Roasted Chicken & Goat Cheese

Posted in Sunday Supper Series by

Last night Luke and I were craving some goat cheese. If you haven’t eaten this type of cheese before, you are missing out! I’ve had friends who were picky eaters try it and fall in love with it’s savory taste and soft texture.

Typically I’ll stuff chicken breasts with it and top them off with a basil leaf, but for some reason a breast of chicken didn’t appeal to me. I decided to use a whole rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. This is really my favorite way to eat this meat because it’s so tender, juicy and flavorful. Plus you get a ton of food with no hassle.

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Luke beat me with the better half of the wish-bone!

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I seasoned the chicken with a little oregano and heated it up in olive oil. Then I added some organic (5 grams of sugar or less too) marinara sauce and ample bits of fresh goats cheese.

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I baked it for about 10 minutes at 325 until the goat cheese was soft and the marinara was bubbling. We paired ours with red cabbage sautéed in a lot of butter and sea salt.

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This is a SUPER easy preparation of chicken that was incredibly flavorful. It would be perfect for any busy weeknight.

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I hope you all have a great week! I’ll be posted about some fabulous weddings I recently attended later this week. :)

The Makings of a Memorable Wedding

Posted in Party Ideas, Wedding Planning by

Weddings that are planned and personalized down to the last detail are all the rage these days. As I’ve written before, it’s really hard to live up to those expectations when you’re on a budget and don’t have endless time to DIY everything.

Now that my wedding is over, I’ve realized that it’s not making every little detail personalized that makes a wedding memorable, it’s about the one or two things that really stand out in people’s memory. Think about it. When you recap your experiences at someone’s wedding, do you say “they had 10 things that were hand-painted with their monogram!”

Probably not. You likely WOULD say though, “They did XYZ that I’ve never seen done at a wedding before. It was so cool.”

For Luke and I, the special things we wanted to stand our from our wedding were our swing dance, the personal notes we wrote to each of our guests and Batman-themed table names. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

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I think it worked too, because we’ve gotten a lot of comments from people saying they remembered our “details” and were impressed with the level of thoughtfulness our wedding had.  Honestly though, we really didn’t focus on the little things like favors, monogrammed matches or centerpieces at all! It was just those few personal touches we paid attention to.

What aspects of your wedding did you focus on? What ended up being the things your guest remembered most?

Dizzy Lizzy

Posted in Liz's Life by

I hope you are all enjoying your memorial day weekend. It’s been a slightly depressing one over here. We started off with a bang, enjoying a lovely dinner on Friday night and then attending a beautiful wedding on Saturday. Since Sunday morning though, I’ve been experiencing some terrible vertigo/dizziness/light-headedness.

I’m not sure what caused it – there was no specific incident – but I’ve been laying in bed most of the weekend trying not to move my head, which makes the room spin. I’ve been trying not to let my hypochondria get the best of me, including steering clear of Web MD’s symptoms checker.

All joking aside, I  think it might be an inner-ear infection. I’ve had one before and the I was dizzy then too. Hopefully I can get into my doctor and get it cleared up quickly, because right now I can hardly stand up-right without feeling nauseous!

Luke’s been taking care of me, which makes it a little better, and I’ve watched lots of movies (Couples Retreat = C-, It’s Complicated = B+). It still makes me sad that I missed pool parties, live band karaoke and shopping with my friends, but I guess everyone has to miss out sometimes!

Does anyone out there know of a way to get rid of vertigo? I’d really like to be able to get OFF the couch and cook supper for Luke!

PS- Thank you to all our troops, present and past, for serving our country! Your sacrifice is very much appreciated.

Anniversary Gift Ideas For Him

Posted in Liz's Life, Married Life, Party Ideas by

Earlier this week, one of my readers asked for anniversary ideas for her husband. I always find it difficult to buy for men, so I know the dilemma she’s facing!

I asked Luke to think of some ideas and here’s what he came up with:

For the coffee drinker:

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a nice french press

For the Trendy Techie:

bag

Shoulder MacBook Sleeve

ipad

Pocket Ipad Case

phone

Leather phone case

For the Day Tripper:

duffel

5–Day Duffle

pass

Leather passport holder

For the City-Man:

watch

Vintage Field Army Watch

shades

Aviator Shades

galosh

Galoshes

For the Outdoorsy-Type:

knife

18-Tool Knife (a little scary, but Luke insists any guy would love one)

jacket

Light Down Jacket

For the Man-Foodie:

whisk

Interesting Whiskey (bottle can be engraved too)

rub

Good Grilling Rubs

scotch

A Bottle of Scotch

I am also a big fan of DOING something together to celebrate an occasion. That could be a steak dinner, comedy show or weekend getaway…just something that give you some uninterrupted QT together.

What do you think? Any ideas you’d add? I’m interested to hear from the men – would you like to receive something on this list for a present?