A Bit Fallish But Who Cares!

*I liked to take a moment and express my deepest sympathies to those victims in yesterdays horrific Boston Marathon events! Prayers are continuous and I hope that they can all find peace and comfort during this time! Boston, you will prevail and evil... evil will never win!*

A few weeks ago one of my favorite local go to lunch spots {Gourmet Gang} had this to-die-for salad as a special! Anything with pumpkin and goat cheese is a win in my book so I had to give it a try! Who knew I could fall deeply in love with a salad?! After devouring this goodness I knew I would have to recreate it at home and of course add a little meatiness {the shrimp} to it for the hubby!

What You Will Need:

1 pound of shrimp {I use frozen but you can use fresh if you'd like}
1 bag of Ready to Eat Leaf Spinach or Baby Spinach
Goat Cheese
Sunflower Seeds
Dried Cranberries
Roasted Sweet Potatoes

For the Dressing:
Pumpkin Butter
Apple Cider Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

{If you noticed I don't have any measurements so just eyeball how much you would prefer}

Pumpkin Butter-Shrimp-Goat Cheese-Sweet Potatoes- Spinach- Sunflower Seeds-Dried Cranberries

Directions:

Peel, Cut and Cube Sweet Potatoes {One Sweet Potato should be PLENTY}. Toss in Extra Virgin Olive Oil until fully coated.

Spread out evenly on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

While roasting sweet potatoes sauté shrimp until cooked thoroughly.

After shrimp and sweet potatoes are finished cooking, fill bowls with spinach, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. Then top with goat cheese, shrimp and sweet potatoes.

To make your dressing combine equal parts pumpkin butter, apple cider vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl and mix together until blended. 

Drizzle over salad and ENJOY!!!

XoXo,

Weekend Recap!

Helllllooooo my darlings!!! I trust all of you had a splendid weekend?! For those who commented on Friday's post about my dog bite, I promise, promise, promise I will respond soon and I am not ignoring y'all!!! Life is getting busy with the increasing warm temperatures and home improvement tasks and I can honestly say I did not check my e-mail once this weekend! I did instagram per the usual so here's a recap of our weekend through my IG photos!

Friday evening was our typical relaxing evening in! When I got home I headed to the gym to get in a hard workout! I clocked a one mile run on the treadmill, one mile on the elliptical, and three miles on the bike! I then came home and made Poppyseed Chicken {minus the poppyseeds because we were out of them} while the hubs spent the evening doing an online driving improvement course {Can we say too many speeding tickets?!}. After dinner, Baby Reef crashed, the hubby studied and then studied some more, and I got started on painting some wine glasses! It's funny how Friday nights are so different than they were several years ago! I certainly wouldn't trade them now for anything.

Our Friday Night! 

Saturday, the hubby woke up early to cover some more driving improvement lessons. While he studied, I went for a refreshing one mile run. Early afternoon consisted of going to watch the hubby coach a baseball game! Sadly I didn't take any photos! I took Baby Reef and while he was on his best behavior and I was so proud of him for being calm, keeping my full attention on him made it hard to whip out the camera and take photos of the game! 

The hubby and I decided after the game that we would treat ourselves to dinner out which we hadn't done since February {due to lots of family get togethers}. We had a gift card to a somewhat new restaurant in my hometown, Suffolk, named Harper's Table! It was a super cute place and the food was amazing!!! We started with Pork Belly Biscuits and shared a Fuji Apple Salad. For our entrees Todd had the Sea Scallops with roasted cauliflower, thompson raisin puree, pecans and brown butter and I had the Chesapeake Bay Flounder with fennel, new potatoes, peas and a chorizo vinaigrette and we shared a side of hand cut fries & bacon mayonnaise! For dessert we had a homemade donut with a maple glaze and buttermilk ice cream and corn pudding! It sounds like A LOT of food but they are smaller portions which I love {not tapas small but the correct portion small}! This restaurant reminded me of the restaurants we ate at while in Charleston, SC last summer! I loved everything about it and the fact that I felt as though I was on a mini vacation but I was only thirty minutes from my home! After dinner we came home and crashed from a legit food coma! 

