New recipes

This is very over do! I've done some cooking here and there with mostly new recipes and wanted to share my thoughts! (All pictures are from the original recipe websites linked below)

A month or so ago I tried a new crock pot recipe from my Southern Living crock pot book - Sweet Glazed Chicken. Honestly it was pretty average and I likely wouldn't make again, although that could be because I served it with rice and I don't so much love rice... Neither Mike nor I are fans of sweet sauce on meat (unless it's bbq!) but for some reason it just sounded good to me. Ah well, it was a home cooked meal! Live and learn. It was super easy and quick to prepare though so if you're into sweet chicken check it out!

I also made pesto for the first time from this recipe and used it in this pasta recipe. I used bow tie pasta instead of penne and added rotisserie chicken. Mike gave his approval and we will be having it again! Hooray for a great use of my basil plant and left over rotisserie chicken!

I don't know about you but I'm hearing a lot of buzz about quinoa so we gave it a try in this recipe. I liked the quinoa, but the rest of the "salad" was just ok. Something about the bbq sauce turned my stomach. I will definitely make quinoa again and will use the same cooking method, cooking it in chicken broth! Yum!

This recipe (sorry no picture) was an interesting variation on chicken marsala. Mike really liked it - and I like that it is another use for marsala, although truthfully I prefer this traditional recipe.

Tonight I made this avacado and corn salad and it was soo yummy!! Since it was just for the two of us, I used 2 single serve bags of frozen steam fresh corn instead of grilling corn on the cob, just 1 avocado, and a handful of cherry tomatoes until it looked about even. I also omitted the cucumber and only made half of the dressing. Very good and very easy - especially since I used frozen corn (I did cook it). I think it would probably be tasty with out the dressing and just some fresh cilantro.

Last night I made this lasagna recipe. This is another keeper - I love tomato and basil in the summer! An advantage of being unemployed is I have time to cook things like this! It really did take a long time to prepare which was kinda fun for the first time, but next time I'll make a few changes! The white garlic sauce really is great and the thing that made me most proud - I created "home made" sauce! And it was good! Unfortunately the lasagna came out kinda soupy and did not serve well at all. Not sure if I should have let it sit longer? Next time I will use penne pasta or something similar instead of lasagna and toss everything together to save on time! I might even use cherry tomatoes too. Quick note - I used mild turkey sausage instead of hot since Mike is sensitive to spice - still very good. I highly recommend you give this recipe a try!

Alright! Hopefully I'll do better about posting new recipes so it's not so jumbled and all over the place! Have a good evening!!

Recipe Update

The other day I posted 4 new recipes I was going to try this week. I really enjoyed the onion burgers and will definitely be making them again. I mentioned a few things I'd try differently next time here.

The bbq chicken was.. ok. Nothing amazing and not terrible either! We ended up shredding it and making sandwiches out of it and I'm still working on leftovers for lunch! I do love a recipe that we can eat on for a couple of days - it's just hard not getting sick of it! Last year I made a shredded chicken recipe that had ginger ale and I think I preferred those. Regardless, a good reminder that bbq chicken/ pork is easy to do in the crockpot and will be in regular rotation at our house!

The korean beef tacos were pretty good! Not loving Mexican food I never make tacos so it was fun to have tacos with a different flavor profile! You really could get a Korean feel from the flavor! A little spicy, a little sweet! As with most crock pot meals it made a ton. I tried to pawn some off on my neighbors but they weren't interested! Mom suggested I freeze some so that's what I did! We'll see how it tastes in a couple of weeks to a month!

Last night I made the chicken marsala recipe. At a restaurant chicken marsala used to always be my go to! Sometimes it still is - I love the sweet wine sauce and sauteed mushrooms! This was the first time I've ever made marsala! It was actually really tasty and pretty easy! I chopped all the mushrooms about an hour before Mike came home and combined the chicken stock with the marsala and sherry in a small bowl so I could just dump that in! The recipe is not super duper healthy since you fry the chicken in oil.. but it was yummy and Mike said "Oh! This is really good!" - I love hearing that! The only change would be to try to thicken the sauce next time. This recipe is a keeper!!

It has been great having a plan and everything on hand. I like it! Today Mike's mom comes to visit! We are both so excited to have our second visitor! Mike has his 7 days off from work Friday-Friday so it will be nice to just spend time together and show her around the QC area! I picked out a new pork chop recipe and also plan to have Mike grill ranch burgers! Otherwise we'll likely go out to eat so we can show her a few of our favorite spots!!

Happy weekend!

