Make Me a Meal Tuesday - Grilled Pablano Peppers

Last night for dinner we had these Southwest Burgers and Pablano Peppers on the grill. These are one of the most simplest side dishes to make and probably one of my favorites too! It's a lot like a grilled chile relleno.

Ingredients
4 large Pablano Peppers
Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Grill Seasoning [I use Swamp Seasoning which you can purchase here]

Slice the peppers in half length ways
Slice your cheese into thin slivers
Mix your EVOO and grill seasoning
Coat both sides of your pepper with the EVOO mixture


Place on grill and char the inside of the pepper first, flip the peppers over and char the outside of the pepper. About 1/2 way through the char process, add the sliced cheese

Allow the cheese to melt and pull off the grill.

Enjoy!

**A side note that it was the first time we had tried the Best Bites Southwest Burgers and they were DELICIOUS! I used turkey instead of ground chuck/sirloin, and Monterrey jack cheese, but they were sooooo good! J even asked if we could have them again tonight!**

Quick Recap of the last 2 weeks...

Hello there blog world!

I thought I would catch you up on what has been going on in my life over the past 2 weeks
My family went on an impromptu vacation to Lake Cumberland.

Cumberland to me is the epitome of our family vacations. Sure, we have been a lot of fun places skiing, tropical, ect, but to me this is heaven on earth! You are on a lake, surrounded by family and friends, and your biggest care in the world is when its appropriate to pour your first drink of the day! There is no concerns about what to pack [a few bathing suits, a towel, and tee shirts and shorts are just fine], what you look like [make up is pretty much forbidden], and its just chill!

We found a nice quite little cove to tie our houseboat up the first night we got there
The next day we woke up and went to the new party cove, Harmon Creek
And these pictures really don't do it justice
We parked just outside of party cove central.
It was what my family calls a "Cumby Day", 95*+, and the only place you want to be is in the water with a cold one in your hand!
Well, I may have had 1 too many cold ones that day
I may or may not have fallen 2 times trying to get into the boat when we called it quits for the day [i.e. we ran out of beer]... whoops.
If you follow me on twitter you have seen some of the consequences that I reaped from the fall
Its feeling much better now on Day 10 - but I have a funny feeling it may be a while until its completely gone!

Here are some other pictures from our trip

[we called J "coach" in this visor, i felt like he needed a clip board and a whistle]
This houseboat was at the dock where we rented ours... I joked that I thought it must be Pauly D's boat
We also took a trip to visit Jimmy and Jess in Dayton
We always have such a good time when the 4 of us get together.
Jimmy and Justin went golfing, while Jess and I stimulated the economy at the outlet malls, and then the 4 of us went to dinner
Jess and I at dinner
Justin and I on their patio after dinner
Yesterday we had Sunday dinner combined with my parent's next door neighbor. Mike is in town from SF and brought his daughter Leila. She is such a good baby, and she is SO smart!

My dad has never really been a "baby/kid" person, but she certainly has him wrapped around his finger. She even calls him Bad Brad. Its too cute! I don't know who will be more sad when she heads home on Wednesday, the grandparents or Bad Brad!

So thats a quick recap.

I had a delicious appetizer to share with you for Make Me a Meal Monday, however I'm having issues uploading my pictures, so as soon as J gets home from work [my own personal Geek Squad] I will have him take a look and it may just be a day late! I'm going to try to get back in the swing of having a more regular MMaMM post!

Happy Monday Lovelies!

Patriotic Dessert

Happy 4th of July weekend!

We had a potluck/cookout for work today and there was a red, white and blue theme to the dishes that we were to bring, so I thought it would be fun to make these cupcakes! {Since I made these for Halloween, I figured R, W, & B ones would be just as easy}
Cupcake
Ingredients
Box Cake Mix {I know enter gasp here... I'm not on cup cake wars yet }
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Mix batter according to directions, and add additional ingridents as well.

Separate batter into equal portions into 3 bowls

Add your food coloring

Fill the cupcake liners up 1/2 way, layering, Red batter, white batter and then blue

Bake according to box directions.

Allow cupcakes to cool.
I like to make my own icing, and here is the recipe that I use


Frosting
Ingredients

2 lbs powdered sugar
2 cups shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp butter extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup of milk

Mix all ingredients together with a mixer

I put the icing in a piping bag, and pipe out the icing prior to serving.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! And don't forget the real reason behind the 4th, and remember those who are still standing up for our freedom over seas!

Happy 4th!

So What! Wednesday....

...If I only use shazam on my phone to then link immediately to iTunes to download the song. I'm lazy, and I'm going to use technology to my full advantage



...If I went into XXI having a "skinny day" and came out feeling as if I had hit rock bottom again! Seriously... someone needs to talk to them about there sizing.. its just not right!



