intervention

Well its a new year.... and you know what that means! Everyone is back on their diet. This year I decided I didn't want to make a diet resolution, I wanted to make a healthy resolution. I want to be healthy. I want to be fit. I want to weigh what I weighed when I got married..... 2 and a half years ago. It was NOT that long ago, how have I gained this much weight?!?! Oh... I know how, I was eating bite for bite with my stick figure husband. Damn his metabolism!!!! So while he went to work every day and performed manual labor to sweat off what he ate last night, I set on my butt answering phones and typing binders. When I went out into the PR world last summer I thought, "Here's my chance, I can move around all day, I can resist snacking by not eating in the car, I can get up and walk around the neighborhood in the mornings since I no longer have a 45 minute commute to work." And I did all of those things..... and I gained weight. GAINED WEIGHT!!!!!!! OHHHH MYYYYY GOSHHHHH!!!

I was mad and I gave up, convincing myself that this is who I am and I'm happy. But the truth is this is not me, and I'm not happy. I mean I have never been that girl who could eat whatever she wanted and still be thin, actually I've never been "thin" but I have been healthy and a decent size before. That is all I want.

So it started small, cut out cokes and tea. Only water and lowcal milk. Easy enough. Then step two, portion control, no more second helpings!!! Little harder. Step three, actually start counting calories. Which is where the sneaky part came in. Making a little bit of food into a lot of food by adding fruits and veggies. That was easy.

In between all of this I was reading, reading and reading about what all my body needs and how many calories I need a day to lose a pound a week. I found lots of inspiration on youtube, seeing ACTUAL people with an actual need to lose weight, actually lose it. That helped a lot. Not seeing some skinny ho on the nutrisystem commercials with before pics that may or may not of been her telling me that I'm a fatty.

Now I've lost 6 pounds and I'm really starting to get excited about it. Almost instantly my face cleared up, as I had been a victim of dietary rosacea for a while. I knew exactly what was wrong with my face, but when people would ask why my cheeks were so red I would blame it on me being hot or sunburned. It was embarrassing to say, "I'm all flushed looking cause I eat pure crap".

One of my main reasons for not eating healthy was, "It's hard to be on a diet and feed your husband too, he isn't satisfied with a lean cuisine and a salad for dinner." Which is true, but this time I wasn't going to let that stop me. Now there have been nights when I had a grilled chicken salad and he dined on a chicken quesadilla AND chicken nuggets, but those are few and far between. He has been very supportive and even joked with me that, "Just because you're on a diet doesn't mean I am" as he tried my new slim version of a once calorie laden dinner.

I said all of this to say, I know I am not alone. So I am going to put this culinary brain to work and come up with some man pleasing dinners that are easy on the waistline.

The first being, taco salad. BIG on taste, BIG on portion, small on calories! And the best part, you stay full for hours, and I mean HOURS, like eat for dinner and go to sleep and wake up still full. That's what I'm talking about!!!

Taco Salad
recipe by me

cook a pound of ground turkey and then season it with taco seasoning like normal.

lay out a bed of lettuce

mix 1/2 cup of each of the following: turkey taco meat, fat free refried beans, brown rice - and kinda spread it out over the lettuce.

