The End of 2010

It seems that many other bloggers are doing sweet recaps of all their fashion or fun during 2010. I would love to join in but instead I'm stuck on the couch wrapped up in a blanket cursing this time of year. As we are all very much aware, it's flu season. And I've got the flu. Lucky me!

It happens every year at this time, flu shot or not, so it was really only a matter of time. I don't get vaccinated on stuff like the flu or chicken pox or whatever else I'd get regardless because it's a waste of money and resources (although I'm sure there are many that would disagree with me on that). There are some events that I'll always remember from 2010 like this awesome blogging thing, my Godson being born, making new memories with old friends, being married for 2 whole years, and of course buying the cutest hamster in the entire world.

Wishing you all a HAPPY new year! Good luck in 2011! ^_^

Last Minute Gift Idea!

Merry Christmas Eve fellow bloggers. I'm missing the hubby since he'll be gone until the 27th, but I'm very thankful to have my dad and sister back in town for the holidays! This is going to be a great Christmas ^_^

For those of you who didn't get all of your shopping finished in time, or maybe you're looking for a cute stocking stuffer, here's a quick and easy homemade gift that is sure to please! Homemade sugar shower scrub! My sister gave me the idea to make my own when I started talking about how great all the St. Ives products look. After playing around with different ingredients and amounts I think I found an easy formula using ingredients you're sure to have on hand:

Chocolate Clafoutis--Adapted from Stone Soup

If you've browsed my recipes you can't help but notice my love of French food. Although I have volumes one and two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the recipes can be quite difficult to tackle. One of my favorite foodie blogs is Stone Soup. Jules is all about being a minimalist cook, which means leaving behind the ridiculously complicated recipes and sticking to basics. She recently released her (free!!) ebook which can be downloaded from her blog! I love the book because all of the recipes are guaranteed to use 5 ingredients or less. Genius!

Dinner Tonight: Baked Chicken with Zucchini and Tomatoes

This is a simple recipe that you can pull off on a busy work or school night. It was as simple as, "hey! I have chicken and zucchini, what can I make?" Well, throw in a little breading and fresh tomatoes and you have a lovely and simple meal that serves 2-4 people.

Mango Chicken Sausage Pasta

This is a simple dish you can throw together on a busy weeknight. The sausage and pasta has plenty of protein and whole wheat deliciousness. The spinach will give this dish a bright fresh flavor, plus a good boost of iron and calcium!

Cranberry Orange Stuffing

Sorry for posting this so late! It's been a crazy busy week. This stuffing is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. I adapted this from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals recipe found here. Her recipe was to serve four people, but her serving size was about an ice cream scoop full. Now, I don't know about your family, but mine is all about leftovers. I wanted to make enough to feed all 6 of us and have some goodies left over. 

Keep in mind that I undercooked mine slightly so that tomorrow when we re-heat it, it won't dry out. I say cook yours about 40-45 minutes or until it's golden brown on top and no longer a soupy texture.

Cranberry Orange Stuffing

• EVOO
• Couple pats of butter
• 7 ribs of celery diced , no leaf with the white chopped off
• 1.5 medium white onions, I chopped it super fine
• 3 bay leaves
• S&P to taste
• 2 cans (32 ounces) chicken stock
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons freshly chopped thyme
• 2.5 loaves Trader Joe's Low Fat Cranberry Orange Bread

First things first, if you can't get Trader Joe's brand cranberry orange bread then don't worry about it. I'd say 2 loaves are equivalent to about 5 large cranberry orange muffins. So 7 muffins? Yikes. I'm sorry I'm not sure how big the loaves are and I forgot to take pictures before I threw away the wrappers . . . 

