Tuesday Talk: 5 Famous Dinner Guests

If I could have dinner with 5 famous people,

these are the ladies I'd pick.

Taylor Swift

Kate Spade

Laura Bush

Ellen Degeneres

Martha Stewart
*alternate invite* Kate Middleton

via instyle

Ladies I'd love to have dinner with by polkadottyplace featuring a vegetable cookbook

And here's my reasoning...

// Taylor Swift //

She is on top of her game right now.  Her music is amazing and I've been a fan of hers since the beginning.  I love her style, her love for cats and her random acts of kindness.  I hear she puts on a killer concert, although I've never been to one.  I think she'd be a really fun dinner guest and I'd love to hear some funny real life stories from her.  She's always smiling and I'd love to talk relationships with her.

// Kate Spade //

I adore nearly everything Kate Spade makes.  I love their accessories, their home lines and their clothing.  I wish I could have it all.  I'd invite Kate Spade to my house and then ask her to kindly be in charge of bringing some of her gold polka-dotted china for everyone to use.  Maybe she'd even bring 5 purses for us to pick as party favors.  I'd love to know more about her brand, her style inspiration and what family dinners are like with David Spade.  I just recently learned that she is married to David Spade's brother.

// Laura Bush //

She's classy, well spoken and always looks great.  I love her love for teaching, teachers and literacy.  She's a wonderful mom and wife and I'd really like to hear about her life as The First Lady.  I love all things presidential so I'm hoping she'd have some fun white house tales to share with the group.  I'm also curious what she thinks of life as a grandma and what her tips for being a great mom would be.

// Ellen Degeneres //

I find Ellen to be hilarious.  She cracks me up and I love her desire to showcase positive people on her show.  I don't catch her show as often as I used to, but I always watch it with a smile.  I think she'd be quite entertaining doing some dancing and making us all laugh.  I love her giveaways, her pranks and how she thinks little kids are hilarious.  I think I'd really enjoy hearing about good things she does behind the scenes and then ask her if I could have tickets to her show.

// Martha Stewart //

She's so darn crafty and good at everything she does.  She's got product lines at all the major stores and I'll put her in charge of a fun DIY project for the group.  Maybe she'd also bring one of her pretty cake plates for each guest??  I love her home line and always enjoy her magazine.  I never watch her show anymore, but I will always remember the show where she had each audience member bring their cat to sit on their laps for the show.  It was hilarious to see an audience full of people AND cats.  Some were so good, some were wild and others were hiding under their chairs.  I also appreciate that Martha owned up to her mistakes and served time.  I read somewhere that she was really inspiring to the ladies she served time with and taught them all kinds of crafting skills.  I'd love to hear about her life and then ask her about her skin routine.  That lady has some great skin!!

// Kate Middleton //
If one of the above RSVPs no to my dinner, I'd extend an invitation to Princess Kate.  I love her and am so curious about life as a royal.  I'd love to hear about her kids and what they're up to.  Then I'd ask her to give me a sneak peek of her Fall/Winter fashion selections for herself and her kids.  I'd ask her to bring some vintage royal jewels for us all to try on and ask her about the highs and lows of living such a public life.

If I had to pick five famous guys,

they would be Peyton Manning, Jimmy Fallon, Nicholas Sparks,
George W. Bush and Regis Philbin.

Who would YOU invite to dinner?!?!?

I'm linking up with Momfessionals today

and excited to see who everyone else would love to have dinner with!

TODAY is the last day to enter our Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway!
Click on this post and find some new instagram friends to enter to win.

Time to link up with my favorite ladies for the week.

Join us with your best post 

(Starting from the upper left:)

Beth - Our Pretty Little Girls ~ Michelle - Grammie Time

Keri - Living In This Season  ~ Christina - Waltzing In Beauty

Tara - Mrs. Coach Sims ~ Lauren - Simply Free

Jess and Katie - Sweet Little Ones ~ Whitney - Polka Dotty Place

Becky - BYBMG ~ Elizabeth - All Kinds Of Things

Sarah - Abiding In Grace ~ Amy - Go Forth and Mother

Emily - Morning Motivated Mom 

<div align="center">
<a href="http://polka-dottyplace.blogspot.com/" title="Polka-Dotty Place"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwfCFr9AXEgv3ETndnI3C_JCdTWaSGQwXVTve-oOCmkLLslJ1CQVNenqCb8uwChwspoznlUrtsuQvC-xZN5-IJRxUz_72ZAxTQVgafE1le_cD3Jw6kmaIVmHuxpFlREuoqf9bfiXIA6A/s1600/TuesdayTalk.jpg" alt="Polka-Dotty Place" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

An InLinkz Link-up

Menu Monday

I thought I'd share a weekly menu with you this week.  I didn't quite have it ready to share with you in advance so this was our weekly menu from last week.  We typically eat out/get take out once or twice a week and then I cook the other nights.  When the weather is nice, Kevin will grill out which makes dinner prep so much easier for me.  I really enjoy cooking and love making food for my family.  I look forward to planning our meals and enjoy making things my family loves.  Hope you get some new ideas for dinner with your family from my menu.

