Baked Red Potato Fries

I love potatoes, any way you cook them, but we rarely ever have them since I try to stay away from eating them for dinner.  We bought a huge bag of them a while back for a stirfry dish, but since we didn't use all of them [that would be a bigggg stirfry!] the rest of the bag looks at me with pleading eyes, begging me to cook it.  When I made turkey burgers last week, it was a perfect chance to bake some french fries!

Baked Red Potato Fries

Ingredients:
3 red potatoes
1.5 tbs olive oil
salt, pepper, & Everyday seasoning [to taste!]

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚.  After washing the potatoes, slice them into wedges length-wise.  You want them to be between 1/2 inch and 1 inch thick.  Toss them in olive oil.  Add salt, pepper, and seasoning to your liking!  Dump the potatoes on a bakin sheet and spread evenly.  Place in the oven for about 40 minutes, rotating the baking sheet in the middle.  About 4-5 times while the fries are cooking, use a spatula to flip and rearrange the fries.  Once they're soft and the edges have browned, remove them from the oven.  Let them cool for just a couple minutes, then dig in!

Turkey Burgers Recipe

While we were in San Diego, we ate some of the most delicious food I've ever had.  Seriously -- it was all so good.  Our first meal there was at Hodad's, which is a burger joint that was actually visited by Food Network's Guy Fieri and featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I know you're thinking, it's just a burger; how good can it really be? And let me tell you, I am not a burger person, but it was hands-down the best bacon cheeseburger I've ever had.  Not to mention the strawberry shake I had was insane, and the fries and onion rings were perfect.

Tonight I made some burgers for Byron and me.  Were they as good as our vacation burgers?  No, but they were undoubtedly much better for us and still delish...not to mention they are so simple to cook!  I make the patties fairly small [as far as a hamburger goes], so we eat them on toasted whole wheat English Muffins.  I even chopped some potatoes and baked some fries to finish off our dinner.

Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 tbs olive oil
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
splash of worcestershire sauce

(Makes about 7 burgers)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚.  Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  Once everything is combined, using your hands form patties from the mixture and place on a baking sheet.  (I made 7 burgers to fit on English Muffins)  Place them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, rotating the tray in the oven halfway through.  Serve on whole wheat English Muffins, topped with pickles, spinach, tomatoes, mustard, and all of your favorite burger toppings.  Enjoy!

hops, grapes, & blue skies

On our third day in San Diego we went to the Stone Brewery.  This wasn't one of the things we'd planned before flying out to California, but I'm glad we had time in our schedule.  In case you didn't know, Byron loves beer, and the hoppier the better!  I'm pretty sure this was one of his favorite thing we did there!

Byron brought home 2 liters of Stone IPA.

The San Diego area has tons of microbreweries, including Pizza Port in Oceanside, where we ate some of the most delicious pizza I've ever had.  [Pizza is my favorite food and I don't say that about just any pizza.  Seriously, it was that good.]

In addition to the abundance of breweries, there are also lots of wineries around San Diego.  On our fourth day we drove to Temecula for a vineyard tour and wine tasting at Danza Del Sol.  Byron discovered his new favorite wine: Orange Muscat.  After about 10 tastings of wine [whoa!], we sat outside enjoying the beautiful weather and some local garlic goat cheese.

Notice our cheese knife!  haha

We went back into Oceanside for dinner at Ruby's, a diner on the very end of the pier.  It was neat to have dinner at the very end of such a long pier.  We ate our dinner as the sun set over the ocean.

The skies in San Diego are always perfectly blue and cloudless!  You couldn't ask for better weather!

Giraffes, Kayaking, Caves, & Sea Lions

For my Spring Break last week, Byron and I decided to take a trip to the west coast to visit Byron's brother and his wife.  I'd never been to California before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we had an awesome time!  It was such a blessing to spend a week with Travis and Leanne and to experience southern California with them.

We took an early flight to San Diego and as soon as we landed we headed straight to the zoo.  We spent 5 hours there and still didn't see the whole zoo...It was huge!!

We were at the airport in Atlanta early enough to
watch the sunrise from our gate before boarding.

Oh, how I love these animals.

Top Left: African Elephant
Top Right: Only the best animal ever.  Seeing them in person made me really miss Africa.
Bottom Right: Asian Elephant
Bottom Right: Koala (Byron made the most perfect sound effect for this guy.)