Friday

Yesterday was fun! Mike was off so we were able to spend time together! We went to Rock Island and picked up a foosball table he found on craigslist! The man cave is one step closer to being complete!

Let me just say right now, I'm terrrrible at foosball. It was so frustrating that I made Mike play one-handed and he still beat me!! Good thing he has a sense of humor and lets me be a brat and make up rules! One of my favorites "If you are beating me 5-0 you have to get me another beer!" Yes I am a brat. ;)

New leather chair - whoever said cats don't like leather is wrong!

We made the onion burgers last night! Very good. I accidentally put an entire pack of onion soup mix in instead of half (oopsies!) but it wasn't too salty and ended up being ok. Instead of 8 sliders I made 4 burgers because I couldn't find slider buns. If you decide to make it and go this route you may consider more meat! I don't know how I always forget Mike likes a lot of meat! The burgers were a little small and needed a bigger piece of cheese stuffed inside. I sauteed one onion instead of two because it just looked like so much after cutting up one - but I would do two. Those babies really cook down! Mike said the recipe was a keeper so we'll try it again and tweak it a bit!

Today Mike is installing the surround sound in the basement and we have some more pictures to hang otherwise we are going to go out and have fun! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Feeling Domestic

Having a beautiful home with appropriate kitchen and storage space makes me realize I can be domestic and not resent it! It feels so wonderful having a clean kitchen (not that it's always clean..)! Not only do I do dishes on a regular basis but I'm also cleaning the counter tops and stove tops and all those other clean kitchen chores that in the past didn't happen very often! Go me. What can I say, I'm finally becoming a real adult.

This morning while play around on pinterest I came across a link where this lady plans out meals for dinner for the entire month. This is just crazy to me! Talk about organization! I can kinda wrap my head around planning week to week - but a month! Wowza. I've never planned an entire week of dinners ahead of time, and as a result we typically eat out far too often!

Today I planned out dinners for the next few nights! Granted Saturday night I wrote down nothing as we will be going out to celebrate Cinco de Mayo... baby steps!

In addition to having Skyline one night I'm trying these 4 new recipes!

-Stuffed French Onion Soup Sliders - I will be making regular size burgers because I couldn't find tiny buns!
-Crockpot BBQ Chicken
-Slow Cooker Korean Beef Tacos
-Chicken Marsala

Looks good right?! I'll let you know how they turn out!

White Chocolate Bread Pudding Goodness

Sunday night Mike and I went out to eat at Biaggi's. It had been cold and rainy for the past few days and I was really craving some warm, comforting pasta. Neither of us had been there and it was really a lovely experience! The best part however was the dessert. I really did not have any room left, but when the server responded that their bread pudding did not have raisins we HAD to try it! If I was being dramatic I would say it was simply life changing!! Really it was delicious! My favorite had been at a place in Cincinnati called Nicholson's, but after going a few months ago with the family I discovered that they actually put raisins in their bread pudding and it just wasn't as magical. This on the other hand, was perfect.

image source

I told Mike that if he felt so inclined he could pick this up for my birthday dessert. So yum! 

This morning I found a copy cat recipe! Check it out! Can't wait to make it!!

Time to drag my butt to a yoga class! Happy Tuesday!

Homemade vanilla cupcakes!

The other day I found the perfect recipe to use my new KitchenAid for the first time!! Today was the day that it all took place!! That's right, I made homemade vanilla cupcakes and vanilla icing!! As you will see, I took plenty of pictures to document the event! I found the recipe for another blogger, Veronika - check out her cute blog here. This cupcake recipe is from Magnolia Bakery in New York City, featured on Sex and the City.
You can also find the recipe here or read below :)

Pumped to bake!! Woohoo!

Cupcakes - Ingredients (makes 2 dozen)
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat (I'm almost positive I overbeat-ed.. easy to do apparently!). Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Playing with the timer function!  I think I look the part of a fancy baker ;)

Vanilla Icing - Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

As you can gather from the recipe, the icing is super sweet!! I used 7 cups for my icing!

Well I think it looks dang cute!! As you can tell I picked up one of those decorating bag kits for the icing - it comes with 20 disposable decorating bags and 3 different decorating nozzles and when those run out I'll just use a ziplock bag.. but the decorating nozzle things are reusable!

I had one cupcake without icing soon after it was out of the oven - and it was pretty yummy! Not really having much prior experience baking, I wasn't able to identify right away that "oh yeah.. this mix has been overbeated" but it seemed edible so I made the icing and baked the second batch! I had part of a broken cupcake with the icing, and I think it's pretty good! I would try them again and be more mindful of how long I'm letting the mixer mix!

