A Visit to the Big Easy to be with the Saints

I remember years ago attending New Orleans Saints football games and they NEVER won. I remember wearing my t-shirt and being so upset because they were so bad that I'd change or wear a jacket zipped up over it to hide it after the game. This was over twenty six years ago, it's been a while.

Honey treated me to trip to the big easy and a Saints game recently and hey THEY WON!!! The game was soooo good even Honey, who is not a big football fan, enjoyed it. After the game we spent several days looking, eating, and being lazy around the big easy. The weather was really cool but not as cold as it would have been in the Hills.

Here are photos from our trip, enjoy our stay in the Big Easy!

It's time to go let's follow the crowd for once!

Click on any photo to enlarge!

Let me introduce the New Orleans Saints and the 

St. Louis Rams.

The youg and the old Saintsations with Gumbo one of the Saint's mascots.

Drew Brees in action!!

Different kinds of Saint fans...

Bourbon Street after the game.....

Around our hotel

A trip to the Mississippi

Supper on Monday night, great food by the way.

Daisy Dukes for a great late breakfast.....

Royal St.

We took a VIP City Tour on Tuesday and it was great. We gained a wealth of information that I will not be sharing with you but if you ever get a chance take this tour. Here are a few photos that turned out it's really hard to get good photos out of a bus window!

The Lower Ninth Ward five years following hurricane Katrina.
The housing project of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The Saint Louis Cemetry No 3

The Garden District.
A beautiful part of town where many of the stars live.

Our last night in town we ate at The House of Blues on Decatur St.
It was a neat place and the food once again was really good.

This trip has been an eye opener for Honey and I or maybe a heart check I'm not sure which one. We were raised believing that all things in New Orleans were evil that nothing really good comes out of it.

After seeing the destruction still visible from the hurricane and hearing the heart beat of our tour guide, who was wonderful by the way, we have more sympathy for this city. We see there is much beauty in midst of some ugly. There are many here who desire change but still have very little hope that things will be much better than they are right now. Things are much better now  than when we visited over twenty years ago it's kind of like the the floods came and cleaned house. Everything seems cleaner and you just don't see as much ugly or evil as you use too, maybe it was due to the cold weather who knows

We may not agree with everything going on in New Orleans, Louisiana but we loved what we experienced and we are already making plans to visit in the future. So come on down ya'll and remember take the city tour!

I just want to crash!!!!

I just returned home to the Hills and I am really tired. Punkin's party was outside yesterday it was perfect weather and we enjoyed the time of relaxing and catching up with family and friends. I didn't think about allergies at the time and I'm glad that I did not, I'd probably have gone inside and set alone. But I did think about them at four this morning when I woke up with a pounding headache. At about the same time I got up to take something Ash texted me (which always wakes me up by the way) to tell me not to leave until we talked. Apparently Punkin had too much excitement for one day and was up all night.

We started celebrating when I arrived on the farm Friday, Punkin was really good, she acted like she knew that it was a special weekend! After lunch we went shopping to buy Punkin a baby swing for her new swing set her Dad and Mom bought her for her birthday. You know how it is you set off to do a quick run and it takes all afternoon. While we were picking out the swing Dad called that they needed parts from John Deere so after our two stops we went back to Punkin's house to get ready for supper. We always enjoy going out to eat at a local restaurant when we are in town because not only is the food good but we are able to see many of our friends while there.

On Saturday I cleaned the camp house, the party was to be held in it's back yard. Then I ran to the local grocery store and bought some items for Honey and I and the party so that we could settle down and watch nothing else but football. We have a family tradition when there are football games on tv we eat football food so Saturday afternoon I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies and they were fantastic. I used a Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies mix, added 1 Tbls of corn starch and 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I've found the if you make the mix exactly as directions state then the cookies are thin and crumbly with not many chips but this way they are ggrrrrrrreat!

Saturday night Ash grilled hot dogs, now this is how their hot dogs looked. Yes, we always have grilled onions on our hot dogs, we like grilled onions on just about anything. Well, some of us do, Honey is allergic to onions!!!

