"Best Dinner Ever!" Wonton Raviolis and Non-Dairy Cream Sauce

This was one of those recipes I just had to blog right away because I instantly saw it becoming a family recipe. Lucky for you, it won't be a secret!

What You'll Need (Raviolis):

1 pack egg roll wrappers (larger than wonton wrappers and easier to work with. Located near the tofu in the produce section.)

1 lb very lean ground beef or turkey 

Handful of kale

Handful of mushrooms

Onions

Garlic

2-3 tbsp grated parmesan

Sauce:

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1/3 cup pinenuts 

Spices of choice (I used herbs d'provence, sage, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning and a pinch of sea salt)

In a skillet or sautepan, spray some cooking spray or use a little coconut oil to sauté some onions and garlic. When it becomes fragrant, remove half of them and put it to the side (they will be added to the sauce). Add the beef/turkey to the pan and cook until almost brown. Chop up a handful of kale and handful of mushrooms and add to the pan, continue cooking until meat is brown and kale is wilted. Remove from heat and let cool.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. 

While water is heating, mix Parmesan in with the meat and veggie mixture as it's cooling.

Lay out several egg roll wrappers and scoop meat mixture into the center of each (about a tablespoon). 

In a small container, crack one egg and add a tbsp of water, mix. Using a brush (or your fingers) apply egg wash to the outer edges of each wrapper, one at a time, and then fold corner to corner. 

Turn pot of boiling water down to medium heat. It should be BARELY boiling. If it's boiling too harshly, it will break the ravioli open and the meat will get everywhere. Drop each ravioli into the water, don't add more than about 4 at a time to the pot. Let them cook in water for about 3 mins each and remove with a slotted spoon. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet or flat plate. Continue process until all are cooked.

In a blender, pour tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and pinenuts. Add all desired spices and blend for about one minute on low or medium speed. Heat up in microwave or a saucepan on medium heat.

Serve ravioli topped with the "creamy" sauce and a pinch of Parmesan. Fresh basil would complete this meal, but I didn't have any! 

Since it's Halloween, what meal wouldn't be complete without some Gypsy Red in a Skeleton cup?!

First Annual Fall-tober Fest Weekend

This weekend we celebrated our own made-up holiday, Fall-tober Fest. It's important to me that when we have children, we have traditions in place for them to look forward to each year. We decided to wing it and Fall-tober Fest ended up being a fun weekend full of fall-ish activities (actually not unlike our typical weekends, but now I'm turning it into a tradition).

We woke up Saturday morning and went to the pumpkin patch and picked out the perfect ones for carving/painting. 

A few hours later we headed to the corn maze, which I had been dying to do for the past few years. When we got there we walked all the way to the ticket booth and were already so hot we were debating giving up and going home. So we did (it was SO HOT, don't judge!)

We came home and invited our best friends (and our typical Saturday night group) over for taco night and while the guys watched the fights, us girls played a new game called "Heads Up" which was hilarious once we had had a few tequila sunrises! We plan on having a friend get-together every Fall-tober Fest weekend.

Me, cracking up playing "Heads Up!"

Sunday we went to a fantastic lunch at a crepe place in town. The waiter was a kid from high school and since we had never been there before and raved about the food, he gave us a huge, delicious crepe dessert that we devoured before I could even take a photo! I spent the afternoon making frosting with my mom for our cake decorating class (next year the tradition will be cupcake making!) while the guys watched the Niners game. 

Afterward, Matt and I worked on our pumpkins with a bottle of cab and "Nightmare Before Christmas."

My Jack and Sally pumpkin

My Snooki pumpkin

Matt's carved pumpkin on the top left

Our little "poogle" Lucky had a seizure in bed with us a week ago, and since he's been having lots of tremors pretty much all day. We are making sure to spend a lot of time loving him and trying to keep him comfortable and happy for as long as we have left with him. He has a costume for his Halloween celebration!

