Friday Favorite: Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my husband's birthday. We celebrated with his family on Wednesday, and are going up to Minnesota to celebrate with my family this weekend. I am so lucky to have such an amazing man in my life forever, and am so excited to spend many more birthdays with him. 
What can be more of a favorite than that :)
Have a good weekend!

Arroz Con Pollo + Mini-Fail

Well, it has started. My husband seems to be hinting at me to stop buying the lower fat, natural, or organic versions of foods we often eat. I suspect this because of some items he picked up at the grocery store the other day. I thought he was going out just to get some bottled water, but Joe also came back with some Reese's peanut butter and Nacho Doritos. This is while we have a full jar of Natural Jif peanut butter already in the cupboard (which he used that morning so I know he was already aware of it), and after a couple of weeks of me picking up Baked Doritos at the grocery store as a potential snack. Did I know he probably preferred those less healthy items? Yes. Did I think he minded too much that I was getting the healthier versions? No. Am I now going to change my shopping habits? No. Sorry Joe. 
This week, however, I thought I would give him a break. Instead of making only healthy meals this week, I thought I would cook him something that he has been requesting: Mexican Rice. As in the kind you get at a Mexican restaurant. Not really something I think of when it comes to health food. However, since I was making it as a dinner I felt like I needed to make it more substantial (i.e. more than something that would normally be served as a side). So I decided to go with this Arroz Con Pollo recipe I found on Eat, Live, Run. 
Ok, I'll admit, I did swap the white rice for brown rice. I can't help myself. 
I, however, broke one of the cardinal rules of cooking: I didn't read the entire recipe before I started. Had I read the recipe, I would have realized that I needed a dutch oven, or at least some kind of oven safe pot. Being that I don't have one of those, I would have called my sister in law to borrow her's (or ran to target and bought one). But no. It was only after I started cooking that I realized this. I ended up having to improvise and transfer the contents of the pot to one of my casserole dishes and covering it with aluminum foil. Oh, well. It still worked. 
Arroz Con Pollo  Adapted from Eat, Live, Run 1/4 cup orange juice 2 Tbs. lime juice 2 minced garlic cloves 1 tsp. salt 1 Tbs. canola oil 2 large chicken breasts, cubed 2 Tbsp. olive oil 2 pints cherry tomatoes 1 diced yellow onion 1 cup canned diced tomatoes 2 garlic cloves 1/2 cup green peas 2 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. paprika 1/4 tsp crushed saffron 1 bay leaf 2 cups uncooked rice (I used brown, but either is fine) 3 cups chicken broth
Combine the first 5 ingredients and pour over the chicken. Let marinade for an hour in the fridge.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves, and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Sprinkle oil oil on top and let roast for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once finished. remove from oven and set aside. Reduce the heat in the oven to 350 degrees. 

Once the chicken is finished marinading, heat a heavy ovenproof pot over high heat. Drizzle some olive oil in the pot, and then brown the chicken in 2 batches (do not cook through). Set aside. In the same pot, add some more olive oil, and add the onions and garlic. Saute for about 2-3 minutes. Add the cumin, paprika, and saffron and mix. Add the roasted tomatoes and crushed tomatoes and mix again. 

Add the bay leaf, and then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Once at a boil, add the rice and stir to combine. Add the chicken, cover with a lid and place in the oven. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

Once finish, add the peas and stir (by this time the rice should have absorbed most of the liquid. 

Enjoy!

