A twist on Bubble Pizza - my mom would be so proud!

Last night for dinner I wanted to make something easy and quick. Yesterday was a tough day for us as we had Christopher's uncle's funeral to attend. After the mass, internment blessing and brunch, we were all pretty pooped. I was going to make Bubble Pizza, a recipe my mom put together when I was a kid and LOVED, but I did not have the ground beef thawed and pizza sauce available. But I could not shake the craving of the puffy buttermilk biscuits and cheese - yum. So I decided to put together a twist on our family classic - BBQ Chicken Bubble Pizza. Although I did not have chicken breasts cooked, I can a can of chicken in the pantry ready to be opened (I know...totally cheating but in a pinch it is a go to!).

Best part - my experiment turned out delicious!!! And Christopher went back for a third portion - which is how I know this recipe is a keeper. But...after doing an internet search I realized that both the Bubble Pizza my mom makes and my version of BBQ Chicken Bubble Pizza have already been created by others :( And here I thought I was being super creative - I guess great minds think alike, right? I will have to post my mom's version of bubble pizza in a later blog - it is divine!

BBQ Chicken Bubble Pizza
Makes 8 servings

2 cans of refrigerated biscuits
1 cup BBQ Sauce
2 cups cooked & chopped chicken OR 1 large can of chicken breast (a great cheat)
1/3 cup cooked & chopped Turkey Bacon
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup sliced green onions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Quarter the refrigerated biscuits and place in a large bowl. Toss the quartered biscuits with the BBQ sauce. Add the chicken, bacon and half of both cheeses. Toss and mix until well combined. Grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour the biscuit mixture into the prepared pan and spread so the mixture is relatively even in the pan. Top the biscuits with the remaining cheeses and then sprinkle the top with the sliced green onions. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check the center biscuits to ensure they are cooked through. Cool for about 5 minutes before cutting into square pieces. Enjoy!

Oink oink - this recipe is a winner!

Funfetti Cheesecake

Christopher has been begging for cheesecake; it is one of his favorite desserts. I found this recipe on Pinterest and I thought it look delicious. It is for a Funfetti Cheesecake. I mean...who doesn't love funfetti, right? Add cream cheese - SCORE! It was super easy to make; basically put the ingredients in a bowl and let the mixer do the work!

Funfetti Cheesecake Bars

Makes: 20 squares (more or less depending on how you cut them)

1 box Funfetti Cake Mix 

1 container Funfetti Frosting

2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the cake mix, butter and 1 egg together until it forms a crumbly dough. Press into a greased 13x9 pan. In another bowl, beat the cream cheese, frosting and 2 eggs together until creamy. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake batter crust. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until the edges start to pull away from the pan. Once cooled, cut into squares and enjoy!

Buffalo Bills Training Camp

Christopher and I took off for Buffalo Bills first day of training camp this past weekend. I love going to camp - it is fast paced and it is fun watching the players do the drills and practice various formations. I do laugh at how some of the fans who are watching are critiquing the players as if they are playing a real game; it is just practice fellas - take it easy.

I was super interested in seeing EJ Manuel (I mean, like who isn't in Buffalo??), our 1st round draft pick this year. He is working hard on challenging Kevin Kolb for the starting position at QB. It will be interesting to see who the Bills pick to start come opening day.

Although I will not be attending any other events, Christopher would like to go to all of them or at least the night practices.

It started to rain towards the end of practice so we did not stay for autographs, but it looks like the fans that did stay will walk away with a nice memory of camp.

Trying to Start a Personal Cleaning/Organizing Challenge

Lately Christopher and I have been talking about trying to organize an area of our home on a weekly basis. We decided first to tackle our "junk" drawer in the kitchen. I am kicking myself for not taking a "before" shot because it looks pretty awesome and has been functioning quite well since it was re-organized. These two drawers become our catch all for miscellaneous stuff. We tried to categorize the little baskets as best as we could. We purchased the blue baskets from the Dollar Tree, while some of the others we already had.

