Anniversary Dinner at Home

As usual we celebrated our actual anniversary at home with a nice meal prepared by yours truly!

I didn't decide until the day of, what I was going to make but finally settled on 'Shrimp Diane'.

This meal has sentimental meaning to us because Brad made it for me the night we got engaged.

We were turned onto the dish after enjoying it at Charlotte's Cajun Queen.

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So, I picked up some fresh shrimp.

 And, a couple bottles of wine.

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This bottle also has special meaning because we enjoyed it on the first part of our honeymoon.

Click here to see.

Brad thought he was going to have to work late but made it home at a decent hour after all.

Love this picture.

My little baldy!

 I set the table and then it was dinner time.

 No gifts.

Just cards.

 Dinner was delish!

I used this shrimp Diane recipe in case you're interested.

 As always, we took our annual picture of ourselves.

No makeup for me this year.

I exercised before cooking and showered and decided against it.

Here's to our 3rd year of marriage!!

I love our traditions!

What do you and your spouse do for anniversaries?

Neighborhood Progressive Dinner #2

It's great to have awesome neighbors.

People that you have things in common with and can hang out with by just walking across or down the street.

I can say I've had that in most places I've lived but it's EXTRA cool as a couple to have other couples you can hang with, where the guys get along as do the wives.
We are lucky to have that.

There are 2 other couples we spend a lot of time with, including LuLu from Looks Like LuLu and Bryan from the Wandering Gourmand.

At the beginning of the year we started doing progressive dinners.

We had so much fun our first time, but because of crazy schedules we just got around to doing it again.

Last time we had the main course, but this time we got to do dessert.

(you get a sneak peek at my photo/gallery wall in the back. more to come)

LuLu and her husband came back sick from Mexico so they decided to bring their appetizer course over to our house to keep us out of their infected home.
We appreciate that!

Lu's husband Keith made buffalo chicken bites and homemade bruschetta.

Our neighbor Shannan turns 30 this week so we made a point to make it about her birthday as well!

Meaning...

Festive napkins were a must.

Our last dinner went WAY late and by dessert everyone was a tad bit intoxicated.
This time, giving that I can't booze, I made sure we stayed on a better schedule.

Which means we moved onto Bryan and Shannan's house for the main course about an hour later.

They cooked an amazing dish of coconut chicken paella from Tyler Florence's cookbook.

So good and not heavy at all.
That, I really liked.

Next we moved back to our house for dessert.

I wasn't feeling too good on Friday night so Brad decided to be on point for making our dish.

He made a tiramasu which I'm sure was delish, but after watching him make it I realized I couldn't eat it.

It has raw eggs, booze and expresso in it.

So, I made a pecan praline bundt cake Saturday morning.

Meaning, we had 2 desserts for our guests!

We also served Blue Bell vanilla ice cream with my cake which made life even better.

Of course, we took time out to sing Happy Birthday to Shannan.

She's entering her birthday week, so why not!?!

After dessert we all hung out and watched college football which included seeing the Arkansas Razorbacks lose to ULM.
Totally ridiculous!! LOL!!

And, I went to bed at 11:15pm while the rest of the crew, including Buddy, partied down until 1am.

I'm going to say we will do this again before the end of the year but truth be told, it probably won't happen.

Either way, always a good time!!

Yummy Tomatoes!!

It's Summer tomato season and I'm always looking for different recipes that offer alternative ways in cooking them.

While in California this past week, my friend Christina introduced me to one of the best recipes yet!

Who remembers the movie Under the Tuscan Sun with Diane Lane?

Well, this recipe comes from a cookbook written by the author who wrote the book that was eventually turned into that screenplay.

It's Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun Cookbook.

The recipe is Roasted Tomato.

It's easy too!

*Chop up 60 or so Cherry tomatoes or 25 medium tomatoes

* 1/2 cup of olive oil

* 3 tbs of minced fresh rosemary

* 3 tbs of fresh oregano

* 3 tbs of fresh thyme leaves

* 5 garlic cloves

 * Mix all together in a bowl

 * Spread onto a baking pan and cook at 200-degrees for 2 hours.

It's a slow roast

Sounds too easy but let me tell you, they're yummy!

You can serve with crostini or bruschette for an appetizer.

I personally, could eat this for an entire meal!

The recipe also suggest throwing into a risotto.

Tonight, we're going to put it over grilled chicken.

The best part is?

Leftover tomatoes can be packed into jars, topped with olive oil and stored in the fridge for a week!

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

(just so you know though, I went to buy a Mason jar last night and didn't realize you couldn't just buy one, but instead you have to buy an entire case. I just put mine in a Tupperware container.)

Weekend Recap and Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

Being out of town the past two weekends I was thrilled knowing we would be staying put this weekend.

Our plan was to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while.

 We kicked off the weekend by meeting The Mrs. and The Mister for dinner and drinks.

