recipe recap : lemon bread

the other day the doorbell rang and our neighbor brought over a piece of my mail that had been mistakenly delivered to their house.  i was ecstatic because it was a postcard from starbucks for a free drink. i know it is just a little thing but i work hard for those free drinks.  :)  most people probably would have gone to straight to starbucks and used that drink for themselves, but not my neighbors.

to show them my appreciation i baked them some lemon bread.  i was pretty jealous, i couldn't dig into it myself. it smelled absolutely divine. 

 lemon bread recipe:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
grated peel and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/2 powdered sugar

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  grease and flour 9x5 inch loaf pan.

whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.

in a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy.  add milk alternately with the flour mixture in 2 parts; mix well.  stir in grated lemon peel and poppy seeds.

pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  let bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

mix together lemon juice and powdered sugar to make a glaze.  remove bread from pan.  pour glaze over warm bread (if you poke holes in the bread first, it will absorb more glaze.)

this recipe is super easy and i almost always have all the ingredients in my house.  enjoy!

weekly menu posting

baked spinach and pea risotto

monday: potato and blue cheese pizza -- one of my favorite slices to order at flour is the potato rosemary so i decided to make a similar version for dinner tonight except i added blue cheese.

tuesday: yanni's -- never been here and we have a groupon to use before the end of the year, can't wait! 

wednesday: baked spinach and pea risotto -- jared requested this one and it is one of my favorite recipes so i was happy to oblige.

thursday: simon's -- we are going to christmas eve service (a little early) and then dinner out to celebrate christmas with greg and les

friday/saturday/sunday: home for the holidays

the joy of giving

yesterday afternoon my coworkers and i rang the bell for the salvation army at dahl's on ingersoll. it was amazing to see the different clientele at one store. we had some of des moines' richest and poorest, we even had the governor stop in while we were there. most people that walked in were happy to see us and enjoyed our caroling while others were just plain rude, one woman told us we needed a pitch pipe.

but what stuck out to me most from that day was a woman who clearly had very little money was dropped off by a taxi to do her grocery shopping. she walked in with a roll of quarters to buy her things. she opened the roll and then dropped one into the red kettle. we thanked her, said "merry christmas" and then she responded with "well it is the holidays" and then dropped in another quarter. to most of us $0.50 is no big deal but i know for that lady it was a significant donation.  now that is the joy of giving.

the generosity of people continues to amazes me, how cool is this story.  merry christmas!

weekly menu posting

happy monday!  this week i challenged myself to create all of our meals out of things we already had in our pantry, fridge and freezer.  we are headed back home this weekend to celebrate christmas so i wanted to limit our grocery spending.  i did have to go to the store to get yogurt and fruit but nothing else!

monday: pretzel crusted chicken with cheddar mustard sauce -- this was on the menu last week but due to a surplus of leftovers we didn't get to it, so it just got moved.

tuesday: old fashioned beef stew -- a coworker of mine shared this recipe with me and when hunting through our kitchen, i realized i had everything to make it.  pretty excited!

wednesday: GNO for me -- we are planning on hitting up the lift and zombie burger while jared is hanging out with his little

thursday: cheesy tuna mac with peas -- i love mac & cheese out of a box; why not fancy it up?

friday/saturday:  headed home to celebrate christmas with jared's extended family  -- instead of a traditional christmas feast we are having mexican.  we are in charge of bringing a side and i thought this black beans and rice dish looked good.

sunday: veggie stir-fry with brown rice -- i think we'll be home for dinner so this one will be quick.  we ALWAYS have the ingredients for two meals in our house, quesadillas and stir-fry.

do you have a quick go-to meal in your kitchen?

saturday with the sievers'

saturday the sievers' family came to town. we started off our evening by a trip to see santa. madelyn was a champ.  she was very patient while waiting in line and when it came to her turn to sit on santa's lap, she wasn't scared at all.  she wants a baby for christmas, which i think is absolutely adorable.

after our trip to see santa, we came home and had some tasty potato soup.  we continued to have an eventful evening -- including M getting a bump on the head and a change of clothes. thankfully she bounced right back to her normal self and even managed to put on a show for us. 

it was a fun filled time and it provided a tiny glimpse of what parenthood will be like someday. 

cutest kid EVER.

a change of clothes

rosemary potato soup with crispy carrots

our dessert - prosecco soaked peaches and raspberries topped with whipped cream

lasagna 101

friday jake and nicole came over for some lasagna and iowa basketball. thankfully our dinner turned out better than the game. jake brought a delicious salad over, complete with all your favorite toppings.

i love lasagna anyway i can get it but in my opinion, my mom's is the best for two reasons.  it tastes like home and it is simple.

here is the recipe if you're interested in trying it for yourself.

