wedding wednesday

the day before my birthday, randy and i had our food tasting with the caterer for our wedding reception. and i will be honest - food tasting is my favorite part of wedding planning so far!

the caterer we booked is dj's california catering. they service ventura, los angeles, and santa barbara counties and, in addition to weddings, can cater pretty much any event that requires food/beverages. when we decided to book our venue, i was immediately scouring yelp, google, and the knot for local caterers. for randy and i, food was something that was on our non-negotiable list. dj's was a recommended vendor from camarillo, but also has ridiculously great yelp reviews, so i immediately asked for a quote.

i sent an email to doug, who is the owner of dj's. doug is super helpful and very quick in responding to emails, which is a quality i find invaluable in a person! we paid the deposit and then anxiously waited until a more appropriate time to have our tasting.

what you see here: mashed potatoes, pasta, tri-tip, chicken, and vegetables (i had already eaten most of the vegetables by the time i took the photo)

the tastings are held in their kitchen, which is basically a big warehouse building. there's a separate section where there are tables set up, so it looks kind of like a mini-restaurant (there's a photo of our table at the end of this post). i have to admit, it's a little bit awkward - imagine being in a restaurant by yourself. luckily, they gave us space to try the food, so it's not like they were watching us eat. everything we had was delicious! we started with a garden salad and some fresh rolls. then we got to try all of our entree selections (pictured above). we are still torn about the beef option, but everything else was spot on!

chicken stuffed with tomato, basil, mozarella, and avocado in a roma pink sauce

tagliatelle pasta with fresh tomato, parmesan, and basil

not only was the food good, but i'm totally excited about the service we will be getting at our reception. for our wedding, dj's is setting up the chairs for the ceremony (and then moving them in for the reception), setting up tables with linens, configuring the layout of our reception space, setting up cocktail hour + snacks, setting up a water station for the ceremony.. i was so much more at ease after i found out everything they would be doing at the wedding. i have to admit, the biggest thing i've learned throughout my wedding planning experience is that people are here to help you. i'm pretty independent and usually a "to get it done right you have to do it yourself" type of person, so asking for help isn't one of my strongest qualities. but between the caterer, our day-of coordinator, the florist, and my parents, i feel so much more comfortable that our wedding will turn out exactly as i imagine it will. when i started the planning, i just imagined myself with my wedding dress hiked up setting up centerpieces!

 

so what's left for us before the wedding? so many little things! my stepmom and maid of honor threw a very beautiful bridal shower for me (which i'll be posting about soon), and randy's bachelor and my bachelorette parties are coming up in early-february. after that it's venue walk-throughs with the coordinator, confirming the vendors, finishing the favors and escort cards, getting my dress altered, making sure everything is in order.. the list seems endless! but i honestly can't wait for our wedding day to get here already!

 

 

turkey sausage + bell peppers

holy moly, have i found the dinner jackpot!!!

i have to disclose: i had dinner at carmella's house one night, and she made something very similar, so i kind of stole this from her :)

similar to other things i like to cook, this dish is super duper easy!

chop all of your ingredients
(i used sweet italian turkey sausage, bell peppers, tomato, and zucchini *i forgot onion here, but definitely add it!)
i cut the sausage so that it would cook faster, but you can leave them whole if that suits you
pour a touch of olive oil into a pan; add ingredients and cook over a low/medium flame
cooking time will depend on how much food you are preparing. to speed cooking, cover the pan and stir frequently

i have to mention that i was so scared about adding tomatoes because i thought they were going to burn in the pan, and burned tomatoes doesn't sound like the most awesome thing in the world. luckily, they didn't burn :) they did fall apart a bit, but they flavored the sausage really nicely.

while your meal is cooking, you can prepare your side. in this instance, we thought rice pilaf would go nicely (which it did). this was boxed, so i just followed the cooking directions.

a few other ideas: you could make 'sandwiches' with the sausage mixture and pair with a nice salad; or you could finely chop the ingredients and put it on top of whole wheat pasta. the other night i paired it with some crinkle-cut sweet potatoe fries that i roasted in the oven, and it was a very fall-feeling dinner.

however you decide to serve it, i guarantee it will be a big hit! randy finished his plate in just about 4 seconds!

add some olive oil to the pan so that your food doesn't stick and burn

yes, this is a santa plate

 

 

alaina + randy's egg bake

i've found a great breakfast that packs nutrients, and is also easy for those hectic mornings when you're trying not to be 15 minutes late to work.. again!

let's call this one.. alaina + randy's egg bake :)

*i've also seen this type of thing done using a cupcake pan. here, i use a bread pan.

for the pan i use, i find 9 eggs works best
crack and pour eggs into a mixing bowl. scramble the eggs
add in vegetables of your choice (my faves are tomato, zucchini, and a bit of onion)
pour contents into your pan. i "stir" once it's in the pan to make sure the vegetables are evenly distributed
top with a light layer of cheese
bake @ 350 degrees; i've never timed it, but i like to tip the pan to one side, and if the contents are pretty sturdy and no raw egg leaks out, i know it's done

if i'm making this at night time, i let the dish cool for about 10 to 15 minutes. then, i cut 6 slices and put 3 slices into 2 tupperware containers. this will be randy's and my breakfast for 3 days. each morning we take a slice out and pop it in the microwave.

