Hamra Time

Friday, October 28, 2011

Cards Win!!

What an amazing night! The St. Louis Cardinals are the world champs after beating the Texas Rangers in Game 7 in St. Louis. It is pretty meaningful for John and I since we were both World Series babies in 1982, me actually living in St. Louis and only a month old, John here in Springfield only a few weeks old. Hamlet may still be in the belly but it still feels special! We watched the game at Big Whiskeys South with Trina, Melanie, Brent and Adrienne. Mel even brought Hamlet a gift...a mustache/teeth pacifier, hilarious!!!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Nursery Planning: Color Scheme

John and I are taking the plunge and starting the nursery. We went through paint samples from Seminole Decor Center and picked our winners.
I created a color scheme for Hamlet's nursery, which is a white, grey, yellow, espresso combo.
http://kuler.adobe.com/#themeID/1576236
Painting starts Wednesday and we'll post before and after pics soon.
j+k

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

We aren't huge Halloween fans but one thing I do love about this time of year is roasting pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin we carve. It is super easy and very nutritious. Check this out: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=82

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
Pumpkin
Olive oil
Garlic salt
Parmesan

Steps:
1. Gather seeds from pumpkin and seperate from pulp
2. Rinse and drain seeds
3. Spread out evenly on cookie sheet(s) to dry for 24 hours
4. preheat oven to 250
5. In a large bowl coat seeds with olive oil and toppings - I used garlic salt and parmesan but just salt or even cinnamon sugar are delicious options too.
6. Return back to cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes, stirring every 15-20 minutes.
7. Let cool completely before eating. If stored in an air tight container you can keep these bad boys for up to 3 months!!!
Happy Snacking!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Kitchen Experiments: Cheeseburger Ring

Sounds sort of strange, I know, but this recipe I got from my mom was surprisingly delicious! The Johnson's came over for our weekly Dexter date and I think they approved. Best part is you can really adjust the recipe to a bunch of different options. Our ideas: buffalo chicken burger ring and BBQ chicken ring.

Cheeseburger Ring

Ingredients
1/4 cup onion
3/4 lb lean ground turkey or beef
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
9 slices American cheese, divided
2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
16 slices dill pickles
3 large plum tomatoes
2 cups lettuce

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F Chop onion.
2. In frying pan, cook ground turkey with onions over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until beef is no longer pink; drain.
3. Add ketchup, mustard and 5 of the cheese slices, cut up; stir until cheese is melted.
4. Remove pan from heat.
5. Unroll crescent dough; separate into 16 triangles.
6. Arrange triangles in a circle on a 13-inch round pan or baking stone with points towards the outside.
7. (There should be a 5-inch diameter opening in the center.) Scoop meat mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.
8. Top each scoop with pickle slice.
9. Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring.
10. (filling will not be completely covered.) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Remove from oven.
12. Cut each of the remaining 4 cheese slices into 4 triangles.
13. Arrange cheese triangles over top of ring.
14. Serve with additional ketchup, pickles and mustard, if desired.

j+k

Friday, October 21, 2011

Girl's Night (+Dutch and Hamlet) Pumpkin Carving

It's almost Halloween so we decided to do a Girl's Night Pumpkin Carving (plus Dutch and Hamlet). I made some chicken chili, Katie brought over some yummy corn bread and Trina topped it off with Andy's Pumpkin Pie concretes. Anna brought little Dutch along and decided to try out a Pinterest idea and carve her pumpkin so Dutch could fit....let's just say it didn't go as smoothly as Pinterest leads you to believe.