Night Out in SLC

Posted on by
Reply

Have you ever heard of Tastemakers? Well we hadn’t until this year. Andrea and I have to go to a lot of different fundraising events for my work and this was one of the best events we have ever been to. You start out the night in the parking lot next to Squatters. There are several tents set up featuring food from different restaurants around SLC. You get to go around and sample delicious food from each vendor. They pair it with, what I have been told, the perfect sampling of wine for each dish. Andrea and I did not partake!

They did however have a booth of non-alcoholic mixed drinks that were delicious. The company is called Concoxiones and they do corporate events and parties. Well worth whatever amount of money they charge!

The vendors in the tent area were Ichiban Sushi, Pagoda, Ruby River, Caffe Niche, Silver, Gracie’s, Bambara, Joffee’s Coffee, The Coffee Shop (Little America), and Garden Cafe (Grand America). My favorites out of that group were Pagoda with a Citrus Aioli Prawn – DELICIOUS! I could have eaten a whole plate full of them.

Next I liked Gracie’s that served Crown Ribs, super good. They slid right off the bone and the sauce was a ancho-chili BBQ sauce.

After you have sampled the food in the tent area you can then take a stroll around town and visit some of Salt Lake’s best restaurants for more good food. We went to Benihana for a Las Vegas, Spicy Tuna, and Shrimp Crunchy Roll. Then off to Caffe Molise for a marinated grilled chicken breast topped with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and gorgonzola cream sauce. Next we hit the Naked Fish for a Calamari with Temari Sushi. We could have also gone to J Wong’s, Squatters, Ruth’s Chris, The New Yorker, Market Street Grill, and Pallet, but we were totally satisfied already!

The event cost $30 per person and part of the proceeds go to support one of my all time favorite non-profit groups, Head Start. Such a fun night to be downtown in Salt Lake City. If you haven’t tried any of these restaurants, head on downtown and give them a taste. Call us and we’ll come with you!

Posted by Greg

A BBQ Beauty!

Posted on by
1

My friend has been telling me for some time about her turkey burgers that her family loves more than a beef burger. She is a great cook, but I am quite particular about my beef patty so I was not so sure I wanted to venture into the turkey farm. Needless to say we hosted a BBQ last summer and she offered to fix her much-loved turkey burgers. All I can say is…WOW! I am hooked!

I have to start off with telling you I have made these numerous times since and I have always used ground turkey from Costco. They have always been great. Last week we did not need the party amount of turkey so Greg stopped by the grocery store and picked up Honeysuckle ground turkey. Not good! When I bit into my patty it was no longer a patty but a breast of something. The ground meat had fused together. Any who, I went back to Costco and my turkey burger was back!

So I will stop with the chit-chat and get on to the recipe so you can salivate as well. It is not really a recipe but a few key ingredients.

Break off handfuls of meat and make it into patties. Keep in mind ground turkey is very lean and so the patties don’t shrink as much. So if you make them the size of the bun they will remain the size of the bun after cooking.

Greg was grossed out at this photo! He said that no one wants to see raw burgers, but I must document it all. The good, the bad and the ugly! Now generously sprinkle the ugly patties with seasoned salt, garlic powder and McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning on both sides.

If you are not going to be eating all of the meat in one sitting I always make the patties and season them before freezing. Then they are ready to go and the meat will have absorbed all that yummy flavor. Another tip (or confession) I often don’t have fresh buns for my burgers. If you have frozen buns for hamburgers or hotdogs, take them out of the freezer while you are getting the patties ready and set them on cooling racks. On the racks the buns can thaw without getting soggy. When you are grilling the meat throw the buns on the barbecue to toast them a bit. They will taste like you just bought them! (That is unless you froze stale buns. Once they are stale, they are always stale.)

Enjoy! You can also feel good about eating a less fattening burger this Summer! Garnish them with all the best fixings! Put out a condiment caddy, avocados, tomatoes, lettuce and sautéed onions.

Posted by Andrea

The Condiment Caddy!

