recipe fail

Wow I haven't done a blog post since June. Was so busy with Danielle's wedding and enjoying this summer. With Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook it sometimes seems unnecessary. Yet, there are times I like to put down my thoughts which work better on a blog. A lot has been going on but first I wanted to post about this recipe I just tried. Cup of Joe has been posting recipes with the catch title The Best You Will Ever Have!  When I saw "The Best Brussel Sprouts You Will Ever Have" come up I had to try it. Brussel Sprouts are my fave. This recipe included Fish Sauce which I have never used but had been meaning too. I love fish and so I read what was in the bottle of Fish Sauce and it said it was made out of anchovies. I thought to myself this is going to be good because I love anchovies and I can eat them right out of the package. I chopped the herbs and garlic for the sauce and then opened the jar. Wow it was the worst smell ever! I couldn't figure out what was going on since it was made out of anchovies and I love them. I thought maybe after I put in all the ingredients it would change the taste. So I left the sauce in the fridge overnight to marry the flavors. Did not work! In the morning it was still horrible and had to throw it out. Wasn't about to serve it to my guests. I ended up roasting the Brussel Sprouts at 425 with olive oil, garlic pepper and salt and sprinkling them with parmesan cheese. My usual way of cooking them. So much for trying to put a new spin on them. Britt called me the next day and said she had tried 3 recipes on my Pinterest page and they were all amazing. So funny because one of them was a brussel sprout recipe. Guess I should check my own recommendations! Here are the 3 taste tested and husband approved recipes that Brittany made. 

Toasted Sesame Ginger Salmon

Oven Roasted Potatoes 

Caramelized Brussel Sprouts

kale chips

I like a lot of healthy food but I have one bad habit, an addiction to chips. All throughout the day I find myself grabbing a few chips. So several months ago when I heard everyone talking about Kale Chips I was hoping this would be my answer to finding a healthy chip. Trader Joe's sells it in a bag, cleaned and dried which saves a lot of work. One thing I didn't do the first time I made this {as you can see in the photo} is take off the hard rib part and just roast the leaves. It tastes so much better if you take the time to do this. After that I put the Kale in a plastic bag with extra virgin olive oil and some garlic pepper and salt and shook until it was coated. Next, put it on a sheet pan, one layer in an 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. When it starts getting a little brown on the tips you take it out. The flavor was amazing and it gets so deliciously crispy that these will definitely be able to replace those unhealthy chips.

sweet and sour chicken with green beans

I am staying at Brittany's house this week to help her get the baby's room ready. She has also been making me some delicious dinners. Last night she made this chicken recipe from Everyday Food and it was so good! We both love this magazine because the recipe's are simple and not to costly. She has been picking recipe's to make that have several pantry items which keeps the cost of each dinner really low. Tomorrow on the menu is a stir fried shrimp dish. Brittany also had a doctors appt. today and she is measuring the right size and everything looks good with the baby. In the next couple of weeks they are getting a 4D ultrasound done. Can't wait for that. She is 6 months along now so I will be taking a pregnancy photo in the next couple of days.

coconut and almond granola

I love this granola recipe {minus the dates} and my husband is addicted to it too so I'm making it all the time. It's delicious straight from the jar or with milk for breakfast. I also like to give it as a hostess gift and to our neighbors at Christmas. It's nice to have something a little bit healthier to eat since we are all surrounded by plenty of cookies, candy and sweets at this time of the year.

potato poblano soup

One of my favorite soups is potato. Tonight I made a new recipe with potatoes and poblanos. It was so good and the best potato soup I have made. The poblanos gave it a little bit of spice and a deeper flavor. It was perfect for a cold and rainy night.
image 1: Martha Stewart image 2: Real Simple image 3: Mike's Kitchen

orange marmalade and bacon sandwich

I caught an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate the other day and they had this interesting Bacon and Marmalade sandwich that I had to try. It is super easy. You just cook the bacon, then toast two pieces of pumpernickel bread. Butter the bread, spread orange marmalade on it and then add the bacon. So delicious!
photo: via the blue kitchen

shrimp and mango salad

I have been wanting to try baked shrimp ever since I saw Ina Garten do it on her show. I tossed the shrimp with extra virgin olive oil and a little lime juice and put it on a baking sheet and cooked it at 425 for 12 minutes. I searched for a recipe to make with it and found this Shrimp and Mango Salad which looked perfect for the summer. I tried it today and it was really easy and very tasty!

jimmy's salad dressing

This salad dressings has been in our family for many, many years. It is probably the favorite recipe of everyone in the family and addictive to anyone that comes into contact with it. My mother named it after my brother, because if we didn't pay attention and grab our helping fast Jimmy would have eaten almost the whole salad before we got a chance to get a helping! The other great thing about it is the ingredients are pantry staples you most likely have on hand.

