cinnamon pancakes.

saturday mornings in our house typically mean pancakes. today, i decided to try something new. after seeing numerous pancake variations on pinterest within the last few weeks, i gave in to temptation and made a bit of a mess of our kitchen in the process. 

here's what you'll need:

dry ingredients:

one and one half cups of flour

three tablespoons of sugar

half a teaspoon of salt

four teaspoons of baking powder

one tablespoon cinnamon

combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. mix the ingredients together with a whisk.

wet ingredients:

two eggs (room temperature and beaten)

one cup of milk

two tablespoons of syrup

one fourth cup of butter (melted and slightly cooled)

one tablespoon of vanilla

add all wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together until well combined.

heat griddle or large skillet to medium heat. we used our griddle set to 350 degrees and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray before cooking the pancakes.

brown pancakes -- approximately three minutes on each side.

we topped our cinnamon pancakes with a powdered sugar frosting, like what you'd put on cinnamon rolls, but shane said he might have preferred regular syrup.

one cup powdered sugar

two tablespoons melted butter

two tablespoons milk

stir until smooth and then drizzle lightly over pancakes. a little seemed to go a long way.

these pancakes may not become our typical saturday morning fare, but they were a nice treat. and, they were devoured fast enough that i was unable to get a picture of the final product. that's always a good sign.  

28.

this past weekend, my hubby and i spent a few days in tulsa celebrating my 28th birthday. we stayed at the amazing aloft -- the same hotel my girlfriends and i stayed at the night before my wedding.

saturday we spent some time poolside and did some shopping. we had dinner at bonefish grill and finished the night with a movie.

sunday morning, shane gave me my present, a kate spade "i do" necklace. it's pretty and dainty, and i love it to the moon and back.

we had birthday doughnuts (as is tradition) at krispy kreme, where the birthday girl made her favorite boy wear the silly hat for a picture.

after doughnuts, we contemplated the tulsa zoo but decided against it because of the heat. instead, we saw another movie and then met up with my family at dave and buster's for lunch and games. there are zero pictures of the family festivities because everyone was too busy winning tickets to stop for a photo. 

it was a great weekend and honestly one of my very favorite birthdays. 

28, be good to me.

garlic shrimp and linguine.

i'm blogging frequently for two reasons: 1. i go back to school soon and know blogging will probably slow way down. 2. i want to have several posts on our blog before we start sharing it.

while yesterday's lunch was takeout bbq, today's lunch was a summery homemade treat: garlic shrimp and linguine. delish!

i prepared the shrimp by covering it in chopped garlic and parmesan. (i found a jar of chopped garlic at the store a few months ago. i keep it in our refrigerator and use it in practically every recipe. saves so much time.) i refrigerated the shrimp while boiling the pasta for five minutes in heavily salted water.

while the pasta was boiling, i chopped eight to ten stems of parsley, minus the stems, of course.

after five minutes, i removed the pasta from the stovetop. i drained the pasta (i used angel hair but called it linguine because it just sounds better -- and, the strainer just happens to say "linguine." how cute is our strainer, by the way?) i rinsed the pasta with cold water in order to keep it from overcooking. residual heat is a tricky little devil. oh, oh! i almost forgot -- keep half a cup of the pasta water. you'll use it in the next step.

simmer four tablespoons of olive oil and a good deal of chopped garlic. after a few minutes, add the half cup of pasta water and the parsley. simmer a few minutes longer and then add the pasta. stir until pasta is coated and then add shrimp. stir again and let simmer for at least ten minutes.

the final picture is a bit dark, but i was too hungry to take another photo.

lunch was so good, and i'm excited to gobble up the leftovers tonight! shane isn't a big shrimp eater, but he complimented the flavor and even ate a few pieces of shrimp along with his hefty portion of pasta.

if you decide to give the recipe a try, let me know how it goes. happy eating!

barbecue -- hold the sauce.

word to the wise: spell check corrected my title, thus insinuating that "barbeque" is not the correct spelling but instead "barbecue" is how one would correctly spell the word of the day. i must say, i'm not convinced; therefore, i will be, from here out, referring to it as bbq (weird... is that a "q" i see? -- surprised it's not abbreviated bbcue).  ;)

yesterday my love brought home a delicious bbq sandwich for our quick lunch together. we're savoring our lunch dates while we still can. school starts back up soon enough, and i'll no longer be home for lunch.

what's so great about this particular bbq is that it's from the very place that catered our wedding. we didn't have bbq sandwiches on our big day, but we did have bbq and it was from the very bbq place that prepared our lunch today. just knowing that made our lunch a bit sweeter.

pictured is my pulled pork sandwich. i eat mine without the added sauce which means shane gets double the sauce and we're both happy. don't overlook the delicious fries. so good!

a freaky frosting fanatic.

yesterday, due to a mild ice storm, i was exempt from school. i spent the day with my sisters who spent the day with johnny depp... well, basically.

as they passed the time watching secret window and pirates of the caribbean, i rummaged through cookbooks. by the end of the day i had not only prepared lunch for the girls and dinner for the entire family but i had perfected two pie recipes as well -- lemon meringue and blueberry.

after dinner, while savoring every bite of blue goodness, i thought of my friend bethany who surprisingly hates pie. on very few things do the two of us disagree, but when it comes to dessert, bethany is a cake girl all the way. and, if given the choice, bethany would probably forego cake altogether and simply eat the frosting.

growing up i detested frosting. i would actually scrape it off of a slice of cake. and, when birthdays came i would most often be presented with a large birthday cookie rather than a cake. bethany on the other hand will eat frosting straight from the container. in fact, practically every box sent to her while she teaches in korea is made complete with at least one container of frosting.

i remember the first time i witnessed her frosting escapades. while visiting her house i came upon this friend of mine eating frosting straight from the cute container with the blue lid. then, to make it worse, she nonchalantly replaced said lid and put the frosting back in the cabinet. the nerve!

on another occasion, early in our friendship, i remember sharing thanksgiving dinner with bethany and her family. when dinner ended and pie began i remember vividly my astonishment when i witnessed bethany go for another helping of mashed potatoes in lieu of pie. isn't that somewhat un-American?!?

still, our friendship somehow continues, and i'm comforted knowing that we each have our own derogatory phrases for the other. if ever you come across an argument between bethany and myself, it may conclude in a way very similar to the following:

bethany: "shut your pie hole."

rene: "no. you shut your cake hole."

fighting ends with giddy laughter followed by each girl partaking in the dessert of their choice.