Another Pinterest Winner

We needed a quick dinner tonight and Pinterest came through, once again!

Source: laurenslatest.com via Tessa on Pinterest

The only adaptions I made to the recipe were the following:

• We grilled our corn and cut it straight off the cob
• I used the Hidden Valley spicy ranch mix
• I substituted greek yogurt for the sour cream
• We did not use avocado

Brandon gave this meal rave reviews and it was so easy to throw together so I believe it will be finding its way into my recipe binder!

Quick Lunches

**Not sure what is up with the formatting!**


Since Mason has joined our family, my time in the kitchen has been pretty limited.  We were blessed to have wonderful friends and family provide us with meals shortly after we got home so I didn't have to cook, but since then I've had to come up with quick meals that can be easily prepared so we can spend as much time as possible with Little Man!  And, believe it or not the hardest meal for me to prepare is lunch.


You see, I'm not a huge sandwich fan and I'm also not a huge leftover fan.  My leftover limit is like one, maybe two, meals after the original.  And I just can't take cold cuts slapped on boring bread day after day.  I do love all kinds of salads, but Brandon isn't the biggest fan so I end up having to eat those all by myself, which then takes me back to the first point -- I don't like leftovers all that much.  


However, I recently came across a couple of tasty jazzed up sandwich recipes that I have tried and really liked so I thought I would share them!


Turkey and Tomato Panini 
(courtesy of Eatingwell.com)

• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

• 2 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt

• 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

• 8 slices whole-wheat bread

• 8 ounces thinly sliced reduced-sodium deli turkey

• 8 tomato slices

• Spray butter
• 
  

Pre-heat a panini press (or non-stick skillet).  Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, Parmesan, basil, lemon juice and pepper in a small bowl. Spread about 2 teaspoons of the mixture on each slice of bread. Divide turkey and tomato slices among 4 slices of bread; top with the remaining bread.  Spray one side of each sandwich and place on the panini press (or skillet) and then spray the other side.  Close the press and cook for 2-3 minutes until the bread is toasted and the sandwich is bubbly.




Roast Beef Sandwich


1 recipe Comeback Sauce (recipe below)
4 hoagie buns, baguette (the best option in my opinion), toasted
8 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 lettuce leaves
4 tomato slices
Spread as much or as little of the sauce on your bread, then layer the roast beef, cheese, lettuce and tomato and top with the other half of the bread.


Comeback Sauce
(courtesy of SyrupandBiscuits.com)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4  cup Heinz ketchup

1/4 cup chili sauce  ( I prefer Heinz or DelMonte.  DO NOT substitute Thai Chili Sauce)

1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1/4 cup light olive oil

juice of one lemon

Mix all ingredients well and store in refrigerator overnight.  This sauce is good on sandwiches, burgers, salads, as a dip for french fries, etc.

Semi-Homemade Pantry Meal Because I Was Desperate

 I was in a conundrum when it came time for dinner last night.  I haven't cooked all week (even though I have groceries and meals planned) and Brandon had softball so cooking a full meal was out of the question, but I was hungry for something warm and not out of a box.  So, I turned to my cabinets and whipped together what I call a "semi-homemade pantry meal because I'm desperate" meal.

I had diced tomatoes, tomato paste and pasta on-hand so I decided to make a quick marinara sauce.  Then, I peaked in the freezer and I had a few frozen meatballs leftover from meatball subs a few weeks ago, so I went ahead and threw those in too.  All in all, it was a tasty meal and satisfied my tummy!  And, it took less that 20 minutes from start to finish!


Quick Marinara Sauce
1 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used petite diced)
2-3 T. tomato paste
1-2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
2 tsp. sugar
onion powder, salt and pepper to taste

Drizzle the olive oil in the bottom of a medium sauce pan and add the minced garlic.  Saute until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add in remaining ingredients and simmer until ready to serve.

*I added frozen meatballs and cooked the sauce for about 15 minutes while the pasta boiled.

It's not authentic Italian food, but it sure works when you are in a pickle and need something fast!

Recipe Update

Last week I posted our bi-weekly menu and so far I've made three of the of the new recipes and they have all been pretty good, but the Chicken and Veggie Tostadas have been our favorite.

Tonight, I made the Thai Lettuce Wraps.  I still can't remember where I got the recipe, but it is not my original creation so I can't take any credit for this.  The sauce was a bit spicy for me and I even took the author's tips and added extra honey and ketchup.  I might have added a little too much of the sweet chili sauce so that could have been part of the problem.  The only other alterations I made to the recipe were the addition of chopped water chestnuts and I eliminated the peanuts.  I don't really like peanuts and I also didn't have any on-hand.  So, since I didn't have a link to the recipe last week, I thought I would go ahead and share it tonight.

