Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows

What a wonderful weekend we had! 

Friday night we celebrated Ruff’s birthday a month early with a surprise party for him.  Angelia did an AMAZING job with the party, food, decorations, etc for being 8 months pregnant!  Ruff was pleasantly surprised to see everyone there to help celebrate the big 3-0 birthday. 

Saturday, we got up and ran a few errands.  It was nice getting things done early and still have the day ahead of us.  We picked up a few veggies and fresh bread at the farmers’ market for dinner that night.   We had brunch at the Stables with Tommy and Rachel since Miss Sadie was spending the weekend with the grandparents.  The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and preparing for supper.  Brian cooked a drunk chicken while I cooked a veggie stir fry.  Drunk chicken is one of my favorites due to how moist the chicken is even after an hour and half on the grill. 

Sunday afternoon, after Brian was finished with work, we headed to the movies to see Grown Ups.   Great movie!  We laughed through the whole movie.  It reminded Brian a lot of his buddies, we even decided who Randy will be (sort of already is) in the future.  Allie, you and Chad must go see this. 

We were sent the new album of John Prine music; Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows:  Songs of John Prine.  I LOVE John Prine.  This album is great.  It is a tribute album performed by various artists.  I really like this album. 

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend!  We are looking forward to a long weekend (well for me).

Snicker Ravioli

Yesterday when posting about new recipes I forgot to include one more.

Sunday after church we decided to try out the brunch buffet at Woody’s. Wow.  We all were very impressed with it.  We (Brian & I) had never been for dinner to Woody’s so we were surprised at the dining room side. The buffet was delicious.  It was more of a lunch buffet than brunch, but man the food was awesome.  There were about 5 different entrees to choose from,several wonderful sides, my favorite the smoked gouda mac and cheese, and a few breakfast entrees.  For dessert I was drawn to the Snicker Ravioli.  YUM!!  Shelley decided to try her hand at it for our care group dinner that night.  I actually liked hers better.  They are SUPER easy to make.

Snicker Ravioli

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of frozen or refrigerated pastry dough
• bag of mini Snickers

Directions:

1. Preheat to 350 or to pastry dough package.
2.  Cut the pastry into either squares or circles.  Circles would be the easiest since you could use a biscuit cutter.
3.  Place on mini Snicker on one half of the cut dough and folder.  Using a fork, press the edges together to seal. 
4.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake until golden.  Drizzle caramel and chocolate sauces. 

A few new recipes

One of my all time favorite dishes is manicotti.  I prefer it when you use jumbo shells, not manicotti pasta.  I love making this dish when I am not in a hurry for supper since the sauce alone takes over an hour to make then you bake for about 45 minutes.  Last night I made a new recipe, Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells, that is very similar to manicotti only very simple to make.  I like this recipe in that you can add any type of veggie to the cheese mixture you wish.

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shell

Ingredients

• 20 jumbo pasta shells (about half a 12-ounce box)
• 1 24-ounce jar marinara sauce
• 2 15-ounce containers ricotta
• 2 cups baby spinach, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (2 ounces)
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated mozzarella (4 ounces)
• green salad (optional)

Directions

1. Set an oven rack to the highest position and heat oven to 400° F. Cook the pasta according to the package directions; drain and run under cold water until cool.
2. Spread the marinara sauce in the bottom of a large broiler proof baking dish.
3. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Spoon the mixture into the shells and place them on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and bake until the shells are heated through, 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Increase heat to broil. Broil the shells until the cheese begins to brown, 2 to 5 minutes. Serve with the salad, if desired.

The blog EatingOxford posted the recipe for the bread and butter Yocona serves.  With the recipe for the Yocona sauce I have, I can have a Yocona dinner at home, minus the atmosphere. 

Oxford and Gardening

Saturday morning, Brian and I headed to Oxford for the day. We have been wanting to do this for awhile but just never found the time. We started out by having break at BBB. We got there around 9:15 so we couldn’t take advantage of the SnackBar being open to order a mimosas or blood Mary. I’m not a big fan of eggs unless they are in an omelet for breakfast, I was trying to decide between just ordering sides or getting the French toast. I’m a sucker for the traditional breakfast; sausage, grits, biscuits & gravy, and hash browns. One of these days I’m going to try their French toast. I have heard it’s delicious.

After breakfast we went in the Depot just to look around. I came across this little jewel. It’s perfect for us! We haven’t decide where to put it yet, but I love it.

