the weekend is never long enough...

Happy President's Day! Unfortunately like about half the country, I am working today. Oh well, at least it was a good weekend. Saturday I had my last cheerleading game and Sunday the Awards Ceremony for both the cheerleaders and basketball teams and families. For those of you who don't know, I signed up to be an assistant UPWARD cheerleading coach back in November. Little did I know, a girl with absolutely no cheerleading experience, would be teaching 12 kindergarten girls cheers, haha! Nevertheless, it was such a fun season and I think I actually taught them something along the way. I loved the time I spent getting to know the girls and their families. Such a great experience!

Saturday night I went to my friend Jen's birthday celebration at this new upscale bowling alley in downtown Houston, Lucky Strike. It was so fun and definitely beat those smoky, old bowling alleys. Thanks to my mad bowling skills, I even won a game, haha!

Sunday I went to dinner and I movie with some friends. We ate at El Tiempo, my favorite Mexican restaurant ever! Then we went to see Valentine's Day. I personally loved it! It reminded me of Love Actually as there are several different plot lines and they all connect.

And of course this weekend I cooked and baked! One challenge I have decided to tackle in 2010 is trying a new recipe each week whether it's a dinner, dessert, appetizer, etc. I would love to try a new dinner and dessert each week but I thought that might be a bit of an ambitious goal.

So this weekend I tried my first new recipe, Penne a la Betsy, thanks to Pioneer Woman. I must say it was pretty good, but not my favorite. The sauce was surprisingly lighter than I expected, but in a good way. I used the white wine in the recipe as it instructed but think I will try the chicken broth version next time.

Also in honor of Valentine's Day I made the infamous Red Velvet Cake Balls!! This of course is not a new recipe but one of my favorites! They are time consuming and quite a bit of work but so worth it! I always forget how good they are until I take the first bite of a fresh batch and then it all comes back, AMAZING! The recipe I use is below. Mine never turn out as pretty as this picture but they are still so good! Happy baking! :)

Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

**I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It's easier to work with when it's hot.