nate's (new) favorite chili- con carne!

so we had a thawed out chuck roast last week that i need to do something with, and even though it didn't sound like a good idea for a weekday but hey, why not?  i started at 6 pm on a wednesday and we finally ate dinner at 10 pm - oops!  so word to the wise, plan for dinner about 4 hours after you start this business, but according to nate, it's worth it :)  it's a cooking light recipe (of course!) but i made a few modifications.  the original is here.  we had it with jalapeno corn bread, recipe here.

Chili con Carne

8  poblano chiles

3  lb boneless chuck roast cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 1/2  teaspoons  salt

1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour

2  tablespoons  olive oil, divided

3  cups  chopped onion

4  garlic cloves, minced

2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 drained, 1 not - I bought the ones with jalapeno chiles

1 cup beef broth

1  tablespoon dried oregano

1  tablespoon ground cumin

1  chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce (I used 5-6 -- depends on how hot you want it!)

3  tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

6  tablespoons reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Place poblanos on a foil-lined baking sheet; broil 8 minutes or until charred, turning after 6 minutes. Place poblanos in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 15 minutes. Peel and cut chiles into 1-inch pieces.

3. Sprinkle beef with salt and black pepper; dredge in flour. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add half of beef to pan; sauté for 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and beef.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to pan; cook 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. 

5. Return beef to pan. Stir in tomato, beef broth, oregano, and cumin; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in poblanos; simmer for 45 minutes or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally. 

6. Rinse, seed, and chop chipotle (I didn't rinse or seed it and I used 5-6 chipotles). Stir in chipotle(s) and cilantro. Sprinkle with cheese.

a conversation regarding valentine's day

nate:  you caught me off guard!
me:  with what?  a national holiday?

vegetarian night!

so we're trying something new this year, we're eating at least one meal a week vegetarian.  for a couple of reasons, (1) i keep reading how hard processing meat is on the environment and i feel guilty (2) in general it's healthier (3) in general it's less expensive and (4) we get to try some new things we hadn't before :)

this week we made falafel - a friend of ours gave us the mix and we've had it forever so we finally decided to try it.  we loved it!  if you've never had it, falafel is ground up chick pea with some yummy spices, then fried into patties (okay, so it doesn't quite fall into the healthy category but who's counting?) :)

here's nate frying them up

 

while he was doing that, i made tzatziki (super yummy cucumber/yogurt sauce) i used a recipe i found here.  i should have seeded the cucumbers and drained them a little longer because mine was a bit thinner than it should be, but it was tasty just the same!  i also chopped up a bunch of veggies (what would vegetarian night be without veggies?!)

and then the falafel was all ready to go

 

and then we wrapped it up in a flatbread! i used these (toufayan whole wheat flatbread), i love them.

i think we're going to try stuffed shells next time :)

cleo calendars have been shipped!

every year, i swear off even doing the cleo calendar because..let's face it, the dog only has one facial expression.  but i think this year is my favorite :)  and we already started taking a few photos for next year, so the plan is to do it for at least one more year!

it's not freezing!

well the weather is finally back to normal around here :)  i'm on the porch listening to a thunderstorm and enjoying the breeze :)

exciting things lately?  john, nina, laura, and fletcher are all coming to visit next week!  we're really excited to have them :)  we have big plans for the beach, and eating tacos at taco palenque (if you're local, you MUST go there), drinking copious amounts of orange juice, and plenty of visiting :)  also exciting, we're getting a screen door!  it should really create a nice breeze through the house so we can really take advantage of the weather :)

cleo's been quite the medical case lately - she's had infections and skin issues and eye infections and whatnot.  but she seems to be on the road to recovery :)  the bad part is, she seems to have figured out when we hide medicine in cheese or meat and has been eating around the pills and them spitting them out!  probably because that just results in more cheese :)  she's also been boycotting her meals when we add medicine to them.  little brat!

we tried a delicious indian recipe from pioneer woman's website (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/chicken-tikka-masala-by-pastor-ryan/) it was SO GOOD!  i used two habanero peppers instead of the serranos the recipe calls for and it was ridiculous spicy!  but still really delicious :)  i highly recommend it :)  i usually cheat and buy a premixed jar sauce and add some hot curry paste but this was better :)

off to play some super mario with nate :)

it's freezing!