{Excuse the flash, but we didn't have very good lighting in the kitchen tonight}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thai Lettuce Wraps
(Serves 4)

1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips (I only had a green pepper on-hand)
1/4 c. sweet chili sauce (found in the Asian food aisle)
1/4 c. honey
1 head of iceberg lettuce, washed and leaves removed
1/2 c. honey-roasted peanuts, chopped

Place oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in the pan until golden brown on all sides.

Add in the red pepper and cook until soft, about three minutes.  Add in the chili sauce and honey.  Simmer to reduce it and coat the chicken.

To serve, place chicken mixture in lettuce leaves and roll up to eat (or eat with a fork like I do).

As I mentioned, the sauce was awfully spicy so if you want to make it a little more mild, use less chili sauce and add in ketchup.

Brandon really liked this meal and I think I would have liked it more had it not been so spicy.  It was definitely a very fast and easy meal to prepare, perfect for a busy evening!

Dinner Tonight

I haven't posted any recipes in a while so I thought I would share what we had for dinner tonight.

The menu included:

• Grilled KC Strip steaks
• Grilled Yukon Gold potatoes
• Spinach Cauliflower Toss
• Cucumber Salad

We don't typically do too much to our steaks before putting them on the grill, and tonight was no different; salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little onion powder.  Same goes for the potatoes.  We just dice them up, toss them with seasoned salt and pepper, drizzle them with olive oil and wrap them in foil.

While the steak and potatoes were grilling, I prepared the Cucumber Salad and the Spinach Cauliflower Toss.

For the cucumbers:
2 cucumbers, sliced
2 shallots, sliced
Seasoned Salt
3 T. Red Wine Vinegar
4-5 T. Olive Oil
Pinch Sugar
Fresh Ground Pepper
Dill

Toss the cucumbers, shallots and a teaspoon (or so) of seasoned salt and pour into a colander.  Let the cucumbers drain for 10-15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, fresh ground pepper and dill in a bowl (I didn't really do much measuring so my measurements are just a guess...).  Toss the cucumbers in the dressing, let marinate for 10 - 15 minutes and serve.

I combined a couple of recipes I found to create this recipe and it was really tasty!  Next time I will peel the cucumbers as these cucumbers had pretty tough skins.

For the Spinach Cauliflower Toss:
1/2 head of cauliflower florets, sliced
1 ripe avocado, sliced (pretend I put this in because I accidentally forgot it tonight)
Lemon juice
1/2 bunch fresh spinach, torn
1/2 c small pitted black olives (I use the pre-sliced olives in the can)
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Sprinkle avocado with lemon juice.  Combine spinach, sliced cauliflower, avocado and olives in a bowl.  Whisk together the following dressing:

6 T. vegetable oil
3 T. white wine vinegar (I didn't have any so I substituted red wine vinegar)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. dried basil (oregano works, too)
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Pour dressing over salad, add pine nuts and toss.

I believe this recipe came from the Junior League of Wichita's cookbook, Women of Great Taste.  If you don't have this cookbook (which I don't, I steal recipes from my mom's copy), you should pick it up.  It is full of WONDERFUL recipes!!

So, there you have it - our dinner tonight!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we headed to Iowa with Brandon's family to celebrate the wedding of his cousin.  We loaded up in his dad's truck and made our way north on Thursday.  We only drove to Lincoln, NE (boo Huskers!) and stayed the night there.  Then, we got up and hit the road again Friday morning.

Once we got to Rockwell City, we hit the ground running!  Aerial had asked me to arrange her wedding bouquet and her bridesmaid bouquets so once we got settled in the motel, I got started.

Aerial was fortunate enough to use lilies from her parent's neighbor's garden!  I really wasn't sure what I was walking in to knowing we were using flowers right out of a garden, but I was extremely surprised with the quality and size of the lilies.

While I was putting the bouquets together, Pam and Ashley put together all of the centerpieces (I didn't seem to get a photo of this).  I was so appreciative of their help as the bouquets took me a little longer to arrange than I had planned.

While we were busy with the flowers, Brandon and Craig found entertainment of their own - mopeds and a motorcycle!!  (Hoping to get a photo of this soon!)  Brandon had so much fun on the moped, that he pretty much rode it around all weekend.

After we finished with the flowers, we all tried our luck on the moped as well.  Pam was first to try it out...

Next it was my turn...

...and this is about all I could do - sit there and hold it up.  I didn't make it very far when I was actually driving it.

Since I couldn't ride it very well, Brandon decided to go find himself another lady!

His grandma wasn't so sure about the whole thing!

Later in the evening, Ashley got in on the moped action, too!

We went to the rehearsal dinner Friday night and then helped set up for the reception, as much as we could help.

Saturday morning, we had a casual bridal breakfast for Aerial.  It was a special time to toast to her as she began her marriage and a great time to meet her bridesmaids.