Wedding- It's All in the Details

Two months have flown by faster than I could've ever imagined. Luckily, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and the further we get from August 3rd, the more the details seemed to fade. I was so excited to get my photos back because I needed them to reinforce my memory that I did, in fact, have my DREAM wedding. The photos were better than I could've hoped.

 Flowers- I was SO specific on what I wanted for my flowers that we went through flower rolodexes (literally!) until we handpicked every single flower that went into each bouquet. There was nothing I wanted less than that typical, "round" bridal bouquet. I wanted a beautiful feel as if we had walked through the world's prettiest garden and picked each flower by hand. Natural, natural natural. From the dusty miller to the tabasco roses to the ivory bridesmaids bouquets, my florist dealt with numerous, in-depth meetings about every single flower and she was so wonderful. She truly saw my vision better than I did and I couldn't be happier. Stems Florist in Vacaville, CA.

I decided to have a neutral toned wedding with the only color being my bouquet, Matt's boutonnière, and the flowers on our cake, and it was my favorite decision I made along the way. The standout color was originally going to be a dusty rose, but three weeks before I wedding I felt something was off and I searched high and low for the right shade of orange roses with just enough pink at the tips and my florist found it. SPOT ON.

I used both round and rectangular tables for the reception, and it gave for a very romantic vibe. We did ivory centerpieces with just enough winding twig for a rustic touch. We did a "trial" run with a 50% mark-up around Christmas time last year. Then we tweaked what we didn't like, added more of what we did, and came up with a beautiful centerpiece. Plus we found out that the boxes they were in weren't waterproofed and would have stained the table cloth had we waited until the wedding to see them! Problem solved. It kills me that we only got to enjoy them for one day- but the photos will last forever. My mom was a great help with the flowers- she knows so many species and styles and what's in season when. Flowers were likely the priciest detail of the day, but also my favorite part and I thank her so much for that gift.

Tablecloths and all rental items came from Classic Party Rentals in Napa. After numerous visits, a changing headcount and so many alterations to our order, it all arrived smoothly and in full. The table drapes are called Essence Onyx, in a heavy, good quality fabric. This, of all my wedding details, was the one thing I fought hardest for. I think my mom and I had 49275 fights about these tablecloths alone. I have never felt so strongly about such a "small detail" in my life, but I hate plain white tablecloths, so I wanted to choose something that represented me as a person and my style. I LOVE patterns, and these tablecloths are not exactly understated. But I knew that seeing all 14 tables in this amazing print would give me the perfect look for my dream wedding. I don't regret a single argument on behalf of those damn tablecloths, and my mom agreed we made the right decision :)

Tobasco rose petals and wrought-iron candelabras down the center of the rectangular tables. We worked together to select the right china, and my mom nixed all ideas of mason jars, stemless glasses, and flowers around the base of the candelabras- and she was right! Everything looked so elegant!

  

Little details- matches for our sparkler send-off.

What's a Boughtin Wedding without a Boughtin Bar?

We opted for greenery rather than flowers at the end of the aisles- it definitely gave the natural touch we needed. I kept thinking maybe baby's breath on the insides of the aisle chairs, but my mom felt plants would be a better touch- she was totally right. We didn't want to go overkill with any detail, and with all of the green grass and vines, it was just understated enough. My mom hand painted and decorated the gold pots and purchased the plants at a local garden shop like Lowe's or Home Depot.

Our sweetheart table, which now sits in our dining room. Table by Pottery Barn and via my mom (thank you!). Monogrammed wine glasses, decals via Etsy.

We put flowers in the restrooms as well to spice up the "portables." Why not?!

I knew I wanted to design my own wedding cake, and Sweetie Pie's in Napa did better job than I could have asked for. I brought in photos similar to what I wanted to both the florist and the bakery, and then coordinated the florist to decorate the cake once it arrived. When it came time to cut the cake, Matt and I did so begrudgingly- neither of us wanted to ruin how beautiful it was! My father-in-law, who purchased the cake for us, came running over saying "Don't cut it! It's too pretty!" 

