Valentine's Day 2015

I wasn't planning to post anything about my Valentine's Day, then one of my coworkers said she was looking forward to reading about it on my blog, and I started thinking. I always enjoyed Valentine's Day as a single gal, but I know the eye roll that goes along with the tenth bouquet of roses and chocolates and sappy post about my wonderful boyfriend/husband that you see on social media. I don't want to contribute to alienating single people, but maybe it would be helpful to see a dose of real life. 

Things aren't as fancy around here as they used to be.  Last Valentine's Day: 

I sent my gal pals a photo Valentine's Day card (who does that?! me.), and I had a few friends over for a girly dinner party, complete with a fancy and delicious chocolate cake that my SIL made. I LOVED sending Valentines and taking care of my single girl friends on V day. 

This year, I'm engaged. That means I had a grand, romantic Valentine's Day with flowers and chocolates and a whole day spent with my love, culminating with an expensive dinner out and champagne, right? No. At least not exactly. 

Zack is wonderful every day, and Valentine's Day is no exception. I still choose him if/when he is not wonderful, but I have yet to see it. We're living 388 miles apart right now, and he is working 14 days in a row. I could have gone to see him, but it was questionable whether he'd be home or have flown to Canada. 

I was home sick part of Thursday, and I answered the door to a woman with this bouquet. My fruit went great with my dad's birthday pie :)

On Valentine's Day, I sat around in sweats most of the day, running out only to go through the Chickfila drive through with Dan to get some free iced coffee and a heart shaped biscuit (worth the carbs). I baked bread to take to a girly Valentine's dinner at my friend's house. It was an awesome day of rest. 

While I was getting ready for my friend's party, my mom and Tracy came in with a beautiful hydrangea. They're my favorite flower, and I'm hoping this one will survive inside in its pot until it warms up and I can plant it at our new home. I had told Zack that I'm not into grand gestures, and this was perfect. I ate the fruit, and I'll plant the flower, and that's that. Perfect. 

What did I get him, you ask? Well, I mailed him a card and a box of "little happies" as my SIL would say. By the way, my engaged friend and I had a laugh together about the Valentine's cards available for engagement. I only found ONE card for a fiance, and it had a watermelon on it and said something about "sweet" and "delicious" ... no. I'm pretty sure what I actually sent Zack was for a husband. 

Back to Valentine's Day. My friend Kelly and I went to the party, where we enjoyed good food and games. Then, literally while the hostess was acting out The Excorcist in a game of charades, the power went out. The wind was howling, and it snowed on our way home. 

At home, I scrolled through Instagram and felt more jealous of all the happy couples than I ever did when I was single. Maybe my memory is clouded? Engagement can cause delusions. However, I truly have no room to complain. I'm so thankful to have him, even if we never spend a romantic Valentine's Day together. 

cooking with herbs

My basil, parsley, and oregano have taken off lately. As there's more to harvest, I'm trying to use my herbs more in every day cooking. 

One of the pasta alternatives I've tried since eating low carb: zucchini noodles. These "zoodles" are topped with meat sauce made with my basil and oregano, pine nuts, and parmesan. 

I used both green and purple basil to make pesto. 

Topping scrambled eggs with pesto really takes them to the next level!

The day before my parents' anniversary, I made them a supper of caprese salad, green salad, spaghetti squash with meat sauce, and paleo doughnuts. It was both low carb and tasty. I tried to make my dad proud by eating a slice of tomato. (I know, I am not a true southerner.)

I'm really enjoying my herb garden this summer. What should I use them for next?

cookout with the Kirks

I had a great lazy afternoon/evening at a cookout hosted by friends this weekend. LH carried out a picnic theme, using borrowed supplies from her mom. What a creative way to serve watermelon! It's a bug! 

They decorated with tissue flowers, which I didn't get a good picture of, jars, and pretty paper straws. 

Two of the guests brought three flavors of sangria they had made with homemade liqueurs. I didn't taste them, but they were beautiful! 

I didn't try the lawn games, either, though there was cornhole and a frisbee game. I tried for an action shot, instead. 

LH eats gluten free, which made for a fun baking challenge for those of us who decided to take desserts. I have been trying to eat healthier, especially cutting carbohydrates, so I was happy to have an event for which to give paleo cookies a go. 