I'm bringing these to a family dinner tonight and will let you know what they say! Regardless, now I can proudly say that my fabulous KitchenAid is no longer just decoration in my kitchen, but an actual appliance! Done and done.

Dinner Party

This past Wednesday I hosted a birthday party for the mother-in-law! It was my first ever dinner party in the new apartment! The menu was super easy and there were just 5 of us, so it was no big deal, but I feel like I accomplished something and will be more likely to host more get togethers now that I have successfully completed the first one!!

For an appetizer I used my mom's red pepper jelly over cream cheese - can't give you the recipe for that.. but it's always a hit!

I made a salad with inspiration from an appetizer in this post. As cute as the watermelon, tomato and basil toothpick appetizers are, it takes a bit of time! So instead  I just put everything in a bowl and voila - "salad"!

Excited to use my new Wilton Armetale bowl too!

For main dish I tried a new pulled pork crock pot recipe! My previous go to pulled pork dish was just toss a pork loin in a crock pot and cook it for 6 hours and shred and add your fav bbq sauce. Obviously that is super easy and works well - I just wanted to try something with a few more ingredients = "fancier"! I searched a bunch of crock pot recipes and ended up with a variation on this one.

Sorry it's such a bad quality picture!

Ingredients:
4 lb pork roast (shoulder or butt)
1 large sweet onion
1 1/2 cups ginger ale (regular, not diet!)
1 bottle favorite bbq sauce - I went with local favorite Montgomery Inn
bbq rub
8+ potato buns (you could use whatever kind you wanted, but I find this style to be extra light and fluffy and yummy.. I used "Private Selection Country Potato Buns")

Directions:
Ideally, you should trim fat off roast and sprinkle roast with bbq rub the night before. I was lazy and waited until the morning.. so yeah. I used Famous Daves Rib Rub.

The onion I found was rather large and that made me nervous so I probably used 2/3 of a big onion? Chop that up into smaller piece (not really super fine, just small-ish) and layer bottom of crock pot.

Add roast on top of onions.

Pour the ginger ale over the roast.

Cook on low for at least 9 hours (yes, 9 hours! The original recipe suggests cooking it for 12 hours... but I was not wanting to make this the day before.. 9 hours worked just fine). I know you aren't supposed to touch anything when it's cooking, but I'm a curious cat and couldn't resist so I rearranged and stirred and flipped the roast probably twice.. After the 9 hours, remove roast and shred using 2 forks. Drain liquid, but keep onions.

After roast is shredded put pork and onions back in crock pot and stir in bbq sauce. The amount of sauce you use is totally to taste! The original recipe suggested 1 18 ounce bottle. The bottle I had on hand was 28 ounces and I used almost all of it to get it looking the way I wanted (surprisingly, it really wasn't all that extra saucy though).

After stirring in sauce, cook on low for at least an hour. The original recipe suggests 4-6 hours, but again who has that time! I ended up cooking it for close to 2 hours. I read some of the comments on the recipe and some reviewers suggested stirring it to make sure it wasn't burning - I probably stirred 3-4 times within the 2 hours, but more because I like to stir - nothing looked like it was burning! Serve on bun!

That's it! I was surprised that it didn't taste onion-y to me. I think the flavor just blended in well and worked great! So far there has been enough for 8 sandwiches but I still have left overs! You could definitely freeze some pork too - I would take some out before you add the sauce though!

Have you made any new recipes recently?

Chinese Chicken Salad

Goooood morning! I've been meaning to copy this recipe for myself and figured I'd blog about it too!!! Unfortunately I haven't personally made it, so I can't give you step by step extra Tina suggestions to go along with the recipe, but I have tasted its yumminess. Worth sharing for sure, just not sure how easy it is to make from experience.

2 pictures of the same thing - this one from Ezra Pound Cake's blog

This recipe comes from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Parties! book and is called Chinese Chicken Salad. So here is my dilemma. In the copy I have from my mom's recipe (which appears that it is right from the book) the amounts are all doubled from what I found online here and here however all recipes say it serves 12? I would be inclined (thinking logically here) that the half recipe... would serve 6! Anyway, you have been warned. As you have the half recipes in the 2 websites above, I'll post what is in her book.

This image comes from Something Sweet By Karen's blog.

Ingredients:

-8 split chicken breasts (bone in, skin on)

-Good olive oil

-Kosher salt

-Freshly ground black pepper

-1 pound asparagus, ends removed, cut into thirds diagonally (we used edamame and it was delish! snow peas would work too!)

