fall festivities & new gf's

Welp....it's November already. Time makes no sense because I don't know how that happened. Fall is one of the best seasons of the year, but it's also the craziest because it's football season! (Will do an entire post dedicated to Easton and the T-birds next.) I just had my final show at Tuacahn on Halloween night. I had so much fun extending my Tuacahn season by playing the "giggle girl" in THRILLER. It has been a great six months, but it will be nice to spend more time with my dude now (who is currently in North Dakota at a game). Even though it's been a bit hectic, we've still managed to squeeze some fun into our Fall. 

  @ Thriller w/ friends and fam @ "meet 'n greet" after the show

Brad & Nikki Sorensen, Trevor Everett, Kevin & McCall Clements

 Henna & Teisa Brown, Fatu and Brittany Moala

Tannon and his gf Jessica

More Thriller pics:

We also had a fun Halloween themed night on the Sunday before. We ate "dinner in a pumpkin", made gourmet caramel apples, and played some silly games while we watched the Broncos and a scary movie.

                         Trevor won the "Skittles Game!" The rest of us just got sick from it :)

During the past couple months we also got some visitors who came to watch shows/games. Here are some pics of a hike we took before a game and a day trip to the canyon with Tyler and Meaghan during the Pedersen family reunion. SUCH a great Fall aka Autumn. The weather has been a gem :) 

                         

 *SEGUE:  Moving on to the domestic side of things...I made some fun Halloween wreaths and have some new gf recipes! 

Dinner in a Pumpkin:

Ingredients:

1 Medium pumpkin*

1 lb lean ground beef (turkey)

2 cups brown rice

1 serving of gf cream of chicken soup (see recipe from previous post)

2 cups chopped veggies (celery, onions, green pepper, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, etc)

1 T soy sauce

Cut off the top of the pumpkin and thoroughly clean out pulp and seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees - Saute veggies in large skillet. Add meat then brown.

Add Soy Sauce, soup, and cooked brown rice - Mix Well

Spoon Mixture into cleaned pumpkin shell. Replace pumpkin top and place entire pumpkin on a baking sheet.

Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender

After you scoop out the yummy stuff inside.. don't forget to scrape out the insides of the pumpkin! It tastes just like Spaghetti Squash!

*Check the size of your oven to make sure the pumpkin will fit! 

Monterey Chicken:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. bar-b-que sauce ( I use Bull's Eye)
1/4 c. real bacon bits
1 c. colby and jack cheese, shredded
1 14 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained (canned with green chilies added)
sliced green onions
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out chicken breasts to flatten. Season with pepper. Grill chicken until no long pink (we used our George Foreman grill) and place on baking sheet covered with foil. Top each chicken breast with one tablespoon bar-b-que sauce, 1/4 c. cheese, 1/4 c. tomatoes, green onions and one tablespoon of bacon bits. Place in oven and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).

***Twe marinated the chicken breasts before cooking and they were great. You don't have to though. Marinade: 1/4 c. olive oil, 2 T. soy sauce, 2 tsp. McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. (We only marinade about a half hour or the meat gets too salty for us.)

Chicken and Rice Bake:

Ingredients

• 2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 4 cups Cooked Brown Rice
• ¾ cups Frozen Corn
• 15 ounces, fluid Can Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt (or Sour Cream)
• 4 ounces, fluid Can Green Chilis
• ½ cups Salsa
• 1 cup Low-fat Cheddar Cheese, Plus More For Topping

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients  and mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure the yogurt and cheese are stirred in throughout the entire bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and top with extra cheese if you would like. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

To make this process easier, I used Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. 

GF S'more Bars:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp gf vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose GF flour (I used featherlight because it can be replaced cup for cup)
• 3/4 cup GF graham cracker crumbs (found these at the health food store, but would be fine without)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Thanks for being a part of our journey, enjoy the rest of this beautiful fall season!