Denim, Diamonds & Steak {What's for Dinner? 3/6/2010}

Saturday night we had a Denim & Diamonds event with Alex's unit to go to. It was a celebration of the guys being home from Iraq and a fun time was had. There were some really nice people who provided a free steak dinner for all of us...apparently they go around donating steaks to soldiers and families all over the world. Pretty cool, huh?

I curled my hair with my new hot rollers and busted out my {very uncomfortable} cowboy boots for the event. Yeehaw! :)

We got to hang out with these cool peeps.


And there may even have been some bull riding involved {but not for me...I was wearing a dress so that was a no-go}.

Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk + Nostalgia {What's for Dinner? 3/5/2010}

Last night I came home from work in a foul mood and this close to being in tears. It was just one of those days where I felt defeated, both personally and professionally. Luckily, I have an amazing husband who wrapped me up in his arms and told me everything was going to be okay. Then he told me to go relax and he would take care of dinner.

Of course, because I'm a control freak, I ended up helping make dinner anyway but it was a team effort. Then we ate dinner and proceeded to watch an episode of Parks & Recreation {I really wanted to watch True Blood Season 2 and I thought we could find it On Demand but alas we couldn't...so this was our second choice}.

We had never watched this show before but it turns out it's totally HILARIOUS! It's a lot like The Office in the way it's filmed and the humor {which is okay with us because we love The Office}. We ended up watching all 4 episodes of it that were available On Demand for free and it was great.

After we finished watching the shows I started feeling nostalgic so I made Alex tell me the story again of how he decided he wanted to propose to me and how he went about planning it all. I love that story. It makes me happy. :)

When he finished the story he said "Hold on one second" and went to put our engagement video in the DVD player. I don't think we'd watched it since we've been married so it was so fun to relive it all again. And just because I feel like it, here are some photos from September 2, 2006:

Realizing what's happening

Will you marry me? under the Century Tree

Saber Arch

Suddenly a horrible start to my Friday night turned into a wonderful date night with my husband. I love when that happens!

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NOW, enough blabbing. Dinner was a delicious Thai-ish shrimp dish! Here is the original recipe for Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk that we bookmarked but we realized that the recipe was a bit off on some of the measurements so below I will post the recipe the way we did it.

We served the shrimp over brown rice, which is really a must since this make SO much extra sauce. You have to have something to soak it all up! We also made some simple roasted snap peas on the side. All I did for those is toss them in some olive oil & kosher salt and then just roasted on a sheet pan for about 15-20 minutes in the oven on 400 degrees.


Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk

Ingredients

* 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
* 2 tablespoons coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
* 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
* 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes {The original recipe wouldn't have been spicy at ALL so I think it's a little ridiculous that it is called Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk. We added the red pepper flakes to add some spice.}
* 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 can unsweetened coconut milk {NOTE: We had never cooked with coconut milk before so when we first opened up the can and found the milk solidified and separated we were very close to throwing it away. However, upon googling, we found out that is perfectly normal. All you have to do is stir it up. So don't be afraid of solidified coconut milk!}
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned
* 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
* lime wedge (for serving)
* Cooked rice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium heat.

2. Add onions and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Add garlic and ginger, cook 2 minutes.

4. Add all the spices, cook 1 minute.

5. Add tomatoes, cook 1 minute.

6. Add coconut milk,water, and salt, and bring to a simmer.

7. Simmer until thickened 5-10 minutes.

8. Add shrimp, simmer, stirring for 5 minutes.

9. Stir in cilantro.

10. Serve over rice with lime wedges.

Brinner {What's for Dinner? 3/4/2010}

Alex and I both love breakfast {most important meal of the day right?!?} and sometimes when we're at a loss as to what to eat for dinner we choose BRINNER! It's simple, cheap and tasty...just the way we like it!

Alex found this recipe for Beer Pancakes online and we decided to try it. We used Shiner Bock beer. I wasn't quite sure what to think about them but they were definitely fluffier than normal pancakes made with Bisquick and they tasted good too! It's a keeper!

That would be beer pancakes with margarine & strawberries, a fried egg (overeasy) and grilled bacon!

Alex recently discovered that you can cook bacon on the grill and he's all about another opportunity to use his grill...

All he does is make a little "pan" out of 2 layers of aluminum foil and then he folds up the sides. Then you just crank up the grill and lay the bacon on it. Cool, huh?

