Winner Wednesday

I did exactly two marvelous things this Wednesday.  First, I had a brainstorm earlier in the afternoon to kick up my steak a bit by making green chile mayo and making steak sandwiches with that - with frizzled onions as a side.  It was fabulous and actually the first dinner I've made in a while that I actually liked!  Win number one.

And I made these

This is the very first Christmas gift that I've started and finished for 2016.  Two friends of mine went on a cool Road Trip and these will be their gifts - photos of all their awesome adventures that they don't know I have since I knicked them off Facebook.  Can't wait to give them out!  Win number 2.

I can now officially head off to bed much happier than I woke up - Hump days are hard... : )

Does Everyone Cook?

In the last 3 days I've seen a cooking show hosted by Valerie Bertinelli (with her friend, actress Faith Ford added in for good measure), Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka on an episode of In the Kitchen with Ina, a cooking show hosted by Trisha Yearwood, a cooking show hosted by Tiffani Amber Thiessen, and a cookbook written by Freddie Prinze Jr. (with a foreword written by his wife, actress Sara Michelle Gellar thrown in for good measure.)  All of that brings me to my question - Does everyone cook?  Why is it when people get famous, the next logical step is to host a cooking show or write a cookbook?

Surely, most of Hollywood uses their hundreds of thousands, or in some case millions of dollars to hire personal chefs so they don't actually have to cook.  I actually like to cook, and I still admit that I would totally do that if I hit the lottery.  Because of this, I feel like most of Hollywood is out of practice.  Therefore, they can't be that stellar in the kitchen to warrant a whole show dedicated to their cuisine.  

Also, there was a time that cooking shows and cook books had themes - Mexican food, Italian food, 15 minute suppers, you get the drift.  Anyway, what is the theme of these cooking shows being hosted by these very famous people? Food cooked by famous people? Where's the theme people!? I'd rather eat yummy food than famous food.

Now that that's off my chest, I'm begging you Hollywood - please leave the cooking, baking, hosting and writing to the professionals and the fabulously talented home cooks that deserve a shot more than you do.  You've made your millions already, leave the cooking millions to those that deserve them, and those that actually cook for themselves on a daily basis.  They know much more about food than you do anyway...

Pinteresting Dinner

One thing I love about living in the 21st century is being able to go online when I have no idea what to make for dinner and be shown hundreds of photos of yummy meals. It really is a time saver.  Once again, I'm proclaiming my love for Pinterest.  And this time around, I'm also throwing in Pillsbury into my most favorite things list.

These are Baked Egg Crescents and they can be found here. And they are awesome! Unfortunately, I cooked them a teensy bit too long which meant the eggs weren't ooey and gooey like they were supposed to be.  Other than that mini flaw, I'd say these things were an absolute success.  

You used to be able to do this recipe searching in cookbooks before the amazingness of the internet, but I feel it's just so much easier with Pinterest.  Afterall, a cookbook doesn't also have craft projects, travel planning ideas and all the cute dog pictures you could ever want : )

Happy Pi Day!

As someone who is categorically anti-math, there aren't often math related things that I celebrate.  However, when those math related things correlate with pie I'm all in. Who doesn't love pie?  However, this year was a little less impressive than last. 

Last year I was so organized and together, this happened:

This year - not so much.  For some reason this time change is killing me.  I'm a big fan of it being light in the evening, but waking up to darkness and driving to work in the dark is totally for the birds.  I can't make myself do anything, including remember to make pie for the only math holiday I celebrate.  I did manage to make a sort of pie-baked item hybrid.  

But that item was completely off book and we all know what happens when I decide to go off book - madness. The filling was made from chicken, chiles, corn, spices and green enchilada soup which was just a little too thick.  Then the "crust" was made with bisquick biscuits. And quite honestly, it was beautiful (if not ridiculously heavy) when it came from the oven. Until I had to scoop into it and realized the biscuits weren't cooked all the way through. Seriously!?  Nothing a few more minutes in the oven wouldn't fix, but by that time I was so over it.  

Oh well, at least it didn't taste terrible.  And I had Hamilton #BamforHam clips to watch to drown my sorrows.  All in all a productive pi (pie-less) day.

Kitchen Pinning

Every once in a while, Pinterest delivers a winning recipe.  Tonight's was Skillet Lasagna.  It was a weird little recipe but it was also delicious!  I love lasagna, but it takes hours and hours to make - of course, I've never actually made it so I can't really talk.  Anyway, this only took about an hour - disregard the 30 minute part.  It's definitely not a 30 minute recipe.  I mean, it's quick but it's not that quick.

