Tim’s Texas Tavern Trip

If you are from Roanoke, you definitely know about the Texas Tavern. Texas Tavern is Roanoke's own little episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; most would classify it as a tasty dive. It has been a Roanoke novelty since the 1930's, and not much has changed in the last 80 years. The "tavern" specializes in hot dogs, hamburgers and chili. You can order any of these three staples with onions, mustard, relish and/or a fried egg! Just don't ask for ketchup.

The Tavern has its own lingo too. If you want a hot dog with onions and relish, you would say, "one hot with hold the chili." If you want a hamburger with cheese and a fried egg, and a bowl of chili with onions, you would say, "a cheesy with and a bowl with." It is a learned art form.

My family, friends and I had been talking up the Tavern for quite some time, and during our February visit Dad, Donna and I decided to treat Tim to his fist Texas Tavern experience. Timothy was a good sport, but it definitely wasn't his cup of tea, or should I say his bowl of chili. I could have predicted this as he isn't a fan of chili with beans or mustard. He also didn't get the full experience either…

Most Roanokers will tell you the best time to visit the Tavern is after midnight and/or after a fun night out on the town. Tim definitely didn't get the full exposure at 8 p.m. But needless to say, he was excited to experience the legend that is the Texas Tavern.

Kelly Anne

Analogies, Oh My!

Analogies.  The Miller Analogies Test to be exact has consumed my life as of late.  You can find me buried somewhere in this book for the next 42 hours.  

More exciting posts to come soon...

Kelly Anne

Wordless (Why I Teach For America) Wednesday

Kelly Anne

Valentine’s Day Double Date Dinner (and recipes)

This year, to celebrate Valentine's Day, we spent the Saturday before the 14^th sharing a lovely homemade dinner with our couple-friends, Candice and Babak. I'm afraid that we were having such a good time eating, drinking, cooking, and laughing that I completely forgot to take any pictures of our great night!

That being said, I did snap a few photos of the recipes I prepared, and everything turned out so incredibly delicious I definitely wanted to share. Candice and Babak were responsible for the main course and dessert, while Timothy and I were to bring appetizers and wine. Candice and Babak decided on a great Giada De Laurentiis recipe, Chicken Tetrazzini. It was amazing! It was rich, creamy and, while definitely not Weight-Watchers friendly, we all agreed it was a true treat and perfect for our date night. One side note about Giada's recipe, it requires about 35 different ingredients and 35 additional steps. It is not a week night – quick fix.

Candice made a red velvet cake for dessert with a homemade – cream cheese icing. And, even though I wasn't assigned dessert, I made Oreo truffles as well.

Wine was easy. I snagged two bottles of Relax, one red and one white. If you haven't tried Relax you must! I've always loved the white (a very light Riesling), but this was the first time I've tried the red. I'm not a huge red fan, but the Relax "cool red" was very tasty. Needless to say, the white and red were enjoyed thoroughly by us all, to the very last drops.

In terms of appetizers, I decided on a sun-dried tomato cheese spread and brie-fruit pastry cups.

The sun-dried tomato cheese spread was a recipe I discovered in Taste of Home. It actually called for the cheese to be made into a ball, but (based on my last attempt at a cheese ball which resulted in chopped nuts and cheese scattered throughout my kitchen) I decided to edit the recipe into a spread.

I forgot to take prep pictures, so this is the prep aftermath: shredded cheese, cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, onion (1 tablespoon to be exact), and Worcestershire.

Mix with a hand blender until smooth.

Pop in the fridge for at least 2 hours for everything to set up.

____________________________________________________________________

The brie-fruit pastry tarts were fairly easy as well. Start with a roll of crescent rolls, but do not break apart into the pre-cut triangles. Roll out the dough and cut into squares. Place squares into a mini muffin pan.

Add spoonfuls of brie.

Top with jam of choice.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. I did get a little over zealous as I spooned the cheese and jam, so some of my filling did boil over a bit.

Cool on a drying rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

We had a great time with Candice and Babak. Good food, great wine, and amazing conversations/laughs. It was a perfect Valentine's celebration for us all. 
Kelly Anne

Registering Fun

Over the last few weekends, Timothy and I have been registering for wedding gifts. We registered at Belk, Bed Bath & Beyond, and at Target. We had a great experience at Belk and at Bed Bath & Beyond. The associates at both stores were super informative and made us feel like special guests at their stores. All that being said they still let us have our space and were not pushy at all. Target, on the other hand, was incredibly underwhelming. They literally have you type in your information on the computer and then hand you the scanner gun. I think that the associate at Target said maybe 10 words to us total. I was definitely glad we went to Belk and BB&B first; I would have been really disappointed with the whole registering experience if Target has been our first exposure. 


We had a great time scanning literally everything! Most of my married friends advised us to over-register and we did! We decided against fine-china, but we did find a great Lenox pattern that is going to be great for both everyday use and entertaining. It is definitely something we can dress up or down. We also got very excited about the flatware we picked it out; it's so grown up! We were having so much fun that I forgot photo-document our experience. I did snag 2 pictures at Belk, but that was it.

Kelly Anne

A Southern Lady Cooks, Creamy Baked Chicken

Wow, I have seriously slacked on my blogging! I have a number of recipes to share so I'm going to try and catch up this week. Sometime back in January, I attempted a 2^nd recipe from my southern lady cookbook. I had Timothy cruise through the book and pick out something he thought would be yummy, and he decided on Creamy Baked Chicken.


This recipe was pretty straight forward and didn't require my weight-watchers tweaking too much (although I did sub margarine in place of the butter). I've included some pictures below, but unfortunately I totally forgot to take a picture of the final product; you guys will just have to try it out and see the final product for yourself.

 Dry White Wine & Cream of Chicken Soup

  Mix It

  Chicken Breast

  Topped with Swiss Cheese

  Topped with the White Wine and Cream of Chicken Mix

 Topped with 1 Cup Stuffing Mix

 Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Timothy and I both loved this recipe.  I served it with a side of green beans.  It really is an easy recipe and perfect for any week night.
Kelly Anne

Toddler (flower girl) Dress Help

I need some advice/help from anyone who may read my blog.  I would like my flower girl to have a dress she can wear again; I'm not really looking for the traditional white or ivory flower girl dress.  My wedding colors are navy and apple/lime green.  The wedding is in July outside in Virginia and it will be hot!  I think I would love something with polka-dots, ribbons and/or bows.  I have found a few dresses that I like, but not in my color scheme (examples below).  

I'm hoping that someone out there in blogger-space may have a suggestion for where to find reasonably-priced toddler dresses.  Help please! Thanks in advance for your advice!
Kelly Anne