Posted on by
3

In Better Homes and Gardens magazine last year, there was a list of good gift ideas for friends and they featured a condiment caddy. I loved the idea and went out looking for the components to make one for myself, sister and Mom who have us over for barbeques often. I found the mustard and ketchup bottles at Dollar Tree and then the glass jars at Walmart and the clear mayo bottle at K-mart. The caddy is in the bath aisle at Target. They have different colors and some are plastic and some are metal.

In my caddy I included dill relish, yellow mustard, mayonnaise, spicy mustard and ketchup. My sister loves sweet pickles so I added an additional jar of sweet pickle relish to her caddy.

I keep the caddy with the contents in my fridge. It is ready for entertaining and also for everyday use when my kids are making turkey sandwiches or hotdogs. It is cute and useful! Who doesn’t love a useful gift?

Posted by Andrea

Summer Salad

Posted on by
3

This is such a delicious and fresh salad! I love it. Summer cooking is about simple ingredients with great flavor.

Avocado Salad

4 avocado, cut in half
2/3 cup sliced almonds

Dressing:
Keeping Up Cookbook-Nana Katie’s Ceaser Dressing

1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (I often use less because I like the dressing to be strong)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

I like to plate this salad. I figure half a large avocado per person.

Saute the sliced almonds on the stove top for 5-10 minutes, till the begin to brown. Remove from heat and set aside. Slice the avocado in half lengthwise. Remove pit with knife. Cut avocado into long slices in the skin and then scoop out with a large spoon and carefully arrange on the plate. Drizzle the dressing over the avocado and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Serves 8.

Posted by Andrea

Landscaping Tips

Posted on by
5

Yard work, when many people hear that word they grimace in pain. Not me, I actually love yard work. There are a few things that I have learned a long the way that help cut down on  the “work” part of landscaping and still produce, what I think, are great results.

TIP #1
Spring Color
There is a simple solution to having great spring color. Most people go for the tulips and daffodils, but I am not a huge fan. I hate having those bulbs stick around in my soil, they are always in the way of other annuals I want to plant. So instead I prefer pansies. They provide great Fall color and then you get to enjoy them again in the Spring, double your pleasure!

Pansies
 

TIP #2
Establish a Framework
I think that the success of a good flower bed is rooted in bushes and shrubs. Bushes and shrubs can establish a great framework that require little attention on your part but can make your flowerbed look full and colorful. Here are some of my favorites.

Lace Leaf Japanese Red Maple
 

Japanese Variegated Iris 

Variegated Euonymus

Goldmound Spirea (in front) and Dogwood Shrub (in back)

Red Barberry

Red Leaf Maple Tree
 

TIP #3
Groupings
The key to making bushes and shrubs work together and provide you with great color all Spring, Summer, and Fall is how you group them together. Make sure and put your bright greens next to your deep reds and combine the variegated plants with solid green leafed bushes. When you do this and mix in just a few annuals you will have full beds with tons of color.

Here I’ve got the Japanese Red Leaf Maple as the background, day lilies off to the side, a dark granite rock, some yellow pansies, and a white-flowered flox. Full and colorful!

Here is another good grouping. Peonies, which bloom in late Spring with this amazing deep pink colored flower, variegated iris in the background, and a variegated euonymus next to it.

TIP #4
Rocks
I think it is important to mix in rocks, whether big or small, throughout your flower beds. They provide a different texture and structure that contrasts really well with the bushes and flowers.  

Here is a picture of our front flower bed. We haven’t planted anything yet this Spring and it already is full and has good color.

Posted by Greg

Southern Getaway

Posted on by
2

Last week I had some work in St. George so we decided to make a weekend getaway out of it. You may be wondering why it has taken me a whole week to post about our little vacation, well the truth is we are still recovering from said vacation. Let’s just say that it was fun but exhausting. To top it off, our little princess Mary has decided to give up sleeping at night which has really put a wrench in our style. Regardless here are some highlights of our so-called relaxing getaway!