quite literally and unusually for orlando!  it's a great weekend for curling up on the couch, drinking hot cocoa, red wine, and dark beers :)  we had chili for dinner last night and are working our way through all of the seasons of lost.  it's quite the endeavor!  lucky for us, ryan and sarah like enough to watch many of the episodes twice, so they've been keeping us company while we get up to speed -- we're nearing the end of season 2!

it's been nice to start the new year in a bit of a lazy un-hurried fashion, haven't made a lot of plans or taken any trips so far which has been a nice break from the holidays :)

circa 1992

while looking for a different book, i came across one of nathan's yearbooks.  and i just had to share this picture :)  is that really my husband?  it looks like a picture shot of some extra actors from a lesser known brat pack movie doesn't it?  nate was in a band called 'the ivey league' in high school, and this is them :)

milestones this past decade....

in no particular order  :)
i lived in indiana, louisiana, vermont, virginia and florida.
i graduated college.
i left the country for the first time in my life.
i got a dog.
i became a (joint) house owner.
i got married!
i became an aunt.

i know there are more but that's my list for the time being!

happy new year and welcome 2010!

we had a great new year's eve, we had a fondue night with ryan & sarah -- we've decided it is the perfect meal for new year's eve -- we managed to spread out the three courses from 6 pm until after midnight :)  it was delicious and there was always another course to look forward to :)  we started with a yummy beer cheese (dipped apples, bread, cauliflower and carrots), followed by a yummy seasoned broth which we dipped (and cooked!) steak, chicken, shrimp, scallops, zucchini, mushrooms, and potatoes.  then last we a had a dark chocolate fondue with bananas, apples, sugar wafers and strawberries :)

nate and i went to see the blind side last night and loved it!  i cried a lot.  and then cried some more when we left the movie!  nate was laughing at me but i think he understood :)  it's such an emotional story!  it's also the first time in a long time we've been to a full stadium seating theater (we usually go to our little local west orange 5 that has old style theaters and serves beer!).  we had a little sticker shock at the $9.50 ticket price but i think we just need to get out more ;)  at least to the movies :)

i've posted a bunch of albums on our pics site -- there are updates in november and december from all of the holidays.  i'll be posting our new year's eve pictures soon -- and need to get pictures from our point and shoot - that's what nate uses so those are usually the pictures that i show up in :)

i'm excited and optimistic about the new year :)  not that last year was bad, but i hope we see some (positive!) changes in the economy this year! :)

all things pride and prejudice

have been my preoccupation of late.  well the past couple of weeks anyway :)  it certainly doesn't account for my lack of blogging these past few months, but i tried my first audiobook!  we can rent them from our library so i listened to pride and prejudice.  it was so much fun!  i listened to it in the car whenever i was driving around and it definitely made my commute something to look forward to :)  i finished it a few days ago and watched the movie again.  now i want to see the longer tv miniseries that was done and i also have two books on the subject in queue:  darcy's story (the story told from mr. darcy's point of view in case the title wasn't clear enough) and pride and prejudice and zombies which is apparently the original text with some zombies infused here and there :)  i actually just read they'll be making that last one into a movie.  should be interesting :)

it's been a busy december, nate's been traveling ALL THE TIME.  but hey, i'm glad he's busy and has plenty of work to get done!  we're looking forward to spending time together over christmas, we'll both be off for a nice long time!  hope everyone's holidays have been happy so far! :)

home from thanksgiving!

we had a great time in PA (pictures to come!) and are now getting ready for christmas!  well, the rest of christmas- we celebrated "ivey-mas" as ross coined it over the thanksgiving holiday :)  nate's family moves the holiday whenever everyone can't be in PA for christmas which i love ;)  gets all of us a jump start on the holiday!  it's late so short post - happy holidays all!

thank you!

thank you for supporting our relay team!  relay for life was this past weekend and went well :)  we were all a little worse for the wear on sunday morning, but our team raised over $4,500 and the event overall raised over $100,000!

now that it's cold enough for soup...

