For Your Viewing Pleasure

  Today has been a very busy day. I mowed the yard (harder than you think, I thought it would be a great idea to buy a bladed push mower) and raked up all the clippings. Then I decided that I would weed some of the beds and picked up some of the leaves on the driveway. Pat and I then grabbed some lunch at Subway (eat fresh!) and ran to T.J. Maxx to try to find a white jean skirt or white skinny jeans (didn't happen) and Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a shower gift. 

  After our little trips, we ran to the store to pick up a few items and then finally came back home. I searched on Pinterest (newest obsession) while Pat watched True Grit. I made some chocolate chip cookies for work tomorrow and also started to make a recipe I found on Pinterest for Olive Garden bread. Yum! I'll post the recipe tomorrow. Since I cut the grass so nicely, I just had to take the roo out to do a little agility. Check it out!!

Wedding Bliss

  Last weekend, we dropped Wrigley off at the vet (so sad that Cheryl and Johnny have moved!) and we drove up to Athens to celebrate Stephanie's nuptials to Will. Steph and Pat were good friends in college and ran cross country and track together. I have only been to Athens once (for a game) and Patrick has never been (poor boy, Oxford is much too far for a game) and while I was hoping to run around downtown a little bit, that didn't happen. We stayed in a hotel right off downtown and I took a short power nap. Pat walked down to get us an afternoon snack from Pita Pit, which I haven't eaten at since college, and then we hurried to get ready for the wedding.

  Steph and Pat lived together in a cute, little house during college and even though she lives in Atlanta (OTP), we hadn't seen her in ages. We finally got to meet Will and we are holding y'all to dinner on July 30 before the big move!! Now that it's written, we have to get together, okay, Steph??

  Steph and Will got married in a quaint chapel in the Botanical Gardens and the ceremony was very sweet. I loved the string quartet that played and of course, Stephanie looked gorgeous!! She was just glowing and I was so excited to finally meet Will! After the ceremony, we walked down the path to the conservatory and snacked on some hors d'oeuvres while we waited for the newly married couple to finish taking pictures. Another one of Pat's good friends, Carolyn, was a bridesmaid and it was wonderful to be able to hang out with her (though we missed her husband, Preston). We ate, drank, and danced until we finally had to send Steph and Will off around 11pm.

  After the reception, we decided to go out in Athens with some of the other wedding guests from Atlanta. We walked from the hotel downtown and ended up a bar called 8es with Jacque, Ben, Addie, Heather, and her date. After we saw Santa Claus (no lie, he was even wearing red, but I failed to get a picture), we decided to hop on over to another bar called Allgood's. We only stayed there for a little bit before deciding we were too hungry and tired to stay out any longer. There was a little place similar to Moe's across from the bar and we ran in to grab a bite before walking to our hotels.

  The next morning, Patrick had to go downstairs and eat breakfast at the hotel before we left. He tried to get me to do so, but I would have much rather just slept, so we got on the road and headed back home. I was impressed with how easy the drive was and wish that Auburn or Jackson were that close! Oh well! It was a great weekend and I wish Steph and Will the best in their new adventures together!!!

Dilemma

  Okay, so I made a new header yesterday and try as I might, I cannot figure out how to make the picture smaller so you don't have to scroll over to see everything. Can anybody help me? I use the Simple template from Blogger; should I change templates? Help!

Hot Sausage Frittata

  For brunch (a late one) this morning, I made this hot sausage frittata for Patrick. Poor thing, we ran to Kroger to pick up some eggs and OJ, then stopped by the farmer's market happening behind some restaurants in the 'Haven, and once we got home, he passed out! I guess the pain pills work best during the day? I had some red bell peppers leftover from the crab stuffed mushrooms last night and had picked up a green bell pepper yesterday as well that I wanted to throw together in this recipe. This recipe was so easy and made for a very hearty breakfast and the husband approved!

