Bridals

Well since I started this blog after the wedding, I never really posted any pictures from Bridals to the Honeymoon.

Lets start with some Bridals!

All Credits to Zawadi J. Morrow Photography!

Baked Perch Casserole

This one comes from Cooks.com. We had a bag of perch to use up from our Lake Erie trip and decided to bake it in a casserole when we got together to celebrate Kim's birthday. Recipe and pictures below!

Ingredients
1 lb. perch fillets
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 sm. onion, chopped
2 c. buttered bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Basic White Sauce
3 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 c. milk

Directions

• Drain fish well on paper towels.
• Grease 8x8 baking dish and lay fish in bottom.
• Sprinkle with green pepper and onion, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour white sauce over fish and top with buttered bread crumbs.
• Bake at 350 degrees, 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Happy Birthday Daddy-o!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Love you so much Dad, thanks for everything you've done for us! It's been so great to be a short distance away while we are still here in North Carolina. We're thankful for the time we have been able to spend with you, especially up at Erie during the reunion!

Love,

Brad, Dani & Oscar (woof!)

Happy Belated Birthday, Oscar!

Yesterday, August 27th, our Oscar turned two years old! We didn't celebrate yesterday since we were riding the Virginia Creeper Trail (blog about that later). Tonight after dinner he was treated to a few licks of mint chocolate chip ice cream and the happy birthday song!


We all wish his sister, Sadie, a Happy 2nd Birthday as well!

Happy Birthday Kim!

Wanted to take today to wish my fabulous Mother-in-Law a Happy Birthday!

We are so thankful to have you near while we are still in NC! Thank you for all you have done for us and for the love you have given us. Happy Birthday Mom! We Love you!

Love,

Brad, Dani & Oscar (woof!)

Crockpot Lasagna

Here is a super easy lasagna recipe using ground turkey instead of beef! I got the recipe from Recipe4Living, and you'll find the original recipe there. I've tweaked mine just little.

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
30 oz tomato sauce (I use Ragu Chunky Garden Combination)
6 oz tomato paste
16 oz container low fat cottage cheese
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
12 oz lasagna noodles, uncooked (one box is 16 oz, works fine with the whole box)


Directions

• Brown ground turkey and chopped onion in a skillet. Add garlic powder, salt, oregano, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook long enough to warm mixture.

• In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

• Spoon a layer of meat sauce in bottom of crockpot. Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (break to fit... it won't look pretty, but it will be yummy!) and top with cheese mixture (might have to spread using a spoon).

• Repeat layers two more times.
• Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. (Internet recipe says 6-8, but if you leave it that long you will most likely have some black and crispy lasagna!)

Enjoy!

-D

Sunday Fowl

We were greeted by a family of wild turkeys when we came home from church today! Gobble Gobble!

Poached Peaches

While Brad and I were in Ohio, my Aunt raved about this dessert she loves to make. Being a wine connoisseur herself, I was confident this recipe would be a hit. It's a Rachael Ray creation and was super easy to follow!

Ingredients
3 cups red wine
1 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
2-3 whole peppercorns
1-2 strips lemon rind
2 large peaches, halved and pitted
1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
1 container whipped cream
Freshly grated nutmeg to garnish

Directions
Combine wine, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, and lemon rind in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar and reduce heat to a bubble.

Bring the poaching liquid to a boil and cook on high heat until reduced to a syrupy texture. Add the peaches and poach the fruit, spooning the syrup over them occasionally, until you can pierce the peach easily with a knife. (About 5 minutes)

Put peach halves in 2 dessert bowls. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, and drizzle with the poaching syrup. Grate a little nutmeg over the top.

We had four peaches instead of two, and used a whole bottle of wine because after 3 cups theres just a tad bit left in the bottle. Since we had the extra peaches and wine, we added a little bit more sugar and an extra clove.
For finishing touches we didn't add the whipped cream and we had peach ice cream instead of vanilla bean.

This recipe is delicious! Thanks Aunt Paula for the recommendation!

-D

An Erie Week

The Martin side of my family has a reunion every year in Marblehead, OH up at Lake Erie. This year Brad and I went up with my dad* in his car. We were really excited to be able to attend before we leave for Arizona. Brad also hadn't met some of my family who weren't able to make it to our wedding, including my Pepaw, so that was really nice.

*Riding with dad means leaving at 12am to drive through the night.

So we got to Marblehead mid-morning Saturday and went out to a beach spot with my Uncle Tom to ride around on his jet skis and play bocce ball on the sand bar. The water was rough and Brad kept teasing me going fast over all the waves.. ugh! haha When we were taking the jet skis in, he let me off and went out to have a little more fun. That involved zooming through a pile of seagulls sitting on the water. (Don't worry, no birds were hurt during his escapade!)