i was looking for a healthier version of our family's potato soup (which is DELICIOUS by the way, i'll post that recipe soon) and i think i found it!  this baked potato soup (from cooking light, where else?) was delicious and fed an army:

• 4  baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• 2/3  cup  all-purpose flour (about 3 ounces)
• 6  cups  2% reduced-fat milk
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  cup  reduced-fat sour cream
• 3/4  cup  chopped green onions, divided
• 6  bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• Cracked black pepper (optional)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
4. Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Ladle 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tablespoon bacon. Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired.

it makes 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups soup, 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tablespoon bacon).  and 1 serving is 329 calories and 11 g of fat - not bad for a very filling soup!)  we had it with salad and rosemary bread.  yum yum!

i didn't take a picture of ours, here's cooking light's, and their link.

november? but it's 80+ degrees!

so it's been a warm fall for us so far!  but i figured out something:  that's not nearly as bothersome when you're lying on the beach :)  we just got back from a fantastic weekend with glen, suzy and family in captiva.  it was WONDERFUL.  much tennis and beaching was had.  and the wildlife!  i couldn't believe all the activity on the beach.  we saw a great blue heron, which i got some great pictures of when he caught a fish!  we also saw a fisherman on the shore catch a shark- twice!  the surf was full of fish.  how do i know?  because they were doing backflips about every 20 seconds while we sat and watched the sunset - it was the coolest thing!

i posted a bunch of pictures on our picture site here:  http://floridaiveys.smugmug.com/November-2009

but here are a few of my heron friend :)

can you see that fish's mouth?  he knows what's coming.

showboating his catch:

happy november ;)

happy birthday cleo!

for cleo's birthday, she received a 'pup'cake that sarah and i found at this cute little dog bakery and 2 new bones (one from us, one from aunt sarah & uncle ryan) :) she also got lots of attention from nate and i all day (like that would differentiate the day...) here is the pupcake:


cleo discovering what it is:


loved the frosting!


i think this is where the panic that we might take it away from her set in:


all done and checking for crumbs!


hope you enjoy your next birthday cake as much as cleo enjoyed hers :)

happiness?

is feeling a brisk breeze blowing through the window, listening to your husband practice guitar, drinking a great glass of wine, and relaxing with a good book :)

i know i haven't blogged much lately but we're still here! i think we can officially declare fall in florida, we had a cold snap this weekend -- we had a game night with friends and we had chili to usher in the cool weather :) i LOVE this time of the year in florida (and i know i'm not alone!) we open the windows, drink orange juice, drink red wine and dark beers, eat cold weather food like chili and potato soup, play tennis, go for bike rides, enjoy the patio, and just be :) makes all those summer months worth it!

nate's band has a gig this weekend! they're playing a benefit concert for relay for life :) i'm really excited, not only because sarah and i have been planning the event, but also to see nate and the band at their first public place! if you're local, stop by next weekend!

also, nate bought a new guitar this weekend, or... what i like to refer to as the precursor to my new camera :) i've been saving up my birthday money and have been eyeing a new camera from canon. i may buy it tomorrow if our local camera shop has it in stock... cross your fingers for me!

go steelers!

FINALLY today i'll get to watch my first game this season! (i've missed the past 4 games for a variety of reasons)

relay for life!

so we'll be doing relay for life in november,

Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s signature activity. It offers everyone in a community an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Relays are an overnight event, up to 18 hours in length.

we have a very energetic team and lots of events and fundraising leading up to the event itself :) if you'd like to help out, you can donate here: my relay fundraising page.

thanks :)

nate and i did this several years ago when we were dating -- we participated with the virginia tech graduate students association and each person dressed in a different color to represent a different type of cancer to fight. all seriousness aside... aren't those pants i'm wearing the least attractive thing you've EVER SEEN? :)

i'm not dead

just been working a lot :) but i am SO EXCITED -- cassie, jeff, cade, mom and marty are all headed to florida this weekend! expect lots of pictures (of course!) :) we plan to hit up epcot's food and wine festival, do some dinners in, some dinners out and just enjoy the weekend.

