Sweet potato-apple dish

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Tarah

We love sweet potatoes in our house. We especially love this sweet potato-apple dish. My mother-in-law started this dish, but I’ve changed it a bit. Her version has cranberries, and while I love cranberries, they aren’t always readily available. I normally just make it with the potatoes and apples, but this past few times I’ve added in the pecans. It’s like a nice fall evening in your mouth. (I even made myself laugh with that one)

I just wanted y’all to see my awesome photography and photo styling skills. Maybe I should start a new hobby.

Sweet potato-apple dish

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes
2 apples (I use Gala apples, but you choose what you like best)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 TBSP stick butter (the real stuff, not margarine and not in a tub)
3-4 TBSP pecan pieces (optional)
sprinkles of cinnamon
sprinkles of nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse sweet potatoes.
Leaving the skin on, cut sweet potatoes and apples into cubes. Place into a 8x8 baking dish. Cut butter into thin pats and place in with the potatoes and apples. Be sure to stick some in the middle. Sprinkle the brown sugar and spices over the top and lastly, top with pecans.
Cover your dish with aluminum foil and cook for 45-50 minutes.

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I know, I know. It’s not Tex-Mex or Mexican food. Pick your jaw up off the ground.

Mother’s Day cleaning

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Tarah

I hope y’all had a great Mother’s Day! I had breakfast made for me, watched a movie with my 2 little boys, giggled with my sweet little girl and they gave me a beautiful new purse. It’s stunning and has purple accents! I love purple!

While I know most mothers relax on Mother’s Day, I suddenly felt the urge to do a “mother’s day cleaning” of the banisters of our stairs. I have been going up and down those stairs, noticing them getting dirtier and dirtier. I rarely have that “urge” so I ran with it. However, after going through the cleaning supplies, I found that I didn’t have any “all purpose cleaner”.

spray bottle
2 cups warm water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 TBSP dishwashing soap

Directions are very simple – mix it all together in the spray bottle. See, very simple.

I started cleaning with a paper towel, the graduated to a sponge and followed with a paper towel. Now, there’s a before and after picture. Don’t judge. Remember, I have 3 young children that go up and down these stairs at least 50 times a day.

I found a few “recipes” for this all purpose cleaner. I just went with the one I had all the ingredients for. Cottage Sweet Cottage is the one I chose to use. Big Box Detox also has one that’s similar. Any of these will work. I think it worked very well and I love my clean banisters

I finally used the white vinegar for what it SHOULD be used for instead of, I don’t know, plotting to seriously injure my husband.

100 by 100 Challenge

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Tarah

What’s 100 by 100 Challenge? Well, its very simple. Michelle over at Life on the Horizon is hosting this personal challenge to walk, jog, swim, cycling 100 miles in 100 days.

This will be the 3rd challenge Michelle has facilitated. With each challenge, she has learned more about herself but also about helping and motivating others. The main thing she has learned through these challenges: Just because you don’t meet a goal DOES NOT mean you have failed! She has yet to meet the 100 miles in 100 days, but has become stronger mentally and physically with each one. Michelle has also met some incredible individuals with amazing stories and is so blessed and humbled by their determination!

And y’all, another cool thing about Michelle? She’s a Texas girl!

Why am I posting about this challenge? Well, it’s simple. I’m participating in this challenge and it starts today, May 1. I’ll be walking/jogging/running for this challenge in addition to all the gym time I’ve been putting in. Remember that 50 Days of Fitness challenge we had back in the day? Yeah, I’m still working on it. Maybe I’ll be nice and update my picture because apparently I look much different now according to a lot of people. I love running even though I’m not the greatest at it. I always get some teasing at Pinterest Parties or last year at Haven Conference when I’ve taken the time to go for a run or workout. (And for Haven this year, I’ve already looked online at the gym facilities in the gym. It’s an addiction.)

If you like to walk/jog/run/swim/cycle, you should consider joining in the challenge here. It’s just something to help be encouraged and encourage others.

Spiked pulled pork

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Tarah

I bet you’re asking me why it’s called “Spiked pulled pork”? Last weekend, while I was at Pinterest Party I sent my husband a text asking him to put the roast in the slow cooker at noon so we could have it for dinner when I got home on Sunday. I sent him the very simple directions to follow. He okayed and did it.

Fast forward to Sunday night when I arrived home, after the Pin Party and going grocery shopping. We get everything all together for dinner and to the table. I’m pulling the pork apart, commenting on how tender it was. Literally falling apart as I touch it with the fork. He makes no comments, we sit down to eat, I take a bite. It might be the best pulled pork we’ve had in a while.

He happily announces “Oh I added a little to it. It didn’t look like it was going to cook well with just the BBQ sauce so I looked up and saw the vodka on the fridge.”

At least he didn’t make it spicy. And … he did cook.

Spiked pulled pork (crockpot/slow cooker)

Ingredients

Pork shoulder (also known as pork butt, I don't ask why.)
BBQ sauce (I use Austin's Own or Weber brand - neither have HFCS)
Vodka

Instructions

Cover bottom of the cooker dish with some BBQ sauce.
Place pork roast on top of BBQ sauce and pour BBQ sauce over the top of the roast
Add a 1/2 cup to cup of vodka (or in his words "Pour freely")
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, turning over a few times for perfect tenderness

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And I’m really not kidding when I say its probably the most tender, fall apart pork I’ve had.

A self-interview {Tarah}

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Tarah

The wonderful ladies at Texas Women Bloggers are kindly holding a “self-interview” link party. Since it’s the middle of Thursday, and I’m not being crafty or domestically active, I thought I’d jump on the wagon.

