monday yummies and 16 weeks

i have been in the kitchen all afternoon and it feels good! here are pictures of the potato basil frittata and the chicken stew with biscuits. both were yum!

here's the link for the chicken stew and biscuits recipe...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-stew-with-biscuits-recipe/index.html i LOVE ms. barefoot contessa and her kitchen!

and here i am at 16 weeks...dr's appt. in the morning! i'm thinking of talking my way into an ultrasound so we can see if this little baby is a boy or a girl!! i'll probably just have to be patient though and wait...

menu for the week

we saw this movie on friday...if you are a foodie or even if you're not, i think you will enjoy! (except for the few bits of bad language...why can't that be left out?)

it inspired me. i love to cook, but like anybody, some weeks i get into a rut of cooking easy or quick things and not challenging myself. this story was all about challenging yourself.

so for my menu this week, i am making a few challenging things and a few easy things. but i'm going to enjoy the experience, instead of just cooking the food!

monday

breakfast-potato basil frittata

dinner- homemade chicken stew and biscuits

tuesday

breakfast- frittata

dinner-chicken vesuvio

roasted asparagus with parmesan

wednesday

breakfast-herbed scrambled eggs with hashed browns

dinner- leftover chicken stew & biscuits

thursday

breakfast-oatmeal with fresh strawberries

dinner-stuffed baked potato with ground beef and cheese

friday

breakfast-bagels w/homemade veggie cream cheese

dinner-salmon w/puff pastry and pesto

tossed greens

saturday

breafast-bagels and cream cheese

dinner-eat out

sunday

breakfast- french toast with honey & orange zest, scrambled eggs

dinner- grilled cheese and chicken soup

enjoy your week!

dreaming

http://www.winecountryinn.com/

lately we have been dreaming of going here. we go to napa every other year for our anniversary and this is our year to go...but we most likely won't since i'll be 6 months pregnant in october (our anniversary month)

we stayed at this bed and breakfast on our 3rd anniversary. so beautiful and charming! napa valley is probably one of my favorite spots in the world. the crisp air, the smell of grapes, the wonderful food, and seeing the leaves and vines change colors.

some of our favorite little spots are the shops at st. helena, health spa napa valley, the yountville inn, greystone culinary academy, cindy's backstreet kitchen, and dean & deluca.

we love it there!!

hey jude

i rarely post twice in a day, but you have to watch this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHLywCfnHI


so cute!!!

coffee

image from yahoo

i love coffee. i haven't always. when i was little, my mom would always drink coffee and i didn't like the smell all that much, and i never drank it. however, i am married to a coffee snob (love you honey) and i have learned to appreciate a good cup of coffee. i like mine with some cream and sugar added.

i am really missing drinking coffee. i'm trying not to have any caffeine right now, but i have had a few cups of decaf...it's just not quite the same. i am looking forward to cold weather and drinking coffee (after january 24th, my due date :)

what's your favorite cold weather drink?

oh! and here's the recipe for the artichoke pesto i made the other night... it's from giada de laurentiis

Ingredients
Before the freezer:
1 (8-ounce) pack frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 cup fresh parsley leaves, packed down
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
After the freezer:
2/3 cup grated Parmesan (2 teaspoons per cube)
1 (12 to 16-inch) ciabatta loaf, cut into slices
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Directions
In a food processor combine the artichokes, parsley, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Run the machine to finely chop all the ingredients, stopping the machine a few times to scrape down the sides. Then, with the machine running, drizzle in 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Spoon the pesto into the cups of an ice cube tray. Tapping the tray gently on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Freeze for 1 day or up to 1 month.
When ready to serve, thaw the pesto. Mix in the Parmesan. Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Drizzle the ciabatta slices with the 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Grill until toasted, about 5 minutes. Spread the artichoke pesto over the toasted slices and serve.

menu for the week *edited with recipe*

i make a menu for every week. have i mentioned that? i cannot shop at the grocery store if i don't have my menu and list. otherwise, i will roam the aisles randomly putting things in my basket. not good. for breakfast, mike eats yogurt and/or cereal, so that's easy. i eat eggs of some sort or oatmeal. for lunch, he usually takes clients out, so i don't worry about lunches for him. if i'm home, i will eat grilled cheese and soup or chicken salad...something like that.

i cook at least 5 times a week and we usually eat out some on the weekends.

this is what we're eating this week...

sunday-artichoke pesto on grilled ciabatta bread

grilled chicken fingers

fresh raw veggies and dip

monday- organic beef burgers on english muffins with

marinated artichokes

tuesday- parmesan crusted chicken

*recipe* preheat oven to 375*. in a bowl, mix italian bread crumbs and fresh grated parmesan together, add parsley, salt & pepper, and a little bit of garlic salt. in a separate bowl, beat 2 eggs. dip chicken into egg mixture first, then bread crumb/cheese mixture. heat 2 tb of olive oil in skillet to medium heat. place chicken in skillet and brown on both sides. then transfer browned chicken onto cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes (approx.) top with fresh grated parmesan and parsley.

roasted zucchini

wednesday- herbed scrambled eggs

bacon

english muffins

thursday- individual pizzas with pepperoni, mushrooms, red peppers,

and mozzerella

fresh raw veggies

friday-date night (eat out)

and here i am at 15 weeks!

trip to plano

mom and i went to susanne's for a couple of days (actually she's still there...i came back yesterday) before susanne and chris' big anniversary trip here. they leave in a week!

we had so much fun relaxing, shopping, and eating!
yesterday we went to Freddy's Frozen Custard for lunch. they had the best cheeseburgers and shoestring fries. the meat in the cheeseburger was so good, not a huge hunk of beef, but thin and flavorful. and of course we had to split a chocolate frozen custard. yum!
the inside of the restaurant reminded me of an old diner. very cute!

yesterday morning, mckinlee was very generously giving away some of her 72 (yep, that's right) tubes of lipgloss. what a girly girl! i think she was being so generous and giving her old ones away, so she could buy more {wink}!

on thursday, we went to central market. oh how i wish we had a central market. the rows of organic goodness make me so happy. these were jars of different kinds of salts...

mck and i in the coffee aisle...

look at all the choices!

mom, susanne, and mckinlee at the cafe... central market and whole foods always overwhelm me with their food choices for lunch! everything looks wonderful and it's so hard to decide what to eat!

i finally decided on chicken salad with cilantro and wonderful chicken tamale chowder.

thanks girls for a fun time!!