Wedding: We got hitched

Introducing to you Mr. and Mrs. Blin

Well it is time to break the silence. After a little wedding vacation and then a honeymoon vacation from the blog I am happy to be back - as Mrs. Blin. Some people are a little surprised to find out that my last name is actually not Cattle. I told the Boy that Cattle seemed to be pretty popular so maybe we should both use that, but he didn't quite agree. Anyhoo....

Our wedding was amazing, and I can't wait to share the details with you. Some of them will have to wait until a few more pictures come in, but we'll start with the basic info.

Where: The Boy and I decided to marry in Iowa, even though I am from Alberta, Canada. I moved to the Midwest in 2003 to attend Kansas State, and I really wanted all my family to see my new Iowa home. We had the ceremony in the Boy's hometown, and the reception was at the Park Place Event Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Highly recommend them - beautiful place and amazing service!

Dress: I traveld to Chicago to buy my Rivini dress. I actually first saw the dress on Atlanta's Say Yes to the Dress television show. I knew there was a reason I spent so many hours with my eyes glued to that show. I will definitely have a separate blog about my dress and accessories. 

First Dance: After some persuading I convinced the Boy we should dance to Are Going to Kiss Me or Not by Thompson Square. It is one of my favorite songs, and while the Boy and I were dating he may or may not have received many late night phone calls with me belting out this song. I think the best part was how many of our guest were belting out the song as we danced. 

Wedding Party: Our best friends made up our wedding party. My sister was my maid of honor, and the Boy's good race car buddy was his best man. The funny thing was that each of the them caught the bouquet and the garter. Except for the Boy's sister none of the groomsmen or bridesmaid met until a couple days before the wedding, and I would say we have great taste in friends because they got a long awesome! 

Photography: Other than marrying my best friend this had to be one of the highlights of the day. If you are having a wedding you must consider La Brisa Photography, and don't worry about location because they will travel! Chris Heish our photographer totally surprised us by bringing a second photography B to help capture our day. Our engagement photos were amazing, and with the teasers they have already provide (that's right the night of the wedding they have already put up more than 100 photos for us) they again blew us out of the water. Be sure to check out the La Brisa Facbeook page! 

Watch for many more posts to come, and if you have specific questions email me at crystalcattleblog@gmail.com and I'll work on putting a blog together to answer them. 

Wedding: Cow Pretzel Sticks

A little chocolate, a little cow

The Boy and I for quite a while thought that we wouldn't do favors at our wedding. I have watched far too many wedding favors go unused or never taken home, and thought that maybe it would just be better to forego the favors... that was until I saw these.

That's right cow sprinkles! I knew instantly that I could use these sprinkles to make my starting to be famous pretzel sticks. They were a pretty big hit at Christmas. 

I added additional white sprinkles to the cow sprinkles to make them go a little further. I found all my sprinkles through The Baker's Kitchen, except for the longer white sprinkles that had an iridescent shimmer to them. Those ones came from Hobby Lobby. You can find them also at Jo Ann's fabrics, but Hobby Lobby was better price wise. 

Jon's Grandma Johnson.

Jon's Great Franke, Jon's Grandma Judy and my mom. 

After a couple hours of dipping, sprinking and wrapping we had 350 pretzel sticks made. Luckily I had the help of three generations of family. Me, my mom, my mother in law, two of the Boy's grandmas and a great aunt of the Boy's. 

I use regular melting chocolate for the pretzel sticks. and use a spoon to help spread the chocolate on three quarters of the stick. Next lay the stick on a cookie sheet that has been covered with wax paper. Next use a spoon to sprinkle your "sprinkle concoction" over the sticks. Don't worry about the extras that don't stick, you'll be able to re use them. Place your cookie sheets in the fridge and allow to set for a couple of minutes. Once you pop the hardened sticks off the wax paper they are ready for wrapping. You'll be able to add the extra sprinkles back to the your stash of sprinkles to reuse. 

We used Wilton pretzel stick bags from Jo Ann Fabrics, and then tied with Jute Twine from BurlapFabric.com. Their jute comes in HUGE rolls, but trust me if you are going to incorporate burlap into your wedding you'll want a lot. 

Best tailgating dip ever - ugly dip

Feel free to devour

I have a confession. Part of the reason I love tailgating is the food. And not just eating it, but also making it. During the Iowa vs ISU tailgate I brought two dips, a corn & tomato salad, sausage, burgers, a speciality drink and it wasn't even our tailgate.

I decided to break out one my good friend's recipe, and an old K-State tailgate favorite, Ugly Dip. (I actually used to joke it was the only reason I was friends with her so she had better keep on making it).

I kind of forgot to take a picture of it before it was devoured. 

Pretty sure it went over well because I was told by some of the Boy's guy friends don't bother showing up at their homes if I didn't have this dip in tow. Success!

Ingredients for Ugly Dip

8 oz. Sour Cream
8 oz. Hellman's Mayo
8 oz. Shredded Chedder Cheese (I used the Colby/Jack/Cheddar mix and it still worked)
1 - 10 oz. can of Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
2 - 11 oz. cans of Mexi-corn (well drained)
1 pinch of sugar
1 bunch of green onions chopped (you can use the whole onion if you like)

Mix ingredients well and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Caution: The waiting just might kill you.

p.s. You'll be glad if you read this all the way through because I am giving away another pair of boots this week! Stay tuned.

