YUM. pinterest dinner week.

Alrighty well I'm already behind with a couple posts from the past 2 weeks but I just HAD to post this one immediately!!!!! We have been cooking up a storm and have been dying to find some new recipes...and of course I headed to Pinterest to see what I could find! :)  Every single dish we made this week has definitely been added to our list of mmmm mmmm repeats.  3 out of 5 involved the Crock pot but since I get up at 5:55 AM for work (and I despise waking up) I only got up early for Friday's ribs in the Crock...but boy was it worth it! :) 

We try and plan out meals for the week on Sundays, go shopping for everything, and then have it on our menu (mainly so I can remember what we said we were going to cook all week!) It also helps with the "Uh-oh...it's 6:00, I'm hungry, and we didn't talk about what we wanted to eat tonight" kind of moments. 

Printed this little ditty a while back, framed it,
and use dry erase marker :)  LOVE it. 

So we'll start with Monday.  At that time, I had NO idea that our week of meals would be blog-worthy so I didn't take any meal pictures until Wednesday...so sorry.  Monday's meal was Minestrone soup and grilled cheese. We did this on the stove and it was super yummy and easy...just throw it all in. 

Here's the recipe I followed:

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15oz can cannellini beans
• 3 cups fat free vegetable broth
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp bay leaves
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups chopped fresh or defrosted spinach
• 2 cups cooked small pasta (we used shells)
• extra Parmesan cheese to top

Rinse and drain beans. Combine all ingredients in a large pot over medium heat. Cover and cook for an hour or so. Make a cheesy grilled cheese sandwich for a side. Mmmm...we used extra sharp cheddar and sandwich flats.  ENJOY!

On to Tuesday: Skinny Chicken Parmesan. I wasn't quite sure what made this "skinny" but it's a keeper.

This picture is off the website where I got the recipe from.

Here's what we did:

• 4 chicken breasts, sliced in half
• 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasonings
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.  

Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasonings in a shallow bowl. Melt the butter in another bowl. Lightly brush the butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Lightly spray chicken with a little more cooking spray (adds crispiness) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, spoon sauce over chicken and top with shredded cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and chicken is done. Serve over whole wheat spaghetti or with a salad. 

Makes 8 servings. 225 calories per serving.

Here goes Wednesday. Black bean, corn, and spinach enchiladas with Spanish style multi-grain rice (thanks to Uncle Ben's 90 second pack!) These were deeeeeelicious!!!! You could definitely add any sort of meat if you'd like but we just went meatless. This was another recipe that said to use the Crock pot but we just put them in a large baking dish in the oven. 

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 tbsp light-brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 cup sherry
• 14 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup vegetable broth

Sauce directions:

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until the onion is soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, brown sugar, cumin, and oregano and cook 1 minute more. Add the sherry, tomatoes, and vegetable broth. Bring to a slow boil then simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened to stew consistency. (Recipe says to puree with an immersion blender...I just used it as-is.) 

For the enchiladas:

• 1 batch of homemade enchilada sauce (above)
• cooking spray
• 10-12 tortillas
• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 10 oz package frozen spinach, heated, drained and roughly chopped
• 1 12 oz package frozen corn kernels, heated
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/3 cup shredded double cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the black beans, spinach, corn, cumin, salt and black pepper. Mix to combine well.

Spray bottom of a large baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon filling into each tortilla and top with Monterey Jack cheese, roll up, and place in dish, seam-side down. Continue until filling is gone. Ladle enchilada sauce on top of them and sprinkle with double cheddar cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with a side of rice, refried beans, or chips & salsa. 

Thursday = pizza...packed with veggies & cheese. This recipe was super simple and really good. Asparagus, spinach, & garlic were the main ingredients. 

We've discovered this crust recently and it's really good!

