My Birthday, The Renn Faire, and Strawberry Picking {oh my} + {a free download}

{doing}

Soooo…. It’s  been longer since my last post than I thought, but that’s probably largely because the second half of April and first part of May  are always a busy time for us.  In April we have our anniversary (5 years this year).  To celebrate we decided we wanted to go to Bass Pro Shop and eat at the restaurant there, so my parents took us and then bought us some new float tubes to take down the river, so were excited about them and hoping to get the opportunity to take a trip down the river soon.  Then a little over a week later is my birthday (I turned 30 this year!), and I had a “Royal Garden Party/Fairytale” themed party. {here’s some pictures of the set up…. There were a few things I wanted to do that didn’t get done – such as a pin the horn on the unicorn game – but overall I loved it.}

tables set up in our backyard

the tablescape.... those plates {the big ones and the tiny ones} are actually paper plates.... the gold ones I found on Amazon and the little ones were in the wedding aisle at Michaels.  The utensils are clear plastic from Party City

drinks table.... what I apparently didn't get a picture of was the little path that leads behind this tree over to where the tables where set up... if you look closely you can just see part of it in the far left of this picture.... it has solar globe lights lining the path for night time

the food table (didn't have all the food on it yet though) this was also in the side yard next to the opening of the "path

the cake and my balloon and floral swag {that I am quite proud of if I may say so}... I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with balloons.... I love them when they are used in a unique way or oversized balloons, that sort of thing, but not a fan of balloons when they are cheesy... I liked that this made them look a bit more sophisticated and "fancy"

and with the candles lit.... there weren't quite 30 candles, it was 27 I think.... but that's what the candelabras held so we just went with it haha. ....

and forgot until after dark that I wanted to get a few pictures of the invitations with the set-up, but it still worked out okay.... the invitations were actually rolled up as scrolls for delivery to the guests

Then of course there’s Mother’s day in early May, Dance recitals (although now that I’m only going to see them and not be in them myself/have dance students in them, that takes up a lot less time).  We also went to the Virginia Renaissance Faire with friends of ours.  Now I have to say, while it was a fun day, I was used to a big one that we used to have in this area that had an actual town with real buildings and such, so the one we have now will never compare.  But definitely still fun.  We got there right as they opened in the morning too, which ended up working out well because it was unseasonably hot that day, but the morning was overcast so while it was still SUPER humid it wasn’t really that bad without the heat and sun (and even though some of the forecasts were calling for rain all day it only drizzled slightly once or twice, not enough to even get wet).  By the time the sun came out in the afternoon and we started really getting miserable with the temperature we had seen and done pretty much everything we really wanted to anyway.  (also it wasn’t as crowded in the morning  which was really nice too). 

And last but not least, it is Strawberry Season! So of course we went strawberry picking (a couple weeks ago actually, we're on the downslope for strawberry season around here now, but I’m hoping to maybe go one more time to get some more, but we’ll see….).  In case you haven’t noticed fruit picking is kind of one of our “things”.  We always do strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, every year at Miller Farms Market.  We’ve also gone apple picking in the fall at Carter Mountain Orchards, and we wanted to go peach picking there last summer, but the one day we were going to be able to go there had been a streak of unseasonably cool weather and they didn’t have the orchard open because there wasn’t enough ripe fruit…. So we’re hoping to be able to do that this year.  I also found a farm that does dig-your-own peanuts in the fall so that’s on the the list for this year as well.  Then of course there’s pumpkins and a Christmas tree….. but back to strawberries……..

me, posing proudly with my busket of berries in the patch

my busket and the one my husband picked on the hood of my car before we drove across the street to pay for them

I also had a fun Strawberry related idea, that unfortunately I came up with too late with for this year (also there wouldn’t have been a time for it this year with some other stuff that we have/had going on), but I’m already planning it for next year…… a Strawberry potluck picnic.  A lot of our friends also go strawberry picking annually (or at least get fresh strawberries from the farm), and strawberry season just kind of signals that summer is almost here, so I thought it would be fun to have a party where everyone brings their favorite thing to make with strawberries to share with everyone.  Just picture it lots of yummy strawberry goodies and our side yard decorated with doily garlands and flowers in mason jars, and of course lots of strawberry stuff and red and a little pink…. So so cute… and it’s definitely happening next year ;).

