Life as an Aced

For the Last 2 years we have been in our house we have hosted Christmas Eve at our house. Growing up we always went to my Aunt's house Christmas Eve so I feel like its just as important of a holiday as Christmas and it would feel super weird to not do anything that night I LOVE themed parties and use Christmas Eve as my excuse to have a themed party last year we did A Very FRIED Christmas and this year the theme was Merry LITTLE Christmas It night filled with food that was mini, small, bite size, finger food. . . If you needed a knife and a fork it was not welcome (lol) Most of the food we made has all been featured before but we did do a few new recipes and here they are for you   Mini Mint Fudge Brownies Ingredients -Box of Brownie Mix Prepared -Mint Chocolate Chips -Frosting Directions 1) Preheat oven to recommended temp on box 2) Spray Mini Muffin Pan and add brownie mix about 3/4 full 3) Cook for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick...

Not sure if any one has tried the pretzel rolls at Trader Joe's yet but those are the inspiration for Eddie's Choice Dinner this week. I saw them at Trader Joe's the other day and we used them  as rolls for a sandwich for lunch and they were soooooo good I had to go back the next day and buy more so I could make these burgers Pretzel Bun Burgers Ingredients: -Trader Joe's Pretzel Rolls (sliced for use as a bun) -Ground Beef  -Bacon -Cheddar Cheese Directions: 1) Prep Ground Beef with your favorite burger seasonings then shape into long ovals 2) Cook Burgers and Bacon 3) Top Burger with Bacon and Cheese 4) Let cheese melt while still cooking 5) Prep burger with favorite toppings and enjoy! NOTE : -I was able to get 3 long burgers out of 1 pound of ground beef but they were a little small if you like bigger burgers I recommend about 1/2 pound per burger Ham and Cheese Pinwheels Ingredients: -Seamless Crescent Dough -De...

I'm really starting to like our tradition of Eddie choosing dinner for Tuesday night. Last week he choose Pepper jack and Bacon crescent Roll up Appetizers and Bacon Cheeseburger Roll ups for dinner. We had our first total FAIL with the cheeseburger roll up that ended up being more of a calzone than anything else . . . Here's the picture (I am going to try and perfect this one before posting a recipe) HOWEVER the Crescents were awesome!!! Pepper Jack and Bacon Crescents Ingredients 4 good size pieces of Pepper Jack Cheese (think 1/2 of a string cheese size) 4 pieces of bacon (cooked and crumbled) Can of Crescent Seamless Dough Sheets Directions 1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees 2) Open Dough Sheet and cut into 4 rectangles 3) Sprinkle each rectangle with bacon 4) Add a piece of cheese at bottom ends and roll up 5) Place Seam side down on baking sheet 6) Bake for 15-20 minutes NOTE: Adapted from parsleysagesweet.com

Sometimes Pinterest makes you dig for what you are really looking for but with a little work I did FINALLY find the Christmas Chalkboard like Printables I was looking for . . . Not quite done with my project yet but I did want to share this link with all of you from Mothertime Marketplace

The other night I let Eddie Choose what we were having for dinner. One Pinterest I have been keeping a board of all the food i think he would like and let him choose from the hundreds of posts there. To my surprise he picked on the the easiest and tastiest recipes CHEESE BOMBS and we paired then with our Rebel Sauce Chicken Fingers. Cheese Bombs Ingredients -1 Container of Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Biscuits -1/2 of a pound of Mozzarella -Olive Oil -Greek Seasoning -Parmesan Cheese Directions 1) Pre-Heat Oven to 350 degrees 2) Cut Cheese into 8 equal pieces 3) Open Biscuits 4) Individually stretch biscuit put cheese in middle and fold up biscuit around the cheese 5) Place onto Baking Sheet folded side down 6) Brush top of each biscuit with olive then sprinkle on seasoning and parmesan cheese 7) Cook for 15 to 20 minutes NOTE -Recipe Adapted from OhBiteIt.com -You can substitute the Greek Seasoning for Italian Seasoning and Garlic Powder Rebel...