we also had the most beautiful day of weather since ... march maybe? usually when i'm driving to work, it's around 80 degrees, but this morning, i was almost all the way to work before i saw the temperature was 69 degrees! i was so excited, i immediately rolled down the window to see if it was true :) and it was! nate and i cleaned off the patio in prep for the beautiful weather that's sure to begin appearing on a regular basis :)

also, nate started growing his beard again :)

fletcher william

but also... how cute is he??

cadiem rey

so i know it's out of focus a little, but how CUTE is he???

a nately quote for your evening

"would you accept 'stanky' as a acceptable scrabble word or would you challenge it? for example... she was stanky. she was real stanky... "

and for the record, no. i don't consider that an acceptable scrabble word and yes, i would have challenged it ;)


in the end, i won because the word "aw" is actually in my dictionary (as an interjection!) but it was a close game :)

excerpt from the book i'm reading, "prep"

"...we got shuffled and thrust together and shuffled again, and there was always the chance that you might find out one of the pieces of hidden information. This was why I felt excited when life was different from normal, when things happened- snow and fire drills and the times we had chapel at night, evensong, when the sky outside the stained glass windows was black. Depending on circumstances, a wild fact could be revealed to you, or you could fall desperately in love."

i really like this paragraph and totally identify with it :) that when things are totally thrown out of normal is when the exciting stuff happens or at least the air seems charged with something different. like a snow day or hurricane watch or a change of travel plans. good book so far!

wall art!

nate and i really need to work on getting more art on the walls. for a long time, i've been meaning to do a scrabble dealy in our ... extra room... music room... random room that happens to be filled with guitars? whatever room it is, i'm planning on framing the travel scrabble board that nate proposed on (which is still snapped in place!) in a shadow box with some notes or pictures, surrounded by square frames holding the pictures below. if it looks like hell once i get it all together.... well then i'll try something else!

oops! have a safe trip on the 20th grandma!

:)

have a safe trip grandma!

my grandma has spent her summer in indiana, which is a great place to spend it, especially when you live in arizona! here's a picture of her with my aunt willie and aunt peggy (2 of her sisters, she has 4 others!) :) they are the three that visited us in florida last spring which is where they got these shirts :) she's headed home tomorrow. have a safe trip gram!

vacation!... in 2010

so i FINALLY get 3 weeks of vacation for the first time in my life next year :) nate and i are starting to plan what i like to call: the-honeymoon-i-never-had-unless-you-count-the-24-hours-spent-in-venice-florida ;)

we're looking at visiting glacier national park (and potentially another... banff perhaps?). the plan is to visit next summer and we're in the early planning stages :) nate's been there before which creates a funny dynamic for planning, i can tell when i suggest an activity they didn't do on their previous trip because he looks reluctant to agree (for example, horseback riding). did you know that glacier national park has more bears than anywhere in the continental united states? we have a great book from nina & john that has all kinds of good details, including this gem (mom, take note!):

"if you encounter a bear don't run. back away slowly and assume a non-threatening posture. if a brown or grizzly bear charges, drop into the fetal position, protect your head and neck, and do not move. it's the opposite if you encounter a black bear or mountain lion: act aggressively, throw rocks or sticks, and try to look large by holding up a pack or branches. if attacked, fight back, aiming for the nose."

everyone in this family wants to be a guitar player...

cleo has a little box of nate's guitar picks in her mouth...she doesn't want to chew on them or anything, in fact they're only halfway in her mouth. she just wants nate to chase her :) which he is. she's hilarious :) they're both running laps around the house, we usually can't catch her without the help of the other!

she stole them while nate was helping me learn guitar ;) i better go help him catch her! goodnight! :)

happy birthday seester!

guess who's the big 3-0 today??

miss bella boo

i've taken naps longer than that!

i think nate said it best at 3:45 am this morning when we got up to get ready for our flight to phoenix! we had a few hour layover in memphis, and made our way to the west coast :) unfortunately, cleo's been having issues with her paw so sarah & ryan have to take her to the vet tomorrow :( hopefully it's a quick fix with some antibiotics :)

dad and anita picked us up and we've spent the day with them and the boys which has been great :) i rented a lens to play with this weekend which turns out to be a lot of lens for me! i'm still figuring it out, but we played around with some senior photos for austin. ryan spent most of the time making austin laugh but most of the time also resulted in making me laugh which makes for blurry pictures :) we got a few we can use but it was HOT so we gave up pretty quickly :)

tonight we're headed up to the cabin with mom & marty for the weekend. should be a nice break from the hot weather we've had lately in florida and in phoenix!

