137.0...Birthday Festivities

December 17, 2016

137.0...Birthday Festivities

On Monday night I tried another delicious recipe from the Skinnytaste cookbook: Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup (recipe coming).

It went into the slow cooker earlier in the day and by dinner time, it was ready to go. I need to use the slow cooker more often. I actually just bought the other Skinnytaste cookbook that has more slow cooker recipes. Excited to try it!

To go with the soup, I made a salad:

Tuesday’s breakfast:

I took the kids to school, then went to Orange Theory. This was followed by a cooking class taught by Phillis Carey at the La Jolla Community Center. The class was “Holiday Dinner Party”. The first “course” was Caramelized Apple Salad with Spicy Orange Vinaigrette and Blue Cheese:

Even though I don’t like “fruit with my food”, I liked this salad. Truth be told, I could do without the apples but enjoyed it nonetheless. I can see how less weird fruit eaters would love this!

The second recipe was Cauliflower and Cheddar Soup with Crispy Bacon:

Our main meal consisted of a few different recipes:

Filet Mignon with Mustard Port Sauce and Red Onion Confit

Roasted Crimini Mushrooms with Fresh Herbs

Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Garlic Spinach

I loved everything. It really was the perfect holiday dinner!!

Dessert was fabulous too. Decadent Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting:

Chocolate cake is probably my most favorite dessert ever. This one did not disappoint.

After class, I went to a PTO meeting at the school, then brought the kids home. For dinner I made ANOTHER winning Skinnytaste recipe!

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Broccoli. (recipe coming)

Caesar salad:

Wednesday’s breakfast:

I took the kids to school, then went to the gym. I ran some errands and stopped at Luna Grill for lunch.

Greek Salad with “crack chicken” aka their fabulous chicken kabob.

That evening my husband I went to the Manchester Grand Hyatt in Downtown for the Holiday Bowl Director’s Dinner.

My husband’s company is the title sponsor again this year.

Our meal started with a salad with walnuts, cranberries and a blue cheese stuffed pear:

The main dish was steak, shrimp and potatoes:

After dinner we headed back home and went to bed.

Thursday’s breakfast:

I took the kids to school, went to the gym, then my tennis lesson. Lunch was at Urban Plates.

Afterwards I got my hair done, then went to my son’s basketball game.

Later that night, my friends and went to Herb & Wood to celebrate my 40th birthday!

Our meal was INSANE. Everything was FABULOUS! We all shared a ton of different dishes.

Tuna Tartare:

We ended up ordering two of these. So delicious!

Gnocchi, Oxtail, Roasted Garlic, Parsley, Chive, Sherry, Parmesan & Horseradish:

Our server told us to dip their homemade Parker House rolls in the gnocchi.

Party in your mouth. No other way to describe it. Fabulous!

Crispy Potato, Lemon Vinaigrette, Black Pepper, Fresh Horseradish & Parmesan:

A carb dream.

Grilled Venison Loin, Roasted Dates, Sherry, Thyme & California Buttermilk Polenta:

Seriously amazing.

Gemelli, Manilla Clams, Tomato, Lardo, Chili, & Basil:

Their pasta is homemade. Another winner!

Roasted Baby Carrots, Cashew Sesame Dukkah, Esplette Yogurt & Carrot Top Pesto:

Some seriously good carrots!!!

They brought me a dessert for my birthday:

We also order the TWIX (caramel, creme fruit, milk chocolate & lava salt):

While this was good, the Pear Soufflé stole the show:

It was definitely exciting when Brian Malarkey came out of the kitchen to pay us a visit.

He also let me ride his unicorn. ;)

Besides the food being absolutely outstanding, the company wasn’t half bad either. ;)

Yesterday (Friday) was my actual 40th birthday. As if the celebrations the night before weren’t enough, my friends took me to breakfast at Veladora at Rancho Valencia.