Ten words, y’all: Marshmallow Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes with Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce. I just about ran down to Lara‘s kitchen, laptop in hand, after reading those words to whip up a batch for the Southern Weddings office, but not before growing totally smitten with the couple who shared the recipe. Trisha is a longtime SW reader, and we were so happy when she sent over her and her husband Adam’s story and top ten favorite recipes. Adam travels during the week, so they sometimes have to get creative when it comes to meal planning, but armed with a few go-to dishes and strategies, they make it work. Trisha also documents some of their favorites on her adorable blog, Stew or a Story. I can hardly wait to try some of her recipes, including the aforementioned decadent dessert!
By day: I am a former teacher turned law student studying at UNC. I love dreaming up recipes for my food blog, reading, and being outside. Adam is a financial consultant, and he loves airplanes, the Kansas City Chiefs, and barbecue.
How they met: Nine and a half years ago, Adam and I were both dateless for high school prom. My friend asked me to list all the guys I would consider going to prom with, and since I had harbored a serious crush on Adam all summer when we lifeguarded together, I said Adam’s name. She said “Oh, I can do that!” Her prom date was best friends with Adam, so she passed on the word that I liked him. Apparently, he had a crush on me at the pool too! A week before prom, Adam asked me to be his girlfriend, and despite a few ups and downs (and going to rival universities!), we’ve been together ever since.
Their wedding: Our wedding was a colorful, fun, and hot celebration in July 2012. We loved every minute of it! For our wedding favor, we created recipe books featuring favorites recipes from our friends and family. It was one of my favorite parts of our wedding, and I’ve loved finding the recipe book in my friends’ homes months and years later.
Meal planning: I wish we had an organized meal planning system, but the truth is, our schedules change so frequently that we don’t have a system in place. In general, we try to do the bulk of our grocery shopping on the weekends, planning out a couple of dinner ideas and stocking up on veggies and staples so that we can whip up easy dinners later in the week. Living apart during the week while Adam travels has been a huge challenge, but one benefit is that we don’t take our time together for granted. We cherish our meals together–whether they’re home cooked meals with candles and wine or a frozen pizza we devour while sitting on the couch.
The cooking: Our breakdown of cooking is roughly 70:30, with me cooking dinner the majority of the time. Adam has his specialties though, like Tex Mex and pot roast in the crockpot.
Favorite meal-related memory: We spent our honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii, and every morning, we ate fresh pastries and drank local coffee outside overlooking the Hanalei Bay. It was magical.
Favorite meal-related disaster: Adam’s mom makes a delicious dessert called strawberry salad. I’ve tried my hand at it a couple of times, and each time has been a disaster. The first time, I splattered strawberry jello all over our white kitchen. The second time was at Thanksgiving, and I added frozen strawberries to the jello mixture before it had solidified. I had a meltdown at the table over the runny jello!
Top ten favorite recipes:
1. Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Chicken: We love this recipe. It’s simple, but impressive! A great one to serve when having friends over for dinner.
2. Caramelized Onion Frittata: We make lots of frittatas. We always seem to have eggs in the fridge, and frittatas are a great way to use up leftover vegetables and cheese.
3. Chopped Salad with Feta, Corn, and Avocado: Chopped salads are our favorite. This recipe uses lots of fresh summer ingredients, but we also make them in the fall with roasted veggies and chickpeas.
4. Chicken Sautéed with Apples: Simple chicken dishes like this are great for busy week nights. Adam sometimes adds onions and balsamic vinegar.
5. Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Slaw: This is our favorite way to eat lots and lots of raw broccoli.
6. Fiesta Rice: We love Mexican food, and often serve this rice with black beans and guacamole.
7. Roasted Brussell Sprouts with Balsamic Vinegar: This is a quick and easy side dish. We enjoy roasting all kinds of vegetables–carrots, potatoes, broccoli, etc. Pretty much any vegetable is delicious when roasted!
8. Healthy Pasta alla Vodka: We make lots of variations on this pasta dish with whatever vegetables we happen to have around.
9. Easy Balsamic Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Sun-Dried Tomatoes: Another easy and delicious weeknight meal!
10. Marshmallow Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes with Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce: Chocolate and peanut butter? Enough said.
P.S. We’d love to hear from you! Our hope is to feature REAL couples in the South – your inspiring friend, super talented cousin, or neighbor with the cutest house – the kind of person everyone would love to “e-meet.” If that sounds like you or someone you know, take a peek at our Southern Newlywed submission page and shoot us an email!
As someone who met and started dating my own boyfriend because I needed a date to prom, I love love Trisha and Adam’s story! :)
Bookmarking lots of these! Great picks!
I am always looking for easy weeknight chicken recipes! These sound great! I will be pinning them, stat :)