Eating With A

Top 5 Eating With A Game Day Snacks - Get Ready for the Super Bowl!!

2012-01-30T19:36:00.009-05:00

Last year I did a Top 5 of my most successful Game Day snacks from the football season, so it's time for me to do that again. There are just days before the Super Bowl and if any of these strike your fancy, go get the ingredients!

My husband had some definite favorites throughout the season, so here are my Top 5! And I have to add for his behalf, GO GIANTS!!! (Sorry if you are a Patriots fan, we are NY'ers).

Number 5: Mozzarepas!

This street food was found at the Long Island Oyster Festival back in October and we loved them SO much, I had to try and make them on my own. The first time was a little rough, but they came out pretty tasty anyway and are a perfect little snack to munch on during the big game. The recipe for the Mozzarepas is here! Enjoy!

Number 4: Dips!

I made two very successful cheese spreads this season. One I couldn't eat (the Beer-Cheese Dip) and one I could (the Cranberry Habanero Cheese Spread). My husband devoured both, and I immensely enjoyed the one I could eat. The Beer-Cheese dip can be used on steak sandwiches as well! Many different things can be dipped in eat one, vegetables, chips, pretzels, etc., so they are very versatile. If you want to try a new spread/dip for the big day - try one of these!

Here is the recipe for the Beer-Cheese Dip!

Here is the recipe for the Cranberry Habanero Cheese Spread!

Number 3: Pepperoni Polenta Pizza Wheels!

This recipe was one of the more simple ones, yet one of the most delicious! I had bought a polenta log from Trader Joe's to try out and needed something to do with it. Being a lover of pizza (and all things pizza), I used the base as a crust to make a little pizza wheel. It was delicious! And the polenta is a little less carby than regular crust! These little bites would go fast at a Super Bowl party! Yum! Here is the recipe!!

Number 2: PITACHOS!!

This was one of my earlier snacks in the season, but definitely one of the yummiest. It was also the first time I made my own pita chips - and they were flavored pita chips at that! My husband and I were little piggies this day as we gobbled up this delightful snack.

Try it out, but careful, it can get a little messy! Here is the recipe!

Number 1: Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites!

My last recipe of the season was mine, and my husband's, favorite, yet it is probably THE MOST simple recipe out there. Thanks to my friend Carly, who made it and posted it on her running blog, I decided I had to make these, and guess what? I've made two more batches since! These take just mere minutes to make and are the perfect salty and sweet snack to pop while watching the game. Try them out! Here is this recipe!

So there are my top 5. Hopefully you are inspired to make one of them!

Lastly, I leave you with this fun little snack - perfect for any football game!

Mini Football Subs!

You can't have a Super Bowl party without these tasty little meatball treats!

Enjoy February 5th everyone! I know the game will definitely be on in my house with my husband decked out in his Giants jersey, hat, slippers, etc. I know he's hoping they will win so he can buy little baby boy a Super Bowl t-shirt once they hit Modells.

PS - Also, please remember, if you, or anyone you know, plays fantasy baseball and has a draft coming up, tell them to head on over to RotoProfessor.com for lots of great tips, tricks and articles. Also, RotoProfessor's third annual Draft Guide is on sale now for just $6!! It is an electronic draft guide created on Excel and updates get sent to the buyer every 2-3 weeks before the season starts. This guide gets repeat buyers and rave reviews and is much cheaper than a magazine from the store! Also, anyone who buys the guide before March 15 is entered to win an autographed baseball by Michael Pineda!! What an awesome prize!

Guest Post - Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

2012-01-30T19:14:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while. Half a month. Sorry! I actually haven't been cooking much because we've had an influx of leftovers lately from restaurants or easy dinners I made that I have either already posted here or aren't post worthy!

And last week we had a bathroom renovation going on so that was a minimal cooking week. But I cooked today (sorry, that is not what this post is about!) and I will be starting to make foods to freeze before Junior comes so I will be (hopefully) be making lots of things in the upcoming weeks - we only have 8 to go! Yikes!

The post below is from my favorite cousin-in-law and her experience baking cupcakes for the first time completely from scratch. She was really, really excited about this (she's just out of college and learning to cook more on her own!) so she wanted to share her recipe and experience. Good job, Melissa!

Also, please remember, if you, or anyone you know, plays fantasy baseball and has a draft coming up, tell them to head on over to RotoProfessor.com for lots of great tips, tricks and articles. Also, RotoProfessor's third annual Draft Guide is on sale now for just $6!! It is an electronic draft guide created on Excel and updates get sent to the buyer every 2-3 weeks before the season starts. This guide gets repeat buyers and rave reviews and is much cheaper than a magazine from the store! Also, anyone who buys the guide before March 15 is entered to win an autographed baseball by Michael Pineda!! What an awesome prize!

OK, and now, the guest post. Everything written below here are Melissa's words:

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
By: Melissa

This was my first time making cupcakes and frosting from scratch. I bake cookies from scratch all the time, but have always been afraid to try any kind of cake...until I found this recipe from joythebaker.com. It seemed simple enough...AND IT WAS! Start to finish (including clean up) was just over an hour!

To see the original post, visit joythebaker.com and search "Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream".

Here's the recipe, almost word-for-word from Joy's. I made a few substitutions and I put those in (parentheses). This makes 12 cupcakes.

CUPCAKES

1 cup flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk (1/2 cup skim milk and 2 tbsp butter)
1 egg (3 tbsp egg beaters)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Put flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and butter into a bowl. Mix until a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.

Whisk the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side/bottom. Continue mixing until the batter is smooth - just a few minutes. Don't overmix!

Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins (I used an ice cream scoop).

Bake for 20-25 minute . Let them cool in the pan a bit before putting them on a wire rack to cool completely.

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp whole milk (2.5 tbsp skim milk)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Beat powdered sugar and butter together until well mixed. Combine milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then pour the combination into the other mixture, slowly. Once all together, mix until light and fluffy.

DECORATE!

I have always wanted to try using a piping bag, so i made my own (sort of) using a gallon sized ziplock bag. It worked pretty well! Not too easy, but it wasn't a disaster. I topped mine off with some silver sprinkles from Wilton.

For my first attempt, I'm really happy. And so was my roommate and his friends! I will absolutely make these again!

Slow Cooker Recipe #3 - Cowboy Chicken!

2012-01-19T13:14:00.003-05:00

The crockpot was used once again this past weekend and for a recipe that came out pretty darn delicious!

I was perusing MomsWhoThink.com and stumbled across a few slow cooker recipes I wanted to try. I really want to try the homemade sloppy joe's but we don't have ground beef (or ground chicken) in the house right now. All we have is regular chicken, so I had to work with that.

I found this recipe for Cowboy Chicken, and it looked interesting - minus the black beans of course. I hate beans. My husband likes them, but he will have to make his own dishes on his own time! I tried to think of a substitute for the beans, maybe peas or something, but just ultimately decided to go without.

The one thing that bothered me about this recipe was that 30 minutes before you finish cooking, you had to put more ingredients into the crockpot. This is actually a conversation I had with my friend Laurie just a week ago. She wants to try more recipes from a slow cooker recipe book I bought her but a lot of them require ingredients to be added throughout the cooking time. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of "set and forget" while you are at work?

So I had that issue with this recipe. Now, I am home on Mondays - I don't work that day - but I had a doctor's appointment and I didn't know how long I would be there. I usually have to reduce the cooking time for my slow cooker recipes as well, because I only make half the recipes. So I decided to wait until after my 2 pm appointment was done to get this recipe going and we would just eat it the next day. It's a good thing I waited because my appointment took an hour longer than anticipated! So my food would have cooked longer and then I still would have had to add in those other ingredients and cook it for another half hour. I finally finished around 9 that night. No big deal - like I said, we planned to eat it the next night after work. But the recipes that are totally "set and forget" are definitely much easier.

This recipe was also the first time I made my own pulled chicken! I have never done this before so I was proud of myself for shredding the chicken well.

I used a fruity salsa instead of a spicy one since I only like the fruity salsas. I thought the recipe was great, my husband liked it too but I could tell he was craving more spice in the recipe, either by using a spicier salsa or adding some green chilies or something like that. You could do that if you wanted!

We also topped our dishes with some shredded cheddar, which wasn't in the original recipe. I think it added a little something.

So this is a keeper, and I will probably make some to freeze before the baby arrives.

And now, the recipe: (full recipe posted, but I halved it as usual)

Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoons Dijon Mustard (I actually used spicy mustard because we were out of dijon!)
2 cups salsa (any type)
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed (I did not use)
½ cup sour cream (plus extra for serving)
Brown rice (for serving)
* Shredded cheddar cheese (my addition for serving!)

Directions:

Place chicken in a greased slow cooker.

In medium bowl mix brown sugar, mustard, and salsa.

Pour mixture over chicken. Add water to cover chicken, if needed. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.

With 30 minutes of cook time remaining remove the lid and shred the chicken using two forks.

Add the beans, corn, and sour cream to the slow cooker and mix together with the chicken. Replace lid and cook for remaining 30 minutes.

Serve over rice with sour cream (and cheese!).

Enjoy!

Spinach Balls!

2012-01-15T18:35:00.005-05:00

So I was searching for recipes that use vegetable broth since we had some leftover from my husband's chili recipe and I came across these spinach balls from Allrecipes.com.

They looked interesting so I decided to give it a try. I didn't use egg substitute, and just used 2 full eggs.

The balls came out well, but to me, a little bland. I felt they needed either a dipping sauce or an extra spice in the mix like crushed red pepper flakes or paprika or something. But otherwise they were a tasty little side to have with dinner. Or, you can put toothpicks in them and serve them as appetizers!

They were really easy to make but took just a short amount of time because I had to chop the onion. I was able to make these one night after work though, so it wasn't THAT involved.

The recipe is for 8 servings - I halved it as usual.

Ingredients:

2 cups crushed seasoned stuffing
1 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup egg substitute (didn't use and used an extra egg instead)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the first 11 ingredients.

Stir in spinach until blended. Roll into 1-in. balls.

Place in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Maple Peanut Butter Pancake Sauce!

2012-01-11T22:44:00.005-05:00

My husband and I had pancakes for dinner the other night. Don't judge :-)

Anyway, he had made a huge batch over the weekend and we were needing a quick dinner. I just had plain old maple syrup on mine, but my husband decided to get fancy. He sliced up a banana and crushed some peanuts. He also made himself a maple syrup peanut butter sauce (recipe below). And then he assembled his masterpiece.

He took a pancake and put some banana slices and crushed peanut on it, and then another pancake. He continued this pattern for about 4 pancakes and then topped it off with some banana slices and peanuts.

Over his little pancake tower he poured his peanut butter syrup... and dug in. He LOVED his little concoction.

So if you like peanut butter and bananas, try it with pancakes! Here is the recipe he found to use:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup peanut butter

Directions:

In a small pan, heat syrup and peanut butter over low heat.

Whisk together until peanut butter is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Serve warm!

Enjoy!

Spicy Black Bean Chili! (Or non spicy, however you choose!)

2012-01-09T10:14:00.005-05:00

Wow. I meant to post this recipe last week but it turned into quite a week. My husband cooked this chili the same day I cooked my Pizza Soup, and we had some all packed away to send to his dad for Tuesday, January 3rd when my husband was returning to work.

Well, Tuesday EARLY am comes and my husband wakes up with chest pains that didn't go away after an hour so we had to make an emergency room trip at 6 am. Fun times. Turns out he had a minor case of pneumonia, which we luckily caught pretty early. Of course, I was super paranoid about me getting sick since I am pregnant. Well, so he was home all week and I was doing more around the house, plus we were trying to set up our bathroom remodel that is happening in just mere weeks! So needless to say, I didn't get to post this chili recipe.

But I can now! He is back at work and I have my normal Monday day off to myself. My husband decided to make it extra spicy, so you can definitely tone it down. We found the recipe in the USA Weekend insert in the newspaper. It was called "Healthy Black Bean-Hominy Chili." We kept the recipe healthy, but used corn instead of hominy (that is what they said to substitute if you couldn't find hominy in the store. We just had a ton of corn in the house!) Hominy is corn kernels whose hull and germ have been removed, so regular corn is perfectly fine.

I am going to post the original recipe and put our substitutions in parentheses. We also halved the recipe. The original full recipe says it makes 4-6 servings, BUT the HALF recipe seems like it made just as much because my husband had 2 of the taller Chinese food soup containers completely full. So make at your own risk and make sure you have plenty of containers to store and freeze extra chili in.

After it was done cooking, my husband tried it and really liked it! He realized he made it a little too spicy, but with some shredded cheddar on top and sour cream, it cut the spice back. He has since used the chili alone, on top of french fries and is considering making a chili burger or chicken sandwich next. He will definitely make this recipe again.

It was also really fast to make - this isn't a slow cooker chili.

And now, the recipe: (original recipe with our changes next to it and full serving size, we halved).

Ingredients:

1 quart vegetable broth (we halved this!)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes (husband used spicy diced tomatoes)
1 TB vegetable oil
1 medium-large onion, diced
1 bell pepper (any color) diced
3 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 cans (15.5 oz each) drained black beans (we used 1)
2 cans (15 oz each) drained hominy (we used frozen corn)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
(My husband also added in a dash of crush red pepper flakes, probably overkill!)

Directions:

Microwave broth and tomatoes in a microwave safe dish on high power until steamy hot, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers and saute them until soft and golden brown - about 5 minutes.

Add the chili powder, cumin and oregano (and in my husbands case, the crushed red pepper flakes) - saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add beans and hominy (corn) along with the hot broth mixture. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and simmer partly covered until vegetables are tender and flavors have blended - about 20 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, chocolate and cilantro and simmer a few minutes to blend flavors.

Turn off the heat and let stand a few minutes.

** If you want a thicker chili (this one is a little thin), vigorously stir in some fine cornmeal at the end of cooking. My husband did this and he ended up really liking how it came out!

And, enjoy! My husband topped it with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream and was very satisfied.

Crock Pot Cooking - Pizza Soup!!

2012-01-02T17:57:00.002-05:00

Today I made my second slow-cooker recipe, and this one is definitely a keeper. In fact, I will probably make a big batch to freeze before baby boy comes and that way we can heat and eat quickly!

While I was perusing my new favorite website, OnceAMonthMom.com, I found this recipe for pizza soup that really intrigued me. I immediately e-mailed it to my husband saying, "we need to try this!!"

I did not change anything about the recipe except for halving it. (Right now there is just no need for me to make 8-10 servings of things!) Oh, and I omitted the mushrooms because my husband just does not like mushrooms so if I can leave it out, I do.

I think next time I make it I want to substitute mini meatballs for the sausage for a different taste. The sausage was great, but meatballs could be fun too. Always try something new!

My husband gobbled half his bowl up before I even got a chance to sit down at the table. So, I guess it really was a success.

This recipe takes a little more time to prepare just because you need to wash and dice a bunch of vegetables and the pepperoni and slice the sausage. Once everything is in the pot you just set it to low and let it go and then 30 minutes before it would be "done," you add the uncooked pasta into the pot and turn it to high.

I shortened the cooking time again to about 4.5 - 5 hours instead of the 6 because I didn't have a full pot and I halved the recipe. Turned out just fine!

So here is the recipe: (This is for the full serving size, I halved everything on here)

Ingredients:

28 ounces pizza sauce (I just used marinara sauce)
7.5 cups of water
1.5 cups green pepper, diced
3/4 cups red onion, diced
15.5 ounces diced tomatoes
1 cup mushrooms, sliced (I omitted these)
6 ounces Smoked Sausage, already cooked (I used my chicken sausage from Trader Joe's)
1 cup sliced pepperoni, quartered (I used Hormel Turkey Pepperoni)
1/2 Tablespoons basil, dry
1 Tablespoon oregano, dry
1.5 cups uncooked pasta

Toppings:

French or Sourdough Bread
Butter
Garlic Powder
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:

Wash and prepare veggies and place in slow cooker.

Add the sausage, pepperoni, basil, and oregano to veggies.

Pour in pizza sauce and then water.

Cover and cook on low 6 hours. (I did 4.5 to 5 hours)

Thirty minutes before end of time, add pasta and turn to high. Allow pasta to soften.

Serve topped with croutons and Mozzarella cheese.

To prepare croutons: slice bread. Butter one side and sprinkle with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.

Broil for several minutes or until golden brown. Be careful not to burn.

Remove from oven, cut into squares. Serve on top of soup.

If you want to freeze this recipe, prepare the soup part and then let it cool and store in gallon baggies. To serve, let thaw and heat on stove top. Sprinkle cheese and any other bread topping you want on it at that point!

This honestly was delicious. It was a very hearty soup and didn't really taste like you were eating tomato soup. It did honestly feel like a liquid pizza almost. And it was great!

Try it out!

Cranberry Chicken - My FIRST Slow-Cooker Recipe!

2012-01-01T16:59:00.005-05:00

My husband and I decided to buy a slow-cooker sometimes last year (sounds so weird saying that!) I think we bought it in September, or early October. When it got home, it sat, half opened, in our den for months, until I FINALLY decided to wash it and use it toward the end of December.

I was inspired because I play on this website for people who are pregnant and there was a huge discussion about freezing foods before the baby comes, which is something I actually want to do. Someone recommended a website called OnceAMonthMom.com. It has a ton of recipes that can easily be made ahead of time and then frozen, and one of the sections is just for slow-cookers.

So I found this recipe for cranberry chicken. It looked interesting, and really easy, so I decided to try it. (FYI, the picture above is borrowed from the actual onceamonthmom.com website because I forgot to take a picture of MY chicken when we were eating it. Oops.)

I had been nervous about a slow-cooker for a long time. A few years ago my mother in law asked if we wanted one but I said no. I was afraid to leave it on during the day when I wasn't home... what if it went on fire?? But, I caved. Granted, the first recipe I made, I was home. And for the next few, I probably will set it up while we are home on the weekends so at least I can see the progress. For example, we ended up turning the slow-cooker off a little earlier than the recipe said because we halved the portion and we saw that everything was fully cooked a little earlier. So I just have to learn to adjust when not making a full batch, or set up one of my automatic timers on the outlet where the slow-cooker is plugged in to.

The only thing I changed about the recipe was not using cranberry sauce. I buy this cranberry-apple spread from trader Joe's that I LOVE so I wanted to use that instead. My dish came out tasty, except it wasn't SUPER cranberry-ish. I think I probably should have just used cranberry sauce... or a little more of the spread than I did. Otherwise, everything went fine and it tasted delicious over rice!

So look out for more slow-cooker recipes from me (in fact, the next one I am making tomorrow is for pizza stew!! I can't wait!)

Also, starting next month I will be making a bunch of food to freeze so when the little boy is here, we don't have to worry about cooking for a while and just popping something into the oven. So if anyone has any ideas for recipes, feel free to pass them along too!!

And now, the recipe: (I halved it...but this is the full recipe)

Ingredients:

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 packet dried onion soup mix
1 cup Catalina or French salad dressing
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

Directions:

Place ingredients in a slow cooker. (It cracks me up that dumping everything in a pot is the only direction. I could get used to this!)

Cook on high 3-4 hours or low 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.

Serve over rice, if desired.

Here are all my ingredients in the pot, love it!

Hopefully I will master slow-cooking soon and have lots of tasty ideas! Until next time, fellow eaters.

Game Day Dessert Week 17 - Chocolate Covered Pretzels with M&M's

2012-01-01T15:23:00.004-05:00

Yeah, it's late in the day. I wasn't sure if I was going to do a Game Day Snack for today but I made these fun little treats last night for New Years Eve that my husband said to put up as the game day snack. So I am. But this is officially the last football game day snack until next year, hopefully (if baby boy doesn't infringe on my kitchen time!)

So my friend Carly actually inspired me to do these treats. She has a running blog but was talking about the holiday baking she did in a post the other week. She had a picture of these cute little treats that were pretzels with a melted Hershey Kiss and an M&M on top. Super easy. Super tasty. I asked her for the recipe.

So she sent me the link where the recipe was and basically told me how easy they were to make, and they were. It took me like, 10 minutes tops. (Plus 15 minutes for cooling in the fridge)

It did take me longer to unwrap the chocolates than bake these, haha! Anyway, these came out SO GOOD that my husband wanted to eat the entire plate. I told him to, he could stand to gain a few pounds, but he opted not to. Oh well. Next time.

The link to the recipe also has many other ideas like making little pretzel s'mores or using different flavor chocolate/M&M's for different tastes. The possibilities are endless.

So here is the recipe, nice and easy:

Ingredients:

Pretzel snaps (or your favorite small pretzel.. I used the square ones)
Hershey Kisses (I actually didn't have Kisses so I used the small Hershey milk chocolate candies and the Special Dark ones too!)
M&Ms (I used peanut and cinnamon M&M's)

Directions:

Place the pretzel squares on a baking sheet, and top each one with a Hershey Kiss.

