A while back I made this chicken recipe, it was really easy and delicious with lots of flavor. I found it on Pinterest! That app that pretty awesome and all the stuff you can find on it is so mind blowing. I must say, I hate when I find a cute outfit and then there is no place to buy it! lol
Anyway, back to the food!
Carl really liked the lemon flavor that this had and the cream sauce with the chicken was good not to think. I did not modify the recipe, only used gluten free pasta and flour. I highly recommend this recipe!
The weekend after our housewarming/surprise birthday party and Carl’s actual birthday, we flew out to North Carolina-Blowing Rock for my sister-in-laws wedding. It was a quick trip there and back but was good to see Carl’s sister get married, all of the family and get out to the east coast.
the pond outside of the front of the resort
the bride and groom got married by the willow tree
Carl and I had an awesome southern lunch at a place in Blowing Rock
Also room and time for wine-It’s 5 o’clock somewhere
These were the center pieces and the two taller vases made it all the way to NC from the Midwest.
‘I’m So Fancy’
We clean up well- Carl’s aunt took this photo! It’s a good one!
The wedding was at the Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock, NC. It was about a 2hr drive north of Charolette. The drive up there was pretty cool with the green lush mountains. There was some road construction that made us feel like we were back in the Midwest.
On Friday night, everyone was hungry and needed a drink, so we ventured to town and hung out at the Blowing Rock Brewery. It was a pretty neat place because we sat outside and it was good for people watching.
On Saturday, Carl and I went into town to grab lunch and we stumbled upon this place- Rustique the food was fantastic. In the picture above I had a Trout Reuben- it was cornmeal crusted with gruyere, sauce, coleslaw and pancetta and Carl had pulled pork! It was so good, Carl tried my trout and said it was pretty good.
The centerpieces are part from my friend Teri’s wedding and Carl’s sister bought some from her so they made the trip from MN to WI all the way to NC.
I love the photos of Carl and I, we don’t always get photos of us so these turned out great. My dress was a coral color and Carl’s tie was a navy color, we coordinated pretty well. And a surprise to Carl’s family- he was dancing and they were surprised. Oh yes! Carl dances and we may have shut down a few wedding dances before! 🙂
It was a good weekend and wedding full of memories, family, love and laughter!
When we woke up on Sunday morning, it was so chilly, we felt like we were back in the Midwest! It was cold!
Carl’s birthday was on a Tuesday and I found a cool place to take him too that we haven’t been to before. I heard on the radio about a place in the metro that is replicated after the speakeasy’s. In order to get in, you have to find the “red door”!
The place is called the Volstead House, the atmosphere was really neat, they even dressed from the era as well.
We found the “red door”
Carl and his Old Fashion
Happy 30th Birthday honey!!!
Later that week, we met my friend Teri because it was her birthday over the weekend and we weren’t going to be in town.
I was super excited to see her and was super excited to get mussels!
I love me some seafood!
It was a busy weekend/week/next weekend! But all fun!
About a month ago, the weekend before Carl’s birthday; we had our housewarming party with our friends and I used that party for a dual purpose as a surprise 30th birthday party for Carl. I invited family and they showed up and surprised Carl! We had so much fun, lots of food, friends and laughter. I cooked the main meat-pulled pork sandwiches and grateful enough that our close friends and family brought sides to pass, we had plenty of food! My brother made layered jello shots and he made a layered jello shot birthday cake for Carl. It was intense and delicious, I think there were about 80 jello shots, they were all gone by the end of the night and the cake. 🙂
I had 15 pounds of pulled pork from a local meat market
My little sister brought the big birthday balloon
I hung a birthday banner while I got Carl out of the house
Happy 30th Birthday Honey!!!
Thanks friends for coming and celebrating!
What a great day!
The jello shot birthday cake is almost gone!
Arie was pooped from all the fresh air, pool time and people.
