Rodeo, Ranch and Recipes

Yesterday I shared a few bites about my weekend, but it was such a good couple of days away I have to share more! This past weekend I let my inner cowgirl come out. I went to the rodeo, a country concert and a ranch. Just call me the Pioneer Woman! A bunch of my good friends and I spent the weekend down south in Fort Worth. The city is so fun and I fall in love every time I visit. Luckily one of my best friends is from "The Fort," so I have excuses to take trips there.

The rodeo was Friday night. The fact that we had our hair done and make-up on was enough to make us stand out amongst most of the crowd. There were trick riders, barrel races, bull riding etc. 

After the rodeo we went to Billy Bob's Texas. The country bar calls itself "the world's largest honkey tonk." My friend's mom was so excited to show us one of her favorite singers. Sadly, it was his last concert because he is retiring from the music life. Josh Weathers put on quite a last show. I danced all night to songs I didn't know as well as some of his amazing covers like " I Will Always Love You."

After a "big night in the city" we headed 90 miles outside Fort Worth to my friend's ranch house. We did nothing but eat (A LOT), play games and sit by the fire. Apparently the rule is there is "no diet at the ranch," so we behaved the rules.

This brings me to the recipe portion of this post. My friend's mom and I love talking recipes and cooking when we are together. She shared an awesome orzo chicken salad and this layered hummus dip with me this summer. Today I'm sharing a recipe for Avocado Verde Dip and Onion SoufflΓ©. The avocado dip could probably qualify as healthy, as for the onion soufflΓ©, not so much. It's so dang good though you just can't think about it.

First up the avocado verde dip.

Avocado Verde Dip

Ingredients:
2 avocados
16 oz store bought verde salsa (we used this brand)
a bunch of cilantro
juice from 1 lime
1 garlic clove

Directions:
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips or as a topping on tacos or enchiladas. 

Onion SoufflΓ©

Ingredients:
3 packages cream cheese
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
2 cups parmesan cheese
1 bag frozen onions, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:
Combine all ingredients then transfer to a pie dish. Bake at 400 degrees until the top begins to brown. This can be made ahead and put in the fridge until it's time to bake.  Serve with Triscuits! 

All of this was followed by our enchilada dinner. Mini chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps, coconut bon bons and chocolate toffee were passed around for dessert. Like I said, there is no diet at the ranch.

After our dip frenzy some barre exercises were a must. It was hilarious doing push-pulls around the 2 ft. x 2 ft. countertop.

Here's to wishing it was still the weekend!

Annie

Bites of My Life

bites39.jpg
Last week was a small bite, but I'm making up for it a big bite this week! I have lots of pictures to take you back. During the week I stayed busy with school and activities, then headed south bound to Fort Worth for the weekend. A winter storm kept us from getting home by car, so we opted for the train to get back to snowy covered Norman. I'm now laying in bed hoping the second round of expected storms cancels school and my test this week. 
Recap: I got in the Valentines Spirit, had a coffee date with one of my dearest friends, my long lost OSU best friend made a surprise visit, went to my first rodeo, danced the night away at a country concert, snuggled by the fire at my friend's ranch house, almost got snowed in, rode the train and missed the whole super bowl. It was a stocked week/weekend. 
-My "little sister" was a big help with making pom pons for the DIY I posted last week.
-DIY Vday pom pon garland. Click here if you missed it.
-I love a good coffee date especially when the company and coffee are equally as good. My order was an almond milk latte!
-Thursday turned into one of the best days of the week when one of my best friends randomly came down to Norman. We dropped everything so that we could hang out all afternoon. 
-Friday a bunch of us headed down to the Fort Worth Rodeo. To say we stood out a little is an understatement, but we still played along. 
-We continued the country night by dancing and singing along with a concert by Josh Weathers at Billy Bob's. 
-A stop at Yogi's the next mooring before heading to my friend's ranch house. I ordered the greek omelet. Egg whites, feta, tomatoes and spinach!
-I posted about this card last week, then saw it in person at Urban Outfitters. It's just hysterical and so perfect. 
-Saturday night we arrived at the ranch. We wore camo,  played catch phrase and ate lots of food. Here you can see the aftermath of our dip frenzy.
-A snow storm blew into Southern Oklahoma leaving us stranded in Texas. I finally got to try out a Pure Barre class while we waited for our alternate mode of transportation, the train.
We finally made it back from a memorable few days last night. Tomorrow I'll be sharing more about my weekend so make sure and check back. For now I'm trying to stay warm inside while the streets are covered in snow outside.
xo annie