Cook for 3 minutes in a 250 degree oven.

Press an M&M into the center of each Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cool.

EAT!!

So there ya go. Simple, easy, DELICIOUS!

Enjoy everyone!!

Low-Fat Oatmeal Muffins

2011-12-26T11:27:00.004-05:00

My husband the baker is back!! :-) I am so happy, since I seriously suck at baking. And last weekend he made these oatmeal muffins that we gobbled up in days. So he just made a new batch and we are already down 2.

So I am sharing this recipe that he found on Food.com. It's really easy to modify this recipe according to your taste for add-in's also. For example, I like the muffins plain, but my husband likes them with raisins. We just tried dried cranberries which were tasty, but I still prefer the muffins plain and he likes raisins better.

But you could add apples, chocolate chips, other dried fruits... etc. Anything you like with oatmeal.

And the best part - they are low-fat. Healthy. YUM!

They take about an hour and a half from start to finish, but it is not all active time. And they are worth it.

Here is the recipe: (12 muffins)

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oat (old fashioned oatmeal)
1 cup skim milk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Soak oats in milk for 1 hour. (We put it back in the fridge while it is soaking).

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Spoon into a muffin pan that has been lightly greased or sprayed with nonstick spray. (We use muffin/cupcake cups)

Bake at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.

Variations: To make Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, Oatmeal Apple Muffins, or Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins, add raisins/chopped apples/chocolate chips to the batter.

Enjoy! We like these as part of breakfast or a mid-morning snack! Yum!!

Game Day Snack/Meal Week 16 - Pepperoni Polenta Pizza Wheels

2011-12-24T12:46:00.004-05:00

So as my husband was getting ready to sit down to THE game, Jets vs Giants, I made him a "game day lunch." I had purchased a polenta log from Trader Joe's because I was really curious about working with it. I know, it's better to make your own fresh polenta, but I really wanted to try this.

I tried searching for recipes using the log, or even just general polenta recipes, but I couldn't find many that used polenta in creative ways. So I decided to do something simple - little pizzas. Also very game day-ish.

So I sliced up the polenta and dipped it into some olive oil that had been mixed with garlic powder, Italian seasoning and a little paprika. Then I grilled it for a few minutes on each side.

Once I felt the flavors were soaked in, I transferred the polenta wheels to a baking tray and topped them with turkey pepperoni, sauce and cheese.

Once cooked for about 10 minutes in the oven, it was ready to eat! I gave my husband his plate first as I made mine and I heard "this is really good," coming from our kitchen table before I even sat down. So I guess it was a success!

It was a lighter lunch, so these can definitely be made and served as a snack for the game, but it packed a lot of flavor.

So here is a run down of the ingredients and the steps - this is just something I threw together, I didn't follow any recipe.

Ingredients:

One polenta log from Trader Joe's
Shredded mozzarella
Shredded Parmesan
Tomato sauce
Hormel turkey pepperoni, chopped
olive oil
garlic powder
paprika
Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice the log into pieces, no more than 1/2" thick.

Mix the garlic powder, paprika (just a pinch) and Italian seasonings together and then pour some olive oil into the bowl. Stir until well combined.

Dip each polenta slice into the oil mixture and place on a grill pan. Grill on each side on medium heat for a few minutes.

Transfer polenta slices to a baking sheet and top with pepperoni, sauce and cheese.

Bake until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Hope everyone has a happy holiday! I am not sure if this will be the last week of game day snacks, or if I will make one for week 17. It this is the last, it's been fun. Hopefully I have time to do this next season with a little baby in the house!

I'll try to have some Superbowl snacks up though!

Using Eggplant for Dinner - 2 Ways!!

2011-12-18T13:29:00.004-05:00

I LOVE when I can make two different dinners from just one main ingredient. Last weekend my husband and I purchased an eggplant to use for dinner for the week. I am very picky about the way I eat my eggplant...I don't like it in certain forms.

I wanted to do something different, yet healthy. So I started searching for some eggplant recipes that were kinda low in carbs but cooked in a way that I would enjoy.

The first thing I came across was for something the original "chef" called "Eggplant Mexicano." It intrigued both myself and my husband, though when we ate it, while SUPER tasty, we couldn't figure out why it was really considered "Mexican."

I also saw someone post a recipe for "eggplant pizzas" which was essentially just a non fried eggplant parmesan, but I added some pepperoni to it and it was actually very good! So, I sliced up my eggplant into round slices and set half aside for the Mexicano and half aside for the "mini pizzas."

I started by making the mini pizzas. I followed no recipe, just sort of made it up as I was going along.

Ingredients:

Round eggplant slices
chopped up pepperoni (I used Hormel turkey pepperoni)
your favorite pizza/pasta sauce
mozzarella cheese
oregano
crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

After I cut the eggplant, I lightly salted each side and let them rest on a paper towel. Then I grilled the slices for a few minutes on each side to start to get them nice and tender.

Once I thought the eggplant was tender enough, I moved it to a baking dish and put the chopped pepperoni on each slice.

Then I spooned some sauce over that and sprinkled a dash of crushed red pepper flakes over the sauce.

The cheese went next, followed by a sprinkle of oregano.

Then I baked it at 375 degrees F until the cheese was melted with hints of browning on it, cause I like it that way!

Once the mini pizzas were good to go on the baking sheet, I started on the eggplant Mexicano. I followed the directions of the recipe to a point, but instead of Monterey Jack cheese I used sharp cheddar because that is what I had in the house.

I also baked these after grilling them instead of just grilling and plunking salsa and cheese on them. I baked them with the salsa and cheese on the slices so it was a little more melted and it turned out great!

Ingredients: (with what I used, click link above for original)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
eggplant slices
2/3 cup salsa (I like fruity salsas so I used a cherry salsa!)
1/2 cup sharp white cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a bowl, combine oil, garlic powder and oregano.

Brush over both sides of the eggplant.

Grill, uncovered, over medium heat until slightly tender.

Place slices onto baking sheet and spoon salsa over them. Then sprinkle the cheese over the salsa.

Bake at 375 degrees F until tender and cheese is melted.

(Pizza on the left, Mexicano on the right)

So there you go, delicious eggplant two ways!

My husband and I ate the mini pizza ones first. He had a side of garlic bread, I had a side of peas to try and cut some carbs.

A few nights later we enjoyed the Mexicano ones. All in all, it was a successful use of the eggplant!

Game Day Dessert Week 15 - Six Layer Cookies

2011-12-18T13:00:00.009-05:00

So, today's recipe came from my company's newsletter that came out on Friday the 16th. There were some "holiday" recipes in there, and this one caught my eye. It's originally called "Seven Layer Cookies," but one of the layers was coconut and I hate coconut.

Here is the original recipe: (click on it for a larger view)

It seemed easy enough so I wanted to try and make it. The result did come out very, VERY tasty, but either mine still wasn't cool enough to cut, so it turned into a crumble of sorts (still very tasty to eat) or it needed to be baked a minute or two longer or it needed to be chilled in the refrigerator. I don't have the answer yet - and I just put the remainder of the dish in the fridge to see if that solidifies it a bit more so they can be cut into perfect squares.

I really need to stop attempting to bake since I could never get it perfect but at least the correct flavor of the cookie recipe was there and my husband and I are more than happy to eat it as a fork and knife dessert or over plain ice cream or something!

I also wanted to post the original recipe because I made quite a few changes, just to flavors. Instead of regular graham crackers, I used cinnamon graham crackers, because that is what we had in the house.

Instead of butterscotch chips, I used white chocolate chips, for the same reason. We used to have butterscotch chips, but I guess we used those up.

Lastly, instead of pecans, I used peanuts. We had cashews, peanuts and almonds in the house, so I chose the peanuts.

My revised combination tasted great and you can tell how easy this recipe is to manipulate. None of my changes should have affected the consistency. I have a feeling it needed a minute or two longer baking time and then refrigeration to solidify.

I also thought baking it at 275 was a little odd, it seemed low, so I wonder if there was a typo in my company newsletter. I wish I knew who the recipe came from to ask!

Maybe those of you better at baking than I am will know the answer!

Anyway, as mentioned, the original recipe is above, and here is what I used:

Ingredients:

1 stick butter or margarine
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used cinnamon!)
1 12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 12 oz package of white chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped peanuts

Directions: (I halved the recipe, but these are directions for full size!)

Melt butter in a 9 x 13 pan.

Mix and press graham cracker crumbs in with butter to form a base.

Add all the other ingredients in order listed.

Bake at 275 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting into small squares.

Enjoy!

The recipe was very, very easy to make and I was about to put it together in about 7 minutes and then bake it. The cooling takes the longest.

I'll see what happens after refrigeration time - if it solidifies more, success! If not, well, back to the drawing board when it comes to baking! What else is new?

Also, a reminder for you sports fans who play fantasy baseball. The season is coming up and my husband's website, www.rotoprofessor.com, does an annual fantasy baseball draft guide. It is sold online via Excel for $6 and once it is released (sometime in January), it will get updated every 2-3 weeks and re-sent to you via e-mail until the baseball season officially starts.

This is the 3rd year for the draft guide and it gets rave reviews. Many fantasy baseball fans appreciate the low cost and constant updates as opposed to the pricier magazines in the stores. So hurry up and reserve your copy today! The RotoProfessor is currently hard at work making sure it will be finished on time for its release!

As for the Eating With A fans, I actually have a few recipes from the past week that I never posted (blame it on some jackass who left me so stressed I didn't have time for something else!)

So watch out for those as well!

Ta Ta For Now!

Game Day Snack Week 14 - Spicy Cheese Bread!

2011-12-11T14:06:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting this, since games started an hour ago where I live, but it was worth the wait!

Last night I was searching for a recipe to make and I typed "game day foods" into Google. I tried the word foods instead of snacks so I could hopefully get a little bit of a different search. it worked, and I found this list of 20 "hearty" game day recipes.

This one here (called Judy's Cheese Bread) caught my eye and my recipe was inspired by it, but I changed it completely. Well, I used different ingredients, the idea is still the same.

When I sent it to my husband for his approval he said "eh, it looks good but it isn't blowing me away." Well, too bad, I wanted to make it. (Yet as he was eating it he was like, "this is really good!!!"). Men.

It was REALLY easy to make, the cooking took the longest time. You can throw this together pretty quickly for people watching the game or a pack of hungry kids.

The original recipe contained sourdough bread, jack cheese, onions and melted butter. I used a hard wheat roll (I made individual sized instead of a huge loaf), a mix of sharp cheddar and Parmesan cheese and olive oil mixed with onion powder and paprika with a dash of crush red pepper flakes sprinkled over the top.

Click the link above for the original recipe, or follow mine below. You can always pick the cheese you like to use the most too and make your own creation!

And now, the recipe. Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1 loaf round sourdough bread, unsliced ** (I used a hard wheat roll from our grocery store's bakery. You just need a "harder" bread, and mine made an individual size)
1/2 pound grated sharp cheddar and Parmesan mix (about 6-8 oz)
1/4 cup dried parsley
olive oil
onion powder
paprika
crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut bread into diagonal slices, about 1 inch apart, stopping before you cut through the bottom of the loaf.

Cut bread in the opposite direction in the same manner, creating diagonal shaped cubes, taking care not to cut through to the bottom.

Carefully stuff the space in between each cube with cheese and parsley.

Pour some olive oil into a small bowl and mix in the desired amount of onion powder and paprika. Then, drizzle over the bread, making sure to get some in the cracks between the cubes. You can also brush some on top of the bread for extra flavor.

Wrap in foil and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Unwrap the top of the loaf and bake for 15 minutes more, to crisp up the crust.

Serve immediately.

Guest Post - Red Velvet Cake Pops (by Melissa!)

2011-12-05T19:16:00.005-05:00

Once again, my cousin-in-law, Melissa, has written a guest post for the blog. Good job on the recipe, Melissa! You should mail some to us :-) (and PS - I hope you used a Michael's coupon for the Lollipop Sticks!)

Everything from here on is all Melissa's words. Enjoy!

RED VELVET CAKE POPS!

While doing my routine Facebook stalking, I came across pictures of cake-pops that my friend made for Thanksgiving desert. I was instantly inspired, as it's unlike anything I've ever done before. So after doing a bit of research I decided to attempt it. I probably shouldn't have done this after work when I was exhausted because prep through clean up took me FIVE hours. Seriously.

Here's what you'll need:

Lollipop sticks
Parchment Paper
Candy Melts
Sprinkles (Optional)
Frosting
Cake Mix
Piece of styrofoam

Of course, you can make your cake and frosting from scratch, but I had a box of Duncan Hine's Red Velvet mix that I wanted to use (I bought it on sale and with a coupon -- SCORE!)

I went to Michael's for the lollipop sticks, candy melts, sprinkles, and styrofoam.

First, bake the cake following the box directions. Let it cool. I let it sit out for an hour, then put in the freezer for ten minutes.

Take the cake out of the pan and put it in a mixing bowl, crumbling it into pieces.

Then add a bit of frosting and start to mix together, gradually adding more frosting as needed. I initially mixed with a rubber spatula, but towards the end I used my hands to make sure everything was evenly coated.

Next, shape the dough into small balls, placing them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Slip them into the freezer for 10 minutes so they hold together.

Toward the end of the 10 minutes, melt your candy melts. I did this in the microwave as I don't have one of those special double boiler things to use on the stove.

Take the balls out of the freezer.

Take your lollipop sticks and dip them into the melted chocolate, then insert them into the balls half way. After you've inserted the sticks to all your cake balls, place the baking sheet in the fridge for about ten minutes - it will help the cake stay on the stick.

Once you take the cake balls out of the fridge, you can start dipping! I found this part to be extremely difficult. After testing a lot of different methods, I realized it was easiest for me to melt a large amount of the chocolate in a tall, narrow coffee mug. I dipped the entire ball into the chocolate and slowly pulled it out. The melted chocolate makes it REALLY HEAVY, so be careful when you pull it out of the mug so as not to yank the stick out.

I held the chocolate covered ball over the mug for a little while to let the excess chocolate drip off. Then, I put sprinkles all over it!

Then stand the pops upright in a styrofoam slab to dry. For me, this made 42 pops.

EAT!

Like I said, this took a really long time. It's not something I'll make often, but it tasted great and would be fun for a kid's party or family event.

Game Day Snack Week 13 - Beer-Cheese Dip! (And a "cheese steak" sandwich!)

2011-12-03T19:19:00.006-05:00

So here is a dip for the beer lovers! I found this recipe while searching for something quick and easy to make for game day. My husband and I were jaunting down to Florida to see some family this weekend, so I wanted something easy I could pick up just a few ingredients and make at the house in FL., like I did last year.

But then I saw the beer-cheese spread, and we had everything in MY house. So I knew I wanted to make it, and I did, one day after work. And my husband ate it as part of dinner the next night! Plus, it was made during the week so I could post it super early for game day people! Yay!

The recipe was relatively easy to make, though I did modify it slightly. For example, I used pumpkin beer because that is what my husband had in the house so it was more of a pumpkin beer cheese spread. (Still enjoyable!)

I also ended up heating it slightly to make the cheese melt because the way the recipe describes below, I couldn't see anything happening and I felt it wasn't getting creamy enough. So a few minutes on low heat did the trick, melted the cheese into a smoother consistency and all was good.

I couldn't taste the spread (thank you little baby to be), but my husband said it came out well. And he used it to make a steak grilled cheese sandwich the next night for dinner. And, he really enjoyed THAT. I think cooking it may have killed my beer flavor just a tad (or else I didn't use enough, or else his beer just didn't have a super strong taste). But he could taste it, just not strongly. So if you want a strong beer taste, go with a strong beer!

You chill the dip for at least 2 hours after it is prepared, so it's definitely easy to make ahead of time and bring to the game with you, or bring to someone's house.

So, enjoy and drink (er, eat) up!

Ingredients: (this recipe makes 5 cups. I actually only made half of it)

1 (2-lb.) block sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (12-oz.) bottle amber beer, at room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish: thyme sprig (optional, I did not use)

Directions:

Beat together first 5 ingredients at low speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until blended.

Gradually add beer, beating until blended after each addition. Beat at medium-high speed 1 minute or until blended and creamy.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and chill 2 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

** This recipe can be frozen for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

My husband made his steak grilled cheese sandwich by slicing some steak really thin. He heated the steak, and then put it on some rye bread. He spread the cheese dip on one side of the bread. Then he buttered the outsides of the sandwich and put it on the grill pan for about a minute and a half each side.

Delish! He ate his sandwich with some garlic fries and a spicy pickle.

Enjoy!

Parmesan-Butternut Squash Gratin

2011-12-01T20:18:00.004-05:00

Since I loved the butternut squash so much in my Butternut Squash Lasagna, I decided to buy another one and do something different with it, especially when this recipe from Eat Better America showed up in my e-mail one day.

It looked so good, and I had planned to make it over Thanksgiving weekend for the following week. Imagine my surprise when at Thanksgiving, our family friend hosting it made pretty much exactly the same thing! It was DELICIOUS, so I knew I would definitely make it for me and my husband.

I don't really have much to say about this except it really is good. I kept the recipe exactly as is, so what I am posting below is what was sent to me in the e-mail. It does take time, you need a good hour and a half from start to finish. But even as a leftover, it still tastes amazing!

So, here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (2 1/2 lb)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional, I did not use)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375°F.

Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Peel, halve lengthwise and seed squash; cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange with slices overlapping slightly in bottom of baking dish.

In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Reduce heat to low.

Add garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft and butter is infused with garlic flavor. Do not let butter brown.

In small bowl, mix bread crumbs, cheese and 1 tablespoon of the butter-garlic mixture.

Brush squash slices with remaining butter-garlic mixture. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and bread crumb mixture.

Bake uncovered 30 to 40 minutes or until squash is tender when pierced with fork.

Increase oven temperature to 425°F; bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned.

Before serving, sprinkle parsley over top, if desired.

Game Day Snack Week 12 - Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Mini Cakes

2011-11-27T13:55:00.006-05:00

I got the recipe for this week from a coupon circular a few weeks ago. It was called Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, but after making this and eating it, my husband and I can't figure out why it would be classified as coffee cake (unless since the instructions say to serve with coffee brings in the coffee part..), but they sure were tasty little afternoon treats. So, I am calling them mini cakes.

The recipe was very easy to make. It took me about 10 minutes to put all the ingredients together, and then 24 minutes to bake them.

They are easily transportable too!

I also had all of the ingredients in the house so I didn't have to buy anything special. That was great!

Here are the ingredients:

Non-stick cooking spray
2 1/2 cups Buttermilk pancake mix OR 2 1/2 cups light pancake mix
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional, we did not use)

Here are the directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Coat an 8 or 9 inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine the pancake mix, 1/3 cup sugar and chocolate chips in a medium sized bowl. Add in the water, sour cream and vanilla extract.

Blend well.

Using a cake scoop or an ice cream scoop, shape dough into 16 2-inch balls.

Place in 4 rows of 4 each in prepared pan.

Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over the dough.

Bake 24-26 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy a sweet game day treat!

** Also, remember! For those of you sports fans who play fantasy baseball, Rotoprofessor.com is having a sale this weekend on its annual draft guide! This is the 3rd year this draft guide is being sold and it gets rave reviews! For just $6 you get a comprehensive draft guide electronically, with updates every 2-3 weeks until the baseball season starts. $5 through Monday night so hurry!!

Thanksgiving Day Pancake Breakfast!

2011-11-24T10:57:00.006-05:00

Every year my husband and I switch off families. When we eat with his family, we drive a few hours to Albany and get there around noon and eat in the middle of the afternoon. When it is my family, we only drive 10 minutes down the road and we eat around 5 pm.

So on the years when it is my family, we eat a bigger breakfast, then just a little mid-day snack and then a BIG dinner! This happens to be my year. Two years ago we went to i-Hop for pancakes since they had a gingerbread pancake I wanted to try and something else that my husband wanted to try for their special holiday pancakes.

This year we decided to budget and make our own pancakes at home since 1) we are just trying to budget in general, 2) we have to save for the little one coming and 3) black Friday deals for things we actually NEED break our budget a little. So instead of going out, we spent $2.19 for pancake mix (yes, we were going to cheat and just flavor up the mix instead of starting from scratch) and we used ingredients we had in the house.

And, it WORKED! We just ate a HUGE breakfast and it was delicious. My husband decided to use some of my blackberries I snack on and make cinnamon sugar blackberry pancakes. I decided to replicate the gingerbread pancakes I had two years ago. (And my pancakes turned out WAY more successful than his!!) We also made some tater tots and oatmeal. Yum!