top with 1/4 cup of kraft fat free cheese

top with 1/4 cup rotel

top with 2 tablespoons light sour cream

sprinkle 1/2 of an avocado, diced over that

~~~~~

Now I forgot to take a picture, but this took up an entire plate and was mounded way up high. So so so good! All for 585 calories!!! It is full of protein, which keeps you fuller longer. Don't be afraid of the ground turkey, once it is seasoned and mixed with all of this, you can't tell a difference.

Now I'm off to step four.... THE GYM!! :D

Summer Time

Tonight we are going to an outdoor dinner and were asked to bring "something". I racked my brain over what to bring, I read recipes, I went through cook books and finally it hit me. I wanted something cool, summery and refreshing. I'm making a fruit trifle.


Everthing about this trifle screams summer. From its airy pudding and easy preperation to its chilled trifle dish and sweet fruits.... ahhh yes - SUMMER!

Summer Trifle
recipe by me

one store bought angel food cake
7 kiwis
1 mango
1 package of strawberries
1 small pack of Jello instant pudding, white chocolate
1 small container cool whip
mini chocolate chips

cut all of the fruit into little bite size pieces, sprinkle with sugar, toss and put into the fridge so they can make a syrup amongst themselves. make the pudding and put it in the fridge to "pudding up". go play on the internet or watch tv or accidently fall asleep. wake up - cube the angel food cake into bite size pieces into the bottom of a trifle dish and gently press them into an even layer. top with the fruit salad and make that layer even as well. top with a thin layer of mini chocolate chips. now whisk in about half the cool whip with the pudding and pour over the top, smoothing out with a rubber spatula. decorate with a ring of mini chocolate chips an a sprig of mint if desired. cover with plastic wrap and chill until you are ready to enjoy!

Platinum Chef, Challenge 7.... Mother's Day Edition

I actually dubbed it mother's day edition because the recipe I came up with that used the five ingredients I considered to be "girly" and even though my husband would of probably eaten it..... it was more fun to have a girls luncheon.

Ok - down to business....

Platinum Chef was started by Cara @ Cara's Cravings. It is a spin off from the Food Network show "Iron Chef" where the chefs are given one secret ingredient and have to come up with multiple dishes all featuring that one ingredient.... and they only have one hour. You try making dessert out of shrimp!!! Or whatever the secret ingredient is that day. Cara made it a little easier for us bloggers. She set out 5 ingredients and gave a couple of weeks for everyone who wanted to play, perfect their dish(es) and submit it (them). The most recent winner is Danielle @ Make No Little Meals. That means that she gets a turn to host the event which entails picking the ingredients, having the dishes submitted to her and then the most important part, selecting the winner.



Her five ingredients were -

Bok Choy
Panko
Mint
Yogurt
Mango











Side note - I had a bad shopping experience that thankfully didn't affect my meal too much. My mint was a little wilty, I wanted really small shrimp and all they had was 21/30 count (which ended up being perfect), the mango wasn't fully ripe on one side and the bean sprouts had turned into a wormy mush. I could salvage the mint and mango but the bean sprouts were trash.

My first thought when reading the ingredients was "lamb" because mint and lamb go together so well. But I had never cooked lamb and it is rather expensive to buy around here. So I went back to the drawing board. Since the bok choy is a popular Chinese vegetable and panko is a Japanese bread flake, I chose an Asian theme. But.... that just helped me with the theme. I needed an actual dish. After much thought, I decided to go the summery route and make a salad.

I present to you, my Platinum Chef submission:

Bok Choy Salad with Mango Mint Dressing and Shrimp "Croutons"

Let's start with the dressing. Which by the way I think would be excellent to dip chicken fingers in. It was so summery and light and sweet but with a tiny kick of spice. I honestly was not expecting it to be as great as it was.



the ingredients are -

1 cup plain yogurt
juice and flesh of one mango
1 oz of mint leaves (about half a cup)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sweet hot mustard





Dump everything into a blender and use the "liquefy" button to turn it into a dressing. I did this the night before and let all the flavors party in the fridge.

See how delicious this dressing looks!!!

For the shrimp, I used a store bought Sesame Ginger marinade and let them soak overnight (peels and tails removed). I must say that I am not too fond of Asian marinades that contain mandarin orange, and actually did not know this one even contained it until I got home. I was a little apprehensive to use it, but after I tasted it, I must say this is my new favorite marinade for shrimp. It really compliments the taste of shrimp!







To turn the shrimp into croutons, I toasted one teaspoon of sesame seeds.





I combined the toasted sesame seeds with 1/2 cup panko, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder and 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper.







From there, take the shrimp straight out of the marinade and dredge them in the panko mixture. Really press it into the shrimp.









Drop them one by one into hot vegetable oil and fry for about 30 seconds each. It really does not take long at all to fry shrimp! You don't want them to be overcooked and chewy.

Now the fun part - putting it all together!!! I plated up one head of chopped bok choy leaves, which perfectly served two people.

Topped that with fun asian inspired ingredients such as - chopped water chestnuts, diced red, green and yellow bell peppers, chopped carrots, enoki mushrooms, and crunchy rice noodles.

And for the finishing touch on my Platinum Chef submission, I spooned the dressing onto the salad and topped with the shrimp croutons. It looked amazing and the taste was equally amazing!

Cinco! Cinco de Mayo!!!

I've been singing that all day, to the tune of I Dream of Jeanie.

Thank you for joining me on this awesome Cinco de Mayo! I have great news, but I can't unveil it just yet.... stay tuned. I should be able to tell you either tomorrow or Wednesday. Here, have some salsa while you wait!



Meanwhile, I would like for you all to notice how hard I have been working on my photography. I think if you go look at the beginning of my blog and then today's post you will really see a difference.

Tonight was allllll about our friends from South of the border. On this day, I like to sit and wonder...... I am here in America eating salsa and drinking coronas and singing my newly composed cinco de mayo song. On the fourth of July will there be senoritas sitting in Mexico eating french fries and drinking bud light and singing a song they made up about our Independence Day?

Another one of my favorite American - Spanish questions to ponder is, "Do they have peso trees like we have dollar trees?" Because I do love the dollar tree, although I have to be in the mood for it.

FUN FACT - my everyday dishes are from the dollar tree. Hey, scoff if you want but I love 'em!

Now let's get back to business. Tonight's meal was Mexican Hamburgers with guacamole and salsa. YUM!!



I made a Cilantro-Lime Mayo to smear on the buns. Take two nice scoops of mayo, stir in juice from half a lime and chopped cilantro. Just go by taste on the cilantro, I happen to like a lot, but if you don't then only use a little.