Next we headed to the Square to do some window shopping and see where the day lead us. We weren’t hungry for lunch yet, but we didn’t want to pass up lunch in Oxford if we did get hungry. So we headed to Larry’s to see if we could grab a seat on the patio for a few drinks. I found my new spring love; Abita Strawberry. If you have not tried this yet, drop what you are doing and head to the store to see if you can find some. Tupelo is now sold out of it. :(

Sunday afternoon I decided I couldn’t wait any longer for my herb seeds to really spout. I headed to Lowes to see what I could find in department of herb plants. Here is the first herb garden.

Clockwise: rosemary, tarragon, oregano, cilantro, parsley, basil.

I decided to put mint in is own container since it tends to take over. Mojitos!

I also have a cherry tomato plant.

Which I forgot to take a picture of, but it’s doing really well.

And a couple of jalapenos. (Please do not look at all the little weeds growing on the patio. We need to pull them up.)

At times I wish I had a sunny spot in the backyard for a true garden. I love my shady yard, but it would be nice not to have to do container gardening. Although I have gotten pretty good at it over the years since I have been doing it.

I hope they do ok while we are gone for the week. I’m going to see if Alicia will water them if they look like they need them while she is feeding Sunni. I’m hoping it rains some while we are gone, my poor yard needs it. I’m still waiting to see which seeds took and are spouting up. I have another whiskey barrel that I will use for those that make it. I still have a lavender plant that needs a home, but I had to put it alone and nor do I want to put it in the whiskey barrel alone. Depending on which seeds do not grow I’m going to be hunting for a few more herbs that I wanted to grow this year.

Happy gardening!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy Birthday Allie!!

There hasn’t been anything truly exciting going on in the Herndon household the past week. We took the past weekend and made it a lazy weekend. We laid in bed most of the morning, except for when we went to get azaleas, and had lunch at the Stables with Chad, Allie, Lauren C, Cole, and Megan. It’s getting to be a habit of going to the Stables for brunch and mimosas/bloody maries. It was great getting to catch up with everyone. Brian has decided to pick up painting again. He took art in school and was pretty good from what I have seen. We bought some supplies a little bit ago and he picked up the brush Saturday afternoon. He did a beautiful painting, but he didn’t feel it was worthy (in his eyes) so he painted over it. I am so proud of him getting into the paint again. After a few practice painting I know he will be back into the swing of things. Here is his painting from this weekend. I didn’t do a very good job of taking a picture of it.

Good thing we had low-key, relaxing weekend because we will be on the run this weekend! Friday night we are headed over to the Russells’ for dinner and game night. I do love a good game night, just seems like we never have time for one on a regular basis. Saturday I (we) are helping host a couple’s baby shower for Curt and Ashley. I should do a better job at managing my time at night this week and make the card for Ashley’s blanket one night instead of waiting till the last minute on Saturday morning while I’m making 2 dozen cupcakes for the shower. :)

We thought we were getting our new windows installed this week, but we miscalculated the timeline. It will be about another 2 weeks before they are installed. I cannot wait!! Funny how as you get older you get excited about different things than you did when you were younger. Who knew new windows would be so exciting.

I haven’t mentioned a new recipe in awhile. Last night I made a Spring Orzo Salad. Oh my. This is one of the best salads I have had in a long time. I cannot take credit for finding this one, Chris passed it along. I was a little leery of it based on the “dressing” but wow, this is full of flavor. Brian was a huge fan of it as well.

Spring Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

2/3 cup orzo

1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped orange bell pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped and seeded tomatoes

1/4 cup quartered dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup chopped watercress

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons olive oil, preferably extra virgin

1/3 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare the orzo according to the package directions
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the bell peppers, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, watercress, garlic, oil, cheese, and lemon juice.
3. Mix the orzo with the vegetable mixture until well combined. Season to taste with black pepper.

Note: I didn’t put the tomatoes in it due to the cherry tomatoes I had were no longer good. Also I’m not a fan of watercress so I left those out as well and I put green onions in place of scallions since I couldn’t find any at the store.

I leave you with a picture of what Sunni does most nights. He will sit and stare at Brian until he makes room for him to sit next to him. Regardless if there is a whole side of the couch next to me (if Brian is in the chair) or plenty of room between us on the couch instead of the small spot between Brian and the end of the couch.