Rachael Ray's Penne with Vodka Cream Sauce

August 1st was Joe and my 3 year dating anniversary. Joe said I no longer get to count our dating anniversary because we now have our wedding anniversary. Pah-leas.
For our 3 year anniversary I decided to make a dish that I had tried to make for Joe when we just started dating: Rachael Ray's Penne Vodka. Ok, it's actually called Rachael Ray's"You Won't Be Single For Long" Penne Vodka. Don't judge me.  I though it would be fun to cook for Joe when he came up to Minneapolis to visit me, and then have the wine that I had been saving from my Italy trip a few months earlier. This was before I had ever really learned how to cook, but Rachael said it was easy so I trusted her. I decided to do a practice round before Joe came up, however, just to make sure I got it right.
Disaster. For one, I had no idea what a shallot was, so that was an adventure in itself trying to find it at the store. When I finally found the shallots (did not look anything like I thought they would, which is probably why it took me so long to find) and gathered all the necessary ingredients, I trudged home to my small Minneapolis apartment to practice my labor of love. Two minutes in and I already burnt the garlic and shallots, and the fire alarm started blaring. In truth, the fire alarm in my old apartment was incredibly sensitive and went off all the time, but my cooking ego at the time was also sensitive, and I gave up right there. 
When Joe came up to visit, after I had already told him before my cooking blunder that I was going to make him dinner, he saw my body language when I was about to start cooking and said "should we just go out to dinner?" It was a resounding "yes!" and we made our way over to Stella's in Uptown. We still had the Italian wine when we got back to the apartment, however, so not all was lost. 
3 years later, and after I've finally learned how to cook, I've decided that it is time to try it again. And while I didn't have any Italian wine, I did have cheap champagne. 
Rachael Ray's Penne with Vodka Cream Sauce From Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals

1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. butter
2 cloves minced garlic
2 minced shallots
1 cup vodka
1 cup chicken stock
1 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes
16 oz. penne pasta
1/2 cup heavy cream
20 basil leaves, shredded
salt and pepper

Add the olive oil, butter, garlic, and shallots to a large skillet over medium heat. Saute for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the vodka. Reduce by half, which will take about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and the tomatoes, and bring sauce to a boil, and then reduce heat to low, allowing to simmer.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

Once the pasta is done, stir the cream into the sauce. Once it returns to a bubble, remove from heat.

Toss with the pasta, and add the basil.

Enjoy!

The Dangers of Crockpot Recipes

I'll admit, whenever I make fajitas, I have Carrie Bradshaw's voice in my head. "Oooooooh, Fajitias!". Does anyone else remember that episode? When Aiden made her fajitas? Anyone? Just me? ok.... Anyway, last week I attempted a fajita crockpot recipe. Like I've mentioned before, while the concept of the crockpot recipe sounds great (i.e. dinner being ready when you get home), the fact that making such a recipe requires getting up alittle bit earlier in the morning usually vetos the decision to make it. Last week, I had planned on making such a crockpot recipe, but had gotten all the way to Thursday without having gotten up early enough to put it together. Since it was the last meal I had shopped for, I figured Thursday morning that I should quickly put it together. Bad choice. 
The speed with which I was chopping the green peppers, along with how early in the morning it was, lead to one pretty deep cut on my left hand middle finger! Which then lead to me running around the kitchen yelling for Joe to help me while I tried to stop the bleeding. 
Being that we do not have a first aid kit, Joe bandaged my wound with what we had in the house: cotton, pre-wrap, and duct tape. Yes, I went to work with this on my finger.

But hey, it stopped the bleeding. 
Needless to say, I stopped prepping the vegetables. Our fajitas were a few green peppers short that evening. 
If you would like, you can find the recipe here. 

Weekend in Denver- SCN 2013

This past weekend, my husband, Joe, and I traveled to Denver for the Speaking Consulting Network (SCN) conference. My husbands company was a sponsor, and I went with him to help him out with his booth.

While I love traveling to different places, I admit I hate the stress of the airport. It doesn't help that Joe and I have totally different traveling styles. I blame it on the fact that we grew up near two very different airports. I grew up near the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, which is humongous. My mother always taught me that you need to be at the airport at least 2 hours early, just in case. Generally, this would leave us with a long wait time before the plane took off after we got through security, but I always preferred it that way. I had the option of sitting down at a restaurant, going shopping, or just waiting at the terminal and relaxing, knowing my flight wasn't going to leave without me. Joe, on the other hand, grew up near the Kansas City airport, which is pretty small. You can almost always check in and get through security within a short period of time. Since there is no restaurant options (besides some food stands) or shopping options after getting through security, getting there two hours early will leave you with nothing to do. You can eat outside of security, but, honestly, that stresses me out. I like to have that part behind me before I can relax, because you never know when that will take you a long time.
There is currently a debate in Kansas City about getting a bigger terminal. I'm all for it. Most seem to be against it. I guess it's hard to change what you are used to.
Considering all that, the fact that we were still at our home 2 hours before our flight last Friday concerned me. Joe, of course, was unconcerned. When the security line was exceptionally long that morning, I'll admit, I was somewhat freaking out, even with the voices of reason around me (i.e. the other people in line) saying we were all on the same flight and they weren't going to leave without us. And low and behold, even though we got through security right when they were boarding, the flight didn't leave without us. I really need to get used to this small airport thing. 
I'll admit, when I was looking out the window of the plane and only seeing plains (like the word play?), I found myself inadvertently quoting the movie "Dumb and Dumber". "I thought the Rocky Mountains would be a little rockier than this". Having only traveled to Denver from the North, on a weekend trip while I was taking a summer Geology class in the Black Hills during College, I never realized how flat part of Colorado is. When the mountains were finally in sight, however, I was very excited. I love this part of the country.