So for the blackberry pancakes, all my husband did was mix up the pancake mix, then put blackberries on the pancakes once he dropped them on the griddle and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on each pancake.

They were good, but needed a little more spice - so we either needed to mix the cinnamon sugar into the batter or add some stronger flavor like straight cinnamon or nutmeg or something. But we liked the tart blackberries with the pancakes.

Here is the (general) recipe I used for my gingerbread pancakes.
- One cup boxed pancake mix
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 7 tsp brown sugar
- 3/4 cup water

Mix well and drop spoonfuls onto a griddle as usual.

To me, they tasted AMAZING! I was so proud of my effort to throw it together. I read two similar recipes online so I kind of combined them and winged it and it worked. And we have a bunch of pancakes leftover for the rest of the weekend! Yay!

I decided to add whipped cream and sprinkles to my gingerbread pancakes because that is how I was served at i-Hop and man, it was delicious. :-)

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving morning. Next year, we will be eating on the road as we trek to Albany with an 8 month old.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Side Note for Those Who Play Fantasy Baseball!

2011-11-22T07:57:00.004-05:00

For those of you who like the Game Day snacks, they were inspired a long time ago on my husband's fantasy sports website, www.rotoprofessor.com.

He does a draft guide every year for the baseball season and sells it for just a few dollars and it gets updated electronically every 2-3 weeks until the season starts.

So if you play fantasy baseball, head over to the Rotoprofessor and check out the coming draft guide - this is the 3rd year it is being released and it gets rave reviews! There will be a black Friday sale for the guide this year, so get yours now!

Molten Chocolate Surprise - A Kraft Recipe

2011-11-20T16:59:00.004-05:00

The other day while I was at work, my husband sent this recipe to me that he got from the Kraft page on Facebook.

These little chocolate morsels looked delicious! We also had everything in the house already, so I knew I wanted to try and make them over the weekend.

That's just what I did Sunday right before dinner. I made these little molten chocolate cookie/cake things.

Being the craptastic baker I am, I was a bit worried, but these turned out fine except for two things. 1) Mine don't look as pretty as the ones in the picture on the link website because the batter leaked under the cookie in the muffin tin and covered some of it, so you can't see the cookie as well because they look browner from the batter, and 2) I managed to bake them for like, 1 minute too long so the center of my cookie was not as molten-y. Live and learn.

My husband better get back to baking soon because he is much better at it and I need him to be the baker for when our son needs stuff for school! I refuse to send him with embarrassing mess-ups! (Granted, he's not even born yet and we're talking a few years down the road but still, my husband can bake way better than I can. I need to stick to cooking).

The recipe was REALLY easy though, and takes less than a half hour to do. So it's perfect to surprise kids with after school or to whip up for right after dinner. And, it's just delicious!

So here's the recipe, straight from the Kraft website - I made no substitutions except using semi-sweet chips instead of squares of chocolate, but only because I had chips in the house.

Ingredients:

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup flour
12 CHIPS AHOY! Cookies
1/2 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Directions:

Heat oven to 425°F.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 minutes or until butter is melted.

Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Beat whole eggs, yolks, sugar and flour with whisk until well blended. Gradually beat into chocolate mixture.

Line 12 muffin pan cups with paper liners; spray with cooking spray.

Place 1 cookie, upside-down, on bottom of each cup; cover with batter.

Bake 8 minutes or until cakes are firm around edges but still soft in centers.

Cool in pan 1 min. Carefully remove cakes from pan.

Invert into dessert dishes; remove paper liners.

Serve topped with Cool Whip.

There is a little hint at the bottom of this recipe on the website that says you can make the batter ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake, just pour the batter over the cookies - so this makes it really easy to do during a dinner party!

Enjoy!!

Game Day MEAL Week 11 - Hearty Mac n Cheese Bake

2011-11-20T13:42:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the delay, but with our team on at 8:30 pm (EST) tonight, my husband found no reason to hurry me along in making a snack for while he was watching football. So instead, we have something we can eat for dinner! A hearty Mac n Cheese bake - yum!

It's definitely very easy and it could be even easier depending which route you go. I cheated today (after cleaning up our backyard and getting all our patio furniture into the shed for winter) and used Kraft Mac n Cheese as my base.

If I wasn't feeling so lazy, I probably would have made the Mac n Cheese from scratch - so if you do that, just start with making your favorite recipe with nothing else in it besides the noodles and cheese.

The other ingredients we used were frozen mixed vegetables, chopped up turkey pepperoni (Hormel!), mango chicken sausage (from Trader Joe's, my favorite, but you can use whatever sausage you like), breadcrumbs and a little shredded cheddar.

Once the Mac n Cheese was done, we used half a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that we nuked slightly in the microwave to get them a little softer and mixed it into the noodles. Then we added the chopped pepperoni and sliced sausage and mixed everything until it was evenly distributed.

Then we sprinkled some breadcrumbs on the top, along with some shredded cheddar and baked it at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes, until the breadcrumbs looked golden and crunchy.

The end result was deeeeelicious! (We stole some bites since it is for dinner). The pepperoni we have has a slight kick so it added that, while the sausage gave it a sweet element. It's definitely a heartier way to eat Mac n Cheese that will keep you full for a long time.

Although quick and easy, this turned out well and we'll definitely be making it again. Though I might try making my macaroni and cheese from scratch next time when I am not feeling so lazy!

Enjoy and happy game day!

Turkey Meatloaf - 2 Ways!

2011-11-14T17:47:00.004-05:00

Yeah, Thanksgiving is a little over a week away and I chose to make turkey meatloaf this week. Timing is everything! Well, I actually made 2 turkey meatloaves; one stuffed with stuffing and one stuffed with tater tots!! At least I can freeze these if I think we're going to start getting too turkey'd out.

We had ground turkey in the freezer that we needed to use, and we just purchased a bunch of Stove Top stuffing boxes thanks to a great sale at one of our local grocery stores and a fantastic coupon making each box under $1. So my husband and I knew we wanted to combine one of the stuffing mixes with the ground turkey - so I started my research for recipes.

I found a few basic turkey meatloaf with stuffing recipes so I used one and just changed it a bit to make it more of my own.

I also found a recipe using hash brown potato patties (no stuffing in this meatloaf, just the potatoes), and both my husband and I were intrigued. I knew I could substitute tater tots since we had a huge bag of them in our freeze that needs to be used as well.

So I split the package of ground turkey in half and used half for each recipe. We both sampled a piece of each for dinner and they turned out great! My husband favors the tater tot loaf over the stuffing one and I am the exact opposite. But the important thing is - they worked. And we have dinners for a few nights...or lunches if we make a meatloaf sandwich!

Each recipe will be listed below. I will include the links with the original recipes, but will post my versions with the changes I made.

Turkey Meatloaf with Stuffing Inside! (Based on original recipe here).

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 box stuffing mix (I used Stovetop Sage flavor)
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk (water
1/2 cup onion (diced)
1/2 cup celery (diced)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
breadcrumbs
black pepper
nutmeg
dried parsley
paprika

Directions:

Prepare stuffing according to directions on the box. Set aside when done.

Combine eggs, turkey, breadcrumbs, onion, celery, milk and cranberries in a large bowl. Mix well. (I didn't include an exact measurement of breadcrumbs, it is used as a binder so use just enough that the meatloaf will hold together).

Transfer half to a greased loaf pan, and form into a meatloaf shape.

Spread stuffing on top of that half of meatloaf mixture.

When covered, take the remaining half of the mixture and put it on top of the stuffing. Form into a meatloaf shape and make sure to seal the edges so the stuffing is completely inside the turkey.

When formed, sprinkle the pepper, nutmeg, paprika and parsley flakes on top. (Season to taste).

Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.

Remove from heat and allow to rest for ten minutes before slicing.

Tater Tot Turkey Meatloaf! (Based on original recipe here).

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey
12 cup diced onion
10 3/4 Oz cream of mushroom soup (divided)
1 egg
2/3 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
tater tots (I used 14 of them)
shredded cheddar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, add ground turkey, onions, 1/3 cup cream of mushroom soup, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Mix together by hand until all ingredients are well blended.

Coat an 8 x 13 or 10 x 13 casserole dish with non-stick spray.

Press half of the meat mixture into a long rectangle in the dish.

Position the tater tots from the center out. There should be an inch or at least a half inch of meatloaf all around the edges, and you can add meatloaf where needed.

Spread the rest of the cream of mushroom soup evenly over the tater tots. Try not to get the soup on the meatloaf.

Carefully press the rest of the meat mixture flat between your hands and place piece by piece over the tater tots until completely covered.

Bring the edges of the meatloaf together, pinch and smooth out bumps. No soup should peek through.

Sprinkle a small amount of shredded cheddar over the top if desired.

Place casserole dish uncovered in oven. Bake for 1 hour.

Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Since both recipes baked at the same temperature and for the same amount of time, I was able to prepare both and then bake them together, which made it easy to do 2! I would say preparation for each only took about 10-15 minutes, so it was about a half hour total of prep and then baking. Definitely something to do when you are home for a good few hours and not trying to throw together dinner after work.

All in all they turned out well and we'll be making them again! I could see the stuffing one being used for Thanksgiving as an alternative to a regular turkey for those who opt for a "different" Thanksgiving!

Enjoy!

Game Day Snack Week 10 - Cranberry Habanero Cheese Spread

2011-11-13T13:53:00.006-05:00

Today's recipe is, if I do say so myself, absolutely delicious. I decided to make it somewhat Thanksgiving themed since Thanksgiving is coming up and people may also be looking for good appetizers to serve before the big feast. So I found a list of things I could make with what I had in the house with only having to purchase one or two things, since my husband and I are trying to budget this month and buy only what we really need.

My husband picked this recipe, which I got from the Taste of Home website. This recipe was originally called Cranberry Jalapeno Cheese Spread, but it became my own creation and renamed Cranberry Habanero Cheese Spread with the substitutions I made on a few of the ingredients, which I will discuss below.

I will be posting my version of the recipe, so if you want to go with the original version, use the link provided above.

This recipe is also very, VERY easy to make and takes about 20-25 minutes, plus a little cooling time. It is a fantastic dip for crackers, chips, celery or whatever you like using. It can be served warm or cool, and is great for tailgating or a party appetizer. (I myself am thinking about making this for Thanksgiving this year!)

The substitutions I made were because I didn't have an exact ingredient in the house, or because I don't like something, like jalapenos. That is my husband's thing. He likes spicy peppers. So instead, we decided to use the Mango Habanero jelly I have in the house to cook with from Really Good Foods. It was a good compromise because 1) I didn't have to go buy a jalapeno, 2) I didn't have to force myself to try and eat something with fresh jalapeno in it and 3) we both love this jelly which is sweet with just the right amount of kick, and when you mix it with the cheese, it cools it down a bit.

I also substituted Trop 50 Mango Pineapple juice for the regular orange juice that the recipe calls for, but only because that was the only citrus juice we had in the house. We debated buying a small travel bottle of OJ but in the end, decided the juice we had in the house would mesh better with the mango habanero jelly.

Otherwise, I used what the recipe called for. The end result was seriously, fantastic. I loved it! My husband and I ate it with some home made pita chips and celery, and we have a little left over which I will definitely be using for a snack at work this week. It's also a HEALTHY recipe! 2 tablespoons only equals 88 calories! So it's delicious, filling with celery and healthy. Can't beat that.

I think we'll be making this again in the future for sure. I liked it too much not to!

Enjoy!

And now, the recipe (remember, my version, not the original!)

Ingredients:

1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Trop 50 Mango Pineapple juice
2 teaspoons Mango Habanero Jelly from Really Good Foods (or a spicy fruited jelly if you have one!) ** use more teaspoons for a spicier treat!
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese
Assorted crackers or vegetables

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine the first seven ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until thickened. (This could take less than 10 minutes, it did for me).

Remove from the heat; cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in cranberry mixture until blended.

Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Yield: 2 cups.

Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna Roll-Ups

2011-11-07T17:09:00.005-05:00

After my first lasagna ever, the butternut squash lasagna, that I made last week, I had a bunch of leftover lasagna noodles. I cooked the whole box, not knowing what I would need. So I knew that I would be making another lasagna before they went bad.

I stumbled across the website, Beth's Journey, while searching for spinach & artichoke lasagna recipes. I was looking for one that would use red sauce - I didn't really feel like going to buy a creamy Alfredo type sauce and that is what most of the recipes used. But this girl Beth, she used red sauce, and her post about these little roll-ups was so cute! Read it here!

I sent the recipe to my husband and we decided we would try them. At first, I was just going to make a simple spinach and pepperoni lasagna, but these looked more interesting and the pepperoni could be used another time. So I set about making them.

I did make some changes - as the original poster recommended, I used the sauce from the get-go. I also chopped up the spinach, artichoke hearts and cheese in my blender instead of just hand mixing them. I also added some oregano and crushed red pepper for some extra taste, since my husband and I tend to like things a little more seasoned. I also didn't tie the bundles together with a scallion string as she did, so I will omit that from the recipe I post below, and add the things I used. Please see the link above for the original recipe. I also added some Parmesan cheese, because I can't eat anything Italian without Parmesan!!

The recipe turned out well! My husband really enjoyed dinner and it was a good way to use up the rest of the noodles and ricotta cheese we had in the house from the butternut squash lasagna.

This was also pretty easy to make. I didn't have to take time cooking the noodles since I had already made them last week, I just gently soaked them in water to loosen them up. Blending the ingredients only took a few minutes and the assembly was a snap. It probably took me no more than 25 minutes to put these together and then about 25 minutes in the oven.

We also have some leftovers, so at least I know we have another dinner this week! Yum!

Here is the recipe! (My version - I didn't really use measurements)

Ingredients:

lasagna noodles
about 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
about 1/2 cup thawed chopped spinach
frozen artichoke hearts, chopped (not sure how many I used, a handful)
garlic powder (to taste)
marinara sauce
a sprinkle of light shredded mozzarella
a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan
oregano
crushed red pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350º F.

(If you have to cook your noodles, put a pot of water up and cook them for the minimum recommended cooking time)

Combine ricotta, spinach, artichoke, and garlic powder for filling. You can either hand chop everything, or mix it in a food processor or blender. I chose the latter for the quickest way to get this going. (I may have added a dash of oregano to the mixture after I blended it and decided it needed a tad more taste).

Once noodles are cooked, lay them out and sprinkle a tiny amount of crushed red pepper on the noodle, then evenly divide filling and place 2 inches from the bottom of each noodle.

Fold bottom of noodle up over filling and then roll the rest of the noodle around the filling, placing seam side down. Repeat for all noodles you are using.

Place bundles in a greased Pyrex or whatever vessel you are cooking them in. I also coated the bottom of the Pyrex dish with a layer of sauce.

After the bundles are in the dish, cover evenly with more sauce, oregano, shredded Parmesan and shredded mozzarella.

Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Game Day Snack Week 9 - Sweet Potato Biscuits (a Paula Deen recipe)

2011-11-06T14:05:00.004-05:00

My November Food Network Magazine was FULL of yummy things that I want to try. But one stood out for a game day recipe and that was Paula Deen's Fluffy Sweet Potato Biscuits.

I love sweet potatoes, and I love biscuits, and biscuits can easily be a fantastic game day snack. You can eat them plain, you can put spreads on them or you can dip them in things like flavored dip or chili.

The recipe was relatively easy. It took me about 40 minutes from start to finish, and I only had a little trouble at the end working with the dough (as usual, doughy products usually are my downfall but I succeeded today, just had a bit of trouble). And the only other "issue" was that for some reason, I do not have a round cookie cutter. I could have used a glass to form the biscuits, but decided to use my Star of David cookie cutter instead. Hey - it worked and now we have fun star-shaped biscuits!

The biscuits turned out delicious and my husband and I both really enjoyed them. Part of me wonders if I used too much milk (I think I did, if I didn't second guess myself at one point I think my biscuits would have been a tad fluffier).

All in all, we were excited to eat these today (in addition to my husband's favorite game day creation from last season, the Pepperoni Cheese Fries), and we are excited to eat the extra biscuits with dinner this week.

I could also see making these for Thanksgiving!

I am happy to say this recipe was a success after last week's meringue disaster...

And now... the recipe (from FoodNetwork.com). I did not alter this in any way but next time I might just to add my own spin :-)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cooked mashed sweet potato (about 1 large sweet potato)
1/3 to 1/2 cup whole milk, as needed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits

Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet (with butter, oil or cooking spray).

In a small bowl, whisk together the sweet potato and 1/3 cup milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with your hands, a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Add the sweet potato mixture and fold gently to combine.

Add the remaining milk a little at a time until all the flour is moistened. The amount of milk you will need will depend on the moisture of the sweet potato. (This is where I second guessed myself. I poured in some of the remaining milk and mixed and wondered if I needed more. Thinking back, I think I shouldn't have poured the rest in...oh well!)

Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and knead lightly 2 to 3 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together. (This was the only part that gave me trouble because I suck at working with dough. At least the recipe turned out okay!)

Pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round.

Using a 2 1/2-inch-round biscuit cutter, cut the dough into biscuits. (Or Jewish Stars, haha!)

Gently re-roll the scraps and cut out more biscuits.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and bake until light golden brown and firm to the touch, 12 to 14 minutes.

Serve these fluffy biscuits warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!!

Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna - My FIRST Lasagna ever!

2011-11-02T17:45:00.007-04:00

I didn't think I liked butternut squash. I don't like green or yellow squash so why would I? But when my husband and I were in Las Vegas last week, one of the buffets had butternut squash ravioli and I decided to try it. Guess what? It was delicious!

So this past weekend, when my husband and I were food shopping, one of the grocery stores had butternut squash on sale for 49 cents a pound. Despite our goal for the month of November to not spend much on groceries and finally clear out all of our cabinets from the stockpiles of food we have, we decided to go ahead and purchase a small butternut squash, lasagna noodles (I really wanted to make ravioli but I couldn't find wrappers for those) and a small container of ricotta cheese that luckily, was on sale.

I had my goal for Wednesday, the day I was off work. Make my very first lasagna ever. And a butternut squash one at that! I am glad I did it on a day off too...while easy, the recipe took time with all the oven time needed and it is not something that can easily be done after work.

I started my task around 2:30 pm. I didn't follow a true recipe (which I am super proud of because this is MY creation!) but I did look up briefly just how to form the lasagna and how to roast the butternut squash to make a puree.

I wanted to use a butternut squash puree instead of chunks of cut up butternut squash because I was trying to recreate the ravioli from Las Vegas.

So, I started. First I halved the butternut squash and scooped out the little area of its "guts." I fed my gerbils some of the butternut squash seeds and they went bonkers so I ended up saving most of the seeds, washing and drying them, and putting them in a baggie so they have some special treats for a little while.

Then I put the squash halves on a baking sheet with a little water and put it in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, until the squash was fork tender.

Then I scooped it out of the skin and put it in a blender with a blend of spices/seasonings (which I will write about below).

After that was ready, I started to assemble my lasagna. I can say it wasn't the prettiest lasagna ever made, but it was my first and I was darn proud of it. And my butternut squash puree came out pretty darn tasty if I say so myself!

I know the recipe was a success because my husband gobbled it up in no time. The one change we can both agree on for next time is maybe only using one layer of ricotta cheese instead of two because it overshadowed the butternut squash just slightly, but we could still very much taste the squash as well. But for a more stand alone butternut squash taste, I will probably use just one layer of cheese and two layers of the squash next time.

Now that I know I can make a lasagna, I just have to work on how to use the noodles for efficiently to make it look a little nicer. I got the taste part down!

And now, the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash
ricotta cheese
lasagna noodles
marinara sauce (whatever is your fancy, store bought, homemade, whatever!)
garlic powder
salt
pepper
nutmeg
dried parsley flakes
oregano
Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Half the butternut squash and scoop out the "guts" and seeds. Place the squash halves face down on a baking sheet and pour some water on the tray.

Roast for about 45 minutes or until fork tender.

** While this was going on, I had to cook my lasagna noodles because I did not buy the no boil kind. If you have the kind you need to cook, do this while the squash is roasting, drain and set to the side.

When tender, scoop the squash out of its skin and into a blender. I also added salt and pepper to taste , garlic powder to taste and a tiny pinch of nutmeg (no more than 1/8 teaspoon). I pureed the mixture for 20 seconds, then added some dried parsley flakes and pureed it until all mixed together and smooth.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Take whatever dish you are using to cook the lasagna in and put some sauce on the bottom. Put a layer of noodles on top of the sauce and then a layer of ricotta cheese and a layer of the butternut squash puree on top of the cheese. Follow with a small amount of sauce and a light sprinkling of oregano.