For the Guacamole I cubed one avocado, drizzled it with the juice from half a lime, added 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and forked in Ro*Tel salsa a little at a time until it reached the consistency I like - still a little chunky.





The Mexican Hamburgers were also easy. One pound of ground beef, 2 tbspns of the recently posted Mexican seasoning and the juice from.... you guess it, half a lime! Mix it all together and let it chill in the fridge for an hour or two. Form into 4 patties and grill.

I glazed them with a Smoky Chipotle Sauce right before they were finished grilling, so the sauce would set, instead of being runny.

1/3 cup ketchup
1 T mustard
1 T oil
1 T vinegar
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
2 chipotle chilies, seeded and chopped
3 t adobo sauce

whisk all together and heat in a sauce pan. keep warm until ready to glaze your meat.



The finished product?? Maravilloso, como siempre!

when life hands you limes...

then you know it is almost time for Cinco de Mayo!!

I am extra excited this year for Cinco de Mayo because it is the first year that we won't be making tacos at home or going to our favorite local mexican dive. Nope - this year I am cooking the Cinco de Mayo dinner! I have been planning out my recipe all week long and am just chomping at the bit to get out there and put it all together!

We went to the grocery store today and bought the ingredients for the dinner. I keep going into the kitchen and re-checking to make sure they are all still there. I don't think I've been this excited about making a meal since Thanksgiving!

I decided to go ahead and make my mexican seasoning, in an attempt to get a "fix" until the real thing! Sure, you can buy taco seasoning, but why? I'm sure most everyone has the ingredients in their pantry to put it together, and it is more fun this way!

Let's get started!

Mexican Seasoning
recipe by me

1 tbspn chili powder
1/4 tspn garlic powder
1/4 tspn onion powder
1/4 tspn ground red pepper
1/4 tspn oregano
1/4 tspn dried cilantro
1/4 tspn marjoram
1/2 tspn paprika
2 tspn cumin
1 tspn course ground salt

measure everything into a ziploc baggie, close and give a good shake. label it and make sure it is all used up within 6 months. 2 tbspns will season 1 pound of ground beef

Date Night <3

Our date night this week consisted of quite a few things. I washed the sheets and some clothes, we worked on finishing the downstairs room, we wandered outside where we had an impromptu weed pulling session, we saw someone we knew and stopped to talk, we met someone new, we wandered back into the house and finally at 8 pm decided to start dinner and watch a movie. The movie - Ocean's 11. The dinner - easily an 11 out of 10.

This was by far one of the easiest dinners I have ever made and probably one of the best tasting. If you time it just right and don't count the time it takes your oven to preheat, this dinner takes about 15 minutes - 5 minutes prep time and 10 minutes cooking time.


First up, let me introduce you to someone I met at the beach, who is now one of my new best friends. It is basil garlic fedelini pasta and can be found at Harry and David's. Well worth ordering online and paying S&H if there is not a Harry and David's near you. Which is what I will be doing when this 12 ounce well runs dry. But what to put on it?? My first idea was a simple infused olive oil, since the pasta is already flavored. But that would be kind of plain. This pasta deserved a nice sauce. So I though on it all week and remembered something I saw a while back when I was trying to do weight watchers.....



Laughing Cow cheese sauce. It is supposed to be a lighter and healthier mock alfredo sauce. I modified my recipe a little bit, because I was out of parmesan.
3 wedges LC creamy swiss
2 tblspn butter
a soup spoon of roasted garlic sauce OR real garlic
1/2 cup milk
heat the butter, cheese and garlic sauce together until the cheese breaks down. whisk in the milk and heat until it starts to thicken.


For the protein of the meal, I chose tilapia. I wanted a simple and quick way to prepare it, so I chose to bake it.
***TIP***did you know that when you bake fish you should always preheat your pan? I did not until just recently. If you pan is preheated then it will sear the fish when you set it on the pan, keeping the juices from running out while you bake it. it really works, too!
For the topping, I melted 2 tblspns butter with 1 tblspn lemon juice and mixed it with 1/3 cup italian bread crumbs. Spoon it onto the fish and lightly press it into the flesh. Bake at 425* for 10 minutes.



It plated up so beautifully and tasted equally amazing. It was an absolute perfect dinner. Nothing needed tweaking at all. The swiss sauce complimented the pasta perfectly. The addition of lemon in the breading gave the fish exactly what it needed.

And then it happened...

I have an intense fear of moths. Pretty much any insect that flies, and some that don't, I am completely terrified of. So imagine my horror when I looked up at our big living room window and saw THIS -


Thank goodness it was on the other side of the window! This thing was massive, bigger than my hand! And that tail..... ughhhh that tail! It was two leaf like pieces and it moved them separately. I feel confident in saying that if I had of been outside and that evil thing had of flown up to me I would of died right there on the spot.

every rose has it's thorn - just like every flip has it's flop

Sorry - Bret Michaels is on don't forget the lyrics and I can't stop singing this song.

My point is that tonight was a flip - flop kind of dinner. The "pilaf" was a flop, but I put a flip on the traditional hamburger steak. A sweet, smoky flip. (which also gave me this great idea for dinner on cinco de mayo!) It turned out great! I also succeed at making brown gravy. I don't know what I was so afraid of, it's just like making sawmill gravy.

Smoky Hamburger Steaks
recipe by me

1 pound ground meat
2 tblspn roasted garlic mustard - or plain with 1 clove minced garlic
2 tblspn worcestershire
1 tblspn balsamic vinegar
1/2 tspn cumin

mix everything together and let it marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours. form into 3 patties and pan cook until no longer pink.

what was your first?

Potato cakes were among the first things I ever made. Sauteed onions were also around in the beginning. There is just something about sauteing an onion when you are 5 that makes you think you rule the world. Staying the night at meme's always meant two things - unlimited food network consumption and potato cakes.

Now that I am a little older and know how to decide what add ins will be good for a dish, I have expanded on the traditional potato cake. Although, the basic recipe is still pretty awesome in my book. Bradley has never eaten one and I always say I'm going to make them but we never have left over mashed potatoes. Truth be told, anything made from a potato in this house isn't going to be here long. I used my 45 minute drive home from work yesterday to think about all the things that I love to put on my baked potato and came up with this recipe -

Loaded Potato Cakes
recipe by me

2 cups left over creamed/mashed potatoes - still cold
4 strips of bacon
1/4 - 1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 cup your favorite cheese
1 tbl spn flour
1 egg, beaten
your favorite breading - i used a flour cornmeal mix with special spices
oil for frying

cook the bacon and crumble it into the potatoes. add the onions to the bacon grease and let them become translucent, drain them from the grease and add to the potatoes. stir in the cheese, flour and egg.

heat a pot of oil.

take a spoon full of the potato mixture and form a ball shape , roll it in your breading and drop into the hot oil. cook until golden brown.

