Pilgrims, Paula Deen Rolls & Potatoes

Good morning ladies, and Happy Monday. Are y'all back at work now after a four-day weekend like me too? It's kind of rough, but instead I'll just focus on being thankful for the time off that I did have, rather than whining about being back today. And so today, I'd of course like to recap my special Thanksgiving holiday with my family!

This year we went to my Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Keith's house, and it was the first year that I brought my very own contribution. The last couple of years we've hosted at my parents house, and so of course I've helped out with all of that. But this year I chose and made my own dish to bring over, and it was a hit! I made this Loaded Mashed Potato Bake, and it was delicious.

The rest of my family all made amazingly yummy things, and we had probably one of our best Thanksgiving meals ever. Seriously - it was sooo good. We had all the usual's - turkey (two ways: roasted and deep fried) dressing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, broccoli casserole, the yummiest Paula Deen's Cloverleaf rolls, and a couple other sides too. And as a special southern treat, my uncle made up some venison as well, which was also yummy.

Sliced and deep-fried turkey. Definitely one of my favorites of the day!

My sister was unfortunately not with us, because she was with her husband and in-laws in Alabama. We definitely missed them, and it was so weird not having them around for the holiday. However, this was actually the first year that Jeff and I have celebrated Thanksgiving together (actually with each other - we've he's gone out of town the last couple of years to see family), so it was so great to have him there with my whole family as well!

I have so much to be thankful for, and special meal with my family was of course a great way to celebrate that. We had so much fun eating all together, and then going through all of the Black Friday ads as well. We told lots of stories, and had lots of laughs, and we just generally enjoyed being with each other on this special day. I'm thankful for a lot of things, but my amazing family is definitely up at the top of that list!!

My cousin and I got to do the wishbone - sadly he won.

Parents :)

Me and my pretty Mama

There were of course lots of other happenings from the last four days, but it's entirely too much for just one post. So the rest of the weekend recap will follow tomorrow (or the next day, depending on my blog-motivation), and then later I'll share some pictures of our first Christmas and tree together, in our own little house! Hope y'all had a great weekend as well. Looking forward to reading y'all's Thanksgiving recaps as well!

Much Love,
Halie

P.S. - Happy 23rd Birthday to my "baby" sister! Doesn't quite seem possible for you to be this "old" yet, but apparently you are! Hope you have the bestest day, Little! I love you!!

Peppers & Tacos: 2-for-1 Recipe

Good morning lovely blog friends! Hopefully we've all recovered by now from our long weekends. I know yesterday was still kinda rough for me, being that it was a Monday, and the first day back from a long holiday. But I feel a little better today and I'm ready to get this thing going! Yesterday, I shared a picture of the stuffed peppers we made last week, and today I'm sharing the simple and yummy recipe! Well actually, this is a double-feature recipe post, so make sure you see the super simple twist for using the leftovers as well the next day :)

Ingredients
4 green or red bell peppers
1 pound lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic, diced pretty small (or minced if you want)
1/2 medium sized onion, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, rinsed and drained
diced tomatoes (quantity depends on how much you like them!)
generous shakes of taco seasoning (sorry folks, I didn't actually measure this, but maybe 1 or 2 tbsp.)
1 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper
Cheese and sour cream for later...

Directions
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat, add turkey, garlic, onion, cumin, taco seasoning and salt and pepper - cook until the meat is all brown with no pink. Turkey is usually not greasy, so you should not need to drain it. (It's OK if there is a little bit of liquid, because it will be absorbed later.) Once it's completely cooked, add in corn and black beans, and let simmer for about five minutes, then add diced tomatoes and simmer a few more minutes.

Since there were two of us cooking, I did this next part while Jeff was cooking the meat, but you can do it whenever you can fit it in, or before or after you've made the meat mixture. Cut the tops off of the peppers, and scrape out the stem and seeds. Then cut each pepper in half, to create two equal sides. Line them all in a baking dish, open sides facing up. Scoop as much of the mixture into each half pepper as you can fit. Put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the dish, so that they're juuuust barely sitting in water. Cover the whole thing with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes, or until peppers are soft.

