Dinner Dinner

Ever since we had Phoenix, we've been meal planning.

Russ and his mom made a bunch of freezer meals and they were awesome!

Now we go week by week.

I made this cute menu planner- and we get to try new things...like Chicken wrapped in Bacon Coats!

Dinner tonight

I love Russ's cooking.

Tonight's entree was a sausage and sweet potato hash with asparagus and homemade hollandaise sauce.

Yum.

Mother's Day!

For Mother's day I wanted two things:

First, I wanted Phoenix to not cry when I led the music in church. She was good and just slept.

Second, the sandwich from the movie "Spanglish" (the only great part of that movie).
It was awesome:

PI Day Party

The Pies- minus the cheesecake and a Lemon Meringue

The Decathlon:

Run around the backyard trees 3.14 times

A little bit of math, using π

Brad and Phoenix watching the knowledge q & a

The pi-stashes (+ competitor Daniel):

The WINNER!

Everyone together:

Deryl and Phoenix talking about how important Pi is on a global scale.

Preston put on a Pi-stash to impress Phoenix. 

Not Pictured:

• The "truffle shuffle" part of the decathlon (there are pictures, but they're for blackmailing my friends later)
• Hil & I singing the official "Pi Day" song. (It's Pi Day, Pi Day, Gotta Eat Pi on Pi Day...)
• The Pi princess; Ruby of the Whitesides

Not a bad way to spend the holiday!

Cheese and Dough

Russ and I tried a date night in January. But it didn't really work out beyond eating at Red Lobster.

So- Take 2: Valentine's Day!

Russ and I went to the San Antonio temple and it was wonderful.

Then, off to pump at the Babies 'R Us.

Finally! Dinner at a little place called Dough! 

We heard about Dough on Diner's, Drive In's, and Dives about a year ago. We've planned to go and eat there and it never worked out. But it was worth the wait- and we're not the only ones willing to wait.

The restaurant was packed. We could have waited 30 minutes to eat inside, or we could eat outside right away. We chose to eat outside- even though there was a chill in the air.

Here's what we ordered:

Mozzarella cheese, stuffed with 2 other cheeses (Ricotta and Fountaine)

One of the 90-second oven pizzas. Yum.

It was oh so good. Each dish was about $15-20. Not cheap- but you get what you pay for. 

The thing that makes this restaurant unique is the giant- imported from Italy- brick oven. The oven is so hot, the pizza only goes in the oven for 90 seconds. 

If you're in San Antonio- check this place out. But beware- it will be busy!

Food, as of late

I always try to take pictures of the delicious things I eat. I had a awesome pizza Saturday at the Kona Grill in San Antonio, but sadly I ate it so fast, there were no time for pictures.

But here's what I did pause and take a picture of:

I ate this salad at Lucy & Ethel's in Wimberley, Texas.

It was delicious, and I feel like I could make it at home!

This is Russ's homemade version of some Cafe Rio dish.

Pulled Pork salad maybe?

I don't know what it's called. I'm not a big Cafe Rio fan.

But Russ's food is always delicious.

Food I Made

This was a while ago, when I was in the middle of taking Heidi's maternity pictures.

Menu:

• Savory Peach Salad
• Bacon, Avocado, Pepperjack Cheese, and Apple
• Grilled Corn

Yum. I should make this again.

Chicken Tikki Masala

Last night I took on my own kitchen stadium to make Chicken Tikki Masala. This came at the request of a sister missionary when we fed her in July. She, Sister P, was in culinary school prior to serving her mission. I asked what her favorite dish was and she said it was Chicken Masala.

I had never heard of it. In fact, I thought it was Italian when she said it (it's an Indian dish). But I was not daunted. I googled it.

Now, I am not a cook. So pictures with recipes are a must. And if the picture looks gross, I don't preview the recipe. Luckily, I found a good looking picture and a good looking recipe, here.

But I changed it a bit. Here's what I did:

chicken tikka masala

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons good paprika

2 teaspoon chicken curry masala  regular curry powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala cumin, 1/4  teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 crumbled bay leaf, and a dash of cloves

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 4 ounce can tomato paste
3  4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1/2 serrano pepper, thinly sliced, with ribs and seeds removed
1 tablespoon fenugreek leaves maple syrup and a whole bay leaf
1 tablespoon sugar

In a skillet set over medium-heigh heat, cook onions in the oil until just beginning to brown on the edges.  Stir in spices and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.  Add in tomato sauce and tomato paste. Stir to deglaze the pan and transfer to a crockpot.  Stir in garlic, ginger, hot pepper, maple syrup, bay leaf, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Cover, and cook on low for 4 

hours.  While it cooks, prepare the chicken.

1 pound chicken tenders, cut in 1 inch pieces (I used 5 chicken breasts)
1/2 teaspoon good paprika
1/2 teaspoon chicken curry masala regular curry powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
pinch red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Toss chicken and spices together and let marinate in fridge for 2 hours.  Stir 1/2 cup plain yogurt in and allow to marinate for another hour.

*I probably mixed 3 or 4 batches of the spices to make sure I covered all my chicken pieces. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Stir chicken, 1 cup of yogurt, cream, and cilantro into the crockpot.  Allow to cook for about 30 minutes more.  Served with brown basmati rice.

Here is the result:

Looks tasty, eh? Well it turned out delicious. Just spicy enough but not too spicy. I'm going to eat some more for lunch today.

The sisters were sure excited for it. Can I just say that I love feeding people who appreciate good food? 

