40 years of marriage

Cheers to 40 years!

My parents have been exemplary role models for marriage so it makes perfect sense that my siblings and I would throw them a party to celebrate.  The number of people who RSVP-ed yes blew us away!  Traveling from near and far to show their love and support for our awesome parents.  🙂

My G-ma had a fun time seeing the kids.  It’s been almost 6 months.

I spent the morning with my sisters setting up and getting organized so that by 4:30 we were all ready for the fun to begin.

Lunch necessities 🙂

The salad is the “matcha chicken avo bowl” from Home Grown and the juice is the “greens 3” from Pressed Juicery (both are in Danville where my sister lives), but I actually saved the salad for the next day because my gut was acting up.  The juice was great though.  I love pressed juicery.  🙂

Dinner was catered by El Charro (aka “the big hat”) – a restaurant we grew up going to all the time. It has a massive sombrero on the side of the building so we called it that as kids and the name stuck.  🙂

Chris and Kyle were party photographers, although Kyle was doing double duty with the kids as well.  P fell asleep on the way to the party so we let him crash on the guest bed upstairs for the first part of the party which turned out to be a bad idea because he was completely groggy and grumpy when he woke up.  It wasn’t until half way through dinner that his blood sugar spiked enough for his mood to turn around.

After that, though, the kids were pure entertainment.

Cake!

P took all the decorations he could get his hands on and “re-decorated” the cake that I had baked.

And then they put the rest in a box and walked around passing them out to every guest as a “surprise”!!

It was dark by the time we left (which meant it was wayyyyy past bedtimes) but shockingly the bath routine wasn’t too terrible.

They both fell asleep nearly instantly, which was a relief since the day before (when we were all in the same room) V was up chatting in my face until MIDNIGHT.  Where do they get the energy???

We spent the next morning watching the World Cup final, lounging by the pool, and reminiscing on the previous night’s fun.  It was the perfect post-party relaxation.

I made myself eggs with kale and avo for breakfast and then had the leftover salad from Home Grown for lunch.

We didn’t head back to Davis until the late afternoon, so by the time we got home and unpacked it was time to get going with dinner.

As lazy as I was feeling I knew I wanted something healthy after all the desserts and eating out.  Soooo…I took stock of the fridge, freezer and pantry and got to work.

First things first, I had butternut squash “noodles” to use up.  They were from a WF trip a while ago and I had already cooked them so their “dead by” date was ticking on down.  But I didn’t have enough for the whole fam, so I grabbed wheat pasta to make too.  Only problem was…the house was 85 degrees.  And turning on the oven sounded like hell.  Literally.

Instant pot!!!

I used the multi-grain setting and it worked like a charm!  Hands off.  Didn’t add heat to the kitchen scene.  Winning!!

For protein I used frozen shrimp.  For veggies I used arugula (and squash).  For sauce I opted for the Cibo organic sundried tomato pesto with basil (it’s so gooooood!).

I simmered the shrimp, then assembled the bowls.

I added parmesan cheese to Kyle’s, but swapped raw walnuts in for mine and the kids’s portions.

Holy moly, this was so good, ESPECIALLY for a meal that was unplanned and came together in under 30 minutes.

Pretty gourmet, huh??

Of course I added a handful of fresh cherry tomatoes at the last minute because our plant is going crazy.

It’s almost time to pick nectarines too!

I grabbed some to test readiness, so they are ripening on the counter for now…but we have at least 200 on the tree.

We have big tomatoes too!  What should I do with them??  Kinda regretting not planting zucchini now, but I guess there’s still time.  Summer gardening is always such a treat.

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Comments (5)

  1. Ttrockwood

    40 years is awesome!! My parents celebrated 40 a few years back by going on a fairly epic vacation 🙂 As an adult I appreciate their shared history so much more than when i was younger and it was just a given fact.
    Looks like a great time, and mexican food for a crowd is a sure thing!
    That’s a totally impressive found object dinner- and I totally get the can’t make the kitchen hotter. Sometimes the baby arugula i get is just mild and kinda like spinach and then other times it’s crazy intense and spicy! Like russian roulette with greens 😉
    Those tomatoes are so gorgeous…. of course Israeli salad, gazpacho or salmorejo, stuffed tomatoes (not baked, tomatoes are stuffed with a rice pilaf or whatever), tomato sauce for the freezer, oh! Amd the one pot farro dish from smitten kitchen! That’s amazing- i used the quick cooking farro from trader joes

  2. Lesq

    Make tomatoe balsamic jam. It is amazing and can be spread on anything. I add fresh basil and rosemary to mine as they do in several regions of backroad villages we have visited inItaly. Haven’t seen those spices as add ins in American recipe versions but in Italy the jam contains them.

  3. Elise (Post author)

    Just made a TON of marinara for the freezer 🙂

  4. Pingback: Leftover creativity – Hungry Hungry Hippie

  5. kim

    congrats on your parents 40 years!! I’ve made stuffed tomatoes where you hollow them out and fill with a corn pudding,or maybe you can use one of your quiche fillings. you just fill and bake till set. good luck.

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