UrDreamPlanner's Wednesday Knowledge: 3 "Must-Have Meals" on Wedding Day!

3 "Must-Have Meals" on Wedding Day!

It's Wedding Day and your excitement it so great or your nerves are so strong, that eating is not at the forefront of your mind. However, it is still important that you eat three meals on Wedding Day.

 Morning Breakfast

Meal #1: A Relaxed Breakfast!

(Hit all the food groups in this meal. Don't eat a heavy breakfast, but make sure you eat a complete meal. During this time, you are the most relaxed in the sense you are just waking up and no prep has begun. Enjoy this down time and enjoy a nice breakfast, alone or with your girls!)

Meal #2: Snack To Go!

(By this time, you are in full blown Wedding Prep! None the less, your next "real" meal is not until the sun is setting and therefore you need a snack. Eat some graham crackers, cheese crackers, gold fish, pretzels, etc. Eat a snack with a little substance but something that is still light. It is important to feed your body through out the course of the day. Be sure to drink water with this snack. Staying hydrated is very important on wedding day.)

Meal #3: Sit Down Dinner!

(At this point you are married!! Congratulations!!! Now, sit down and eat dinner! I promise, although it may not seem like it, your guest want you to eat as well! If you eat when they eat, you will have time to eat. The night does go by quickly, none the less, you paid $100 (more or less) each for your plates, so my dear Bride & Groom, enjoy it!)

Bonus Meal #4: The Midnight Feast!

(If for some reason, you didn't or did eat, you can still ask your venue if there are any extra meals left over. Majority of venues do have something left over, because all your guests didn't attend. Ask to take these extra meal portions with you and enjoy a midnight feast! Again, you did pay for all these meals, so why not enjoy them!!)

Wedding day happens quickly...don't get so lost in all the excitement that, you don't eat. Be healthy and have a memorable wedding day!

Happy Meal Time!

 

Talk To Me:

What is your wedding day meal plan? Do you have one? Married already!? Did you eat on your wedding day? Most couples eat breakfast, but did you eat at your reception? Share your wedding day eating experience and any advice that you feel would benefit the readers!! Leave your comments below in the comment zone. :-)

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Sincerely,

{Thursday's Food Tidbit}::Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps-Yum!

{Thursday's Food Tidbit}::Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps-Yum!

Today I want to share with you a recipe from a chef that makes some amazing dishes!! Aaron Mc.Cargo Jr. won season four of The Next Food Network Star in 2008 and aired Big Daddy's House in August of 2008. Since then Aaron Mc.Cargo Jr. has been producing non-stop amazing dishes.

Below is a must try recipe and since your recieving this awesome recipe early in the AM you still have time to run to the market and try it for dinner tonight. What's great about this dish is that it takes less than 30 minutes and it's on the rather healthy side!!

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps 

(Time Yourself Here!)

~~Ingredients~~

Spicy Salsa:

• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet marinated peppers, chopped (recommended: Peppadew)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Blue Cheese Sauce:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup blue cheese
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 lime, zested
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Buffalo Chicken:

• 1/4 cup mild hot sauce
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• Olive oil, for frying
• 16 Bibb lettuce leaves, washed, dried, and separated

~~Directions~~

For the salsa: Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Allow to marinate.

For the blue cheese sauce: In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, lime juice, garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste. Mix in the cilantro, chives, and parsley.
For the chicken: Place the hot sauce into a bowl. Dredge the chicken with the hot sauce. In a casserole dish, mix together the flour, salt, paprika, and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. Shake off any excess flour.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil to about 1/4-inch up the sides of the skillet. 

When the oil is hot (it will bubble around the handle of a wooden spoon), add the chicken to the skillet. 

After 4 minutes, turn the chicken over and cook until the chicken is browned and cooked through, about 4 more minutes. Place the lettuce leaves on a platter and spoon the chicken into the lettuce. 

Top the chicken with 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese sauce and salsa. Serve immediately.

 

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I too will be experimenting with this great recipe and posting my experience and would love to share your experiences too. If you don't get to this yummy recipe tonight, try it out this weekend and email your experience with pics to info@beautifulbeyonddreams.com. Would love to share your experience on the blog!!

<---- {Wednesday's Inspiration}::Texture's Talk

{Friday's Spotlight}:: ---->

Love Bite #14: Valentine's Day Recap!! :-)

Hello! Today I want to share with you all what my love and I did for Valentine's Day! During the Valentine's Love Bite's I shared a 3 Course Dinner Recipe and well, I put it into action for my love!

Love Bite #14: Valentine's Day Recap!! :-)

Being that I am a college student and love my bf very much I wanted to show him by cooking a beautiful dinner! I started by shopping for the food. Now I gave you all a price list of $30.00 for the dinner, but I actually paid $22.00!! <$8.00 savings>

My greatest saving was the two Filet Steaks 1 1/2 inches thick for $3.21 from Shoprite!! I marinated the steak in Red Wine for 4 hours, along with a garlic & basil mix, adobo, and then right before I cooked it I patted it down with the salt & pepper like the recipe instructed. ((It only took 10 minutes to cook!)) And Oh My it came out AMAZiNG!!!! My love, LOVED IT!! :-)

The finished product: Filet Mignon w/ Creamy mashed potatoes & sauteed mixed Vegetables. Cooking this meal also opened my eyes to how good "Dill" is in veggies!! Absolutely yummy! :-) We also enjoyed a Ceaser salad with extra cucumbers!!

