Thanksgiving Tour 2015

Look who is making her once a month appearance. I'm not even going to sit here and do the whole song and dance about how I miss it and make a promise to start posting again. I want too. Life is flying by and I hate no having posts go to back and read about what we've done. It is what it is and I'm just going to see what happens.

As usual, Thanksgiving for the Summers family was a marathon. Thanksgiving 2013 practically sent me into labor since Tucker was born less than a week later and Thanksgiving 2014 included 4 meals in one day.

This year we only (I say only like its normal) had 3 places to go on the actual day, then celebrated with my mom the next evening.  My mom stayed all night with Tuck and me on Wednesday so she could go to breakfast at Danny's mom's house. The 3 of us ate dinner with a special guest, My Doggie" That is what Tucker says when you ask "What is the dog's name?"

After Tucker went to bed, we drank some wine and she watched me make my famous dirt pudding since its a pretty easy thing to make and she only does easy.

Thursday morning we headed to Stop 1 at my mother-in-laws house for breakfast. Tucker's plate on the left, the 6 year old's plate on the right.

Tucker ate about half which is significantly more than everything on the other child's entire plate. After sitting around visiting for a bit, talking about Christmas lists and watching Tucker dance, we all headed out to get ready for stop number 2, which we would see some of the same guests at.

On the way out, Tucker thought he needed to be part of the nativity scene in my mother-in-laws yard. Let's also take note of the fact that its Thanksgiving in Indiana and my child not wearing a coat does not make me a bad parent since its so warm out. It was a beautiful day.

I have no pictures from Stop 2 at Danny's dad's house. It was a "technology free" event, which was pretty nice. Normally everyone older than Tucker has their phone or tablet in their hand, but not this year. The kids played games, ran around outside, and everyone chatted. I liked that rule and hope its around for Christmas.

We left there to go home and prep for the next stop. I made some corn casserole and we took the one and only picture we have from this holiday. And its a selfie. 

Stop 3 was with Danny's bonus family at a sibling's house about 35 minutes away. Since it was at 5pm, we brought Tucker's pajamas, Mickey and Minnie in hopes he would fall asleep on the way home. Apparently 1 cookie is enough to keep that kid up an hour past his bedtime, the entire 35 minute drive home and an additional 30 minutes once we were home. Who freakin knew. We all had fun though. There were a TON of kids there (there are 10 grandkids in this family, which includes Tucker) and 1 that is only 7 months older than Tucker. 9 of them are boys so I'm sure you can only imagine how loud it was.

Friday was rough. Danny worked on the mudroom (no it still isn't done) while Tucker and I played. Fire station, play-doh, markers, rubber bands, cars, crayons. That was all from like 9-11. We dealt with some toddler attitude in which I just ignored him for a bit after that. I felt bad but I was just trying to let him work it out. Danny went to workout and Tucker and I attempted to run an errand. We ALMOST made it to the store, but he fell asleep. 

Due to the toddler attitude, we went back home and of course he woke up. Duh! So, we went inside where he helped me make dessert for Stop 4 at my mom's with my brother and his fiancé. We made Mix and Match Mama's Pecan Pie Neiman Marcus bars. I brought stuff to make caramel apple sangria and that was delicious. I couldn't even taste the vodka. Or wine. That's dangerous. I think I'm going to make it for Christmas at my father-in-law's this year.

Everyone stayed all night at my mom's new place. Everyone. 5 adults, 1 toddler and 2 dogs. The bed in the guest room there is a full. Even though Tucker has a pack-n-play there, he slept with us from 2-6:30. And Diesel slept with us all night. It was not the best night of sleep I have ever gotten. Oh well.

I am glad the Thanksgiving Tour is over. I love Thanksgiving, but it is exhausting. I much prefer Christmas since our get togethers are spread out over at least 4-5 days, if not a whole week.

The rest of our weekend consisted of prepping for Tucker Paul's 2nd birthday party. I'll recap that tomorrow!

Dirt Pudding

Today I am sharing my most requested dessert. I make this deliciousness 3-4 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I sometimes even make it for Easter.  My sister-in-law and her boys LOVE this stuff. When Danny's stepmom asked me what I was bringing to Thanksgiving, which I'm not sure why she even asked since I've brought the same thing for the last 6 Thanksgivings and Christmases, I kindly responded, "*Insert SIL's name* and the boys would probably slit my throat if I didn't bring dirt pudding."

