Sunday Night Dinner

Well, the first two weeks of college football are behind us! I am proud to say that our Texas Tech Red Raiders are 2-0! Our first tailgate was last weekend which was lots of fun. Pretty low-key.

A cool front moved in this weekend, and the high yesterday was only 78. Beautiful! That made me think about how much I love fall/winter food. Now, I do love grilling in the summer. There is just something about smoky/nutty fall flavors that I find delicious.

This is a recipe my mom made originally. I've tweaked it just a smidge to work with crock pots nowadays. I've found the instructions in the recipe don't accommodate the advances in crock pot technology. This is a true "slow cooker" recipe. Not a fix it and forget it. You have to do some stove-top cooking prior to putting it in the crock pot.

But...it is totally worth it! The stuffing turns into a nutty, crunchy, and spicy masterpiece. I could eat just the stuffing for a whole meal. No joke.

This was a perfect opportunity to use some of our jalapenos from our container garden. Look at this beautiful pepper!

Pork Chops with Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing
(Adapted from 365 Favorite Brand Name Slow Cooker Recipes & More)

6 boneless pork chops
4-6 c. cornbread stuffing (packaged)
2 c. chicken broth (+extra as needed)
3/4 c. onion - chopped
3/4 c. celery - chopped
1/2 c. pecans - chopped
1 jalapeno - chopped (more or less to taste)
thyme
sage
salt/pepper
1 egg - lightly beaten

1) Sear pork chops in large pan just until sides are browned. Set aside. They will be raw in the middle. No eating!
2) Saute onions, celery, pecans, jalapeno, and spices until soft.
3) Combine stuffing, veggie mix, and chicken broth in pan and stir until combined. Don't over-mix as this will make mushy stuffing. Add the egg and combine.
4) Spray slow-cooker with non-stick spray (or olive oil spray). Put stuffing in bottom of slow cooker and arrange the pork chops atop the stuffing. Cook on low 5 hours, stirring stuffing after 3 hours. You want the edges to get some crispy parts, but you want this to be throughout so stirring once will ensure even cooking.

Getting Ready for Fall Football!

I think this poster on Pinterest pretty much sums up the football season. Of course, I love my husband more than anything. College football Saturdays are pretty fun, though. Love seeing lots of people and enjoying food, fellowship, and football.

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In preparation for football season I put together this awesome wreath!

To make this wreath, I used the tutorial for a red burlap wreath found here. The only modification was that I didn't cut the ends of my squares and instead used a technique for folding more like the book page wreath tutorials out there. I also left some of the stray "hairs" from the burlap on. I like the rugged look.

For the letters, I painted the edges white and the tops got a coat of black and a coat of glitter black paint. For those of you who watch Texas Tech football, you know the famous helmets - I call them "black sparkle helmets." These letters are "black sparkle helmet" inspired.

Perhaps I'll make another similar one soon and take some better pictures as I go. For now, Enjoy these few pictures with my awesome camera!

Halloween Cake Pops

Whew! It has been a crazy couple of weeks.

Quick catch-up before the cake pops...

The Mortons (+ a few others) came to visit for the Texas A&M v. Texas Tech game. We had a house full of Aggies (I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere). The tailgating was great! More on the recipes from that later.

My sweet husband and me.

 My two Aggie sisters!

Travis's Grandfather passed away the following week somewhat unexpectedly. He was well-loved. We went home to be with family and were able to help out some. It was great to be able to share all our memories.

The next weekend brought a Texas Rangers loss and a huge Red Raider win. One week later we had an opposite experience (which was quite painful!). Travis's parents came to visit, and we had a great time tailgating!

On to the cake pops!!

I love chocolate. Not sure if I've expressed that enough. I also love brownies. I eat too many. Solution? Brownie cake pops! 

I used my Babycakes Cake Pop Maker. There's a bunch of recipes online, and much debate about boxed recipes. I threw caution to the wind (when my family was visiting) and gave these little guys a try. Result? Delicious!

Step 1: Mix
Mix up your boxed brownie mix. I used the recipe for thicker/cake-like brownies.

Step 2: Babycakes!
Preheat your Babycakes Cake Pop Maker.

Step 3: Zip Trick!
Load up your brownie mix into a big old Ziploc bag (I used 1 gallon). Cut the tip like the picture below.

Step 4: Fill 'er Up!
Fill up the wells of the maker. The instructions says to not overfill the wells and to use 1 tablespoon (if my memory serves me right). You know what? Forget it! Fill up each well to the top. You'll have some spillage, but it results in a perfect spherical cake ball each and every time.

Step 5: Cook! 
After some experimenting, we found that 6 minutes is just about perfect. If you overfill the wells, add an extra minute or so before taking the brownie balls out.

Step 6: Stick It
Insert your sticks in the brownie balls and let them cool (I stick them in the fridge for a few minutes here).

Step 7: Dip*n*Decor
Dip in chocolate and decorate as you'd like! I fixed these up to take to work on Halloween. Yum!

Hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Football Food: Tailgating Food

During football season there are two kinds of foods: Tailgating Food  and  Football Watchin' Food. Everything that is consumed on Saturday and Sunday falls into one of those categories.

Today, we're talking about the first one: Tailgating Food.

Every tailgating food has to be portable. This can be accomplished one of two ways: pack and carry  or  make on the tailgate. I prefer a combination of both. Below are some of my favorite tailgating recipes resulting in our go-to tailgating menu.


Course 1: Appetizers
It's always nice to have a bit of variety for tailgate guests. I tend to make a fruity/veggie healthy option and a cheesey not-so-healthy option.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip
This tends to be my go-to cheese not-so-healthy dip. People love it, it makes a lot, and I have the perfect bake-and-take carrier which makes it easy. I serve this dip straight out of the pyrex casserole dish hot with tortilla chips or crackers.

Fruit Dip & Fruit Tray
I love a good fruit dip! Many are easily make-aheadable. Store them in tupperware in the coolers for tailgating to keep them chill.

Chips and Salsa
Easy. Easy. Easy. And yummy! A variety of chips + some awesome local salsa = party hit. Just make sure you have a bowl for the salsa.


Course 2: Main Dish
Burgers
A tailgating staple. Class it up some by adding A1 or your favorite steak sauce after you flip the burgers to add some extra flavor. Have a couple of varieties of cheese (cheddar, american, pepper jack) and a few toppings (pre-cut lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and condiments).

Hot Dogs
Second tailgating staple. Go with the classic all-beef franks. Toast buns and add some basic condiments like mustard and ketchup for a yummy meal!


Course 3: Desserts
Cookies
See my post about freezable cookie dough here. Pre-bake some cookies and throw 'em in a tupperware. Easy as pie (except it's cookies).

S'Mores
Marshmallow + Chocolate + Cookie. What could be more simple? Everyone loves this finger food throwback. Plus, there's no fancy serving necessary. All you need are bags of ingredients and a coathanger or two!