One of the main events was the capturing and then the subsequent release of this poor little lizard. He should have thought twice about scurrying into the garage with children around. The chase took about 5 minutes but in the end the children won and the lizard became a pet for a short time.

We visited the park a couple of times and also headed over to the Washington County Rec. Center where the kids enjoyed the huge slide, lazy river, and of course the fun play area for the little ones.

One day we ventured out to catch us some fish. We were successful with the capture of this little guy. Max also caught a barely alive fish with his bare hands.

And then came the rain! It rained so hard the kids grabbed the pool tools and had a great time running through the rain and floating down the road.

Max and Tyler became quick friends and loved watching movies on the iPad together.

To finish up the week we stopped for some delicious Nielsen’s Frozen Custard and Mary decided to turn it into a dance party.

We hope we didn’t wear out the Andrus Family too badly! We are excited for a semi-quiet weekend coming up, but let’s be honest, how quiet can it really get with our bunch of crazy kids!

Posted by Greg

Cooking Catch UP

Posted on by
3

Today has been one of those days that we stayed in our jams for hours and cooked. I crave days like this once in a while and I decided after super busy weeks of traveling and some sick kids it was time. I made the kids breakfast and they ordered two different kinds of eggs: over-easy and scrambled, both with toast.

Off to school they went and then me and the girls made three loaves of zucchini bread with the zucchini that I had frozen from last summer’s crop. While that was cooking we took our container of vine grown Roma tomatoes and roasted about six of them. If you have never roasted tomatoes, the time to try it is now!

Cut your tomatoes in half lengthwise, cut out the seeds and sprinkle them with salt, pepper, sugar and minced garlic. Then drizzle them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Bake for 2 hours at 225 degrees. They come out beautifully and we eat them on salads, sandwiches, panini they are also very tasty paired with fresh mozzarella or goat cheese! Delicious!

This is the finished product! Roasting brings out all the delicious flavors.

So, I love days like this…however, this is what I have to clean up…

..But I get to eat this for lunch!

Posted by Andrea

Stocking Up

Posted on by
3

I am kind of nerd and I love having my linen closet and laundry room stocked with multiple bottles of lotions, shampoo, conditioner, cleaners, boxes of tissues and soaps so that when I run out of something, I am prepared. Instead of running to the store I can just go to the closet and grab one.

Now, I know that deodorant or cleaners are not riveting items to purchase, but when my closet is restocked I love to look at the rows of products all organized and know that something on my list can be checked off for a while. Not very many chores around the house get checked off for long because they get dirty or messed up quickly. Maybe that is why I like it so much.

This week I was on my last pump soap from Bath and Body Works so off to the mall we went to STOCK UP. Soaps are actually fun to pick out! I love the foam soaps because my kids love them.

My favorite new flavor that I bought is Fresh Lavender. I have it in my kitchen and it reminds me summer is around the corner.

I like the aromatherapy line for my master bathroom because the lines of the bottle are more sophisticated. Plus a little stress relief from the Eucalyptus Spearment could really benefit the parents of this household!;)

Do you like to STOCK up or just wait till you need something? I would love to hear that I am not the only nerd out there.:)

Posted by Andrea

A Door Dilemma

Posted on by
6

If you follow me on Pinterest than you know that I have one whole board dedicated to doors! My front door needs a facelift and I can’t decide what color to paint it. I have been deliberating for months now. First I wanted orange and Greg vetoed it because our brick is red-orange. (I am still holding on to my love of the orange door-someday!) Then I decided that I wanted a green door and now I am thinking a blue one would be nice…ahhh…I can’t decide. I want a bold color that makes a statement, but not too bold…we all know a house that went too bold.

Here are some great doors that I have found:

Loving the Orange:

Green is a possibility:

Urban Nest

Blue:

London Door Company

A Ranch Redo

Houzz–tons of great front doors!

Stay tuned because the painting is happening soon, so a decision must be made! What would you choose?

