Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for…

1. Always having enough food to put a meal on the table.

2. Coke. I’ve been on a Coke kick all this week and am always so happy that it’s so cheap here!

3. Having Jaime here this month. I’m glad to have someone help me out with my puppy, Mila. Also, her salty, er..yummy chicken is to die for! Seriously though I’m thankful for her company.

4. God’s faithfulness and provision. He always provides exactly what we need and at the perfect time!

 O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

1 Chronicles 16:34

  

Linking up here!

 Black Tag Diaries

The Fontenot Four

 

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Two of my most favorite things are chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. The other night, Lenny and I were in the mood for something sweet, cold and creamy, so we decided to whip up some ice cream sandwiches using the chocolate chip cookies I had made the other day and some vanilla ice cream.

What you need:

• Cookies
• Ice cream
• Melted chocolate for dipping (optional)

Take one of your cookies and place on plastic wrap. Lenny uses  a  roll of tape to keep the cookies and ice cream nice and tidy. As a matter of fact, he actually made all the sandwiches!  Just lay the plastic wrap on top of the roll, drop a cookie into the middle followed by a scoop of ice cream, and top with another cookie.  

      

I like my ice cream sandwiches chocolate covered so I melted some chocolate chips and dipped my sandwich…yummy! After dipping, set on some wax or parchment paper.

 

Pop into the freezer for a bit…

and then dig in!

Homemade Mini Corn Dogs

Mmmmmmm…I love corndogs. Unfortunately, my hubby does not, which means buying a family pack of this delicious goodness is out of the question.

So, I figured I’d break out my Babycakes cupcake maker and whip up my own personal batch! Not to mention, they’re alot healthier than your usual fried version!

What you’ll need:

• Cupcake maker (or you can just use a regular muffin pan…works great too!)
• Corn muffin mix
• Hotdogs
• Ketchup and mustard =)

Prepare the corn muffin mix as directed on package and cut up your hotdogs into bite-size pieces. Pour a bit of the batter into your muffin pan or cupcake maker, about half way. Drop in a piece of hotdog and then cover with more batter.

A side note here: Add more hotdogs if you’d like. I think next time I make these I’ll make my hotdog pieces bigger.

 Mine baked up in about 9 minutes in the cuppycake maker so just keep an eye on them!

Enjoy!

Linking up at:

Keeping it Simple

Baked in the South

Sugar Bee Crafts

Our Trip to Coyoacan

In honor of Jaime’s first weekend in Mexico City, we decided to head over to the town of Coyoacan last Saturday, a super cute little town where the Frida Kahlo Museum can be found. Seeing how Jaime is a big time Kahlo fan we thought it would be a good way to kick off her month in Mexico. That turned out to be a no go. Sad, sad day.

Darn you, establishments that only take cash!!!

Sigh…You think we would know to check these kinds of things…oh well…we’ll get them next time!

So, even though we were fuming this was a bit of a setback in our original plans, we still had a great time exploring the mercado and cutsy artisan fair, eating, and walking around the beautiful plazas =)

The mercado of Coyoacan.

   

Delicious, fresh off the press tortillas. I love how you can buy any kind of grain and as much or as little as you want at the local markets.

  

Huitlacoche quesadilla. Huitlacoche is a plant fungus that is used as a filling in quesadillas here in Mexico. This was at the top of the list on Jaime’s taste list…let’s just say this was something best left un-tasted =)

Cilantro, onion, and egg served on a blue corn tortilla with beans…yummo!

Little sis getting a braid in her hair.

  

We will be back, Coyoacan!

Braided Fabric Flowers

I was going through some of my crafty supplies the other day and found a pretty little braided fabric flower a friend of mine had shared with me a couple of years ago. I had forgetten just how much I liked it so I thought I’d whip some up today!

These flowers are pretty, quick and easy! If you know how to braid, have some fabric and a hot glue gun handy, you’re all set!

What you’ll need:

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun

First, tie a knot at the top of your fabric. Once knotted, go ahead and cut the fabric into three strips.

Next, braid that fabric! Braid all the way down to the end and use a bit of glue to secure the strips. Make sure to leave some fabric at the end. You’ll need this to glue to the back of the flower to finish it off.

 

Wrap the braid around the knot at the top and continue wrapping around and around and around =) Once you that’s done, take your hot glue gun and secure the end to the back.

TA-DA!!! You’re done!

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Check out where I’m linked up today!