-2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded

-4 scallions (white and green parts), sliced diagonally

-2 Tbl white sesame seeds, toasted*

For the Dressing:

-1 cup vegetable oil

-1/4 cup good apple cider vinegar

-1/3 cup soy sauce

-3 Tbl dark sesame oil

-1 Tbl honey

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 tsp peeled, grated fresh ginger

-1 Tbl white sesame seeds, toasted*
-1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
-4 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35-40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred the chicken in large, bite-sized pieces.

Blanch the asparagus in a pot of boiling salted water for 3-5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain. Cut the peppers into strips about the size of the asparagus pieces. Combine the shredded chicken, asparagus, and peppers in a large bowl.

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the dressing and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Add the scallions and sesame seeds and season to tasted. Serve cold or at room temperature.

*Note: to toast sesame seeds, place them in a dry saute pan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until browned.

Now I don't know if this is just my stubborn head, but I have a hard time calling something a "salad" when there isn't lettuce in it.. I know, tuna salad, egg salad.. I'm at peace with those salads.. but have the dilemma with this recipe! The first time I enjoyed it, I put it in a tortilla and made it into a wrap! Very yummy, and it made it a wrap not a salad! It really is tasty all by itself too though.. whatever you want to call it!

When my mom made it she cut everything up into small pieces. The second photo above shows everything in much larger pieces.. Just wanted to point that out. Also, she shredded the chicken all the way which made it different as well. I think both ways would work just fine! Using edamame was probably easier too - especially if you just buy the steam kind and prepare it in the microwave - no blanching and plunging necessary!

What do you think? Would you give it a try as a side dish at your next lunch or dinner party?

French Dip Sandwiches

Last month I posted a recipe for slow-cooker french dip sandwiches. My mom made them last night and they did not disappoint!! In case you like having a picture to go with the recipe (I always do!) I found this picture and the recipe online:

Let me know if you make it and what you think!!

Appetizers!

As promised, back for more! I have two new appetizer recipes to share from Martha Stewart Living magazine. Both are super duper easy!!

The first uses peppadew peppers (a sweet red pepper) and chive and onion cream cheese. When I "made" (=assembled) them with my mom this past weekend, we cut the pepper into half or thirds, depending on the size and used a spoon to fill the pepper with cream cheese! Finish off with tooth picks and that is it!! Here is a picture - although it doesn't look that spectacular (I'm not as patient with the cream cheese filling process as dear Martha Stewart would probably prefer), they sure were yummy!

Appetizer number two has watermelon, fresh basil (torn into smaller pieces), cherry tomatoes, olive oil and sea salt! Basically, cube the watermelon and skewer on a tooth pick, followed by basil and lastly, tomato! Once you have them assembled, brush with olive oil and sea salt and you are done! Too easy!

Food Network goddess, Giada De Laurentiis has a similar recipe but uses balsamic vinegar and sugar instead of the salt and oil combo!

Regardless of which version you choose, this tasty treat is full of freshness and yumminess, perfect for summer! AND this is coming from someone who used to hate tomatoes...

new recipe! new hair cut!

So far it has been a WONDERFUL weekend! :) Mike got in on Thursday in time for a late dinner which was super yummy! I made a new recipe from my Southern Living Slow-Cooker Cookbook = French Dip Sandwiches!! This one is worth sharing folks!

Ingredients:
1 (3 1/2 - 4 lb) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut in half *I got a little trim happy and ended up having probably 8 smaller pieces in the crock pot*
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
3-4 peppercorns, crushed *wasn't sure about this so I used my pepper grinder and just cranked it a few times - probably 1/4 tsp?*
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp garlic powder
12 french sandwich rolls
Swiss cheese, optional (provolone would be yummy too!)

Directions:
Place roast in a 5-quart slow cooker. Combine soy sauce and next 6 ingredients; pour over roast. Add water to slow cooker until roast is almost covered.
Cover and cook on low for 7 hours or until very tender (by the way, I was cutting it close on time so I had it on low for a bit, cranked it up to high for 2 hours and then back to low for a bit and it was ready!) Remove roast, reserving broth = au jus!; shred roast with 2 forks. Place shredded meat evenly in rolls and serve with reserved broth for dipping.

The recipes says it makes 12 servings, but it definitely wasn't 12 "Mike-sized" servings. I think I bought a pack of 8 buns and that was more than enough! We also added a slice of swiss cheese to the sandwich for some extra yumminess!!

Mike and I met up with his parents last night for dinner and then to Blue Ash for their summer concert!! The music was great!





As promised, here is a before and after picture of my hair!! I was so ready for a change and wanting to lose some of the length which gets so HOT in the summer!




Well that's about it for now! Going out on a double date with the brother and sister in law!!