Turquoise Thursday: Turquoise Cupcake Liners

Betty Crocker

I have being pretty much turning our kitchen into a war zone every night as I whip up more Christmas treats for our family. I am going to share a few of the recipes soon. However, sometime you have to return to your roots and admire all the beautiful turquoise baking supplies. And therefore today we admire cupcake liners!

Like this turquoise and brown polka dot cupcake liners from Bake it Pretty. 

50 pieces for $3.75. Flat rate shipping $7.95. 

These paisley cupcakes liners are from Cupcake Social, which is one of my favorite Etsy stores. 

40 pieces for $3.00, $3.25 for shipping. 

And since I said Cupcake Social was a favorite here is a turquoise cupcake liner package that I've had my eye on. You get 10 of each of these for a total of 80. I love the patterns and even think the green is neat too. 

80 pieces for $5.20, $3.25 for shipping. 

You can't forgot about the mini cupcake liner. These are also found on Etsy from CakesAndKidsToo.

60 pieces for $3.60, $5.00 for shipping. 

Are you a cupcake baker or what is your favorite treat to make? 

Food Fact: Did you know cake flour is made from soft wheat, and contains the lowest percentage of protein and gluten. 

Hunk of Meat Monday: Jalapeño Popper Pastries

This weekend we had a few friends over to watch the Kentucky Derby. The Boy made his first Mint Julep ever, which if you like whiskey you'll like, if you don't don't bother trying them. The food portion of our evening took on a much more Cinco De Mayo feeling including my Baked Tacos and a new recipe Jalapeno Popper Pastries, which I'll definitely be making again. 

I found the original recipe on Pinterest from Lady Behind the Curtain. She put hers on popsicle sticks. Here is my recipe below with a couple of suggestions. 

Ingredients

Pre Made Pie Crust Dough - 2 sheets (usually there are 2 sheets in a box)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons picked jalapeños, chopped

1 table spoon pickled jalapeno juice

6 bacon slices, cooked and chopped (I didn't have any bacon on hand so I used those precooked bacon pieces and did 1/2 cup. They were great this way, but I think would be better with real bacon.)

1 egg

salt and pepper

2-1/4 to 3 inch biscuit cutter

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

Mix together cream cheese, jalapeno jucie, jalapenos and bacon until cream. I think you can best control the hotness of this dish with the jalapeno juice. Add a little more if you like hotter, take away if you don't like as much heat. I would stay as is these are mild to medium hot. 

On a lightly floured surface lay out your pie crust and roll out any edges if necessary. Using your biscuit cutter cut out as many circles as you can. Mine was probably around the 2-1/4 inch size and I was able to get 26 circles out of my two pie crusts to make 12 pastries. 

Place half of the circles on the cookie sheet, and spoon in about a tablespoon of mixture. Mix up your eggs with a tablespoon of water. Using your finger dab the wash around the outside of the circle. Place your other circle on top of the mixture and using your finger to gently press together the two pieces of dough. 

Use a pastry brush to brush egg wash onto pastry, sprinkle with salt and pepper. I like the course ground pepper. Using a sharp knife cut a little slit in the top to make an air vent. 

Bake for 23 minutes, let cool and serve! 

You'll definitely want to serve these at your next get together or they would make a great side to some grilled steaks or hamburgers. 

More more Hunk of Meat Monday recipes visit the Beyer Beware Blog and link up. 

A Bridal Party and Ag More Than Ever

During the long weekend the Boy and I flew home to Canada for my sister's stagette and bridal shower. We were welcomed warmly as we purposely brought much needed rain with us. We have control over those things you know.

The weekend was was full of lots of laughs, family, friends and cattle.

Saturday was the day of bloopers you could say. Nothing went terribly wrong just one funny mishap after the other. Everyones $85 spa pedicures were smudged and wrecked within two hours. We went to a Blo Dry Bar, which I was really excited about. The idea is it is a place you can go get your hair styled without a hair cut. You get to select from five different styles and most the girls in the group, including me, decided to go with the Hollywood a glammed up, big hair, lots of curls look. In the end we got a ton of hair spray, half curled heads and half straight, bangs going ever direction, the worst teasing I have ever had and my hairdresser had to be shown twice how to use a flat iron to curl hair. I really shouldn't call these characters hair dressers as come to find out they only have to go through a two week training to work there. One girl promised she could talk to cowl licks. I think she must have forgotten their language after seeing on of the bridesmaid's poor bangs.

Luckily, Stacy's hair looked the best. However, within an hour of leaving Stacy told me mine looked like I had been playing hot mess out on the dance floor for the past four hours. Lots of laughs but I wouldn't recommend the Blo Dry Bar (or at least the one in Edmonton). 

On Sunday we showered the bride to be with gifts. I played hostess and made some of my favorite recipes that have appeared on the blog including Corn Chowder, Pretzel Sticks, Raspberry Delight, Jalepeno Dip and Ugly Dip. Who knew so many of these recipes were both tailgate and bridal shower approved. 

Stacy and her lovely ladies. This is one of the dresses I bought in Oklahoma City from Ann Taylor. 

On our way down to the shower I saw this really cool sign that said Ag More Than Ever. A pretty true statement. Then just by coincidence Ag More Than Ever tweeted me. 

You can actually buy these Ag More Than Ever signs as well as all kinds of other sign wraps and apparel. I guess there isn't a day go by without me finding something cool in agriculture. Makes sense when you think there isn't a day that goes by that we shouldn't be thankful for farmers.