some photos from today :) dad made some delicious stir fry for lunch (and is sporting some stylish new glasses!)
the boys out front :)


aren't they all grown up? this is taken where they both attended elementary school :)

more later! have a great weekend :)

juan valdez.... the explorer?

the other day nate and i were driving around orlando running errands together and he turned down a road that (i thought) led nowhere. the following conversation ensued:

bri: nate! this is the turn into the hospital, it's not a road!
nate: bri, i'm exploring. i don't know if you knew, but i'm an explorer. like valdez.... juan valdez.
bri: so, you .... discovered coffee?

turns out the parking lot did spill out onto the road we were looking for so his 'exploring' paid off afterall :)

Six Links -- cool new green site :)

there's a cool new website called Six Links where you can track what you're doing to save the earth and live sustainably as well as get new ideas on how you can do more :) it was actually started by a friend i went to high school with -- check it out! you can join at:

http://www.sixlinks.org/

hummus! round one

so i eat a lot of hummus. lots. like a costco sized tub :) it's that sabra hummus! if you've never tried it, head to the grocery store immediately and buy some. and some pita chips. then cancel dinner and sit on your couch and enjoy the yumminess :)

as a result of my hummus addiction, i've been trying to make my own. i've yet to come up with a chickpea version that tastes as good as sabra, but this spicy black bean hummus is in it's own league. it's delicious with pita chips or multigrain tostitos. and you can control the spice with how much jalapeno you use. i used a whole one the first time and WHOA! that stuff was hot. nate ate it like candy of course, but it was a bit too hot for me. about half seems to be perfect :) enjoy! and if you have a great hummus recipe, please share! i'm still tweaking the chickpea one. i'll post it once i'm satisfied :)

Spicy Black Bean Hummus

• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• Dash of crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of ground red pepper

Place garlic in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, black beans, jalapeño pepper, and crushed red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon bean mixture into a medium bowl, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with ground red pepper.

(not pictured as hummus isn't all that photogenic) :)

tgif!!

so glad it's friday!! happy weekend to you all :)

cleo's new friends

so it was a little difficult to get them to sit still, and i definitely didn't get a group shot, but here are the dogs that cleo's been hanging around with this weekend :)

colt:

and nittany:

better than ezra

last weekend we went to see better than ezra at house of blues in orlando. it was fantastic! we had a great view of the band and there always tons of fun to see live. i was thinking about the first time i went to see them, and cassie, correct me if i'm wrong here, but i'm pretty sure it was thirteen years ago!

better than ezra was cassie's favorite band and they were playing for $17 a ticket at the electric ballroom in tempe (which has since been torn down). i was fifteen (cassie's friend drove). we staked out a coveted railing spot and the cover band played so long i almost fell asleep! when they finally came on we loved every minute of it. we had to leave sometime at the end (maybe already at the encore? i can't remember) to make curfew.

we've seen them lots of times in betweeen then and now. i'll see them at least once more this year, they're playing at epcot's food and wine festival in october!

dog central!

we're dogsitting this weekend for 2 dogs plus our usual resident canine, cleo. it's been pretty entertaining! cleo has never seemed to understand how to play with other dogs and she usually ends up growling and making a whole lot of noise that scares them instead of encouraging them to play with her. not so with this bunch! colt is a french bulldog and nittany is a mix of several things (i'll have to post a pic, she looks sort of like a tall fox). but because nittany is used to the frenchie growl, she just plays right along with cleo. right now they are chasing each other in figure eights around the couch. it's nice for cleo to have some entertainment ;)

nate's been out of town TONS lately! which is good that he's busy at work and that lots of that time has been in PA so he's been able to see family and friends. the only downside is that he's not here with me! i' ve been keeping busy though, been working late some and also working on catching up on photos. i also (and this is embarrassing) have been playing a whole lot of the sims2 and some stupid game on facebook that cassie and i have both reluctantly gotten addicted to ;)

this weekend, nate's brother (and lots of others from his company) will be in town for a conference. so we'll be spending time with him which will be fun :) i'm hoping to challenge him to a round of dr. mario! i think the band is getting together sometime today too.

