It’s time to celebrate! Last night we celebrated birthdays with Justin’s family. Lauren and Leslie’s birthday are in July and mine is coming up on Wednesday.
Yippee for birthday week!
Erica
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Pizza Party
I love pizza! I didn’t realize until last night how easy it is to make a good pie. I must admit I cheated and bought the dough in the fridge section of Trader Joe’s. I had a couple of girlfriends over and I asked each of them to bring an ingredient/ part of the meal and then we made the pizzas together.
Our ingredients
1 whole wheat Trader Joe’s pizza crust
2 plain Trader Joe’s pizza crust
1 jar red sauce
1 jar pesto
2 bags mozzarella cheese
1 bag asiago cheese
1 block Parmesan cheese
Sautéed mushrooms
Sautéed onions
Pepperoni
Sun dried tomatoes
Red pepper flakes
Good olive oil
We baked two pizzas in the oven and I baked the last one in my Breville convection oven.
One of my friends also brought a yummy homemade caprese salad (sorry forgot to snap a pic). We ended our night by watching Troop Beverly Hills and enjoying fruit pizza and chocolate chip cookie brownies. Now as I type this I still have that cheer in my head : Beverly Hills what a thrill!
What are your favorite ingredients to put on a pizza?
Happy Weekend!
Erica
Kt Kat Ice Cream
Thank you Williams Sonoma for making it so easy to make homemade ice cream. I whipped up my first batch today in my ice cream maker. I could not be more impressed with how easy it was to make a batch of Kiit Kat ice cream.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 packet Williams Sonoma Chocolate Ice Cream Starter
I put my bowl in the freezer on Friday and took it out this morning when I was ready to make my ice cream. I whisked the ice cream starter with the half and half. Then I stirred in the heavy cream. The last step was to turn on the ice cream maker and pour the chocolate mixture in. It took fifteen minutes to come together in the ice cream maker and one additional minute for the Kit Kats to mix in. I put it in the freezer in an air tight bowl for 2 hours and Voila… Kit Kat Ice Cream!
Erica
Trying out the bar
This month is definitely full of firsts. First time running a 5k and tonight I am going to attend my first Pure Barre class . A location just opened in Minneapolis and it is super close to where I live (no excuses). I’m not gonna lie that I am not nervous about trying this class out. I know that a ballet bar is involved and that’s about it. I tried ballet/tap out in Kindergarten and that is my extent with being graceful.
🍀Wish me luck🍀
Erica
PS- How cute is this recent picture of Leo?
PPS- look what we found above a picnic table at school
Yes… Those are baby birds.
The Happiest 5k
Yesterday I woke up at 6 a.m. which is basically unheard of on a Sunday morning. You would think I was really sleepy but I was wide awake and a bit giddy with the anticipation of running in the Color Run in 2 hours. I managed to eat a bit of breakfast and then drove to the State Fair grounds where the race was being held. Justin and I didn’t expected that at 7:30 a.m. we would encounter any traffic but boy were we wrong. (After the race I learned that the color run would have 19,000 runners complete this race today.) I knew that since there were three start times: 8 am, 10 am and 1 pm that it would be busy but WOW I have never seen so many people at a race. I had a blast at this race and rocked the plastic sunglasses and the last minute white t-shirt purchased from Target. The great thing about this run was the music, my fellow runners, and the people that organized this run. I am definitely doing the Color Run next year and organizing a team. Now… Who wants to join me?
ROYGBIV love!
Erica
Hola Arepa!
On Saturday Justin, Galina, and I headed to the Farmers Market in search of one thing: AREPAS. Now… You may wonder what is Arepa? I did not know the answer to that question till yesterday. An arepa is made of cornmeal dough and resembles a pita pocket. It is stuffed with various meats, veggies, cheeses and topped with homemade salsas. One word for these: Yum! Hola Arepa has now become a favorite of ours and we will be back very soon! Here are some pictures from our lunch yesterday.
Black Bean and Queso Fresco Arepa with Homemade Guacamole
Food Truck Love,
Erica
Bradstreet Crafthouse
It’s restaurant week in Minneapolis/St Paul… I advise you to run to your computer and hop on this website and make reservations. The list of restaurants offer 10-15 dollar lunches and 15-30 dollar dinners. Last night I checked out Bradstreet Crafthouse. The food was amazing and the company was quite wonderful as well.
Here are some of my snaps from the evening:
BEST Mojito ever!!! I know those are some powerful words but it’s so true.
Bruschetta with a bite taken out.
Tuna Tartare
What is your favorite restaurant?
Smiles,
Erica
Give Thanks!
Sometimes a girls gotta reflect! It’s summer and I gotta smile because mother nature will soon change her mind and make the sunny days full of flip flops and smoothies into a blustery day full of Uggs and heated blankets. It’s important to take a moment to stop and (go with the cliche ) “Smell the roses.”
Here’s what’s making me smile this month:
1. Leo got a haircut at the beginning of the month and they put the cutest bow tie on him!
2. My mom came to visit for the 4th of July! We had a great time and we got to go to all our favorite spots (Nordstrom, Surdyk’s, Bar La Grassa , Sebastian Joes, and of course Cafe Latte).
3. My mom is going to be so mad that I put this picture on the blog but anyways…I love Pedicures and it was a great to have a Mother/Daughter day last week and get pampered. The funny thing is I’m completely in love with glitter and hate pastels and my mom (well…she’s the complete opposite).
4. I got my birthday present early from my mom. What flavor of ice cream should I make first?
5. I would like to thank Bakerella for the great idea of making snow cone cupcakes. When I made these I found I had a love/hate relationship with them. I loved the taste of the frosting and I HATED spending 2 hours on decorating these babies.
What are you lovin this month?
Smiles,
Erica
It’s hotter than…
My mom just left Minneapolis today and it’s a definite that she took the warm weather back with her to the South. This past week I had plans for walks around the lake and bike rides after dinner. These plans were completely interrupted by mother nature. It has been in the 90-100′s in Minneapolis this whole week. We managed a walk around Lake Calhoun at 7 A.M. on Wednesday but I would still categorize the heat as harsh and far from pleasant. The only relief I have found on this heat wave of a summer is my birthday present that my parents gave me last year: my Zoku Quick Pop maker. I will be honest and say I hadn’t used this for a year but I realized when we made the popsicles this week that it couldn’t have been any easier. The cookbook from Zoku is pretty neat too! We ended up making strawberry banana popsicles.
What flavor should I make next?
Smiles,
Erica
Bar La Grassa
My mom has been visiting this week and I decided to take her to one of my new favorite restaurants Bar La Grassa. I love that this restaurant makes its own pasta and also that it offers dishes as small and large plates. Here are some of the things we ordered:
Lobster Bruschetta
Charred Red Onion with Goat Cheese
Gnocchi with Cauliflower and Orange
Bucatini with Bolognese (Justin’s favorite)
I think I can definitely say that this is one of my top 5 favs in Minneapolis!
Happy Friday!
Erica