Remove the foil, sprinkle cheese on top of each one, and bake for an additional 5 minutes uncovered to melt the cheese. We used the mixed shredded colby and jack cheese, and it was delish. Serve with a dollop of fat free sour cream on top, and some Spanish rice on the side, and you're all ready to go!

These were sooo super yummy, and we both liked them a lot. Jeff was actually a little skeptical of the idea of stuffed peppers at first, but even he loved them! This made a lot of the meat mixture, so we had tons leftover, even after us both eating a little scoop of just the mix as well. So the next day, we heated it back up in the skillet (add in a tiny bit of water and some more seasoning to re-flavor and keep from drying up too much), and then scooped the mixture onto lettuce leaves, to make Santa Fe Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps. Soooo good as well. Again, add cheese and sour cream on top, and I added more fresh tomato on mine. Yum! Then just roll the lettuce up like a taco.

Both ways, this meat mixture is really good - in both the baked peppers, and wrapped up like healthy tacos. If you like spicy food, feel free to add in some jalapeno peppers or a little bit of red pepper flakes into the meat mixture while it's simmering, and that would be really good too. (Jeff can't handle super spicy stuff, or else I would have spiced ours up a bit because we both love the taste of spicy stuff - it's just too hard on his stomach sometimes.) I definitely recommend you try this out though, and let me know how it turns out for you!

Much Love,
Halie

Put It All in The Crockpot

Good morning my dear blog friends! It's been a while since I've shared a recipe with y'all, so that's what I've got planned for you today! We had planned to go to a movie on Tuesday night, but that morning I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to just stay home and rest a bit. So I decided I would cook dinner for us since we would be staying in. So I ran to Publix on my lunch break to grab some supplies, and in about 10 minutes, I had Put It All in The Crockpot. Then by the time 6:30 rolled around, dinner was halfway done, and I had barely even done a thing. And it was delicious! Minimal prep time and very little cooking for a super yummy dinner. That's my kind of meal!

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (the ones I got that day were huge)
As much chopped onion as you prefer (I like a lot! Especially since it cooks down real nice in the mix.)
1 can of 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
16 oz. Fat Free Sour Cream
1 pack of onion soup/dip mix
Thyme (didn't measure this, just sprinkled till it looked good)
Salt & Pepper (again, just sprinkle till you're satisfied)

Directions
Spray non-stick cooking spray all inside the crockpot
Place chicken breasts on bottom, covered by the chopped onion
Mix everything else together in a separate bowl, then glop it on top of the chicken and onion
Sprinkle with a bit more S&P
Cook on low for 5 1/2 hours
Take chicken out and shred it using 2 forks, then return to sauce and stir all together
(While it sits a bit more, prepare the rest of your meal to let the chicken have time to soak in the mixture.)
Taste it, and season again with thyme and S&P if you want to (I added more of all 3)
Serve over noodles or rice, or just eat by itself if you want to!

We ate ours over whole wheat "egg-style" noodles, like stroganoff is usually eaten over, and it was perfectly delicious. And of course we added in some broccoli to make it a nutritious meal!

This makes a lot of the sauce mixture, so it can easily feed about four people. We both ate the portions you see above, and then had a little more after that. And we still have plenty of leftovers for at least another meal for both of us, which we'll probably eat for lunch or dinner tonight. So this can easily feed a family of four!

The one addition I would make would be to add some sliced baby bella mushrooms. I thought about adding them, but even though Jeff loves the taste of mushrooms, his stomach can't handle them. However, he said if they were big enough pieces, he could just pick them out next time. So next time I'm definitely adding those in, and he can just put his over on my plate, because I love them! We both really enjoyed this meal, and it's easy enough to become a regular staple in our at-home cooking. Plus, it's few enough ingredients that I can remember it on my own without having to constantly consult a recipe, which is always a bonus when you're trying to just throw something together quickly!