Right Drawer - electronics, gift cards, store loyalty cards, misc stuff (the middle basket), gum & mints, flashlights and then our mass envelopes.

Left drawer - pens/markers/pencils, etc, mailing supplies, memo pads, office supplies, lighters, and tools. 

Our next project is probably tackling the pantry. I feel like the pantry is an on-going project to figure out the best way to organize it. I am sure eventually we will figure out the system that works best for us. Any ideas for what works well with your family?

Less than 75 Days Until Disney!

In order to celebrate less than 75 days until our family trip to Disney World, I decided to make a special treat - Mickey Pops. They were fairly easy to make, unless you do not have the correct ingredients (like me) and turned out cute.

The ingredients are: Oreos, chocolate melting wafers, white melting chocolate and red food coloring. For the stick, I cut bbq skewers in half and cut off the point - did not want to get poked when I bite into this deliciousness. 

I melted the white chocolate and then added some of the red food coloring. I added quite a bit into order to get the chocolate to look bright like Mickey's clothing. Then I added the two chocolate melting wafers as his ears by gently pushing them into the cream filling. Once the red "pants" was basically hardened, I melted a little more of the white chocolate - no dye this time, and added the two white dots on the pants. And voila the Mickey pops are complete! I did put mine into the refrigerator for a bit to speed up the hardening process. Fairly quick and easy to make.

Eric & Amanda's Wedding

Last weekend was Eric & Amanda's wedding and it was absolutely a blast. They had perfect weather the day of the wedding (it STORMED the day before so hard power was out and streets were flooded...not good) and it was the perfect, warm July afternoon.

The groom with his groomsmen

Mom & Dad 

Aunt Pat & Uncle Don

The ceremony was beautiful. I always try to get a look at the groom when he first sees his bride...it is just precious and Eric had the biggest smile on his face when Amanda turned to come down the aisle. The bridesmaids dresses were different and cute, and looked great on all of the girls.

His first glimpse at Amanda

Husband & Wife!

Mr & Mrs. Eric Sutherland

Mom & I

Trev & I

Lindsay and I - isn't the dress cute?

Uncle Dave, Linz and Aunt Betty

Christopher and I

In between the ceremony and reception, we also went to another wedding - our friends Mike Hofer and Anna Bonkowski. They were married at Christ the King Chapel at Canisius College. It was a lovely ceremony and it was great to see so many friends from college/high school too. We also stopped at Walgreens and printed out some pictures to give to Eric & Amanda and the moms. We framed one of the pictures and gave it to each of them. It was a hit and they all displayed them at the ceremony.

The cake topper was a surprise! Precious Moments figurines of a horseback rider and fireman.

The cake was delicious!

The happy couple!

Their ceremony was at the Fairdale and was so much fun. Our favors were photostrip frames for the photobooth they rented! We all had so much fun going in and taking goofy pictures; the company had fun props for the pictures. Even the aunts got into it and took several sets of pictures. Those will be a great keepsake!

The first dance

Saved a dance for grandma! She was looking forward to hitting the dance floor.

The couple surprised everyone with a cute choreographed dance! And my brother Trevor did an awesome job with his best man speech.

At the end of a beautiful night!

It was a wonderful day and I am so excited for them and can't wait to see what the future holds! They are off to the Poconos for the week :) Welcome to the family Amanda!

Send off at the end of the night!!! Congrats!!!

Buffalo Chicken Arancini

A couple of weeks ago, Christopher and I went to the Taste of Buffalo; it is local festival that celebrates the restaurants and food trucks in the area. Each participating restaurant makes samples of their favorite dishes for purchase at the festival. It is one of our favorite festivals in Buffalo. We are so blessed to have so many each summer.