Hot Sausage Frittata


Ingredients:
Sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's hot sausage)
Red bell pepper, chopped
Green bell pepper, chopped
6 Eggs
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown the sausage in a cast iron skillet and drain off grease. Add in chopped green and red bell peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes. Whisk together the eggs and add salt and pepper. Also, add in some cheddar cheese to egg mixture. Take skillet off the heat and pour egg mix over the meat and peppers. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until the eggs are fully cooked. With about 2 minutes left to go, I sprinkled a little more cheese over the top. Enjoy!

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms with Horseradish Dipping Sauce

  Yesterday, while waiting for Patrick to get out of surgery, I discovered Pinterest. How have I not found this little gem of a website before now? I have no idea, but I am now obsessed!! I have already discovered new recipes I have pinned so I can try them. I decided I would make crab stuffed mushrooms tonight for dinner. I have copied the recipes for the mushrooms and for the horseradish sauce below from  this blog: http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/10/crab-stuffed-mushrooms-with-horseradish.html
  I was impressed with how easy these were to make (I've always been scared of cooking seafood at home) and how delicious they were! I almost might just create crabcakes from this recipe and leave them off the mushroom next time. Patrick cleaned his plate too, so I think it's a keeper! I'm not sure, but I'm hoping I can reheat them tomorrow in the oven and we can polish them off (a little wary of reheated seafood, but I've eaten crabcakes the day after before and haven't died yet) for dinner. I threw together a caesar salad to top it all off (using the caesar dressing recipe I've written about before) and I had a small glass of my favorite pinot while Pat ate his with a 7up. (My photos below)

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms:

6 medium sized portobello mushrooms about 2" in diameter
4-6 button mushrooms
extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

8 ounces crab meat (I used claw)
2-3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2-3 tablespoons chopped chives
1 egg
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons mayo
1/2-1 teaspoon old bay seasoning
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
*fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl combine crab meat, pepper, chives, egg, mustard, mayo, old bay (I use a good deal of old bay). Stir to mix and add panko, do not add too much you just want enough for the mixture to bind together. 

Remove stems from the mushrooms, using a spoon hollow out the centers and then toss mushrooms with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Using about 1-2 tablespoons of filling stuff crab filling into the mushrooms. Place on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is golden. You don't want to over cook the mushrooms or they will be too moist and the filling will become soggy.

Horseradish Dipping Sauce:

1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

2-3 tablespoons mayo

1 tablespoon horseradish (or to taste, but I use A LOT)

1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2-1 teaspoon hot sauce 

Stir to combine. For a fuller fat version you can use more mayo or substitute the mayo in this recipe for horseradish cream. 

Try both of these recipes and I promise you won't be disappointed! Now I'm off to join Pat in dreamland (hopefully, we will both sleep better than last night's sleep for an hour, wake up for an hour, etc.)

Broken

  Last night started out pretty calm until about 9:18pm. Patrick was out playing softball then soccer and I was relaxing on the couch eating my orzo for dinner. Then at 9:18pm, I get a phone call from Pat. Uh oh. He knew not to call me because I would be in bed since I was exhausted yesterday, but he calls anyway. What?! Well, I pick up the phone and probably said, "um, hello..." and am surprised to hear a girl's voice telling me that Pat "thinks he broke his wrist playing soccer and I'm yada yada yada, so and so's girlfriend". Um, yes, my husband has done it again. Playing sports and injuring himself in some crazy fashion. I begrudgingly get out of bed and head on to the ER to meet them.
  Poor Pat and poor couple who got voted as the ones to take him. I am just laughing because I totally thought it was a joke but realized that the poor girlfriend sounded really scared. I'm just glad it wasn't an open fracture because I'm not sure they could have handled it. We got to spend our night in the ER from about 9:45ish to 1:30 and I was irate about how inefficient I believe the ER is. It really irks me because I'm sorry, but there has to be a faster way to expedite everything there. After we finally saw the doctor who tried (and might I add, tried) to do a make-shift splint (which I definitely could have done a better job in a lot less time), we finally got the heck out of there. I wish I had taken a picture of the splint from last night because it was just awful. Anyways, Pat finally got to a real doctor today and he got a much better splint and scheduled surgery for tomorrow. How delightful! All I can say is that finally, the poor boy has actually broken a bone that can be casted!