Posted by Andrea

Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese

Posted on by
4

I was first introduced to Quinoa a year or so ago at my friend Jill’s house when she hosted us for a delicious gourmet dinner! I really liked it and soon after learned how healthy it is for you. I bought a bag out at Costco and it sat in my pantry for about six months. I kept thinking that I needed to set aside some time to learn how to cook it. Well, I am sure a lot of you cook it and you are laughing right now because you know that it is super easy! I had never taken the time to read the package, so in the pantry it sat.

Months later my cute little sister Brecken, who lives in L.A. and is a personal trainer sent me some quinoa recipes. She is always up on the latest things from fashion to health.  Anyway, I pulled out the bag of and I can tell you it is the easiest thing I have ever made. It is like cooking rice, but it always turns out perfectly!

So, in the past few months I have experimented with different quinoa recipes. The best thing about quinoa is you can really put anything in it. It’s great to make when you need to use the odds and end vegetables you have left in your fridge.

This is our favorite quinoa combination yet.

For this particular recipe I like to make the quinoa with chicken stock instead of water because I am not using any dressing so the stock gives it more flavor. Follow the quinoa package instructions depending on how many you are cooking for. I usually make a little extra because it is so good leftover. Greg and I were fighting over who got the last leftovers the other night. Bring your chicken stock and quinoa to a boil and then cover it and turn it on low for 15 minutes. That is it!

While it is cooking and then cooling on the stove, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grab a red, yellow, and orange peppers, mushrooms and jar of marinated artichoke hearts. (I chose to use baby Portobello mushrooms instead of the button mushrooms because I think they have more flavor.)

Cut the peppers into long strips and place them in a single layer baking sheet. Wash the mushrooms and trim off the bottoms, slice them into thirds and add them to the baking sheet as well. Slice the artichoke hearts lengthwise and place them throughout the vegetables in the sheet. They give off yummy juices as they cook. I also stir up the marinade in the artichoke jar and drizzle it over all the vegetables. It has some oil in it so they don’t dry out and it also has great flavor. Then salt and pepper the whole sheet. If you don’t have marinated artichoke hearts the other will do, just drizzle Olive Oil over the veges and then sprinkle them with some salt, pepper and Italian seasoning or your favorite herbs. (The mushrooms cook faster than the other vegetables so if you want them to be less cooked then put them on an other baking sheet and pull them out earlier. )

I love all the color! This is what the quinoa looks like when it has finished cooking.

You just fluff with a fork and then it can wait until the rest of the ingredients are done. The vegetables cook for about 10-18 minutes depending on how soft you want them. While they are cooking cut up a log of goat cheese into chunks or crumbles however you want to describe them.

Once the vegetables are done cut them into little pieces and add them to the quinoa. Then add the goat cheese and it will absorb a little into the mixture.

Mix it up and serve! So delicious! So fresh and so healthy!

Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese

1 cup quinoa
2 cup chicken stock
3 bell peppers, red, orange, yellow cut into strips
8-10 mushrooms sliced into thirds
8 ounces bottle of marinated artichoke hearts, sliced. (Use some marinade out of the jar for vegetables)
6-8 ounces of goat cheese, chopped up

Bring chicken stock and quinoa to a boil, then cover and turn to low to cook for another 15 minutes. Cut the peppers into long strips and place them in a single layer baking sheet. Wash the mushrooms and trim off the bottoms, slice them in thirds and add them to the baking sheet as well. Slice the artichoke hearts lengthwise and place throughout the vegetables in the sheet. They give off yummy juices as they cook. I also stir up the marinade in the artichoke jar and drizzle it over all the vegetables. It has some oil in it so they don’t dry out and also has great flavor. Then salt and pepper the whole sheet. If you don’t have marinated artichokes the other will do, just drizzle Olive Oil over the veges and sprinkle them with salt, pepper and some Italian seasoning or your favorite herbs. Cook vegetables for 10-15 minutes (until desired softness).

Cut up vegetables into bite size pieces. Add veges and goat cheese to quinoa. Mix all together and enjoy!

Posted by Andrea