Another year older!!!! But what a lucky girl I am! I have so many wonderful people in my life......
I had a nice relaxing day off...lots of birthday phone calls and cards in the mail! Had beautiful flowers delivered to my door from Candace, Byron and the kids!!

Friends from work came and sang Happy Birthday on my doorstep and brought me cake!!!

Went to dinner with my honey to this little Irish pub that was originally built and run in Dublin Ireland and later shipped here to Arkansas piece by piece.

We had french onion soup....

Of course I had to try something Irish so I got the Reuben and it was D-licious!

Joel got the most amazing burger on a soft pretzel bun....so good!

And then he made me cupcakes!!!

Love him!!

Thank you to everyone who made me feel so special!!
It was a beautiful day!!!

I love Indian food.......actually lets be honest I just love food. But I made my 1st attempt at home made Indian food. It actually turned out really good! The only thing I would do different is actually grill the chicken like they tell you to in the recipe. We are grilless so I cooked it on the stove, still good but I think grilling it would make it even better!

Chicken Tikka Masala-
(recipe from Favorite Family Recipes)
Marinade:

1 cup yogurt

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 tsp salt

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

4 long skewers

Sauce:

1 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

1 cup heavy cream (I used 1/2 and 1/2 and it was really good)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 tsp cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, pepper, ginger, and 1 tsp salt. Stir in chicken, cover, refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat a grill for high heat. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers and discard marinade. Grill 5 min. on each side.

For the sauce: Melt butter in a large skillet. Saute garlic for 1 minute. Season with 2 tsp cumin, paprika and 1 tsp salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. Serve over rice.

A much needed girls day out!

We went to lunch at the Whole Hog Cafe....they have the most A-mazing potato salad! I could have eaten JUST that....then we laughed and talked and shopped in the horrible heat all day long :) Thanks girls for a fun day!!

As Close as it Can Get in Arkansas......

Ever since our visit to Boise....our Cafe Rio cravings have been out of control. One.....little.....delicious.....sweet pork salad just isn't enough. So we decided to try to make it at home. It was actually pretty close! Not quite! But close. We had Cameron and Hillary over for dinner, who haven't tried Cafe Rio yet....so they didn't even know what they were missing :)
mmmmm....chocolate covered strawberries for dessert!

-SWEET PORK-
Recipe from Favorite Family Recipes
2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can diced green chilies
3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

CILANTRO-LIME RICE:
1 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.


*I just used regular pinto beans, store bought tortillas and pico, fried some tortilla strips and made this dressing :

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Ranch Dressing
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa
hot sauce

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend ‘er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

Best Surprise EVER!!

My mom hates surprises....but we had to do it anyway. It was hard....Joel and I had to lie a lot over the past 2 months, just to make moms mother's day a little extra special! We got on a plane EARLY sunday morning and flew home, just in time for dinner! Little did mom know....her last 2 kids would be walking through the door(Dad and Aaron didn't know either) We pulled it all off with the help of Michael and Kayla....It was all so exciting and fun :) I know she looks a little pissed in the first picture, but thats just shock :)

Oh how I missed her!!! And of course everyone else!!

Michael made YUMMY pork tacos.....

The next day sister came back over and we worked on some little crafts...the whole rest of the week was kind of a whirlwind....it went by way too fast! But I'll take any minute I can get!

I got to go to Deanna's graduation!!! She is all grown up and so smart! :)

While we were waiting for mom to come pick us up Joel played a little arcade game and got the highest score, first try.....ya, he's pretty good!

Mom and I went to lunch with Heather and Summer.....and we laughed till we cried, like usual.
We got to see Grandma!!

I went to see Katella and her beautiful girls! Love and miss her so much!

We went and ate some delicious wings....

Met a bunch of friends for dinner and then went to the park.....

Got to see Pete and Courtney's adorable TINY girl!!

We miss them all So much!!

We saw Kelly's school dance class perform! Woo! Woo!

Byron and the kids drove up to hang out for a few days and we got to meet Candace!!

We love her! She and Byron are so cute together, they look so happy and she is amazing with Caden and Kinley.....couldn't ask for a better future sister-in-law....
Little Kin loves Joel....

We ate our all time favorite....Cafe Rio sweet pork salad!! We are already suffering from withdrawls...

Miss beautiful Kelly.....

Fun at the park...

Caden and Grandpa riding on the tractor....

He's so cute............I just love him!

We went over to moms house again for Sunday Brunch....she made amazing french toast casserole and a sausage egg and cheese casserole, and had lots of yummy fruit! I can't believe I did not take any pictures of the food! :) Carol, Aaron and Rachel came over, it was so good to see them, even for just a couple hours....

Aaron was such a good sport....poor guy had just gotten his wisdom teeth out and his tongue clipped a couple nights before we got there....but we couldn't have him re-schedule and ruin the surprise!! I sure do love my little buddy!

And then we were off on a plane again.........back to tornado country!
The End!