October 2012
3 posts
4 tags
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
To help with my plan to eat healthier I made this deliciously healthy cookie recipe. I absolutely love the taste and can’t wait to take them along with me when I begin my new job on Wednesday!! (More on the job later).
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: 36 small cookies
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 whole egg
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour...
September 2012
4 posts
4 tags
2012 Cooking Goals
As September nears to an end and we get closer to the holidays I thought it would be good for me to pick five goals I want to achieve before the end of the year.
Eat healthier and make more homemade meals instead of store bought processed foods.
Incorporate recipes from other cultures into my repertoire. (Chinese, Indian, etc.)
Incorporate more whole grains into our diet.
Cook one monthly...
5 tags
Broccoli Alfredo
I have been noshing on this delicious recipe for the past couple days and it tastes better every day. This recipe would also taste great with chicken.
I am happy to say that I am still striving to eat healthier and live better. I am getting back into yoga and pilates.
Ingredients: 1-2 cups fresh chopped broccoli, cooked and hot fettuccine, cooked according to package directions. (I used whole...
7 tags
Penne with roasted string beans and balsamic...
This is another delicious and quick meal to make. I am really trying to change my focus to healthy meals with the occasional cheat. The string beans could easily be substituted for asparagus or broccoli.
Ingredients:
1 pound string beans
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 pound penne
...
4 tags
Mozzarella Sticks
I have been working on perfecting homemade mozzarella sticks for awhile now and this is the best tasting, simplest recipe I have come up with. It is nice and quick for when you had a busy day or when you want a mozzarella stick fix. Most importantly, the majority of the ingredients are things you always have in your home. Try it out and let me know what you think.
Ingredients:
8 String Cheeses
...
July 2012
3 posts
Amazing new things coming soon!
I am very excited to announce that new things will be happening here. I was suffering from a wrist problem and just had surgery a week ago. I am so happy for a successful surgery and to be able to share my cooking experiences with you again. Starting tomorrow you will be seeing instant changes.
Thanks for your patience.
March 2012
1 post
2 tags
Quick, Give Me a Flavor
For the Daring Bakers Feb. challenge I wanted to make a lot more, but student teaching is getting intense. Hopefully next month I can get back on track.
Basic Quick Bread
Makes one 9” x 5” (23×13 cm) loaf Recipe from Sara Schewe
2 cups (480 ml) (250 gm/9 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour 1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) granulated sugar 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda 1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml)...
February 2012
6 posts
3 tags
Potato Rösti
Potato Rösti
Servings: makes two large rösti adapted from a family recipe
Blog-checking lines: The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty...
3 tags
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken
I was looking for some simple slow cooker recipes that I could make a large batch of so I could have leftovers to bring to lunch for student teaching this week. I was so excited when I came upon this recipe because I love orange chicken. This recipe is really amazing but I do think that the orange is a bit strong, so if you don’t like orange I would recommend using 4 oz instead of the 6 oz...
3 tags
Slutty Brownies
I was so intrigued by the name of these brownies that I just had to make them for myself. These are hands down the simplest most decadent brownies I have ever made. After I finish this post I’m heading downstairs for another piece.
SLUTTY BROWNIES
Adapted from the Londoner
Ingredients
1 Box of cookie mix,
1 Box of brownie mix,
2 Eggs,
2 Packs of Oreos (I used double stuffed)
Some oil...
5 tags
Back To Basics: Scones
Blog-checking lines: Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!
I was so excited for this challenge because it included an Australia recipe for biscuits. One of my closest friends is studying abroad in Aussie right now and trying to get...
January 2012
8 posts
3 tags
Classic Bread Stuffing with Sausage
A couple of days ago I tried to tackle something new, which is to make homemade bread stuffing. It was so good I don’t think I will ever go back to box stuffing.
Classic Bread Stuffing with Sausage
Serves: 8 people.
Ingredients:
1 pound good quality white, multigrain, or sourdough bread cut into 1 inch cubes.
1 pound bulk pork sausage.
4 tablespoons butter
3 ribs celery, chopped.
2...
6 tags
Christmas Cookies Part 4 - Secret Kiss Cookies
I actually made these a week after Christmas once I was recovering from my illness. They were also a new recipe I picked for this year! They came out great. I still have two recipes I plan on making in the winter that I didn’t get to, so you can look forward to those.
Secret Kiss Cookies
Makes: 2.5 dozen.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened.
1/2 cup sugar.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
...