1. What part of the state do you call home? The FW of DFW – we all know it is the better part of the DFW anyway.

2. How long have you been blogging? Really actively blogging since July 2012

3. Why did you start blogging? What had happened was …A DIY conference attended by friends turned into THIS very blog.

4. What do you hope to get out of the Texas Women Bloggers community? Its always fun to have more friends, and even better if they’re Texas friends!

5. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In 5 years, we may or may not still have this blog. BUT I will still have 3 children (they’ll be 10, 8 and 7 – holy cow.) and maybe my husband will make it another 5 years (I kid. maybe.)

6. If you could choose an actress to play you in your life, who would you choose and why? Well, honestly? Melissa McCarthy. I’m not even joking. If you guys have ever seen her show, Mike and Molly, that’s totally me and my husband. TO a T.

7. Name 5 things on your Bucket List that you hope you’ll check off before you die? I’m simple – travel to NYC and Chicago, run a marathon, visit all 50 states at least once, learn to swim like a pro (okay, not a pro, but decent), and keep my house clean (haha!)

8. If you could be known for one thing, what would it be and why? I have a huge passion for children who are placed in foster care. I also have a huge passion for drug exposed/addicted newborns/children and preemie babies. I have no doubt most of my friends know this. It all holds a special place in my heart and I like to help others who need someone with that experience.

9. Describe one “wow” moment in your life. When a judge gave my husband and I a seal of approval for our first child. I looked at him, then Jody and then realized that I was then a “mommy” permanently and no longer “pretending” to be a mommy to children who needed one for a certain amount of time.

10. If you could “be” anything (no consequences, no fear), what would you “be”? I would love to be someone that has no worries, whether it be money worries, family worries, etc. But alas, that will never happen.

DIY Cupcake stand

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Tarah

More wedding ideas, y’all!!

Lindsay picked out a plain ol’ cardboard stand that she was just going to buy. She didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, just get something that no one had to work on. Here’s the thing, it came with a price. That price — $36. THIRTY-SIX for CARDBOARD, y’all. Cardboard. Uh, no. Not for my friend. Not going to happen. I made a DIY cupcake stand!

Enter the Dollar Tree. Have I ever mentioned I love Dollar Tree?

Supplies:

round cake pan
pizza pan/round cookie sheet
2 candlestick
super glue
cardstock/scrapbook paper
ribbon
mod podge
hot glue gun

I took the pizza pan and traced the cardstock on the inside ring. It wasn’t exactly perfect, but there were going to be cupcakes covering it. At that point, I didn’t let it bother me. I put some mod podge on the pan, then cardstock and finished it off with mod podged over for a topcoat. I did the same thing for the small round pan but turned it upside down.

I obviously did more than one, 3 total actually. They were drying … all together on the floor.

It was time to add the ribbon on the edging. I believe the ribbon is 1″ thick, and it was perfect. Burlap ribbon was tricky, as it tightened together. BUT I saved it and it looked fabulous.

Exhibit A on saving it!

Get your super glue out, take the stickers off the bottom of the candlesticks. I put the super glue around the top of the candlestick and set off to dry. Super glue is the ONLY glue that will work. Don’t bother with hot glue. It won’t work.

After the candlesticks dried, I decided to do a little extra by adding a burlap skirt. This wasn’t exact on the length, but I wasn’t going for a “perfect” look. It was a bit rustic and I think it turned out well.

And sadly .. I apparently didn’t take a picture of them in action at the wedding. However, I got a picture of one of them when I recycled it for Savannah’s birthday.

Also … a Two-fer.

My sweet boys carried these signs down the aisle. They definitely brought some comic relief after the bride and I were stressed out a little.

DIY wedding invitation design

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Tarah

I spent the most of January through March helping plan my BFF’s wedding. Remember that pallet project? Well, we did a whole lot more.

Lindsay, the BFF, admits to not being crafty. I can attest that she is good at a lot of things, and crafts are most definitely not her “thing”. When we sat down on the Saturday before her wedding, I worked on a few projects. She sat, cut fabric squares for her guestbook project and her hair piece for hours.

Before all that, we had to decide on herDIY wedding invitation design. I told her I’d design them and we could make them for much cheaper than buying them. We did a 3 piece set – the invitation, RSVP card and map card.

She found a design that she liked, but we altered it. Her “theme” (if that’s what we call it) was burlap and lace with purple. I had this awesome idea to take lace and use it as a stencil on the back layer of the invite. I should have taken a picture of that FAIL. It was awful.

THIS is the layer that was to have the stenciled on lace. It was a great idea …in my head.

The design of the typography

I think they turned out quite nice. We found some 1″ burlap ribbon online at Save on Crafts, the purple ribbon and paper came from HobLob when it was on sale, of course. Everyone knows that you NEVER pay full price at HobLob.

The complete set

This wedding was most definitely a huge DIY project. I have a few more projects to share from the wedding. Also, here’s a few projects around the house I’m about to get started on as well. Now that it’s FINALLY spring in Texas, it’s more comfortable to go outside. So some painting can be done. I don’t paint in the house unlike other people *coughWHITNEYHEATHERcough* I’m far too messy for that.

Real Cheap Housewives of Texas

Category Archives: Life in General

Sweet potato-apple dish

Mother’s Day cleaning

100 by 100 Challenge

Spiked pulled pork

A self-interview {Tarah}

DIY Cupcake stand

DIY wedding invitation design