Hemlock Ring.

I'm starting this today, I really love the pattern, I've been staring at it forever. I don't know how this is going to work out, but so far I've got about 6 inches done....woohoo!!

Let's hope this ends well.

This is what it looks like now and what the finished project is.

A little roadtrip

So Doug and I decided to take a quicky little trip 4 states away....gotta love New England. A 3 1/2hour drive brings you 4 states away.

We wanted to go up to theLL Bean Flagship Store in Freeport Maine. It was planned for about a week, nothing big just a little roadtrip up and back.

We left the house at 4:30am (ugh super sleepy time) but off we went, after 4 pit stops we finally made it in around 8:30am. WOOHOO!!

It was a pretty uneventfull trip. The best thing was the weather, it was gorgeous, such a great day to walk around Freeport, the weather was about 70 degrees.

The trip to the store was actually kind of disapointing :( The only good thing was we got yummy whoopie pies from Wicked Whoopies.
And I found a good buy on a pair of Nikes at the outlet. Woohoo, I needed new sneakers.

I have the best husband.

He wanted to surprise me for my birthday which is 5 days away now :) he knew I wouldn't be home I was going to school and since we're going away he had 3 dozen roses delivered today.

I can't belive what he did.

It was so nice.....I love him, and so happy we got married.

Vikki, Julie and Julia

Went to the movies this weekend to escape the heat. Went to go see Julie&Julia it was a cute movie, my only complaint was it was very slow moving.

I loved the similarities between the two women Julia Child and Julie Powell/ it their lives really could have been intertwined, and the movie made it so.

So after seeing this movie I've deceided that today would be my part in this experiment.

The movie did inspire me in a few ways (I'm not sure I want to de-bone and stuff a duck but there were a few recipes that I want to tackle.

Lunch today was just the begining. Before Julie started her little project she was cooking in her little Long Island City apartment, she was pan frying a baguette for some bruschetta....yummy. So this was my thought for lunch.

My MIL gave me a small basket of fresh tomatos and it hit me....that's what I'm making for lunch today.

So here's my recipe hope you enjoy it.

1 Baguette
3 Fresh Tomatos
Fresh Basil (to taste)
Fresh Oregano (to taste)
Fresh Rosemary (to taste)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic (to taste)
Onions (to taste)
Balsamic Vinegar

(I'm sure you can subsitute dry herbs for the fresh ones you're going to let the mix sit a bit so they will soften up and flavor the tomatos)

First I cut the tomatos and herbs and drizzled in the olive oil and balsamic then put the mixture in the fridge to marinate for about an hour or so.

Then I added the EVOO to the frying pan and browned the bread (that I cut into small slices) let it get golden brown in the olive oil (again yum)

Take the tomato mixture out of the fridge top the freshly browned bread and serve.

Trust me you will enjoy it....I know we did.

Baby Booties.

I love the way they came out and I really just wanted to share.

So this is my AW post :)

Tangy Cherry Chicken.....The Outcome!!!

I made it for dinner.

It was awesome.

I just wanted to share.

Thanks You :)

Tangy Cherry Chicken.

Again, what's for dinner.

I had chicken in the house and a bag of cherries that were about to go south. So did a little digging and found this recipe.


I'll let you know how it comes out tomorrow.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 ounces each
2 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves, about 6 sprigs
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup pignoli (pine nuts) a couple of handfuls
3 cups chicken stock, divided
4 tablespoons cold butter, divided
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
3 ribs celery, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it
1 cup dry white wine, 1/4 of a bottle
1 cup dried cherries, a couple of handfuls
2 cups plain couscous
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, eyeball it
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, eyeball it
1/4 cup honey, eyeball a healthy drizzling
2 scallions, finely chopped
Generous handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the 3 turns of the pan of extra-virgin olive oil, about 3 tablespoons. Season chicken liberally with half of the thyme, salt and pepper and add to the hot skillet. Cook the chicken for 5 to 6minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

In the bottom of a medium sauce pot, heat and toast pine nuts over moderate heat and remove. Add 2 cups stock and 1 tablespoon butter to the pot and bring to a boil.

Return the chicken skillet to the burner over medium-high heat, add 1 turn of the pan of extra-virgin olive oil, add the onion, celery, crushed red pepper flakes, nutmeg, salt and pepper, cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until the celery and onions are tender. Add the white wine, and cook until the pan is almost dry, 1 minute. Add the 2cups boiling chicken stock, and dried cherries and continue to cook for about 5 to 6 minutes or until there is only about 1/2 cup of liquid left in the pan. Turn the heat off the under the pan. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons cold butter in small pieces and whisk until it has completely melted.

