Tortilla Breakfast Casserole

The last recipe I'm sharing with you from our Galveston vacay is this DE-LISH tortilla breakfast casserole. You may recall from past posts like this one that I have a deep love for Mexican food. It's real, ya'll. 

So when I come across meals that are breakfast + Mexican....It's a no brainer. I doubled this tortilla breakfast casserole recipe from Macheesmo. The casserole turned out great and I even drizzled some leftover avocado cilantro sauce from our dinner the night before. 

When you get a chance, you should really check out Macheesmo's site. He offers some really fun recipes and some awesome meal plans. I will definitely be trying out other recipes and report back!  

Fish Tacos with Avocado Cilantro Sauce

While in Galveston, we all chose different nights to cook dinner. We usually make really fun recipes, like my SIL making this Peach-Whiskey BBQ Chicken, which was amazing! 

Of course Jake and I were no different. I have a terrible habit of trying new recipes on occasions like this. So we were crossing our fingers that everything turned out well, and it did! Here's what we made: 

Fish Tacos with an Avocado Cilantro Sauce. These tacos were amazing! Besides sno cones, fish tacos are my #1 favorite summer (or any season) food. We even used fish that Jake had caught during the trip. And the sauce. Let me tell you how much I LOVED the sauce! We used it to dip tortilla chips while snacking and for the meal and it was gone in no time. It's a good one to keep on hand when having guests over.

Grilled Cilantro Lime Sweet Potatoes. Sweet potatoes are my jam...but not Jake's. So it's pretty rare that I get them. I've never really had sweet potatoes as a savory side dish, so when I saw this version, I knew I had to try it. The natural sweet of the sweet potato paired with the cilantro, lime and salt was a great combination. It still didn't convert Jake, but I'm a fan!

Grilled Zucchini with Lemon Zest. This Zucchini recipe is from Pioneer Woman. I knew that I could trust it (she has yet to steer my wrong) and it of course was delicious. We've grilled zucchini before, but the added lemon flavor was a nice addition. 

As good as our trip and this food was, I am 100% ready for Fall! 16 days til OU Football! 

Brown Butter & Vodka Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats have always been one of my favorite snacks. When I saw Chris Castro's fancy adult version, I couldn't wait to give it a go!

INGREDIENTS: 

• 3 TBSP of butter
• 1 pkg/10 oz of marshmallows 
• 6 cups rice krispies cereal
• 1 oz Iced Tea Vodka (Castro's version used bourbon, but I used what I had, and what I had was Iced Tea vodka!) 
• 1 TSP vanilla extract
• Sea Salt 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. In a large saucepan brown the butter over low heat, making sure not to let it burn. Mix in the marshmallows until well coated with butter.
2. Place the marshmallows on a lined cookie sheet and broil until they are golden brown. Pour back into the saucepan and stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour in the vanilla and alcohol of your choice and stir until combined.
3. Add in rice krispies and stir until well coated.
4. Dump the mixture onto a lined baking sheet and press into form. Sprinkle with sea salt and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into squares. 

The One About Zoe

Warning: This is a pretty somber post. About death, and my feelings towards it. I know this isn't the norm for my blog, but I felt the need to put my thoughts out there.

A year ago today we lost my first true love and best friend. My niece-dog Zoe. For those who follow along, she has been very much apart of my life, including my little online corner. She was the namesake of my creative business. My "flower bully", and the tune to my families' song. Seriously, we have a "Zoe" song.

Quite honestly, I have never lost anyone I am close to. Never. I am ever apparent of how lucky I am. But because of this, some of my thoughts might be: welp, my time is coming. The next phone call I receive will bare bad news, I just KNOW it (because really, who calls anymore?). Or why has God spared me (and my family)? Does this mean that it will all hit at once in a few years?

I know that as a believer, these are common, but answered questions. I shouldn't live in the shadow of a dog's death, nor in the shadow of the promise of death and heartache to come. I just know that I will be comforted. That my darkness will become light. Glory will be revealed. He is my deliverer, my shield, my salvation and my stronghold.

A blogger I follow (Jones Design Co) posted this the other day, and it really hit home:

I seriously can't believe it's been a year without that chunk. She was so funny and had such a personality. Dogs are just the best. Here are some of my favorite pictures of my little Zoe-baby. How lucky am I that I have professional pictures of this beautiful dog on my wedding day? Seriously, these are some of my most treasured pictures.

