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Friday Letters

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Dear Cold Weather – Welcome back! Its 30 something outside and I am enjoying it. I finally get to put my sweaters, scarfs, and boots to use.

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Dear Salted Caramel Cupcakes - You were delicious but I had to resist from eating you . I have a figure to watch out for.

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Dear Lady who waxed my eyebrows – Next time I come see you, please do not pull the strip off my face as slow as you can. Also, NEVER pick up and eye brow pencil and start coloring ones eye brow in. IT MAY FREAK THEM OUT !

Dear Sully-Your adorable. I could keep you mini size and you perfect for our family! :)

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Happy Friday !

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Mississippi Sin

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No I did not spend the weekend in Mississippi having a hole bunch of fun :) and YES I totally sang the spelling song while typing Mississippi (M – I – Crooked letter- Crooked Letter – I ..).

We are headed over to someones house for dinner and while in the grocery store I decided to take an appetizer… Oh boy – perfect opportunity to make something new.. Or is it??? Thank the Lord for pinterest. I grabbed my phone and immediately went through my food board to find an easy, few ingredient appetizer, that of course don would eat. I came across one I pinned when I first started using pinterest called Mississippi Sin ( yes, I sang the song again! ) .

Mississippi Sin

  • 16oz sour cream
  • 8oz cream cheese, softened
  • 2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup chopped ham
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp hot sauce
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • salt
  • pepper
  • Loaf of bread to make a bowl

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Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Cut middle out of bread to make a bread bowl. Save cut out for later. Mix all the above ingredients into a large bowl. Add mixed contents to bread bowl. Cut most of extra bread off of middle portion and put the top back over the mixed contents. Wrap bread bowl ( with the dip) in foil. Bake for 1 hour.

Serve with fritos, pita chips, diced bread or something of your liking.

My thoughts:

Its still in the oven so i can not give you much on taste, however, I did taste pre baking and it was good. I added a little more hot sauce and worcestershire to the mix.

I am a little concerned about baking the loaf of bread for ONE hour. I figured it would come out burnt ???? I did a tiny bit of reading online and other bloggers who made this recipe did not comment of the bread burning. I will let you know.

I DID NOT use ham… Don wont eat ham. So i substituted the ham for bacon. I also used more than 1/2 cup….actually used a hole pack of bacon :0) I trimmed all the fat off the bacon before rough chopping and adding into the mixture.

Several people added jalapenos from a jar, sausage crumbles ( instead of ham), and chilies. I am sure these additions or substitutes are great but I am pretty sure Don would not eat it.

UPDATE: the bread came out perfect and hard .. Exactly what you would need for a bread bowl. I was concerned about it burning ! The dip was a hit and I will definitely be making it again soon!

Head over to pinterest to pin the recipe or click here for the recipe I used !

Enjoy & Happy Sunday !

Cinnamon French Toast Bake – SYSS Link Party

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The last thing you want to think about on Thanksgiving day, is more food. Growing up my family typically didn’t eat much on Thanksgiving just to save room for FEAST ! Since we did not do our traditional thanksgiving this year, I made breakfast for everyone. It was easy. delicious. and everyone loved it.

Cinnamon French Toast Bake Recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup melted butter

2 12.4 oz cans of cinnamon rolls with icing

5 eggs

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans – we omitted this ingredient due to picky eaters in the house !!!!

3/4 of maple syrup – I am certain any syrup if fine.

Garnish

Icing from cinnamon rolls

Powdered sugar

Additional maple syrup

Directions:

Melt butter and pour onto an UNgreased 13×9 inch glass dish. Separate each cinnamon roll ( 16 rolls total ) and cut each roll into 8 small pieces. Set aside the icing for later use. Add diced cinnamon rolls to buttered baking dish.

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Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add cream, cinnamon and vanilla. Continue to beat until well blended. Pour over diced cinnamon rolls. If desired, sprinkle pecans and 3/4 cup of maple syrup over mixture.

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Bake at 375 degrees for 20-28 minutes or until golden brown. Mine took about 25-28 minutes.Cool for 15 minutes.

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Remove the metal covering from icing and microwave on 50% power for about 10-15 seconds or until icing is pourable. Drizzle icing over cinnamon bake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and additional syrup!

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ENJOY !!!!!!

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Being Thankful

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Every year for Thanksgiving, we go to a small little town in southern Georgia to meet with tons of family. Since I have been engaged and moved away things have changed ! Now that we are merging 2 families into one, I offered to host my first Thanksgiving! Am I crazy ?

I wouldn’t think so? I love to cook and I love to host… So why not ! I am extremely thankful that I will have mom, dad and in laws to share all the yummy food we have been preparing ! The only thing missing is the rest of my family ;)

I will leave you with a picture of our Thanksgiving table . Simple and to the point ! I look forward to sharing more photos and recipes from Thanksgiving !!!

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Strut Your Stuff Saturday – Link Party !