We also made peach stacks, again. Here's the results: (And here is the recipe)

The only casualty from the evening was I got a steam burn from my thumb while making the bastami rice. But I prevented a blister, it's just sore today. Well! Until the next adventure in the kitchen....

Cake Pops- Take 1

My friend Heidi had a baby shower a few weeks ago and I made cake pops for the occasion. Here's how it went:

First, you bake the cake, then crumble it. You add about 3/4 of the jar of frosting.

Then roll into balls, stick in the fridge so they don't fall to pieces once you dip the balls into the melting chocolate.

Next, I make the toppers. I used an edible marker to outline the smile on the Teddy Graham's face. I got the markers from HEB for about $8. Then I stuck the Teddy Graham into a sour lifesaver. Looks like he's ready to tube down the San Marcos River, huh?

After they are in the fridge for about 20 min, take out the balls. Dip the stick into the melting chocolate, stick the cake on the stick and then carefully dip the cake balls into the melting chocolate. The key is to DIP. If you swirl it around, you'll cool down the melting chocolate faster than you should.

After the dip, decorate! I just stuck the little Teddy on top and put some sprinkles on it. 

Then I stuck the pop into a styrofoam block and put the pops in the freezer to set up. 

Then, voila! Pretty little cake pops. 

Perfect size for dessert. 

Trattoria Lisina

Russell is a master of Groupons. He finds the best deals and then takes me to these fancy restaurants that are delicious. Before we saw the Arcade Fire, we used a Groupon and we went to Trattoria Lisina.

This restaurant is owned by Damian Mandola, who co-founded the Carrabba's restaurant chain. Mr. Mandola has a few shops in Austin as well. Trattoria Lisina is in Driftwood, Texas- sort of by the Salt Lick. The food at Trattoria Lisina is A-MAZING! I can still taste the white truffle oil from my risotto. Check it out:

My Risotto.
I forgot to take a picture of it before I delved into it, and so this is the picture of it after I was stuffed.
So Good.
Can I go back right now please?

This is the only picture I got of Russ's dish. He got the linguine and it was also perfect.
He ordered some polenta, pictured on the side.

 Sadly, we were too full for dessert. But if we had space, we would've had some gelato and biscotti. Instead, we headed to the Backyard, the concert venue for Arcade Fire. Much to our joy, the venue offered trailer food including food from Mandola's! This is the food trailer owned by none other than Damian Mandola! So we had some dessert after all from Mr. Mandola! Although they didn't have gelato, so we had a cannolis (cannolies?) instead:

Here are a few more photos of the grounds around Trattoria Lisina. If I shoot bridals,  I'm choosing this place as the shoot venue. So beautiful. I felt like I was in a foreign country.

Restart: Beginning with Sunday

I have piles to blog about. But I want to start by blogging about yesterday.

Yesterday was a fun-filled day at the Wilde household.

First, my dear friends for José and Sara Beth came to visit. It was a short visit, because José flew to D.C. today.  Still, we had a lot of fun cooking dinner together, playing games, and just talking. So. Much. Fun.

Secondly, I graduated for the LDS Institute of Religion! I had one class to finish from before my mission and I finally did it. I know this isn't one of those things everyone does, and that most people don't think this is a big deal. But I wanted to finish what I started many years ago. So even though I don't think it makes a huge difference, or that it'll really impress anyone but myself, I'm glad that I finished it!!!

Finally, I was able to celebrate my birthday with the ones closest to me (geographically and personally). I do wish I could celebrate with my siblings, parents, etc. But that's just not possible to do when we live so far apart. So I am grateful that my friends took time out of their day to be with me.

I remember looking into their eyes as they sang me 'Happy Birthday' and thinking, "I am so blessed to have so many friends that care!"

Thank you guys! Such a great day! (Plus Osama was caught and killed! Bonus!).

Well, here are some pictures of the events! More adventures to be blogged about tomorrow.

A Happier Thought

Man, yesterday's blog was a downer wasn't it?

Ugh. Well today is April Fool's Day. So I should do a fake-preganancy post or a "We're moving to New York" joke or something. But I'll be honest. I'm not a fan of this holiday. Someone once told me, "There's truth in jest." And so I'd rather not mislead, and yet secretly not mislead, you.

But I would like to post something happy. So here are a few things I'm loving lately:

This is Judge Kinkeade. He's my Professional Responsibility professor.

He makes Practice Court fun and bearable.

Perhaps this year's Easter Dress?

So pretty.

If you want to buy it for me, click here.

Tonight's plans. Movie night. 

Recently re-rated PG-13!

Cheese. I love the cheese.

And looking forward to:

And Another Thing About Food...

I promise I will blog about our trip to Orange as soon as I can upload the pictures from my camera.

But for now... Here's a look at what I've eaten lately (I realize I blog a lot about food. But it's so tasty!)

Isn't this the cutest Dr. Pepper you've ever seen?
Sigh. So cute.

Remember how I eat awful at law school?
Well this is how I eat when I go to law school
but I'm sleeping in San Marcos. Tasty food.

That right there is a Hippo breakfast taco from Bucc-ee's
It is soo tasty, I recommend you go get one.
I think I may have to do a run out there this weekend for one...

Nothing says Texas like a Texas waffle.
This is from the hotel we stayed at in Orange.
It reminded me of a waffle maker Hilary, Jamie, and I gave to our friend
Laura when she moved back to Utah.
Remember that?
I miss her.