Menu Monday #33 + New Cookbooks

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // January 5, 2015 // 4 Comments

Hello hello! Happy New Year!

Even though I’m not going back to work (just doing the same ol’ mommy routine here!) I still feel like today was a kick off to a productive week. Anyone else feel a little fired up to get things accomplished today?

Before we tackle this week’s menu, I got some new cookbooks for Christmas that I want to share! They are so wonderful. I can’t wait to dig in, make some food, and then share a proper review with you all.

The Forest Feast: Simple Vegetarian Recipes from My Cabin in the Woods – This book has been on my Amazon wishlist for months. The recipes look so tasty and simple to make. Plus the pictures and graphics are beautiful! I just love to flip through this book, looking at each page. For more information, check out the author’s blog!

Photo of recipe from The Forest Feast

The other two cookbooks are both from Deborah Madison, who is an amazing vegetarian chef, and her food is always delicious! Her recipes are sometimes lengthy to put together, but the ingredients and techniques are simple. But I’m looking forward to cooking meals from Vegetable Soups and The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (a classic – it’s like the Joy of Cooking for vegetarians).

Stay tuned for proper reviews of these cookbooks soon! Anyone else just like to curl up on the sofa and read cookbooks? I don’t cook out of them often (thanks to Pinterest) but I do just love to look at them!

This week’s menu is a tad short. We’ll be up in Virginia Beach this weekend for the auto show there. So no need to cook a few dinners. Score!

Monday
Tacos

Tuesday
Pizza with Carmelized Onions, Walnuts & Gorgonzola
(from Fields of Greens)

Wednesday
Burgers & Fries… maybe a salad

Thursday
Cream of Barley Soup with a salad and crusty bread
(from Vegetable Soups)

Want more ideas for dinner tonight? Check out my Pinterest board where I pin all my favorites!

Hey Hey! It’s Friday!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // January 2, 2015 // 14 Comments

Well hello! It’s been a while!

I decided to take a super long break from the blog over the Christmas holiday. There was just too much fun to be had the last few weeks!

So since I’ve been MIA for the last few weeks, let’s catch up!

Christmas was so delightful! Hubby had to work up until Christmas Day, so we decided to open our family gifts Christmas Eve. It was so fun watching Elizabeth get better and better at opening gifts.

Christmas morning we had a quick breakfast, and then husband headed off to work. I thought he was going to be home by noon, so I had the morning to get packed to head up to my in laws. He actually got home at 9:00! A Christmas Miracle! But I hadn’t even begun to pack… so we quickly packed and hit the road. In the flurry of activity we forgot our beautifully wrapped gifts for the family! We felt horrible! Thankfully everyone didn’t give us snake eyes when we arrived.

Christmas in Virginia was particularly fun, because Elizabeth got to hang out with her 9 month old cousin! At one point they even had matching outfits, riding around in a play car together. Such fun memories!

We had to hustle back down from Virginia Friday night, because my family flew in Saturday morning. It was so nice to have my mom and dad, and my sister and her husband here. We haven’t all been together for Christmas for YEARS!

Katie Family Time is basically this – hang out, drink hot drinks, chit chat, and read magazines. My family doesn’t really need much entertainment! We ventured out to downtown Raleigh to go to a museum and go see a movie. There was even a hike involved at some point. Overall, a really nice relaxing time with family! And no presents left behind.

Elizabeth is, of course, now really bored with life. There is no one interesting sitting in the back seat of the car with her. There isn’t a constant rotation of people to play with her.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas!! I’m looking forward to getting back to the regularly scheduled program next week!

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Merry Christmas!!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // December 25, 2014 // 1 Comment

For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful,
Counselor,
the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

I hope you and your loved ones are having a glorious Christmas!

I’ll be taking a small break, but will pop up here and there until the New Year – a girl’s got to take a break sometime!

Menu Monday #32 – Christmas Menu

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // December 22, 2014 // 6 Comments

I was VERY overwhelmed sitting down to make this week’s menu. I’m basically planning for meals for the next 1.5 weeks. My family is coming in to town Saturday through Wednesday. I want to have the menu planned ahead of time to get as much grocery buying done as possible.

You’d be bored seeing my whole 1.5 weeks of menu, so I thought I would share our Christmas Eve/Christmas Day plans.

Christmas Eve Dinner:
Vegetarian Tamales
Mexican Rice
Salad
Green Beans

Christmas Morning Brunch:
Christmas Casserole
Fruit Salad
Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread

Christmas Day Dinner:
Vegetarian Meatballs
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Corn Casserole

What are you having for your Christmas Dinner? Let me know! My menu is still flexible 😉

Hey Hey! It’s Friday!

by Katie @ Cup of Tea // December 19, 2014 // 12 Comments

Can you believe it’s Friday already? Christmas is less than a week away. Everything is just zooming by so fast.

First off, thanks to everyone who participated in the Tis the Season Mug Swap with Caitlin and I. We have been having so much fun looking through Instagram and Twitter, checking out the #tistheseasonmug14 tag. You ladies are so generous! I received my mug yesterday! Check out Instagram later today to see what I got. I love it!

Speaking of hot drinks, I took this fun quiz last week – What’s Your PersonaliTEA? I got Breakfast Blend, which is perfect! Swing over and see what you get! Anyone else love doing those fun quizzes that float around on Facebook? Yeah, me too!

Anywho, here’s what we’ve been up to this week.

1. So…… Elizabeth is walking. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe it. She started last weekend. We were talking to my parents on FaceTime, and she just stood up and walked across the play room! She’s been getting better every day.

2. We also tried to go see Santa this week. It was just a horrible experience. Santa never even made eye contact with Elizabeth! He didn’t say a word to her. In fact, the whole crew acted like they could have cared less. So, imagine my surprise (sarcasm) when Elizabeth boohooed when I put her next to anti-social Santa. I was so annoyed that when it came time to buy photos, I declined. I plan on taking her to another mall today, where friends have had better experiences.

3. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend. Last weekend we had husband’s work party, which is a huge shindig. Every year, I don’t really look forward to it. It’s so loud and big. We also had a Friends’ Christmas party last weekend. THAT was a wonderful time. I basically sit in my same spot, by their fire, the whole night and laugh. Such fun!

4. Did you notice that I moved my blog to my own domain name? Yay! I’m still working on a few tweaks to add in some features, but it’s just really exciting. I’ve had my own domain since August, but the process to move my blog to self-hosted seemed like an intimidating process that I dragged my feet. But it’s finally done!

5. Ok, ok, one more Elizabeth news item (it’s been a slow week) – we’ve been going to the park a lot! She actually was sad when we left the park yesterday. But she loves the slide!

Hope you have wonderful weekends! Can’t wait to hear what you’ve been up to!

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