weekly menu posting

jared did a great job filling in for me last week while i was out.  i love traveling but eating out every meal for a week straight can get a little tiresome. excited to get back into the swing of things.

monday: spaghetti and garlic bread -- doesn't get much simpler or more delicious

tuesday: dinner at the sievers' -- so excited to see them and miss madelyn mae

wednesday: rigatoni with grilled peppers and onions with a green salad-- tried to find a recipe with peppers and onions that didn't include mexican food or eggs, trying to add some variety

thursday: cobb salad panini -- really into paninis right now for whatever reason, i never use to be a sandwich person

friday: dinner at simon's -- date night at one of our favorite restaurants

saturday: chili cook-off -- should be a fun time with some great food

sunday: tuna noodle casserole from scratch -- i had something similar at FnB in Scottsdale and have wanted to try to recreate it ever since.  instead of bread crumbs on top, i'm going to use potato chips

celeb gossip overload

i could barely focus at work today, one because it was my first day back after being out for a week and two because of all the breaking A-list celebrity gossip.  yep, i know ridiculous.

JS announces she is pregnant via twitter posing as a mummy...so thankful i follow her so i can be on the up and up when it comes to these things.

kim k splits from kris, after a whopping 72 days of marraige.  i feel like i wasted a few hours of my life watching their fairy tale wedding.  the funniest headline i have read so far was "kim kardashian is filing for divorce. during this difficult time, the kardashian family requests as much attention as possible."

i really need a new hobby.

a hit and a miss

 i love trying new recipes, that's a huge reason in why i post a weekly menu.

well i found a recipe i absolutely loved and another i wouldn't make again.

a couple sundays ago we had leslie and greg over for dinner and found out about their exciting engagement news.  if i would have known we would have been celebrating, i would have made something a little nicer than soup and sandwich. thankfully i had a bottle of champagne on reserve in the cupboard.  but let me tell you the soup and sandwich i served them was also pretty delicious. 

the recipe came from real simple, it was tomato soup with roast beef, cheddar and horseradish panini. 

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the grill pan
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 8 slices sandwich bread
• 8 ounces thinly sliced roast beef
• 8 ounces sharp white Cheddar, sliced
• 2 cups baby arugula (1 1/2 ounces)

directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with their juices), broth, thyme, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Working in batches, in a blender, puree the mixture until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, Cheddar, arugula, and half the horseradish mixture. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.

this recipe was super easy and super good!  enjoy.

as far as the miss, i found another recipe from real simple for shrimp tacos and black beans.  i love tacos and i love shrimp so i thought it would have been a slam dunk.  where the recipe fell short for me is in the frying of the shrimp.  you coat the shrimp in a corn meal batter and then fry them in oil.  too much grease for me.  next time i would just cook the shrimp in a skillet and skip the frying step.

trick-or-treating

tonight was the first go around of trick-or-treating in our house or "beggar's night" as they like to call it in dsm. we had just under 75 kids stop by our door step for piece of candy. rachel and nicole came over and were great helpers in the process.  nicole kept a tally of the number of kids while rach kept a look out. 

the highlight of the evening was a boy who rang our doorbell with a joke, "how did the butcher introduce his wife?"..."meet patty."  hilarious. i love silly jokes like that.  i rewarded him with two pieces of candy for his wittiness.

the low point was two boys (way too old to be trick-or-treating,) one dressed as michael jackson-thriller days and the other one as i have no idea.  i greeted them at the door with a bowl full of candy and they asked, "don't you have a can of pop or something?"  i was beyond annoyed and followed up with a "no, but you can have an almond joy (my least favorite candy out of the bunch.)"  he rebuttled with "do you even like almond joy?" and i lied responding with "yes, it's my favorite."  those punk kids should not have even been out there but it left us with entertainment for the rest of the evening coming up with responses i should have said instead, here are just a few that i remember:

"no, but you can have some propofol."

"no, but you can have a can of shut the hell up."

"you should just beat it."

"that was not a thrilling costume."

"that was just bad."

"is your friend just your little pyt?"


happy halloween all, hope you're enjoying your left over candy like me.

Weekly Menu Posting (guest post)

So, here's the deal. Stacy is in Florida for the week and I have the house to myself. As you know, Stacy does a great job planning meals for the week. With her gone, I've been eating like, well, your stereotypical, single male.

Sunday lunch: turkey sausage and two fried eggs.
Sunday dinner: bowl of cereal and popped popcorn on the stove.
Monday lunch: leftovers from last Friday (chicken, potatoes, bacon -- I skipped the cabbage)
Monday dinner: leftover turkey sausage, two fried eggs and some hash browns.
Tuesday lunch: leftover chicken and wild rice soup.
Tuesday dinner: a black bean burger and broccoli.

As I type that, it doesn't sound too bad -- though I know Stacy would be disappointed.

Anyway, here is the menu for the rest of the week.