In fact, I’m so excited about this idea that I’ve already designed invitations, and, in case you want to “steal” the idea for this year or next you can get a jump start by downloading this PDF version of the invitations {feel free to print and use for your own personal or non-profit use}.  They are sized for size A7 envelopes, which are easily found at craft and office supply stores… And if you do have a strawberry potluck picnic I’d love to see some pictures from your party! Post them in the comments section.

And if you’re looking for some ideas of what to make with your yummy strawberries (for a party or just for yourself and your family) check back tomorrow for recipes for a couple of my favorite things to make with my pickings. :)

Theme Food Week: April Fools {April}

{cooking}

April Fools Week:

So, I have to say this was one of the most fun Theme Food Weeks so far.  You may have noticed that we didn't end up doing Theme Food Week in March, that was partly accidental and partly planned.  With the hubster and I being out of town at the end of February, I got a little delayed with March and planned to do Theme Food Week later in the month...... then I forgot about it/the month got away from me until the last week of the month, and by that point we decided that it would be best to just skip it for March since by then Easter preparations were in full {last minute} swing.  But, in my opinion, April's theme made up for missing March.  The theme was April Fools, so I scoured Pinterest for ideas for food that looked like a different food than what it actually was.  The vast majority of the ideas were desserts that looked like dinner foods, but I was really wanting dinner foods not desserts and I did eventually find enough dinner ideas..... let me tell you though putting together whole meals was a bit of a challenge.  Even though I wasn't concerned about the veggies or one of the sides being "disguised" necessarily, I still wanted them to be something that didn't give away what the disguised food really was (or on the flip side of that taste too strange with what the food actually was).  The first night's meal was especially difficult in that regard..... but I'll talk more about that later.

Each night no one was allowed into the kitchen until I had finished making and plated the the meals and then before anyone was allowed to touch or eat anything on their plate everyone had to take a guess at what they thought it was.  My mom especially got pretty into the guessing (as did several of my friends on Facebook when I posted the pictures of the meals on there).  It really was a fun theme. Now, I will say though that I didn't really follow actual recipes for most of the food this week mostly I just got the idea from the pins I found and then made the stuff on my own (to be honest some of them I don't even know if there was a recipe beyond the description of the pin because I never looked that far..... I will link to the pins that were my inspiration though if you want to check them out yourself.

{The Menu}

Tuesday: April Fools "Ravioli" with "Marinara Sauce" and Roasted Butternut Squash

We started the week on Tuesday because we didn't get a chance to go grocery shopping for the week over the weekend so we had to go Monday evening.  This was also the night with probably the "easiest" disguised dish.  It's actually not something I would normally serve for dinner (at least not for adults), but like I said finding enough non-dessert ideas and putting them together to make at least somewhat rounded meals was a little bit of a challenge.  This would be a great April Fools lunch, or April Fools to serve kids........ Have you guessed what it is yet?......... While you take another minute to think it over I'll tell you some of the things my mom guessed, which actually on this one wasn't much, first she guessed that the "marinara" was a plum sauce {it was not} and then after that she didn't really have a whole lot of other ideas about it.  I think she did eventually decide (or maybe it was my husband...) that the "pasta" part of the "ravioli" was bread {it was}.  So are you ready to find out what it was? have you already guessed? The "ravioli" was actually peanut butter sandwiches, and the "marinara" was strawberry jelly.  The butternut squash was just butternut squash.  This was probably the day that was the hardest to come up with a veggie/side for because I wanted it to be something that you might serve with real ravioli but that would still taste good with the pb&j. Here's the pin that I got the idea from: PB&J "ravioli"

Wednesday: April Fools "Milkshakes" and "Cupcakes"