BREAKFAST:

Lenders Bagels w/ peanut butter or cream cheese

Eggs

Cereal/Granola bars

Cinnamon Rolls - our favorite recipe

LUNCH:

Loaded baked potato

mac & cheese

dinner leftovers

pb sandwiches
all with sides of fresh fruit and veggies

SNACKS:

strawberries & whipped cream

apples & pb

Skinny Pop popcorn

Apple chips

yogurt + granola + fruit bowls

DINNER:

 Smoked Sausage, peppers & onions with Lemon Orzo and fruit

sautee the peppers & onions, fry the sausage combine

Cook 2 cups of orzo & zest one lemon + all the juice from the lemon

One of the tastiest dinners we had :)
*We LOVE Montreal Steak Seasoning so I was hoping we'd LOVE these sausages.
We did - they were really tasty*

 Ribeyes, homemade french fries & fruit

Potatoes were on super sale so I decided to make my own fries.  They're really easy and delicious.  Cut up one small potato per person and try to cut the wedges to be about the same size.  Rinse and sprinkle your favorite seasonings on them.  I used Freddy's Steakburger seasoning, but have also used Season salt.  Both were delicious.

 BLTs and raw veggies

Grilled BBQ chicken, sweet potatoes and strawberry salad

Grilled Chicken Pasta Bake

We ended up with left over grilled chicken so I sliced it up thinly and planned another meal with it.  I cooked my favorite radiatore noodles, stirred in pasta sauce until well coated and then sprinkled the grilled chicken on top.  Added more pasta sauce on top and then covered with mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes and broil for a few more minutes to brown the cheese.  

 I served roasted veggies with it the first night.

 We had enough for leftovers 

so I served it with a tossed salad the 2nd night and added some more pasta sauce to the dish.

What are you planning to cook this week?

Linking up with stillbeingmolly and orgjunkie

Random Ramblings

A few confessions to ramble off for you today...

My husband and I took turns being the cashier at our yard sale this summer.  We priced everything in increments of quarters and dollars to make our job easier and faster.  I was helping a lady check out and she realized she didn't have quite enough money in her hand.  She dug down deep into her bra, adjusted a few things and came up with the last few dollars.  I did not want to take her sweaty bra money and tried hard not to make a face at her.  I've heard people reference "boob money" before, but I really had no clue what it was.

Olive is currently refusing to wear shoes and declaring them "Not good."  If I do convince her to wear them she'll pretty quickly beg me to "set her piggies free".  Let's hope this phase wraps up before the snow hits.  I'd also like to apologize to any silent judging I've done in the past to parents who bring their kids out in public without shoes on.  I know pre-kid Whitney would have thought it was ridiculous to have your child barefoot in public.  At least I don't let her run around and make her shoe-less self ride in the cart.  Parenting is no joke, folks.

I buy bananas every week and it seems like they turn brown right away.  I like them on the green side - any tips to keep them greener longer?

I seem to be having a hard time keeping up with my dishes lately.  It's a rarity that my sink is empty.  I don't really have a great excuse other than the fact that I keep putting off this job since our since is extra deep and has two huge sections.  I apologized to my hubby for not keeping up with them better and he quickly let me know that he couldn't care less.  He hadn't even noticed and said I could never do dishes again if I didn't want to.  Isn't it funny 

I called a new pharmacy to have some prescriptions transferred this week.  It was a bit complicated to get my info from MS and have all the right numbers for the process.  I completed my portion and was ready to start Olive's.  The tech asked for my daughter's info.  I said her name is Olive.  Alice?  No, Olive.  Olive, like the olives you eat?  Yes.  That's so cool.  I LOVE olives!  I've never met anyone named Olive. She proceeds to announce to her coworkers that Olive's name is Olive and tells me how cool that is.  Ummmm thank you is all I could think of to say.  We finished our transaction and I just shook my head.

I bought a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl bread this week and it was amazing.  I toasted it, added a little butter and cinnamon sugar.  It was SO GOOD.  Olive and I both enjoyed this really easy breakfast option.

I don't eat at McDonalds a ton, but I'm really excited that they are going to start serving breakfast all day long.  I love their Bacon, Egg & Cheese Muffin and Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel.  I'm thinking it would be a fun breakfast for lunch option during the day.  I also think that McDonalds should just close for the day if their ice cream machine is broken.  It's happened to us a few times lately where we stop in at a McDonalds late at night for ice cream and they say their machine is down.  How rude!

One of the back burners on my stove gets REALLY hot when the oven is on.  I forgot this fun fact and laid a ziploc bag on it while I was baking the other day.  I smelled plastic burning mid-baking and realized I'd melted the bag on the burner.  Any ideas how to clean it off??

