Superbowl Party Food….

Our Superbowl Sunday tradition for years has been to make  some treats to enjoy during the game…honestly the yummy food is the best part for me. I get bored with the game and usually go scrap with the game on, just to watch the commercials and half time.

Last year the boys participated in the festivities, and we kept the food simple so they would like it.

Nicholas even cheered on the teams…..

This year we decided to up our “game” menu.  We haven’t settled in on the final menu, but I thought I would share a few ideas for more upscale appetizers for your Superbowl Party.

For New Year’s Eve we made several appetizers for our evening at home. We will  be doing something along the lines of these on Sunday, but they will definitely be of this caliber…

Grilled Stuffed Jalapeno Chiles with Grilled Red Pepper-Tomato Sauce(Bobby Flay Food Network)

Grilled Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (myrecipes.com)

Next a few of my recipes....

Parmesan Crusted Shrimp Bruschetta (recipe below)

and our favorite….

Filet Parmesan Crostini (recipe below)

Then of course we had to have dessert….

Coconut Cake (bakeat350.blogspot.com) 

Recipes…

Parmesan Toasts

• Long thin sourdough baguette
• olive oil
• cooking spray
• garlic powder
• fresh grated parmesan

Slice bread into 24ish  1/2 inch thick slices.  Spray cookie sheet covered in foil with cooking spray. Brush both sides of bread slices with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes until lightly toasted.

Parmesan Crusted Shrimp Bruschetta (makes 12 servings)

• 12 Parmesan Toasts (see recipe above)
• 12 large deveined cooked shrimp
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 12 parmesan cheese slivers
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1 Tbsp fresh grated parmesan
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 12 torn fresh basil leaves

1. Heat up shrimp in skillet with olive oil.
2. Toss cooked shrimp in bread crumbs, grated parmesan and garlic powder
3. Finely chop tomato and garlic clove, toss with olive oil
4. Layer each parmesan toast with one basil leaf, a  spoonful of tomato mixture, a sliver of parmesan cheese and 1 large shrimp.

Filet Parmesan Crostini

(this was our favorite and is on the menu for Superbowl Sunday)

• 12 Parmesan Toasts (see recipe above)
• 12-16 oz thinly sliced filet mingon medallions (Whole Foods sliced it for me)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp butter
• 12 parmesan cheese slivers
• Horseradish Sauce Recipe
• 12 fresh parsley leaves

1. In a skillet melt butter and add olive oil. When butter is melted and oil is hot, add filet and sauté until desired doneness. Cut to 12 slices.
2. Layer each toast with sliver of parmesan cheese, slice of filet, drizzle with horseradish sauce, and top with parsley leaf.

Hope you have a tasty Superbowl Sunday!

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

I recently picked up a bag of these...

and of course I needed to do something with them right?

So I thought they would be great in some Chocolate Cookies.  After looking around the internet for some ideas, I made up my own, by substituting some peppermint extract into a pretty basic chocolate cookie recipe. That added just the right hint of mint to the cookies.  I think it would be great if you had some peppermint oil instead.

Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

2 sticks of butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp peppermint extract

2 cups flour

1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

With an electric mixer beat butter sugar, eggs and peppermint extract until smooth and fluffy. In a separate bowl measure flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and whisk together with a fork.

Stir in Mint M&M's and drop onto parchment paper (or splat mat) on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees 7-9 minutes. Let cool on pan and then transfer to wire rack.

Eat. Enjoy. Repeat.

Nicholas enjoyed helping too....

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin

A few weeks ago I was already craving some pumpkin recipes. And apparently the stores had not realized this. We could not get canned pumpkin at any of our grocery stores. Apparently there had been large crops of pumpkins lost in a freeze and there was a shortage last year. I must have bought all I needed last year before this became an issue. The crops were okay this year, but the pumpkin hadn't started hitting the store shelves. If you love making pumpkin infused foods and you are desperate for some glimpse of fall when you live in the desert, you must take matters into your own hands.

I think you can buy anything at Amazon.com.  A few weeks ago I ordered a case of this....