~~~~~

Part 2 of 2

The meal is complete. Although, I don't think it has a better name. I really really really enjoyed it, I think Bradley just really enjoyed it, he didn't like that the onions still crunched. In his world, all veggies should be mush.

We both love pesto. It was so good! I purposefully fixed our plates to leave enough behind for my lunch today.

Preparation was not hard at all. Excluding the marination process, it took about 45 minutes. It could of been less, but at first I didn't think of multi tasking. It is also a 2 pan meal. One for the pasta and one for the steak and veggies.

Speaking of the marination process, mine really hit the nail on the head. The steak was so full of flavor and no one taste stood out above the rest. They all meshed very well, which made me smile. That is now my go to marinade. I have to buy more roasted garlic dressing....

Let's get started with the tutorial!

Steak with Pesto Pasta
recipe by me

one steak, your choice of cut and weight, fully marinated and brought to room temperature
your favorite house seasoning
1 tblspn olive oil
2 tblspn butter
1 & 1/2 cup dry pasta - i used penne
8 tblspns pesto sauce (or whatever equivalent that is)
1/4 cup parmesan
white wine
8 oz your favorite mushrooms (i used baby bella)
1/2 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 - 2 cloves of garlic, minced


bring a pot of salted and oiled water to a boil and boil your pasta for 10 to 12 minutes. drain and return to the pot. stir together with the pesto and the parmesan and set aside.










While the water is boiling for the pasta, heat your butter and oil in a large heavy skillet. rub both sides of your steak with your preferred house seasoning, i used herbes de provence, they are my favorite at the moment. get the pan nice and smoky hot and lay your steak flat on it. i cooked mine for 15 minutes, only turning once. this put it right about medium rare in the middle and more of a medium well on the ends. perfect for the two of us. when you are finished cooking, set it on a plate and let the juices re-distribute. DON'T CUT INTO IT YET! that ruins the tenderness.



now that the steak is finished, turn the heat down and let's de-glaze the pan to get all those yummy pieces un-stuck to it. pour a little white wine into the pan and rub the bottom of it. add the onions and let them start to break down. when they are almost finished caramelizing, throw in the mushrooms and garlic. they don't take nearly as long.






