Thursday, June 11, 2015

Favorite Recipes - Caprese Grits

Last weekend, T was playing in a golf tournament on Sunday morning and I was at home for the day with little on my agenda and I really wanted some yummy brunch food. 

We had eggs, grits and basil/tomatoes from the farmer's market so I decided to head to the fancy grocery store up the street and got some bacon and mozzarella and made a more than delicious meal. 

I baked the bacon in the oven (the best way, in my opinion), fried my eggs over medium with salt and pepper and made the most delicious caprese grits...


Caprese Grits
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
1.5 cups water (or chicken broth)
.5 cup quality grits (such as Bob's Mill)
Pinch of salt
1 small tomato, chopped
10 basil leaves, chopped
.25 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped
Pepper/Salt/Garlic powder
Balsamic Glaze (from TJ's) 
Olive oil

Instructions:
Bring water/broth to a boil with a pinch of salt. Once boiling, add grits and reduce heat to low. Stir occasionally until thick, about 6 minutes. 

While the grits are cooking, mix tomato, basil, mozzarella in small bowl with balsamic and olive oil, sit aside.

Once the grits have the right "grit" consistency, add small amount of salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and stir. 

Add tomatoes, basil and mozzarella (leave a small amount for garnish), stir and let sit for 3 minutes. 

Garnish with a drizzle of balsamic and basil and the caprese left from above. 

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Life Lately

Hi There!

I can't believe it's already June and been over six months since I've written anything in this little space!

Life lately has been a little hectic... Although I hate to describe things as "busy" but work really has been really taking a big chunk of our time lately. We are both excelling in our careers and feel like now is the time to focus on getting ahead in that aspects of our life before priorities shift.

Let's take a look at where we've been and what we've been up to in 2015.

In January, I took a half day off of work to head to Raleigh to celebrate my sorority's 10th year at our university. It was so fun to meet up with friends I rarely get to see and spend some quality time together!


In February, we headed to the beach to visit my sister and unfortunately, I got really sick on the way home... so let's move right along...

In March, we picked up our pace with working out and started going to the gym consistently in the mornings and spent a lot of time with our Muggsy man.


Spring also started to show itself in uptown Charlotte...



In April, we headed to one of my childhood favorite places... Litchfield Beach! The weather wasn't great but the company and time away from work was unbeatable. (Sidenote: this was also the first time we left Muggsy at home with a local kennel and thankfully, we all made it through with minimal tears!)



In May, we celebrated our moms birthdays and hosted T's family for a weekend in Charlotte and a golf tournament.

We also debuted Muggsy's new patriotic bow tie for Memorial day... I'd say, he looks pretty cool in it!



Thus far, June has been filled with weekends around Charlotte, preparing for our upcoming trip to Europe and T enjoying some rounds of golf with his friends. We've also been trying to keep the pup active and have found he loves going to the dog park and dog bar. 


I've also enjoyed a few girls nights, including a great night with these perfectly sized prosecco bottles for our gals! 


The first half of the year has been exhausting... T & I combined have taken two vacation days total... needless to say, we are super excited for our upcoming trip and the rest of the year (and many more vacations to come!)