Christmas Cards

Here are our Christmas Card pics! Merry Christmas from the Cassells!

Walking in Memphis!

Brett and I headed to Memphis a few weekends ago to visit our friends that just moved there. We had so much fun! Here are some pics and what we did!

First we toured Gracelend. We've been to Memphis countless times but somehow never made it to this popular tourist locale. It was a lot smaller than what I expected but I loved all the retro decor! I'm so glad we went but I doubt I'll go back. I think its something you only need to do once.

Then we stopped and had lunch at Gus's which is famous for fried chicken and 40's, so we had both! Seriously, they had some of the best fried chicken I've ever had!

Then we headed out to Beale Street and started the night a Silky O' Sullivans and had their famous 'Diver' which is 'guaranteed to make you go down'. Brett wasn't fond of the Diver so we had to buy him a girly pink drink.....

Good times with great friends in Memphis! It was also Einstein's first road trip and he was such a good little traveler!

Viking Cooking School

A few years ago I went to a fundraiser sponsored by Cat Cora, so I got to meet with her and talk for a bit and she told me about the Viking Cooking School in Greenwood. Ever since, I've been dying to go there for a girl's trip but just never got around to it. Recently they opened up another one in Jackson so me and two of my girlfriends decided to try it out. It was tons of fun. You don't get to partake of the wine as much as the one in Greenwood but you will still learn a lot. Our meal consisted of Asparagus Bisque with Lump Crab (my favorite dish), Salad with Grilled Mushrooms, Porterhouse for Two, and Chocolate Raspberry Decadance. Here are some pics.

My first Bakerella endeavor!

If you are not familiar with the Bakerella blog, check it out. I saw these cute ghost cake pops on her blog and had to try it out. There is actually tons of cute halloween ideas but these looked pretty simple. They were simple BUT they were time consuming. You bake a red velvet cake and crumble it up, then mix it with a tub of cream cheese icing, roll it in balls, refrigerate, and then dip it in vanilla almond bark. I stuck them in styrofoam in a flower pot and tied a halloween ribbon around it then covered the foam in candy corn. It looked very festive. I sent them to Brett's office and he said they went over very well. Here are the pics.

Easiest Roast Ever!

My old sorority president posted on facebook recently that she was making a Pepperoncini Roast and I just love all things peppery so I got the recipe. It really was the easiest roast I have ever made and it was really good. Thanks Emily!!! I recommend serving it over rice. (The peppers taste pretty darn good too if you enjoy eating peppers like I do.)

Pepperoncini Roast

Salt and pepper all sides of your roast and place it in your crock-pot. Pour one jar of pepperoncini peppers (with juice) over roast (use whole peppers). Add 2 teaspoons of minced garlic to crock-pot. Cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 5-6 hours. Enjoy!!!

Baked Penne with Italian Sausage

This is one of mine and Brett's favorite recipes! It's such a nice change from spaghetti. I got it off of allrecipes and then made a few minor changes. We like it a little spicy, but if you don't, you can go with a mild sausage. I love recipes that call for wine too....so I can have a glass while I cook. I wouldn't want to waste it!!! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
1 (12 ounce) package dry penne pasta
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound hot Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onion

1 package sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup wine (red or white...I use whatever I'm drinking at the time)
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with garlic
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Place sausage and onion in the skillet and cook over medium high heat until almost brown. Add mushrooms. Once meat is browned, drain excess fat. Pour in wine, and cook for 1 minute, stirring, to deglaze the pan. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes , tomato paste, and seasonings. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss with cooked pasta, and place in a 9x13 inch greased baking dish. Mix in 1 cup of the mozzarella then sprinkle the rest on top. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Picture from allrecipes.com

Beginning Week 4 of 16 on Running Plan

Wow...I'm in the fourth week and sticking with it! So far, so good. I was wrong about how many weeks it is though. It isn't 10 weeks, it is a 16 week program. For me, the slower the better. The only way I'll stick to it, is if I can actually meet the weekly goals. I'm doing really good so far, but I'm currently only having to run 6 of the 30 minutes. Hey...you gotta start somewhere! I found the plan online at a site called beginner triathalete. Here is the plan if any of you other non-runners out there are interested in giving it a try. I am currently in my last week of Phase 1! Also, if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!
I still hate running though......that doesn't seem to be changing.

Stories from our September

Another busy weekend. Wednesday was Einstein's Homecoming Dance at doggie daycare. He wore a little bowtie and looked adorable. And, guess who got homecoming king? That's right. My little demon ball of fur.