Fourth of July

  Only a little late, I'm finally getting around to posting about our Fourth of July. This year, Patrick entered us in the lottery for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. We were in the lottery with Kat, Dave, and Stephen and much to my dismay, we won the lottery and were going to have to run in the race. I ended up with posterior tib tendonitis in my left foot and the doctor advised me not to run in the race, but didn't tell me I couldn't run the race. I pretty much stopped training at all for it and decided to just walk it. I ended up walking half of it and ran the other 5k and finished in an hour and twenty-three minutes. I know that's terrible, but I passed a whole bunch of people who had started way before I did (Pat and I started in the very last group because they moved up our start time). I'm hoping that I can actually run a bit before the race next year and can shave my time down to an hour or so and hopefully run the whole race.

Before the Peacthree

me and Pat after the race

BFF who kicked butt!!

  After the race and work (for Erin), we invited everyone over for a Fourth of July early dinner. I made a ton of food (Pat always says too much food), but man, it was all pretty good! Erin and Stephen made a great fresh fruit salad and Kathryn brought over homemade salsa with chips. Be very jealous!! For our main course, I made Pioneer Woman's Pork Sandwiches with Cilantro-Jalepeno Slaw. I cheated a little by using some bagged cole slaw, but it still turned out really yummy. You should go out and buy the ingredients to make this immediately. I also made Kathryn's baked beans and then the peach pie from Southern Living's July issue.

Stephen and Erin

me and Pat

Family portrait

Dave and Kat

  The last two desserts I made were supposed to be Martha Stewart's cookies from the July issue (obviously, Pat and I will never be cookie decorators) and some fantastic chocolate chip cookies. I want to try to make Martha's cookies again sometime because I didn't cut them all the same thickness so some cooked faster than others and the frosting was way too thick. However, they were okay for a first try and for making them the night before the Peachtree at 11pm!! This is the second time I've made these chocolate chip cookies and they are amazing!! If you don't try anything from this post, you must try this recipe!! I omitted the salt on top of the cookies, but they are superb. Super chocolate chip cookies from Picky Palate blog: http://picky-palate.com/2011/04/07/brown-butter-and-fleur-de-sel-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Wordless Wednesday

Backin' It Up

Since I never wrote about my birthday party or about the fun-filled first annual Brookhaven Beer Fest, I figured I would throw them in here together now. My birthday party was fantastic as I was surrounded by my wonderful friends. Patrick got me an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins--mint chocolate chip ice cream with vanilla cake. Yum!! Plus, the icing was green and pink-love it! We enjoyed hamburgers and then chowed down on the cake and some overcooked brownies.

Erin and Stephen

After the feast, we decided on playing Catch Phrase, which almost always seems to be the game of choice at any of the parties we have. I don't even know how long we played, but I'm pretty sure I was on the winning team (yay!). We had such a great night! I know some of the pictures are terrible, but I wanted to showcase everyone who was there even though I didn't really take many pictures. Thanks to Kate though, I have these!

Kelly's first time of playing Catch Phrase!!

I love both Dave and Pat looking over my shoulders. Awesome.

Kate and Allison

Love this pic of Al!

The next weekend, we got a small group together and walked down to the first annual (we hope!) Brookhaven Beer Festival after chowing down on some hot dogs and brats. There were so many people attending and the weather was gorgeous, though sweltering, and we had a great time! I was impressed with the amount of vendors who were at the festival. We got a cute little glass that I really enjoy drinking my morning OJ from now and had a great time tasting various beers.

Erin, Kate, and me at the beginning of the festival

hubby

LAND SHARK!

Stephen

My neighbor, Laura!

We did a lot of walking up and down the road and met up with one of my sweet neighbors, Laura, and her friends. We got there pretty early (even though Stephen wanted us walking by 2:45) and got to sample some of the smaller breweries that ended up running out a few hours later. After a while, the heat got to us and we walked home then went over to Stephen and Erin's house for a yummy dinner. Stephen made two types of pizzas on the grill and a wonderful Caesar salad. I'll share the recipes later as I've got to go to bed for another week tomorrow!