Weekend Update

On Saturday, the girls and I did a whole lot of nothing during the day.
It was great.
Thanks to the cool 68 degree and cloudy weather, it finally seemed as though fall was officially in full force. Here's how we celebrated.

Maggie modeled her new fall headband


And stayed in her pajamas all day along with her sister in her new "Pirate Olive, scary skelleton jammies".
And yes, they glow in the dark.


Later in the evening, we had some of our Trader Joe friends over for a Fall Feast Potluck. It was delicious! And the best part about it was having Rob help me with the clean up today!!!
It's a Fall miracle!
I even secretly documented this special occasion....

What a guy!

The following are recipes of some of the delicious food we devoured.

** Slow Cooker Beef Stew** :
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 packet McCormick's Beef Stew Seasoning
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Put flour mixture into gallon-sized, zippered bag. Shake beef in bag to coat. Sauté coated beef in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil until browned. Add chopped onion to beef to sauté and soften. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Mix beef broth with worcestershire and beef stew seasoning. Pour into hot skillet to deglaze, then pour over beef and onions in cooker.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Cover and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.
Serves 6 people.


** Crockpot Chocolate Cake** :
This cake is to die for, especially when served with vanilla ice cream.
1 package chocolate cake mix
1 container of sour cream (8 oz)
1 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup water
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Mix cake mix, sour cream, chocolate morsels, water, egss, oil and pudding mix in a bowl by hand. Pour into crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Makes about 12 servings.

So yummy.

Today, we also headed on over to Seal Beach to the Japan American Kite Festival. We thought it would be something Olive would love to see.
Too bad she feel asleep in the car on the way over and napped in Rob's arms the entire time we were there....
All 20 minutes.


Nice day.
Nice weekend.