...If I have sent a text message to one of my best guy friends [I blame him for getting me hooked to this darn show!] about Teen Mom starting back up, with a count down... I love these girls! July 5th is just around the corner



...If I'm equally excited for Big Brother to start on the 7th



...If I realized on my way to work that I forgot to shave my armpits and I had a capped sleeved dress on, you better believe that I drove out of my way to head back home and fix that mistake IMMEDIATELY!



...If I gave death glares to some mother shopping yesterday, she left her 9ish month old sitting in the cart as she was perusing the isles looking for hand bags and the kid was screaming, and then she proceeded to continue to shop while he was whaling. Perhaps I was so annoyed b/c I'm not a mom and I don't know what its like to have an upset child while shopping... however there are times to be a parent, and there are times to be a shopper... and in my mind, she should have been a parent

...If I'm beyond geeked to be spending this weekend on the lake! we are going to our normal summer vacation spot in Kentucky, where there is not a care in the world. The forecast is calling for PERFECT weather :)




What are you saying "So What" to?

Head on over to Mama Dew's and let us know

Getting out of a rut...

Do you ever feel as if your is the movie ground hog day?
It consists of the same routine Monday-Friday and then on the weekends?
I was finding myself being content with my “ground hog” like schedule
Wake up, work, work out, watch Justin play softball, grab a bite to eat, go to bed, repeat

I supposed it worked… I was never bored, and I always had something going on, and I knew what to expect the next day… however, I was starting to get in a rut, I needed a new vice, something to keep me motivated.

I joined a gym about 6 months ago, and up until now all I have really used it for is the treadmills. I figure if I have people around me running its much easier than hitting the pavement by myself, however spending $26/mo for a treadmill that I use 4 times a week really isn’t doing the entire membership any justice.

Included in my membership you are able to take as many group exercise classes as you want, including spinning. In high school my best friend and I would spin 4-5 times a week. It was such a good exercise and I forgot how much I enjoyed it.

Kelly had tweeted one day about going to a spinning class on a Saturday, and that was all the motivation I needed to get to the gym the next day and start my new routine, which included both spinning and running.

I forgot how much I LOVE the class and how great of a workout it is. I leave every class feeling as if I have had the best workout possible.

Recently, I have been waking up at 5:15, getting to the gym at 5:30 [I may or may not be sleeping in my workout clothes – judge away! Ha!] and spinning from 6 to 6:45, and its an awesome feeling to know at the end of the work day you can do whatever you would like because you have already completed your daily workout.

Its amazing what a new routine can do for you. I am seeing results on the scale for the first time in about 2 months, and it feels good. I am working different muscles than I would if I would go for a long run.

If you are in a workout rut, I encourage you to switch it up… challenge yourself, workout in the morning, do a different routine! I guarantee that it will make a difference! What’s holding you back?!?!

In desperate need of a recap....

Hello there my faithful readers!
Its been a minute since I last posted, and I do apologize.. however, I feel as if we either have SO much going on that I don't have time to post, or my life is so routine, that if I posted, you all would be bored out of your mind! so I thought I could catch us all up to speed really quickly on what is new/going in my life

So recently, we celebrated my cousin Wes's graduation

my aunt always does a taco bar for all of her kids graduations - it goes over so well, and its delish!
We also celebrated my sister's birthday
and I have to give a lot of credit to Doug, her fiance for picking out this mustard color purse all on his own. Alli had a yellow purse that was on its last leg and he took the liberty to get her a new one!
I have always whined about the month of June. Between my mom and sister's birthday [as well as her fiance's] and fathers day.. the month pretty much makes me broke!
So my mom decided to surprise me with my birthday and xmas present
and if you can't tell by the look on my face - i was just a teeny bit excited about my gift/toy:)
Since opening her up, I have been practicing taking pictures
Its amazing how much of a difference the lens protector makes
without
with
and then one night during a beautiful summer evening, i was channeling my inner kelle hampton by taking pictures of the sky
and the other night there was a male and female cardinals on our patio and of course i had to try to be a "professional photographer" and try and get the perfect picture - ha!

This past weekend we went with Molly and her family to a local Jazz and Blue's festival. She was being a complete and total ham. We took her out of her stroller to walk around and she would put one foot behind the other, pause, and look up at a total stranger and wave and say "hi", after they acknowledged her she would move onto the next person who she hoped would pay attention to her!

Katie took her on the merry go round and she LOVED it...
So that's a quick recap of what has been happening in the past few weeks!
I promise to be a better blogger soon... I miss all of you!