Mmmmmm..... dessert for dinner?! This is a reverse of what a lot of the ideas for April Fools foods were... instead of a dessert that looks like a dinner this was dinner the looked like dessert (and it's not the only night this week that that was the case, but we'll get to that later) so have you guessed what it really is yet? Here's what some of the other guesses were: Melon soup {which is kind of close}, Meatloaf "cupcakes", Guacamole "frosting" {also pretty close}, and mashed potato "whipped cream" {which is completely correct}.  Did you have time to think it through?.... The "milkshakes" are cream of shrimp soup, with mashed potato "whipped cream", and the cupcakes are caramelized onion, bacon, and cheddar biscuits with an avocado frosting.  Now, I must admit that when I was originally planning out the meals for this week I had intended to make homemade shrimp bisque soup for the "milkshakes", but by the time I was actually making out the grocery list and shopping I knew that the likelihood of that actually happening was slim, so I bought canned cream of shrimp soup instead (I did add old bay to it......).  I made the mashed potatoes basically the same way I always would except that I actually peeled the potatoes first and made them a bit thinner than I would if we were just eating them by themselves.  For the "cupcakes" I had intended to actually follow the recipe from the pin, but for whatever reason when I went to make dinner that night I couldn't get anything to load on the internet so I just ended up making regular biscuits with a baking mix and mixed in some caramelized onions, crumbled bacon, and cheddar, and fortunately I remembered the avocado frosting from the recipe so I was able to make that.  So, here's the pin for the soup "milkshake" you will notice that the recipe for this is for a mushroom soup to make "chocolate" "milkshakes", but since I can't eat mushrooms or chocolate I opted for the shrimp soup for "strawberry".  They also used actual whipped cream but I didn't really want more cream in the soup so I opted for the mashed potatoes, didn't necessarily sit on the top as well, but it worked okay. And then here's the pin for the cupcakes (oh yeah and it was supposed to have chives but I didn't end up adding those since I didn't have the recipe to work from)

Thursday: April Fools "Fried Egg" on English Muffin, April Fools "Cinnamon Rolls", and Sweet Potato Hash browns

I love breakfast for dinner, so of course I was all about these April Fools ideas that made an April Fools version of breakfast for dinner.  I loved how the "eggs" turned out looks wise too (they would have tasted better if I hadn't forgotten to salt them... haha.... they were good though), and the "cinnamon rolls" were to die for! Did you guess what they really are yet? My mom's best guess was two types of cheese for the "eggs" and that made her kind of half correct.  The "egg" was the bottom of a roma tomato covered with a piece of roasted yellow bell pepper and mozzarella melted under and over it for the "eggwhites" (and now you understand why a little salt would have made all the difference haha). The "cinnamon rolls" did actually have cinnamon..... they were pizza crust brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with pulled chicken in Honey BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's of course) and rolled, sliced and baked to look like regular cinnamon rolls.  OH. MY.GOSH were these good, the cinnamon and the honey barbeque sauce were so good together!  The sweet potato hash browns were just shredded sweet potatoes tossed with some olive oil and the rest of the melted butter and some salt and cinnamon and spread out on a baking sheet and baked. There was nothing April Fools about them lol. So here's the pin for the "fried eggs" which I pretty much actually followed the actual recipe/instructions from.  And the pin for the "cinnamon rolls" but this one was definitely just inspiration, I pretty much didn't follow their recipe/instructions at all.