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I finally decided to make something new. Something sweet and it was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S. !!!!!

Chocolate Nutella Parfait

Ingredients
Graham crackers, crumbled
1 cup nutella
1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk

Directions

Crush graham crackers to liking !

In a seperate bowl mix chocolate chips and milk. Melt chocolate chips and milk in microwave by using intervals , this prevents burning ! You can also use a double boiler, just remove off heat once all chips are melted to firm the ganache.
If you prefer to make home made whipped cream, beat cream and vanilla together until you get a one inch peak. Using one 8 oz tub of store bought whipped cream will suffice.

In another mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and nutella together ! Add the whipped cream to nutella mixture to make light and fluffy. I saved a little to top dessert.

Preperation

In your chosen serving dish ( I chose a tall white stemless wine glass like the blog ), add crushed graham crackers to begin the layering, then nutella whip, ganache, and start over ! I added whipped cream to the top before serving. I had enough ingredients to stretch it to SIX and each glass was a healthy serving !

I chose to pre-make these and refrigerate till serving. By doing this is hardens both mixtures making the desert almost like a fudge consistency. Assembling the desert right when serving will give your guest a more whippy type of dessert. Nevertheless, both ways are delicious. Like I said I made this dessert my own – my part was the home made whipped cream and the nutella. The original dessert used peanut butter and store bought whipped cream. Using any kinda of substitute like nutella, almond butter, whatever comes to mind would work.

Hope you and your guest enjoy this as much as mine did ! Happy Saturday

Strut Your Stuff Saturday !

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I always look forward to reading the Strut Your Stuff Saturday blog post for the latest recipes and crafty projects. I have always wanted to join in on the Link-up party but I guess I am ‘blog-shy’ since I am an amateur blogger compared to most.  I have decided to do my first SYSS post :0) There is nothing to be shy about right ??

I am the kind of girl that typical pops open a cold diet coke at 6AM on the way to work. Never been a big coffee drinker but when I do, I like it  blacker than black and strong enough to make my heart beat out of my chest ( so unhealthy, right ?). Lately, I have had hankerings for iced coffee, and not black iced coffee either. Ya know… the iced vanilla lattes from starbucks, DD, mcdonalds…But who wants to pay $5.00 for a drink…. NOT ME ! I hopped online and found the best home made iced coffee drink. . . delicious, and not to sweet ! That’s another thing, I can make it myself so its not to sweet .!

Iced Coffee Recipe

Brew your favorite coffee and refrigerate!

The Blogger who I got this recipe from recommended making the coffee a certain way but I was to eager to make this so I just did it the plain ole regular way !

1 can evaporated milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk ( I actually used non fat sweetened condensed milk )

Mix the two cans together and refrigerate!

In a glass add ice, coffee and homemade creamer ( as you wish ) and ENJOY !

Drunken Chicken

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I am finally getting back to cooking some new things. Tonight we are having beer braised chicken thighs. I am worried about the picky eater , thank goodness we have frozen pizzas just incase ;) I once watched a cooking show where a similar dish was being made and since then I have always wanted to make braised chicken….So here we go …

I just Google searched braised chicken thighs. . . and this is what I chose. I omitted alot of the stuff just because I was using what we had.

Beer-Braised Chicken Thighs

  • 8 pieces bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 link andouille sausage, casing removed and chopped, or 4 slices bacon, chopped – did not use
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 ribs celery, chopped – did not use
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped – did not use
  • 2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme – did not use
  • 1 rounded tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1 (12-ounce) bottle lager beer – We used Miller Light – haha
  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with chiles or stewed tomatoes – I used stewed & Dont for get to dice !
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce
  • Scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced, for garnish
  • Warm baguette, for mopping

Pat the chicken thighs dry, and season with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the chicken and brown on both sides in 2 batches. Start with skin side first !

Remove the chicken to a plate and spoon out 1/2 the drippings, and add the andouille sausage. Brown for 2 minutes and then add the onion, celery, pepper, garlic, and thyme, and cook to soften, for about 10 minutes over medium heat.

Add the flour, stir 1 to 2 minutes, and then pour in the beer and let the foam subside. Stir in the tomatoes, stock, and hot sauce. Let the sauce thicken a bit, and then slide the chicken into the pot and simmer to cook through ( about 30-45 minutes) . Serve with warm crusty bread, or cool and store for make-ahead meal.

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My Thoughts…

The liquid / veggie mixture alone taste really good and would be awesome as a soup.

If you want something a little richer, maybe use wine instead of beer!

Adding carrots and potatoes may also be good !

Its actually still simmering on the stove so these are all my thoughts for now !

Chow!

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Recipe adapted from Cooking Channel Tv

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Going Italian

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I have been getting the itch to cook something new and yummy. As you have seen, my cooking ‘new things’ has slightly gone down hill. I need to get back on that crazy train pretty soon. Fall always brings flavorful new recipes, so I am excited to see what will be brewing in my kitchen.

