School's in session

So, it's yet another school weekend.  But Scott is in the home stretch!  He may or may not sit with this lovely clock on his desk at class...

I took that a while ago - I believe the countdown is at 61 days.  SWEET!

Do any of you out there find it hard to believe that Scott would have that on his desk, facing out towards his professors?  HAHA!

The one nice thing I try to do is cook him a really nice dinner on Saturdays when he's in school.  It's a long, long day for him.  I get requests during the week and while I cook, he gets some one on one time with JJ.  It has definitely not been easy on him to be away from our little guy every other weekend for over a year.  But it will all be worth it in the long run! 

Last session he requested bacon and leek risotto.  It's amazing.  The recipe had me at bacon but REALLY won us over with the fried egg you put on top (it calls for poached, we just prefer fried).  Runny egg yolk on top of creamy, wonderful risotto?  A match made in heaven.  Leeks are in season during the spring so go grab some and make this!

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/04/bacon_and_leek_risotto_with_poached_egg

This saturday is St. Patrick's Day so he didn't get much of an option on his special home cooked meal.  Corned beef and cabbage, of course!  Best part - corned beef hash tomorrow!  Just like last year, I've had a brisket brining away all week.  If you haven't done this yet, please do it!  It's so easy and tastes amazing.  I'm trying to work up the motivation to make some soda bread this year too (to go with the kerrygold butter I splurged on.  MMMMMMM).

I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!  I have some beautiful irish eyes smiling at me today :)  Now, off to crack open a beer and get started on our irish feast!

Next class session - Scott has requested I make cookies.  I'll be back in a few weeks to show you the results!

Valentine's Day came early

Valentine's Day is a Tuesday.  How dull.  You know what I do on Tuesdays?  Dinner, bathtime, bed.  Not a lot of room for romance in that action packed schedule.  It was also a school weekend for Scott and I usually try and make something special for him on those weekends because after 3 straight days of school, he's earned it.  This weekend, I decided that something special would be dessert.  Dessert that would include dark chocolate.  Scott is a total chocoholic.  The darker the better too. 

I came across this recipe online last week and was seriously intrigued...

Goat cheese and raspberry swirl?  hmmmm.  It would either be amazing or awful.  Lately, Scott and I are both obsessed with all things goat cheese.  Goat cheese in mashed potatoes?  Yes, please.  Goat cheese mixed with spinach and served on top of a poached egg?  YUM.  But goat cheese in a brownie?  I was skeptical but thought what the heck!

Ohhhh, they're good.  So very good.  Not overly sweet and the tangy goat cheese mixed with the raspberries?  Definitely amazing. 

Try them. Now. They're even pink - so sweet for an early Valentine's day treat!

I also thought I would make a big pot of Italian Wedding soup for dinner this week.  I made this recipe last winter and got rave reviews.  Plus, Italian Wedding soup sounds romantic, right?  Not that soup is at all romantic, but it sounds good :)

On the less dull side of Valentine's Day - we do actually have plans!  Just not for the actual day of.  I found tickets for Brit Floyd - a fantastic Pink Floyd cover band from England.  We saw them on PBS recently and the show was really good.  They'll be in Baltimore in March - so we're taking the day off and heading up for the show (it's a Monday, of course).  Dinner in the inner harbor and a fun concert.  Not bad! 

We recently came to the realization that if we don't prioritize alone time - we'll never get it.  It's hard with a little guy at home and it's certainly not going to get any easier.  So we've sort of challenged ourselves to find fun, affordable date nights.  Considering how few and far between they are, I thought dropping some money on concert tickets still fell into the affordable category. 

Do you have any ideas for fun, affordable date nights?  Something other than just going out to dinner and coming home to crash in bed with a full bellly??  (do you watch The Middle?  They nailed the post dinner romance concept...) I'd love to hear some ideas!  Help a sister out!

snOMG!

Have you heard?? There's a BLIZZARD in DC!!!!!!! It's going to snow for nearly 2 straight days. The DC area is NOT ready for this. Not even close. It's either the storm of the year, decade, century or the biggest storm since 1779! Seriously, 1779. We shall see. As two New Englanders, we find it all pretty entertaining to watch. The picture above was from early afternoon - so I'll put up a comparison later this weekend. As I'm writing this, we're up to 9" and as you can see below, Marley is loving it!

A few great things about being the snow:
1. Early release from work! In the words of the great Martha Stewart...it's a good thing.

2. No one can judge you for being in pajamas for 24 straight hours. Added bonus, they're super comfy for my ever expanding belly. (How I went from no belly, to ordering maternity clothes at lunch break because of my painful pant button is beyond me!)

3. It's a GREAT reason to splurge on a delicious dinner! We braved Harris Teeter this afternoon and got filet mignon, baked potatoes and spinach. Yummmmmmmm. I'm pretending like I don't desperately want a glass of wine (ok, bottle of wine) to go along with this amazing dinner. But instead, I'll just stuff myself full of calories. I am eating for two, right?!?

I did promise recipes on this blog, so I decided to share my delicious creamy spinach recipe. It doesn't even have cream in it so you don't have to feel bad about eating all of it :) I can't remember where I got this from, it's scratched down on a piece of paper. If I can possibly recall the source, I'll give it credit at a later date.

Creamy Spinach:

1 bag of baby spinach (9 oz.)
Place spinach in a large saucepan (it will be very, very full!) and season with salt. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of water in the pan, cover and cook until wilter. Stir occasionally. Put in colander, run under cold water and then squeeze out as much water as possible (I like to put it in a clean kitchen towel and twist)

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tb. butter over medium heat. Add 1.5 tb. of minced onion, salt and pepper. Cook until soft. Add 1/2 tb. flour and stir for 1 min. (do not brown). Add 1/2 cup of milk and simmer until thickened. Thin with more milk if necessary. Stir in the spinach and taste for salt and pepper.

YUM! It heats up really well the next day too.