Add another layer of noodles, cheese and butternut squash. You can either stop with that layer or add a third. (Note, I only used oregano after my first layer, none of the others until I was finishing off the top).

Once finished layering, add your final topping of noodles and cover with sauce, a light sprinkling of oregano and a light layer of shredded Parmesan cheese.

Bake covered at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes, then remove cover and bake uncovered for about a half hour.

Serve hot and enjoy!!

**
If you want to make this to freeze, prepare it and do not bake it - freeze it after it is assembled. This can last for about 2 months. When ready to cook, thaw for 24 hours and bake as directed above.

Like Tapas? Try Julian Serrano at the Aria in Las Vegas!

2011-11-02T10:18:00.006-04:00

Back in July, I wrote about a local Tapas restaurant near where my husband and I live that we really enjoyed.

But last week, when my husband and I took a quick jaunt to Las Vegas, we ate at an AMAZING Tapas restaurant in the Aria hotel called Julian Serrano. It was seriously delicious and it is a good thing we live across the country from there or else we'd be gaining a ton of weight monthly eating there.

Of course we looked at the menu before heading to Las Vegas, and we already knew we would be ordering my husbands favorite, which is Brava Potatoes, served with a spicy tomato and alioli sauce. It was a tad TOO spicy for me but overall, delicious. My husband loved it.

We also knew we'd be getting one of my favorites, traditional Spanish chicken croquetas. There was a béchamel in the croquettes which made them very creamy. They were delicious, but the ones I had while in Barcelona weren't AS creamy and I liked them a little better that way. I am such a croquette fan.

The last thing we KNEW we would order when at the restaurant was another favorite we discovered in Spain - Churros!! MMM...Churros served with chocolate. The difference between the thick chocolate that came with these churros and the chocolate served in Spain, is that this restaurant makes it spicy by adding paprika into the chocolate. It's not super spicy, or else I wouldn't be able to eat it, but it is enough to warm your throat. It was pretty good! Also, the churros here came lightly dusted with powdered sugar while the churros in Spain are coated with regular thick sugar granules. But we ate every last bite of these churros.

We needed some other plates to share, so we also ordered a Spanish tortilla, which was potatoes, eggs and onions. It was more potato to me than any egg, so I asked my husband to try it since he hates eggs and of course he swore it was too eggy (it wasn't). And once again, this plate did not disappoint.

We also ordered the Grilled Angus Flat Iron Steak which came with Japanese eggplant and a mushroom demi. This was one of our favorites for the night - seriously tasty and probably one of our top recommendations for anyone going to eat here.

Lastly, in addition to our churros with dessert, we ordered something called buñuelos, which are Spanish doughnuts served with a butterscotch caramel sauce. OMG, these were SO FRIGGIN GOOD. We were so full, but managed to also eat every single little doughnut. We couldn't leave anything behind!

The website suggests reservations, which we made, but we were seeing a 7:00 p.m. show at the Aria so we were eating relatively early. We made reservations for 5:30 p.m., but showed up around 5:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night and they had plenty of room to accommodate us early. More people came the longer we sat there and we left a little after 6:00 p.m. The service was fantastic - our waitress was so nice and answered every question we had and even just talked to us about our experiences in Spain a little.

The prices are definitely reasonable, unless you are like the table of 4 business colleagues next to us who ordered at least 20 or more plates. I kid you not...my husband and I were cracking up because they just kept bringing out more and more. And at one point, one man asked "is this it?" and another man answered, "let's get through this and then we'll see!" HAHAH! I wish I was dining on their tab!

It's also casual since the restaurant is open to the lobby of the hotel. We had a fantastic time and hope that whenever we get back to Las Vegas, it is still there. In the meantime, anyone in the Vegas area or visiting the city of sin should definitely check it out.

Enjoy!

Guest Post - Pumpkin Raisin Drop Cookies!

2011-10-30T17:51:00.004-04:00

Eating With A readers: My cousin-in-law Melissa recently graduated college and moved all the way across the country to start her new life. I got her started on couponing and now she is kicking my butt and doing it much better than me!

She also has been cooking for herself, so I told her that any time she wanted to send me posts, she can guest write. This is her debut on Eating With A. Everything below this paragraph is her words. Enjoy!

PUMPKIN RAISIN DROPS

I got this recipe from my aunt, who got it from a healthy foods, low-fat cookbook. Keep in mind that these come out cake-like, not like cookies.

I love this for a fall treat! Halloween, Thanksgiving, a random weekday - SO GOOD. I've been making these a few times every fall for a couple of years. They're always a hit with friends and co-workers!

If you aren't a fan of raisins, like me, leave them out!

Ingredients:

1 beaten egg (I use egg-beaters)
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (meaning plain, canned pumpkin -- NOT pumpkin pie filling, which has lots of things added to the pumpkin)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins (I don't use these)
Non-stick spray coating

Directions:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together egg, pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla.

2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Stir in raisins.

3. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray coating. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonsful, 1 inch apart, onto the cookie sheet.

4. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 12-14 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 24 cookies.

Keep in mind that the standard size jar of Libby's Pumpkin (approx 29oz) will make you 4 or 5 batches of these cookies. Also, even though the "raw" batter looks like baby food and smells less than fantastic, don't let this deter you!

Yes, I know the final product looks a little...gross. But these "cookies" are so spongey and moist, I guarantee that if you like pumpkin, you'll like these cookies.

FYI, as we gradually eat them over the next few days after baking, we usually put them in a toaster oven before serving, so they are hot and slightly browned.

Game Day Snack Week 8 (part 2) - Caramelized Banana "Sundae"

2011-10-30T14:37:00.004-04:00

Since MY idea for the Sunday game day snack went bust (see my "ghost meringues" and LAUGH here!), my husband decided to make his own snack for game day.

I think the Viva Elvis Cirque du Soleil that we just saw in Vegas got into his head, because he decided to do a play on peanut butter and bananas.

We had one banana left in our fruit basket, so he decided to slice it up and caramelize the bananas in brown sugar.

First he sliced them, then he rolled each slice in the brown sugar to coat them, and then he sauteed them in a pan with a tiny drop of margarine.

After the bananas were done, he put them into a bowl and added peanuts for texture, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Different, but tasty, and he enjoyed it while parked on the couch watching the Giants.

This concoction can also be put over ice cream! (Vanilla would probably work best).

Enjoy!

Game Day Snack Week 8 - Halloween Treat! Ghastly Meringues

2011-10-30T13:32:00.005-04:00

Today's recipe was a borderline disaster. I found this recipe for Ghastly Meringues in my Food Network Magazine and they were so cute I just HAD to try them.

Well, for anyone who doesn't know how to make meringues and has never tried them before...this may not be the best recipe to try for the first time on the day you want to make them.

I recruited my husband for help. The recipe seemed simple enough...beat egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar together until stiff. Well, either the beating needs to be for more than the recommended 5-6 minutes or else my husband and I just fail at this task.

We actually made two batches. The first batch I actually used egg whites and the mixture just wouldn't get stiff enough and turned into a runny mess.

The second time, I had Meringue powder made by Wilton and you can use it as an egg white substitute. So I did.

It seemed to work better from the start, but when I tried piping the mixture onto the way paper, it didn't stay in stiff peaks and ended up in blobs. I hoped it would rise in the oven. (It didn't).

My end result ended up meringue cookies. They tasted great, just not in the shape I wanted!! OOPS!!

I would say this is a dessert that only people who have a lot of time to perfect it try, or people who already know how to make a meringue. Otherwise it is a super cute and tasty treat for a game day around Halloween, or for a Halloween party!

Here is the recipe: (total time, 1 hour 35 minutes. 35 minutes active time, 1 hour baking).

Ingredients:

3 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until frothy.

Beat in the sugar; increase the mixer speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, 5 to 6 minutes.

Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe 8 to 10 swirls on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake until dry, 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.

Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave on 50 percent power until melted, about 1 minute, stirring halfway.

Transfer the melted chocolate to a zip-top bag and snip a corner. Pipe the chocolate on the meringues to look like eyes.

This recipe was classified as easy, but I obviously do not have talent enough for this. Oh well - chalk it up to the fact that I am still NOT the best baker and am better at cooking dinner recipes.

It's still a cute recipe and seems easy so good luck to all who try it out!

Stay tuned either later or tomorrow for a special guest post by my cousin-in-law, Melissa!! She made a special pumpkin treat.

** Top Photograph courtesy of Raymond Hom on Food Network website. It does not belong to me. (I just wanted a picture of how the treats were supposed to look!)

Here is what my crappy "ghosts" ended up like!! :-)

Game Day Snack Week 7 - Sweet n Tangy Dogs

2011-10-22T13:48:00.003-04:00

So this week is definitely an easy snack, and halfway cheating on being creative. My husband and I only had Saturday to get him a new baseball autograph at a show for a picture he has been doing, pick up our baby stroller before they sold out of the one we wanted, pack, get my husband a hair cut, have him pick up his new glasses and have our exterminator come to do an outside soil treatment to keep the house safe from pests for the next year. Sounds like a lot, huh?

Since we're going on our last minor jaunt before I can't travel much anymore, we had a lot to cram in on one solitary weekend day. So I needed this week's recipe to be easy.

I found this AWESOME recipe for a delicious sounding watermelon slushee (sans alcohol for me) that I wanted to try but we didn't have watermelon in the house and I just didn't feel like going to buy some (especially since it is so overpriced now because it is not watermelon season!) So that recipe will be done another time. It would have been easy to make for the afternoon but oh well.

SO instead, I used my dinner from Friday night to be my inspiration. I had turkey dogs (hot dogs for people who don't eat turkey dogs), so I found a way to dress it up into something more unique, and add some fruit into it as well! My combination turned out tasting fantastic.

I had a cheddar and red grape hot dog. YUM!! I always like having cheese on my hot dogs, so that was nothing new. We had a bunch of red grapes in the house because I have been on a grape kick, so I sliced a few up.

After the hot dog was cooked, I put a thin layer of ketchup down, then some grapes, then a little more ketchup and then some shredded cheddar. This combination resulted in a very sweet and tangy taste and I definitely enjoyed it.

I knew the fruit would work from when I made the Surf Dogs back in the summer of 2010 and those had pineapple on them. And it is a good way to sneak some fruit into a fussy little one that doesn't want to eat healthy!

I could also see finely dicing some onion and sprinkling that on the dog as well.

This is obviously very easy to make, and can be made on the road if you have all your ingredients prepared. (like chopping grapes and onions and bringing them already cut). You can use it on mini cocktail wieners or full sized dogs.

It's a fantastic game day food.

So, enjoy your football games this week! And if anyone has any requests or ideas for something they would like to see, leave a comment or go to the Facebook fan page and leave a suggestion!

And sorry for the lack of creativity but vacation calls. Next week I will have a special Halloween treat!

Game Day Snack Week 6 - Mozzarepas!

2011-10-16T13:15:00.004-04:00

First, yes, this game day recipe is definitely after the first kick-off, but, well, sorry. My husband and I have some busy busy weekends ahead of us before we have an invasion of the little one, so we were running some errands this morning.

I can guarantee that next week's recipe will be up by Saturday since we are away on Sunday!!

Second, this week's recipe was inspired by the Oyster Festival we went to on Long Island yesterday. I love the Oyster Festival. And don't worry - this recipe has nothing to do with seafood... this was something we ate in the main food court. The food court at the Oyster Festival is usually full of new and different foods that we have never eaten, as well as traditional fair foods like hot dogs and pickles and roasted corn (yum!).

While we were roaming to find some things we never ate, we found polenta fries, which unfortunately we didn't get to try because that food truck was having a problem with the deep fryer. We ate butterscotch chicken wings, which were good until butterscotch got all over you (including in my hair, which did not make me too happy). We also walked past something called "mozzarepas." We had never heard of these, but people were going crazy for them and one woman remarked "these are outrageous," when I inquired as to what they were.

So, what are mozzarepas? Well, they are basically a corn bread grilled cheese, just for an easy explanation. It's 2 pieces of corn patties with melted mozzarella cheese in between. And it was delicious. So we decided to make it for game day.

It was actually hard to find a recipe for these - they are kind of limited on the internet. But, I found this one and it seemed easy enough. I did have to make a few last minute substitutions, only because we didn't have something in the house, but it still turned out just fine.

I used white corn meal instead of yellow because we only had white in the house (not much difference in taste, I had researched this in the past), and I had to omit the ground corn kernels because we didn't have any in the house either, so we just added a little more corn meal instead.

But next time - I will make sure I have some frozen corn to try that out!!

We also added a special touch for some more zing - we have mango habanero jelly in the house so when we put the cheese in the middle, we also added a dab of that jelly. It tasted delicious with the extra added taste!! (But the original version is very tasty as well.)

We also made an original version and dipped it in pasta sauce - YUM!!

Our home made mozzarepas were nothing compared to the pros at the festival, but they were tasty enough to eat at home and serve during a party. Maybe with some more practice I can master the true form of the mozzarepa. At least they were easy to make!!

The whole process took us about 20-25 minutes, so definitely not too shabby!!

The recipe listed below makes 8 patties or 4 sandwiches. We halved it because we were just trying it out.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup frozen corn kernels (we omitted just because we didn't have in the house)
1 cup finely ground yellow corn meal (we used white only because we had that in the house)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
mild swiss or mozzarella cheese, sliced

Directions:

Bring the milk to a boil in a small pan, add the butter and let stand and cool slightly.

Grind the frozen corn kernels in a food processor.

In a large bowl, mix the ground corn, corn meal, salt, sugar, flour and shredded mozzarella.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and slowly add the milk and butter mixture. Stir until there are no lumps.

Heat a lightly buttered griddle to medium - spoon the batter on the griddle to form pancakes. (We used our little "perfect pancake" rings - they helped soooo much!)

Cook the pancakes in batches until crispy and golden brown on each side.

Place the sliced cheese on one pancake and cover it with another to make a sandwich. Cook over low heat until the cheese is melted - flip it a few times.

Serve warm and enjoy!!

I am so glad this person at the website above listed this recipe so I had something easy to work off of.

Apple Honey Chicken!

2011-10-11T12:28:00.002-04:00

So this year’s Yom Kippur chicken dish was inspired by Food Network Magazine. There was a recipe for Apple-Honey coated drumsticks that looked absolutely delicious. However, since my father is SUPER picky, and he won’t eat any dark meat, I used chicken breasts instead so this turned out more like a marinade than a coating over the chicken.

But the end result was fantastic! The marinade had great flavor and because the chicken basted in it for a day, when I heated it up, it was so nice and moist. I’d call this a success!

So here is how I changed the recipe…instead of baking the drumsticks, I used a skillet on the stovetop and gently cooked the chicken until it was just cooked through. I made the sauce, and then I put the chicken in a large Tupperware, poured the sauce over it and stuck it in the fridge for a day and a half until I served dinner. Then I just baked it in its marinade for about 15, 20 minutes. Normally I wouldn’t marinate for so long, but I was making my Yom Kippur dishes over several nights, so in this case, the extra soak time really helped the chicken. I would say overnight or a few hours would do it also.

If you don’t have the time and just pour the marinade over the chicken and eat it right away, it should also work, since that is how the recipe was designed to begin with.

I’ll definitely make this again – it had a delightful sweet and tangy flavor. It was also really easy and not too time consuming.

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 skin-on chicken drumsticks (I used 5 chicken breasts)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds (optional)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet. Put the drumsticks on the rack and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Bake 30 minutes; flip the drumsticks and continue baking until golden and crisp, about 30 more minutes.
(*** This is obviously for the original recipe. I used a skillet on medium heat and sautéed the chicken until just cooked. Then I set it aside on a plate until I placed it in the marinade).

Make the sauce: Bring the apple juice, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt to a boil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the sauce is syrupy and coats the back of a spoon, 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside until the chicken is done.
Stir the sesame seeds into the sauce, if using, and warm over medium heat, if necessary.

Transfer the chicken to a large bowl. Add the sauce and butter and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the chicken to a platter and drizzle with any remaining sauce from the bowl.

"Healthified" Tres Leches Cake - My Yom Kippur Dessert!

2011-10-10T08:27:00.002-04:00

I decided to host the Yom Kippur feast for my parents and brother-in-law- again this year like I did last year for the first time. Last year was only 4 of us (my BIL didn't come), so I added one more this year. Last year I also had the day off before the feast so I had a lot of time to cook and prepare, therefore I made 4 dishes that I had never made before.

This year, I asked my parents to come over when we were eating with them on Rosh Hashanah and I thought I would be okay. Despite the fact that I hadn't cooked more than small things in months, I figured if I cooked one dish every night after work the following week then I would be able to pull it off. Well, then I developed a horrendous cold after getting my flu shot (thanks to my immune system being ridiculously low thanks to being pregnant - that's the reason my blog has been MIA all summer actually), so my husband helped tremendously to make sure we were ready to feed 3 people last Friday night. I made a main dish that is a staple here and is my father's FAVORITE dish, my hamburger pie, and I made the parsnip pancakes that my husband and I discovered that we liked in the spring. I tricked my father into trying them by saying they were potato pancakes and what a shock - he LIKED them. Of course, after he learned they were parsnips he was like, "oh, they have a funny taste." Thanks, Dad.

I also made a new chicken dish and that will be posted later this week. This dessert is also new. Thanks to my friend Lynda, who introduced me to the Eat Better America website last year around this time (when I made my mini Irish Cream Cheesecakes for Yom Kippur), I found this delicious looking recipe for Tres Leches cake. My husband and I recently were watching something on Food Network that featured a Tres Leches cake and we really wanted to try one so I thought, well, here is my dessert.

It wasn't that hard to make, though I made a minor mistake in using a pan to bake the cake that was a LITTLE too small so the middle of my cake didn't cook fast enough and I had to leave the cake in the oven for an extra 20 minutes. Luckily, the rest of the cake didn't burn and thanks to the milk mixture that gets poured over it, the cake would end up being nice and moist anyway.

The other snafu was that I was going to top it with raspberries, but somehow in the 3 days between when I bought a fresh box of raspberries and when I went to put them on the cake, they ALL molded. I was so pissed. Luckily I had some leftover blackberries from my snacking during the week and I threw those on the cake instead.

The edges of my cake turned out a lot better than the middle - the middle was just a tad too mushy in the end with the milk mixture, and because it took so much longer to cook. So we didn't save any of the middle of the cake - it just tasted a little too mushy to eat. But the edges, which were dryer, took the milk mixture very well and the result was pretty good according to my BIL and husband. (My poor mom got a piece of the middle by mistake so she said it was mushy. Oops. Well, I tried!)

I would definitely make this recipe again though, now that I know how to fix my mistakes. It's a sweet (really sweet) dessert so you really need to like sweets.

It takes about 2 hours total, but that is with an hour of "resting" time in the fridge after pouring the milk mixture over the cake. The full recipe states that it would serve 15 people, but those are very generous portions so you can definitely serve more people with this recipe. I didn't change anything about the recipe at all, except the fruit i was going to top it with at the end.

And now, here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box SuperMoist yellow cake mix (I used Pillsbury but most brands have a super moist line - made with "extra pudding")
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon canola oil (I used vegetable, but if I had apple sauce in the house, I would have used that instead. I almost always substitute apple sauce for the oil).
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 whole eggs
3 egg whites
1 can (14 oz) fat-free sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1 can (12 oz) evaporated fat-free milk
1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk or fat-free half-and-half
1 container (8 oz) frozen reduced-fat or fat-free whipped topping, thawed
Sliced fresh strawberries, if desired (I was going to use raspberries)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, vanilla, whole eggs and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 29 to 35 minutes or until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Poke top of hot cake all over with fork or wooden skewer, wiping fork occasionally to reduce sticking.

In medium bowl, stir condensed milk, evaporated milk and skim milk until blended.

Slowly pour evenly over top of cake. Cover; refrigerate about 1 hour or until mixture is absorbed into cake.

Spread whipped topping over cake. Refrigerate until serving time. Garnish with strawberries.

Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Game Day Snack Week 5 - Mini Football Subs

2011-10-09T11:50:00.004-04:00

First, sorry for not getting this post up early enough in the day. I've been battling a nasty cold-type disease the past few days so I am just not moving fast enough.

Second, luckily, despite feeling like crud, I still have an appetite so when my husband stumbled across this little recipe, I thought it was so cute that I just had to make them.

These little subs can be pre-made at home and taken on the road with you for tailgating...just warm them up in the grill when you get there! Kids will also get a kick out of them and will hopefully gobble them right up!

They are very easy to make as well. All you need are small rolls, cheese, sauce and your favorite meatball recipe. (Or if you have a market that sells meatballs near you, you can just cheat and buy a few meatballs that are already pre-made!!)