Don't laugh.......

this is my hot dog. I just can't find a way to eat a hot dog gluten free and it taste this good. This is made with "My Favorite Sandwich Bread". I love the bread, the onions were caramelized and very sweet and that made my hot dog wonderful. It ran a close race with the cookies.

Call me doctor love.....

We also had these little Dr. Pepper's that Ash had picked up for Saturday night football! They seemed small but they were just right I actually had some left over after the meal.

The party was a success and we had loads of fun spending the weekend with Punkin and I'm already looking forward to next weekend. Sorry I videoed for Ash so I have no photos of the actual party. Ash is supposed to send me some via e-mail so I can share them.

Just a peep, here were her cupcakes.

I was able to sneak this photo before the party actually started.

Stay tuned in to see photos of our two celebrations and the way I continue to live gracefully gluten free.

Thank you friend for stopping by you are the absolute best!

Superbowl Sunday with recipes

I have been waiting some time now for the perfect day to make Red Beans and Rice. Recently I was in the cooking mood so I made them for our supper and took them to Ben and Ashia's so that Ben could enjoy them with us. Ashia doesn't eat any type of bean so she made herself a pizza instead. It was the perfect food for a cold rainy night. I also made corn bread, not from my favorite recipe but from a mix I had on hand. It was good but we still like mine a lot better. 

Red Beans and Rice

2 cups dried red beans
4 pieces of bacon, fried and crumbled, save grease
1 pkg. of your favorite sausage, fry and set aside
1 tbls. chicken stock granules
salt and pepper to taste
5 cups water


Prepare you beans for cooking. Fry bacon and sausage and set aside. Drain beans when ready to cook and add chicken stock, water, bacon and bacon grease. I cook mine for hours until they are very done and thick.


For Superbowl Sunday we went to Ben and Ashia's and watched the game with friends. Ben was in DC but made it home by the end and in time to eat, the most important thing right? 


I took a great sausage dip. Well, it is usually great but this time I used a different type of sausage than I normally do and I did not like it. Oh well, here is the recipe just be sure to use a sausage you really like, believe me it matters. :(




Sausage Dip
 
Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground sausage
1 8-oz. pkg cream cheese
1 16-oz. carton sour cream
1 10-oz. can Ro-tel tomatoes
4 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese 

Instructions:
Brown sausage; drain. Stir in cream cheese, sour cream, Ro-tel and cheese. Put all in crock and cook until is melted and well blended. Keep hot and serve with Frito Scoops.

I also made chocolate cupcakes of course all was gluten free but they were really good. I love Pamela's mixes for a quick fix, you can buy them at any Kroger and they good.


Here are some photos from our game night.

 

 Austin was shown more attention than the game.

  

 But, she didn't mind!

 

What a great little helper.

 

Needless tweeting.....

  

 Something to do when you are bored.

We had a fun time and I was happy with the outcome although NOT everyone was! :(

Saturday football & a bowl of homemade Chili

Over the weekend we gathered at Ben and Ashia's to listen to our favorite football team and oh what a doll Austin was. She's learning early, she screamed and cheered and I have photos to prove it! =)

I was so excited it had finally cooled off and I was able to make Chili for Ben, Ashia and I one afternoon. My family doesn't eat soups during hot weather so that is one of the things I look forward to, fall weather and homemade soups! Mmmm It gives me more options for a meal.

 Classic Beef Chili

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 pound lean hamburger

1 sweet onion; chopped

2 cloves of garlic; finely chopped

1 TBLS. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 14-oz can tomato sauce

1 15-oz can red kidney beans; drained and rinsed

1 10 oz can mild tomatoes with chilies

1 4 oz can tomato paste

½ cup water; warm

Instructions:

Cook beef and onion together, drain. Add chili powder and cumin. Stir to combine. Combine tomatoes. beans, and tomato paste in slow cooker. Stir in beef mixture, cover and cook until flavor blends well. About 1 hour.

Being southern I always make "My Favorite Corn Bread" recipe to go with any soup.

Thanks for stopping by y'all and please come again soon!