roll me home

Posted: October 24, 2010 at 5:35 pm

Ever have one of those days that includes a lot of goodies? And you enjoy each and every one that calls to you? Then go home that night overly full and wake up hankering for a bowl/plate/cup full of health? I just ask out of curiosity. I have absolutely no experience in that scenario. 😉

Yesterday after our donut breakfast, outdoor walk, and Halloween bark production, we had a fall party to attend with a group of friends.

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I could not ask for a better group of friends to spend a Saturday afternoon with. Many hours can quickly pass while just hanging out, sharing a meal, and playing with all of our (many) kids. That is exactly what we did yesterday. We started off with lunch.

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I had about 2/3 of the hamburger, plus some veggies + spinach dip, and a scoop of Apple Butter Sweet Potatoes (recipe below). I think I would have been happy with just a large plate of those sweet potatoes and the spinach dip! I can’t forget the few pieces of Halloween bark that made it into my mouth as well.

We spent a good chunk of time doing crafts with the little ones. Makenzie created a handprint spider and a field of palm-print pumpkins from finger paints. Then, she decorated some pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with icing.

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We finished our time at the party watching some SEC football action before heading out to Babies R Us. We wanted to get an idea of what we will need before he arrives. I don’t think we will need too many things for Braedon. He’ll look cute in Makenzie’s old pink clothes, right? 😉

Based on the title of this post, you can probably figure that we ended the night with more food. We were in the area of an old favorite Chinese food restaurant that we haven’t been to in at least a year. It sounded so good. Sadly, something has changed over the past year and the meal totally let us down.

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We shared an order of steamed pot-stickers, which lacked much of the taste and texture they used to hold. We also shared an order of black pepper beef. Disgusting. Normally, the meal contained way more vegetables and the beef was never fried. What came out this time was a mound of fried beef with a few carrots, water chestnuts, and baby corn thrown in. We both had a minimal amount before deciding we could not stomach anymore.

To make up for dinner, we broke out a Groupon for some frozen yogurt. Self-serve frozen yogurt is one of those blog crazes that I totally get. I chose a combo of cheesecake topped with toffee bits and pumpkin topped with graham cracker.

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What could be better than yogurt and a wide choice of toppings? Definitely not black pepper beef, that’s for sure. 😉 Now, for that recipe I promised you. Thanks to my friend, Krista, for sharing!

Apple-Buttered Sweet Potatoes

  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 medium Granny Smith or other tart cooking apples, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
  • ½ cup dried cherries or dried cranberries (optional)
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 cup apple butter
  • 1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

In a 3 ½ or 4-quart slow cooker combine sweet potatoes, apples, and, if desired, cherries/cranberries.  In a medium bowl combine whipping cream, apple butter, and pumpkin pie spice.  Gently stir apple butter mixture into sweet potato mixture to combine. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 6 to 7 hours or on high heat setting for 3 to 3 ½ hours.

  • What would be your dream frozen yogurt creation?
  • Do you like arts and crafts? I’m not crafty but I love doing those things with Makenzie

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44 Comments to “roll me home”
  1. Oh I just hate it when a restaurant changes something and it’s not as good as you remembered. I love to do crafty things – they rarely turn out as I had envisioned though 😉

  2. Katie says:

    Hey !! Love this little post! Looks like you guys had a day of fun food and crafts!!! Is this a mommies group that your a part of ??
    The apple butter sweet potatoes will most likley be making it to my Thanksgiving dinner table 😉

    Katie

    • Tina says:

      I am part of a mom’s group that we get together every week with. The friends we had the party with are all members of the adult Sunday class I lead at church. We love doing things together as families and have grown incredibly close over the past few years. They are most of my closest friends. 🙂

  3. Ooooh I love self-serve frozen yogurt. I usually get cheesecake and top it with oreos and strawberries. Or coconut and top it with mochi and chocolate chips. Aaand now I’m craving for some… 😉

  4. Yum! Your sweet potato recipe sounds awesome! I just need to buy some sweet potatoes now…

  5. I love to crochet. That is about as crafty as I get. I think pumpkin frozen yogurt with graham crackers and apple butter would be perfect right now!

