Photos

Since Adam and I didn't use our free engagement or bridal photo session that came with our wedding package, we did an anniversary photo shoot with out wedding photographer.  We met her at UNC where I went to grad school (go Heel's!), and had her take our photos around campus.  The iconic Old Well was definitely a spot where we took some shots. UNC is a very historic campus, it began in 1795 and is one of the three oldest public universities in the United States, and one of the highest ranked.  I had an interesting experience as a grad student there, from frustration with my advisor to fun with my friends.  Take a look at our shoot!

Jamaica baby!

I definitely think EVERY couple should go on a honeymoon.  We had a fantastic time at a Sandals in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, thanks for my parents for our trip!  It was their wedding present to us, and we had a fantastic time. 

This was our little house we stayed in - ours was on the bottom left.  We had a fantastic time in the resort, and everything was great.  The weather didn't cooperate too much, but we still had fun ziplining, sitting in the hot tubs, going in the water, paddle boating, snorkeling, and everything else.  

Here was the view from our balcony.  Like a gorgeous jungle.  

One of the photographers cut down some coconuts from the trees and gave me one - I don't like coconut juice I have decided.

We made it into the pool a few times, and the swim up bars were fun.  There was also a water slide in another pool around the corner (this place had so many pools!) that we had fun with.

Ahhh the beach.  We had a great time here.

When it got chilly, we snagged a hammock on the beach and would lay together and just watch the water.