Open Face Mushroom and Spinach Sandwiches

When my sister was in town last weekend we saw a commercial with these sandwiches. They looked so yummy and easy to make so we made a quick trip to HEB to get the ingredients.

They were SO yummy and a perfect lunch. You can make the different components in advance (mushrooms, ricotta mixture) and then it is an easy lunch to throw together during the week.

Open Face Mushroom and Spinach Sandwiches


4 whole grain sandwich thins
1 cup part skim ricotta
5 sun dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons + 2 tablespoons of the sun dried tomato oil
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
fresh baby spinach
Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Split sandwich thins and toast until lightly golden brown.

Combine sun dried tomatoes, ricotta, and 2 teaspoons of sun dried tomato oil, a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of sun dried tomato oil. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble, spread ricotta and sun dried tomato mixture on sandwich thins, top with a few baby spinach leaves, then mushrooms and sprinkle parmesan on top.

Bake for 5-7 minutes to heat through.

So YUM!!

Weekend Update

should have posted this Tuesday, but better late than never, right?

My sister came to visit this weekend and we had such a fun time. John had to go down to the valley with some people for church to do some planning for a spring break trip they are taking down there. Whitney and I had such a fun girl weekend!

FRIDAY:
She got here Friday night and brought the most amazing cake from her friend's bakery. (Side note: her friend is currently on the TLC show Cake Boss: Next Great Baker! Megan is still on and the finale airs next week!) She also brought some cupcakes, but I didn't get a picture. They were fantastic also.





Friday night we loved on Oliver, ate lasagna, salad and garlic bread, ate some yummy cake and watched part of a movie. It was horrible so we didn't even finish it. I can't even remember the name of it.

SATURDAY:
We slept in and had breakfast and a relaxing morning. Around noon we got ready and met up with a friend and her daughter for lunch. Then we shopped...not for long, there is only so much shopping in Victoria!

We came back home, changed into comfy clothes and then went and saw Country Strong. It was a great movie and we both loved it. On our way home we stopped and picked up a pizza and spent another relaxing night at home. And ate some cupcakes.

SUNDAY:
We skipped church and slept in and had the most relaxing day. We did make it to the store to get a couple of things for lunch. I'll share that recipe soon! Most of the day we stayed in bed, reading magazines and watching Friends. It was a perfect relaxing day. I even managed to get a couple loads of laundry done!

Sunday night I had to be at church because I help out in a kindergarden class on Sunday nights. Whitney stayed home with Oliver. John also got back and on our way home we went and picked up fajitas and queso for dinner. We settled in for the night watching the Golden Globes (anyone else think Natalie Portman's laugh during her speech was hilarious?).

MONDAY:
I was off on Monday! Whitney left to go back to Dallas Monday morning and then John and I had some things to get done. He went to go get a haircut and work for a few hours and I stayed home and tried to be somewhat productive. We finished off the night with Carino's for dinner outside in the backyard by the chiminea.









It was a perfectly relaxing weekend!

Gender Guess!

We find out on February 1 what Baby Woods will be! There is a poll over there ----> so take a guess!

Last Wednesday at choir John announced that we would be finding out if Baby Woods is a boy or a boy. He has had a gut instinct from the very beginning that this baby is a boy.

At first I was thinking girl. Up until about Thanksgiving I just knew it was a girl. But for the past few months everytime I imagine what it will be like with a baby, I imagine boy. I dream it is a boy. So I'm thinking boy also.

Of course, either way we are so excited and already have names picked out. They are names that I have loved for so long and would say them to John early in our marriage and he wouldn't love them. But for some reason now he loves them too. Our girl name was actually brought up again by him. One day he was in the nursery and said, "What about ----- for a girl?" I was a little surprise and taken off guard because he loved it.

We are going to share those names once we know for sure what we are having, but I will say now that if it is a boy the middle name will be Spencer (after John and he will be the 5th boy in his family with Spencer for a middle name) and if it is a girl her middle name will be Rose. My middle name is Rose and I was named after my grandmother (Rosalie).

So until February 1...take a guess! What do you think Baby Woods will be?!?!

