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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Making Dinner on the Cheap...Baked Salmon with Feta and Tomatoes

I was going to write a post on how to make a really cheap dinner for four (based in part on recently spending all my money on a new AC) when my mom called me and asked if I wanted some extra salmon that she had.  Well what is cheaper than free food from your mom?  Nothing.

She even prepped it for me.  She put tomatoes and feta and olive oil on it and some seasonings too I think.  Her instructions were to cook it at 500 degree F on the bottom rack of the oven for a bit then switch it to the top rack for a bit until it was sizzling and looked cooked.  Uh that seemed hard.  But I did it.  Switching back from top to bottom a few time for about 18 minutes.  It was good.


So in the future I am going to do a series on cheap dinners.  What would you consider a cheap price for dinner for four?  Less than $10?  Less than $5?  And I'm not talking ramen noodles here.   Something with meat or a least a significant vegetarian meal.  I watch Money Saving Meals sometimes with Sandra Lee on the Food Network and it has inspired me.

Do you live close to your mom?
Does she ever offer you free food?
What's your favorite cheap meal?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Shimp and Scallop Pasta...

After eating out for 3 nights in a row at the beach with my brother and sister (who decided to come up to visit us), B and I decided that we would eat in one night.  We headed on over to Captain Jack's Seafood Stand and bought some fresh shrimp.  Then I got some bay scallops at the grocery store.  I decided to make a shrimp and scallop pasta.  I made this up as I was going so it is definitely not perfect...........

Shrimp and Scallop Pasta (for 2-3)
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled
1/2 pound small scallops
3 cloves garlic, minced
butter
olive oil
white wine
mushrooms
red pepper flakes
cooked linguine
lemon wedge

I basically just cooked the shrimp in some butter and olive oil and then set them aside.  Then I cooked the scallops in the butter and olive oil and set them aside.  Then I cooked the garlic and the mushrooms in some butter and olive oil.  I added some wine to that.  Just a splash.  I cooked it down a little and then added the shrimp and scallops back in until everything was hot.  I mixed it all with some linguine and added some red pepper flakes. I squeezed some lemon on before serving.   Like I said, I was kind of winging it.  It was pretty good.  I could have used a little more flavor but still it was not bad for making it up as I went.

I had a hard time with the photos because every time I went outside my camera would fog up.

So, do you like shrimp and scallops? 
Do you hate peeling shrimp as much as I do?
What's your favorite food to eat at the beach?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

How to Keep Cool at the Beach....by special guest blogger, Hobie

Option 1-Lay on the AC vent...
Option 2-Get in your Water Bowl...




Sunday, August 8, 2010

2010 OIB Beach Olympics

The 2010 OIB Beach Olympics consisted of Bocce Ball, Corn Hole (or Bean bag toss), and  Ladder Ball. But really who cares about the games?*** I care about the costume/uniforms. Due to time constraints, I had to go with my old standby…the Puffy paint t-shirt. You can always get a t-shirt at Michael’s for less than $4. And puffy paint is not too expensive either. So I went with our wedding colors, purple and green. B loves wearing a nice purple shirt every now and then (as long as it’s not lavender).  I accidentally misspelled our name on B's shirt though.  Oops.
The McRosen’s really pulled out all the stops with their customized blue and yellow T’s purchased at the mall.  Their T's even had numbers on that back like a real uniform. They also had wonderful accessories such as silly bands and bright yellow sunglasses. My accessories were sweatbands, not so much for their looks but because sweat was pouring down my face during bocce ball.  Team A-Corn could have benefited from some sweatbands or perhaps silly bands. Maybe next year they will step it up a notch.  I could barely see Beezus5's team (which went by multiple names during the weekend) due to their camouflaged shorts.  Plus her wolf shirt was really distracting me due to it's magical powers.

Please be advised that I do know how ridiculous and unattractive I look in the above photo.  I'm taking one for the team.
Team Jellisen (aka my team) ended up taking the overall crown this year.  But team A-Corn had a strong finish and won the Ladder Ball round which is pretty much the most important Beach Game of all (well at least it's the game that started it all).  We'll get you guys next year.

Hobie won the rope bone and high jump competition.  He did not appreciate it when I made him wear my sweatband.  Clearly it looks much better on him than me, though.  Next year I think I'll go for a more glamorous look.
Have you ever heard of or played any of the above games or is ladder ball just something that my friends and I play?
Whose team uniforms do you like best (puffy paint purple w/sweat bands, brown, camo or customized blue and yellow McRosen t's)? 