So during the week I also blogged about 'creating the mood'! So to create the mood, with the tools I had this is what I came up with! A romantic table setting for two, college-dorm style.

He absolutely loved my little set up!! And I was so thrilled..lol. We enjoyed a tasty meal, great conversation and a very good episode of Law & Order:SVU!!  :-D

Valentine's Day couldn't have been sweeter! So how did you spend your Valentine's Day??

With LOVE,

Love Bite #10: 3 Course Romantic Dinner!

Hello, today I actually thought pretty hard about what I wanted to write about regarding Valentine's Day. So since I love food and absolutely love to eat food, and even more cook food, I thought why not do it on cooking a romantic 3 Course Dinner for two! I found some amazing recipes and will be doing a dessert that I saw on Rachel Ray! So get your pen's ready and let's create some magic for Valentine's Day in under an hour and all for just under $30.00 for two!!

Love Bite #10: 3 Course Dinner for Two!

1st Course: Ceaser Salad with Cucumbers!

(My loves favorite, you can change this to make your significant other happy.)

$7.50 for two!!

You will need:

1 head of romaine lettuce

1 bag of crutons

2 cucumbers

1 bottle of ceaser dressing

1 container of parmesan cheese

Directions: Take your head of romaine lettuce and rinse it, roll it up and cut it into nice bite size pieces. Take your cucumbers, rinse them, peel them and slice them to liking. Place both the romaine lettuce and cucumbers into bowl and pour bag of croutons over top. Pour in bottle of Ceaser dressing and put a lid on the bowl and shake so the dressing mixes into all the ingredients. Depending on your time this can be made first and stored in the fridge or made second to last for absolute freshness! When served shake parmesan cheese over salad enjoy with a nice drink!

2nd Course: Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon w/ Light Mashed Potatoes & Sauteed Mixed Vegetables

(More recipes like this one can be found at www.delish.com/recipefinder) 

$16.00 for two!!

"Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon"-$7.00

(Prep Time: 15 minutes, Cook Time: 6-10 minutes)

You will need:

2 (5 to 6 ounces each) filet mignons (about 1 1/2 inches think)

Course salt and very coursely ground pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Red Wine Sauce:
1 cup of red wine
2 tablespoons of butter, cut up
Course Salt

Directions: Season filets very generously on both sides with salt and pepper (especially pepper), patting in firmly. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-high. Cook filets until desired doneness, 3 to 5 minutes per side (depending on thickness) for medium-rare. Remove strings from filets, and serve with Red Wine Sauce, if desired. 

-To make Red Wine Sauce: Place wine in a small saucepan; boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat; add cut-up butter, and swirl pan until butter is melted and sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Season with coarse salt.

 "Light Mashed Potatoes"- $4.00

 (Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes)

You will need:

2 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon of butter

3/4 teaspoons of salt

1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half, warmed

Directions: In 4-quart saucepan, combine potatoes and enough water to cover; heat to boiling on high. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork-tender. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water; drain potatoes. Return potatoes to saucepan. Mash with margarine and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Gradually add warm half-and-half, continuing to mash potatoes until smooth and well blended; add reserved cooking water if necessary. Transfer to serving dish. Makes about 4 1/2 cups.

 "Sauteed Mixed Vegatables"- $5.00

(Prep Time: 1 minute, Cook Time: 10-15 minutes)

You will need: 

1 tablespoon evtra virgin olive oil

1 small shallot, minced

4 cups of mixed froxen vegetables-corn, carrots, green beans

1/2 teaspoon dried dill or tarragon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Stir in frozen vegetables. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in dill (or tarragon), salt, and pepper. 

3rd Course: Waffle Brownies Topped w/ Fresh Strawberries & Cool Whip

 (Visit www.rachelrayshow.com/food/recipes for many more desserts like this one. This requires a waffle iron.)

$7.00 for two!!

 

(Prep Time: 5 minutes, Cook Time: 10 minutes)

You will need:

1 box of brownie mix

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 container of Fresh Starwberries

1 container of cool whip

2 teaspoons of sugar

Directions: Rinse strawberries and cut off the leaf part, slice in half and add a sprinkle of sugar, let sit until ready for use. Preheat waffle maker to medium-low. Prepare brownies according to mix directions, omitting any water or milk. Pour 1/2 cup of the mixture per square in the waffle maker. Bake for 10 minutes. Once baked, open waffle maker and turn off the heat. Let brownies sit until slightly cool, about 3 minutes. Add fresh strawberries and two scoops of cool whip! (Cool whip can be supplemented for two scoops of ice-cream!)

Be sure to visit tomorrow to read about "Love Bite #11: Creating the Mood!"

With LOVE,

Love Bite #7: Romance!

Since Valentine's Day is 1 week away, I decided today's blog post should be about Romance! Every blog post this week will be about and surrounding Valentine's Day! 

Love Bite #7: Romance!

 What Is Romance?

Thanks to wikipedia this is what we have:

Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person.

A few ways to Express your "Romantic Side"!:

Romance can be expressed by either person within the relationship.

*A candle-lit dinner for two.

*Waking up to breakfast in bed.

*A weekend getaway to a nice resort.

*A homemade dinner & dessert after the kids have been put to bed.

There are so many endless and creative ways a couple can be romantic with each other. It can be big or small, but most importantly it should be sentimental towards your significant other. 

With Valentine's Day only a week away, think of a creative way to show our romantic side towards your special person! 

With LOVE,