Aren't those mushrooms beautiful?? All that is left to do now is plate it up! I put the pasta on one side of the dish, topped it with the mushrooms and onions and fanned out slices of the steak beside it. a very easy and simple dish that tastes like it took you hours to prepare!

A MAN EATING FISH!

Yes, that is what I saw tonight. A man eating fish, and he really liked it!!

ha ha!! hee hee! haaa..... ha.....huh....hoooooooo kay, you didn't find it funny....

MOVING ON!

I went on a tilapia buying spree earlier this year and there is a ton if it in my freezer. It wasn't until my freezer became so in need of a re-stocking that I realized how much was left! I have been wanting to broil fish lately and now was my chance. So I created a simple baste for the fish, stuck them under the broiler for 8 minutes and voila! Dinner in under ten! Top THAT Rachel Ray!!!

Broiler Fish
by me

2 tilapia fillets
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons olive oil



mix the spices and cheese together and then drizzle in the olive oil. mix well with a fork and let sit for ten to fifteen minutes so all the flavors can get to know each other










from there, line a cookie sheet with foil and set your fillets on it. spoon the mixture on top, try and make sure most of it stays on the fish. you can add more parmesan on top if desired. then, pop it under the broiler for 8 minutes.

Dinner is served!
















PS - if you are married to one of those guys that will eat roasted grape tomatoes topped with feta and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.... that would go perfectly with this fish!!!

something old meets something new

Tonight I decided to try cooking something that I was supposed to cook for the Platinum Chef competition that I lazied out on. I tried cooking leeks.

When I told Bradley what I was doing, he asked what a leek was. I showed it to him and his face fell. I knew what he was thinking so I reassured his onion hating self that, "they aren't nearly as strong as an onion. just be open minded." He was. He described this dish as "excellent". I really loved them, too. It was a sweet and savory mix that was oh so good.

Leeky Potatoes
by me

8 small red potatoes (slightly larger than new potatoes)
1 leek
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper



heat the butter and oil in a large skillet. stir in the red pepper and the rosemary and heat for at least 5 minutes to infuse the oil. i actually added the garlic at this point and i knew better than that, my garlic burnt. please do not make my mistake. do as i type, not as i do.











wash your potatoes and cut a small piece of each end off. then cut them in half long ways and slice them into half moons. make sure all your slices are about the same size so they will cook evenly. (the pieces with the flesh showing are the end pieces i cut off)








crank the heat up to about medium and let the pan get a little smoky. arrange the potatoes in a single layer and cook, tossing and stirring every few minutes.


prepare the leek by cutting the green end and the woody bit on the white end off and discarding. from there, cut the leek in half long ways, and then into half moons.











once the potatoes start to turn golden brown, stir in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. then sprinkle on the leeks and cook just until they become limber. if you overcook them, they turn to mush and aren't good at all.

salt and pepper to your liking, give it one last stir - and plate it up!!!

Part 1 of 2

Today at work a recipe came to me. I have been wanting to try pesto, but hear how expensive it can be to make. Not even knowing if I will like it or if one of us will be allergic to something in it combined with the fact that I'm kind of on a budget right now led me to trying a jarred pesto before venturing out to make it on my own. Wouldn't you know it, publix had their classico jarred sauces on sale this week. I trust classico, so I purchased.

The recipe I wrote is called "Steak with Pesto Pasta". I know, I know... bad title. Maybe after I eat it a better name will emerge. Until then - ya gotta live with this one.



Part one is allllll about the marinade! I picked up a 1.25 pound top sirloin steak for only $8 at publix.











I also bought one of their "go green" shopping bags for $0.99 and the bag boy fit all $35 of my groceries in there. Including a 3 pound bag of potatoes..... it was a long walk to the car!! But I loved it. The pretty heather green color of the bag matched my shirt. As I walked to my 4 cylinder car, sunglasses on head.... flip flops on feet.... I felt so deliciously hippy!!

Back to the meat - I originally planned to make this dish tonight but then decided to let my steak marinade a full 24 hours so it would be really flavor full. That way, if the pesto pasta is a flop.... the dinner won't be a total loss!

I love to marinate steaks with mustard. Not only does it tenderize, it also adds a great element of flavor. I usually use course ground dijon, but recently ran out. While browsing the mustard aisle I found horseradish mustard. It appealed to both my love of mustard AND love of spicy things.

