"We got engaged 2 years ago" dinner

He put a ring on it at Disneyland

To celebrate, I surprised him with a semi-fancy dinner. Remember those beautiful heirloom tomatoes we got at the Farmer's Market?

Well, I got some mozzarella and some fresh homegrown basil and made this:

I followed The Pioneer Woman's reduce-the-balsamic-method (basically, carefully reduce the balsamic until it's a syrup) and drizzled that, and some olive oil, salt, and pepper, over it all. It was refreshing and divine. 

Served it with stuffed bell peppers + gravy (marinara sauce). 

I started with Giada De Laurentiis and Emeril's recipes, but then customized it by: 

* using ground turkey 

* using spicy Italian pork sausage 

* excluding the egg, rice, and bread crumbs 

* using jarred marinara sauce (added extra seasoning, a little bit of sugar, and wine) 

* pre-cooking the meat before stuffing 

* par-boiling the peppers 

* using extra seasoning (i.e. Italian seasoning, Mexican oregano, garlic) 

* adding chopped mushrooms and onions, fresh basil 

* covering the tops with pecorino romano and mozzarella (last 7 minutes or so) 

Turned out pretty tasty. We seemed to eat peppers for days! Next time, I want to try them "meatloaf" style: topped with ketchup, with the meat baked in the oven. 

It was a really colorful dinner

P.S. Being married rules. 

It's already Thanksgiving at my house!

Thanksgiving is only a week-ish away, but I couldn't wait. I needed Thanksgiving leftovers, now. So when I discovered that our favorite local market, Trader Joe's, was selling half, fully-roasted turkeys, I jumped on it:

Hello, I-don't-have-to-cook-you-beautiful,



I don't know what you like to do with leftovers (do share), but I like to make sandwiches. Usually, I use white bread (think: Wonder Bread, ie the fluffy, soft, white kind you used to eat when you were a kid), but I had a loaf of wheat that I wanted to use up. When I use white, I don't toast it, but lightly toasting the wheat bread makes it taste better, IMO.

This is how I like to build my sandwich:

* lots of mayo smeared on the bread
* a mix of dark and white meat drenched in hot turkey gravy
* a thin layer of hot mashed potatoes with a dollop of cold cranberry sauce

Don't worry about making it nice and neat. A sandwich like this always ends up falling deliciously apart anyway. See? Not the prettiest picture, but trust me, it was so good, I almost died happy eating 3 sandwiches. And bottomless mimosas (70% champagne, 30% OJ with pulp)!