{aren’t we fancy?}

Like our new look? We’ve been working really hard on it. Check out the new links on the side (makes navigation on here a cinch!). A new banner is also in the works and will be unveiled in the new year! Woo!

love, love, love

{recipe: sautéed mushrooms}

{looks good eh?}

Recently (within the past few months) I’ve started eating mushrooms. Prior to this newfound food revelation I detested them. Why? To this day I don’t know---I had never even tried them. Anyway, I decided to throw caution to the wind one day and face my fungal fear. It’s actually a funny story—-my friend Alie made some one day and told me I had to try some (she didn’t know I wasn’t a fan) and because I’m nice and hate hurting anyone’s feelings, I went for it. To my surprise, they were very yummy and from that day forward I joined the fan club.

I decided to look at a few recipes to make them at home myself and after combining a few, I came up with the version below. I hope you enjoy!

Sautéed Mushrooms:

Servings: 2 or 3 (depends on how much you want to share…hehe)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 1/3 cup of beef broth
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 2 tsp italian herbs
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cranks of peppercorns
• ½ cup of chopped up steak bits

How To:

Step 1: Sauté mushrooms and butter in pan until a light golden brown.

Step 2: Heat wine, beef broth, and steak bits in a separate pan to medium heat (it should smell a little bit like fresh bread…weird but yum!).

Step 2: Add garlic salt, herbs, minced garlic, pepper, and mushrooms to wine/broth mixture.

Step 3: Cook until mushrooms absorb broth mix and look tender.

Step 4: Serve with your favorite protein and pour some of the sauce over for some added flavor.

Simple and delicious. Enjoy!

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{recipe: fusilli pasta w/chicken sausage & spinach in a garlic cream sauce}

{and that’s how you do it}

Here’s my original recipe…I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think.

Fusilli Pasta w/Chicken Sausage & Spinach in a Garlic Cream Sauce:

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry fusilli pasta (I bought a bag from Trader Joe’s for $1 and some change)
• 4 links Chicken sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds (Also from Trader Joe’s—-I grabbed the Spinach and Fontina sausage but they have tons of other kinds that would also be just as yummy)
• 3/4 cup Heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Italian herbs
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Garlic salt
• 3/4 cup Fresh spinach leaves

How To:

Step 1: As always, pour yourself a glass of wine. Cooking is always much more fun with a little vino!

Step 2: Boil water, then add pasta.

Step 3: Cook pasta until al dente.

Step 4: Toss sausage rounds with a little olive oil in a pan and sear until slightly browned.

Step 5: While pasta is cooking, combine cream, butter, herbs, garlic, sausage, and garlic salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir frequently and watch to make sure it does not boil over.

Step 6: When pasta has finished cooking, add to sauce along with the spinach leaves.

Step 7: Cook for about five minutes then serve with your favorite rustic bread.

See, super simple! Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

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{25 before 25: 2 & 20 check!}

Wooo!!! Welcome back to 25 before 25! So I’ve been a little busy, although not according to this list as I still have a lot left to accomplish. Life has just been crazy; which is an understatement as this is the holly jolly holiday season! However, amidst all of the chaos, I have had time to cross a couple things off my list.

Goodbye #2 & #20!

1.  Create an original recipe: I have been a busy little chef lately and this week I was inspired to tackle #2 on my list. Drum-roll please….Fusilli Pasta w/Chicken Sausage & Spinach in a Garlic Cream Sauce! (Recipe to follow in an upcoming post)

While it is not a very complicated recipe, it is still original. I came up with the measurements myself and looked to no recipe for guidance—-total and complete blind cooking. I was so happy with my results I submitted my recipe, (with a few tweaks), to Allrecipes.com my favorite go to site for new recipes. It is still awaiting review so we’ll see if I make the cut. I’m sure I will improve upon it over the years, but for now, I’m very pleased!

2.  Pick a non-profit to support: This one was important to me as one of my strong core values in life is giving back. Of course we shouldn’t limit our support to just one cause, but realistically we don’t have the resources to support every cause under the sun. By choosing one to focus on, the opportunity to transition from supporting member to active member becomes very feasible; you can donate more time and money without feeling like you’re cheating on your other causes.

So which one did we choose? The Atlanta Humane Society! You may think we were coerced by those heartbreaking Sarah McLachlan commercials (and you would be partially correct), but actually Jesse and I love animals and couldn’t think of another cause we could be more passionate about. We have two rescues (our wonderful yet crazy lab mixes Sasha & Oliver) that Jesse talks baby talk to and pretends are lap dogs despite their size. It’s sad to think that they were abused as little babies yet we have made a commitment to give them the best lives possible with love, patience (tons of it—especially during their chewing phase), and lots of peanut butter filled Kongs!

So we’re going to start our support by signing up for the volunteer class the shelter requires you to take and hopefully soon we’ll get to work with some animals that need tons of lovin.

Until next time!

The Mrs.

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{christmas fun: a trip to stone mountain christmas}

{postcard material? i think so!}

For awhile Jesse and I had been hearing about this fun Christmas park at Stone Mountain and this Saturday we finally had an opportunity to go! We went with our wonderful neighbors and had so much fun. The whole park was decorated beautifully and covered in lights. They also had s’more stations, hot cocoa everywhere, and a train ride all around the mountain. I imagine the North Pole would be a very similar experience.

