Double-Smoked Potatoes

Today's Friday post is going to be a little different than the usual 5 - I'm going to share an amazingly delicious side recipe for the grill. For Christmas last year, Stephen's brother got him this perfect cookbook for smoking. Stephen's really been enjoying it and a few weekends ago, he made these delicious twice-smoked baked potatoes on the grill. They were so delicious that I had to share the recipe :)

Ingredients:
- 4 large baking potatoes
- 1.5 Tbsp bacon fat, melted butter or EVOO (we used the olive oil)
- Salt and pepper
- 4 strips of bacon
- 6 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter - thinly sliced
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 2 cups of coarsely grated white cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Spanish smoked paprika for sprinking

Directions:
1. Allow for your grill/smoker to reach 400*F and make sure you have enough supplies to smoke for an hour and a half.

2. Scrub the potatoes on all sides with a brush and rinse well. Prick each potato several times with a fork. Brush or rub the potato with the olive oil (or butter or bacon fat) and season generously with salt and pepper.

3. Place the potatoes directly on the smoker rack and smoke for about 1 hour until the skins are crisp and the potatoes are tender on the inside.

4. Meanwhile, cook your bacon (I completely forgot to do the oven method and made a huge mess) and make sure they're crispy.

5. Once the potatoes have cooked, transfer to a cutting board and let them cool slightly. Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape out most of the potato flesh, leaving a 1/4 in- thick shell. Cut the flesh into chunks and place in a bowl (at this point, I should've smashed them a little before adding the other ingredients because I wanted them a little more smashed).

6. Add the bacon, 4 Tbsp butter, scallions and cheese to the potato flesh and stir to mix. Add in the sour cream and some salt and pepper to taste.

7. Spoon the mixture back into the shells, mounding it in the center. Top each potato half with a thin slice of remaining butter and sprinkle with paprika. Place your potato halves in a shallow, aluminum pan and place back on the smoker for about 20-30 minutes or you can heat them up in the oven at 400*F.

Stephen and I really enjoyed this side dish and plan on making it again in the future!

Weekending... A Little Late

I know I'm super late on covering our weekend but life got in the way and let's be real, I needed to give all focus during the This Is Us premiere ;) I'm not going to lie, I thought it dragged some (but we needed it to see where everyone was in life) and then in the end they just dropped a bomb!!! Can't wait to see how this season unfolds.

Our weekend was really fun but let's be real, I'm still recovering lol! Friday night, we got invited to go to dinner with friends. We had delicious Mexican then Stephen and I came home and finished our puzzle... it only took us barley a full day of work on it - we forgot how much we love doing them!

Saturday morning we were up at 5 am to get ready and head to Disney. This year, Disney offered a friends and family discount for pass holders so our friends took us up on the offer! They hadn't been to Disney in a long time so we knew we had to do everything we could. We got there 1.5 hrs before Magic Kingdom opened which seemed a little ridiculous but it actually worked out really well - no lines for tickets or to get into the park and we were able to hang out on main street and take all of our pictures before the park actually opened. Also, it gave us a chance to get in line to book it over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Stephen is so funny in this picture!

After we did our morning rides at MK, we headed over to Epcot for Food and Wine and a few rides there before going back to MK the rest of the day. It was truly one of the hardest times we've gone at Disney - we went hard core! But, we got to ride everything and see everything which was exactly the goal for the day.

Sunday, we took things slow - got some things done and squeezed in a nap which was great! 

Linking up with Jessi

Five on Friday

It's been one busy week! I've been in Charlotte, NC all week but came home last night... now I just need to get through the work day

One
One of the benefits of business travel to Charlotte has been all of the delicious food! (I swear at some point, I've got to get back into exercising lol!) After flying in on Monday, I ran to Mod Pizza before my meetings and got a delicious pizza... thought I'd only eat half of it but nope; it was all gone.

Then for dinner that night, I went out to Cowfish with some co-workers and had my first Cowfish bento box and it did not disappoint! Now we need one in our area... or maybe not ;)

The next day I snagged a acai bowl and an amazing chopped salad for dinner

Two
Our big customer event for our conference this week was at Hendrick Motor Sport. I'm not going to lie, I could've cared less about going to this place since I'm not into cars or racing but once they took us into the garage, I thought it was so cool! We got to see one of the cars get loaded for a race this weekend in NH. After the garage tour, they took us to see Rick Hendrick's private care collection and oh my word... none of us could believe what we saw. Literally every 001 VIN number Chevy along with multiple other old, restored cars and brand new sports cars. He also had this whole "mini" town replica of places that meant something to him. It was the craziest thing and it was so hard to follow the no photo rule.

