I went shopping yesterday and got some really cute stuff!

New York and Company is having a huge sale, EVERYTHING, yes everything is 50% off! And some thing are up to 70% off! I got an amazing leopard jacket originally $149.95 for $44! More than $100 off! Needless to say I was extremely happy! I also got a gawgeous grey silk blouse too. (I couldn't find a picture of it, will post some later.) They are STILL having a lot of good deals online, most of their shirts are buy one, get one 75% off!

Buy it here for $58.98

Also at H&M, I got a really cute casual cotton candy pink button down. I can't wait to wear it with blue jeans and my canvas Tom's!

MOM! This is for you! (Or for anyone who wants to buy me a gift!)  I need/want/need this for Christmas! It's only $39.

Buy it here!

Hope everyone is having a delightful week! I know I'm trying but I just have so darn much to do! See ya later ladies!



Black Suede Wedges

Okay, so I have been seeing these little babies everywhere! And boy, I am in LOVE! I've found them for three different reasonable prices. Check these out!

These come in four colors: black, grey, red, and leopard. In an array of sizes also available in regular and wide! At Payless for $26.99.

Buy Here!

These are my favorite! They come in two different types of black, gray, and red! For $60 at Aldo!

Buy Here!

Steve Madden Pammy! At Shoes.com for $99 plus free shipping.

In berry, nude, and black suede! LOVE the NUDE!

Buy Here!

Hope you all enjoy this tid-bit of information.

P.S. MOM, I NEED A PAIR OF THESE!!!!

Pinterest Recipes

I've made two Pinterest recipes today. And I must say, they are always good but some of them are a little under seasoned. I made these:

Pilgrim Hats

Taco Seasoned Crackers

For the Pilgrim Hats:
Fudge Stripped Short Bread Cookies
Reece's cups
Icing
Food coloring (orange or yellow)
Piping bag with small round tip
I used store bought icing and dyed it with food coloring. Stir until completely yellow with no streks.

Turn the cookies over and pipe a small amount of icing to Reece's cups. Place the Reece's in center of cookie and press down.

Pipe around the Reece's and make a small square for the buckle. So simple, easy and delicious! I got all the ingredients at the Dollar Tree. So I spent $3 for everything and you can literally make about 30 hats.


For the taco seasoned crackers:
Note: Can use regular crackers but I used oyster.

1 package (10 ounce size) oyster crackers 
3 Tablespoons of oil
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, but I added for extra kick)

Place crackers in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with oil. Combine seasoning, sprinkle over crackers and toss to coat. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once.

I'm going to added these on top of some homemade chili tonight. I think the taco seasoning as well as the red pepper flakes will kick it up a notch. And add more flavor to the chili. I know Mr. Army Man is going to love dinner tonight! And I can't wait! :)

Thanksgiving Menu with Recipes

Roasted Chicken with Injected with Spicy Butter Sauce

 

 

Dressing

 

 

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping 

• 4 cups sweet potato, cubed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

 

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

1 (10 3/4 oz.) can of Cream of Mushroom Soup (using homemade since I have it in freezer)

3/4 cupmilk

1/8 tsp.black pepper

2 cans of green beans

1 1/3 cups Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions

MIX soup, milk and pepper in a 1 1/2 -qt. baking dish. Stir in beans and 2/3 cup French Fried Onions.

BAKE at 350°F for 30 min. or until hot.

STIR. Top with remaining 2/3 cup onions. Bake 5 min. until onions are golden.

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can Pumpkin
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can  Evaporated Milk

 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! 

Manic Weekend

This weekend:
Friday: The hubby and I went and saw the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn. (I have read every book at least twice. I am a Twilight freak. But Harry Potter is still my favy.) I made tacos and chocolate chip cookies (which we snuck into the movies) before and we had a nice dinner. After we came home. I went straight to bed having a migraine all day. Blah.