Wednesday lunch: work party to celebrate the completion of a project @ incredible pizza company
Wednesday dinner: no clue. No more black bean burgers, so that isn't an option. Maybe cereal and popcorn?
Thursday lunch: no clue.
Thursday dinner: no clue.
Friday lunch: no clue.
Friday supper: dinner out somewhere with Stacy's family as they're visiting. Maybe sushi? :-)
Saturday lunch: Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe (somehow, this place ended up #4 on the Central Iowa Top 100 List. Supposedly the best breaded tenderloin in the state. We've been before and it was tasty).
Saturday dinner: we'll be gone most of the morning at the Iowa Speedway where Stacy's Dad and Sister get to ride in a stock car. Will be a good time. When we get home, hopefully we'll watch the Hawks and get this in the oven. Braised Pork in the Dutch Oven. I think we'll switch the red wine and beef stock for white wine and chicken stock and serve with mashed potatoes. Yum!
Sunday lunch: Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

I'll get the approval from Stacy on the remaining menu for the week before I head to the store, but it looks pretty good to me!

Sometimes it is nice to have the place to yourself, but that doesn't last too long. I miss my wife.

-Jared

tweet me

as my brother-in-law, @jasonholtgrewe, informed me last weekend, all the cool kids are on twitter and he wanted to know why i wasn't.  i let him know my goal for the week would be to join and figure it out by friday.  talk about falling for peer pressure.

while i have officially joined, i don't know if i have quite figured it out. i have managed to send out a few tweets and follow a few very important people including js, kim k and bspears. 

so if you're on twitter, let me know, i'd love to follow you!

@stacyholtgrewe

packing 101

when i go on a trip i tend to over pack and not just a little, a lot. i typically pack at least two outfits per day plus some.  you just never know what you may need.  but unfortunately, you only get 50 pounds when you fly and i always ask to borrow some space in jared's suitcase.  but this week i'm on my own so i decided a different approach to packing.

i decided to set out all my outfits day by day along with the shoes and accessories. and that's it...well for now. 

how do you pack?

dining etiquette

i will be spending next week in florida for work and one evening we will have a formal dining etiquette class, which i am very much looking forward to.  hopefully i can show off some of the skills mrs. kirby (my sorority's house mom) taught me over the years.

i hate how etiquette is often portrayed as being snotty, it is actually quite far from that.  i look at it as being respectful to those around you.

i ran across this article about the 10 new rules of dining etiquette on zagat and a couple stuck out to me:

handheld vices : pretty much stay off your phone.  i am very guilty of this and i am hoping to break the habit.  it definitely does not show the people you're dining with that you're interested in them or what they have to say.

dress up or dress down :  there are very few restaurants left where dressing up is necessary.  i was extremely disappointed when eating at 801 to find men wearing shorts and hats.  in my mind not appropriate but most any other place in des moines, wear what you like minus sweat pants unless you're at subway.

and just for fun, if you're curious if the spoon goes on the right or left, see below:

stanzi the manzi

last month i blogged about some of my favorite hawkeyes, and if you'll remember ricky stanzi made the list.  well this weekend, he may have moved up in the rankings.

on saturday we headed to iowa city for iowa game.  before the football game, basketball scrimmage and tailgating we decided to have lunch at wig and pen.  jared's family, my sister and i were in a room to ourselves at a big table when i see the servers setting up another table for a big group behind us.  i didn't think much of it and just went talking about the movie contagion (yes i'm still talking about it.)  a few minutes later in walk a group of people and then ricky stanzi himself.

i quickly turned into a twelve-year-old girl and can't finish my sentences, turn red and became extremely giddy.  ridiculous.

turns out, the chiefs have a bye week and he was in town having lunch with princess jenna.  doesn't that just melt your heart?  this twenty-something who no longer has an obligation to the university of iowa or any formal responsibility to this young little girl yet he spends his weekend off in iowa city with her.

i heart him. love it or leave it. 

on side note, iowa touchdowns for kids is a great cause that jared and i like to support.  it is super easy, kind of fun and the money goes to the university of iowa children's hospital.  for every touchdown that the iowa football team scores, you can select a dollar amount to donate. it provides a little more excitement when cheering on the hawks.

50/50 : movie review

friday night jared and i went to 50/50, the more i thought about it, that makes five weekends in a row at jordan creek movie theater.  we've had all these fantastic fandago offers to take advantage of, so it has been pretty cheap entertainment.

a quick synopsis: inspired by a true story, a 27-year-old, adam (joseph gordon-levitt) gets cancer and finds out his chances of survival are 50/50.  his best friend, kyle (seth rogen), steps up to the plate and takes a humorous approach to help his friend through this difficult journey.

one of my favorite characters is adam's inexperienced therapist (anna kendrick.)  i fell in love with her in up in the air and she defintiely doesn't disappoint in this flick either.

not going to lie, i definitely shed a tear or two but overall it is a very funny, heartfelt movie.