We both recommend you try this, because it's super yummy and we think you'll like it! If you do try it, let me know how it went for you and if you liked it or not! Happy eating :)

Pinterest Cupcake Success

Thursday is finally here, which means that thankfully, tomorrow is Friday! This has been a long week, and I have been exhausted pretty much the whole time. I need some rest and a break. Not sure much "rest" will happen this weekend, but I'm gonna try at least! Today however, I'm excited to be linking up with Katie at Keep Calm & Carry On and her blog-bestie Stephanie at A Beautiful Mess for "Saw it. Pinned it. Did it!"

This is actually something I did a loooong time ago, but never shared it on my blog, so I think it's still acceptable to share it today :) I made some amazing cupcakes as part of a birthday present for my dear friend Sara! I love making homemade cupcakes, so I had her look through my cupcake board on Pinterest, and pick out which ones she thought sounded best. She made an excellent choice, because they were so yummy and I loved them too!

Dulce de Leche filled Banana Cupcakes with Browned-Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

pin found *here* on my boards

 Banana Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup mashed, ripe bananas
1/4 milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients on high until well blended, about 2 minutes. Line standard muffin tin with cupcake liners, and fill mixture into liners. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. After they're done, but while still warm, scoop out a little hole in the top of each one, in order to fill them with the Dulce de Leche. (Don't get rid of the part you scooped out, because you'll put it back on top!)

Apparently, you can make your own Dulce de Leche at home, but I chose to buy it in a jar at the store. Easy peasy. It's usually found in the Latin or Ethnic section! Anyways, all you do is fill those little holes with some of the cream, and then place the scooped-out-part back on top, pressing down a little to make sure it stays in place.

Browned-Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

In a small sauce-pan, over medium heat, melt butter and salt until browned. Place cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl, and pour the browned-butter on top of it, then mix on high for about 1 minute. It will get light and fluffy! Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing well between each cup, until all sugar is added and mixed smoothly. This will make about 5 cups of frosting! Too much for just 12 cupcakes, but you can freeze the rest and use it again later ;)

I then cleaned out and washed an old salad dressing bottle with a wide circle hole in the top, to use to frost them. (I used Kraft brand, because the hole is a good size for the frosting. Just make sure it's really super clean!) Stuff your frosting down into the bottle, and you can then squeeze it on top of the cupcakes super easily! I started the ring on the very edge of the cupcake, and then circled in smaller and smaller until reaching the center at the top of the cupcake.You can then top each one off with a caramel cream chew - which I highly suggest because they're my favorite candy - for an added treat and a little surprise!

It's been a long time since I've made these, but they were really, really good. And everyone who had one also liked them a lot too. If you don't like banana though (or can't eat it like Jeff), you could just make vanilla or even chocolate cupcakes - or find a recipe for something else that would mesh well with the dulce de leche - and do them that way, just sans banana!

I haven't made cupcakes in quite some time, but I'm thinking that needs to change this upcoming weekend! Maybe I'll have Jeff choose his favorite cupcake pin, and I'll make those for us and our friends for his birthday gathering on Saturday! Sounds like a good plan to me :)

Oh, and I have my very first blate ever today for lunch! (That's a "blogger date" for my real life friends.) I'm meeting my fellow Tally-girl and bride-to-be Angie for lunch downtown, close to where we both work. (This is her first blate too.) I'm both super excited and a tiny bit nervous, but mainly just excited! Yay for blates!

Pantene, Pandora & Pinterest - First Things First

Happy Tuesday lovies! Today is of course one of my favorite blogging days, because it's my weekly First Things First link-up! And today as usual we have some great new co-hosts for the week as well! Today's co-hosts are Rachel at Postcards from Rachel and Tasha at A Lott to Love. Rachel is one of my good blog-friends, and I feel like we bonded over our love for books and reading. (Hopefully she feels the same ;) Haha) And Tasha is a relatively new blogger, but she's really starting to get the hang of it, and she's a pretty cool chick too :)

And today's (slightly random) first topics are:

First Pinterest project or recipe you attempted (failure or success!)

