Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Something Borrowed

Last Thursday I watched Something Borrowed with my husband and our roommate. I thought that Gennifer Goodwin did a great job portraying her character. Having read the book by Emily Giffin before seeing the movie I had high expectations. Although I feel there were little details left out of the movie it was a good movie after all.

Throughout the movie I felt a strong emotional connection to the characters. I found my heart hoping that Dex would pick the other woman even though you know you shouldn't be routing for her. The actors did a wonderful job showing the complexity of the love triangle that is going on between Dex, Rachel, and Darcy.

After the movie was finished, I found myself hoping that they would make Something Blue into a movie. I want everyone that hasn't read the books to find out the other side of the story. If you haven't read the books or seen the movie I suggest you do both. Giffin's does an amazing job bringing you into a world where your heart aches for the characters with every flip of a page.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Apple Season

My mom and I headed to the apple orchards in Nebraska City this past Saturday. We bought 20 pounds of apples (10 pounds Empire and 10 pounds of Granny Smith). We spent this afternoon working on breaking down the apples to use for applesauce, frozen apple pie filling, and apple butter.

We have 9 apples leftover and made enough frozen pie filling to make 3 pies, two crockpots full of applesauce, and a crockpot full of apple butter. This is the first time we have done any of this so after they cook all day I will update to let everyone know how they turned out.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Menu Plan 9/9 - 9/15

I feel like I always start these entries the same, life has been hectic. I need to take some more time out of my week to sit down and blog. I thought if I post meal plans for the week it might make me check in more and require me to blog, I hope it works!

Friday 9/9 - Leftovers or grill out some brats if our friend comes over. If we grill we will also grill up some zucchini.

Saturday 9/10 - We are headed to Omaha. Nick will be helping our friend Justin work on his classic mustang while, my friend, Ashley and I go shopping. We might end up going out to eat or grill at his house.

Sunday 9/11 - Marinated Pork with homemade stuffing. I just need to find a good recipe for stuffing!

Monday 9/12 - Cheeseburgers

Tuesday 9/13 - Tuna Noodle Casserole. Super easy, which is necessary this week.

Wednesday 9/14 - Leftover Tuna Noodle Casserole.

Thursday 9/15 - Dinner out with Jamie and Dave (Nick's sister and future husband)

Pretty easy menu. I will try to take pictures of the pork and stuffing and post recipes.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Vacation

Life has been a little hetic in our home lately.

One of the girls I work with was having some problems with her living situation so she moved in with us for a month. We were also getting ready to go on a one week trip to Hawaii for Nick's parents 30th anniversary. They were renewing their vows on August 1st.

We have been home for a week now and are still playing catch up. Floors need to cleaned, laundry needs to be done, summer decorations need to be put away, and fall decorations need to be put up.

Nick decided we should host Thanksgiving this year, which means we will be cooking for 14-16 people. It will be our first big holiday dinner. We are trying out a few recipes we hope to use for Thanksgiving this Sunday. This means I should actually be posting some recipes in the new future.

I also have a mushroom risotto recipe I need to blog. We made it the Sunday after we got home from Hawaii and it was very good.

Here's to hoping I actually start updating this blog on a regular basis!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Weekly update

Tuesday, we did not end up making enchiladas. I just cut up the leftover chicken and reheated it with a can of pinto beans and we made burritos.

Wednesday, we made the spaghetti with ham and peas. I wasn't a huge fan but I ate it, Nick ate 5-7 bites and threw his in the garbage. Guess we won't be making that again, so I won't even bother posting the recipe.

Thursday we actually ended up making cowboy casserole (our verison of tatar tot casserole). We had the leftovers from this on Friday night.

Saturday night we ended up going out for dinner with a gift certificate that I bought off of Living Social. The gift certificate we purchased was for Carmela's Bistro and Wine Bar. It's a newer place in town, has maybe been around for a year and a half. This was the first chance we had to try the place.

We started out by ordering a Reisling wine flight for $11. We finished two of the glasses of wine but not the third. The wines we sampled were Ch. Ste Michelle (from Columbia Valley, WA), Dr. Loosen "Dr. L." (from Mosel, Germany) and Eroica (from Columbia Valley, WA). Our favorite was the Dr. Loosen it had a pretty sweet finish to it. The wine we liked the least was the Eroica, which is actually a collaboration between the two wineries that make the Ch. Ste Michelle and the Dr. Loosen. We felt that the Eroica had too much of a mineral tone to it for our liking.

Along with the wine flight we ordered their Havarti and Artichoke dip. It was described as being wilted spinach with artichokes, served with artisan bread. The bread was wonderful. It was toasted but the inside of the bread was still very soft. The dip was a little more runny than I am used to but had really good flavor.

After we finished the appetizer, our waiter brought out more bread. It was a sourdough based bread that had herbs added into it. I'm unsure if they make the bread there or if they have it delivered from one of the artisan bread companies around town. My guess would be the later.

For our entrees, Nick ordered a Bleu top. It was a ten ounce sirloin served topped with bacon and bleu cheese. It was served with whipped potatoes and a vegetable medley. I did not try his steak but he said it was very good and it looked like it was cooked to the medium he requested. The vegetable medley included zucchini, carrots, red peppers, and I think maybe some broccoli. For my entree, I ordered the Dinner Cakes. The meal came with 3 Carmela's cakes, which are crab and shrimp stuffed cakes with pesto, corn, and cheese with a side of Cajun aioli. The sides were risotto and green beans. The green beans had bacon and almonds in them and were cooked very well. They were still crisp but cooked all the way through. The risotto was creamy and buttery. It was a little more runny than most risottos I have had before but it was still very good.

The service was very good at Carmela's and the atmosphere was good also. We sat in the bar area at one of the high top tables. I have a feeling we will return to Carmela's at some point. We enjoyed it.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Whole Chicken in the crockpot

I had never cooked a whole chicken in a crockpot but searched for a recipe when I knew we would be short on time tonight.

Before I left for work I put the chicken in the crockpot that I had sprayed with cooking spray. I put some herbs de provance on it and set it to low for 7 hours. Easiest recipe I have ever made and the chicken fell apart when we took it out of the crockpot.

Nick and I also took the chicken off the bone and returned the bones and skin to the crockpot and covered them with water. We are leaving it on low overnight and this should create a great chicken broth that we can freeze and use later!

Busy Busy Bee

Life has been crazy busy lately. Therefore, I have been blogging very very infrequently. My last post was about coconut icebox cookies. I baked them and they turned out very well. Nick even liked them and he isn't a fan of coconut.

My work schedule has changed and I now have weekends off. Hopefully this will help my blogging and I will blog more often.

I am going to try to start updating the blog with our menu plan for the week and hopefully that will inspire me to blog recipes and updates of our life.

So here is our first menu plan:

Monday: Whole Chicken cooked in a crockpot
Tuesday: Enchiladas (made with the leftover crockpot chicken)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with ham and peas
Thursday: Crockpot Beef Stew
Friday: Leftover Stew
Saturday: Dinner out (Either Carmela's Bistro and Wine Bar or JTK Steakhouse)
Sunday: Beef Brisket