Menu Recap

Last week's meals were as follows: 

Monday Dinner: Taco Soup {Recipe from Ezra Pound Cake}. Daniel gave it 4.75/5 stars.

 

Tuesday Dinner: We had dinner with friends – Jeremy and Laura. Laura made us cheese dip to go with chips, corn on the cob and an enchilada-type dish. Afterward we ate Rice Krispy Treats while we played Monopoly. 5/5 stars for a fun evening with friends.

Wednesday Dinner: Mushroom and Provolone Turkey Burger with Sauteed Asparagus. 
Daniel gave it 4/5 stars. 

Thursday Dinner: Date Night at Geno's Pizza. We split an order of Bread Sticks and a Supreme Pizza.

Friday Dinner: Spaghetti and Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatballs with a Side Salad {Recipe from Picky Palate}. Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars. 

Saturday: We spent the day canoeing and then had a second lunch at Cantina Laredo. It was excellent. I tried the Chimichanga. It had a red sauce – I prefer a white sauce, but the dish was amazing. It had a side of grilled sugar snap peas that were fantastic. Daniel tried the enchiladas and loved them. The side of rice was a bit bland, but overall this restaurant was a hit. Our friends recommend the desserts here so we will have to come back another time and split a main course so we can try out the desserts.

Afterwards we went to Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt. Daniel and I were both stuffed, but we decided to split a cup of yogurt. We tried a combination of the cheesecake, coffee, peanut butter and cookies & cream flavors and topped it off with Heath Bar. It was amazing.

Sunday Lunch: Mozzarella-Stuffed Meatball Sandwiches using leftovers from Friday night with a side of Chips. Daniel gave this 4.4/5 stars

Sunday Dinner: Pepperoni Pizza. You really can't go wrong with a pizza... 
Daniel gave it 4.6/5 stars.

Pizza and Games

When we have people over, I am most likely going to try out some new recipes and tonight was no exception. As the "social chair" of this household {Daniel's words} I had Daniel invite several of his co-workers over for a small dinner party. I thought homemade pizza and games would be a great way to end the week.

When planning the menu, I decided on spinach dip and bacon-wrapped jalapenos for appetizers.
 

Spinach Dip
Recipe from SkinnyTaste.com

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Then I decided on BBQ Chicken, Supreme and Chicken Florentine pizza. All turned out great {even my store-bought crusts}. 

BBQ Chicken Pizza
Recipe from All Recipes 
 

Supreme Pizza
Recipe from All Recipes

 Chicken Flortentine Pizza
Recipe from Yummy Mummy

Finally there was the dessert: I tested a S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. These cookies were quite the mess to make, but tasted amazing. 

Gigantic S'mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Picky Palate

In addition, we had chocolate cupcakes with home-made butter cream {thanks Anna} and pretzel-rolo-pecan bites {thanks Laura}. 

After dinner we played Cranium and the boys beat the girls {barely}. Then the girls dominated at Catch Phrase. Finally we played partner Nerts until we were all silly from exhaustion. It was a fun night overall.

I am tired and still need to pack as I am headed to Searcy for the week on a girls road trip with my sister and niece to visit my parents.

To Me, Christmas Is...

Daniel and I have never been big on Christmas in terms of the grandiose gift giving. My brother would tell you that we are too cheap and my sister would probably be nicer and say that we are just frugal. The truth is I have always had a hard time buying into the "buying" that seems to follow Christmas.

So instead of expensive gifts, we give our time; we give our love; and generally we give homemade cookies. 

This year I narrowed down the baking to three recipes: Brownie-Covered Oreos {found at Picky Palate}; Peanut Butter-Pretzel Treats {based on this recipe found at Simply Modern Mom}; and finally Mexican Wedding Cookies {also called Russian Tea Cakes by some, from the Joy of Baking}. 

I had seriously considered adding a fourth recipe of Chocolate Gingerbread cookies from Goodlife Eats, but I decided to nix it at the last moment. I'm glad I did because 10 hours of baking was ENOUGH.

After it was all said and done, I was tired. 

I think Sophie was worn out from watching me bake all day.