sangria!

ingredients:

6 cups assorted fruit (sliced or cut in chunks)

1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup orange liqueur, such as Cointreau

1 bottle 2 bottles of crisp white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio

3 tbs fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

 i chose a good, cheap Pinot Grigio [Barefoot]

this recipe called for Cointreau (which is $30 for  < 1 liter). No thank you! I used peach brandy, and it was really good (and almost 1/5 the price!)

i chose fresh pineapple & mangos. but once i got home i decided to throw in some frozen peaches, strawberries and mango.

add lemon juice, fruit, and brandy. mash. i immediately regretted not having a pretty glass pitcher to put this in. (something i need to register for?!) 

then, pour the wine into your ugly, plastic, gallon-sized koolaid pitcher :)
[it looked muddled and nasty so, no photo]

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the night of making this, it was crazy strong but the day after, it was perfecto 

cake tasters.

it's getting closer and closer! the wedding, that is. 132 days, to be exact. and it seems even more real when the boy tags along. that way i know i'm not dreaming. 

we tried 4 different kinds of cupcakes. (for our cupcake wedding cake tiers, of course.) 

chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and lemon (for the yellow) and decided on all FOUR. 

this rose pattern is going to be the top tier for j and i to cut into!! love the swirly pattern along with the cupcake tops!

recipe #2 (jeremy)

JEREMY'S PESTO CHICKEN BURGER + "LADYBUGS ON A LOG"

ingredients:

boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 avacado

pesto (store-bought)

fresh spinach

tomato

fresh mozarella

whole wheat hamburger buns

salt'n'peppa

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celery

strawberry cream cheese

dried cranberries

start by putting the chicken on the grill. 

while chicken is cooking: cut celery into thirds, apply cream cheese and 3-4 cranberries per "log." refrigerate.

after chicken has been cooking awhile, put the buns toward the outside of the heat to toast them.

apply pesto and avocado to each side of your bun. apply ingredients (sliced tomato, sliced mozzarella, spinach leaves, salt and pepper to your liking)

um, YUM!

 VOILA!

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these were so stinkin' good!! the kind of "burger" you'd have to have after reading the description on a menu (and pay 10-12 bucks for!)

thanks, jeremy, it was so, so good!

the not-so-bad-for-you side was a really cute and really yummy touch, too. 

and, can i just add--how cute is j for making these?? love him!

recipe #1 (kell)

SUFFERIN' SUCCOTASH

ingredients:

1 lb breaded okra

1 bag frozen corn

2 yellow squash

2 bags precooked chicken

1 green pepper

1 white onion

cooking oil (i use olive oil) 

first, fry the (pre-)breaded okra. (i made the whole bag, so i had to do two batches) when done, set aside (i threw everything into one big pot as it was finished).

step 2, dice your onion and bell pepper. and sauté. believe it or not, i wanted mine pretty browned. add to pot.

dice squash and sauté along with whole kernel corn. (this step didn't take as long as i thought it would because the squash was cut up fairly small). add to pot.

in greasy okra pan, warm the chicken (2-3 minutes). 

plop it into the pot and mix everything.
to be honest, Tony Chachere's "Original Creole Seasoning" is what makes this recipe out of this world.

it's basically an intensified seasoned salt. (it has onion powder, black pepper, red pepper, chili powder, salt, garlic powder) !! it's good on anything/everything.

 this was the delicioso outcome. 

holy cow was it good! we stuffed our faces and had enough for lunch the next day!

[we ate in the backyard because it was such a nice night. there's part of my dog, mr. miles]

enjoy!

idea.

j and i decided to try something new.

the idea: 

find a recipe (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks).

make it.

take pictures. 

write down the recipe. 

name it.

eat it.

this will be a weekly project (taking turns--me, j, me, j...)

to stay on top of it (instead of writing them in a notebook and forgetting after week one) we decided to use the blog to document our tasty (or not-so-tasty) creations.

i'm excited!

tar-jay

so, i thought it was "official" when we sent our save-the dates.

cute, right? a magnet!

 but now it's getting even more real! j and i registered last weekend! it was super dorky (see picture directly below) and really fun. 

he wouldn't let me take a regular picture of him.

the more i look at it, the more i want that lampshade we didn't add.

he was posing, showing off his Target scanning skills. 

..we ended the night by indulging in chips and salsa, margaritas and fajitas. yum!