Valentine's Day (pictures, and recipes, and presents, oh! my!)

As I mentioned in my previous post: I love Valentine's Day. I've had lots of good ones in the past... and this one was no exception! In fact, I think it was one of the best! I got to share it with my two loves: Jimmy & my precious daughter Skylar! Jimmy and I had alone time at night AND Skylar and I had plenty of great times together earlier in the day! It was pretty near perfect. So, here are a few highlights of the day: Woke up around 6 to feed Skylar and wrote a note to my hubby in lipstick on the mirror... along with a sassy card that I left on the sink counter for him to discover when he got up to take a shower. (muhahah - I can be sexy as well as sweet!) I then went back to sleep... woke when Jimmy kissed me goodbye and told me he loved me! (including his appreciation for the mirror/card). Slept in for a while.... & got up to send a dear friend her Valentine's Day surprise!!! :)

I spent the morning sending various surprises via e-mail, text, facebook... It was so much fun! I love stuff like that! Skylar woke up and "helped" me with some of my projects on the computer and then we had a mini-photo session with my iphone:

IMG_1517-ed-sz

IMG_1529-ed-sz

SkylarVday-pre1-ed-sz

S+M-ed-sz

Then we dropped off some v-day bags to a couple neighbor girls... and packages and FLOWERS arrived!:

Roses (Jimmy, you did good! I love them!)

The rest of Valentine's Day involved hanging with Skylar, loving on her and... you guessed it... more pictures! This time she was more dressed up with headbands and such and I used my fancy Cannon SLR:

SLR-ed-sz

(more pictures will be uploaded from that "photo-shoot" sometime in the near future -- hopefully this weekend!)

Finally around 4 I figured dinner should be started... ANd here's where I was nervous: I decided to make something new... & something reasonably HEALTHY for Valentine's Day. I've been really wanting to try a healthy Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I found on Pinterest (resolutions! Ding-ding!). Yes, you read that right... HEALTHY Fettuccine Alfredo. I started making it... prepping everything... and put Skylar down for her "late in the afternoon/evening" nap right when Jimmy sent me an ETA for being home (perfect timing - yay!). I was hopeful that it would be good... but, i have to admit, a bit skeptical. Well, half-way through the process I started raving about the sauce to my friend through text. You guys, I wanted to DRINK the sauce. Seriously. And that was BEFORE adding cream. In fact, in the future, I'm pretty sure I could skip the 1/4 cup of cream and not notice in the slightest. I finished the recipe soon after Jimmy got home (adding chicken -- because we needed some PROTEIN with all those carbs from the noodles) and plated it!:

Fettuccine Alfredo-sz (plated... but not well... Hey! I'm not a chef!)

We both LOVED this meal, ya'll (so becoming a southerner... wow). It was so... YUMMY and flavorful! I will be using what I am dubbing the: "cauliflower creamy method" to make this and lots of other things in the future! I'm so excited to be experimenting with it... because it truly adds so much smooth, creamy, goodness to a sauce (or a soup, or a pasta dish, or ... well, you get the idea).

The pasta, well, that part is another story... I'm really not sure how to omit that part... Except by using spaghetti squash... which I am only reminded of because a friend mentioned it recently (thanks, Liz!) I'll have to try out the sauce on spaghetti squash sometime in the near future!

After dinner we moved on to opening presents (Skylar was still sleeping -- good timing, little babe, good timing!). His & Hers:

Presents

Inside Jimmys: JellyBelly's (and a promise to buy more from the "menu" that he likes -- I couldn't find a place with all of the specific flavors in time for Valentine's Day, but I will get more in the near future to fill his Jellybelly candy dispenser!), A Hacker Book & another copy of Archer (he can't find his at the moment)... and finally another "I Owe You" for body wash that's coming! :)

Inside Mine: FILM for my Fuji Instant Camera!! (Jimmy got me the camera for Christmas -- we celebrated as a family here in NC only recently --but it didn't come with film. Both he & I were surprised... so he got me a pack of "50 shots" for Valentine's Day!), Chocolates... seriously, a very sexy box of chocolates! (with lace on the front -- so pretty), Roses (already pictured), and an Alex & Ani bracelet!!!!!:

Bracelets-sz (The "E" was a Christmas present! & J gave me the Key for Valentine's Day. I'm so excited to have more than 1 now!!)

First picture taken with the instant camera:

MyValentine

We had a few more minutes together before little miss Skylar woke up... and then she was awake and ready to hang with family! We spent the rest of the evening relaxing together and having fun! It was pretty near perfect! And Skylar (who was sick and getting over having shots earlier this week) enjoyed the evening and seemed to be getting better! yay!

After Skylar went down for the night we had some more grown-up-time and then it was time for bed for us too!! All-in-all it was a pretty wonderful Valentine's Day!

So, readers, how was your day!?!?!?!!? I wanna hear about your adventures into this day of love! How did you show love to those in your life???

xo, Emmie

Homemade Mayo (Instructions, Review & more!)

A while back a friend of a friend posted on Instagram and FB about making her own Mayo in order to make an Avacado dressing. I was instantly intrigued. I've never made anything like that... and was curious about what was involved. Recently I decided to try it to work on one of my resolutions and actually make the mayo myself! (remember a post about all of them will be up sometime near the end of January/beginning of February)! So, here's the video I used to make my very own Olive Oil Mayo at home: 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcKRj4E7m6M[/youtube]

And here are a few pictures of the process:

MakingMayo

It was actually pretty simple and took me around 10 minutes (after the egg and lemon juice got to room temp for about an hour). The thing I did find interesting was how warm the mayo was when I scraped it into the container. I guess that makes sense considering the friction involved in this process & the fact that it started out at room-temp, but I wasn't expecting it. :)

Soon after I made the mayo I realized that I could just use the "dirty blender" to go ahead and make the "Dreamy Avocado Dressing". Since I obtained the recipe for that directly from the friend of a friend I will post it here for you:

Dreamy Avocado Dressing

• 1/2 large avocado • 1 tbsp lime juice • 1/4 cup olive oil mayo • 1 small garlic clove • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (optional) • 2 tbsp water (optional -- I used it, but use or omit it depending on desired thickness) • salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Place all ingredients into blender and or food processor and puree to desired consistency. Add water 1 tbsp at a time if necessary. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.  Store covered in the fridge! Like the Mayo the egg's expiration date is your dressing expiration date. :)

FINAL REVIEW:

I like both the mayo and the avocado dressing. I especially love the dressing for eating cut veggies. It's a healthy-er version of a regular dressing. I think both the mayo and dressing are better after sitting in the frig for a while. It helps add a bit of depth of flavor for all the ingredients to "mellow" together. Also, I didn't use fresh cilantro for the dressing (only because I didn't have any). I used some dry cilantro  but I *know* it would be better with fresh herbs. I'll try it again with fresh and update once I do!

If you try these recipes please let me know what you think and if you discover any new or interesting ways to update them!

Enjoy!

-Emily