Preparation & Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Chop all of your veggies, saute in a skillet over medium-low heat with the bay leaves and thyme until they've reduced in size and softened. Once the oven is heated, chop the bread and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. I had left my bread unwrapped on a baking sheet for two days to dry it out a bit, which it didn't really get dry so I had to toast it up a bit. Beat the eggs and whisk in the chicken stock/broth. In a large bowl add the veggies and bread. Ladle the stock over the bread and veggies and mix until it has soaked up a lot of moisture. I ended up not using the entire 2 cans of broth because I didn't want the mixture to be too soupy, since the bread is already much more moist than regular toasted bread. It should be moist enough where you squeeze it in your hand some of the moisture leaks out, but doesn't drip down your hand. Place mixture in casserole dish and bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Let cool and serve!

How To: Pizza in a Hurry, On a Budget

Two weeks ago was most definitely the worst work week of my life; every day I would come home and have a glass of wine, and put my feet in the hot tub just to relax. Cooking sounded awful, but unfortunately I have a husband to feed. Enter: biscuit dough pizza! I did not think this was possible, or that it would taste good; I quite enjoyed it, and the mister drooled over every piece. The coolest part about this dough was making it on the grill pan. I got those awesome grill marks without taking a step outside my apartment door. Sigh, I'm going to miss having grills on the roof. I fear when we make the move to live in the cheap we'll be giving up a lot of amenities. Alright, enough whining.

Giveaway: Edgeware Diamond Elite Pull Thru Knife Sharpener *CLOSED*

How about a giveaway for those of your suffering from the hell that is Monday?! Yeah, I thought it would cheer you up.

Edgeware is a leading seller of knife sharpening tools that sells everything from honing steels to mandolins. One lucky reader will have the opportunity to win the manual elite pull thru knife sharpener that works on both straight edged, santoku, and serrated knives. This is the most versatile sharpener because you have the option to select a course or fine sharpening edge; there is also a ceramic stone built in to perfectly hone your knives every time you sharpen. I own the Electric Diamond Elite Sharpener and I must say, it is absolutely fantastic!! I use it a couple of times a week, and use a little hand held one my hubby bought me in the meantime. My knives stay perfectly shaped and incredibly sharp. The Diamond Elite sharpener even took a cheap $3 santoku knife from Target and made it razor sharp, something I thought was impossible to do with a bad knife. Even if you don't win, I highly recommend purchasing this knife sharpener if you're looking for something professional and affordable! At only $29.99 it does the job of a professional sharpener PLUS a steel honing rod. Pretty awesome ^_^

Poulet au Porto

I swear to you, I've been cooking all week! This is roast chicken steeped with port wine, cream, and mushrooms. I ended up making this dish twice for me & hubby and a third time just for myself. Yum! The best part about this dish is you get to flambe the chicken, which is just too fun. I served it over lemon-parsley cous cous with a side of homemade pasta salad. I have to say, I took shortcuts with this recipe. For instance, I did not roast an entire chicken. I bought chicken breasts, and I cooked them in a skillet with the lid on to make a nice fond for the sauce. I'll give you instructions for how I did it, this will serve 2.

Oeufs en Cocotte (Eggs in a Ramekin)

Some of you may already know that I'm a big fan of Julia Child, as well as amazing French foods. I don't cook enough French food, mainly because of the time and unhealthy aspects of butter and certain meats, but I've been trying to do more French cooking lately. I love this dish because it's simple, and you can make it as healthy and as fancy as you want.

How To: Cinnamon Rolls from Canned Biscuits

My mother made a delicious batch of cinnamon rolls the other day. I went over to her house and left with baggie with two cinnamon rolls. I must admit, with my husband sitting right next to me, that I ate both of them. One was supposed to be for him, but I just couldn't resist! I felt really guilty about the cinnamon rolls; my poor husband had missed out on a treat, a treat we had been craving for weeks. I decided I would make a batch to ease my guilt, this is where I encountered a slight problem. I had never actually made cinnamon rolls before; not Pillsbury and definitely not from scratch. Enter: Store brand 50 cent can of biscuit dough. How do you spell lifesaver? BISCUIT DOUGH.

