Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

It's been a year since we were in the Dominican Republic at a beautiful resort in Punta Cana celebrating our wedding anniversary and the marriage of some of our best friends. 

I did a full recap of our trip last year here where I talked about the resort, the food, the wedding, entertainment & fun, and the excursion we went on so I wanted to share that today for our Wanderlust Wednesday linkup.

I grew up in the Caribbean and spent a lot of my childhood traveling to different islands on vacation with my parents but there is something about the Dominican Republic that blew me away. It is probably the prettiest island I've visited to date other than Barbados so hop over and check out my review of our trip to Punta Cana.

Doesn't it look tropical heaven on earth?

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Link-up Rules:
1. Follow Kerri, Kate and myself on Bloglovin
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4. Be sure to visit other blogs and build your travel bucket list!

Breakfast Sausage Crescent Casserole

I've made several different breakfast casseroles before but never with crescent/croissant pastry to make a crust. I slightly burnt my crust so I've adjusted the temperature and baking time below to hopefully perfect this dish in the future. This recipe is perfect for breakfast or brunch and you can modify the meat/veggie ingredients to your liking. I went with maple breakfast sausage and orange bell peppers this time around and we loved the end result. Other ingredients I recommend are mushrooms, green peppers, chopped ham and shredded Swiss cheese.

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated crescent/croissant dinner rolls

1 cup cooked breakfast sausage, chopped

1 medium orange bell pepper, chopped

1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese

6 eggs

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll crescent dough and press onto the bottom of an ungreased glass baking dish. Use your fingers to press dough together and prick all over with a fork.
2. Bake for 7 minutes or crust is cooked but not brown.
3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and then stir in chopped pepper, breakfast sausage and shredded cheese.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until the eggs are set in the center of the dish and the crust is browned.

Enjoy!

Weekend Entertaining & Brunching

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

As I mentioned last week, some friends arrived on Thursday night to stay with us and visit Orlando/go shopping. On Friday night we went out for some Korean BBQ and sushi which was delish. We cooked different meats on the grill in the middle of the table and enjoyed a variety of salads and sushi from the cold bar.

On Saturday, my guests went out shopping for the day so I took the free time to indulge in pure relaxation at home which consisted of catching up on all my shows, blogging, laundry and all that fun stuff.

On Sunday morning it was time for some brunch. We went to Spice downtown which has a really nice brunch menu along with half priced mimosas and blood marys. We ate on the patio and enjoyed the sunny weather and view of the lake. 

After brunch we walked around the lake and looked at the turtles and swans before heading to Sportstown because the guys insisted on playing some ping pong.

The rest of Sunday was relaxing. K and I grilled out at home for dinner and mentally prepared ourselves for the arrival of Monday. It was nice catching up with one of my best friends from high school and getting to know her boyfriend who is her perfect match. Now back to the grind!

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Best Friend Shenanigans & Some Faves

This week I got to spend some quality time with my BFF from Monday night to Thursday. I still went to work while she got errands and shopping done during the day but we hung out in the evenings, cooked healthy dinners and drank wine. On Wednesday which was her last night, we went out for some happy hour drinks and sushi at our favorite sushi spot downtown. After dinner we went home and, in true form, killed a large bottle of wine while chatting on the patio and cracking up over old memories. Let's just say, Thursday morning was a rough one heading out for work. lol I also blame that on the super strong martinis they served us at dinner.

I was also really sad to tell her goodbye on Thursday morning since we may not get to see each other for another year. On a brighter note another girl friend and her boyfriend arrived late last night from Trinidad and we're going to spend the weekend entertaining them so I'm really looking forward to that!

Now on to some of my favorites for the week and joining the lovely Amanda for her weekly linkup.

Favorite Recipe:

Biana's Naan Pizzas look beyond amazing and the perfect way get your pizza fix without the major guilt factor. 

Favorite Shopping Finds:

Clearly I have a thing for bows...

Floral Bow Back Dress

Black & Mint Bow Bikini set

Favorite Quote: 

More Finds:

Trader Joe's Triple Cream Brie with Wild Mushrooms is to die for!

I've been on a serious salad kick over the past week and my BFF picked up Marzetti's Light Balsamic Vinaigrette (which is gluten free) to make dinner on Monday night. So good! 

Favorite Funnies:

Every. Single. Time. We end up having scrambled omelets. lol

Happy weekend lovelies!!

Central Florida's Best Festivals

I'm sure you can find almost any type of festival in Central Florida to appease your cultural, music, food, and entertainment interests but the following happen to be my favorite annual festivals and events in and around the Orlando area.

