January 30th, 2010

The girls are doing an overnight at my parent’s house, so only one thing to do, Saturday Date Night!  Trent and I went to our favorite restaurant in St. Louis, courtesy of a coveted gift certificate.

 

We split 2 appetizers, Lobster Turnovers and a Tagliatelle pasta with Luganiga.  We split the Filet Au Poivre as our entree.  So, so good!

After dinner we met Markham, Dennis, Scott, Erin, and Casey at a going away party for Quinn and Frank at McGurk's. 

 

Lots of fun and lots of cocktails, but leaving on the early side of the night procured a hangover free Sunday, yay!

January 29th, 2010

This is Sydney before the popsicle                         Sydney after

I was really excited about dinner tonight because it was a really busy week and I was ready to have all of us home and around the dinner table at one time.  I made Rachel Ray’s Shrimp Scampi Pizza and a salad.  There was Edy’s popsicles for dessert, but I think the photos gave that away.

Recipe for Pizza

So lovin’ Windows Live Writer, I can be fancy!

January 27th, 2010

Involtini di Melanzane
eggplant rolled with ricotta and pecorino, pine nuts, golden raisins and fresh herbs with a grilled
vegetable marinara

Pollo Arrosto con Erbe
herb-roasted chicken breast with a smoked bacon pumpkin and parsnip hash drizzled with sherry
reduction

It was restaurant week in Clayton and I met Erin and Bethanie at Mazara’s.  Above was my picks (you get to pick an appetizer, entree, and dessert for the fixed price of $25).  It was quite yummy and I would go back again and do the regular menu thing.

Also, this is my first time playing with Windows Live Writer, I think I’m in L-U-V!  But I haven’t posted yet, so here’s hoping!

Oh – and for dessert I had carrot cake, one of my favorites!

January 26th, 2010

This is 5:15 pm

This is 6:15 pm

This is what was for dinner at 8:15 pm

(toasted wheat bagel with dijon cream cheese, turkey pastrami, and spinach)

Dijon cream cheese is just Dijon mustard mixed together with softened cream cheese. ;)

January 22nd, 2010

Bye Bye old microwave, hood range, and dishwasher!!

Kirk and Sally arrived in the afternoon for a weekend of projects and fun. Kirk and Trent put in a new dishwasher, microwave hood range above our stove, and new light fixture/dimmer in the kitchen. I am very excited about all the updates, especially the dimmer and freeing up the space where our old microwave lived. I wasn't sure if Kirk was going to start on anything in the afternoon, so I set up the crockpot to make herbed pork roast with cannelini bean and carrots so I wouldn't have to be in the kitchen. I also made garlic bread and salad. The dessert part was interesting. I was talking on the phone to Julie while I attempted to try a new brownie recipe. Apparently I can't talk and bake at the same time because I completely forgot to put flour in the brownies. They turned out quite gooey. Are brownies without flour considered low carb?

January 22nd, 2010

Dress up is huge in our house. It is common after nap time for the girls to scour the dress up bin for their favorite pick of the day. Sometimes there's purses, gloves, and tiaras too, just depends on the day. Normally when I'm making dinner this is what is going on and when Trent comes home there's little ladies in lace and satin to greet him, but not me, I'm normally in my fleece pajamas.

Oh - and we ordered pizza last night. Papa Johns to be exact.

January 20th, 2010

I took 6 pictures of the kids eating popcorn watching

Peter Pan, this was the best outta the lot.

You know those times when you try to get together with people during the holidays and everyone is so busy you end up scheduling it in January? Well last night was one of those times and highly anticipated. We invited the Halls and Bischoffs over for dinner to "celebrate the holidays." I guess by now we were celebrating that we survived the holidays, which is just as exciting. I made braciole, baked pasta, salad, bread, and chocolate cake. Definitely a heavy holiday meal during the official diet month, oops. But rescheduled pretend holiday dinners celebrated in late January calories don't count right?

January 19th, 2010

Lauren has swim lessons on Tuesdays. Trent and I take both girls to the Y, he works out, and I watch Lauren's swim lesson. Then I give the girls a shower at the Y, we come home and bedtime for the kiddos. It's a nice evening and I love watching Lauren swim, more importantly, she likes to swim. Trent and I eat after the kids go to bed in front of the TV (beloved guilty pleasure). I made tortellini with pesto and we watched American Idol (another beloved guilty pleasure).

January 17th, 2010

Julie and I went over to my parents house for a night of arranging picture collages, eating sushi, and playing bridge. It had been a long time since I've played bridge and I forgot how much I enjoy it! One highlight from the evening was getting an education on a "Wolf Cricket" (apparently my parents have these huge mutant crickets in their basement...I've never seen one). I think I was punked because I tried to google them and found nothing. The low was me ordering sushi from one place and then sending my mom to a completely different place to pick it up. Thankfully she was a good sport and the food was still hot when shes came back with it. It was a great evening and part 2 was watching the Golden Globes....I'm on team Sandra in case you're wondering.

January 16th, 2010

Last night was taco night! It's Lauren's favorite by far. She had 3 tacos, then 2 more the next day for lunch. They're messy, but loved (the tacos, not the girls...well they are too).

