"Holly Housewife" has a few recipes

I was in serious Holly Housewife mode today!  My dear friend Amanda calls me Holly Housewife.  We eat lunch together at work and while I warm up my leftovers from the night before she always says, "What did Holly Housewife cook last night?"  So now the name sticks! 

These past few weeks have been crazy!  About 2 weeks ago I was hit with a pretty funky stomach virus that had me down for a good week.  Then, I had a awful sinus infection (assuming I got it since my immune system was already low) and then I got the worst fever blister that I have ever had in my entire life!  In between all of this, I was planning a surprise party for my friend Brandi.  Yesterday was the party and it went great!  Other than me being embarrassed for the massive mountain on my face  :(.... the birthday girl was surprised and everything looked perfect!  I will be posting these pictures soon on here.

So back to today.  Started off cleaning our whole home.  It was in desperate need of some cleaning lovin'!  After everything was spic and span I decided to make some banana nut bread.  I had 2 pretty ripe (black) bananas and when I peeled them they were perfect for bread.  Here is the recipe I use:

Martha Stewart's Banana Bread Recipe

1/4 Pound (1 stick butter), room temp
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 c sour cream
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F, butter 9X5X3" loaf pan. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs beating well. Sift the dry ingredients together and combine with the butter mixture. Blend well. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Stir well. Stir in the nuts and pour into the pan. Bake 1 hour until a cake tester comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
 This is the best recipe I have found for banana nut bread.  After cleaning the dishes and all I organized my recipe binder, then started on tonight's din din.  :) 

We had spiraled ham (with the brown sugar glaze stuff), homemade mac and cheese and some green beans. 

My sister in law Cari sent me a recipe for macaroni and cheese she had found in a magazine.  She said it was very good and thought it would be something we would enjoy.  So tonight I tried and it out and it was delicious!  We loved it!  She is a cheese lover and used sharp cheddar.  I used mild but I think medium would be perfect (for us) and also Jesse likes the larger elbow pasta over the small ones so we used large.  I also added some shredded cheese on top and also a little more extra in the sauce but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. Here it is!



MACARONI AND CHEESE

Serves 8 as a main dish; 10 to 12 as a side dish

1 (16-oz.) box small elbow macaroni or shell pasta

3 tbsp. butter

3½ tbsp. all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. ground mustard

1½ tsp. salt

3 cups milk

3 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese, divided*

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Set aside.

3. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, 1 minute, whisking constantly. Stir in mustard and salt. Gradually whisk in milk; cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in ½ cup cheese; set aside.

4. Layer half of macaroni and half of remaining cheddar cheese in a lightly greased 13×9-in. baking dish. Repeat process with remaining pasta and cheese. Pour cheese sauce over pasta; stir gently.


Hope everyone has a great week, happy cooking and baking!  :-D

2 Years!

Today is our 2 year anniversary.  It amazes me how fast time is going.  It’s true what they say, it really feels like yesterday!  I still can remember the breeze in the air and I remember looking at my dad, before walking down the aisle, saying, “Wow what a beautiful day God has given us today!”  He said to me, “Bugga Bear, it’s exactly what you wanted, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!”   I remember looking at him as the harpist changed songs and he said to me, “You ready?” and I said, “Yes!”  Walking down that aisle towards Jesse was such an amazing feeling that is quite indescribable!  All the planning, crying over dresses, pointless arguing, etc. was OVER!  It was about me and my soon to be husband and our life together from that day forward!  While our wedding was perfect and I wouldn’t have had it any other way, more importantly our marriage for the past 2 years have been everything but boring, that’s for sure!  We have grown individually and more importantly we have grown as a couple.  While it isn’t always peaches and cream, my love grows more and more for him each day.  He is my everything and I don’t know who I would be or what I would do without him.  He truly does compliment me well!! lol     I’m looking forward to the many years ahead of us and to see where this crazy life is gonna take us!  I  you Jesse! 

 

Panama City, The Bahamas, and Orlando, FL

Well, I’ve got quite a bit of catching up to do!  Jesse has been sending resumes out to become a meteorologist.  Somewhere towards the end of February he sent one to Panama City, FL.  The very next day he received a call that they would like to set up an interview!  Wow-sa!!  We were so excited!  Well we had already made plans of going to the Bahamas for the weekend before Mardi Gras then going to visit his sister in Orlando for the rest of the week, so it kinda worked out.  Our ship took off from Cape Canaveral on Friday, March 4th, and the news director said Thursday would be fine.  So, on Wednesday, March 2nd we headed out to Panama City, FL! 

His interview wasn’t set until 2:30pm.  We didn’t sleep too well and were up bright and early.  We got ready, had breakfast and headed to the beach!  What a gorgeous beach!!   We also drove around a bit and I think we are both in  agreement that we could totally live here!  