  

Snack Smarter: Onion Rings

I love a good onion ring! My first job was working at Burger King when I was 16 and I absolutely loved snacking on the delicious onion rings, yum! Unfortunately, when purchased from a fast food joint they're awesomely horrific for you. Seriously, so much fat and calories it's not even worth it. Here's a quick way to make them at home and keep things on the lighter side. One word: fiber! Kicking up the fiber content in the onion rings will help your body to keep from absorbing all the excess fat. If you want to be super healthy you can skip the panko breadcrumbs and just use Fiber One cereal as the breading, but it honestly doesn't stick as well. I sprinkled in some panko, mixed it up, and gave it a go with another ring. It came out perfectly. I'd choose these rings over BK any day. Here's what you'll need:

How To: Spruce Up Your Leftovers

Remember that amazing chicken, lemon, and basil dish I made a couple days ago? Well, the next day I needed something hearty and delicious for brunch but I didn't want to eat the same thing twice in such a short time. If you're like my mother, then you loathe eating the same thing two days in a row. She'll make a giant casserole, enchiladas, chicken, you name it; then the next day she'll be making another ridiculously large meal so that she, my dad, and my little brother don't have to eat the same thing two days in a row. My mom does leftovers the smart way, instead of getting sick of your food you give it a break in between meals but you have enough to last you all week ^_^

Back to brunch. I had a few red bell peppers that were just screaming "pick me, pick me!!" from the crisper drawer. I chopped up and froze most of them, but I saved half of one so I could use it for breakfast. I had only grilled half of one chicken breast to go with my pasta for dinner because it was just me; what I did do with the rest of the chicken breast and another whole breast I had was butterfly them so they'd be thin, and then popped them in the oven to bake with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Standing in front of my fridge I searched for all the ingredients that would work with the peppers. I saw: noodles from the night before, chicken, eggs, and my lovely balsamic glaze. Shizzam!! There it was, a simple and quick skillet breakfast. Not only is this a great way to use up leftovers, it's also a smart way to really stretch a buck.

Grilled Chicken and Lemony Pasta Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ree over at The Pioneer Woman posted this recipe the other day and I knew I just had to make it as soon as I could! I was already in possession of a live chicken (by live I mean two frozen breasts, not my own of course), a box of penne pasta, and 2 lemons. Seriously for the first time ever all I've needed to buy for a recipe was fresh basil. So money. I love every single one of Ree's recipes, only trouble is she's liberal with both butter and heavy cream. I'm not hating, those ingredients in combination stop my heart and make my stomach sing! Well, make my brain sing. Stomach's can't sing. To lighten up this amazing recipe I used whole wheat penne pasta, cut out the extra fat by skipping the heavy cream and half and half, and topped mine off with a balsamic glaze. I just love balsamic glaze; I don't really care what the dish is, if there's chicken involved it's gonna get showered with glorious glaze. I didn't snap any step by steps because I cannot even begin to compete with Ree's fabulous pictures. Her writing style is so amazing she makes me pee my pants a little every time I read a post of hers. Seriously check out the original recipe; if you aren't worried about the ingredients then by all means use a lot of butta' baby! ;-)

Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

Kitchen Essentials I Couldn't Live Without!

I never have the time effort to make super cool cooking videos for y'all. I wish I was all crafty and into making movies, but I'm just not =/ There are, however, a few tools I would love to share with you. Not literally, I won't be giving away my favorite kitchen items, but pictures I can share. I won't get into basics; a good food processor, colander, knives, spoons, measuring cups, cutting boards, cooking sheet, pots, pans, etc. are all things of common knowledge. Unless you step foot into a restaurant or chef's kitchen, most likely we all have the same basic tools. In addition to those basic tools I've found a few that add a bit of flair to my kitchen, and some basic tools that simply put: make life easier.

To start out I'll show you some items that add flair to my kitchen. These are items my hubs will never understand the point of, if it were up to him everything would be navy blue & khaki. Shoot me, I need color in my life . . . and lots of it!

