Night Out with the Hartys

We are in a life group with Rish and Jim. Once a month we are paired with another couple to go on a date and our December date was them. I know it's only October but with us traveling to MN, we just weren't sure if we'd find the time. So... we went to a DELICIOUSLY wonderful restaurant downtown called, "Sullivans". It was probably one of the best steaks I've ever enjoyed!

We then got to the bowling alley at midnight and enjoyed 2 hours of strikes and sillyness!

I wish I had a picture for the 3 highlights of our night:
1. Rish decided to use the "helper" that rolls the ball down for you. Well needless to say, nobody told her that you don't have to push the ball very hard so her ball goes flying off the helper stand and into the gutter. It was one of the fastest gutter balls of the evening. :)

2. Jim also had a very quick gutter ball when trying to put a spin on his ball... Andrew tried to replay Jim's bowl and his goes into the gutter, jumps back out and he knocks down over half his pins!

3. Lastly.... Andrew was testing for speed and he gets a little off track, his ball jumps the lane (and we were on lane one...and next to it was a ramp down to the door that leads behind the lanes) and rolls down the ramp and opens the door at t he bottom!

We were literally rolling with laughter all night long! SOOO fun! Here are some pictures. :)

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3 (Andrew didn't play)

Jim and Rish Andrew and I

and it was all YELLOW

So Monica and I had a craft day on Tuesday but I knew snow was coming Wednesday so this was my last chance to take pictures of these awesome yellow trees outside our apartment complex.
























Monica and I ... almost ready to craft!
I just couldn't resist the YELLOW!!

Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake

Here we go... my first cheesecake attempt! Andrew tried this cheesecake at Conference Night and loved it so much he asked the parent for the recipe. He said it was simply delicious... I now agree!

INGREDIENTS:
Crust:

• 1 3/4 C shortbread cookies crushed (14-16 cookies)
• 1 Tbsp butter or margarine melted

Cheesecake:

• 24 ounces of softened cream cheese
• 1 1/4 C brown sugar (packed)
• 15 ounces canned pumpkin
• 5 ounce can of evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Topping:

• 1 C crushed toffee candy (about 4 Heath bars)
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Crust: Chop or crush shortbread cookies. Melt butter.
Combine cookie crumbs and butter in a small bowl.


Press into bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch spring form pan.
Bake for 6-8 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes.
Cheesecake: Beat cream cheese and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy.




Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, corn starch, and cinnamon. Beat well.





Pour into crust. Bake for 60-65 minutes.



Topping: combine sour cream, supar and vanilla in a small bowl; mix well.
Top with toffee pieces. Spread topping over warm cheesecake, bake for 8 minutes




Release from springform pan and ENJOY! Drizzle with caramel topping if desired.

A Yummy Favorite

So I have started making my Christmas gifts this year and I more than want to post pictures but that would ruin all my surprises. So you might be seeing food on here for a while!

This the third recipe we've tried for this soup, but we can't seem to find the recipe we made the first time...bummer. So this one is super thick, when I was eating left overs I actually added more water to make it more soupy and not stewy. I hope you try and enjoy!

Sunday Brunch: Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded
• 1 (4.5 ounce) package quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups heavy cream

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken. Bring just to boiling, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet. Cover and remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.
3. Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Andrew enjoyed in a bread bowl topped with parsley.
   

Fall Pine Cone Door Decor

So, I saw this idea on Pinterest... where else right?
So at 8:00 on Sunday night I decided to run to Walmart for my supplies...
hot glue, ribbon, pine cones (easy and cheap).
I chose fall colors because I knew I wanted to hang it on the door right away.

Simply cut ribbon to the desired size.
I cut them longer than needed so I could shorten.
Then glue one end to the inside of the pinecone.

Arrange the pine cones to desired lengths so you can see the colors.
Tie all the ribbons together at the top leaving some extra.
I lit the ends of the ribbon to melt them so they do not unravel.

HANG!!
Can't wait to make my next one but will use one color next time!

Summer Vegetable Tian

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium potato
1 medium tomato
1 tsp dried thyme
to taste - salt and pepper
1 C shredded Italian cheese


Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic (I used canned). Saute both in skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes).
Step 2: While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.











Step 3: Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish.
Step 4: Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and thyme.
Step 5: Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Fall meets Snow

I woke up this morning to a white covering out my front window! I couldn't resist going out to take a few pictures of the leaves! Happy birthday Becky #30. While you are out celebrating... I am out capturing!

4 trips later, we're ready to make iced pumpkin bars!

So this picture really is worth a thousand words. Bree and I thought we were all ready to bake. We went to the store believing we had all the ingredients we would need. So.... we get home and come to find out we need 4 eggs. Bree looks for the eggs... no eggs. I go home and get eggs! We look for flour... no flour. I go home and get us flour. We look for oil... guess what? NO oil! We come to realize that Dan is the thief and he's been taking the cooking products with him to work! So... back to the store we go! Now we're really ready to bake!

Iced Pumpkin Bars: Dana Schultz recipe (Bree's mom)

4 eggs
1 2/3 C Sugar
1 can pumpkin - 15 ounces
1 C vegetable oil
2 C flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 C margarine (8 tablespoons/1 stick)
2 C powdered sugar
splash of vanilla (optional but we used it!)

Step 1: beat eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until fluffy

Step 2: add dry ingredients and beat until creamy.












Step 3: in an ungreased jelly roll pan, pour and spread evenly.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.








While your bars are cooling, beat cream cheese, margarine, powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy.

When bars are completely cool, frost!
Simply Delicious!