Friday Saturday: April Fools "Cake" and peas

This was the piece de resistance of the week, it was so hard to wait until the last day to make this one, but I also wanted to save it for last since it was probably the most impressive one. And then of course it ended up having to wait even a day longer than I had planned because Friday night ended up not working out for being one of the Theme Food Week days, but it was worth the wait.  Wanna take a guess what it is.... The only guess we really got the night of was that the "frosting" was mashed potatoes {and it was}. It was really..... Drumroll please............... a meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting.  I made the meatloaf with my normal recipe, but instead of baking it on a rimmed baking sheet like I normally do I baked it in a spring form pan so that the grease could still drain out of it and away from the bottom of the meatloaf (once the meatloaf was cooked enough to be really set I opened the spring on the sides of the pan so the grease could really escape), and cut it into 2 layers when it was done.  The mashed potatoes I made the same as I did earlier in the week, but left them a little thicker, the consistency of a good frosting (I did put the mashed potatoes between the layers on first and had it a little thicker for that since the meatloaf was a little heavy and then thinned the rest of it out to the frosting consistency after that).  I decorated the cake using exactly the same methods I would have if it had been real frosting. The peas were just canned peas. I actually found several different pins that inspired this meal here's a couple of them: meatloaf cake, and another.


You know I was telling a co-worker about Theme Food Weeks the other day and I was talking about how it is a chance to break out of the food rut that we tend to find ourselves in, and get a little creative with our meals and try some new recipes, which I have talked about on here as well.  But after I got thinking about it some more for a few days after that I realized that it's also about more than that.  For at least 4 days during Theme Food Week, dinner becomes a priority.  And not just the food part of dinner.  For those four days at least we aren't sitting in front of the TV eating, were not eating at different times, in different places, we are all sitting together around the table and sharing a meal, and that is so important.  And something that in our society doesn't happen nearly enough.  Even when it's not Theme Food Week I try to have us eat at the table as often as I can, but honestly if there's stuff all over the table, I don't necessarily put out the effort to clear it or if there's already something on TV.  But during this week at least we are sitting down and having a meal together, with no TV.

{Getting Ready For Easter} Easter Dinner Decor Ideas

{living}

Since I already shared pictures from last year's Easter dinner yesterday, I thought I'd share some pictures from other years today. After all I can't share pictures from this year until Easter is already past.  Of course, me being me, I can't do the same thing 2 years in a row so each year has to have a different theme (although I have to say I'm not sure I always go quite as "all in" with theme for Easter Dinner as I do for Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, but even if it's not quite as obvious with the Easter tablescapes and decor it's still in the back of my head as I choose decorations.

{unfortunately I can't find my pictures from Easter 2011.... If I remember correctly that year had some stuff I really liked, but I don't know where the pictures are currently stored, so if I can find them I will add them here, but for the meantime we'll have to make do with 2012 and 2013}

2012

The theme for 2012 was "an Easter picnic"

These first few pictures were taken early Easter morning as we were getting ready for church {I always try to set the table for a formal meal the night before}, I loved the way the early light coming in through the windows hit the centerpiece. It looked like an early morning Easter meadow

The centerpiece was several patches of plastic grass lined up together  and scattered with oversized Easter eggs, tissue paper flowers, and little bud vases with a fresh flower in each....

... and little bunny figurines {which were originally bunny shaped sidewalk chalk, that I covered with several layers of sealant/varnish to turn them into figurines}

the whole tablescape

and in case you were dying to see it from the other end of the table lol

The buffet table.  The table cloth for this was a collection of smaller "picnic blankets" {aka pieces of spring colored gingham fabrics} and decorated with more oversized Easter eggs, normal size Easter eggs and flowers arranged in jars and bottles.  the meal was Rack of Lamb; Ham; Rosemary Green Beans and Carrots; Deviled Eggs; Biscuits; and some sort of potatoes - I don't remember how they were fixed and I can't tell from the picture lol.

We also had a cantaloupe soup instead of sliced cantaloupe

My butterfly dessert plates

and Carrot Cake Cheesecake {a Martha Stewart recipe that is so good and I make almost every year} for dessert

 

2013

For some reason I really didn't get many pictures of the table and such in 2013, but I do have a couple, the theme was "glittery and elegant" or "Easter at Versailles", and I definitely didn't really go as all out with it as I would have liked to (in fact it's a theme I'll probably do again to be able to do a little more with) I don't remember what the deal was this year, I think it was a year where Easter was early and just snuck up on me (kinda like this year) and I just didn't have much time to do as much as I would have normally.

