Texas Fudge - A Breakfast Casserole

 Texas fudge is a delicious breakfast casserole that my Mom-in-law taught me to make.  It's easy, you can prepare it ahead of time (night before!), and everyone loves it!  Warning, there are copious amounts of cheese in this dish... if that make you nervous, look away!  If you're like me... add a little extra cheese and LAUGH.

What you need...

6 eggs

8 ounces of heavy whipping cream

3-5 tablespoons of milk 

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups of shredded Monterrey jack cheese

2 4oz cans of chopped green chillies

Get it done...

Preheat oven to 350

Beat together by hand the first five ingredients (eggs, cream, milk, & cheeses)

Spray 9x13 pan with non-stick spray

Spread chillies evenly across bottom of pan

Pour egg mixture carefully over chillies

If you are preparing ahead of time, you can stop here... or cook it about 1/2 way through.  Put it in the fridge (I don't leave it for more then 24 hours).  

Bake at 350 for 40 mins or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean

We love it, and have this regularly on the weekends, since I can just pop it in the oven when we get up.  This makes it an ideal dish for Christmas or Thanksgiving mornings, too!  It's even really amazing reheated.  I'll make us a big one on Sunday, and Todd eats it for breakfast for the first half of the week.  

Enjoy!

Mother's Day

Ahhhh Mother's Day 2013.  My first Mother's Day as a Mother of a baby girl (who is outside of the womb).  It was so sweet.

First thing in the morning Todd woke me up with coffee from my new Verismo... bliss!  Coffee is seriously like my life blood these days.  It's just the most amazing drink on the planet... and maybe margaritas...and beer... ughhh I could never actually choose between them.  

Anyways, he woke me up with coffee, a sweet sweet card, and a beautiful gift.  A few weeks back Todd had taken the most precious picture of me and Simone snoozing together.  He had that pic printed on a large canvas to be hung up in our house.  It's seriously so wonderful.  Simone is the highlight (as well she should be, pretty baby) and I'm in the background.  Gotta love a man who understands Mommy with no makeup does NOT need to be the point of focus on a huge canvas.

It's in sepia tone... picture here does not do it justice... 

After calling Todd's Mom and getting my own loving phone calls from my Pop Pop & Aunt in New Jersey. We skipped over to breakfast at The Nosh.  I know I've talked about this place before.  Their pancakes are perfection...and on top they put this amazing pecan butter.  I could eat my weight in them.

My Girl & My Feast!

Um, Sweetest Picture Ever?  Yeah, I think so!

We stopped off on the way home at the local farmer's market.  This is seriously one of my favorite things...and we are almost always running around too much to fit it in.  Todd bought me this sweet stone bracelet.  I'm in love with it!

It's soo pretty and my favorite colors!

We bought a bunch of veggies for a big salad, and also grabbed tamales.  SERIOUSLY, if you live in Ahwatukee... or you hit the Ahwatukee Farmer's Market go see the tamale guy. They are amazing.  We always buy at least a dozen... and always wish we had more!

After that we hit our grocery store to grab mimosas (needs to be added to the most amazing drink list...) and some chicken to make one of my favorite dishes Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Coleslaw.  While the chicken cooked in the crock pot, we enjoyed mimosas pool side with our baby girl.  In Arizona... that's about the only thing you want to do outside around this time of year.

Look at that HAT!

These three cuties!

That's what I like to see on the bar/grill in construction!

My father-in-law, Jim, joined us for dinner.  Whenever we have extras we invite him over, and he always is very appreciative of both the food and the time with his favorite girl in the world, Simone.  He even had a mimosa!  Gooooohead get down, Grandpa Hart!  He treated us to an Orange Leaf dessert, his favorite...and mine, too!  Simone soaked up the snuggles from Grandpa, and I enjoyed way too much frozen yogurt with sprinkles.

Orange Leaf Fun - She matched the decor... HA!

In honor of my Mom I rocked some of her gear.  Her style was the best, and I just copy her any chance I get!  I also wore my new favorite white eyelet shorts from White House Black Market.  I actually scored these at Goodwill a few weeks ago.  They are sooooo summer.  My chambray shirt is from Ross...that's where "I got it", and my pink shirt was another Goodwill find.

Mom's seagull pin, her "Michelle" necklace, and very Aztec-y earnings 

We had a great day with our sweet girl, and really coffee, pecan butter pancakes, mimosas, pulled chicken, and froyo... what more can a Mom ask for?  Oh yeah, Todd even did the dishes.  

Hope all of your Mother's Day festivities were amazing!

