Halloween recap 2014

We had a great time celebrating "Fall" the week leading up to Halloween. I say fall  in parentheses because it's still 80° or higher out, so no cute fall scarves and boots for us!

FYI this is a photo frenzy post :)

I took the girls to a harvest festival with my mom. They really enjoyed the hayride, scarecrows, pumpkins and of course face painting. 

Singing "Let it go" in front of the Elsa and Anna scarecrows. 

"Mommy it's itchy!!"

Mama bear and her cubs. 

They were excited for the hayride!

Until Giada started throwing the hay.........

Then Nicolette ôpwasn't too happy and wanted off the hayride. 

Nicolette was still unhappy from the hayride clearly. 

The girls' school also had a cute little pumpkin patch set up for Halloween to go pick out our pumpkin. 

This is the best I could get. Or really all I can get these days! They never want to look at the camera!

Daddy was able to be there with his ladies! And we picked out a pretty awesome pumpkin for carving. 

Drawing the pumpkin's face and getting a kiss all at the same time. 

Mission completed. And happy about it. We were then ready for Halloween. The girls' school was having a Halloween celebration so they got to go to school dressed up. 

Izzy (Jake and the Neverland Pirates) and Snow White

Halloween night we invited the kids' friends and cousins over to go trick or treating. Our neighborhood really gets into it and there are a ton of kids running around. We love it!

Izzy posing with her pumpkin. Snow White was not interested in this photo shoot. Lol!

Izzy the ringleader. 

We had a great time that night hence my lack of pictures.  Now it's time to get ready for the Holodays!! O. M. G. Hope you enjoyed and I have some great posts coming your way very shortly!!

My first attempt at red sauce

There is a first time for everything!!!

I was at Costco and had a craving for tomatoes. I think because they looked so delicious. We never really have tomatoes in the house since no one else eats them. And of course at Costco you get like 8!!! No way I could eat all those before they spoiled.  So I figured I would find a use for them. 

A few days later they were getting soft......already! Ugh I had only eaten two and couldn't get the rest eaten. In came my creative mind. I had all the ingredients for a red sauce, so red sauce it was!

The quantity of ingredients was eyeballed to taste then I added more. 

INGREDIENTS:

- tomato

- fresh garlic

- one onion ( your choice of white or yellow)

- fresh basil

- fresh ground pepper

- fresh ground sea salt

PREP TIME:

10 mins

I washed and roughly chopped the ingredients. Then I put them in the food processor and added the salt and pepper. 

I blended for a bit then pulsed it before tasting.  After tasting I realized I needed more garlic and basil. Pulsed for a bit again.  Once it was to the consistency I wanted I put it on the stove on low for about 30-40 minutes. This helped for the flavors to mix together to make a "sauce" rather than a basil salsa. 

And here you have it!! After I let it cool I put it in the fridge to use another day. 

A couple nights later I used the red sauce to make a meat sauce pasta dish. I added fresh spinach to the sauce and boiled my pasta before mixing in. By the way, this pasta is a quinoa and brown rice blend from Trader Joe's. I HIGHLY recommend it. It is not as heavy as a regular starchy pasta....it's a house favorite over here. 

You can obviously use the sauce for what you want ;)

P.S. This sauce was enough for a pound of ground meat and a pound of pasta. 

Yet another quinoa recipe

In following suite with Chris' birthday party on yesterday's post I wanted to share a delicious recipe with you all!

So for the party my stepmom made a chilled quinoa salad. It was SO amazing that I tried to replicate it for myself. Well I was able to successfully replicate it. Probably because my stepmom told me what she did ;)

It's very easy and super quick. I'm going to give you the ingredients and it is your choice to use them and how much of them. It also depends on the amount of quinoa salad you want to use. So pretty much eyeball everything to your like. 

Ingredients:

- quinoa (obviously!)

- corn

- red & yellow bell pepper

- edamame

- black beans

- scallions

- garbanzo beans (chick peas)

- fresh chopped basil

All of the ingredients were cooked and ready to eat. Many items were warm from being cooked or room temp. I mixed everything together and added the dressing. Again, here are the ingredients and use to your desired taste. 