My interest was also spiked when I realized his son was the same Ricky that Emily Maynard was with before he passed away from a plane crash. I couldn't believe it but of course, no one knew who I was talking about when I mentioned her... men... lol

After the private tour, we had the most amazing dinner - a delicious salad I forgot to get a picture of, steak and the best sea bass I've ever had and risotto.

Three
After seeing this season's lineup of Dancing with the Stars, I knew I wanted to at least watch the season premier. So far, it looks really good and I'll definitely try to watch the rest of the season! I'm thinking Lindsey Stirling is going to be a top contender this round. Also, who's also super pumped for This is Us starting Tuesday!?!?!?!!?

Four
IT IS THE FIRST DAY OF FALL!!! I am so excited (and have been) for fall but now it's officially here - although let's be real, it won't be "fall" here until January lol Last fall we were so busy I don't think I made 1 fall goodie; I'm going to have to make sure that's not the case this year. One pumpkin recipe that's always a hit, Christina's Pumpkin Dip - every time I make that, people rave about it!

Five
We are super excited because tomorrow, we're having a big Disney day with our friends - who haven't been before!! They're cashing in on our friends and family deal with our passes and we're going all out tomorrow. It's going to be a long day but it'll be a lot of fun :)

If y'all haven't seen, I'm hosting a giveaway over on my Premium Pineapple Instagram Page for my first anniversary!! Also, if you've ordered from me before, post a picture on Instagram and tag us in it for 20% off your next order!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Life Lately

Since I'm all thrown out of wack after Irma, a life lately post was due! Last Thursday, my SIL called to see if my niece and her could stay the night with us. We were so looking forward to spending time with them and getting to hang out with our niece. We had so much fun just hanging out, eating dinner, going on a walk and watching 101 Dalmatians!

The sweetest!!

After reading all of her books, Siena found my manners book ;)

Look at that sweet face ready for a movie!

We went out for lunch on Friday to our favorite trendy, Vietnam restaurant. Of course, I overindulged in my chicken bowl but it was worth every bite ;)

Friday was our first night without guests so what did we do? We went to Target so check out the Threshold sales ;) If you haven't heard by now, Target is getting rid of their Threshold line and slowly, all of their items are supposed to go on major sale. I've been told the stores will have different things on sale but we found some good stuff! We got this lamp for only $17! We will definitely be keeping our eyes out for more sales. After spending wayy too much time in Target, we came home and ate dinner then watched a documentary about one of the wealthiest guys on the internet. It was quite interesting! 

The next morning I went to breakfast with one of my friends to the new First Watch which was decorated so cute! The food was delicious and I can't wait to go back. That night, Stephen grilled us some amazing food. Sometime, I'll have to share the recipe for these out of this world smoked potatoes. 

Sunday after church, we went to lunch with our friends which was so nice getting to catch up after all the craziness lately. And of course, we didn't get the things we actually needed from Target so we went back after lunch and had to get these apple pie Oreos... they legit taste like a fall candle. They're so good!! We also picked up a new puzzle because we're goobers and can't wait to get working on it! If only I had remembered those for during the hurricane lol

We were supposed to have one of our biggest conferences of the year last week at Disney, which I was so looking forward to but Irma had to go and ruin it. She also ruined our first big cookout with all of our friends last Saturday. Even though I'm in Charlotte this week, I'm thankful I had a month off from traveling which gave me time to recover from all of the spring and summer travel I had been doing. I'm also glad this current trip has me in a place where there's actually fall ;)

Linking up with Annie

Fall Decor

I figured since I was cleaning the house and putting things back into place after the hurricane last week, I might as well go ahead and decorate for fall ;) I love all of the little touches of fall throughout the house and the smell of fall candles burning. I love collecting new things every year during the end of season sales! (Sorry for the bad lighting - I took the pictures while our windows were still boarded up)

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I'm really enjoying the cooler weather in Charlotte! Linking up with Jessi