have a great weekend!

oh okay one more :)

i think this one is my favorite:

attn: fans of fletcher

i'm working on the photos but since i went a little crazy with the quantity last weekend, it's a lengthy process ;) these things take time people! in the meantime, here's one more of fletcher. i think he's dubious that i will finish these anytime soon... what do you think?

fletcher william

is adorable of course :) we've been running around with drew, laura and baby this weekend and are having a great time so far :) we've also been doing a mini photo shoot with fletcher, here's one i edited quick and dirty -- more to come!

hotlanta!

nate and i were in atlanta this past weekend for a good friend's wedding. we used to work with her in florida and it was great to see her again :) the wedding was very cool too :) ever since my own wedding, i appreciate all the small details so much more!

for the rest of the weekend, we spent our time with ashlea who is finishing up soon at georgia tech. she is a fantastic tour guide so we saw plenty of neat areas in atlanta and had a fantastic time :) the most photogenic of which was piedmont park:


we ate, we drank, nate & ashlea played guitar, we shopped, we talked -- all in all, a perfect weekend :) we weren't ready to head home on monday, but i'm sure we'll make another trip before ashlea leaves atlanta for good :)

baby, you were right all along

i'm laying on the guitar and nate's playing guitar. the chorus involves "baby you were right all along." it's a toss up as to which i find more attractive: the fact that he keeps saying "baby, you were right all along" or that he looks cute when he's singing and playing guitar :)

in other news, i'm about to build an ark! florida has been in a drought this year and boy are we making up for lost time! it's been raining for DAYS. apparently we've gotten a total of around 7 inches, and will get 7 more by saturday. the power flickered at work today too. it's been a very dramatic rain, lots of lightning and thunder and some serious rain!

salmon with maple-lemon glaze

no picture, but we had this for dinner and really liked it :) it's super easy, takes about 15 minutes!

Salmon with Maple-Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag; seal. Refrigerate 10 minutes, turning bag once.

3. Remove fish from bag, reserving marinade. Place marinade in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute.

4. Heat a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish evenly with salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 3 minutes. Turn fish over. Brush marinade evenly over fish. Broil 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

mmm.. coconut popsicles

nate and i bought some edy's coconut popsicles at the grocery store yesterday and they are YUMMY.

i also kind of one to throw one in the blender with some malibu rum. don't judge me.

my husband is home!

he was out of town for a few days this week, it's good to have him back :)

if at first you do not fricassee... fry fry again!

so you know how i'm always blogging about these yummy recipes that nate and i really enjoyed? well i never blog about the flops. and believe me, there are plenty! if a recipe is bland, i usually just let it fade away into the sunset. and then there's the occasional recipe that's just AWFUL. looking at the following picture, you can probably guess why this one's awful, the main ingredient is there behind the finished product ;) while we were in az, we did a fun new year's with fancy appetizers and this was supposed to be my great contribution- a 'healthy' bloomin' onion. well, it wasn't. it was so gross we couldn't even eat it! everyone tried a petal... and then we threw it out. but not before we snapped a picture to immortalize it as a total flop :) i still want to try this again with different breading and see if it turns out :)

which way to the pictures?

well i'm officially caught up back through january! now just december and november to post and i'll be all current! that's progress my friends :) the picture below is from december: nate, cassie, jeff and i all went for a hike while we were in arizona for christmas :)

who do you belong to?

well we had another great weekend at the beach :) we're very lucky that nate's aunt and uncle are so generous with their place in florida :) it's one of our favorite places to be! i do get a kick out of how interested the rest of the condo community is in us and how they interview each and everyone of us given the first opportunity :) 'who do you belong to?' 'where are you from?' 'how long are you staying?'