Campari & Basil Bruschetta

I love Campari tomatoes because they are sweet, plump, juicy, and so easy to chop up! After watching Julie & Julia for the millionth time, yes I know don't judge me, I decided I absolutely needed to have bruschetta on light rye bread. At Albertsons I buy the Wasa brand organic crackers in the light rye flavor. Three (or maybe two?) crackers a serving, with 3 grams of fiber per serving!! Amazing, they're so light and crunchy I just love 'em. For the bruschetta you only need a few simple ingredients, most of which you will already have on hand.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Croissants

Holy Moly. Mega yum here, and so simple too! I won't even bother to get into why I don't love to bake, but I will say I simply adore baked goods. Enter: puff pastry. A true life saver for times when I'm in need of something deliciously fluffy, crisp, and sugary. This is truly a recipe so simple I shouldn't bother even posting it, but I'm sure there is someone out there who might find it useful!

How To: Roasting Garlic

I love garlic. Garlic and I are having a love affair that I keep secret from my husband. Shh, don't tell him!

If you're like me and love (LOVE) garlic then you should definitely know how to roast it! Roasted garlic will turn your butter into something they would serve slathered on a steak at a 5 star restaurant; roasted garlic will also turn simple vinaigrettes and dressings in culinary masterpieces. I had an extra head that I wanted to use up before it went bad, so when I made my BBQ thin crust pizza I sprinkled it with garlic. Yum! Roasted garlic is definitely a great solution for all the heads of garlic you might have bought on sale that you suddenly don't have time to use up. Once it's roasted you can store it in the fridge for at least a week, but it won't last that long ;-)

Potato Love: Gratin Dauphinois

This was an amazing side dish that accompanied grilled chicken and spinach salads for hubby and me. Gratin Dauphinois is French gratin potatoes made with Beaufort cheese (which is French Gruyere) and a lot of heavy cream. I had 5 ounces of Swiss Gruyere and a vision for a healthier version of this fabulous French dish.

For traditional Gratin Dauphinois you would use a lot more butter and there wouldn't be a roux. Instead the butter and cheese is layered throughout the potatoes. I like my cheese ultra creamy so I just made a quick roux, which actually stretches your cheese quite a bit if you don't have enough for all the potatoes! 

Pumpkin Cheesecake and Cinnamon Caramel Sauce

Sounds delicious, right?! It's pretty darn good. My only concern is this turned out more like a creamy pumpkin pie than a cheesecake. It's okay though, that's the first time I've ever made a cheesecake so now I know for next time! So be warned, this is like a creamy pie not a cheesecake. If you want it more like a cheesecake I recommend using more cream cheese and less ricotta.

Marinated Grilled Chicken and Spinach Salad

Oh yes. That's some lovely grilled (I like it more on the charred side . . .) chicken!! I served this over a spinach salad and a side of sweet potato chips. If you're wondering about the color of the sweet potatoes and wondering why they aren't a reddish-orange, that's because there are two types of sweet potatoes. The orange ones are incorrectly labeled as "yams" here in the states. In fact, yams have a very dark skin and purple flesh; here it's regulation to label the yellow and less sweet-sweet potatoes as sweet potatoes, and the dark orange much sweeter sweet potatoes as yams. Get it? Yeah, it's very strange.

Delicious Breakfast Breakdown

I hope you're not tired of my breakfast ideas yet ;-) I calculated all the nutritional info (well, not all like sodium etc.) and I'm here to prove you can have a HUGE, filling, and delicious breakfast while still fitting into those skinny jeans. Okay I had to switch into yoga pants after I ate because I was so full, and I couldn't even finish my food!

Eggs for Dinner

There are some nights where the leftovers have gone away and it's too late to eat anything too heavy like delicious Mexican fast food bean tostadas mmmmm. These are the nights when hubs and I turn to eggs for dinner. Okay, I wont lie. Sometimes we just want eggs for dinner because they're so yummy!