Beautiful Morning sky during my Saturday morning run! 

When renovating and creating Harper's Table, they found this original painted ad that was covered up by a border wall! 

Yesterday, we slept in a bit later than I would have liked, however I know I needed the extra sleep! One thing I love about my hubby is that he is a master breakfast chef! He can whip up any breakfast related dish and it's always fantastic! He treated me to fluffy chocolate chip pancakes and bacon! The pancakes were to die for! Seriously, I'm not sure if it's because I haven't had any in some time, but holy moly they were amaze balls!

This is the hubby's plate as I devoured my pancakes before even thinking about snapping a photo! 

After our late breakfast, the hubby headed to take his driver improvement test! This allowed me to start working on things around the house: laundry, dusting, straightening up, creating the grocery list and starting the removal of the wallpaper border in our kitchen! Once the hubby came back home {with a A on his test} he gave our yard some close attention with some good ole dandy yard work!

Starting to remove the '80s wallpaper border!

Later in the evening, I headed to good ole Harris Teeter to do some grocery shopping and was so excited to pick up some pretty tulips to brighten the coffee table as well as some scrumptious fresh fruit! Strawberries and Watermelon scream warm weather and I love that I can add them to my breakfast routine now!

Watermelon, Strawberries, and Tulips! Gloriousness!

After putting the groceries away we decided to head out for a nice evening walk with Baby Reef! We don't walk him often because in the past he would pull and drag me along {even with the gentle leader} but after seeing how well behaved he was Saturday at the ball game we figured maybe he has matured a bit! To our surprise he most definitely has matured! The walk was great {and over a mile long} and I loved being able to do it as a family! Maybe I will be able to take Baby Reef on my runs here sooner than later! 

What did y'all get into this weekend? It was beautiful here in my area and I'm beyond thankful for it! The house is still a work in progress but I feel accomplished on what we did do this weekend! Here's to more fantabulous weekends! Cheers! XoXo!  

I Could be a Vegetarian, Just Not a Vegan, I Like Cheese Too Much!

Here is another Pinterest worthy recipe, first appearing in Fitness Magazine, to add to your recipe boxes!!! It's a Vegetarian dish and even though I'm not a Vegetarian I really enjoyed it! The goat cheese was my favorite part and this was the first time I made caramelized onions! Yuummmmy!

What You Will Need:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced onion
1 teaspoon sugar {I used Splenda}
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 ounces baby spinach {I used ready-to-eat Leaf Spinach}
4 8 inches whole-wheat flour tortillas
4 ounces semi soft goat cheese
2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

Whole Wheat Tortillas-Splenda-Onion-Tomato-Spinach-Goat Cheese-Olive Oil

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sugar and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is dark golden brown.

Remove from pan.

Add the spinach and 1 tablespoon water to the skillet; cook 2 minutes, or until spinach is just wilted. Remove from skillet and turn off heat.

Spread a quarter of the goat cheese on each tortilla and top with spinach, tomato and onion.

Fold closed and press lightly. Heat the skillet and place two folded quesadillas in it; cook two minutes per side, or until golden brown and lightly crisp. Repeat.

Enjoy!!!

I hope y'all are having a fantastic start to the week! The weather here in Southern VA has been beautiful which makes the beginning of a work week so much more bearable!! XoXo!!!

Arugula, Spugula! Gnocchi, Ganache!

I found this AMAZING recipe while gallivanting through the land of Pinterest not too long ago! Who is the gal behind the recipe you ask? Mandy from Baking with Blondie! After finding her blog through my wee little pin, I am really excited to try some more of her recipes!

I gave this recipe my own added twist - shrimp. If you've been following me for some time you know my hubby has to have some sort of manliness in his dinner! I seriously think I could be a vegetarian! The hubby? Not so much!

