Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday by kategriffin09 featuring a fringed shawl

Zoe karssen top
$80 - net-a-porter.com

MOTHER DENIM faded jeans
£146 - farfetch.com

Tory Burch flat heels
$792 - jildorshoes.com

Balenciaga bag
€1.190 - veryeickhoff.com

Michael Kors resin jewelry
£220 - harveynichols.com

Old Navy fringed shawl
$17 - oldnavy.gap.com

Scrabble Tile Valentine's Day Cookies

Do we celebrate Valentine's Day around our house??  Sometimes- yes.  Sometimes- no.  I'd rather celebrate the fact that I have an amazing hubby, who is going to be a great daddy & who is an amazing friend...all year long.  We are going out tonight- but we are keeping it pretty low-key.  Just doing stuff that we'd normally do if we went out on a date.  Nothing extravagant- just how we like it :)

So before he left for Dallas on Sunday, he said...."how about we go out to dinner & I take you to buy some new clothes."  {Note: I've been pulling at my t-shirts CONSTANTLY for the past 2 weeks...darn growing belly.}  So that's the plan.  We are headed to Osteria Marco & to Motherhood Maternity!  Hot date night!  Osteria Marco is probably our most favorite restaurant in Denver...I'm excited!!  Motherhood Maternity...not so exciting.  Oh well :)

I was planning on making these cookies last night after I got home from work while I waited for my hubby's plane to land.  What was I thinking- after working 12 hours in an ER, I was going to make Scrabble/Valentine's Day cookies...crazy person!  Anyways, I laid on the couch watching the Bachelor and willing the splitting headache I had to go away. 

So my cookies wil look a little something like this:

photo/idea compliments of Bake at 350

Only with Todd & Kate...

I'll be using my mother's sugar cookie recipe. 

I'll post the recipe & pictures later! 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

Sweet Chili Cheese Cornbread

Superbowl Sunday should be considered a holiday at our house.  After months of watching enough football to drive me crazy; basing our weekends around it, coordinating multiple televisions in order to "not miss a thing," & switching cable providers so we can get the NFL ticket channel we've made it.   We made it to the final day of football.  That next Monday...my hubby usually sighs & says "now I have to wait months for it to come back" while secretly I'm jumping up & down for joy.  No football for months!  Yes! 
...and then I see my hubby sitting on the couch watching basketball.  Oh great.  More sports. 

Can't a girl get some Real Housewives or Tori & Dean?  Even once?? Nope, not going to happen.  Oh well :)

Anyways, the usual Superbowl dinner at our house in chili.  This year, we had a few friends over to watch the game.  Usually I make a red chili, but I decided to mix it up & make White Chicken Chili {recipe here.}  To accompany the chili, I decided to make a corn bread.  I know, I know...usually I shy away from cornbread because its so dry & crumbly.  So I set out to find a good, moist cornbread.  Where did I find the best?  Our Best Bites of course.  The best recipe, hands down.  The bread was moist & flavorable & a little sweet- no massive amounts of butter & honey needed. 

{Sweet Chili Cheese Cornbread}
recipe compliments of Ourbestbites

1 cup butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
1 4 0z can chopped green chiles
1 can cream style corn
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons table salt
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup grated Monterey jack Cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (I like medium or sharp)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add green chiles and corn and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Take a spoonful of flour mixture and toss with grated cheeses (this will help prevent the cheese from sticking together in a big lump.) Add remaining flour mixture, and cornmeal to bowl and stir to combine. Lastly, add grated cheese and mix until well distributed.

Pour mixture into a 9×13 inch baking pan. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center of pan comes out with no goopy batter on it.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

In my early stages of pregnancy...when I still didn't know I was preggo- I had this weird craving for buffalo sauce.  Between eating my hubby under the table, constantly making buffalo chicken tacos {recipe here} & covering everything in Frank's Red Hot sauce...I should've known. 

So let's talk football.  Unless you've been living under a rock, this weekend is the SuperBowl!  Who are you cheering for?  I think I'm going to cheer for New England.  Only because the one person I can name from either team is Tom Brady...and well, he's Tom Brady.  Yes, my choice really has nothing to do with football.  I'm ok with it. 

This is a perfect dip for a SuperBowl party.  I've been saving it so I can post it for this weekend- nothing screams football like a combination of buffalo chicken wings & a dip...am I right??!?  Now, this is quite possibly the UGLIEST dip I've ever made.  There is nothing pretty about it....except that it will taste pretty good while you're eating it!

{Buffalo Chicken Dip}

recipe compliments of www.thegirlwhoateeverything.com

1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken or 1 (12 ounce) can chunk chicken, drained

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup Ranch dressing

1/2 cup Buffalo wing sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot, not to be confused with their pepper sauce. Start with less if you want and add more to your desired hotness.)

