Hope everyone is well and has been enjoying the spring weather we've been seeing the past few days, I myself am off to Mexico in a week for my first family vacation. Im pretty excited about it and have already packed, and have been routing things out everyday to hopefully make for a light vacation.
This week I didnt do much in the way of exercise, but have been cooking up a storm.
We had a dinner party with our friends, where I made a lasagna, and we drank too much wine.
Hailey is really enjoying herself
Banjo and Sammy
Saturday morning I went over to my friend Sam's house to help her prepare for her girfriends babyshower. Sam mostly had it under control. I just helped make sandwiches, and devilled eggs. I wish I brought the camera as Sam went all out and was so inventive with the games she had. Greg even got an ice cream bowl for helping Sam put the meat slicer together.
We left around noon and went for a nice rainy geocache trip. We ended up only finding 2/4 but we picked up a tracker we are gonna take to Mexico, and dropped of a Slovakia coin we had had for a while.
I made A fabulous butternut squash soup for dinner on Saturday, and my sous chef made the baking powder biscuits. It was a nice hearty meal and I am really sad that butternut squash season is over. But I am happy spring is around the corner. Thats for sure.
Most of this week was spent spring cleaning, hence not being at the gym. I have really been feeling like purging and cleaning out my closets to feel lighter mentally and physically. It was nice to open all the windows and let the nice spring air in the house, I even hung sheets on the line! They didnt last too long, as it did start to rain, but they sure smelled fabulous when I crawled into bed that night!
I also made Greg ginger beef over fried rice with a whole bunch of asparagus we had to use up in the fridge. Greg makes this amazing charcoaled balsalmic asparagus on the barbeque, I was really hoping he'd make it, but I ended up just steaming it. It was still super delish.
Tonight I made some chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing, for my girlfriends baby shower tomorrow morning. Im really looking forward to the arrival of her little one! I went shopping and got a little carried away, everything is just so cute for little girls!
You dont need to press the mini cups down, they will sink when they cook.
You cant even see the cups once the cupcakes bake!
Usually I would make my own cake mix, but I was also making butter chicken for Greg and I for dinner, so needed something quick and easy.
As soon as I posted the photo on facebook people asked for the recipe. Heres a couple I made this week. Reece Peanut butter cupcakes
You will need:
1 Duncan Hines cake mix (chocolate fudge is which one I used)Individually wrapped Reece mini cups, for inside the cup cake
Unwrapped Reece mini cups for decorating
2/3 cup Whipped Cream2 cups icing sugar
1 cup peanut butter
3 Tbsp. butter24 Cupcake liners
Piping bagPrepare any chocolate cake mix, or devils food, or any of your choice, really, into cupcake lined sheet. Fill 2/3rds of the way full and place a mini Reece cup in the middle of each one, you don’t need to press them down into the middle.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Pull ‘em out and let ‘em cool. Take 1 cup of peanut butter, 3 Tbsp. of butter, 2 cups of icing sugar and whip in a large bowl until well combined. Whip 2/3 cup of whipped cream until light and fluffy. Spoon into a piping bag (or put in a Ziploc and cut the tip off) and pipe with icing. Place a cute little mini cup on top! Voila!Butternut Squash Soup
You will need:
Large pot and food processor or stick blender1 medium to large sized butternut squash
1 large white onion4 TBSP. butter
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP. curry powder
½ tsp. ground cardamom
1 clove minced garlic
1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated8 cups chicken or veggie stock
Optional garnishes: chopped cilantro, dollop of sour cream, roasted corn, parsley
Preheat oven to 350.
Take one medium to large sized butternut squash, cut in half and scoop out middle. Put a tablespoon of butter in each half, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast skin side up on foil cookie sheet for 45-50 minutes.
Melt 2 tbsp. of butter and olive oil in large pot on medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger, curry powder and cardamom and sauté for 3-5 minutes more.
Scoop flesh out of squash. Discard of shell. Add squash in to pot along with stock. Simmer 15 minutes then puree in small batches using a food processor, or with a stick blender (usually until squash is smooth).
Return to pot and simmer another 15 minutes. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and some roasted corn.
And last but certainly not least,
My favorite lasagna
One box oven ready lasagna noodles
1lb. ground beef, or turkey
Prepared pasta sauce, or make your own using a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, any any veggies you like
1 container cottage cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese, 1.4 cup separated
2 cups mozzarella
Chopped frozen, thawed spinach, rinsed and drained
1 egg, beaten
1 cup cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
Make pasta sauce.
Prepare ground beef, add to sauce. Simmer 15 minutes.
In a large glass oven proof dish, spoon a layer of sauce onto the bottom of the pan and top with noodles.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1 ½ cups mozzarella, ¾ cup parmesan, container of cottage cheese, spinach, salt and pepper and beaten egg. Use hands to combine.
Layer noodles, pasta sauce and cheeses.
Top last layer with sauce, remaining parmesan, ½ cup mozzarella, and cheddar. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Let sit for 10 or 15 minutes before serving. I like to serve this dish with a nice salad and some garlic bread.
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