Of course it was back-ordered a couple of weeks, but I wasn't taking any chances. On my doorstep last week arrived one heavy case of pumpkin. With free shipping it was just over $2 a can. But after reading about people selling it on E-Bay for $10-$15+ a can, I didn't worry about it. And it was the organic brand which is a bit more anyway. And if this shortage didn't get resolved soon, I was still having pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.

Of course, you can now get pumpkin at the grocery store.  But, I wasn't taking any chances with my fall time favorite.

So to celebrate the arrival of pumpkin in our house we made pasta with pumpkin sauce with chicken apple sausage. Although this time we didn't make the sauce. World Market has a pre-made pumpkin sauce that I have to admit was about as good as the one we make from scratch.

On Sunday I made  Pumpkin Swirl Brownies, found on MarthaStewart.com. I increased the size of the batch so I could take some into work. I think the organic pumpkin is a bit more watery so my brownies came out a bit cakey. They are still yummy, just not fudge-y like a brownie.

We had a nice rainstorm yesterday that cooled us off in the evening. Let's see if it lasts. The weather says high 80's with some more rain for the next few days. I would like it a bit cooler, but after 100+ degree days all September, I guess we will take what we can get.

Happy Tuesday!

Adventures in Cooking Update

It's been awhile since I shared some of our cooking adventures. Here are some of the things we tried over the past month or so. I have included links to the recipes where available, many of these are easy and most are healthy. I have been wanting to try cooking scallops for some time now. The September 2010 Cooking Light Magazine had this recipe for Seared Scallops with Farmer Market Salad and it was delicious and easy to make. Although large scallops are a bit pricey and we could only find them at Whole Foods, so we won't probably have them too often. Mike thinks they are a bit fishy, but I loved this. Very simple and great with fresh corn, tomatoes and basil.

I didn't care for our last rib recipe much, and discovered this recipe for Honey Chipotle Glazed Ribs on MarthaStewart.com. The sauce was the perfect mix of sweet with just a slight hint of spice.

To go with the ribs we made Red Potato Bliss Potato Salad with Blue Cheese, Bacon and Chives also from MarthaStewart.com. The tang from the blue cheese was perfect.

Mike found this recipe for Chive Parmesean Potato Chips on MyRecipes.com we have made it a few times recently with mini burger sliders and hot dogs. It is pretty easy to make if you have a slicer to slice the potatoes.

Even thought it isn't quite fall weather here in Arizona, we have been pretending. We made this Chicken Chili in the crock pot the recipe was modified slightly from a crock pot cookbook we bought at Costco. This was so good we are having it again this weekend.

To go with our Chicken Chili Mike found a recipe for Jalapeno Corn Bread on foodnetwork.com. I think it is this one we made. It was very very good and I can't wait to have it again.

We had a lot of leftover tomatoes and basil one week, so I cooked some pasta, and diced and sauteed tomatoes with chopped garlic, fresh ground pepper, shrimp, torn basil in olive oil and added mozzarella cheese chunks toward the end. It was a quick easy dinner thrown together from leftovers.

Golden Corn Salad with Fresh Basil from the September 2010 Cooking Light Magazine. We made this as a side salad with something else and ate smaller portions and saved the rest for leftovers, but this is really hardy enough for a meal sized salad.

Motherlode Layered Cookie Bars from Picky-Palate. These took a little time to make since you are making 3 of the 4 needed cookie doughs from scratch. But they were oh so worth it. I cut them up smaller than she suggested and we also kept the edges which were still yummy. I took in a bunch to the office and they were devoured.

Happy Friday!

Inspiration for My Favorite "Almost" Fried Chicken

Growing up, my Nana babysat us while my mom was working. Nana and Papa lived just around the corner from our house. Nana was raised on a farm in Mississippi and would tell us she rose with the chickens every day. She was up at 5:00 a.m. making breakfast for Papa, eggs and toast as I remember, and then packing his lunch for his workday.

On weekdays when she watched us. During the summers she would make us breakfast in the mornings after my mom dropped us off for the day.  To this day I sometimes crave waffles (the frozen kind) with lots of butter and syrup, just like Nana would make me for breakfast.

