St. Valentine's Day Weekend - 2016

Hiiii peoples!

Well look at that, it's still February and I'm posting my Valentine's Day post in the same month that it happened! Am I good or what? You should be nodding. Are you nodding? Good.

This may be one of our best heart days yet! Mainly because instead of venturing out into the mad crowds of crazy people, trying to book a reservation and all that hullabaloo, we stayed HOME. 

Introvert. Heaven. *cue angelic singing*

Home is nice. It's my favorite-est place to be. A place where after being peopled out after a long week (my poor little introverted self can only take so much), I can just relax and be myself and not say a thing, if I want to. And Robert is my introvert buddy, so he understands!

We started out Saturday morning with this lovely breakfast:

GF Chocolate Chip Waffles WITH Chocolate Syrup (Mmmhmm, I did that) and Orange Slices.

 
We spent Saturday catching up on suuuper fuuuun things like dishes, and tidying up the house after the work week. Friday evening we went grocery shopping early because we didn't want to get caught in the crowds of men storming the store for last minute Valentine gifts :P Robert picked out a bouquet of flowers for me while we were there! Lol, we're such an old married couple. IT WAS a surprise! I wasn't in that area when he picked them out, BUT I did know he was going to get some for me before we left the house, cuz I hinted that there would be a better selection to choose from if we went early.  :) I HAVE picked out my own flowers before, but not until recently. It's because I'm an artsy person! I like looking at  all the different flowers and seeing what I'm in the mood for, but this time I wanted him to pick. And chose well, he did.

Are they not lovely? He knew exactly what I wanted before I did.

The spread for the next day.

Pink Moscato Champagne (Birthday present from my mother-in-law), Juniper Berry and Bay Leaf infused Olive Oil (Aldi's), Almond and Hazelnut stuffed Green Olives (Aldi's), Turkish Figs (Aldi's), Herb and Pepper encrusted Salami (Aldi's), Hawaiian BBQ and Himalayan Sea Salt Kettle Brand chips with Avocado oil (Krogers), Chocolove brand chocolate, "Spicing Up Married Life" book by Father Leo Patalinghug, and "The Vow" movie, one of my faves.

Aldi's had a BUNCH of specialty items on sale after Christmas and we stocked up for this!

 Speaking of Father Leo Patalinghug, guess who came to our church? You betcha, the man himself. HE WAS AWESOME! He came for our annual Mission and spoke at our Church for 3 nights and boy were they memorable evenings. If you haven't heard of him before, he is a chef and has a cooking show on EWTN called Savoring the Faith; he is also kind of a celebrity now after beating Bobby Flay on Food Network in a fajita cooking competition about 6 years or so ago.
 BUT THE WAY HE SPEAKS. OH MY GOODNESS. He just ignites you with a blazing fire for your faith And he's hilarious. He has published three books, and we have them all now, including the marriage one pictured above. They have recipes in them :) Including the fajita recipe he beat Bobby Flay with! Before priesthood he used to teach martial arts and self defense, and is pretty awesome at breakdancing. I mean, HOW COOL IS THAT?! Including videos below so you can get to know him:

Of course we got a picture with him! He told us we looked like we got married when we were 12 XD

Selfies with the marriage book!

Heart Strawbs, something I started doing last year. Just cut a V in the top of the whole strawberry before cutting and you'll have cutesie little hearts!

Breakfast on Sunday morning. Almond flour pancakes with strawberries hearts, part of a Pumelo (The ancestor of the grapefruit, and much better I think. Less bitter.), and pork sausage patties.

It's not a Valentine's Day post without at least one picture of us.

Champagne and Roses.

Foccacia Bread! I used the recipe in Cybele Paschal's ' The Baker's Handbook'. I loooove her cookbooks. Here is the link if you are interested in the cookbook. I added the grapes and majoram on top and it was amazing. It was hard to refrain from eating the whole thing between the two of us!

Ze romantic dinner. Complete with candles.

Bubbly in the candlelight.

So we ate our finger food, sipped the bubbly, watched The Vow, gobbled up as much foccacia as we could get away with, and it was such a nice evening, just being home together. We're realizing how precious moments like these are, so for us this Valentine's Day was more about making uninterrupted time for each other (and good food) instead of extravagant gifts. Not that I don't like extravagant gifts *hint hint*. Buuuut time is priceless and we never know how much we have until we lose it.

So cherish the people you love!

How did you guys spend your Valentine's Day??? I hope it was amazing whether you're are in a relationship or not :)

Cheers!

Oh Pineapples, How I Love You.

Hiiiiii!

So yesterday Robert and I decided to make kebobs. First time we've made them together since we've been married! They were soooo easy to make. Every time I've thought about making kebobs I tend to think of them being more complicated than I want to deal with for dinner. So I've avoided them this whole time :P No longer! I'm going to be making these babies all the time now. Annnnd I took a lot of pictures, as usual, so prepare yourselves :D

I've been using pineapples for my table centerpiece lately. Simple, but cute :)

Pretty supplies.

All chopped up.

Kebob-ed.

Spices.

Spiced.

Chillin' with my pineapple.

All done and absolutely delicious!

Kebobs=Happy people 

 

 

 

 

 

Yum.

Easy Pineapple Kebobs:

2 chicken breasts, chunked
1 container of grape or cherry tomatoes
1 small pineapple, peeled and chunked
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped into chunks
1 orange bell pepper, chopped into chunks
1 red bell pepper, chopped into chunks
1 yellow onion, chopped into wedges

Slide all above ingredients onto your kebob skewers and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Season with pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt), black pepper, tarragon, dill, and garlic pepper on both sides of kebobs until sufficiently covered. Grill on both sides until done (I didn't do the grilling so I don't know how long it took per side!). Makes about 10-11 kebobs. Enjoy!

