26 Weeks...football & spicy pretzels!

I'm sure I have said this before, but football season is by far my favorite time of year! I love the game, I love the tailgating, I love how often I get to see my family, and I love the food! It also doesn't hurt that my birthday, Barry's birthday and now Sawyer's birthday are during football season too =)

Speaking of Sawyer, I am now past 26 weeks and she is now the length of a cucumber. I don't know about you, but I have never seen a 15 inch cucumber, but thats what my app says! She is moving ALL the time, especially early in the morning and in the evenings. Barry wakes up at 5 every morning for some reason, which is also when Sawyer has been waking up, so he gets to feel her moving around every morning...doesn't wake me up though! So much for her sleeping in...that was too good to be true!

Here I am at 26 weeks...Lori wanted to sit by me, but was not interested in looking at the camera at all!

Quite a brat.  Huge difference from when I was wearing this same shirt, different color, in my 6 week pictures!

After some shopping on Friday and a night at home we kicked off our football filled weekend on Saturday. We headed downtown, went to lunch and walked around some stores before heading to the UH vs UCLA game. This was the first non-Aggie game Barry and I had ever been too, but we had a good time and the game was great...we won!! It was too windy to take any pics (lame excuse) and Barry said his clothes were too wrinkled (lamer excuse), so this was all I got...

After that game, we came home, showered, packed and headed to College Station. We tailgated in the CRAZY wind all day Sunday (no pics again) and ate WAAAAAY too much. Barry ended up going to the game with my Dad, Michael and Brie, I hung out with my mom and a few other family members at the tailgate during the game. Sitting in a comfy chair with my feet up...yes please! They texted me quite a few pictures of the Barry & Brie photo shoot that went on during the game, but will spare Brie the embarrassment this week!

I think they had a good time...at least my Dad said he did because no one bothered him the whole game since the boys were busy driving Brie crazy!

One last thing...here is the recipe for the snack I took to the tailgate this week. I made it when we went to the beach over the summer and it was a hit then, and again this weekend. I got this recipe from Barry's mom so I can take no credit for the spicy pretzels!

1 large bag of pretzels
3/4 cup oil (I use canola...healthier than vegetable)
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder

Whisk oil and seasonings together, pour over pretzels and coat well. (I dump the pretzels into a large tupperware, pour the oil mixture on top, cover the container and tumble until all the pretzels are coated.)

Spread the pretzels onto a baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours stirring every 30 minutes or so.
ENJOY!

Dinner Party!

Barry and I have some house guests for a while, so we had a dinner party to welcome them on Friday night.  It was small...nothing fancy, but my sister Becky, her husband Michael, and of course, CORA are going to be living with us for a little while before they head up to their new home in College Station.  So we had a few friends over for dinner...for appetizer I made "fried" zucchini, then we had light Caesar salad and baked ravioli for dinner and of course we had dessert!  I made an angel food cake (which is FAT FREE!) with a berry topping that was just sweet enough and somewhat healthy...well better than cheesecake or pie anyways =)

Apparently our party was boring!

Any time you can incorporate berries into your diet, you are doing your body a favor!  Berries in general are really high in fiber (raspberries are the highest in the berry family...FYI) and a great source of antioxidants.  Antioxidants have been shown to have tons of health benefits, the biggest one being cancer prevention, because they help prevent cell damage caused by unstable molecules called free radicals. 

So...for our appetizer, I combined a few different ingredients to make a marinara sauce.  But in hindsight, for time purposes...and for less dishes, I would have just used a jar.  For the zucchini you need:

2 eggs

1/3 cup light Italian salad dressing

1 cup bread crumbs

2 zucchini, sliced

After cutting up the zucchini into circles, combine the eggs and Italian dressing into one mixing bowl and put the bread crumbs into another.

I clearly went overboard with the zucchini...needless to say we will be eating sauteed zucchini for dinner this week!

Dip the zucchini slices into the egg mixture then into the breadcrumbs and place on preheated indoor grill.  I used my George Foreman grill.  The original recipe said they would take 2-3 minutes to cook...took closer to 8-10 minutes for me.  The grill cooled off too much in between batches I guess?

Zucchini will be done when tender and slightly browned.  Serve along side marinara sauce for dipping.

Our main course was pretty much pre-made low fat cheese ravioli (for Lent), covered in marinara sauce with a little bit of water, and topped with low fat mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  Baked at 350 for about 30 minutes.

And now for DESSERT!  My favorite part of any meal...

To make the berry topping you need:

2 lbs of strawberries, chopped

1 carton of blueberries

1 carton of blackberries

1 carton of raspberries (mine unfortunately turned into a science experiment before I made this)

1/2 (roughly) cup Splenda (or whatever you like) 

1/4 cup (roughly) powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 box Angel Food Cake mix (or the premade kind you buy in the produce section)

Combine first 7 ingredients in mixing bowl, stir together.  Cover and place in fridge over night.

My phone died before I could snap a picture with all the ingredients in the bowl.  After sitting in the fridge over night the berries will have a nice glaze over them.  Prepare the cake according to package directions.  Or just take out of the container if you bought a premade one! =)

Serve each slice with a spoonful of berries on top.

Easiest dessert ever!  On a side note...I made WAY too much of the berry mixture (as I usually do with most things) so I put them on my waffle in the morning...DELISH!  And a way better option than syrup and butter!

WHEW!  That was a long one...sorry!

ENJOY!