Is there such a thing as too many good books?  We got Goodnight Ark in the mail this week.  It's a cute goodnight book by Laura Sassi.  It tells the tale of Noah and the pairs of animals on the ark trying to get some sleep.  Noah tucks them in and makes sure that everyone is in their own space.  Storms roll in and the animals all end up in his bed.  He tries to reason with them and then ends up tucking them all into bed in his room.  He lulls them to sleep with a lullaby.  My toddler enjoyed this book and loved naming all of the animals.  I have a feeling this book will quickly find its way into our bedtime book routine.
*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review of it.

I'll never be in the running for Mother of the Year as long as these events keeping happening...

Olive loves Dum-Dums.  She asks for them all day long, but we save them for special occasions or when we are out and about.  I gave in and gave her one a few weeks ago.  She was being so good and quiet.  I got a little concerned so I went looking for her.  She was quietly DIPPING her Dum-Dum in the toilet, swirling it around and popping it INTO HER MOUTH.  She'd say "Mmmmmmm.  Tastes Good!"  I gagged and tried to very sternly tell her that potties are disgusting.  Reminded her we don't play in the potty and tossed her sucker.

Do you have any funny/embarrassing confessions or ramblings to share with me??

The Highlights

 I loved this short work week of a week!  We squeezed in lots of fun, enjoyed a rainy day, ran some errands and spent time at home.  We are heading to a play date with some new friends this morning so I'm hopeful that Olive and I will make a few new friends in our new city today.  It's always intimidating to join a group when you really don't know anyone.  Wish us luck!!

The best parts of our week were:

1. We traveled to Kentucky for a wedding last weekend.

I loved getting all dressed up. 

Everything was beautiful and so fun to visit with friends we made in Utah.

You can find a full recap of the festivities here.

 2. I ordered this plaid, poncho/cardigan goodness for myself this week.  I have never purchased anything from Gray Monroe so I'm excited to give it a try.  You can't beat free shipping and I think it's going to be a great plaid accessory for Fall.

 3. I love everything apple and pumpkin in the Fall so I picked up a big bag of apples and these Crispy Apple Chips at Sams this week.  They are tasty and healthy so I'm hoping my toddler loves them, too.  I'm planning to make some apple crisp this weekend.

4. Olive got some new holiday pjs this week.  They were on sale and I had coupons for Meijers so they were a great deal.  I can't wait for her to wear the glow in the dark skeleton pjs ASAP.  She's going to go nuts!!  I also love that there's candy in the belly :)

5. We had our first game day weekend of the season and got to watch Notre Dame win.  Olive was sporting a new ND jersey thanks to her Mimi.  We practiced cheering and eating some delicious chili.  Can't wait for a repeat again this weekend.

 Have you entered to win the Starbucks gift card giveaway yet??

Click over here, scroll to the middle of the post 

and find some new ladies to follow on instagram to win.

Any fun plans for your weekend?  

Linking up with HodgesPodges, Oh Hey Friday!
 MeetattheBarre,  FridayBlogHop,   HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday,
FridayFavorites,  FridaysFabFavorites and Momfessionals

Pizza Poppers

We had a picnic to go to last weekend and my husband said we were supposed to bring meat to grill and a side dish to share.  He wasn't sure we'd have utensils so he thought finger foods would be best.  No problem.  I had a few appetizers in mind and let him pick the one that sounded best.

Pizza Poppers

The ingredient list is short and they were really simple to make.

1 can premade pizza crust

1/2 bag turkey pepperoni cut up

1/2 bag turkey sausage crumbles

1 handful sliced black olives 

(optional: any other favorite pizza toppings)

1 jar pizza sauce

1 8oz bag of mozzerella cheese

Recipe makes 24 Pizza Poppers and can easily be doubled.

Start with a greased mini muffin tin and preheat your oven to 375.

I used kitchen shears to cut my dough into 24 squares.  I found it was easiest to unroll the dough and then eyeball 6 strips of dough.  Each of those strips was cut into 4 squares.  They aren't identical but they were close enough.  I poked them down into the pan.  Then baked for 7-8 minutes until lightly browned.

Add a spoonful of your favorite pizza sauce to each popper.

 Then top with your favorite toppings - turkey pepperoni, turkey sausage, olives and cheese.  Bake an additional 5 or 6 minutes and boil for an additional minute to get the cheese browned.

 Bake again until the cheese is melted and browned 7-8 minutes.
Let the poppers cool and then use a knife to pop them out of the muffin tin.

Serve warm with the remaining pizza sauce to dip in.

My tray was empty when I brought it home.

The adults and children loved them!

I made two batches in a row and left one with the babysitter + Olive.

We ended up with some leftovers and they reheated really well for lunch the next day. 

Give them a try - I bet your family would love them :)