Tea Party Baby Shower

Guys, this is hands down the cutest baby shower I have ever been a part of. Our friend Megan and her baby Abby were well celebrated in a tea party themed shower. Along with myself and our friend Ashley, Megan's mom and sister were the hostesses. This family knows how to throw a party. Megan's sister Katie was super organized which is always helpful when trying to plan these things. Katie and their mom pulled out all of the stops to make Megan's special day beautiful! The shower was at Megan's house, and man are we lucky that she has a fantastically decorated home! You'll see what I mean when you see her KILLER plate wall in her dining room! It was a beautiful day and I'll let the pictures tell you the rest.

All of the wonderful people who came to celebrate!

The momma-to-be and the hostesses!

Green Light: Skillshare!

So, some of you may have noticed that I am a huge fan of creative education. Seriously, it's one of my all time favorite things to do on my days off. It's what recharges my batteries. Whether it is just a tutorial on a blog, taking an online class or attending an amazingly crafted workshop on an afternoon in a local shop. I LOVE IT ALL!

A few classes I've blogged about are:
Calligraphy, Floral Arranging & Watercolors, and Illustrator.

Well, I've stumbled across a website that is just dreamy. Skillshare is a site that brings a whole bunch of teachers straight to you. You get one free month, then it's $8/month for a year. Even if you watched one video a month, it would be well worth your time and money. A few classes that are on my radar are: Chalkboard Lettering, Illustrating Flowers and Photography for Bloggers.

I also like that anyone can submit projects to teach. If you're pretty passionate about a skill, you can share it and make some extra cash. There are a lot more design classes offered than anything else, but hopefully there will be some more in the other genres soon, like sugar cookie decorating or screen printing t-shirts or letterpress.

If any of you are withholding some awesome sites similar to this, I'm not mad. BUT I will need you to tell me about them, STAT. STAT means now! (Gah, I miss Dwight!)

Do you Podcast?

New obsession. Podcasts. I can't get enough of them. I slowly crept on while listening to Serial in January and have quickly spiraled to binging. It helps that I have added an hour commute two times a week since I've started school. Here are my top faves....you're welcome.

The Popcast.  Knox & Jamie are HI-Larious. They'll keep you apprised of any pop culture that you need to know without you having to hide your US Weekly behind some other pretentious magazine like People. Knox's silent laugh gets me every time and Jamie knows how to judge an actor...whether they are hot or not, duh. Also, they love Jesus.

Sorta Awesome. I listen to sorta awesome for two reasons. 1 - My blog crush The Hollywood Housewife, is a co host. 2 - Megan is from OKC and I LOVE all local things. Like, I get SUPER excited. I don't catch all of the episodes with the other co hosts, so I can't vouch for them, but Laura's Hollywood life (she is an Oklahoma native, and OU Alum) is obsessive. She is my go to for book suggestions. I could seriously go on and on, but I'll save you and just suggest you follow her blog.

The Lively Show. Jess interviews a new person each episode and each one is so different. Budgeting, cancer, Girl Bossing, business, beauty, and blogging are among some of the topics. 

TV Shows. Just like I love listening to The Talking Dead, The Walking Dead's Podcast, you can listen to a podcast on L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y any television show ever. So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, Amazing Race, Survivor, Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, and you get the point. Obviously this would be a bit of a time suck to listen to a podcast about every TV show you watch; but it is fun to pick a favorite for each season just to get a bit more thought out of it. 

Speaking of The Talking Dead, Chris Hardwick's The Nerdist is also great. He is a fun celeb interviewer.

I would love some suggestions if you have them! And I can't wait until season 2 of Serial comes out! 

Strawberry Peach Danish

Over the weekend I made my first summery dessert this year. Peaches. Strawberries. Check and check! 

I meshed this Rustic Strawberry Peach Tart and this Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Danish to make one EASY and summery dessert. 

Ingredients:

2 peaches, peeled and pitted

2 cups of sliced strawberries

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tube crescent rolls

1 pkg cream cheese (room temp)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp flour

for the glaze-

1 cup powdered sugar

4+ tbsp heavy cream

splash of vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven the 375 degrees.

