Cheese, Wine and Chocolate

ABC's of Me

2011-04-19T22:15:00.001-04:00

I copied this game from Emily at Sugar Plum Blog. I thought it sounded like fun! Feel free to play along, too.

The ABC's of Me

A. Age: 36

B. Bed size: Queen

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the floor. Our golden retriever sheds constantly and the floor always needs to be cleaned.

D. Dogs: We have a golden retriever. (see above)

E. Essential start to your day: I have to check my email every morning from my bed.

F. Favorite color: red or yellow

G. Gold or silver: both?

H. Height: 5’4”

I. Instruments you play: nothing, but I wish I could play the piano

J. Job title: wife, mom, blogger

K. Kids: 3 of them - 13, 10 and almost 6 years old

L. Live: in Michigan

M. Mom’s name: Cathy

N. Nicknames: Meliss, Missy, Sunshine

O. Overnight hospital stays: yes, when I had my babies and with my baby

P. Pet peeve: inconsiderateness-(spell check says this is a real word!)

Q. Quote from a movie: Fat guy in a little coat...fat guy in a little co-oat.

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: older brother, younger sister

T. Time you wake up: 7:30 weekdays, weekends whenever

U. Underwear: yes

V. Vegetables you dislike: beets-they taste like dirt

W. What makes you run late: me! I always want to sleep in or I take too long getting ready

X. X-Rays you’ve had: kidneys (ugh, kidney stones)

Y. Yummy food you make: cupcakes

Z. Zoo – favorite animal: tigers

This is supposed to be limoncello. I didn't look up directions or a recipe before I started making it, though, so it's not actually limoncello. I thought I knew what to do - soak some lemons in vodka and voila! Limoncello! Wrong. Apparently, you are only supposed to soak the lemon rind in the vodka, not the whole lemon. The good news is it turned out great! It was sweet and fresh tasting. I think I will make it again. Here's what I did:

large pitcher or jar, preferably one with a top
750 ml vodka
10 lemons
2.5 cups sugar
3.5 cups of water

I quartered all of the lemons and filled up my pitcher. Then I poured the vodka over the lemons and let it sit for 2+ weeks. Next, I strained all of the lemon from the vodka and added simple syrup.

simple syrup:
Stir the water and sugar in a large pot over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Let cool.

xoxo
~*~Melissa~*~

Quinoa

2011-04-14T20:58:00.005-04:00

I'm so glad it's Thursday, finally. This week had been busy, but long at the same time. My kids have all started with their practices for their spring sports, so we are busy every night except for Fridays. On an unrelated side note, I really need a manicure. Today was a good day, though. There was lots of good news and things to be happy about. It really feels like spring. A time for rebirth and awakening; a fresh start. The weather is warmer, and salads and lighter food is on the menu.

Raise you hand if you've ever tried quinoa. What? You've never heard of it? Well, let me tell you a little about it. Pronounced keen-wah, it is a grain, usually used as a side dish. Quinoa looks similar to couscous, but is cooked like rice. (2-1, water to grain ratio) It's good for you, too. It's actually a complete protein source.

uncooked quinoa

You can make quinoa many different ways. It's very versatile. I've added feta, cucumbers and tomatoes with dressing to make a Greek Quinoa, or lots of fresh herbs and olive oil. I've also cooked it with chicken broth instead of water and added sauteed onions and a little butter. It can be eaten hot or cold, so it's a good thing to take to a party. Really, the sky's the limit with this stuff. I'm curious how other people eat it. If you have a favorite way to prepare quinoa, please let me know. If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl. It's spring-time for growth and change!

xoxo
~*~Melissa~*~

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2011-04-11T15:38:00.001-04:00

While we were on vacation, we went to an Amish market. They had the best homemade pretzels. They had a deal - buy a milkshake or an ice cream float and get a free pretzel. It was great. They also had a bakery with pies and cookies and all sorts of homemade breads. The market was full of fresh fruits and veggies. The weather here is still too unpredictable for us to be able to put our plants in the ground, but they had huge zucchini already. We spent a long time in there. I found huge Brussels sprouts. They were so gorgeous. I had to buy them. I love Brussels sprouts. Do you know that they are called Brussels sprouts and not brussel sprouts? I think many people are confused about that. Here is some info about Brussels sprouts, if anyone is interested.

I made these Brussels sprouts to bring to a barbecue over the weekend. I was a little nervous bringing them because I know they are not the most popular vegetable, but I figured what the heck? They were a hit! I was told by a couple people that these were the best Brussels sprouts they had ever tasted. I even convinced a Brussels sprouts hater to try them and he said he liked them. The secret to tasty veggies is roasting them. It's true. Try roasting just about any vegetable and you will find the flavors to be much more intense and sweeter. Try this Brussels Sprouts recipe. You will enjoy it.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with a Balsamic Onion Glaze and Bacon

Brussels sprouts
half an onion
about 4 slices of bacon chopped
about 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter as needed

half or quarter the Brussels sprouts, depending on their size
spread on a sheet tray and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
roast Brussels sprouts in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes (they are delicious just like this!)
while Brussels sprouts are roasting, saute chopped bacon pieces until crispy
remove bacon from the pan and add half of a chopped onion
saute onions until soft - add butter if more fat needs to be added (I used turkey bacon, so I added butter because there wasn't enough fat)
add balsamic vinegar to the pan and cook until reduced by half, 5-10 minutes
remove from heat
when Brussels sprouts are done roasting, add them to the pan with the balsamic glaze
transfer to a serving bowl and add bacon pieces

~*~Melissa~*~

Smoothie For Judy

2011-04-11T14:26:00.000-04:00

My family and I just got back from our spring break vacation. It was a nice relaxing trip, but it's good to get back into the old routine. It's really nice to get back into my kitchen! Vacations and eating out are nice, but I know I miss a home cooked meal after a while. Cooking for yourself healthier and is souls satisfying. This recipe isn't something you cook, but it's a good one to have in your repertoire. In my post for banana bread muffins, I mentioned using frozen bananas in a smoothie. I then had a request for a smoothie recipe, so here ya go! This is a good one for the upcoming warm summer months.

Smoothie

1 frozen banana
1 cup frozen fruit - anything will work, I used raspberries and pineapple
1 individual cup of Greek yogurt - again any flavor will work, I used plain
2 cups milk or one cup of milk and one cup of orange juice
handful of ice
agave nectar to taste, depending on sweetness of your fruit

Add ingredients to blender and blend away!!
You can do any combination of fruits or yogurt. You can even add protein powder for some extra nutrients. You may need more or less liquid, depending on the fruit, also. Don't be afraid to experiment. I make my smoothies different every time. : )

~*~ Melissa ~*~

Keftedes

2011-03-29T18:48:00.001-04:00

This is my great grandmother's recipe for Greek meatballs. I debated whether or not to put the recipe on my blog, because it is very special to me. I have had several people ask me for it and I don't mind sharing with my friends. It makes me happy to know that others are enjoying Giagia's meatballs as much as I do. So, I figured I'd put it up here so I can have it for myself and also so I can share it with you. (all 10 of you!!)

Giagia and Pappous

I don't have any pictures of the keftedes. I have made them so many times, I just never thought to pull out my camera and take a picture. They look like meatballs. Ha! I will be sure to add pictures to this post the next time I make them. I need to get the recipe posted quickly for a friend, though. I actually have a copy of the original recipe written in my great grandmother's handwriting. That is something that is priceless to me. She didn't include exact measurements, and I don't use them either, so the amounts here are my best guess. Please let me know if you make these and how they turned out or if you have any questions.

Keftedes (Greek Meatballs)

2 lbs ground chuck
4 slices of bread
4 eggs
1 c of milk
4 cloves garlic minced
1 whole onion finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried mint or 2 tablespoons fresh mint
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
butter
3-4 fresh lemons or more if you like lemon!
flour for dusting
LOVE

pour milk over slices of bread and then squeeze out excess milk
combine beef, bread, eggs, garlic, onions, mint, parsley and salt and pepper and mix well
If you aren't sure about the seasoning, form a small ball of the mixture and cook it in a bit of olive oil and taste. Add more salt and pepper if needed.
cover meat mixture with a wet paper towel and refrigerate overnight
with oiled hands, roll meat mixture into equal sized balls
roll the meatballs in flour
saute the meatballs in a mixture of butter and olive oil, cooking in batches so as not to over crowd the pan
when browned, move meatballs to a warm oven or a slow cooker
squeeze half a lemon over each batch of browned meatballs
when done sauteeing all the meatballs, deglaze the pan with another half lemon, scraping up all of the brown bits and pour over meatballs
keep in oven or slow cooker until cooked through (no longer pink)

I like my meatballs very lemony, so I serve them with extra lemons on the side. Also, I eat my keftedes without any sauce. Some like them with a tomato based sauce and others serve them with cucumber-yogurt sauce for dipping. These are great for a party because the longer they sit, the more flavorful they are. Also, they can be made ahead, which is always nice. They are different from regular meatballs in their flavor, but not so different people are afraid to try them. I've never made them for anyone who didn't like them, but I can never seem to make them as well as my Mamaw and Giagia did. They must be made with love.