Finished product :) 

Here's what I did:

• Pillsbury artisan whole wheat pizza dough
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese (or more)
• 9-10 asparagus spears, woody ends removed and chopped
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 8-10 garlic cloves
• olive oil
• fresh cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Roll out pizza dough on pizza stone and bake for 7 minutes before adding your toppings. While dough is pre-baking, heat a few twirls of olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add asparagus and cook for about 5 minutes. Add fresh spinach and garlic cloves and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Take out pre-baked dough and brush on olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper. Add a layer of mozzarella, then spinach/asparagus/garlic mixture, and then some more mozzarella. Bake for 6-7 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is lightly browned. Serve with a side salad if you wish.

                         

TGIF...and so ready for Crock pot ribs! This was my first attempt at ribs and after using the slow cooker, I have NO idea why you would want to grill them.  It was the easiest recipe of the week and totally worth getting up a few minutes early. The recipe I followed/tweaked called for you to season and brown 4 pounds of pork baby back ribs first in the oven, so I did that the night before to save a lot of time the next morning. I also made the sauce ahead of time. 

seasoned and ready to brown

I seasoned them with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder and baked for 20 minutes on each side.

 

post-browning

 The Girl Who Ate Everything said "browning allows the fat to render in the oven, rather than in your sauce and it brings out a ton of flavor." Well...she was right on point. 

                       

For the sauce, mix up the following:

• 2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup Streeter Sauce (Clay's version) *contact me for his info...his sauce is AH-MAY-ZING*

Place ribs in slow cooker and cover with the sauce. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Make another batch of sauce (half the recipe) when they are ready to eat. Serve with any side - we chose a broccoli and cheese steamer.

After 8 hours on low...the house smelled so good!

falling apart...mmmmm!

I hope you enjoyed our week of Pinterest dinners! Give some a try...you will not be disappointed! 

j.o.b.

After about a week of unpacking and settling in, I knew the time had come for me to begin looking (harder) for a job. Clay's boss and coworker were so helpful in sending my resume' to various people they knew in the school system. "Everybody knows everybody" is insanely true here! 

I had two interviews within 4 days and was offered both positions! One was for a 5th grade TA position at a school ten minutes down the road and another was a 5th grade long-term sub position covering maternity leave until the end of May. After discussing the pros and cons of both with Clay, I decided to take the long-term sub position at Alachua Elementary. It's about 30 minutes South of our house, closer to Gainesville (and Target!) It wasn't actually supposed to start until Feb. 22nd but the girl had her baby WAY earlier and I started last Wed, Jan. 16th. <woah now>

To celebrate, Clay and I got frozen yogurt at my mochi here in town. It's ALMOST as good as our favorite spot in Raleigh. He also bought me beautiful yellow roses...seriously the best. :)

Yep, I got the giant waffle bowl! 

They had cookie dough chunks as a topping! YUM!

Cheeto & Chester wanted a bite. 

new year, new stuff.

So this year, we celebrated NYE a bit differently than in years past...which we knew would be the case. At this point we had been in Lake City for 5 days. Clay began looking up places around town with different dinner options & specials and we decided on the place below, The Players Club. Yeah, it doesn't sound like a restaurant AT ALL right?  

When we pulled in the parking lot, there were two men on motorized wheelchairs speeding off through the lot and going across the street. I guess it doubled as their car? What I couldn't capture was what this place looked like inside. When we walked in, the DJ was blasting all kids of tunes and there was a car in the middle of the entrance (on a platform for a raffle of some sort...) surrounded by internet gaming stations on all sides. We realized instantly that this was going to be an epic people watching scene. There were outfits of all kinds: camo, sequins, neon T-shirts, Canadian tuxedos, etc. Just use your imagination for the most awesome NYE outfits and I can assure you that someone was wearing it that night.

Happy New Year!

We ordered the two specials for the night, pictured below. They were SO good...stuffed beef tenderloin and filet topped with crab. 

Clay's stuffed beef tenderloin & garlic mashed potatoes

My filet with crab meat & garlic mashed potatoes

As for other adventures shortly after the New Year, we had our very first washer/dryer set delivered to the house! My parents got these for us for Christmas/my birthday/housewarming/lots of things in the future and we are loving them! 