Crystal Light has come out with mock-tail drink mixes that taste good on their own but when you add some alcohol they get even better :) Light night we mixed up some Mojitos using Crystal Light Mojito Mix and Barcardi - I kicked it up even more by adding some cranberry juice Cranberry Mojitos Ingredients : -Crystal Light Mojito (Already made) -Bacardi (or other light rum) -Cranberry Juice Directions : 1) Mix equal parts of each ingredient and enjoy

For Thanksgiving this year me and Eddie went to his moms house so we didn't have to cook but we did bring quite a few side dishes. Here's What we brought Spicy Beer Jerky Ingredients 1-2 pounds stir fry meat 1 tsp liquid smoke 2 tsp salt 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 beer Directions 1) Place all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag and marinate over night 2) Place in Dehydrator and cook for 3-6 hours at 170 degrees Cheesy Bread Ingredients: -Homemade pizza dough with 1/4 tsp garlic powder added into dough -1/2 cup of butter (melted) -8 oz of Mozzarella Cheese -Parmesan Cheese -Greek Seasoning Directions: 1) Pre-Heat oven to 425 degrees 2) Follow the Homemade Dough Recipe found here adding 1/4 garlic powder to the dough 3) Melt 1/2 cup of butter and place into the bottom of a baking sheet with a lip 4) Roll out dough and place on top of ...

Recently I found this website called 300sandwiches.com about a girl who has bet with her boyfriend that once she makes him 300 sandwiches he will ask her to marry him. I love sandwiches and love the idea behind 300sandwiches.com . . . me and eddie could have had a similar bet but it probably would have been pizzas instead of sandwiches lol Anyways I totally read the whole blog in like 2 days (she on sandwich 199 right now) - while this recipe didn't come from her website it got me in the mood to make eddie a sandwhich for lunch. Spicy Turkey Panini Ingredients: Ciabatta Bread Spicy Sandwich Spread Pepper Jack Cheese Deli sliced Turkey Directions: 1) Slice bread into a large sandwich sized piece then slice down the middle 2) Spread the spicy sandwich spread on both sides of the bread 3) Add Cheese and Meat 4) Cook in a Panini Maker or in a fry in a pan untill bread is brown and crispy and cheese is melted NOTE: When making any kind of grilled sandwich or panini...

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. Pasta sausage pasta is one of those dishes that I made for Eddie back in his apartment in San Francisco and have been making him ever since. It definitely isn't the healthiest dish out there but OMG is soooooo good. Spicy Sausage Pasta Ingredients: 1 Package of Pasta 1 pound of ground sausage Italian seasoning Cayenne Pepper Red Pepper Flakes 1 jar of Alfredo Sauce Directions: 1) Cook Sausage adding Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes to spice it up 2) Cook Pasta according to package directions 3) Drain Pasta 4) Add sausage and sauce to pasta 5) Mix and Serve with extra red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese NOTE: -You can seriously use any kind of pasta with this dish. Our favorites are using cheese tortellini or raviolis but whatever is in the cabinet with work. I haven't tried it with spaghetti yet but i am sure you could use that too.

Sex on the Beach is one of my favorite bar drinks but it gets a little embarrassing ordering them sometimes. While the original drink has a bunch of different ingredients (most that you wouldn't normally have at home) I have simplified a ghetto version of the drink with the same flavors in just 3 common ingredients!!! Sex on the Beach - Simplified Version Ingredients: Vodka Orange Juice Cranberry Directions: 1) Add vodka and orange juice to your glass leaving room at the top 2) Add a splash of cranberry juice

Since I have perfected the Beer Jerky Recipe Eddie can not get enough!!! We have tried it with different kinds of meat and added a little extra kick and either way we serve it it gets devoured before I can make more. Last few batches I have made a little spicy by adding in red pepper flakes and we have found that by using thinner meat the more spicy the jerky is. If you haven't tried our beer jerky yet and you have a dehydrator you need to now and just for reference here is the recipe with the added kick (just remove the red pepper flakes for a more mild spice) Spicy Beer Jerky  Ingredients 1-2 pounds stir fry meat 1 tsp liquid smoke 2 tsp salt 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp red pepper flakes 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 beer Directions 1) Place all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag and marinate over night 2) Place in Dehydrator and cook for 3-6 hours at 170 degrees