Saturday: Yesterday, Mr. Army Man finished painting our bedroom. (We've been sleeping in the guest bedroom since last weekend.) And he spilt his coffee while finishing so we got rented a carpet cleaner and did the whole upstairs and the mattress. (Yes, you can clean your mattress with a carpet cleaner! Crazy right!!?) I washed about 5 loads of laundry and began reorganizing our kitchen cabinets. They were so messy. And I made the most delicious completely homemade chicken pot pie with a cornbread topping.

Sunday: Today, we got up extremely early and finished cleaning the carpets and down the stairs. We returned the cleaner and ran a few errands. Getting lots of Christmas decorations. We put up our lights. On the house and the shed. (Hubby's idea, although it looks great!) I made a deco mesh wreath. And it looked great. I ran in the house to grab something to eat. And my dogs got out of our fence and destroyed it. We also tag teamed and raked the yard. It looks great! I finished cleaning out our cabinets and I'm so excited I'm finally organized. And the hubby knows what's for dinner and can prepare it if he feels the need to. Haha! Now on for finishing our 5 loads of laundry.. (folding and putting away) And to make dinner. I plan on finishing our bedroom next weekend complete with curtains, pictures and all that jazz! I can't wait after 5 full months of living here, it will be almost complete minus our night stands. (bummer.)



My organized cabinets! LOVE!

Needless to say I'm ready for a break. But that doesn't start until Tuesday at 10 a.m. for me. Can't wait! Class tomorrow however should be a breeze. We are going on a field trip to eat at a restaurant called Satisfaction! Ahhhh! I love culinary school! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. And has a great week/break, with lots of good food and family.

Thirteen Thursday Things

Thirteen Thursday Things: CHrIstmaS EdITiOn
My Christmas Wish List

1. Golden Snitch Bracelet

2. Nude or black wedges

3. Water bottle for the gym

4. Cozy leggings

5. Michael Kors Iphone wristlet

6. New wedding band?

Mr. Army Man went over board with my engagement ring so we went for something cheap when we got married. I would like a small upgrade for now. Since my band looks terrible from cooking now.

7. Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques Paperback Book

8. Crosses for cross wall

9. Black Mirror for living room

10. A kiss under the mistletoe from Mr. Army Man.

11. Homemade Cranberry Sauce by my mom

12. Hunting trip with my daddy

13. One big happy Christmas in Memphis!

Merry Christmas!!

Easy Thanksgiving Appetizer

Easy Thanksgiving Appetizer:

Bacon Wrapped Dates:

• 24 large dates, pitted
• 12 slices bacon, halved crosswise
• 1/3 cup crumbled Stilton cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 24 toothpicks in a small bowl filled with water; let soak 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fit with a wire rack; set aside.
2. Halve dates lengthwise being careful not to cut all the way through. Place a small amount of cheese in the center of each date. Wrap a piece of bacon around each date. Secure bacon with a toothpick.
3. Place dates on prepared baking sheet. Bake until bacon is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

Tip Me Tuesday

Tips

Tips for life, home, and just in general.

1. Don't fry bacon in the nude.

(My all time favorite, my dad would always tell this to our waiter/waitress growing up. It never gets old.)

2. If you have a ring around your table left from a sweating glass. Dip your finger in mayonnaise and rub around the stain. Let sit, several minutes and remove with rag. Stain should disappear.

3. Don't have stain remover, use hairspray. It will remove makeup, ink stains, and everything else.

4. You can use your hair dryer to remover pesky stickers on bottles, glass and containers.

5. Gun safety: Always keep your gun away pointed in a safe direction, such as at a terrorist or communist.

5. Wear plenty of deodorant on moving day.

Hope this few tips help make your life better.

Following

Most people say that they follow my blog, but do you really know what following is?

