Life Has Been A Whirlwind!

Life needs to just slow down.  I cannot believe how fast our wedding is approaching!  The reason why I haven't updated recently is because life has been NON-STOP! Between traveling to Buffalo for my bridal shower, doing wedding planning, and craziness at work, I've barely had a moment to breathe, let alone do anything fun in the kitchen! Even while I was in Buffalo, I didn't get to have any of my mother's fabulous cooking because we were on the run every night!

To catch you up, here's some of the fun times we had while in Buffalo!

 Me, mom, & the bridal shower planners! :)

 Gosh, I love him.

 Hello deliciousness.

 My mommy is so talented! :)

 Best ribbon bridal bouquet ever!!! :)

Okay, back to cooking.  I decided earlier in the week that I would make an Italian feast today since I enjoyed the food at my shower so much.  Making homemade sauce and meatballs is so much fun even though it's a tremendous amount of work.  Around 11am, I started the whole process by making up some turkey meatballs and preparing the ingredients for the sauce.  Usually I make the sauce and meatballs and let it simmer in a large saucepan on the stove for several hours.  Today I decided to use the crock-pot and let it cook on low for 6 hours.  It turned out perfectly!  

Here's a sneak-peek at the yumminess.  I'm still debating whether or not I want to share my family's sauce recipe! Ha! :)  

 The sauce and meatballs before I turned on the crockpot! 

 Our table! :) Presentation is everything! 

 Yep, I had 2.5 meatballs... Shaun had to do some

 quality assurance before we ate! ha!

 We also had garlic bread and a salad!

And mini cannolis for dessert! :)

Well, I'm off to do some relaxing ~ it's going to be a hectic week at school because my babies are taking the big SAT-10 assessment!  I know they'll knock it out of the ballpark because they are just an amazing group of kiddos! :)

Sweet Hugs,

Lauren

Hello Spring Break!

Spring Break is finally here!!!  I have been ready for vacation for what feels like weeks!!!  I'm looking forward to all the exciting events that are happening this week!  On Wednesday I will be heading to Buffalo for a fun-filled week/weekend of wedding festivities!  My mom's best friend is throwing my bridal shower on Saturday evening and I couldn't be any more excited!  I love that I'm doing unusual wedding things - morning ceremony, brunch reception, and an evening shower!  I am pretty fortunate to have such an amazing group of friends and family that will be showering me with love!  While we're in Buffalo, Shaun and I will also be meeting with the bakery that will be creating our wedding cake! :)  Can't wait to try some scrumptious cake!  We also get to have brunch at the venue where our reception is!  I've tried the brunch before, but Shaun is in for a real treat!  So exciting!!!

This weekend was pretty fabulous.  On Friday, Shaun and I went to the Strawberry Festival because it's berry season here and we had to get our strawberry shortcake fix taken care of!  It was well worth the 25 minute drive, the $5 parking, the $10 admission ticket, and the $3.50 donation to a local catholic church for this deliciousness....

Yes, that is what I call a sinful amount of whipped cream.

  I ended up spooning some of it into Shaun's bowl 

because apparently I was slightly overzealous with how much I took! :)

He's so handsome! :) 

On Saturday, we threw a dinner party for some friends and boy was it an amazing night!  I made a new recipe, Linguine with Garlic Breadcrumbs and Sauteed Shrimp (Grilled Chicken for me).  It was soooo tasty.  I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but I cannot.  I found it here, so if you're wanting to try it, click here!

Here's some pictures from our party! 

 My plate - grilled chicken and 

a small scoop of linguine!

 Now that's a colorful salad! :)

 Table of deliciousness!

 Shaun's plate... with shrimp. Yuck! LOL! 

 I love it! :)  And him! <3

 Dessert was Peanut Butter Yogurt Pie!

We played Life... and Shaun and I tied!

We will definitely be hosting more dinner parties!  Next time I'm thinking Lasagna Soup! :)

I'm off to do some relaxing - I have a full day of errands tomorrow!!!  Enjoy your evening! 

Sweet Hugs,

Lauren

This Time, I Promise!

I know, I know... last time there was a lag in posts, I said I was back for good.  Clearly I've been out-of-control busy with a ton of additional responsibilities for work and have been slightly overwhelmed!  But, I PROMISE I'm back.  My goal is 2-3 posts a week because posting everyday is too time-consuming, especially with things being so hectic in my life right now!

This morning, I woke up super early and decided to get a jump start on the day, so I went right to 7:30am mass!  The priest was uber-quick with mass, so I was home by 8:30! Score!  Home by 8:30 meant that I was able to whip up a new recipe.  Technically it's a recipe I found online, but I altered it a lot because I felt I could make it slightly healthier! :)  

My new recipe?  Banana Muffins! :)  I L-O-V-E bananas, so when I'm wasting my time on Pinterest, I'm always looking for recipes with bananas.  I had a few bananas that were looking less than appealing, so I figured PERFECT!  Brownish-gross bananas make for the best banana bread! ha!  I found the recipe at this website, but like I said, I altered it!

First I mashed up 3 bananas.  Two of the bananas were pretty brown and the other one was still yellow.  It worked out just fine though.  After I mashed the bananas, I added a teaspoon of ground cinnamon - scrumptious! :)  Since I'm OCD about measurements, I measured the mashed up bananas and it was almost 1 full cup.  

 Love mashing the bananas! :)

This is where the recipe was altered - the original recipe called for 3/4 cup of all-purpose white flour and 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour.  I decided to use all whole wheat flour, despite the websites I found online that said it's not a good idea to substitute ALL whole wheat flour.  It worked out just fine!  The recipe also called for a tablespoon of baking powder, but I felt like that was a lot, so I did one teaspoon and it turned out lovely.  I thought maybe it was a typo, but no one left comments about it, so I decided just to do my own thing.  Like I said, it turned out great!  

 I couldn't wait for them to cool...

 I ate it almost right out of the oven! :)

 So yummy! :)

Healthy Banana Walnut Muffins (Makes 12) (Adapted from The Reality of Skinny)

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg (I suppose you could use 2 egg whites instead to make it even healthier)

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

chopped walnuts, optional

1. Mash bananas in a bowl.  Add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, stir, and then sit aside.

2. In another bowl, add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Stir and then set aside.

3. In another bowl, add your bananas, applesauce, vanilla, egg, and sugar.  Beat with an electric mixer until it's all blended.

4. Add your flour mixture to the banana mixture and blend on low for about 30 seconds until well blended.

5. Pour mixture into muffin tin (I used paper baking cups) and sprinkle a few chopped walnuts over each muffin and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean!

I enjoyed mine with a few sprays of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!  Delish!  :)

Now I'm off to Lakeshore to laminate some work stations for my first graders for this week!  I may be experimenting with chicken pot pie tonight, so there may be another recipe this afternoon!

Have a stellar Sunday!

Sweet Hugs,

Lauren