What You Will Need:

3 medium-sized fresh sweet corn on the cob
3 cups fresh arugula {I used a mixture of fresh arugula and spinach as Mandy did}
3/4 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped {this was optional but I did include them}
1 pound potato gnocchi
3/4 cup half and half, half heavy cream, or half whole milk/skim {I used whipping cream that I had in the fridge}
3 oz light cream cheese {I used fat free}
1 teaspoon salt {see next ingredient}
1 teaspoon garlic powder {I used garlic salt in place of the garlic powder and the salt}
1 teaspoon fresh basil, julienne {I used dried basil in my spice cabinet}
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
And my little added ingredient:
1 lb frozen or fresh tail off deveined shrimp

garlic salt-whipping cream-gnocchi-spinach-crushed red pepper-dried basil-frozen cooked shrimp-arugula-mushrooms-corn on the cob

Directions:

In large pot, boil water and cook gnocchi according to package directions, adding in the corn on the cob in the last five minutes. Remove corn, transfer to cutting board. Drain gnocchi, but make sure to reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Don't rinse your gnocchi. 

{My gnocchi packaging stated to cook until gnocchi rose to the top and that the cook time was only two minutes. I wasn't able to add the corn to it, so I drained the gnocchi using a slotted spoon and just added the corn to the pot after I removed the gnocchi.}

Sauté shrimp in a sauce pan {I used the same pan for the cream sauce and combining all the ingredients at the end} Once the shrimp is cooked/heated thoroughly, remove from pan and set aside. 

For the cream sauce, combine half and half, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, fresh basil, and pepper in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring until cream cheese has evenly dispersed throughout sauce. Stir in reserved pasta water. 

Remove corn from pot and let cool before slicing corn off the cob. 

In a medium bowl combine your shrimp, pasta sauce, corn, mushrooms, gnocchi, spinach and arugula. Sprinkle with additional salt, pepper basil and crushed red pepper if desired. 

{I combined all the ingredients in the sauce pan to help wilt the spinach and arugula}

Once fully mixed and coated, plate and top with Parmesan cheese! Enjoy!!!

From start of preparing to plating to eat, this recipe took 30 minutes! Y'all know I'm all for that!!! Be sure to add this to your recipe box! It's really yummy and I love that it's packed with loads of veggies! I may or may not have added a ton of spinach to it!! Thanks to Pinterest for bringing another yummy recipe to my kitchen and for introducing me to another blogger to add to my reading list! 

XoXo,

March 2013 Mini Goals Roundup and a WINNER!

Via

First off,  I have to admit this because I find it sad and hilarious! For my January and February Goal Roundup posts, I labeled them 2012 instead of 2013!!! Apparently I was trapped in last year! Oppps!

I would like to think that my March goals went well but that is really yet to be decided! I'm updating y'all on them today as the last day of the month is Sunday, and well.... I don't blog on the weekend! I do still have a few days to get some more wins in! Nonetheless, how did I do?! Let's review!

1. Continue to purge and organize the house, one room at a time and donate all to Goodwill! WIN/FAIL! This is forever ongoing, but I was able to donate a huge load of stuff to Goodwill a few weekends ago! I didn't get much organizing done, but really hope to tackle our guest rooms in the coming weeks!

2. Finish reconstructing my resume. WIN! I'm saying win because there are only a few things that need to be finished and the end of the month isn't technically here yet! The goal is to finish it this evening! So far I think the presentation of it looks great and highlights my assets a heck of a lot better than my dated resume ever did.

3. Arrive on time to work, every morning. FAIL! I made it to work on time ONCE this month! I know, I know, I know, it's terrible! I just can't seem to get up out of bed and out of the door on time! Not being a morning person is becoming an issue for me! How do I become a morning person?!?!?!

4. Stay off of the phone and computer on evenings we are both home! FAIL! With March Madness happening this month, several surf competitions occurring, and my addiction to Instagram, neither myself nor the hubby did really well at this! I think we just need to make more of an effort to put the electronics away when we get home!

5. Update our iPhones. FAIL! However, the month isn't over yet. While I'm finishing my resume this evening there will be some updating of iPhones too!

6. Keep a better track of our expenses! WIN! I joined mint.com and we have saved all of our receipts from everything we purchased this month. This weekend I hope to tackle them all, organize them into a spread sheet and find out where we can cut some corners! I also want to be able to start using the checkbook register and balance it every night! Hopefully once the expenses from this month are organized it should be simple to do so!

