Shrimp and Asparagus Stir Fry

Another recipe adapted from The Williams Sonoma Cookbook.

It's a go-to book The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: The Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Cook

I sized the recipe down for two and made a few tweaks to accommodate my mild Midwestern palate :)

To serve two, you will need:

1 pound of shrimp (buy it already de-veined and peeled)
1 smaller bunch of asparagus with the ends trimmed and cut into one inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 and 1/2 tsp soy sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 green onion, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon cooking sherry

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.

While it is heating, toss the shrimp with the salt, sesame oil, and soy sauce.

Add the ginger and the shrimp to the pan and cook until the shrimp is pink on both sides.  Remove the shrimp.

 

Add the asparagus.  Once the asparagus is bright green, add the sherry and green onion and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the shrimp back to the pan and toss them together.  Cover and heat until the asparagus is tender.  Serve over steamed rice.

Yum!

Inspired by Crate and Barrel

While browsing at Crate and Barrel, I saw some wine glass charms that looked felted and super easy to DIY and I thought, hey, I could make that!  So, here is a little DIY so you can, too!

 

First, make a template of the shape you want with a hole in the middle a little larger than the stem of your glasses.  I did a flower, but I think a group of hearts or suns or even squares would be cute, too.

 

Cut your felt into smaller squares to make it more manageable.

 

Then, using a sharpie in a color similar to the felt, trace the template.

Cut the felt just inside the sharpie lines.

Finally, make a little snip through the charm so it can slide onto the wine glass.

So simple and so cute!  Friends and family, if you're looking for a set of wine glass charms, hit me up!  I have lots of felt left :)

Good Natured Winner!

And the winner of a $20 Etsy shop credit for Good Natured is....

Mary from something nice!

Congratulations, Mary!  I'll be sending your info along to Dani so she can hook you up!

Puppy Palooza

Today, I went to a puppy meet and greet for Safe Hands Animal Rescue.  This is the organization that we got Inga through, so it was a lot of fun for the group to see how grown up she's gotten.  Inga was a bit overwhelmed at first, but once she had some time to get settled, she had a blast and played with a TON of new friends :)

This is McKenzie- doesn't he look like a little Yoda?

Jolie; she would be a great first dog for someone- such a sweetie!

Rosie: she and Inga played, rolling all over the floor

A doxie-beagle mix!

This little guy wanted to play with EVERYone

And Una, a husky shepherd mix- such a pretty girl!

We had so much fun seeing all the dogs and puppies.  If you are looking for a friend, you should definitely check this group out!  Who knows, Inga might even get a sibling... :)


** Don't forget to enter the Good Natured Etsy shop giveaway!  Winner announced on Monday! **

Heart Sandwich Cookies

I will definitely be drawing on the ideas I posted Monday, but yesterday I just had to make these yummy cookies.

The recipe is from Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking, a book I've touted before.  I have tried many recipes from it and all of them have been amazing!

My edition- I think they have a new one, too Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking

What I really love about the recipes in this book is that they are about taste AND asthetics, I mean, how cute are these cookies??

 

If you're wanting to try these yourself but don't want to pick up the book, you could use any sugar cookie recipe to make the heart shaped cookies.  Use a smaller heart cookie cutter to cut out the middle of half of the cookies.  When they're baked, dust powdered sugar on the top cookies, spread seedless jam on the bottom cookie (I used black raspberry), and sandwich them together!  Perfect for your Valentine :)

Liebster Blog Award

I am so excited and honored to have been selected by Anita from Recipe with Pictures to receive the Liebster Blog Award!

"Liebster" is a German word that means favorite or dearest, and the award is meant for up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Here are the rules:

• Thank your award presenter on your blog
• Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award
• Copy and paste the award to your blog
• Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized
• Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm so excited to have been chosen, and I hope you all get a chance to check out these bloggers who I think deserve to be recognized:

• Jackie from York Avenue 
• Grace from Her Umbrella
• Mary from Something Nice
• Anita from Oh, It's Just Perfect (it's such a fun blog, I had to bend the rules a little!)
• and Emily from MLoves

Big thanks again to Anita for the award and recognition!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $20 Etsy credit!

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

Dish numero dos that does not photograph well but taste delicious.  Unlike the creamy mushroom soup with chicken, this dish is unbelievably easy to make.

You will need:
3-4 chicken breasts
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
8 ounce package of cream cheese
about 1/3 cup white wine to thin the sauce
Italian seasonings to taste (ours included sea salt, garlic, marjoram, savory, thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, and sage- all in one bottle!)

Add the chicken and the condensed soup to a crock pot.  Add white wine to thin the sauce to your liking and the seasoning to taste.  Heat on low for four hours.

Soften the cream cheese and add it to the mix after three hours.  Serve over a bed of pasta.  We used rotini, but I think this would be amazing over angel hair pasta.

Simple as that!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $20 Good Natured Etsy shop credit!