Adobo Fire Roasted Margherita Pizza

Premade dough can be a lifesaver on nights where you want to cook, but don't want to cook for hours and do a lot of prep work. So grab some ready made dough and let's get to it!

No Excuses Breakfast

Give this simple and easy breakfast a shot, I'll even prove how awesome it is by listing the nutritional information.

• 286 calories
• 11.5 grams fat
• 15.7 grams protein
• 31.9 grams carbohydrates
• 8.3 grams fiber

Chicken with Olives, adapted from Pioneer Woman

I saw this recipe posted on Monday over at Pioneer Woman's blog. I love her blog by the way. I seriously laugh out loud with every post, her writing is so comedic and witty. One of my faves ^_^ Well I actually ended up making this on Monday, I had everything but chicken thighs so I ran down to Albertsons and bought boneless skinless organic chicken breasts. Just a little visual for you: right now, as I'm typing this, my hammy hog is snuggled in my bosom tucked in securely by a sports bra taking a nap. She's literally the cutest thing I've ever seen, I hope her teeth grow back in properly =/ Okay, back to the recipe! Grab your skillet and get into the kitchen. Although, if you're already holding the skillet God forbid you're in the bathroom and not the kitchen.

Chicken and Olives:

     adapted from Pioneer Woman 

• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 tablespoon EVOO
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (on the small side, or you can use 2 ginormous breasts. I had a couple bits of chicken thighs leftover from another recipe and threw those in as well!)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
• 28 ounce can San Marzano diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (large) cup dry white wine
• salt + pepper
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 6 garlic stuffed green olives
• 10 ounces whole wheat penne pasta

I followed the exact steps as the original recipe, which can be found here. Check out the original recipe for step by step instructions and fabulous pictures! I'll give you a quick rundown of how I made it, just in case you want to make it using the ingredients I did.

Melt 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken on both sides and set aside. Add the chopped veggies to the skillet and cook until onions are softened. Then add in tomatoes, wine, salt and pepper and chicken.

Cover and transfer to 375 F oven and cook for 45 minutes. I cooked for 30 since my chicken was boneless and skinless.

Add in the cornstarch and water mixture and cook an additional 20 minutes.

Cook and drain your whole wheat pasta (I used some of the "smart tasting" kind that looks white but is whole wheat? yeah, weird) and toss into the mix once everything is cooked. My chicken (since it was already cut into smaller pieces) was falling apart in the sauce and noodles, which I actually liked it was amazing. I served this up with homemade garlic bread, although a side salad would have been the smarter choice ;-)

Sun-dried Tomato & Artichoke Lasagna

Some of you might remember this post from January. Hubby had made us a pasta dish using sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, salami, rigatoni, vodka sauce, and a lot of cheese. We recently recreated this dish making a few adjustments. It came out wonderfully, and I finally have a recipe to share with you!

You will need:

• 9x13 in. casserole dish (3 quarts)
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 52 ounces (2 large jars) Vodka sauce
• 8 ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes (oil drained) chopped
• 14 artichoke hearts, chopped
• 32 ounces Italian cheese blend (we used 2 bags of Kraft cheese)
• pepperoni slices (as many as you want)

Mocha Cream Cheese Phyllo Triangles

A few words: chocolate, coffee, whipped cream cheese, phyllo dough.

Okay, now that you're trying to wrap your mind around that here you go:

Awesome Recipe for Peas! ^_^

When I first saw the post about Philly Peas over at Leslie's blog I died and went straight to pea heaven! I couldn't wait to try them! After a month I finally had all the ingredients and the time and focus to whip them up! I did a modified version of this amazing recipe Healthy & Homemade style! Leslie, you're a genius for making peas your kids want to chow down on!

How to Make Snickerdoodles from a Mix

I'm not one to trust many boxed cake and cookies mixes, but the Betty Crocker sugar cook mixes yields decent results! Now as yummy as plain sugar cookies are, they aren't quite as delicious as snickerdoodles!