First random song that pops up on your iTunes or Pandora

First product you use in the shower

First Pinterest project or recipe I attempted

Well, technically the first thing I accomplished via Pinterest was purchasing a ring on Etsy, that I first pinned and then loved enough to buy. It was perfect, and I wore it every day for about a year and a half until I recently replaced it with my beautiful engagement ring!! But the first thing I actually did from Pinterest was make some amazingly delicious Dulce de Leche filled Banana cupcakes with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting for my friend Sara's birthday! I let her look through my cupcake board (I love making completely homemade cupcakes!), and pick which ones sounded the best, and then I made them as part of her 25th birthday present! (Actually, since then I've done a lot of other stuff from Pinterest. In fact, I have a board dedicated to stuff that I've Already Accomplished via Pinterest, that pins get moved to once I've tried them!) Below is the process of making those cupcakes, for my first attempt from Pinterest!

The whole process of the fancy cupcakes! Maybe I should make a recipe post sometime soon!?!

First random song that pops up on my iTunes

"To Whom it May Concern" by the Civil Wars. This was the song that was playing on my iTunes, when I first opened it up just now! And that's not surprising to me, because I absolutely love them, and listen to them quite often. And it makes me so sad they they're kind of broken up right now. (No one will really say what's going on...) They were even supposed to come here to do a concert here in Tally, and I even wrote a post about it I was so excited! But then they cancelled, and that stunk big time. I hope they can get themselves put back together, because I want more music from them!!

First product I use in the shower

That would be my Pantene Pro-V shampoo, for curly hair! My hair isn't technically "curly," it's probably considered more "wavey," but this shampoo gives it a little extra pizzazz in the curl department! And of course it smells delicious and takes great care of my locks. :) And not that this was a part of the question, but I'm going to share my routine, because I'm a bit OCD about it, and it basically never varies. Put shampoo in, wash my face, rinse my face off, rinse shampoo out. Put conditioner in, wash my body, rinse my body, rinse the conditioner out. Shaving my legs is always last, but definitely not an everyday occurrence. In the summer, it might be every other day, but in the winter, it's more like once or twice a week... I just hate doing it guys. Don't judge me.

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Rachel & Tasha.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

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And if you'd like to prepare and get ready for next week's First Things First link up, start by checking out next week's awesome co-hosts, Emily at Be Blessed, Y'all and Breanna at Counting Blessings.
1. First movie you went to see without your parents
2. First sport you played (either little league style or otherwise)
3. First major injury

Pizza: My Skinnier Recipe Options

First of all, we all know by now that I'm on a weight loss journey to become more fit and more healthy. And I'm really loving how hard I've been pushing myself and all that I've accomplished so far. (In case you're new around here, you can read my entire weight loss story up 'til January HERE, and read all my weight loss posts in general HERE.)

But despite all of that, and how healthy I try to eat about 85% of the time, there are most definitely still times where I crave my "fat-girl" food. Things like pasta (duh), bread of any kind, sweets, chocolate and of course pizza. So I've been trying to find ways to satisfy some of these cravings, without loading myself up with tons of carbs, sodium and fat. I definitely can't order a pizza, or buy a frozen one, because those are never healthy. So I need to handle it myself, and I've found two great ways to satisfy my pizza cravings, and still eat healthy-ish! :)

The first option, is a pizza quesadilla! We made these last Friday night for our dinner, and I absolutely looooved it. And so did Jeff. And it was super simple, of course. Because that's really the only way I like to cook...You may or may not remember way back last fall sometime, I shared our special recipe for Popeye's Pizza? Well, I used those same ingredients (minus the mushrooms because Jeff can't eat them), but put it in a quesadilla instead of on a pizza crust. So here's the run down of the ingredients, and the calorie count, based on MyFitnessPal:

And guys, this is soo easy to make. Start by heating a large skillet, and when it's hot, add in about a tablespoon of olive oil to coat the pan. Throw in all the sun dried tomatoes first (we used about half of the bag they come in), let them sit for a minute or so, then add in a handful of spinach. Stir while sauteing, until spinach is completely wilted, then add in another big handful. (This will be enough to fill two large quesadilla's, for two people. That's why the MFP says only 1 cup of spinach per serving.) Once all the spinach is wilted, put aside in a bowl.