Once we touched down, we met up with my father. My mother, who is a retired dentist, is in the process of becoming a professional speaker. She has been a spokesperson for years, but now is getting more involved in speaking that doesn't necessarily pertain to dentistry. Last year, my mother helped Joe with his booth at this conference, which caters mostly to speakers and dental consultants, but this year she decided to be a participant in the conference. Therefore, she and my dad were in Denver with us.  Friday night, we kicked off the conference with a networking cocktail party. Along with cocktails (obviously) there were many hors d'oeuvres and desserts provided, including these yummy macarons. That reminded me that I still need to try and make these.

After the cocktail party, my cousin, Jason, who lives in Denver, came out to meet us for Dinner. Since he lives so far away, we don't get to visit him that often, so it was great to see him!

Saturday morning the conference went into full swing. The sponsors were put in the same room as the conference participants, so we were able to listen to the key note speakers. When the speakers were finished, there would be breaks when the conference participants would have to chance to talk to us at the booth. My initial expectation of the weekend was that Joe would talk to people about the business, and I would hand stuff out and smile at people. However, since we were getting so many people coming up to us at different times, I realized I should probably tell them a few things. Luckily, I knew enough about Joe's company to keep them interested, and then told them they should talk to my husband. Hopefully I did a good job for him.  

It was so much fun seeing my handsome hubby in action. One woman even said his company was the most exciting thing at the conference! He is so good at what he does, and I am so proud of him. 

My dad and cousin spent the day in Estes park (where my mom and dad went on their honeymoon). I'm glad Jason went with him because, knowing my dad, he probably would have roamed the Mountains himself. 
Sunday morning at breakfast, preparing for another day (or at least half day) of the conference, we were lucky enough to get a lesson on fashion... from my father. Showing off his new shirt, he introduced us to another future trend. At least according to him. He insists that his current shirt is even better than the Hawaiian shirts he wears almost everyday because when he does the hula the American flag looks like it is waving. 

Also on the list of future trends according to my dad: Hawaiian shirts, crocs, sneakers with Velcro straps, calf high socks, and shirts with presidents on them. He claims that he is on "the tip of the fashion spear", and that one day all of these will be big.  Who need the Parsons School of Fashion when you have Jim Harms. After lunch, my mom took over our booth, and Joe and I started to prepare for our flight back to Kansas City. We were originally going to take a shuttle back to the airport, but since Joe had never been to Colorado, and we had no opportunity to really see anything besides the inside of our hotel, my father offered to take us on the "scenic route" back to the airport. The scenic route being driving through Estes park, driving back, and then finally going to the airport.  It was a gorgeous drive, and I'm glad Joe got to see at least a little bit of the Rockies.  Joe and my dad sat in the front, while I took pictures from the back with my iphone. I think they turned out pretty good considering they were taken from a moving vehicle (besides the last one, obviously). 

In the end, while we had a lot of fun in Colorado, it is great to be home. 

Friday Favorites

(1) Monday night I was finally able to spend some time on a patio. Yay for Summer! Some girlfriends and I went to Extra Virgin in the Crossroads area of Kansas City, which has an amazing Monday night deal. They have a pizza of the night (ours had prosciutto, basil, and mozzarella. It was amazing), and you are allowed to bring up to 2 bottles of your own wine which they will serve without a cork fee. And all the rest of the bottles are half off! I'm definitely going to be making more Monday trips back there :)

(2) Joe also had a fun Monday. He went to a charity golf tournament all day, and left with a whole lot of swag (which was all donated. ALL the donated money that came from the tournament actually went to charity). This swag even included "flowers for your wife". Now this is a golf tournament I can get behind.

