New Rug for living room

I got a new area rug for our living room. I didn't want to get a light color this time. I wanted a red wine or a plum purple but couldn't find any of those colors. And I didn't want to spend a fortune. I found this brown 5x7 one at lowes for $30. :)

I was excited to get to it so I asked my brother to help me. We pulled all the furniture out and cleaned the entire room. We vacuumed and mopped the floor as well. Might as well get the room all nice and clean. Billy even got down on the floor to scrub some mysterious 'spill' that was under the couch. GROSS!

BEFORE PICTURE:

AFTER PICTURE:
I'm not a huge fan of the brown but I think it will do for now. :) The quilts are in the wash! :)

7 layer dip

At my cousin Lora's 30th Surprise party we had 7 layer dip. It was so good. Everyone loved it and I got the recipe so I could make it. I made it today. :)

You need:

1 can refried beans (with green chiles)

2 avocados mashed (or 1 pkg already made guacamole that you can find in the deli section)

1 8 oz sour cream

1 pkg taco seasoning (you can mix or sprinkle on top)

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup chopped green onion

1 bag shredded cheese

1 small can of sliced black olives

serving platter with lid

tortilla/corn chips

When I made my dip I went ahead and doubled everything except the olives.

Spread the refried beans evenly on the bottom of your serving platter. Spread all the way to the edges.

Spread avocado/guacamole on top of refried beans.

In a bowl mix your sour cream and taco seasoning.

It will turn a light orange color.

Spread mixture evenly on top of avocado/guacamole.

Chop up your green onions and tomatoes.

Spread your tomatoes around on top of sour cream mix.

Spread green onions on top of tomatoes.

Spread cheese evenly on top of tomatoes and green onions.

Spread sliced black olives around on top of cheese. I thought this looked a little boring so at this point I wanted to make it cuter like the one I ate at the party.

I added a dollop of sour cream in the middle and then spread some more tomatoes and green onions around.

Cute! :) Cover with lid and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Serve with tortilla/corn chips.

Quick project

From the classes I've taken at Miller Farms I have papers that Jo (our instructor and owner of the farm) gives us at each class. I don't want to throw any of these papers away and I know I'll be taking more classes in the future and will be getting more papers. So I needed something to store these papers in.....

Loose scattered papers....what to do?

I went to Target and got a binder, dividers (for each class) and sheet protectors.

Everything in the book....

Nice and neat.
And it fits perfectly in my cabinet with my recipe books. :) YEY! Took about 5 min to put it all together and there's plenty of room for future papers.

New Things Monday

Peanut butter and Banana treats=AWESOME! :) Never really tried pb on a banana until recently and I'm hooked. I've been eating these as a quick to go snack and it's healthy and oh so good. I got the idea from a clip of one of the Survivor Redemption cast members. She ended up going to the holding house since she was a member of the jury. The clip showed the house and what the members do while during the wait time since they can't go home yet. This was a quick and easy snack that I knew I wanted to try and it's especially good if you have some bananas going bad and need to use them up.

You will need:

bananas

peanut butter (I use reduced fat)

foil

storage bag

First use a cutting board or lay down foil. Peel bananas, and cut the ends off. Then cut each banana in half.

Slice the banana to make halves. (long ways)

MMMMMMMMM Peanut butter! :)

Spread Peanut butter on one half. As little or as much as you'd like.

Add the top part of the banana back on. Kinda looks like a banana sammich. :)

Wrap each piece in foil and then store them in a freezer storage bag. Let sit out for a few min before you eat.

Strawberry Fruit Roll-up

I saw on pinterest, 'Strawberry leather' which is Fruit Roll-up. I looked at the recipe and thought it was easy enough and decided to give it a try.

You will need STRAWBERRIES.

I did 5 cups like the recipe stated. (I'm excited about this pic....Nate even said "good shot"). :)

After your berries have been washed, cut them up and put them in a pot.

On low heat, cook the berries for 15 min. Be sure to mash them to get the juices out. The Pampered chef mix n' chop is perfect for mashing fruit.

After 15 min put your berries into your blender and puree them till they are smooth.

On a parchment lined baking sheet ad your puree'd berries. On 150 degrees bake your fruit roll-up for 6 to 8 hours. The lowest temp setting my oven will go is 170 degrees. So, I put it on 170 degrees and at 2:40 pm I put the roll-up in the oven. I checked every time I went into the kitchen. It surely made the house smell like I was canning Strawberry jam. LOL :)

8 hours later...........

Looks kinda cute.....

Blech....the middle is still not done. I didn't care....I wasn't spending anymore time on this. I ate a few pieces. Not much flavor at all. I was a little disappointed. The berry flavor isn't really there anymore. Nate said he felt the berry flavor was cooked out. I'm glad I made it but it def isn't worth the time it takes. Not for me anyway. You could add sugar or honey or maybe even lemon juice if you want to but I didn't. I wanted to keep it as healthy as I could by not adding anything to it. I know I won't be making this again.

