Wordless Wednesday--New Mexico Edition

I have gotten quite a few comments on my new header so I wanted to share several more I took on that same trip. My sister and I visited Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico Memorial Day Weekend in 2008. We had a wonderful time visiting family in Grants, white water rafting, shopping and eating to our heart's content! {Wish I would have taken pictures of all the great food I had there...I guess we'll just have to go back!}

All photos are mine, please ask if you would like to use and give proper credit:) Not like I'm some great photographer but just in case...

Sprinkles Cupcakes

It is well known that cupcakes are my thing and I take my job as a cupcake connoisseur very seriously :) So here I am to enlighten you with another wonderful place to visit and explore in the world of cupcakes. Sprinkles was first started in Beverly Hills and has since opened 9 other locations one being in Scottsdale right across from Fashion Square and next door to American Apparel. 

Here is an excerpt from their website about their tasty treats:

Sprinkles Cupcakes are handcrafted from the finest ingredients, including sweet cream butter, bittersweet Belgian chocolate, pure Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries and natural citrus zests. Topped with Sprinkles trademark modern dots, rich chocolate sprinkles from France or seasonal sugar decorations, Sprinkles Cupcakes are a deliciously sophisticated update on an American classic.

For my friend Mattie's bachelorette partay we were staying in Scottsdale at Hotel Valley Ho a chic little place that was hopping in the 50's and was refurbished and reopened in 2005 and I stopped by Sprinkles for some treats. I purchased a couple red velvets, a key lime {that was fabulous}, peanut butter, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and more...here are the goods.

my key lime was the one with the green dot...thank you Mattie Jo for being smarter than me to figure it out :)

I can vouch that their frosting is fabulous and the cupcakes are sweet, moist and just as delightful as the tops. Next time you're in the area I suggest you stop in to snatch one up and if you're feeling frisky go ahead and get a frosting shot...yes they have those too. No, I didn't have one...that day but I did on another visit prior to this...it's part of the JOB!

Miscellany Monday

{1} I meant to blog about 2 different meals last week and I didn't...my apologies

{2} I just realized this "miscellany monday" I am participating in...I need to link up on her blog...today I will do that

{3} I made brookies {again, I know, I'm addicted} this time, no toffee bits just the chocolate chips + andes mint chips...OMG life changing. I'm almost certain these will be my "signature" gift at Christmas time to give to friends and family...

{4} I got out the two things I own that are "4th of July-ish" and put them up...prior to my guests on Saturday

{5} Saturday was Lashapalooza...that's right my good friend is a certified Lash Out lady and her mama is too and they did me and 3 of my friends...check out their blog here

Sofia, Britney and I

{6} It's the 4th of July this weekend! Happy Birthday America! My favorite fireworks show is still bar-none in Washington, D.C. summer of 2006. AMAZING! This Friday night is my dear friend Mattie's big wedding day and I am so honored to stand by her side as here and Craig tie the knot...look for pictures of that next week:)

Wordless Wednesday

The text on it says, "One of our own. The murdered Arizona rancher you might have heard about? He has a name: Robert Krentz NRA Life Member 1951-2010"

May God bless his soul and may his tragic death not be in vain. 

Miscellany Monday

1. Oh man today starts a new day in the workout arena and I hope to drop some pounds:)

2. My sister and mama are in Maine right now touring around and I wish I was with them...

3. The best hubby is putting in a sprinkler system in our front yard, I can't believe how much trench he has dug already {in the late afternoon heat at that!}

4. Had a fabulous time at my friend Mattie's bachelorette partay this weekend...we stayed at Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, it was super fun and cute. Umm...there was a monster of a pool party going on when we got there...we had no clue that every Saturday was a HUGE pool partay...needless to say we did not get our own chairs to lay and tan on:( but we had fun nonetheless!

5. Going to be sharing a new cupcake place with you this week...Sprinkles :)

6. I bought p90X about 2 weeks ago and I am bound and determined to start it tonight...wish me luck or pray for me...

7. I hope the chiropractor gets the kink out of my neck this afternoon

8. I miss my Groseta kids...it's been way too long since I've seen J, D, G, or P...but they did send me the cutest and sweetest thank you cards last week that totally made me tear up

9. We got my dad and hubby's grandpa these awesome gas cans called "Tuff Jugs" they are supposed to empty out 5 gallons of gas in something like 50 seconds...crazy. I hope they enjoy them:)

10. This Saturday is Lashapalooza...that's right I have 5 girlfriends coming over to get lash extensions from my dear friend Shauna and her mama Mary. Check out their blog for more info on Bunkhouse Beauty!

AM's Stuffed Jalapeños

Recipe: A real party favorite in my house and my families are these delicious little appetizers. Have I mentioned my BIL {actually hubby's BIL} is a jalapeño farmer? Well he is and I love summertime because we get gifted with the best jalapeños around. A couple weeks ago I got one bag of hot and one bag of sweet and I will be honest, I didn't want to share with anyone. So, I didn't. That's right I kept probably a good 5 pounds of peppers to my self! And for good reason...once you have this recipe you won't want to share your free jalapeños either!