6 tags
Christmas Cookies Part 3 - Ginger Snaps
This is about the time before Christmas when I got horribly sick with asthmatic bronchitis. I could barely breathe or move it was horrible. I began to struggle through preparing for Christmas. I didn’t even get to make all of the kinds of cookies I had wanted to make. Don’t worry I am still going to make them before winter is over. Although it doesn’t feel like winter yet here on...
6 tags
Christmas Cookies Part 2 - Plain Sugar Cookies
This sugar cookie recipe is very basic and is great for people with allergies. I spent a lot of time many years ago trying to find recipes that make great shapes. This one is a tried and true winner.
Favorite Sugar Cookies
Makes: 6-7 dozen.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened.
1 cup confectioners sugar.
1 egg.
1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
2-1/2 cups...
5 tags
Christmas Cookies Part I - Sugar Cookies
Here is one of my tried and true sugar cookie recipes that I have been using for years. It makes perfect shapes. It does have cream cheese in it, so I have a second sugar cookie recipe that is pretty plain for people in my family with allergies. I will post that one next. They both have identical results, just a different taste. These recipes are both easy and simple to make. I hope you enjoy them...
Updates
I had a really successful morning of queuing posts from Christmas. So expect some delicious cookie recipes for the next few days. Don’t worry if Christmas is over, these cookies taste great year round!
3 tags
Parmesan-Roasted Butternut Squash
New Year, new motivation. My crazy schedule makes it really hard to post here as much as I would love to, but I am trying really hard to change that. Expect more recipes, more often. I still have Christmas cookie recipes to post, my first try at homemade stuffing, and more!
I saw 2 pounds of squash at the farmers market for $1 and I knew I’d find something to do with it so I picked it up. I...
December 2011
2 posts
5 tags
Letting Nature Do the Work
Blog-checking lines: Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!
I was so...
3 tags
CHA SUI
Blog-checking lines: Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!
I was so excited for this month’s daring cooks challenge because I absolutely love BBQ. When I first saw this recipe I was both excited and nervous. Since I haven’t had much...
November 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Filipino Desserts!
Blog-checking lines: Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.
I was really excited about this challenge because...
3 tags
Cooking with Tea
Blog-checking lines: Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
I absolutely love tea. I even have way too much tea. I am currently horribly sick and drinking cups and cups of...
October 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Povitica
Blog-checking lines: The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!
I was so excited for this challenge because one of my own personal goals is to get better at working with dough. I have many many failures. Which is horrible because my fiance is a...
4 tags
Moo Shu
Blog-checking lines: The October Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry and sauce.
I was a little delayed in posting this Daring Cook’s challenge because I spent the weekend at the...
4 tags
Crock Pot Oriental Chicken
My new schedule is killing me so the only way I can eat a nice home cooked meal is to rely on my crock pot. I hope that soon I will have more energy and get back on top of my course work.
Oriental Chicken
Ingredients:
3 lbs. Chicken (cut up)
1 medium onion
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon dry ginger or 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
1 clove garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon...
September 2011
3 posts
4 tags
Fresh, Fluffy, French
Blog Checking Lines:
The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!
It’s time to post September’s Daring Baker’s Challenge. I am also super excited because I am making October’s Daring...
6 tags
Stock to Soup to Consomme
Blog-checking lines:
Peta, of the blog Peta Eats, was our lovely hostess for the Daring Cook’s September 2011 challenge, “Stock to Soup to Consommé”. We were taught the meaning between the three dishes, how to make a crystal clear Consommé if we so chose to do so, and encouraged to share our own delicious soup recipes!
September was my very second Daring Cook’s challenge. Boy was it hard...
Senior Year
I just started my last year of college!!! I am so sorry from the lack of updates, we are still recovering from the hurricane. Hopefully we won’t get any more rain for awhile, we all really need to dry out here (especially my basement). I have some great stuff I will be posting about soon.
My life is about to consist of classes, student teaching, and seminars. I meet my cooperating teacher...
August 2011
6 posts
Candylicious!
Blog Checking Lines:
The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and...
6 tags
Buttermilk Scones
As I have mentioned many times we always have leftover buttermilk in our house. Once I realized the buttermilk was getting close to expiration I started looking up some more buttermilk scone recipes, you can never have too many! I found this one and changed acouple things around. The fact that I made these 4 days ago and just had one this morning that tasted delicious shows how great they are. I...
8 tags
Appam and Curry
Blog-checking lines: Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.
Posting Date: August 14, 2011
August was my very first Daring Cook’s Challenge and I absolutely loved that it was...