 

The interview went great.  They had him in there for 3 full hours!  Meanwhile I was in the car, calling people as I was a nervous wreck!  I also ventured to the mall but there was just no way I could shop.  Haha!!  So anyway, we heard from the news director last week and she sent Jesse an application to fill out.  Other than that, nothing.  So we are going with the old saying, no news is good news!  We really, really want this to happen so pray with us that it will and that we will hear something this week! 

After Jesse finished with the interview we drove to Orlando and spent the night at Cari’s house.  On Friday morning we got up and drove out to Cape Canaveral.  Our cruise ship took off at 4:00pm.  I really have nothing good to say about our cruise.  It was quite awful and totally sickening as we had some major waves and winds.  The good parts of it was when the boat was docked or when we were on land.  I’ll share a few of my favorite/good looking pictures from the trip.  Here is the fb album if you are interested in seeing more  Cruise Pictures

     
     

Once we docked back in the U.S. and stepped off of the God forsaken ship we knew the nights of rocking and nausea feeling were all in the past.  It was time to make the best of our trip and I can say we sure did!! 

We were there for Dommie’s first haircut!  Look at that before shot!  Goodness!  lol  He was so good and look how cute he looked after!
   

We spent a lot of time in Disney…here are some more pics.
     

     

We had a great time spending time with the little Domster!  He is growing up fast…13 months already!  I’m looking forward to our next visit with him.  Hopefully soon 

Hurricanes

Technorati Tags: Hurricanes,2011,Inception,Weather

 

My husband loves hurricanes and made this trailer type thing.  He is so proud! 

Sesame Street 1st Birthday

Oh where do I begin...

My nephew Dominick's first birthday party was fabulous!  Everything went smoothly, he was happy and even the weather cooperated. Which I know it is hard to believe that the cold reached down here in the NO to LA but it seriously did!  2 days before his party we had sleet!!  I was at work and heard it tapping on my window.  Goodness gracious, I remember thinking, this is so not good, I have a party to set up for in 2 days.  Well on Saturday the cold and rain had passed through and the sun broke out.  It was still a little chilly for everyone to be outside (our original idea) but not cold enough so that everyone had to be cooped up.  The party was at my parents house and my dad had some propane heaters going on the patio and even lit a little bonfire for whoever wanted to hang outside.  So that was really good and people were happy to have the option.

We had great food, good company and great cake!!  My sister in law and I had been planning this party for her little one for a while now.  I guess we started chatting about it in October and then in December, we really cracked down with the ideas and all of what she had wanted for this party.  The party turned out to be one of my favorites.  *I'm warning ya, this is a very heavy picture post.  (Click here to see my previous post about planning and to see some of the projects as I worked on them.)

Is that not the cutest, most adorable cake ever!?

He couldn't stop looking at it.  He would look then smile.  SO cute!

You can see sorta in this picture the tv there.  Cari (sister in law) had combined a ton (about half an hour) of Sesame Street videos from youtube and had them streaming on the tv.  This was a really neat idea. 

She also took pics of Dommie every month on his birth date (the 5th).  Since his party was on his actual birthday, for the last picture, she took a pic that morning and had it sent to the one hour photo!

 We had played one game.  Count the cookies in Cookie Monster's Cookie Box.  The little card said, "123 how many cookies do you see?  Hurry up and take a guess before Cookie Monster eats the rest!  Remember these cookies are small in size, whoever guesses the closest (without going over) wins a prize!"  

One person guessed the exact number and she won a $10 g.c. to Chick fil a.  Yum!  btw:  That is my momma in this pic.  :)

I had made little napkin cover thingys and also a sign that said, This party was brought to you by, the Letter D and the Number 1

Sugar cookies, white, milk and dark chocolate chip cookies

Some of the food options

Some of the family in character tshirts

Add caption

He really wasn't all that interested in his cake, he kinda just picked at it

Sister in law and Brother in law with Dommie

Jesse and I with the little guy

Cake pops!!  They came out so much better than my first attempt. (awful)

This time my awesome hubby helped me. I dipped and he decorated.  The power of teamwork, it's a beautiful thing!

SEE  :)

Well that is about it for this party, I did post more pics on facebook (album) if you would like to go see.  Happy 1st Birthday my little stinker!  :) 

Next on our plate is Valentine's day, which we don't really do much and will be low key...probably cook and just chill.  IN March we will be celebrating our anniversary by taking our very first cruise!  We are heading to the Bahamas for 3 days.  We are so very excited about it.  Eeek!!  We are driving to Orlando on a Thursday and spending the night at my sister in law's house and then driving to Cape Canaveral Friday morning where we will be departing.  We will return Monday and spend the rest of the week with husband's family.  So ready for this vacation!