Here is what you need:
2-8oz packages of cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat. It helps me feel better about the whole thing), it helps if they are at room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar
4 small boxes of INSTANT vanilla pudding (I got non-instant one time. I was very confused when it didn't start to thicken)
5 cups of milk
1 tub of cool whip (again, I use the lite kind to help me sleep at night)
1 package of Oreos, crushed


1. Mix your room temperature cream cheese (or the cream cheese that you put in the microwave for about 8-10 seconds to make it more room temp) and the 2 cups of powdered sugar in a medium sized bowl, then set aside.

2. In a large bowl, use a whisk to mix your 4 small boxes of vanilla pudding with the 5 cups of milk. Try to get all the clumps out and whisk until it starts to thicken.

3. Scoop/scrape your cream cheese mixture into the pudding bowl, then mix it all together. 

4. Now the layering begins. It goes: pudding mixture, cool whip, oreos. I usually get 2 sets of layers in the very large bowl that I use.

Also, before you run out of layering materials, go ahead and make yourself a little cup of it. You won't regret it!

Seriously, one of the easiest things I make for get togethers. I feel like it creates a lot of dirty dishes, but its worth it. Trust me on this one!  For Christmas at Danny's dad's this year, I think I'm going to use the Christmas Oreos to make it more festive! I've also been thinking of ways to use other flavors of Oreos. Peanut butter, lemon, birthday cake... the possibilities are endless and I can't wait to try!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin and more Pumpkin

The other day I was looking in our cabinets for something sweet and as I was going through the 2 with the baking items, I noticed a can of pumpkin that I bought last fall and never used. I was THRILLED because I had just told Danny a couple days before that I was craving pumpkin pie. Not only did he not offer to go get some, he told ME to go get some. That's not the point of this post though...

I decided to see what I could whip up with this one can of pumpkin. It was one of the larger cans and I knew one of the recipes I wanted to try only needed half and the other only needed a couple of spoonfuls, leaving me with 3/4 of a can and in need of a 3rd quick and easy recipe. I wanted quick and easy because Pregnant Erin is lacking patience these days. So, here is what happened.

Saturday night I made Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Sunday morning I made Pumpkin Pie French Toast
And just this morning I made Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
... All of which turned out great!

Lets start with the cookies... all you need is: a box of spice cake mix and a 15oz can of pumpkin. Honest to God, thats all you need.

Bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. As you can see, mine are quite large so it took about 15 minutes for them to get done enough. My family has LOVED them! A few recipes I've seen have put cream cheese frosting on them, but the hubs and I agree that a dollop of whipped cream would be awesome!

Next was the Pumpkin Pie French Toast... you can click the above link for the measurements of the larger batch, but here is what I used for 4 pieces and yes I ate all 4.
4 slices of bread
1 egg
2 spoonfuls of pumpkin
splash of milk
couple shakes of pumpkin pie spice

Mix that all together until it looks like really nasty runny baby food. Lightly dip both sides into the mixture then put on a hot griddle. **When dipping, don't completely saturate the bread. My first 2 pieces were so heavy they almost fell apart and were mushy** Cook both sides until they look done then enjoy :)

Finally, the Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. I LOOOOVE variations of oatmeal, especially when they apply to the current season.

For this breakfast, you'll need oatmeal(duh), a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin, some shakes of pumpkin pie spice and vanilla wafers (or graham crackers).

Prepare your oatmeal as directed and in a separate bowl mix together the pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. I did this in a separate bowl because I wanted to make sure the spice was evenly spread throughout the pumpkin. Combine the pumpkin mixture with the oatmeal. Crush your cookies/graham crackers (the amount you use is up to you.. I used 6 vanilla wafers) then sprinkle onto the oatmeal. Give it a taste test then doctor it up as you wish. I ended up putting 1/2 a packet of Truvia so it was a little sweeter since I like sweet oatmeal.

And now that all this is over, I'm probably going to be okay with not eating pumpkin until Thanksgiving when I have a large slice of pie!

The Easiest Banana Bread I Ever Did Make

On Friday I mentioned that I wanted to make some banana bread this weekend. I purchased bananas on my last grocery trip with this intention. And it was close to a form of torture watching them sit on the counter and not slapping some peanut butter on them at some point last week. I found though that it was worth the wait. I also mentioned I didn't know whether I would stick with the tride and true recipe my old roomie gave me or if I'd try one that had been taunting me on Pinterest that claimed to be simple.

If you've followed me through any point in the last 6 months since I've been pregnant, you know that I'm all about simplicity at this point in my life. I went with the easy recipe, courtesy of Artsy Fartsy Mama. It's a 3 ingredient banana bread with an optional 4th ingredient.

