The LONGEST Post EVER!

To see an update on Christmas at the Houston home, visit my sister's blog at www.mshouston.blogspot.com! In the meantime, here are two wonderful recipes I tried this week that Jer and I absolutely love. On Wednesday we had our good friends Sally and Bryan over for dinner. My mom got me this awesome Crock Pot cookbook. Jer loves french dip sandwiches so I thought I'd try Crock Pot's version. (My Crock Pot is my best friend (besides Jer :o)) seriously, so easy.)

Hot Beef Sandwiches Au Jus

Ingredients

4 pounds beef rump roast 2 envelopes (1 ounce each) dried onion soup mix 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 tablespoon minced garlic 2 cans (101/2 ounces each) beef broth 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer  (I just used extra broth and eliminated the beer altogether) Crusty French rolls

Directions

1. Trim excess fat from beef and discard. Place beef in CROCK-POT® slow cooker.
2. Combine soup mix, sugar, oregano, garlic, broth and beer in large mixing bowl. Pour mixture over beef. Cover; cook on HIGH 6 to 8 hours or until beef is fork-tender.
3. Remove beef from CROCK-POT® slow cooker. Shred beef with two forks. Return beef to cooking liquid; mix well. Serve on crusty rolls with extra au jus on the side.

Makes 8 to 10 servings

The next recipe we tried was a super easy but delicious Chicken Parmesan. We were just trying to think up some ideas for what to have for dinner and Jer suggested it and I remembered one I had seen in one of my Cooking Light magazines a few months ago. (I got a subscription to Cooking Light for Christmas, SO EXCITED! :o))

This is a picture of our actual meal. :o)

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken Breast
• 1 egg, beaten
• ¾ cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 jar of Ragu’ pasta sauce (10 oz.)
• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 400 deg.
Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the breadcrumbs.
Place the chicken into an ungreased glass baking dish.
Bake uncovered at 400 deg. for 20 minutes.
Pour pasta sauce over the chicken.
Top the chicken and sauce with ¼ cup of mozzarella cheese and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
 (Just a note from me, obviously you don't need to use Ragu, you can use any kind of sauce you please, and also, I added some fresh Parmesan cheese to my bread crumbs which made it even more delicious.)

And in other news, much belated- I have some pictures from Chelsey's beautiful wedding day. I didn't get to take any pictures at the reception but it was very beautiful. You can also see pictures of the reception on my sister's blog mentioned above. Anyway, it was so cool for Jer and I to be able to drive down for the wedding and be there in the sealing room. They got married in the same room that we did. Chelsey and I are the best of friends and have always dreamed of going to each other's weddings, it was a very special experience.

 Jer and I after the sealing. We just had to have yet another picture outside our temple. As if the ones we took 6 months ago weren't enough ;o).

 Anna and I waiting for the happy couple to come out of the temple.

 What a stunning couple! They both looked amazing and so happy.

Best friends.

OK this is the last part of this enormous post, I promise! One thing that my friends from high school and I do each year is have a Christmas party. We started this in Junior High and this was our 9th year running! Crazy! We draw names and get a gift for one of our friends. Most years we have the party at one of our houses and dress up and make a fancy potluck dinner. This year since we are all so busy with traveling, etc. we did a breakfast at the Boathouse where Kate works.

 Kate opening her gift from Tanna who couldn't be with us because she moved to Hawaii. We missed you Tanna!

 Oh Andi, I love you.

 Sophie and Kate, the angels.

 Me with my gift from Andi. She got me some really cute clothes for work since I have to dress up to teach ballroom at BYU.

 Jaime opening her gift.

I gave Sophie her gift, a little bit of sentiment, a little bit of practicality. :o) Love you girls!