Mother’s Day breakfast at the cafe! Delicious
We really want to extend our love and appreciation to all of our friends and family who came and gave us a great housewarming party and helped celebrated Carl’s birthday! Many of our peeps were close but a handful of them had to travel in a distance so we are so glad you could join us!
Here are a few recipes that I have made that were pretty good. Both recipe ideas came from Food Network shows. On Saturdays, I like watching Pioneer Woman and The Kitchen. On Netflix, Carl and I have been watching Worst Cooks in America.
This was a hearty meal and very easy to make. We had a good week of leftovers.
This recipe was delicious and had some kick. The idea for this recipe came from the Worst Cooks in America show. I started googling Paella and there are so many types that you can make. This one had shrimp and chicken. I had to buy $15 saffron threads for this recipes.
A few weeks back we had supper with my sister and friend. The steaks were awesome-medium rare like I like and seasoned well. My sister said they went crazy at the dessert counter. I don’t think I have that fancy of dessert before!
This last week was a crazy week, I put on a lot of miles for work and hand way too much windshield time. The weather was crazy too, which is expected in the midwest. I was wearing a t-shirt and capris on Sunday and then Wednesday I spent almost 2hrs and 40mins in the car in a blizzard trying to get home from south of the metro. It was miserable! Then Thursday I sat in the car for 6hrs for a work presentation. Needless to say I was ready for Friday and my brain felt mushy.
Here is the evidence of my Wednesday drive.
I was on Hwy 35 at a dead stop
I wasn’t the only one!
So close but so far
Are we there yet
A beautiful sunrise when I pulled into the office on Friday!
This past week we got to experience some fun Midwestern past times.
On Friday night we met my best friend and her husband for meat raffle. We were sitting at a hot table because we won three times for meat and a handful of times for free drinks too! It was fun!
we won one package of steaks
On Monday night we met with my sister for burgers and a little bingo. We weren’t so successful there but it was fun!
Last weekend Carl’s parents and sister from the west coast came to our house for lunch. His sister hasn’t seen the house at all and his parents haven’t seen it since when we moved in. We have made a lot of changes and done a lot of things.
I wanted to make a yummy lunch, so I went to the one place that I knew I would find a good recipes. I knew Carl’s sister would appreciate and crave a good midwest homemade meal; which consists of meat, potatoes and veggies.
I settled on the following:
PW’s Smothered Pork Chops This was an easy recipe and full of flavor. It was the epitome of midwest food.
PW’s Crash Hot Potatoes I have been made these a few times before and are easy and taste so good. I added rosemary and thyme.
It was a great lunch. Carl’s mom was in charge of dessert and she rocked it! I have had it before but it has been a long time so it was nice to have it again.
It was strawberry pretzel dessert! Delicious!
We had a great Sunday lunch filling our bellies and enjoying each others company! 🙂
I highly recommend all the recipes! Pioneer Woman never disappoints, I have hooked my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws on PW!
It also got Arie’s stamp of approval, he was licking his chops!
A few weeks ago we ordered a area rug from Overstock. I got an email an hour later saying that there was an inventory error and they didn’t have the rug. Which stinks because it was our first purchase for the house. I put the name of the rug into google and it popped up on amazon. So we ordered it from there. I was anxious to get it.
We love the rug! Its nice and soft and fits in the area perfectly. Arie did not like laying on the hard floor but loves the rug! Little by little it’s coming along.
Two Saturdays ago, we went to go see my father-in-law as he is retiring and closing the family jewelry store. It is bittersweet for the family; however, a great adventure is ahead of my in-laws now that they both will be retired. We went Friday so we could see him and then went back Saturday with my sister and friend so they could check it out and we helped with customers. After, Carl, Me, my sister and mother-in-law went out for dinner and went to the local winery! That was a lot of fun and the wine was good! Carl and I had pizza, my sister had a panini and my mother-in-law had oven baked parmesan what was amazing and I am still trying to find a way to re-create it! I am drooling just thinking of it.