6 tags
Caramel Ice Cream Cake
I made this recipe months ago but my family keeps asking me to make it again, they found it that good. I love eveything caramel and so this was no different. This is from the same cookbook as my previous post. What an easy desert to make if you forgot to make something for an event.
Caramel Ice Cream Cake
Adapted from 200 Really Easy Recipes
Ingredients:
4 cups vanilla ice cream
3 cups...
6 tags
Chicken and Rice Bake
I made this recipe a while back from an idea I found in a cookbook my grandmother got me for Christmas. It was really simple and delicious as the title of the cookbook claims all the recipes will be. I love flipping through this cookbook on a day when I have very little time to cook. I usually have most of the ingredients already.
Chicken and Rice Bake
200 Really Easy Recipes
Ingredients:
8...
Sorry
For the lack of updates. I have been having breathing issues and wound up in the ER for 6 hours last night. Don’t worry I am fine and am ready to get some cooking done. I am also leaving in 5 days for our vacation to Disney (with a trip to Universal) for 6 days!! I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the food and trip. Hopefully Epcot will really inspire me with some great cooking...
July 2011
12 posts
6 tags
Big Beef Burgers with Crunchy Sour Cream Onions
Part 1 of the recipes from my fiance’s birthday! I used home grown chives from my garden. These are some seriously delicious burgers. I will be making these again very soon! Rachael has a burger of the month every month in her magazine but this one really stuck out to me. I just made some simple changes and it was the perfect treat for my man on his birthday.
Big Beef Burgers with Crunchy...
8 tags
Whole Wheat Rigatoni with Bacon
We made this recipe last week. It was quick, easy and really filling. This was a super rushed day so it was nice to have a fulfilling meal at the end of it.
Whole Wheat Rigatoni with Bacon
Adapted from RachaelRay.com
Ingredients
salt
1 pound whole wheat rigatoni
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 pound thick-cut bacon, chopped
3 fresh bay leaves
1 large onion, quartered and sliced
...
21
Today is my amazing fiance’s 21st birthday!!! I am so proud of him and all of the crazy sacrifices he has made for me. He works a rough physically demanding job with crazy hours everyday while going to school part time, helping me get back and forth from college and so much more. I know all of his hard work and dedication will pay off.
So every year (for the past 6 years) he picks out his...
Julia Child's Tarragon Chicken
The other day I made another JC recipe, I am nowhere near my goal of 200 recipes down before November but this year has been rough financially. Anyways I am just doing this for the love of my life who bought me these cookbooks and he’s proud of me always. My more realistic goal is 150 before November. Let’s see what I can do. The chicken was amazing, Julia was a very amazing cook.
...
5 tags
Pot Roast
There will be plenty of pictures to come in the future, I just have a really bad camera on my cell phone and well thats it. But I am borrowing my friends camera for disney in less than 30 days!!! So I will take lots of amazing food photos. Anyways last night I threw together an awesome rot roast. It was so delicious and juicy.
Pot Roast
Adapted from foodnetwork.com (The Neelys)
Ingredients:
1...
4 tags
Julia Child's Green Beans
Working on my fiance’s challenge of making all of the recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volumes 1 and 2 by Julia Child. I made a delicious green bean recipe that as usual does not disappoint.
I have pictures I will add later. Transfering from my cell phone is time consuming. I will also be making JC’s casserole-roasted chicken with tarragon this week. I have a lot of...
6 tags
Homemade Corn Muffin Mix
Rachael Ray has a section called “Fast Ideas” in her magazine every month. This one has been calling for me to try for days. Rachael promises corn muffin mix that is better than boxed. Surprisingly she delivers! This makes the best corn muffins we have ever had in this household. The secret is the cinnamon and vanilla extract. I will be keeping this mix in my pantry from now on. I aa...
5 tags
Green Beans with Parmigiano Reggiano
I made this recipe last week and completely thought I already posted about it. We bought the green beans at our local farmers market already washed and cut for just $2. So amazing. Everyone raved about these so they are def. a make again. Some really exciting news I just joined The Daring Kitchen for both their daring bakers and daring cooks monthly challenges. I get my very first daring cooks...
6 tags
Chicken Bundles and Rice
This recipe looked so interesting we just had to try it and it did not disapoint. This is great for even the most picky of eaters.
Chicken Bundles and Rice
Adapted from Taste of Home Magazine June and July 2011
Ingredients
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 packages cream cheese softened
8 green onions (chopped)
2 tsp tarragon (minced)
16 bacon...