While we were playing throughout the day she would have her soap opera's or game shows on the TV. Most days something would be on the stove about mid-day to get a start on dinner.  All the while, she might be ironing, cleaning, or stopping to play a card game with us kids.  Depending on the year, any number of my cousins would also be at Nana's while our mom's and dad's were at work.

My favorite day each week was the day Nana would make fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. Being from the south Nana made us a lot of southern food for dinner, but her fried chicken was my favorite. I still compare all fried chicken to hers. I have yet to find one that truly comes close. She passed in 1999, and I haven't had her fried chicken since long before that.

I have never made my own real fried chicken. After I started cooking in my 20's I realized how it was made and felt guilty cooking something so fattening. I just saved fried chicken for a rare occasion when I was eating out. About 16 years ago, I got a cookbook by Oprah's chef called "In the Kithchen with Rosie", which ironically, Nana's name was Rosie.  In this book was a recipe for "Almost Fried Chicken".

I have been making this chicken a few times a year; working at adapting the recipe to get it just right. While it doesn't come close to my Nana's fried chicken, every time I make it, I think of her. It looks a lot the same, but it is a lot healthier than that one I grew up with.

I do think I have got the look pretty close.  I usually make a lot so we have it for leftovers for a couple of nights and eat it up for lunch.

Here is how I make it:

Almost Fried Chicken (as adapted from, "In the Kitchen with Rosie")

10 drumsticks

10 thighs, skinless if available

About 2 cups nonfat yogurt

cooking spray

Breading (I make a lot more than I actually end up using, I'll explain why in a minute)

2-3 cups of Italian Bread Crumbs

2-3 cups of flour

Dried seasonings:

2-3T Old Bay Seasoning

1-2tsp garlic powder and Creole seasoning

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

2 tsp thyme

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

Wash chicken, skin if desired, and place in a bowl of ice water.  Set aside while making the breading mixture.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Put about 1/3 - 1/2 of the breading mixture in a Ziploc bag.  Put yogurt in a shallow bowl. I recommended using at least 2 pairs of tongs.  Have a cookie sheet prepared sprayed generously with cooking spray.

Dip each piece of chicken in the yogurt mixture (1-2 at a time) coating well, but try to avoid big clumps. Put dipped chicken in Breading Mixture bag (shake) and remove chicken from bag with tongs (spray the whole piece of chicken with cooking spray generously to coat (this will help it crisp) and put on cookie sheet. Repeat until all chicken is coated.  Start a new bag of mixture (from the remaining set aside) as each bag gets too clumpy to coat the chicken properly. I usually get by with 2-3 bags depending on how much chicken I am making.  Before placing in oven, spray the top of all the chicken one more time with cooking spray.  You want to try to make sure all the dried breading mixture is coated.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about an hour, turning at least once half way through.

Enjoy!

Thanks for letting me reminisce a bit. Happy Thursday!

Let them eat cake and a layout

For our anniversary I wanted to make a special dessert. One of my favorite blogs for dessert ideas is Picky-Palate, recently she shared a recipe for ice cream sundae layer cake, so this past weekend I gave it a try.  In an earlier recipe she did ice cream sundae brownies and used the Ben and Jerry's Phish Food ice cream so I used that instead.

I like to prepare my pans with Wilton's Cake Release. I picked it up in the baking section at Michael's. I don't have any issues with the cake sticking with this.  I just brush it on the ban with a pastry brush.

The cake recipe is easy, dump it all in to the bowl and mix. The recipe calls for 4 layers, but I only have 3 pans, so I figured my layers would be a bit thicker, and I adjusted my cooking time by a few minutes longer.

While the cake was cooking I made my chocolate curls. I didn't know until now that it could be done with a vegetable peeler.

I found this Creamy Chocolate Frosting recipe at Allrecipes.com. With the layers I doubled it, which made more than enough frosting for my cake.

But that was a lot of chocolate and sugar to sift.

