Weekend, Winner & Pregnancy Update/VLOG Week 32 Filed under ( Charleston, pregnancy, Restaurant Review )

Happy Sunday! How has your weekend been?  My weekend (so far), in pictures and a few words:

Friday night, I made stir fry at home. Then, we attempted to go to the new self serve TCBY:

But it was CLOSED! So we went to Menchies instead (vanilla and coconut yogurt with fruit on top):

Saturday morning, I did a little ellipticizing and went to Body Step. Afterwards, I hit up the new Saturday Farmer’s Market in Mount Pleasant:

I picked up fresh peaches:

and stopped by Thornhill Farm’s booth:

I LOVE this farm! Not only do they have 100% local and organic produce, they also have tons of meat and eggs. I decided to get Josh chorizo:

 

Next, I did a few things around the house and then hit up the pool in my bikini :). Sort of embarrassing story, but as soon as I took off my tank top, the peanut started going nuts and was kicking away! I thought only I noticed until I heard the lady three chairs down say oh my gosh, look at that baby moving!! I looked over and she and I both started laughing: 

Saturday night, date night! Josh and I went to Brixx, then Lowe’s (for baby room paint) and then relaxed at home.  At Brixx, we got their delicious hummus appetizer that comes with regular, black bean and red pepper hummus:

I got a salad with chicken and balsamic:

Josh got a Hawaiian pizza (of which I stole some crust):

Pregnancy Update: Week 32-

And VLOG:

And the winner of the cookbook (In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes From Our Year of Cooking in the Real World by Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine) is Kitchen Belleicious!! Send me an email at Itzyskitchen@gmail.com with your address and I will get your prize out to you!!

E: Weekend & Pregnancy Update VLOG Filed under ( Charleston, Family, pregnancy, Restaurant Review, South Carolina )

Happy Sunday. Hope your weekend is treating you well. As I mentioned in my last post, we have some guests in town this weekend and have been spending lots of time with them. Friday night, Josh, myself, his best friend from home, Andrew, and another friend, Jeremy, went to Fleet Landing in Charleston for dinner. While most of the food was just average, their hush puppy appetizer was ridiculous! Three large hush puppies stuffed with lobster and crab. I had a few bites and they just melted in my mouth!

 

For dinner, I had a shrimpy salad:

Andrew & Jeremy:

 

Saturday was filled with gym time, errands, a little work work and relaxing. At night, we met up with Josh’s parents, his sister & her boyfriend at Vickery’s. Mike & Jenny:

 

Josh’s parents:

Andrew, Me & Josh:

Pregnancy Update: Week 25

We finished putting together the nursery furniture (minus the glider which we have yet to order):

 

and VLOG #2:

What are you up to today?

M: Old Village Post House and the Best Snickerdoodle Recipe Filed under ( Charleston, Crab, Dessert, Restaurant Review, Seafood )

How was everyone’s weekend? Any fun holiday parties or get-togethers? Any baking? Our weekend was busy, as usual. But, I am happy that I got in some crazy baking time yesterday!

One really awesome thing we did was go to a fancy shmancy dinner on Friday night. We’ve had a pretty stressful holiday season this year and we just decided we really needed a nice dinner together. Now, this is actually my first personal restaurant review – mainly because since I’ve been blogging I haven’t really felt anything extraordinary (good or bad) about any places we’ve been to.

That is, until Friday =) Old Village Post House is probably my favorite restaurant in Charleston…yes, I said it…Charleston is chock-full of award winning restaurants and don’t get me wrong, we have some AMAZING places downtown. But, each time we go to Old Village Post House it’s always better than the last - it has so much character and just really fits my tastes (literally!)

Needless to say, the place is beautiful – inside of a restored 19^th century building – the dining room is small and quaint with whimsical works of art on the walls and lit by candles and a completely open kitchen. The service is amazing and can we please talk about the food?! First, we started with a “grown up” hot spiced apple cider. So warm and tasty (please excuse my dark and grainy pictures)!

I got the lump crab cake with sautéed spinach and yellow squash and goat cheese casserole. Now I usually don’t go with crab cakes here in Charleston because I’ve experienced them in Maryland, but this crab cake rivaled any of the crab cakes I’ve had up north. No filler…sweet crab meat. And the casserole with the goat cheese? So good.

Bryan went with the shrimp and grits and loved every bite. It isn’t thick and creamy like some can be, which was good for Bryan. He likes his shrimp and grits more tomato-ey and spicy.

Seriously, if you live in the area or are coming to visit at any point in time, make it a point to go here. You won’t be disappointed!

Before I go, I must share with you my mother-in-law’s recipe for the best snickerdoodle in the world (well at least in my opinion) =) I’ve used this recipe several times and each time they turn out great.