Where Does the Weekend Go??

Seriously, how is it Sunday night already!!!  Cream cheese chicken in the oven, and Todd's cleaning up his work in the bathroom (major renovation post to come...).  Simone's on my lap for this post already in her jammies because once I'm done here it's off to la-la-land for her.

A few quick highlights of our weekend...

Friday we Skyped with our family in Michigan, which is awesome.  It's SO DANG COOL that Simone can see her Grandma & Grandpa all the way in Michigan.  Later after dinner (Jersey Mikes Subs *YUM*), we Skyped with Todd's brothers who also live in Michigan.  Shots via Skype... pretty badass.  Friday night, sleep was rough... we won't go back over that.

Saturday found us worn a little thin, but that didn't stop my superhero Todd from putting in a ten hour workday on the bathroom.  It's looking so amazing, and I can't wait to do a post for you guys to see how much work my guy has put into it.  I'm bursting with pride.  As with any other weekend, we ended up at Lowes.  Oh, Lowe's... I Lowes you... you have so much of our money.

This is our life...and I'm more than OK with it.

After Lowe's Todd shot a few quick pictures of Simone & me out front of our house.  It was beautiful out, and Simone was laughing, so we seized the opportunity.

By our new tree purchased while I was 8 months preggers

Since we had such a rough night Friday I didn't feel like cooking and Todd saw a delivery car that said wings on the way back from Lowe's.  Which, left us one option...Native New Yorker to watch some UFC and scarf wings.  It's NOT technically a bar... so I don't feel like the worlds worst parent being there with Simone.  But, don't ask the family next to us what they thought... I overheard "bar" "with a baby" several times.  HA!  Whaaaaaaatever.

Sunday was another long day working on our bathroom for Todd, so Simone and I played.  Simone's Grandpa Hart came over for a visit with her and freed me up to do some dishes and fold clothes, SCORE!

Simone and her huge smile for her silly Grandpa!

Can't help it...

Off to enjoy the evening with Todd and get our little to bed.  Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!
x&o's

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

Simone's First Easter Basket

We had a great Easter weekend!  It was a busy one, but we had loads of fun with our family and friends!  Saturday we headed out to celebrate our friends Heather & Arlie's baby shower for little Logan, who arrives in May.  It was adorable!  We're so happy for those two and Jackson who now gets to be a big brother!

Heather & Arlie's Race Car Shower for Logan

We did up a sweet welcome wagon for baby Logan with books, outfits, diapers, bottles, etc., etc., etc..  I also found him a custom name bag for toys, diapers, whatever on Etsy.  Heather got a little hospital kit from us with candy, soft socks, hair ties, & chap stick...all of the things I HAD TO HAVE post labor.  It was really different shopping for a boy, although... it really makes me think a little Todd would be fun.  SOMEDAY, maybe...........  Anyways, between the four of us we've already married off Simone to Logan.  Poor kids, they have no choice.  

Saturday evening we caught some snacks & a quick prickly pear beer at Hillside Spot.  I even asked Todd when is the last time we didn't stop in on the weekend.  I think we're going on six weeks straight.  If you live in the area you should check it out.  And, holler at us on the patio!

Yum, BEER!

After hanging with Todd's brother & our Nephew Landon on Saturday night, Sunday morning came fast!  We hurried to get everything set up and ready to rock before our company arrived.  It was a beautiful day and the kiddos were even in the pool.  Although, I'm not sure how... it's insanely cold!  My Dad's girlfriend Julie brought over this huge playhouse that the kids could color & play in.  It was a total hit!  

A few highlights from Easter

We feasted on ham with a peanut butter & honey glaze, Grandma's party potatoes (I'll do a post with this recipe...they are amazing!) recipe is up!,  honey glazed carrots, deviled eggs, coleslaw, fruit, guac, and some peep cupcakes & rice crispy treats.  I was really impressed that everything came out great and with a wide range of tastes in our family, everyone was happy! 

Our Easter Menu

The boys even had some shenanigans going on...

When things died down and everyone headed home our family of three hung out on the patio enjoying the beautiful evening.  

Please forgive the exhausted mommy look...

Simone had a great first Easter!  Watching her enjoy time with our family and our little matching dresses made my day complete!!

Hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones! xo

Ginger Baby on St. Patty's!

St. Patty's Day is just a wee bit different with a little one!  I didn't ingest one drop of green beer... bummer.  However, my adorable little ginger (I think it's official... her hair is red right now) dressed in green made it one for the books!

