Who's Your Tiger?

Tonight is a huge game for the Tigers; in fact it's a must win! In order to get pumped up for the game, I decided to share Justin's ball delivery from last month. We went to Michigan in September for a wedding and some friends found an awesome program to honor the military.

We flew on a Friday and Justin was to deliver the ball that night. 

Unfortunately, the game was rained out! (We should've seen it coming because there were no players out before the game.) It was a disappointment, but we still were able to go on the field with Dave and Amanda. Luckily they rescheduled the game for Sunday night. It was a little crazy for me because I had planned to fly back to SA Sunday night. I had to change my flight and check with my boss to make sure it was okay that I took another day!

Justin met his Tiger!

They are now officially BFFs! (Okay we only wish.)

But they did share a conversation.

Choosing the game ball.

Walking it out! I took some video too, but I want to try to edit it a little. So hopefully when I find a spare minute from work I can work on that. Then I can upload a link so everyone can see.

On the big screen!

I'm so proud of my husband and was so thankful to be a part of this amazing opportunity.

GF Warm Cheddar & Bean Dip

On my birthday post, I gave a sneak peak picture of our football food! We had chicken tenders marinated in Red Hot sauce and then grilled. Justin and I also made a cheddar and bean dip.

I found the recipe for the dip on the back of a Glutino box of bagel chips. <--- I linked the recipe from the website, but below the box picture I also copied and pasted it, just in case the Glutino site ever takes the recipe down.

Warm Cheddar and Bean Dip

• 2 cups canned white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2  cup gluten-free beer (1/2 to 3/4 cup) or apple cider
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and cut into thirds
• 1/2  teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 2 green onions, tops and roots discarded, minced for garnish

In a food processor, combine beans, beer, garlic, cumin and salt.  Process until smooth.  Add 1 cup of the grated cheese along with the Tabasco Sauce and process just until combined. Place the mixture in an attractive, heatproof dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over the top.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with green onions and serve with Glutino bagel chips.

Here are all the ingredients for the warm cheddar and bean dip, including gluten free beer.

I was also overly ecstatic to use my new Le Creuset Heritage stoneware casserole dish. (Even though in the end it was a little too big, the dip still gave me an excuse to use it.) If you read the recipe, it even said to use "an attractive, heatproof dish."

The food processor with beans, beer, garlic, cumin and salt. The hot sauce and cheese were ready to mix in.

Right out of the oven!

I ended up scooping some dip into a ramekin, which worked out because it was sort of runny. Even though it was runny, it still tasted fantastic. I will definitely make this again! If you like beans and cheese, you'll love this dip. The bagel chips are what make it truly delicious.

It was my Birthday!

I'm so thankful that my husband was home for my birthday. Saturday was my birthday, and the day always seems much better when it falls on a weekend.

I started out the morning with a wonderful breakfast made by my hubby. He made gluten free waffles with GF Bisquick. I also had a mimosa, fresh fruit with dip, and coffee.

We enjoyed football appetizers during the MSU game. For this game we ate skinless, boneless chicken tenders and gluten free bagel chips with cheddar and bean dip.  I'll post more about this dip recipe on a later post. 

For dinner we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Las Canarias. I savored the food so much that didn't document all of the food with photos! But as usual, it was decedent and delicious. We ordered a three course meal with a wine pairing. This is me with my final course, one scoop of coffee ice cream and one scoop of pistachio gelato. 

 The handsome man who made the whole day of food possible!

I love getting free birthday desserts! Even after my ice cream, they brought out chocolate covered strawberries for me. Remember last year when we celebrated my birthday in Dallas? I enjoyed some gelato then!

After dinner we went to a musical at the Cameo Theater. We saw The Marvelous Wonderettes, which was about four girls in the 50s and 60s. Following the show, we had some drinks downtown.

We were able to meet up with some friends I made while Justin was deployed where we danced the night away.

Me & Kara

Welcome Home

After greeting my hubby at the airport (almost 3 weeks ago already!), I wanted to welcome him home with some surprises.

I bought flowers at Central Market, and I made my own floral arrangement. (Red, white, & blue flowers to be exact because I was trying to be patriotic.) I had wanted to get some star balloons too, but there is a helium shortage so I had to stick with just flowers.

I figured we would want to snack on some food before we ate a full meal so I prepared some tapas! I bought fresh mozzarella marinated in pesto, Boar's Head pepperoni, cheese & prosciutto stuffed cherry peppers, jalapeno stuffed olives, Columbus salami, and Colby jack cheese.

Of course we needed dessert too! I ordered an entire gluten free cake from Little Aussie. (We still have almost half of it saved in the freezer.) Our favorite is the tiramisu flavored sponge cake so that is what I bought.