Thursday I did another sips and strokes class! I'm officially addicted. I love it. This time we did a Fleur De Lis.

Saturday morning before the USM game was Miss's birthday party. Miss is a pit bull who belongs to my friend Sam and is even more spoiled than Einstein believe it or not! She made a homeade doggie birthday cake from scratch and the doggies loved it! My friend Kelly brought her two pugs and her pit bull and one of her pugs just fell in love with Miss and that had several intense make out sessions. It was hilarious. I wish I had pics of that part but unfortunately it was raining outside and I didn't want to get my good camera wet. Of course Einstein was in attendance and he was soooo bad. I really think he wanted to eat my friends toddlers. We may have some major hurdles in front of us when our own kids come along! Bad dog!!!

Liven up your lumpy leftover mashed potatoes!

I found this great recipe on allrecipes to make those leftover lumpy mashed potatoes yummy again! I made a few minor changes and included them below.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups mashed potatoes
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup diced fully cooked ham
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup whipping cream
Fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
Combine the potatoes, garlic salt, 1/4 cup ham and 1/4 cup cheese in a mixing bowl (add a little milk if it's too lumpy). Spread into a greased baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining ham. Fold remaining cheese into whipped cream; spoon over ham and top it off with some fresh ground pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Picture from allrecipes.com

They tasted like some creamy au gratin potatoes when all was said and done. Way better than second day mashed potatos. You could also add some onions if you like. Great recipe to play with. Hope you enjoy!

I believe hell is lined with treadmills set at 7.0 mph....

Okay, so I TRY to workout on a semi-regular basis but just don't seem to be getting anywhere so I have decided to attempt to train to run a 5K. Note that I absolutely despise running and believe it is truly Satan's chore! I found a training routine online called Couch to 5K in 10 weeks and will update you on how well it works. It seems pretty simple, but we will see. Now I realize some people can just jump up and run a mile even if they haven't worked out in year.....yeah....I'm not one of those people. Literally, I have to build up to be able to even run a quarter of a mile. It's that bad. This plan begins with walking for 30 minutes a day for the first week....so this is a good start for me. I can handle that! I did my 30 min walk 3 times a week last week. Yay me! This week....the running starts. I'm avoiding the treadmill because I had built myself to run a mile on the treadmill then tried to run on the street and it was a no go. Apparently it is waaaayyyy easier on a treadmill so I don't want to get spoiled. I'm going to tough it out and do this baby on the road. Week two you walk for 27 min and run for 3 minutes (not necessarily consecutively) three times a week. Last night I walked a while....ran for 2 minutes...walked one minute ran one minute then finished out my walking minutes. Yay me! I did my three minutes. Is this sad or what? How am I ever going to be able to run a 5k by Thanksgiving? Ugh! Oh well....10 weeks and I am going to give it my best shot! I will be doing my 27 walk/3 min run again tomorrow. Go me!

Happy Birthday Darlin'

Well I turned 31 this Saturday. I'm definitely at the point where birthdays just suck now but if you discount getting older.....I had a really fun weekend! It started on Thursday night where we did a Ladies night 'sips and strokes' class at Paasche's. We had such a blast. The owners are super friendly and they do an amazing job! We painted flowers and had way too much wine. I highly recommend one of these classes for your next girl's night. All of our paintings turned out very nicely too! I'm hooked!Saturday consisted of sausage bread from Jody's for breakfast (mmmmmm), a little shopping, a little 'craftiness', and a surprise trip to NOLA to the melting pot for dinner!!!! We had the whole shabang... cheese fondue, lobster, filet mignon, and the yin yang chocolate for dessert. Delish!!!!
















Sunday we went to Gulfport with my parents for lunch at Emeril's fish house (shrimp and grits, of course) and then my mom and I hit the outlet mall while dad and Brett played around at the casino. Very fun weekend! Is it bad that most of the weekend revolved around food?

Shrimp Boil and a Boat Ride

What a busy weekend! Friday night we had a shrimp boil/diaper party for some of our friends that are having twins. My friend Sam got the shrimp at a place in Picayune and they were HUGE. She did a great job cooking them. They were oh so yummy and I'm wishing I had some right now. She used fresh lemon, garlic, onions, and crab boil to season them and we threw in corn, mushrooms, sausage, and potatoes for side dishes.




