Mac and Cheese Cups

    Wow, what a weekend, we spent all day Saturday and Sunday moving into the new house.  I am exhausted and can't stand that everything is still in boxes, but it is so nice to finally be in the new house, even if it is a disaster.  Anyways, Allie, from Alexandra Bee Blog had posted about her Mac and Cheese Cups recipe a while back and they looked incredible, I mean who can say no to individual portions of Mac and Cheese?!  Not this cheese lover.

     I used her original recipe from allrecipes.com and was so happy with the results.  I do think next time I would add some more sharp cheddar cheese or switch it up and add Gruyere to give the cups a punch of extra flavor,  I skimped on these cheese this time to save a few calories, and won't make that mistake again,  but overall they were a crowd favorite. 

Ingredients:
                       

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

                                        

1 tablespoon butter

                     

1 egg, beaten

                       

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

 

1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

                       

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs  ( I used Panko bread crumbs)                                                   

                       

2 teaspoons olive oil

                       

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

( I also added a pinch of pepper, paprika, and red pepper flakes for extra flavor).

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, olive oil and salt; set aside.

     2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook for about 8 minutes, it should still be a little bit firm. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan; stir in the butter and egg until pasta is evenly coated. Reserve 1/2 cup of sharp Cheddar cheese and stir the remaining Cheddar cheese, milk and mozzarella cheese into the pasta. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.

 

I need to majorly work on my food photography skills. 

 

  These were such a breeze to make and a great appetizer to bring to any bbq, brunch, girls night in, etc. 

Five on Friday

  Hello, Friday! It is so nice to see you again!  Although, I  have to say this week has gone by pretty fast, so I cannot complain too much.   It has been a while since I have participated in the 5 on Friday link up with A. Liz Adventures and Co, but it is one of my favorites.  So here I am with five random thoughts. 


1.  It Is Moving Weekend!!!  I can't believe we are moving into our new home this weekend.  I am super pumped, but dreading the actual moving part of the process.  We have been packing up our current apartment and slowly moving boxes to the new house for the last week, and I still feel like we haven't made a dent.  We have a lot more to packing to do tonight!  Bring on the wine and packing tape!!

2. I am loving these two guys!   Seriously how precious.  They love each other so much, or as DFH would say they are best friends. 

3.  A week from today I will be in Charlotte visiting my college besties, and celebrating one of their 30th birthdays!  I cannot wait for a weekend of celebrating and gossip with some of my favorites.    The countdown has started!! 

Such a good #tbt to college graduation day. 

4. Monograms.  I have been on the search for an over sized monogrammed crew neck sweatshirt that I can throw on, on a cool summer night and I finally found one I love that looks lightweight and slightly fitted.   Now I just need to pick a color! How cute are these made by the Southern Sewcialite.

5.  Happy Father's Day Weekend to all of the Dad's out there.  I am sad I cannot spend it with my Dad this weekend, but love that I was able to spend a long weekend celebrating him two weeks ago for his birthday. 

Hope everyone has a lucky Friday the 13th!

Stuffed Pork Tenderoin

A few months ago I came across A. Liz Adventures' post where she posted about an easy stuffed pork tenderloin recipe.  It looked so tasty and I knew it DFH and I would enjoy it so I immediately saved the recipe. We finally made it for dinner, but with slightly different ingredients and I am mad I waited so long because it will certainly become a staple dish in our home. 

     We purchased a pork tenderloin form Trader Joes. We cut a slit across the tenderloin so it became a flat slab of meat and then pounded the meat until it became thin and flat. We added a layer of arugula and blue cheese crumbles and then rolled the tenderloin and secured it with toothpicks. 

 

We seared each side of the pork on a frying pan for about two minutes, to get the outside nice and crispy.   ( Sorry there is no picture of this step)

 

We then placed the rolled tenderloin on a greased baking pan covered in foil and baked it at 350 for 35-40 minutes.. 

 

After the tenderloin looked crispy brown and cooked all the way through, we took it out of the oven and let it sit for about ten minutes. 

 

I just realized I didn't even take a final picture, sorry for the messy foil picture above. 

The pork came out super tender and had intense flavors.  In our home a tenderloin will usually last us two meals, however this night we ate almost the whole tenderloin in one sitting,  it was that delicious.  I would love to try to stuff it with different ingredients in the future.

 Have you ever stuffed pork tenderloin? 

My Weekend Update

Well, another great weekend has come and gone too fast. 

 

     This weekend was mostly spent getting ready to move into our new house. We painted walls, stained baseboards, took trips to Ikea, and multiple trips to Home Depot.  I can't wait to finally move in and I'm excited to share our work once we have more done.  It still amazes me how much you can change the look and brighten up a room with just a simple paint change. The weekend we worked on the master bedroom and changed out the dark tan color  paint for a lighter blue-slate color on the walls, the room already seems so happy to me.  I just hope I like the color just as much once we add the furniture.  

      Saturday night we were able to take a break from all the housework to attend the Full Bloom Dance Party event which benefits the Kelly Strayhorn Theater, a local performing arts theater in East Liberty, where one my best friends LES, sits on their board.   

