Let’s talk more about party food.  Seeing as how I ate an entire bowl of guacamole for dinner last night, just because I had the avocados available, party food is still on my mind.  Specifically dip.

At the Girls Gone Wild party last weekend, I was crowned the Dip Queen.  I can make a mad 7 layer dip and a mean guacamole.  Add B’s salsa into the mix and we have a pretty strong arsenal of dip.

I added two new recipes into the mix recently and those two additions are what earned me my queen title.

One was a corn, black bean, avocado mixture that was awesome.  I am sure most of you have had something similar before, but this was my first time making it.  And since I couldn’t find a recipe that made it simple enough for me, I combine about five recipes together, thus making it my own.  Being lazy and not the world’s best cook paid off!

Dip #2 was what really clinched the title and I owe it to my mother.  First, let’s look at Dip #2.

Doesn’t look like anything special right?  That is why I am the Dip Queen and you are not.  It is freaking special!  So special I don’t know if I should even tell you about it.  Just kidding.  I will tell you.

You see, my parents moved out of the suburbs of Dallas a few years back to live on a ranch.  Seeing as how they are retired and lived in Dallas for the last 40 years, ranching isn’t exactly what they are doing on their ranch.  What they are doing is growing vegetables.  Knowing someone with an awesome garden is, well, awesome!  I reap the benefits without having to do the work.  Last week B and I lived off of yellow squash.  Fresh from the garden, yellow squash.  You jealous yet?  No, ok, fresh from the garden, FREE, yellow squash.  Better?

My parents’ garden also has an abundance of jalapenos this summer.  This has forced my mom to get creative with ways to use jalapenos, which brings me to jalapeno jelly, also know as how to get crowned Dip Queen at a party.

Pictured above is homemade, fresh from the garden, FREE, jalapeno jelly smeared over cream cheese.  So very simple, and so freaking amazing.  The sweet jelly with a hint of a peppery flavor, minus the spice, mixed with the creamy goodness of cream cheese.  Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my keyboard.

I was just introduced to this heavenly combination over the Fourth of July.  I am now hording jalapeno jelly.  I have two and a half jars left at my house and I have already put in my request for more.  (Hey Mom, I think I just gave you enough ideas to get you through two Christmases and 3 birthdays. GIVE ME JELLY!)

Now unfortunately for all my readers out there, I am stingy and not willing to share my jelly.  You will just have to take my word on how amazing it is.  If you were at the party and got to try it, well that was a weak moment and you should count your blessings.  And Traci, don’t bother trying to call my mom begging for your own.  I already warned her about you.

Mmm, jelly.  I think I know what I am having for lunch today!

We have a Fourth of July tradition on the farm… setting off tons and tons of fireworks.  Who doesn’t enjoy fireworks?  I am terrified of anything besides sparklers and roman candles, but I still enjoy the show.  So far no fingers have been lost on the Fourth and if you have met my brother, that is quite a miracle.

Since I have a fancy new camera, I decided to spend my night of fireworks taking pictures.  Since B and my brother bought enough fireworks for a small army, I had plenty of opportunities to try out different settings.  Here are some of my favorite shots.

That last one is my favorite.  Sparklers are awesome.

Happy late Fourth of July!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.

If you haven’t cleaned your makeup brushes in awhile, I highly recommend doing this!  I cleaned all of mine last night and even washed my makeup bag.  It is like I went out and bought brand new makeup!  Embarrassing confession, I couldn’t tell you the last time I washed my brushes, if I have ever washed them.  Normally, I just buy a new brush and throw the old one away. 

Speaking of embarrassing confessions, B and I tried our dogs’ treats last night.  Is that weird?  We bought a new brand that was kosher made with no animal byproducts.  I started reading the ingredients and I decided the treats were probably better than half the crap I eat.  So I tried one, then I made B try one.  Not bad.  A little strong on the garlic chicken flavor, but honestly, you could live on them if you had too.

Titling this blog post “Completely Unrelated” has gotten that Offspring song “Keep ‘Em Separated” in my head.  Did I just do it to you too?

Today is a short work day on top of the already short work week!  Woohoo!  B and I are heading to the farm this afternoon.  Nothing but open pastures the rest of the week.  And to add a little flair to our relaxing weekend, we are going to the Tomato Festival on Saturday.  I think it is too late for me to enter the Tomato Queen Pageant, but just know that I would have knocked your socks off.  I am trying to convince B he needs to enter the salsa contest.  Tomatoes galore in Texas with no salmonella.  Awesome.

Have fun this weekend and Happy Fourth of July! 

My parents got a new pet last week.  A pet cow that is.

Some of you may not know that a few years back my parents gave up the big city life in Dallas and move out to the farm.  They recently added ranchers to their resume when my dad bought a few cows.  Last week one of those cows had a calf, or maybe I call him a bull.  It’s a little boy cow for those (like me) who don’t know the technical term.

Well little boy cow’s mother was not too keen on the idea of mommyhood.  Little boy cow’s mother wasn’t taking care of little boy cow, including feeding him.  So my parents, with the help of my brother and his wife, are now bottle feeding little boy cow.  And, since little boy cow is being bottle feed by the family, he has now been made a member of the family.

Little boy cow is now Henry.  Meet Henry.

Let’s take a closer look at this cuteness.

All together now, awww.

Henry is all my mom talks about when I call her now.  The other day I asked my mom what happens when it’s time for Henry to go away (you know go away).  My mom answered, “Well he just won’t.  He will stay on the farm forever and be our pet cow.”  I haven’t asked my dad what he thinks of this yet.  I am sure my brother is out there some where rolling his eyes.

God bless my mother and her goofy big heart. 

It’s not quite January 2008, so I think I can still post Christmas pictures. We have had a wonderful, but very tiring Christmas. Poor Zoey and Servo have been asleep for five days straight! Too much holiday cheer for them. Going back to work on Wednesday is going to be a challenge.

Here are some of our Christmas highlights!

Mmmm, the food. Most important part of the holiday! I come from a family of great cooks, too bad that gene didn’t get passed on to me! That is my adorable Meemaw in the background, the grand cook extraordinaire!

Next you have the Burrow family, with the family burro! That is my brother, father and mother. We all think we are pretty darn funny.

Then there is the entire Burrow, Wilson, Sagowitz family. This is my mom’s side of the family. If we get any bigger we are going to have to rent a hall to have Christmas in!

Servo the lap dog and his daddy who spoils him. Please don’t tell Servo he weighs 50 pounds and is too big to be sitting in your lap! He might go into a deep depressive state.

Atleast he is a patient dog! I don’t think there has ever been a Christmas where a dog didn’t get covered in bows.

And finally, a better picture of our tree. I love having our Christmas tree up! It’s going to be sad to take down tomorrow. Think people would judge me if I decorated it for Valentine’s Day and left it up another month?

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Good luck trying to get back into a normal routine. I plan to get back into a normal blogging routine as well. And, I promise to quit talking about Christmas and posting Christmas pictures!