I really do love mustard. It's like the perfect condiment! I always have no less then 3 different kinds in my fridge. I love it almost as much as I love cheese, and that's saying something!

This is my newly revised steak marinade.

Steak Marinade
by me

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup moore's sauce
2 tblspn roasted garlic dressing (mine is from harry and davids, but any kind will do)
2 tblspn horseradish mustard
generous helping of fresh coarsely ground black pepper
nice pinch of kosher salt

whisk everything together. put meat in a gallon ziploc bag, pour marinade over meat, press out all the air, zip the bag, place in fridge until you are ready to cook the meat.

~~~~~


stay tuned...

Best Macaroni and Cheese.... EVER

For evah-evah, for real, bar none, that fat lady has sang, say good night barn "goodnight barn" - in other words, stop trying because I have mastered it!

There is an on-going joke in this house that if something is really good, then you better enjoy it because chances are if it just came out of my head I will never be able to make it again. I just get so excited and start throwing things into the mix and at the end I'm left wondering what the actual ingredients were.

So I have made a conscious effort to start writing while I cook, and boy am I glad I did. I will be the first one to say "I hate home made mac and cheese". Blame it on the fact that growing up mama always cooked velveeta cheesey shells so that was just what I was use to. With home made mac, you don't have that great drippy melty over processed cheese flavored sauce, and that was my favorite part!! I knew there had to be a way to bring creamy and cheesey (through and through, not just on top) to the home made mac and cheese, and I found it. For this certain recipe I used cheddar and gouda. But that is just because we had cheddar and gouda in the fridge. Today there is colby, monterrey jack and butterkase in the fridge and I would also recommend those cheeses, it is really just whatever you have on hand.

So here it is.... without further adieu..... the world's best macaroni and cheese, cross my heart and hope to die.

World's Best Macaroni and Cheese
recipe by me

3/4 cup elbow mac - season your boiling water with 1/4 tspn salt
1 tblspn butter
2 eggs
1 & 1/2 cup milk
1/2 tspn salt
1 tblspn flour
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded gouda (if you use smoked gouda, the end result will have a "bacon-y" taste)
3 triangles laughing cow, swiss - sliced (i would stick to always using swiss)

boil your noodles in the salted water. preheat your oven to 350* and use it to melt the butter in a medium casserole dish. whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and flour in a large mixing bowl. stir in the cheeses. when the noodles are finished, drain them and put them into the mixing bowl with the cheese mixture, stir around until the heat starts to melt the cheeses a little. pour it all into the dish with the melted butter, and sprinkle a little extra cheddar on top. bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes, or until the center is no longer liquid.

~~~~~

Be prepared to get the urge to cry, sing, laugh, moan with pleasure, and possibly even the desire to slap yo mama! IT'S THAT GOOD!

Vinegar: It's what's for dinner!

Sort of! As I mentioned in the last post, warm weather means you can find the two of us by the grill - chatting while dinner slowly cooks. It is a great way to catch up and wind down after a long day at work.

One of my favorite things for Bradley to grill are porkchops. Bradley has become very open minded in his eating, but he still won't let me mess with what he grills. It is "his territory". That's fine! But this marinade is so simple and so delicious that I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to try it!

