Tippy Tuesday

Apparently Tippy has a twin that made his appearance at her Daddy Rocky's house.

Tippy Tuesday

Mama, there are times I really don't like you.

I decorated for fall.....y'all!

Well, it's fall and I usually don't do much decorating except maybe a wreath.  This year, I thought I'd add a couple more things to my fall decor since fall is my favorite season.  Don't get too excited.  I promise I didn't go all out.  

I started out with this measly little centerpiece.  I just dumped out all the balls, added some raffia, fake leaves and gourds and called it a day.  Nothing special.  I wanted to go out and find some cool branches but never got a chance to since I don't live in a forestry neighborhood.  

Moving on to the bar.  This is a new addition to my house.  I'm still on the market for a mirror above it and a tall, skinny lamp or maybe even a pair of lamps.  It's still a work in progress but I like the fall decor I added to it.  I already had the silver vase and the things coming out of it came from the Dollar Tree.....yep, el cheapo! 

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you probably saw this one already.  I snatched this up at Kroger for just a few dollars as soon as they had their Halloween stuff out.  The best $4 I ever spent!

On the other side, I threw this pic of Tippy in a frame.  This was her first Halloween photo shoot and I'm pretty sure it's my fave.  She already had all of the makings of a bat: teeth, ears....black.  All she needed were wings and she was all set!  The photographers still talk about this costume!  

Moving on to outside.....I whipped up a wreath for super cheap as well.  I bought the wreath at Hobby Lobby and everything I added to it either came from Dollar Tree or I already had.  Yeah, everything probably cost a total of 7 or 8 bucks.  

Then I had to do something with my pots outside.  I absolutely love love love mums but since I'm not so good with that whole watering thing, I thought I would go easy on myself and buy some faux pumpkins at Hobby Lobby (at 40% off), glue them on top of each other, add some raffia and be done with it!

Easy enough!  Wow.  With all these fall decorations, I may have to go out and buy a storage bin specifically for fall decor!

Cooking Challenge...Pinterest Style: Baked Cauliflower & Chicken Tortilla Soup

I have given myself a new challenge.  With all of these delicious recipes I pin on Pinterest, I have decided to not let them just sit on my boards and, get this, actually use them!  Now if you know me, I'm about as coordintated in the kitchen as a drunk donkey in an etiquette class.  So now you know why I'm calling this a Challenge.  So with this challenge, I am going to use at least one Pinterest recipe a week and tell you how I screwed it up give my review. 

It's just Tippy Tuesday, and I've already made two recipes this week!  Ambitious, I know.  The first one was Baked Cauliflower.  I've seen so many recipes with cauliflower as a potato substitute or even a pizza crust and I have yet to try them.  Let me rephrase that.....I've bought cauliflower and the other ingredients several times but I've let it rot in my fridge because I was too lazy to fix it.  I should probably mention that I've never even tried cauliflower before.  Maybe that was my hesitation.  So when I pinned this recipe where she said her husband loved them and they tasted like french fries, I was all over it like powdered sugar on my funnel cake.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but this is the pic from her website.



Via Delighted Momma



They don't look half bad, do they?  Well mine looked quite a bit crispier...some pieces were pretty much burnt.  So here's where I went wrong...

The recipe called for 2 heads of cauliflower and I only used one since I was only fixing it for myself.  So even though I cut the cauliflower in half, I forgot to cut the other ingredients in half.  Remember that drunk donkey I was talking about earlier?  Did you know that 1 teaspoon of black pepper can be super hot on 1 head of cauliflower.  Now that I think about it....did I use 1 teaspoon....or was it 2???  After I turned over the pieces so the other sides could bake, I licked my fingers and my mouth instantly started tingling!  Then I rubbed my nose and my nose started burning.  Tippy even had a hard time taking a treat from me.  Yeah, it was that bad.  So the only way I got them down was by soaking each piece in ketchup.  But they were actually really good....they just need the temp turned down a bit. 

Other than the pepper, the only bad thing about it is it made my house stink.  Not so much of a cauliflower smell (because I don't know what that smells like) but a burnt smell where I let them get so crispy.  I mean, when you keep something in the oven for an hour, it's gonna get stinky. 

The next thing I made was this Chicken Tortilla Soup. 

Via Baked By Rachel

Since it required some chopping up, I chopped everything up while my cauliflower was baking, tossed it in a bowl so that I could just throw everything in the crock pot this morning before work.  Once I got everything in the crock pot, I decided to add some black beans.  I love me some black beans!  I turned my crock pot on high and it was ready when I got home for lunch.  I noticed that it was very "brothy" so I ended up spooning out a lot of the broth.  I think it was supposed to be brothy but I'm not much of a soup eater anyway and the only way I'll eat it is if it's more chunk, less thin stuff....kinda like my body type.  Then I thought it might taste a little bland so I added a pack of taco seasoning that I had on hand.  I'm not sure I can give you an accurate review because I burned my taste buds off. When will I learn to let my food cool before I take a bite?  Between the peppery cauliflower and the hot soup, my tongue has had a rough 16 hours.   

In order to accurately review the recipes in my Cooking Challenge, I've come up with a rating scale:

1 - Dear recipe, RIP. Laters, Shari

2 - I'll cook it again....if I'm cooking for someone I don't like.

3 - Eh, if I already have the ingredients, I may whip it up.

4 - I like you, but I'm not in love with you.

5 - Get in my belly!

So how did I rate my first two recipes?

Baked Cauliflower: 4
Chicken Tortilla Soup: 3.5

There ya have it!  Let me know if you try any of these recipes.  I'd like to know what you think.  :)

Tippy Tuesday

My mom told me over the weekend that Pupperonis are bad for dogs!  That has been Tippy's treat of choice for the last 4 years of her life.  Apparently it causes kidney failure in dogs, so if your furry four-legged friend eats Pupperonis, throw them out! 

I broke the news to Tippy that she couldn't have any more Pupperonis....and...she didn't take it too well. 

Tippy Tuesday

Snug as a bug in rug blanket.

Tippy Tuesday

I think I failed you all....I promised pics from Tippy's birthday party and all I got were two pics of the decorations and cake.  I tried to get a pic of all 3 dogs around her cake, but do understand how impossible that was?  She had a monkey and banana theme since sometimes I call her my little monkey.  I also made some tacos....I always have Mexican for her birthday.  She (I) opened presents and I think all the dogs had a good time.

Since I didn't get any other birthday pics, I thought I'd share this one again since it makes me laugh so hard.