Valentine's Day 2011

Well, yesterday was one of my favorite Valentine's Days so far=) After work, I came home to start cooking our Valentine's Day dinner. We had:

* Steak au Poivre
* Crab Cakes
* Roasted Asparagus
* Little "Softhearted Chocolate Cakes" (Recipe and Picture below are from BHG.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1/2 pound)

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or 1-1/3 cups semisweet chocolate pieces

• 4 eggs

• 4 egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/8 teaspoon teaspoon salt

• Whipped cream (optional)

• Raspberry Sauce (see recipe below) (optional) and/or fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Lightly butter eight 8-ounce ramekins or 1-cup souffle dishes; line bottoms with parchment or wax paper. Place the prepared ramekins on a shallow baking pan or on a large cookie sheet. Set aside.

2. In a heavy-bottomed, medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly. (Or, in a mixing bowl, combine the butter and chocolate. Place mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and melt butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove bowl from the simmering water pot; set aside to cool slightly.)

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored. Mix a large dollop of the beaten eggs into the butter-chocolate mixture. Gently fold until combined. Add butter-chocolate mixture to remaining beaten egg mixture and fold. After a few folds, sprinkle in sugar, flour, vanilla, and salt. Continue to fold until the mixture is combined.

4. Quickly divide the batter evenly among prepared ramekins. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 9 to 10 minutes or till cakes feel firm to the touch on top edges, but still soft in the center when pressed with a fingertip. Remove from oven; set ramekins on a wire rack. Let cakes cool completely in ramekins.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When cakes are cool, use a small metal spatula to loosen edge of cakes from side of ramekin and unmold onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. The centers of the cakes are supposed to be soft. (If not using immediately, wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use.)

6. When ready to serve, place cakes on a microwaveable serving plate. Heat in a microwave oven on 100 percent power for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until warm. (Center of cake will slightly pop up.) Serve with whipped cream and garnish with a splash of Raspberry Sauce and/or fresh raspberries, if you like.

Raspberry Sauce: In a blender container or food processor bowl, cover and blend or process one 10-ounce package frozen and thawed red raspberries in syrup until pureed. Use a fine sieve to sieve berry mixture. Cover and refrigerate the sauce till ready to use. Makes 2/3 cup.

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In the middle of finishing up cooking, J surprised me with a SWEET Valentine's Day balloon, a dozen GORGEOUS red roses, and the cutest valentine I've ever gotten! He certainly made a gal who loves Valentine's Day feel SUPER special!!!!!

I have an AWESOME Valentine!

We had a great time eating our nice dinner and relaxing. We definitely know that LOVE should be shown all year round and not just on Valentine's Day. We're certainly advocates of that! However, yesterday was SUPER special with my Valentine! I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

Our Saturday Fishing Adventure

J and I got to enjoy some fishing this weekend. His weekends are busy right now with work. However, he had Saturday off.

We spent at least 3 hours fishing at the lake by our house. J found us a great new spot! The weather was beautiful as well.




We caught several Bluegills, but they were very small. We could have brought two of them home, but we decided to release them. J DID catch a decently sized Catfish though! We brought it home and fried it using this recipe:

Pan-Fried Catfish Recipe

Vegetable Oil, Olive Oil, or Butter (your choice)
4 medium freshwater catfish fillets*
1 cup cold milk
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 to 3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red (cayenne) pepper
Lemon wedges

Rinse the fillets under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels. In a pie place, lay fillets and pour milk over the top. In another pie plate, combine cornmeal, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Remove the fillets one at a time from the milk and roll in the cornmeal mixture to coat evenly; place on a large platter to dry. leaving space between them. Let dry at least 5 minutes.

Heat the oil or butter in a large skillet. Add the coated catfish fillets and cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, sprinkling additional salt on the catfish after each turn. Cook until golden brown and fish flakes easily with a fork. Drain on paper towels. After draining, place the fillets on another platter covered with paper towels; place in preheated oven to keep warm while frying the remaining fillets. The fillets will remain hot and crisp for as long as 35 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges.

Makes 4 servings.

3rd Weekend in July-J's Birthday!

SO the majority of July was also spend on planning a surprise birthday party for my husband. With the help of our friends Karen, Juanita, and Jason, we got it done.

