Sunday, August 21, 2011

Yummy Mexican Sundae Dessert Recipe

Meal planning is a bit easier when you create dinners around themes. Tonight was Taco Night complete with sweet corn and rice. Since the meal was quite simple, I decided to turn things up a notch with a special and oh so yummy dessert.

My Simple Mexican Sundae Recipe

Ingredients: Flour tortillas, Vegetable Oil, Cinnamon, Sugar, Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Syrup & Chocolate Sprinkles

1) Pre-heat your oil in a Fry Daddy or skillet. I used our FryDaddy since it was already oiled up from last night's dinner. While it's pre-heating, mix the sugar and cinnamon to make a CinnaSugar Mix for your tortillas.
2) Place one tortilla in the fryer basket and slowly lower it down into the oil.
3) Let it cook for 30-45 seconds-depending on how hot your oil is. You'll know it's ready when it's turned a bit golden & bubbles up.
4) Remove the tortilla from the basket & sprinkle with the sugar & cinnamon mixture on both sides of the tortilla. While the tortilla is hot, it's easiest to mold it into a bowl.
5) Add your ice cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup and add some chocolate sprinkles.
6) Enjoy!

            
 This is one sweet dessert that you should definitely try! Thanks for popping by!
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Monday, August 15, 2011

Latest Goodwill Finds

Last weekend was Super Saturday at our local Goodwill Stores, which means that absolutely EVERYTHING was 50% off.
So one of my friends and I headed out to see what we could find. It's nice to hit Super Saturday with a Wish List to keep you focused. My main goal was to find simple school clothes for my Kindergartener.

I spent just around $50 and had loads and loads of clothes and goodies for my kiddos. Polos, shirts, sweatshirts, etc for $1 each...Jeans for $2 each...shorts & pants for $1 each. I bought a dozen or so short and long sleeve polos, another dozen pairs of shorts, jeans and khakis plus a brand new bike helmet to go with my son's birthday bike and a cute little Kawasaki ride-on toy for our one-year old. 

Kawasaki Motorcyle Toy-I paid $3 at Goodwill vs. $35 at Target!

Kolt & Dad enjoying his new toy!

Goodwill shopping is SOOO rewarding! It feels great to save money & be green by buying gently used vs. brand new.
I'd love to hear about your recent Goodwill or Thrifty finds!! Thanks for popping by!



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Monday, August 1, 2011

Our Landscaping Story

I've shared our building story and figured it'd be fun to share our landscaping story too. 

Since we built our home and closed in January, our landscaping was pretty sad.

We were a bit overwhelmed at first but found that the most economical thing to do was to take advantage of free estimates. We had a few local landscape designers come out and give us a good feel for what they felt our yard needed.  From there we put a plan in place and slowly tackled our backyard with one project at a time!!

Be prepared...there are lots of pics in this post!!




March 2010-This was the view from our sunroom....awful!


March 2010-Another view of our backyard in the very beginning!


We've got our hands full-so much to do...on such a tight budget! Sigh!


Our backyard was the pits-the icky erosion control border and a muddy mess!


March 2010-Had a deck built


Kanon's so excited about our new deck-he can finally step out the back doors-yippee!!


March 2010-still nothing but dirt over here


Deck-check, but now we need some sod


Found this playset at a home that was on the market. Called the owner & he sold it to us for $1!


Found some guys on Craigslist to haul it to our house


Lots and lots of watering for our new sod


Some new sod & plants in the front too


Moments like this make our yard worth the wait. Kan loves running and playing outside.


June 30 2010-a friend helped install a paver patio to fill the space on the other side of the sunroom.


It's all starting to come together!


We wanted to connect both areas and decided to make use of the extra pavers to make a path!


View from the entry road-it's starting to look great!!

Patio paver path


Our new dining set from Big Lots! Love it-sturdy, stylish & on sale!!!

Deck was stained September 2010
 



Love our dining area...but of course I'm itching to add an area rug & some planters!! Soon Taj...soon!




First project of the Spring was the awesome pergola! Bought it at Sam's Club-loooove it!

Our little shrubs sure could use some loving!

We had these trees planted in the Fall 2010 & wanted to define the area with a mulch bed!

Tim took a day off to have mulch delivered & to work on the mulch beds!!

Ta-da...the mulch areas look great!

A close up of our Spruce trio!
 
The patio area got some fresh mulching too!
 
Love the curves in the mulch beds-adds nice definition to our yard!
 
Another view of the back area!
 
Our Goodwill chair makeover!
 
We connected the front mulch bed to the side...love it!
 

 
April 2011-it's beginning to feel much more together!


May 2011-still work to do, but we've come a LONG way!








 
July 2011-the grass has greened and is growing in!
 
We love sitting under the pergola on breezier nights! It'll be fun to roast marshmallows in the Fall!

July 2011-view of our back deck! Love the simple Dollar Tree flag that we hung in honor of Independence Day!

Front yard landscaping-love the vinyl "Welcome" decal on our front door & our Lowe's flower baskets.

July 2011-love how the grass has grown in!

Our front and side yard-finally got the sod in and it's coming together. Of course now, we're losing one of a couple of our Spruces and will have to replace them in the Fall! Landscaping is a never ending project!!

August 2011-Front view of our house/yard-looking forward to planting more flowers and shrubs next year!

My porch planters are holding up great despite the heat! Water, water and more water!

Not bad for a year's worth of work! It's still a work in progress, but our backyard is quickly being transformed into our nice little retreat-complete with an area for the kids to play, a dining space  & our pergola patio for relaxing & making S'mores on the firepit.

I'd love to hear about your landscaping projects!! Thanks for popping by!Photobucket