Salad in a Box

Recipe: Okay folks here's an easy one for you. My mother in law does this and now I swear by it. Pre make all your salad and keep in a tupperware in the fridge and just grab and go as you please. We like hearts of romaine for the lettuce, I think you get all the good stuff and none of the extra ugly leaves. At costco or sam's they come 5-6 in a bag and at Wally World I buy 2 bags of 3. I cut off the ends, wash them up, chop up, dry in salad spinner and place in plastic container. Those are my fixings above. Green onions, purple cabbage {I go easy on this because my hubby thinks it tastes like dirt}, carrots and cukes. Generally I like the mini english cucumbers I find at Sam's or Costco but they are hard to come by right now so I'm using the regular ones. This is what you end up with below--not the prettiest of pictures but you get the idea. I can grab some to pack for lunch or make a quick salad for dinner. The secret to that is topping with avocado a few grape tomatoes and tossing with EVOO and apple cider vinegar, kosher salt and pepper.

I heart XMAS decorations

Something I Love: This is mainly a picture post because I love having my own home and being able to spread the cheer all around. Some of my favorite things...

First obviously a real Christmas tree--sorry not a very good picture but I chose multi colored lights, red and silver balls and a variety of other ornaments I have collected over the years. {My mama has always been very good at giving us them in our stockings at xmas}

Next here is an idea I stole from Petie and I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Using scrabble board letters to celebrate the holiday. I have "Merry Christmas", "Happy New Year" and "Silent Night" {my hubby's idea} and I tried out a couple others like "Ho, Ho, Ho" and "Fa La La La La" "O Come Emmanuel". I just love them! And they're good for every holiday or event...Happy Easter, Happy Birthday, etc.

Okay let's talk about candles, please notice the little red candy cane delights on the left. The candle holder itself was a gift from my friend Kodi when she lived in North Dakota. It is a popular Danish style and use of metal. I just love the little round guys...so much that I got their cousin candles for another spot in my house. See them below? Pretty darn cute I think. One of my most favorite things is my Jim Shore nativity scene {thank you Carmella for this 08 xmas gift} I also have the mini set from my mama of course...she sells Jim Shore in her Quilt Store. Also, in the below picture is a DeGrazia painting that is signed and titled to my grandparents. I hang it year round but for Christmas especially I moved it front and center because it looks like little angels lighting the top of a tree {which is really a Yucca plant}.

Finally a favorite of mine this year is these cute as a button drink coasters that are little snowflakes. And this book "Christmas A to Z" it has all kinds of wonderful facts and bits of history and meaning behind traditions.

Wait...I have one final thing. Leftover ornaments...I placed a bunch in this basket and a few in these stacking boxes. I love them it brings a little more cheer around. Good luck decorating your home, Merry Christmas may you be blessed with family and friends and the spirit of Jesus as we celebrate His birth.

River City Grille

Dining Destination: Friday night was a super fun date night for me and my hubby. We ate at River City Grill in Yuma and then attended the Nutcracker. With a glass of pinot noir we started on soft, delicious and warm bread with our own individual cup of oil and balsamic vinegar.

The menu was pretty expansive and I was having an indecisive evening {bad luck for my hubby} so I ended up going with the waitress' suggestion of Mustard Crusted Halibut with a spinach ravioli. Man was I impressed! It was phenomenal, I was hesitant wondering what a mustard crust would taste like, one word: heaven. It wasn't too mustard-y just perfection. The sauce, veggies and raviolis were also divine and please notice the little topping of some olive tapenade--my hubby also LOVED it.

He had the Wasabi Ahi, which he liked but didn't love. I didn't try it because I don't really get along with wasabi, it scares me. {Even though I'm willing to use jalapenos and habenero...weird I know} However I did try the little bit of rice on the side of the plate and it was delicious. All in all we really enjoyed ourselves on the patio all by our self with our own little heater.

La Fonda

Dining Destination: La Fonda Restaurant & Tortilla Factory is located at 1095 S. 3rd Avenue in Yuma and has by far the most amazing tortilla soup known to man. Yesterday had a high of 60 degrees which was perfect soup weather--and let me tell you I have been craving their soup for almost a month now.

