Happy Friday Everyone!
Hey everyone! Well, January was the month of ICE and BITTER cold temps that hung around for 3 weeks. February has been tough too, my sweet mom had a terrible fall! She broke a rib and fractured her knee, but thankfully can put weight on it. Lots of prayers for her! It is hard, because she’s also my dad’s main caregiver. So, it has just been a challenging month, but it could have been way worse, so I’m trying to look at the positives. I’m going to focus on the positives in this post, so let’s get started!
One – Valentine’s Day
For Valentine’s Day this year, we did something a little different! Grant’s Farm, a mini zoo type place owned by Anheuser-Busch has started to host some fancy dinners for special holidays. For Valentine’s Day, you get a photo with one of the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales, dinner (we selected the Filet and Shrimp option!) and we selected a carriage ride after dinner (hey, why not?!). It was a lot of fun!! The Clydesdale that they had for the photo was just such a handsome boy! If you look close, he has roses and ribbons in his mane. After our photo with him, we got to pet him on his neck. He was very well behaved and such a sweetheart.
The dinner table was decorated with fresh flowers, candles, a red runner, they just thought of all the details! We started with a strawberry salad with a chocolate vinaigrette. The chef came by and even gave me the recipe to the chocolate vinaigrette and I need to make it sometime! It really went well with the strawberries on the salad.
The Carriage Haus that the dinner was in was really nice! They had special lighting and a live acoustic guitar serenade. It made the evening very romantic!
We had tomato bisque soup with crackers and then a New York strip with shrimp, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. The dinner rolls were really good! My belly was very happy after all this food!
Before dessert, they brought out our photo with the Clydesdale and it was in a really nice frame!
Dessert was a delicious Dulce De Leche cake. So yummy!
We finished the night with a carousel ride through part of Grants Farm. What a special night with my sweet hubby!
For Valentine’s Day, Brian gifted me an adorable bouquet from Rudy’s Flower Truck, a card, teddy bear and chocolate covered strawberries from Crown Candy.
Two – Latest Recipes
So, I wanted to try something new with my Friday Five. I want to share 3-4 recipes that I made during the month (new to me or oldies but goodies!). So, we’ll start with this Fancy Avocado Toast first. Ingredients: 1 ripe avocado, 2 slices of your favorite bread (toasted), 1 cup of cherry tomatoes halved, 1/2 cup feta cheese, dried cranberry & walnuts (I get a bag of them, it is usually by the salad dressings), 1-2 tsp lemon juice and fresh herbs like shredded basil or parsley. I’m sure you can figure out how to place all these on the toast. 
It is SO YUMMY! I like a couple scrambled farm eggs on the side and I’ll add a small bowl of berries.
Lentil Soup with some Crusty Bread. I love this for lunch and I make a big bowl and then portion it out for 5 lunches during the week. And, yes… I KNOW my bowl has a crack in it. I need new dishes!!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups vegetable broth, divided
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cups brown lentils, rinsed
4 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Black pepper, to taste
Directions: Saute onions, celery and garlic in 2 tablespoons of vegetable broth. Add cumin, curry powder and thyme. Add diced tomatoes, lentils, water, remaining vegetable broth, salt and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil then partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes (I had to simmer it for over an hour to get the liquid to go down, so don’t make this when you’re in a rush!!). Stir in lemon juice, salt, black pepper. Serve immediately.
Pasta Con Broccoli– I’ve been making this recipe for YEARS. It’s NOT healthy, but so hearty and good!
Three – Gifts from Sweet Friends
My sweet friend Ashley gifted me the most gorgeous phone case this month. I can’t believe she had paid attention to what iPhone I had, my love for white and blue AND bows!!! Thank you SO much, Ashley!!
And Jessica brought me by some farm eggs (they’re so beautiful!) and some Valentine earrings from her shop, Rural Cute Creations. I’m so happy I know Jessica, she has such a kind heart.
Younger on Netflix – I didn’t finish any books this month, but I did watch all 7 seasons of the show Younger on Netflix and finally finished it. Oh, I loved this show! It was created by Darren Star, who also created 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City and Emily in Paris. A 40 year old woman pretends to be 26 in order to land her dream job, but she must keep her true age a secret. It is SO good!!
Five – Latest Finds
I saw this Slate French Vanilla next to the Fairlife protein shakes I love to drink after my long runs and I decided to try it. OH, it is DELICIOUS!! I read online that the chocolate flavor is really good too!
I follow a lot of running Instagram content creators and one of my faves just started making headbands. I LOVE these, because it keeps my hair out of my face and covers my ears during these frigid winter temps! Check out Jess HERE on Instagram!
Autumn just got this highly rated oversized spinning chair from Walmart. Isn’t it cute?!
Autumn got me this adorable initial bubble letter at Michales. I put it in my office! They had them in blue and gold, if you’re looking for a different color. It was so sweet that she thought of me!
Fuel Goods has runners subscription boxes and I received my second box. I loved this one even more than the first box! I love the sipping soup, blueberry dark chocolate, chocolate flavored LMNT packets and more! Such a fun box!
I hope everyone had a good February! Is anyone else sick of all of the frigid temps, ice and snow this winter?! I feel we’ve gotten enough of it all and I’m SO ready for Spring!!