Clay and I also bought a new TV stand from Target. When we went to Gainesville with my parents, we found one that was marked down but they were out of stock. I checked online and found that we could get an additional 10% off!  SOLD.  It came about a week later and we put it together one night before dinner.

before...

almost done...(we were too busy for the "during" moments)

finished!

home sweet home.

So before Christmas, Clay and I drove down to Lake City to find a place to live. That was the week before we actually moved...yikes! The way the rental market works here is quick: basically a house comes available to rent and it's scooped up almost immediately.  Clay had been in touch with a Realtor who was looking for rentals with our specifications for over a month. She told us not to bother getting serious about a place until we were almost ready to move, so that's what we did. She took us to look at 8 houses one afternoon and we finally narrowed it down to two that we really liked. The next day we called both places, and one of them had already been rented! So our decision had been made and we ended up getting the cute place below that we now call home. :) We didn't realize how small our other house was until we got settled into this one!  

HOME!

our painted bookcase :)
I'll be re-styling the shelves via Pinterest soon!

Guest room: COMPLETE & ready for visitors!!

Guest bath

open kitchen...one of my favorite parts :) 

coffee bar :) 

view from inside the kitchen looking into the living room

master bedroom...work in progress!

COME VISIT US! 

unpack, sleep, eat, celebrate, unpack...

Saturday, December 29th & Sunday, December 30th

My parents were staying with us until NYE morning so we had a couple of days to get as much done as we could! The unpacking seemed never-ending but the boxes dwindled and eventually we had just a few left. 

Of course we had to make a Wal-Mart trip for some necessities (yep, it's the same "interesting" crowd no matter where you live but we feel like the one here in Lake City is extra special.)  We painted a huge bookcase (a new piece to us but belonged to my great aunt) and hung a LOT of pictures and mirrors. Our house was really starting to feel like a home! We were working so hard that even Clay said, "I think you deserve a trip to TJ Maxx." Woah - he has NEVER said that before! Yes, there is a TJ Maxx in Lake City...let me repeat...there is a TJ Maxx in Lake City (you may have to re-read that several times for it to sink in.)  It's actually attached to the Lake City "Mall" that has about 7 stores. It's cute. 

So excited! 

Saturday was actually my parent's INCREDIBLE 39th wedding anniversary so we decided to go out for the afternoon/evening.  My dad was determined to wear shorts and a T-shirt ON his anniversary "because he was in Florida!" It was in the high 50's while they were here...but he makes it look a lot warmer!! :)  

Dad relaxing.

We drove to Gainesville to pick up some things at Target (about 45 minutes South) and then headed to a little town called High Springs for dinner (basically in between Lake City and Gainesville.) Clay's boss recommended a really good restaurant there, Great Outdoors, where the atmosphere was just perfect for an anniversary celebration!  

Beautiful sunset before dinner!

Our view during dinner! LOVE the palm trees!

The food here was delicious!! We ordered fried green tomatoes as an appetizer.  My dad had NEVER eaten fried green tomatoes...I couldn't believe it! My parents split the Captain's Seafood Platter (scallops, shrimp, fish, hush puppies, etc.) and Clay and I split a porterhouse steak, mac & cheese, and garlic mashed potatoes.  For dessert, we got their famous bread pudding (seen below with my parents) and our waitress also brought them a chocolate cake to celebrate 39 lovely years!  

Congrats Mom & Dad! 

One year down...many more to go! 

We really enjoyed our time with my parents, especially all their help!  It would have been way more difficult and exhausting if we had done it alone.  WE LOVE YOU BOTH!

aaaaaand we're in.

Friday, December 28th.  It was going to be a great day. You know why?  MOVERS!

Thursday night...exhausted to say the least.

My job was to tell them where everything went for two hours. Yep, I could handle that! They were two really nice guys from a company in town and they did a wonderful job!

We made quite the ridiculous scene with our 2 UHAULs.

They unpacked our 17' truck and the trailer in 1.5 hours and then helped us put together an antique bed that can be tricky sometimes. Cheeto and Chester were loving our new place and found so many random places to hide, climb, and sleep on.  We kept finding them on boxes that we were trying to unpack but we just didn't have the heart to move them - they were SO tired from all the commotion.