Balsamic Blast Marinade for Chicken and Pork
recipe by me

Balsamic Vinegar
Course ground dijon mustard

mix equal parts and whisk together until mixture is soupy. pour over your meat and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. cook however you like, but i grilled mine :)

~~~~~

Creative Casserole

Last summer I developed an unhealthy obsession for hash brown casserole, and once I figured out I could make it.... oh, it was on! We were eating it once a week. Great for the waistline... I know! I could make a meal out of it myself, but Bradley needed something to satisfy his carnivorous tooth.

During the summer months I can't keep Bradley away from the grill. One of his favorite things to grill is chicken. One afternoon when I wanted hash brown casserole and he groaned at the thought of eating it again, I had the idea of adding meat to the casserole. We had all this left over grilled chicken, so I thought.... why not? And from that simple thought came this great recipe!

Chicken Hash Brown Casserole
recipe by me!

1-2 cups of chicken, shredded
equal amount of shredded potatoes
1 can "cream of anything" soup (i used potato and mushroom this time)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ranch powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
ritz crackers, crushed
poppy seeds

preheat oven to 350*. in a large mixing bowl combine everything and then dump it into a casserole dish and spread it out evenly. top with crushed ritz and top that with poppy seeds. bake for an hour or until the ritz turn golden brown.

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what do YOU see?

I am constantly bringing home something new for the kitchen. Whether it be something to cook with or something to dish it up in or something to just set there and look pretty. I am particularly fond of anything solid glass. In fact, I have two cabinets devoted to nothing but glass. I have pilsner glasses, juice glasses, tea glasses, shot glasses, martini glasses.... well, you get the idea. My most recent glass adoption was a 5 piece set of some very odd bowls. Bradley just does not understand my obsession. He always asks, "Now... what are you gonna do with that???". And my response is almost always the same, "I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it". That usually quiets him up long enough for me to prepare something delicious to eat out of it, and then he gives it the "okay" to stick around the Webb house.

But I think I know what his problem is. He can't see outside the box. You see, when he looks at those very odd bowls, he just see this -



But, when I look at those very same odd bowls..... I see this -



I have the "foodie" mind set :) Call it a gift!!!

Semi-Homemade Dessert
recipe by me

4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups mascarpone cheese
Store bought cream puffs
Strawberries
Mini Chocolate Chips

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the mascarpone and vanilla until well combined.
Fill the bottom of your dish with the mascarpone mixture and fit 3 cream puffs around it. Cut the stem off a strawberry and split it open, place one slice between each puff, flesh side facing inwards. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips

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Now, obviously the mascarpone mixture makes way more than you need for 4 single serve desserts. So stay tuned and I'll show you what to do with the rest of it.

I love it when great things just come to me!

I've made lasagna once in my lifetime, and it was because I lost a bet. It was the UA UF game where Prothro got so badly injured and bama still freakin' won. I had bet on Florida and since Alabama won - I had to cook lasagna for the first time ever. I remember it fondly, like it was yesterday....... it was pretty good! I was still in my beginning stages of experimenting with cooking and from what I remember I pretty much just winged the whole recipe. I have also always been a type of person that wanted to prove people wrong. Not that anyone ever told me "You can't cook lasagna", but everyone raved about how hard and expensive it was to make and I thought "No it isn't" and made it!

But I haven't made it since. I don't know why! Stop asking! But Tuesday I was reading over some lasagna recipes and replaying the memory in my head of my first lasagna and it came to me. Lasagna casserole! Now, I know, I didn't make that up. But I feel confident that I made up this certain recipe, maybe just not the name :)


Lasagna Casserole
recipe by me!

1 pound ground round, or any hamburger - that's just my fave
2 links Italian sausage - your favorite flavor, I used hot
1 - 2 cloves of minced garlic, depending on how much you love garlic
can of diced tomatoes, I used garlic and onion
small can of tomato sauce, I used basil, garlic and oregano
can of tomato paste, I used basil, garlic and oregano
2 tablespoons of parsley
1 tablespoon of savory seasoning
2 cans of sliced mushrooms, drained
1/8 to 1/4 cup of red wine
container of crumbled feta, I used a mix of tomato basil and garlic herb
mozzarella slices
4 dry cups of small shell pasta
finely grated Parmesan
bread crumbs
Italian seasoning

Remove the sausage from its casing and crumble in into a hot pan. Add the hamburger and garlic. Cook completely. Either drain off the excess fat or soak it up with napkins like I do. Dump in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and mix it all together. Then add the spices, mushrooms and wine and mix that together. Let it simmer for 20 to 30 to however many minutes you might have. In the mean time, boil your baby shells. Then get ready to start layering!
Preheat your oven to 350*
I used a corning ware medium sized oval for this dish and almost ran out of room. So if you have a large one, I would use that. I don't so I had to make do and add it to my wish list.
The first layer is just a little bit of sauce. The second layer is about half the pasta. The third layer is the feta cheese. The fourth layer is a good layer of sauce. The fifth layer is mozzarella slices (as much as you want) and if you have any feta left over you want to sprinkle on that go for it. The sixth layer is a little more sauce. The seventh layer is the remaining pasta. The eighth layer is the remaining sauce.
Now for the topping. Dust the top with the Parmesan, you can use the kind in the shaker, I won't tell. Then dust that with bread crumbs. Then sprinkle Italian Seasoning on top of that.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

