Recipe Organization

This may have been the only productive thing I did this past weekend, but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome...

Recipe Organization 101

Gather all recipes scattered around the house, stuffed into drawers, or hiding in crevices...

Buy or Make two decorative binders for...

1. Tried & True Recipes (only recipes that I've made 3 or more times will make it into this book)

2. Recipes To Try (this is where I can put all those recipes I will get to someday)

Page protectors - I almost always spill what I'm making on my recipe...this should help!

Dividers with Tabs - I had five to use...

1. Appetizers  2. Soups/Salads  3. Side Dishes  4. Main Dishes  5. Desserts

And presto...organization! 

True or False? -  I ate an entire very large bowl of popcorn while writing this post. :)  That would be 100% True.

Have a great day!

New York City

I know, I know.  I'm totally slacking on the blog posts.  Hopefully things will slow down soon, and I'll be able to check in more often....crossing my fingers!

Anyway, this past weekend we traveled over to the Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, The Empire City, The Mighty Manhattan, etc.... New York City...you get the picture.

It was a ton of fun hanging out with my hubby for the whole weekend.  We saw some really neat things, ate some really amazing food, and thanked God that we didn't get blown back to Kansas by that CRAZY wind!

Here was our itinerary on Saturday:

1. Breakfast @ Junior's near Times Square

2. American Museum of Natural History (this is where the movie "Night at the Museum" was filmed)

3. Lunch @ Patsy's Pizza

4. Shopping on 5th Ave, looking for a scarf for Brandon...can you believe not one of the 10 stores we went into had a scarf?...Hell-o! It's still winter!

5. Back to the hotel to rest.

6. Dinner @ Jackson Hole....A-MAZING Burgers.  I highly recommend!

7. Popped over to Times Square to get a peek at all its nighttime glory.

In case you were wondering how our Travelocity Top Secret Hotel turned out....not too bad.  The bed was a little hard, but otherwise a good deal for a downtown hotel.

Can't complain...it was a fabulous weekend!

Mini Peanut Butter Pies

Happy weekend, everyone! 

Please...let me introduce you to one of my favorite dessert recipes....

Peanut Butter Pie

{Photo via allrecipes.com}

This is seriously one of the easiest, yummiest recipes ever.  No baking required and there are so many possibilities with this filling.

Here's my take on the recipe...let's just say, I downsized...

First, I blended a package of Oreos and mixed in a few tablespoons of softened butter to make the pie crust.

Then, plopped the Oreo mixture by the spoonful into my mini muffin pan and pressed it down with my tart shaper thingy (I can't think of the actual name right now for the life of me!).

Next, I whipped up the Peanut Butter Pie filling....and taste-tested it, of course. YUM.

More plopping by the spoonful, topped it with sprinkles, and stuck it in the freezer...

And then, EAT!

Other uses for this filling:

1. Serve filling as a dip with apples or graham cracker sticks.

2. Put it between two chocolate chip cookies, roll edges in sprinkles, and freeze for a delicious ice cream sandwich.

3. Dip spoon into bowl of peanut butter pie filling, then insert spoon directly into mouth. 

Enjoy!

Back to School

 Yep, that's right.  Backpack, notebook, pencil...the whole shebang.....well, sort of.  

I'm taking a photography class....Intro to Digital Photography...emphasis on the INTRO.  I'm really enjoying it so far.  It's unlike any class I've ever taken (no calculators needed!).  

First assignment: A photo essay of your favorite place portraying why it is your favorite place and how it makes you feel.  

Can you guess what it is? No worries...I'll tell you at the end. :)

My favorite place: Home on a Lazy Saturday Morning.

Hope you enjoyed!

Travelocity's Top Secret Hotels

New York City....Round 2.  We decided it would be fun to go back to New York for a weekend in  February.  The last time we went was August 2008.  With it being only 2 1/2 hours away, I don't know why we haven't made the trip before this.

Last time we went, we stayed in a hotel in Secaucus, NJ and rode the bus into the city each morning.  This worked great for three reasons:

1.) we were able to park at the hotel for free rather than pay $20-$30 to park in the city each day
2.) the bus stop was right across from our hotel...EASY....and it dropped us off right in the middle of Times Square.
3.) it was about $$$ cheaper for a hotel in NJ than it was for a hotel of the same quality in Manhattan...SCORE

Well, this time around, we're taking a different route.  We took a gamble on Travelocity's Top Secret Hotel website.  It works like this...

They show you a deeply discounted Price, Date, Location/Area, Rating per real travelers (not just Travelocity), and # of stars.  Here's the kicker...they don't show you the name of the hotel until after you reserve the room.  Ahhh!...that's pretty scary for those of us who like to at least see a picture of the hotel/rooms before we commit.  I mean, I've stayed in some 3-star hotels where I thought they were probably being a little too generous when they handed over that third star....let's be honest.

Here's what we knew about our top secret hotel: the price was right (less than what we paid when staying in NJ), location in the Financial District - Manhattan, 4-1/2 smiley faces by other travelers, and 3 stars.

So, before we typed in our credit card information, Brandon and I decided, "Okay, this will be adventure and we'll take what we get and hope for best."

So what was our top secret hotel?

Eurostars - Wall Street

Never heard of it...but it looks pretty swanky!  I'm sure we could never afford its non-discounted price!

{Picture via Eurostars - Wall Street website}

We'll let you know how this story ends after we take the trip.  So far, Travelocity's Top Secret Hotel program seems like a pretty sweet deal!