I understand that you read it off of Facebook, but that really isn't following... All it takes is setting up a google account. You can use your current email address, whether it is aol, yahoo or whatever else is out there. Once you've done this you go to account settings.. It will have several things under "My Products" including blogger, iGoogle, YouTube, and maybe even your email if you are a gmail user. Click on "blogger," you don't have to become a blogger and publish blogs but you can follow my blog and many others this way and maybe eventually become a blogger yourself. After you've done this there is a spot that says blogs I'm following all you have to do is go to add/manage and add my blog or any others by putting in the http://starsstripesandamilitarylife.blogspot.com/ . Once you've done that you are successfully following my blog or whoever else's you enjoy reading. I wish that more people would set this up so I can see who's reading. Thanks! And I hope I see more followers following my page! It means a lot! :)

Doritos Casserole

You'll need:
1 block of velveta cheese
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can rotel
slash of milk
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder

Cut up the cheese into small cubes. Mix with remaining ingredients and heat in microwave, stirring occasionally until cheese is completely melted.

Then you'll need:
4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked (OR) one rotisserie chicken

Shred the chicken and mix in with the cheese sauce. Add one can of whole kernel corn and place in baking dish that is well coated with cooking spray or butter. Add chicken, cheese mixture and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until bubbly. Add crush doritos to the top and bake an additional five minutes or until brown. Let cool and enjoy!

Just an FYI, your kids, hubby and you will all be coming back for more. So make plenty!! Can be frozen and re-cooked later or made in advance without the chips and just finished off in oven.

It can be made with your favorite varitey but Nacho Cheese and Spicy Nacho Cheese are the best!

Pumpkin French Toast

Saw this on Pinterest the other day, however I did make a few minor adjustments.

You'll need:
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 t. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
3 T. brown sugar
8 slices of baguette or french bread

1. Mix all the ingredients except bread together in bowl. Heat griddle or skillet with cooking spray or a little butter. Allow it to get hot. Place bread in batter, flip to coat both sides and lay in griddle or skillet. Cook until brown and firm on each side about 2-3 minutes per side. Enjoy with maple syrup or powdered sugar. They were good by themselves to for no added calories for the sweeteners. Hope you try this out. It is a very cheap and fast breakfast. As I keep all ingredients around the house normally except for the pumpkin! This would be a great breakfast for Thanksgiving morning!

Sorry the picture is fuzzy, I used my phone!

Care Packages

The holidays are among us, as everyone knows and I would like to give back a little this year. My husband is a soldier and has a lot of friends that are deployed, to help them make it through the holidays, I am suggesting that we help out. Here's what you can do:


Send me some goodies here's a list of what most of them need:

Linens & Things:

Handmade or Small Blanket
Sheets
Fluffy Towel
Socks
Underwear
Tshirts

Toiletries:
Toothbrush & paste
Dental Floss
Chap stick
Deodorant
Body wash
Soap
Loofah
Razors
Shampoo
Conditoner

Food:
Anything that won't melt.

Games/Entertainment:
DVDs
Magizines
Sudoku
Work Search/Puzzles
Dice
Playing Cards
Foam Footballs
Silly String
Glow Sticks

If you would like to help email me at daddysduckgirl@aol.com, be smart about the items you send some will not be allowed through customs. If you want some more ideas a really good website to check out is armywifenetwork.com. Thanks for all your help and I hope you will help out our soldiers! God Bless America!!

O Christmas Tree

Normally the tradition for my family is to put all the Christmas decorations up the day of Thanksgiving after we've eaten, the kitchen is clean, and everyone has had a nap! But this year my schedule has been so busy I've gone ahead and put up all the Christmas decorations except for the lights, wreath and flag outside. I'm really excited for Christmas this year! I have just a few more gifts to wrap and all of my Christmas cards are labeled in their envelopes and ready to go out! If only my school work was this much fun to do! Hope everyone is getting ready for the holiday season! I've already started to hear Christmas tunes on the radio.. If only it would get a little colder and Mr. Army Man would turn our gas logs on! Ahhh.. I hear my cup of cider in the microwave going off! Hope everyone has had a great weekend! Here is my tree, presents and our Christmas cards!!