Bites of My Life

Well hello twenty sixteen! I hate to see 2015 go, but 2016 was easily welcomed. Last year went out just perfectly and the new year has already come in strong. With some unexpected time off from work last week, the ultimate bestie reunion, a wedding for two sweet friends, good bites and great sips, a few goodbyes and a couple hellos, it's time to get this new year cranking. 

I love the new and fresh mindset a new year brings.  My hopes in 2016 are for new opportunities, new attitudes, new challenges, new sights to see, new relationships to form and as always new recipes to try. Here's to the year of new!

-A festive yet detoxing cranberry smoothie after a week of holiday indulgences. Working on perfecting the recipe before I post it. 
-Still thinking about these popovers and planning when I'm going to make them again. 
-The most eclectic Christmas leftovers/clean out the fridge lunch.  
-Whole Foods never seizes to amaze me. Their cioppino is restaurant good. 
-Not sure if it was the 5 hour energy I took or if it was the excitement of seeing my british bestie again, but my heart was beating out of my chest. 
-You didn't come to Fort Worth unless you went to Joe T's. 
-The gift that keeps on giving arrived last week. Kathleen gifted me with a 3 box subscription to Try the World. It's basically Birchbox for international food. You can expect multiple posts about this little blue box.
-#ReadytoRock the new year. 
-Kate the great is shipping out today for a semester at sea. One last squeeze before she sets sea. 
-Resolving to get out and do more instead of letting fun opportunities pass. This meant a Saturday local brewery tour. Not pictured - all of our samples... 
-Nothing beats breakfast in bed.
-Perfect end to the week with church and lunch with dad.

Annie

See You Next Year

Looking back, 2015 was full of numerous ends and beginnings, changes and challenges. Learning how to budget, how to live on my own, how create a work/life balance, how to invest in things I want to do and suck it up to do things I don't won't to. 

Similar to the end of year review I'm doing at work, here are a few bites to review the peaks of the past year.

To start off the new year , I skied into 2015.

#KatsBrooklynBach followed soon after with a sister weekend in NYC!

Pretended we weren't just a bunch of city girls at the Fort Worth rodeo. 

Did the vegas thing, so I can now check that off my life to-do list. 

Sweet Take A Bite turned 2!

Celebrated one of many #gokrenger pre-wedding festivities.

The last hooplah with my Kappa girls before we parted ways.

Turned my tassel for the last time.

Turned 22.

Moved into my first big girl house-celebrated with homemade guac and mexican beer. 

Sis got hitched.

Obsessed with my growing family. 

Mom, dad and I hit the west coast for a few days in Newport Beach.

Fall made it's return and so did football season. 

Tucked a few skills under my belt like sushi making and flower arranging.

Only trouble when we were all reunited. 

Take A Bite got a facelift.

Hosted my first friendsgiving. 

Christmas came and went, and now it's time to shut the door on 2015. You were swell fifteen.

Annie

Popping into 2016

One of my most fun and thoughtful Christmas gifts was a popover pan. Kind of random, but it has meaning. Back in August when we went to Newport Beach we had back to back breakfasts at the most amazing little market called Zinc. One morning my dad ordered a popover. Popovers; not something you make or see in too many places but they are fantastic. They are kind of like an airy and eggy muffin. We both couldn't stop talking about how much we loved popovers and needed to make our own, only catch is you have to have a popover pan to make them properly. 

Ding ding ding I think this is the moment a lightbulb must have gone off in my dad's head. *Buy Annie a popover pan for Christmas so she can make me popovers* Whatever you want dad! Popovers can come in all different flavors and served in different ways. With jam, or butter for breakfast or just plain served with savory dishes for dinner.

After being iced in the other night, I made us some comfort food lasagne paired with popovers instead of rolls. Such a hit. Goodbye rolls, popovers just overruled you. 

I used this recipe as my guide and I love the way they turned out. It makes 6 perfectly puffed up popovers. They mention how you can make them in a muffin pan, but I haven't tried yet. I had to put my present to good use of course! You can't beat the height you get from the popover pan!

Perfect Popovers
yields 6 popovers

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. 

Whisk together the flour, milk, eggs and salt. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes. Place about 1 tsp. of butter into the bottom of each popover pan cavity. Place in the oven and let the butter get hot and melted. About 1 to 2 minutes. 

Divide the batter amongst the pan. Fill each cavity halfway up with batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the popovers are brown and puffed up! Serve immediately. 

They are best served warm, but can be reheated the next day. Serve plain, with butter or with jam. 

Now lets pop on over to 2016!

Annie

Bites of My Life

It's the calm before the storm. Not typically the phrase you would use after the holidays, but I'm talking literally here. Oklahoma got dumped on with rain and sleet yesterday, and today is bringing more sleet and snow. I've been bunking up at my parents since Christmas and the cabin fever is starting to set in. Fingers crossed the weather comes and goes so I can head down to Texas for a best friend New Years reunion. 

Reflecting back on the past week, it was a time of giving, receiving, family and friends. The holidays are so good about making me feel all warm fuzzy inside and reminding me just how thankful I am for the little life I live. 

I say this a lot, but this season of life keeps proving how I am really growing up, whether I like it or not. The hardest part recently is not having that month long break off... Celebrating Christmas Eve with just my mom and dad also shows me how I'm growing up. My sisters are off doing their own celebrations and I'm weirdly okay with it. I'm a traditionalist and don't usually handle change well. But the older I get, the more accepting I am. There are too many good things to be blinded with instead of dwelling on the constant change. 

-Just because Christmas is over doesn't mean you can't still enjoy this wintery gingerbread breakfast shake. Recipe posted on my instagram.
-Spaghetti squash is easily my favorite weeknight meal. Topped with a runny poached egg makes it even better.
-Santa requests my signature sugar cookies every year. 
-Dad got a Nespresso for Christmas and I'm reaping the benefits with homemade decaf lattes. 
-Took it upon ourselves this year to buy our Christmas PJs. This was a tradition I wasn't ready to let go of...
-Capped off the day with a Christmas meal of crown pork roast, spiced pecan salad, creamed spinach and cheese grits. 
-Ain't no party until the cocktail weenies show up. Sis and brother-in-law know how to throw one.
-Coconut water just met it's match. Picked this up while dad and I were stocking up on groceries and necessities before the winter storm hit.
-Lunch by the fire, still in my PJs, because Sunday and snow. 

Annie

Snowball Cookies

So you know that scene in Elf when Buddy gets into the snowball fight and within seconds has a whole pile of perfectly rolled snowballs? Ya so I don't really know where I was going with this except that he makes snowballs, and this post is about snowball cookies. 

Some people call them Mexican Wedding Cookies, but if you are making them around the holidays they must be called snowball cookies. Last week Oklahoma got a tiny amount of flurries but besides that we have been sitting pretty in the 60s...not okay. Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow!

Snowball Cookies (Mexican Wedding Cookies) adapted from The Domestic Rebel
yields 40 cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon
2 cups ground pecans (I bought chopped and grounded them finer in a food processer) 
2 cups flour
powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat together the butter, white and brown sugars until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla and cinnamon to combine. Lastly, add in the ground pecans and the flour until the dough comes together. The dough may be crumbly, but using a spatula or your hands work to bring it together. 

Using a cookie dough scoop, roll Tablespoon-sized balls of dough and place them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time to ensure an even cook. Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes or until cooler to the touch. Immediately roll the cookies into powdered sugar to coat.

Once cookies are cooled, send them through another light roll in the powdered sugar for a second coat. Then serve! Cookies can be stored airtight at room temperature for up to a week.

Annie