I just wanted to do a quick post about our Valentine tradition. For a few years now, we have done a fun finger food platter and sweet goodies.
Yesterday we were in Waco all day and I didn’t get the chance until the day of to run to the little grocery store here and get the items for my newly acquired Charcuterie board. The little town we are in doesn’t have a grocery store so I had to go to the next town over. While they did have an HEB (and everyone from Texas says “AMEN!” We love our HEB’s) this one was pretty small. So our meat and cheeses were limited, but it worked.
To make a quick and easy and kid friendly charcuterie board, start with a few varieties of crackers, cheeses, and sliced meats. I threw in some dates and dried apricots and grapes that we dipped in marscapone cheese.
I melted some chocolate so we could dip apple slices, pineapple slices and pretzel sticks in. And HEB had some pretty chocolate dipped strawberries to add to the spread.
What are some of your favorite Valentine traditions?
~Enjoy the journey!
NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. I share links to products I love or that interest me, and if you do make a purchase it helps me pay for this blog, at no extra cost to you.
Visiting Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Market has been on my must go list for a while. We finally made it yesterday! The kid’s were like, “what exactly are we doing there?” And you kind of have to fudge it a little rather than say you’re going to a large home goods store. They had already been to The Pioneer Woman’s Merc and lodge. So they figured they were good on the home goods field trip front. Oh Contraire! teehee
We are staying at a campground about 40 minutes away so we had to get going a little earlier than our usual to go to Magnolia Table for breakfast. We were all so excited to have my brother Logan join us for the day. He drove up from North Austin and met us there.
My brother thought I wouldn’t post this
We went on a Wednesday and at about 9am, we didn’t have to wait at all. The benefits of being able to go on a weekday..
Yes, he ordered an adult meal. No, he couldn’t finish it.
The inside was true Joanna Gaines style, light, airy and farmhouse chic. Everyone that is employed there are super kind, polite and helpful. We had a breakfast appetizer of Lemon Lavender donut holes that were delightful. I love a lemon lavender combo, as well as a good lemon blueberry combo. I actually have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to blueberries. Growing up with both grandparents owning blueberry farms probably have something to do with that.
Breakfast was a hearty farmhouse breakfast of bacon, eggs, these yummy giant tater tot things, and french toast for me, pancakes for the others or biscuits. The strawberry butter is to die for!
After a nice leisurely breakfast, we loaded up and headed over to the Magnolia Market and silos. It’s a really quaint area consisting of a few acres I believe. It houses their bakery, the market and the back area has a large area of astroturf where kids can play, parents can lounge or you can sit at one of the many picnic tables as you eat a meal or snack from their food truck area.
After dragging everyone through the market and looking at EVERYTHING, I came out with a few goodies. Luckily, living in 350 sq ft keeps you with a good minimalist mindset. You can’t buy what you don’t have room for. Or you could…but who wants that kind of chaos in their life?
Then it was outside where we played giant Jenga and threw a kickball on the astro turf and let the kiddo’s run off some steam.
We made a quick stop at the old Magnolia warehouse shop where they had some discounted and sale items. I found a Christmas ornament for our RV tree, (we try to get an ornament from the places we visit on our travels) a Charcuterie board, (eeek I’ve been wanting one) and neat leather pouch I want to hang on the wall by the passenger seat for my phone and book while we are driving.
I can’t believe this was a thing
Downtown, we visited the Dr. Pepper museum. My brother is a huge fan of Dr. Pepper. Huge. It’s a pretty neat museum, at the end, we were able to watch a lab demonstration about the history of “Soda Pop” and watched the demo lady make a celery soda. Yep, that was apparently a popular thing back then. It actually didn’t taste bad.
They’re over picture taking at this point
Got our “free” Dr. Pepper at the end and tried a chocolate egg cream
Off to the river and the historic Waco walking bridge. This area was part of the original Chisolm Trail and was neat to see.
“Everybody turn around so I can take your picture.”
For our last stop, it was back to Magnolia Market to eat a late lunch from the food trucks and get a snack at the Bakery for the next day. Everyone had a burger and I opted for a gourmet grilled cheese. It was all yummy!
“I am one with the force..
the force is with me.”
All in all it was a pretty successful day in Waco. I wish we hadn’t waited so long to go!
My #1; “I have no idea what we’re doing.”
