Happy 100th Blog!

This is my 100th blog :) It only took a little over a year to get to 100....it probably would have been sooner If I wouldn't take so long to update sometimes!!

Let's see.......this weekend was pretty fun for me. I ended up not having to work yesterday (yay! First time in 14 days!) So I just got caught up on a lot of stuff around the house and relaxed. Tom was in lab all day yesterday and today. He has a big presentation coming up tomorrow. And I'm not even going to mention the word football right now. I don't want to talk about it :(

I've been cooking a lot this weekend. Well, let me rephrase, the crockpot has been cooking a lot this weekend :) Ribs last night and BBQ pulled pork again tonight. I made this cinnamon breakfast casserole recipe from this one cookbook that my mom gave me, but it's more just like cake with sugar and cinnamon on top (still excellent, just not super breakfasty....Oh well, it'll work).

We've been having some really pretty sunsets lately (although I haven't been able to enjoy them from our balcony because I've been at work!!) but here's a pic of one I took a couple weeks ago.

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies

This weekend went by too fast! Don't they all though. I had to work both days (boooo) but only a couple hours each so it wasn't too bad. I won't even talk about yesterdays game. I hate Michigan. That's all I'm going to say.

Today was pretty productive despite having to go into work. We didn't get the Eagles game on tv down here but we saw the highlights. It looked like they kicked some butt but WHAT WAS UP WITH THOSE UNIFORMS?!?! Ick! I think Detroit kept getting distracted by the hideous colors and that was why we scored so many points.

Tonight for a snack I made pumpkin spice cheesecake brownies. Yum! Here's a pic. Needless to say I got a few more good recipes from The Nest boards this weekend ;)

Fly eagles fly....

I'm writing this during halftime of the Eagles game (of which they are sucking....might I add). We've already had to force ourselves to accept that they're not going to have a good season this year!

I had some interesting attempts at baking this weekend :) I worked all day Saturday (boooo). Sunday I made sloppy joe's in the crock pot (yum), pumpkin roll, and pumpkin bread. The pumpkin roll didn't turn out pretty, but it tasted good! I'm just not good at rolling things. The pumpkin bread turned out pretty good. I'll post some pics below.

It's been mayhem here in Bama with Auburn losing (again!) on Saturday and Alabama coming back to beat Arkansas. Penn State took a while to warm up, from what I hear (Bigten network + Anne working = No watching the game!) Hopefully next week's game will be nationally televised so we'll be able to watch as we go into the big house and kick the snot out of michigan (please please please please!!!)

OK I better get back to the couch just in case Donovan feels like throwing a few good passes and the Eagles actually score some touchdowns!

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

BBQ Pulled Pork

Yum. Last night I made root beer BBQ Pulled Pork in the crockpot. I never made pulled pork before but it was really easy....and really yummy. Tom meets with his committee today to present what he is going to be working on for his thesis. Everyone send him good luck thoughts at 9 am central time :)

Here is the recipe and a few pics.

Ingredients

· 1 pork roast or loin

· 1 can root beer

· 1 slice of onion

· salt and pepper

· Penzeys BBQ America

· 1 jar BBQ sauce

DirectionsPlace the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker, put any seasonings you want on, and onion rings over the top, then pour the root beer over the meat.

Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours (I did 8 hours, and BBQ sauce for 1 1/2 hours.)

Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure!

Tom and I are going to be participating in the Race for the Cure here in Birmingham on Saturday, October 13, 2007. In addition to running the race, we are trying to fund raise for breast cancer research. You can support us and the Komen Foundation by going to our websites to donate.

Anne:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=238575&lis=0&kntae238575=A5745296A6C84645AC3481C1E60FA252&supId=189256042

Tom:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=238575&lis=1&kntae238575=048AB03460EF47C0A00D971292701E44&supId=189257535

We are particpating with some friends down here and have formed a team. Our team goal is $2000. You can visit our team website through either of our websites.

How many rush yards did Notre Dame have?

