To be honest I’m usually not a big fan of eggplant. Sometimes when I get it in restaurants thinking I want to try it again, it’s overly chewy and unpleasant. I haven’t worked with it at home because I don’t really know what to do with the darn thing! When we received one all wrapped up sitting nice and pretty in our Bountiful Basket pick-up I wondered … now what the heck am I going to make with this thing? I am very open to trying all kinds of different foods and actually found a recipe that suites eggplant very well. In fact, I think it has renewed my confidence in this purple beauty. (more…)
August 5, 2011
April 29, 2010
easy din dins
This week I’ve been resorting to fairly easy fix ‘er uppers for dinner, mostly because it seems like time is of the essence lately. Is there really ever enough time? Sometimes I have this crazy hope that someday we will be able to freeze time in its tracks, just for a few hours or so to get caught back up. I could see this being a major problem, but it’s always nice to dream!
The wind has greeted us yet again here in the desert, and when it does it really does! I think last night we had gusts up to 63 mph and I thought our townhouse was going to break away from the foundation and take us away like the Wizard of Oz. Well, we’re still here safe and sound, but it hasn’t left much by way of bike riding, especially in the afternoons when it really kicks up. (more…)
April 12, 2010
cheesy goodness
I don’t eat a lot of butter and full-fat cheese all too often, but when I do, it sure is glorious! There’s nothing like the rich and succulent ooey gooey goodness that comes with cheesy baked casseroles. Even just a nice little piece is more than satisfying. One of the top recipes I wanted to try in Giada’s new cookbook since getting to meet her, was cheesy baked farro. Of course, who wouldn’t love anything enveloped in cheesy goodness? I also wanted to try my hand at farro for the first time. (more…)
March 24, 2010
pizza, pasta and puddin’
Oh boy, where did we leave off last? . . . oh yeah that’s right birthday cake, pasta, cupcakes, nutella waffles and . . . oh my, and this post is continuing the streak of decadent eats. I’m not going to say they are much ‘healthier’ since I used 1% fat milk and reduced fat such and such, but I will say these recipes are pretty darn good! (more…)
December 22, 2009
even more holiday parties
Sorry I’ve been MIA lately! I seemed to have killed yet another hard drive, so I have been without a computer for a little while. While the hard drive that I was using was an old one from Chris’ laptop, he let me borrow yet another laptop from his work. Hopefully I can keep this one functioning until mine comes back again. I anticipate that it will be back today, just in time before I leave to see my mom! I’m actually hoping that it will break one more time though, because if it does I’ll be able to get a new one yippee! I haven’t had the greatest luck with my new laptop, while I had my last one for 7 years with no troubles hmmm
Anyway, I wanted to re-cap on some more holiday parties! On Friday night we were going to have another couple come over for a fun pizza making party. Unfortunately, our one friend got stuck at work till late and they decided to cancel 🙁 But, Chris and I still had a bunch of fun making pizza and drinking a little vino together! It’s a super fun idea for a party though. You simply make the dough and toppings the night before, take the dough out about 4 hours before the party to come to room temperature and then let your guests assemble to their liking. This is also great if you have vegetarian guests because everything can be kept separate too.
Toppings included: chicken sausage, mushrooms, roasted squash, roasted bell peppers, olives and cheese!
I have to say that the Willow Springs cab is THE best I’ve had, and it goes really well with a 5 year aged Gouda that I picked up from Whole Foods for a treat, & at $15.99/lb I don’t get it very often. The cab is incredibly fruity and luscious with a nice balance of tannin and earth. Pretty much any fruity red goes well with gouda though. Chris’ parents got this cab for us from a wine club they belonged to, but I’m not sure if it can even be ordered anymore 🙁
We also had some little munchie things for appetizers, including whole grain crackers, roasted red pepper hummus and bell pepper strips. It was a lot of fun! I had a glass & a 1/2 of the wine and I also downed a coconut water afterwards, I find it helps with hydration and any tummy issues 🙂
The next morning I had prepped this breakfast casserole (adapted from CookingLight) and it was super easy to just plop in the oven. This is great for company 🙂 I use 1/2 the bread it calls for and add in lots more veggies.
The next party was the cookie exchange with the SwankyRD! It was so nice to see Kristen again and chat with everyone there. Oh my goodness, there were cookies and goodies everywhere!! I ended up filling up two plates full of them since Kristen said to take them away hehe I actually didn’t eat too much at the party surprisingly, but did have a glass of red wine, an appetizer sandwich, some veggies and about a bite from 6 cookies. They were all delicious!
I decided to make the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies from Tam, which turned out to be phenomenal in my opinion. I could hardly tell the difference between regular chocolate chip and to tell the truth I liked them better! Check out the recipe here. I also made chocolate baklava from Cooking Light and it was a huge hit too. Even though this recipe is a bit time consuming with all the phyllo layers, I would highly recommend it.
