erica danielle

Sten and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary Wednesday night and I wanted to make sure I did some documenting. Last year I made this nice post about the past 3 years. It is so crazy to think another year has gone by. Sten and I have made some really great memories this year-- so many fun vacations and quiet nights at home, date nights in the city and big talks about future. I am lucky to get to do life with him. He is my favorite person and best friend. We celebrated at q Chicago , a BBQ restaurant that is the perfect mix between down home southern cooking and upscale city appeal. We LOVED it. As we sat down to dinner our waiter arrived with 2 glasses of champagne. Sten looked at me quizzically as I looked at him the same way. We were pretty confused until our waiter said "Happy Anniversary from Mandy and Brennan!" Seriously? I have the best co-workers ever. I literally started crying. It is not very often  you meet someone like Mandy, who literally always thinks of oth...

Thanksgiving has been and always will be one of my all time favorite days of the year. So much joy and celebration. This year was no different. Sten and I packed a lot in our mini-vacation.   My mom is the best at making beds. This is what we came home to on Tuesday night after driving 6+ hours. So warm, cozy and welcoming.  cutest little guy around. couldn't.handle.his.adorableness  got to witness his first squash eating... a success!  dinner with the fam before the T-WOLVES GAME!!!  Great seats! SOOOO much fun even though we didn't win.  my mom got this little idea from the newspaper, everyone wrote what they were thankful for.  23 place settings set and ready! Couldn't wait for family to arrive!  traditional games all evening long. This little bug is a heart warmer.  On Sunday Sten and I got to be part of Amos' dedication, and although I couldn't make it through the prayer witho...

Happy almost Thanksgiving... My very favorite holiday! We are headed to MN tomorrow after work and I couldn't be more thrilled to see my family and spend time with Sten in the Motherland. This recipe has nothing to do with Thanksgiving dinner and everything to do with a hearty Italian soup for a chilly evening in with friends. I haven't been trying many new recipes lately, but after my co-worker raved about this Lasagna Soup I had to try it for myself. It's originally a Paula Deen recipe, however, its been revised by her son Bobby for a lighter fare. It's absolutely delicious and a great soup for a crowd. Lasagna Soup Ingredients: 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 pound Italian turkey sausage, casings removed 1 onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 4 ...

Sten and I had a great day. It kicked off with a Vikings WIN and ended with Amazing Race and BBQ Chicken Pizza with homemade crust and bread sticks. I haven't made dough from scratch since discovering Betty Crocker's "just add water", and I am now convinced that kneading the dough for 7 minutes is totally worth it. In between I made a Shutterfly book of our Michigan vacation and baked chocolate chip cookies. I can't believe I haven't put these on the blog yet! This recipe is THE reason I grew to love baking so much. I have this recipe memorized. The story is my mom found this gem on an off-brand chocolate chip bag and we've been using it ever since. These cookies are chewy, salty, sweet and delectable. RECIPE: Chocolate Chip Cookies from the kitchen of: Mama Print - 2 sticks margarine -1/2 C sugar -3/4 C brown sugar -1 teaspoon vanilla -1 egg -2 1/4 C Flour -1 teaspoon baking soda -1/2 teaspoon salt -1 bag semi-sweet chocola...

I can't believe its here! November means: - my favorite holiday. - our 4 year anniversary - voting - minnesota vacation - seeing my family. - cozy weekends at home with Sten - crockpot meals and lots of soups. - daylight savings. - dark mornings and early nights. A couple weeks ago I made this soup and Sten and I just LOVED it. I can't wait to make it again. It's called White Chicken Chili and I found it here . It is literally the EASIEST thing I have ever made, just open the cans dump them in and let it cook! Ingredients: About 4 Chicken Breasts 2 cans of Black Beans 2 cans of Corn 1 can of rotel 1 pack of McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning Instructions:   E mpty cans of beans and corn and Rot el (juice and all) into crock pot, add the seasoning packet, and the chicken . Cook on low for 6-8 hours, shred chicken and return to bean mixture. If it is not " soupy " enough, add some wat er or chicken broth. YUM! I put some gr...

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, and I had to go back and look into my archives to see if I've already posted it. According to my calculations, I haven't, but please stop reading if I've already shared this. In College I had the best small group leader named Angie. She is a gem of a person, stunning, compassionate, giving, lover of beautiful things, cooking, and people. She would often feed us poor college girls and this recipe comes from her. She found it in a REAL SIMPLE magazine when they were still doing "fake it, don't make it" articles (why don't they do those anymore?). I have made it countless times, for countless amounts of people. My sister and I are seriously addicted. When I looked up the recipe on REAL SIMPLE's website today, I realized I've been making it wrong all these years, so technically this is an Erica Carlson original. Any way, this is PERFECT for meatless Mondays, tasty Tuesday, wild Wednesday, thirsty Thursday (...

With this last surge of Chicago warmth, you would almost be tricked into thinking that summer is still here, but this weekend the high is 42 and in less than 2 weeks we have to turn our clocks back. My summer tan is gone, as are the days of waking up to the sun shining and going to bed way too late because all you want to do is be outside on a summer eve drinking a crisp white wine and talking about your vacations. I haven't really had much time to reflect on my summer, but I was looking through some recent pictures tonight and remembering all the fun we had when Sten wasn't busy at CPE and I wasn't at work. Here are the highlights of my summer: camping with my man. building a fire. sleeping in a tent and relaxing.  cheers-ing to Kate and Peter's new house in the 'burbs. its cozy and the company is perfect. spending summer nights downtown...  house sitting in Evanston  trying out new restaurants with Sten.  Celebrating Ashley's we...