Micah made dinner last night....

And it was soooooooooo tasty!!!!



I have had a crazy week at work and was just to tired to make dinner last night. I asked him if he was up for taking on dinner. On the meal plan our options were chicken picadillo stuffed peppers or sweet and sour shrimp. He chose the shrimp.



This dish has a lot of steps, but OH MY GOD it is soooo worth it. I was so impressed with the hubs last night!



Here is the recipe he followed



Here is a pic, sorry its a bit dark.

Irish Car Bomb CUPCAKES!!!!!

What can make a sweet little cuppy ten times better and maybe a little bit more on the sinful side??? ALCOHOL!!!!!!!!

I always do something for my co-workers bdays. This week one of the guys in manufacturing was turning the big 21 so I really wanted to do something with a touch of the tipsy ;)

Enter in Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes. Here is the original recipe I found, I did change it up a bit

Here is what I Did:

Ingredients:

FOR THE CUPCAKES:

1 bottle Guinness, I used the extra stout version they have out

1 stick, plus 1 tbs unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, I Used Ghiradelli

2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs

1 tbs vanilla extract

2 cups flour, I used cake flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

FOR THE FROSTING:

1 3/4 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners' sugar

4 Tbs Bailey's Irish Cream

For the Soak:

Jameson Irish Whiskey

Directions:

FOR THE CUPCAKES:

1. Preheat the oven to 350; line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2. Combine the Guinness and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter.

3. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cocoa and sugar.

4. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream and the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture.

5. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold in the batter.

6. Pour into muffin molds and bake or 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from muffin tin, and cool completely on a rack.

FOR THE SOAK:

1. Once cupcakes have cooled a bit, take a fork and pierce the top of the cupcakes a few times with it.

2. Pour some Jameson into a small bowl or cup, take a basting brush, dip it into the Jameson and then swipe it across the cupcakes once.

3. Once all cupcakes have one coat of whiskey, give them another round or four ;) Depending on how much of the whiskey taste you want to come through.

FOR THE FROSTING:

1. Put the room-temperature butter in a large mixing bowl and bet at medium-to0 high speed for a few minutes.

2. Gradually spoon confectioners' sugar into the bowl, mixing on low speed

3. Add the Bailey's and mix at low speed.

These were a huge hit and soooo tasty! I could have eaten a bowl full of the frosting alone!

Ooooops... I had my comments blocked!

Sooo I have been wondering why my past few posts hadn't even drummed up one comment.

A couple of my lady friends told me they are restricted from commenting...and sure enough I had messed with my comments and thought I had set it to only allow people who followed my blog...(I have been getting weird comments from Japan???) As it turns out I had it set that no one could comment.

Sooooooooooo things should be back to normal, I *think*

Cheesy Sausage Calzones!

Last week as I was planning this weeks meals, I was on the hunt for quick and easy recipes. I found a couple really tasty ones off of Pillsbury.com! So last night I made Cheesy Sausage Calzones the easy way (recipe here) They were easy and turned out pretty good!

I put a touch of olive oil in a warm pan and tossed in the onions and bell peppers. (Dice into small bits). I added a touch of ground savory (I looove this spice and add it to any dish that has a red sauce!)Next add the ground Italian sausage and chop up into small pieces Following the recipe, I put two biscuits together and smashed them into 6" circles. Then I put shredded mozzarella cheese on one half. Next up the sausage filling. Which was sooo good! I got the sausage fresh ground from Sprouts! Next step, you fold the other half of the biscuit over the top of the filling and pinch the edges shut to make little pockets :) Follow recipe and bake.

They came out looking amazing! I heated up some jarred sauce and dinner was ready! This really was super simple and tasted really good! I do think next time I make these I will use pizza dough, because the biscuits do make for a ton of bread then a normal calzone would have. But one of these guys is all you really need, they are super filling!

Happy Friday! Pot Pie Recipe!

Ahhhhh Friday! So glad to see you!

This weekend should be pretty low key. We have no real plans. I work at Definitely Debra's tomorrow, and that's about all the plans we have. We for sure need to hit the grocery store, but I need to do my weekly meal planning first. I am hoping to maybe start working on the hutch again and see how far I get with that :)

Last night I had no clue what to make. We haven't gone grocery shopping in over a week and a half. There was still a ton of left overs in the fridge from that awesome Valentines day meal, so I decided I need to use those or toss them out.

So I called the meal POT PIE! Micah loved it and went back for seconds, and so did I ;)

Here is my recipe, its pretty basic, most pot pie recipes you find will be just about like this but I did wing it a bit as I was dealing with what was in the fridge and cupboards.

1/3 cup butter chopped into a few pieces.

1 can chicken broth

1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 an onion diced small

2-3 cups misc cooked veggies. These were left over roasted veggies from vday. I used the potatos, carrots, red bell peppers, and sweet potatos

1 1/2 cups cooked meat. I used my left over beef tenderloin diced in small pieces.

Salt and pepper

1 tsp Sage

Dash of Garlic Salt

2 pie crusts from the fridge section. I used Pillbury

Preheat the oven to 425

1. Melt butter. Add onions and saute till soft.

2. Add flour, salt, pepper and sage to onion and butter. Mix well, will be come a thick paste.

3. slowly and chicken broth and milk a little at a time to four paste. Stir to incorporate after each addition til combined then add a little more.

