Our Anniversary Weekend

Doug and I had such a nice anniversary weekend. If you don't know, we are celebrating our number 16. We started it off by getting my hair styled Thursday afternoon (I have to get pretty for my hubby). Katie also wanted her hair cut as well. Oh my gosh! With her hair cut short, she looks so much older. She's not a baby anymore. I've got mine cut just below my shoulders and I had to wash away the grays - YUCKY!

Friday, Katie and Colton went home with Millard and Peggy for the night. They absolutely love spending the night with their grandparents. My parents took us to the Red Lobster for supper. Oh, it was sooo good. I had the wood grilled salmon and snow crab legs. Yum! I was stuffed. Afterwards, we drove to Doug's work to show dad the Mariner and a plant (building) that practically got blown away from the April storms. Back at home, we visited for awhile and they left around 8PM.

"Celebrate Cullman" went on until 10PM that night. We debated if we should check it out or not. Why not? I have to say that it was a lot of fun. We arrived in downtown around 8:30PM. We saw about 3 bands playing on a few street corners, while we were walking the streets. People were everywhere having a good time. There were a few shops still open, so it was fun getting to look around, finding deals. Monograms Plus had a few items that were 50% off, but you could tell that they had been picked through. The things that I would have liked, didn't have the size or style that I wanted. Ugh! We did go ahead and get a couple new Tervis lids for our cups. I had the opportunity to check out a couple new stores, "Healthy Wellness" (I think that's the name) and "Etc, by Nikki". "Healthy Wellness" is a new organic shop, filled with unique items such as sweet potato corn chips, which was pretty good. I've been looking for pine nuts. Yeah, they had them. "Etc by Nikki" is a great little shop and I will definitely be back to visit them. They have everything from jewelry, shoes, some clothing, knick knacks and lots of unique University of Alabama merchandise. I didn't get to look over everything, but from what I did see the merchandise was priced very reasonable. The shop owner went on and on about how well they did in sales that day. I hope our little town will have more of these little festivities.

Saturday, Doug and I went to Cracker Barrel for some hot cakes (on my end) for breakfast. From there, we did a little shopping. Visited a few shops in town that we haven't visited in quite some time. We just had a wonderful time overall. I was in the mood to cook. If you like pork chops, may I suggest having the chops smoked. We got ours from Smith Farms. They have the best smoked pork chops that melt in your mouth. All we had to do was slap those babies on the grill and do it's magic.  I made my Squash Casserole , boiled new potatoes and mini apple pies for dessert.

What gave me the idea to make apple pies at home was seeing them at Smith Farms. They had a section filled with individually wrapped mini pies of all types. My favorite of pies would have to be chocolate and closely followed by apple. If you've been keeping up with my blog, you should know that I'm all about semi-homemade. I love shortcuts in cooking, so I may spend more time with family. Here is the way I made the apple pies.

Mini Apple Pies
Ingredients
Can of your favorite pie filling
Cinnamon Sugar spice
Roll of Pie Crust
Confectioners Sugar
Egg Wash
Flour of dusting the counter top

• Roll out the pie crust onto a floured surface.  Cut out 4x4" squares.  Re-roll the trimmings.  I was able to cut approximately 10 squares from one box of pie crust. 
• Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of each pastry.  Sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar spice on top.
• Dip your finger in a little water and get the edge of two sides of the square moist, not too wet.  Fold over one point over the filling in to shape your pastry into a triangle. Gently press the moist sides together.   
• Dab your fork into some flour and make teeth prints with your fork along the edge of the pastry, sealing the pastry together. 
• Make slits on top of the pie for vents.
• Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash.  Bake on 350 degrees for approximately 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Dust baked pies with confectioners sugar.

These pies were real good serviced with your favorite ice cream. 

Peggy was telling me how her mother use to make chocolate pies like the apple pies that I made.  She described the process to me.  Of course, good cooks in that day and time didn't go by recipes.  So, to the experimental kitchen we go.  I have plans to succeed in baking chocolate pies.  Wish me luck!

Last night was the Tornado Bowl at Cullman High School, City vs. County Schools.  The football game was played by former student players from ages starting at 25 years and older.  My niece's husband, Zayne, played as well.  Whitney and Zayne are expecting their first baby (boy) this October.  She's been concerned about him playing because her baby needs a daddy.  We've all been teasing him about playing.  Whitney's made sure to have Zayne finish all that he needs to be done before the game.  LOL!  We drove by the football field to find out that the City won 46 - 14.  Natalie and Whitney let me know that Zayne did play and he didn't break anything.  LOL!