Chester snoozing. He was here for several hours. 

We got a lot unpacked the first day! Move accomplished. 

Moving Day

Ready or not, here we come.

Thursday the 27th was quite possibly the longest day of my life. We started bright and early because Clay had to be in Jacksonville by 5:00 to go by our rental office and get the keys to our house (or we would have to resort to plan B...again.) Other than that, there was no deadline to be there. Clay drove his car and dad {thankfully} drove the UHAUL + little guy.

Dad's sweet ride for the day. 

Mom and I still had to go back and quickly clean our old place & turn in the keys before we could get started. And did I mention drug the cats and get them in their cage? That wasn't so easy.  I drove my packed car and mom drove the van with Cheeto and Chester.  We headed out of town around 11 am and quickly had to stop about 30 minutes later due to the cats flipping out.  Mom is really good at {forcefully} giving them medicine so we were back on the highway in no time.  

Our day was basically a lot of stopping to eat/stretch, checking on and giving more medicine to the cats, calling dad and Clay for updates, getting stuck in I-95 traffic for hours, calling friends and family to help pass the time, etc.  Clay made it to the office and got our keys {success}, my dad arrived around 5:30/6:00, and we arrived around 9:30.  What a day!  My parents definitely got the worst end of the deal and we can't thank them enough! 

All Packed Up

Wednesday, December 26 was not at all the day we had expected it to be. The "plan" was to get the truck at 8 AM, finish packing a few boxes, grab some lunch, direct the movers who were coming at 2 that afternoon, and sleep in our empty house on the mattress in the floor.  My parents were coming that night and staying in a hotel so we could all leave early Thursday morning for FL.

Well, let's just say that plan was destroyed.  It was exactly like the saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans."  We woke up to pouring rain and left to get our 17' truck. This was our first major move TOGETHER so we thought for sure this would hold all our stuff from our 2 bedroom duplex.

After heading to Chick-fil-A for breakfast, we went home to relax and pack a few more boxes. The movers called us WAY ahead of schedule and asked if they could come early since they had a cancellation.  Well, since this didn't fit into the original plan of the day, of course I freaked out and immediately got up and started throwing things in boxes.  Clay delayed them about 1.5 hours so I could have time to get it together (he's so good at that!)  

It poured rain the entire time they were there and at one point they took a 10 minute break because it was so bad. About halfway through their time, one of the guys said that he wasn't sure if they were going to be able to get everything in the truck but they would try their hardest.  WHAT?!?  This was not the news we needed to hear.  As they got closer to jamming it all in, he said they would have to pack our king mattress because they wouldn't be able to leave enough room for us to shove it in the next day.  UH OH...another bump.  

At this point I decided it would be a good idea to lock myself in the bathroom with Cheeto and Chester and chill out.  Clay was handling the stress much better than I was (as usual!) We chatted through the door a few times and it was determined that we would be needing a trailer...the biggest one they had.  GEEZ...so I called and reserved one for us.  

After the movers had crammed everything they could into our truck, we geared up to drive the full truck back to the UHAUL office to get our trailer.  Please keep in mind that neither of us had driven a UHAUL before, much less a FULL one!  For those of you that know Raleigh, we took Wade Ave to the downtown office on Capital Boulevard - not the best decision!  Our full truck on those hills was crazy (almost blowing out the motor and bumping into the curb in those skinny lanes.) The man must have felt sorry for us because he gave us a HUGE discount for our trailer.  

By the time we got back home, my parents had arrived at our place to help finish packing.  1.5 hours later, the trailer was packed and we were all exhausted.  We had pizza at Amedeo's and dad reserved us another room at the Holiday Inn.  The cats slept on blankets in the floor of our empty duplex.   

Packing day was finally over and hardly anything went according to plan.  Lessons learned : get the biggest truck you can get the first time and don't stress out.  It'll all get done somehow, someway.  And it did.