For $10, we tasted 5 items:
1) Buffalo Chicken Arancini from The Black Market Food Truck
2) BBQ Pot Roast Egg Roll from Alex's Place
3) Mango Smoothie from The Clarence Center Coffee Co
4) Garlic Pan Bread from Jack Astors
5) Crab Cake from Miller's Steak & Seafood Restaurant

All were delicious, but we could not shake our craving for the Buffalo Chicken Arancini, so we decided to make them! They are a labor of love, but ended up coming out delicious! I attached the recipe, which I have to say is my best guess since this was our first time making them. I am sure we will make them again and when I do, I will be sure to write down the recipe that time!

Buffalo Chicken Arancini
Time: About 1 1/2 hours

1 cup risotto or arborio
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
salt & pepper to taste
1 can of shredded chicken
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp onion powder
bread crumbs to coat
Canola Oil for frying

In a medium sauce pan, bring the water to a simmer (not boil). Once the water is simmering, add the risotto noodle (or arborio). Cook the risotto until the water is absorbed and the noodle is tender, there maybe extra water, if there is, drain the water from the pot. Add the chicken broth and cook the broth into the risotto. Once the chicken broth is cooked through, add the salt, pepper, chicken, wing sauce, cheese and onion powder. Continue to cook the risotto under all of the added ingredients are cooked through, cheese is melted, etc. Remove the sauce pan from the heat and let cool. Once the noodle is cooled enough to handle with your hands, it is time to make the arancini! Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and fill a shallow bowl with the bread crumbs. Scoop up a ping pong ball sized amount of the risotto mixture and form into a ball. It will be very sticky!!! Roll the ball around in the bread crumbs and then place the ball on the prepared baking sheet. Do this until all of the risotto is used. Continue to cool the risotto down by placing the prepared pan into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Heat about 1 cup of canola oil in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot, place the arancini in the hot oil and fry for several minutes on each side, until the outside turns a gold brown. It is best to work in batches doing several arancini at a time. When it is cooked through, place the fried arancini on a paper towel lined plate to absorb the excess grease and voila the arancini are ready to eat!

Christopher's Picks for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival

So I was telling Christopher about one of my previous blog posts of picking my top picks from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival...and he wanted to provide his two cents. He felt that since I cannot drink beer that my recommendations would be missing a whole category of beverages...true. So here are his top picks at the Food & Wine Festival. Note: these are the tastings from the 2012 festival.

Food:
Caribbean - Jerk Spiced Chicken Drumstick with Mango Chutney
China - Pork Potstickers
Poland - Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream
Italy - Ravioli di Formaggio all'Emiliana
Canada - Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup
Greece - Spanakopita

Beverage:
China - Tsing Tao Beer
Brewers Collection - all of the beers except for the Schofferhofer Grapefruit
Poland - Tyskie
Singapore - Tiger Beer
Hawaii - Kona Brewing Company Pipeline Porter

There you have it! Only 77 days to go!!!

Eric & Amanda's Rehearsal & Dinner

So the big day is here! Eric & Amanda's wedding day! The rehearsal went smoothly and everyone practiced their duties, etc. Both Eric and Amanda seemed so calm and relaxed at the rehearsal - they are definitely ready for the big day. I love the rehearsal - everyone is so excited!

After the rehearsal, we all headed over to Sean Patricks for a beautiful dinner reception. Aunt Betty and Uncle Dave did a lovely job planning it. The centerpieces and decorations were classy (I love hydrangea blooms!) and I thought the cupcake tower was such a great idea!

After the delicious buffet dinner and cupcake dessert, we all watched a cute video montage of Eric & Amanda. Aunt Shelly put it together and she did a wonderful job and Eric & Amanda's mothers did the narrating. Everyone loved it!

After leaving the rehearsal dinner, the sky opened up and it downpoured, thundered and lightning so bad we had to pull off the road to let the storm pass. Luckily we got home safely and our street was not flooded. Unfortunately others were not as lucky. The salons where some of the bridal party and my mother were going to to get ready were flooded! Everything is working its way out as I type this blog. It looks like the weather is clearing up and will hopefully hold off until the party begins at the reception.

Our Family is in Town!