Ingredients:

Meatballs
Spaghetti Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Individual sized rolls

Directions:

First, prepare your favorite meatball recipe, shaping each meatball into a mini football before cooking. (If you cheat and buy pre-made meatballs, just cut them in half and shape them slightly).

Once they're cooked, add the meatballs to a skillet of spaghetti sauce and warm them through.

For each sub, cut a V-shaped notch from the top of an individual-size roll, place a meatball in the roll, and top with cheese shred laces.

Finally, put the subs on a baking sheet and in the oven for a few minutes to melt the cheese just slightly.

Enjoy!

"Marathon" Pasta (Pasta with pesto, potato and veggie)

2011-10-03T17:28:00.004-04:00

So, this post is dedicated to my friend Carly who has become a runner. She does all sorts of races now and has completed her first half-marathon, with a second one coming up October 15th! (Go Carly!)

I told her I would make a pasta dish in her honor since many athletes choose to load up on carbs the night before a big race.

I found this recipe on a website called No Meat Athlete.The main reason I picked this one (here is the original recipe) is because the author made it the night before he was running the Baltimore Marathon. Now, Carly isn't running the full marathon, but she is doing the Baltimore Half Marathon, so I thought this recipe would be perfect.

I can tell you off the bat that I changed this recipe slightly, and ONLY for the reason of convenience. The original actually looked great and I would have used it as is if I had the right ingredients and a little more time.

The first minor thing that changed was that the author used whole wheat pasta and I used garden vegetable pasta. I actually had whole wheat pasta in the house, but the garden vegetable was already open so I didn't want to open a new box. I also only used a half a box, not a full box.

The second minor thing that I changed was not using green beans, which the recipe calls for (and is a vegetable Carly likes). I used asparagus instead, again, only because I already HAD it in the house, and we didn't have any green beans. It was an easy switch, so not a big deal.

Lastly, this author made his own pesto. That's impressive! I didn't because 1) I didn't have the ingredients in the house to make the pesto, 2) we actually have had a Knorr Pesto Sauce Mix sitting in our cabinet for like, 2 years, that needed to be used, and 3) I just didn't have the time to make my own so the shortcut was great!

So, if you want to use green beans and make your own pesto, go to the link above for the original recipe. I won't be posting the pesto recipe here.

All in all, the recipe turned out well! My husband inhaled his dinner, so I guess he liked it. I never was the biggest pesto person, and this was tasty, but not my ultimate favorite, only because I am not in love with pesto.

It's a relatively easy recipe to make and from start to finish, I would say it took maybe 45 minutes. That could be a little generous though, it may have taken me less. I didn't pay so close attention because I was trying to find recipes to make for the Yom Kippur feast this Friday at the same time!!

So, Carly, I hope you like the idea of this dish that I found just for you. Good luck running!! I know you will do great!

And now, the recipe (with my changes/shortcuts). This could probably serve 2-3 people with using just half a box of pasta. 4 if you use smaller portions!

Ingredients:

1 Knorr Pesto Sauce Mix packet
1/4 cup olive oil (for pesto)
3/4 cup water (for pesto)
1/2 box spaghetti of your choosing (whole wheat, garden veggie, plain)
3-4 small/medium boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
3/4 cup asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces (or you can use green beans or any other veggie you like!)

Directions:

Place the potatoes in a large pot (you'll be using it for the pasta, too) and fill with as much water as you'd use to make pasta.

The potatoes should be covered with a few inches of water. Salt the water to taste, then bring to a boil.

When the potatoes are close to being tender (usually takes around 8-10 minutes), add the vegetable you are using and allow them to cook.

When the vegetable and potatoes are tender, remove them with a slotted spoon and transfer to a separate bowl. Cover with foil to keep warm.

Put the pasta in the boiling water and cook.

** If using a sauce mix, it takes just a few minutes so do this while the pasta is cooking.

Place the pasta, potatoes, and vegetable in a large bowl. Mix in the pesto to coat everything. Serve with more Parmesan cheese! (The author also used salt and pepper at the end to taste, but we didn't).

Enjoy!

Grown Up Root Beer Float!

2011-10-02T08:43:00.003-04:00

Quick post:

Along with the PITACHOS, I made my husband a special drink for the day because we were out of beer.

(Disclaimer, for adults only!)
My husband was given a "grown up" root beer float. I used a tall glass of root beer with Smirnoff Spiced Root Beet Vodka and Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka.

Tasty treat!

Game Day Snack Week 4 - PITACHOS!! (Pita Nachos)

2011-10-01T22:08:00.005-04:00

Nachos are ALWAYS a fun snack at our house. I made a few different ones last football season. So last weekend I decided to search through our fully stocked cabinets to create a snack for my husband. We had several different salsas in the house, canned corn, pita bread left from my Spaetzle Pizza and some other odds n ends.

I thought about making my own pita chips and then some kind of dip, but once I spied the taco seasoning, I knew what I was going to make... PITACHOS!! (Pita Nachos).

This recipe is very easy to make. It probably took me about a half hour from start to finish with making the pita chips and assembling the finished dish.

I decided to make this quickly, so I decided against opening the ground beef and sauteing it, so these are "vegetarian," per say. I can't claim it 100% because I don't know if any of the other products I used could be classified as non-vegetarian. I just know there is no meat!

First, I made the pita chips using the whole wheat pita bread I used for last week's recipe. I cut the pita into 8ths and dipped each piece lightly into olive oil. Once all the bread was dipped, I sprinkled some taco seasoning over the chips and baked them in the toaster oven for about 15 minutes until crisp. I did turn them over half way to make sure each side was dusted in taco seasoning and baking up nice and crispy.

While those were heating up, I cracked open a can of yellow corn niblets and heated them up.

I also diced some red onion very finely - just a little though. I didn't want to overwhelm the palate.

For the cheese, I used Tostito's Spicy Nacho Cheese dip. We had this 4 pack lying around the house because we bought it before Hurricane Irene hit us in case we lost power. The single serve travel packs were great because they didn't need refrigeration until opened, and you could finish one pack in a serving. So it totally worked as my cheese!

The salsa I used was actually from Canada. My parents went on vacation last year and brought us back a jar of Cherry Salsa from Prince Edward Island and we just never opened it. I decided to give it a try for this recipe. Any salsa will work, but if you can find a sweeter, fruity salsa, that would work best. We also had pineapple salsa from Trader Joe's in the house, but the cherry won.

A dollop of sour cream topped off the nachos, and I presented them to my husband with joy. He dug in and said "wow, these are actually REALLY good!" Score. I successfully made my own pita chips with a taco flair, as well as finally using a gift my parents got us a long time ago. I apparently made him too much and he couldn't finish, so I did, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it too, despite not really liking salsa.

I think PITACHOS will become a staple here in the future. I would have loved to add some scallions or jalapenos for my husband, but we just didn't have any in the house. I could also see adding some chopped lettuce. Maybe next time!!

So here is a rundown of the ingredients in case you missed anything in the description:

Homemade pita chips
(whole wheat pita bread, cut into 8ths, drizzled in olive oil and taco/fajita seasoning)
yellow corn niblets
red onion - finely diced
nacho cheese (Tostito's Spicy Nacho Cheese Dip)
cherry salsa from canada
sour cream

Assembly:

Place the baked pita chips on a plate and layer some corn and red onion over the chips. Pour some of the cheese on, and add a little more corn and onion.

Another splash of cheese, a few spoonfuls of salsa and a dollop of sour cream will finish off your PITACHOS.

Enjoy!

PS - serve with a fork too, just in case!

Game Day Snack Week 3 - Spaetzle Pizza!

2011-09-25T12:34:00.003-04:00

Whew... I am a little late posting this week's game day snack - it's only 25 minutes before the first kick-off here on the east coast and I am just sitting down to write this!!

Anyway, this week's treat is Spaetzle Pizza.. and it's a two step post! I will post the recipe I used to make my own spaetzle, and then what we did to create our little pizza's.

Once the spaetzle is made, you can bring this on the road and make while tailgating on those little grills. or you can pre-assemble the whole pizza and just grill it up or reheat it there.

I was surprised that my spaetzle turned out decently, not being anything close to German, and not usually enjoying working with dough. In fact, most of my dishes I attempt where I make my own dough turn out only so-so. But this worked for once, and I was happy.

The spaetzle is easy to make. It took me about a half hour total from set up to when I finished off sauteing the spaetzle. It was delicious on its own as well, and I could see my husband and I eating this for dinner with a side of our favorite sweet and sour meatballs.

Here is the spaetzle recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper (recipe suggested white, I used black because it is what I have, only difference is color)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

Bring about a gallon of water to boil.

Mix together flour, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Beat the eggs well and add it alternately with the milk into the dry ingredients. Mix until smooth.

Press the dough through a spaetzle maker if you have one. Or you can use a large holed sieve or metal grater. I used a spaghetti colander. It worked totally fine.

Drop a few spaetzle dough pieces into the boiling water at a time and cook 5 to 8 minutes - drain well.

Saute the cooked spaetzle in butter or margarine. If eating plain - sprinkle some fresh parsley on top and serve!

And now, the pizza's.

I had bought whole wheat pitas to use as our base.

For the "sauce," we used Philadelphia's Cooking Cream in the Italian Herb flavor. Spaetzle went on next, followed by some mozzarella cheese and those crunchy onions that come in a can.

The little pizza was baked in the oven at 375 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes until the cheese began to brown slightly.

Serve warm!

This was a very satisfying dish and my husband really enjoyed his treat!

Game Day Week 2: Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies!

2011-09-18T10:58:00.005-04:00

This week's Game Day snack was supposed to be something with spaetzle, but that will be coming up next week now. That recipe is half done (the spaetzle is made, but I didn't put the rest of the snack together yet), because I got distracted yesterday by something I saw on the Cooking Channel.

My husband and I were watching one of the Unique Sweets episodes and it was about cookies - one of my favorite subjects. There is this place in Chicago that had these really delicious looking cookies, some including potato chips.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have had chocolate covered potato chips in my life and they are simply, awesome. I love them. They have the right combination of sweet and salty, and, in my opinion, I like them much better than chocolate covered pretzels.

So the thought of chocolate chip cookies with potato chips really excited me - and I couldn't believe I never thought to experiment with that before. So, to make me happy, my husband sent me out to get some Baked Lays and he started whipping up a batch of our favorite chocolate chip batter.

With the first batch of cookies, we decided to just sprinkle some potato chips on the top of the cookie after they had been baking for a few minutes. The result was okay - I didn't think you tasted the potato chips enough.

So for the second batch he sprinkled some crushed up chips into the batter first, and then also put some on top of the cookie a few minutes after they had been baking. This time they were fantastic! You tasted the chocolate chips with the salty potato chips and I LOVED them!

We ended up bringing some of them over to a friends house last night and their three year old dove right in and thought they were pretty tasty! She didn't even seem phased that the chocolate chip cookies had a little something different about them!

So these are the perfect Game Day snack, whether you are at home watching the game or our tailgating. Salty and sweet, people will munch on these happily!

They are easy to make - just use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but use half of what the salt content is because the potato chips will add their own salt factor. We found that crushing the chips and adding some into the batter worked best.

After we put them in the oven to cook (usually 8-10 minutes), we opened the oven after just about 3 or 4 minutes and pressed some potato chips onto the tops of the cookies and returned them to baking.

Happy Munching!

Are You Ready For A Game Day Snack?! Week 1 - Deep Fried Goodness!

2011-09-10T16:26:00.006-04:00

I'M BACK!! It's been too long since I have cooked. I am serious. I don't know what I have done all summer, but I have been incredibly lazy, and had zero desire to cook new foods. The little cooking I did resulted in pasta or things like that, which aren't exciting to post about. I'm still having some motivation issues (seriously, who stole my motivation?!) but I made an effort so I could bring back the football snacks!

This week's idea is seriously unhealthy. I mean, deep fried?!?! Blame it on Food Network though. They had a whole feature in this month's magazine about deep frying many different foods, and it looked just too darn good not to try at least once. So I figured I'd kick off the football season with a deliciously unhealthy, ooey, gooey, assembly of treats.

The batter I used was really easy to make, and it is so versatile to different seasonings. I split the batter 3 ways and actually used 3 different sets of seasonings based on which food I was frying. I could totally see making a batch of foods and putting them out on a tray for hungry football fans to eat while cheering on their respective teams.

For this post, we tried fried strawberries, Oreo's, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese and a slice of pizza. The pizza was actually on the article's "do not fry" list, but honestly, it was THE BEST THING WE MADE. OMG!!

Also on the "good to fry list" are things like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, nuts, olives, cheesecake, Snickers, mini muffins and some other assorted goodies.

Some of the "do not fry" foods include M&M's, marshmallows, tomato slices, bologna, watermelon, as well as some other foods. Like I said, pizza WAS on that list (I guess maybe they mean regular pizza?? We used a specialty slice), but it turned out to be so delicious that I can't imagine why it's not good to fry.

There are a few different batters to use depending on your foods. I picked the basic batter because all the foods we wanted to play with used that batter.

Basic Batter:

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold club soda

whisk together!

After you make the batter, you add in the spice blend you want, and I will talk about what I used for each food.

There is also a thin batter which uses just 1/4 cup more of club soda, and an egg batter, which is the basic batter with only 3/4 cup of club soda and adding in 2 egg yolks.

The only recipe they gave us using the egg batter was for the Snickers candy bar... everything else used the basic or thin batters. In fact, the only 2 things on their list using the thin batter is the PB&J sandwich and the bananas. So basic seems to work for most anything.

**You also need a pot with about 3 inches of vegetable oil (or peanut oil) heated to 375 degrees F.

And now, on to the goodies:

Strawberries:

Hull the strawberries, and add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a teaspoon of sugar to the batter. (I actually used 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar and 1 teaspoon of cocoa sugar for a more chocolatey taste!!) Dip the strawberries in the batter and drop into the oil. Fry for 1 minute until golden brown.

My first attempt at the strawberry was so-so...we didn't fry it long enough and it just tasted like a hot strawberry. My second attempt was much better and it became more gooey, so it was sort of like biting into hot strawberry sauce. But it was delicious!

Oreo's:

We used the same seasonings that we used for the strawberries for the Oreo's. They came out fine - just like a fried Oreo should! I could see sprinkling some confectioners sugar on top of these and the strawberries as well. Oreo's get fried for 2-3 minutes.

Macaroni & Cheese:

Spread mac n cheese in a baking dish, chill and cut into squares. (I actually just put some in a tiny ramekin and stuck it in the freezer for a half hour to form a shape). Add a pinch of cayenne to the basic batter and fry for 1-2 minutes. I used paprika instead (we didn't have cayenne), and it was very tasty!

Mashed Potatoes:

Well, these would have been one of my favorites but my mashed potatoes leaked out of their batter shell and made a mess. I was so upset. The little bite we had left was SO delicious!! I'm not quite sure what happened, but the instructions are to chill the mashed potatoes and roll into balls. Use the basic batter with 2 tablespoons of chopped herbs. I decided to just use a pinch of dried parsley and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Fry 2-3 minutes.

Pizza:

There is a restaurant near us called Pantano's and they make a very delicious pizza that consists of creamed spinach with mozzarella on whole wheat crust. We LOVE it. We had one slice left so I cut off the crust and used the batter I used for the mashed potatoes. We fried it for about 2 minutes and honestly, between the spinach, cheese and spices in the batter, everything worked so well, and my husband and I had to try SO hard not to eat it all in the middle of a random Saturday. My husband joked about going to get another pie to fry as well but we knew that would be even more unhealthy than we were already being!! Haha.

Despite us testing the waters before Sunday (I really wanted to get the recipe up for anyone wanting to make this for the game), and being really unhealthy, we also knew that without a doubt, if we had people over, we would make a few of these items to put out - especially the pizza and mashed potatoes (if I can make them right next time!)

So I hope you all are ready for some football (or party entertaining!) I promise I will try to come up with some healthier options as well for throughout the season.

Enjoy!!

A Delicious Meal from Lyman Orchards - Middlefield, CT!

2011-08-15T19:18:00.005-04:00

OK, here is my last post of delicious food we ate in Connecticut. (I swear, I feel like all we did that weekend was eat yummy food!)

This delicious sandwich and salad that I am going to talk about came from The Apple Barrel market at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT. Lyman Orchards are a pick your own orchard and when we went in early August we could have picked peaches (they grow like 20 kinds!), blueberries, apples and pears. But, alas, the day we decided to go to the orchards, it DOWNPOURED most of the morning and they had to close the U-Pick for the day. Sadness.

But it wasn't a total loss - they do have a market place (The Apple Barrel) where they sell fresh produce, home baked pies and doughnuts and other delicious bakery creations, ciders and they have a deli section. My husband and I were heading out to Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT., so we decided to pick up a picnic type lunch to take with us and eat at the state park that surrounds the castle.

One sandwich caught my eye immediately - it was called the "Crispin." This sandwich consisted of grilled chicken with sliced green apples, cheddar cheese, red onions, lettuce and a cider glaze that was delicious! We just got one because the roll was big enough for us to each eat half the sandwich with a side. Since we were going to picnic, the guy knew we couldn't take any type of salad with us like macaroni or potato salad, because we didn't have a cooler in the car and it would have sat for a few hours - ugh. So he gave us two green apples to take instead.

We also decided to get a half pound of their barley salad - it looked really interesting!! It was barley with some chopped cranberries, pears, walnuts, apples and a light vinaigrette. It was DELICIOUS - seriously one of the best salads I have ever had in any deli.

All in all, we had a very satisfying lunch and I wish Lyman Orchards was closer to my house instead of two hours away so we could eat this delicious food more often!

In addition to our sandwich, my husband decided to buy a mini version of their self-proclaimed famous apple pie. I don't like apple pie, so the regular size would be too much for just him, and the mini was perfect - just a few servings! He didn't try it until after we got back to NY - and he said it definitely was a very, very, very delicious apple pie and definitely worth the buy.

I wish we got to pick some fruit, but maybe next time we go out there. I can see us going back to Lyman Orchards! And to all of you who live in Connecticut close by - I am super jealous!!

I know I have been posting a lot of reviews lately - sorry. We have been eating a lot of foods we have in the house and I haven't been cooking new things much lately. But I am working on ideas for football game day recipes - I already have the first idea in my mind! So stay tuned for some more cooking recipes and I welcome any suggestions for game day ingredients I can work with!!

Steamed Cheeseburgers in Connecticut!

2011-08-14T15:49:00.004-04:00

Part of the reason we chose Connecticut as our weekend getaway, was to sample something we saw on Travel Channel's "Hamburger Paradise" - the steamed cheeseburger. There was a restaurant featured on that special called Ted's Restaurant that steamed their food, and it intrigued both myself and my husband immensely.

We ended up staying about a mile away from Ted's location in Meriden, CT.

They have a new second location in Cromwell, CT., but we wanted to go to the original. It's small - when we first drove past it to go somewhere, I could easily have missed it. There are a few picnic tables outside, and only 3 booths inside. There is also some seating at the counter, but this place gets crowded quickly. Pictures on the website show me that their new location is much bigger!

The menu is small, burgers, hot dogs and something like a grilled cheese - not much more, but we knew what we were coming for anyway - the cheeseburger. There are no french fries - just home fries - but the way they are cut they are almost french fry like. They were delicious though!!

The burger was messy - both my husband and I had buns, cheese, lettuce and burger sliding everywhere. Ketchup was all over the place - including my hands and pants! Also, the buns were much bigger than the steamed burger. The burger was good, but both of us agreed it was nothing out of this world special. But we are glad we experienced the world of the steamed cheeseburger. Part of me wonders what the steamed hot dog would have been like though.

I can tell this place is popular though - we got there relatively early for dinner and within a matter of 15 minutes, all booths were filled and there were people at the counter and waiting for take out service, and some waiting outside at a picnic table. The funniest part was that there was another table of New Yorker's behind us, obviously there for the same reason we were! They too were first timers wanting to experience Ted's steamed cheeseburger.

There are several other places in Meriden offering steamed cheeseburgers like K LaMay's on East Main Street. We wondered why Meriden is apparently the steamed cheeseburger capital of the world, and I found this little factoid on Wikipedia: "Steamed cheeseburgers are a regional food particular to very few establishments in Meriden, Connecticut where it was invented in the early 1900s. The steamed cheeseburger is cooked in a stainless-steel cabinet which contains small trays that hold either an individual hamburger or a chunk of cheese to be melted."

Well, all right then. All in all, it was tasty, but I've had better burgers. But definitely go try steamed cheeseburgers if you are in Connecticut - it's worth it to see what all the fuss is about!