We knew J would wouldn't want something big, so we had about 8 people there total including he and I. We ordered food from a barbecue restaurant close by and enjoyed a few beers and some cake out on the back deck. It was very low-key and laid back, but very nice=)


I would have loved to have included more pictures of the food, but we were in a mad hurry to get everything set up. Our "distraction" for J ran a little bit later than we planned so all of the food was kept in the restaurant's original plastic containers to save time. No time to set it all out in my pretty serving dishes!

New Pasta Salad Recipe

J and I got invited to a picnic birthday party last week. I decided I wanted to try a different pasta salad. A friend recommended that I try this recipe from Food Network.

The pasta salad was VERY tasty! Before we left for the picnic, J tried a bite of it and LOVED it! We've already made it one more time since the picnic and served it alongside grilled pork chops.

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Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
Kosher salt
Olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Directions
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.
Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

Centerpiece Fun

So I threw a lingerie shower for a close friend getting married two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I don't have the best camera so the pictures really don't do the event justice.

However, I went to a wedding this past weekend and saw what appears to be a pretty easy centerpiece. This could be something I may want to replicate for a bridal shower.




They took a vertical vase, 6-8 inches wide and about 14 inches tall and put a vase inside that was turned upside down. The vase inside was around the same shape as the outside vase, but was smaller in both height and width. In between the two vases and on top of the inside vase, they put flower petals. I imagine I would want to also use fabric flower petals so real petals wouldn't get smashed. The fake petals seemed to hold up better.

They also included three smaller arrangements and candles as you see in the picture above.

Fantastic Lingerie Shower Decor Find!

I have purchased all the items I need for my lingerie shower. However, I got to thinking that I would really like to have something more original to use as a centerpiece for my main table. (I plan on using flowers and balloons on some of the other smaller tables.)

I got to searching on the Internet and found this item that was PERFECT! It's a wire form bustier! You can order them in three different sizes. They come in either silver or black. I ordered the black one and plan on stuffing it with one of my red feather boas I have in my lingerie shower supplies.

Check it out!

http://purpledaisydesigns.com/

Holy Linens Batman!

I'm having a complete blast planning a lingerie shower for a friend of mine. The shower is next month, but I decided to go ahead and order the supplies I would need for decorations. I am in charge of decorations and some food items. The games, favors, batchelorette accessories have been divided amongst some of the other hostesses.

I decided that if I found decent (AND inexpensive) linens for the tables, I'd purchase them for this shower. I figured that I'd certainly be able to use them for future parties if they were of good quality.

I looked all over the Internet and found this site that was not only user friendly, but had a great selection for even better prices! I found a satin 90"x 90" table cloth for the food table for $9.99!
I also found these organza table covers for less than FIVE DOLLARS!

http://www.smartyhadaparty.com



They have all kinds of products for showers, parties, dinners...you name it! The site is very user friendly. The products not only LOOK much better than those on the other party supply websites, but they are also much cheaper! I am definitely going to be using this site for future events!

Shower Season is Upon Us

I have been asked to co-host a lingerie shower for a friend of mine getting married this spring. I consider myself somewhat of a pretty decent shower hostess=) I have fun throwing them at least!

At these types of functions, many people will decorate the food tables/gift tables with confetti. I'm REALLY not a huge fan of shiny metallic confetti at ALL...

When looking for decoration ideas for our red/black themed lingerie shower, I actually found confetti that doesn't look like it belongs at a child's birthday party! It's pretty cute and certainly appropriate for our theme:

It's from: http://www.partymakerdiscountmegastore.com

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, J and I spent Thanksgiving with my family in my hometown. We had a great time visiting with parents, grandparents, siblings, sister-in-law, aunts, uncles, and cousins.



We got in late Wednesday night. Thanksgiving day, we helped my parents get the lunch ready. J and I were able to help them with a few of the dishes they were making. I also made pumpkin bars for dessert. The recipe for the bars is from the Food Network. I cant take credit for them.

Pumpkin Bars

Recipe courtesy Patty Ronning as adapted by Paula Deen on www.foodnetwork.com

Prep Time: 15 minCook Time: 30 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 48 small bars or 24 larger bars

Ingredients

Bars:

* 4 eggs

* 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

* 1 cup vegetable oil

* 15-ounce can pumpkin

* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

* 1 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

* 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

* 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

My hubby turned 29 on the very first day of our most recent dance competition! Poor guy always works on his birthday!