Christmas 2010 - part 2/Happy New Year

This recap is picture-less and I hate myself for that. It was such a special and wonderful weekend and I failed at the camera again. This recap is mostly so I remember the weekend.

My parents came down the weekend of New Year's to celebrate Christmas. With my new job I don't have vacation time until after 6 months so taking any time off at Christmas this year was out of the question. So my parents were so sweet and came down to see us. I hate that we didn't get to celebrate with my brother, sister and brother-in-law but we still had a great time.

They got here Thursday night and we just had a relaxing evening. They brought food from PF Changs (yum!) and then we opened presents. I'm kicking myself now for not taking any pictures!

Friday we got up and went to Sugar Land for the day. We started the day with brunch at The Black Walnut. It is one of our favorite places and the first time for my dad to try it.

We spent the rest of the day shopping. I got some maternity clothes, went to a darling baby boutique to look at chairs and strollers, we exchanged a Christmas present that John got and then it was on to Babies R Us to register.

We took advantage of the fact that we were in Sugar Land and that my parents were here to go ahead and register (even though it is a little early). There is not one in Victoria and we wanted the wisdom my parents had to offer.

Let's just say that registering was so overwhelming!

Friday night we cooked a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin, mac and cheese and creamed spinach. We taught my parents how to play Settlers of Catan and then rang in the new year...at 11:00!

Saturday we slept in, made breakfast, mom and I took a long walk with the dogs (well, started off with both dogs, but ended up just with Oliver who mom had to carry about halfway through the walk b/c he was too tired). We had yummy snacks and appetizers to munch on throughout the day and played several more games of Settlers.

Sunday we went to church and then they got on the road pretty fast for the 7 hour drive back to Dallas. We had the best weekend and are so grateful for them!

Christmas 2010 - part 1

Ahh...I'm so behind! I wanted to have this posted over a week ago. Oh well.

This year for Christmas, John's mom and sister came down and celebrated with us. They got here the afternoon of Christmas Eve and stayed through church Sunday. We had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas and weekend.

Unfortunately, pregnancy has made me unable to take pictures. I only took pictures Christmas morning so here's what went down...


Every gift has a story so I'm sure that is what Susan is doing here! :)


John and Sara

The gift I got John was also sort of a gift for myself. He has been wanting one a headlamp, but also it means I don't have to go outside at night with him and hold a flashlight while he works outside. Score!

Of course Oliver got a few goodies (only what fit in his small stocking).



And Baby Woods got several things! Including these awesome board books.



Oliver's favortie gift was his busy bone. It kept him occupied pretty much all of Christmas Day.

Not pictured are some of our favorite gifts from Susan....John got a new pair of Chacos. He got his first pair the summer of 2003 and wore them until September. It was time to replace them. Susan gave me a steam mop! I had been wanting one for several reasons...no chemicals so it won't hurt Oliver and most importantly the baby that will be here soon and it will save money not having to buy cleaner and swiffer pads. It santizes the hardwoods with steam and we love it.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing...John did a lot of reading, we watched Marley and Me and cooked Christmas dinner. We had turkey, tamale dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans with caramelized onions and bacon and rolls. Yum!

Thank you Sara and Susan for spending Christmas with us...we love you!

menu planning monday

So I really had planned to have at least 2 posts go up between last week's menu planning Monday and today, but that didn't happen. So here's what we are eating this week. I'm excited to go to the grocery store again and eat real meals.

monday - Black Bean and Corn Topped Baked Potatoes and salad

tuesday - Italian Sausage, Spinach and White Bean Soup with ciabatta bread

wednesday - church activities so we will be eating leftovers

thursday - Tex-Mex Calzones and Black Bean Salad

friday - Lasagna, salad and garlic bread

saturday - we will probably go out or get take out

sunday - leftovers

menu planning monday

this week will be all about eating what we have. Hosting 2 holidays in one month really puts a dent in the grocery budget so I will be getting creative with what we have.

monday: roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranates and vanilla butter and roasted cauliflower with pancetta and parmesan (we were supposed to make both of these this weekend when my parents were here, but we had too much food.)

tuesday: chicken squares and salad

wednesday: homemade pizza and salad

thursday: pasta with mushrooms, fennel and tomatoes and salad

friday: sunday school party

saturday: baked potato soup