Fire & Ice

Yesterday, we went to lunch at Doc Chey's and then stopped by the new Emory Point development because I "needed" to get a few things at one of the boutiques there. ;) I saw a poster earlier in the week about a "marathon ice carving" charity event they would be having over the weekend. I've never heard of such a thing, but we decided to check it out anyway since we were already there. (Sorry for the phone pics.)

There was an Atlanta ice carving team working on a dragon sculpture, and the rest of the action was mostly setup for the evening VIP event. A couple of guys near us were unloading what looked like a bunch of sleeping bags.

And then they started unrolling them! They put a pillar candle in the top of each one, so I guess that was the "fire" portion.

At the end of the carving session, it became clear that most of the rest of the people in the crowd were groupies! Icies? "This is your best dragon yet, guys!" "You know we have to take a picture!" Definitely random, but it was an interesting little Saturday afternoon event! It was in the 50s, so I hope the sculptures made it until the cocktail hour.

Today we went to brunch at Haven Restaurant & Bar in Brookhaven (really good) and then drove over to Costco nearby to see what all the fuss is about. Sadly, we were not impressed, and I really wanted to love it! It seemed like you have to be more bargain-loyal than you are brand-loyal, and that is just not necessarily going to work for us. Oh well. At least "we" got to gaze at the $30,000 diamond necklace on display at the front!

Hope you had a great weekend. :)

A Few Recipes

Happy weekend! Here are a few recipes we have tried and enjoyed lately. I don't always stick exactly to the recipe as written -- especially those that come from Real Simple. Sometimes they're...too simple. Anyway, I'll put some "cook's notes" under each one.

Cheeseburger Skillet Pie

This is one of those "too simple" recipes. We made the beef mixture almost as stated in the recipe (we used regular tomatoes instead of Rotel), and it didn't have much of a "cheeseburger" flavor to it. So I added a tablespoon or two each of Worcestershire and Dijon, along with a little pinch of sugar, garlic and onion powders, and plenty of salt and pepper. I made pickles to go alongside, and a green salad would be good too!

{Recipe Here}

 Greek Marinated Chicken (for Gyros)

This chicken is marinated in Greek yogurt, lemon juice, oregano and other yummy flavors. I sliced it really thinly, so it went a long way in our gyros. The first batch got done but not brown, so I cranked the heat up a little. I think the yogurt marinade kept it moist even cooking at the higher heat, and you can see that it turned out really "pretty"! Yum. We had this in pitas with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and the tzatziki from the blog post.

{Recipe Here}

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Instead of using the two cans of condensed tomato soup, I used one box of Pomi strained tomatoes. I love these tomatoes! They come in a cute little carton and have a lot of flavor. I also just used regular tomato paste instead of the sun-dried tomatoes. Finally, instead of simmering it all together, I left out the half-and-half until the very end. I turned the heat down and stirred it in after a few minutes. Every time I've followed a recipe that says to simmer/boil half-and-half, it curdles! Tastes fine but doesn't look so fine. This was great with bread and salad.

{Recipe Here}

Island Pork Tenderloin

We have pork tenderloin pretty frequently, so we appreciate finding ways to cook it that are a little bit different. This recipe seems kind of Caribbean-inspired, with sweet and spicy flavors. If you're not sure about the cinnamon (and I wasn't), you could easily leave it out. But we did end up liking it! Instead of the recommended cook time, I browned it on all sides in the pan and then roasted at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. It was totally done/no pink (my preference) but still juicy...success! Beware though -- if you spoon over extra glaze from the bottom of the pan, it is pretty darn spicy.

{Recipe Here}

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

Happy Monday, friends! I have not been doing Menu Mondays (obviously), but we are finally getting back into our cooking routine after the holidays. Next week I'll plan to share links to some of the recipes we've tried and enjoyed.

For now, here's a recipe I found on Pinterest that we loved! It was very easy to put together, and it tasted great. In fact, we're having it again this week (and I am not usually a meatloaf fan)! I shared it with several friends at work, and I figured it was worth sharing here too. :)  The recipe link is below, and you can make a printable version and find instructions for freezing there.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf

{Recipe by Joelen at What's Cookin' Chicago?}

A few notes:
1. I used ground chicken breast the first time I made it and am trying regular ground chicken this week. I think it would be good either way, although the ground white meat is probably healthier but drier.

2. Instead of three half-teaspoons of individual spices, I used one heaping teaspoon of Italian seasoning and a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder. You can really use whatever you want, though!

3. I accidentally used a 9x5 loaf pan, which resulted in a "squatty" meatloaf (as you can see -- at least compared to the original blog post). It also cooked a little faster than the suggested time, so this time I'll use an 8x4 pan and see how that goes.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed New Year's Eve at home with lots of food, accompanied by Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on the TV, and we spent a rainy New Year's Day in our pajamas watching Season One of Modern Family. That may sound lame to some, but it sounded perfect to us! :) We had a nice short week at work, and now that the holidays are officially over, we're definitely going to miss those...

Our first Saturday of the year was a totally lazy day, although we did make it out in the evening for dinner at the always yummy Local Three. The poor quality of my Blackberry camera almost makes it look like an intentional Instagram filter...right? ;)

Today, we got our grocery shopping out of the way early so we could go up to Perimeter to eat lunch at Chuy's and do a little shopping. The only part of today that was not-so-great was taking down all of our Christmas decorations. Boo! I protested a.k.a. Andrew did most of the work while I supervised.

Hope your 2013 is off to a great start!