Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Becky

To be honest with you, I had no idea what was in Shepherd’s Pie until I googled it last weekend. As it turns out, it’s a delicious combo of mashed potatoes, ground beef and vegetables. You really can’t go wrong.

Last weekend Steve and I made Alton Brown’s version and I probably won’t ever try a different one. It was that good. (An important thing to note is that we used ground beef instead of ground lamb, which I would totally recommend.)

Also, there isn’t a photo to accompany this post. Which is probably for the best since it tastes way better than it looks.

Valentine’s Day Treat

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Becky

While I’m not an advocate of spending a ton of time or money on the silly holiday that is Valentine’s Day, it is a very hard thing to avoid altogether. (Even if that means getting chocolate 50% off on February 15th like I always do). Steve and I can’t even remember a Valentines Day that we actually celebrated in the last 7 opportunities we’ve had together to do so, so we’ve decided to go big as a married couple and join the rest of the crazies by partaking in dinner and a movie. This year, I will embrace it. After that dinner (it’s a surprise) and a movie (my choice, it’ll probably be this), we might just have to have some of these Oreo and white chocolate dipped strawberries.

To make them I put about 10 Oreos in a food processor and as you can probably guess, I dipped the strawberries in the melted white chocolate and then into the Oreo crumbs. Is your mouth watering? Because they are delicious.

Then I forced the Oreos to get a little bit cannibalistic, and I dipped them in white chocolate and then into their own diced up friends. Gruesome, but oh so good.

Game night

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Becky

Last week I made the best vegetarian lasagna I’ve ever had. Seriously delicious.

Steve and I followed that up with some shortbread. I’ve never made shortbread before, and it definitely turned out too crumbly. Thankfully it tasted really good though. Phew. Disclaimer: I actually don’t remember which shortbread recipe I used. I know it came out of one of our cookbooks, but I’m just not sure. For now, you should try this one and let me know how it turns out.

And what’s a Saturday night without a rip-roaring game of Yahtzee? (I won by the way. All of them.)

Thanksgiving Dinner for 2

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Becky

Steve and I had a Thanksgiving dinner for two the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We wanted to make our first Thanksgiving as a married couple special, but mostly I wanted an excuse to make mini apple pies. I was apprehensive to use a standard pie recipe because I didn’t know how long to bake the little guys. But I used this recipe and I would definitely recommend it. Sauteing the apples in butter and spices before putting them in the pie? Yes please.

We also had brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, turkey and mulled wine using these spices from Williams-Sonoma.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Becky

These cookies are pretty darn delicious. The recipe was given to me along with a binder where I can organize all the recipes I get from other people and the ones I print off the ol’ internets. Since I’ve gotten a ton of recipes in the last few months, the binder has really come in handy.

I would whole-heartidly recommend cutting the recipe in half. There was so much dough it barely fit in the mixing bowl, and it was really hard to not only stir such a dense dough, but to also try and keep it contained. I sort of wanted to scream into a pillow by the time I was done. Once I ate one the effort was totally worth it though. I mean how could I hold a grudge against tiny little chocolaty bites of cookie crack?

As you can see below, I made the cookies for part of a thank you gift to someone. We left them on her front doorstep because she wasn’t home and found out later that she didn’t see the jar for a full 24 hours. This makes total sense when you consider that we forgot to tell her it was there. So I’m sure they were hard as a rock and completely inedible…but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Becky

Last week I made some chocolate chip pumpkin cookies from a recipe I got in this book. They were chewy and delicious, with just the right amount of seasoning and pumpkin flavors.
(The only thing I would change the next time I make them, is to opt out of the frosting. I really don’t think they needed it.)

I used this little pumpkin that we got at the Carleton Farm pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.

Apple Cider Margaritas

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Becky

This post has a bit of a back story. My friend Hillary and her boyfriend tend grill a lot on the weekends. To use up whatever meat they have leftover they started what they call ‘Taco Tuesday’, where just throw it all in a tortilla, add some cheese and call it a day. It also usually involves some sort of fancy beverage, as it should.

Before the wedding, my co-workers surprised Steve and me by buying us a gas grill as a wedding gift. (I know, right? We are so lucky.) So Hillary continued with that trend and got us two different hard alcohol types so that we would have something to drink for our first ‘Taco Tuesday’. Clever, right?

Not only did we use the grill for the first time on Saturday (burgers!), we also made some Apple Cider Margaritas. (Recipe also courtesy of Hillary).

Ingredients (for 2):
4 shots Apple Cider
2 shots Tequila
Splash (~1/2 shot) Triple Sec
Juice of 2 limes

Shake well and pour over ice in sugar rimmed Margarita glasses.

Vietnamese Vermicelli Bowls

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Becky

Along with the invitation to my last bridal shower, everyone was asked to fill out a recipe card and bring it with them. My friend Amy won MVP when she not only provided the recipe, but also all of the sauces necessary to make Vietnamese Vermicelli Bowls. Steve and I decided to try the recipe out with pork on Friday night (you can use chicken, pork, tofu or beef). And let me tell you. It was insanely delicious. Such a tasty (and healthy!) meal.

Some of the sauces provided by Amy.

And some more to be used as toppings later on.

This is part of the recipe. I can't give you the whole thing as it is now a Hoang/Sullivan family secret.

The finished product, before being covered in sauces.

A delicious cake for me.

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Becky

I found out on Friday night at around 10pm that I needed to bring a dessert to a friends house on Saturday. So I decided to whip up a white cake with butter cream frosting from scratch that night. (Don’t panic, it was actually much less time consuming than I expected.) It’s not perfect by any means, but it was delicious. Which is really all that matters. AmIrightoramIright?

Recipe for cake and frosting from the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook.

You like that plate? The set was given to us about 4 years ago and their hideousness sort of makes me giggle.

Category Archives: Recipes