Happy Memorial Day!

Chris and I have had a pretty productive day.  Chris woke up early to play golf, and then we went to lunch with my sister and her husband who were passing through town.  After lunch we went furniture shopping and found a lot of stuff at really good prices!  That was a very good thing since we have so much stuff that we need to get!  I just made one of Chris' favorite dinners:  fried pork chops, mac & cheese, and broccoli.  He leaves tomorrow for Ohio, and I'm staying home, so I had to send him off with some home cooking!  


Fried Pork Chops
Thin cut, bone-in pork chops
Kosher Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder
All-Purpose Flour


Season pork chops with salt, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.  Fill a shallow pan with flour (just enough for dredging the pork chops).  In a pan, heat corn oil (or any other oil that can stand high temps) on medium to medium-low heat.  Cover both sides of pork chops in flour, then put in pan.  This is gross, but it's usually time to flip when the blood starts coming out of the side of the pork chop that is facing up (or when they are golden brown).  They cook pretty quickly, so keep an eye on them!

Mac & Cheese

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 eggs
• 6 ounces evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

Add a little salt to water, and boil for pasta.  In a small bowl, combine eggs, evaporated milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and dry mustard.  Whisk together.  When pasta is cooked, drain.  Return cooked pasta to pot.  Put back on stove on low heat.  Add butter to pasta (let melt).  When butter is melted, add egg mixture and stir together.  Slowly stir in shredded cheese.  Let melt, stirring frequently.

Mac & Cheese recipe source:  Stove Top Macaroni

The broccoli is a recipe I've posted before...nothing special.  Here is the link to the broccoli recipe.

Here is the finished product!  So yummy...I'm stuffed!  Now that Chris is leaving town again, it's back to PB & J for me...

Fishing...

We woke up when is was still dark outside yesterday to fly back home for a few days before The Memorial in Ohio.  Of course we headed straight to Bubba's for lunch.  After lunch, we headed out to Frederica to go fishing.  It wasn't much of a fishing trip...I caught a catfish and Chris didn't catch a thing!  It was a beautiful boat ride though...

 Captain Kirk...driving the boat with his toes.

 Beautiful views...

For dinner, I tried out a new pasta dish.  It was delicious, and I know I always say this, but really easy!

Awesome Easy Pasta

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 jalapeno

1 green bell pepper

1 package sliced portabello mushrooms

2 tbsp fresh oregano (finely chopped)

5 slices bacon

2 cans diced tomatoes 

2 tbsp butter

linguine 

parmesan cheese

Cook bacon.  When finished, put aside.  Reserve some of the bacon grease in the pan to cook vegetables.  Add garlic, shallots, jalapeno, bell pepper, mushrooms, and oregano to the bacon grease on med-lo heat.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes (with juice) to the vegetables.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes.  While sauce simmers, cook pasta (I used spinach linguine and it was great).  Drain pasta, put into a bowl.  Add butter to the noodles, and stir to coat.  Add sauce to noodles.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Just another picture of bacon frying...I think I've had about 5 of these on here already.

Yummy!

Cheese Bread

Chris loves champagne with peach flavoring.  It cracks me up because it seems like such a girly thing to drink (yet, I don't like it at all).

Dallas, Texas

This week we are in Dallas, Texas for the Byron Nelson.  It was so nice to only have a 30 minute drive from Fort Worth for the tournament this week!  We are staying at the course, which is so nice.  I love getting to sleep in just a little bit on the days when Chris has early tee times.  In our room at the hotel, we had a neat little chocolate sculpture (I don't know what else to call it...) waiting for us.

It was almost too pretty to eat...but we tried some last night, and Chris finally got tried out the golf ball today!

My brother-in-law, Derek, sent me a video of Maverick a few days ago, and my dad sent me a video today.  Just thought I would share since he is so cute!

Fort Worth

Well, I finally made it to Texas Tuesday night!  It was a long day...I had a 4 1/2 hour delay in Brunswick, causing me to miss my original flight to Dallas/Fort Worth.  I was confirmed for the next 2 flights out of Atlanta because of the multiple delays in Brunswick.  I finally made it to Atlanta at 4:45, and ran (passing Flava Flav with his big clock and crown along the way) to my next flight which was leaving at 5:30.  I made it, and then sat on the plane for 1 1/2 hours.  All of the delays I faced Tuesday were due to mechanical problems.  That makes me so excited about all of the flying that we have to do!  I am very happy to be here...I really love this town.  We are staying downtown this year, which puts us in walking distance to some great restaurants.

