Yet another great night in Kirkland. Love having all my girls with a few added friends in my little place. Thank goodness we had just enough chairs to go around. We all enjoyed my favorite turkey and black bean chili (recipe below) out of my absolute favorite Cooking Light 5 Ingredients, 15 Minute cookbook! I think almost all of us have a copy by now and if you don't you better put it on your wish list for Santa Exchange. :)
We came up with a fantastic new idea of secret of the week name tags, that must be filled out upon arrival as to have no late night confessions come upon us! Festivities are definitely in the air as well, phones, calenders and facebooks out we are starting to fill out dates and parties getting the holidays off to a great start. I also think we all learned a few things about how we all decide to take care of the "V" area. Good stories shared of waxing fun and horror!
On a Thanksgiving note, I want you all to know that in this season you are all one of the biggest things I'm thankful for in my life. Some weeks although crazy and rushed, once I have those few hours with you all to laugh, drink and eat I swear it saves me for the rest of the next week until I see you again! :)
Turkey and Black Bean Chili- (cook time of 15 minutes, makes 7, 1 cup servings)
1 lb of ground turkey
2 (15 oz) cans low sodium black beans, undrained
1 cup medium or hot chunky salsa
2 (8 oz) cans of low sodium tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili seasoning mix
low-fat sour cream
shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
Cook- mean in large saucepan over medium-high heat until meat is browned, sitrring until crumbles (drain if nessessary)
While meat cooks, drain and mash 1 can of black beans. Add mashed beans, undrained beans, salsa, tomato sauce, and seasoning mix to saucepan; stir well. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until thoroghly heated.
Spoon into serving bowls. If desired, top with sour cream and cheese.
Serve with chips and fresh pineapple slices.
Happy Thanksgiving Girls!!!
About Us
- ThursdayGirlsNights
- Seattle/Tacoma area, Washington, United States
- Thank you for visiting! We are Amanda, Tiffany, Lauren H, Lauren F, Danielle, Lisa, Meagan, Teresa, Emily, Cassie, & Bea. We are a group of women ranging in age from 27-32. 2011 marks the 5th Fall season of us getting together weekly, on Thursdays, to make dinner for eachother, talk about our kids, marriages, jobs, weddings, homes, weekends and so on. We travel as far North as Kirkland and as far South as Graham to visit each week...that's a total of nearly an hour of driving (not counting traffic), so that should show you how dedicated we are to "the cause" of having some girl time each week. A few of us are mothers and have planned our weddings. Our group also includes a dietitian, wine distributor & a few teachers ranging from elementary to high school. We are here to share our favorite recipes, update you on our girl talk each week, answer questions from experience and review products for companies and share our takes on them for the women out there just like us. Please feel free to contact us with topics you'd like us to cover or questions you may have. Our group e-mail is ThursdayGirlsNights@gmail.com Thanks again, The Girls
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
So much to cheers to!!
We were all at my condo this week! While I thoroughly enjoy every second of having my girls over, I always feel bad that I don't have enough table space. The giant foot rest that came with my miracle-couch sounded like such a good idea in lieu of a coffee table...but I'm regretting that decision more and more when I have nowhere to put down my wine glass!
Anyway, this week, at the suggestion/request of Nelle, I decided to make personal mini-pizzas for everyone. I use the term "make" loosely as it only required the dicing of some toppings and the pushing of a button on the oven. However, everyone eats happily with their own style and personal touch to their meal!
Here's what I use to hopefully meet the cravings of everyone:
Mini pizza crusts (Boboli works great, but any brand will do)
Olive oil
Pizza Sauce
Mozzerella cheese (pre-shredded &/or whole block)
Pepperoni (I like the mini pepperonis, but larger sized works as well if you cut them in half)
Canadian Bacon (same as the pepperonis - either size will work)
Olives
Pineapple (tidbits)
Fresh basil
As the girls come in, I try to have them make their pizza right away so I can cook 3-4 at a time. Besides prepping the oven, brushing a small coat of olive oil on each crust before the toppings minimizes any burning. Once everyone has their pizza prepped, you can put them directly on the oven rack (no more than 4 at a time preferably) and cook according to the directions on the crust packaging. Be sure to check the pizzas about half way through the process, as some can bubble while cooking and cause all your toppigs to slide off to the sides or all over your oven - which is obnoxious to clean up later (not that that's happened to me or anything)! Once they're done, slide them on to individual plates, provide a pizza slicer if you have one, and everyone can enjoy their own creations!