Lora turns 30

My cousin, Lora turned 30 on Friday. My Aunt, Karen threw her a surprise party. The theme was a Mexican Fiesta! Nate, Ashley and I got there early to help Karen with last min party prep. Kristen and Dave showed up shortly after and we got to chat a little bit before other guests started showing up.

Lora thought she was dropping her daughter off to Karen to watch while her husband and her were going to go see a movie. But little did she know that she was not going to be seeing a movie.....

Lora coming in through the garage, looking very surprised and laughing.

Lora wearing a '30' pin and a little sombrero that Karen got her.

Here is the cake I picked up from the store. It was cute with the pink daisies. And all the vases on the table that Karen had set out had multi-color daisies so it perfectly fit in. It was meant to be. haha

Some appetizers to munch on while everyone was chatting and while the rest of the dinner was getting prepared.

This is 7 layer dip! It was soooooooooooooooo good! A huge hit and so colorful. It's a dish that you bring to a party and you can't expect any leftovers. It's that good. I'm not a fan of guac, or sour cream or even olives but on a chip with all of these flavors together it's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! :)

Karen's BFF-Barbara (who's sooo very wonderful) told me her sister made this.

I picked up some little plastic sombrero hats at party city. It was a pack of 8 (2 yellow, 2 orange, 2 red and 2 purple) hats for like $2.99. So, I knew I had to have them b/c they are silly and fun. They were a hit.

Karen rented a Margarita Machine. When we got there Karen needed our help setting it up. Nate and Ashley did more than me. I sat on the chair and watched and held the empty tequila bottles. LOL :) A little more tequila was put in than should have been but who cares. haha

Kristen had found some cute favor ideas for Karen a few days before the party. And she chose one for some spice mix. They were so cute with a little recipe card attached.

Barb made a strawberry dip. She told me it was cream cheese, marshmallow fluff and a little brown sugar. It was good! :) Karen had also made some frozen bananas with chocolate and pecans.

For dinner there was a lot to choose from. Tacos (hard or soft shells) with chicken or beef. There was Tequila Lime Chicken, Spanish Rice, Dirty Rice, Queso, and of course shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa.

Karen got a pinata that she filled with 80's themed candy. I helped hang them up outside.

Lora hitting the 3. We didn't have a pinata stick so Lora used a golf club. LOL The 3 took a few hits and it finally busted. The 0, Lora had to hit a bunch of times before it finally busted. haha The party was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORA and welcome to the 30's!!!!! :)

Worms and Dirt

The other day when I was running some errands with my brother he mentioned that he wanted to make worms and dirt. He asked what he would need to get. I told him what he would need and he got all the goodies and later that night he decided to go ahead and make them. They turned out great. Who doesn't love worms and dirt? It's easy to make, and it's fun and cute.

You will need:

plastic cups

gummy worms

oreo cookies

Instant chocolate pudding mix (fat free milk)

Make your pudding according to the box directions. Crush your oreos. Once the pudding is done and has been set go ahead and mix in some of your crushed oreos. You can also add in some cool whip if you'd like but it's not really necessary. Fill your plastic cups with the pudding/cookie mixture. Leave some room at the top and then add some crushed cookies. (as much or little as you'd like) Then add some gummy worms. Enjoy! :)

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Farmhouse French Bread

Another thing we learned at the strawberry class was how to make a marinade for pork loin using fresh herbs. It was delicious and we all said we would def make it. Kristen made hers yesterday on the grill and she said it was great. YEY! I made it today.....I made the marinade yesterday so the pork loins would marinate overnight. You can marinate 2 to 6 hours, of course the longer you marinate the more flavor you will get.

You will need:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

Red pepper flakes

Black pepper

minced garlic

Parsley

*You can also add other herbs like thyme, marjoram and sage but I didn't have those so I left them out and instead added red pepper flakes, black pepper and parsley.

Whisk all these ingredients in a bowl.

Take out your pork loins out and place on a cutting board. With a meat fork poke holes all around the pork loin. This will let the marinade seep into your meat. Great trick! Then put the loins in a large ziploc bag and then pour the marinade onto them. Be sure to massage the meat and marinades so the marinade gets in all in the meat. :)

I stored my bag in a tupperware container so if the bag dripped it didn't make a mess in the fridge.

*Once you're ready to cook your pork loins, remove them from the marinade and place them on a rack on a cookie sheet. Bake @ 350 degrees for 40 min or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees.

*Another way to cook them (and I've done this several times) you can put the marinated pork loins in a deep baking dish, cover with the marinade, and some water. Cover with foil. Bake on 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until the meat registers 160 degrees.

*Or if you want to do this in the crock pot. Just put the pork loins in the crock pot, cover with the marinade and add some water. I would cook on low for about 5 to 6 hours. I'm sure it will turn out nice and tender.

About an hour later my pork loins were done. They look good and juicy. Can't wait to make a sammich. :)

I also made some more Farmhouse French Bread today so we can make some pork sammiches. :) You can eat the pork and bread plain or add a spicy mustard or bbq sauce. Enjoy!

*Different cooking methods. :)