(3) Wednesday night, Joe made the mistake of informing me that the play version of "Les Miserables", my all time favorite play that I literally have memorized, was on TV. He got the joy of watching me sing along to all the parts and dance around the living room. He must have been soooo happy to be married to me at that moment.

(4) I went to Barnes & Noble to buy the book the book club I'm in (recent development) is reading: "Ladies for Liberty" by John Blundell. They unfortunately didn't carry it, and I ended up impulse buying another book that I've wanted to read for awhile. Don't judge me...

(5) Joe and I are headed out to Denver this weekend for a conference for Joe's company. My parents are coming too. Should be fun!

Have a good weekend!

Friday Favorites

(1) My anniversary got me reminiscing about my honeymoon. Would really love to be back in Grand Cayman.

(2) One of the best parts about having a friend go to the same gym as you is that you can make gym plans. Gym plans mean not being able to say "I'm gonna stay home and take a nap instead" because you know someone is going to be there expecting you. Plus, afterwards you can have wine on the porch to celebrate your hard work and the warm weather. That was my Wednesday night with my good friend, Kelsey.

(3) So excited for my new sunglasses! Just in time for Summer.

(4) The "How I Met Your Mother" Finale was on Monday and they finally showed the mother. "The Office" (which I used to watch every week in college, and then stopped watching, and then started watching again because it was ending) had it's series finale last night. Big week in television watching for this girl.

(5) I must have this spoon.

Have a good weekend!

Anniversary Weekend

As you may have guessed (from Friday's and yesterday's post) this weekend was my and Joe's one year anniversary. It is weird to think that it has already been a year since we got married. It's even weirder to think that we are no longer newlyweds. Just an old married couple now :)

To celebrate, we spent the weekend at Joe's parent's place at the Lake of the Ozarks. While I know that doesn't sound all that romantic, the Lake of the Ozarks is very nice and a lot of fun, and it was nice to have a weekend away, just the two of us.

Lake of the Ozarks

Considering that the Lake of the Ozarks is somewhat of a resort region during the summer, with people from Kansas City and St. Louis flocking there during the weekends, a lot of places aren't open until after Memorial  Day. That would include the nearby pool, and, sadly, our favorite restaurant down there, the Blue Heron. The Blue Heron is known for their Fried Lobster (delicious) and has some of the best Lobster Bisque I've ever had. Since we couldn't go there, Saturday night we went to another incredible restaurant down the street, Bentley's.

I wore my rehearsal dinner dress that night, but there was one problem. It was also prom night. So basically, there were other girls wearing sparkly dresses at Bentley's, and they were all in high school. I all of a sudden felt self conscious that others would think that I too was going to prom. But, we ordered a bottle of wine, and I got over it.

For dinner, I ordered the Lobster and Filet. Because why not.

Most of their dessert items included alcohol. Joe ordered a sundae topped with Baileys, and I ordered this milkshake made out of dark chocolate and Amaretto, called the "Brown Betsy". I now prefer my milkshakes spiked.

The next morning, we made our way back to Kansas City. Since it was also Mother's Day, we celebrated with the family Joe's mom and the other mothers, his sisters Stacy, Angie, and sister in law Rebecca at Garozzo's. In my opinion, Garozzo's is the best restaurant in Kansas City. Since I had been eating so decadently all weekend, I decided to forgo having my favorite dish at Garozzo's, the Tortellini Gina, as my main meal and just had a smaller portion of it as a side. Talk about self control :)

That night, we broke out our wedding toasting flutes...

and the top of our wedding cake that we managed to save. For anyone who doesn't know, it is tradition to save the top of your wedding cake, freeze it, and then eat it on your one year anniversary. I will admit, the cake was actually still very good, but I did have a hard time getting over the fact that I was eating one year old cake. In any event, the cake was small and we did manage to finish it.

The perfect end to a perfect weekend :)

One year

One year ago today I married the most amazing man. My best friend. Someone who I feel makes me a better person. Someone who even my friends and family noticed helped me become myself again after a couple of very hard years for my family. I love him so much, and am so excited for our life ahead of us. 