Oh, that's right.....ZERO! Hahahhahaha. How sweet it is. Saturday was a bit of a crazy day between all my cooking (see post below), tearing cabinets out of a friend's kitchen, attending a baby shower, and watching Penn State kick the pants off of Notre Dame! But all's well that end's well! Even Matt was cheering from Hawaii (note.....2:45 pm eastern time = 8:45 AM Hawaii time). Only a true fan starts tailgating with the rest of us.

Here's a pic of Penn State's final touchdown my dad took with his phone and sent it to me......I really need to get him a pix/flix texting package during football season!

Wish I could have been in Happy Valley for that one! The white out looked awesome on tv. See post below for details on the rest of my weekend.

WE ARE....................

Birmingham Artwalk and Food

Friday night we went downtown to the Birmingham Artwalk with some friends. It was pretty cool. We had a good time and it was sooo nice to be able (and want) to walk around downtown Birmingham. A bunch of art galleries in a 6-7 block radius opened up their doors to display their art. Some had free wine and snacks too (yay). They had live music at a couple of different places and there were tons of people. *sigh* someday every weekend in birmingham will be like that. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) we'll be long gone by the time that happens. Anyways it was a pretty cool way to start the weekend.

I also cooked a lot this weekend so I wanted to blog about that. Saturday morning I made this pumpkin spice coffee cake. The recipe was for this sour cream coffee cake and I just added pumpkin pie spice to give it a little fall flavor. Definitely VERY yummy........but I still like my mom's better (Dad, if you're reading this can you have her email me the recipe?) I took some pictures of it but it tasted waaaaaaaaaaay better than it looked so I decided against posting any :) I made ranch oyster crackers too, which I had forgotten about. Yum. And last but not least for our "tailgating food" of the day I made pepperoni rolls. Double yum! They basically tasted like my calzones but just skinnier. Super good though when combined with ranch dressing, beer, and Penn State beating Notre Dame!

Philly Cheesesteaks...yummmmmmmmmmm

So on this website that I go to a lot everyone has their own "food blog" or cooking blog. I get kind of motivated and think about starting one but then I realize/remember:
1) I can barely keep up with my regular blog and
2) Half the time I'm talking about food on this blog anyways ;)

Tonight for dinner we had cheesesteaks. Soooooo good. And very easy. We recently got an Aldi near here........it's like a discount grocery store but some of the stuff in it is good and dirt cheap. I think it's crazy that the same company that owns Aldi also owns Trader Joe's......or is it whole foods? I think it's Trader Joe's.

Anyways..........hope everyone had a nice Labor Day (I was at work....laboring away ;) Tom and I are very much looking forward to the PSU v. Notre Dame game this weekend. Saturday morning we are going to help a friend do some reno's in her kitchen by tearing out her cabinets and then I have a baby shower to go to in the afternoon. After that it is all beer and football for us. I think I'm going to try and make pepperoni bread for us to munch on. I'll post pics/recipes if it's any good! I hope I never become intolerant/allergic to beer. I would be miserable ;)

Football....how sweet it is

Yesterday was fabulous. It consisted of football, football, football, beer, football, fried foods, and more football :) We went to a sports bar (Buffalo Wildwings) to watch the game since we don't have directv. They had it on one of the big screens so we plopped down at a table right in front (right next to some MICHIGAN fans!) to watch for the remainder of the day. (The Michigan fans left at halftime of their game.....lucky for them considering the whole place was on it's feet cheering when Michigan LOST!) Haha. They were nice though. There were some other PSU fans there too. We were talking to this one guy who said like 10 years ago there would be 100 PSU fans at the bar every football game. I guess he was the only one left of his crew because he was sitting by himself. There was a family there with 2 little boys in their PSU jerseys.....and whenever the Michigan fans would cheer the boys would chant "Penn State! Penn State! Penn State!" and then their mom would yell at them to stop.......hahaha.

Today has just been a catch-up day. We're having beef beer roast for dinner (it's in the crockpot right now and it smells soooo good!) I can't remember if I've blogged about it before or not. It's real easy. Throw in a boneless roast, sprinkle dry italian dressing mix on top, pour a beer over everything and cook for 6-8 hours. The other week I made it and served it over toasted bread. I think tonight we are going to shred it and have it in a cheesesteak style bun with provolone cheese and dip in the beer juice. Yum. Here's a pic below of it roasting in the crock pot.