For Those Cold Winter Nights (You Know, the 56 degree ones)

One of my biggest trepidations about moving to Pittsburgh was the cold, and since it hasn't been THAT cold, you would think I'd be happy, but no. I WANT SNOW!!  I EXPECTED snow! And snow DAYS!  But nothing.  Just mildly cold, very rainy weather.  Dumb.
While the weather hasn't been exactly wintery lately, I've decided to pretend it is while in my kitchen.  Last week I made Dutch Onion Potato Soup, and a loaf of Beer Bread to go with it.  It was perfect for those not-very-cold winter nights. The potato soup started out, as many of my experiments do, with an online recipe (Dutch Onion Potato Cheese Soup) that I enhanced to my own tastes and vegetarian diet. 

1 Tbs. butter

1 Tbs. canola oil

3 c. sliced onions

¼ c. flour

8 c. vegetable broth

12 oz.  beer

4 c. diced potatoes

2 c. cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter and oil in a soup pot.  Saute the onions for about 10 minutes, until they are soft and golden brown.  Stir in the flour, and then add broth and beer (I used a honey wheat, but this would also probably be really good with a darker beer).  Bring the soup to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add the potatoes, and bring to a boil again.  Cover pot and cook for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Mash the potatoes in the broth.  Remove from heat and add cheese (I sliced mine into this strips, grating would be fine too), and salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of fresh-ground pepper).  Put on low heat and stir until the cheese melts.  Continue to stir occasionaly until ready to serve.

For the Beer Bread, I followed a recipe from Recipe Lion, and it turned out fabulously - a hearty, dark, flavorful bread that paired perfectly with the soup, and is also delicious smothered in butter and honey.

3 c. flour (I used a mix of white and whole wheat)

3 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 bottle room temperature beer

3 Tbs melted unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the beer and stir for about 20 stokes, just until the flour is incorporated. (Try and not over-stir the batter.)  Pour into your prepared pan and drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes on a cooling rack before removing it from the pan.

Overall, a hearty, delicious meal, no matter the temperature outside!

Sometimes You Just Need A Break, or, Thank You Primanti Brothers

Ohhh yeahhhhhh! Kevin and I FINALLY made it to Primanti Brothers the other night. 
Some nights you want to cook, and some nights you just want to stuff yourself with a ridiculously humongous sandwich and a beer.  The other night was one of those nights for Kev and me, and Primanti Bros came to the rescue.  The sandwiches at Primanti Bros all come topped with fresh cut french fries and coleslaw. Paired with a cold beer, it is a match made in heaven (and could possibly get you there a bit quicker, as I'm pretty sure that more than one of these a month would give anyone a heart attack).  Even for little veggie me, there is a Cheese Combo, for which they actually fry the cheese on the griddle, and top with the aforementioned french fries and coleslaw, as well as tomatoes and onion.  Put it all together, and you get this monstrous beauty.

So delicious, so easy, so bad for you, but just plain good.  Thank you Primanti Brothers!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The holidays are here!  This is definitely my favorite time of the year, what with all the holiday music, food and general good cheer.
Our weekend was spent getting the Christmas decorations out, putting up lights and the Christmas tree (and attending the fantastic Pittsburgh wedding recpetion that my mother-in-law held for us, but that isn't much related to this holiday post, so I'll save it for another day). Kev did a great job picking out a Christmas tree (our first married Christmas tree!), and putting up lights outside.

Kevin also asked me the other day "You'll be making Christmas cookies, right?" - all I could think was, didn't we just move near your family so you could share in your mother's insanely good holiday baking?
But, of course, I will be baking, and this wekeend started off with a few  snacks to get me in the mood. 
The first, and very easiest holiday mouth explosion that I made was Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzels, which are just that.

Take about 8 oz (maybe a little more) of pretzels, pour 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/3 cup sugar and 3 tsp. of cinnamon over them, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Super simple, and a fantastic snack to have set out in a dish for random pass-through snacking.

