Canning adventures: Homemade jelly and salsa!

Jul 31, 2012

With a few upcoming parties and showers (and with mom having the summer off) we decided to get busy while we had some semi-spare time.
We wanted to do something very thoughtful for hostess gifts, and settled upon the idea of canning homemade peach jelly (using Ruston peaches, of course) and my mom's homemade salsa (remember?)
The canning process wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but mom, Ellie, and I definitely had fun doing it.
I know I wouldn't be able to give adequate step by directions, but I took plenty of pictures during the process and they are very blog worthy.




Strained peach juice.
(I missed this step of the process, so if you want a tutorial then google would be your best bet)

Hot jars


Sealed lids.


Can't forget the salsa!


We also made little tags for the gift bags as well.


Ta-da! 
Our hosts and hostesses sure are some luckyyyyyy people!

Weekend update

Jul 30, 2012

This weekend in Dallas was a rare weekend where we weren't playing host and hostess to any guests so we spent most of the weekend doing very important things.
Like eating and swimming and eating some more.

We had good intentions of eating at Good 2 Go Taco Friday night, until we made the 45 minute drive and realized they close at 3pm.
So we decided to test out the neighbor restaurant Goodfriend.
Great decision. 

 I discovered a beer cocktail.
Franconia wheat (remember the local brewery we toured?) with gin and grapefuit juice.
Brilliant.
The perfect summer beverage.

. . . followed by a late night Whole Foods run.

We spent most of Saturday searching Dallas for a house.
Which ultimately led to this:

Sunday we decided to try again.
Which led to arguments and frustration and stress.
(Mostly due to the wide variety of options and locations in Dallas, and the fact that I don't have a clue where in this massive city I will be working, oh and money)
The argument was quickly resolved when we discussed that in the grand scheme of things, money doesn't matter at all, we will be provided for, and we truly don't require much to be happy and content.
(Remember this text?)

. . . then we took Charlie to play in White Rock Lake.

Side note: This little article was in the paper this weekend.

. . . speaking of the wedding, I snapped this while we met with our florist last week because I'm absolutely in love with these flowers.
Too bad I opted out of the whole yellow and grey color palette. 

Recipe: Cheesy chicken enchiladas

Jul 27, 2012

This recipe defined my existence in college.
Unfortunately, I can't take credit for creating it, but I do believe I made it weekly.
It fed an army (which is usually who I was feeding, because Josh always had 3 hungry roommates, as did I)
A family friend, Lynn Ritchie, had this recipe published in our high school cookbook and I feel like it deserves to make it to the blog world.
It's very worthy.

 Start by sautéing 1 tbsp butter with 1 chopped onion for 5 minutes.
Next add one 4.5 oz can of chopped green chiles (drained) and sauté for one minute.
Stir in 1 package of 8 oz cream cheese until it has melted.

Cook 3 1/2 cups of chicken and then cut up chicken into small bites.
(we don't usually measure 3.5 cups, we just kinda guess and it's never failed us, it just ends up making more or less)

Then blend the chicken into the sauté mixture.

Evenly scoop it into individual tortillas (I would buy the bag of 20 tortillas, because you can make around 12-15 enchiladas depending on how big your scoops are) 

Roll each one up and lay them face down (so that they don't come unrolled in the pan)

Once they are all filled and rolled, then cover the pan with shredded monterey jack cheese (2 8oz packages)
(Does anyone else find it ridiculously hard to buy pre-shredded monterey jack cheese? Our Wal-Mart must be against it, because they have never carried it)
Anyways, after that then evenly pour 2 cups of whipping cream over the enchiladas.

Bake at 350 degrees for around 45 minutes (but I like to keep them in a bit longer so they get toasty on the outside!)


. . . and voila, you have the best darn cheesy enchiladas in America.

. . . while you are drooling over this, I am heading to Dallas to spend the weekend with the dudes.

Our mission: 
Find a house/apartment/townhouse/shack/cardboard box that we can call home.

2012 is a big year

Jul 24, 2012

It's hard to believe that in the next few months I will become a Physician Assistant, a wife, and a Texas resident.


Graduation is 18 days away.
Panic attack.
I need to go read Who Moved My Cheese.
Stat.


P.S. Our lovely school didn't send us the ordering information in time so we had the privilege of printing the invitations ourselves.
Thank goodness my mother is uuuuuuber talented, she whipped these bad boys up with the help of some $2.50 textured cards from Hobby Lobby

Our Engagement Party!

Jul 23, 2012

Following a fun-filled day of hardcore registering on Saturday . . . 

We came home to celebrate our engagement with plenty of our family and closest friends.






The party took place at the home of two of my favorite people in the world, Mrs. Laura and Mr. Gary.

. . . and we had my favorite thing of all time: jambalaya and bread pudding!

The guest book turned out wonderfully, thank goodness.



So glad that so many of our friends were able to come!

The best little maid of honor in all the land 

Two of my gorgeous bridesmaids and former roommates 

. . . and more bridesmaids!

My family

Josh's dad and step-mom

Some of the wonderful hostesses!

Josh and mamaw, the celebrity of the party!

Josh's high school best friends


Josh's mom and dad

We absolutely loved our gift from the hostesses!

We were spoiled all night with sweet words and love from all of our family and friends.
It's so comforting knowing we have so much support from everyone close to us! 
Let's hope this is our one and only marriage (which I am praying for daily), because my cousin Allison was right, my cheeks were very sore following the party from all the smiling, laughing, and chatting.
It was just good practice for the wedding, I suppose!

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