Take your thinly sliced strawberries and peaches and combine with 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla until coated. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside. 

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, flour and 1 tsp of vanilla and set aside. 

Open the crescents and unroll, leaving them attached as a big rectangle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure there are no holes in the dough. Cut 1/2 inch diagonal strips up each side of the dough with a pizza cutter. Spread the cream cheese mixture down the center of the dough, avoiding your strips. Top with the fruit mixture. 

Fold the 1/2 inch dough pieces up over the filling, alternating sides to form a braided pattern. 

Bake for 20 minutes or until the filling is set and the crescents are golden. Let cool for about 20 minutes. 

While the danish is cooling, combine the powdered sugar, heavy cream and a splash of vanilla. Add more cream if needed to get your desired consistency. Pipe over the cooled danish a serve!

I honestly intended on taking my own pictures but seriously...this dessert went so fast, and I doubled it! This is 100% a crowd pleaser! 

Wedding: Chalkboards Galore

Chalkboard signs were a pretty big part of our wedding day. They are such an easy (and cheap) way to add a lot of character to your event. I got mine signs from my wholesaler (because I'm super fancy like that) but I know a lot of stores on Etsy or Hobby Lobby sell wooden signs. Then we painted them with chalkboard paint from Lowes (two coats) and I commissioned my sister and MOH, Hillary to do all of the writing for me.

I wasn't super prepared for this....I think I maybe gave them to her a week before our wedding. So looking back I wish I would have gotten a few quotes that meant more to us vs popular ones (such as F. Scott Fitzgerald one).

One quote that I have always LOVED is from Jim Halpert (The Office) about Pam. We couldn't fit it on one, so Hillary split it up between two signs.

Here are the rest of our signs. I had Hillary do smaller ones that said "Reserved" for our Family tables and sprinkled throughout the venue were signs with our hashtag "StewPartyof2" (I wrote a post here sharing why I think an event hashtag is a must) so people would remember to use it.

Wedding Vendor: The Venue

OKC Farmer's Market 

My venue. It was one of the very first decisions I made. It is a really cool venue...not in the greatest part of town, but I love how big it is and it has an amazing view of downtown OKC. I wouldn't say that I regret having my wedding there....BUT I kind of wish that I would have shopped around a bit.

I'm not writing this post to put the Farmer's Market on blast...at all! But, I want to share with you my wedding planning process, and venue was a major one.

We chose the Farmer's Market for many reasons. One, it was a huge space, and I wanted to get married and have the reception in one place (less decorating, right?). Two, they provided a lot! DJ, alcohol, soda, water, tea, 2 bartenders, security, tables and chairs (that they would set up for us). Three, it was such a cool and unique venue.

All of those provided were great (if you were there and saw any one of my family members, you KNOW the alcohol was working :) )... except that the chairs were super dirty and we had to wipe them off.

Our venue is not specifically just for weddings. It is a farmer's market, antique store, concert hall, roller derby rink and apparently and MMA fighting ring. Through the entire 10 months we were told we could set up the Friday before. That way on Saturday we could somewhat relax. Well...the week before the venue told us there would be an MMA fight held the Friday night before our wedding, til 2am (it was supposed to be the weekend before, but was rescheduled due to weather). (Cue my one, major freak out of the wedding process...sorry, Jake!) So, we gathered my family and friends and worked our asses off Saturday morning getting everything prepped. It was a lot of hard work, but in the end, it came together because we had some ALL STARS helping us out. It sucked, but stuff like that happens, and again....if that was the worst thing to happen during the wedding planning process, no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Another thing that bothered me was one of the staff called my mom a few days after the wedding and "scolded" her because our guests wiped Vaseline on the bottom of some of the chairs. Now....lets take a second and think about this one. Who at a wedding uses Vaseline? No one. Who at an MMA fight uses Vaseline? Everyone. Mystery solved. Maybe if they had cleaned the chairs in the first place, they would have figured that out.

Like I said before: our venue was so cool looking and unique. Here are some of the reasons I chose to get married there:

Giant windows with great light....

 

Great architecture...

and string lights everywhere that made our night magical...

All photography by the fab Caroline Rentzel Photography