Fancy Grilled Cheese

Did any of you watch the last Grilled Cheese Social video? (Here). Not only did the sweet potato fries grilled cheese look mysteriously tempting, it was also extremely funny. I highly recommend it.  Anyways, this website got me uber excited and I decided to experiment and try my own concoction.  Although, my grilled cheese is not as witty as hers, it was a winner with the mister making it a winner for me.  Hold up…can a grilled cheese be witty, oh yes it can.  Check out here, here, and here.

So on to the main event…

Ingredients:

Whole wheat bread

Crispy cooked bacon (it is important that it is crispy)

Guacamole (I would typically make my own but there have been no good avocados in these parts of the woods recently…so it is organic store bought)

Gorgonzola Cheese

Room temperature butter (unsalted)

Teaspoon of Liptons French onion dip mix

Instructions:

Carefully stack (yes carefully) all the ingredients

I did them in this order (bread, cheese, bacon, guac, cheese, bread)

Mix room temp. butter with French onion dip

Shhhhmeear on butter mixture and place the butter side on the pan

Then Shhhmear some more butter on the other side

Use panini press (we got ours from TJ Maxx for $8) and lay on top of sandwich

Each side should stay down about 4 minutes on medium heat…but always check yourself

Get fancy with your grilled cheese self…and enjoy.

Much Love,

Mere

The Calzone!

So Friday night was the premiere (at least online) of our favorite show to watch together, Community.  Have any of you seen it?  It was bench mid-season on NBC, but now it is back for another round.  It is hilariously smart, although not well received by the masses (much like Arrested Development) we love it.  

We could not think of a better way to kick off the mid-season premiere than nestled up on the couch with a nice hardy calzone, so that is what we did.  Now we make pizza all the time, but have never attempted a calzone so this was a bit of an experiment.

We took some dough out of the freezer (we make our pizza dough is large quantities and freeze it) let it thaw and stretched it out much like we would do a regular pizza.  (Make sure that you use A LOT of cornstarch while doing this so it does not stick to the counter). Then put all your toppings on one side.  We did hot sausage, banana peppers, blue cheese and mozzarella. From there you want to fold the other side over, and score the edges with a fork.  Then I beat and egg and rubbed part of it on the outside.  We set the over on 400 degrees and let cook for about 25 minutes (keep an eye on it though…we do not have a specific time we just check it ever 5 to 10 minutes). This was so very good, so I know we will be doing more in the future.  Have a splendid day!!

Much Love, 

Mere

The Weekender

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This weekend was beautiful.  The weather was perfect.  We had some friends visit on Saturday and were very encouraged by them as we had the chance to catch up.  That night we went to our favorite pub in Montgomery and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a fun band, a yummy street pretzel, and a lucky charms bar!! Sunday was beautiful as well, and the weather swept me up and tricked me into believing I could get anything done.  This resulted in me starting three DIY projects in one day (one of which I completed and two of which are sprawled out across the apartment).  Good news is, I finished one of my goals for March, cutains!!  I didn’t actually sew them (I have yet to learn to sew…still) but used some fabric glue and hemmed all the lines.  So they may not last all that long, but we will see.  They look great for now, though.  Hope you all had lovely weekends as well!

Much Love,

Mere

The Obsession

And the obsession grows...

This was taken in August and I believe our coffee inventory has doubled since. 

Plus we have a new edition to the household. Our very own espresso machine!!! After months and months of saving and deciding which espresso machine would be best, we took the plunge and bought one.

Introducing the ….

The Izzeo Duetto II

FYI...it will not actually stay at this weird angle for long.  They forgot to send the reservoir tank so we have to use it like this until the tank comes.  Also, this thing weighs 70 lbs!! 

This is the tamper and portafilter holder Ryan's dad made.  Don't they look great!?!?

One happy mister with two successful espresso shots.

I am sure we will be having more coffee posts coming soon.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and a grand St.Patrick's day!!

Much Love,

Mere

As of recently, we have been quite smitten by the tiny grain Quinoa. It wasn’t until yesterday that I discovered from Food Coma, how to actually say it. (Woah I know).  We were no way close by the way.  It is pretty expensive, compared to other grains, but we were able to squeeze three meals out of one bag (about $8 for 3 cups of quinoa). 

