WIAW - February edition + what the husband cooks

This year is rolling by quickly! I've been super busy with work and Dennis has been doing the cooking lately. It's so relaxing to come home to a warm meal! Let's kick off this edition of What I Ate Wednesday with my favorite hubby-made meals! Check out Laura's post for the full linkup to What I Ate Wednesday (via Peas & Crayons)

We made our own version of Capriotti's "The Bobbie"... cranberry, stuffing and turkey in a sandwich. For thanksgiving last year, Dennis made the BEST smoked turkey ever! We soaked it in turkey brine (recipe from Pioneer Woman), used my mom's recipe for stuffing the turkey and seasoning, then let Dennis work his magic in the smoker. This month, the remaining meat from that ~20 pound turkey was finally defrosted! Add to that some hearty bread, the cranberry orange sauce from Vons, and a quick cornbread stuffing mix, this was so so good!

For Valentines Day, we ate in to avoid the hustle and bustle of restaurants. Dennis made Bo Luc Lac, also known as Vietnamese Shaking Beef (recipe from SeonKyoung Longest) and boy was it delicious! I love the caramelized onions and juicy filet mignon cubes. Look at that beautiful plating on tomatoes too! My contribution was the artsy fartsy food styling on top of my homemade photo background boards (made with Ani from Confessions of a Foodie). The blue board from the cranberry turkey sandwich is the reverse side of this green one!

On another night, Dennis made jumbo scallops cooked with butter and thyme. The first attempt was absolutely perfect and tender with two minutes, flipped, then three more minutes on the pan. The second night, they weren't searing as well but by adding extra cook time just led to slightly overcooked scallops. At least we learn as we go! Dennis is already the barbecue / smoker master (pulled pork, maple bacon, steaks, etc), but I'm totally digging this "hubby cooks" train! There were a few other nights where he prepared something for me and I'm oh-so thankful! <3

The majority of the time, we went out for some grub. One of my favorite eats this month was the Lobster Roll from Pete's Seafood and Sandwich. There's one pound of lobster in there! The last time we had this much lobster was at Pechanga's Lobster Buffer and you can guess how the buffets roll!

I'm sort of a glutton at times too and was surprised when TacoManiaSD suddenly started on February 9th! In previous years, I totally tore it up, creating my own TacoManiaSD maps, then dragging Dennis or various friends along. This year, I was mostly booked during that time period so only made it to Sandbar Sports & Grill. Their offer was $2 for the smaller tacos or $8 for the popular TKO plus a house margarita or selected beer. I've also had their tacos at Tacotopia in years past. Next year I hope to visit tons of participating restaurants so I can finally write up my taco crawling adventures!

Here's some extra dessert pictures I took at our recent visit to Pechanga. Next month we're attending the 10th annual Chocolate Decadance and Wine Festival on March 9th and 10th. We covered this event back in 2016 (chocolate decadence & wine festival) and I'm sure this year will be just as fabulous! Hopefully I have a little more time for blogging in March too!

I typically do the cooking at home but definitely enjoyed sitting back for once. Who does the cooking at your house? What is the favorite dish to make?