Disney's Flower & Garden Festival

I've been to Epcot twice for the International Flower & Garden Festival which usually takes place from March to May every year. Gorgeous topiary displays of Disney characters are scattered throughout the park along with several flower and garden displays, a butterfly garden and a few extra outdoor kitchens with seasonal food. This is a really pretty time of year to visit Epcot and there's no additional fee during the Flower & Garden Festival apart from the regular entrance fee to enter the park.

Florida Music Festival

Taking place annually in April and lasting for 3 nights from 7pm to 2am, more than 50 bands perform at over a dozen bars and stages in downtown Orlando. The music ranges from rock, pop, country, hip hop and bluegrass and the best part is that admission is free! This is a great local event for the music lovers out there and supposedly many undiscovered artists (like Taylor Swift back in 2002) have performed at the FMF in the past.


Image Credit

Crawfish Festival

This was probably my favorite event of the year and unfortunately it has been put on hold (possibly cancelled?) due to location issues. The original location was a huge lakefront party with live music, draft beer flowing and thousands of pounds of boiled crawfish for sale. Live music played throughout the day and it was fun to be on the water. The most recent event was at Heritage Square which wasn't on the water so less appealing location but nevertheless still a great line up of bands and overall fun time. I'm hoping they can bring the Crawfish Festival back soon!

Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival

This is a fun family-friendly day event with lots of great food stands and beautiful art from local artists in Central Florida. The festival takes place in March and is very close to my office so I love walking over with coworkers every year to grab some lunch and then walk around to browse all the different arts and craft exhibits.

Orlando Chili Cookoff

Orlando Chili Cookoff takes place annually at Festival Park which is located downtown Orlando. Presale tickets are $10 and guests can enjoy free chili samples from over 75 different chili booths, live music all day, cold drinks for purchase, and The World Chili Eating Challenge. Unfortunately the year I attended got rained out but we didn't let that stop us. We showed up equipped with umbrellas and went from booth to booth tasting all the yummy chili, including deer chili,which was the most interesting sample I tried.

Florida Strawberry Festival

Strawberry festival takes place annually for a couple weeks in March in Plant City, Florida which is about an hour outside of Orlando. Ticket prices range from $50-10 and guests can enjoy a variety of entertainment, rides, art exhibits, music, and food stands.

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Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

Disney's Food & Wine festival takes place in the Fall usually from late September to mid November. This is probably one of the most popular festivals that people attend every year in Orlando. Funny enough, I've never actually been before but not that I'm a season passholder I plan to go this year and will do a full review of my experience.

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Jalapeno & Swiss Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup Lite Balsamic salad dressing

4 slices swiss cheese

2 jalapeno peppers, deseeded and sliced

plastic wrap

toothpicks

What To Do:

1. Cover individual chicken breasts in plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Place chicken in a shallow bowl with Balsamic dressing and marinate in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes.

2.  Place marinated chicken on a clean piece of plastic wrap and top with swiss cheese and jalapeno slices. Tightly roll the chicken using plastic wrap to secure. Remove plastic wrap and use 4-6 toothpicks to hold the chicken in place.

3. Preheat the grill and lower to medium heat. Place chicken on grill and cook for 20 minutes rotating with tongs every 3-4 minutes.

4. Remove toothpicks and serve with your favorite side.

Enjoy!

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Weekend: Happy Hour & Productivity

Hi everyone! Hope the weekend treated you well and you're feeling recharged on this Monday. 

I don't have many exciting things to share from the weekend because it was spent being productive around the house in preparation for my guests this week. I did manage to fit some relaxation and girl time in there.

On Friday evening after work, I met up with a girl friend downtown for some happy hour drinks. We had a drink at World of Beer and then hopped over to a cute Hawaiian bar for a delicious lavender cocktail. 

On Saturday morning K and I watched the movie Blue Jasmine which was pretty interesting but I don't particularly like abrupt endings. I then went to a much-needed facial appointment and I have to say my face feels amazing! It's always great to get pampered and give your face a good clean especially for people like me that wear makeup on a regular basis.

The rest of the Saturday was spent Spring/Summer cleaning followed by grilling some steaks for dinner and finally settling down late night to watch Taken 3.

*Some random scenes from the weekend*

Sunday consisted of more cleaning, weekly food prep, and blogging. I made pesto shrimp alfredo with whole wheat fettuccine for lunch and then headed out to get some quick home shopping done since we desperately need to upgrade some of our mats and throw pillows.

I have to say it was great to get some downtime from my typically busy schedule.

** Our Recipe Swap will be back tomorrow so feel free to linkup your latest recipes **

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.