Oddly enough I don't have any cream of tartar, but what I do have is a box mix for sugar cookies. I thought I'd give them a whirl rolled in cinnamon sugar and the result way great. 

Hump Day Giveaway *CLOSED*

I have finally gotten around to this giveaway, sorry for the delay! I had trouble thinking of what to give away to one lucky reader. Everyone seems to be here for different reasons whether it's fashion, food, silly writing, or ridiculously cute hamster pictures =P I thought something clothes related would be good but then realized that wouldn't apply to everyone. Then of course I couldn't just do something cooking related either. I thought of Amazon but then my mind wandered and I realized Overstock.com might be best. The prices are low, shipping is super cheap, and the possibilities are endless with that website. You can find anything from shoes, to cookware, to baby gear.

So my lovely readers, this is your chance to enter to win a $25 Overstock.com gift card! There are only a few simple rules to enter, and this giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM PST on Wednesday June 16th.

Croque Monsieur

I'm sure as you all know by now, breakfast is my favorite. I hate getting up early to make it, but something like this is well worth the 2 cups of coffee to get me going! Croque Monsieur (crunchy mister) is a classic French sandwich made easily with Dijon mustard, bread, ham, Gruyere cheese, and butter. There are many ways to make this dish but I wanted to stick with the easy and traditional way for breakfast. To make it more of a breakfast item and less of a lunch or dinner meal I left the sandwiches open and served them with fried eggs. This sandwich can be made elaborately with a bechamel sauce and Gruyere blend. I've also seen them with cheese over the bread to get nicely brown and crunchy. Traditional is usually best in my book, so I stuck with simple grated cheese. Please, no bechamel sauce-making at 7 am.

Now I didn't have any Dijon, so I made up a batch of spicy honey mustard last night. For that, which is quite simple, you only need a few household items that I'm sure are in your pantry. The trick with mustard is letting is sit out. If you mix up the water and ground mustard and stick a spoonful in your mouth it will knock you on your ass. It's serious business. I was perched over a mixing bowl with watery eyes and cleared nasal passages while I was whipping this up. Unfortunately I didn't have a week for it to sit out and mellow before transferring it to the fridge, so it sat out on the counter overnight and then mixed a spoonful of the spicy mustard with plain yellow French's mustard to mellow it out.

Homemade Fast Food in a Flash

These breakfast items will definitely keep your wallet full, as well as your stomach. As much as I love Starbucks or Peets coffee in the morning we've saved hundreds of dollars in a matter or months by brewing our own. I'm fine with a hot cup of coffee and a splash of milk on most workdays, however on the weekends I want something with a little pizazz! Enter: The Magic Bullet. I worked at Rite Aid during college and the Magic Bullet was popular when it first came out; I used my discount to buy one so it only cost $40 or so. I don't use it all that often, the infomercials make it look ridiculously efficient but realistically it's best for really small batches or liquids like milk and cream. I use my Vitamix for everything from making dough to blending smoothies, but it's a bigger pain to clean because of its size. The MB is very compact and only has one speed, when you add warm milk and the whipping blade you'll get a beverage like this:

Spicy Sausage Super Sloppy Joes

Phew! Try to say that 10 times fast. The sloppy joe is an American dish that originated in Key West, Florida. The name of the bar is Sloppy Joe's and it's still there today. Traditionally a sloppy joe consists of ground beef, onions, sweetened ketchup, and other spices. This is my little spin on the sloppy joe using spicy pork sausage.

Chocolate and Almond Cake

I watched Julie & Julia again yesterday and then I wanted to make a cake. I'm really bad, I'll watch the movie once and then start it again right away ^_^ I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am not a baker. I'm also not a fan of adding 1,000 lbs. of butter to something so I used an organic cake mix that I've used in the past. The cake comes out sweet, fluffy, moist, and chocolaty! I also didn't have powdered sugar so I bought the organic chocolate icing to go with. I wanted to make it an chocolate-almond cake like in the movie, so I used an additional 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract in the cake mix and garnished the icing with sliced almonds.