Ingredients:

- lemon juice 

- olive oil

- balsamic vinegar (I used a very small amount because I didn't want the taste to overpower the salad)

Toss everything together and set it in the fridge to chill!  We ate it for dinner just by itself and one time I added some chopped cooked sausage for Chris and shrimp for myself. You can't go wrong with this salad!

P.S.- cooking quinoa in a rice cooker makes things even easier. So if you have one make it just like you would rice and VOILA!! No babysitting on the stovetop. 

Someone turned Thir-TEE

My loving, funny, handsome guy turned 30 a few weeks ago! Oh and did I mention he is one hell of a dad too?  This post is all about us celebrating him!  After he thought long and hard about how he wanted to celebrate his birthday he decided on a family party. You only turn 30 once right?! I know you're thinking just a boring old family party.......not when your family guest list is 60 people!! And the party planning begun!

I came across the most appropriate theme, since Chris has been holding a golf club since before he could walk. 

Chris is turning Thir-TEE

Of course Pinterest was my BFF while trying to put this party together. I have to give all the lovely pinners out there the credit for how the party turned out!

So here are pictures of the before, decor and party in a nutshell.....

This was pre-party shopping at Costco all alone. I have to say the cart won! And this wasn't even for the main course! I had a really delicious barbeque restaurant cater the meats and some family members made a few sides and I made the rest. 

Selfie time on the way to the party!!

I was extemely pleased with the way all the decor and colors came together. Here is a list of the places I shopped online for some things. 

The golf themed customized printables: http://www.chickabug.com

The customized "Chris is Thir-TEE" golf balls: http://www.golfballs.com

The green and white paper lanterns: http://www.paperlanternstore.com

The girls also had a blast playing with all of their little cousins and friends. 

Our best attempt at a family photo. I will take it. Love my crazy bunch!  We didn't get many pictures because we were busy having a great time!!

The birthday boy cheering on as he was serenaded Happy Birthday!!  

And of course I get a photo of the cake once it had been cut into. Hey, we aren't perfect but we had a great time!  I think it's safe to say he will always remember his 30th birthday with the people who love him most!

Since his actual birthday fell on a Sunday and we had the party Saturday he had more of a birthday weekend. 

Enjoying his birthday brunch in true fashion with a big cup of coffee!

We had his parents over for a quiet barbeque, we figured it was a good time to put the new backyard to use. 

He ended his birthday with some Sunday night football and having his favorite peanut butter pie from his aunt. 

I've always heard turning 30 is depressing, since I'm not there yet. Haha!  But I think it's safe to say he turned 30 in style. Plus......30 is the new 20 right?!?

Bring on the soup

In continuing with my crockpot challenge I figured this "cool" fall weather we are experiencing deserved a soup post. And by "cool" I mean 75 in the morning and 80s for the day's high.......the joys of living in South Florida. 

Cheese Tortellini Soup

PSA: this is NOT a lower calorie meal. But hey we all need a little cheat for something tasty. And it's a crockpot quickie. #WINNING

So I totally doubled the recipe. Hence ALL the food. I wanted leftover and enough to feed the family for dinner. 

I will give you the ingredients for a single recipe serving. You can certainlydouble if you would like. 

Ingredients: 

- Bag of cheese tortellini 

- 2 cans of diced tomatoes 

- 3 cups raw spinach ( or amount to preference)

- one package of cream cheese

- one cup fresh basil

- 3 to 4 gloves of garlic

- 10 to 12 ounces vegetable broth (add more or less for desired consistency)

- fresh salt and pepper to taste

Add tortellini, broth, cream cheese, diced tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and pepper to crockpot and put it on low for 5 hours. With about 2-1.5 hours left add spinach. This way it stays a little fresher and not mushy. 

  

Then I drizzle a little grated pecorino cheese and fresh ground pepper on top. Add your favorite toasted bread or croutons and you have the perfect comfort soup to keep you snuggly!