It was a strawberry shortcake flavor with fondant ruffles and thick layers of strawberry through the center. Yesterday we had some guys over for football and my mom showed up with the top layer of our cake to put in our freezer. Little did she know, our bakery gives a free anniversary cake (a replica!) so we ate our wedding cake with lunch yesterday! 

Our beautiful venue all lit up at night. Not pictured: the gorgeous surrounding vineyards.

Gordon Valley, California.

These are my favorite details of the evening, but there were so many more. I am so incredibly proud of my choices, and more importantly, the hard work of our vendors. It's not easy to take an empty property, not even a wedding venue!, and stick to your vision with every outside vendor. I find this wedding to be one of my proudest moment and greatest accomplishments. 

Chair Transformation

Before: just some fugly old bar stools we bought on Craigslist for $30 and the worlds cutest dog.

After: two AWESOME barstools- in 10 minutes! 

It was SO EASY. I bought 2 yards of fabric from Hobby Lobby and made sure it was a quality material ($8.99/ yard at 30% off plus a 40% off coupon). I also bought straight pins. I ended up only needing about a yard total for both chairs- luckily i have more things that need recovering!

My chair pads were screwed into the barstools so I just unscrewed them, covered them in fabric held in place by pushpins, and then screwed them back on. SO easy, and a huge transformation for any room.

M's Kind of Surprise 25th Birthday

Way late post from April- sorry, guys! I'm finally getting around to finishing all my drafts :)

This past Friday was my fiance's 25th birthday and I wanted to do something really special for him! I planned little surprised throughout the day. Now, Matt is very quick on his feet and is either completely aware of everything going on, or completely oblivious. This day he decided to ruin *almost* every surprise I had in store! First, he discovered the balloons in his trunk before they flew out at him. Then, the free lunch I had planned at Chipotle was foiled when I found out his coworker was already taking him there to eat. Afterwards, he went home early and saw his beer cake before he was supposed to!

At least my outfit was super cute ;)

At this rate, the surprise party I had planned was worrying me. I had sent out adorable invitations a month ahead of time and yet NO ONE has RSVP'd. Matt and I went to dinner with his parents, his brother and his girlfriend and during dinner, everyone except Matt was FREAKING OUT, to put it lightly. We needed to kill a LOT of time while our roommate scrambled to figure out where everyone was. During dinner, all of us except Matt were on our phone texting like madmen trying to figure shit out. To help, his parents asked us to go out for a drink, which instantly made Matt suspicious, since his parents usually keep it to only the glass they had at dinner. UGH!

Finally, we gave up and made the drive home... very slowly. Matt thought I had something "gay" planned for just the two of us- I had told him we had to go home and change into pajamas. My heart was beating so fast as we pulled into the driveway and Matt went to open the door to hear "SURPRIIIIIISE!" There were about forty people packed into our living room and stairway! Somehow our roommate had managed to get everyone- and also a bunch of people I'd never met- to the house just seconds before we pulled in! Such a relief. The look on his face was so priceless, and I knew it was a success!

For the man who doesn't like cake- perfect.

Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Review & How-To

I am one of those people who constantly has to be working on something. Don't get me wrong, I spend quite a lotof time in bed watching TV, but I always have to have some kind of project in the works at any given time. In my last post we talked about me getting out of bed at 11 PM and starting to rip out our vinyl flooring, which I gave up on and decided to leave that to a professional... Until I get bored again ;) Instead, I decided to purchase the Rust-oleum cabinet transformations kit in pure white- I am such a victim of Pinterest. After reading a ton of reviews I figured "what could go wrong?!"

I started by pulling the doors off of the cabinets. Of course I happened to strip three of the screws, which made my husband have little faith in my restoration ability. The kit itself was about 70 bucks at Home Depot. I had them mix the color for me, as the box instructed- make sure to read that fine print, people!

I took the cabinet doors into the garage and got to work. 