Lay out two tortillas, and spread a generous helping of the sauce on each one. (We used about 1/4 cup on each one, since that was the serving size on the jar.) Then divide up your spinach and sun dried tomato mix between the two tortillas, spreading it all out. Lay as many pepperoni's on each one as you would like! (Again we did the serving size.) Then top each one with 1/4 cup of shredded, fat free mozzarella cheese!

Spray your same skillet with some cooking spray, and then very carefully transfer one of the loaded-up tortillas to your skillet, then throw another plain tortilla on top of it to finish it up! Let it hang out in the skillet for about 4-5 minutes, then flip the entire thing. (We found the best method for flipping it was to hold a lid on top of the skillet, flipping the whole thing over so that the pizza is transferred to the lid, then sliding it back down into the skillet on the other side. Thanks to Jeff's mama for that tip!)

Leave it in there for another 3-4 minutes (the second side takes a little less time), then slide the whole thing back onto your plate. Use a pizza cutter to slice it into four triangles, and then gobble it up!

We each had our own quesadilla pizza, and we had actually made a third (with just sauce, cheese and pepperoni), to split in case we were still hungry. But these were super filling. In fact, I probably should have stopped after three pieces of mine and could have been pretty full, but I liked it so much I ate the whole thing. But at just 575 calories for the entire quesadilla, it was a super filling meal, that tasted great! We never ate the extra one, but I'm thinking I should for my lunch today...

With this kind of quesadilla pizza, you can change it up to make it your own, and put whatever you want inside of it. If think you don't like spinach though - I still say you should try it. It doesn't have too much flavor on it's own this way, but it's good for you, so give it a chance. What kind of stuff would you fill your quesadilla pizza with? We definitely want to try out some more options with this, so give me some new ideas!

And then the second pizza option I found, is even easier than the first, and tastes just as yummy. I just use one Arnold Sandwich Thin to make two mini pizzas! Start by putting the bread in the toaster just long enough to get it a little crispy, and turn your oven on broil. Line a small baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil (this just makes for super easy "clean up"), and then place the bread on that. Spread about a tablespoon or so of the sauce on each piece of bread, then lay out the pepperoni's, and top with cheese. Put baking sheet in the oven under the broiler for about 5 minutes, just so everything gets warm and the cheese gets melty!

The MFP screen shot and the pizzas above are with the same sauce we used for the quesadilla pizzas from last week, and it's delicious. But I made these mini pizzas again last night for my dinner, and I used just regular spaghetti/marinara sauce, and that was super yummy too, and a few less calories as well. The pictures above were from my lunch the other day, and with one tiny cutie clementine and a fat free light yogurt, it was a grand total of 415 calories. And I was full for hours. And it tasted delicious!

So these are two options I've come up with so far that satisfy my cravings for the wonderfulness of pizza that is bread, cheese and sauciness. But these options don't overload me with unhealthiness and tons of calories. Definitely glad I figured out these options! :)

What are some of your favorite "skinny" recipes? Either for pizza, or something completely different!? I'm constantly pinning new Healthy Yummies, and of course I've love some more to check out, especially if they have been tested and approved by y'all! I'd love to hear some of your favorites!

And since I got the ideas for these from Pinterest, I'm linking up with Katie and Stephanie for "Saw it. Pinned it. Did it."

Pinterest Re-Pin it Party & Link Up!