It may have had something to do with adding peppers and onions to it.  Everything is better with peppers and onions.  Oh and switching from ground beef to ground pork made it pretty delicious too - and a little healthier too.  Check me out, being all healthy and stuff! Anyway, it's most definitely a keeper.

Add to that, the garlic knots that I sort of kitchen sink-ed together - Pillsbury Crescents, tossed with some garlic, parmesan, butter and Italian seasoning, before and after baking.  Yum!  It was pretty much the perfect Italian dinner - and I don't often say that about food that I've made. (Unless of course, you're grading the photos too, in which case I've failed miserably.  Honestly, it was much too delicious to worry about cameras and such...)

Two for the Price of One

Feeling super-accomplished today.  Not that anything huge happened.  I didn't mark anything giant off any lists or tough it out through any big projects.  No, I just managed to be doubly-creative - in the kitchen and the craft room.  Seeing as I've been basically a slug this summer for some reason, it feels pretty good to say that.  Usually it's one or the other, not both.  And when I've attempted both, things have not gone as smoothly as they did today.

First up was dinner which consisted of two Pinterest recipes-ish.  The main course was Bruschetta Chicken.  Basically grilled chicken with tomato mozzarella salad on top.  I didn't really require a recipe since I make both a lot, but for some reason I never thought to put the salad on the chicken.  It sort of goes against the no hot tomato rule, however, since the tomatoes weren't on top for long, it wasn't too bad.  It was actually pretty delicious!

For the side dish, I'd been wracking my brain all week.  I wanted something summery and not too heavy.  Originally I thought noodles, but I wasn't sure what to serve on them.  Then I started leaning towards Zucchini but I couldn't figure out how to serve it without having to go through the trouble of breading it and frying it.  That's where Pinterest comes to the rescue again.  Just type in zucchini and you have hundreds of recipes at your fingertips. That's where I found the Zucchini Crisps with Parmesan cheese.  They couldn't have been easier. However, they could have been crisper.  Next time, I'll try parchment rather than cooking spray. But all in all they were pretty tasty.  Not necessarily the prettiest, but great in a pinch.

Then it was off to make cards for a guy that's leaving work for another state tomorrow.  I'm terrible at making guy cards, so they may be a wee-bit girlier than they should be.  Thought I honestly don't think they're too bad, when you think about all the pink and flowers I had to sift through to find boy-ish paper and embellishments : )

In the Kitchen: Experimental Edition

Looks delicious doesn't it?  I thought so too. Until I decided to scoop it out and nothing in the center was done...

I started the day searching for a recipe on Pinterest for dinner tonight.  I wanted something breakfast-y like a strata, however, those need to be refrigerated over night and I didn't have that kind of time.  After picking through a few, I found a sausage gravy version that used Grands Biscuits and store-bought gravy mix.  I hate store bought gravy but I LOVED the idea of using Grands as opposed to plain old bread. 

So I sort of improvised.  I used sausage, and onions and peppers.  Then I scrambled some eggs and mixed it all in with quartered grands biscuits.  And that's where we picked up the story.  It took a bit to get it to finish, and when I pulled it out, it wasn't jiggly anymore.  But as soon as I scooped, it was still juicy inside. Gross!

I followed the directions from the sausage gravy recipe for timing. Apparently, store bought gravy cooks much faster than eggs & sausage...Fortunately, I have a microwave which helped.  After the grumpiness of uncooked eggs subsided, the dinner was pretty delicious! 

I have to say, if it weren't for that annoying part in the middle, I would amaze myself : )

Pinning in the Kitchen

After a bit of a drought on the cooking/baking front, I somehow happened upon 2 winners on Pinterest this week.  I actually went back and forth on trying either of them; I wasn't sure how they'd turn out.  But I'm super happy I decided to give them a shot.  They were both delicious, even if dessert wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

First up, for dinner was the Chicken Caprese Flatbreads.  This one I sort of winged.  I can see the pin, and click on it, but no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to scroll down and see the recipe.  But I sort of got the idea from the picture, so I just rolled with it. Maybe you'll have better luck.  

I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to grill the bread dough like that, but it's a fabulous idea!  I used chicken thighs because I like them, and they shred well, and excluded the arugula and pesto, in favor of garlic oil.  I also strategically placed the tomatoes between the chicken and the cheese to avoid the whole warm tomato conundrum.  (There's a good chance you won't have to do that, since you're probably not as weird about hot tomatoes as I am, but in case you are, it worked perfectly!)