Elegantly dressed chicks and eggs on feather nests down the center of the table.  This the first year I had this china, which my Aunt gave me.  The goblets were also a gift from a lady that I am close to at work.

and of course the silver is my mix and match vintage silverware

I always have small Easter baskets for each person at their place they serve both as gifts/favors and as placecards

This is the one for my husband that year..... notice the "man" {AKA duct tape covered} eggs? lol

The buffet table... I believe the menu that year was rack of Lamb, Ham, Popovers, Scalloped Potatoes, Deviled Eggs, Sauteed Green Beans, Sauteed Asparagus, and honestly I'm not really sure what's in the soup tureen... pasta salad maybe? and for dessert Carrot Cake Cheesecake {a Martha Stewart recipe that I make almost every year... it is soooooo good} and "magic cake" - a recipe I found on pinterest, it was pretty yummy, and I'm sure you can find the recipe if you search for "magic cake"

over-head view of the food lol

beaded eggs, a tall glass candlestick and a sparkly bunny to decorate the buffet table

{Getting Ready for Easter} Easter Dinner DIYs

{living}&{making}

Getting Ready For Easter:

Preparations for Easter are definitely in full swing here at our house.  Actually, I'd say it's more like a mad rush to try and get everything I want to do done and ready.  Somehow the month of March flew by and I didn't realize Easter was going to be as early as it is until, oh..... probably last week to be honest.  I have most of the decorating done, and I'll be posting a decorations "tour" sometime this coming week, but I have a couple more things I'd like to get made before I do that.  In the meantime, though, I do have a couple of DIYs I made for last year's Easter dinner to share today:

Bunny Ear Napkin Rings and Mason Jar Footed Glasses

{Bunny Ear Napkin Rings}

I saw my inspiration for these last year at Hobby Lobby and this year I've been seeing them everywhere! I had actually meant to post this DIY last year when I made them, but perhaps since they really seem to be a big thing this year it's best that I didn't get it posted after all. ;) haha.  I think they are just so cute, in fact I'm thinking I might use them again this year (if I don't find a new napkin fold I'm dying to do) and they came together pretty quickly and easily.

{What you'll need}:
Burlap - I'm not sure how much yardage you need, I had gotten several yards to use last year since the theme was "Burlap and Lace", I also used it to make the placemats in the picture,but it doesn't take much.  I've seen some done in colored burlap too and they are super cute
Cardstock - depending on how many napkin rings you are making 1 or 2 sheets should be enough.  I used a tan color so that it wouldn't be obvious through the open weave of the burlap, if you're using a colored burlap use a similar colored cardstock
Thread and needle or sewing machine - matching or contrasting color to your burlap
Hot glue gun and glue

{How-to}:
1 First cut a strip of cardstock to the size you want the band of your napkin ring to be. {Mine were about 1.25" wide and about 8" long}. Cut a strip of burlap a little more than twice as long and about the same length.  Glue the burlap around the cardstock so that the seem is in the middle of the strip. Overlap the ends about an inch (more or less depending on how tight you want the napkin rings to be) to make a ring and glue together.

2  Next draw an ear shape (like in the picture below) onto cardstock and cut it out. Use the cardstock piece as a template to cut the ears out of burlap.  You will need 4 ear pieces for each napkin ring you are making. (2 per ear)

3 Sew the ear pieces together in pairs a little bit in from the edge, then fold the 2 bottom corners in to the middle as in the picture below and sew a straight line across to hold in place.

4 Cut the bottom of the ears off just below the stitch line to make a flat bottom

5 Use hot glue to attach the ears to the rings and you are done.

{Mason Jar Footed Glasses}

This one is so simple it doesn't really need much in the way of instructions.

