Chicken Enchilada Soup and Cornbread

Well, we have our first disaster recipe from pinterest!  I must say, I have had the chicken enchilada soup at Chili's, and this recipe from pinterst was freaking disgusting.  Blech.  I am removing it from my pins.  However, the cornbread was a delicious success, and I will make cornbread this way from now on. 

The recipe is super easy.

1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 box Juffy Yellow Cake Mix
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 eggs

Mix it up, bake in an 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish at 350 degrees F until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and there is a golden brown top.

Rig tour, PA

On the company jet, we can use electronics and internet and watch tv/videos from the moment we get in the plane til the moment we step off.  There is no "please turn off your electronics during take off" stuff to deal with.  Therefore, I get to do what I want, which includes taking a photo of us landing. 

Landing!

Another bonus is being able to get up whenever you feel like it, and the giant seats that recline forever and move in every direction.  Plus the gourmet meals they always serve.

While I was in PA, the point was to go to some of our sites.  I thought this was a neat photo.

And this one is my absolute favorite.  How cool!

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Pasta

This sounded delicious when I saw it on pinterest from here.  I made a few tweaks to the recipe, based on what I had available, and since I didn't want to take the time and roast my own red peppers.  I included that recipe below.

It turned out fantastically. 

Take your half and half, goat cheese, and herbs and heat 

Chop your red peppers in the food processor

Add it all together with some al dente pasta!

Recipe:

1 jar roasted red peppers
olive oil
garlic and onion
1 cup half and half
4 ounces goat cheese
parsley, basil, and oregano to taste
1/2 box fettuccine
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and add the onion and garlic til soft.  (in the meantime, put water pot on to boil for pasta). Add in the half and half, goat cheese, and herbs.  Heat until warm and cheese is melted.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Take red peppers and process in food processor, add to sauce.  Add fettuccinne to boiling water.  Continue to heat sauce until pasta is al dente.  Be careful not to burn the cream.  Drain pasta, toss with sauce.  Add parmesan if desired. 

Under-stairs Shelving

I hate not being organized, so I have gone on a shelf-building fiasco.  This weekend, it was shelves underneath the stairs.  Everything was jumbled in there, and I needed some organization to the chaos.  Here are some photos of what it looks like.  All I did was take some pine boards, cut them to length, add some supports, and sat them up there.

Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

This weekend, I made some blueberry cheesecake cupcakes for a get together.  I had a friend make some for a birthday of mine, and they were the best cupcakes I have ever had (thanks to Courtney!).   They are delicious, and one of my new favorite cupcakes.  They taste like a moist blueberry muffin with cream cheese frosting. 
Since I had a shower to go to, I made some as a treat.  My recipe was from here.

Wyoming Field Trip

Last summer, a bunch of coworkers and I went on a sequence stratigraphy field trip to Wyoming.  We had a terrific time, and learned a ton about depositional environments and sand packages.  We saw everything from tidal influences to deltas to turbidite sections.  We ended up doing a ton of hiking and managed to not get rained on, despite lots of thunderstorms coming across the area.  With all of the off-roading we do for field trips, we all had rented SUVs.  The only incident came when we were barraging over huge boulders, and one of the SUV's ended up ripping out the radiator from the undercarriage.  Now that was a long trip back - I'm glad I wasn't in that SUV when it happened. 

My friend Jessica and I at an outcrop

Thunderstorms in the distance

Jessica and I continuing the hike

An awesome channel in some sandstone



Apple and Brie Melt

Well, apparently this week is pinterest receipe tryout marathon.  I guess I found a lot of good recipes this week!  I cook almost every meal, and I have fallen in love with Pinterest for finding new recipes to add into the mix.  Today, its Apple and Brie melts, from here. 

I liked the base recipe, but I changed it a bit.  Instead of apple butter, I used some local Texas blackberry jam.  Also, to make it healthier, I used my panini maker - no butter needed to toast it up.  Served with mixed greens salad.  This was DELISH!  The brie melted very nicely, and the blackberry jam was a nice touch.