This is how we have been making it.

1 cup of quinoa

1 red pepper (diced)

1/3 of a large red onion (diced)

1 zucchini (diced)

1 T olive oil

2 t garlic powder

Feta for garnish

Apparently I chop veggies with my eyes closed. Dangerous.

Instructions: Prepare quinoa as directed on packaging. Dice red pepper, zucchini, and red onion.  Place veggies in pan with olive oil and let sauté.  Sprinkle garlic powder over veggies.  Cook to your likeness and then add to quinoa.  Mix them all together and then add feta on top.

This would make a great side dish for the spring and summer.  We eat it as a full meal though. 

Much Love,

Mere

The Love List: Wall Décor

We live in an apartment right now that we can paint, but it has to be repainted the original color before we leave.  Since we are not sure how much longer we are going to stay in the townhouse, painting does not seem worth it at this point.  In the meantime, I am trying to find some wall decor to jazz things up a bit.  Does anyone else have trouble finding wall decor?  Here are some lovely pieces I have been lovin' lately.  

I like this idea for an entryway. (Urban Outfitters $49.00)  

This would be great for a room with good lighting.  So springy. (Pier 1 $199.95) 

I cannot think of a better way to display coffee mugs! Looks pretty easy to make as well. (Pinterest)

 

I love the idea of these prints in our kitchen.  (Etsy $7 a print)

Great for a pretty hallway (Anthropologie $228)

Another pretty print from Pier 1.  Very bold colors. ($150)

Found this little guy last night.  So simple and elegant. (Etsy $15)

Really love all these prints. (Etsy $18)

Much Love,

Mere

Feelin' Green

Oh, green jeans.  How I labored to find you.  I literally tried on 15 pairs of colored jeans this weekend! I do not live in an area with close accessibility to shopping so when I had the chance this weekend, I was on a mission.  Most stores did not even have my size, but I tried them on anyways out of desperation.  I finally found a pair of Kelly green in Old Navy that were my size and snatched them up!  Just in time for St. Patty's day too.  Now I can cross green off my list.  Still looking for lavender, yellow, royal blue, mint, red, and coral.  Quite a list, I know.  Any suggestions?  What colors are you looking for?

Shirt: TJ Maxx

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Cathy Jean

Key Necklace: Present from my parents

Blue necklace: antique store

I also got my hair cut...finally!!

Hope you all had lovely weekends.

Much Love,

Mere

Slow Down

My heart beats so fast sometime.  

For those of you who know me, you know I am a do'er (however you spell it).  I become obsessive over getting things done.  What I mean by this, is that I do not do a good job at stopping. I have never been a napper.  I like to get things done.  For example, almost everyday at work I make a to do list for when I get home.  (i.e. exercise, paint my nails, work on this, attempt to sew that)  That is what I mean about obsessive.  I have always had this crazy urgency to get things done.  It kills me that I only have about 5 hours when I get home from work to accomplish all the things I need to.  Partly, because I do not want to be one of those people who always talks about what I want to do and never actually do anything.  Or pins all the prettiest things on pinterest and never actually act on anything.  

Anyways, this week has been pretty stressful at work so I thought I would just share some nice pictures I have come across lately.  Not my typical post, but these pictures are very befitting of my mood. 

Also, check out this video by Kinfolk.  Beautiful, right?  Kinfolk is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs. 

http://vimeo.com/33173768

The pictures can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

***The last picture is an Ethiopian coffee ceremony...one of my favorite things to do.

Much Love,

Mere

The Weekender

Two things:

1. We had a great weekend.

2. As you can tell from the pictures above, the mister and I are great dancers.

So just a day late on these, but we had an awesome long weekend in Chattanooga.  We had some great coffee, went to a beautiful wedding, and were able to hang out with some good friends.  You really can't beat that combination.  Also, Chattanooga is one of the best places to visit for the weekend if you live in the south.  I would highly recommend it!  It is so funny and quirky with good arts, food, outdoors activities, and entertainment.  You really can't beat that.  I feel it is often underrated, but it is definitely worth the visit.  Maybe I will do a tourist guide sometime.  Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!  

Much Love,

Mere