my go to menu

here are some super easy/safe bet/guarenteed good faves of mine that are part of my go to menu when i have guests! if you've ever been over and havent had salmon at the house you need to come back...it is one of my many go to recipes that is a safe bet and by far amazing probably because it came from one of the most amazing moms i know!


kath girl's salmon
salmon
marinate salmon in lemon pepper seasoning, lime juice, and olive oil for as long as you'd like (a few hours is plenty)...preheat oven to 350 and put the salmon on a foil lined cookie sheet skin side down--youll thank me later for this because clean up is a million times easier! put a little square of butter on the top and squeeze a little bit of lime juice on it and bake until it bubbles white in the middle of the salmon--remove from oven and cover it with the sauce (below)


the sauce (best part)
get a small container of light sour cream, a few spoon fulls of diced jalapenos, a tsp of salt, a tsp of pepper, and 3 tbsp of lime juice and mix that together...it gets spicier the longer that you let it sit but even people like kate who think mild salsa is spicy can eat it immediately prepared.


i'm not sure that i've ever spent time with my in laws when come on in salad has not been on the menu--it is one of those classic good foods that you think you could [and often do] eat and then continue to pick at even after you're full...


come on in salad
romaine lettuce
broccoli florets (cut up really small--no stems)
toasted ramen noodles (scrunch up just the noodles--no flavor packet--and then brown in a skillet with a little butter)
handful of walnuts


the dressing (dress the salad at the very last second so it doesn't get soggy & don't you dare use all of this dressing on one bowl of salad!)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce


this cheater chocolate chocolate chip pound cake [my husbands weakness] is amazing...it's actually one of pig's mother's recipes but i have made it a staple at our house--sadly i don't even need to look in the cook book for this or any of the recipes on this page any longer.  last night i made it though with peanut butter chips and it was yummy too!


chocolate chip pound cake
the cake
1 box vanilla cake mix
1 big box (or 2 little boxes) instant chocolate pudding
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups water
6 oz chocolate chips...however i use the whole darn bag!--sub or add in other chips if you want to change it up.


dump everything but the chips in the kitchen aid mixer...blend that up till it looks like cake batter and then with a spatula fold in the chocolate chips.


bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes...the key is though to check it at about 40 minutes by sliding a knife in the middle to see how goopy it is...45 minutes is the longest ive cooked it in a convection oven and in a conventional oven 50 is the longest--should be gooey when you get it out but not too raw...


optional glaze/drizzle
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp butter
milk...just add a tbsp at a time until it gets to the consistency that you want it to be...varies every time i make it
*if you want it to be chocolate add some cocoa powder to the mix!


bon appetit to some guaranteed good foods! 

happily ever afters

cheers to happily ever afters! lindsey and adam came over last night to celebrate their big weekend last weekend...birthdays and engagement! i decided to whip out the china and silver after all...linen napkins and placemats...we have it and might as well use it! i'm sure i'll be kicking myself later when its time to iron them again but it will be well worth it! love having people over too who aren't here every day because its a great excuse to have a clean house!

on the menu last night...
come on in salad
kath girl's baked salmon
joes new favorite cous cous balls
broccoli
chocolate peanut butter chip pound cake

working to type up the recipes and share...

productive thursdays

so today was my first official day driving the new car to work...while simultaneously having the gps and bluetooth going i will say it was a success--only problem now is that i have to stop at the toll booth with quarters versus my cruise card until i get a new license plate! what a drag...

tonight i am headed over to visit with some of my favorite children elizabeth & hill...actually just elizabeth since hill gets to go to toy story on ice...joe has noted that he wants to go as well.  too bad work/studying keeps him from phillips arena.

looking forward to an amazing weekend of no traveling...this is unbelievable that we actually have nowhere to go! tomorrow night [the newly engaged] lindsey & miller are coming over for dinner at the house to celebrate with us and catch up! how adult...thinking it's a silver sunday kind of day and am likely to bust out the fancy stuff since its only every so often that you get to do it anyways. 

sunday will be the best[ie] day of the weekend i do believe though because i get to have lunch with lindsay who will be flying in town for the weekend! aside from being her birthday friday [happy bday linds] we get a lunch date on sunday and she even gets the first bestie ride in the new car when i take her back to the airport!

so many nice fun things to look forward to and carrie just called and greer is coming over tomorrow at 8am now too! we are getting into shape like whoa!

farewell tb

to the dear car that has [until lately] safely carried me around town, to countless girls weekends, weddings...thank you! the davis family is now a proud owner of a new honda! we have a fuel efficient car that is going to be our safe and reliable travel in addition to the tahoe! after five hours at the car dealership after work today...it's midnight and now officially bed time!  night night tb--sleep well at your new home.

here comes the brides!

so many fun things are happening this week...first of all i got our wedding photos back today (as in all of them in my hands!)...jessica did an amazing job and i cannot wait to get to look at them all the time!

on top of that, so many of my best friends are engaged & getting married which has been so exciting for me! i cannot wait to be in my first wedding other than my own (pig & kent) on dec 4th! i hope i'm being a good bridesmaid & really think it helps since i've been through the other side & know what joe and i appreciated. on top of that im so excited to be helping my older sister monica plan some of her wedding as well as planning an engagement party, couples shower, and bachelorette weekend! 11 weddings already on our calendar for 2011 and its not even november! we are busy bees!

time to focus on glee! this month's neighborhood women's club fashion show (aka wine with women on my street) took up my 8pm time slot tonight! life as a [busy, married, planning, traveling, full time working] 20 something is better than i could have ever imagined!