~*~Melissa~*~

Kaylacakes

2011-03-28T16:43:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow is my daughter's best friend's birthday. My daughter had a plan to make cupcakes and surprise Kayla at school with them. She asked me to buy yellow cake mix so that she could make them herself. Well, the plan fell through, because the girls don't have lunch together and my daughter couldn't figure out a time to get them to her. They do a study group at my house on Mondays after school, so I decided to make the cupcakes myself and surprise her them. Yellow cupcakes out of a box didn't really sound all that exciting for me to make, though. I don't have anything against box cake mixes, really. They have their place, but not on a cooking blog. The Pioneer Woman was talking about some cappuccino muffins by Erica Berge on Facebook. They are made with Starbucks Via instant coffee, which I absolutely love. Kayla loves Starbucks, so I thought I would make some cupcakes using the Starbucks Via that I have. Oh my gosh these are good. They really have a strong coffee flavor and the texture is perfect. The frosting is not too sweet because of the cream cheese and the coffee. They are definitely an adult cupcake, but my kids like them too. If you have a coffee lover in your life, make these. They are delicious and easy!

Kaylacakes

(Mocha cupcakes with cappuccino frosting)

Mocha Cupcakes

1 box of yellow cake mix
1/4 c cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup water
2 packages of Starbucks Via, French roast
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 c vegetable oil

Mix together eggs, water, Starbucks Via, melted butter and oil. Add cake mix and cocoa and stir until combined. Pour batter into muffin tins lined with cupcake wrappers. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Cappuccino Frosting

1 package of cream cheese at room temperature
6 tablespoons of butter at room temperature
1 package of Starbucks Via
3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of milk
4 c powdered sugar

In a mixer, mix together butter and cream cheese until smooth with no lumps. Mix together Starbucks Via, cocoa powder and milk. Add this mixture to the butter cream cheese mixture and stir until blended. Slowly add powdered sugar, one cup at a time until is is incorporated. You may need more or less powdered sugar to get the right consistency.

~*~Melissa~*~

Pretzel Bread

2011-03-23T20:16:00.002-04:00

It's Wednesday. Wednesday is kids' night at Buffalo Wild Wings. Since my husband is gone from Monday morning until Friday night, I enjoy kids' night with my friends. A couple of my friends' husbands work nights and I have another friend who is a single dad. Since we are all on our own, it's nice to have a break in the middle of the week. Kids' night allows us to relax, talk and drink a beer while the kids are entertaining each other. Plus, there is a cute server who is usually working. Bonus! Tonight, two of the kids have strep throat, one of them has an ear infection and a sinus infection, and two of the moms aren't feeling well. We decided to skip Buffalo Wild Wings tonight and we'll try to go next week.

All of that just to say, I had to cook dinner tonight. I served this pretzel bread with my beer cheese soup. I thank my friend Lisa for the idea. It is so good. It's just like eating a soft pretzel. It takes a while to make, as bread does, but it's so worth it. Baking your own bread is like baking your own cinnamon rolls. It's just so much better than buying it from the store. Plus, kneading the dough is therapeutic. Also, you can control the salt and the butter. Just make this bread, okay? Trust me.

Pretzel Bread

Ingredients:

1 package yeast
1 cup water (110-120 degrees)
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp kosher salt
2 ½ – 3 cups flour

4 quarts water
½ cup baking soda
Kosher salt to taste
2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

Add yeast, water, milk, brown sugar and butter into a large bowl. Whisk until ingredients are combined.

Let mixture rest for 10 minutes. Mix in kosher salt and two cups of the flour and combine with other ingredients. Add more flour as needed.

The dough should form a slightly sticky ball. Place the dough ball into an oiled bowl, and cover with a damp towel for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, knead the dough by hand or machine for at least 5-10 minutes until the dough is elastic and satiny. Place dough back in the bowl and cover for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bring the 4 quarts of water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and gently knead it, removing air bubbles. Form two separate balls of dough. Drop one of the balls into the baking soda bath for 30 seconds or less, turning it once to guarantee both sides covered. Drain the excess water from the dough and place it on an oiled baking sheet. Repeat with second ball of dough.