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This may sound intimidating, but it is so NOT! Most of my time cooking was spent out in the yard socializing with the neighbors. Once you brown the meat and get the sauce going, you don't have to watch it. Once you layer it and put it in the oven, you don't have to watch it. It makes itself! Just don't tell my husband that, haha!

I used feta because I am not a fan of ricotta, blech! Can't stand it. But if you like ricotta more, than use that. I didn't put salt in the sauce because I knew the feta was going to be plenty salty. So if you use ricotta or cottage cheese, then you might want to add salt to the sauce.

This served 3 the first night we ate it, and I think we all got seconds. The second night we ate it, which was even better, it served 2 and we both had seconds and there was still enough for 2 more servings! BIG casserole! Perfect if family is coming over! Make it the night before through the layering process and refrigerate. When you are ready for dinner, add the topping and bake!

Entertaining Gran

Bradley had a tradition with his grandmother that every Christmas the two of them would go to Red Lobster and dine on shrimp scampi and that would be his gift to her. It is one of her favorites and Bradley, much like me, loves all things seafood. A couple of Christmas' ago he was short on cash and decided to make scampi himself and have her over. It was actually our first Christmas back together and of course I was invited. Our company had paid for all of us to get the flu vaccination that day and I felt like complete crap, I went straight from work to the recliner in his living room and dozed in and out of consciousness. Well, he wasn't having the best day either. He had to stay late at work which meant dinner wasn't going to be ready on time, and the recipe he had found online from a "copy cat" website, left much to be desired. I think it went something like, "wine butter lemon and shrimp - bake at 400 degrees". I couldn't help him because of the whole dead to the world thing, and it was too late to find a new recipe, so we ate tough, tasteless shrimp and have joked about it ever since.

The following Valentine's Day, I decided to really wow him. We had just gotten engaged and were all in love and instead of him spending money taking me out, I wanted to show him how grateful I was to have him as a Valentine for the rest of my life. So our menu was simple: Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon with Burgundy mushrooms (which was special because it was the first dish I ever cooked for him), twice baked potatoes, salad, bruschetta and... shrimp scampi. I made it with jumbo shrimp and we each had 3 shrimp with our steak. It was divine, it was delightful, it was.... now my job to prepare the shrimp scampi every Christmas. Since our kitchen had been packed since Thanksgiving and we didn't get it unpacked until after new year's, Gran's Christmas present was a little belated.

I had spent almost a week researching scampi recipes and picking what I thought were the best qualities of each of them, to make into one ultimate recipe. I found that the one key ingredient was good wine. You could not skimp on the white wine. There are a million variations of white wine out there, so I just began reading labels until I found one that fit the dish.

It is hard to measure each ingredient because this is a dish that you need to tailor to the amount of guests you are having - in other words... do not get mad when you see the recipe.

I never thought I would be doing this, but here goes...

DeLa's Shrimp Scampi
recipe by me

enough shrimp for all your guests
olive oil
salt n pepper
minced garlic
chopped green onions
white wine
fresh lime juice

Let's start with the wine selection. I spent Thursday night in the wine section of a food giant reading labels and let me just say, unless you want wine in a box or arbor mist.... find some where else to get your wine. Finally I picked up a riesling and started reading it, the first sentence grabbed me and I threw it into my buggy, "Lemon and lime will leap from your glass.....". Well we need the tastes of both in this dish! Once I got home and kept reading, it added that it was the perfect addition to "prawns hot off the grill". Is that the perfect wine for this dish or what?!
Of course you have to make sure it is good, because we all know that you should never cook with a wine that you would not drink...


Mmmm, yes, perfect.

Now you need to clean your shrimp. For the three of us, I bought 2 pounds of medium sized shrimp. I would prefer that they be de-veined and peeled, but again... I was at Food Giant. Just give them a good rinse


Peel them how you like and toss them into a large skillet.


You could leave the tails on for an added "vacation feel", but I chose not to this time.

Drizzle with olive oil, just enough to slightly cover each one, you don't want it to be too oily.


Then sprinkle kosher salt (or any kind of salt) and fresh ground pepper on the top - to your liking. Once you have enough, jump in hands first and toss them around making sure that each one gets a little bit of all three ingredients.

The next two ingredients are also very important - the garlic and green onions.


I know what some of you are saying, "I don't like to bite into an onion". Well, I promise that in this dish you won't. In fact, you have to actually hunt for an onion to eat in the sauce because they do not stick to the shrimp. The onions add flavor and color and that's it. No crunch, so onion haters - please do not omit them!

I roughly chopped about 3 green onions and minced a clove of garlic and threw them right on top of the shrimp.


Now, add the wine. You just want enough to reach the middle of your pile of shrimp, not enough to float them around.


Give it a good stir to get the garlic and onions covered in the wine, too.

Here comes the time where you can just walk away. Let them soak for 30 minutes or just however long you've got.

Once you've finished letting them soak, set the skillet on the eye, turn it on about medium and do a constant stir while they are cooking. You want to keep moving them around so they all cook evenly.

Once they are all pink, remove the skillet from the eye and squeeze a lime over them.


Give the dish another good stir to blend in the lime juice... and there you have it. A perfect shrimp scampi.