January 15th, 2010

Night out! We went to see 'A Single Man' with Ryan, Kevin, Julie, and Ben. We then went to Subzero for Ryan's birthday celebration (I'm not allowed to disclose exactly which birthday we were celebrating).

January 14th, 2010

The package said "Ham Steaks" from our CSA....I swear it did. Which would go well with an asparagus and swiss cheese frittata. However, pork chops do not...trust me.

January 13th, 2010

Lauren had her friend, Madeline, over for a playdate for the afternoon and they were highly immersed in the land of Barbie fashion and politics. It worked out great because I wanted to make dinner for Stef & Tim, pack it up, and have it ready for her. I made spinach and artichoke stuffed shells baked with a tomato sauce and mozzerella, salad, and brownies for dessert (which doubled as Lauren and Madeline's playdate snack). I made way too much of the shells, so I packaged up a container for Grandpa Coco and convinced Stef to drop it off on his porch, which is 3 doors down from her. I then promptly called Grandpa to let him know there would be a container of baked pasta on his porch, since I know no one who checks every couple hours for a baked pasta porch delivery.

January 10th, 2010

One benefit of bitter cold January is oven roasted meals. They warm my belly and the house at the same time. Last night I made oven roasted chicken breasts, roasted broccoli, and green rice (brown rice and I made a spinach and parsley pesto and stir it in at the end). Another benefit is leftover roasted chicken for another meal or 2 later in the week, love it!

January 8th, 2010

Trent loves mushrooms....I mean REEEALY loves mushrooms. I like them, but I'm not doing cartwheels over them or anything (and won't eat them raw). Trent especially likes stuffed mushrooms, which is something I rarely eat and have never made. Last week I was watching Giada at Home on the Food Network and she made stuffed portabellos with turkey sausage, herbs, breadcrumbs, and gorgonzola cheese. Sausage and gorgonzola cheese are also high on Trent's top foods, so I decided to make them for dinner. I only had 2 portobello mushroom caps, so I made the stuffing on toast for Sydney (also knowing I had a better shot at her trying it on something familiar). Truth be told, I liked it on toast better and ended up eating Sydney's leftovers. But I did have a husband with a happy belly.

January 7th, 2010

My Aunt Mary is a fantastic cook. Even if you are just stopping by for a quick visit, she'll whip up a 3 course meal for you and if you don't have seconds or thirds, she'll ask you why you didn't like it. When I moved out of my parents house to an apartment in KC, I asked her for 2 recipes I knew I needed in my recipe binder, her eggplant parmesan and her cheesy broccoli rice. I would make both all the time whenever I invited people over to my apartment in KC for dinner. I have no idea why, but I forgot about both dishes and haven't made either in years. Well the other day I saw a picture of cheesy rice in a magazine and immediately craved my Aunt Mary's version. I served it with a salad (trying to have more meat free nights in 2010) and it hit the spot. Of course it wasn't as good as my Aunt Mary's because neither Lauren nor Sydney would eat one helping, let alone the necessary 2 or 3 to fully hit the Aunt Mary quota.

January 3rd, 2009

Prior to having kids, Trent and I went to New Orleans once a year. He absolutely loves that city. From morning bloody marys to good food to crazy people watching to walking the streets to afternoons spent at Razoo's, he was in heaven. In New Orleans Trent discovered that he loves Shrimp Po' Boy sandwiches and would get one for lunch everyday. I saw an easy recipe for a remoulade sauce in Cooking Light and got inspired, so I made grilled shrimp po' boy sandwiches with sweet potato fries. It was yummy and reminded me of all the fun and crazy times with our friends in The Big Easy. Now all our New Orleans beads are for decorating a snowman with the kids....all the G rated beads that is.

January 1st, 2010

Happy New Year! Growing up New Year's Day was always a family day and then we would go to my Grandma Coco's house for dinner. She would have my grandpa's family over too. Grandma would serve roast beef and beef ravioli's with a meat sauce and I always looked forward to it. Alot of times I would go to her house early (she lived up the street) and help her make the food and set the table. This year Trent and I decided to have my parents over for dinner. There's no way I could ever recreate my Grandma's meal, I wouldn't know where to begin. But in her honor I made a Bolognese meat sauce with beef ravioli, salad, and honey wheat bread. Here's to 2010 and creating new family memories and honoring the past.

December 31st, 2009

Playing Apples to Apples

When I was little New Years Eve meant Julie and I had a babysitter for the night (which meant junk food, videos, and staying up late!). Then I became a babysitter myself and made quite a bit of money on NYE for Mall trips. After that was the obligatory phase of your life when NYE has to be a big to do and the best night of your life, ever (but it really it was just another night out that cost more and the hangovers were a bit more painful). In my early 30's I was in denial that having children meant I needed to tweak my NYE plans and I tried to figure out how to have that over the top fun night while nursing a newborn. Last year Trent and I decided when it's NYE, less is actually more. This year we went over to Markham and Dennis' house for the early part of the evening. They had some friends staying with them from out of town. Everyone brought an appetizer and Markham made a big tray of cheese stuffed sliders. We also played a game called 'Apples to Apples' which was lots of fun, I highly recommend for any big group. Trent and I headed home around 9 to put the girls to bed...and then I put myself to bed. It was a great night with friends, family, and I didn't have to break out my sequined tank top or feather boa.