The second recipe I made was again, super simple, and nice to have around for the random guests that may pop up, especially this time of year.  Eggnog Pound Cake - yum!  Kevin wasn't so excited about this one at first, but I've noticed the loaf is starting to dwindle, and apparently it is super good with coffee in the morning (though I won't vouch for it being a healthy breakfast).

I got this recipe from www.MyRecipes.com, and actually followed it pretty much to a T:

• 1 (16-oz.) package pound cake mix
• 1 1/4 cups eggnog
• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat all ingredients together at low speed with an electric mixer until blended. Increase speed to medium, and beat 2 minutes. Pour into a lightly greased 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.

2. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

There is much more to come in our house this month.  Tonight I have some delightful plans for Buckeyes and Pecan Pie Bars, which will be shared soon.  Happy December!!

"I Miss My Wedding" and Other Memorable Pieces

Well, it happened.  Kevin and I finally tied the knot on a gorgeous day on the beaches of Cape May, NJ.*

Here are some of the pictures from our amazing photographer, Kate McCann (Philadelphia, PA).

*Sidenote: I am so sad to hear of all the devastation left behind from Hurricane Sandy on the East coast. I was lucky enough to have the most beautiful of days for my wedding, and truly hope that the residents and cities that were affected by the storms are able to grow back as they were before. Much love, and thank you for giving me a perfect wedding day.

It was a perfect, cloudless day, and I had the best time of my life with wonderful friends and family.  Sigh.  I just want to go back and do it all over again.  Not the planning part, but the actual day-of. I miss my wedding.

One of the first (of many) projects I committed myself to for this wedding was my brooch bouquet using memorable pieces of jewelry from family and friends.  I had searched online for directions on how to make a bouquet like this, and with the help of a few random sites and my own hard-headedness, I was able to come up with what ended up being the most perfect bouquet for my wedding.

I spent months collecting old brooches - granted, some were bought from eBay or Etsy, but many were given to me from my grandmother, Kevin's mother and both his grandmothers, and even some of Kevin's mom's co-workers, once they heard what I was attempting to do.  All in all, I used about 50 brooches to make this brooch bouquet.  The most time-consuming part of this project was wiring each and every brooch to make a "stem", using green floral wire.I had to twist the wire around the back of each pin/brooch, many times using 3-5 wire strands per brooch (it depended on how heavy the piece was - you need to be able to hold the "stem" between 2 fingers without it compeltely bowing over).  After each pin was wired, I wrapped the wire stem in green floral tape from the top to the bottom of the stem, which took some getting used to, but by about the 5th "flower" I was a pro.  The process of obtaining, wiring, and wrapping all my brooches took about 8 months (please note my earlier comment on this being one of MANY wedding projects I took upon myself to complete, as well as the fact that I was finishing my last semester of school, working full-time, and moving across the country - this may not take others quite so long).
Once I had all my flowers, I used 3 stems of silk hydrangea to help shape it.  But it wasn't looking so good.  So I called in the professionals. One of Kevin's mother's friends is a retired florist, so I went over to her house with a pie in hand, hoping she'd help me.  Well, she did more than help - she created a gorgeous bouquet for me, weaving in my colors of navy, ivory, and gold that glittered in the sunlight on my Cape May beach.  It was a masterpiece of helping hands and memorable pieces.  Perfectly gorgeous.

The Cleanse: What's the Difference Between 2 and 3, Anyways?

Well, it has certainly been a long time since I've last posted, but I've got enough excuses, what with a wedding 2 weeks away, a move across the country, acclimating to a new job here in Pittsburgh, PA, (our new hometown) and the fact that Kevin and I are living out of suitcases and a storage unit in his (incredibly generous) parent's house for the time being, while we wait to close on our new townhouse. So please allow me a little break in posting. But, here I am, on Day 15 of what has now become a 2 week full-body cleanse, rather than the planned 3 week cleanse.  But first, some background.