The Lemon Lavender were yummy
Have y’all been to Waco? Are there any must see stops for next time?
~Enjoy the journey!
NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. I share links to products I love or that interest me, and if you do make a purchase it helps me pay for this blog, at no extra cost to you.
I wanted to do a quick post because this dish is too pretty not to share! We love us some Brussels sprouts up in here. Normally it’s just the sprouts with bacon. But I had some pretty purple cabbage left over from another recipe so I decided to throw some of that in as well.
Brussels Sprouts with Purple Cabbage & Bacon
Without further adieu. Because while yummy, it doesn’t really warrant a lot of conversation…here’s the recipe.
Bag of Brussels Sprouts
1/4 – 1/2 head purple or red cabbage
6 slices bacon chopped (or turkey bacon if you’re into that)
2 cloves garlic
2 turns in the skillet of Avocado (or olive) Oil
Salt/Pepper to taste
Really the rest is pretty simple: While cooking the bacon, wash and halve your Brussels sprouts. Chop up some cabbage.
When the bacon is crisp, take out to drain on a paper towel and remove (or leave it, no judging here) the bacon grease. Add your Avocado oil (unless you opt for the former) and then the sprouts and cabbage. I put my lid on for a few minutes so the veggies can slightly steam. Then continue to cook until your Brussels sprouts are tender. Add the salt, pepper and garlic and sauté 2-3 minutes.
Turn off the heat, add the bacon and toss together. Serve warm.
*I use my electric skillet because its just easier in an RV. Wanna hear a secret? In the whole time we’ve been in our RV, I haven’t cooked on my stovetop once. It may or may not scare me a little. Yes, I know that’s irrational.
I don’t think we have ever formally introduced our rig, our home, our humble abode. Unlike others, we haven’t named her..him..it. We just aren’t those who would consistently call it Nelly. Or Helga. Or Tom. Really, we don’t even consistently call it anything.
It goes back between the “RV,” or “camper,” or “home/house.” We probably call it the “RV” more than anything. But in my head I hear Cousin Eddie saying “that there is an Awrrrr Veee.” So I can’t even take that seriously. But for whatever shortcomings we have with struggling what to call it, its our home and we love it.
Ironically, after looking online at rigs all over the country, we wound up finding one in Austin, not terribly far from where we lived.
When we started seriously searching for our RV, we made a list (it was more a mental list, we aren’t that put together) of what we knew we must have in an RV we were going to live full-time in.
-Diesel engine
-Bunk house
-Class A Motorhome
-Nothing over 10 years old
-Lots of storage
You get the idea. We went back and forth between a Class A and a 5th wheel. Well we did but not really. From the beginning, we leaned more toward a Class A Diesel pusher. Many families go for a travel trailer or 5th wheel, but for us and our needs, a Class A works for us.
My husband is disabled due to a parachuting accident from 2008. So the comfort of traveling in a Class A opposed to a truck was a no brainer. Also the ease of parking and setting up/tearing down a motorhome compared to a 5th wheel is just easier. We love traveling comfortably together with nothing blocking the views from our huge windshield as we travel.
We pull our Ram behind our motorhome and its seriously a 5 minute or less process to hook it up and unhook. Which is great because for some reason, it loves to rain on our tear down and leave days.
There were certain brands we just decided were a “no-go” from the beginning, so between the brands we wanted, needing a bunkhouse, and a diesel, that narrowed our search down quite a bit. We would find out there are not a ton of diesel pushers with a bunkhouse. We also, did not want to spend an arm and a leg on a brand new rig. Being debt-free was and is a big deal to us on this full-time journey of ours!
Initially we wanted to stay between 34-38 feet. So we found a bunkhouse plan in a Winnebago Itasca that we really liked. We also liked the Newmar Allstars we found that were actually a mid-engine diesel, but they were 40+ feet.
Long story short, we found a 2009 Newmar Allstar mid-engine diesel in Austin for sale and when we looked at it, it was like, “yep! This is it!”
We actually have a “basement” in the back, allowing for a lot of storage. The bunk area has drawers underneath the beds, an armoire across that holds our clothes and shoes and the kids each have a shelf with their “stuff.” While our fridge isn’t a residential size fridge (which I really wanted) it really holds everything we need. I can do a pretty big grocery run and fit everything.
I will do a blog post in the future with how we have everything situated and some redecorating.