DIY Valentine Garland

It's a return of the yarn pom pons. Instead of Christmas, I'm incorporating them into my Valentine's Day decorating. Today I have a little DIY for pom pon garland!
I'm a big Valentine's Day fan. I'm not talking about the sappy romantic Valentine's Day, I like the sweet lovable Valentine's Day that means putting little notes in your friends mailboxes in the 3rd grade, wearing pink and red all day and getting chocolates from your daddy.

To make the garland all you need is yarn and a pair of scissors.
Start by wrapping the yarn around two fingers. Wrap around about 50 times. This will give you the perfect little pom pon.
Slip the wrapping off your fingers and cut a little piece of yarn to tie around horizontally.
Make sure you keep a little tail so your pom pons can be tied onto the garland later.

Now you have cutie little pom pons! Next, simply tie them onto a long piece of white yarn and cut off the tails to create your garland.

xo annie

Tuesday Pick Me Up

I told myself 6 a.m. yoga would be a good idea last night, but I knew it wouldn't really happen. My body decided to naturally wake up at 5:15 and there seemed to be no other choice but to go. Tuesdays are usually a pretty good day. They aren't Monday, and they aren't hump day, but for me they are busyyyyy. Now that I've been awake for near 3 hours I'm thinking it's going to be okay. To keep the day along I have some links for a little Tuesday treat!

Queen B just being cool. BeyoncΓ© makes Tuesdays a little better.

What food represents you? This food quiz will tell ya. I'm a sandwich which I don't really think is accurate, but take it and let me know what it says about you!

Blue, Blue and more Blue. Blue is popping up everywhere and I don't mind.

The Sugar Diet...now that's something I can get into.

A Life Size sequel. Every little girl's dream who grew up in the 90's. Fancy fast food. This guy created a blog taking a fast food meal and using only the ingredients from the meal to recreate it into fancy food.

A free online video of my favorite workout. It only takes 10 minutes! Awkward dating card. For all you in betweeners who don't know what to do with Valentine's day coming up.

Happy Tuesday!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Baby bites this week. I thought I had more pictures to show off from the week, but my camera roll was lacking a bit. 
After having Monday off for MLK it was back to the grind on Tuesday. Wednesday was full of lots of firsts. The first time I experienced a school shooting (thankfully it was just a misunderstanding and was actually machinery that backfired) and the first time I was in a halftime show. A friend and I willingly volunteered ourselves to be dunked over at an OU basketball game. It was borderline terrifying considering the guy who was dunking continually missed in the warm up.
Friday was relaxing and consisted of laying in bed with my best friend watching Captain Philips and eating a caramel sundae. Saturday was a mardi gras themed date party and reliving the days in New Orleans. Yesterday I had lunch with my mom while she was in town for a meeting and then had a Bachelor wedding/Grammy's watch party with all the gals.

-Happy hour cheese ball on our day off from school
-the BEST almond butter I have tried to date. I only bought the squeeze pack to try, but will definitely have to go back for the whole jar. My three favorite flavors in one. Vanilla, espresso and almond.
-Wednesday night's dinner. It definitely didn't photograph as well as it tasted. I used this recipe for our greek quinoa bake.
-A little Carrie inspiration for my last post and end of the week!
xo annie