Month: August 2016

Frame Family Recipes/Home Decor

Do you have that recipe that is near and dear to your heart? How about that recipe that your grandma or your great grandma wrote and you don’t want to lose…

Well have I got an idea for you… At our house that recipe is my grandma’s corn casserole. Truth be told, this grandma passed away in 2007, but I lucked out and she wrote the recipe down in her handwriting. That recipe is so dear to my heart because of that.

Since then we’ve made sure to incorporate it into a lot of family meals, because well it’s a way to keep grandma’s spirit alive. But how about another really cool way to keep grandma’s spirit alive… Why not frame it?

So for my birthday I asked for a photo frame. Initially when I did, I figured a 5×7 or maybe a 4×6, but my mom got me an 8×10. Well the recipe paper wasn’t that large so I started thinking, what to do, what to do?? Then it hit me. Why not use my photoshop skills…

(more…)

Maria’s Mexican Grill and Cantina {Joplin, MO}

I’m sitting here in my nice air-conditioned house, under a ceiling fan that makes the room feel nice thinking about taking a nap. But this time last Friday, I was in the Hot. Hot. sun. Why you might ask? Well, Horses gotta eat! That’s right, I was out in the hayfield helping my dad and husband pick up 189 bales of hay. I have no idea why we didn’t get 190 or 200, but we got 189.

After we picked up the hay, we delivered 10 bales to some friends before diving into their pool. While the pool was a nice 90 degrees, so you didn’t cool off, it was still nice to hop in for a swim. I’ll bet in the same conditions our pool was maybe 84 max. Our pool is never warm!

Anyway, close to 9 pm, we realized it was getting late and we still hadn’t eaten yet so we dried off and headed to Maria’s Mexican Grill before rushing off to fight the crowds at Walmart. Fun Friday night, right? Hey, I don’t mind hauling hay!! and a dip in the pool and dinner was GREAT. It was the Walmart part I might have liked to have avoided.

(more…)

Copycat: Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole

If there is one thing that it seems like everyone likes at Cracker Barrel, it would be the hashbrown casserole. There is something about that hash brown casserole, the potatoes, the cheese, the onions, just all of it.

So the goal was to set out and recreate this. First off, onion. Now, Initially I was going to dice the onion up with my knife, but then I decided to get my food processor out and let it do the work for me. In hindsight, I might have stuck with the knife.

(more…)

Jalapeño Cheddar Hushpuppies

When we went to Louisiana, one of the restaurants we ate at was Warehouse No. 1. Why do I bring that up? Because their hushpuppies were AMAZING! Seriously, amazing! My goal was to recreate those. Sadly when I googled a recipe, I found out that a lot of restaurants use box mixes… Is that true. You know, there is a lot of fluff on the internet after all. Anyway, I came home talking about these so Mark and I went to creating our own version. Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but these are AMAZING as well!

(more…)

Food You Must Try in Monroe/West Monroe, Louisiana

Guys do I have a list of foods you MUST try if you ever find yourself in Monroe/West Monroe, Louisiana. Why do I term these two towns together? Well because there are 2 towns that are next door neighbors just separated by the Ouachita River.

So why do we care about these towns? Well of course if you’re Duck Dynasty Fans you’ll know that Duck Commander is located in West Monroe, Louisiana!

(more…)

Christmas in August (at least for Karen and me!)

What is this you might ask? Well let me tell you. Back in June during the Safari Hunt, I really didn’t have any plans of diving. What? Well, Tbug had a dive buddy (he’s a good one too! Thanks Doug!!) and truthfully, I didn’t want to get my hair wet. Strange as that sounds, it is the truth. Because if you didn’t know, Diving isn’t a dry sport. I didn’t have any plans of diving in the actual safari hunt, so I wasn’t all that interested in getting my hair wet. Now I must say, I’m GLAD I did! And here’s why…

Our SCUBAPRO rep was actually in this part of the country that weekend and told Deb and Grady he’d just come down to the lake. Earlier in the spring Deb showed me a flier for the new Hydros BC and tried to tease/taunt me with it, especially because it comes in purple, my favorite color. I didn’t really care so much… I had a nice BC that worked so whatever. I was content.

(more…)

Olive Garden {Joplin, MO}

Oh goodness I can’t even begin to tell you how crazy last week was. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a day that I was on the go… Maybe Monday. I can’t remember doing much on Monday. But Tuesday and Thursday I went to help with Try It SCUBA diving sessions during the day, Wednesday was 5 Mile Children’s Camp Try it SCUBA, Friday I was in the hayfield helping load 189 bales (why not 190 I’ll never know), and over the weekend I was at my parents house working on finishing out their basement.

If that’s not enough to make your head spin, I’m not sure what is! Oh, and then my poor momma, she broke her arm on Friday and doesn’t have a drs appointment until this week so she’s miserable! I’m talking miserable. I feel so bad for her.

So that was my life, how are you?

(more…)

El Charro Mexican Restaurant {Carthage, MO}

Last Friday night we picked up my step-daughter and then headed to my parent’s house for her to work with her horse. From there we all went to dinner at El Charro Mexican Restaurant. There are multiple Mexican restaurants in town but this has to be one of my favorites.

Friday night I went with the Number 2 combination meal. Does that tell you anything… NOPE. Okay, so it’s an enchilada, a taco, and a chile relleno. I had my enchilada made as a cheese enchilada with cheese sauce because, why not? By the way, VERY Good! Being the night before my birthday, my parents wanted to tell them because here they put a big sombrero on your head and you wind up with whipped cream on your face. I missed out on that experience though.

(more…)

Outback Steakhouse {Joplin, MO}

If there’s one thing I can tell you about myself, I was born on my grandma’s 51st birthday. Yup, she got to spend that birthday in the hospital waiting on me to come… Fun, right? Well it has been fun and one of the great things is we get to celebrate our birthday’s together.

This year I called her up and asked her if she had plans, my grandma is a busy lady! She told me no, she was waiting on my phone call because everyone knows we go to dinner together for our birthdays. We debated where we were going to go, and I mentioned that my mom is kicking butt losing weight so we chose a restaurant where mom could eat easily… Outback Steakhouse.

This year I went for the Chopped steak medium rare with a truffle oil sauce and mushrooms. For my sides I had a salad with Ranch and Steak House Mac & Cheese.

(more…)