Mexican Food, Cookouts and Father's Day

Mexican food, cookouts and Father's Day...those about sum up our weekend. Well, not entirely, but close. We had a wonderful, relaxing weekend and I'm sad that it went by so quickly.

Friday night we stayed in and had some friends over to grill out. We had burgers, salad and oven roasted potatoes...yum! Saturday, we got up, did some things around the house and then went to lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Deli Mexicana. It was so good! I got their red snapper salad (pictured below) and it was incredible. Light, fresh and delicious (and I didn't even have to leave feeling guilty for eating heavy Mexican food)!

Saturday afternoon, we attended a "Stock the Pool" party hosted by some good friends of ours. They just moved to a fabulous new house and invited everyone over to break in/stock the pool. It was a little overcast, so the water was too chilly for Emmie to enjoy it, but it was loads of fun nonetheless! I made my own version of Emily's vegetable quinoa salad (I subbed out edamame for the peas) and it was a huge hit! It was my first experience cooking with miso. Now I have a whole tub of white miso that I'm going to have to figure out a use for, but I think I'm up to the challenge.

(I forgot to take a photo of the finished product, but here are the veggies sauteeing for the salad)

Sunday was Michael's first Father's Day and it was perfect! Emmie got up early, but wound up taking a 2.5 hour morning nap (I think the pool partying wore her out!), which means Mom and Dad also took a 2.5 hour morning nap! What a perfect Father's Day gift! After she woke up and ate, we headed to brunch at Celtic Crossing. We have fallen in love with their omelets (veggie for me, Irish for Michael) and the live music they have each Sunday. 

(We entertained ourselves while we waited on our food by having a mini photo shoot with Emmie. I am obsessed with her outfit!) 

After lunch, we ran to Target, Garden Ridge and Home Depot so we could wrap up our latest house project...the sunroom (post on that to come this week!). 

(This photo is actually from Friday, but look who's sitting up in the basket like a big girl. Jeez. Where is the time going??)

We headed home to do some work and let Emmie nap, then headed back out for our second Father's Day meal of the day and second Mexican meal of weekend. El Porton on Sunday evenings is quickly becoming a weekly tradition for us. They have a huge patio, it's super kid friendly and it's pretty inexpensive. Oh, and the margaritas are awesome. While we enjoyed our food/drink, we let Emmie experiment with a sippy cup. She liked it!

We wrapped up the weekend by relaxing on the couch and getting in bed early. Not a bad weekend if you ask me!

How was everyone else's weekend?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone's week is going well. It's been a while, so I've decided to link up with Jamie to share what I'm loving this lately.

1) Our new Tervis Tumblers! We've always had a couple of Memphis Tigers ones, but I've always wanted a set of monogrammed ones. I love them! They really are the best "glasses" for everyday, casual use.

Here's a crappy iPhone photo of one of them. 

2) This pinterest recipe. I've been subbing out laughing cow cheese for the cream cheese and have had it for lunch nearly every day for the past week. It is delicious, filling and pretty healthy! 

3) Running! I've finally gotten back into the swing of things since Emmie was born and have been running a lot. We did the Harbortown 5K a couple of weeks ago, the Gibson this weekend and are signed up for LuvMud, which is in a week and a half. I had forgotten how much I enjoy running and races! 

Our little family after the Gibson 5K.

4) My new iPhone! I'd been using the 3 for a couple of years and was due for an upgrade, so I got the 4. The upgrades are nice and the camera is great. I love that the face is white, too! 

source

What are you loving lately? 

Menu Monday

This week, I actually made it to the grocery store on Sunday (a lot of times, this gets put off until Monday or Tuesday after work) and planned several good meals, so I thought I'd share. Here's what's in the lineup in our kitchen this week!

Sunday: Crockpot chili with cornbread. It was delicious (so delicious that I forgot to take a picture!) and well worth the heartburn it gave me!

Monday: Chicken tetrazzini with oven roasted broccoli. I am not the biggest fan of chicken (I know, I'm odd), but Michael loves chicken and pasta, so I try to throw in some chicken into the rotation every once in a while.

Tuesday: Amy's Organic Pizza with salad. Has anyone else tried these? They are delicious and we seem to eat one at least once per week. I usually sprinkle on a little extra goat cheese for good measure.

Wednesday: Dinner out.

Thursday: Crockpot Potato Soup with salad. I made this a couple of months ago and it was a big hit, so it's making a repeat appearance. This gal gave me the recipe. It's supposed to get chilly on Thursday so I thought it would be a good meal to warm us up. Here's the recipe:

Crockpot Potato Soup Ingredients: 1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hashbrowns 3 14oz. cans of chicken broth 1 can of cream of chicken soup 1 medium onion, diced 1 medium carrot, shredded 2 cloves minced garlic 1 tsp. kosher salt 2 tsp. ground pepper 2 tbsp. Hidden Valley Ranch mix 1 pkg. cream cheese Directions: Combine all ingredients except for the cream cheese in a crockpot, stir to combine and cook on low for 6-8 hours. One hour before you're ready to serve, cut the cream cheese into smaller squares (about 1 inch pieces), add to crockpot and crank the heat up to high for the last hour (until the cream cheese melts). Top with shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon, diced green onions or sour cream.

On that note, I'm off to clean up the kitchen and then relax with Michael. Good night!