Friday Night Fight

Today for lunch I decided to go to Taco Cabana to try the $3 Cabana Bowl. I have to say that it was a LOT of food and it was really tasty for only $3. But, I think I’ll stick to my Lean Cuisines for lunch b/c I know it was NOT low in calories or fat.

Tonight after work/school we went over to Mom & Dad’s. I had bought some pretzels to try a new recipe I saw on Holly’s blog. Just FYI, when it says 9-10 cups of pretzels, that’s a little bit less than a 16 oz. bag of pretzels. I had to call Dad while I was at WalMart buying the pretzels to figure out if I needed one bag or two. We couldn’t figure it out, so I just bought two bags, but only needed one. I did a little trick and instead of 2 c. chocolate chips I used 3 squares of brown Almond Bark and then in a separate cup I used 3 squares of while Almond Bark. I microwaved them for 30 seconds and stirred them and then did another 30 seconds until they were melted. Then I got all crafty and put a sandwich bag over a teacup (as shown above). It was so slick b/c then I just put the melted chocolate in the sandwich bag and then I could use it as a pastry bag (see below) w/ no mess.

White Chocolate & Cinnamon Pretzels

9-10 cups of pretzels
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar +
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup white chips
1 Tbsp oil or shortening

Pour pretzels into large microwave safe bowl and drizzle with oil. Stir to coat. Add cinnamon sugar mixture and stir till all pretzels are evenly coated. Cook in microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every 60 seconds. Spread into a single layer on waxed paper or cookie sheets. Let cool. Melt together white chips and oil till smooth, drizzle over pretzels. Let cool till chocolate is set.

I was proud of myself and got to feel all like Sandra Lee on Semi-Homemade. I cut the tip off the baggie and used it like a pastry bag to drizzle chocolate over the pretzels.

Here’s the finished product and I do have to say that they were a really fun and tasty treat. I might make them to take around to give to the neighbor’s for Halloween.

Autumn wanted a bah bah, so I told her she had to go in bed. I went and tucked her into Nate’s bed thinking she would drink her bah bah and be back out in the living room in 20 minutes. An hour later when Nate got home from work, we went in his room and she was in a deep sleep. So cute. I went to a special store w/ Nate to look at a special piece of jewelry for a special girl in his life. All I can say is that it is GORGEOUS!!!

When we got back, Autumn was wide awake and ready to play. Dad got home fro work and Autumn treated him like one of her babies and covered him up w/ about 6 different blankets. Then she laid down next to him and covered herself up.

Nate came in and started rough housing around w/ Dad. Back before Dad hurt his neck, Nate & Dad would wrestle all the time, but now they have to be more careful. Anyways, Autumn did NOT like Nate rough housing w/ Dad. She went over to try and “save” Papa from “Mean Uncle Nate.” All she knew how to do was grab at his shirt and when that didn’t work, she grabbed his hair, which worked really well. It was cute that she was being so protective of her Papa.

We wondered what she would do if I pretended to rough house w/ Dad. I went over and just put my hands on his stomach and pretended to push on it and she freaked out. She didn’t know if she should try to get me off him or not. I felt so bad, b/c she started bawling. I guess we won’t be trying that ever again! Poor little thing!

To make her feel better, Dad made smoothies. She loves to help him, and this was a super good one. It was pina colada mix w/ pineapples. I felt like I was in Hawaii while drinking it b/c it was so tropical.

Autumn loves the scary bat that Dad bought for her a while ago, and she’ll come running in the living room w/ her hands covering her mouth. It cracks me up, so I do it back to her and we both say, “Oh, no. Scary bat!”