I've seen a ton of Wine Cork projects on the internet but never really found any that I was like "OMG I have to make this!!!" until I found this on pinterest from  http://4.bp.blogspot.com  but of course only a pic no instructions. . . What you need: -3 foot long 1in think board -Wine Corks -Hot glue and hot glue gun -Something to use as a hanger (wire, ribbon, sting, etc) I started my search at Home Depot thinking that a wooden ruler would be the best thing to glue the corks onto but apparently wooden rulers aren't sold anymore and they are now all metal and that wasn't going to work Wandering around the store with Eddie I did however find something the same shape and size and a ruler (basically a wooden dowel but flat) in the random wood department near fence supplies and woot woot was 55 cents!!! Took that home plugs in my hot glue gun and grabbed my corks and got to work gluing them to the board Everything was going good until I was gettin...

A little late on the pumpkin seeds post but better late than never - - However I could eat these any time of the year and even been thinking of looking for some pumpkins just so I can make more!!! Spicy Pumpkin Seeds Ingredients: Fresh Pumpkin Seeds Olive Oil Salt Pepper Cayanne Pepper Garlic Powder Directions: 1) PreHeat oven to 400 degrees 2) After removing the Pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin rinse them off inside a pasta strainer 3) Place Pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet then over with olive oil, salt, and pepper 4) Bake for about 20 minutes stirring every 5 5) Sprinkle with cayenne pepper and garlic powder then broil until brown and crispy

I don't know how me and eddie come up with some of the things that we do but last night when making pizza eddie suggested we stuffed everything rather than just stuffing the crust. If you've ever had my stuffed crust pizza or really stuffed crust pizza you know that the crust is the best part and we wanted to get that flavor throughout the whole pizza so hence the double stuffed pizza came about. Eddie's Double Stuffed Pizza Ingredients - Pizza Dough with an added tsp of garlic powder -Mozzarella Cheese -String Cheese -Pizza Sauce -Pizza Toppings Directions: 1) PreHeat oven to 400 degress 2) Save about 1/4 of the pizza for the "stuffed" portion 3) Roll out remaining dough a little bit bigger than your pizza pan and place on pizza pan 4) Spread olive oil on the crust then top with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese 5) Roll out the saved dough and place on top of cheese 6) Place string cheese around the border and fold over remaining dough so ev...

I haven't made bar chips in a while and instead lately just been taking the easy route with frozen fries. The other day I had some extra time and potatoes laying around so figured lets try this again and see if we can simplify them and YAY . . . thanks to the broiler I did!! Bar Chips Take 2 Ingredients: -4-6 Small Potatoes -Olive Oil -Cooking Spray -Greek Seasoning -Parmesan Cheese Directions: 1) Pre-heat Oven to 425 degrees 2) Cover the bottom of a high walled baking sheet with oil 3) Wash and Peel the potatoes and cut (like chips) in thick slices 4) Spray potatoes with cooking spray then sprinkle with greek seasoning 5) Cook for 25 minutes on Bottom Rack 6) Move to top rack and Broil 2 minutes at a time until nicely browned NOTES -Check out the Original Recipe  here -We served these with Chicken Poppers but you can easily replace them for french fries for any meal

While in Reno for the Italian Festival a few weeks ago we also found a Beef Jerky Stand with a guy selling a ton of different flavors of beef jerky including one style called Beer Jerky that was marinated in beer.  Last Christmas I got a dehydrator and have tried making beef jerky a few times but it just has came out OK but nothing special However today I tried it with a beer marinade and that was the trick!! OMG sooooooo good!! Homemade Beer Jerky Ingredients 1-2 pounds stew meat 1 tsp liquid smoke 2 tsp salt 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp onion powder 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp pepper 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 beer Directions 1) Place all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag and marinate over night 2) Place in Dehydrator and cook for 3-6 hours at 170 degrees

As we continue our spicy food diet we have added spicy sides into our menus too. Last night we had Paninis with Spicy Fries Spicy Fries Ingredients Frozen fries Olive oil Spray cooking oil Greek seasoning Cayenne Pepper Salt Directions 1) pre heat oven to 425 2) coat bottom of baking sheet with olive oil 3) spread fries in an even layer on baking sheet 4) spray fries with cooking spray and sprinkle on greek seasoning and cayenne pepper 5) bake on bottom rack for 25 minutes 6) broil for 2-5 minutes until fries are browned 7) finish with salt and more cayenne pepper

