Swag Bag Sponsor Highlight: NS Pottery

One of my favorite parts as an administrator of the Girls Extravaganza was filling some suhweet swag bags for the girls to take home with them. Over the next few days, I'll be highlighting the amazing store owners and bloggers who generously donated to make this possible!

Natalie from NS Pottery sent a set of jewelry for each swag bag. 

The girls LOVED them, and I saw several wearing 

theirs to church the next morning. 

These were especially awesome to me

because each piece is handmade from stoneware clay

to create durable and beautiful pieces.

We had earrings,

necklaces

and adjustable rings 

She also sells beautiful dishes

and pottery pieces in her shop

Check out some of my favorites!

This colorful trinket dish would look great on my dresser!

 All of the dishes are oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.

Look at those stunning colors!

 Having this mug might convince me to brew my own coffee more often!

Check out Natalie's blog, shop and Twitter

I genuinely enjoy reading her thoughts about

family, faith and business.

She was an absolute joy to work with,

and I know that you will definitely enjoy getting to know her and her work!

Thank you so much Natalie!

Your generosity was such a blessing to me 

and everyone who attended The Girls Extravaganza!

Fun Fun Fun

(warning: photo heavy post!)

Friday Night, David and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater downtown.

I tried their prosciutto lasagna- a combo I never would have thought of,

but it was pretty yummy!

I've been to the other locations and love them, but this downtown one was very small with lots of character. There was a huge line for the Anchorman Quote Along going on in the next room, which was quite entertaining to observe. :)

Saturday morning, we met at the Downtown Farmer's Market

This lovely lady played some sweet tunes for passersby 

I grabbed a cup of organic Texas Coffee Trader's coffee

Got some farm fresh goat cheese with jalapeno and artichoke

from CKC Farms

and a loaf of Texas French Bread's fresh sourdough bread

Those two go together quite nicely!

And then we shared breakfast from The Zubik House

And let me tell you, it was AMAZING.

This was called the Czech Benedict-

Grilled kolache bread topped with smoked pork shoulder and fried egg with fresh basil

It was all organic and locally sourced. 

Delicious.

My mouth is watering just looking at that photo.

Then since Monday was a school holiday,

a few of my students and I ventured over to the Jumpoline Park

and we had a blast!

 dodgeball

somehow nobody could get the timing on my one-handed cartwheels. 

they were awesome :)

Did you know jumping burns 600-1000 calories per hour?

We refueled with some frozen yogurt!

It was a really fun long weekend.

I feel so blessed to be where I am today

doing what I love!

Christmas Dinner Party: Baked Brie

On Monday I hosted a fun dinner party for David and his roommates. 

This is the third year I've done it and I'd have to say 

this was definitely the best meal to date!

Menu:

Drinks:

Cranberry Punch

Glass Bottled Dr Pepper

 (don't judge. this is definitely holiday-party-worthy)

Appetizers:

Baked Brie served with  sliced apples

Spinach Salad 

with dried cranberries, walnuts and feta cheese

Entree:

Sliced Rib Roast

Side Dishes:

Scalloped Potatoes

Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles 

Dinner Rolls 

Dessert:

Tuxedo Cake

Although it felt like so many things went wrong during the prep time, 

(forgetting to bring beaters for the hand mixer,

not having enough time to let rolls rise and having to get store bought ones

totally planning around the wrong cut of meat...)

this meal turned out truly delicious. And if this amateur cook 

can pull it off, so can you. I'm going to share a few of the recipes 

I used with tips to make them simpler!

The first is the baked brie. 

It's really easy and delicious and makes a beautiful presentation. 

Plus, cheese is awesome. 

Who doesn't like cheese?

I served this while I finished up the rest of the prep for the meal. 

You'll need:
One 15oz Brie wheel
One puff pastry sheet
1 egg plus 1 tsp water
sliced apples (optional)


What To Do:
Wrap the brie wheel in the pastry sheet the flip over so the smooth side is on top. Decorate with any extra pastry dough (I made a bow on top). Brush with the egg wash. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees, or until browned on top. Let it sit for about fifteen minutes before you slice into it, or all the cheese will be too gooey and will run out everywhere!


You can also include pecans and raspberry jam inside for a fantastic twist on this. 
There are so many ways to customize it to include things that you like. 

Stay tuned for more recipes from this Christmas Dinner menu!

Make-Your-Own-Pizza Party!

This past weekend, my student ministry's girls 

had a sleepover and we had sooo much fun!

The first thing we did when we all arrived was to make personal sized pizzas.

I'm going to share what we did because it was awesome

AND it'd be so easy to replicate for 

birthday parties

or dinner parties

or really any kind of social gathering!

We had:

• pizza dough
• red sauce (the HEB brand in a can)
• white sauce (alfredo sauce in a jar)
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• pepperoni
• bacon
• spinach
• mushrooms
• olives
• caramelized onions
• sliced tomatoes
• green bell pepper
• pineapple 
• grated Parmesan cheese

I used this recipe for the dough and made it the day before. 

It made enough for eight girls, 

and most of us didn't finish our pizzas.

(Although that may have been because we were 

scarfing down guacamole while they were in the oven.)

But if you have big appetites, adjust accordingly.

Or use naan instead and save yourself the trouble. 

Need gluten free? Use corn tortillas.

You can also forgo sauce and just brush with olive oil.

So much versatility!

The day before, I sliced the bell pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

I caramelized the onions, baked the bacon and tore it into small pieces, 

and shredded some mozzarella cheese

Then I put everything in cute little containers .

It would have been even better if I'd made little matching labels

but that didn't happen. 

The girls loved it!

We sprinkled some olive oil on each pan before 

and let everyone roll out their own crust- thin, thick or stuffed crust 

and then create their own masterpiece.

Check out some of our pizza creations:

Jadzia's margherita pizza- it came out tasty!

 Yalani's was piled with pineapple!

 Bella and Mercedes made one monster pizza with everything on it.

 Olivia made a smiley face with olives.

Our host generously ran to Wal-Mart and bought several of these cute pizza baking sheets! I'm pretty sure they were under $2 each and were perfect for our project. They cool down really quickly out of the oven too!

We baked them at 400 for about fifteen-twenty minutes 

(thicker ones took longer).

I think next time I'd turn it up to 450 

and turn the broiler on for the last few minutes.

You could also throw them on the grill- 

perfect for summery get-togethers.

After baking:

the margherita pizza

 My half and half- one side white sauce with spinach, mushrooms and onions, 

one side red sauce with tomatoes, pepperoni, bacon and olives!

It was a fabulous night of:

movies and snuggling with puppies

experiments with nail polish

And fun facials

 

(photo cropped to protect green-faced students :) )