7. Work on my reactions when others are rude to me. WIN! Basically, how I look at this, is that I need to act like I don't even notice it! Though this week, because of PMS, most rude people just made me cry! I guess crying is better than being ugly! This is an ongoing goal of mine. I'm a firm believer in killing people with kindness when they are ugly to you! As easy as it is for us to say something snarky in return, saying something nice says a lot about the person you are! I definitely want to have more self control and continue to work on my reactions and expressions when I've been offended!

8. Find a cobbler/shoe repair shop to spruce up some of my damaged heels and to put life back into my Tory Burch's! WIN! The heels I took were too far gone to save but they polished my TB's and made them look like new!!! All for $8 bucks! Read about my experience at the shop here! I'll definitely be going to a different cobbler in our area next time!

9. Keep writing true honest posts for my readers! WIN! At least I think it's a win! I've even created a theme/link up that focuses on honest posts and I plan to start it next Friday!!! I think it will really give me a chance to share more about me as a person to all of you!

10. Try to arrange at least one family lunch/dinner! WIN/FAIL! While I didn't arrange any family lunches or dinners this month, we have had and are having {this weekend} many family gatherings! I didn't think about Easter and all the family birthday's that were part of this month when I made this goal but technically it worked out nicely!

That's 5 Wins, 2 Win/Fails, and 3 Fails! That's actually the same count as last month's roundup! At least  I kept it consistent!! The motivation was lacking this month but I am really thrilled I was able to keep the Wins going! Some of these will, for sure, roll over to April!!!

**************

Now for what ya'll have been waiting for... The Winner of A Few of My Favorite Thing's Give Away!

And the Winner Is........

Chris Williams from Chubbette Tales... Life after Spanx!

I'll e-mail you for needed information so I can ship this too ya as soon as possible!!! Congratulations! Thank you to everyone who participated!!!

I hope y'all have a fantastic weekend and a beyond blessed Easter! It's a great time as ever to reflect on our Lord and Savior's resurrection and all the blessings he has bestowed upon us!! Pretty powerful if you ask me! XoXo!

It's an Easy Peasy Kind of Side!

Today I'm forgoing the main dish recipe post and sharing a really quick side dish to add to your favorite dinner meal {and because I forgot to take photos of a main dish last week}. Hopefully you can find these cutie patootie potatoes at your local market. If not, you can no doubt use small redskin potatoes or gold yukon potatoes cut into quarters!

What You Will Need:
2 cups Gold Creamer Potatoes or Red Creamer Potatoes
1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Teaspoon of Rosemary {fresh or dry}
Teaspoon of Parsley {fresh or dry}
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add olive oil and salt and pepper to a bowl.

Toss potatoes in bowl of olive oil until they are fully coated.

Spread potatoes out evenly on a non-stick cookie sheet or you can cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Sprinkle potatoes with rosemary and parsley. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until light brown and crispy on the outside!

Pair with your choice of protein and fresh veggies for a scrumptious evening meal!

Couldn't be any easier for ya!

Enjoy your Tuesday my darlings!!! XoXo!

Don't forget... The Give Away Contest ends Friday! Enter here!!! 

Divan, Divine, It's Really All the Same!

Remember last week when I told you here, that I finally decided to crack open the recipe box I received at one of my bridal showers {nearly 2 years ago} and give some of the recipes a go?! While meal planning last week and picking out the Honey Chili Salmon recipe in the box, I decided to try another one in the box as well! Sharon, who has been like a big sister to me practically my whole life, gave me this recipe for Asparagus Chicken Divan, in which now I am crazy excited over it, because it was a huge hit! While she mentioned that the leftovers weren't that great, I thought they tasted just as well for my work lunch the next day! None-the-less the recipe was easy and perfect, yet again, for a quick and easy week night dinner {y'all know I'm all for that}! You should definitely give this one a shot!

