CHOPPED -- Jordan Style !

Have you ever seen "Chopped" on the Food Network?  It's INSANE!  It's also one of our favorite shows.  The competing chefs have a basket with secret ingredients that they have to make a dinner out of in 30 minutes.  They are graded on their creativity, presentation, and taste. 

So, Jordan wanted to try this. 

In her basket, she had ground turkey meat, flour tortillas, a bag of salad mix, and a can of whole cranberry sauce and 60 minutes... GO!

"So, Chef Jordan, what are you planning to do with the turkey meat?"

"I'm going saute it and add a packet of Taco Seasoning for flavor."

"Chef Jordan, what item in your basket seems to be the hardest to prepare?"

"Well, I'm not sure about the cranberries.  I'm going to reduce them with some sugar and honey to offset the tartness."

"So, Chef Jordan, I see that you're time is ticking away, what do you have planned for the salad mix?" 

"Mom, leave me alone, I can't concentrate and talk at the same time!!!"

 

 

 

Surprisingly Delicious !  Really !!!!

Oreo Goes To School

Well, I signed Oreo up for school.  Our end goal is to compete in agility courses where she will run through tunnels, jump over fences, weave through poles, and run over see-saws !!! .... but first she must master "sit".

She has 3 classmates - from left to right - "Peanut" who is a German Shepard puppy 5 mo old.  He's *very* playful - "Frosty" who is a poodle mix, 5 years old, and grumpy. - "Marley" a 6 mo old Golden Retriever mix who was found in a ditch with his sister.  His owner wants to train him for hospital and nursing home visits.  ...... they are *all* male.

Oreo is the only female.  She wasn't sure at all about this.  She watched the others play but made sure she was close to me at all times.

Peanut and Marley loved each other right away !

The class lasts an hour and by the time we were finished, Frosty came out of his shell and wanted to join in the fun !

Oreo, still unsure, stayed close to me.  She's a mama's girl, what can I say?

Oreo is doing well.  She's learned "sit", "look", "leave it" and "take it".  Of course, the all-meat treats I give her are great incentives !  We'll see what she learns in next week's class.

Cake Auction for Impact Girls Club

The Assemblies of God churches have separate groups for boys (Royal Rangers) and girls (Impact Girls Club) on Wednesday nights.

Each year, our Girls Impact Club hosts a cake auction to help raise funds for this important ministry.

And it seems all the ladies and a few men really get involved baking delicious sweets !

Each Girls Impact Club teacher brought a crockpot of chili or soup and we fed the attendants while we acutioned off the cakes.

This double decker chocolate cake went to the highest bidder !

Mr. David made these cinnamon rolls ---yum !  I love how the men invest into our girls' futures :-)

Old German Cheesecake -- o.m.g'sh ! must. have. now.

I wanted this one but was out bid :-(  I guess I'll have to learn how to make one -LOL

Mrs. Christy and Mrs. Terry -- our fearless leaders !

and me -- joking around -- as usual.  All in all we had a great turn out and a successful auction ! 

Bringin in the New Year... with Elvis ??

O. My.

Elvis??

ELLLVVIIIIIISSSSSSS!

and my Mom got the first scarf !!!  

ELLLLLVVVIIIISSSSS! 

Smores over an open pit fire ...

Open fire pits are scattered all over the place.  Keep in mind we're talking about some massive acreage !

 They also have pre packaged smore kits available for the chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker lovers ... like us !

Life just doesn't get any better than this :-)

Happy New Year !!

 

Last year we stumbled upon a yearly event close by in Wicksburg, AL.  The Festival of Lights !  So, we decided to attend again this New Year's Eve.  The millions of lights were just beautiful, the hayrides were fun and being outside brought back fond memories of TN and bonfires.  Happy 2012!