I actually ended up putting these into a bunch of goodie boxes I put together for friends at work, and I will clue you in on all the other baked goods that went into these boxes of heaven tomorrow =)

Let’s do this…

The best snickerdoodle recipe

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp cream of tartar

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 TB sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl beat butter, sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar until light and fluffy. Beat in your egg and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add the flour to the butter mixture until well mixed. Note: if your mixer starts to give out on you (because this dough gets pretty thick), then just finish up mixing in all of the flour using a good old wooden spoon!

Cover and chill dough for about 1-2 hours.

Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Shape your dough into about 1 inch balls and roll in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on a non-greased baking sheet. Bake 9-10 minutes (I bake mine for 9 minutes – it makes them sort of crispy/buttery on the outside but slightly chewy on the inside). Allow to cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

E: Charleston Visitors & Pregnancy Update Filed under ( Charleston, Family, pregnancy )

Kelley and I have been the best of friends since high school. She recently got engaged to her WONDERFUL fiancée, Steve, and they decided to take a trip down to Charleston to visit. I was thrilled to see her and we have been having a blast all weekend. A few of the highlights. Dinner Friday night at Liberty Taproom with my parents. Steve & Kelley:

 

Steve’s flight of beers:

 

Did I mention that Steve is 6’10”? Look how tiny the beer looks in his hand:

My shrimp salad was very yummy:

 

Saturday morning, Steve & Josh played basketball, while Kelley and I took Body Step & Pump. We all got cleaned up, at lunch at the house and headed into Charleston.  We probably walked a good 5 miles in Charleston- it was SUCH a pretty day:

Kelley & I (and bump ;)):

Steve & Kelley:

Me & Josh:

 

One of my favorite candies:

 

   

Saturday night was an easy dinner at Mellow- we were exhausted. Today,  we’re headed to my favorite brunch spot ;).

Pregnancy Update:  20 Weeks (the halfway point)

When I mentioned to Josh that we were halfway through this week, he said he couldn’t help but think of this song:

Haha :). Still feeling really good! I’ve felt her move a few times which is really exciting. In terms of cravings, shrimp and crab have been on the top of my list. Very odd! I’m still not really struggling to do anything, but I’m sure that will be coming soon! Kelley brought me two adorable “workout” outfits for the new baby to wear to the gym when I go back to teaching after she is born (SO cute)

 

Tell me about your weekend so far!

M: Gingerbread Pound Cake and Stuffed Peppers Filed under ( Charleston, Dessert, giveaway, Turkey, Vegetables )

Holy cold batman…It has been in the 30’s and 40’s here in Charleston, and that is just unacceptable. I guess Jack Frost is getting a little antsy this year…can’t wait until January to make us freeze our butts off. I know I know, some of you are sitting out in the mid-west or in Northern California or New York like “seriously Mandi…30’s and 40’s?....that is nothin!” This may be true…But a lot of us South Carolinians are just little girls when it comes to the cold, I’ll just go ahead and admit it.

Ok, so in the spirit of this cold weather and of course the holidays, I warned you I’d be doing more baking…And it’s nowhere near done! This time I baked up a gingerbread pound cake with lemon frosting.

This gingerbread pound cake recipe actually came from the Christmas edition of my favorite cookbook, Gracious Goodness Charleston. I LOVE my Gracious Goodness cookbooks, they are so much fun - so southern and just chock full of simple tasty recipes.

Anyway, this gingerbread pound cake came out beautifully! The spices just filled the kitchen with wonderful smells, and the cake itself was so moist and full of flavor. I whipped up the lemon frosting myself by just mixing up 1 cup of sifted confectioners’ sugar and about 2 TB of fresh lemon juice. The pairing was perfect!

And, just a little tip, the “frosted cranberries” I have placed around the cake are actually homemade. You can get the super simple instructions here. I think they are such a cute and elegant idea to decorate a buffet table during the holidays or lay around your baked goods, or to put in a big bowl as a centerpiece…so many possibilities!

So, I brought almost the entire cake (minus a couple pieces of course for the hubs and I and miss Erica) to work for my co-workers to dig into…Yea, the entire thing was gone by noon! Success! I couldn’t find an exact match to the recipe in the cookbook, but this one was pretty similar!

Now I know there are a lot of stuffed squash recipes out there, and don’t get me wrong, I like squash as much as the next girl, but my favorite vegetable to eat stuffed is peppers! I LOVE peppers – red, yellow, green, orange, ancho, jalapenos, etc…the list goes on.

This is such a simple dinner, but SO satisfying and tasty. It is good and hearty for a cold day and a big hungry hubby too =) I make 4 of them, I eat one, Bryan eats 2, and then he takes the last one for lunch the next day. You really don’t need anything to go with them, but you could always bake up a nice crusty bread or a pasta side.

I also think you could do a great batch of vegetarian peppers if you wanted as well. Instead of using ground beef or turkey you could sub in some black or pinto beans…yummm

Enjoy!!!

Oh, and Marley and Ziggy say “Don’t forget about Itzy’s Kitchen’s Newman’s Own Organics giveaway for your furry babies! Entries must be in by tomorrow, Friday, December 10 by noon!”