Carmelized Brussel Sprouts

We made these last night along with Crock Pot Ribs.

Ingredients:

12-14 large brussels sprouts

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch sea salt

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

Directions:

Slice each brussels sprout very thin until you have a mound of feathery brussels sprout ribbons. Heat the olive oil over medium high in a large skillet and saute the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the brussels sprouts and continue sauteing for another 4-5 minutes, until bright green and tender. Add the sea salt and brown sugar and toss together. Finish by adding the toasted nuts.

Time:

20 minutes

Recipe from Eat, Live, Run.

Handmade Ornaments

CB2 sells these Recycled Flowerball Ornaments for $3.95 ea.

photo: CB2

OR, you can make your own with this tutorial from How About Orange.  You can download templates for 3 sizes: 10", 5", and 3"

photo: How About Orange

I plan on making some soon.

Happy Thanksgiving from your Favorite Turkeys

Crock Pot Applesauce

Peel and chop a 1/2 peck of organic apples into the crock pot and throw in some cinnamon sticks and brown sugar.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  You can find the original recipe here.

Brussel Sprouts

Who knew!?  Never really thought about how these things grew before.  Kinda cool.  Going to roast 'em!

Whirlwind

We have been BUSY and are now feeling a little ragged.

It all started the week before Halloween. We had our first visitors coming to stay at the house and we needed to get the place in shape. It was a great weekend of friends and fun. We recapped the whole thing here.

Halloween came. I took our house guest, Will to the airport. Later that morning, Chris flew to Minden, NV for a 9 day business trip. I actually kind of talked him into it - this was the first vacation we went on together back in February, 2007 when Emily lived there. I planned on joining him for a get away over the coming weekend. So, Chris put his name in the hat.

I spent Halloween night at the house alone...with no candy, and a neighborhood full or trick or treaters!! I watched TV in the dark, and also made a phone call to mom to wish her a happy birthday. The door bell only rang once and I did not answer. We will have candy next year.

The next night (Nov 1) was our second snow of the season, just in time for my early Wednesday morning flight to Dallas for 2 days. I had to put on my snow boots and jacket to clean off the car (garage is not car ready yet) and then went back into the house to put on my pumps to get on the road!

Thursday, November 3 was Chris's birthday. I flew into Reno that night to meet him. I got in after 9pm and we had a late birthday dinner in Reno, complete with a pizookie before heading 30 minutes South to Minden.

We both worked on Friday and then headed to dinner with GE people who were in town for the same event. We stopped at a couple bars including JT Basque Bar where Erica stuck a dollar bill to the ceiling in customary fashion. We finished the night at Buckaroos. They had a live band and the lead singer had no front teeth. They were pretty good. We got home in the wee hours of the morning.

Saturday, November 5th. We wake up bright and early for breakfast at the hotel and a trip into Amador County wine country with 2 of Chris's work friends. Not feeling the greatest and trying to drink wine is not easy! We did recapture a picture that was taken on our first trip, here in the parking lot of one of our favorite wineries. We were in bed early this night.

We slept in on Sunday, had breakfast, and then drove to South Lake Tahoe for a little shopping and sight seeing. We picked up dinner at Trader Joes and ate in.

The morning of the 6th, Chris drove me to the airport and I returned to reality, for a couple days at least.

Wednesday night, the 9th, I flew to Kansas City for our good friend Christina's 40th birthday celebration. Chris flew home to Denver on Thursday morning and 4 hours later, also flew to Kansas City.

Friday 11/11/11 was Christina's 40th birthday party. The girls met up for mani-pedi's and mimosas. The boys joined us for lunch. We napped and got ready for the party. Close to 100 people were in attendance. The rest of the weekend was shenanigans with the KC gang.

We flew home Sunday night. We have a lot of laundry to do.

Emerald Bay - Lake Tahoe

We drove to South Lake today for a little shopping and sight seeing.

Vino Noceto's Doggie Diner Head

You can read all about it here.

Spinach Egg Bake

I had to call mom to get this recipe.  I made this on Saturday morning and it seemed to be a hit with the boys.

Ingredients

• 4 bunches green onions, finely chopped or 1/2 of a large onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 pound fresh spinach, trimmed (I use 1 small box frozen, thawed and drained really dry)
  You can also make with broccoli instead of the spinach
• 6 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream or 1 cup half & half cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (sometimes I add some shredded Swiss if I have it)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• In a large skillet, saute onions in butter for 2 minutes or until tender. Add spinach and parsley; saute 3 minutes longer or until heated through. Remove from the heat and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream and salt until smooth. Stir in the spinach mixture and cheddar cheese. Pour into a greased 11x13 pan.
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean