Date Night - Anniversary Gift Idea

3 year anniversary in the house -- what what!!!  :)  Figured I would do something a little different for my gift this year - so I gave Ross a "Once a Month Pre-planned Date Night" with this girl!  All he has to do is pick the date on the first of the month - and BAM - fun times had by all :)  Because I am a spaz - I let him open all the dates so he could get as excited as I am for them all - check them out below!!

November: Brave New Workshop Xmas Comedy show
December: Ice skating at Rice Park & drinks/apps at Barrio
January:  Trip to ARUBA -- hehe. AKA: Leather Passport holder since "leather" is the traditional 3 yr gift!
February: Brunch/Bloodies at Ikes followed by Game Day at Chatterbox
March: Summit Brewary tour
April: Princeton Racetrack
May: Surrey around Minnehaha Falls & dinner at Sea Salt Eatery
June: Drinks and lawn bowling at Brits
July: Kayaking St. Croix River & pizza at Pizza on the Pond
August: Backpack camping weekend at Tettegueche
September: Mpls sculpture gardens & dinner at Cafe Lurcat
October: Weekend in D-town: Glension Mansion & Alpine Slide at Spirit

AND the best part (well besides getting to spend time with my hubby) - is that these dates are already PRE-scrapped!!  All I have to do is take some pics of us at the fun event - tape it right next to the date coupon and BAM - our dates are scrapbooked too :)  Ross totally enjoyed that part of it....hehe!

Super excited!!  It was fun coming up with stuff we have never done before....difficult since it's been 10.5 years of dating, BUT I managed to come up with 12 dates!  Nothing better than spending some time with my man!!  Always fun times :)

Wedding Spreadsheets

In honor of my 3 year anniversary, and because EVERYONE is getting married right now - thought I would share my wedding files!

I haven't found a good way to put them on my blog, so people can just take and edit - so here is the view of them.  If you want a copy via Google Docs OR just regular excel spreadsheet - let me know and I can email them to you!

ENJOY!!!

Wedding File = This includes budget (I have formulas and everything already on here!), Guest List / RSVP tracking, and a Contact List.

Wedding To Do = This includes an overall "To Do List", but then I broke out each tab by category (and then I have a To Do List for each category as well).  YES - I know I'm Type A....but this helped so much!!

Egg in-a-hole

And finally a recipe that didn't really work...and wasn't that great.....haha.  Thought this was a super cute and different way to make eggs.....BUT I didn't really like it.  Too much hassle for what you get - I mean the picture doesn't even look that appetizing!!

Everyday Food Magazine: serves 4

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 bell pepper (any color) cut into four 1/2 inch thick rings
4 large eggs
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 slices multi-grain bread (I use English Muffins)

In a large cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add bell pepper and cook for 1 minute.

Crack 1 egg into the middle of each pepper ring. Season with salt & pepper and cook until the egg whites are mostly set but yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes.

Gently flip and cook 1 minute more for over easy. Sprinkle with Parmesan and place egg on a slice of toast- or serve with an English muffin.

Idaho Sunrise

Headed up to the cabin this weekend for a "Celebration of Loooovvvvveeee"  :)  It is our 3 year anniversary - and no better place to celebrate than up at the cabin!!  Figured we needed some awesome bfast so tried out this new recipe!  It worked great - and was super easy to make.  However, Ross mentioned that it would be just as easy to make eggs....and hash browns....no need to get that muffin pan dirty :)  It was a cute way to make these though - and tasted good!!

The Domestic Mama blog

Ingredients:
24oz hash browns, thawed
salt / pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
bacon bits
parsley flakes
eggs

Take thawed hash browns, mix in 2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, olive oil and cheddar cheese.  Put that in a well greased muffin pan, and make a well in the center.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes, cover with foil if the edges appear to be getting too brown.

Now, lower the oven to 350 - crack a medium egg into each "nest" and top with bacon bits, cheese, and parsley flakes.  Bake for 16 minutes.

Gently slide a knife along the edges, and pull up with a fork.

Chicken Parmesan

We were super excited for this meal cause it sounded amazing....but it was "eh".  The best part about it was the croutons topped with cheese...hehe.  The chicken was sort of bland - and yeah, I don't think I would make it again.  Figured I would post just in case people like chicken Parmesan or had any suggestions on how to make this more wonderful.....

Food Wishes blog

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
hot red pepper flakes, to taste
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 5, but they were huge!)
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil
8 oz mozzarella, shredded
4 oz Parmesan, grated
1 (5-oz) package garlic croutons


Put olive oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in the bottom of 9x13 pan.  Lay chicken breasts on top - layer with marinara sauce and spread so it covers the chicken evenly.


Then top the sauce with parsley flakes, 1/2 the mozzarella cheese, 1/2 the Parmesan cheese - then top with croutons and spread out so it covers completely.


Sprinkle additional mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese on top.  Bake for 35 minutes in 350 degrees.  Then enjoy!

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe

I needed something super quick tonight....I have boot camp & dance on Wednesdays so I'm gone from 5:30-10pm, but I still like to get a little dinner in before I go.  This was perfect - it took about 15 minutes from start to finish, AND it tasted really good too!!  I liked that it was a little twist on your typical sloppy Joe ...and Philly cheese steak!  Combo was delish!!

Six Sisters Stuff Blog

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef/sirloin
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup steak sauce
1 cup beef stock
1 green pepper, chopped
1 package sliced mushrooms
Provolone cheese, cut into slices or pre-sliced
salt and pepper to taste
Buns / Rolls (the rolls worked really good - helped contain the sloppy)

Preheat broiler.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef/sirloin - about 5-6 minutes.  Add the onion, green pepper and mushrooms and cook 3-4 minutes, until they start to get tender.  Stir in the steak sauce and the beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook about 2 minutes.

Split open rolls, place one slice of cheese on one side and toast under broiler, keep your eye on them so they don't burn.

Place a scoopful of meat on the bottom half of the bun, drizzle with additional steak sauce and place cheesy bun on top!  Delish :)

Wild Rice Burgers

Happy Birthday Week Kate!!!  Cookbook club was a blast!!  Ross was playing video games in the basement and commented how fun cookbook sounded :)  

We made up a wicked/awesome meal tonight!  Had these burgers with Stuffed Red Bliss Potatoes and Ginger-Pumpkin Cheesecake Parfaits.  Super yummy - and actually healthy too!!  The burgers were a little mean to us....as in, we couldn't form them into actual burgers....BUT we made do!  We sort of pan fried all of the wild rice mixture together and then sort of scooped them onto buns.  Might work better with more egg ?? or Italian bread crumbs ??  We weren't sure - but I'll for sure try these again and let you know :)  Even Ross liked them -- and it wasn't even meat!!! 

Makes 4 patties - Birthday girl Kate :)

 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/3 cup small-diced onion
1/3 cup small-diced celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup shredded aged Asiago cheese
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/16 teaspoon black pepper
2 large eggs, beaten

Optional: favorite burger toppings

Cook wild rice according to package instructions. Cool completely. (Can make a day ahead and refrigerate.)

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat and sauté onions, celery, and garlic until onion is translucent.

In a large bowl, combine onion-celery-garlic mixture with wild rice, breadcrumbs, Asiago cheese, salt, oregano, thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Cool completely and then add eggs, stirring to combine.  (Might not want to use a whisk - it didn't work very well....hehe)

Divide mixture into 4 and shape into 1/2-inch thick patties.

Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Fry patties 2-3 minutes on each side until crisp and golden.

Serve with your favorite burger toppings.