Aren’t they just precious? Yes, I talk to my food and love every aspect that goes into it. It’s just so neat 🙂
The baklava was to die for with every heavenly layer of phyllo, melted butter, nutella, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon and honey. Yum!
After the party Kristen and I decided to check out Chef Guy Fieri’s Road Show at the House of Blues. It was a lot of fun to see him in person! I just wish he would have went on sooner because by 10 o’clock, I’m pooped. We left at 11:30 and it still wasn’t quite over. Afterwards, I wanted to grab something to eat and decided on a self-serve yogurt shop next door, I know not the best, but it was sure refreshing! We decided to check out the lounge/club in the Mandalay Bay called the Foundation Room. It was actually a lot of fun and the DJ was playing some great music. Even though there wasn’t much of a dance floor, we
were sure getting our groove on 🙂 I love to dance, especially hip hop, and could dance all night practically, but knew I better head back before my body started to rebel from lack of sleep. I didn’t get to bed until 2am! I haven’t done that in ages.
There sure was a nice view from the top!
I didn’t even have any drinks, but the next day I tried to get up early and my head was throbbing, so I went back to sleep till 11am! I haven’t done that in ages either, geezsh, I think I’m getting old 🙂 It was such a fun night though.
I can’t believe we are leaving to see my mom tomorrow!! I’m so excited to just get away for a little while. We don’t get back till the 2nd, but I still plan on blogging if my computer doesn’t break first.
I may be doing my first blogger meet-up too! I’ve been talking with Laural and Diana who both live in the same area as my mom, so that should be fun. I’m really looking forward to it. I just adore all of you guys and all you do.
In other news . . . I’m hoping to make a final decision on a thesis topic, dun dun dun. . . Here’s what I’m thinking so far, let me know what you think . . . Emily gave me the greatest idea to look at the use of probiotics in athletes and then I want to look at the rates of URTIs/sick days in athletes in a collegiate winter sport. Or I was wanting to look at the benefits of corporate wellness or do something with corporate wellness because I have an interest with this as a future career. I have to figure out how I would even do these studies along with research, research, research. Thanks for all your ideas and encouragement!
I have also finally purchased a new blog template for WordPress!!!! I’ve been wanting to do this and spruce up the blog for a long long time now. I’m a bit overwhelmed with how to use it and transfer everything over, but hopefully I can figure it out over the little break. I also contacted Zesty to see if he can help out, so stay tuned! Maybe I’ll have to do some kind of new blog giveaway? It will be a surprise!
Many thanks for all your support and wonderful comments. I love everything about this blogging community, and while we may get a few negative comments here and there, all the positive ones make all the difference in the world to me. I send you wonderful holiday wishes, yummy food and dishes, and happy new beginnings all year through 🙂
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
June 21, 2009
party time
I absolutely LOVE planning for events, especially events that involve food and friends! I think I should be a caterer and go to culinary school (this is my dream someday). While I don’t handle stress/anxiousness too well sometimes, I love the stress of the kitchen. That rush you get when you prepare something that turns out so well you want to jump or giggle, or the sheer disappointment you feel after messing up a dish and the determination to tweak it and make it better the next time (or right at that moment!). I love preparing great nibbles and seeing the joy on people’s faces when they are enjoying the company of great friends and food.
Even with lots of planning, things just don’t always go as planned haha, and this is where I get a bit discombobulated :/ This week was pretty uneventful, but I did get in a small fender bender on Wednesday that put a ‘dent’ in things so to speak. I was okay thank goodness, but my poor car got about $2,000 worth of damages. The guy in front of me with the truck didn’t even get a scratch, go figure! This is my first accident, so I hope that my insurance won’t go through the roof. While I did get a moving violation for following too close, I don’t even remember being that close. All I remember is coming to a slow stop, starting to go again and before I knew it I was smooshed in the car in front of me. I didn’t have enough time to react, and the guy in front of me also hit the guy in front of him. Not a pleasant experience, but not too bad. I was just bummed because my gym plans were shot! Crazy I was thinking about that, but I’m definitely glad it wasn’t more serious. After filing a claim with my insurance and blah, blah, blah, I’m waiting for the body shop to finish the work . . . (big sigh). Have you ever gotten in a car accident? They scare me so much, and when I first started driving I about went into a panic attack every time I got into the car, especially on the freeway. I didn’t get my license until the middle of my junior year of HS! Now I’m not that bad, but they still give me serious chills.
On to something more fun . . . . PARTY TIME!
Once all the planning, prepping, making and cleaning was all done, it was so nice to have a cocktail (or two!) and enjoy the good company of family, friends and yummy nibbles celebrating our first home.