We left the zoo and stopped at Hodad's for some delicious hamburgers and milkshakes for dinner.  It was delicious.  I wish I'd taked pictures.  The best hamburger I've ever had.

Sunday morning we headed into La Jolla to kayak around the seven caves.  The water was freezing!  Byron and I shared a kayak, and it was a much more enjoyable outing than our honeymoon kayaking trip since I wasn't sinking!!  As we kayaked, sea lions would swim past us.  It was awesome.  I love seeing animals in their natural habitats!  Dr. Seuss owned an oceanfront house in La Jolla -- pretty cool, right?

We were supposed to be able to go into the caves, but the water was too rough :(

Once we turned in our wetsuits, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around La Jolla.  Overlooking the cliffs we could see a group of sunning sea lions.

We climbed through a little cave to get here.  Of course Byron had to climb the rocks!

We ate dinner at Brockton Villa. [I loved eating outside so often!]  The food was delicious, and luckily the restaurant gives recipe for their Coast Toast, which was insane -- so good. 

We walked down into a cave after dinner.  In the 1920s a man, whose house was atop the caves, decided to dig through his floors and into the caves to make a tourist attraction {it worked, obviously} and charged people to walk the steps down.  It was also used to smuggle in alcohol during prohibition.  Sneaky, sneaky.

of course, Byron had to play on the rocks in the cave!

This little sea lion hopped up on the rocks to look at us . . . maybe he thought we'd give him food?
Silly pup, we cleaned our plates!

I loved La Jolla.  It's a great coastal city with cute restaurants and magnificent views.  Definitely a great start to our trip!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I absolutely love buffalo chicken.   Pretty much any way you serve it I like it. . .especially as dip!  It’s a perfect appetizer for a party or tailgate, and if there’s any leftover it warms up wonderfully.  I make mine with low-fat cheeses and with smaller amounts of cheese than most recipes, but I’m sure it’s delicious with additional amounts. 

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (boiled, then shredded)

2/3  cup low-fat cream cheese

½ cup low-fat sour cream

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 – 1½ cups [more/less to your liking!] buffalo sauce of your choice (I use Texas Pete Wing Sauce)

1 tsp minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Celery, Carrots, and/or tortilla chips for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375˚.  In a medium bowl, stir the sour cream and minced garlic together.  Add in the cream cheese and mozzarella cheese and stir until blended together.  Next pour in the hot sauce and stir until it’s blended with the cheese mixture.  Gradually add the chicken to bowl of cheeses and hot sauce, stirring to make sure the pieces of chicken are coated.

Once all of the ingredients are combined, pour them into a glass or ceramic baking dish.  I separate my dip into two small dishes, but an 8x8 glass dish would be perfect.  Even spread the dip across the dish and place it in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are bubbling.

Serve with celery, carrots, and tortilla chips [and maybe a beer?!] while it’s still hot.  Enjoy!

sweet, sweet Easter

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. . . and not just because of the jellybeans and egg hunts!  What’s not to love about celebrating our risen Savior?! 

Passion Good Friday

We attended the Passion Good Friday service again this year.  There is just something powerful about worshiping under the stars with a large group of believers.  Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, and the rest of the Passion team do a splendid job using their talents to bring glory to God.  It was a great service with the message focusing on Jesus died for us, the unrighteous, to bring us to God.

For Christ died for sins once and for all, 

the righteous for the unrighteous, 

to bring you to God.  

He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.

1 Peter 3:18

Dark and early on Easter morning Byron and I, as well as my incredible mother-in-law and father-in-law and our friend Katrina, climbed Stone Mountain for the Sunrise Service.  Although the clouds were heavy and the rising sun wasn’t visible, it was a great morning to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on the third day.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, 

going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, 

and his clothes were white as snow. . .The angel said to the women, 

“Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here,

he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

Matthew 28:2-3 & 5-6

Sunrise Service

1st Married Easter

We spent the afternoon with our families and after 40 days without sweets, I was finally able to enjoy some strawberry cupcakes and goodies from the Easter Bunny!

I stayed up until midnight baking fresh strawberry cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting
so I could eat one first thing on Easter!

Happy Easter!