Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

A few weeks ago we decided to have spaghetti for dinner....I have been talking about trying to make my own sauce, so I thought yes today I want to give it a try. So, I started looking around to see if I could find a recipe that we both would enjoy. I came across one that sounded pretty good. I followed step by step recipe but then after having it we decided to change up and add some things. The second time around came out prefect! I was very pleased with this sauce and it had good flavor. I think I will continue to make this sauce and maybe add more things as we go along. 

This is the recipe the first time around:

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1-28 oz can peeled & diced tomatoes
• 4 tsps dried basil
• 4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp white sugar

This is the recipe the 2nd go around (This is the we added and took stuff away from):

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1-14.5 oz can Tomato Sauce
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp white sugar

Directions:

1. In large sauce pan heat olive oil over medium heat. 
2. Saute onions, green onions and garlic. 
3. When onions are clear, stir in the tomato sauce and all the seasonings. 
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. 

This was from the first try at the sauce. It was okay and I just didn't like all the chunky tomatoes in the sauce.

 This was the 2nd try and it turned out great! Looking forward to making this again soon. 

Angela & Jeremy's Wedding

This spring or summer I haven't done hardly any photo shoots. When I hurt my ankle I couldn't really get out and shoot pictures. LOL. But the shoots I have done have been 2 weddings! Very exciting for me! Both weddings I did were both in June. The first one I did was June 14th . The couple got married in the morning at the court house then in the evening they had a reception with some family and friends at their house. It was a cute and simple gather. I was happy to be there and captures the moments of her special day. 

Here are some pictures from the Wedding

The beautiful bride Angela

 I just loved her shoes! 

 The newly married couple Angela and Jeremy. Congrats guys! 

 Both families are now one. Holy cow 6 kids!! :)

 Having fun at the reception dancing away. 

 Cutting the Cake

 This is what happens while cutting the cake to serve people. There was cake and icing everywhere! LOL 

 Yep they even go the bride with icing. :) 

To see more from this shoot, please visit my Facebook Page.

I will be posting the 2nd wedding I did soon....Stay tuned for those pictures. 

Crawl for Cancer 2013

Going back a couple months to the beginning of June....We did Crawl for Cancer with a group of friends this year. The Crawl is usually held in Westport, but since this pub crawl was for the World Record they had to do it down at the Power & Light . I have been there once and Shane has never been so it was exciting that we got to go to 10 different bars down there. We had such a fun time doing the crawl and it was for a good cause!! We did the crawl once before a few years back and it was in Westport and we only had to do 5 bars, but since they wanted to try and break the World Record for Pub crawl we had to go to 10 different bars. But, I'm happy to say we broke the record!!! Go Kansas City, did we ever have any doubt that KC could break a record for the largest PUB crawl, LOL. 

Our gang during the crawl. Had such a fun time! Can't wait to do this again! 

 My Birthday was the day before the crawl so a friend got me a birthday shot. It was very yummy. :)

 Lots of people supporting a good cause and breaking a record.

Weekend Recap

It's Monday again and another weekend has gone. I hope everyone had a good weekend! We had a pretty good weekend, I just wish they could be longer. :)

Friday: After I got off work we went to dinner at our normal Friday night place Fronteras. It's so yummy and a nice way to begin a weekend with yummy food and drinks. :) After dinner we headed back home and hung out on the deck for a little while and had a couple drinks. The rest of the night we just relaxed and watched some TV.

Saturday: We got up Saturday morning and headed out for our weekly grocery shopping. We came home and was getting stuff ready for the brisket Shane was going to smoke. I decided I needed to clean and organize the basement so I did, which didn't take super long, thank goodness. It wasn't super bad but just needed a good touch up. LOL

 After cleaning the basement I decided to check out plane ticket prices for MX. We will be going to Cabo again in October! They had a good deal on tickets so we bought them! I'm so excited for our trip and can't wait to leave! We will be meeting another couple there we meet a few years ago! So excited to see them and hang out for a week!