9 lasagna noodles
1 pd. ground beef
1 tbsp. mined dried onion
1 large jar prego
dash of oregano
12 oz. large curd cottage cheese (rinsed)
4 cups shredded mozzarella ( i only had 3 cups of mozzarella so i substituted parmesan and put that on the top layer)

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  grease a 9x13 pan.

boil water and cook noodles according to package, stirring often so the noodles don't stick together (11-13 minutes.) drain and set aside. meanwhile in a large sauce pan brown ground beef, season with onion.  cook until no pink remains, drain off any extra grease. add prego sauce, oregano and cottage cheese to ground beef mixture. heat sauce until a slight bubble.  

in greased pan, place three of your cooked noodles on the bottom.  top with 1/3 of sauce mixture and 1/3 of cheese. then layer with three more noodles, 1/3 sauce and 1/3 cheese, repeat for one more layer.  cover with foil. 

cook covered for 45 minutes.  then remove foil and cook for another 15 minutes.

lasagna will be bubbling and the edges will be golden brown once complete.  let sit for 10 minutes covered with foil before cutting into slices (this will help it from falling apart when plating.)

enjoy  -- it makes a lot so invite some friends over!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

the decorations are up! every year we turn on christmas music, sip apple cider and get to work getting the house ready for the holidays.  it is a lot of work but i so love all the colors, lights and everything that goes with it.

and now we can just kick back and enjoy them, merry christmas everyone! 

j-rod did an excellent job of putting up the outdoor lights

and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

my friend les made this fab wreath

o christmas tree

a close up

weekly menu posting

monday: leftovers -- we had a lot of leftovers from the weekend so we decided to eat those for dinner instead of having them go to waste

tuesday: northern lights pizza -- we originally planned on going to legends to watch the iowa game but when we arrived we found out they weren't showing it so we headed back home and had pizza delivered

wednesday: salmon with a lemon caper sauce and fresh green beans -- this recipe came out of a cookbook that costco gave me for free...one more reason i love that place

thursday: salsa verde chicken bake -- this was jared's request, looks easy and tasty

friday: my mom's lasagna -- jake and nicole are coming over for dinner and to watch the hawks take on isu.  i hope to post the recipe so you can all enjoy

saturday: rosemary potato soup with crispy carrots -- chris, calista and madelyn are coming up for dinner and then a trip to see santa

sunday: pretzel crusted chicken with mustard cheese sauce and coleslaw -- repeat recipe alert -- i made this back in june and just loved it!

hawthorn hill anniversary

last year around christmas time my friends and i were looking for a way to volunteer and give back to our community instead of buying each other gifts.  we found an organization called, hawthorn hill.  hawthorn hill helps women and children who are experiencing homelessness.  they provide the families a safe, warm place to stay while helping them find permanent housing.  hawthorn hill was looking for volunteers to donate meals to feed those staying at their shelter, approximately 20-25 people.  we thought this was a perfect way we could help out. 

we brainstormed a meal idea and divided the courses up among the five of us.  the only rule was we had to serve something we would serve/eat ourselves.  when we delivered our first meal last december it was a huge wake up call for me.  i had no concept of what it is like to be homeless or not know where my next meal is going to come from. 

our first donation was such a success, we decided to keep it up.  we now donate a meal once a month on sunday evenings. we take turns preparing the entrees, side dishes and dessert.  over the past year we've served up a variety of meals ranging from tacos to roasted chicken. while i love cooking and thinking up different meal ideas for me the most fun part is in the delivering. everyone is excited to see us and always very grateful. 

if you're looking for something different to do with your friends or family this holiday season, i would recommend getting involved in a service project.  hopefully you'll find it as rewarding as i have.

nic working hard in the kitchen

jared demonstrating his mad knife skills

one of our donated meals - scalloped potatoes and ham

christmas movie must-see list

i just adore christmas and everything that goes with it including the movies. i loved this blog topic idea from daydream believer so i thought it would be fun to share with my own list of christmas movies that i enjoy watching every season. 

home alone

home alone 2

elf

the santa clause

christmas with the kranks

national lampoon's christmas vacation

a christmas story

how the grinch stole christmas

the holiday

a charlie brown christmas

the christmas card -- thanks rachel for getting me hooked to hallmark channel movies

in case you don't have these in your collection, feel free to tune into abc family. last night started their 25 days of christmas and they are playing some of these plus many more.

what are some of your favorite christmas flicks?

creepy christmas

i love mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" but add to JBieb to the mix and you might have the creepiest christmas music video ever.