Sprinkle the kosher salt over the bread to your taste, and use a knife to cut a small incision on the top of the bread so the dough has somewhere to expand.
Cook the bread for 25 minutes.
Once removed from the oven, immediately brush the melted butter over the loaves.

enjoy!

~*~Melissa~*~

Kelsey Nixon's Caramelitas

2011-03-15T17:30:00.001-04:00

Happy Tuesday! I don't mind Tuesday. It's one day closer to Friday. Plus, I have nothing I have to do on Tuesdays. At least until soccer practice starts up again. Mondays I don't enjoy, except for yesterday wasn't so bad. Yesterday I worked out with a trainer at the gym. It was great. I only wish he would make me work out every day. That would be the best, wouldn't it? I honestly don't mind working out, but I like having company. Who wants to be my workout partner? I really need one. Working out is essential if you want to eat things like caramelitas. I made the caramelitas as promised in my salted caramel sauce post. If you already have the caramel sauce prepared, it's a really fast and easy recipe to put together. These are very rich and I found them very sweet. I'm wondering if maybe I should have put a little more sea salt into my caramel sauce...?
My kids, of course loved these. I also gave some to my neighbor. He texted me as soon as he got home saying they were sooo good. I think I am going to bring some to my trainer as well. That would be nice. Do healthy people eat things like this? Maybe not all the time, but who would turn down a homemade gift, right? Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I left out the nuts in these bars. My daughter's best friend, a.k.a my other daughter, was recently diagnosed with a nut allergy. She's almost 14 years old. Just goes to show you really can develop an allergy at any age. It's a good thing she never liked nuts, I guess.

Caramelitas
by Kelsey Nixon

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups Salted Caramel Sauce, recipe follows

2 1/2 tablespoons flour

Salted Caramel Sauce

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan.

Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and softened butter in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on low until crumbly. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions.

Press half the crumb mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and cool slightly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips, and chopped pecans over the cooled crust. Mix the salted caramel sauce, and flour together, and drizzle over the chocolate chips, and nuts. Top with the remaining crumb mixture.

Return to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust starts to brown. Allow the pan to cool, and refrigerate it until the caramel filling is set.

Cut into bars and serve.

Healthier Ganache

2011-03-14T11:05:00.005-04:00

My friend Rose, at The Bite Me Kitchen gave me the idea to make this ganache. Recently, she and her boyfriend blogged about a healthy breakfast cake with a yogurt frosting. It sounds delicious and healthy! Their blog is full of healthy recipes.
I made a white chocolate-yogurt ganache to top brownies. Greek yogurt is much healthier than heavy cream and I'm more likely to have yogurt hanging out in my fridge than heavy cream, so I'm glad this worked. The brownies had white chocolate chips and a raspberry swirl. The recipe for the brownies was not very good, though. That's why I didn't bother including it here. They turned out more like cake than brownies. The white chocolate chips sank to the bottom because the batter was too runny and the raspberry sauce blended in with the batter. I only had cocoa powder, no real chocolate, so they didn't even taste very chocolaty.

When the brownies came out of the oven, I quickly realized they needed something. Frosting, icing, powdered sugar....something. I had some white chocolate that I was going to use to make cake pops, but no powdered sugar, so no icing or frosting. At first, I was going to just melt the chocolate and pour it over the brownies, but I didn't want a hard topping. I didn't have any cream to make ganache, but I did have some Greek yogurt in my fridge. What the heck? I didn't really have anything to lose, since the brownies weren't very "winning" anyway.
When making a traditional ganache, the ratio of chocolate to cream is 50/50. For this yogurt ganache, I used a ratio of about 2/3 chocolate to 1/3 Greek yogurt. The preferred method to making ganache is to pour hot cream over the chocolate and stir until it's melted and the cream is incorporated. With the Greek yogurt ganache, I gently melted the white chocolate and then added the Greek yogurt and stirred until combined. I was actually surprised at how good it tastes. It is the best part of these brownies. I'm excited to try this again and with real chocolate. Enjoy!

~*~Melissa~*~

Salted Caramel Sauce

2011-03-13T17:31:00.008-04:00

So, I have a new love. It's Kelsey Nixon from The Cooking Channel. She is the host of Kelsey's Essentials. I really like her show. I think she has some good ideas and I like her bubbly personality. Plus, I am a little tired of the same old cooking shows. Recently, there was an episode on food gifts. I loved all of the ideas. I know it's not anywhere near the time when we should be thinking about holiday gifts, but it's always good to have a few good gift ideas, for anytime, really. Yesterday, I attempted to make her salted caramel sauce. The first time, I wasn't really paying close attention and I burned the caramel. The second time, I set the timer for 5 minutes and took the bubbling sugar off the heat.