  6. Lisa says:

    Such a cute post! Sounds like such a fun weekend. Your daughter is SO adorable. I am definitely making those sweet poatoes for Thanksgiving. They are definitely going to impress my relatives!

    I am so excited because a self-serve frozen yogurt place was just put in near me! Perfect combo would be vanilla soft serve with white chocolate chips and cookie dough! =)

    • Tina says:

      The one we went to just opened this summer. And another opened even closer in the last month. I love that they’re popping up more!

  7. What would be your dream frozen yogurt creation? Back in the late 80’s one of our local places did an orange 50/50 frozen yogurt that was fantastic. For the most part, I like mine straight up!

    Do you like arts and crafts? I am crafting challenged. 🙂 I am great with ideas for crafts, color and design, but the actual implementation is always dismal. I am a disappointment to my family as all the rest of them are crafty in a variety of ways.

    I was reading, and you mentioned the sweet potatoes. I was like I have to ask for that recipe, and then there it was. I think I could totally get away with doing it with vanilla coconut milk, which is the monkey’s favored milk product. Thanks for sharing!

  8. Janae Jacobs says:

    I have that scenario way too many times…you’d think we would learn to not stuff ourselves so much at get togethers:) Makenzie is so adorable. Bummer about the restaurant but frozen yogurt makes everything better. My favorite combo I had just last week… pumpkin, cinnamon-toast crunch cereal, and whipped cream. It was pumpkin pie heaven:) hope you had a great weekend!

  9. I just had a whole weekend of “one of those days!!” haha
    The sweet potato apple creation sounds delicious!!

  10. My mom’s a 5th grade teacher and is SUPER creative which she passed on to me. I always LOVED doing crafts!

    • Tina says:

      My mom’s club said that I should take up the craft “director” position. I said they did NOT want me to do that. They retaliated with I used to be a teacher so I have to be crafty. Ummm….I taught high school for a reason. LOL

  11. ashleigh says:

    I love self serve fro yo! I usually get a small amount of fro yo and then load the toppings!

  12. Sarah says:

    Looks like you had a fantastic day 🙂 Love the crafting!!

    Those sweet potatoes look so yummy. I might have to make them!

  13. That totally happens to me sometimes after I travel and eat out a lot. When I get home, all I want are salads!

  14. I love arts and crafts — drawing, cutting, pasting, coloring, anything. I think it is fun and I love that kids think I am a good drawer and colorer 🙂

    Dream frozen yogurt: something that combines snickers, glazed donuts, peanut butter m&ms and banana cream pie 🙂 Those are my favorite flavors.

  15. Camille says:

    The Apple Butter Sweet Potatoes sound amazing!

    • Tina says:

      They’re really good! I was so thankful my friend sent me the recipe right away so I could share it with all of you.

  16. Karen :0) says:

    I totally know what you mean when you say “roll me home”! lol All of that food looks awesome and the Halloween party sounds like a ton of fun!! :0)

  17. Lee says:

    I actually do a lot of crafty stuff at my job. I design children’s books and we have to do a lot of mock up books. That’s not as fun as it sounds, trust me!

  18. Those sweet potatoes sound incredible!

    Sounds like a fantastic weekend.

  19. Kat says:

    such cute pictures of Mackenzie! I love to draw (when I find the time) and I sometimes get into sewing and painting — and love photography. but nothing too ‘crafty’ 🙂

  20. Natalie says:

    Your apple-buttered sweet potatoes recipe looks really good!

    I really enjoy doing arts and crafts…I credit my mom, she always did tons of projects and things with us when we were little girls!