New Haven, CT Culinary Walking Tour

2011-08-08T15:54:00.014-04:00

This past weekend, my husband and I did something that was really interesting, and delicious!! We did a culinary walking tour of New Haven, CT.

We had decided to go to Connecticut for a weekend a few weeks prior. I know, why Connecticut?? That's seriously what pretty much everyone asked me when I told them we were going there. "But what is there to do in CT?"

It was actually my husband's choice since I had the fortune of an impromptu weekend trip to Phoenix to see my friend who was working at the MLB All Star Fan Fest for the week back in July. Since baseball isn't really my thing and my husband was incredibly jealous, I told him that our summer weekend trip that we had been procrastinating on planning was his choice. I figured he would pick Boston to go to Fenway but he ended up choosing Connecticut. The decision partly had to do with my desire to visit Gillette Castle, and partly with his desire to try this steamed cheeseburger place we heard about on Travel Channel's "Burger Paradise." (More of the steamed cheeseburger place in another blog post.)

OK, so we had two activities and another day and a half to fill up. One morning while perusing the web at work, I googled "things to do in Connecticut" and this website popped up with 50 things to do. One little blurb read the following:

"Join food expert Stephen Fries on a Culinary Walking Tour of downtown New Haven that encompasses some fine and legendary New Haven eateries. Among the places his tour has visited in the past are Bar on Crown Street, the Cupcake Truck, Louis' Lunch, Union League Café, Villarina's Pasta Gifts and More, Willoughby's Coffee & Tea, and York Street Noodle House. The three-hour tour departs from the Davenport's at the Top of the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale, 155 Temple Street. tour dates in 2011 are April 23, June 4, July 9, August 6, September 17, October 15, November 12 and December 10. Cost: $59. Reservations required. Phone: 203-777-8550."

Now, I had never heard of Stephen Fries, but this intrigued me SO much. If you click on the words "culinary walking tour" above, it will take you to the same link I first clicked on, and you can watch the little commercial. I sent it to my husband and he agreed - this was something we had to sign up for. It was only a week beforehand, so I was hoping the August date still had spots, but it did and we signed up right away! We had to be at the top of the Omni Hotel in New Haven by 10:45 am on Saturday the 6th - and you better believe we were! That is where the tour started, and we all got a free sample of Fig Almond jam (made by The Gracious Gourmet), which is what the John Davenport's restaurant in the Omni Hotel uses. We were also given croissants, and a quick speech from the manager of the restaurant.

Also when checking in to our tour at that location, we were given goodie bags full of local Connecticut products to keep. (I LOVE freebies, so this excited me!) Included was a bottle of soda from Foxon Park. I got the Kola flavor and my husband received Cream. We have yet to try them because we didn't have a fridge in our hotel to cool them down, so we'll be doing that shortly at home! Along with the soda, we were each given HUGE chocolate chip cookies from Judies, and a pack of Citrus Garlic seasoning from Salad Jazz. Lastly, we were also given Mesquite BBQ baked fries by Deep River Snacks. We haven't tried those yet either, but my husband is very, very excited to try them. We also received some cooking magazines and other pamphlets of information, but enough with the boring stuff, and on with the tour.

We started out at an unexpected place - a bookstore! Atticus Bookstore Cafe, located on Chapel Street.

The little cafe has baked goods, sandwiches, salads - things like that. And the chef who served us (I THINK his name was Ben but I could be very, very wrong) studied under Emeril! We were served a tasty little crostini - grilled tomato & stilton cheese over caramelized onions and baby arugula. The crostini was made from Chabaso sourdough. While tomatoes aren't my thing (my husband ate my tomato), the rest of the morsel was very tasty and a good, and interesting way to kick off the day.

We have to admit that we were worried we wouldn't be fed enough for the whole three hour tour (especially since it went from roughly 11 am to 2:30 pm and we like to eat lunch), because of the small bite we were given at Atticus, and considering the second stop was a coffee shop! (But our fears were quelled after the 3rd stop). But back to this coffee shop - Willoughby's. Upon walking in, we were given a goody bag consisting of a fabric bag (like the kind you can use to bring your own bags to the grocery stores) with a travel coffee mug and a pack of chocolate covered espresso beans. I was excited about another goody bag (yay free stuff!) but also moderately unimpressed since my husband and I are not coffee drinkers and it was just SO humid outside! We learned about their different coffees and teas (they actually have TONS of teas) and were also fed some cookies and biscotti. Everyone was given a free drink (full small size!) of whatever they wanted too. We each got an iced tea since it was so hot out. We got one "white" iced tea, which was an unsweetened fruity like tea, and one "black" tea, which was just unsweetened regular iced tea. We both liked the black tea much better, and it was refreshing on the humid day. If we did this tour in the fall or winter, I could see getting some hot chocolate or tea - would really hit the spot!

Anyway, after the beverage break, we were taken to one of my favorite spots on the tour - The York Street Noodle House.

Waiting for us was a whole dish of edamame and dumplings!!! There were 3 full sized gyoza (dumplings), one chicken, one vegetable and one shrimp. I loved the shrimp and my husband liked the chicken the best. We were also given shrimp shumai and another little shumai that may have been vegetable or chicken. Either way, I loved them all, and I CLEANED my bowl. (Well, I also put some remaining edamame in a ziplock bag I had with me for later on, but let's not talk about that!) I did polish off all the dumplings. I would definitely go back to this restaurant without hesitation!!

Next up we were in for a treat of pizza and beer at Bru Room at Bar, located on Crown Street.

First they gave us their salad which consisted of seasonal greens, sliced pear, caramelized pecans, and blue cheese with a light vinaigrette dressing, and then we were given slices of just a regular red pie (cheese and sauce) and their mashed potato, bacon, cheese and garlic pizza.

My husband LOVED that mashed potato pizza! It was good, but I liked the regular one better. One of the other tour members told me that New Haven pizza was "WAY" better than New York pizza...and sorry buddy. While your pizza was delicious (I did like it a lot), there is still no topping a good old slice of NY pizza. We were also given 2 beers to try - a pale ale and a specialty ale. I didn't try them since I am not a beer girl, but my husband liked the specialty one more than the pale ale. I can't really tell you any more information about them except that he really liked the beer!!

We also would definitely go back here again!!

Whew - we were starting to get full, but we were only halfway through the tour. Next up was a new stop on the tour, temporarily replacing the famous Louis' Lunch, the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich. It is closed for the month of August, so we didn't get to try it, which was disappointing.

Instead we were treated to a classy little treat at Scoozi Trattoria and Wine Bar on Chapel Street.

This is a very cute little place - and the owners were so excited to welcome this tour.

They gave everyone a taste of one of their wines (don't remember which one) and a delicious bite of their Bruschetta "Pico," - grilled ciabatta bread with avocado, fresh mozzarella, plum tomato, red onion, basil, extra virgin olive oil, lemon and lime. Now, my husband and I didn't think we liked guacamole type foods at all, but boy were we surprised! This was DELICIOUS! So smooth and creamy, yet crunchy... we ate it up. MMM! This place is very classy and also a cute little place for an outdoor lunch. We'd come back!

All right, back on the road. Next we got a break from eating as we were taken to the Wine Thief - a wine and spirits store. The owner gave us a little wine tasting demonstration and we each got to try a white Austrian wine (which I thought was pretty good), a red German wine and a French champagne, which also was pretty good. This stop was nothing special, but interesting and a good break to digest for 20 minutes.

Next up - back to the food!! This time was a "light snack" at Oaxaca Kitchen on College Street.

We were given a guacamole demonstration as the guy made fresh guacamole in front of us, and were given fresh baked chips with a salsa verde that was so spicy my husband could barely handle it and he loves spice, and a red sweet tomato salsa. Despite my dislike for tomatoes, I actually liked that salsa!

And again, we LOVED this guacamole. It was so incredibly good, I can't even describe how much we ate. They call it the El Molcajete and they will always make it table side. They were letting people take some of it with them, but since we didn't have a fridge in our hotel, we sadly couldn't take any of it. We were still surprised at how much we enjoyed this, and the demonstration was neat!

They put avocado, onions, cilantro and a few other ingredients into the bowl and mash it all together. Divine! And the chips were so fresh and warm! We would definitely go back here to eat also since we love Mexican food!

Time for some dessert!! We were treated to a dessert sampler at the Union League Cafe, one of New Haven's fancy pants restaurants owned by Chef Jean Pierre Vuillermet, who is pretty well known in the food industry (though I never heard of him!)

I CLEANED my plate as everything looked so scrumptious and inviting. We each were treated to a chocolate truffle, a mini fruit tart, a caramel dipped cream puff and a French macaroon with raspberry jam. Everything was delicious, though, surprisingly, the chocolate truffle was my least favorite. It had a bitter cocoa dusting over it, and I just didn't like that taste and texture. My first French macaroon was delightful!! The fruit tart, which had chopped kiwi and what looked like papaya or mango, was also really delicious and the cream puff was my absolute favorite.

You can see I cleaned my plate!!

After that scrumptious dessert, we were treated to some artisan chocolates next door to the Union League Cafe at Wave. This is a cute little artsy shop with some chocolates mixed among the other products. I tried a white and dark chocolate truffle with rose water, as well as a mint chocolate truffle. They were good, but it put me over the edge and I was SO stuffed that I felt a little sick!

All in all, this was an amazing and fun tour. It turned out that New Haven was a little over an hour and a half from us, so we would definitely go do this again (for the day instead of a weekend away) if there were friends or family who wanted to join us. The host said he gets repeat customers all the time, and the tour is never the same. There are at least a few changes each time, and if he takes us back to a restaurant, they will try to serve different things than the last time. Stephen Fries runs this from April through December, once a month. It is TOTALLY worth the price of $59 per person, considering the generous amount of food at some locations, the doggie bags some locations will give (if we were driving home the same day we would have taken those), and the goodie bags the hosts put together to give us. We give it 2 thumbs up, 10 stars, whatever! So, if you are in Connecticut, or live within driving distance, or take a vacation to Connecticut, I highly, highly, highly recommend checking this tour out if you are there the weekend he does it.

We know we will probably do this again at some point!!

Grilled Radishes! An easy summer side!

2011-08-03T12:02:00.003-04:00

I know, I know. I am getting bad about posting again. I'm sorry! No excuse except I have been lazy about cooking for about a week.

Anyway, back to grilling! Though, this will be my last grilling entry for a while until my husband decides to go fill the 2 EMPTY gas tanks. We had one empty one and I kept telling him to make sure he filled it so we had a spare, but we just ran out on the second one and now we have none, and he keeps promising to fill them. I'm not holding my breath.

So we had some leftover radishes from salad ingredients we bought the week prior and I successfully ate salad every day - for a week. Yeah, that habit was short lived! I didn't want to waste the perfectly good radishes, so I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com that looked interesting so I gave it a shot.

My husband really enjoyed it! It was easy and simple and I would definitely make it again. It took me about 15 minutes to prepare and about 25 minutes to cook.

Ingredients:

20 oz radishes, sliced (I used about 8 medium sized radishes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBLS butter, cut into small pieces
1 cube ice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat grill for high heat.

Place the radishes, garlic, butter and ice cube on a double layer of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap all the contents. Season with salt and pepper. **

**(I actually used a ziplock bag to mix the garlic, salt, pepper and radishes together by shaking them first, before putting them onto the tin foil. Seemed to work well! Then I put the butter on top of the radishes when I finally put them on the tin foil, as well as the ice cube.)

Tightly seal foil around the contents.

Place foil packet on the grill and cook for 20-25 minutes until radishes are tender.

Serve hot and enjoy!!

Cauliflower "Mac n Cheese"

2011-07-26T12:05:00.003-04:00

Before any of you make the same mistake my husband did, this is not a macaroni and cheese recipe. It is for a faux mac n cheese recipe, using cauliflower and cheese. There are no noodles involved!

I saw this article a few months ago in my People magazine from MasterChef (reality show) winner Whitney Miller. I love cheese, and I love cauliflower, so I knew I had to try it.

I made this yesterday and my husband and I absolutely loved it! This is a fantastic side dish, and it is really easy to prepare.

I made 2 substitutions/changes. The first was not using heavy cream - I used light cream instead. I really wanted to use whole milk instead of heavy cream but the store I was at did not have a small container of whole milk, so I opted for the light cream instead. The second thing I changed was adding in 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder into the cheese sauce when you put in the salt and pepper. It just seemed fitting and was a spur of the moment decision.

There are so many possibilities with this too - you could add almost any taste into the cheese sauce to zing it up!

The only thing that took time was cutting the head of cauliflower, but if you prepare that the night before, or use pre-cut or frozen florets, you should be golden. Everything else was easy.

Try it out - you won't regret it!

Ingredients:-

-8 cups cauliflower florets (1 head)
-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-1/2 tsp Kosher salt
-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
-2 Tbsp butter
-2 Tbsp flour
-1.5 cups fat-free milk
-1/2 cup heavy cream (I used light cream)
-1/4 tsp table salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-(I added in 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
-1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (reduced fat optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss florets in oil on a baking sheet (I prefer to mix in a bowl first). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until fork-tender and lightly browned, 25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and reduce to 350.

2. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thickened, 2 to 4 minutes. Whisk in cream and cook 5 minutes.

3. Remove pan from heat and stir in 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp pepper (1/4 tsp of garlic powder if using) and all but 2 Tbsp cheese. Stir over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.

4. Place cauliflower in an 8X8-in glass baking dish. Pour cheese sauce on top and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. cheese.

Bake until sauce is bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Time for Tapas at Salumi Wine and Tapas Bar!

2011-07-25T11:26:00.004-04:00

My husband and I are a huge tapas fan. HUGE. And for those of you like my dad and father-in-law, who have no idea what tapas are, here is your answer: Tapas are snacks, canapés or finger food that originated in Spain.

From About.com, here is some more information: Tapas can be practically anything from a chunk of tuna, cocktail onion and an olive skewered on a long toothpick, to piping hot meat with sauce served in a miniature clay dish - or anything in between. Tapas are served day in and day out in every bar and café in Spain. So much a part of the culture and social scene that the Spanish people invented the verb tapear which means to go and eat tapas!

The idea is to order a bunch of small plates and either share or eat them yourself.

My first taste of tapas was in 2001 when I was spending the summer abroad in London for school and my friend Michelle and I took a weekend jaunt to Barcelona. We went to a tapas bar to eat and I remember having chicken croquettes and they were delicious!! Then when I lived in Washington DC after graduating from college, my friends and I would occasionally eat at Jaleo. SOOOOO good!!

My husband fell in love with tapas when we were on our honeymoon and spent a few days in Barcelona before heading out on a European cruise. So, we have been searching for a place that does tapas with little luck in our area. But then when food shopping one day, we happened to see Salumi across the street! We were very excited to try it.

We went last Friday, and the place is very quaint - small. Only about 10 tables and a bar with some seating. The menu is not very big at all...in fact, there wasn't much I would eat on the menu, so I do wish they expand it at some point. I miss the chicken croquettes! The menu isn't really all Spanish either, there is a great deal of Italian influence, as well as French and Californian influence. But it will do!

Despite being small and having a limited menu, the food was excellent. We loved everything we tasted. Well, we got the braised short ribs and my husband really liked them, to me, they were okay. I think I just don't like braised short ribs. But they were cooked extremely well and were very tender!

We didn't try any of the wine, so I can't comment on that. But we started off with a simple bread basket, which was delicious. The bread was so soft and flavorful.

Then we had "patatas bravas," sliced roasted potatoes with spicy red sauce and cumin aioli. Yum! Along with the potatoes, we had the mini panini, which had sweet sopressata, Italian cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes. Also delicious!!

After that we sampled the short ribs (well-marbled beef stewed in smoked paprika and saffron with chorizo and white beans) and polenta with truffled mushrooms in creamy Madeira sauce. (My phone ate the picture of these things, grrr). These two dishes were good, and well prepared, but the least favorites between my husband and myself. I liked the polenta more than he did and vice versa on the short ribs. The first two dishes we both loved immensely.

We left well-fed and stuffed with plans to return at some point. I wouldn't say it is really expensive, but it is not super cheap. Definitely in the middle, and of course, the more you order, the more your bill goes up. The portions were sizable, and definitely able to share with someone else. We probably ordered one too many things, but it was good.

My neighbor told me about another tapas place about 20 minutes from us so that will be the next to be checked out!

If you have a tapas place where you live, definitely check it out!

Sweets and Beets - giving it another try!

2011-07-21T12:08:00.002-04:00

So I still had 1 rather large beet left from when we purchased beets to try and I decided to make the beet pierogies. My husband and I are trying this new thing now where we don't throw out unused food, so I knew I had to use it. And I wanted to give beets one more shot since I wasn't sure if I even liked them. I don't know what I was expecting, but after many positive responses on my facebook inquiry as to if people like beets, and only one no, I thought I would like them. Unfortunately, I think I am in the no category.

Since I also had 1 rather large sweet potato left too, I used this recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com by "drumnwrite." I didn't alter the recipe at all, except to halve it since I didn't need to make so much.

I LOVED the sweet potato part - the beet part I could take or leave. I honestly don't think beets are disgusting...I just don't think I would buy them and use them because the taste is just so-so to me. But if you like beets, you will like this recipe. My husband said the beet part grew on him and he really enjoyed it. (I just shoveled the beets in my mouth as fast as I could first and then enjoyed the remaining sweet potatoes!)

This recipe is also very, very easy to make. Enjoy!

Ingredients: (full recipe from original poster)

6 medium beets, peeled and cut into chunks
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
3 medium sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 large sweet onion, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

In a bowl, toss the beets with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to coat. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large resealable plastic bag.

Place the sweet potatoes and onion in the bag. Seal bag, and shake to coat vegetables with the oil mixture.

Bake beets 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Mix sweet potato mixture with the beets on the baking sheet. Continue baking 45 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes, until all vegetables are tender.

This full recipe serves 6.

SOPP Stir Fry! (Sausage, Onions, Potatoes and Peppers!)

2011-07-19T12:04:00.003-04:00

Last night I made a stir fry that my husband and I truly enjoyed. I don't remember how I came across this recipe on Allrecipes.com, by "cowboysjenn," but it looked interesting enough to try.

I did make it my own, however, by adding some spice and marinade to jazz it up a bit. It looked delicious on its own but I just felt it needed something to tie it together. Plus my husband and I really like flavor!! So the recipe below is my version - if you don't like spice or marinade, or can't eat it that way, refer to the original recipe in the link above.

Besides being incredibly tasty, this recipe is very easy to make. I also used 6 of those smaller red potatoes instead of 6 baking potatoes and we had plenty for the 2 of us - enough for 2 nights. Also, I only used 1 pepper, a half an onion and 2 and a half links of sausage - no where near the amount of what the original chef used. I could see using the bigger amounts of ingredients if you need to feed 8 people.

We used Trader Joe's chicken and sweet apple sausage. We love their chicken sausages - though my favorite is the mango chicken one.

From chopping to cooking, I think this whole thing took maybe a half hour to make. We ate it over some whole wheat cous cous, but for leftovers, we are going to make heroes!

The recipe is versatile in the type of sausage you like and what kind of seasonings you'd want to use, so experiment and try it out! I know my combination was very enjoyable in my house!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 small - medium red potatoes - peeled (if desired) and cubed
2 1/2 links Trader Joe's Chicken & Sweet Apple Sausage, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced or chopped (I chopped it)
1 bell pepper mix, chopped (I used the Trader Joe's frozen pack of red, orange, green and yellow peppers, equivalent of 1 bell pepper)
salt
black pepper
garlic powder
Worcestershire sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
sugar

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Place the potatoes in the skillet. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Cover and simmer, turning occasionally, until potatoes are almost tender and a little browned, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the sausage, onion and peppers.

Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until onion and peppers are to desired tenderness.

Mix at least a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of Teriyaki sauce and dash of sugar together for a very tiny amount of marinade - just enough to flavor the stir fry barely. Use more if you want it more saucy.

Stir the sauce in last and serve warm.

Enjoy!!

Mini Limeade Sandwich Sugar Cookies

2011-07-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

I am very proud of the cookies I made this afternoon. I am proud of the surprising taste they have (much better than I anticipated), and the fact that I made a sugar cookie dough and it worked.

The cookies have a lime twist for the sheer fact that my husband and I bought a bottle of Simply Limeade a few weeks back because we had a coupon. The drink is ok...we just don't LOVE it. Determined not to waste the whole bottle, I have been searching for recipes using lime juice and then I figured I would just substitute using the lime juice with limeade. And it worked for this recipe!!

The lime icing is not as tart as it would be using actual lime juice, and I think that is why I like this cookie. I found this recipe here on AllRecipes.com. The only change I really made was using the Simply Limeade instead of lime juice, and making mini cookies instead of big ones. I also halved the recipe.