So that week when I found some free time {I pulled it out of thin air, because I really don't have free time--and frankly who invented the term "free time" obviously not the same character who coined "time is money"} and prepped the little guys for their final destination: stuffed jalapeños.


What you do is wash them, slice them {I like to leave the stems on for the look and it keeps the pepper in good shape to hold the filling} lengthwise and clean out the seeds and capsicum. {Fact: the capsicum is the "hot" part of the jalapeño it is what the seeds set on, so the seeds are not actually what make the pepper hot, they sit on the capsicum and the oils from that make the seeds hot} {capsicum= pronounced "cap-sy-sum"} Okay next up brown a package of sausage {for this patch I did two packages-1 hot and 1 regular} then mix cooked sausage with cream cheese and Parmesan cheese. Stuff into pepper and bake for 20 minutes or so. OR you can do like I did and make a big batch, freeze them on the baking sheets then put into Ziplocs after a couple hours and pull out a few at a time when you're having a get together.

The finished goods, do see the one I took?

AM's Stuffed Jalapeños
1 package of sausage (I use jimmy dean-sometimes hot sometimes regular)
1 package of cream cheese
1 6oz? Package of Parmesan cheese
10-20 jalapeñosor you may use any pepper you prefer
Brown sausage and combine with cheeses. Halve peppers and clean out seeds. Using a spoon stuff peppers as you wish. Cook on rimmed baking sheet for 15-20 minutes at 350F or until warmed through and bubbling. Remove and serve warm or at room temp. You can prepare before (just don't bake yet, freeze on baking sheet then transfer to ziplocs) then bake when you want them.

Wordless Wednesday-sort of

So in the last couple weeks I have gotten pretty slack when it comes to putting away my plastic containers. This morning I thought I would re-stack and organize...I was pretty much done but wanted to make sure everything had a lid. Yeah, lids were no problem. When all was said and done I had 9--yes NINE--lids leftover with no containers. WHERE IN THE WORLD DO NINE CONTAINERS GET LOST AT?!?!?!?!!?!? happy wednesday:)

Miscellany Monday

1. It's Flag Day. I need a flag, pronto.

2. I passed my CCW class on Saturday.

3. Played 2 games of cribbage yesterday with my Grandma and sister. Then we went on to play rummy and some other card games. She's flying back to MT today so I'm SO happy I got to hang out with her yesterday.

dad, sister, me, grandma, mom

4. The reason my Grandma was in AZ was her and my parents flew to CA to go to her sisters 60th wedding anniversary party. This year would have been 64 for my Grandma.

5. I hope hubby and I live to 60 years together.

6. I organized my freezers yesterday, it makes me happy every time I open them.

7. Hubby had to kill a snake on our doorstep last night.

8. A song came on my ipod this morning by Jakob Dylan {must have been a free download from starbucks} had to look him up. Apparently, he is Bob Dylan's son and the lead singer of the Wallflowers.

9. Tomorrow is supposed to be 107F in Y-town...looking forward to it, not.

10. Made Texas sheet cake on Saturday night.

Guest Post on A.Mountain.Bride

Hi folks...how special do I feel?! Jes at A.Mountain.Bride asked me to do a guest post about my wedding on her blog as she is off on her honeymoon/move across the country. So go check it out if you like over HERE!

Brookie Blind Taste Test

Recipe: Well folks the gauntlet has been dropped. We did the brookie {aka congo bars, but I'm officially calling them brookies now} blind taste test on Tuesday evening and even though I was sure my husband would not be able to tell the difference between a batch with milk chocolate chips and a batch with dark chocolate chips--HE DID! That little rascal, I couldn't believe it...but at the same time I could. See, last time I made them with dark chips and I thought they were the best things ever...and this time since I made both when I ate individually I still thought they were the best thing ever but once I ate them one right after another I had to side with my husband, you could taste a difference and the milk chips were the way to go. Well, lesson learned and a fun and "low fat" one at that:) I took the whole pan of the dark chips into work and made quite a few peoples day and had 2 requests for the recipe:)

Let me take you through the scene of the crime:

I used light brown sugar in the milk batch and dark brown in the dark batch--it's just what I had in the cupboard, no rhyme or reason.

This is the butter mixed with the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, chocolate and toffee chips mixed...

Then mixed in with the dry stuff {flour, baking powder, salt}

Getting ready to bake...

The gems once they are out of the oven. Here is the recipe one more time, thank you Bakerella for this!

Brookies

Preheat oven to 350, grease 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

2 ¾ cup all purpose flour

2 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 lb. light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 12 oz package of milk chocolate chips

1 package of Heath Toffee chips

{feel free to substitute the toffee chips with 1 cup nuts or add in addition to. Or substitute caramel, andes mints, really the possibilities are endless}

By Hand: Sift flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Set aside.

Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. Add eggs, one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and toffee chips. Mix well. Add to dry flour mixture and stir well until combined. Spread batter evenly into dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake! Enjoy! {You can mix in the mixer just like this and then stir in the chips but I enjoy the hand mixed better}

Wordless Wednesday

Way out in NM

As promised I wanted to let you in on our New Mexico visit over Memorial weekend. So background on this is my sister became blogging buddies {bb's} with Ranchgirl last year or maybe the year before. Then after I started mine I wanted to follow her's as well and so we thus became "bb's".  My sister and I were planning a trip to West Texas for a friends wedding and thought it would be fun to meet up with Jennifer on our way home since we were going through New Mexico...and *gasp* she agreed! So me and my sis bee-boppitied to Tejas saw a fabulous wedding visited Ty and Whitney and then headed to the Jones'.

First let me say how lovely Jennifer was as she welcomed these two strangers in her home. Second, I had no idea there were so many oilfields and pumpjacks in Eastern NM...

here is the Jones family

She fed us a great spread and actually as it turns out was featured on the Beef on a Budget Blog with the recipe she made for us. It was delicious beef enchiladas and then for dessert...or man for dessert she created this heavenly madness that I still need the recipe for...ahem JJ?! Can I get the recipe? :) I have a picture but it didn't turn out very well and wouldn't do it justice. As soon as I get the details on the sopapilla delight I will share pronto!

Tadpole wasn't too certain about us two:)

Thank you Jennifer for welcoming us into your home, feeding us, letting us crash there and just welcoming us as friends. It's not everyday you get to meet such great people who share the same values as you and I'm so thankful for this little blog world for bringing me this friend!

Miscellany Monday

I thought I would try this on for size...

1. I'm baking the "Congo Bar Challenge" this week. {Remember I'm doing a blind taste test between dark chocolate chips and milk chocolate} Get excited, my hubbs is going down...and my office people will lovingly hate me for bringing in these sinfully good treats.

2. I was the MOH in my bff's wedding on Friday and had an absolute ball!!

3. I'm almost embarrassed to tell you when the last time was I really went grocery shopping...a serious trip not just for one or two items. So I'm not telling you.

4. My grandma is down {at my parents, still 5 hours from me :( boo} for a visit from Montana I adore her.

5. I'm getting my concealed weapons permit this Saturday with my friend Lauren.

6. I must make these fun little cake pops at least once in my life. Especially the burgers:)

7. We are officially under a month away from my dear friends Mattie's wedding. I actually have a break from wedding extravaganza until then. Essentially her wedding will break my 3 week dry spell/fast of weddings :)

8. Tomorrow I will post about my new friend in NM that my sister and I stayed with Memorial weekend.

9. I am working on a serious craft project..."cake pan calendars" be expecting a very exciting post about that in the near future. I figure if I mention these "upcoming posts" it will help get me motivated to get my to do list done!

10. I have not won the lottery yet but will continue to try...oh yeah I'm keeping this random.

Worldess Wednesday--this says it all

Cafe J - Lubbock, TX

Dining Destination: My sister and I just shared a wonderful road tripping weekend and I have several things to post about but first I wanted to share with you a restaurant that provided a delicious brunch on Sunday. Cafe J in Lubbock, Texas--home to the Texas Tech Red Raiders and my friends Ty and Whitney. Back story, Ty and I went to UA together for a semester before he returned to Tejas and met his lovely wife Whitney whom I've gotten to know over blogging and facebook...after our first meeting we are already planning our next visit!

KT, Whitney and I {isn't her house adorable, she has a knack for decorating}

Okay back to Cafe J...we went there for Sunday brunch and my sis and Whitney both went with the mimosas {hi, how can you go wrong when it's only $2?!} Ty went with the bloody mary {made me wish I would have changed my iced tea order...again super reasonable at only $3} and I obviously went with iced tea. If I were to judge Cafe J on drinks alone they would have gotten 5 stars the tea was delightful and just what I wanted {after about 4-5 glasses I think the wait staff knew I liked it too :)}

Whitney went with the above Pacific Benedict {poached eggs on crab cakes and an English muffin, topped with hollandaise sauce, served with grilled asparagus}. Ty and and Katy and I ordered off the lunch menu he chose Eggplant Cabernet Pasta {Grilled eggplant with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and pesto on a bed of spinach fettuccine with house made cabernet sauce, served with garlic bread}.

Katy and I both chose the burger. Not just any burger mind you. While scanning the menu I overlooked it and then when I read the description I knew I had to have it, immediately. It was perfect. I don't believe I have ever had gouda on a burger but I was willing to try it and I most definitely did not regret it here is how they described it: Ground sirloin topped with smoked Gouda cheese, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onion and Cajun aioli on a jalapeño bun, served with garlic parsley fries...here is how I described it: heaven.

you had me at carmelized onion...but then sealed the deal with cajun aioli and jalapeno bun *sigh*

Now for dessert Whitney had her sights set on the creme brulee and at the beginning she told us that every time for about the last month when they have gone out she has asked for it and they have "just run out" so she was hoping that wouldn't be the case. However, after eating and chatting a bit she asked the waiter for it and he paused and then said, "Oooh we just served the last one." Ouch. We of course erupted in laughter and said, "No way, you have got be kidding us. Were you listening earlier?!" He was not and sadly they really did not have any more. She went with the Tiramisu instead and enjoyed it nonethless.

Next time you're in west Texas you should swing on in to Cafe J and make sure you pre-order your dessert:)