You can get the soup on the side with a meal or just get a bowl and have as your meal which is what me and my friend Erin did. They top it with the perfect amount of avocado {or you could have them hold it as Erin did}, tortilla strips and the soup itself is full of flavor and has the perfect amount of spice to it--lest you forget you're eating mexican food.

I have to give a shout out to their sonoran rolled tacos which my hubby and Holly absolutely LOVE. I can't remember if I've eaten them there yet but I have had them at another place, anyway they are a flour tortilla instead of corn rolled with your choice of filling for me and my peeps its presumably beef and then they are deep fried--what can't be good about that. It's sort of like a flauta to me but I feel like those vary from place to place as far as corn or flour tortillas. Also, another side note they have a private room which is great for meetings or group lunches.

Turkey Day Recap

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I don't know what's happened to me lately...maybe its the shorter days or just the holiday season that has kept me away. No more excuses here is a recap of our Thanksgiving: Mi familia came down from Cottonwood to celebrate with us since my hubby worked that day. 7 adults and 4 children total so I got my party pants and hosting apron on and we had a great time. Mi madre brought the rolls and my beloved cranberry sauce {more on this love later}, mi hermana's brought mini pumpkin spice muffins, pumpkin and pecan pies that were sinfully good. We baked an 18 pound bird and fried a 12 pounder it was a rocking good time and here are the juicy details...

Here are the sweet potatoes {uncooked then cooked-I just love

the looks}, yeah that's right NOT yams :) Remember that discussion.

They were delicious however a tad sweet for me and some others. I really like for all feast food to get along and be along the same lines--the one exception is with my favorite cranberry sauce. You know I like for my stuffing, potatoes, gravy, turkey and green beans to co-mingle. And they do and get along fine--however the sweet potatoes almost were too dessert for me {and yes I made them so I can trash talk:)} Nonetheless, I loved them...just more separately. The recipe I used is here on allrecipes.com I like that I can change the number of servings and the recipe updates itself. As you can see here I made enough for about 27 people needless to say we had quite a few leftover since we only had 11 {4 being children who never eat as much as you guesstimate--especially when you have snacks like we did}.

Another joy of turkey day was baptizing my china that was so many generous people's wedding gift to us. I absolutely love the sleek clean design. I also got to use my favorite sterling silver napkin rings and another set of silverware that we received. Thanks to my mama I had a beautiful tablecloth to showcase it all on.

Here is the whole spread with me and my hubby...please disregard my frazzled look. Seriously, please don't judge...I've gained what people tell me are "happy pounds." Like 20 happy pounds since our wedding day...ugh another post will be forthcoming explaining the new weight loss competition I've joined.

In addition to this spread we snacked on our traditional large black olives--I must add my brother is capable of eating about 2 cans of these on his own. Crackers to dip in my MIL's homemade jalapeño jelly over cream cheese {one of our favorites}, another tasty dip that I can't even recall right now and finally the best snack of all: RMO's--Rocky Mountain Oysters. Yes, that's right calf fries--if you still don't know what I'm talking about google it:) If you don't know or remember my family and inlaws both ranch and my hubby works at an extraordinarily large cattle feeding operation {130,000+} so we have relatively good access to getting some. Especially since the feedlot just competed in the 1st annual Testicle Festival in Yuma, they came in 3rd out of 5 but next year we are coming out bigger and better. Okay back to the rmo's I clean them up getting the outer membrane off and any other veins and dredge through a milk/egg mix dip in crunched up saltines + extra salt and pan fry them up. Seriously divine and my family LOVES them. I will check my sista's camera and see if I have any pictures of the madness!

Happy December!

Oh my it's been a busy whirlwind week or so! I hosted Turkey Day last week with my family so I have pictures coming tonight!! And in honor of my mother the quilter I chose this new blog layout from Shabby Blogs they have some of the cutest stuff on there. I'm so excited for the Christmas season I've been busy putting up decorations so I will definitely have a few "something I love" posts coming asap. I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed with family, friends and love. I feel like I haven't posted in a long time so I just wanted to throw this out there to let you know I'm still breathing after last Thursday...even though I gobbled till I wobbled!