Football Rivalry Game Day- Utah vs. BYU

Go Cougs! (I think...)

I love rivalry day! In these pictures you will see me supporting my husband's Alma Mater BYU, but back in the glorious days of being newlyweds my husband was attending the U of U and we were BIG fans of Utah Football. I didn't grow up in a football loving household and wasn't too interested in the sport, but during the seasons when Urban Meyer was the coach of Utah and they went undefeated I actually LOVED sitting in freezing rain or blizzards to see the Utes play. So I am a conflicted fan, part of me still secretly cheers for the Utes, but I am slowly letting that go to find love for the BYU Cougars (although after this game, it has gotten much harder, what happened?)

We weren't able to have the big party we usually do this year, but we still enjoyed the game and even got the little cuties in our lives dressed up in blue!

BYU and Utah Football sugar cookies I made for the game!

Apple Cinder Bacon Wrapped Pork Medallions

These Apple Cinder Bacon Wrapped Pork Medallions are moist, delicious and full of flavor! You can also slice the pork tenderloin in half length-wise to make small pork medallions for appetizers or party food. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Pork tenderloin
6-8 slices bacon
Season Salt- to taste
1 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup apple cinder vinegar

Instructions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees
Trim fat off pork tenderloin and cut into 1 inch thick medallions
Wrap medallions in 1 strip of bacon and secure with toothpick
Sprinkle one side of medallion with season salt.

Heat olive oil in a skillet until hot- cooking at medium to high heat. Set medallions season side down. Season other side. Sear each side of medallions- this takes 2-5 minutes. Put medallions on their side to crisp bacon- rotate so all bacon gets cooked.

Transfer to casserole dish.  Pour apple cinder vinegar evenly over pork medallions. Cover with foil and  transfer to oven to finish cooking for 15-20 minutes.

Let pork rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Step by Step Instructions:

Ever seen one of these at the store and wonder "what would I do
with that?" Well this is it! Take the tenderloin out of the package and
trim all the fat.

Cut the tenderloin into 1 inch medallions

Wrap each medallion in a raw slice of bacon

Secure bacon with a toothpick (make sure not to use
colored toothpicks or you will have big colorful circles
on your food ).
Season one side with season salt.

Place medallion in frying pan with hot oil, season side down.
Season pork and sear both sides until slightly golden brown.

Once both sides are seared, turn pork on it's side
and cook to crisp bacon.

Place medallions in casserole dish and
pour apple cinder vinegar evenly over pork.

Cover with foil and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Let pork sit for 5 minutes so juices can reabsorb. 

Enjoy!

Delightful Quote of the Day

Annalise got a magazine in the mail that was full of fun toys to look at. She flipped through the pages over and over asking about EVERY toy, what their names were, what they did, and so on... Suddenly a little light went off in her head, she looked at me and climbed off the couch in a hurry and ran over to the coat closet.

As she ran she said "You have a toy, Mama.." She opened up the door and pointed inside and said, "See Mama, here's your toy!"

I looked that direction to see her pointing to the vacuum cleaner!

Darling Trick-or-Treat Bags

I am a total planner and am already getting into Halloween mode. I am especially excited for this Halloween because Annalise is old enough to really get into the spookiness of it all, and Jonah is having fun looking at the magazines and ads too!

Here are the darling trick-or-treat bags I bought them for this year! They are from an Etsy shop called the Tiny Rose Boutique: http://www.etsy.com/shop/tinyroseboutique?ref=pr_shop

Annalise's Trick-or-Treat Bag

Baby Jonah's Trick-or-Treat Bag

And here are the runners up for Annalise that are also completely adorable:

Baked Ziti- Kid and Adult Approved

I have made Baked Ziti for years and it was always good, but I just knew it could be better. I found/modified/created this recipe and WOW, DELICIOUS! I love it, my husband loves it, and even my picky 2 years old say "MMM, good Mommy" when she eats it. Even a one year old can gum the soft noodles and devour it, although I suggest you dress them in one of those parka type bibs :)

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:


26.5 oz can pasta sauce (I like Hunt's Traditional Pasta Sauce, the thinner type sauce works better here)
3 cups water
3 3/4 cups Ziti noodles
1/2 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I like the real stuff, not the powder)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

optional, but recommended: 1 cup cooked ground beef

Instructions:


Preheat oven to 475 degrees
Add sauce, Ziti, and water to a deep skillet and sprinkle with salt
Bring sauce, ziti and water to a boil and cook covered at a low but constant simmer for 18 minutes.
Stir occasionally.

Stir in milk, parmesan cheese and cooked ground beef. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over Ziti.

Transfer to casserole dish and bake for 10 minutes.

Cook your ground beef. I like the pieces to
be very small. I also like to use the fatter ground beef
because it stays soft and full of flavor.

I like to season my ground beef with onion
powder and garlic salt

Brands I use that work!

Pan with ziti, sauce and water added-
ready to cook!

Cook covered

18 minutes later...

Add the ground beef, parm cheese and milk
(if you are worried about adding milk to this,
I was too, it seemed strange, but it turns out awesome!)

Everything stirred in nicely

Transferred to casserole dish

Sprinkled with cheese

After baking for 10 minutes- beautiful! 

Finished and ready to enjoy! YUM!

One of My Favorite Things!

My kids use to cry and turn their heads when I would come at them with a diaper wipe or...dare I say it...some random thing I found in the car and wet with my own spit. But it was always better than having kids with dried snot stuck to their face or food smeared on their hands and mouth as we went to the park or into a store.

I figured this couldn't be that bad, why did face cleaning always fall into a screaming, teary mess? That was until I used a diaper wipe for my own mouth one day (can't remember why) and discovered it was one of the worst things I had ever tasted!

So I tried these kinda pricey Boogie Wipes and WOW! They work like a charm, my kids actually open their mouths and hold still when they see them coming and they smell amazing.They are moisturized with saline so no gross taste and they wipe off snot much better than the old diaper wipe. I keep them in my purse and use them everyday. Worth every penny.

THANKS BOOGIE WIPES!

Delightful Quote of the Day

Annalise stayed up way past her bedtime last night and wanted to "snuggle" with me as I watched Dateline. Soon the snuggling turned into a total chatter fest with her talking non-stop!

ME: "Annalise, Mommy wants to watch her show, and if you can't stop talking, you need to go back to bed, OK?"

ANNALISE: gives little nod and turns to watch TV

Literally 1 second later...

ANNALISE: "See Mama, I'm not talking! I am being quiet for your show, Mama! You like your show, Mama?"


Thank goodness for DVR!