Your Host:

Agape Love Designs

Co-Hosts:

 A Royal Daughter

A Proverbs 31 Wife

Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots

We all know what a wonderful and helpful tool Pinterest can be to bring traffic to our blogs! So today Agape Love Designs, myself and several other awesome ladies have come together to host a Spread the LOVE Pinterest re-pin it party! If you have a fabulous blog post or item from your shop pinned to Pinterest that you would like re-pinned for more traffic and exposure, then you definitely want to get in on this link up! Each host will be re-pinning from those who link up, to help spread the love. :-)

Hey in case you're wondering, MY pin is number four down there in the link up, and it's some super yummy pizza! Seriously, this pizza is the jam, and it's not your usual run-of-the-mill cheese or pepperoni. There's some surprises! So check out my pizza recipe, as well as the amazing pins from the other co-hosts as well!

Before you link up, please abide the following rules:

RULES

1. Re-Pin Each of the Hosts' pins.
(They will be the first 4 link-ups)

2. Link up the PINTEREST url of what you would like to have re-pinned! (limit 2)
(URL of Pin Example: http://pinterest.com/pin/5066618303100852/)

3. Re-pin the 4 link-ups before you!
(You are more than welcome to re-pin more if you would like to spread more love!
Leave a comment on the pin, that you're re-pinning from the party, & I'm sure they'll return the love!)

Purchases, Trips & Cooking - First Things First edition

Hello there ladies, on this slightly dreary Tuesday morning. It's cold and rainy here, and I'm super tired today. Not the best start to my day. But I just gotta suck it up and move on of course. I'm going to tell myself that today WILL be a good day, and then I'll make it a good day. Simple as that, right?! Anyways, today is week five of our First Things First link up with my girl Hallie at Life: Oceanside, so let's get this going! Shall we?! This weeks topics are:

First major purchase on your own, First trip out of the country, First thing I learned to cook

First major purchase of my own
My current laptop! My parents bought me one right before I went away to college in August 2006, and that baby got me through a lot during those four years. My mama got me a pretty, pink polka-dotted skin for her, and I named her Lucy the Laptop. (I like alliterations  remember?!) But then she started to wear down, and she definitely needed to be replaced. So in January 2011, I bought myself a new one! Seems weird that it was two years ago now, because I still consider it to be brand new sometimes. I went all out and got the best I could get (well, the best besides a Mac...) and upgraded her with all the bells and whistles I could afford. I couldn't bear to part with my original Lucy (she still sits in my room, unused in fact), and so my new one is also name Lucy as well!

First trip out of the country

For my high school graduation present, my Mama and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas! We went on Royal Caribbean, to their little private island and to Nassau. It was so much fun with just the two of us, and it was an amazing present for graduation. We went shopping and played bingo, and took a random scrapbook class on the boat one day. We went swimming, a lot, we went to fun shows and games and watched karaoke. We did as much as we could, and enjoyed every minute of that cruise! You can see a whole ton of pictures from it back HERE when I did my Throwback Thursdays to all-things-high school a while back, and here is a collage of just a few :)

First thing I learned to cook

I'm actually not too sure on this one, but I'm going to go with something like pasta salad. And here are a few reasons why I think that: 1.) My mama makes excellent pasta salad, and it's one of my favorite things she makes. 2.) It's one of the easiest things to make. Even for a silly teenager like I was! 3.) Hello, it's pasta. And in case you're wondering, here's a quick 'recipe' for the way me and my Mama make our yummy pasta salad.

Boil 'short' pasta of your choice. We like using tri-colored rotini. (That's the 3 colors of spiral noodles)

Dice up veggies: red & green bell pepper, vidalia onion, black or green olives...

I also add in a can of chick peas (garbanzo beans), and sometimes some pepperoni or cheese cubes. Depends how I'm feeling that day...

Then toss it all together with the pasta, in about half a bottle of Creamy Poppy seed salad dressing and add some salt and pepper to your liking.

What's great about this 'recipe,' is that you can change it up and make it however you really like it. You can add in different or new veggies and things, or make it super plain and simple with just noodles and dressing. Other veggie options could be: yellow banana peppers, cucumber, grape tomatoes, broccoli or corn. And you can add in whatever seasonings or spices  you like! Basically, it can be a kitchen-sink kind of pasta salad, but I guarantee it'll be delicious!