With our big family wedding coming up, I am so excited to see so many family members from out of town. The first to arrive in town were our family from Texas. It was so great to see Uncle Don, Aunt Pat, my cousin Linda and Marty.

The first day they arrived, they wanted to have Ted's Hot Dogs, so we met them out for dinner on Wednesday. It was so great to see them and the food was of course delicious. So many family members were able to meet out and catch up that night.

Then on Thursday, they wanted to head to Niagara Falls to see one of the World Wonders in our backyard. Although I was unable to attend that, they said it was a wonderful time. At night they all headed over to my Aunt Midge's house for some roast beef sandwiches and fun talk.

On Friday, my aunts and uncles met them out at Root Five restaurant for lunch. They really wanted to see Lake Erie and they were so excited to see so much water. I guess there are not many lakes in Texas and to see the beautiful shore and so many water, they were fascinated by this. I guess it is something we take for granted living so close to it.

Friday night was the rehearsal and dinner. More to come on that in a future post, but the dinner was wonderful and they all had a good time.

Christine's Baby Shower

Man I have been bad about keeping my posts up to date! Since the last time I posted lots of exciting things have happened and I will try to address them all in the next couple of posts.

Last weekend I helped host one of my best friends baby shower! I am so excited to meet little Molly Rae. Little does she know how loved she is already. The shower was perfect. It was held at Protocol Restaurant on Transit Road and we did a brunch shower, which I really liked! The buffet was lovely and delicious and there was even an omelet station. I think every had a great time. The guests were entertained by completing little "Notes to Molly" cards. The cards had a phrase started like "I hope you grow up..." or "I hope you ignore..." They seemed to go over really well and I cannot wait to hear Christine and Brian's reaction to them. We also played Baby Bingo while Christine and Brian opened all the gifts. That seemed to go over well too. Sheryl and I put together little baskets of sort with kitchen, coffee, bath and wine themes.

Everyone showered Christine, Brian and Molly with beautiful gifts. I think they have almost everything they need off of their registry. The room is almost complete too. Brian did a great job painting the room, the dresser and putting everything together.

Christine is doing great. She currently has less than 7 weeks to go! Lauren is due in two weeks and Sheryl in 4. Theresa and Kira had their girls this past month and they are both doing well!

Caribbean Beach Resort

As we continue to countdown the days until we depart for our trip to Walt Disney World, I decided to look up all of the fun recreation and activities at the resort we are staying at – Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. We picked this resort for our trip because:

1)      Although I had stayed at this resort on a family trip when I was 13, we wanted to check this one off on the list of places we have stayed together. Plus – it was been remodeled since I visited with my family.

2)      It’s close proximity to Epcot. Since we are going for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, we wanted our transportation time to be short so we could enjoy the park more. We looked into “renting” DVC points, but unfortunately for us all of the Epcot site resorts were already booked. And we looked almost 6 months in advance!

3)      Although this is definitely a large resort, we thought the island feel would be more romantic than some of the other Disney resorts. We are going in celebration of our anniversary, so we wanted to come “home” to something peaceful and romantic after a hectic day in the parks.

After looking further into our resort, we are very excited about the following amenities/activities:

-          The variety of pools. Each grouping of rooms is named after one of the Caribbean Islands and each one has its own pool. This is convenient in case we are not close to the larger resort pool. Especially after a long day at the parks, sometimes we just want to take a quick dip to cool off and relax, but don’t want to hike it across the resort if the pool is not close to our room.

-          Beach campfires. We thought this idea was so cool and have never participated before at a Disney resort.

-          Jogging Trail. I know this sounds ambitious (and it probably is) but we like the idea that we have an option to run while we are on vacation that is outside and safe. Running on treadmills is boring and we were very happy to hear our resort has a nice trail around the property bay.

-          Centrally located food court. This will provide us the option to buy breakfast/snacks before heading off to the parks. And, according to the resort map, the food court is close to one of the bus stops – perfect!!!!

Very excited to experience this Disney resort in 3 months!