Good Eats & Good People...

...that's what my weekend was all about (and it's my favorite kind of weekend)!

Friday night was like any other Friday night here in Alabama....we had our awesome friends, the Wrights, over for dinner, drinks, games, and fun! We had burgers (which is also another regular for our Friday nights). Andria & I usually have Turkey burgers, while the boys induldge on some delicious beef burgers. To tell you the truth - I really do enjoy the taste of Turkey burgers. No, it doesn't taste like beef burgers, but I don't think it should, and I think that's okay. It has it's own taste, and that taste is awesome. Especially when you add some parmesan cheese, EVOO, fresh parsley, red (or purple, as the Wrights would say) onion, and some S & P. Some may say that Turkey burgers really aren't that much better for you than beef burgers, but I believe the kind of fat (which is very low) that turkey has, is better than beef fat. That might not be entirely true but....that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it!

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah! I enjoyed (yes, enjoyed) my very first veggie burger on Friday night! Andria brought some over and we ate them without a bun, just some light mayo, lettuce & tomato. They were surprisingly good! I'll have to buy some. Ron is already itching for more burgers for this upcoming weeks menu. Also - we made grilled sweet potato fries which were fantastic! With lime zest & cilantro...SO GOOD!

So...we ate, drank, then enjoyed a cigar out on our tiny veranda (if you can even call it one). We have a little fire pit that we like to use, but we never have wood....just starter logs. So...it doesn't last long. I just hate having to spend money on pre-packaged wood, when I just KNOW that my Dad has hundreds and hundreds of logs in my parent's backyard in NY that he has split by hand! Haha....that's not really the reason why we never have wood, we just never think to buy it.

So here are two smokey pictures of us outside:

So....the night was great. Like usual, we were up until 3am....we love playing "Pitch". It's a great team 4 player card game.

So the next day is when the good eats REALLY began. For breakfast I surprised my husband with a new recipe that I found on tastespotting (if you're a foodie and you don't know about this website [or foodgawker] then you must look! It's a collection of food blogs!!!) Here's what I made...Breakfast Toast Cups! Here's how I made them. I took two slices of bread, and cut a circle out of each of them with the top of one of our pint glasses. I put these bread circles in the bottom of two of our ramekins (buttered), then sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on top. I stuck them in to a preheated 400 degree oven forabout 5 minutes. While I did this, I 'partially' cooked two slices of bacon.

Here's my rant about bacon:

I used to think that it was the worst thing in the world for you, and I gave it up for a long time. I then was introduced to turkey bacon, which is pretty good...but not the same! Then - my friend introduced me to the fact that if you compare the nutrition facts of the turkey bacon to the center cut bacon....it's almost identical! Okay, so the fat might not be as good for you as turkey fat would be but....one slice a week (if that) will not kill you!

Back to my breakfast - I took the ramekins out, wrapped one piece of bacon along the inside of each of them, and then cracked a raw egg on top and sprinkled with salt & pepper. I then let this cook in the oven for 15-17 minutes. I took them out, let them rest for a minute or two, and then ran a knife along the edges and popped them each out on to a plate!

How cute!!!! This was a perfect breakfast for me, but unfortunately it wasn't quite filling enough for the hubs....he decided to cook himself up two hard boiled eggs after (he only eats the whites...hah!). I should have thought it out more and made home fries...or had some fresh fruit to accompany it. But it was very good and oh so easy!

So that was the breakfast for our Good Eats day. My husband and I then did some grocery shopping for that nights festivities, and then came home and enjoyed an amazing lunch...all my husband's idea.

WEDGE SALADS! We love them. 1/4 of ahead of lettuce, some grape tomatoes cut in half, some bacon pieces (okay...so two pieces of bacon this week - only 35 cal. each though!), HOMEMADE croutons, onion slices, blue cheese crumbles, fat free blue cheese dressing, and S & P. They were so great! Here's a pretty picture:

So for dinner I decided I wanted to make some "healthy" appetizers. We had the Wrights over again, as well as our neighbors, the Reynolds! Here's what Ron & I made:

-Stuffed Poblano Peppers

-Homemade Crab Cakes (real crab - but canned....we're in the sticks!)

-Chicken Satay with homemade (and amazing) peanut sauce

-Homemade hummus with pita chips (this was the starof the show - everyone loved it! I make it with roasted red peppers, lemon, EVOO, red pepper flakes, tahini and S & P.

-Homemade trail mix (organic granola & cereal squares, pretzels & craisins - baked with pumpkin pie spice and honey!

-Melon, Prosciutto & Mozzerella cheese skewers.

-Spanikopitas

-...and Andria brought some grape tomato, fresh basil, and mozzerella cheese skewers!

WHEW! Everything was great - the crab cakes & the hummus were definitely the best. So if you know us - you know that when we do appetizer nights we usually HAVE to make wings - and usually ribs too. So this was a big step up for us! It was all a major success, and we spent a lot of time playing Mad Gab (girls won...of course) and Super Mario Bros on the Wii! Here are a couple food pictures...I really wish I took more!

So today was a good day also! It was a good "Sara & Ron" day. We woke up late, ate some breakfast, hung out and cleaned up from the night before, went to lunch at Santa Fe, then went in to town to do a bit of shopping. Here are two pictures of myself in my new dress!

Oh - and did I forget to mention? It got up to 103 degrees today....yup...and here's some proof:

That's all for now - I'll write again soon, I'm sure!