So now, go write your own post on this week's topics, and then come back here to link up with me and Hallie!  And if you'd like to prepare for next week, the topics are:
1. First broken heart
2. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning
3. First high school dance or prom (talk about date, dress, whatever, and share pictures too!)

And share this on Twitter to spread the word, and make sure to put our button on your post as well please!

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Post-Pledge: The Final Recap

As of this morning, I'm considering my 25 Before 25 Pledge list officially over. Tomorrow I will be 25 years old, and it's time to move on! I have created a new list of 30 Before 30, which is full of all sorts of things. Some are small, some are quite huge, but I'm excited about them all. (Those will be posted later this week.) But for this post, I want to do a recap of how things went for my 25 Before 25 goals!

Pinteresting Choices

Today will be my first link up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple, for "Oh, How Pinteresting!" Today, and yesterday as well for that matter, I'm feeling completely inspired by delicious food and recipes!

I have about a bajillion food pins on my Pinterest, and it's sometimes overwhelming knowing which one I actually feel like making. For one thing, I don't even keep it all on one central food board (the way some others, like my Mama do), I separate it all into a couple of categorized boards so it's easier to find a specific kind of thing later. For example, some of my food boards are: Pasta Is My Favorite, Breakfast at Halie's, Crockpot Craze, Yummies To Try, Healthy Yummies, Sweet Tooth and Cupcakes. And each of them have tons of pins. But at least I know I'll never be lacking in recipe inspiration!

So tomorrow night (Thursday) I'm cooking dinner for just my Mama, sister and myself, and so I'm looking for something relatively easy (well, that's kind of always my motto), and something that's not intended for an entire army. Here are a few of the things I'm considering, and I want your opinions - what do you think sounds/looks the best, and which one should I make?! Let me know below, and then I'll share later this week how it all turns out!

P.S. - I'm really feeling a crockpot meal, so that's what most of these are.

Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole

Originally from These Four No More, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken

Originally from Food.com, found on Pinterest here

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Originally from ClosetCooking.com, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Originally from Heather's Bytes, found on Pinterest here

Crockpot "Gourmet" Angel Chicken

Originally from Loved & Lovely, on Pinterest here

So I'm thinking five recipes is plenty to choose from. We love chicken in our family (well I mean, who doesn't love chicken?!), so that's why there are so many chicken options here. I think each one of these sounds absolutely amazingly delicious, and I'll be excited to try whichever one of these I end up choosing. It's just such a hard choice! What do y'all think? Ever had any of these before, or made something similar yourselves? How did it turn out? Was it a repeater? Should I try it too?! Was that too many questions? ;)

For more Pinteresting blog posts, of all shapes, sizes and varieties, head over to The Vintage Apple to check out tons more links! And don't forget to tell me which option you think I should make for our little girls night dinner!

Pot of Enchilada Soup

Hello there my bloggy friends! Today, I'm sharing with you a super duper easy soup recipe. I mean super easy people, so get ready to pull out your crock-pot, and reap yummy rewards, without much effort.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Ingredients
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes (I did the ones with green chiles for some extra pizzaz)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cans enchilada sauce (in the Ethnic food aisle)
1 diced green or red pepper
1/2 diced onion
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cans cooked chicken (if you want to put in a tad more effort, cook 2 chicken breasts, and shred them yourself)
Shredded pepper jack cheese & sour cream for topping

Directions
Throw it all in your crock pot, and cook on low all day, or approximately 8-9 hours! (Or if you want it for lunch, cook it on high.) And man this baby is so yummy. And hello? Easiest soup recipe, maybe ever. The "hardest" part is just some simple dicing of peppers and onions!

Then when you serve it, top it with pepper jack cheese if you like spice, or the Mexican blend cheese to tone it down a bit. And of course some sour cream on top doesn't hurt anything either :)

So there you have it! A quick and easy soup recipe, for anyone who is a Mexican/Tex-Mex fan! I personally loved the stuff, and my boyfriend and family happen to love it too, which is definitely a plus :) And I have already made this soup a couple of times since that first time. So give this baby a try on a cold day, and let me know how it turns out, and if you like it just as much as well!