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Delightful Order

Jennifer Rizzo

Thankful Thursday

Being thankful can be tough at times. When life is going the way we think it should, it’s easy to be grateful.  But the minute things start getting rough, we stop focusing on what we do have, instead complaining and obsessing about those things we don’t have.

Since moving to Mexico, I can say that I’ve experienced this first hand. I was definitely yanked out of my comfort zone with this move and it showed in my attitude. I lost sight of how good and merciful God has been with me and instead questioned why He had taken me away from all things familiar and comfortable to me. I focused on what I had “lost” instead of being grateful for what the Lord had allowed me to have.

So, I’ve decided that every week I want to post 5 things I am thankful to God for. I hope that through sharing it will encourage me to be more and more aware of all the blessings in life whether big or small and regardless of the circumstances.

And here is the beginning of my list =)

This week I am thankful for…

•  my salvation in Jesus. I would not be able to live life fully without His forgiveness and love. Without Him, there would be no point or meaning to life!

 

• my husband. He is truly my best friend. We can always have the greatest time together. He encourages me, supports me, and leads  me.

 

•  my family. I am grateful for the parents God has given me and for how they raised my sisters and myself. I feel fortunate to have two great sisters who I can laugh and talk with. I also love being part of such a loving and fun extended family; for my cousins, aunts, and uncles.

 

•  my kitchen. Yes, it is small but it has everything I need to be able to cook and bake what I love and enjoy.

 

•  my friends. I love the memories that I have created with them and for the up and downs we have gone through together.

Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

  I Samuel 12:24

Easy Peasy Guatemalan Tostadas

Sunday’s are always a bit hard on my tummy. It’s not that I’m going through anything stressful or upsetting, it’s just that by around 2:30 pm I am STARVING… that’s right, not just hungry, I am famished!

We are part of an amazing church here in Mexico city and our service usually lasts from about 11:30 ish until 3:45 pm. So, I try to prepare for this by eating a nice breakfast (bagel with loads of cream cheese and some cherries today). But by 12:30 I am super hungry!!! What is wrong with me?!?

Anywho, so on our way home Lenny and I brainstormed about what to make for dindin and by the time we pulled into our parking space we had come up with a delicious and quick meal of Guatemalan tostadas with 3 different toppings: black beans, tomato sauce, and our quick style version of shrimp ceviche (not an authentic ceviche since we cooked it but hey, it works).

Since we didn’t have any tostadas on hand, we just popped some corn tortillas in the oven for a few minutes. Easy and a lot better than frying them!

What I used:

• Corn Tortillas or tostadas
• Refried black beans
• Tomato sauce
• Shrimp
• Lemon
• Tomato
• Onion
• Parmesan cheese (t0 sprinkle on the tostadas)

What I did:

First, I popped the tortillas in the oven to get them nice and crunchy.

While those were warming up, we chopped up some onions and tomatoes.

 

We divided up the onions into two saucepans with some oil, sautéed them a bit then added the tomato sauce and beans and heated them through.

Next up was the shrimp. After cleaning and chopping them up we threw them in a saucepan and seasoned with some salt and red pepper flakes. I loooove shrimp because it cooks up so fast!

Once the shrimp was done we added the tomatoes, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

                                             

Lenny plated it all up (isn’t it super nice?!) and we sat down to a deeeeee-licious dinner! =)

                                   

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a very exciting day in Mexico City…well, for me and Lenny anyway. We spent pretty much all day getting the apartment neat and tidy for the arrival of my little sister Jaime from Cali. Of course, in true hispanic fashion we were running late and ended up getting to the airport a bit past her arrival time…teehee…we found her safe and sound, though! Whewww!

Unfortunately, due to all the excitement I got sick (again!) today and had to stay home while Lenny and the sis walked down to Starbucks.

 *Tears*

So, in an attempt to cheer myself up I have decided to chronicle Jaime’s month in Mexico and all of the different things we hope to do with her during her stay. On to day one…

Day 1: Craft Day (fabric flowers and owls)

I came across an amazing tutorial for fabric flowers on littemissmomma.com. (Thank you!) This tutorial is actually for a necklace but we decided to just make one flower and wear it as a pretty brooch.

       

I especially love my yellow one!

Jaime LOVES owls so we decided to make some keychain owls. The greatest thing about this craft? Absolutely NO sewing required! We just used my handy dandy hot glue gun. Check out NatSprat’s blog for her great tutorial on making these. Since we didn’t have the exact materials called for, we just used what we had on hand and made “mini” owls. Too cute!

All in all, we had a great craftilicious day!