Thanksmas

For Thanksgiving every year Anthony's family celebrates something called "Thanksmas."  His Grandmother started it (I found out last week) about 20 years ago, and it's basically a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Thanksgiving is celebrated on the typical Thursday, and more of the Christmas side is celebrated on Friday.  This year Thanksmas was held in Chicago, so Anthony and I flew up there to meet everyone.  I was in a wedding the weekend after Thanksgiving (Congrats Cat and Clay!!!) so I was only there for part of Friday, but here is a small...and I mean really small... glimpse of Thanksmas!

Aunt Bev grew this in her backyard!!

 Gobble, Gobble, Happy Thanksgiving!

Toting everything in for Thanksmas!

 More stuff...

 Anthony shared a birthday with Thanksmas.  Cinnamon rolls in the shape of a 26!  We opted for cinnamon rolls instead of a cake because, let's face it, I was leaving at before lunch and who would really eat a cake at 8 in the morning?

Off to the airport!

Check back soon...tomorrow is December (aka my FAVORITE month) so you don't want to miss Christmas decorations!  Happy almost December!!!  Eeek!!

Love, Sara :)

Hubby's Birthday!!!!

Along with Thanksgiving last week, Anthony turned 26!!!!  Because we were in Chicago, and I wasn't there the whole day, we celebrated the Saturday before we left.  I LOVE birthdays, so I tried to make the day as special as possible.

He loves biscuits and gravy, so I made homemade gravy (not biscuits...) and brought him breakfast in bed!  He wasn't allowed to eat them in bed though... yucky crumbs.

Being a Saturday, football was obviously on the schedule...

So the football platter was loaded with his favorites!

When dinner came around, we went to Taste of Texas.

They brought us a complimentary dessert, complete with a sparklery candle thing and a picture!! How cute!

We were too full to eat our dessert so we packed it up and headed home for....

PRESENTS!!!

And no birthday is complete without dessert, so in comes...

 Chocolate Pie!! (AKA French Silk pie, but it's 'Chocolate Pie' to Anthony...I guess it doesn't really make a difference as long as he likes it!)

With a candle!!

This was obviously posed...

Anthony talked about his mom's chocolate pie recipe the entire time we dated.  I even made it once, but I lost the recipe so I searched the internet to make his birthday version.  The one I found was SUPER easy and didn't take much time at all.

Easy French Silk Pie

• 1 8 inch refrigerated pie crust (you could use premade if you wanted)
• 1/2 cup of butter (1 sticks)
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 (1 ounce) squares of unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 2 eggs

Cook pie shell in a pie dish according to the package directions.

Cream butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in sugar until well blended.

Add in the chocolate and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.

 

Here's where I put the whippy-attachment thingy on my mixer to help make the filling super airy. :) Don't know if it really helped, but I felt like it did!

 Beat in the eggs and continue beating on medium speed for 10 minutes...this is where the stand mixer really comes in handy!

Pour filling into cooled pie shell and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Isn't it so pretty!  You can even top it with Cool-Whip or whip cream, but I forgot that at the grocery store. :)  Happy Birthday Anthony!

Love, Sara :)

Happy Birthday x2

Today is a super special day because two super special family members have a birthday today!!  And if you didn't already know, I LOVE birthdays!  Yay!!

First, Anthony's mom's (AKA mom-in-law) birthday is today!  I still can't believe I have a mother-in-law, but that's besides the point. :)  Now, I haven't ever actually been around for her birthday, so I have no birthday pictures, BUT I have some from wedding stuff!!

 

Happy Birthday Rita!!

Now, my second family member that has a birthday today is.......ELLIE MAE!  Some of you may think it's ridiculous that I know the day my sweet puppy was born, and that I have celebrated it every year, but I promise I'm totally not psycho.  Because I'm not in Dallas to celebrate, here are some pictures of my Elle-Bell. :)

 

 Yes...I put on my wedding dress last weekend to take pictures with my dog.  Still not psycho. :)

Happy Birthday Rita and Ellie!  Love you both!!

