Dinner at the Yardbird

We joined some friends for a birthday celebration over the weekend at a new place called Yardbird off Pearl Street.  It was comfort food at it's best in a cozy, comfy atmosphere.  They also serve breakfast all day!

I had the Birdblat that was a BLT on a croissant with avocado and some chipotle aioli that went together beautifully.  Mark had the Leo sandwich that was named after the car shop next door with a couple different meats.

But the winner of the evening was the Bourbon Bread Pudding.  Absolutely delicious with just a small drizzle of caramel over the top.

Dinner at Shanahan's Steakhouse

Mark and I went on a date weekend to Denver and kicked it off with dinner at Shanahan's Steakhouse on Friday night.  As we were waiting for our reservation we ran into Mike Shanahan himself!  He was so friendly... I still miss seeing his face on the Bronco side of the field.  He'll always be a Bronco to me!!

We made an awkward attempt at getting a selfie with him in the background as I tried to work up the nerve to ask for a picture with him.

The food was absolutely delicious!  We had high expectations and they were met!  Mark ordered the rib-eye and I had crab cakes.  Because we just couldn't help ourselves we tried three (yes 3!) of the their appetizers - the mussels, giant shrimp with atomic cocktail sauce and oysters rockefeller.  Everything was fantastic but a couple things stick in my mind as amazing... the crust on my husband's steak and how perfectly medium-rare it was and how the lobster sauce with the crab cake went so beautifully together.  Sorry no pictures of the food! I took some but it just didn't feel like they did justice to the meal.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Happy Sunday Funday to you!

Pizza Soup

I love soup season and we are definitely smack dab in the middle of it.  The inspiration of this recipe came from a Taste of Home Soups magazine 2017 Edition that I picked up at Costco. It was on that same trip of wonderfulness that a big container of mushrooms and 6 pack of colorful peppers ended up in our cart. When we were done shopping Emily and I shared a slice of pizza... it was so tasty and delicious.  (As a side note... How awesome is it that their fountain drinks are 59 cents?!  It feels like the Diet Pepsi tastes even better when you get a good deal!)  

This pizza soup pulls in the flavors of pizza and left me feeling satisfied and like I made a somewhat healthy choice.  

Here's the lineup:

1lb ground beef
1 small onion

1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
2 14.5 oz stewed tomatoes with olive oil and Italian seasoning
4 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings

Brown the ground beef and onion until the hamburger is cooked through.  Drain off any fat (I like to take a paper towel and use the spoon to stir it around in the pot to pick up as much extra fat as possible.)  I then threw everything else in the pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Once in the bowl I added some shredded mozzarella cheese and red pepper flakes to the top.  Delicious!

Please Note: This isn't exactly the recipe from Taste of Home - that's not how I cook.  I read a lot of recipes and then pull ideas from what I've read.  I'm horrible at following recipes to the T.  I'm a horrible baker!

Tuscan Ragu

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law made an awesome dinner last night to celebrate my mother-in-laws birthday.  I told them it was so delicious that it was absolutely going on the blog!

This recipe comes from the Good Housekeeping February 2017 issue.  I'm cheating a little bit here and including the pictures of the recipe because I didn't actually have a part in getting this dinner on the table.  It also uses something that intimidates me... the pressure cooker.  (Something on my 2017 bucket list to play with in my kitchen!)

I loved the deep flavor of the ragu sauce and that it included both Italian sausage and pork shoulder. Steamed veggies and crusty bread were the perfect side dishes.

This is a comforting and satisfying pasta dish that I hope to see again!

All the important details:

A picture of the cover (just in case you want to run out and buy it!)

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Do you like to be crafty in the kitchen?

Hello friends!  Sorry I haven't posted for so long... Papercrafting time eludes me these days.  Another form of craftiness close to my heart is trying new recipes that I think my family will like and want to eat.  My blog is going to start including kitchen craftiness that has gotten two thumbs up from our kitchen.

I'm super excited about the recipe I'm sharing with you today.  This recipe was made on a quiet weekend afternoon where I wanted us to have a warm meal from the oven but I also wanted to take advantage of the extra time available for baking that we don't usually have during the week.  To kick off the planning... I knew we had chicken thighs on hand and some peppers and potatoes that needed to be used up.  It made me think of recipes I've seen on Pinterest of sheet pan cooking.  It stuck out to me because I like the concept of cooking the meat and veggies together with less fuss and mess at cleanup.

Let's get the party started!!

1.  Preheat oven to 450

2.  Veggies of your choice that can hold up to the temp and length of baking time.
      I went O'Brien style with our veggies:
       1 chopped onion
       4 diced potatoes (of approximately the same size)
       1 chopped red pepper
       1 chopped green pepper

3.  Marinade for the veggies and meat:
       1/3 cup vegetable oil
       1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
       1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
       1/2 teaspoon black pepper
       1 tablespoon of minced garlic from a jar (we love garlic!)

4.  Mix the marinade all together and toss with the veggies then set aside.

5.  Rather than spraying a baking sheet with non-stick spray - I opted to line a sheet pan with foil to make cleanup a breeze. 

6.  Transfer the veggies to the baking sheet being sure to use a slotted spoon.

7.  Add 6 chicken thighs (patted dry with a paper towel) to the veggies on the baking sheet with the skin side up using a spoon over the top of the chicken thighs. 

8.  Roast in the oven under veggies are cooked through and the chicken is 165.  This took mine 50 mins.

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend of family, friends and delicious food.