.......................Ratatouille

Several weeks ago, I made homemade Ratatouille. Well - a version of it anyway! I don't think anyone knows exactly what the original French recipe was anymore. It turned out so good, I thought I would share some pictures of it. If you would like the recipe, let me know & I will e-mail it to you. I have it in PDF format, so I can't put it on the blog. This is a great summer dish because it uses a lot of fresh veggies. It's a versatile dish...you can serve it over rice, pasta, chicken, as a side by itself, etc. I of course served it over pasta (I'm a pastaholic). It was so YUMMY!!!

.......................Happy Bday cuz!!

My cousin Casey celebrated her 30th birthday on Saturday!! Since her hubby was in Texas, she threw a girls only pajama party! Everyone brought an appetizer and wore their favorite PJ's while we ate & played games and enjoyed plenty of girl talk!! It was a blast. Rebecca Townsend - we played the Scene It 80s edition and I TOTALLY needed you on my team!!!!! LOL!!

Some pictures from the party:

My beautiful cousin & her precious little Jagger

This is us playing Scene It. It was SO hard!!!


Sweet smiles


My mom holding Jagger

And me holding Jagger!



The highlight of the party, by far, was Karaoke!!!! We were mostly entertained by Casey, but several got up there & performed. NOT ME, mind you!!! Thanks for letting me post a video cuz - you're a great sport!! :-) And now for your viewing pleasure....Casey & April "Boot Scoot & Boogie"!!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

...............................War Eagle Cave

A couple of Saturdays ago, Jeff and I took advantage of a BEAUTIFUL fall day and went for a little hike to War Eagle cave. It seems like lately, our weekends have been spent doing housework & homework, so we are very thankful for any small opportunity to break away & enjoy the wonderful sunshine!! Which - btw - we have had plenty of last week here in NWA!! YAY! Praise the Lord for beautiful fall weather!!!!!

I came prepared to do some all out spelunking, but the cave really did not go back very far. It was just one HUGE magnificent room with a rather large creek running through it. I've never seen a creek running through a cave...it was cool!!! And it was so neat to see all the dripping water & beautiful cave formations. I wish I could have got them all on camera, but pictures don't turn out too well in the pitch black!

Here are some pictures of our outing...

The cave entrance


The creek running thru the cave




These were kinda blurry, but I was trying to get a picture of the huge room we were in. This is at the entrance looking in.

...........................Saying Goodbye

Well, the time has come for Jeff's mom to officially move to Florida :( .... Sniffle.....tear!!!!! She's been here for almost a year by herself while Jeff's step dad has been working in FL. I must say, I completely admire her ability to do it. I would have jumped ship a LOOOOOOOONG time ago!!! (and by that I mean move down there with him..not 'leave him') It's really so sad that they are moving away from Arkansas. I know a lot of people don't get along with their in-laws & this would be a dream come true for some, but I truly LOVE Jeff's parents and I utterly hate seeing them go. In fact, I can't blog too much about it or I'll probably break down into sobfest 2009!!!!

We took pizza out to their house last week to spend one more evening with them before they left. It was so weird seeing all the boxes & emptiness!!! We love you guys so much will miss you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!







Eating on camping chairs b/c all the furniture was in the moving truck!! :(



Please please pray that their house will sell quickly. I know that God has his own time frame in mind, and we can't always see the bigger picture - but they are getting to the point where they really really need this house to sell. So please say a prayer on their behalf! Thanks!!

...............................Fall Fun

We've had a beautiful fall here in NWA!! The maple trees are just gorgeous...I especially LOVE the red ones!!! Perhaps the rain has made things more brightly colored this year? I don't know - but I love it!! I will admit, however, that it is hard for me to enjoy fall because I know the next season that lies ahead....WINTER - YUCK!!!

















We joined my dad at War Eagle Creek last weekend for a picture taking outing. He's been hired by The Beaver Water District to photograph certain creeks & rivers that they are going to display in their new building. To get a good shot, he climbed on top of the Xterra while Jeff drove him in the middle of the creek. We were on a bridge, but the water was rushing over it quite rapidly (my Civic would not have made it). Oh the lengths a photographer will go!!! ...



I got a couple too, while sitting in the passenger seat. Too bad I didn't get any of the low-water bridge we were on!

Stuffed Peppers

We had a lot of green bell peppers turn ripe all at once in our garden, so I thought I would try making "stuffed peppers". I had never had a stuffed pepper & there are a TON of recipes online, but I thought this one looked really yummy and really simple. It turned out GREAT so I wanted to share it with ya'll! Let me know if you make it & like it :0)

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS
5 bell peppers
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 pkg. stuffing mix (any flavor, bread crumb or rice)
2 c. grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut off top of peppers and clean out centers. Fill a saucepan 1/2 full of water and bring to a boil. Place pepper in boiling water. Return to boiling, reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes (I would omit this step next time and just bake them. They get too soft by boiling first).
In a skillet brown 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef and drain.
In a saucepan prepare stuffing mix as directed on package. Combine prepared stuffing with ground beef; add 1 cup cheddar cheese and mix.
Remove peppers from water and drain. Place in a deep baking dish so that peppers stand on end. Fill peppers with ground beef, stuffing and cheese mixture. Top with remaining 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Place in oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Variation: Use 1 can tomato sauce and seasons with parsley and garlic salt instead of adding the cheddar cheese.

..........................................CAMPING!

Jeff and I braved the cold wet weather this weekend and went camping at the Buffalo river!! We stayed at Steel Creek and hiked to Hemmed-In Hollow on Saturday. If you have never been there, let me just warn you the trail is STEEP and extremely STRENUOUS!!! It's 2.5 miles straight down and 2.5 miles straight back up...5 miles round trip. The falls are beautiful, but my knees hurt so stinkin bad by the time we got down there, I couldn't hardly enjoy the beauty. Man, did I feel old! But I'm so glad Jeff encouraged me to keep truckin, because it really was a great hike. It was cold this weekend, but Jeff packed plenty of firewood & kept us nice & warm. Hobos for dinner on Saturday = YUMMY!!!

Me before we hit the trail...(I had no idea what I was in for!)

This is the Hemmed-In falls. So pretty!! I think the tallest in Arkansas.

There were so many pretty waterfalls on this trail. The rain really had things gushing!!

VICTORY!!!! We made it!!!! Notice my hat & scarf? It was FREEZING!!!!

The river itself

Our campsite - gotta love those bluffs!

Cute little tree frog we found on the trail. It just amazes me how God masterfully designs things. You could not see this little guy unless he moved b/c he blended in perfectly with his surroundings.

Green tree snake (surprised he was out on such a chilly day)

ELK!!! The elk were very close to the fence this time, which was awesome! I didn't get too many pictures though, because my batteries died. But if you look closely in this picture, you can see 2 huge males in the background. They went head to head in a fight over the females and we got a front row seat!!! It was pretty cool to see. We didn't stay to the end to see who won though.

A spring roaring up from the ground

A crooked old cabin we passed while exploring the area

On our way home, we ate at the Jasper cafe - always a favorite!! Then we came home & crashed! Movie + Pizza = R&R!! So thankful for a great & safe weekend!!!