A Plate Full of Comfort {What's for Dinner? 3/3/2010}

Pasta will always be a comfort food for me. Always. The only problem with pasta is that I love it so much that I tend to eat three times as much as I should {and Alex is the same way}. This Spaghetti & Hot Italian Turkey Sausage with Steamed Broccoli was a delicious plate of pasta-goodness!! I could have continued eating, and eating, and eating but I eventually cut myself off. :)


We grilled the hot Italian turkey sausage and sliced it up on top. It was so flavorful, especially for being turkey sausage! {The brand name is Honeysuckle White} For the sauce we went the lazy route with jarred sauce but it was a really TASTY lazy route. It was HEB brand Marinara & Alfredo Sauce, but it was definitely way more marinara-y than alfredo-y. I think it might be my new favorite jarred sauce!

As we were eating dinner I looked at Alex and said, "We're really on a roll with dinners this week!" And it's true...everything we've had thus far this week has ROCKED! Let's hope we can keep the trend going.

Chicken Tortilla Soup with a Side of Drunk {What's for Dinner? 3/2/2010}

Soooo you may have noticed that I did not update this What's for Dinner last night. My husband made me margaritas to go with our Tortilla Soup and I got a leeeeeeeetle bit tipsy. And then at about 8:30 I told Alex I was going to watch the rest of American Idol in bed. The next thing I remember I was waking up at 11:45 with my contacts adhered to my eyeballs and my makeup smeared all over my face. {I remember the college days when I could drink a LOT more than I did last night and party until dawn...now I have a couple sips of alcohol and turn into a sloppy narcoleptic. I'm getting old.}




Anywhoooooo, this Chicken Tortilla Soup was really great! {As if you're going to trust a drunk's opinion, right?!} Here is the recipe and we followed it pretty much exactly. The only problem with the recipe was that it made enough to feed an ARMY! Seriously. I have a GINORMOUS slow cooker and it filled it up. The recipe says it makes 6 servings but I think they meant 60 servings. {Okay, maybe not that much but you get the idea.} It was definitely way too much for just the two of us. We're going to be eating Chicken Tortilla Soup for lunch for weeks now....but I'm kind of okay with it because it's so good! :)

Reality Bites: The Bachelor

So most of you probably already know this but.... Jake chose Vienna. Didn't come as much of a shock to me since I read realitysteve.com for the spoilers. but it still disgusted me profusely. WHY?!?


Then again, I really dislike Jake so I really don't care as much as I usually do when I watch this show. I haven't liked him since he was on Jillian's season. A bunch of my friends were freaking out over how much they loved him on Jillian's season but I just got a "blech" kind of vibe from him. To me, he seems soooooooooooo insecure and like the dorky kid you knew from highschool that suddenly looks good but still has the personality of a dorky, awkward kid. That's just a turn off for me. I like confidence and Jake didn't seem to have much of it to me.

This theory was solidified when he chose Vienna. I truly believe that he was intimidated by Tenley (and Ali & Gia)...he didn't think he deserved her so he felt awkward around them. But then....there was Vienna. Who didn't intimidate him. She's not exactly drop-dead gorgeous so he felt more comfortable around her.

That's my theory and I'm stickin to it!

And can I just say how annoyed I am that he is on Dancing with the Stars?!? I am so sick of Jake Pavelka! PLEASE don't make me watch him on another show. I hope he gets voted off first or second so I don't have to watch him. The only sad part about that is that I LOVE Chelsie Hightower and she is his partner....bummer.

Are YOU ready for more Jake? And more Kate Gosselin, for that matter? {I personally am excited about Kate being on the show because I feel like it's been a while since we've seen her. Jake, on the other hand....}

Bangin' Bacon Cheeseburger {What's for Dinner? 3/1/2010}

Happy March! {Side note: Is it really March already?!? Pretty soon Alex will have been home for 3 months...time flies!}

I'm just gonna go ahead and get to the point here: This dinner was freaking AWESOME! Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the best and this was a perfect example of that. Bacon cheeseburgers with sweet potato oven fries. Yum!

Alex was the maestro for this dinner because he's the Burger Maker Extraordinaire and he did a FAB job! We used the pre-made hamburger patties {the fresh kind...not the frozen ones} from HEB which are 93% lean...so not that bad for you! {The bacon on the other hand.....was full fat. :) } He seasoned the patties with Lawry's Seasoned Salt, garlic powder & oregano and then grilled 'em up to medium doneness.



Ashley's Perfect Burger consists of: toasted bun, cheese, lettuce, one {and only ONE} slice of tomato, red onion, bacon & mustard {lots of it}. CHOMP CHOMP. What does your perfect burger have on it?