{arriving at stone mountain…so excited!}

{jesse trying to figure out where we are or hiding from a picture?}

{i decided to open up my very own restaurant…hehe…so cool!}

{gingerbread stories}

{waiting impatiently in line for the train}

{here comes the train yay!}

{on the train…next time we’ll sit on the left side; that’s where all the action is}

I think the highlight of our visit (other than the train ride) was the 4-D polar express movie! What makes it 4-D you ask? How about falling snow, hot cocoa smells, and splashes of water when the train hits the ice! Soooo much fun!

{like our look? we know we’re cool!}

Bye for now!

{christmas fun: decorating!}

Hello again!

We had such a great weekend here at the Ellis house; full of baking, cooking, decorating, and a fun visit to Stone Mountain Christmas!

The weekend started early as we picked out our Christmas tree on Thursday night and brought it home. We opted for a real tree again this year and hopefully we will keep up the tradition as it makes the house smell wonderful (as long as I keep it watered which is not quite my forte…haha). Growing up my family always had a fake tree and Jesse’s had a real one. While the fake one is more economical, it’s fun to pick out a real one and it doesn’t take much set-up. Plus, if you pick out a good one, it has no gaps and looks nice and full! I made my family buy a real tree one year, but my mom still put up the fake one as well…old habits die hard I guess.

{Jesse testing out the durability of the tree}

{the winner!}

That night we took out all of our décor, put on the She & Him Christmas album and put everything up. It was fun to fill our home with Christmas spirit and get pumped for the rest of the season. Christmas was always a big deal in my house growing up, especially because of my mother. She was raised in the Dominican Republic which is pretty warm all year round, yet even though it was always too hot to make it feel like the Christmas season, she still filled her family home with decorations she made with her siblings. She even wrapped their tree (or “palito”) with cotton to mimic snow. She carried her joy for the season into our family and now I am bringing it to my own.

I still have a couple more décor projects I have to finish (i.e. stockings and a fun banner) which I will hopefully be able to work on this week. Below are some pictures of what we’ve put up. The little wire tree with Christmas balls on it is the first Christmas décor item Jesse and I were given for our home. The first year Jesse and I lived together, I remember complaining to Mom Ellis that I didn’t feel very spirited because we didn’t have any Christmas décor up nor could we afford any as we were watching every dime and cent. That Christmas, one of my gifts was that little tree and it fit just perfectly in our home. It’s funny how things can hold so much meaning. One day I hope to pass it along to one of my kids for their first home.

{♪♫it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas♫♪}

I did complete a fun project the previous Sunday with my neighbor Nicole. I got to make my first real Christmas wreath! Nicole went to the dumpsters by the Christmas tree lots to grab leftover tree shavings and apparently she was not the only one with the same idea. She said it was like “Black Friday” at the tree dumpster with ladies everywhere grabbing as much as they could as quickly as they could. So…if you are thinking about attempting this project, make sure you camp out the night before!

It was a fun project, although it took quite a bit of time to finish. We went to the craft store to buy a frame as well as additional elements to decorate our wreaths. After that, all we needed was some wire/twine (to tie the tree shavings to the frame) and a trusty glue gun!

{the finished product}

{& a close-up of the little kissing birds, some rosettes I made with ribbon, & an “e” for ellis}

I hope all of your homes are filled with just as much joy!

Love,

Mrs. E

{getting into the christmas spirit}

{♪♫deck the halls…♫♪}

Oh helloooo…

After a long, exhaustive day of running around working on my name change (which by the way…I’m almost completely done with!!!), it was nice to settle down at home with my Sugar Cookie Tea, little puppies, and the She & Him Christmas album (the first Christmas album I have ever purchased). I may be a little biased because I love Zooey Deschanel and everything she does (especially the “New Girl”) but this is the loveliest Christmas album I have heard in a long time. I’m not usually a fan of celebrity Christmas covers, but Zooey & Matt’s take on these classics are so sweet; the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit.

The house is quiet because my hubby is away at drill, although not super lonely as I had a wonderful visit with some special family friends, my “second dad” Alan and “little sister” Kelly. They happened to be in the area for Kelly’s soccer showcase and were very close by to our home. It was just great to share our new home with them and chat for awhile about marriage, relationships, life changes, etc. As I was listening to Kelly reflect on some recent life experiences and worries, I couldn’t help but think of how grown-up she is. It’s weird for me because I’ve known Kelly since she was a bitty, bitty baby; I babysat her and put her down for naps. Now she is a sophomore in high school and her sister, whom I also love dearly and have known since childhood is in her first year of college! It is very cliché but time really is fleeting…I remember wanting to grow-up so badly when I was Kelly’s age and then BAM…here it is. I think if anything, I’ve learned that now I should just sit back, enjoy, and not rush. Things will happen in their due time. It was also very nice to hear some of Alan’s stories from his first year of marriage as I can now relate with some of my own new experiences. That was another a-ha moment as Alan has been a prominent adult figure in my life since before I was even allowed to be interested in boys; now I’m talking to him about life as a married woman!

The perfect start to the weekend!

Love, Love, Love

P.S. It looks like some elves snuck in decorated a little…hehe…