3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat chicken and Buffalo sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Make sure to break up the chicken so there are no big chunks. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in shredded cheese & cook until melted. Pour into a shallow dish. (At this point- you could sprinkle blue cheese on top & microwave to melt- but I skip this step.)

 Serve with chips, carrots & celery for dipping.

 

ENJOY

Guacamole

I've been wanting to try making my own guacamole for a while now.  Every time I've had the opportunity to make some- the avocados at the grocery store are like the size of pebbles & hard as rocks.  So I was very happily surprised when I actually went to the store to buy some & they were really good. 

So onto dinner:  we decided to make quesadillas with the guac & chips. 

This is the huge plate of food I consumed:

quesadilla recipe here

After eating half of the guac out of the bowl, I ate 2 whole quesadillas & a TON of guacamole & chips (they were baked- so I feel a little bit better about the situation.)  The thing is... I was STILL hungry.  SO I asked my hubby to make me another quesadilla.  He said no. He said I had eaten enough.  I was mad.  Really mad.  I went on this rampage about withholding food from preggo people & how mean it was...blah, blah, blah.

About 10 minutes later- I was rolling around on the floor with this huge stomach yelling "help me!, help me...my stomach is blowing up"  My hubby just stood overtop of me shaking his head.  Eating the rest of the guacamole.  Lesson learned.

Anyways, this guacamole was really fresh tasting & spicy.  We really liked it.  I've found that guac stays better longer if you rub the inside of the container with a cut lime (thank you Pinterest for the tip.)  With the Super Bowl coming up...we'll be making this again soon.

{Guacamole}

recipe adapted from www.thegirlwhoateeverything.com

3 ripe avocadoes; peeled & pitted

Juice of 1 lime (I added a little more- I like lime)

1/4 cup finely minced red onion

3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 jalepeno; seeded & ribs removed; finely chopped

1 clove garlic; minced

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Halve the avocado & remove the pit by gently hiting the pit with a large, sharp knife & twisting the pit out.  Remove the avocado from the skin.  In a bowl, combine the avocado & mash it with a fork (to your desired consistency- we like rather chunky guac.)  Mix in remaining ingredients. 

Rub inside of the container it's being stored in with the cut lime.  Cover & let sit for about 1 hour prior to serving.  Serve with chips!

Enjoy!

 

Where have I been?

Oh my goodness.  I have been M.I.A...but I have a good excuse, I swear.  See, my hubby & I are expecting our FIRST baby!  With that said, for about 1 1/2 months the only thing I could stomach to eat were cherrios, yogurt & oranges.  Weird combination, but come near me with anything else- and I'd go running in the other direction.

It was so gross.  I couldn't even look at Pinterest because seeing the food made me run for the bathroom.  I was so nauseated in the afternoons I couldn't even sit at my computer & scroll the screen without getting sick.  I was a hot mess! 

But recently, I thought to myself "wow! today was a good day..." and then next day I thought the same.  It's been a few weeks now that I feel better, so I think I'm back in the game. 

So there's my excuse....hopefully good enough for now!

Lemon Bars

I love Pinterest.  I love it for a lot of reasons.

#1.  I have my dream home all planned out.
#2.  I have my Christmas list totally picked out.
#3.  I have my birthday list totally picked out.
                and last, but not least...
#4.  I have collected about 1,000 recipes...most of which have been really good.

Last month, I had a bridal shower to go to at my work.  What bridal shower is not complete without lemon bars?  I love all things lemon...and these fit right in.  I adapted this recipe from one I found on Pinterest.  I'm glad I used this recipe- there's something about using fresh lemon juice that just makes it "that much better."  Thankfully, I saved a few at home, because they were all gone! 
 

{Lemon Bars}

recipe adapted from here

For the crust:

3/4 pound unsalted butter; at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For the filling:

6 large eggs; at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 7 small lemons)

1 cup flour

Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Butter a 9x13 baking pan, then line the bottom & sides with parchment paper (optional, but makes for easy removal from the pan.)

For the crust:

Cream the butter & sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Combine the flour & salt; and with mixer on low, add to the butter mixture until just combined.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball.  Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into the bottom of the prepared pan. 

Chill the pan while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, until very lightly browned.  Let cool.  Leave the oven on.

For the Filling:

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice & flour.  Pour over the crust and bake for 35-45 minutes, until filling is set. 

Let cool to room temperature.  Cut into squares or triangles and dust with confectioners' sugar. 

Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator. 

Makes about 24 squares.

Enjoy!