4. Toss in precooked veggies and meat. Cooke for about 5 more minutes.

5. spray 9"pie pan. Roll first pie crust into bottom. Add pie filling mixture.

6. Once filling is in, I sprinkled with a little more salt and pepper and a bit of garlic salt

7.Roll second pie crust on top. Give a pinch all the way around to seal pie crusts together. Make a couple slits on top to release steam.

8. Bake for 30-45 minutes.

And there you have it, left overs that turned into an awesome dinner! Excuse these pics, I took them on my cell phone.

Ladmo is getting so big!

I wish he would stay a puppy forever. This was just 6 months ago! He was just a tiny little fryand here he is 4 months ago

Free Photo Shoot

So check this out! You all know what a camera/picture whore I am!! Well my friend Mya has an awesome giveaway going on on her blog! She and Kacy of Kacy Hughes Photography are giving away a mini photo session!

Go read Mya's Blog to find out what you have to do to get signed up!

And take a look at Kacy's work! She does AH-MAZ-ING Work!

How the Elliot's do Valentines Day!

First off...Happy Birthday to my lovely sis-in-law Meridith! I hit the awesome family jack pot when I married Micah!

So Micah and I decided we wanted to host a Valentine's dinner for some of our favorite couples. It was our first dinner party in the new house, very exciting! We did some spring cleaning all week following up to the party, and then flexed our culinary skills to deliver a mighty tasty dinner if I do say so myself!

For cocktail hour I served Caramelized Onion & Gruyer Cheese Tarts (here is the recipe)

For a salad I served a Pear, Blue Cheese and Pecan Salad (here is the recipe) I don't have a pic of it fully finished, but here it is being put together

For side dishes I served a Beet and Red Onion Compote, sadly no pics of that, but man was it tasty! (here is the recipe)

I also served Chive Mashed Potatos, again no pic :( (here is the recipe)

Along with these sides I also served roasted veggies, I also included a couple carrots which isn't listed in the recipe. (here is the recipe)

And here they are fresh out of the oven!

The main coarse consisted of a beer can chicken, one of Micah's specialties! (here is the recipe)

And here is the lonely beer can after the chicken was cooked. PBR ='s Klassy I also served a Beef Tenderloin! It was my first time making it, so I was a bit nervous, but it came out sooo good! (here is the recipe)

Micah checking the tenderloin temp for me.

Bryan helped slice everything up!I served the beef tenderloin with three accompanying garnishes. I cant link those recipes for some reason, but they are simple, so I will list them below each item.

There was a Mayo and Horseradish dip, Not pictured.

Horseradish Mayo: In a bowl stir together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish, 1 tablespoon snipped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Makes 2/3 cup

A Blue Cheese and Parsley Crumble

In a small bowl lightly toss together 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled; 1/2 cup chopped Italian (flat-leaf) parsley; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; and 1/8 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt. Makes about 3/4 cup.

and an Black Pepper-Olive Relish

In a bowl stir together 1 cup pitted and chopped kalamata or nicoise olives; 1 small red sweet pepper, chopped; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar; and 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper. Makes about 1-2/3 cups.

Here is the Blue Cheese Crumble (on the left) and Black Pepper Olive Relish (on the right)

For dessert I did a yummy super chocolaty Chocolate Cheese Cake, didn't get that one on film. Here is the recipe I used Ghiridelli chocolate, and for the crust I couldn't find chocolate wafers, so I used a box of chocolate teddy grahms and just smashed them up real good :)

I also served Cream Filled Strawberries. They were like what heaven would taste like! (here is the recipe)

Now onto the table setting. I really wanted to make dinner special for all of our couples. I made a menu to guide them through dinner I had assigned seating with place cards at each settingThe table all set awaiting for guests to arrive. Micah flexed his old waiter skills and did fancy bird of paradise folded napkins!
Getting ready to enjoy dinner! Jessica took the pics for me (thanks lady)!

Friday is for lovers

Its Valentines weekend!


I'm pretty excited! Micah and I have been doing a ton of spring cleaning around the house and its shaping up nicely!



Last night we went to Macy's, Micah is in dire need of a new suit, the only one he has has cigarette burns in it from when he smoked yearssss ago and we also decided that it was most likely the suit his mom got him for high school graduation. We have a bunch of weddings coming up and it was high time. So I saw Macy's was having a sale. We go, he finds two he loves, they were over $1,100...BUT with all the discounts and what not we walked out of there with 2 suits for $320!!! HOLY SALE BATMAN!





In Olivia news, She has a cold and doesn't feel good :(

Busy weekend coming up!

Annnnnnnnd hit the ground running!

Today is my step dad's bday, so we are headed over to my sisters House to grill some steaks and eat some pie! Yummmmm

Tomorrow I have to work and then its our friend Kim's bday. We are going to Aunt Chiladas and I am very excited because I looooove Mexican food and Micah, well not so much. SO I dont get to eat Mexican as much as I would want to. So this will be a treat. After we are going to karaoke. I am hoping i have enough margaritas that I finally do some karaoke in public! LOL

Sunday is Whitneys Bridal Shower!!!!!!!! Its breakfast at Tiffanys themed! Should be a super fun time!

Between all those activities Micah and I will be doing some major spring cleaning around the house!

I am already tired from the weekend.