The process actually turned out easier than I thought when making the dough, and the cookies baked up quickly. 10 minutes of cooling and they were reading for icing, 5 minutes after that - ready to eat!

These are delicious cookies for the summer - nice and refreshing. These are great for BBQ's and picnics. Try them out!!

I am posting the recipe with my substitution, but posting the entire recipe - not the measurements for the halved recipe I did.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

For Icing:
2 teaspoons Simply Limeade
1 tablespoon milk**
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 drops green food color

** You can use water instead of milk)

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.

Cover or wrap dough, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If you are in a big hurry, freeze for a half hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. (It looks like the original poster on AllRecipes.com used stars - I did mini circles!)

Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting: In a medium bowl, whisk the Limeade, milk, confectioners' sugar and green food color until smooth and creamy.

Add more milk or sugar if necessary to achieve a good spreading consistency.

When cookies are completely cool, spread icing between cookies to make sandwiches.

Irish Cream Pound Cake

2011-07-17T18:34:00.003-04:00

Today, I made a pound cake. And it was delicious. I have the husband stamp of approval. Plus, I am extremely proud of myself for not over-baking it for once and drying it out. Woo-hoo!

The pound cake I made is flavored with Irish cream extract (non-alcoholic). This is one if the extracts I bought a while ago from Spicebarn.com. (Let me tell you, their stuff really comes in handy when you want to change the flavors of things!! I love having some of their "different" extracts in the house!)

My recipe was actually inspired by this Almond Pound Cake recipe that came in a free issue of Family Circle magazine, the July issue. Don't get me wrong - the almond pound cake looked delicious, but I decided to just use different flavoring. Plus, I wasn't sure if I HAD almond extract in the house!!

Setting up the batter was pretty easy, took about 20 minutes, as stated. Well, maybe a little longer for me because I didn't take any butter out to soften first, and I had to wait to do that after I decided to bake. But if you plan ahead, well, 20 minutes and you are good.

I only made half the recipe (but I am going to post the full version), so I baked it for 40 minutes instead of an hour and it was just fine.

The icing added a delicious extra touch of an Irish cream taste and was also very easy to make. The original recipe had toasted almonds topping the icing but I didn't do that - I used sugar pearls. So check out the original recipe if you want to see the garnish.

This cake is perfect for summer BBQ's or picnics!!

Ingredients: (this is using Irish Cream extract, either click the link above or just substitute almond or anything else you want instead).

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon Irish cream extract

For Icing:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon Irish Cream extract
sugar pearls to scatter on top

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Cake:

In medium-size bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light-colored, about 2 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture.

Scrape down side of bowl and beat in milk. Add remaining flour mixture and the almond extract and beat until smooth. Spread into prepared pan.

Bake cake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, 5 minutes or until crowned and set. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert to remove and cool upright on rack.

Topping:

In medium-size bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, 4 teaspoons water and the Irish cream. Whisk until smooth.

Spread over cooled cake and top with sugar pearls.

Let icing dry at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Spaghetti Pie

2011-07-13T12:17:00.004-04:00

Over the July 4th weekend, my husband and I were going to go to our neighbors house for a small cook-out with just the 4 of us, relaxing in the backyard, BBQ'ing a little and playing in their new pool. I told my neighbor I would bring some side dishes.

Well, that didn't work out - something came up and they had to cancel. We were bummed. I had already started making this dish to bring over, but it wasn't a huge loss since my husband and I would be able to eat it for dinner that week.

The recipe seemed interesting enough, and didn't seem like it would take too long or be that difficult to make. The latter two points are still true and the recipe is okay...but to me, it needed a sauce or something. Maybe I baked it a little too long, but it seemed dry. I could definitely see adding a sauce into the mix because when we ate it, we dipped the pieces into sauce and it tasted 100x better.

I could see using different spices or ingredients. I left out the ham from the original recipe here, and I added in some peas.

I also left out the chives since I didn't have any and added in some regular onion instead, and used thyme instead of dill weed.

I definitely want to try and improve on this recipe and make it better, so I am not giving up on it yet!!

Ingredients:

CRUST:
2 eggs
1 (7 ounce) package spaghetti, cooked and drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
FILLING:
1 (10 ounce) package frozen asparagus spears, thawed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (4.5 ounce) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon minced onions
1/4 cup frozen peas

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat eggs; add the spaghetti, Parmesan cheese and butter; mix well.

Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 10-in. pie plate.

Combine peas, onion, asparagus and mushrooms; spoon into crust. Sprinkle with Swiss cheese.

Beat eggs, sour cream and thyme; pour over cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until crust is set and center is lightly browned.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Parsnip Pancakes

2011-07-04T16:41:00.003-04:00

So this week's new adventure was the parsnip. I am not sure what made me pick it, but I said to my husband, "let's try parsnips." He agreed and we bought a pound at the supermarket.

We knew form all the cooking shows we watch that people make a puree with them...but I searched my favorite recipe website anyway, and came across this recipe. It was definitely something my husband and I would eat, since we are huge fans of potato pancakes, plus it seemed really easy.

I followed the recipe for the most part, I just substituted the chives with cilantro because I am currently growing cilantro, but had no chives in the house. I also added some salt and pepper to the "batter" because I just knew it was going to need something.

My husband really enjoyed this recipe, and I thought it was pretty good as well. I was hesitant because the parsnip smelled like a carrot, and I am not the biggest carrot fan, especially cooked carrots. But the pancake made it pretty good, and I am curious to see if I would eat a parsnip any other way.

Peeling the parsnips were really easy and it was a snap to get all the ingredients together and cooking. We'll do this again!

Here is the recipe with my additions, see the link above for the original recipe.

Ingredients

1 pound parsnips, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tablespoon minced cilantro

Directions

Place parsnips in a large saucepan and cover with water; add salt.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender.

Drain and place parsnips in a large bowl; mash. Stir in the onion, flour, egg, salt, pepper and cilantro.

Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a well-greased hot griddle.

Flatten with a spatula. Fry until golden brown; turn and cook until second side is lightly browned.

Drain on paper towels.

Beet Pierogies and Sweet Potato Pierogies...and where I went wrong

2011-06-29T18:27:00.003-04:00

Well, the true history of the pierogi is unclear - according to sources, no one knows where it truly originated. It is clear that is came from Eastern Europe...and it is typically associated with Poland. Well, then, it is a good thing I am not Polish or I would have brought my ancestors to shame with the mess I made in my house the other day trying to make pierogies. The pierogi does have roots in Russia and Romania though, which is the majority of my ancestry. Sigh.

Anyway, so my adventure started with beets. My husband and I have been trying new foods from the farmer's markets one by one. We see all these things on Food Network pop up all the time, so we finally got curious. The Swiss chard didn't do it for me, but I loved the jicama. So last week I put a post on my personal facebook page asking if anyone out there liked beets, and the overwhelming answer was YES! In all the responses, I only had one "no," so I figured I would give it a shot and promptly looked up several beet recipes.

My husband and I settled on this recipe for beet pierogies. It seemed easy enough, and I like pierogies a lot, so I figured it would be a good way to try out this new vegetable.

So...I spent my Monday morning working on this project. OH...MY...GOD. I am NEVER making my own pierogie dough again. That was the hardest part!! The dough was so sticky and hard to work with, and as a result, when I boiled my pierogies, half the filling fell out of some of them and I had to chuck them. SO FRUSTRATING. Seriously. I spent like, 2 hours making these (well, part of that was making sweet potato pierogies too, but still), it was a horrible, horrible mess.

Next time I attempt pierogies (if I do) I am just buying ready made dough and saving myself the hassle.

Cutting and peeling the beets wasn't so bad. I managed to keep my all white kitchen, well, white. My hands turned pink though! And I may have ruined a relatively newer kitchen towel that we were given for my bridal shower, but maybe those stains will come out! The filling was also really easy to make. It was just that damn dough.

My sweet potato piergoies were also an easy filling to make. So all in all, I managed to get 11 piergoies out of both the beets and sweet potato batch. That was enough for a dinner for my husband and I with a side. So at least that worked out.

My husband liked the sweet potato ones more, and so did I. We're not quite sure of the beet taste yet...it wasn't gross, but we felt it was missing something. Maybe we needed to sweeten it up a little more, or it needed some kind of spice. It just seemed bland (though eating it with sour cream helped immensely!) If we can't find a way to jazz up beets, well, that one resounding NO on my facebook post will win because beets won't be able to find a place in my house. (So, my dear Chicago friend, I guess the Arabian Onyx's must stick together if I try it again and don't really like it!)

So here are the recipes used in my 2 hour (messy) adventure this past Monday.

Beet Pierogies (from a recipe on AllRecipes.com)
**Also included the dough recipe I used

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups peeled, chopped beets
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
2 teaspoons margarine

1 egg
1/2 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Place the beets and onion into a saucepan over medium heat; add about 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to low.

Simmer until the beets are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the water from the vegetables, and place into the work bowl of a food processor.

Add the margarine, start the machine, and pulse several times to finely chop the beets.

Whisk together the egg and water until thoroughly mixed, then mix in the flour. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes.

Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a ball. Roll out a ball until it's 1/8 inch thick or less. Using a cup or cookie cutter, cut out dough circles. Repeat with remaining dough. (I actually then put the balls of dough int he fridge to try and get them to be easier to work with. Yeah, didn't work.)

To fill, place a dough circle into the palm of your hand, and stretch the dough out slightly. Place about 1 tablespoon of the beet filling in the center of the dough, and fold the dough over the filling.

Pinch the edges of the dough together to seal completely, and use your index finger to make small crimped indentations all round the sealed edges. Dust the completed pierogi with flour.

Fill a large pot with water, and bring to a boil. Drop the pierogies into the water, 1 or 2 at a time, and stir to prevent them from sticking. Reduce heat to a gentle boil, and cook until the pierogies float to the top, about 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and serve.

Sweet Potato Piergoies (This is my own recipe!!)

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato
paprika
onion powder
brown sugar
1 TBS margarine
cinnamon

(sorry, no exact measurements, I made it up!)

Directions:

Bake sweet potato in oven for 45 minutes or until tender, at 400 degrees F. Make sure to poke some holes or make slits in the skin.

Once tender, take it out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes, then peel the skin off and mash the potato in a bowl. Add in the margarine and let it melt into the sweet potato. Season with paprika, brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon to taste. if you want a more bold taste, throw some black pepper in there!

Mix completely into the sweet potato mash and then follow the directions for stuffing and boiling the piergoies from the beet recipe.

All I can say is make sure the pierogies are sealed and not thin enough to break as you are boiling them! Geez, what a mess.

And, if you want to see how many dishes I used, well, this is a small representation of what I had to wash from my sink. YIKES.

Try this at your own risk, or give me advice on how to do it better. Though, next time, I am probably just buying dough!

Easy One Dish Beef Stroganoff

2011-06-27T19:30:00.003-04:00

I had bought a container of plain yogurt a few weeks back when I thought I needed it for a recipe. It turned out I didn't need it IN the recipe - it was for an optional dip that went along with the recipe. Oops - I didn't read that closely enough.

Since my husband and I are trying not to buy food we won't eat (we've had a problem with food wasting in the past), I knew I had to find a recipe to use the yogurt in before the expiration date.

Sure, there were tons of dip recipes available, but I wanted to use it in a main dish, and I came across this recipe right here. It fit the bill and all we needed was some steak because I actually had everything else in the house.

The only modification I made was using a beef bouillon cube instead of a can of beef broth since we didn't have that in the house and I didn't need it since I had the cubes. I also used sirloin steak instead of the beef top round steaks. (We honestly just bought whatever was on sale!)

This was a very, very easy recipe to prepare and I honestly think it took me about a half hour start to finish, so it is possible to make this after a day at work.

It turned out really well and both my husband and I enjoyed it immensely. We recommend it!

Ingredients:

3/4 pound boneless sirloin steak, 3/4 inches thick
1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 (14 ounce) can Swanson® Beef Broth (or 2 beef bouillon cubes)
1/2 cup water
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cups uncooked medium egg noodles
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Chopped fresh parsley (or dried parsley)

Directions:

Slice beef into very thin strips.

Cook beef in nonstick skillet until browned, stirring often. Remove beef.

Add soup, broth, water and onion. Heat to a boil.

Stir in noodles. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until noodles are done, stirring often.

Stir in yogurt. Return beef to skillet and heat through. Garnish with parsley.

So easy - and with one dish too! Enjoy!

Experimenting with Jicama (Hic-a-ma) 2 Ways!

2011-06-21T06:39:00.004-04:00

So...what IS jicama (hic-a-ma)? I had never even heard of it until maybe last year while watching Chopped on the Food Network. Since I first heard of it, I see it everywhere - on menu's, on the Food Network, in a few specialty grocery stores...so finally curiosity got the better of me and we bought one to try at a farmer's market. So...what IS it?

Jicama is, and I quote this directly from wisegeek.com, "a crispy, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip in physical appearance, although the plants are not related. Jicama has been cultivated in South America for centuries, and the vegetable is quite popular in Mexican cuisine. Jicama has a unique flavor that lends itself well to salads, salsas, and vegetable platters. The roots can sometimes grow to be quite large, although when they exceed the size of two fists, they begin to convert the sugars that give jicama its sweet flavor into starches, making the root somewhat woody to the taste. Jicama is actually a legume, and it grows on vines that may reach 20 feet (six meters) in length. Jicama will keep under refrigeration for up to two weeks. Jicama is excellent raw and is sometimes eaten plain. It can also be used as a substitute for water chestnut in Chinese dishes, in which case it should be thrown in right before serving. Jicama also appears in stews, juiced drinks, stuffings, and a variety of other recipes. In addition to having a unique flavor and texture, jicama takes flavor well, making it well suited to culinary experimentation. Jicama is a great source of vitamin c and is fat free—making it a superb on-the-go snack."

Whew! While I was preparing it two different ways, I took a bite. It actually is pretty good raw - it is sweet and tastes kind of like a starchy apple crossed with a raw sugar snap pea. The one thing I had a LOT of trouble with was peeling it. My little peeler didn't cut it...I had to cut it in half and peel it in sections. It took a LOT of work. Since we first saw this on Chopped, and chefs only have 20-30 minutes to prepare their entire dish, I have no idea how they do the jicama so fast. If anyone has an easy way to get this peeled, please, LET ME KNOW!! :-)

So the first recipe I tried, I found on Allrecipes.com. At first I didn't realize this wasn't a cooked recipe, I just wanted to find a recipe using a leftover lime I had in the house and the fact that this also used jicama worked. So when I started to prepare these jicama sticks, I decided to half the recipe for starters, and use the other half of the jicama in a puree. I then took half of the jicama sticks and left them raw, as indicated in the recipe, and baked the other half, to see what "jicama fries" would be like.

The second recipe I tried, a puree recipe, I found and it was for a jicama and horseradish puree. Since we don't own horseradish, nor do I like it, I made some quick substitutions and honestly, I think my puree turned out pretty darn good.

So, here is what I did with my jicama (which is the size of like, a swollen softball).

"Mexican Jicama Snack" from caztoindy on AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 large jicama
2 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (or paprika)Directions:

Peel jicama and cut into French fry-sized sticks.

Combine with lime juice and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl and toss to coat.

Serve as finger food.

** Here is where I also took half my batch and baked it.

"Jicama, Onion, Blue Cheese & Ranch Puree" - by ME! Inspired by this recipe here.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a jicama, (about 2-3 cups) peeled and diced
2 ounces of margarine
1/2 tsp blue cheese dressing
1 and 1/2 TBS ranch dressing
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 and 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 large onion, diced

Directions:

Peel and dice jicama.

Melt margarine in a pan - add the jicama and cook for 5 minutes. Add onions and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add blue cheese and ranch dressings, paprika, salt and black pepper. Cook for a few minutes until aromas become strong and jicama is slightly tender.

Using a food processor, puree jicama mixture. Reheat in pan and serve hot.

The results!

So both recipes were SUPER easy, and once the jicama was peeled, set up time was very quick.

The sticks - I liked the baked version better than the fresh version. Biting into the fresh version left a bold taste in my mouth and I am not huge on fresh lime. Baking the sticks subdued the taste a little, which I preferred, but the jicama retained its juicy crunch, which was nice.

The puree was by far my preferred dish with the jicama. It didn't end up tasting overly blue cheesy or ranchy, it has an unusual taste, but it is delicious. I think it has more of an "onion and potato taste," almost like I am eating an onion and potato perogie. You can honestly use any creamy base that you want - since the original recipe called for horseradish cream, and I didn't have any, I just used a bold tasting cream we had in the house. As the description of the jicama said - it lends itself nicely to many flavors which makes it good for experimenting.

So, we have a success with a new food. After the Swiss chard, I was hesitant, but this turned out well, and I have a feeling this will become a new staple here in this household.

Fun with Turkey Sliders

2011-06-20T13:16:00.005-04:00

For Father's Day (which we hosted Saturday), my husband whipped up a batch of ground turkey sliders to serve with his famous (so far secret until we enter it into a contest) topping. Everyone enjoyed the topping so much, they ate it alone without the turkey sliders!! So we ended up with a bunch of turkey sliders leftover, and we got creative last night in how we ate them.

We also had a batch of my Asian Grilled Eggplant on hand, so I cut up a slice of that and laid it in between two turkey sliders. I then topped off my burger with a balsamic vinegar and honey reduction sauce. MMM! The combination of flavors was very, very tasty!

My husband was a little more creative than I was with his turkey slider. He bought himself a poblano pepper at the farmers market yesterday morning and sauteed it with some onion.

Along with some taco-seasoned shredded cheddar cheese, my husband also used Trader Joe's Spicy Black Bean dip as a garnishment. He really enjoyed his southwest spicy turkey burger!

So we had fun with our Sunday night dinner.

Here is our basic ground turkey burger recipe:

Ingredients

Ground turkey
Italian bread crumbs
salt & pepper
oregano
garlic powder
crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and form into patties. Grill, broil or bake until done - no longer pink inside.

Enjoy!

Another Self-Serve Yogurt Place?

2011-06-15T07:43:00.006-04:00

It seems like as soon as one new concept comes to your area, within a year, there are at least 6 more. Take for example, cupcakes. As soon as someone opened a store completely devoted to cupcakes, they were then everywhere. Not that I am complaining, I love me some cupcakes!

But the newest trend is now self-serve yogurt places. I wrote about one last year called Moo La La (which is my husbands favorite place). We now have a few more in the area, all which opened within days of each other.

One is called The Yogurt Place, and it definitely didn't have the greatest opening day - it was so bad, in fact, that we might consider giving it one more shot before calling it quits on them.

Another one, though, is now my husband's second favorite and it is called Swirls and Twirls.

So back to the Yogurt Place. There was a corner store that received a banner over the winter that a yogurt place was coming called "Shake Cups," but that mysteriously disappeared a few weeks after it went up. Then a small sign called "Yogurt Place" took its place. In April, a local pennysaver had an ad for a buy one, get one free yogurt from there, expiring May 14. Well, May 14 came and went, and the Yogurt Place never opened. Finally, on June 3, I was driving past the strip mall on my way home from work and saw that people were going in and getting yogurt. We decided to go after dinner.

Honestly, I don't think they were ready to open. The floor was almost just like a cement floor, and out of about 12 flavors, only half were available. I also checked out there facebook page and they closed for a few days this past week, saying this: "Due to plan change midway through construction, the store does not match the original plans submitted. Therefore we are temporarily closed. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will be opening ASAP!!"

Hmm - they probably should have waited to open. The staff was all high school kids and they were borderline rude... the guy manning the yogurt machines very timidly said we could ask for samples and then laughed. At that point, my husband had already picked flavors because for 5 minutes he couldn't find anyone to give samples. He said the yogurt was just okay, he didn't love it.

The only thing making me consider going back right now is the fact that they had snickerdoodle yogurt a week ago and I really love snickerdoodle cookies, and no other yogurt place in the area has had that yet.

On to Swirls and Twirls. This place was definitely more together for opening - the inside was finished completely, and everything was shiny, pretty and the staff was well-prepared (except for one poor kid who told me they will never change flavors. When I commented on their Facebook page how we like the other chains because they change flavors, the owner was QUICK to tell me they will be changing and she will make sure her staff knows their info!)

Compared to our number 1 place (Moo La La), I thought their Dulce De Leche was better, but their Red Velvet Cake wasn't. They had pretty much the standard toppings with a few things mixed in we haven't seen yet in other stores like mini marshmallows, caramel turtles and some others.