Brad and I getting back on from the sand bar. We stopped to pose for a picture in front of Cedar Point!

On Sunday we spent time at Pepaw's house playing Euchre, Phase 10, Palace and other card games. We went back out to the beach spot with a little bit bigger crowd. We had a good time throwing the frisbee around out in the water and got a light lunch at the restaurant right off the beach. Dad took out a jet ski and lost his hat in the process. While leaning over to pick his hat up from the water, the jet ski went with him and the top half was completely submerged. Long story short, the engine flooded and we didn't jet ski the rest of our time there. :) 

Monday was our big fishing day! (And here come more pictures!) We always charter a boat from Tibbels Marina in Marblehead. This year we actually had the whole boat to ourselves! Usually there are a couple of other people put into our mix and forced to deal with our antics out on the water, but this year we didn't have to worry about that! Our boat was the Harbor Queen with Captain Cooper, or "Coop".

Harbor Queen

Layne, Andy & Uncle Tom

Brad, Dad and I

Cloudy sunrise over the Marina

Natalie, John & Uncle Joe

Sandwich & baiting his hooks!

John & Natalie baiting up!

Dad & Brad baiting their hooks.

Every year my dad starts off the fishing, or breaks the lull, by eating a live minnow (which is the bait we use for the perch). Not sure why it got started, but he always does! A few years ago he got Andy to partake and it made him sick later that night. Brad was christened into the family when he decided to was pressured into eating one as well. My husband always likes to go big or go home.. so he chose one of the larger ones! It was Layne's first year eating a minnow as well, and Andy decided to give it another go, so I got some action shots of the guys eating their minnows. (Click to enlarge)

Eating the minnows. Take note of how proud Dad looks in the background of the middle picture.

We saw a water spout in the distance when we were out fishing! There were many storm clouds, but fortunately they just provided us with some shade for a while.

Coming back in to the Marina

 We had an amazing day fishing! Coop made us come back in once we reached our limit (as a boat) of 390 Perch. Below is a picture of them in a cooler on the boat. I usually don't contribute much to the count, but this year was able to catch 28 of my limit of 30! Yay! Brad caught 21. We did catch many other fish as well, but they were either white bass or sheepshead (quite the fighters). Dad caught a little over 20 perch too. Needless to say I was very proud to beat the men! Oh, and I baited my own hooks and took a lot of my fish off the hooks for the first time!

390 Perch on ice! :)

After we fish all day, we have a fish fry at night with uncle joe's homemade tartar sauce and corn on the cob cooked in a cooler. Yum!

Tuesday we got to sleep in and went over to Put-In-Bay (South Bass Island) right after lunch. It's a small ..I want to say 2mi by 4mi island located in Lake Erie. It was also played a significant role in the War of 1812.

Anyway, we rode out there with John & Natalie and rented a golf cart to tour the island in. The main strip has lots of little shops, restaurants, bars etc. We made a stop at the Chocolate Factory, Winery (briefly) and then decided to go for a game of putt-putt. We chose to put a 5-stroke limit on each hole, and I think I reached that limit on about half the holes. I never claim to be good with the putt-putt.

I Love Lucy Photo Opp 

Willy Wonka Photo Opp! 

During our game at the Putt-Putt course! It must be a Martin thing to look directly into the camera. The outsiders like to ponder and stare off into the distance.

These kids were playing a lightening round of putt-putt, taking all their shots at the same time! We let them go on ahead of us.

He spotted a cannon on the course.

Inside the cave you had to putt through on one hole!

My ball stopped mid-way under the bridge so I had to take my next shot like this.

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade!

Hanging out at Roundhouse for some live music and Rook-playing!

On our way to catch the Jet Express back home, Brad held the Perry Monument! Without flash, Brad did not show up in this picture. With flash, Perry's Monument did not show up in this picture. I took John's advice, cropped one and fit them together!!

Wednesday-Friday were spent away from the lake in my hometown of Findlay, OH. Brad and I spent the night with my grandparents. Brad got to have some good military talk with my Grandpa, who is a WWII Vet. He was part of the Army and fought in Okinawa, Japan. Some other places we went to that you should check out if ever in the area: Dietsch Brothers (ORDER SOME CHOCOLATE ONLINE!), Oler's Bar and Grill & Darkhorse (One of my Uncle's Restaurants), Wilson's Hamburgers (Here's how to order!), George House, and Riverside Park.

That's about all for our trip. We really enjoyed spending time with family, and from what I gathered, Brad was well received!

-D