Tonight we ate at an Italian restaurant called Taverna.  It was soooo good!  I would highly recommend it.  We had flatbread to start, followed by a butternut squash pasta for me and lasagna for Chris (not surprising!).

Chris is playing at Colonial this week.  He had a good day today, and will hopefully have a great day tomorrow!  He is playing with John Daly and Roland Thatcher.  He tees off at 7:21 on tee 1.  Follow along on the PGA tour website!

Xander riding a bike

My dad just sent me this.  This is my nephew Xander riding a bike.  He's growing up WAY too fast!

Grilled PB&J

I decided to wait one more day before heading out to Texas with Chris.  Now, I'm heading out tomorrow afternoon.  When I'm home alone, I never really do to much for any of my meals.  It's very easy for me to get lazy!  Last week, at The Players, someone recommended grilled PB&J.  I decided to try it out, and I would highly recommend it!  I love PB&J, and I could probably eat them everyday.  I have to say that this makes them just a little bit better.

Sometimes I would rather be oblivious...

As I was checking my email this morning, I came across an article about what is in your food. Normally I delete things like this immediately because I would rather be oblivious. I decided to actually read this article. It made me really glad that we don't frequent fast food chains. Some of the foods that were on the list surprised me and scared me because I have eaten them a few times. Now I know that I will be staying clear of some of the places/foods! The article is called What's REALLY in your food?. Check it out.

I've been out of touch for the last few days because I've had no internet access. It is always so hard to be without internet. It's crazy how dependent I've become on technology! We are back at home after being in Jacksonville for The Players for a couple of days. On Monday we head off for 3 weeks. We were exposed to a lot of wildlife in our week at Jacksonville. The condo we stayed in backed right up to a lake. Chris immediately went out and bought fishing poles, unfortunately the fish were not biting. I think it had something to do with the surplus of softshell turtles and alligators. If you have never seen a softshell turtle, google it. They are crazy looking! After fishing for a couple of days without so much as a bite, on Friday Chris finally caught a catfish. As he was dangling it over the water after he reeled it in, one of the turtles reached up and swallowed it whole. That really put a stop to the fishing!

Florida Softshell Turtle

This little gator swam right up to the dock one day. He was very curious and hung out with me for a while before Chris scared him off!

I also want to share a recipe. These are the pancakes that my dad and stepmom make. They are super easy and so good! I made them for Chris for the first time on his birthday, and then again the next morning.

Pancakes
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 stick butter (melted)
1 small palm full baking soda
(I added a little vanilla, but that's optional. Also adding blueberries, bananas, etc. is an option)

Mix all ingredients together. I have a griddle that I cook them on (usually around 375 degrees), but a pan will work also. Flip when they start bubbling up and start getting firmer.

Many things to celebrate...

Todays post will be pretty long and full of pictures from our trip to Charlotte. First of all, I would like to say Happy Mother's Day to a few special people...my beautiful mom, Chris's amazing mom, and my wonderful stepmother, and also the grandmothers, who without them, none of this would be here today! Also, today is the best husband in the worlds birthday. Chris is FINALLY as old as I am...he is the hardest person in the world to buy for, and thankfully this year, he is picking out his own present that will go into our new house.
Here is the spread on Friday night...Greek food

My sister made S'Mores Brownies for Chris. They were yummy!

Chris and Xander getting ready to blow out the candles.

Blowing out the candles...

Chris cutting into his brownies...

My little sister, Paisley, is graduating from high school. She got a cake to celebrate also...

Paisley and Xander

Chris and I (and Xander)

The sisters (Tara, Ashley, Tahnee, Paisley) decided to have a little photo shoot. Chris was the photographer and my iPhone was the camera (as it usually is...)

Finally, the last picture for this post! This is Chris and I out celebrating his birthday last night...

Happy Cinco De Mayo...a day late!

Xander ready for Cinco de Mayo celebrations!

Sweet Maverick (although he looks a little evil in this picture with glowing eyes!)