This weekend me and Eddie made it out to Reno for the Italian Festival and while there found an awesome Hot Sauce Booth. The hot sauce we picked up was made with the Trinidad Scorpion Pepper which according to my brother (Josh) is now the hottest pepper in the world and while it made almost everyone else cry that tried it me and eddie loved it and knew we had to pick up a bottle for ourselves :) The Lady we purchased it from said that she personally uses it by mixing it into other things so we first tried it by mixing it into my homemade salsa and WOW even just a little bit gives a nice punch So. . .since spicy food helps to speed up your metabolism we figured lets use the hot sauce on everything and hence came the Spicy Food Diet We are going to try and eat spicy food every night and see how long we can go Last night we kicked up our Carne Asada Burritos with a splash of the Trinidad Hot Sauce added into the enchilada sauce and tonight we are having Chicken Poppers ...

Now that I am working 8 hours a day 5 days a week the Crock Pot has become my Best Friend . . . seriously easiest way to prepare dinner -Here's what we made last night Frank's Crock Pot Chicken Burritos Ingredients -Chicken Breast -Franks Hot Sauce -Taco Seasoning -Tortillas and your favorite burrito fixings Directions: 1) Throw Chicken Breast and Franks Hot Sauce in a Crock Pot and cook on low for at least 6 hours 2) When ready to serve drain juice and shred chicken 3) Stir in some taco seasoning and more hot sauce if needed 4) Serve in a tortilla with your favorite burrito fixings

It is not uncommon for us to have quesadillas for dinner but making them 2-3 at a time never seems to be enough - - Since my oven tacos were so popular I decided to try out quesadillas in the oven too and surprise surprise they taste just as good and are actually healthier and crunchier this way too :) Oven Quesadillas Ingredients: Corn tortillas Shredded cheese Shredded chicken Directions: 1) on a baking sheet spread out as many tortillas as you can (mine fit 6) 2) top tortillas with cheese - chicken - more cheese - second tortillas 3) put baking sheet in a cold oven 4) turn on to 350 degrees and cook for 10 minutes 5) broil for 1-2 minutes 5) flip and broil for 1-2 more minutes 

I try and make homemade pizza at least once a week. I thought we had pepperoni in the house but I didn't so we did all sausage and guess what??? Still AMAZING :) Eddie's Sausage Stuffed Crust Pizza Ingredients:  Pizza dough String Cheese (for stuffed crust) Sauce Mozzarella Cheese Sausage Seasoned salt Cayenne pepper Directions: 1) Make Pizza Crust (recipe here ) 2) Roll out dough (follow direction here  at the bottom of the page for stuffed crust) and place on pizza stone 3) Pre-Heat oven to 450 4) Cook sausage adding seasoned salt and cayenne pepper 5) Top dough with cheese, sausage, then more cheese 6) Bake for 20 minutes

Week 3 of Football means it time to bring out the football snacks This week for Monday night football we made up a batch of bacon wrapped little smokies and rooted for the Raiders!! Pig Smokies Ingredients: -Cheese filled Little Smokies -Thin bacon Directions: 1) Pre heat oven to 325 degrees 2) Cut bacon in thirds 3) Wrap each hot dog with bacon then stick with toothpick and place on baking sheet 4) Bake for 40 minutes 5) Broil for 3-4 minutes 6) Serve as an appetizer/snack

On Pinterest Salads in Mason Jars keep coming up as a popular pin. Sounds like a good idea to have everything all right there and just having to shake but I still think that it will all get soggy sitting in the dressing all week While I was grocery shopping last week I found little mini dip containers with a lid (similar to what you would get at a fast food restaurant) and thought those would be a better idea So I purchased the little dip containers along with all my salad fixings - premade the salads in containers with the dip and threw them in the fridge Was super surprised that I actually did end up eating more salad last week and seriously only took like 5 minutes to put it all together Here's an example of my "Salad Kits"

Here are our Top 5 Recipes as of today here on Life as an Aced - - if you haven't tried them out yet you totally should :) #5: Bacon Guac Cheeseburger  (Men's Fitness) Magazine #4:  Cheesy Bites Pizza #3:  Oven Tacos #2:  Cheese Dip #1:  Baked Mac and Cheese