 

The past weekend I made some cakes for our church festival and I love how they turned out!

Hope everyone is having a lovely summer!

St. Paddy's Day - Scones and Rainbow Stamps

Happy Day after St. Paddy's Day!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my week before St. Patrick's Day party! I had fun :) I also learned that I'm not great at posting daily, but hey, it's better than what I've done in the past! So long as I keep it up...hehe.

Anyways, here is the outfit I wore on St. Patrick's Day:

Plaid Shirt - Thrifted
Black T-shirt - Wet Seal
Black Cami - Maurices
Green Skirt - Thrifted
Flats - TOMS - Nordstrom.com
Shamrock Earrings - Claires
Celtic Knot Necklace - Irish Fest.

I love this combo! That shirt is my absolute favorite right now.

It looked warmer than it was :P Afterwards I went inside and put leggings on!



Has anybody tried this hairstyle? It's something I made up myself.
First you make two low pigtails. Then section the pigtail as if you are going to do a three strand braid. Individually braid each strand so that you have three mini braids and secure with small bands. Braid all of them together and secure with a large band. Remove small bands. Repeat with second pigtail.
Make sense?



My sisters have similar necklaces to this. My eldest has one with a shamrock and my other sister's has a Celtic trinity knot.

 

 

My shoes.

 

 

I made gluten and dairy free scones for the first time!!!!!!! They're amazing. Here is the recipe. I did make a few changes since her recipe wasn't dairy free. I used almond milk instead of regular and spectrum spread vegetable shortening in place of butter.  Robert is not allergic to eggs so I didn't bother replacing those. I also did not have the self-raising flour mix she used so I used my flour blend (brown rice flour, potato flour, and tapioca starch) + 2 tsp. of GF baking powder.

 

Topped with black current jam. YUM.

 

 

We went over to Robert's mom's house for dinner. She fixed corned beef with potatoes, cabbage and other veggies. A GF bread with pesto and manchego sheep's cheese. And some homemade coleslaw. It was gooooood.

 

 

Sooo. I did not have time to finish the Celtic craft I was going to share, so I will share this instead. Around this time last year, I bought this adorable little notebook from TangleCrafts on Etsy. IT'S SO COLORFUL I'M GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!! I love it. I turned it into an address book, so I guess you could call it a craft. Sorta. This lady's stuff is amazing so be sure to check out her shop!

 

 

Well, that is all for now, folks. I hope you all had a very Irish-y St. Patrick's Day! Cheers :)

The Week Before St. Paddy's Day - Day 4 - A Leprechaun's Favorite Drink

And another one!

March 13th, 2015

The Outfit:



Green Irish Shirt - Irish Fest.
Orange Long Sleeved Shirt - Wal-mart
Jeans - Wal-mart
Celtic Trinity Knot Earrings - College Campus Booth
I was running out of time that day, so I only had time for a selfie :P

The Food:

This is what happens when the photographer doesn't take pictures of food BEFORE she takes it to a party full of hungry people. It gets eaten. Therefore, half a veggie tray :P

This, my friends is Leprechaun Lime Punch. It's amazing.
Here is the recipe:
2 cans of frozen limeade
1/4 c. sugar ( I used pure cane sugar)
1/4 c. lime juice
2 liters of lemon lime soda
2 cartons of lemon sorbet or lime if you can find it
Mix first 3 ingredients in large punch bowl, then add half of the soda. Spoon in lemon sorbet and mix. Add more soda. It will start to foam. Serve immediately. Makes about 24 servings (Hint: If all ingredients don't fit into the punch bowl, add them later, it will cause more foam and fizziness and look amazing again.) Enjoy!



Yummy Paleo Biscuits. Get the recipe here. I used one of our Celtic crosses to make an imprint on the top of the biscuits! Who needs a cookie stamp?!

The finished cupcakes!!!! They were delicious.

The Craft:

I covered the front of this paper mache letter in Celtic scrap book paper. First I painted the parts that were not getting covered in paper with dark green acrylic paint. Once it was dry, I traced its shape onto the paper, cut it out, and modge- podged it onto the letter. It's gorgeous, is it not?

Feel free to join in The Week Before St. Paddy's Day Party! Share your Irish outfit, food, and craft the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day. Link up by sharing your link in a comment on one of these posts :) If you can only do one day, that's great too!

Cheers!

~Mary

The Week Before St. Paddy's Day Party - Day 3 - Sheep and Marbles

Here's another one for ya!

March 12, 2015


The Outfit:

Plaid Cap - Present from my sister
Sheep T-shirt - Thrifted
Black Long Sleeved Shirt - Wal-mart
Jeans - Thrifted



And yes, I am sitting on black sheep skin :P

I like sheep, okay? Sheep+Ireland? Even better.

The Food:

This isn't exactly Irish, but there is green in it so it counts. Meatless black bean burgers with parsley, and Kale on the side.

Making shamrock shaped cupcakes for my sister's party the next day! They turned out really well :) Found the idea on Pinterest of course! Here's the link.

Yep, those are marbles.

Worrying they wouldn't turn out well, being Gluten and Dairy free :P

The Crafts:

Robert's and my niece made this Barbie dress for me!!! She's just beginning to learn how to sew and she's doing REALLY well. She did this all by herself :)

This is a project I did last summer. It was originally all white and I thought it needed to be spiced up a bit. I used dark green acrylic paint and painted two coats onto it. Then I hand painted the silver Celtic knot and vines. I'm really happy with it! It looks so much more me now.

Feel free to join in The Week Before St. Paddy's Day Party! Share your Irish outfit, food, and craft the week leading up to St. Patrick's Day. Link up by sharing your link in a comment on one of these posts :) If you can only do one day, that's great too!

Cheers!

~Mary