Lots to celebrate in our group throughout the evening! Bea brought over her new baby Muggin puppy (Pug & Min-Pin mix), Baker, who was absolutely adorable and enjoyed snuggling in his blanket all evening. Stella named him, which was a short-lived worry for a few for Bea as the dog's original name was Tator (like the tot) and Stella's train of thought could have lead her to a puppy named after a potato topping. We also were filled in on Ryan's romantic proposal and the families' immediate planning that began for the wine-themed event this summer! It's going to be so perfect for them and we're all very excited! CHEERS TO BEA!
Em wasn't able to make it, being that she just recently finished "cooking" her first baby! But we re-capped her 24+ hrs of labor, 4+ hrs of pushing, the tramatic misinjected epideral, dislocated epideral, and non-functioning epideral, which all lead to a c-section that she had to be knocked-out for to produce her beautiful miracle baby!!! The miracle of life...it takes one hell of a woman to come out looking as beautiful and upbeat as our Emily and her supportive strong husband, Paul. She's absolutely perfect!! CHEERS TO EMILY!
Having taken the past year and a half or so away from her travel work to raise their baby boy, Wyatt, we have all greatly missed Amanda's glorious work perk of beautiful Fox & Co. samples to play dress-up in and shop out of the living room. But this week, she had the opportunity to do it all again and roll in the familiar rack for us to get a sneak-peek at next season's samples! Lots of t-shirst, purses, dresses and more guys' samples at her house available; we had lots of fun giving our own little fashion show. CHEERS TO AMANDA!
As our resident dietician, Teresa had sent an email earlier this week about some probiotics available through her work for a trial. They are live-cultures in a pill form that promote immunity improvement, decreased allergies, and a multitude of other possible intestinal improvements. She brought over a nice box for us to try and we're excited to see if we can tell a difference after using them. CHEERS TO TERESA!
Phew! I know there was more - Lisa's upcoming Holiday season at work, the local Delta Gamma fundraisers, Danielle & Jake's impossible-to-light fireplace, my neverending dance team season...all in good time will we cover everything!
Jess, we hope working at the dump in Mexico was awesome! Lauren, New York is amazing and we're sure you're soaking it all in, kid-free! Emily, can't wait for Ellie's first Girls' Night!!
~Tiff
Anyway, this week, at the suggestion/request of Nelle, I decided to make personal mini-pizzas for everyone. I use the term "make" loosely as it only required the dicing of some toppings and the pushing of a button on the oven. However, everyone eats happily with their own style and personal touch to their meal!
Here's what I use to hopefully meet the cravings of everyone:
Mini pizza crusts (Boboli works great, but any brand will do)
Olive oil
Pizza Sauce
Mozzerella cheese (pre-shredded &/or whole block)
Pepperoni (I like the mini pepperonis, but larger sized works as well if you cut them in half)
Canadian Bacon (same as the pepperonis - either size will work)
Olives
Pineapple (tidbits)
Fresh basil
As the girls come in, I try to have them make their pizza right away so I can cook 3-4 at a time. Besides prepping the oven, brushing a small coat of olive oil on each crust before the toppings minimizes any burning. Once everyone has their pizza prepped, you can put them directly on the oven rack (no more than 4 at a time preferably) and cook according to the directions on the crust packaging. Be sure to check the pizzas about half way through the process, as some can bubble while cooking and cause all your toppigs to slide off to the sides or all over your oven - which is obnoxious to clean up later (not that that's happened to me or anything)! Once they're done, slide them on to individual plates, provide a pizza slicer if you have one, and everyone can enjoy their own creations!
Lots to celebrate in our group throughout the evening! Bea brought over her new baby Muggin puppy (Pug & Min-Pin mix), Baker, who was absolutely adorable and enjoyed snuggling in his blanket all evening. Stella named him, which was a short-lived worry for a few for Bea as the dog's original name was Tator (like the tot) and Stella's train of thought could have lead her to a puppy named after a potato topping. We also were filled in on Ryan's romantic proposal and the families' immediate planning that began for the wine-themed event this summer! It's going to be so perfect for them and we're all very excited! CHEERS TO BEA!
