Odds & Ends

Here are some odds and ends from the last few weeks

Our local Borders is going out of business and we thought we would check out any super sales they had going. We not only found this cute little "Nostalgic" pamphlet that high lights the year we were born, but we also snagged this cute little mug that I couldn't say no to for our collection.

The Bears and Penn State had a good year : )

Recently we had some friends over for dinner-which was a great excuse to do some baking-something I haven't had the chance to do in a long time.

I couldn't resist the opportunity to yet again make some GFree chocolate chip cookies, but also used a vanilla cake box mix that was also Gfree to make a layered banana cake with candied pecans and cream cheese frosting-I have a love hate relationship with layered cakes, but it ended up being a success.

In my opinion-the candied pecans were the best part!
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I'd like to blame it on my allergies-but lately my meal making has hit a slump-I usually try and make a meal each night of the week, but as seen below in a grilled guacamole, bacon, and cheese sandwich- my meals have become slightly lower maintenance.

Months ago Shane and I had some jarred vodka sauce (gasp), and it was nothing short of disgusting. I tried to convince Shane that vodka sauce isn't universally gross, but this being his first time he had trouble shaking the notion. I was convinced that I could give vodka sauce some much needed redemption!

Saturday I planned to make some Vodka penne with fried eggplant. I made my shopping list and thought it would easy from that point on.

Little did I know my journey would be a long one! I went to my local Kroger and and walked up and down the "liquor" aisle 2 or 3 times. Was I missing something, because all I could find was wine? Where was the vodka? Not only that but for some reason they didn't carry shallots either!!! Later that week I asked someone at work about the lack of liquor at the grocery stores-she informed me that down here they not only don't sell alcohol on Sunday's but they also only sell hard liquor at liquor stores-of which there are very few. Shane and I not being drinkers had no idea. Saturday Shane and I drove around running errands. We passed by approx. 10 strip malls-and no liquor stores anywhere! We finally found a "beverage superstore"-and had quite the experience-all for some pasta sauce! Finished Sauce

Eggplant

It was actually easier than I thought to make some G-Free fried eggplant. I sliced the eggplant, coated it in brown rice flour then dipped it in egg-then I dredged it in a mixture of corn flake crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasonings. I fried it up in a sauce pan with a shallow layer of oil and wallah.

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To end my odds and ends I wanted to also mention that Shane was recently promoted to be the Defensive Back's coach at Mt. View-he is super excited and is looking forward to coaching a position he knows and loves so much!!!!!!!!

-M.W.