Kevin and I originally did the SP Complete full body cleanse last April for a full 21 days as suggested. A basic summary of The Cleanse is as follows:

Day 1 through Day 10:
Eat only fruits and vegetables. You are allowed to eat as much as you want, whenever you want. You should try to eat 2 times as many vegetables as you do fruit. Try to eat a good amount of raw veggies, as they have the most nutrients in them. You can use vinegar (for cooking or for salad dressing), and any herbs or spices you want as long as they are natural and do not contain salt. You can drink water and non-caffeinated, herbal tea. If you wanted to make a smoothie or juices (out of only veggies or fruits), you can do that also. You can use up to 5 teaspoons of a lean oil (canola, olive, grapeseed) each day (for salad dressing, cooking, etc.). Salt and sugar are off limits. You cannot have regular potatoes or corn. You can only eat up to half a yam/sweet potato a day.
Day 11 through Day 21:
You can expand your horizons! You are now allowed 1/2 cup of brown rice OR 1/2 cup wild rice OR 1/2 cup lentils per day. You are also allowed three 3-ounce portions of a lean protein. Kevin ate chicken or fish. I ate egg whites (no yolks!), or would just add a protein supplement to a smoothie once or twice a day. Again, you can eat as many fruits and veggies as you want. No salt, added sugar, and keep the oil to a minimum. Honestly, at that point, we weren't that worried about adding in the rice/lentils, because we'd gotten so used to eating the veggies.
In that 3 weeks time, I lost 14 lbs. and felt amazing (after getting through the first few days of caffeine withdrawal headaches or the horrible cravings for anything with sugar or salt in in it). And I found so many different ways to prepare veggies and fruits so it didn't feel like I was eating the same thing every day.  Spaghetti squash and a simple marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes and veggies was our go-to dinner, as it was one of the few things that filled us up.

This time, it was not quite as positive for me.  I was able to lose 9 lbs. in the 2 weeks.  My soon-to-be-brother-in-law, Dave, made me the simplest yet so delicoius arugula salad. 

Simply zest a little lemon over the arugula, squeeze some fresh lemon juice over it, and sprinkle cracked black pepper over that, and voila! Amazingly tasty, and ever so simple.  And yes, I did take to carrying a zester in my purse to work with me so I could whip this together in my cubicle at work. 

But, I think living with Kevin's mom, who is an amazing baker, the stress of everything going on in my life, and just not really striving to do this for anything other than trying to fit in my wedding dress any better all worked against me.  So I admit, my self-discipline was beaten by the urge to eat pizza at one of the pizza places that inhabit every block of this city. Today is Day 15, and my mouth is watering as I smell the spice cake tha Kevin's mom has in the oven, and yes, I am waiting on the pizza delivery man.  This time, I give up. And I'm ok with it. I mean, what's the difference between 2 and 3 weeks anyways?

Buffalo + (Veggie) Chicken + Tacos = Happiness

I was sitting in my office looking for recipes...I mean working...last week when my co-worker and office mate started telling me about how he had made buffalo chicken tacos the night before, guy-style (meaning lots of short-cuts).  He had cooked some chicken in a skillet, then put it in a taco shell, dumped Franks Red Hot Sauce, chopped celery and carrots, and bleu cheese dressing on it, and voila! 
I thought I could do better (AND vegetarian).  I googled buffalo chicken tacos and found a few different recipes, which gave me an idea of how I wanted to conquer this task on my own.

I began with Quorn Naked Chick'n Cutlets, which I thawed and chopped into small cubes.  I browned them in a little canola oil and removed them from the pan. Then I melted about 3 Tbs of butter in the same pan, and poured about 1/2 to 2/3 of a bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce into the butter, and stirred it up, letting it simmer for a minute or so.  Once it was slightly bubbly, in all it's bright orange glory, I added the chopped chick'n and mixed it up.

I covered up the buffalo chik'n mixture and kept it heating on low while I prepared the makings of the tacos.  I warmed up a few yellow corn tortillas, and chopped up celery, avocado, lettuce, onions, and cilantro.  I also laid out some shredded mexican cheese I had on hand, bleu cheese crumbles, and ranch dressing.

I put my tacos together, and served it with a Mexican Bean Salad from AllRecipes that has become a staple in our home because it's super easy and amazing if it can sit and marinate for at least a couple hours.