Em wasn't able to make it, being that she just recently finished "cooking" her first baby! But we re-capped her 24+ hrs of labor, 4+ hrs of pushing, the tramatic misinjected epideral, dislocated epideral, and non-functioning epideral, which all lead to a c-section that she had to be knocked-out for to produce her beautiful miracle baby!!! The miracle of life...it takes one hell of a woman to come out looking as beautiful and upbeat as our Emily and her supportive strong husband, Paul. She's absolutely perfect!! CHEERS TO EMILY!
Having taken the past year and a half or so away from her travel work to raise their baby boy, Wyatt, we have all greatly missed Amanda's glorious work perk of beautiful Fox & Co. samples to play dress-up in and shop out of the living room. But this week, she had the opportunity to do it all again and roll in the familiar rack for us to get a sneak-peek at next season's samples! Lots of t-shirst, purses, dresses and more guys' samples at her house available; we had lots of fun giving our own little fashion show. CHEERS TO AMANDA!
As our resident dietician, Teresa had sent an email earlier this week about some probiotics available through her work for a trial. They are live-cultures in a pill form that promote immunity improvement, decreased allergies, and a multitude of other possible intestinal improvements. She brought over a nice box for us to try and we're excited to see if we can tell a difference after using them. CHEERS TO TERESA!
Phew! I know there was more - Lisa's upcoming Holiday season at work, the local Delta Gamma fundraisers, Danielle & Jake's impossible-to-light fireplace, my neverending dance team season...all in good time will we cover everything!
Jess, we hope working at the dump in Mexico was awesome! Lauren, New York is amazing and we're sure you're soaking it all in, kid-free! Emily, can't wait for Ellie's first Girls' Night!!
~Tiff
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Meg's Chow Mein (Thursday 10/14)
We like trying all different ethnic styles of food, so Meg's decided on Chinese and made a Chow Mein dish for dinner for her week. It was delicious and as soon as she figures this blog thing out she'll get the recipe posted. :)
Amanda brought a yummy dessert...Pecan Orange Spice Cake.She got the recipe from http://www.food.com/ The link to it is http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-pecan-spice-pound-cake-49002 You'll see she liked it so much she wrote a review and posted a picture on the site. Although the recipe looks long and is a bit time consuming, she insists it was TOTALLY worth it!
Amanda brought a yummy dessert...Pecan Orange Spice Cake.She got the recipe from http://www.food.com/ The link to it is http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-pecan-spice-pound-cake-49002 You'll see she liked it so much she wrote a review and posted a picture on the site. Although the recipe looks long and is a bit time consuming, she insists it was TOTALLY worth it!
It happens...
From time to time, though rare, too many of us girls have things come up and we decide to put things off until the following week. Last week happened to be one of those times. Some very exciting things did happen since Halloween weekend, however. Emily & Paul welcomed their sweet little Ellie Soleil Laufer on November 6th. She is 8lbs 14oz and 21.5" long. She got to come home this afternoon.
The other exciting news we received was from Bea...Ryan proposed and they plan to marry June 25th, 2011 in Walla Walla at Duhnum Cellars.
This week we will have plenty to toast to at Tiff's house...
Until then,
Amanda
The other exciting news we received was from Bea...Ryan proposed and they plan to marry June 25th, 2011 in Walla Walla at Duhnum Cellars.
This week we will have plenty to toast to at Tiff's house...
Until then,
Amanda
Monday, November 1, 2010
Tiff's Birthday Bash ~ Halloween 2010
Here are a few pictures from the party last Saturday
~Enjoy
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| That's all 10 of us... Teresa, Lauren, Amanda, Bea, Danielle, Jessica, Lisa, Meagan, Emily & Tiff |
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| "Danny & Sandy" |
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| Jersey Shore peeps |
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| Double Occupancy and his ladies |
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| Tourists |
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| Tequila shots with Jose! |
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| Enjoying Meg's rice krispie treats (see box for recipe!) |
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| My favorite picture of Lauren! |
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