Happy Fall Y'all!

Oh, man! I have been loving this fall-ish weather we have been having! Today I made a trip to the farmer's market for some mums and found this amazing lettuce pot!



They called it "living lettuce". It makes me want a HUGE salad. You just trim off what you need to make your salad, etc. and it keeps growing for you!! LOVE it!

Here are some pics me and Baxter enjoying these beautiful days:


gorgeous sunny sky

sweet puppy dog

some of my roses making one last show before winter


You are probably wondering what I have been cooking lately, huh? Well, last week I had some cupcakes to make for Hunter Beason. His mom, Mecie, told me they were having another camping party and wanted cupcakes. She gave me creative control and told me to "do whatever"! Here is what I made:

S'Mores Cupcakes!

They have been really big lately on all of the cooking blogs, so I thought this was a perfect time to try them out. Here is a link to the recipe I used from "Good Thymes and Good Food" that includes the graham cracker crust, chocolate cupcake,and marshmallow buttercream. I topped each cake with either a graham cracker stick or a mini hershey bar. Also, I left out the chocolate chips from this recipe. (only because I forgot to buy them!!) They were soo yummy!

Also, I discovered a new love at The Fresh Market! I have many many loves there, but this one is taking the number one spot this week! This pistachio gelato is beyond words. Get some.


I was really craving seafood a couple weeks ago (specifically crab legs and shrimp), so I decided to make Justin and I a form of Surf and Turf. After searching the internet, I found this recipe on "What's Cookin' Italian Style" for a crab, shrimp, and mushroom sauce to go on steaks.

For the steaks, I got 2 filets from The Fresh Market and cooked them according to the only steak recipe I will ever use...Ina's Steakhouse Steaks. Perfection, everytime!

I served Rachael Ray's potatoes gratin on the side. This is one of my absolute favorite potato recipes. If you know me, you know I LOVE potatoes. So, trust me on this one...it is like potatoes in alfredo sauce....mmmmm.



Umm. Yeah. Definitely not something you want to eat on a regular basis, but a good splurge!

Hope everyone is getting outside to enjoy this weather if you can! Have a great week!

Homemade gnocchi!!

I'm super excited to tell you all about this gnocchi, but I guess I'd better start at the beginning of the week, so you'll know WHY I made the gnocchi.

Sunday is one of my work days. Usually I am so tired after 10 hours of helping folks out of bed and moving heavy arms and legs that I don't want to do much cooking...especially if I don't have anything planned and prepped already. So, Sunday, I called Justin on my way home from work with my usual "What do you want to eat?" (hoping he would suggest ordering a pizza). He said "Oh, just whatever we have..." Ugh, I really didn't want to cook and we were low on groceries, so I said "Well,I will just fix a salad or something." I drove home trying to scrounge up the energy to throw together some sort of dinner salad.

Well, to my surprise, I walk in the door to find THIS going on:



Yep, that's my husband and a rack of lamb. Probably the sexiest thing I have ever seen. Just saying.

He got the recipe from his Men's Journal magazine. He went to the grocery store (The Fresh Market!!) and got all the ingredients himself. Then, he cooked this fabulous dinner for me. So sweet, right?

I know.

Here are the recipes for my amazing dinner:


Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Asparagus with red pepper dressing
Both from Men's Journal


Strawberry Mint Smoothie
From The Fresh Market

He picked up the recipe for the dessert smoothie while he was at the grocery store. It was all delicious. I love you baby!!

As I was cleaning up after dinner, I saw a pound of potatoes, a huge bunch of basil, and some cherry tomatoes on the counter. I know I didn't buy this stuff, so I asked Justin what they were for. If you read further into the asparagus recipe, you already know the answer. He said he bought all the ingredients, but just didn't have time to make all that gnocchi by hand.

My next thought was, "What kind of MEN'S magazine has recipes for rack of lamb and gnocchi, anyway?" Justin said these were part of an article titled, "Five recipes every man should be able to cook"

EVERY man? Not that I disagree, (I mean, wouldn't that be awesome?) but that's a bit excessive, right?