nate's just started giving them all regular updates as we come and go :) 'we're headed out to the beach for the day!' ' we're going to dinner!' 'headed back to orlando, see you soon!' i do think it's actually kind of neat that they're all paying such close attention :) very close knit!

the eco font!

so check this out, there's an 'eco font' that used up to 20% less ink. how? by putting little 'holes' in the text. here's a blow-up a what it looks like, but when you have it in a normal print size, it's hard to see those little cutouts. try it out!

new template, new options

so i added a feature that you can just click to comment on a post -- i put a few categories up :) and new template, you know, because i have the attention span of a gnat!

fork lickin' chicken!

i bought the biggest bag of chicken you've EVER seen from costco, and as a result, we've been eating a lot of chicken! i tried out several new recipes and these are the two we've really enjoyed so far. they're both from cooking light although i added a little more butter to the first one so it's not quite as light ;)

Chicken Piccata with Capers
Nate and Sarah actually had this in Venice last week and it was so good I wanted to try it at home. It was really close! This was our definite favorite of the two recipes.

I only made 2 chicken breasts but we still used all the sauce (poured it over top the chicken and a pile of angel hair), so keep that in mind!

Ingredients

* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
* 1-2 tablespoons butter (I added a tablespoon of butter to the sauce at the end)
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons capers
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked)
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Place each breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Place flour in a shallow dish, and dredge chicken in flour.

Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add white wine, 1/4 cup lemon juice, capers, and garlic to pan; scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Whisk in another tablespoon of butter) Serve chicken over pasta. Top with sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Here's my satisfied customer :)


Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
Of course, this one has cilantro so it was an immediate favorite of mine :) The recipe only called for the cilantro in the marinade, but I also put it in the salsa for the top of the chicken. Also, we had it with saffron rice, but turns out I don't really like saffron rice! Next time I will try it with black beans and rice.

Ingredients

Chicken:
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
* 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Cooking spray

Salsa:
* 1 cup chopped plum tomato (about 2)
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 avocado, peeled and finely chopped

Directions

1. To prepare chicken, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

2. To prepare salsa, combine tomato and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add avocado (and cilantro!); stir gently to combine. Serve salsa over chicken.

new blogger!

fletcher (laura and drew's latest addition) now has his very own blog :) you'll find it on the list on the left, or here: http://theycallmefletch.blogspot.com/

yay!

beachity beach beach beach :)

we just got back from an awesome weekend at the beach with ryan & sarah - it was the perfect weekend for sure :) just one picture for now:

i feel like ari's disapproving look is appropriate here ;) i am six months behind on pictures! totally unacceptable! i'm on a mission to get them all published asap so you'll see more action on our smugmug site than there has been in awhile! i'm working from current events and going backwards for now. have a good wednesday ;)

now i'm an aunt three times over!

laura and drew had their baby today :) laura and the baby are doing well! i'll post more later!

... and it's later! his name is fletcher william and he was born at 12:54 pm today :) he was 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. can't wait to meet him!

Strawberries in Meyer Lemon Syrup

We had this for dessert tonight - it was in my Cooking Light this month and looked delicious but I wasn't sure where to get Meyer lemons. We ran across them at Publix and ta-da! This was simple and delicious!

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar but I actually might have preferred a little less so it would taste a bit more tart. Also, my arm almost fell off when I was trying to get the whipping cream to 'form soft peaks' - I ended up throwing it the freezer for a minute or so to get it a little more solid ;)

4 cups quartered small strawberries
1/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream

1. Place berries, juice, and sugar in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill 20 minutes.

2. Place cream in a medium bowl; stir constantly with a whisk until soft peaks form. Serve whipped cream with berry mixture.

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup berry mixture and 2 tablespoons whipped cream)

And if you can't find Meyer Lemons, don't despair! According to Cooking Light, "Meyer lemons, available through May, have sweeter, more aromatic juice than regular lemons. To ensure the dessert doesn't get too tart if substituting regular lemon juice, begin with 2 tablespoons juice, and taste; add more juice if desired."


ps: after nate finished his, he hunted down the extra lemon/strawberry/sugar juice and mixed it with the leftover cream and ate that too! don't tell him i told you ;)