****My husband, B really cares about the games.  A lot.  He gave me pep talks.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Wedding Week-Shrimp N Grits

Maybe you already know this from reading this blog, but I'm kind of in to food.  So for my wedding, food was on the top of my list for things that had to be awesome.  My brother had been to a bunch of weddings and he claimed that the best thing he'd had at any wedding were shrimp and grits.  Also, I like shrimp and grits.  So we decided to have a shrimp and grits station at our wedding (with martini glasses).  It was neat and people seemed to enjoy it.  We also had meat, potatoes, salad, chicken cordon blue bites, etc.  The food was pretty awesome.  I was very happy.

After our wedding I found this awesome shrimp and grits casserole recipe.  It is really good.  It's really just grits with a bunch of cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese, some onions, peppers, rotel and shrimp.  Spicy and Tasty. I pretty much follow those instructions.  Sometimes I add in a little bacon and I usually use regular onion instead of green onions.

The wedding coordinator at the place I had my reception was all like, "you will not eat at your own wedding."   And I was like "uh, yeah I will."  And I did.  I also had someone save me a plate of appetizers from cocktail hour (that I missed because of photos).  I definitely recommend doing that.  Also if you make your bridal party take tons of pictures right after the ceremony, it's nice to have someone bring them drinks and food if possible.  I couldn't do this because I was at a Church but yeah, do it.  They will like you more.

So do people really hate grits?  I mean I get it if you are not super interested in plain grits.

But add a cup of cheese and they are delish.....

So in conclusion.....I really like food, I did eat at my wedding and grits taste great with tons of cheese.

Feelings on grits?
If you are married, did you eat at your wedding?
What is the best food you have ever had at a wedding?

Monday, August 2, 2010

Wedding Week-Wine Time

I have been pretty surrounded by weddings recently.  I mean we had the Acorn Wedding, the McRosen Engagement, Chelsea Clinton's Wedding, My Own Anniversary, etc.  I decided to start focusing my Etsy shop more on wedding related things.  Recently I have been making a bunch of wine charms that I think would be great for wedding events.

At the last wedding I was in, the Groom sent the bride and bridesmaids a bottle of champagne.  (Although I missed the exact moment because I was working on my hairstyle).  I thought these would be great for just that occasion.  See they are blue.  Something blue......

The only thing that could have improved the plastic champagne flutes that Mo prepared for us for the Acorn bachelorette party, would have been these handy pink wine charms.  Bachelorette parties can get crazy.  You don't want to accidentally drink out of the wrong glass........


On the topic of wine.....For my own wedding I decided I wanted to make my bridesmaids and BFFs wine related gifts.  So I painted them wine glasses.  I had big dreams of making intricate designs on the glasses but dots ended up being about as intricate as I could get.  I just bought some glass paint at Michael's and followed the instructions.  They give you a special paint that you use to pre-paint the glasses so that the paint doesn't wash off.  I may have forgotten to use that on some of them.  Ooops.  Oh well, some of the dots are still on.  I've seen them at my friend's houses.
So what do you think of my wine related crafts?
And more importantly.......
Do you like Red Wine?
White Wine?
Champagne?
Arbor Mist?
Or just plain beer?

Oh and a side note-Although in my last post I said my sister makes fun of the questions at the end of my blogs, she is still a wonderful person.  A truly wonderful person.  The best.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Happy Paper Anniversary to Me (and B)!

What is that up there?  Oh that is a delicious Hawaiian cake that I have been binge eating for the last two days in honor of my 1st wedding anniversary.  Did we save the top tier of the cake at our wedding?  No, we ate it.  So I went and bought us a mini cake from the place we got our wedding cake (a bakery named Delicious by the way).  It is delish and probably much better than if we had frozen the top layer last year.

So traditionally the gift for the first year of marriage is paper.  So I got a lot of paper for my first anniversary.  My husband has semi-secretly been making me my gift all week.  He told me to keep my expectations low as Arts and Crafts are not his forte.  We even went to Michael's together to get supplies (although he wouldn't let me see what he was buying).  So what did he make me?  He made me some frames with the readings/poem we had at our wedding and pictures from our wedding?  I liked it.  A lot.  I made the number thing with photos I took of numbers at the beach (I might have stolen this idea from Shanzie.)  That's the day we got married.
We also got some hand made paper wedding cards from L-Fab and Mo Young.  Thanks guys!


And a special shout out to L-Fab for really pulling through and making us a DVD of all the wedding footage she took last year on her video camera.  I didn't even know we had that.  (Mo-it features the push up competition!  Yeah there may or may not have been a push-up competition at the Rehearsal Dinner after party.)

Happy Anniversary B!  Only 59 years to go until we get to the 'Diamond' anniversary.  Can't wait!


So even though my sister mocked how I write questions at the end of my blog a lot I'm still going for it.....
If you are married did you give your husband paper for your first anniversary?
Do you like pineapple cake?  (most people I know are not in to it)
Have you ever witnessed a push-up contest at a Rehearsal Dinner?