   We met up with ALV and BS before the event and grabbed a drink at the Livermore, which specializes in 1920's style cocktails.    ALV and I both got the French 75 which is one of my favorite champagne cocktails and it was quite delicious.  From there he headed to the theater for the main event. 

 

Full Bloom was a blast, they had a great variety of food and drinks and the event turned into a dance party.

 

 

The whole gang.

 

 

Via Kelly Strayhorn Facebook Page and Mark Simpson Photography

 

 

 

Junior League ladies

 

VIA Kelly Strayhorn Facebook and Mark Simpson Photography

 

 I think my favorite part was the airplane photo booth.  They even had a giant fan blowing on you so that it looked like you were flying.  

 

I think we may have had too much fun. 

 

 

Such kids at heart.

Happy Tuesday!  

Charleston Recap

Happy Friday!

 

        I can't believe I still haven't posted about the trip I took to Charleston for my 30th birthday with my mom, two of her good friends and one of my best friends from college.

We got in  to Charleston Thursday afternoon and immediately headed to King Street for some retail therapy. It was chilly and rainy during the day. So we headed to The Bar at Husk to warm up with some cocktails and apps. 

 

     So many people had told us we had to grab a drink at The Bar at Husk and I am so glad we did. I got the Charleston Light Dragoon Punch and it was incredibly tasty. 

On Friday the weather wasn't great, but it warmed up a bit and stopped pouring. We explored the city and headed to Slightly North of Broad   for lunch. 

I fell in love with the decor. It was so homey, how fabulous are the chandeliers?! 

At S.N.O.B. I got the Picnic Plate which included chicken mousse pate, pimento cheese toast, hard boiled eggs, a petite salad and pickled okra and pickles.  Yum. So many of my favorite foods on one plate. 

Even though Thursday was my actual birthday we celebrated Friday night 

Before dinner we celebrated with  a champagne toast.

We had reservations at Magnolia's for dinner and it did not disappoint. I tried the shellfish over grits and it was phenomenal, shrimp, scallops and lobster over creamy grits. Yes please. 

I was even serenaded when the waiter brought out my strawberry shortcake birthday cake. 

Our whole crew. 

Falon and I. How I love this girl. I wish we lived closer. 

 

 

 

Mom and I at my Birthday dinner.

  On Saturday the sun finally appeared and it was a truly gorgeous day. We all piled into our cars and over to Mt. Pleasant to Boone Hall Plantation which is one of the oldest working plantations in America. It was also where The Notebook was filmed. Hi Noah and Allie!! 

I loved everything about this plantation. 

How amazing is the Spanish moss. I must have taken 100 pictures of the trees. #totaltourist

Is anyone else a huge fan of the way cotton fields look? I just think they are so unique  and love the white cotton against the colors of the grass and sky. 

Mom and I 

Falon and I in front of all the Spanish moss 

We spent the afternoon down by the battery.  The iconic pineapple fountain was amazing. 

 

I think I picked out at least ten homes south of Broad Street that I would buy if I won the lottery 

I think it is such a fun fact that all the porches in Charleston face south so they face the breeze to help keep cool during the summer months. 

It was even better viewing the homes by horse drawn carriage. 

We ended the trip with dinner at Hank's Seafood. 

My sister who was unable to make the trip surprised me with a glass of champagne for my birthday. It was truly the perfect way to begin my thirties. 

 

 

...Until next time Charleston

Officially Homeowners.

  

        I mentioned in a recent post that DFH and I were moving from our neighborhood. I have lived in Shadyside for seven years and love the area dearly, however it is time to start a new adventure.  DFH and I are so excited to officially be homeowners in a new part of the city.

        Our new home will need some renovations and we have a lot of projects to complete, but we can't wait to make the home ours.  I plan on blogging about all of our renovations so I hope you  continue to visit the blog and follow up on our progress! 

Cheers to new beginnings!!

Sixty Years Young

     We have had a lot of milestones to celebrate in our family recently. Last week DFH turned  30 and this weekend was my dad's 60th birthday. My mom planned a weekend which was full of surprises for my Dad. He thought it was going to be a low key weekend spent on Long Beach Island with my mom and sister, however on Friday he arrived at the beach after work to find my aunt and uncle waiting at the house. On Saturday DFH and I showed up as a surprise and he was shocked and so happy and from there the surprises continued. 

It was a chilly weekend, but so nice to be on the beach. I hate how far the beach is from us in Pittsburgh. 

My mom, dad aunt, and uncle enjoying cocktails and apps on Saturday night, little did my dad know that more guests would soon arrive 

DFH served as the grill master for the evening and cooked up some delicious clams and steak. 

Perfect photo op. 

The birthday boy. 

JLP and I at cocktail hour. 

After some of my parents close friends surprised my dad at the house. 

Aunt Pat and JLP 

The gang enjoying the birthday dinner. 

Cheers to Bill!

Happy Birthday!! 

On Sunday we all hopped on the boat and ventured over to The Captain's Inn. for lunch, beers, live music and to celebrate the birthday boy. 

The captain and his first mate 

We arrived to find some more of parent's friends who surprised my dad at lunch

How funny is it that we all randomly showed up in matching stripes. Great minds think alike ??

We ended the weekend with grilling out and more birthday celebrations. It was such a great weekend and I loved that we were able to spend it with my dad and celebrate him turning 60 years young.