1/2 cup Best Foods whole mayonnaise
1 garlic clove pressed
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

1 head romaine lettuce, washed, spun-dry and cut up
toss well as dressing is thick
2 sliced hard boiled eggs and crisp bacon for topping {you can skip this part if you don't have it on hand or you are making it in a hurry, it is still delicious}

baked eggs in potato skins

Oh, these look so delicious! I love eggs and potato skins. What a perfect combination from Kate in the Kitchen.
via: the kitchn

recipe flags

These cute recipe flags a are a great way to tag recipes in a cookbook or magazine. The price is inexpensive too at only 5.95. When I see all the little scraps of paper stuck in my magazines I can never tell what kind of recipe it is. The food titles on these tags would solve this problem and they are so much more attractive!
via: foodforthought

leaf crisps

What a cute idea for fall for an added touch to a salad. Leaf crisps made from wonton wrappers with parmesan cheese and herbs. You can find the recipe here from Martha Stewart.
via: the kitchn

potato basil frittata

I made one of my favorite recipes this weekend Barefoot Contessa's Potato Basil Frittata. It is so delicious, perfect for brunch and feeds a big crowd.
image 1: Zarbars image 2: my photo

cupcake frittata

Oh how lovely! I have to make this, it looks so good. Recipe here via sweet paul.
Photo: Colin Cooke

101 simple salads

Summer is a great time for salads, especially when you enjoy them as much as I do. I was happy to see Mark Bittman's latest article for the New York Times was 101 Simple Salads for the Season. I have several of Mark Bittman's cookbooks and usually have good luck with his recipes. It will be fun to pick out my favorite salad ideas from this article and give them a try.
image: New York Times

lemony broccoli and chickpea rigatoni

My daughter sent me this healthy recipe last week because she knows one of my favorite foods is broccoli. I made it last night and it was so good! It seems like so many of the recipes I try seem to be lacking in flavor but not this one. I did make one change in the recipe from 1 pound of pasta to only a half pound. I like the ingredients I add to not get overwhelmed by an abundance of pasta. This recipe came from Chef Marc Meyer's first book Brunch and it is just one of the many delicious recipes from his first Manhattan restaurant.

cookies and cream

I have been wanting to make homemade oreo cookies ever since I saw them in the April issue of Everyday Food. It was funny though I ended up making them with chocolate cream instead of vanilla cream because of my families intense love for all things chocolate. For the cookie I ended up using a recipe from the cookbook Retro Desserts I got off the Food Network. The chocolate cream recipe came from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I looked at a lot of recipes for Oreo cookies and these were my favorites. They were a big hit with my family, so delicious and I loved the chocolate cookie part because it was not too sweet.

chocolate cupcakes with mascarpone cheese frosting

I love mascarpone cheese and have been wanting to make a frosting for cupcakes with it. This weekend I finally got around to doing that with a recipe from Giada from Everyday Italian. Her recipe called for it with banana muffins but I decided to make it with chocolate cupcakes instead. It was so good! Since I am not a big fan of buttercream, I'm so glad to have found this. It also tasted perfect atop the chocolate cupcakes!
image: flickr

fresh seasonal food

I read about this beautiful new food blog fresh 365 via simple song. I love the way she lists all the foods that are in season. I'm always trying to remember what's in season so I can eat foods that are fresh and have more flavor. Now I have a place to go to find out what is in season, with the added bonus of her recipe's and gorgeous photo's.

photo 1 Lizzy's Guac,
photo 2 Angel Hair with Asparagus, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts,
photo 3 Leek and Cauliflower Risotto

spring salad

I first made this delicious Chinese Chicken Salad last year. It quickly became one of my favorites. It has asparagus and avocado in it, which makes it even more tasty then the typical Chinese Chicken Salad. Asparagus is in season right now, so its a perfect springtime salad. You can get the recipe here.

st. patricks day

St. Patrick Day treats....... A yummy cupcake from Martha Stewart and a delicious drink from Bon Appetit.