Hello, Beautiful.

Delicious.  Found another easy, go-to recipe, veggie-style! :)

*Note: Unless you are a super-crazy fan of super spicy food, do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, use Franks Red Hot Sauce - Buffalo Style.  It's too much. My tongue is burning.

Dolphin Sharks, or Learning to Surf in San Diego

Kevin consistently asks me to attempt surfing with him.  Normally, I remind him that besides my ridiculous infatuation yet paranoia regarding sharks, the last time I agreed to a surf lesson with him (3 1/2 years ago), he took me out to some waves that he thought would be do-able for me, and told me to paddle around on the board while he caught a couple.  Needless to say, some 10 minutes later, I was tumbling through the waves, thinking desperately that I was going to be pummeled by the board attached at my ankle, which would make me go unconscious and eventually drown. My anxiety tends to get the best of me in these situations; in the specific case in which I am speaking, I panicked as I was swept under the water and pounded into the bottom of the ocean. As I resurfaced, Kevin was paddling towards me, yelling "Morgan, you can swim, you can SWIM!" As he gets closer, he tells me to detach myself from the board, and as I attempt to do so, my feet touch sand.  I stand up, and realize I am in about 2 feet of water.  Oh.
So when Kevin asks me to this Friday evening, the same story is about to reach  my lips, yet the pull of summers in San Diego takes over me, and I tell him I'll go. We head down to George's, where the water is completely flat, and there are actually no surfers and only a few scattered paddle boarders anywhere near us.  While standing on the beach, each of us with a board under our arm, Kevin tells me how to lift my chest up off the board and push the board down when a wave is coming head on.  I trepidly walk into the water, holding the surfboard at a ridiculous sideways angle over my shoulder so as not....to get it wet.   I continue holding it over my shoulder until Kevin looks over and tells me to put it in the water, which I do. About 10 steps later, my anxiety is climbing and I stop.  I am looking everywhere for fish (nasty things), and the waves, all 1 feet of them, are crashing into me and pushing me back towards the beach. Obviously, God wants me to stay on land, and who am I to argue?  I tell Kevin I don't want to do this anymore, and head back for the beach.  He returns with me and proceeds to give me a 5 minute pep talk about how I should just try it, that he thinks I'll like it once we get past the break, blah blah blah. 
This time, with anxiety running high but determined to get out there, I walk into the water as far as I can go until Kev tells me to get on the board.  And I start paddling.  And paddling.  And paddling.  Oh for Pete's sake, am I ever going to get anywhere? And then there is a monstrous humongous gigantic towering 3 foot wave in front of me, and I panic and Kevin tells me to lift my chest off the board, and I do, and eventually we are past the break and I've made it!  And then I think "Shark!".  I scan the water.  And continue to scan.  It is calm and quiet and really quite pretty, when the sun isn't in my eyes getting in the way of sighting the great white shark that I am sure is lurking somewhere near me.  Still scanning....scanning...and then I look up and 20 feet away from me are 2 dark fins coming straight at me, fast.  They are pointy and look exactly like what you see in shark attacks in the movies. I scream - and I'm not talking some girly yelp, I'm talking a guttural, carnal, I-am-about-to-die scream - and I am trying to turn the board around and stay on it and not let my feet dangle in the water in case the sharks try to grab them. I am terrorized, and I am slow in this water and on this board, and I see Kevin out of the corner of my eye, and he is looking straight at me.  "Morgan, Morgan, they're dolphins, it's dolphins, it's ok, it's just dolphins".  I look over at my impending death, and a dolphin jumps out of the water, playing in the waves.  It is huge.  It could probably eat me.  Or at least land on me and make me go unconscious and I would drown.  A lone paddle boarder is watching and laughing at me.  I start to cry.
Kevin leads me out of the water, staying right next to me, holding on to my board as I cry and paddle back to shore.  We walk on to the beach, where he gives me one of his curious, is-it-ok-to-laugh-about-this-now looks.  I stop crying and we both laugh for a good 10 minutes, then get in the car and go home.
Effing dolphin sharks.