Step 1: The Deglosser coat strips the cabinet of shine, dirt, and grease. My cabinets weren't very dirty so it didn't take much elbow grease, but I've read a lot of reviews saying people spent 15 minutes on each door! I only spent about 2. I thought it was fairly easy.

Step 2: I had the bond coat mixed in pure white, and I painted it on each cabinet going with the woodgrain. Make sure you do this! There are some tiny areas where I didn't and you can definitely see it! I think I ended up doing 4 coats to get a good solid white color. I put only 3 coats on the inside of each door.

You can still see the woodgrain! Hooray! I was so worried that they would not look like wood once I did this project; we have builders grade oak in our home and it's very sturdy and surprisingly good quality. I'm glad you can still tell it's real!

Step 3: I wasn't sure if I wanted to use the decorative glaze. On the box, and on the instructional DVD that comes with the kit, it looks really good. It looks like a distressed, shabby chic type of thing. Not so much in real life. You're supposed to put the decorative glaze on in very thin layers and immediately wipe off with a clean piece of cheesecloth, included in the kit. This is what I ended up with:

That is NOT hot. I am very into things looking a tiny bit rustic, but not overkill. This was overkill. My husband hates anything looking country or unfinished, he's so into that sleek modern stainless steel look. I knew this wasn't going to fly, for either of us. Luckily, I had tested it on the inside of one of the doors so I was able to go back over it with the bond coat and turn it back white.

Step 4: The protective glaze/topcoat is like a milky color, which is good for the bright white cabinets.

I had read that this is one of the hardest steps of this process, but I didn't find it to be hard at all. Make sure you're using a synthetic brush because real brushes tend to leave hairs behind in the paint. This coat tends to bubble, which you do not want, and a foam brush would only make those bubbles worse. 

It's very glossy at first, but it dries really quickly so you have to make sure to get out any bubbles or fibers right away. I had some teeny tiny bubbles that seemed to disappear overnight.

Then it was time to do the whole cabinet face- this seemed to take a thousand coats! What a hot mess. However, the results? FANTASTIC! See for yourself:

After three coats.

The final product!

And with the new tile :)

The Bottom Line: Would I use the Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit again?
Because I have so much leftover, sure. But my girlfriend did her cabinets in black paint with just a bonding coat underneath and they look great too. The kit took a good four-five coats, which I wasn't wild about, but the final look is beautiful. So it's completely up to you!

I had a ton of the paint kit left over, so I did a dresser while I was at it! Knobs are from Cost Plus!

See my other post for more information on the paint, baseboards and tile!

We're Married!

Written on our last day of the most amazing honeymoon:

I'm writing this from the resort in Costa Rica where my husband is still passed out to my right and I'm up way too early for my own good. Today is our last day in the most amazing place you can imagine, and I never want to go home.

The beach in front of our hotel, the RIU Palace Costa Rica.

Coco Beach, an amazing little town with awesome souvenirs and good food.

We protect the environment.

Since we've been here, we've done it all: rode ATVs, held monkeys, had drinks on a secluded beach, zip-lining, horseback riding, hiking to waterfalls, covering ourselves in volcanic mud and then hopping into mineral baths, rode a waterslide through the rainforest, Matt won a resort-wide beer chugging contest... This has been the best week of our lives. We've practiced getting used to saying "my husband" and "my wife" and have made friends who travel the world and went on a search for cuban cigars and have tried every fruity drink you can imagine. 

In front of the fountains at our resort after a few Micheladas.

Costa Rica is straight up paradise. It's green- emerald green- and open land as far as you can see. The people are so kind and helpful. The weather is perfect. There's so much to do and despite some  mehhhh resort food, we've had some awesome meals.

This honeymoon was the most fantastic way to start our marriage- we have bonded and laughed and pigged out and seen an amazing country. I am so lucky to have had this experience and can't wait for our last adventures today: snorkeling, massages on the beach and hanging out at the Monkey Bar- where there are monkeys climbing all over while you drink! :D