    • Tina says:

      I wish I was more crafty to come up with things to do with M at home. I think the craftiest we will get at home is making some Christmas decorations (possibly) and carving pumpkins (definitely this week). 😀

  21. I love arts and crafts! I’m not very good at them, but I try.

    And my dream fro-yo is vanilla with…every sweet thing in sight. Depending on my mood, either a cinnamon-bun theme (like the Ben and Jerry’s flavor!) or a peanut butter and chocolate theme. Obviously, I take froyo way too seriously.

    Social gatherings tend to leave me with that “oh my gosh will I ever be able to eat again?” feeling.

  22. The husband and I went and got frozen yogurt tonight too – it was so good! My favorite is the original tart with strawberries and almonds with cocoa powder on them.

    And I totally had one of those days yesterday where I just ate and ate and ate. I actually woke up feeling a little sick this morning…not good:(

    Mackenzie is adorable btw!

  23. I’m not arts and craftsy at all! I used to wish I was, but I’ve kind of given up on it. I really want to try the sweet potato recipe! 🙂

  24. Kristy says:

    Too much sweets? What is that? I’ve never experienced such an event 😉

  25. Shannon says:

    What a perfect day! M looks like she’s having a ball!

    That apple sweetpotato dish sounds wonderful. Very much like something my mom makes. But I love that you make this in the slow cooker. I’ll have to try it! Thanks for the idea 🙂

  26. i like to get vanilla, chocolate and peanut butter froyo with crushed reeses on top. and maybe some chocolate sauce. and chocolate sprinkles. and cookie dough…

  27. Jess says:

    HA! I love the title of this post – I totally had a “roll me home” night on Saturday at girls night. We’ve gotten better at the amount of food we make for our girls night gatherings but sometimes we forget and go overboard with WAY too many options (of course I want one of everything!). But it was worth it, and SO tasty. Sometimes giving in to that stuff is ok in my book, wouldn’t you agree? 🙂

  28. Aww! That’s so cute seeing your adorable daughter making crafts. This weekend I had a bunch of my college besties over and we were joking about who is going to have kids first, etc. I have a feeling in a few years I’ll be doing the same thing as you;)

    • Tina says:

      You know what’s funny? My friends and I joked about that same stuff before. They all said I would be first and I told them HECK NO! That was in my party days and I honestly believed I would never get married and did NOT want kids. Then I met Peter and it all changed. hahaha

      They were right.

  29. Angela says:

    Wowww your fro yo looks divine!! I think my dream frozen yogurt would include pumpkin (with a large amount of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon mixed in), and maybe some walnuts or pecans also frozen inside to give it a good crunch. As for arts & crafts – LOVE them! My mum makes fun of me to this day because when I was little, I made her save everything – right down to empty toilet paper rolls – because “I needed them for a craft”. Lol… oh to be 5 again! 😀

  30. I pretty much mainly like a ton of fruit on my froyo! Pretty boring huh?!

  31. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tina Reale, Tina Reale. Tina Reale said: roll me home: Ever have one of those days that includes a lot of goodies? And you enjoy each and every one that ca… http://bit.ly/9mG2zu […]

  32. Oh my gosh, Makenzie is just too cute!

    Oh man, I am NO Martha Stewart, that’s for sure! I don’t really enjoy crafts unless I’m in the mood…and I’m pretty much never “in the mood”. Maybe once a year I get that feeling that I want to “make something”, but then I usually start it and realize why I shouldn’t do crafts in the first place HAHA!

  33. kathleen says:

    when i over indulge, the next day i always crave miso soup and vegetable sushi. never fails.

  34. Sara says:

    I love FroYo. 🙂 I’m going tomorrow for a friend’s birthday and I usually get a little of each flavor that I LOVE, not just like, but LOVE. Then I put three coconut cubes, three to five cherries and a rice cake on top.

  35. I like arts and crafts if I can only watch someone else do them, I don’t like working on them myself. You two look very cute! 🙂

  36. […] Fall Party (recipe included), upsetting dinner, and frozen yogurt […]

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