Here is what you need:
- Box of yellow cake mix
- 2 eggs
- 3 or 4 ripe bananas (I used 3)
- 1/2 to 1 cup of chocolate chips (I just poured them in so I don't know how much I used)

Here's how you make it. It might blow your mind.

Mash the bananas in a medium/large bowl (one that is big enough for the cake mix).

Add the cake mix and bananas to the same bowl and mix well.

Mix in chocolate chips

Bake in loaf pan at 350* for 50 minutes (thats what it took in my oven). Don't forget to spray the loaf pan. I loaded that thing down with nonstick spray. There is nothing I hate more than gunk stuck on a pan or cookie sheet.

And you're done!

The creator of this recipe said you can bake in 2 small loaf pans for 35-40 minutes.  I also thought about putting it in my muffin pan and making muffins. I might next time. I can't wait to change this up a bit next time. I'm thinking hold the chocolate chips and add some walnuts? If I could find some peanut butter chips I'd be golden!

The banana bread was still soft and delicious as of 6:25 this morning when I woke up and needed a snack before I even thought about starting my day. There are only 2 small slices left and they are going to my brother. My mom bought Danny red velvet cupcakes for his birthday (6 to be exact) and some mini cheesecakes from Gigi's Cupcakes. We don't need those AND the rest of the banana bread. You're welcome, Drew.

I love to bake using recipes that include using a boxed cake mix.  You're letting the cake mix do the work for you. I've made cookies, cobbler, and dump cakes.  They are so simple and its great.

Let me know if you try this recipe, or have before, and loved it.

Rum Punch

This recipe is courtesy of my mother-in-law, who doesn't really drink unless she's at a Christmas party at our house.  She told me about it a few weeks before my bridal shower and offered up the recipe to my mom. My mom made it for my shower and I fell in love, along with everyone else. My friend Rachael made it for my bachelorette party a month later. The next summer I made it for myself (I shared) on the 4th of July to take to fireworks. Fast forward a little bit to this summer, and my friend Rachael is getting married. We were talking about what she was going to drink all day and she mentioned Rum Punch. I told her I'd make it for her since she made it for me.

So, like a good little pregnant girl, I waltzed through the liquor section and a couple other aisles to get the goods. Plus, its very Overman(maiden name) of me to be pregnant and STILL show up to a party with booze. You can always count on us to make sure everyone gets good and liquored up.

Here's what you need:
- 2 small cans of pineapple juice (you'll probably just have to buy a 6 pack
- 2 cans of Hawaiian punch (the sell small bottles of this like the one in the picture. Just measure out 24 ounces)
- frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
- Fifth of rum (Danny's mom never specified if it was just white rum or coconut. I'm a Malibu lover so I always use that. Makes me feel tropical)
- A pitcher, large container or something that will fit in your freezer

Ready for the directions?
Dump it all in the pitcher and make sure its good and mixed up. Yes, you dump the whole fifth. As your stirring make sure the lemonade concentrate is dissolved in case it wasn't 100% thawed. Put in the freezer OVERNIGHT! It takes longer to freeze than a normal punch because of the alcohol.

Take it out the next day, right before you leave to go to your party or right before guests start arriving. Take a spoon and break it up to make it all slushed.

It made about 1/2 of that large ass pitcher, by the time it was all slushed up and had melted a little bit.


It's almost too easy for something that delicious. I think next summer I may just make some to keep on hand. Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me!

BBQ Ribs

Saturday night we had a couple of our friends, my brother and his girlfriend over for dinner.  I've been good friends with since elementary school. We played basketball together on a travel team. After some games, our parents would take us out for ribs. At 10 years old we could eat ribs like I imagine 15 year old boys would. During the winter, her and I agreed we needed some ribs. I've made them before, and she doesn't cook anything other than toast, so it was all on me.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and you can find it HERE. If you're lazy and don't want to click around different places, I'm taking the work out for you. I also took pictures. Check me out. The original recipe has measurements for 2 pounds and 6 pounds. Since I'm lazy too I cooked for 6, you're getting the 6lb measurements. Here we go.

3 T. sweet paprika (honestly, I had enough paprika for about 1 T. I got in the spice cabinet and threw some shit in the bowl)
2 T. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste
6 lbs baby back ribs (there are 2 packages for a total of 6lbs)
3 cups BBQ sauce (I recommend Sweet Baby Rays just becuase I use it for eve-ry-thing that has bbq)
vegetable oil spray

1. Mix dry ingredients together to make the rub.
2. Cut the ribs into sections. 2 slabs cut into 6 sections very nicely.

 

 

3. Spread the rub all over both sides of the ribs. Get on down with your badself and use your hands.

4. Arrange the ribs in the crockpot with the meaty side against the walls of the pot. (5 fit around in the circle, then one on the bottom). After you put the pork puzzle together. drown it in BBQ. The recipe calls for 3 cups. I used just about the entire bottle. (if its sauce and it requires more than a cup, I just go for it.) Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 7 is just right. Anything after that? I have no experience.