In honor of Joe and my 1 year anniversary, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memories from our wedding weekend. This is going to be a long one.

(1) The family bbq my sister threw for us, complete with a cake featuring the character I dressed up as everyday from age 3-5, and I used to tell people I was...

(2) My bridesmaids tea at The St. Paul Hotel with some amazing women. By the way, in case you can't tell, my sister was super pregnant with those twins I talk about all the time.

(3) My rehearsal dinner. And, most importantly, my rehearsal dinner dress :)

(4) Spending the night with some of my bridesmaids the night before the wedding.

(5) I had a lot of help from friends and family. My sister-in-law Angie did my makeup, my friend Jeana decorated my shoes, my cousin Cortney did my cake, and my mom helped out in a lot of ways. I am so lucky.

Graddy Photography

(6) I wore the necklace my mom wore when she got married.

Graddy Photography

(7) I was adamant about not seeing Joe before the wedding. At one point before the wedding, Joe and the boys walked by the windows of where we were waiting while they were taking pictures. My bridesmaids and mom leaped into action. My mom ran to the windows and closed all the shades, and my bridesmaids all made a wall in front of me so that we wouldn't see each other. It was hilarious. Low and behold, they were one sided windows, so Joe wouldn't have been able to see me anyway...

(8) Joe's reaction when I was coming down the aisle. The kind a girl dreams of.

Graddy Photography

(9) My dad was also emotional. I walked down the aisle to "The Girl With The Flaxen Hair" because my dad always said the song reminded him of me.

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

(10) Unlike the boys, I did not cry, and instead was smiling like a crazy person.

Graddy Photography

(11) We had the cutest flower girl and ring bearer. While I was waiting to come down the aisle, I was wondering why it was taking so long for the music to change. Found out they both took the direction "walk down the aisle slowly" very seriously. I guess my ring bearer also argued with the best man that he was forgetting some twine at the bottom of his ring box. Wish I could have heard that conversation.

Graddy Photography

(12) When I was little, I got to walk down the aisle with my sister and a few of my cousins and my cousin Joel's wedding. We weren't the official flower girls, but we still felt like part of the wedding. Because both Joe and I have a number of girls in our wedding that we wanted to involve somehow, we stole Joel and Joanne's idea and had the girl's (including Joel and Joanne's daughter) walk down the aisle at our wedding as "junior flower girls".

Graddy Photography

(13) Our wedding site (we had the ceremony at the same place as the reception) handed out champagne for the adults and sparkling grape juice for the kids. The girls really enjoyed it.

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

(14) My cousin, Cortney, did our wedding cake and grooms cake out of the kitchen at the hotel everyone was staying at. She had to do so because she works out of Nebraska. They turned out incredible.

Groom's Cake (Graddy Photography)

Graddy Photography

(15) Like I mentioned above, I was obsessed with "The Little Mermaid" when I was little. The DJ at one point played "Kiss the Girl", and, when me and Joe were slow dancing, our friends started dancing around us like the animals in the movie. While I think the drinks they were consuming had something to do with this, I absolutely loved it.

(16) This one I don't have a picture of, but apparently while the ceremony was going on, there was a rainbow. I like to think it was my brother, Eric, who died a few years ago, showing us that he was there. If anyone has any pictures of it, I really would appreciate it if you sent them to me.

Graddy Photography

(17) And, of course, the best part, marrying Joe.

Graddy Photography

And in case you haven't had enough, here are some more wedding pictures.

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Phtography. Flowers by Ashley Fox Designs

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Making sure the ring bearer makes it to pictures

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Our ring bearer crashed the father daughter dance

Graddy Photography

Graddy Photography

Credits: 

Ceremony and Reception site: Carlson Center Rotunda, Photography: Graddy Photography, Cakes: Cortney Kotzien of Jones Bros. Cupcakes in Omaha NE, Makeup: Angie Vesey of Hollyday Salon in Kansas City MO. Flowers: Ashley Fox Designs, Hair: Emily J. Hair and Makeup, Dress: Priscilla of Boston, Bridesmaids Dresses: Posh Bridal, Rehearsal Dinner Dress: Alice and Olivia