Love, Sara :)

Quiche For One

Anthony and I usually have bible study on Tuesday nights, so I don't make anything too fancy.  Our bible study is finished until after Christmas, so this past week I decided to make a real dinner for a Tuesday night change.  I looked up a bunch of quiche recipes, figured out the gist of how to make one, and set out to make my own version.  I planned ahead, had the quiche in the oven, and had even cleaned up everything so we could eat right when Anthony got home.  6:30 rolls around, he walks in the door, grabs his bible, and tells me he's going to his old bible study and he'll be home around 10... Awesome.  So, my perfect plan wasn't so perfect, and I ate quiche by myself.  Now, I'm not complaining (I got to catch up on TV shows!) but our week was so hectic, that Anthony never got to taste my yummy quiche!  No worries though, it's on the menu this week too. :)

Spinach, Ham and Bacon Quiche 

• Refrigerated pie crust
• 1 cup chopped spinach
• 1 chopped onion
• 4 slices bacon, crisply cooked (I used turkey bacon, but you could use normal bacon if you wanted)
• 1/2 cup cubed ham
• 1 cup cheese, divided
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place olive oil, chopped spinach, and onion in a saute pan. (And yes, my spatula says 'Princess' on it...a wedding gift and proud of it!)

 Saute for about 3 minutes, or until spinach starts to wilt, and onions are slightly translucent. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

 Spray a pie dish with nonstick spray.  Place pie crust in pie dish...isn't mine so cute!! More wedding gifts! :)

 

Crack eggs in a medium bowl.  Pour in milk and whisk until blended.

Chop bacon.

 Add bacon, spinach and onion mixture, 3/4 cup of cheese, salt and pepper to egg mixture.  Whisk until blended.

Pour into pie dish and top with remaining cheese.  Place in oven for 40-50 minutes, or until center is set and crust is slightly browned.

Ta-Dah!!

Look at all that yumminess!

The best thing about this quiche is that it is just as good when reheated made enough for my lunches and random dinners for the rest of the week!  Hopefully it gets Anthony's approval too.  I'll let you know when he actually gets around to trying it... 

 Love, Sara :)

Guess Who Came Again!

That's right!  Dad came for dinner again!  He was in Houston doing a presentation thing, and stopped by for dinner last night.  What's so strange, is that I planned to make Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken with the intention of putting on my blog.  I make it ALL the time and Anthony LOVES it.  After Dad came and ate, I checked my friend's blog (Hey Elyse!) and she posted pretty much the exact recipe!!! Weird!  So keep reading for my version, and go check out Elyse's blog to see hers!

So, like I said, I make this all time and really wanted to make it so Dad could try it.  It's similar to fried chicken, but it's baked and healthy!  Woohoo!!!  I got the recipe from my Hungry Girl cookbook (AMAZING!!!) and she actually made it about a week ago on her show on Food Network.  Let's just say, he TOTALLY agreed with Anthony and me. :)

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken Fingers

(makes 1 serving, so double if needed!)

• 3 Tablespoons Honey Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons Egg Substitute
• 1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast cut into 4 strips
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/2 Cup of pretzel sticks, finely crushed
• 1 Splenda packet
• Nonstick Spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut chicken into strips and season both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix egg substitute and honey mustard in a bowl.  Mix crushed pretzels and Splenda in another bowl.

Place chicken strips in liquid egg mixture.  Make sure chicken is fully coated with the mixture.

Transfer chicken to pretzel bowl and coat both sides with pretzels.

Place chicken on baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.  Make sure its REALLY covered with the spray, or else your pretzels will stick to the sheet instead of your chicken....kinda like what happened to some of mine yesterday. :)

Place in oven for 20 minutes, flipping strips half way through cooking.

And the completed product!!  Yummy!!

This is slightly out of order, but here is a look at the rest of our night!!  

 

Besides dinner, you know that a Dad and Anthony combination can be quite interesting.  Here's what was at my place when I got to the table.... :)

Go eat some pretzel chicken tenders and Happy Half-Way-Through-November Day!  (I'm a little of a Christmas/December fanatic!)

Love, Sara :)