My Life is Complete Again!

I've been meaning to update at some point in the last couple weeks, but have been completely occupied. This time my excuse for not blogging is a valid one. My hubby is finally home from Afghanistan! 

 Best hug ever!

Justin and me with the sign I made.

Love the volunteers at the airport too that welcomed home all the heroes. 

I feel such a sense of relief and truly feel like my life is complete once again. It was a difficult 6 months, but we made. This obstacle will only make us stronger. I would like to thank everyone once again for the prayers and support through out this journey.

It's almost been 3 weeks since my hubby has returned to the states. I feel like I've already done more in the last three weeks than I have in the last 3 months. We went to South Padre Island for a long weekend and to Michigan for another extended weekend. Both trips were amazing! I have so much to blog about; once we get back into a normal routine I should have more time.

I have one more amazing thing to update about. My diploma came in the mail yesterday. I officially have a master's degree!

Labor Day - Three Day Weekend

I love three day weekends, even if I spent most of my time cleaning and working on school stuff. It seems like in both said categories, despite how much you do and get done there is always more that could be done. You can clearly see what a good helper Iivana was too. I rolled up the rug to move it and she thought I created a nice bed for her.

Thankfully, I didn't spend my whole weekend working on my to do list. I enjoyed Spartan football Friday night and had the TV on college football all day Saturday. Yesterday, I went shopping for a little after getting my car cleaned and detailed! It looks brand new. I didn't feel like cooking so I decided to order take away at P.F. Chang's while I was out. I had received an email with a 20 percent off coupon code for the weekend, so I thought I'd give it another try. (I didn't like the Singapore Noodles last time.) This trip I ordered GF Chang's Spicy Chicken.

The verdict: I still wasn't impressed. No veggies, only chicken! It did come with some brown rice on the side. Plus, even with 20% it still cost 12.75! It wasn't bad tasting, in fact I liked the flavor but I just felt like it wasn't amazing. I wasn't blown away. But don't get me wrong, I love the effort that P.F. Chang's makes to accommodate gluten free diners. I know some people who absolutely love P.F. Chang's. When comparing P.F. Chang's and Pei Wei, I think I will always prefer Pei Wei.

Happy Labor Day! Short work weeks are fantastic too.

GF Lemon Cupcake Balls

A few weeks ago, I purchased some gluten free cake mix at Marshall's. Shortly after buying the lemon mix, I decided to to make some cupcakes. I figured I could practice some of my long lost decorating skills from last summer. I followed the box directions, which didn't require too many extra added ingredients.

I'm sure it was user error, but for what ever reason when I poured the batter, some of the cupcake holders started to buckle a little. They made a little indent that didn't look nice. I was hoping when the cupcakes baked, the little dent would pop back out.

 No luck though, they stayed looking deformed.

So I decided to try plan B. I crumbled all the cupcakes in a bowl and mixed them with lemon cream cheese frosting that I made from the recipe on the box as well. I would like to mention that I did try a cupcake before I destroyed the evidence. It was a good tasting gluten free cupcake: moist and lemony.

After that I rolled the mixture into balls. Then I put them in the freezer until the next day when I was ready to coat them in white chocolate. You need to put them in the freezer so the crumbs don't mix in with the chocolate when you coat them.

Then came my second failure. When I was in Michigan I saw a cute little Crockpot-like chocolate dipper at a store. I thought to myself, how perfect! I have a Crock-Pot little dipper at home that I can use. Clearly, I did no research because I poured white chocolate chips in the pot and turned it on. I didn't add any liquid. Oops. The chocolate burned and never got liquidy. Luckily the cake balls were in the freezer so there was no rush to get them coated. I probably should've used candy coating chocolates or added some oil or shortening. 

The next day, I tried round two. I melted white chocolate chips in the microwave. I read the directions on the bag so that I wouldn't burn them in the microwave too. I decided to add a little oil, to make the chocolate a little smoother. I dipped the lemon cake balls into the chocolate with a spoon. It worked out okay; I feel like some had too much chocolate. Also, they don't look the prettiest but I'll take it for my first try. I have the Red Velvet Mix still and plan to attempt cake balls again. This time I will correct my mistakes. I also want to drizzle some chocolate or dip them in sprinkles to make them look a little cuter.

But I love the idea of cake balls or pops! They are smaller in size and I have been keeping mine in the freezer. Whenever a sweet tooth craving hits, I pull the container out for a minute and take one out. It is the perfect situation for me because then I don't feel like I have to devour 12 cupcakes in a week. Gluten free products are already more expensive, so keeping them in the freezer cuts out all the waste too.