 

5. Turn your broiler on in your oven. After you are done cooking, very very carefully remove the ribs and place them on a wire rack that is sitting on a foil lined cookie sheet, meaty side down. They will fall apart if you just willy nilly pull them out with tongs. Then very very carefully dump the juices into a pot. Bring the juices to a boil and let the juices reduce. (Recipe says about 15 minutes of simmering. My patience doesn't run that long and I usually give it about 8-10)

6. Brush the juice onto the boney side and put in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Take the ribs out, flip to meaty side on top, then brush with juice again. You'll put the ribs back into the broiler for about 3 minutes. Take them back out, DON'T FLIP, brush again, put back in for 3 minutes. Then do it again. You're done.

 

I don't have a picture of the final product, blogger fail I know. I'm happy to report that all plates were clean and bellies were full. My brother even said "these are great" and if he dishes out a compliment that wasn't fished for, you're onto something.

 

Hope you get a chance to enjoy these. They are the best!



Creamy Shrimp Stir Fry

First things first folks: Check out that header! I did that bad boy all by myself after I did my button through the help of Hubby Jack's tutorial! I was so proud of myself! I still want to have him design my blog sometime in the future, but my little changes will do for now.

I survived Monday.  It started off kind of rough with that whole not wanting to get out of bed thing. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that after I went to bed at 10pm, Diesel wanted to go outside at 11pm, 2 am, then at 4am whined just enough to get me out of bed and walk over to the bedroom door while he walked over to Danny's side of the bed and proceed to jump up on the bed JUST missing Danny's face by about a half a centimeter. It was like it happened in slow motion and I held my breath the whole time. Quite an eventful morning.  Although a baby requires more attention, Diesel has been a great test run.

I signed up for Erin's DietBet today on my lunch hour. I don't know who invented these things but GENIUS! I was talking about motivation the other day, and this girl is motivated by money. Hopefully in a month this picture looks a lot better. Don't mind the dog, he is such a nibshit and I normally don't weigh myself in the living room by the front door and take pictures of myself. He was all confused.

Anywho, back to Sunday. The hubs and I went on a breakfast and errands day.  We went to Bob Evans and had a decently healthy breakfast. I had an omelet with egg beaters and home fries. Not bad for 570 calories and it lasted me until late afternoon.  After breakfast we roamed around Target and picked up a bunch of random shit that we needed. It was absolutely hilarious when we checked out and Danny said in pure shock "How the hell did we come in here and just spend $100 no problem." The cashier and I both, almost simultaneously, said "it just happens." Its so stinkin' easy to just fill that cart up, not even realizing until you get to the check out and you're just like wtf happened?!

After we got home I lounged a bit, we went to Danny's dad's to visit, then came home and I started dinner. I'm pretty freakin proud of it if I do say so myself.

 Ingredients include:

• 10 shrimp, I cut the tails off before cooking
• 1 small zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 cup mini peeled carrots, I cut them in half
• small can of mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons Philadelphia Cooking Cream, Santa Fe flavor

Throw it all in the skillet and cook until shrimp is done and vegetables are tender. I removed it from the heat then stirred in the cooking cream. Picture is before the cooking cream. Serve over a cup of whole grain rice and you have yourselves a tasty and filling meal for 310 calories!

I doubled the recipe so if you're thinkin "girl's crazy if thats ALL thats in there" The hubs has to eat too so I threw enough in there for the both of us.  This was his first time eating shrimp that wasn't fried and, well, he didn't love it. He's a "texture" person.

My other accomplishments for the day were Easy Blueberry Peach Cobbler and Zumba toning sesh. The Easy Cobbler was just a bag of frozen peaches, some blueberries I had in the freezer from the fall, a box of yellow cake mix and 12 oz of Sprite Zero. Spread the fruit over the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, top with cake mix, then pour the sprite over it and bake for 30-35 minutes. Viola! 1/12th of the recipe is 164 calories. Not bad for something so tasty. I've eaten quite a bit of it and feel a lot less guilty knowing its not TERRIBLE! Zumba wasn't bad, it was just ehhh. My legs are sore and the bod got worked, but it could of gone better.

 

Time for bed! Its way past my week night bedtime.