Fall Krispies

A few of the blogs I follow have used candy corn m&m's to create delicious looking fall treats, so I decided I needed to make something with them too. Well, first I had to find them. Apparently they are a Wal Mart exclusive and according to the blogs somewhat difficult to find. I was pretty excited when I found them at the second walmart I went too. I also happened to spot some pumpkin spice marshmallows and decided I needed to try them out too. So I went home and whipped up some pumpkin spice krispies with candy corn m&ms. They were delicious! They were the perfect fall treat and I imagine they would be delicious with a pumpkin spice latte. ;)

AFF Company Picnic

After the pumpkin patch, we went to the LA Zoo for AFF's Company Picnic. Nic attempted to hobble around the zoo to see the animals, then we went to the picnic for a bit where we ate, played Bingo and a few other games, and went crazy taking photos in the photo booth. After that, we explored the zoo some more, then came back to the picnic for more photo booth fun. :)

Pumpkin Patch

Nic went out to dinner with my dad and Justin Saturday night while my mom and I were at the recital. Then Justin spent the night with Nic and stayed over at our house. On Sunday morning, my mom, dad, Justin, Nic and I all went to Lombardi Ranch. We quickly walked through scarecrow alley (Nic was still in his boot, so he waited by the pumpkins, while we walked around) and picked out our pumpkins.

DIA Recital

On Saturday, October 15th, I went to DIA's dance recital with my mom and Amy. The theme this year was American Icon. It was fun to watch so many friends and all my dance girls that I taught last year, dance in the show. The highlight, though, was running into Ruthie on the way in. She is such an amazing person who I absolutely love. Can you believe she is 92!?! She looks stunning, her mind is still sharp and she has the best heart!

Afterwards, we went to Don Cucos, just like always. We drank margaritas, ate food and chatted with everyone.

Foo Fighters Concert

Back in June or July, I spent a few days frantically trying to get tickets to this concert. I joined the Foo Fighters fan club, I "liked" the Foo Fighters facebook page, got special codes to get tickets before they went on sale, searched Ticketmaster to the point of getting completely blocked from the site because it thought I was a scalper, and finally after two very stressful days I got Nic and I tickets to the Oct. 14th show at the Forum.

We had been looking forward to the concert for months! Nic drove us down to the Forum, while I drank vodka orange juice out of a gatorade bottle (very classy, I know). Being at the Forum brought back so many wonderful childhood memories. It was so much smaller than I remembered it, but still so comforting and familiar.

We watched the opening band Cage the Elephant, with Dave Grohl filling in for their drummer, who was sick, and then grabbed some hotdogs and beer. The concert was SO good! Nic said it was the best concert he had ever been to! The Foo Fighters rocked so hard and played for so long. They even played 7 songs for their encore. We had such an amazing time and it was definitely worth all the trouble to get the tickets.

BUNCO

My mom is part of a Bunco group that meets monthly to eat dinner, play Bunco and mainly to chat. The last few months I have been going as a sub and it is really fun! On Thursday, October 13th I went to Nicki Mertz' house for Halloween Bunco. I probable rolled about 10 three of a kinds, but no Buncos and I kept coming through right at the last second each round to snag the win. I kept joking around that I was the Kobe of Bunco winning the game right at the end. Well on the last round of sixes I rolled my only Bunco of the game! Fortunately for me, my mom's Bunco group gives a prize for last Bunco!! So once again, I came through right at the end for the win. :) This is the second month in a row I have won a prize!! I used to think I got invited back because I always, ALWAYS lost, but with this new found luck, I guess we will see if I still get an invite. ;)

Mailer's Haven Auction

Nic's work has an auction every year where employees can bid on cool prizes using pretend money they have earned throughout the year. The prizes are always really impressive and the stress/excitement of the auction is really fun. This is what we won last year and I must say we have put both prizes to good use. This year Nic won a really awesome waterproof Nikon camera that will be perfect for Hawaii! (too bad we didn't get it before the GBR excursions). He also got a $200 gift card to Ruth's Chris, a pizza stone and cookbook and some battery operated candles. Pretty impressive, huh?!

Mint Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Stuffed cookies have become all the craze and I am totally on the bandwagon, so while I was making my triple chunk mint oreo cookies I decided to try a few stuffed cookies too. I have been obsessed with stuffed cookies ever since my first oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie, and have since made s'more stuffed chocolate chip cookies, tim tam stuffed chocolate chip cookies, candy stuffed chocolate chip cookies to name a few. See, I'm obsessed! Picky Palate is where I get all my stuffed cookie inspiration from and I must admit, I'm surprised she hasn't attempted this one yet. It seems so obvious...mint and chocolate are such a perfect combination and this cookie did not disappoint. I will admit that since I was already making the other cookies I used the same chocolate dough, which was too mushy and fudgey for stuffed cookies. Next time I make these I will use the chocolate cookie dough recipe Picky Palate uses (and add chocolate chips to be extra indulgent). The extra bit of mess and challenge the dough provided didn't matter when Nic and I ate these delicious cookies though because they were AMAZING!

Mint Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mint Oreo cookies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

3. With a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Next, add in vanilla extract. Mix until blended.

4. Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture and mix until flour disappears. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough.

5. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Triple Chocolate Mint Oreo Chunk Cookies

This is another result of my food blog obsessions. I saw this on two peas and their pod a while ago and instantly knew I wanted to make it using mint oreos. I have had the mint oreos sitting in the cupboard forever, which can I just say, was torture for Nic, and finally found made some time to make them. They were delicious!! Nic said they are one of his all time favorite cookies. If you love mint and chocolate you will love this cookie.

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

adapted from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1 cup chopped Mint Oreo cookies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

3. With a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Next, add in vanilla extract. Mix until blended.

4. Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture and mix until flour disappears. Stir in chocolate chunks and Oreos. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Quick and Delicious Guacamole

On Sunday I made steak tacos for dinner. Nic was really craving some guacamole (we both have ever since we scarffed my dad's most amazing guac at Lake Mead) so I whipped some up. I didn't have his secret ingredient, Tomi's pico de gallo, and I couldn't remember the salsa my dad used, so I improvised and whipped up a similar, but not quiet as delicious guacamole. This is so simple and a really quick way to create a slightly more exciting guac. I took a packet of wholly guacamole and added some Mexican cheese and some salsa. That is it. In 5 minutes we had a delicious guacamole. Yum!