A Winner of a Dinner

Okay, so we all know when it comes to food, Seth is hard to please. Everything is just "okay". I'm ammune to it now and no longer take it personally when he doesn't dish out the compliments after I've been cooking in the kitchen. Well, tonight was one of those nights that happens about once every 6 months when I got not only a compliment on dinner ("Tasty" was the word he used) and a comparison to a restaurant he likes ("this salad looks like something you'd get at Panera") but the grandaddy of them all........... "This is about the best dinner you've made in a long time!" WOO-HOO! I think I'll celebrate with a cup of hot tea :) Here is where I found the recipe and also see below:

STEAK SALAD
1 3/4 lb. beef sirloin steak
1/3 cup olive oil
3 TBS red wine vinegar
2 TBS lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
8 cups romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 small green pepper, sliced
1/2 cup red onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1/4 cup sliced, pimento stuffed green olives

1. grill steak to desired cooking temp. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Slice into bite size pieces
2. in small bowl, wisk together: oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, worchestershire, salt, and pepper. Mix in blue cheese crumbles. Cover and chill in fridge.
3. Arrange lettuce, tomatoes, green pepper, onion, carrots and olives on plate. Top with steak and drizzle with dressing. Serve with crusty bread.

*modifications: I omitted olives (yuck) and forgot all about the carrots. I used the refrigerated kind of minced garlic. I pretty much half this recipe for the two of us. It's supposed to serve 5 for the full recipe. I'll probably make this when we have company :) ENJOY!!!
~jd

Hooo had a Birthday?

I can't believe that she turned 1 already!  Where did the last year go?  I had so much fun with the owl theme for here first birthday.  There aren't very many pre-made owl decorations out there... not that I would have bought them anyway :)  But I did search the internet for ideas and found a bunch!

I used my Cricut and the Hoot n' Holler cartridge!

Happy Birthday Banner!

Owl Bean Bags inspired by 'The celebration shoppe'.  Instead of making plush owl, we made bean bags and had buckets so that the kids could play bean bag toss games!

I couldn't find an owl pan, so I had to use round pans to create the cakes!  I was inspired by this cake that I found.  I love the colors and used her combinations!

I couldn't pass up making these fun treats.  I adapted them to the color theme by using pink candy melts for the eyes!

I had to include a picture of the birthday girl.  Isn't she cute!  By the way, if you notice that her dress has monkeys on it... that was going to be her original theme when I bought it 6 months ago... I should know better than to think that I would not dream up a different idea in that amount of time!