Celebrations!

Last week was a fun and busy one filled with a lot of celebrating. On Tuesday night, my family and I went out to dinner at the West Village's new Italian restaurant, Frankie's 570.



We had a great meal including roasted vegetables, antipasti, eggplant parmesan, pasta, and their famous meatballs. Of course, we celebrated with some wine and dessert. The restaurant is so charming and the dim lighting in conjunction with the monsoon we were having, made the restaurant even more cozy.

Since my birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, my family and I continued the celebrations the next day by going out to dinner to one of my favorite restaurants, Besito on Long Island. Besito is a gorgeous, candle-lit, authentic Mexican restaurant with the smoothest pomegranate margaritas. We had a fun time enjoying their incredible guacamole that is made tableside, homemade salsa, Enchiladas Suizas, Salmon Manchamantele, Budin de Mariscos, and their incredible fried plantains. Since it was my birthday, they brought out an incredible chocolate dessert complete with a birthday candle and singing.



Since I was the host for Thanksgiving, I spent 6 hours baking on Wednesday and preparing a turkey on Thanksgiving. It might be a lot of work to some people, but I love to cook and bake so it was fun for me. We wound up with a ton of desserts which I tried to send home with people but instead, my husband has been consuming them for the past week. I made my crumb apple pie, cinnamon ice-cream, pumpkin cake pops, and brown sugar cookies with maple icing. My mom made this turkey out of fruit:



How cute is that? She also brought this amazing chocolate cornicopia with bakery cookies and chocolate fruit coming out of it from a local bakery. It is amazing!



My mother-in-law also brought her thin chocolate chip cookies (which I love) and her gooey double chocolate brownies with marshmallows. The desserts were a great end to our meal. We also celebrated my birthday with an ice-cream cake with a turkey on top (of course). How cute!



I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

The Dutch in NYC

One of the benefits of my job is that I get to go out to eat at some of the best restaurants in Manhattan. Chef Andrew Carmellini is an award winning chef that owns two highly praised restaurants in New York City: The Dutch in SoHo and Locanda Verde in TriBeCa.

Today, I had lunch at The Dutch with one of my favorite reps that I unfortunately haven't seen in a long time. So sad... The Dutch is very charming and always packed. It's located in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood and serves American food which is a turn from Carmellini's highly successful Italian spot, Locanda Verde.

We shared the ceviche for an appetizer and it was delicious and fresh. I had never had quinoa before but I've heard so much about it lately because it's so high in protein. I noticed that they had a chicken dish on the menu served with arugula and quinoa with a dill yogurt dressing. I decided to try it and it was delicious! I definitely need to make something like it at home and found this recipe that seems similar. My rep ordered the turkey sandwich and the spaghetti squash. The turkey sandwich looked amazing and the spaghetti squash was cooked well and tasted so rich and buttery.

The restaurant is close to my office so I will definitely have to head back. I also need to try Chef Carmellini's other restaurant, Locanda Verde. I've heard amazing things about their pastas and their famous sheep's milk ricotta.

Fall Dinner Party

Fall is my favorite season. I love the colors, the weather, and of course the food.

This Saturday, I am having a small dinner party at our house. We will be serving seasonal food and drinks along with decorating the house in accordance to the season. We will be serving:



Appetizers:
Crackers with Cheeses such as Manchego, Smoked Cheddar, Comte, Rhinette, and Ossau-Iraty along with some grapes, apples, and pears.
Mixed nuts
Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms - this recipe is amazing. The stuffing mixture also works well as a spread on bread or crackers.

Dinner:
Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Tenderloin
Fall Salad with Pears, Candied Pecans, and Shaved Parmesan
Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing

Dessert:
Caramel Apple Pie
Homemade Cinnamon Ice Cream

I am very excited for this dinner because these are all recipes that I love. I believe that the key to a successful and low-stress dinner party is making recipes that you have made before. Therefore, you know the quirks of the recipe, the flavors, and most importantly, the timing. I love to use ingredients that are in season because they are easy to find and generally less expensive. Any of these recipes would also work well for Thanksgiving.



In addition to wine, we will also be serving Apple Cider Punch as a festive seasonal drink. I was inspired from this Fall Engagement Party. For the table, I will have a hurricane vase with a large candle in the center with acorns as filler surrounded by mini pumpkins and goards similar to this:



I will also fill vases around the home with seasonal sunflowers and place sunflower themed menus on each plate. You can download the template for your party here.



Check out my pinterest board for more Fall inspired ideas. Enjoy the sesason!

Pinching Pennies

My husband and I recently created a pretty detailed household budget. We are both very good at keeping track of our spending but we have a few things that we want to accomplish next year such as renovating our upstairs bathroom and hopefully redoing our kitchen in a few years.

In addition to using my excel spreadsheet to keep our finances in check, I also got hooked on the website, Mint.com. It helps you keep track of your spending, your mortgage payments, student loans, and credit card bills. The site also suggests ways you can save money like choosing a credit card with better rewards or how to get a better rate on a loan. Mint.com also let's you know where your money is going by categorizing and charting your spending. That way, you can see where your money goes each month. It can also help you create budgets and they send you alerts when you're over budget!

We built a budget and I'm trying to stick to it because I want a new pretty bathroom! What are you saving for?

Budget Template

I am obsessed with using Excel to keep track of everything. The Excel document I used when I was planning my wedding was insane. It had a tab for the guestlist with addresses, if they RSVPed, and what gift they gave. Other tabs included a to-do-list, a budget, payment schedule, and a contact sheet. It looked overwhelming but I've passed it off to other brides who found it very useful.

I have always used an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my finances as well. I have one tab that resembles what you would use to balance your checkbook. I enter in what money comes in and goes out and it automatically calculates my checking account balance. The second tab keeps track of our household bills. It is broken out by month and lists how much my husband owes me at the end of each month. Let me clarify... I pay the bills every month and at the end of the month, my husband transfers over his half of the household bills to "pay me back".

I pay for EVERYTHING with my American Express Gold Card. I don't let the bill get out of hand because I pay whatever the current balance is every 2 weeks when I get paid. I use it like a debit card because I accrue points for every dollar I spend and I want to get rewards for buying things. I earn double points on groceries and gas and triple points on travel. The third tab keeps track of what my American Express bill is every month and my points balance that appears on my bill each month. The fourth tab keeps track of the balance of my 401k and savings account for the first of every month. That way, I can see if they are going up or down and by how much.

I find this document very helpful because it helps me keep track of my spending and plan ahead. If you would like a copy of this document, download the template.
*I used bogus numbers to demonstrate how it works.

I hope it works for you like it has worked for me.

Three Bean Turkey Chili

I absolutely love chili, yet I've never made it. On Sunday, my husband was out of the house for the day so I decided to attempt to make chili. After looking through numerous recipes online, I decided to incorporate some of my favorite elements of chili and came up with this version.

It's easy to make, healthy, filling, and the cinnamon gives it a unique flavor. I will definitely be making this again and again this winter. If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.

Three Bean Turkey Chili
Makes 6 servings. Each serving is 1 1/2 cups.
Weight Watchers Value: 10 Points Plus

20 oz. Lean Ground Turkey (I used Shadybrook Farms)
1 small onion, chopped
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 20 oz can of tomato sauce
1 4.5 oz can chopped chilies
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 15.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15.5 oz can small red beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp cinnamon

Brown turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.

Drain any fat remaining and transfer to a dutch oven or stock pot. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans, chilies, chickpeas, chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.

Cover and simmer on low for an hour. Stir occasionally.