Of course, Sarah and I have hung out several times on our own, but it was the first time our husbands had met and I think it was a success!

Can't wait for the 4 of us to catch up again soon. 

 Saturday we were up early doing the 5,134 errands on our list.

By noon I was making a strawberry cheesecake for a cookout later in the evening at our neighbor's  Lulu and Keith's house.

It's been a while since we've seen them and the other neighbors.

 Since strawberries are in season I knew I wanted to make some sort of strawberry dessert.

Originally I thought of making a shortcake but decided on this no bake cheesecake instead.

 Let's establish one thing.

I'm a big cheesecake lover but not of the NY style cheesecake.

I'm a fan of those cream cheese/no bake style pies/cakes.

 So this one was PERFECT!

Almost a chiffon style pie!

Everyone loved it because it was fluffy and light!!

 I can't wait to make it again this Summer and add blueberries for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July.

 Lulu and Keith outdid themselves on their cookout.

She'll have details over at her blog.

Just click here.

 It was a GREAT way to kickoff Spring in the neighborhood!

 I can't wait to get together again and try out some more fun, new recipes!

The six of us are already planning our next progressive dinner!

Spring/Summer style!

As for Sunday...

It was a lazy day even though I did manage to get out and walk 2-miles and finish a book.

I'm trying to rest up because I'm heading back to California for work this week.

So, how was your weekend?

Easter Desserts

I know..............

We haven't even gotten through St. Patrick's Day.

I'm already getting swept up in all all the Easter hype though.

Our plans for the holiday are still coming together but here's a few things I've seen the past few days I thought I would share.

This is super cute.

I think they would be fun gifts to put together for neighbors, family of co-workers.

Seen in one of my favorite stores in town, The Beehive in Uptown.

 My MIL gave us a subscription to Our State magazine for Christmas and I love everything about this wonderful periodical!

Here's the latest -- a picture of a creative way to showcase a banana pudding.

This would be so cute as an Easter dessert or a Spring or Summer picnic using Mason jars.

 Another good Easter dessert idea?

This fresh apple cake my Mom makes.

It is seriously delicious!

The recipe is as follows:

FRESH APPLE CAKE
1.5 cup of oil
2 ts Baking soda
2 c sugar
1 ts Salt
3 eggs
3 c apples chopped
.5 cup Buttermilk
1 cup coconut
2 tsp real Vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cup flour
Mix oil, sugar, eggs, buttermilk, & vanilla
Flour, soda, salt, & add to mixture
Add apples, coconut & chopped pecans
Pour into 3 baking pans, bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees

FROSTING
1 – 8 oz package cream cheese
1 stick of oleo butter
1 lb powdered Sugar – 1 cup Coconut mix until smooth
double the icing

Do you have any Easter dessert traditions you would like share?

Happy St. Patrick's Day Week!

Happy St. Patrick's Day week!

We're not fanatics about the holiday like some people but I do like to get festive.

I have planned for weeks to make shamrock cookies and I finally got around to it this weekend.

This was the first time I have totally made these cut-out cookies on my own.

Remember, last time, my neighbor LuLu helped me with the fleur-de-lis cookies.

So, Saturday afternoon I cut out and baked them.

 I used the tip of chilling the dough before working with it, then chilling it after cutting them out to make sure they didn't 'puff' up.

A few of them did anyway?

Not sure why.

 After baking I took a break and Brad and I went and saw Act of Valor.

Great movie BTW!

 Then on the way home I stopped by and got the tip I needed to decorate them.

 And, here's the finished product.

Still not perfect but not bad for my 2nd try and all by myself!

 I packaged them up for Brad and I to share with our teammates at work.

Something festive and fun to welcome everyone back on a Monday.

Don't you think?

As for St. Patrick's day this weekend, no plans of yet.

Brad says he doesn't care about doing anything because he's not Irish.

Well, I do have some Irish in my blood.

Both of my grandmother's on my Mom's side were Irish.

But, even giving that I bet we lay low.

We also got a big project done in the house this weekend but I'll post about that later in the week.

Happy Monday!

Margherita Pizza

For those of you who don't know, we love us some homemade pizzas in the Stephens Casa.

Brad, makes his family's dough recipe and I come up with the ideas for toppings and such.

It generally ends well.

When on our ski trip we saw someone make a margherita pizza and I knew we had to try it at home.

The one main thing they did that I had not seen before was put mozzarella slices on top of the dough and sauce BEFORE putting any toppings on.

I think this makes a HUGE difference.

Next.

Fresh basil and tomatoes.

And, a little bit more shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake and you get..

This!!!

OMG! Totally delicious!!

One thing I didn't mention is that you should put your dough crust into the oven at 400-degrees for 5-minutes BEFORE you put anything on it, then put your toppings on and bake for 10-minutes.

We also made a white pizza again.

They were all delish!

Homemade pizza nights are our favorite!!