All I can think about lately

Is it time for summer yet?!?

Because I just want to be at the lake.  

While I just went to run in Barnes and Noble and look around the other day, I suddenly found myself in the cookbook section and this familiar face was staring back at me and I just couldn't resist...

I already have her Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook (thanks LoBerry!!), but this one just looked so appealing and had everything I'm always looking for: simple ingredients, not too complicated recipes, and very delicious.  Three things that you would think wouldn't be hard to come by but sometimes just are.  However, you can never go wrong with Ina, am I right?!  I'm hoping this weekend I'll be able to make something, we'll see!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monday, monday...

It's a cold and dreary day in Bham, so Margo and I have been holed up in the apartment enjoying doing nothing and catching some eps of Real Housewives of O.C.  :)

Last night I put my new dutch oven J got me for my birthday to use!  It's an absolutely wonderful pot, first of all it's so pretty and second cooks things to perfection and thirdly cleans so easily!!!  Can you tell I'm a little obsessed?!  I never thought I'd ever rave about a pot. 

Anyways, I decided to make mushroom bourguignon from none other than one of my fav's smitten kitchen.

It was delicious and I highly recommend it...  

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

2 lbs portabello mushrooms, in 1/4-inch slices (I bought two pkgs pre-sliced)

1/2 carrot, finely diced

1 sm. yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. full-bodied red wine

2 c. vegetable or beef broth ( I used beef)

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (1/2 tsp dried)

1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 c.  pearl onions (J and I scoured Bruno's looking for these, couldn't find them so I decided to throw in some kalamata olives I already had~ hey they are similar in size, right?)

Egg noodles

Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in medium dutch oven over high heat.  Sear mushrooms 3-4 min then remove from pan.

Lower heat to medium and add 1 tbsp olive oil, carrots, onion, thyme, (and in my case, olives) and s & p.  Cook for 10, add garlic.

Add the wine to pot, turn heat to high, reduce by half.  

Add tomato paste, broth, and seared mushrooms, bring to a boil then reduce temperature to a simmer for 20 min.

Add 1 tbsp butter and flour, simmer 10 more minutes.  If the sauce is still too thin, boil it down to reuce to the right consistency.

Serve over egg noodles and enjoy!!!

Mmmm..steamy!

Do I really have to go back to work??

Mmm the perfect dinner last night...

Jane's Chili from Tables of Content

3 lbs ground round

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed

2 onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1- 16 ounce can kidney beans, drained

1- 15 ounce can black beans, drained

1- 15 ounce can white beans, drained (I used navy beans!)

3- 4 ounce chopped green chiles

1/2 c red wine (I used 1 c!)

3 envelopes chili seasoning mix

1 tsp ground cumin

Brown meat and sausage, reserve drippings and cook onion and garlic for about 5 min until softened.  Add onion mixture, undrained tomatoes, beans green chiles, wine, seasoning mix and cumin to a stockpot and mix well, add additional wine or water as needed.

Simmer, covered for 1 1/2- 2 hours stirring occasionally, remove the cover 30 minutes before the end of cooking process for thicker consistency.  

*Side note: I used hot italian sausage and hot chili seasoning packets...you know, just for a little kick!

Oh and guess who found some pillows?!?  What do you think?  Don't mind the blur in the middle of the pic, it was in all of them, I guess it was just our friendly apartment ghost.

So long 2008...

This was our cabin in Montana.  It was straight out of cottage living, however I could never live there~  IT WAS SO COLD!  This coming from a girl who wears her spandex pants under jeans when its 65 in Birmingham so you better believe I was packing it on up there!  Me and the fam had lots of fun and I think my parents made it clear that this would be the last time that they would be participating in the skiing portion of a skiing vacation.  I was very aware of this fact as I waited a few feet down the hill from my mom and listened as she begged and pleaded for God to get her off this mountain, and we all know that Vicki usually has such a positive attitude, it was pretty funny.    

I then come home from a wonderful Christmas vacation to find this waiting for me in my living room:

After I stared at it in silence for about ten minutes with my mouth wide open and of course maybe a little misty eyed (crybaby), I called Jonathan and quickly informed him that he had truly amazed me and I was speechless.  I absolutely love my new bed!!!!

This is the finished product of the bed portion, hopefully soon to be finished in the linens portion as well.  Who knows where I can get some solid red Euro size pillows...??

New Year's Eve was sandwiched in between my working schedule so J and I decided we'd just spend the night in.  On the menu?  Butter pecan cookies, Quail with stuffing, asparagus and potatoes. Pretty good if I do say so myself, although I'm not sure if I'm totally in love with wild game...  

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year in 2009!  I know I have been so blessed this past year and I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for everyone of our friends~ especially a certain someone's big move to D.C. !! I can't wait to see what it brings, love yall so much!