Shane got the brisket all ready and on the smoker. Doesn't it look yummy! It was very good. We had a friend, my sister and nephew over to hang out and have dinner with us that night.

Lexan and Me, I made him take some pictures with me. When I asked him if he wanted to take a picture he told me "No". LOL well he did it anyways. Isn't he a cutie! I just love him. 



Sunday: We did some chores around the house and relaxed most of the day. Shane got our new picture and candle holders hung up. They look so cute hung above our couch (I will post some pictures later). I just need to buy some candles for the holders and they will be completed. :)
I got a sweet tooth so I decided to bake something yummy. I will post the recipe later. For dinner we had Steak, Cheese & Bacon Potato Rounds, Corn on the Cob and Bread. The Cheese & Bacon potato rounds were a new recipe I tried. They turned out really good (Recipe to follow soon).

That concludes our fulfilled weekend. Now let's hope this work week goes by pretty fast!

More Birthday Celebrating

It wouldn't be a full birthday without a family dinner with my side of the family. Yes, some of my family was at my Luau but not everyone. I like to have my birthday dinner every year with just the family. :) 

This year not everyone could make it, so it was just a few of us. My Grandma and her friend were the last hanging with us at the end of the night. Love her so much! We went to Fronteras for my dinner. 

Wine Brittle my G-ma got me, it was really yummy! 

 She also got me a wine glass with my birth May on it. 

 And a cute ring from Stella & Dot. I just love it and wear it everyday!

 Of course they sing there and give you free fired ice cream. One of the servers we always see on Friday's thought it would be funny to put whipped cream on my nose. LOL 

 My Grandma and Me, I love her she's so cute! 

 Since we are regular's here the server who put whipped cream on my nose gave me a free HUGE Tequila shot. Look how big that it! It's 3 shots in One. I'm not a huge tequila fan so this wasn't very hard for me to chug down but I did it! 

That concludes the end of all my birthday celebrating for this year. 

Happy Luau Birthday to ME!!!

Let's go back to May for a moment.....My Birthday was May 31st and I turned 29 (almost 30!). I wanted to have a big party this year to celebrate my last year in my 20's. :) The theme I picked for my party was a Luau. We spent a lot of time getting ready for the party with decorating and making tons of food and desserts for our guest. Everything was worth all the work though. Shane was awesome and smoked 2 pork butts for my party and we made some yummy sides to go with it.  We had so much fun decorating and getting dressed up for my party. I had a great turn out and had LOADS of fun! Couldn't have asked for a better party. 

Next year for my 30th I'm hoping to be in Key West, FL living it up!!! 

Great way to start out my 30's right?!? 

Here are some pictures from my Luau Party. I'm thankful that one of my friends had a Luau Party last year that I took pictures at, so a lot of my decorations she let me borrow! 

My sign a friend had made for me to hang out front. Love it! 

 My wreath was made by my sister in law Jordann. It turned out super cute! 

 Decorations on the back door. 

 Little tiki guys hanging from the umbrella. 

 Even our deck needed a skirt on. Hehe :) 

 Our Pub all dressed up.

 I made homemade strawberry cake for a friend b/c his birthday is just a few days before mine and I made cake pops. Everything turned out super good! 

 Birthday Girl! 

 We made a punch that was a big hit, I wish we would have gotten more stuff. 

But who would have known it was so yummy. 

Isn't my husband cute! He smoked some yummy pork butts for my party. He had a LONG day with getting up super early to get it started. Love him for all his hard work he did! 

 Sydney, Jordann & Paige 

 My guest having fun outside. 

 Family picture time! 

 Birthday shots for the birthday peeps. 

 This is my lovely friend who made my sign and let me use her decorations. 

That concluded my 29th Birthday Celebration. It was such a good time, now let's see next year what 30 holds for me. :)