Ingredients:
Good bread, sliced
Brie, sliced
Green Apple, sliced
Jam of your choice

Assemble sandwhiches, toast in panini maker, serve with salad or fruit

Jam that I spread on the sandwiches

Cutting up the bread and brie

Panini maker that toasted the apple-brie melt

Voila!

Astros Game

One of the perks of working for my company is getting to go to events such as baseball games and the rodeo.  We have a suite at the Astros game, so when some of us were offered tickets, we definitely took the opportunity.  Now, I don't really care about the Astros - their record is terrible - worst in the MLB!  BUT - when a suite is involved, I will always participate.  I love going with friends, plus the perk of free parking, free food, free drinks, and good seats.  Here are some pics!

Seats!

Friends!

Fulll bar!

Ice cream cart!



Chicken Tortilla Soup

Here is another pinterest recipe that I wanted to try, which I made for dinner last night.  I've been on a tortilla soup kick recently - I love the stuff!  I wanted to try this out since it is easy to throw in the crock pot and set til it's done.  Plus ,no dishes because of the crock pot liner!  Here is the original recipe aqui. 

I made mine exactly like hers, except I used the packet of taco seasoning instead of separate spices.  I thought it was really hearty and spicy - a keeper!

Columbus, Ohio

I took a trip over the weekend a while back to visit my friend Maria.  She was my college roommate for almost the whole time we were at Mary Washington.  She totally gets me, and we mesh really well as friends and as roommies.  We had a fantastic time while I was in town - we hung out with her fun curling friends, sang some horrid karaoke (although her hubby TJ is a karaoke master!), and enjoyed her town.  Of course, we went to some of the geological sites, caverns and waterfalls oh my!

Here are some of my favorite shots from the weekend
.

We took her dog, Wesley, on plenty of walks and we found some pretty flowers!

Coffee and tea one morning from a cool, hipster coffee shop!

Cute picture of us - at hipster coffee shop

Inside the Olentangy Caverns!  They're limestone caverns that the Wyandot Indians used as a ceremonial area and to hide from enemies or from harsh weather in.

Awesome waterfall near a park - cute picture of Maria too!



Homemade Cards

I spent last night working on some homemade cards while Adam watched a movie.  I wanted to have some on hand so that I don't have to rush to make them if I forget to for a gift. 

Now I have some cute card templates that just need some text and a greeting inside!

Adam's New School

Adam starts at Sam Houston State University this semester, so we went and got his parking pass, books, and found his classes today.  Take a look!  It's a really nice campus - but huge!  ~17,000 kids go there.

This is a statue of Sam Houston on the side of the highway on the way to campus.

Cannons in memorial of students who served in WWII - Boomer!

The geology building walkway

Walking towards the fountain



We both think its a nice campus, and he got a scholarship for having a high GPA as a transfer student - way to go Adam!!!

Wedding Cake

I had a winter wonderland wedding.  Literally, almost.  We had a crazy east coast blizzard the few days surrounding my wedding day, and some people were unable to make it.  Fortunately, we were far enough south to not get any snow that stuck, and so everyone in the area was able to make it (caterer, makeup/hair artist, photographer) as well as my guests who were already in town (YAY).  Now, getting everyone home was another debacle (one I cringe to think about - I felt terrible!!!). 

My wedding was a snowflake theme, and happened 6 days before my absolute favorite holiday of Christmas.  To go with the snowflake theme, a gorgeous teal/ice blue was my accent color.  Our cake is what I want to talk about today - snowflake topped and edible glitter everywhere.  I was so, so happy with the way it turned out, and I thought it was super unique!

Check it out!

Photo Coasters

I made some more of the stone photo coasters for a couple friend's birthdays.  They're great and easy to make, and super personal.  The girls loved them, and the guests were super impressed.  Take a look!