I actually came up with this idea after seeing a friends wedding gift (Mrs. Dell) a few years back… She has it on her mantle and every time I go over to her place I think ‘I need to do that!’  Well recently I found a Flickr account on Pinterest (the site was unavailable at the time I posted this blog but I’ll update in the next few days with the link or go to my ‘for the home’ section on Pinterest…) with all different letter options to use.  I got lucky because my married last name is only 4-letters (vs. my maiden name which is 7-letters).  And so you would think it would be super easy to find a 4 sectioned frame, you’d be wrong!  It was much harder than I thought, until I found this beautiful one that fits my home decor perfectly from Home Goods.  I got it for $29.99.  I printed out different letters from Sam’s Club (total of $1.70) to see which would fit best in the frame and in the entryway where I hung the picture, here is my final result… I love it!  And the best thing is that this custom piece only cost me about $32.00!

I’m realizing more and more that I need to work on my photography skills… maybe its time to take a class!

I’ve given myself the task of planning a menu for a Girl’s weekend trip that is coming up, which will no doubt include lots of wine…  So therefore, I’ve decided to do a wine pairing menu with different varieties of wine and tapas (and we can’t forget dessert).  And with that, I’ve decided I’d blog my ideas in hopes that the other women will give me their reviews before the event that way we can make any adjustments if necessary.  The deal is we’ll be going up to a cabin a few hours away from Los Angeles for the evening, leaving the husbands and babies behind for a good ole fashion ‘Ladies Night’…

Here are the list of wine types that I plan on pairing, and I’m thinking 1-2 dishes per wine:

• Prosecco
• Pinot Grigio
• Pinot Noir
• Merlot
• Cabernet Sauvignon

The first wine variety is Prosecco, this is a sparkling white wine served cold. Some of the flavors that go well with this wine are gorgonzola, brie, tomato, bruschetta, goat cheese, lemon, mushroom, almond.  These are the recipe ideas that I am proposing (click on the picture to find the URL link).

Bruschetta

Stuffed Mushroom

Stuffed Brie

Cinnamon Glazed Almonds

Next, Pinot Grigio, a white wine served cold.  Some of the flavors that go well with this wine are shellfish, chicken, mild Asian dishes, Gruyère, mozzarella. These are the recipe ideas that I am proposing (click on the picture to find the URL link).

Shrimp Cocktail

Vegetable Potstickers

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Next, Pinot Noir, a red wine served at room temperature. Some of the flavors that go well with this wine are goat cheese, brie, walnuts, chicken, dried fruit, figs, strawberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, white chocolate, tuna, mushroom sauce, filet mignon.  These are the recipe ideas that I am proposing (click on the picture to find the URL link).

Strawberry, Goat Cheese Salad

White Chocolate Brownie

White Chocolate Cinnamon Popcorn

Fig and Brie Pizza

Next, Cabernet Sauvignon, a red wine served at room temperature. Some of the flavors that go well with this wine are cheddar, gorgonzola, walnuts,broccoli, lavender, rosemary, tomato sauce, beef stew.  These are the recipe ideas that I am proposing (click on the picture to find the URL link).

Mac n' Cheese

Caprese Salad

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Apple, Walnut, Gorgonzola Turnovers

Next, Merlot, a red wine served at room temperature. Some of the flavors that go well with this wine are parmesan, Romano, tomatoes, mint, rosemary, dark chocolate, berries, fondue, caramelized onions.  These are the recipe ideas that I am proposing (click on the picture to find the URL link).

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Tomato, Basil, Parmesan Tart

Mint Chocolate Dipped Brownie Bite

Fondue - anything!

Okay Ladies… opinions?

This is going to be a short post, I almost forgot to post something today for the blog post challenge, but I’ve been running around all day and haven’t had the chance to stop and think…  I decided to talk about this after a conversation I had last night with one of my best friends…  So I just wanted to post about how you find your true friendships as you grow older… and what I mean when I say this is that the friends that you call today should be those that if you don’t see them everyday or maybe not even every month, you can meet up and fall right back into the last conversation you had.  These are the people that will grow old with you because your relationship/friendship is true and not based upon something fake.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t make friends as you get older, in fact I think its easier to make true friendships as we get older because you have real common interests vs. just the fact that you go the same school, play on the same sports team, or are in the same sorority, etc…  Thanks for listening to me babble on, here are so quotes I love and found on Pinterest!

Yes, we are continuing with the sweet potato recipes… This time we made baked sweet potato fries!

Ingredients:

2-3 sweet potatoes

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp pepper

1/3 tsp salt

½ tsp paprika (or other seasoning of choice)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.  Peel the sweet potatoes (throw away peels) and cut into thin strips (that look like fries).  Then place all the ingredients in a bowl with a lid.  With the lid on, toss the ingredients till the potatoes are well coated.  Place a piece of foil at the bottom of the cookie sheet before putting the coated sweet potatoes on, this will make for less clean-up.  Bake for 15-20 minute but towards the end make sure to watch them as they will brown easily.

We served our fries with Dijon breaded fish and a side chopped salad – Yum!

I know its a bad picture (from my iphone) but thats the only camera I had on hand...

I love sweet potatoes and so does the baby, so I bought them at Trader Joe’s this week and figured I’d experiment with them and try out some new recipes.  Well, first off, we used them for baby food, and then we made the most delicious (and easy) sweet potato pancakes.  These paired really well with the chicken, avocado, and veggie wraps we made as the entrée for dinner.  Try them out and let me know what you think…

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes

2 eggs

¼ cup whole wheat flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

Oil for frying (we used coconut oil)

Directions:

Peel the sweet potatoes (throw away the peels) and shred them using a cheese grater.  Mix all ingredients together.  Heat the skillet and add oil.  Using wet hands, form pancakes and place in the oil (make sure they are flat to start with so it cooks all the way through).  Allow to cook for about 3 minutes on each side and serve warm.  We dipped ours in ketchup (like a sweet potato French fry) but you could certainly serve it as a dessert and top with maple syrup and maybe some whip cream and cinnamon.

Ingredients combined before being fried

Frying up the sweet potato patties

sweet potato pancake

My taste-tester

Washing it down with a Green Smoothie 🙂

Starting this week off right with some inspirational quotes from Buddha –  Live for Today, Happy Monday!

This one just made me smile - a Pug Buddha 🙂

~Namaste~