One thing my husband doesn't love with Swirls and Twirls is their rewards program - it is all done via text message. Moo La La gives you a punch card to earn points toward free yogurt and he likes the tangible object to look at. I can tell you I don't love it either - in fact, we didn't get points for our first purchase because when it asked the dollar amount on the receipt, I used a dollar sign to answer. Apparently, you can't do that - well, it should tell you to JUST put the amount in, no characters. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how many of these stores will "make it" and how many will be a passing trend. Moo La La just celebrated its first year here on Long Island so they are doing quite well. Let's see if The Yogurt Place pulls itself together (and if we try it again!) and how Swirls and Twirls fares in this new competitive frozen yogurt market.

What are the current trends in your area?

Broiled Garlic Corn

2011-06-14T07:48:00.004-04:00

So we had 1 ear of corn left in our freezer from last season, probably form one of the last shipments the grocery stores around us had in stores. It was time to eat it since there is new, fresh corn around!

I really didn't want to have to turn the grill on for one solitary ear of corn since we were eating my chicken taco meatloaf and sweet potato empanadas for dinner - neither of which required a grill.

So I googled broiled corn just to see if people do this and how they did it. I learned they did, so therefore, my corn was going to be broiled for the first time.

I lined a baking pan with tin foil, and sprayed the corn with olive oil spray. I sprinkled some sea salt and garlic powder on all sides of the corn and put it on the top shelf of the oven - set to broil.

Since I am famous of burning the heck out of food when trying to broil, I stood watch at the oven the entire time. It took about 6-8 minutes per side for the corn to get some nice brown marks like on a grill.

And it turned out well! It was juicy and delicious. So now if I can't grill the corn during the winter, or if it is absolutely pouring outside, I now have a new way to make corn. And the hint of garlic was a delicious compliment to what we were already eating for dinner. Yum!

How do you like to eat your corn?

Sweet Potato Empanadas!

2011-06-13T18:10:00.003-04:00

I think I should start a feature called 101 ways to eat a sweet potato - I've been cooking with them so much lately. They are my new favorite food, which is funny since for 30 years I HATED them with a passion. Oh well - I've heard that your taste buds change every 7 years!!

So while trying to find something different to do again, I came across a recipe on FoodNetwork.com from Melissa d'Arabian for sweet potato empanadas. Hmm.... I like sweet potatoes, and I like empanadas, so why not try it out! The original recipe is here, I omitted the sweet part of it so I could eat them with dinner.

Her recipe is good (and INCREDIBLY easy), but I did not enjoy working with the crescent rolls because it made them too tiny with not enough filling. In fact, I have some filling leftover, so I need to decide what to do with it! I think when I make these again, I will find bigger shells so they will have more filling and be all the more tastier. Or else I won't cut the crescent rolls so small as suggested.

I also think I would add a pinch of paprika for a little something extra!

So without further delay - the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sweet potatoes, mashed or pureed (1 small sized yam)
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt
1 tube refrigerated ready-made crescent rolls (uncooked dough)

Directions:

Heat oven to 450 degrees F and pierce your sweet potato with a fork. Place potato on rack in oven and let cook for 45 minutes to an hour to soften.

Once softened, let cool for 5-10 minutes, peel the skin off and mash the inside in a bowl.

Lower oven to 350 degrees F for later.

In a small bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes with the cream cheese, brown sugar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt until creamy.

Remove the dough from the tube and separate into 4 rectangles. Working with 1 rectangle at a time, roll over the perforated lines in the dough to seal together.

Cut the rectangle in half and then cut the halves into 2 triangles.

Place a heaping teaspoon of sweet potato filling in the center of each of 4 triangles.

Fold the dough over on each, as if you were making ravioli, and pinch the edges together. Note: Use a tiny bit of water if the dough is too dry to seal.

Continue making little triangle empanadas with the rest of the dough, 16 total. Place the triangles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and into the preheated oven.

Bake the empanadas until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sauteed Parmesan Red Chard with French Onion Quinoa

2011-06-06T17:48:00.005-04:00

Monday's challenge was finding a way to cook red Swiss Chard. My husband, who watches a lot of Food Network TV, including Chopped, is beginning to be intrigued by foods we have never eaten but have seen on competition cooking shows a lot. He started asking about getting Swiss Chard a few weeks back, and when we went to a farmer's market over the weekend, we picked up a small bunch of red chard.

So, I researched in the morning. I found 4 possible recipes and sent them along to my husband. He picked the one I will be presenting here, which I found on AllRecipes.com from a poster named "DannyBoy."

I was nervous about the chard... it's like a spinach type vegetable in taste and generally, I do not like spinach in most forms (sauteed, creamed, raw) - I like it in dip and in omelettes and things like that. But I hoped for the best.

The recipe is relatively easy and took about 15 minutes once the chard was chopped and shredded.

In addition to the chard, I wanted to use up some ingredients in the kitchen that were getting old, so I took the rest of our quinoa and instead of cooking it up with water, I used a french onion soup that we've had in the cabinet for a while. I also used a can of peas and carrots and mixed it into the quinoa.

I felt we needed another element to our seemingly vegetarian dinner, so my husband and I quickly peeled and cut 2 russet potatoes and mixed them with olive oil, salt, pepper and seasoning and popped them in the oven for 25 minutes at 450 degrees F. Roasted potatoes!

Dinner turned out well. I was surprised that I liked my french onion quinoa. The potatoes came out great, but, the chard...well, I didn't like it. And it wasn't the recipe...it was the chard! My husband really enjoyed it. I guess I am just not a spinach-family loving person. I can say it wasn't disgusting. I was able to eat it, but I did not enjoy it. People who DO like Swiss chard and spinach WILL really like this recipe. But, my poor husband is bummed that we probably won't be buying this again, unless someone gives me an interesting recipe to try!

So here are the recipes used for dinner on Monday night...

French Onion Quinoa

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa (I used red)
1 can French Onion soup
3/4 cup water
1 can mixed peas and carrots

Directions:

Pour soup and water into pot and boil.

Once boiling, add the quinoa and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and let cook for about 15-20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and the little white pieces of the quinoa are showing.

Stir and serve. Top with a little freshly shredded Parmesan cheese if desired.

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 small red onion, diced
bunch Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt to taste (optional)

Directions:

Melt butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Stir in the garlic and onion, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.

Add the chard stems and the white wine.

Simmer until the stems begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until wilted.

Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt if needed.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes (however many you need for your crowd)
olive oil
salt
black pepper
a seasoning like paprika or your favorite seasoning

Directions:

Peel potatoes and cut into wedges.

Coat lightly in olive oil, salt, pepper and your seasoning of choice.

Arrange flat on baking pan and bake at 450 degrees F for about 20, 25 minutes. Turn over half way to avoid sticking and burning!

Zim Zari - My new restaurant obsession...

2011-06-05T19:46:00.006-04:00

Only 2 places in this country are lucky enough to eat at a little restaurant called Zim Zari right now... people that live on Long Island, and people who live near Trinity, FL. I feel special...but I feel bad for people who can't partake in this delicious restaurant.

It's classified as "California Coastal Grill," but I can't decide what it is striving to be. It has a lot of Mexican dishes on the menu...but also some dishes with an Asian flair!! Whatever it is, it is delicious, and I can't believe I waited almost two years to try it from when it moved into my town.

I initially stayed away because it had the word coastal in the description - I just assumed it was heavy on the seafood, something my husband won't touch with a 10 foot pole, even though I eat shrimp.

It wasn't until I had surgery late in May that I decided I wanted to try it. As the nurse was leading me down the hall to the pre-operating room, she asked me where I was from, trying to make me less nervous since I looked like I was about to bolt and run away in fear. I told her, and she asked if I had eaten at the "cheap place that has burritos in the King Kullen shopping center." I said, "what, Zim Zari? No, not yet." She then went on and on about how great it was and when my husband was driving me home a few hours later, I told him I wanted to try it.

So, off we went during Memorial Day weekend. The place by me is small, probably no more than 30 tables. We went between 5:30 and 6:00 pm, but by 6:10 it was packed. Everything on the menu looked really, really good. There were burritos, enchiladas, salads, burgers, Asian noodle or rice bowls and more. My husband got a "zimzalada," which was basically an enchilada. There were a few different ones you could choose.

I opted for one of the Asian rice bowls that had chicken with an orange glaze.

Before our entrees, we tried their version of lettuce wraps. These were DELICIOUS, but a bit messy, as I ended up with sauce from the chicken running down my arm.

We both really enjoyed our entrees, and despite being STUFFED from the appetizer and part of our entrees, there was a dessert that caught our eye that we just HAD to try - the cookie dough flauta.

This consisted of a flauta stuffed with cookie dough, served warm with whipped cream and a chocolate sauce. OH MY GOD, was it good, BUT... it was a little heavy and it got sweet toward the end. There were 4 pieces and we weren't sure if they would stay good if we brought 2 home, so we each ate 2 pieces. That was a mistake...it was too much. We wouldn't get this dessert again if we went alone...but if we were with 2 other people, we'd be fine.

The prices were very reasonable and the service was friendly and quick. They do take out - and we're definitely going to take advantage of it. I'm very excited I decided to finally try this place, as we will be adding it to our current list of favorites. I'm hoping my parents will join us one night, but my dad is super finicky and he probably won't like most of the menu since he isn't a huge Mexican fan.

So, if you are ever on Long Island in NY, or by Trinity, Fl. (not far from the Tampa area), definitely check this place out. It's worth the time!

Grilled Ravioli!

2011-06-05T19:12:00.003-04:00

Deeper into Spring and the grilling is easy! Tonight we tried grilled ravioli (something my husband probably saw on some Food Network program since he suggested it).

We had just splurged at our new favorite grocery store since they were having their delicious homemade ravioli on sale, 3 for $10 - not bad when each package is usually $4.99. So we grilled up one of the packages.

Since we already really enjoy eating ravioli and chicken sausage together, we also grilled up some of our Mango Chicken sausage we get from Trader Joe's. Also grilling were some sliced red and orange peppers that had a drizzling of olive oil and sea salt.

For a dipping sauce, I whipped up a batch of garlic butter sauce that I have previously made, since we weren't in the mood for a red sauce or a cheese sauce.

All of these grilled items, plus the sauce, made for a very tasty Sunday night dinner. The grilled ravioli is definitely a different pasta experience. It tastes similar to a puff pastry with some cheese filling - I did not feel like I was eating pasta. But, I really liked it none the less.

It was simple to make the ravioli. I put the raviolis into a zip-lock bag with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. I closed it and then shook it up so everything got a good coating of the 3 ingredients.

We had the grill heated up to a low-medium temperature (which was the temperature recommended to cook these that I found online). 2-3 minutes on each side was just enough. The ravioli will slowly start to puff up.

We were happy we tried this, and we will add it to our grilling rotation for the summer. Try it out!

What are your favorite foods to grill?

Asian Grilled Eggplant

2011-05-31T07:35:00.005-04:00

Going along with my grilled sweet potatoes on Memorial Day, my husband and I also grilled an eggplant. We had purchased an eggplant the weekend before, and didn't use it last week, so we knew we had to use it before it went bad.

My husband will eat eggplant almost any way, I am a little more picky about how it is prepared. Normally I don't like grilled eggplant in something like balsamic vinegar, but I searched around for a recipe I might enjoy.

So I found one for Asian Grilled Eggplant on GroupRecipes.com. The original poster suggested adding crushed red pepper flakes for more of a kick, but I left those out this time. I am sure my husband would have enjoyed that. (To be honest, I just noticed that as I went back to check the recipe - didn't see that tip the first time!)

The recipe claims it takes 10 minutes to make, but from start to finish - just a little longer. Probably a half hour total with slicing the eggplant, letting it rest with the salt and preparing the ingredients. Maybe 35 with putting it on the grill - I sliced it rather thin so it cooked up quickly!!

We'll be making this again as well. Happy grilling!

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants
Kosher salt

Marinade:
* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
* 1 teaspoon sesame oil
* 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
* 3 cloves minced garlic

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

Directions:

Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat.

Slice eggplant into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

Sprinkle with salt and let stand for 20 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.

Pour marinade over eggplant and let stand for at least 10 minutes in the refrigerator.

Remove from marinade and place eggplant on grill, cook until eggplant is cooked through and lightly browned on all sides, about 10 minutes.

Remove from grill.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes!

2011-05-30T22:00:00.001-04:00

It's grillin' time!! Summer is (almost) here, but grilling season was kicked off this past holiday weekend. We finally dug our grill out from last July, surprisingly, since my husband is our main griller and he had major shoulder surgery last July, and couldn't grill for the rest of the summer. Luckily it still worked after a harsh, snowy winter (it better, since we bought it last year!), and we planned a little Memorial Day feast for the two of us.

One of the things we grilled up were some sweet potatoes, which are quickly growing on me the more I eat them. I used the seasoning inspiration from Mr. Bobby Flay's recipe here, but I did the base preparation a different way. I also used a mixture of honey mustard and yellow mustard since we were out of the honey Dijon I usually keep in the house. Next time I might just use the yellow mustard, or make sure I have a Dijon because the honey mustard paired with the maple syrup did get a little sweet if you ate too many potatoes. I also added a dash of cinnamon to the base mixture, but literally just a pinch.

The result? DELICIOUS!! They were nice and tender with an amazing taste. My husband and I both really enjoyed them, and he is already asking me to make these again.

This recipe was very easy, but took about 40 minutes total time from start to finish. We used a grill pan instead of placing the sweet potato circles directly on the grill.

These are definitely here to stay in our family!

Ingredients:

2-3 sweet potatoes, either cut into wedges or into circles 3/4" thick (I cut mine into circles)
canola or olive oil for brushing
kosher salt & black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 to 3 tablespoons of mustard (Dijon recommended in original recipe, I used 1 tbl honey mustard, 1 tbl yellow mustard)
pinch of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of poultry rub

Directions:

Cut sweet potatoes into 3/4 inch slices (or length-wise wedges).

Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add potatoes. Boil until potatoes are just starting to soften.

Cool and peal.

Brush the potato wedges with oil and season with rub, pinch of cinnamon salt and pepper.

Grill, turning once, until nicely marked.

Whisk the syrup with the mustard.

Brush the potatoes with the glaze and turn a few times to caramelize. <-- My husband and I used this marinating tool we got from Pampered Chef for my bridal shower and it worked so well!! Probably one of the best grilling tools we own.

Serve warm and enjoy - this is a fantastic grill recipe.

Happy unofficial summer, everyone!

Specialty Supermarkets (and a quick recipe for Artichoke & Onion "pizza")

2011-05-26T07:40:00.007-04:00

I am sure everyone has some sort of specialty supermarket around them, especially if they live in a bigger metropolitan area. Of course, there are the Whole Foods and Trader Joe's of the nation, which everyone seems to love. (Myself included). Those stores provide a lot of organic, healthy foods at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately, we don't really have Whole Foods near us, but we frequent Trader Joe's as much as we can. While there is one located a mere 4 miles from my house, I continuously beg them to add a store in my town as we have so many available retail locations and it would be successful here. So far, no luck.

But what we did get last week is an Italian Marketplace that currently only has 5 stores around Long Island. It's called Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, and it is amazing! It's part regular supermarket and part stepping into a market in Italy. There is a sizable cheese section, homemade pasta section and "deli" area with lots of delicious Italian creations. There is also an incredible bakery, complete with a homemade gelato section!! You can get homemade soups and sauces and much, much more.

I'd known about this place from some family friends, and we visited the original store once when we passed by it. We ended up buying ground chicken that had been mixed with spinach and feta and some other odds 'n ends that trip, but nothing major. When we heard this marketplace was going into an empty Rite Aid store that is walking distance from my house, we got excited. We thought it was opening Memorial Day weekend, but to my surprise, they had a soft opening last weekend and when I drove by and saw people going in, I knew we would be popping in there as well. And, we did.

First we were greeted with a sample of their homemade ravioli or sausage and peppers as they were trying to entice us to buy these products. Honestly, the ravioli was some of the most delicious ravioli I had tasted in a long, long time. My husband originally declined a free sample, but I made him go get one so I could have another. Mmm! We also got a taste of the gelato. We both tried the peach, and it was delicious. It was seriously like eating a fresh, frozen peach.

I typically hate peach flavored products like yogurt or ice cream because I often feel it tastes fake, but this was GOOD. (So good, that we decided to go back later in the afternoon to get a snack of gelato!)

I also got a taste of one of their pound cakes from the bakery - it was great! The day before, at a craft show, I had tried pound cake someone was selling and I thought it was dry and awful and didn't know why someone thought it was so great that they could sell it at high prices. But this cake was perfect - it wasn't dry, and it had great flavor. They also had samples of bread out and that too, was amazing. Two things we didn't love that they were giving out were their zeppole's (honestly, had better at fairs), and their homemade fresh donuts. Oh my god - the donuts had SO much sugar on them.

The last thing we sampled in the store was an apple fritter cake - DELICIOUS!! You have to understand, I dislike 99% of apple things. I am not an apple person - in fact - the only apples I eat are the Granny Smiths. But this cake... woah. I actually snuck about 4 pieces to try - I think we'll be buying this cake when we have our parents over for dinner!

So, after pigging out around the store, we wandered to find a few items to purchase. We weren't doing a great deal of shopping there - especially regular items because this store doesn't double coupons or take manufacturer's coupons that are printed from the Internet. So it's not worth us doing regular shopping there unless we have a good coupon from a newspaper and the item is on sale.

We purchased a spaghetti muffin from the huge "deli" section. We were intrigued immediately - sitting there on a plate was a huge muffin shaped blob of spaghetti. We inquired about it - it had meatballs and cheese and some herbs inside, as well as sauce. We were game - we got one to split. I am sure we can find a way to make this ourselves but honestly, it was so different we couldn't help but buy one to try. We also bought a square roll to make some sort of vegetable bread (see our creation below!) or something to go along with our halves of the spaghetti muffin.

There were so many delicious looking foods in the deli that two days ago we went back and purchased a spinach and carrot "cake" to split one night for dinner, another spaghetti muffin to share and some teriyaki chicken dumplings. We have yet to try these products, but they are coming up this week for us! Yum!

So, if you live in NY, and close by the Long Island area, I definitely recommend stopping by this store. Otherwise, for all of you in other parts of the country, I hope you also have some awesome specialty supermarkets that you can find some delicious creations in!

Now, I just have to figure out how to make my own spaghetti muffins...

Also, this is what we made with our roll when we bought the first spaghetti muffin. We made an artichoke and onion "pizza" type creation. I used the Light Garlic & Herb cheese spread from Laughing Cow as a base and we chopped up some artichoke hearts and onion. We sprinkled some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning over the top and I broiled them for a few minutes. (Obviously, a few minutes too long as some of the edges are burnt...I always forget how fast things broil up!!)

It was a very tasty little vegetable pizza roll thing, however. Try it!!

Delicious Italian Food in Boynton Beach, FL

2011-05-23T07:12:00.005-04:00

So, while my cupcake search in Boynton Beach, FL was somewhat disappointing, those living near the area or visiting should definitely check out the following restaurant - Mamma Mia.

The original location has been around since 1983, but another one popped up about 3 minutes down the road from my in-law's house in 2009. My mother-in-law recommended that we try it, and we needed a place to eat the last night we were in town, so off we went.

We opted to share a dish since we were leaving early the next morning and would have no need for leftovers, and my in-laws wouldn't be back for a while so they didn't want food in the fridge or freezer. The restaurant charges $8.95 for sharing - basically it is for a second soup and salad - since most of the main entrees come with soup, salad and garlic knots.

We still had more than enough food with sharing the main dish. The soup choices for the entrees are Minestrone or Pasta Fagioli. My husband opted for Pasta Fagioli and I chose Minestrone, even though neither choice is one I am overly fond of. The soup wasn't bad though!

Next, we both opted for a Caesar salad, and it was delicious - not overly Caesared. I hate when the dressing is SO heavy.

We chose the Italian Feast as our main dish (website description: A taste of baked ziti, lasagna, one meatball, one sausage and stuffed shells baked with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese). We asked for 2 meatballs instead of 1 meatball and 1 sausage because we generally aren't fond of sausage. Only the chicken kind from Trader Joe's! Haha. They had no problem giving us the 2 meatballs.

We each received one meatball, 2 stuffed shells, and a generous portion of lasagna and baked ziti. We probably each ate a little over half of our plates (combined with the soup and salad, we were stuffed), and unfortunately couldn't take it with it, though we definitely would have, if we needed lunch the next day.

The stuffed shells were my favorite, while my husband really loved the lasagna.

The location is nice and the staff was incredibly friendly and efficient. We enjoyed it a lot, and will probably go back next time we are in town, unless we find some other places to explore.

So if you are in the area - definitely try it out. It's worth it!!