Insert Big Yawn Here

Coming down from the Halloween candy rush and the excitement of our football team making the playoffs. Too tired to put a complete sentence together. Enjoy some pictures while I recuperate.

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

Halloween Fun

Trick or Treat

Give me something good to eat!

As much as I love Halloween, I have to admit I'm not fond of all the gory food tricks. I don't want to eat anything that resembles a bowl of worms, eyeballs, severed fingers or brains! Eeelck!

These tasty little toasted bones are just gross enough to send the kids into fits of giggles and still cute enough not to turn my stomach. They are so easy to make and highly addictive. You just take a roll of refrigerated breadstick dough (or your own homemade recipe) and seperate it into 12 strips. Lay them out on an ungreased baking sheet and snip and roll each end outward to form a bone shape.

 Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic powder and sea salt. Bake at 375 degrees for around 10 minutes or until golden brown.

If you wanted to up the grossness level, you could always serve them with a side of marinara blood.

Happy Tuesday!

~Gridiron Girl

Fall Festival

It's a rare occurrence that we get an opportunity to have a lazy Saturday during football season. The kids and I NEVER miss a home game, we drive to all the away games that are within a reasonable distance, and I travel with the team to far away games. This past Saturday, we chose to skip a game. To be honest, we were all tired...really really tired and we needed a break . The team had to travel 8 hours by bus to the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. If there was ever a game to skip, this was the one. Coach gave us his blessing, hopped on the bus and rode off into battle. The kids and I camped out in the backyard Friday night. We ate too much kettle corn, toasted with apple cider, read a stack of library books, listened to the high school football game in the distance, played games, made shadow puppets, told stories and all fell asleep by 9pm. It was WONDERFUL!

Until we all woke up freezing at 4am and took off in a mad dash for the house in search of our warm beds.

On Saturday, we stayed in our pajamas until noon. Again, WONDERFUL! Then we got ready and headed out to a little fall festival. The kids played carnival games, we walked the scarecrow trail and got some yummy hamburgers from one of the church booths. It was such a lovely day and the Knuckleheads were looking so cute, that we decided on a little impromptu photo session. The arboretum and town square were beautifully bedecked for Fall, so I couldn't resist getting some cute pumpkin pics!

We had a fabulous day and made it home in time to hear Coach give us a shout out on his radio show. We then spent the next three hours yelling at the radio, cheering our team on to another big victory!

Homemade Kettle Corn

I'll just tell you now, this stuff is highly addictive. If you have no self control (like me), you might just want to walk away and forget you ever saw this.

Homemade Kettle Corn

2 Tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/3 cup sugar

salt

In a large pot with tight fitting lid, heat the oil over medium high heat and toss in 3 popcorn kernels. Once all 3 kernels have popped, pour in remaining kernals and sugar. Give a quick stir and cover. Once the corn starts to pop, use potholders to lift the pot off the heat and shake vigorously for a few seconds, return to heat for a few seconds and repeat until popcorn is finished popping. Once popping slows, remove from heat, pour in large bowl and toss with salt. USE CAUTION, the kettle corn will be extremely HOT. Let cool completely and enjoy.

Slightly sweet, salty, crunchy...Yum Nummy!!!

 
 
 
 

The Great Outdoors

The weather here has been FANTASTIC! The minute the kids get home from school, they drop their backpacks, kick off their shoes and head to the backyard. Their new tent has become their headquarters, a perfect place for a good book, a big bowl of kettlecorn, a game of cards, a hideout from lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) and other big adventures.

Moving in.

When they're not hanging out in the tent, they can be found cooking up some fun over at the

Mud Pie Kitchen.

A week ago, I was ready to take their old plastic kitchen to the curb. The kids protested, so I decided to give it a second chance. I gave it a new home under the little oak tree, gave the knuckleheads a pile of dirt and permission to go crazy with a few jugs of water and...tada...the Mud Pie Kitchen was born.

BIG FUN in the backyard!

Time to make the Pesto!

My garden runneth over with yummy Basil.

That means it's Pesto time!

Pesto is one of my favorite treats. I love it on pasta, warm bread, grainy crackers...I'm even guilty of eating it straight out of the jar all by itself. So when the garden is packed with basil, I don't like to waste a single leaf. If I time it right, I can put up enough pesto to last us until the next growing season. I always put a couple of jars in the fridge to enjoy right away and I store the rest in quart size freezer bags, making sure to squeeze out all the air and freeze them flat for easy storage. When I'm ready to use the pesto, it's easy to break off the amount I need.