This time, I didn't let it cook quite long enough, but it was still okay to use. I plan on using the caramel sauce in her recipe for caramelitas and maybe some salted caramel brownies. Anyway, I left my jar of pale salted caramel sauce out on the counter while I left to take my daughter to a birthday party. While I was gone, my husband made dinner. For some reason, he thought the jar of caramel sauce out on the counter was a jar of fat? He cooked some ground pork and poured the excess fat into my jar of caramel sauce! Oh well. At least it's not hard to make any by the third time, I should be an expert, right? This is a picture of my third batch of salted caramel sauce. I think it looks pretty good. It tastes delicious too. This would make a nice gift for somebody and it's easy. If you're giving this as a gift, Kelsey suggests attaching a recipe that includes the salted caramel sauce.

Salted Caramel Sauce -Kelsey Nixon

1 c sugar
1/4 c water
3/4 c heavy cream
3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp gray sea salt, crusher or kosher salt

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium high heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, without stirring. If necessary, use a wet pastry brush to wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil until the syrup is a deep amber color, about 5-6 minutes. Remove the sugar from the heat and carefully whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble. Stir in the unsalted butter and salt.

~*~Melissa~*~

Banana Bread Muffins

2011-03-07T16:39:00.006-05:00

Banana Bread Muffins

There are only 2 out of 5 people in this house who will eat bananas. One of those people loves bananas and the other will only eat them occasionally. So, I buy bananas just about every shopping trip. Sometimes they all get eaten. Other times, they sit on the counter, ripening more and more each day until they get to that point where no one is going to eat them. When this happens, I throw the bananas in the freezer. Sometimes it's good to put a frozen banana into a smoothie. Most of the time though, I like to bake with over ripe bananas. While the texture is unappealing, the banana flavor is strongest when they are turning black. This works really well for muffins, bread, cakes or banana cookies. I usually make banana muffins. I've made them so many times experimenting with this and that. This recipe is by far, the most loved in my family.

Banana Bread Muffins

2 c flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 eggs
3-4 ripe bananas
1 c sugar
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c vegetable oil

Topping:

1/2 c oats
1/2 c melted butter
1/4 c turbinado sugar

preheat oven to 400 degrees
grease muffin tin or use cupcake wrappers
in a mixer, combine bananas, oil, melted butter and eggs
add sugar to the banana mixture
in another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg
add dry ingredients to the mixer
fill 12 muffin cups with the batter-the cups will be quite full (for large muffins)
mix together oats, melted butter and sugar for topping
sprinkle topping equally over each muffin
bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

~*~Melissa~*~

Lisa's Greek Potato Salad

2010-06-20T18:36:00.006-04:00

This recipe is very simple, but I got so many compliments on it, I just had to share. Unfortunately, it isn't my own creation. I would have loved to take the credit for this one. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I got it from my friend Lisa who shares my love of feta cheese. So does her hubby, Steve. He also suggested kalamata olives instead of regular black olives, which I think would be a fabulous idea.

Greek Potato Salad

ingredients:

8-10 redskin potatoes cut into bite sized pieces and roasted with a little salt and olive oil*
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow or orange bell pepper
1 can black olives - I used sliced, next time I will use pitted kalamata
1 8 oz container of feta, cubed
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 red onion diced tiny
Greek salad dressing - recipe below or use your favorite store bought dressing

*roast cut potatoes at 400 degrees for about 45 mintues or until knife comes out easily

Greek Salad Dressing:

2 T Greek seasoning

2 T water

1/2 olive oil

1/3 c red wine vinegar

1 1/2 T fresh parsley

1 T fresh oregano

1/2 T fresh mint

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and pour over enough dressing to coat, but not over- dress.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

2010-05-12T21:03:00.009-04:00

Yep, that's right. Another post, another recipe. Before we get to the food, I bought some new makeup today, and some for my daughter. (I love girly stuff!!) What is a good age to allow girls to wear makeup? I've heard that some people do it in stages. First lip gloss, then mascara, next blush? Let me know your opinions. My husband and I do not agree on this topic at all. Anyway, I found this nail polish that I am in love with! It's by Sally Hansen and it's base coat, color and top coat all in one. The brush is flat instead of round, so it was easier to use. It's called Complete Salon Manicure. I highly recommend it. The colors are so fun, too! I bought "Sea and Be Seen", pictured below, but it looks different in person. It has a lot of purple in it, but from the picture, it doesn't look like it at all.

