A Visit from the Bets

My girlfriend, Betsy from college came this weekend for a visit and as always we had a wonderful weekend. Friday night we celebrated a friends birthday and then spent the day at the beach on Saturday...oh so lovely. Bets had suggested we cook one of her favorites meals on Saturday night that I use to make when we were together, Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Stacked with Spinach and Shaved Parmsan. This delicious recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks my mom gave me called, At Blanchard's Table: A Trip to the Beach Cookbook. The Blanchard's are friends of my Aunt and Uncle, so this cookbook has more meaning and EVERYTHING in the cookbook is AMAZING!!!!! Another one of their outstanding cookbooks to check out is, Cook What You Love: Simple, Flavorful Recipes to Make Again and Again . We also enjoyed ceviche and vino and ended the night with a movie and dessert. Thanks for visiting Bets:)

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Stacked with Spinach and Shaved Parmesan

8 Portobello mushroom caps

Oil oil for grilling

2 handfuls spinach, trimmed, rinsed, and dried

Lemon-Pepper Vinaigrette*

2 oz Parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler

12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Preheat broiler. brush mushrooms with oil and grill 3-4 minutes. toss spinach with just enough vinaigrette to coat leaves

stack the ingredients on salad plates staring with a small pile of spinach, then a layer of shaved Parmesan, then mushroom. Repeat the layers in the same order, pressing down gently to keep the stack from falling. Drizzle a little extra vinaigrette over the salads, garnish with cherry tomato halves, and serve while the mushrooms are still warm.

*Lemon-Pepper Vinaigrette

1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbl red wine vinegar

1 c oil oil

1tsp minced fresh garlic

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp coarsely cracked black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together.

See the beautiful layers

Ceviche

Good Ole Southern Firefly (Sweet Tea Vodka) and Lemonade. So refreshing.

Girls night and a Baby!

I am so fortunate to have such wonderful friends here in Wilmington. We are so great about getting together and enjoying girls nights with LOTS of laughs, food and vino. It is very important and good for the heart and soul to get together with the girls and just laugh. I took a million pics of some of the food but not many of people. I could not get all of the photos to upload, trust me we had more amazing dishes. Jones, our new little baby (aka Lyndsey's baby) made an appearance with her momma which was a great excuse to get out of the house:) Pick up the phone and call your girlfriends ladies:) Happy Day!

Spicy popcorn

Chocolate covered Almonds and OMG the most addicting cherry yogurt covered pretzels from Fresh Market!

Brie

Robert's Grocery chicken salad sandwiches

Sweet Jones and his momma

Heather and I

Mixed Doubles

Summer tennis season has begun and my sweet hubby and I are playing together with a group of our friends. We have played many different sports together and it is really fun and a great way to bond in a competitive way. We have played softball, volleyball, and tennis. I use to play golf but not on a team, boy that would be scary. Now kickball we signed up for but never ended up having enough teams to play but that would have been fun. So now go and get your hubbies out and play a sport on a local league, it is so much fun and full of LOTS OF LAUGHTER. Watch out USTA players the Sullivan's are going to be on FIRE!!!!!

Summer Time Baked Spaghetti

Good Morning ya'll! A girlfriend of mine made this delightful dish and I had to get the recipe. I love pasta that is for sure but it is so heavy this time of year so this is a great alternative and its full of flavor, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The best part is it serves between 8-10 people so we have plenty for leftovers. HOORAY!

The Spaghetti Squash can be cooked two ways.

1.Pierce Spaghetti Squash with a fork all over and bake for 1hr at 350.

2. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Cover the bottom of casserole dish with water. Place the squash cut side up and cover with Saran wrap and microwave for 10-12 minutes or until tender. Let stand for 5 minutes covered.

Saute veggies and add spices. You can add more or less of the veggies/spices, to your liking.

Add tomato sauce and simmer 15 minutes

Pull/scrape squash with a fork, "noodles" will form. Add squash noodles to the sauce mix

Spray 13x9 pan- 1/2 mix in bottom, layer mozzarella cheese, other 1/2 of mix and layer mozzarella cheese cheese- bake 350 for 30 min.

I grilled chicken and additional Parmesan Cheese to the top and it was divine and guilt free!

Couples Lawn and Garden Shower

Meade and Emily had their third and final couples shower and I can not believe the showers are coming to and end because I feel like they just started. The soon to be newlyweds have one more shower to go and a bachelorette and bachelor party and then it's wedding time. I absolutely thank the Lord to have the most amazing sister-in-law in the world, and so happy Meade found himself an amazing wife to be:) We could not be any happier to welcome such a wonderful young lady into our family. The shower was hosted by a childhood friend of Emily's and hr boyfiend who was fratunirty brother with meade and then Emily's college roomate. The set up was awesome and then menu was so yummy. Shrimp and Grits:) YUMMMO!!

PRETTY IN PINK

Maggie Grace's 1st birthday party was SO cute, her mommy Brooke is so creative and did an amazing job on her party from Maggie's adorable outfit and attire for the party which included a HUGE monogrammed pink bib and a hat (so cute), entertainment for the kids with chalk, pink balls and pink hula hoops, decor and yummy food. Everyone had a blast and I have never seen so many kids under the age of 14 months:) LOVE IT! Great job Brooke, you did an amazing job and yes I will copy you when I have kiddies. Love ya girl!!!

The birthday girl!

Maggie wants her cake

Mommy and Daddy helping blow out the candles

YUMMY!

The cutest palms that Brooke bought

The cutest mommies with their kiddos

Brooke, the birthday girl and I

HUGE PINK BALLOONS

Sandwiches for the kids

Hot Pink Cake Stand mini cupcakes and boy they were amazing

YUMMY Shrimp

Homemade Gourmet Spinach Dip

Little cakes for each little guest

The cutest pops that I helped Brooke make.. So stinkin cute:)

Mexican Fiesta

Emily and Meade had their "Around the House" Mexican themed shower in Charlotte this past weekend. My two aunts, Fleetwood and Sherie and myself threw the shower for the two soon to be newly weds. Gosh I LOVE showers! We had pitchers and pitchers of Margaritas and Sangria, Mexican beer, so needless to say everyone had a good time! We took the theme from the invitations all the way through the desserts:) I will have to show you their invitation b/c it is adorable. So fun! It was great to see our family and Meade's Charlotte friends and of course great seeing Emily's family.

Honorary guests, such a cute couple

Quite the photographer:)

Uncle Mike, Wes and my hubby

The boys!

Mom and I

Fleetwood and I

Trouble!!

Taco Bar

Shrimp Gazpacho

Decor

Mamma and Matt

Jalapeno Cheese Dip

Spicy Pecans

Guacamole

Margarita bar

Emily liked the bowl she got. Cute face.. HA