Valentine's Day 2015

This is just a quick post with some Valentine's Day highlights. 

 

I've gotta say - I love me a holiday and this one delivered!

 

This year, I made some Valentine's Day cookies and they came out really nice.  Per usual, I used my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe which you can find here.

For cards, I chose to make my own, using a kit from Target.  I thought they came out very cute!

 

One of my gifts- at the start of the week, we saw "The Book of Mormon" -absolutely hilarious!!!!  Don't get me wrong, it was crude, but so funny.  I've never laughed so hard at a theatre in my life!

 

Valentine's Day Dinner was at Al Di La. While we were waiting for our table, someone took this cute pic of my boyfriend, KP, and I. He gets my best smiles :-)

The rest of the weekend was spent at home. 

 

This one had fun too :-)

It was a wonderful holiday spent with very special people - sending best love to you & yours!

Xoxo Madeleine

Merry Christmas! 7 Weeks Later

I cannot let Valentine's Day pass without documenting Christmas!  So here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas 2014.  It was such a great season and we had so much goodness to celebrate!  I hope you enjoy some pictures of my new tree, rolled sugar cookies, and the outdoor lights.  Goals for next year - 1) Timer for the C9s outside (lost track of how many times I had to replace the light strings, 2) More beautiful Christmas paper and ribbon - homemade?  Target sale? 3) Re-using this year's decorations!!!  Love to you & yours - Valentine's Update soon :-)

 

xoxoxo Love, Madeleine

 

 

 

Halloween 2014

On one of my favorite Friends episodes, Monica declares that Thanksgiving is a competition against herself. I.e. This year's Monica is going to BEAT last year's Monica. I love that.  Just a few pics from this year's Halloween preparations. I kicked last year's Halloween outta the park (and my new kickball team could tell you - that's the only thing I'll be kicking outta the park!)--

Wishing you and your loved ones a spooktacular holiday!! Xoxoxox

Trick or treat!! Madeleine

Alesci's + A Taste of South Euclid

All I can say is WOW! This weekend we enjoyed Alesci's cavatelli and meatballs, delivered all the way from South Euclid to South Carolina!  The meal tasted just like as we remembered and I'll definitely be ordering more sauce and meatball mix.

To make this meal, begin by ordering your sauce and meatball mix at www.alescifoods.com!  The pictures below show how this meal was made.

For the meatballs, the only tip I would give is to bake your meatballs at 375 for 30 minutes. flip the meatballs after the first 15 minutes so that they are evenly cooked.

After you finish cooking the meatballs, pour a jar of sauce into a pot and add the cooked meatballs to the sauce and simmer.  As the sauce simmers, cook your cavatelli. I had some frozen cavatelli from the Farmer's Market.  Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and wait for the cavatelli to rise to the top, this will take 4-6 minutes.  Drain the cavatelli, combine the sauce and meatballs with the pasta, and serve!

I brought this to my parents and we all loved it!! It tasted JUST LIKE the Alesci's we loved and remembered. I am definitely ordering more and would encourage everyone to do the same- so, so good! You can't beat Cleveland's Italian food in my humble opinion!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. I've become addicted to "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and have binge watched this whole long weekend. This show is making me stupid!!! But I have to say Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe are three unique and beautiful sisters who remind me of a few awesome  ladies I know;-) Gotta love reality television!! Thanks to my youngest sister for getting me hooked.

Oh yes, ran 6.2 miles on Saturday and 3.1 today:-) 

Hope this post finds everyone doing well! Best love from the SC!!!

Xoxoxo Love,

Madeleine

Great Recipe + a Great Week

Hi everyone!! It has been a busy week but I've been excited to post an update. Half Marathon training has  kicked off with 12 miles ran since Saturday (3.1 Saturday, 6.2 Tuesday, 3.1 today).

Since I've last posted, I've made my best friend Caitlin's amazing paleo turkey sausage. Here is a link to where you can find the recipe. Cait's turkey sausage is unbelievable, it tastes like Bob Evans!  I follow her recipe word-for-word and it comes out perfect each time.  These freeze very well.  I gave half the batch to my parents and kept half for myself.  These have been breakfast all week!  Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe Cait :-)

Finishing this post, with a picture from tonight's 5k on Daniel Island.  I ran with some great people, made some good new friends, and fell in love with Governor's Park!  If you saw it, you'd understand... So here is a picture :-)

I have to say, this picture does not do it justice.  The palm trees, the waterfront, the bridges- seriously this park was magical!  Running terrain varied... Lol. But so gorgeous!  I would have taken more pictures if I wasn't busy running :-)

More to come this weekend, with a special meal care of South Euclid :-)

Kisses and hugs from South Carolina! xoxoxoxo

Madeleine

Empire State of Mind + Johnny Football

Just a quick post after returning from Buffalo, NY. It was a work trip but I really enjoyed my time there. The weather was perfect, it felt like 70 degrees outside. 

This week has just been a really great week. I'm almost sad to see it come to an end!  But I'm excited for the weekend- tomorrow I'm running a 5k for a great cause. You'll hear more about it!

Weight loss is still going great! I swear the hardest part of a diet is the first 3 weeks. Then, it's auto pilot!

Came home tonight to this awesome t shirt from one of my sisters!! Johnny Football!!! Can't wait to wear this bad boy all season.

Love to all!!! Xoxoxo

Madeleine

Winners + Challah Bread

First, congratulations to the giveaway winners!! Norie, Lindsay, Danielle, and Dawn - you won the earring giveaway! I'll reach out to you all on Facebook for address information. Congratulations!!

Tonight, I felt like some comfort food. Challah bread is a braided bread that I understand crosses many cultures. It was one of my favorite comfort foods as a child and I still love it as an adult!

Making this bread takes a little time, but it's worth it!  I followed this recipe, but adjusted the serving size to ten.  In truth, I feel like this bread yielded four servings.  Of course, I love bread!  So maybe if you found ten people that didn't love bread that much they could each have some.

 

I've made this recipe once before and I really like how the ingredients are mostly items you already have on hand:

Can you tell from this picture that I enjoy generic brand food items? :-)

First, you will dissolve the yeast in warm water and mix your wet ingredients plus the salt.  Once the ingredients are mixed, add in the flour and combine thoroughly.

Now some patience is required, you will cover this dough and let rise for 1.5 hours.  

After the dough has risen, it is time to knead the dough and then form a braid. I think this part is fun and easy!

As the photo above shows, you will once again cover the dough and let rise.

Don't worry if the dough does not rise as you might expect it to! This is truly a recipe that comes together in the oven.

Prior to baking the bread, brush with egg white and sprinkle some poppy seeds across the top.

Bake at 375, I would suggest 25-30 minutes for a loaf this size.  You'll know when it's done because you will knock on the bottom of the loaf and the "challah" will sound "hollow" :-)

Now that's some delicious bread!  Break off a piece or two and enjoy. Weight Watchers tells me this is a 3 PP treat! Not bad!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful week.  Best love from the SC-

Xoxox, Madeleine