Conclusion: Perfect dinner for a super hot and humid summer day!

Next up, for dessert was Peach Cobbler.  Now, I LOVE peach cobbler.  It's one of my most favorite desserts. However, it's quite difficult to make when you don't have really good peaches, which is the whole reason I chose this recipe.  It used canned peaches as opposed to fresh, which is a good thing since it's not quite peach season time yet.  I had a bit of problem with the pin not matching the recipe; it's basically 2 recipes in one.  And seeing as I misread and forgot the self rising flour, there was a bit of finessing of the recipe - AP Flour mixed with baking powder seemed to do the trick.  I also had to bake it for a full hour as opposed to the 45 minutes.  I probably would have baked it longer, since I was dreaming of  a crispy top, but the master baker prevailed and I finally took it out.  It was no where near what I was expecting. In the photo it looks all nice and crisp and crunchy on top.  Mine was neither, but...

Conclusion: It was pretty darn tasty with vanilla ice cream!  Delish!

Looks like it was a 2 for 2 evening in the kitchen - love it when that happens!

In the Kitchen: Danish Dream Cake

I was so excited when I found this recipe for Danish Dream Cake last week on Saveur (another reason to love Twitter - Recipes!!).  It looked absolutely delicious!  How can you say no to coconut.  What's even better, which is slightly out of the ordinary for a Saveur recipe, it seemed fairly easy.  There were no crazy expensive ingredients that would only be used for this cake, and never to be seen again. 

And honestly, seeing it come out of the oven, I was pretty darn proud of myself.  I mean look at it!  It's gorgeous!

                 

 

And while, it's beautiful, it wasn't exactly what I wanted.  The cake itself was pretty good - more like a pound cake than I was expecting.  And the topping was coconut-y, but for me it was too coconut-y.  Too sweet!  The verdict is that it's definitely not my favorite, but I have to say - I might have to make it again, just for the sheer wow factor of just how pretty it is : )

Things you Learn

~ No matter how awesome JamBerry Nails appear to be, they are a major pain in the butt.  My nails may look cute but they took over an hour to look that way.  I could have painted them myself quicker.

~ Never, ever, go to Costco on a Sunday afternoon.  If you choose to enter that madness, you may be in there until the end of time.  30 minutes to buy plastic cups - 25 of those minutes were spent checking out.

~ Jeffrey Dean Morgan is just as dreamy now - might even be dreamier- as when he was playing Denny on Grey's Anatomy.  Of course, that was the same time he was playing John Winchester on Supernatural but seriously.  Denny was way dreamier than Papa Winchester. 

~ I missed all sorts of amazingness at VegasCon this weekend.  I've never ever wanted to visit Vegas before this weekend. 

~ Ham and Tomato is still a winning combination.  When you add Mac & Cheese into the mix, you have quite a yummy dinner. 

Pinning in the Kitchen

This might be the best brownie recipe ever.  Please ignore the utter crappiness of my own cell phone photo on the fly and just give the recipe a try.  They were made for tomorrow and cut to look like hearts - clever and original I thought?  I'm just glad I did the cutting.  That way I could have tons of bites from the leftover non-cut pieces.  Smart, right?  These make me very, very happy : )

And you haven't heard the best part yet.  So here's the poem that will accompany the email that will be sent to my co-workers announcing the arrival of said brownies.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

You've been working very hard,

So come have a brownie or two...

I'm ashamed to say that took me a lot longer to come up with that you'd think...

Pinning in the Kitchen

This week's recipe is courtesy of  The Girl who Ate Everything.  No, that's not what I call myself, though I probably should. It's a blog that serves up all sorts of yummy recipes.  I've tried a few of hers before that were complicated.  They always turned out ok, but the easy factor wasn't there.  This week's had the bonus of being super easy and super delicious.

I pinned it a few weeks ago and have been planning to make it since then.  The recipe is for Monterey Chicken.  Before you ask, I wasn't sure why it was called that either.  But I learned that it was because of the monterey jack cheese used to make it all gooey delicious.  In that case, I suppose I should call my version Chedder Jack Mix Chicken, but that's beside the point.  

The verdict is that the recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal.  I have a super difficult time with time management in the kitchen.  Absolutely nothing gets done at the same time as everything else.  However, with the marinade time needed for this one, I was able to mix up the first part, throw it in the fridge then get everything else ready before actually cooking the chicken.  How's that for simple!?  And it was perfect with the house recipe rice and my favorite corn muffins.  The perfect meal for boring old Monday!