 

Back up to Friday night.  Friday night sushi = fail.  The place was packed, they lost our sushi slip, and Simone was DONE after being there over an hour before our food came.  She was seriously so patient for us... and I knew the whole time that we were really pushing our luck.  Simone's cranky hour is usually between 7:30 - 8:30pm, and what do ya know... that's the extra hour we were at dinner.  Do your kids have a cranky time?  She just wants to be held, bounced, or danced around.  I love our usual sushi place, but I got totally grumpy faced (grump-a-sauras is what we call it) when they sat us at a tiny two person table in the middle of the dinner rush.  Bahhhhh, they are usually the best and I'll go back, but seriously, I'm still venting three days later because it was total crap.

 

Anyyyyways.  To make up for our failed attempt at a night out, we hit up The Nosh for scrumptious pancakes, bacon, & eggies Saturday morning.  We LOVE this place, and Simone was a blissful baby because it didn't take three fricken hours to eat! :) 

 

We hit up the Depo (the...home depo that is) for a few things we needed.  My husband is basically always doing a project (or three...) at any given moment.  Does anyone else live a DIY life?  We do, and it's messy sometimes.  But, I love his drive to always improve our home.  It's sexy... in a "This Old House" kind of way... ummm Bob Vila anyone? Ya, never mind.  We grabbed lunch, and Simone & I went shopping for my girlfriend's baby shower.

My Handy-Man in the Depo

Saturday night Todd worked on his project and I worked on snuggling the most perfect baby the world has ever seen.  It was low-key, and I'm totally down with that.

 

           Sunday-Funday arrived & Todd got some super cute green eggies made by yours truly!  I took a photo, but they looked so wrong when photographed.  I was bummed because they look super cute in person.  Meh.  After breakfast & getting Simone decked out in her green gear we headed to my Dad's for a grill & chill by the pool.  It was seriously beautiful outside.  This is the perfect time of year in Arizona... and my Dad's Girlfriend's kids even jumped in the pool, CRAZY!

 

Mommy & Simone

Daddy, Grandpa Hart, & Simone

 

Simone got her first bathing suit from Grandpa Docherty (my Dad)! Though it was much to cold for her to get In, I had to see her in it! It's obviously leopard print & pink. In honor of her Grandma Docherty! Perfection!

I mean...this much cuteness should be outlawed!

When Todd & I got home we went for a nice long walk to the store to get some beer!  No green stuff, just some Shocktop (our new favorite) and a sunset walk back home. Capped off by chillin on the patio...and Todd & Simone falling asleep together on the couch.  Life is good!

 

 

Night, world!

Wild Weekend

Our weekend was filled with a lot of fun & excitement!  Friday it was raining and hailing here in Phoenix all day.  The hail was so amazing, but it was coming down so hard it broke a few of our neighbors garage windows.  Freaky Arizona weather!  So Friday night we abandoned our cooking at home all week challenge and hit up our favorite sushi place Sakana.  Seriously, if you are looking for great sushi, amazing service, and a friendly atmosphere TRY IT!  Todd & I started going to Sakana when we first started dating, so they have watched our life change so many times.  I love taking Simone in there now, and she is definitely a little celebrity to the staff!

Todd & Simone Enjoying Family Date Night

Saturday was a pretty dreary day... but it didn't stop us from hitting our town's rummage sale.  Total bust for us, but we had fun checking it out.  We grabbed lunch at another favorite spot, On the Border for some Mexican food with my Dad, his girlfriend Julie & her kiddos.  We headed over to my Dad's after that to hang out and play with Simone.  Todd picked us up a new patio set while the rest of us bummed around the house. 

My Dad Feeding Simone

On our way home we passed by a chili cook off, so of course we pulled over to check it out.  Bummer that we missed it by an hour, but NOT a bummer that it would be back up and running on Sunday!  Since we were already starving we cruised into Panda Garden.  This little place has some DELICIOUS food.  We had a great time in there, they are very friendly and we ate so much we had to be rolled out! ;-)

A+ for Presentation at Panda Garden

Sunday we woke up talking about chili and SCORE, the weather was PERFECT!  We were so excited to get to the cook off, and it didn't disappoint.  There were thirty vendors serving their chili you could buy tasting kits, and vote for your favorite.  It was seriously yummy and we can't wait to go next year when Simone can actually try a bite, too.  Todd even pointed out that they had cotton candy (my absolute favorite naughty candy), and bought his grown-up-wife a bag. 

Simone & I at the Chili Cook Off

Finished up the weekend relaxing on our new patio set, enjoying the beautiful sunset, and dining on another family dish Spinach Pie.  I'll share the recipe soon!

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!