First Grill + Caesar Recipe!

I cannot figure out this Seattle weather for the life of me. This weekend just started out awful, with yesterday reminding me of wintery afternoons. To wake up this morning, with sun shining through our bedroom windows, I was thrilled to say the least. We spent all day doing yard work with a quick break wine tasting at Ste. Michelle (gotta love those member perks of free wine tasting!) My mom had so kindly bought us a BBQ, and it was delivered early today which made us extra happy, and we quickly started to brainstorm what sounded good for dinner. We came up with an summery menu full of awesome: Grilled Sockeye salmon with herb compound butter, roasted rosemary yukon gold potatoes, and grilled romaine with house made caesar dressing!

Our new grill, Kirk is so in love

If you don't know already, I am truly, madly, deeply in love with cooking and summer is full of amazing inspirations with fresh herbs, lovely produce...and cooking on the grill and dining on the patio with a glass of rose doesn't hurt either.

Sockeye on the grill with the compound butter- I will post recipes for this soon! Compound butter... is amazing

I chopped up some fresh rosemary from our herb garden for these babies, and cooked them extra long, crispy potatoes are SO good

My home made caesar dressing

The caesar dressing was so delicious, we used it with our potatoes and salmon too! The recipe is below, enjoy :)

House made caesar!

4 Cloves of fresh garlic (minced)

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of quality olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Lemon zest and juice of 1 large lemon

2 Tablespoons of mayo (This is optional, I used the olive oil low fat mayo, it gives the dressing a creamy vibe, if that's not what you are going for, just omit it)

1. Combine the yolks. salt & pepper, and minced garlic in blender till combined

2. Add Parmesan till combined, then add lemon zest/juice

3. Slowly add olive oil so that it becomes fully incorporated (if you don't mix it enough you will see separation)

4. If you want to add mayo, I take out everything from the blender, put it in a small bowl, add the mayo, and hand whisk it. It will become super creamy

5. ENJOY :)

This dressing is so lovely! If you don't have a blender, you can hand whisk everything, it will just take some extra TLC to fully combine and emulsify all ingredients!

Me being awkward telling Kirk to take a picture. We also had an amazing rose from Sparkman Cellars on the table that we had bought yesterday, which I highly recommend :) "Out on the porch" Rose

And this picture is just because I am a crazy cat lady, and this is how Max was the entire time we were grilling, he can't get enough of us!

XOXO

Our first home & Sunday family dinner!

WELL, the craziness has finally died down and I am somewhat calm again. We bought our first home, and I am so, so, so, happy - words cannot describe!

When Kirk and I were looking at two areas, Kirkland/Juanita for location, and Woodinville since its in a great location too but also so BEAUTIFUL and so green! We wanted somewhere where we could picture starting our family and a house that would fit our needs for 8-10 years. I knew we were going to be looking at older homes, so I wanted something that I saw vision in and and none of the improvements were so needed that I would be thinking about it all the time. The first time we went house hunting - Lord oh Lord, it was depressing. Everything either needed a ton of work or would be fine for us now, but not when we had a family. At a later date house hunting with Kirk's parents (Kirk was at work) I walked into our house, and by the time I got to the top of the stairs where Kirk's dad was, we both knew right away it was the home for Kirk and I. Luckily, Kirk loved it as much as I did, and we put in our offer :) When the offer went through, I literally cried. I am a sensitive lady and it just warmed my heart knowing that Kirk and I bought our first home together.

We live in a lovely lil' neighborhood called Woodinville Highlands. The walls in the house were either white/mint green or the the tackiest wallpaper you've ever seen, and our cabinets were a light oak color (which I despise) so with the help of some of our wonderful friends, we were able to paint most of what we wanted done, re-did our cabinets, and took off wallpaper. It was definitely a labor of love! We got our keys a week before we moved in, and every night until we moved in Eric, Katie, and Steve were there after work helping us till at least 11 every night. We also had amazing amazing help from Kirk's parents who helped with so many things during the day while Kirk and I would be at work, and extra shout outs to Chocolate, Maddy, and Nik who helped along the way. So thankful for great friends!

Kirk and I outside our home. I tried to wait for a sunny day to have the pretty sunshine on the house, but what can I say, patience is not one of my strong suits.

We had my family + Steve and Katie over for dinner on Sunday night, and my mom is literally obsessed with our house, I'd be afraid to ever give her a key, she would probably never leave. Since it was our first official hosted dinner, I wanted to make it special with this menu:

Of course, the cheese plate is a must have at any Heinrich event. I put a side dish of honey with chopped rosemary, and lavender rosemary sea salt

Baby spinach salad with toasted walnuts, goat cheese, smoked bacon (from our local butcher - Bill the Butcher) in a honey mustard vinegarette

Of course I miss pictures of the main course of baked chicken with lemon cream and roasted spring vegetables-but so tasty I swear...

For dessert I made strawberry basil shortcake with basil ice cream. I had to whip up something fast and this just made sense. Not one of my favorite things I have created, but it must have went over well as everyone had finished their plate :)

I don't know what is up with the lighting, but here is my sweet lil' sissy and I after dinner.

Such a nice evening with family and friends, and can't wait to continue to entertain for my loved ones at Chateau Heinrich! It is my specialty if I do say so myself ;)