The Recipe Card

What You Will Need:

Nutmeg-Whipping Cream-Mayonaise-Asparagus-Chicken- Parmesan Cheese-Cream of Chicken Soup-Worcestershire Sauce

1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts 

2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed {I only used a pound}

1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

3/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

 

Broil chicken 4-6 inches from the heat for 6-8 minutes on both sides or until juices run clear. 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, bring 1/2 inches of water to a boil. 

Add asparagus. 

Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender.

 Drain and place in a greased shallow 2-1/2 qt. baking dish. 

Cut chicken into thin slices. 

In a small bowl, combine soup, Worcestershire sauce and nutmeg.

Spread half over asparagus. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Top with chicken. 

Spread remaining soup mixture over chicken; sprinkle with 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Fold whipped cream into mayonnaise; spread over top. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. 

Broil 4-6 inches. from the heat for about 2 minute or until golden brown. 

Serve alone or over brown rice {as I did}!

I really do enjoy cooking and finding recipes that work with our schedule and tastes! I know I sound like a broken record but I love recipes that don't require a lot of prep time or cook time for our work week! I also enjoy using our slow cooker, especially on gym nights! Are any of you fans of Chicken Divan?! This was the first time I had ever had it and had no idea it was actually a pretty popular "casserole" dish that is normally made with broccoli! Learn something new everyday right?! 

Have a glorious Monday my darlings!!! The weather seems to be improving this week and I am loving the warm temperatures and the shining sun! It's good for the soul! 

XoXo! 

It's Gettin' Sweet, Spicy, and Fishy Up in Here!

For one of my Bridal Showers, almost two years ago, the hostess arranged for each guest to bring their favorite recipe to add to a new recipe box for our kitchen! I made out with quite a few yummy appetizers {including 3 separate recipes for Buffalo Chicken Dip hehe}, some scrumptious main dishes, and even a sweet dessert bread! In all my kitchen gloriousness, I've only made one dish out of the recipe box in the two years that I have had it! I keep adding recipes to the box, I just hadn't taken a chance on cooking a meal already in the box! All of that changed this past week!

While meal planning for the week and sifting through recipes I decided to give the recipe box a try! I have also been on a mission to get the hubby to eat and enjoy salmon! I love, love, love this fish and want to incorporate more of it in our dinners however, the hubby is not salmon's biggest fan! That's where this recipe comes into play! I felt there was enough sugar, spice and everything nice to appeal to his tastes buds and I was about 95% accurate! He ate all of it which was a huge win in my book!

The Recipe Card

What You Will Need:

Salmon - Cayenne Pepper - Brown Sugar - Honey - Chili Powder - Sea Salt

Fresh Salmon Filets or Flash Frozen Salmon Filets {I used Frozen}

Chili Powder

Cayenne Pepper

Sea Salt

Honey

Brown Sugar 

As you can see from my recipe card there were no measurements so you basically have to eyeball it to your liking! For instance it called for a "pinch" of brown sugar but I used about a tablespoon on each filet to ensure more of a glaze for the fish. I also cooked this in a skillet pan on top of the stove instead of in the oven which allowed for the juicy glaze as well. 

Directions:

Place Salmon in pan skin side down {my frozen filets didn't have skin so I just placed them in the pan}

Cover both salmon pieces entirely with Chili Powder {pretty vigorous amount}

Then follow behind with a light sprinkle of Cayenne Pepper

 Lightly dust with Sea Salt

Drizzle entire filet with Honey

Top with Brown Sugar

I then covered the pan and cooked the Salmon until it flaked.

Cooking in the pan. The honey, brown sugar and juices made a sweet glaze to offset the spicy Chili Powder and Cayenne Pepper.


Once the fish is cooked thoroughly to your liking, plate it and serve with sides of your choice! I whipped up white cheddar mashed potatoes and fresh green beans as our sides! 

Honey Chili Salmon!

This was a super easy peasy meal to make and would work perfectly on any weeknight!! I didn't time it but I'm certain it didn't take more than 20 minutes to prepare and cook! Easy, Yummy, and the Hubby ate it! Certainly a successful dinner in my house! I'll for sure be using this one again! If you end up trying it be sure to let me know! I'd love to hear your thoughts!! 

XoXo!