A Wedding Weekend

This past weekend my husband and I were privileged to both be a part of my childhood best friend's wedding. Over the past 6 years our husbands have become friends so we are just a happy little duo. They had their wedding at Santa Margarita Ranch which is absolutely breath taking and the reception was in the coolest barn EVER, I mean I could live in it, it was that cool.
I think their family and wedding party rented out most of Cayucos so it was a blast spending the whole weekend there with all the amazing people involved. It was a magical day and brought tears to my eyes seeing how beautiful and happy she was!
We might both me married now, but far from boring, I see lots of fun couples nights and trips in our future! I feel so blessed that we have another couple to start our lives with, that 1 we have a blast with and 2 we share the same values. This is just the beginning :)

Me and the hubs at the rehearsal dinner...look at that view! 

 

The bride all ready to go...look at her can you say gorgeous!!?? 

Waiting  to become a MRS!!

At the reception

 The next day we all took a walk on the beach

the MR & MRS!! (and their babies)

Lasagna Soup

We love lasagna in our household, but since it is officially fall and cold here I thought I would switch it up and make it into soup! I must admit I got this idea from a post I saw on foodgawker, however I thought I would tweak it a little to better suit our taste. My husband isn't a huge fan of soup, considering he eats enough to feed a family of 4 at dinner, he says it doesn't "fill" him up. I was determined to prove him wrong with this hearty soup! I love a nice warm bowl of soup when it is chilly outside so he has no choice but to eat it once in a while :)
This isn't just any soup however, it is full of pasta, Italian sausage, a little spice and lots of gooey cheese!

Soup Ingredients:
2 tsp. olive oil
1 package Italian sausage
1 diced onion
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup white wine
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 15-oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 15-oz Italian diced tomatoes
6 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1-2 tsp creole seasoning (depending on how much heat you want)
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 cube chicken bullion
1/2 package lasagna noodles (broken)

Topping:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. cream
1 tsp. garlic salt
Mozzarella cheese

In a large pot add olive oil and sausage, break up into small pieces and brown. Add onion and cook until softened then add garlic and wine. Cook down the wine and scrape the yummy bits from the bottom of the pot. Then add your tomato paste and cook for a minute until combined. Pulse both cans of tomatoes in a food processor just slightly to break them down a little. Add all remaining ingredients to the mixture and simmer for about 15 minutes. Then add your pasta and cook until tender. After the pasta is finished cooking turn off the heat, if you let it sit too long the noodles will become mushy. Mix ricotta, Parmesan cheese, cream and garlic salt together. Top your soup with ricotta mixture and grated mozzarella cheese...yumm!!

You cant have soup with out grilled cheese so I made these little guys too. One of the many wonderful things about having a wedding is all the fun kitchen stuff you get! I just received this beautiful thing in the mail from my uncle yesterday so I wanted to try it out.

I mean look at those little beauties getting all crispy and melty in there....and look at the finished product, how could you resist this with a steaming bowl of soup!

Hope you try this recipe out and enjoy it as much as we did!

Family Branding

This past weekend my father held his annual branding at his ranch. It is a good excuse for everyone to get together, have some laughs and a great lunch. I love watching my dad, husband and all our friends and family in action roping and branding. I have one job at these brandings; make sure everyone is well fed. Since I'm not that great on a horse, I cant rope to save my life and giving anyone or thing a shot makes me want to faint I stick to the one thing I know best...food! My resources are limited however, I had a table, camp stove and open fire to prepare lunch with. I decided to make my homemade baked beans (Ive been perfecting this recipe all summer) marinated flank steak, and a few other sides. After you try this recipe you wont want to eat baked beans out of a can ever again!

Ingredients:

4 cans white beans
4 strips bacon (diced)
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
6 oz beer (I like blue moon)
1 cup brown sugar
8 oz tomato sauce
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tbsp. brown mustard
garlic salt and creole seasoning to taste


These are the beans I use, they are harder to find in some stores so a visual will help.

 

First crisp your bacon pieces in the pan, then add onion and garlic, cook until tender.  Add your beer to the pan and scrape the yummy bits from the bacon off the bottom while its cooking down.

 

After the beer has cooked down a little add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for at least 45 minutes. It will become darker in color and nice and thick. The longer you let it simmer/sit the better it gets so it is a great dish to make a head of time! 

 

Here are a few pictures from the day :)

 

 

  My adorable niece...I just love her to pieces!!  

                                                                     Dad branding

My handsome hubby :)