Week 2 of 4

#1
curry shrimp and snow peas
(my favorite of the week)

#2
lamb meatballs with couscous and feta

#3
red currant-glazed chicken with spinach

#4
chorizo and potato tacos with black bean salsa
(favorite leftovers of the week)

#5
ravioli with brussels sprouts and bacon

Week 1 of 4

To speed up the posting process, I will be sharing photos of all 5 dishes we created each week. (email me if you would like a copy of the recipe)

#1:
roasted tilapia, potatoes, and lemons

#2:penne with tomatoes, eggplant, and mozzarella

#3:
turkey burger with creamy romaine slaw

#4:
pork cutlets with spicy noodles
(my favorite of the week)

#5:steak with roasted carrots and onions

Honeymoon! (Part 3) The Hotel!

Our hotel in Asheville was ridiculously nice. We stayed at the Grand Bohemian Hotel located right across the street from the Biltmore (more on that in another post). P & I were instantly drawn to the great outdoorsy feeling we got from the website and thought it would be fun to stay at. The Grand Bohemian Hotel is very new to Asheville. It has only been running for under a year and a half. We booked our honeymoon relatively early (6 months ahead of time) and boy were we glad because the price of our room had doubled by the time our honeymoon came around. How's that for saving money!

Our first view of the hotel! Little did we know we were actually staying across the street (to the left of where I am taking this photo) in the "Manor House".

Our room/home for 5 nights. The bed was HUGE and comfy. I loved the soft teal head board and the double curtains. The carpet was a hounds-tooth pattern which I absolutely adored!

Yes that would be a curtain to the bathroom. A little more classy than the hotel Cori & Casey stayed at in Orlando. haha!

View from the bathroom.

Weird glass doors for the shower & restroom.

Most amazing piece of technology available. I have no idea if it had TV capabilities...we didn't watch any, but I'm sure it did. But what I do know is that it streams pandora, makes dinner reservations, plays NETFLIX (!!), and is a ginormous computer screen. Totally cool. Patrick wants to get one, of course. lol.

Cool light fixtures.

Happy to be here. Finally out of the car and ready to relax!

Week 1, Recipe 2

Oh boy I have a lot of blogging to do. We are currently moving on to week 2 tonight...all recipes in week 1 have been completed, photographed, and promptly devoured. Now all I have to do is share them with you!

Recipe #2: Penne with tomatoes, eggplant, and mozzarella.

Total time in kitchen: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

1/2 pound penne (1/2 box) - We used whole grain. It was delish
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium eggplant (about 1.25 pounds), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt & Pepper
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves -mojito anyone?

1 Cook pasta as it states on the box. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, return pasta to pot

2 Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant and cook, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and tender, 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, red pepper, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, tossing, until tomatoes soften, 2-3 minutes more.

3 Add the tomato mixture to the pasta, along with the mozzarella and reserved cooking water, and toss to combine. Sprinkle with mint.

Overall this recipe was really good (with excellent lunch leftovers). Next time I would omit the cheese altogether or maybe try a different cheese like feta. The mozzarella decided it wanted to clump as an entire mass (instead of the 100 cubes P cut it into).

Honeymoon! (Part 2) Caesars Head State Park

During our scenic drive up to Asheville, NC the Mr. decided to take me to our first beautiful look-out: Caesars Head State Park. This park is located just 3 miles south of the South Carolina/North Carolina border. It was a perfect beginning to a week of magnificent views.

Sun shining through the clouds

25 cents for a greasy view

"secret" path

Was kinda nervous the rocks were going to start closing in on me.

Side view of the mountain. Caesars Head? Maybe.

Where's waldo?

Gorgeous views that I bet are even better when the leaves turn bright red.

Honeymoon! (Part 1) The Drive to Asheville

We headed out early Monday morning for Asheville, NC. We were packed to the gills, but happier than ever to begin our first vacation as a Mr. & Mrs. :) I took this photo just before leaving our beautiful hotel in downtown Gainesville.

I have approximately 5 million photos of Patrick just like this one (thanks to over 25 hours in a car)

On one of our much needed breaks (bathroom breaks, gasoline breaks, etc.). I think this was at a rest stop in South Carolina?

I love Patrick's wedding band. Another picture taken due to long hours in the car.
We were very prepared with leftover chicken & hamburger patties from the wedding and slices of our wedding cake! Unfortunately our clever bags of ice decided to leak in the cake box which left us with soggy cake...yuck! It was tossed. But luckily I decided we needed to bring 1 of the 2 cake rounds saved for us from the wedding (the 2nd one is in Grama's freezer awaiting our return). (soggy cake = sad face)

Our first glimpse of "real" mountains. Of course I switched the traditional "I see the buildings" with "I see the mountains" (note: Robertson tradition - first person to see buildings of major city, usually Jax, shouts out "I see the buildings" for bragging rights...of course I always win) :)

We decided on the scenic route to Asheville, a little bit out of the way but completely worth it! Patrick is very familiar with this route because he spent many summers as a little kid going to camp in North Carolina. We passed right by his old stomping grounds at High Rocks camp, so of course I made him take a picture with the sign. He was thrilled it smelled exactly like he remembered, I'm sure it bought back a lot of good memories.

Week 1, Recipe 1

The first recipe was roasted tilapia, potatoes, and lemons. The Mr. prepared the meal tonight (lucky me!) since I was working (12 hour shifts never make me want to cook dinner). He said the recipe was fairly simple, the only long part was the roasting lengths. He sorta halved the recipe using 2 tilapia fillets instead of 4 and stated if he had also halved the amount of potatoes, "I would still be really hungry right now." Which I agreed was true but maybe we needed something green next time :)


Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons (serves 4)
Prep: 10 min, Total with roasting: 45 minutes

1 lb baby potatoes (12), halved
1 lemon, thinly sliced
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
4 6-0z skinless tilapia fillets (or do as we did and only use 2)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1. Heat oven to 400. On a large rimmed baking sheet (ours is always lined with a silicone baking mat for easy clean up), toss potatoes, lemon, and thyme, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt & pepper; arrange in a single layer. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.

2. Toss the olives with the potatoes; nestle fish in the potato mixture. Drizzle fish with a teaspoon of olive oil and season with paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of salt & pepper. Continue to roast until potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

The only addition we made was freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. yum.