Pesto is so easy to make and almost impossible to mess up. You can easily add or subtract ingredients according to your preferences. I don't have a set-in-stone recipe. It's more of a handful of this and pinch of that. I'll give you a rundown of how I usually make mine, but experiement a little and come up with your own perfect pesto!

Basil & Spinach Pesto

2 big handfuls of basil leaves

2 big handfuls of baby spinach leaves

3 cloves of garlic

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese (not the powdered stuff in the green can!)

kosher salt

red pepper flakes

1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or pinenuts

olive oil (amount depends on how thick/thin you want your pesto)

Whirl it all together in a food processor until desired consistancy. Enjoy!

* I went back through my archives and found this pesto recipe that I posted last year. As you will see, it's a little different from the one above, but they are both delish! As I said, it's hard to mess it up!

Basil Pecan Pesto

4 handfuls of basil leaves (rinse well and dry)

4 cloves of garlic

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup toasted pecans

juice of one lime

salt

black pepper

red pepper flakes

olive oil

Toss basil, garlic, cheese, pecans and lime juice into a food processor or blender. Begin to process and slowly add olive oil to desired consistancy. Add salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste. Store pesto in refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for future use.

Sweet Treats for Teachers

I'm happy to report that the kids had a great first week of school! My little Punkette loves Kindergarten and my son has declared 2nd Grade to be "totally cool".

Here's a pic of the little treat bags we put together for their teachers at the end of the week.

We used small cellophane bags, added some shredded filler, a big shiny apple, some caramel dipping sauce and tied it all up with a pretty ribbon.

They were a big hit!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

~Gridiron Girl

August has been insane.

I finished the condo in 7 days. I was in paradise for a solid week and only dipped my toes in the water one time. It was crazy, but the condo turned out great! I'm working on a big post, complete with before and after pics. Until then, enjoy the sunset from our new balcony...

As soon as we returned home, we jumped right into football. This weekend is our first game of the season. I am SO ready...I think.

These little Knuckleheads started school this week. I miss them already and still haven't give up on the idea of homeschooling. 

My little Punkette turned 5 and started Kindergarten on the same day. I cried. She didn't.

Coach sent me flowers and thanked me for being a great Mom. I cried again.

August has been wild and wonderful and EXHAUSTING! With the onset of school and football season, I don't see things settling down anytime soon. I guess I'm just going to hop on the crazy train, buckle up and get ready for the ride! After my nap.

It's Official!

As of this morning...

This view officially belongs to the Gridiron Gang!

We bit the bullet and bought a condo in Panama City Beach. It's something we've thought about for years, and the time was finally right. We love the Gulf Coast and go every year, so we decided it's the perfect place to have a second home. We bought a bank owned unit that has been completely stripped down, so I'm heading down tomorrow to start furnishing/decorating a completely clean slate. I only have one week...pray for my sanity! I had all the floors cleaned and tile sealed yesterday, today the painters arrived and tomorrow all the new appliances should be delivered. Hopefully by the time I get there, I can just start having fun picking out new furniture and adding some special touches.

I'm very excited, but a little nervous about getting it all done in time. I can't believe we're starting this little adventure right as football is back in full swing! This project falls firmly in the catagory of "WHAT WERE WE THINGING?"

Oh well, I guess after we wrap up another crazy football season we can go relax at our new condo on the beach!

~Gridiron Girl

P.S. I've got to keep this baby rented when we're not using it, so if any of you ever find yourselves in need of a little getaway...I can hook you up!

Roasted Roma Tomatoes

Our garden runneth over...

with Roma Tomatoes!

Thanks to my new friend over at Thy Hand Hath Provided, I've found a wonderful way to use them up...roasted with a little olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. If you like sun dried tomatoes, I think you'll love these babies! Head on over to Thy Hand and check them out. While you're there, take a look a around. There's a wealth of information about gardening and preserving, as well as lots of yummy recipes and other good stuff.

To learn more about Thy Hand, check out her wonderful interview over at another favorite blog, Clover Lane. 

You'll notice I didn't get a pic of the finished product, that's because I ate most of them the minute they came out of the oven! They were all carmelized, kinda chewy and perfect. Right before I took them out of the oven, I popped a little mozzarella pearl in each one....OH. MY. GOODNESS.

Absolutely DELICIOUS!

Happy Sunday!

~Gridiron Girl