WELL....I have always wanted to try making gnocchi. Giada makes it look so easy on the Food Network! All the ingredients were there and Jacob and Jessy were coming over for dinner, so why not now?!

After looking at the recipe, I quickly realized that this would be an all day event. So, I got started early.

You can find the recipe for the gnocchi in the asparagus link above from Men's Journal...

Here is how you do it, adapted from Men's Journal:
1. Bake 1 pound of potatoes (any kind, really. I used Yukon Golds) for an hour.
2. Cut them in half and scoop out the insides.
3. Put the hot potatoes through a potato ricer.
4. Mound the hot potatoes on a clean countertop and make a well in the center.
5. Put 1/2 cup flour then 2 egg yolks then another 1/2 cup flour into the well.
6. With a bench scraper, chop everything together quickly until a dough forms.
7. Shape dough into a ball and roll in flour.
8. Pull off a section of dough and roll it into a snake.
9. Cut the snake into 1/2 inch pieces.

10. Roll each piece into a ball in your hand

11. Place the ball on your floured counter top and roll it with a fork or gnocchi paddle into an oval shape with indentations. (I don't have a gnocchi paddle, so i used a fork)




12. Once all the gnocchi are shaped, drop them into boiling, salted water. Scoop them out when they float to the top and dunk them in an ice bath to cool.
13. Take them out of the ice bath and drain on paper towels.
14. Refiridgerate or freeze until ready to use.

All of the above took about 2 and a half hours. Making the actual gnocchi dish was quick and simple. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of our dinner.

I made Steak Diane, Gnocchi with tomatoes and basil, and Strawberry goat cheese salad.

The salad is my creation (and one of Jessy's favorites). Here is what goes in it:

Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad

4-5 cups fresh mixed baby greens
1 pint strawberries, halved
1/2 pint blueberries
1 small package goat cheese, crumbled
3 Tbsp. toasted pecans
4 Tbsp Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (I use Ken's)

Toss together and serve!

The gnocchi was delicious. Much better texture and taste than the store-bought kind...but a lot of work!

Hello!

I don't know if I have mentioned it or not, but I am in love with my new job! I mean, really. Now I have time to do all the things I need to do around the house and lots of time for cooking! Yay! My running and yoga are going well. I'd probably be doing better at the running if it weren't 150 degrees outside, though. I have abandoned that "Couch to 5K" program, since I am able to run a little farther than what the program designates at this point...so I guess that's good! Today, I am getting ready for a party tonight. We are going over to the Beason's for a get-together with Justin's class. I am working on a cheesecake, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and a 7 layer salad. It has been quite a productive week...back to work tomorrow!

Here are some of the recipes I have made this past week:


Sauteed Tilapia with Lemon Caper Pan Sauce

Another Cooking Light success. This was very very similar to the chicken picatta I made not too long ago. I served it on top of some leftover risotto, and it was perfect. I love that lemony sauce. yum yum. Oh, and I used capers instead of the peppercorns that the recipe calls for, just cause that's what I had on hand!


Pasta with Asparagus, Pancetta, and Pine Nuts
Cooking Light

Simple, healthy supper!



Yesterday I got some beautiful fresh figs from the farmer's market. Plus, I found some steaks on sale at the grocery store. So, I decided we would have a fancy steak dinner!
I found this fig salad recipe from, where else?, Cooking Light. For the steaks, I use my go-to Ina Garten steakhouse steaks recipe. Here ya go!

Prosciutto, Fig, and Gorgonzola Salad
Cooking Light

I used goat cheese instead of gorgonzola, because I found the goat cheese for a great price at Kroger. This was an amazing salad...very fancy!



Steakhouse Steaks
Ina Garten

This recipe is more delicious every time, and you can use pretty much any cut you like. I had sirloin this time because it was on sale. I don't use quite as much salt as she suggests, and this time I let some goat cheese melt on the steaks while they rested...yummy! I served the steaks with smashed potatoes and green beans.