{What you'll need}:
 Mason jar of your choice (I used these tall, narrow, quilted ones to make iced tea/water glasses)  glass candlesticks (I used short ones to compliment the tall jars)
Glue/adhesive - make sure you use one designed for this type of application, the one I used when I originally made these I've used on other stuff and worked great but some of these didn't survive the dishwasher (Which was fine I put them in there as a test.) It has survived hand washing on other stuff I have used it on though, but I recently found glue at Walmart, in the craft aisle that says it is for glass (among other things) and is supposedly dishwasher safe - I haven't tried it yet so I can't say whether it really is or not - I also currently can't find where I put it (my craft room is a mess right now) so I can't tell you the name of it, but basically just read the label to determine what glue will work for you

{How-to}
This how to literally only has one step - glue the candlestick to the bottom of the mason jar and let cure as directed on the glue's packaging. It's usually at least 24 hours, but definitely follow all package directions. Easy peasy.

Now since you've seen the DIYs here's a few pictures of the tablescape and other decorations from Easter Dinner last year:

As I said earlier the theme was "burlap and lace"

the table was decorated pretty simply with burlap ribbons, eggs in a wire basket, a couple bunnies figurines from my collection and baby's breath in Mason jars

this is one of my favorite bunnies since it looks like he is praying, too sweet

the place setting: burlap placemat, charger with a lacy edge, and of course the napkin rings and glasses

The buffet table (please ignore the mess that is the craft room in the background.... it's more often a mess than neat it seems lol.... The garland was also a DIY: store bought doilies cut in half and sewn into double fold bias tape.  The table runner was a wide burlap ribbon/runner that I gathered down the middle and then laid a lace edged ribbon over it

the meal was much more simple than I normally do since it was just us and my parent's last year and I had hosted a baby shower the day before.  The "vase" that the flowers in that back are in was made the same way as the glasses, just using a bigger jar and taller candlestick.

Catching Up {&} Theme Food Week February: I {heart} Theme Food Week

{living}&{cooking}

Well, well, well..... here I am again having to play catch up after being MIA for over a month..... I really can't believe its been so long, February and March have really flown by! I apparently didn't even get Theme Food Week for February posted (we'll get to that in a minute).  I know why I didn't get anything posted in February - we were without internet for several weeks again at the beginning of the month (of course that turned out to be our fault, we didn't realize the power had gone out to the outlet that the modem was plugged into and it needed to be unplugged and plugged back in ..... which lets face it should have been one of the first things we tried, but it wasn't... haha) and then we were in California for my sister-in-law's wedding at the end of the month.  March.... IDK what happened there, it just flew flew by.

So let me go ahead and do my recap for February's theme food week and then I'll get you all caught up with everything else that's been going on and what's coming up. (especially with Easter sneaking up so quickly on us here!

Theme Food Week February: I <3 Theme Food Week

In honor of Valentine's Day February's Theme Food Week was all about heart shaped food.  There were a couple new recipes I tried for Theme Food Week, but also several of the days were just normal stuff made heart shaped or with heart shaped ingredients. So here's the menu:

Monday: Stuffed Flank Steak (hearts) with Heart Shaped Roasted Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

This was one of those that wasn't a new recipe, just a little extra effort put into the prep.  For the stuffed flank steak I pounded out the flank steak to get it to a good thickness and size then coated one side of it with a mix of crumbled goat cheese, pesto, and roasted red peppers.  Instead of just rolling it like you normally would I rolled each side into the middle and tied it off with kitchen twine to make it heart shaped (or at least as heart shaped as possible lol). Honestly now that it's been over a month I don't remember what temp and length of time I cooked it for, but I looked up a couple stuffed/rolled flank steak recipes to kind of see what the average was and went with that, so my advice would be to do the same, for that matter you can follow the whole recipe for any stuffed flank steak and just roll it this way....  The potatoes and brussels sprouts were roasted together coated with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, etc. same as always.  The potatoes I cut out of slices of potato with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Tuesday: Heart Shaped Mini Pizzas and Chicken Wings

