What's cooking

So even though I went on a mini blogging break I was still cooking!

While searching for gifts at TJ Maxx with James one weekend I found something amazing! An ice pop mold!

Source

I was so excited and at $6.99 for a kitchen item that I wanted- so was James! After getting on the Cooking Light website we decided to make these - Chocolate Pudding Pops. A bit labor intensive but perfect for a Sunday night - they tasted amazing and were pretty light for a dessert!

Pudding pops and Harry Potter!

James and I had gone to our friends house for dinner a few weeks ago and I was just blown away. Cam, our wonderful hostess (who has a baby but you would never know because she is a skinny mini) had gone over the top with the meal. White sangria (that she made), homemade dips (that she made) and delicious sides to go with our grilled meats (chicken for the ladies and steaks for the guys!). We had a great salad - complete with candied walnuts (that she made) that were amazing- she made twice baked sweet potatoes that were out of this world - she had piped the sweet potatoes into the jackets, presentation looked like a restaurant and our final (and my favorite side!) was the prosciutto and pastry wrapped asparagus. 
The meal was amazing but what was even better was the company and the fun we all had just chatting and also holding sweet baby Thomas. Of course we over stayed our welcome and were there forever but we just did not want to leave! No pictures of the food but I will leave you with a great picture of James and I with baby Thomas - who was such a good baby now James and I want one! maybejustalittlebitalot

James and I with baby Thomas!
side note- James' step mom made my bracelet! Its a necklace that I wear
double wrapped on my wrists! I am obsessed with it!!

Anyways, the reason for that long story, besides to talk about what amazing hosts Cam and Tommy were, was to say that after dinner at their house I decided I needed to step up my game in the kitchen. If Cam can do it and she has a baby and a whole other being to take care of, I can do it as well!

 We got into the car leaving Cam's house and James said he would love to have the asparagus like Cam made it. So I waited for it to go on sale at Publix and this week it did! While I know do most of our produce and meat shopping at Aldi, if there is something not available at Aldi, I will hit up our awesome Publix.

Bacon wrapped filet, baked potato & prosciutto wrapped asparagus

So dinners have been a lot of grilling but also a lot of good sides! Purple roasted potatoes, garlic roasted broccoli, and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.  Not really using recipes but we are greatly enjoying cooking outside! It beats having the oven and stove top on when it is 101 degrees out!

Asian lettuce cups! YUM

Roasted blue potatoes, garlic roasted broccoli and filet!

We have been eating our usual Skinny Taste and Cooking Light rotations but of course we have to add in new things! I saw this Sausage Stuffed Zucchini pop up on Gina's blog and I KNEW James would love it! Thankfully, I was right! I switched our sausage for ground turkey since I had that at home and we enjoyed using our large farmer market zucchinis! It was perfect for a lighter summer meal (calorie wise- two boats were so filling!).

Turkey stuffed zucchini boats and grilled potatoes- amazing zuch. recipe! 

What great things have you been whipping up in the kitchen?!