I had a little help in the frosting department. Nicholas also learned he liked to lick the spoon, (he had never wanted to before), Must have been the chocolate.  Because after less than a minute of helping, all he wanted was more frosting on a spoon. I was on my own to frost the cake.

Layering the cake...

Frosted and chocolate curls applied, and it was as delicious and rich as it looks.

This was probably one of the more involved recipes I have made from Picky Palate, but that was because I made my own frosting and did the chocolate curls. Most of her recipes are pretty easy and very yummy. She also has some great family friendly meals.

And here is a layout using Studio Calico's May Granny's Cupboard, Trinkets and Knick Knack Add On kit's and the Addy alpha stamps from the Sugar Woods August's Add On kit.

Maybe it is because I am turning 40 in a couple months, or maybe it is because there are some things going on in my life, but this was a bit of a soul searching layout. I have been at a bit of a cross road lately. I have worked towards one goal or another my whole life, and recently I have felt like I don't have something I am working towards. Kind of feeling like the hamster in the wheel. So I have been questioning what is next.  I don't hide my journaling too often, but this one I did, because it was just for me. I did this layout on Tuesday, and funny enough I learned a few things yesterday, that get to the heart of what I was thinking about.

Hope you have a fantastic Friday and relaxing weekend!

Adventures in Cooking & Baking

Mike is still recovering from knee surgery and I have been super busy at work.  As a result. this past weekend our adventures in cooking were kept easy. Saturday Mike made this easy whole wheat pasta with fresh tomatoes and turkey sausage and a bit of Italian cheese and herbs. We paired it with a light Caesar salad mix from the produce section.

Have you seen all the new bagel thins and sandwich thins that are out in the grocery stores.  Mike cut up some of the bagel thins to make these bagel chips. Just a bit of cooking spray and a sprinkle of herb mixture with garlic powder, rosemary, salt and pepper.

For dinner Sunday I made my Mojito Melon Salad. It is just some chopped up honeydew melon, cantaloupe, mango and cucumber, with some torn mint a sprinkling of Splenda and juice from a lime.

And to keep Sunday nights meal easy and make some leftovers for the week, Mike made our favorite crock pot fajitas.  We use steak strips we get from Costco, red and yellow peppers, and an onion. Throw it in the crock pot with a pack of fajita seasoning and a half a bottle of beer. Cook for 4-6 hours on low.

And I had been hearing about these Pretzel M&M's:

Mara always shares great recipes she has made on her blog.  She made Pretzel M&M Blondie's from a recipe she found at Bake at 350. So I gave them a try Sunday afternoon, and they were a hit.

I am taking a 4 day weekend this coming weekend to celebrate our 14 year wedding anniversary. So I am sure I will have a few more adventures to share next week.

Happy Thursday!

How about more Adventures In Cooking?

Last week Mike had surgery and we knew he wouldn't be doing anything yummy in the kitchen. I took a few days off of work to take care of the boys and him. I knew the chances of escaping to my scrap room was going to be slim to none (it ended up being a total of 30 minutes in the middle of the night in the past week). I needed some kind of creative outlet while he was down.

We had takeout Wednesday night after his surgery, which was less than exciting. And I had to do some grocery shopping so we could eat. So to plan some meals I flipped through the latest Cooking Light magazine.  I had two missions, something new and minimal food wasted.

My first trip to the store on Thursday morning was a quick run into Super Target for mostly fresh produce.

That afternoon I made my first attempt at Mike's Pico De Gallo, and the cover recipe Chicken and Guacamole Tostadas.  A super easy no bake recipe, that we had for leftover lunches all weekend. It will now be in heavy rotation for Friday night dinners. I didn't do so bad at Mike's Pico either.

I also made the Oreo Truffles (see yesterday's post here)

Friday was grocery shopping and Costco day, so I finalized my weekend meal plans.  Friday night I made the boys a cheese pizza and Mike and I had this Cobb Salad Pizza. It was so yummy it will definitely be repeated.

We had leftover chicken from the night before and I had extra potatoes from the dish I planned to make Saturday night so I did some chopping of that and some veggies and threw it in a skillet with some eggs on Saturday morning.

