A Little Taste of the Wedding Food..
PIN IT!
Un-freaking-believable! Can’t wait to eat it again!
The tasting was one of my absolute favorite parts of this whole wedding planning process. I’m pretty sure this is, in part, due to the fact that I didn’t have to plan it! Planning every little detail can get exhausting, so it’s relaxing to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor, for once! One of the reason’s we love our venue is that the catering was included. I’m all about the one-stop shopping [hello Costco!] so this was a big selling point. Oh and the catering comes from a local restaurant that is also owned by the overall property company! The restaurant, Fish, is a local favorite on the Charleston food scene and is a 5-start rated eatery! I hear a lot of talk about how “hu-hum” wedding food can be, so I’m really excited that our food will be amazing! Now, my mom told me “not to blog about the food so there is some element of surprise” but I figure a few photos won’t hurt anybody, right? 🙂
That’s all for now, but don’t worry, there will be TONS of photos after the wedding!
Eat Skinny Be Skinny Comfort Foods: Beef Stroganoff
I absolutely love beef stroganoff. It’s one of those amazing dishes that tastes good anytime of the year! It’s also one of those dishes that, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t make it as good as your mom or grandma. However, I did a bit of dabbling in this recipe to lighten it up and am incredibly pleased with the turnout! Instead of using heavy cream or full fat milk, like the original calls for, I swapped in low fat sour cream! There is one down side to this dish though, but it has nothing to do with the taste; it just doesn’t photograph well. Brown cream sauce + brown meat + mushrooms = ugly. Once again, when it comes to food, the taste is ultimately what matters, and it tasted GOOD. I’m not on Top Chef yet, so I feel like I can have some ugly food if it tastes better than sex. Right?
Low-fat Beef Stroganoff
What You’ll Need:
- 1 lb flank steak, cut in cubes
- 1 tbsp. of all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. + 1 tsp. canola oil
- Spaghetti noodles or egg noodles, about 2 cups
- 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp. brandy, cognac or dry red wine
- 3/4 cup of low sodium beef broth
- 1 cup of low fat sour cream
- Thyme
- Sprinkle of salt n’ pepper [anyone remember that band?]
How to Make It:
- Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a skillet. Place beef in and cook until both sides are browned and middle is cooked through, but rare. Take off heat and place on a cutting board.
- Place mushrooms and onions in the oil/meat juices. If needed, place additional tsp. of oil in pan. Cook on medium heat until veggies are soft and browned, about 8 minutes or so.
- Pour flour into veggie mixture and stir around. Add in broth, wine/brandy and red wine vinegar and cook until sauce has thickened. Add in sour cream and stir until sauce is think and bubbly. Add in meat and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.
- Serve over spaghetti or egg noodles and enjoy! [It’s seriously amazing, so, um, don’t judge a book by it’s cover!]
Nutritional Information per 1 cup serving: 400 calories, 17 grams of fat, 40 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
A Winner!!
We have a winner, folks, for the fabulous fitness giveaway! Thank you all for sharing your health and fitness stories, they are an incredible inspiration to everyone, including myself! No one is perfect but we can all do our best to better ourselves! Enough blabbing, I know ya’ll are just here to see who won and if it was you! Drum roll please….
..aka, Mrs. Puma or @soonerpsych!
“I’ve been a runner for a long time, but the last 6 months have been really bad since the wedding and moving. I really want to find a way to get back into exercising without going to the gym (can’t afford it).”
Congrats on winning this amazing home gym gift pack and good luck!
Sweet and Savory Sundays: Pillsbury Funfetti
As I tweeted last night, I sort of cheated on my sweets baking, but I just couldn’t pass up the Valentine’s Day inspired Pillsbury funfetti cake & frosting combo on sale at the grocery store. I know it’s not healthy, low-fat or great for you, but it’s fun! When your mixing up the batter, baking the cupcakes and sprinkling on the heart shaped sprinkles, your reminded of a care-free time not long ago where your mom would hoist you up on a chair next to the counter just so you could reach the sprinkles to dump on the frosting. My mom is an incredibly talented baker, but there were times she would pull out that blue box of funfetti and we would just go wild. I’d eat the leftover cupcake batter with spoonfuls of icing from the jar and then run it off in the backyard. Oh to be young! No matter what your age, though, nothing beats a bite of the moist, speckled funfetti cake! On top of being delicious, they are so fun to picture!
Claire
Tags:pillsbury, Pillsbury funfetti, Valentine's cupcakes, Valentine's day
Sweet and Savory Sundays: Spicy Ravioli Florentine
Dear Italy, I miss you and want to be back with you!
I’ve had a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and I’m really, REALLY sad to see it go 🙁 I’m still holding onto the whole “money growing on trees” scheme, so, let’s make that happen smart people, k? Well, I had a fun day today either way. We had a great lunch at Moby Dick’s [it’s amazing Persian food in DC] then played old fashioned video games like a bunch of kids and saw Tron 3D. Obviously, Elliot won the “what movie will we see today” game. But, I’m not complaining, it was a really, REALLY good movie! Jeff Bridges can do no wrong, at least in my book. Enough about my day, how was your weekend? Lots of good eating and drinking? I hope! Speaking of eating, it’s time to talk food, ya’ll!
I miss Italy. Every single day that passes I miss it even more, especially with all of this ugly snow/slush/grey crap on the ground. Instead of moping around eating gelato and drinking vino [I don’t care that it’s winter or 3 pm] I decided to make a little tribute to an Italian favorite for our weekend dinner and whip up a spicy batch of ravioli Florentine. What exactly does Florentine mean? It’s just a fancy way of saving “served with spinach!” I added a can of zesty garlic diced tomatoes and a few tablespoons of roasted red peppar for a nice kick! You can definitely make your own ravioli but since we haven’t received the pasta addition to our kitchen aid mixer yet [hint, hint, hint!], I used store bought kind. After just a bite with a swig of wine I felt like I was back on the porch at our villa in Orvieto.
Spicy Ravioli Florentine
What You’ll Need:
- 20 oz. bag of cheese filled frozen ravioli
- 1 can of spinach
- 1 can of zesty garlic diced tomatoes [or any kind will do!]
- 1 tsp. Basil
- 2 tbsp. red pepper flakes
- 3 garlic gloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
How to Make It:
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Dash a bit of salt. Once water is boiled, pour ravioli in and cook until tender. Drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil and garlic in a medium sauce pan. Cook garlic gloves until lightly browned. Add canned spinach and tomatoes to the garlic. Sprinkle basil and red pepper on the mix. Heat on medium-low heat until warm. Add 1/2 of the Parmesan mixture to the spinach. Take off heat and stir in cheese.
- Pour spinach mixture over noodles and sprinkle with cheese. Enjoy!
Nutritional Information per 1 and 1/2 cup: 300 calories, 13 grams of fat, 18 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber.