Oh and I have to fess up that I got myself a new toy! I didn’t really ‘need’ it, but really believe that it will be a great investment for the future of my blog, business and tasty travels. Drum roll please . . . . it’s the Canon Rebel XSi aahhh! I’ve been dreaming about taking pictures like these for years. Yea, I could have gotten a new road bike, a flat screen tv, a bedroom set, or fake grass in the backyard, but I decided to get an awesome camera. What is wrong with my head? I love learning about food styling, and while my pictures are not professional at all, I hope to start learning a lot more about photography, particularly with FOOD! By the time I made my decision, (I swear I was contemplating all freaking day!) it was too late to get it here by the party date, so I decided to speed ship it for a little extra so I could have it for the pics. Let’s see how I did for an amateur right out of the box . . . There is so much to learn with this thing!
And if you have ANY experience with food photography, lighting, etc, by all means please give me some ideas and feedback for what works best for you 🙂
Here’s the spread:
For munchies to start:
Assorted cheeses – Colby, fontina, sharp cheddar, aged gouda, honey and grapes
Brie, herbed brie, and aged parmesan
Bruschetta with fig compote, goat cheese and crispy prosciutto. We also had caprese bites with balsamic reduction.
Panzanella Salad
Chocolate Fountain! This was a hit, who doesn’t love dipping things into falling chocolate?!
Spinach artichoke dip with Hawaiian sweet bread, this is always a crowd pleaser.
Roasted Veggie Calzones with marinara dipping sauce (still have to work on the aperture and depth of focus)
And we got a new TV!! I think I about died right then. Buster likes watching TV haha
It was such a wonderful party, and while it took most of the week to prepare for it, it was so much fun. I think we will have to have another party soon because we have a ton of liquor left! I forgot to take pictures, but we opened up 3 bottles of wine, had that lemon champagne punch (It was so good!), and also made another cocktail, and some pyramid apricot ale beer. We still have a giant thing of vodka, coconut rum, cranberry and pineapple juice left. We’ll have to keep it for another time. Now I have a ton of dishes in the kitchen and loads of wash I need to get cleaning (boo!) . . . and Happy Father’s Day! Give those men in your lives a big hug!
What’s your most memorable party that you have hosted?
April 22, 2009
it’s getting hot in here . . .
We signed papers on Monday! Woo-hoo! We are still waiting for final arrangements from the bank, but it should be official by the end of this week. Just crazy to think we could own a house, well townhouse that is, but it’s still ownership! We are really into crunch time right now, and the other half and I are wondering what we got ourselves into trying to get situated in a house and take on projects at the end of the semester along with work??? We may have to hold back on some things.
I put some paint up on the walls from the colors we thought we would like and. . .whoa, they are so different! Some of them turned out to be winners, but how anyone can tell what a color will look like on an entire wall from a tiny square I will never know. Pretty soon our walls will look like all the colors of the rainbow before we can decide on a dang color!
I wanted to make meatloaf for dinner, but being that it’s been in the 90s here in Vegas already, I’ve been trying to avoid that inefficient oven like the plague. So I decided to make a quick alternative . . . stuffed meatloaf burgers! I just had to mix the meat, form the patties, turn on the stove and sauté for a fraction of the time. I served it with a fresh green salad on the side, although I really wanted some sweet potato fries!
Stuffed Meatloaf Burgers
Yield: About 6 patties
Ingredients
- A little over 1 pound of extra lean ground beef (96% lean)
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1 egg
- 1/2 jar TJ’s bruschetta mix (this makes them so moist!)
- 1 tbsp crushed Italian herbs
- salt, pepper and garlic powder
- 1 small shallot, minced
- cubed mozzarella for stuffing
- whole wheat buns and all your favorite burger toppings
Directions
Place the first 7 ingredients (through shallot) in a large bowl and incorporate. Place a handful of meat in the palm of your hand and form half a patty. Place about 2 cubes of cheese on top and cover with another handful of meat. Form a tight seal.
Repeat with remaining meat and cheese. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook patties until 160 degrees or until desired doneness, about 5-6 minutes per side. Place on a 
clean plate and cover with foil until all batches are done. Serve with buns and your favorite toppings!
I also used these burgers crumbled on top of some leftover pesto pasta for a quick dinner . . . yum!
For 6 servings (analyzed with 95% lean beef), one patty has about 180-200 kcals, 8g of fat, 23g of protein, 10% calcium and 15% iron, along with good doses of zinc, riboflavin, B6 and B12.
Gotta love that ooeey, gooey cheese! We put a little more bruschetta mix on top.
Any painting dilemma stories? I’d love to hear that I’m not alone!