Topped with a bit of Pico de Gallo and cheese we had a chicken egg hash for breakfast Saturday with lots of leftovers for the coming week.

Saturday night I made a simple Arugula salad with a Dijon Vinaigrette from the magazine...

to go with Chili Espresso Rubbed Steaks with Warm Tomato Sauce. The rub was to die for. Mike manned the grill that night so I could get the boys bathed and ready for bed.

Accompanying the steak was Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Dijon.

We had lots of leftover potatoes, steak and veggies so I chopped them all up and made a steak hash inspired by one found in the magazine, but I didn't really pay attention to their recipe, just used my own leftovers and scrambled my eggs.

Again, lots of leftovers for weekday breakfasts.

We finished off the weekend with some seafood. Some crab claws

Made the base for this Spicy Corn and Crab Chowder. Which was only about medium spicy which is perfect for me.

I used up the lettuce and veggies  from the previous nights using the same Dijon vinaigrette that I used on Saturday nights salad.

And this accompanied Pan Grilled Salmon with Red Pepper Salsa. We bought our salmon at Costco, so we had big enough pieces to cut in half and save the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Also, I couldn't keep these boysenberries out of my cart at Costco. So we picked up some shortcakes and paired them with some vanilla ice cream cups we had in the freezer. I made a quick dessert inspired by this one in the magazine. I just wanted to keep it simple, since I had already done plenty of cooking for the weekend.

So my past weekend cooking adventures were numerous. I now plan to take a few off, and put Mike back to work in the kitchen.

Yummy Cookies!

I'll have more weekend adventures in cooking this evening.  But in the meantime I thought I would share something sweet!

I got this super easy no-bake cookie recipe from my awesome "baker" friend Jen.  I'll warn you they are addicting. But nothing could be easier than 4 ingredients (only one to measure) and you don't turn the oven on, which is always a plus in Arizona in the summer.

You need a package of Oreo cookies, a package of cream cheese, vanilla and a bag of chocolate. I know my friend recommends the melting chocolate pieces, but I couldn't find them. A bag of chocolate chips worked fine.

Chop the Oreo cookies in a food processor (or a blender would work) until very fine. Combine the chopped Oreo's, cream cheese and 1 tbsp. vanilla in a bowl and blend with a mixer. Roll cookies in balls, place onto a baking sheet and put in refrigerator. I left them in there for a couple hours, but an hour is probably sufficient.

Melt your chocolate according to the bag directions.  I did mine in the microwave in a glass bowl and it took a couple of minutes.  Dip the chilled cookie balls in chocolate and put back on the baking sheet. When all cookies are dipped put them back in the refrigerator to harden.

I didn't get a prettier picture of the finished product, and they are all gone now. I need to work on my dipping skills. But it didn't matter they were delicious.

You could change it up with mint Oreo's with some mint extract in mixed into the melted chocolate. Enjoy!

Adventures in Cooking from the Weekend

This past weekend went way too fast.  Saturday I went to a baby shower, so Mike took the boys to the mall and out to lunch at Kona Grill.  He had planned to make a couple new dishes this weekend, so he picked the easier of the two on Saturday night.  So we ate Chipotle Cajun Pasta.  It was a bit spicy but very good.  It was great for left overs last night and we'll be eating it up for lunch today.

Sunday he had more time and made Teriyaki Chicken with Pineapple Mexican Salad.  I was busy on the computer when he was in the kitchen, so I didn't realize he made his Teryaki sauce from scratch.  It was the tastiest teriyaki sauce I have ever had.

The salad was really yummy and pretty easy to make.  It was a chopped pineapple and jicama with some sliced onion and minced cilantro.  Toss in olive oil (2T) and white vinegar (1T, I used white balsamic).  Then top it off with a little feta cheese and fresh cracked pepper.

I needed a card for the baby shower I was going to.  My friend is not a fan of pink, so I wanted to make a card with lavender (the baby's room color).  Apparently I am not a purple fan, I got rid of every piece of purple patterned paper I had back when I cleaned out my scrap stuff.  Finally I found an old class kit, I took apart the layout that was partly finished and made this quick card.