By the way, could someone tell me what exactly paleo means? Between my best efforts to eat low carb and natural and having friends who don't tolerate gluten, I find myself making a lot of "paleo" recipes, but when my SIL asked me to define paleo, I couldn't. However, I do know what gluten is. (Thanks, LH, for this reference.)

LH's brother in law made these doughnuts using leftover coconut flour passed from Lindsay to LH to him. They passed on the flour because after using it to make gluten free foods, they decided they didn't like it. Well, he made doughnuts with it, and they were FABULOUS. I wanted the recipe but was scared to ask for fear that there's cups and cups of sugar. 

Lindsay made gluten free candy shaped cookies above and these Eiffel tower cookies. I sure do miss Paris! 

LH made pretty, pretty Pinterest-y dipped strawberries. 

Can you tell that sweet treats were the most photogenic aspects of the party? Isn't that always the case? The company was great, and the other food (hot dogs, pulled pork, salads, fruit) were delicious, too. I wish I had taken pictures of people and the gorgeous house! 

Thank you for including me, Kirks!

pink punch (T's favorite)

This is the punch bowl that I inherited from my friend's family (story here). 

And the beautiful glasses. 

First, I added half of a quart (a pint) of raspberry sherbet. Sometimes I just run warm water over the bottom and put the whole thing in, but this time I decided not to be lazy. 

The punch gets mixed together better this way.

I poured in about a cup to a cup and a half of lemonade, made with powdered mix. You could also dump in lemonade mix first, stir it into soft drink to dissolve, then add sherbet. It's actually tastier that way, in my opinion. 

I poured in half of a two liter (one liter) of Sierra Mist. I chose this brand because my SIL steers clear of high fructose corn syrup.

I added my ice ring.

Then, I placed frozen, sliced limes and frozen cranberries in the bowl for more decoration. 

A pretty pink punch! We served this punch at our cookie exchanges and at my new year's eve get together.

I am certainly not the first person to make this very simple punch, but I threw it together when I had these ingredients on hand, and my SIL liked it so much that I've made it again and again.

Pink Punch

2/3 cup lemonade mix + water

2 liters Sierra Mist

1 quart raspberry sherbet

Scoop out half of the sherbet into a punch bowl. Pour in half of the prepared lemonade and half of the bottle of Sierra Mist. Stir. Garnish with frozen fruit. Refresh the punch bowl as needed with the remaining ingredients. 

This recipe is a starting point for all kinds of variations. What are your favorite types of punch? Punch ingredients?

citrus cookies

My sister in law and I started a tradition last year.  We host a cookie exchange in early December, and we ask that each person makes a different recipe each year.  At the party, we give prizes for the best tasting cookie, prettiest cookie, and best all around cookie (most votes in both categories combined).  I found this recipe for citrus cookies from Martha Stewart, and I hoped they would be a contender for prettiest cookie.  

I baked my cookies on Saturday morning, so I had to pause to make waffles and bacon.  I mixed in cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.  Is anyone going to Vermont soon?  I used up the Vermont maple syrup that my parents brought back for me from their trip this summer.

Back to the cookies.

I made half of the dough lemon flavored and the other half orange flavored.  Always read the comments on recipes!  That's where I got the idea to do half and half; I had oranges on hand and had purchased yellow and orange sprinkles, so all I needed was a lemon.  Fortunately, mom texted me while she was at Target, and she brought me a lemon.  

My dad is a fantastic problem solver.  When I realized I was already halfway through the process and hadn't found a thread spool like I needed, I asked him what I should use instead.  He suggested an apple corer/slicer.  It made nice marks on my cookies, but the indentations weren't quite wide enough to hold sprinkles.

The thread spool my mom found worked better with the sprinkles.

I didn't get any votes for best tasting or prettiest, but I would still try this recipe again.  Both types had nice flavor and with a little more practice, I think I could make them pretty.

What's your favorite cookie recipe?

fall friend supper

A group of friends invited me along on a dinner outing recently, and I asked if they would come over to my house instead.  It had been way too long since I had cooked a meal for friends.  

We ate salad, baked pasta with sausage and spinach, and pear, cranberry, gingersnap crumble.  

Thanks to my friends for letting me test a couple of Pinterest recipes on them!