10.10 luxur

so yesterday was october 10th 2010 which makes it the ultimate 10.10 date as pointed out by kate. the weird special 5 obsession/australian reminiscing with 10.10.luxur never seems to fade! i seem to always think of peter doing it the little arm movements in the suzuki which is probably while i'm still humored by it.

mondays previously were my boring nights where joe gets home from work/2 mba classes pretty late and all i've done since work is vacuum, clean house, and watched a few ncis reruns. however starting in october i've made a vow to volunteer getting my behind kicked into shape!

greer (& rachel/carrie) come over on mondays and we really go to town! yoga mat and 30 minutes is all i need to be too worn out to move for the rest of the week! 30 minute walk/jog around our neighborhood gets me warmed up in time for greer to be at the house...lumber jacks, mountain climbers, tag, ab workouts, and more...its exhausting just typing but i am so thankful as we are wrapping up our class that i completed another monday with greer!

monday dinners consist of special k red berries which is hardly exciting yet fills me up nonetheless. but today i am sneaking joe's leftovers he forgot for lunch from colonnade while he takes his test tonight which hopefully the studying paid off!

time to enjoy my "me time" and do things im not supposed to do (when anyone is watching at least) like drink wine in bed...and i guess i can do a little bit more work before calling it a night...ttfn

happy silver sunday

a new [ali & joe] davis family tradition is silver sunday...at our house we pull out all the stops on sunday which is one of the few times that we actually sit down and eat the same meal at the same time during the week...sir christopher joins us at the dinner table as we give our thanks for the great week (knock on wood) that we are about to have & lately, safe travels for everyone else who is included with us in the moving way too fast category hopping from engagement party to wedding to football game every weekend.


today for lunch we dined at the colonnade, an atlanta fave, with joe's parents as they stopped in town...its always a treat to see them and visit with them on their way to/from montgomery & highlands.


tonight i had to rock-paper-scissor for what we would be having for dinner and i decided to keep it somewhat simple & light making my best attempt to copy something i never in a million years thought i would like from souper jenny (another local atlanta fave) that i had for rachel's birthday dinner.  plus we haven't used our silver soup spoons yet so it seemed like a good choice!


i think what caught my eye was that this recipe from googling a while included 1) tomatoes which is something i would probably trade for eating dirt yet actually enjoyed in this soup 2) hominy which is something i had never eaten but i think i ate it because i had no idea what it was 3)it has an onion in, which joe detests as much as i do tomatoes, but i didn't tell him and he didn't seem to notice 


Tortilla Soup

• 1 chopped onion
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1-28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1-10.5 oz can condensed chicken broth (low soduim/fat free)
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked
• 1 cup white hominy (found in the corn aisle at the groc--bush's makes it)
• 1-4 oz can chopped green chile peppers
• 1-15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained (they make a low sodium option which was just fine)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (i used 1/8 cup parsley instead)
• 2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded 

1) heat oil in a stock pot and saute onion and garlic until onion is soft. 2) add in chili powder, oregano, tomatoes, broth, water and boil.  3) let simmer 5-10 minutes 4) add in corn, hominy, chiles, beans, cilantro, & chicken 5) simmer for 10 more minutes

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if you know me you know i have a hearty dollop of daisy on top and a pretty decent handful of 2% sharp cheddar on this which only adds im sure to why i liked it so much at souper jenny. plus my go to glass of pinot grigio was the icing on the cake!

though this version might not have been as perfect as souper jenny--it was pretty good! i think a lot of what makes eating out good is that someone cleans up after me and i'm not the one washing my stock pot!

time to enjoy all sunday night has to offer starting off with desperate housewives/brothers & sisters with my mini vanilla ice cream sandwich!

welcome back

so i'm disappointed that it took this long to finally get another post in but after buying a new house, getting married, and attending 8 other weddings since my last post, i don't think i'll give myself a hard time.

between a personal trainer night, junior league, discipleship class as well as joe working super late and getting his mba--things are still quite busy but i'm recommitting to doing my best in posting my updates!

this week is just as busy as the last 40 weeks this year so far and we are both sick of deli meat for lunches!  below is one of my newest (since july) faves for an easy and not too bad for you lunch/summer time dinner...you may have seen it before as many people have a rendition of it...i call it by the wonderful woman who introduced it to me--

Pam Cakes Chicken Slaw
what you need & what i use (and what they tell me to in parenthesis)
the slaw:
package of uncooked chicken flavored ramen noodles
rotisserie chicken
2 green onions
1 package cabbage slaw
1/2 cup silvered almonds
2 tbsp sesame seeds


the dressing: 
1/2 tsp salt (they say: 1 tsp salt but there is a lot of salt in the ramen package below)
1 tsp ground black pepper
the packet that comes in the chicken ramen package
3 tbsp white vinegar
1-1/2 tbsp white sugar (2 tbsp white sugar)

what to do:
1. mix all the dressing ingredients together and put aside for later  2. get a pretty good size bowl out and take a fork and get as much white meat as you can off of the rotisserie chicken.  3. dump in the slaw  4. in the baggie still, crunch up the ramen noodles to little pieces and sprinkle on top of the slaw  5. use some kitchen sheers and finely cut cleaned green onions 6. toast the almonds in a pan on the stove and when they are almost toasted, add in the sesame seeds (not too early or they'll burn!) 7. toss the almonds/sesame seeds in with the slaw.  8. pour on the dressing and refrigerate for at least 2 hours--the longer you can leave it the better. 9. serve cold

so a double recipe of this is lunch for this week for our family which we will surely enjoy!