El Reno Fair

Last night Blake was booked to sing at the Canadian County Free Fair in El Reno, OK. We haven't done many festivals or fairs so we're still learning "the ropes" and fair etiquette.  I have to drop my manager-control-freak-ishness and be totally go with the flow, less we be labeled "hard to work with".  Which is fine, as long as I remember that going into each event :)  Last night Blake's start time was unsure, with an estimate to start around 8:15 PM.  Blake got up to sing around 8:50pm, so that is an example of how we have to adapt to fairs' timetables.  They're liquid.  Also, typically, fairs/festivals get exasperated if you try to bring your own equipment.  This results in Blake having to be VERY flexible with not knowing what type of sound he's going to get, and if he'll even be able to hear the track to sing along, or hear himself to know if he's on pitch.  Most places, you never know.  You just do your set, hope they liked it and get off the stage!  Last night was enjoyable though, even though the crowd really thinned out by 9pm.  Blake sang after the talent show ended and the staff took their time getting Blake's track machine plugged in, so after the 5 min of silence while they hooked in cords, people started clearing out.  But!  That is how it goes.  Once Blake started singing, everyone stayed.  He's good :)

Here are some pictures I got.  I got to be onstage running his tracks while he sang.

New Niece

I have a new niece!!  Blake's brother Brent and his wife Lori had their second baby this past Saturday.  She was 11 days overdue, can you imagine?  But, Lori's labor was super easy and she has had such a good time with new baby Greta.  I've been excited because I had good practice with their first baby, Millie, so I felt so much more confident holding Greta.  Here are some pictures:

Greta Ann, born 8.21.10 at 5:20 pm...9 lbs 10 ozs 21 3/4 inches

First Bath

Aunt Jenna!

Lately

I haven't posted in a while.  Mostly because nothing really has been going on.  My sister in law is mucho pregnant.  She was due Aug 10, and the little girl is still not coming out!  The dr checkup yesterday said the baby should be born today.  So, we'll see.  We really hope the baby comes today, my sis in law is ready to not be pregnant anymore!!

I've discovered a song I just really like:  Here In This Moment by Beckah Shae - it's so creative! It sounds like 3 girls are singing, but it's just one :) Kinda techno and fun. I've been listening to it on repeat.

I haven't done anymore decorating.  We haven't decided what our next step is.  I still have some Home Depot giftcards left, so I think I'll get some driveway lanterns since it gets so dark out there.  But, we'll have to get an electrician to install them b/c I have no idea how to do that!!

Blake went golfing with my Dad and brother this week.  He's been golfing maybe once before in his life?  He had fun, but last night he was flat on his back, a disk out of place, so he's pretty out of commission right now.  The chiropractor couldn't even really adjust him because he was so bad, so they did some electrotherapy to loosen the muscles so Blake can come back on Monday for a real adjustment.

Anyway. I'm bored at work.

Breakfast Casserole

 New favorite casserole!!  I'm so glad I found this recipe.  I really liked it.  I got compliments on it from the girls, and Blake liked it, too.  I tweaked the original recipe a lot since the comments on the recipe all agreed on how to change it.  Here's what I did:

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey (sage-flavored*, see directions for seasonings)
• 1 bag (or 4 cups) frozen hash browns with onion and pepper in it (Ore-Ida brand)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted - (or use spray butter over the hash browns)
• 12 ounces mild Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 (16 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese, reduced fat
• 8 large eggs

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch square baking dish.
2.  Place ground turkey in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown.  To make the turkey *sage-flavored* add these spices, then drain, and set aside:

• 2 tsp. ground ginger, 
• 2tsp ground sage
• 3/4tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Pinch of cayenne pepper, or Red Pepper flakes

3.  In the prepared baking dish, stir together the shredded potatoes and butter. Line the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the mixture. Bake for 30-40 min, or until potatoes are cooked.
4.   In a separate bowl, mix the turkey, Cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and eggs.
5.  Pour over the potato mixture. Sprinkle some more cheese lightly on top.
6.  Bake another 30 minutes, or until firm
7.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Verdict: I give it 4 out of 5 stars!!  I'll say, the sage flavor really makes the turkey taste like sausage but it's a whole lot better for you.  I loved the potatoes and all the flavors.  I think if you salt and pepper the eggs that would also help add some more taste to the egg part.  I liked that this casserole was mild, but flavorful.  And it didn't have to have real sausage-Yuck.

Tea Party Recap

So my tea party was so fun!  I highly recommend having one if you have a couple of girlfriends you'd like to have over for some "girl time".  The girls were good sports and wore their sundresses and brought their teapots and tea cups.  I did a good job on the food - but I have to admit, I made too many different options to sanely pull off.  I had to call Blake in the kitchen to help a lot and he was not happy about that.  He normally helps really good, but this time he griped the whole time.  Oh well.  So, note for next time: only make a doable amount of choices!  It was specifically the 3 different tea sandwiches, they were more time consuming to make than I anticipated.  Here was what my menu ended up being:

-Muffins
-no bake cookies
-spinach pinwheels
-Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
-Almond Chicken Tea Sandwiches
-Pineapple Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
-Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts appetizers
-Turkey Sausage Breakfast Casserole 
 -fruit plate of apples and bananas

I ended up not making the muffins because I forgot about the spinach pinwheels with the oven time - so I had to choose between them.   The no bake cookies, the spinach pinwheels, and the casserole were my favorite!  The casserole was a hit out of the park.  I'll post a second blog about it after this, all to itself.  The tea sandwiches were okay, the cucumber one was actually the best.  Blake said it was his favorite out of the 3.  I think the pineapple cream cheese one would have been better had I measured out the ingredients, same with the almond chicken ones.  I just eyeballed them because I was trying to get everything done, and so the flavors weren't balanced right.  But, they were good choices if you want to throw your own tea party.  The cucumber ones were pretty darn good, but they don't keep well.  I had a couple leftover and blech.  Soggy.

Here are some pictures!

My teaset from Craigslist :)  I had splenda, sugar, and milk available.

This is the blue teaset Blake got me for my birthday one year :) I begged for it.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the layout without the stupid foil. Oh well!

The foil was covering the bacon waterchestnuts :)

The girls' teasets

Talking, waiting on my neighbor to come over :) You can see the layout better here.

Everyone is here!

My girls :)

Tea Party

I'm so excited!  I'm hosting a Tea Party tomorrow at my house :)  A while ago a friend and I had been talking about girlie things and I said I wanted to have a tea party.  She said she'd come if I did - so I planned one!!  I just invited a couple friends nearby and my neighbors - didn't want it to be too overwhelming for me for my first one :)

I am having each guest bring a cute teapot, a teacup, and at least one bag of flavored tea they want to try.  Oh, and to wear a sundress for the occasion.

This is my fare I'm preparing:

-Muffins
-no bake cookies
-spinach pinwheels
-Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
-Almond Chicken Tea Sandwiches
-Pineapple Cream Cheese Tea Sandwiches
-Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts appetizers
-Turkey Sausage Breakfast Casserole

I'll be sure to blog about what was good - and hopefully nothing will not be good :)  I made sure to try to a sweet thing, tea-ish party things, a hearty thing, and a salty thing.  Not a lot of each, just a little.

One key tip I've discovered to having a successful food event that doesn't stress me out because I'm making so many different foods, is to write down a "timeline" of the foods I'm preparing so I can see exactly at what time I need to be preparing things, and at what time to stick foods in the oven.  This also helps you notice if you're planning dishes that will conflict in cooking times -especially at Thanksgiving! You can see what foods you need to pick something else to make sure your oven schedule all works out.

I'll blog about it next week how it went!