In a medium saucepan bring the remaining 1 cup chicken stock to a boil, add couscous, allspice, cinnamon and a little salt. Cover pot and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Drizzle honey over the couscous and add the pine nuts, scallions and parsley. Toss and fluff with a fork to combine.

Serve the chicken whole or sliced with cherry sauce poured over it and couscous alongside. Dark seared greens or simple salad complete the meal.

Philly Weekend.

Ok, I can't really call it the weekend, it was only an overnight, it was suppose to be 4 days not 2 but I digress, things happen and we can't always control what happens.

In the long run we had fun, it was a great trip a chance to see good friends and a whole lot of fun.

The whole reason to go down was to go to Miss Gabby's 6th Birthday. She loved her gifts and the sweater that I made her.

Here's some pictures.



I'm so happy it fit....and it's toooo cute on her.








Presents




More presents.



Love the attitude.



Doug and his pretty Princess Balloons.

Yet another one....

I'm addicted to shutterfly.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Married vs Single.

So I had a thought, why do I have 2 blogs? One was started way back when, so there is the life and times of a single girl on it. Now I've started the new blog of "us" which would be the lives and times of husband and wife.

Why don't I combine them.

I was single, now I'm married and now 2 become 1. Just like marriage. So feel free to go back and look at some of my younger years.

Hope you enjoy.

Helena

It's finished with time to spare. I love knitting under pressure. It's been about 10 days since I started it, I only really had about 2 weeks to finish it.

Well here's the back story incase you were wondering. We are going to a birthday party for Doug's 7 year old niece (well sorta his best friends niece) so I decieded to knit her a sweater for her birthday and get her a cute gift to go with it.

I finally found pattern for a cute
sweater I fell in love with it and can't belive how great it came out.

I really hope she likes it, not to mention, I hope Mom likes it too.

Pie Pops.

Another reason to love The Nest, while browsing today one of my fellow Nesties posted this a recipe for pie pops I must make them know, they look so yummy.




They do look a little tedious, but in the end I think they may be worth all the hard work.

I'll let you know when I finish them.

Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Risotto

My father bought me a couple of Cook Books, he know that I usually don't use them but I thanked him for the gift and took them. One was a Weight Watchers Take-Out book, the other was the secret of the big chain restuarnts, (it's the all the secret ingredients...woohoo!!)

So after going through the books I found something that interested me, Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Risotto, I love Broccoli Rabe, it's one of my fav's so I figured I would try to make it.

So it was todays lunch.

Here's the recipe, hope everyone enjoys it as much as we did.

I tweaked the recipe a bit, so it wasn't exactly the same as what's in the book.

3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped, fresh, flat-leaf parsley
1/2 lb Italian turkey sausage, hot or sweet, casing removed and sausage crumbled (I used 1 lb SWEET Italian turkey sausage)
1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, rinsed and chopped



To make the risotto, bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan, then lower the heat to keep the broth at a simmer.

Heat the oil in a large, nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the rice and cook until the outer shell is lightly toasted, 2-3 minutes.

Add the wine, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the broth and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed before adding more. The cooking time from the first addition of broth should be 20-24 minutes. If you need to, heat and add more broth. Stir in the parsley.


Stir the sausage and broccoli rabe into the risotto and serve.

Now here's my little trick. I hate doing dishes, so for me this was a one pot meal. I used a large skillet and sauteed the sausage and rabe 1st. Then cooked the risotto in the same pot. It gave the risotto a little extra flavor, the water and wine deglazed the skillet and that all meant less cleanup.

Sorry, no pictures, but I was trying to clean up a little and my husband got into the pan before I got the chance to take a picture.

At least I know he enjoyed it, and we can add it to the list of what to cook, instead of the what not to cook.

Playing House.

Ok so today was a long one, Doug and I spent the morning checking on the house of a family friend.

This is a house that I can only hope one day we could afford (right now its just not in the cards.) It's a custom built house that's about 5000 sq feet, yes its that big. Not to mention its on 15 acres of land.

I love it, it's gorgeous, the property is wonderful, it has a great in ground pool and jacuzzi.

We sat and had lunch by the pool, I even rescued a little frog from the jacuzzi.



It was a good day all around, the only downfall was a 2 hour ride to take my FIL to the Doctor, yes a 2 hour drive for a 10 minute appointment...ugghhh. I can't wait untill they can drive again :(

The Plus Size Bride

While I was still knotting (I know I shouldn't but it's so addictive) I came across this blog, The Plus Size Bride I started reading it and fell in love, why couldn't I have found this before I got married, I think I will give a lot of women courage to find the perfect dress. Don't be afraid if you can't at 1st, just be patient and you will find it.

I wanted to help out other plus size brides. So here is my story I hope you enjoy it.