This night was super easy and again, not a new recipe or anything, in fact mini pizzas is a dinner I make a lot, for Theme Food Week I took them up a notch with a couple more heart shaped cookie cutters.  The crust is Pillsbury Artisan whole grain pizza crust.  It's a really good pizza crust actually, of course making your own would be better I'm sure, but........ lol ;).  As well as cutting the crust out with a heart shaped cookie cutter I used a tiny one to cut hearts out of pepperoni.  I also (sort of) managed to make little hearts out of mini red bell peppers, and I attempted to cut grape tomatoes into heart shapes, but that only really worked on a couple of them, haha.  The wings were simply coated with barbeque sauce and then baked (you can toss them again with more sauce when they're done if you want since the sauce you baked on them thins out a lot in cooking, but it's a matter of preference.  Just make sure if you do it's not the same sauce that came in contact with the raw chicken!)

Thursday: Chicken Lazone (with heart shaped chicken breasts) with whole grain angel hair and sautéed green beans

This is the recipe for the Chicken Lazone that I used.  It was the first time trying it for us.  My mom thought it was fine but my husband and I both thought the sauce was a little to cream tasting and needed more flavor.  I do think this might have had something to do with the way I ended up making these though.  The recipe calls for chicken strips and then when you make the sauce you just make it in with the cooked chicken all in the same pan.  Because I partially butterflied the chicken breasts to make them heart shaped (to do this simply slice at an angle through the middle of a chicken breast, leaving the pointed end uncut so that it becomes a heart when you open it flat), I had to cook them one at a time because that's all that would fit in my pan and the butter in the pan got a little burnt from cooking so long so I had to clean out the pan and start over and while I did add a fair amount of the seasoning mix back in I think it just wasn't the same as it was supposed to be.  So while it was still good I do want to try it again sometime the way the recipe says to make it.  When I was plating my pasta it just happened to fall onto the plate in a heart shape too, which I thought was a cool coincidence.  The green beans were sauteed in butter and olive oil and of course salt, pepper, and garlic on them.

Friday: Italian Orzo Soup (with heart shaped veggies) and Heart Shaped Garlic Toast/Croutons

This is the recipe for this soup.  It was so good and I think for a change I actually followed the recipe as it was written, hahaha.  I cut the carrots for it into heart shapes (I saw it on Pinterest, basically you just shape it with the vegetable peeler and then slice it) and I actually found a heart shaped piece of tomato from the canned tomatoes that were used.  The bread was cut out with a heart shaped cookie cutter and toasted under the broiler (or you could use a toaster oven) with butter and garlic powder and a little salt on it - normally I would also put Parmesan cheese on them but I was out.....



Now you may be asking yourself, "But what about March's Theme Food Week?" We actually ended up not doing Theme Food Week this month, it just didn't really work out, but I am SUPER excited about Theme Food Week for April... the theme is April Fools.... definitely going to have some fun with this one!

    So now to catch up on other things..... As I mentioned we took a trip to California at the end of February for one of my Husband's sister's wedding.  It was a great trip and we got to see lots of family.  Also the weather was FABULOUS! it was around 60-70some degrees the whole time we were there, while back home here in VA we were having record cold temps.  We got some snow before we left and a decent snow after we got back but it was a really nice break to have that spring like weather in the middle (and miss the really cold weather at home).  Then it was March, then before I knew it mid March and then before I knew it here we are almost April and almost Easter.  Easter really snuck up on me this year too, I didn't realize it was going to be so early.  I still have a lot to do to get ready for it, but I have gotten most of my decorating done, as well as another house project I've been wanting to do for a little while now.  Over the next few days I plan on posting a decorations tour, as well as a few craft projects to help you get ready for Easter and some photos of my Easter dinner tablescapes/decor from the past couple years (since I wouldn't be able to show you this year's until after Easter).  And of course I'll have to show off my light fixture makeover too.  

    I'm also gearing up for my 30th birthday at the end of April, and we'll be celebrating our 5th anniversary in the middle of the month.  So all in all it should be a pretty busy month. A month to look forward to though!

I hope that you also have a month to look forward to on the horizon for April and beyond, and look forward to sharing mine with you!