Saturday Brett and I went with my parents to Lake Bogue Homa to take Einstein on his first boating adventure. At first he was loving cruising around but then when we started going fast he just wanted to lay down. I think his eyes were bothering him, maybe he needs goggles. :) I decided to take a ride on the tube and he was not a fan. He was barking (yelling) at me and you could tell he was rather angry. I'm sure he was just worried who would feed him if I fell in the water and got hurt.




Now it's back to the grindstone. Booooooo!

My news is NOLA.....

We spent the weekend in NOLA with the family doing 'touristy' things that we haven't done in ages. We got up early Saturday morning and drove down to New Orleans making a pit stop at Paul's Pastry in Picayune. First stop, Magazine Street where we browsed my favorite grocery store, Whole Foods, then we made a stop by the doggie boutique Petcetera and purchased some gourmet treats for Einstein, then we has Nacho Mama's for lunch.



Next, we went to the aquarium. I had forgotten how big it was! By the time we were finished with the aquarium we were pooped so me, Mom, and Peyton went to the hotel and took a nap while Dad and Brett made a casino run. After we Brett finally drug my dad out of the casino we went to dinner at the Gumbo Shop. Yuuuummmmyyy! I got some seafood gumbo, crawfish salad, and bread pudding. Everything was delicious. We then walked around Bourbon for a little bit and had a hurricane....or two..... then off to bed we went. We got up early Sunday morning and walked down to Cafe Du Monde for some warm beignets before heading to the zoo.

I've always loved the New Orleans zoo with the white tigers. Last but not least, we made yet another stop at Whole Foods to eat lunch and pick up some dinner so we wouldn't have to worry about cooking when we got home. Very fun weekend!

Babies everywhere!

We had a weekend full of all things baby. Friday we had a baby shower at work. After work I went to eat with my little godson Charlie who lives in Jacksonville. His first birthday is coming up so this was his birthday celebration weekend in Mississippi. He's such a doll! After dinner we attended a shower in honor of some friends that are having twin girls, then Saturday we hosted a shower for our friends Grady and Anna who will be having a baby boy very soon. Babies babies babies! The shower went really well. I found an idea for a game online and it was really fun. I got about thirty pics of celebrities when they were babies and then the parents-to-be baby pics and put them on a collage and everyone had to match the 'stars' with their baby pic. It was really hard but a wonderful game to get men and women involved. The parents-to-be won the prize (Target gift cards) so it couldn't have worked out better. Here's a pic of the game and a pic of the very involved competitors. :)


























Okay, so I'm still not really sure I'm ready for my own babies yet, but seeing all the excitement in all our parents-to-be friends' eyes sure makes me a little envious....and holding sweet little Charlie just makes my heart melt. Maybe I'm getting a little closer to being ready than I thought......

Water dog

This weekend we had a free Saturday and decided to go for a family picnic at Paul B. Wow....was it hot!?! Brett asked me when we left if we were going to take Einstein swimming and I was like...no way....he won't even get in his baby pool I bought him. Wrong! We walked him up to the side of the lake where he proceeded to drink his weight in dirty pond water. There were tons of people out on boats and jet skis so they were creating waves that were coming up and splashing on him.....he didn't seem to mind. Next thing we know he plops down and is laying in the water. At this point we decided he was soaking wet so we would just let him do what he wanted....he started creeping on out deeper and deeper and next thing we know he's swimming off. His first time ever to go swimming and he seemed to love it! Now I am getting ready to order him a life vest and take him out on my dad's boat. Can't wait! However....next time he will NOT be drinking dirty pond water......that made for a not fun Sunday. :)

Einstein turns 1!

Einstein turned 1 year old on Friday so of course we had a BIG weekend of celebrating! Friday night we had a family celebration and let him open a few of his presents.







We took him to get a KFC chicken strip and then a kid's frozen custard from Bop's. His favorite foods in the whole world! Then Saturday we had a birthday party and invited some of his friends! We had a Bone Hunt, a sit contest, and an ice cream eating contest. He had so much fun! Everyone found a bone in the hunt, and Miss, the pit bull, came in 1st in the sit contest and the ice cream eating contest. May the Pug came in 2nd in the eating contest and Bailey, Einstein's biological mommy came in 2nd in the sit contest. Blue the chiuaua had to leave early because he got in trouble. :(




















It was such a funny party and all the dogs seemed to have a good time! Sunday I took him to his Grandma's house for a visit because if he could talk....I know that's what he would have said he wanted to do for his birthday!!! :)