So apparently yesterday was ‘Talk like a Pirate day” but I was not feeling that one and I am sure my patients really appreciated me not participating in that also. Mid-morning I was on twitter (@keemy87) and also saw that it was ” National Cheeseburger Day” … Yes! I knew what we were having for dinner ….Cheeseburgers!!! If your anything like me, You have to be craving what your about to eat or you just do not want to eat it.  I was actually craving Italian… I wanted PASTA, but not your typical boring baked cheese and marinara dish, something new and exciting. Don mentioned this dish that we order at a local Italian restaurant. >;>; Spaghetti Alla Carbonara <;<;

I was actually scared to make this for certain reasons .. you will see why shortly, but I bit the bullet and went strait for it!

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dry spaghetti
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips We used pancetta
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving We definitely used FRESH Parm here !
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped Skipped ! Remember – I have a picky eater on board.

Directions

Prepare the sauce ( Egg Mixture) while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian “al dente.”) Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish. We did not need to use this due to the EVOO

While your pasta is boiling, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.

Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. we had lumps from our cheese and it came out fine. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.

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WORD(s) of ADVICE…

Ask your significant other for help. While your boiling and rendering fat, have someone else make the egg mixture.

Add the egg mixture while one person is moving the hot pasta around . This prevents the egg to sit and scramble.

Add the egg mixture in increments . This also helps prevent the egg to sit.

 

My Thoughts…

It was good. Not as good as the restaurant because my house lacks a fresh pasta maker. {hopefully this changes when the wedding comes around ;) }

Next time, I may use actual bacon for saltiness, and for that reason alone.

All of the ingredients combined make a light ‘creamy’ sauce. If you ever order this at a restaurant and they use CREAM to make it. Send it back and leave!

 

Hope you make this dish and enjoy it !

Recipe Courtesy of Food Network and Tyler Florence

All In One

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Can we say SLACKER ? Sorry about that….I have been on a short hiatus due to having company and just being plain ole busy ! I am going to try an all in one post with a few things that I have been holding on to. I will start with a NEW recipe that we tried. Its by far one of the easiest recipes I have made. It also can be money friendly assuming you have ALL THREE  ingredients already in your home like we did. Of course, I found the recipe on pinterest !

 

Glazed Brown Sugar Chicken

Ingredients

3 1/2 Lbs. of chicken ( we used breast .. I am sure your favorite cut of chicken is A-ok )

1 packet of dry italian season ( found on salad dressing aisle )

1/2 cup of brown sugar,  packed. ( I am certain light or dark will be fine, use what you have in the cupboard)

 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 12 inch x 9 inch pan and set aside. *** I used foin in the bottom of my dish in tin foil to make it easier to clean *** .. I will also tell you to double your tin foil or place wax paper under the tin foil! My foil ripped during the cooking making the foil pointless and an absolute pain to clean !

Rinse chicken, pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the dried Italian seasoning mix and the brown sugar, making sure its mixed well !

Dip and press the chicken into the mixture, coating front and back and place into your prepared pan, topside of the chicken facing up. Any extra coating that remains can just be sprinkled over the chicken.

Depending on the cut of chicken, bake for about 45-60 min ( until chicken is fully cooked ). Mine took 45min, however reading other blogs they cooked from 50-60 minutes. I also flipped my chicken every 15 minutes using a spoon to drizzle the melted sauce over the chicken. Beware the melted sugar is absolutely HOT! The chicken was moist and flavorful !

 

 

That is my only food related ‘stuff’ today. We had some company come and visit this weekend.  We had a blast with them. I am not sure how this came about, but Don has really foggy head lights. It just so happens, that Kendra ( one of our guest / good friends / bridesmaids ) also had foggy headlights but found a quick, inexpensive way to get rid of those unwanted foggy headlights. You would never guess… but it was toothpaste. All she did was take a basic toothpaste( no whitening ingredient AT ALL , we used the basic cavity protective tp. ), put a large dollop on a paper towl and rub in  circles on the outside of the headlight. Listen up … She did one headlight using circles and I did one headlight just rubbing back in forth… The circles definitely work the best ! You have to use the muscles to .  Before spending your money on the more expensive fix… Try toothpaste.

 

 

 

As most of us know, this past weekend was the first weekend of College Football, Yipee! I was born and raised a Florida State University Seminole fan and a proud one at that. Now I know that our team hasn’t been at there prime in quiet sometime, but I will still cheer them on! My fiance’ , my neighbors, and my bosses are ALL Florida Gator fans. I really wanted to play some kind of joke on someone this year, and I chose my bosses because I always get an ear full about being a seminole fan ! I needed to think of a quick friendly fire because after all I did want to keep my job. This is what I came up with . . .

They almost needed to use them , maybe next week !
Till next time, Happy Tuesday !