Love is in the Air

One of my favorite things to do is cook. When trying to decide on our Valentine's Date, my husband suggested that I cook the two of us dinner. I took this as a compliment because there are some fabulous places to eat in Memphis. I love Valentine's Day and I think it is important to share that day with someone you love whether it be your sibling, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, mom, dad, cat, dog etc... I do however find Valentine's Day a bit overrated when it comes to the restaurant crowds. So... call me crazy but I was kinda excited about our Valentine's Date in the comfort of our home. I wanted to make the meal super special and only make things my husband loves. After all Love is what it is all about. I'm planning on making him breakfast, dinner, and dessert. Breakfast is by far his favorite so this will be a real treat for him. 

Menu

~Breakfast~

Bacon
Eggs
Belgian Waffles
Biscuits

~Dinner~

Filet Mignon,

Twice Baked Potato,

Asparagus, and Rolls

~Dessert~

Heart Shaped Puddin Cake

We did not need lunch but hey, our lil' Mexican place was running a lil' Valentines Day special. 

Whoop! Whoop! 

I thought I would share a few photos from our day. Hope you enjoy!

Our little Valentine's breakfast set up. Complete with a heart shaped cake as the centerpiece. You may also see the gift I gave Christopher. It's a picture book full of all our favorite memories together. Most of them were taken before moving to Memphis. I plan on making another book with our most recent ventures. 

A little close up of my cake. I'm no Martha but I have to admit I was pretty darn proud of myself. It was yummy too!

I tried to be a little creative with the tablescape. I still have a lot to work on in that department. 

After breakfast, we took our fur child to the park. She had a little Valentine date with her best bud, Jake. Isn't she a cutie?

It was a gorgeous day. Sunny and 60 degrees. It's hard to complain about that kind of weather in February. 

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Later that night we settled in for a wonderful Valentine dinner. 

It was delicious. 

We ended the night by watching some tv curled up on the couch. 

We really had the best day. Christopher claims it's because I made him breakfast. Ha! He really knows how to make me smile. 

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We lucked out on Monday and had a snow/ice day. You have to love long weekends. Afterall, it was Presidents' Day so most people were off of work and school anyway. It's the way it was meant to be. 

Everything was covered in ice. Looks a lot like snow but it was ice. Crazy weather. It's hard to believe it can go from being beautiful on Saturday to icy on Monday. 

Hope y'all enjoyed your weekend!

My Favorite Soup

If you know me, you know that I love tomato soup. Tomato soup is my go to for comforting goodness. Normally I doctor up the canned tomato soup with a little bit of this and I little bit of that. It always satisfies and don't get me started on the tomato soup, grilled cheese combo.... Heaven!!!!  Last year I made my first ever homemade tomato soup from my girl Ree, The Pioneer Woman. Let me tell you, it might be the best thing I've ever had. I feel like I say that a lot because let's face it... I LOVE FOOD! Anyway, I decided to make it recently and decided to share the recipe/process with you.

 

First, the cast if characters minus the onion, and fresh herbs. I guess I forgot to take them out of the fridge. 

Mince your onion and throw them into your pot with some melted butter. Sauté until onions are translucent. 

Next, add your tomatoes, tomato juice, chicken base, salt, pepper, sugar and give that a big stir. 

Bring this mixture to a low boil. 

This step is optional. I like to use my emulsifier and grind up the tomatoes and onion bits to a bisque like consistency. 

An emulsifier is a fun little tool that I received as a wedding gift. You can use it for all sorts of things. Mine came with several attachments such as a chopper and a whisk. Doesn't that sound fun? 

Finally the moment you've all been waiting for... Add the cream. I turn the heat on low at this point and just stir in that velvety goodness. You will also add the sherry and fresh herbs at this point. I found that the sherry gives the soup a little bit of that sharpness back that may have been lost when you added the cream and sugar. 

Just season to your liking and Voila!!!  I opted out of making a grilled cheese sandwich. Why? Because I knew I would have several helpings of this fantastic soup. 

 

The hubby tried this soup and also liked it. He's not a soup fan. He claims soup would never fill up his tank. I didn't fight him on this one because let's be honest, it meant more for me. 

You can find the recipe here

here

Life Lately

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to the New Year. My new year thus far has been kinda meh...... The truth is I've been in a little bit of a funk. I don't have any particular reason for feeling this way. I was probably looking forward to the holidays a little too much that it left me kinda meh.... now that they are over. Maybe I have post holiday season disorder (PHSD). Ha! If only that was a real thing. Anyway, I thought I would update you on what I've been up to lately.

I made an awesome recipe the other night. My Momma had made this recipe a few times many years ago and I thought I would introduce it to my menu. I'm always looking for new recipes top try for my picky husband. I'm trying to expand his palate even if it is one meat and potatoes meal at a time. Now, by no means is this a healthy recipe but I do believe you could cut a lot of calories by using healthy healthier alternatives. I didn't photograph the process or even the end result because I was afraid it wouldn't do this recipe justice. Here's the Recipe

 

CHICKEN BREAST WITH WINE SAUCE

 

• 5-8 boneless chicken breasts         
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup       
• 5 oz white zinfandel
• 8 oz sour cream                         
• 3 oz sliced mushrooms

Preparation Instructions:  Season chicken with seasoning salt and

pepper. You may want to flatten chicken with a mallet.  Melt butter

in pan, brown chicken on each side. Remove chicken from pan.

Keep drippings. To the pan add soups, sour cream, wine, mushrooms, heat &  

stir. Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with pam. Place chicken in dish.

Pour soup mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered at 325 for one hour.

 I served our chicken with rice and green beans. After taking a few bites of this dish, I just had to pause and take in all of the amazing, comforting goodness. My husband loved it! He stated and I quote, "This may be the best thing you have ever made us. Even the green beans are good!"
"Even the green beans are good!" This statement made me giggle. It's hard to get his picky palate approval. Don't let the lack of pictures fool you. Try this recipe soon!

Goals

I've been doing pretty well so far with keeping up with some of my goals I made for 2015.

So far I have cleaned my entire kitchen top to bottom and that includes our laundry closet because it currently resides in our kitchen. For now, a laundry room is just a dream. Our kitchen is our most frequently used room in the house so I figured it was a good starting point. I also cleaned out our master closet which led to a huge pile of donations. 

I've starting working on memorizing scripture. I even told my Sunday school class about my goal so now I am accountable for what happens as  the year passes. 

I've replaced my mid day caffeinated beverage with water. I admit this one has been tough and I've had a few cheat days but I'm trying. 

My husband and I have successfully went on at least one date night each week. I need to start making an effort to make these a lil more fun and dressing up a bit. It's hard though to get me out of my scrubs after work unless it's straight into my pajamas. 

I've fallen short on calling my grandmothers each week. I've made an attempt but haven't consecutively  called them each week. No excuses here... Just a guilty conscious : ( 

I've definitely held back on the spending. I admit I caved when asked by the cutest brownie you've ever met if I wanted to purchase any Girl Scout cookies. I mean, how could you not? 

 

I have been praying more but still worrying about things that are out of my control.