Proud of My Cooking

Today I want to share a couple quick easy recipes that I made last week during my Thanksgiving break. Seriously people, these are so yummy, and so easy. Just the way I like things :) I won't lie about this, I'm Proud of My Cooking, and I highly recommend both of these recipes. So grab a pen and paper to make some notes, because you're going to want to give these guys a try...

First up, I made Twice-Baked Cauliflower

Ingredients:
2 heads of cauliflower
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
8 pieces of bacon
1 handful of fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prep cauliflower to cook, removing all leaves and what-not, and roughly chopping
Bring water to boil, throw cauliflower in, and cook until soft
While cauliflower is boiling, fry bacon in skillet, then place on paper towel to drain/dry/cool
After cauliflower is soft, drain and transfer to large mixing bowl
Using potato masher, mash up all cauliflower
Once it's decently mashed, add in sour cream, cream cheese & Parmesan cheese, and mix thoroughly
Crumble bacon, and add in 3/4 of it to the mix
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray, and scoop the mixture into dish, flattening out
Sprinkle all of the cheddar cheese on top, and the remaining bacon crumbles
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until cheese is completely melty and bubbly
Eat and enjoy!

So technically it's not actually twice-baked, but it is at least twice-cooked. And let me tell you folks - this tastes EXACTLY like loaded, baked mashed potatoes. And this stuff is delicious. We took it for Thanksgiving lunch with my dad's side of the family, and we fooled some of them into thinking it actually was mashed potatoes, rather than cauliflower. Even the pickiest eater of the bunch tried it, and she loved it! I can't wait to make this again, so that I get to eat more of it myself next time, because it was just that good.

And if you're watching your figure, just make the cheeses and sour cream the low fat or fat free versions to make this a little healthier. It's already almost carb-free (with the exception of a minimal amount from the cheeses), so this is a good low-carb option! Seriously, don't be scared of the cauliflower - just try it. And let me know how you like it too :)

And then next was Bacon-wrapped Lil' Smokies

Ingredients:
1 pack of Lil Smokies sausages
The rest of your bacon pack from the first recipe up there ;) but uncooked and cut into thirds
1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray
Once your bacon slices are cut into thirds, wrap each smokie in the bacon, and place in baking dish, seam side down
Make as many as you please....
Melt 1 stick of butter, and stir in 1 cup of brown sugar until it's completely mixed
Pour the whole mixture over the top of the bacon-wrapped smokies
Bake for 30 minutes

After doing this it seemed like there was too much of the butter/sugar mixture during the baking process, so after about thirty minutes, I poured off quite a bit of the liquid, then put the dish back in the oven, for about 5-10 minutes, but under the broiler setting this time, just to crisp it up a bit. And these tiny meats turned out delicious!

Apparently a lot of people already make these pretty regularly, because when I brought them to the football-watching party, they were thrilled to see them because they knew how good they would be. I myself had never heard of them, or eaten them, but after trying one, I loved them too! I also heard a tip that if you're making them for a big party, skewer each one with a toothpick, and bake them like that so they're ready to grab-n-go after baking!

And then after putting this last dish together, I ran out of bacon, but still had some smokies left, so I threw the rest of them in a pot with some barbecue sauce and some more brown sugar, and just let them hang out in there until it was time to leave. So simple, and yet so yummy as well.

And here's a picture of me in my apron again, just because it's so darn cute, and I like this picture a lot :) And I was in fact wearing it the whole time I was cooking last week!

So, give both of these recipes a try. For real peeps. Because who doesn't love delicious food, that's made with easy-to-do recipes?! I know I sure do! Honestly, I tend to gravitate towards what looks the easiest or the most doable. Because even though I do love to cook, I still consider myself a "novice" and am still prone to silly mistakes or minor issues. So the easier, the better in my book! I need things that are close to fool-proof, and these recipes definitely fit the bill on that front. Hope you like them as much as I did!