 

 

 

 

wedding wednesday

randy and i are not having a candy buffet at our wedding, but i could look at pictures of them all. day. long.

first of all, smitten on paper has the cutest little favor bags! they can be customized to say whatever, so you could also get some for a bridal shower or baby shower.

now for the bread + butter:



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easiest chicken dinner in ze world!

randy and i have been participating in a weight-loss challenge with some of our friends, so i've been trying really hard to cook healthier meals at home (or cook at all, for that matter..)

one thing i've found that is super easy and tastes delicious is this chicken and veggie thing (there is no official name yet). i do have to admit, i stole the general idea from pinterest, but changed some things around a bit..

it's so super easy i feel silly writing directions, but basically you:

put raw chicken into a baking dish
add vegetables of your choice
pour just a touch of melted butter over all contents (i've forgotten this step and it's still delicious)
*this was my contribution* add a can of diced tomatoes over the top
cover with foil and bake @ 350 degrees for about 1 hour (or until all ingredients are cooked)
and you've got dinner!

i usually always add potatoes; you can also add other vegetables like zucchini (3rd image) or carrots, etc.

 

i didn't realize, but the can of diced tomatoes i had also has green chiles in it. this gave it more of a salsa-y taste.

 

how easy is this, seriously? and when you plate it, it looks like you spent more time on the meal than you actually did. the reason i didn't used to cook as much is because i didn't think i was creative with food; this dish makes me feel like i've got a little more going on in the kitchen than i thought!

 

happy cooking!

 

 

wedding wednesday

randy and i went cake tasting this past weekend, and it was so much fun!

first, we went to LivLee Bakery in thousand oaks, ca. it's a cute little bakery that's located in a shopping center that actually turned out to be quite nice. there we got to try vanilla, chocolate, champagne, and red velvet cakes along with different fillings and icings to mix and match. both randy and i looooved the champagne cake, and with a fresh strawberry filling it was to die for! we both quickly realized how kick ass cake tasting is.

after our appointment in thousand oaks, we jetted over to ventura to meet with jana of Jana's Creative Cakes. two words: holy. moly.

jana's cake was absolutely to die for! we tried vanilla, lemon, red velvet, and chocolate, and again were given an array of different fillings to try with each flavor. jana makes her cakes with more of a pound cake consistency, so they were plump and moist and dense. we knew after the first taste that this was it - this lady needs to make our wedding cake!

this is the craziest part - i am a total vanilla cake person; i could eat vanilla cake all day long if it wouldn't result in heinous weight gain. but, the two flavors that blew me away were the red velvet (her cream cheese filling was so sugary and delicious and went so well with the actual cake) and the chocolate, believe it or not! never in a million years would i have thought my wedding cake would be red velvet and chocolate. we picked a fresh raspberry filling to go along with the chocolate, and the whole cake will be covered in a white vanilla frosting.

after our appointments were finished, randy and i went to camarillo to hang out for a bit and grab lunch. we found this awesome bar/cantina called el rey, and were so blown away by their food! i had a farmer's market burrito, and all the ingredients inside were purchased from local farmers markets (hence the name). it had veggies inside that i didn't even know what they were, but it was so fresh and delicious. randy got a standard burrito with guacamole, beans, cheese, rice, asada, yadda yadda, and even his was sooo good! the guacamole was incredibly fresh and tasted like they just went out to the back and picked the avocados right off of the tree. the best part is that is was cheap - about $20 for the both of us. the vibe was also completely awesome, sort of a mexicali yet modern aesthetic. totally kick ass.

here are some goofy pictures of randy and i being tourists in old town camarillo. even though saturday was a pretty long day with our appointments and running around, it was so much fun to actually spend time near where we're getting married. i can't believe our wedding is only 5 and a half months away! and now the thing i'm looking the most forward to is eating our damn delicious cake!

by the way, look at how HUGE our godson is! he is only 3 months old! gigantic baby boo!

wedding wednesday

next month i get to schedule cake tastings <3

i loooove cake. randy is more a of a pie person, but he's just going to have to suck it up!

here are some cakes i love from my pinterest board:

this one i absolutely die for! the flowers are so perfect contrasted with the simplicity of the white cake. loveloveLOVE!

the pearl beading on this cake is too me, it's unbelievable.

sensing a pattern? randy and i both love florals on the cake!

i like the slight texture on the cake itself. and again, flowers, i die!

ruffles are super fun. would it be too much to have a ruffly cake with flowers?!

ps. in my research for bakeries, i have found yelp to be faaaar more helpful than the knot. granted, our wedding is in Camarillo, which is too far from LA and Santa Barbara as far as cakes go, but still what about Oxnard, Ventura, Agoura Hills.. yelp was just way better, and i like that they feature reviews from patrons who have used them for things other than wedding cakes. i feel like sometimes vendors will kiss a bride's behind because they make more money, but how they treat a customers day-to-day truly shows their customer service values.

this totally happens to me!

cakes that come in a cup

soooo yesterday was our friend, bryon's, birthday, and today is my friend carmella's birthday (she just got married, remember?!) and i baked some cupcakes in honor of all the birthday celebrations!

no, i did not use that jack daniels in the cupcakes, lol!

naked cakes

icing time!

baking is tiring work

my favorite kitchen assistant

yum!