I think everyone needs a cake on their birthday so I got him a pretty cake with some tasty chocolate bears on it!



Here is a picture of his family who came down to watch us dance and celebrate J's birthday!




The hubbs and I!

Hit one out of the park!

This past Friday, some co-workers and I threw a wedding shower for another co-worker. I got the opportunity to design a really neat cake for this event with our resident cake-maker at work. Originally, we were planning on doing a traditional cake for this shower. However, I mentioned that the couple met on the softball field and we were suddenly inspired to do a softball-themed cake. Please note that I did not make this cake...I just gave her the design.

Each base tells the story of the different steps they took to get to this point. You'll notice that the first base is friendship, the second base is love, the third base is an engagement ring, and home base is a little baseball bat couple symbolizing marriage. (We originally discussed having a little chapel here, however the cake make decided to design this little bat couple.) You can't clearly tell this in the bottom picture, but the bride bat has a little veil attached to her baseball hat.

Raspberry Brownies

I found this brownie recipe online at allrecipes.com and made them on Monday. They got rave reviews from J, his co-workers, my co-workers....etc. Credit is due to the Baker's Chocolate company for posting this recipe on allrecipes.com

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Decadent Raspberry Brownies

SUBMITTED BY: BAKER'S Chocolate to allrecipes.com

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READY IN	2 Hrs 25 Min
Original recipe yield 32 brownies

INGREDIENTS

• 4 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 6 (1 ounce) squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup whipping cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Grease foil. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in flour until well blended. Spread into prepared pan.
2. Bake 30 to 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool in pan.
3. Spread jam over brownies. Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and cream in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until simmering. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Spread evenly over jam layer. Refrigerate 1 hour or until chocolate layer is set. Lift dessert from pan, using foil handles. Cut into 32 brownies to serve.

FOOTNOTES

• Bake and glaze brownies as directed. Remove from pan; cut into diamond-shaped bars. Garnish each bar with a fresh raspberry.

Christmas Dinner

J and I spent the holidays with our family and had a great time! We spent Thanksgiving in PA with his family and Christmas in AL with mine. I'm very upset with myself that I didn't take any pictures while we were visiting family though! I'm terrible about remembering to take pictures! Fortunately, J mentioned that I take the camera out to capture this night pictured below. I'm glad that he did!

I thought it would be neat to have a small dinner for the two of us using our formal china. J really liked the idea! So, we broke out some our china and serving pieces and had our own little dinner the Saturday before Christmas.

So here is our Christmas dinner for two! How pretty is our china?!=)

Not all the food is shown due to the size of the table, but you get the general idea. J is to the left. I should have taken a better picture with him in it!




How cute is he?=) Here is J opening the decanter set I gave him.

J gave me some really pretty wine Decanters as well and some yummy goodies!=) Here is one of the end tables he got us for our living room! Lovely!



The post-Christmas disaster zone.

November Parties!

We got him! This was from my Dad's surprise 50th birthday party! We were anxious to see if he was surprised for REAL, but this picture assured me that we had been victorious! Nice! My sister-in-law Lauren, my mom, and I had been planning and planning for a long time. The party was a success for sure! The only glitch was the one typo in the zip code on the invitations I had made at a local print shop. I gave them the text on a Word document online and triple checked it, but there was a communication error somewhere=( Other than that, Mom did a great job with the food and Lauren's decorations were awesome!

That same weekend, I threw a baby shower for my long-time friend Angela. Sadly, my camera died and I couldn't take pictures. I had a wonderful decoration idea that ended up being very cute! I will give credit to my dance studio, Dance World, for this idea. I didn't come up with it myself. This was their centerpiece idea at a baby shower for one of the instructors.

Here it was in a nutshell:

1. I ordered a few dozen high float (better than helium) balloons from a local florist.
2. We separated all the balloons into bunches of 4-5 balloons.
3. Individual centerpieces: We tied the pretty ribbons of each bunch of balloons together, in a bow, around a jar of baby food. We kept the balloons 4-5 feet above the baby food jar
4. We placed 5 of these centerpieces in a row going down the long table where the guests sat.

It was really pretty! You walked in and immediately noticed the high balloons. However, when people took a closer look they noticed they were stationed to baby food jars.