Triple Seasoning Crock Pot Roast

When I first saw this all I could say was "mmm," I assure you after my first sniff I said the same; after my first taste I was in heaven, mmm'ing with every bite that hit my tongue. I saw the recipe on Monica's blog and I knew I just had to make it! I actually have three recipes to share with you tonight. First: crock pot roast beef; second: mashed potatoes with purple kale; third: orange glazed carrots. Thank you Monica for posting such an amazing recipe, I absolutely loved it.

Bell Pepper Egg in the Basket

I made this for breakfast the other day after seeing it in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I think they're delicious, and a great way to get in extra veggies in the morning and cut out the extra carbohydrates. If you're like me you love breakfast food, and egg in the basket (or egg in a hole, birds nest, moon over Miami, cowboy eggs, etc.) was a favorite of mine as a kid and still is today. They can be made with toast, waffles, and even french toast ^_^ If you're totally lost and have no clue what I'm talking about, it's the dish made by making a hole in a slice of bread, frying it up in butter and cracking a whole egg in the toast. Yummo! This is a healthy spin on that already amazing dish. Grab your eggs and lets get cookin!

Fire Roasted Tomato and Watercress Bruschetta

Holy yum! This was the easiest bruschetta I've made and was hands down one of my favorites ^_^

Rocket Pasta and Spicy Sausage Meatballs

Arugula, more commonly known as rocket in other countries, has become more popular recently. Initially quite exotic and native to the Mediterranean you can see it in any grocery store found near the salads. Arugula is tasty, with a peppery flavor that adds life to salads and is wonderful in almost any pasta dish. I was inspired by Rachael Ray (as always) and a recipe I saw her make last week. Preheat your oven and lets get started!

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Tenders

I made buffalo chicken strips for lunch a couple weeks ago; these are delicious and so easy to make you should give them a shot! ^_^

Chicken Satay Lettuce Wraps

I saw these on Rachael Ray the other day and just HAD to try them. If you've been to PF Changs, or some other fancy Chinese bistro, then you've probably seen lettuce wraps on the menu. You've also probably seen the price, which is around $8.00. Okay now, doesn't that seem just a little ridiculous? The appetizer is made from: chicken, lettuce, sauce. Okay seriously, eight bucks?! Chicken, lettuce, sauce. Chicken is extraordinarily cheap (I'm talking $3/pound and that's for chicken breasts, you could use a cheaper cut), lettuce is standard in a kitchen, and the sauces are made from ingredients already in your own pantry. Oh also, they don't even put it together for you! You choose your sauce, the lettuce is separate from the chicken; all the chefs really did was cook the chicken for you. You can get crab wontons (which sound much more complicated) for less money. Nonetheless, you're in luck! I happen to have an amazing recipe for said wraps ^_^

Taco Bar!

Hey there, I hope everyone had a great Cinco de Mayo! I nursed a hangover the majority of today, awesome. The best part of the holiday was definitely the food! We had tacos & beer, okay and tequila. Then I might have also had wine while watching Cougar Town. No big deal, I'm alive.

Spinach and Cheese Frittatas

I've been wanting to make these for breakfast for a while now. Unfortunately, my husband is rarely home in the morning and neither am I. Since I had Monday off, I figured it would be nice for him to come home and have a hearty healthy breakfast.

Garlic Stuffed Olive Spread

My awesomely gorgeous friend A came over on Tuesday to watch Glee. We headed down to the market for snacks and she (being pregnant) came up with an odd but delicious combo! A made little roll ups from spicy salami, whipped cream cheese, and garlic stuffed green olives. It was so delicious. I made a spread using capers, whipped cream cheese, and garlic stuffed olives and slapped it on some bread. The flavor was fine, but I honestly think it would be MUCH better to get large (or really any size) slices of a salty dried meat and wrap them around this spread. The meat really goes well with the salty tangy flavor the olives have, and the sweet creamy consistency of the cheese.