After breakfast, we headed back up to the reception site to put some final touched on the decorations and to wait for the cake lady.

Around 3:30, I had to go up to the lake, where the wedding was being held, to replace a few flowers in the bouquets.  It was a pretty warm day and they had started pictures around noon, so the flowers were a bit droopy from being in the heat for so long.  But, in my opinion, they still looked beautiful!

(that is me holding the bouquet)

The wedding location was very pretty, and we were surprisingly not too hot!  Here are a couple of shots of some of the family before the wedding started.

Justin wasn't able to come on the trip, so Ashley was Roger's date.

Here is the beautiful bride walking down the aisle!

Here is a view of the lake from where we were sitting.

After the wedding we headed to the reception and the rest of the night is history.  The bridal party did the cutest choreographed dance and it was such a surprise!  I was really impressed with the guys' moves!  We did a lot of eating, a lot of laughing and a lot of dancing at the reception!  We really did enjoy ourselves and I think the pictures will speak for themselves! 

Here are the girl cousins taking a break from the dance floor.  I think us girls pretty much danced the whole night!

And the guys....well, they did a lot of this!  But, to their credit they also danced more than I thought they would!

(Brandon's cousin Brad who is getting married in 2.5 weeks)

Brandon seems to have found himself another lady again!

Here are Pam and Craig on the dance floor.  I tried my hardest to catch a smile from Craig ;)

Brandon and his aunt Anne cuttin' the rug!

Here is the whole group gettin' down!  I'm pretty sure the Running Man, Lawn Mower, Sprinkler and any other dance move you can think of were thrown down that night!

Finally, I got to dance with my husband :) ....

...And my father-in-law, but by the look on his face, I'm not so sure he thought I was a very good dancer!

And finally, here are all of the cousins (plus Aunt Donna) gathered for a picture with the bride and groom. 

Its funny to think that we will see everyone again in a couple of weeks after not seeing each other for a couple of years.  But, the beauty of family as that you can always just pick back up where you left off.


So, there you have it - our whirlwind wedding weekend!

4th of July

As I mentioned, we spent the 4th of July at Tablerock with my family and my mom's sister and her family.  This is always a fun weekend to relax, spend time on the lake, spend time with family we don't see much throughout the year and to watch really fun fireworks!

On Friday, we went to Eureka Springs, AR for the day.  We haven't downloaded our pics yet so I had to steal these pics from Natalie.  And the only picture with most of the group in it is this one:

And as you will notice, only "Bohns" are in the picture since we were standing under a "Crazy Bone" sign.  Very funny on the in-law's (Brandon and Natalie) part!  Eureka Springs is a quaint little town with lots of unique shops and pretty buildings.  As you can see, the guys were thoroughly enjoying our time there:

Brandon took several other pics while we were there so I'll have to post those another time. 

On Saturday, we spent time on the lake, but the weather was a little yucky so our lake time got cut short.

That evening, we grilled the biggest steaks I've ever seen for dinner! 

A few of us were eating outside on the deck while the rest of the family (including my dad) were eating inside.  About half way through dinner, Brandon gets up to go inside.  He opened the refrigerator, trying to look normal as he looked for A-1 sauce for his steak.  Well, my dad happened to notice Brandon was looking for something and asked him what he needed.  Brandon tried to play it off until my dad realized what he was looking for.  As you can imagine my dad was apalled that Brandon wanted to doctor up his steak with A-1 sauce!!  And, as you probably can figure out, beef families don't keep A-1 sauce around.  This became the joke for the rest of the weekend!!

Sunday, we spent more time on the lake but cut it short again to get ready for the big 4th of July celebration.  Off and on in years past, my mom has bought us all festive 4th of July shirts, but this year, we all got MATCHING 4th of July shirts!  So, here we are for our annual 4th of July family picture (Natalie made the girls' adorable dresses so they wore those, but they also had shirts).

(we were re-enacting an engagment pose)

(this was the result of Natalie saying "Brandon, were you looking for A-1 sauce?" ha ha ha!)

Here is the one we were actually going for!

My aunt's family didn't quite get in the spirit this year, though:

If you think we are crazy dog people, they had SEVEN dogs at their house for the week compared to our family's four! 

After dinner, we headed down to the shore for the firework's display, courtesy of some neighbors.  We all got together and ate homemade ice cream and other desserts while we watched the fireworks show!

(this was only a sampling of the fireworks!)

(This is my cousin's daughter)

It was sure hard to get back into the swing of things when we got home on Monday.  The lake is such a relaxing place (most of the time) so we definitely take advantage of sleeping in, leisurely mornings, no make-up, etc.  It's not looking like we'll get back down there this summer, but we're hoping to make another trip in the fall!