Ok, back to business. These peanut butter and jelly bars are sooo good. Even though it makes a lot, I had no problem getting rid of them. Plus, they're easy and who doesn't like peanut butter and jelly? Not this girl!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Ingredients

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 c peanut butter
1 1/2 c oatmeal
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c strawberry jam (or whatever you like)

Directions

preheat oven to 350 degrees and line an 9x13 pan with parchment paper, greasing the sides
cream butter and sugar until fluffy
add vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until combined
sift flour, baking powder, and salt
add flour to peanut butter mixture and mix until combined
spread 2/3 of the dough into the pan and flatten out with your hands
spread jam over the dough
with the remaining dough, either roll out, using more flour if necessary, and cut into shapes or drop small blobs of the dough over the jam I've done it both ways-both are great. I did the stars, just to make it pretty. I had to overlap them, because I had so much dough.
bake 50 minutes until golden brown

Enjoy!

xoxo

Melissa

I'm a Bad Blogger. Will Scones Make it Better?

2010-05-11T08:43:00.015-04:00

Hi!!!! I'm sorry I've been away for so long. A few of you have been asking about me. I'm great! I forget that people actually read this sometimes. Well, a couple people anyway. I had promised some friends to put some recipes up while ago, and never did. Then, more recipes on top of those, and pretty soon, I had this stack of recipes that I needed to post and I got a little overwhelmed. So, I did nothing instead. I really hate winter. It puts me into a funk. I don't want to do anything. Plus, my husband was gone for 5 weeks, so I was a single mom. Kudos to all single moms and dads out there. It's really hard. One of the worst parts it that when he's gone, I don't cook. Well, there is cooking, but it's nothing new and/or exciting. Part of it it that the kids don't always appreciate the things I make and the other part is that I don't want D. to miss out on any new recipes. Excuses, excuses....the dog ate my recipes too. I'll make a new start today with my rosemary cheddar-garlic scones. I love these things. They are buttery, cheesy, crumbly and herby. (that's herb-y, not Herbie, like the love bug) They remind me of Red Lobster's cheddar bay biscuits, but scones and with rosemary. I love the rosemary in these. I know everybody doesn't love rosemary, and I don't consider myself a rosemary lover, but when it works, it rocks. And in these scones, it works. Trust me. This is why people were asking me for the recipe!

Rosemary Cheddar-Garlic Scones

Ingredients:

1 stick cold butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2/3 c ground oatmeal (I just put the oatmeal into my mini chopper)

1 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp rosemary finely chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 c grated sharp cheddar cheese

2/3 c heavy cream

1 egg

For the top of the scones:

2 tbsp heavy cream

cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. line cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat

3. To the food processor, add ground oatmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, and rosemary. Pulse

4. add cold butter pieces and cheddar and pulse until mixture is in pea sized pieces

5. in a bowl, beat egg with heavy cream

6. fold cream mixture into flour mixture to combine

7. turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and pat into a disk about 1/2 inch thick

8. use a biscuit cutter to make rounds

9. place rounds onto prepared baking sheet, brush with cream and sprinkle with black pepper

10. bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees

Yay! I did it. I have such a sense of accomplishment. Now, to get the rest of my life back on track.... ; )

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Classic Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-02-07T08:44:00.001-05:00

I Love red velvet cake. It's my absolute favorite. And cream cheese icing-there is NOTHING BETTER. Well, I was so excited to make this recipe, I just got started. I was sure I had all of the important ingredients. Then, I pulled out my box of food coloring. To my dismay, all of the red was gone!!!!! This just about ruined the whole thing for me. Who wants brown velvet cake?? I had already started, so I forged on. Everything smelled good, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. When I made the frosting, I did end up adding an extra cup of powdered sugar to the recipe, because mine tasted too buttery. I know, too buttery? It sounds impossible, but it was too buttery. So, I thought this recipe turned out pretty well. The cake wasn't as light and fluffy as I am used to, but it was still very good. The frosting was excellent. Thanks to Rosy of Rosy Lips and Lavender for this week's choice. It was my family's (and mine) favorite thus far! You can find the recipe on her blog here. Check out the rest of the Sweet Melissa Sundays blogroll to see how their red velvet cakes turned out!! xoxo Melissa

Foodbuzz Blogger Festival 2010

2010-02-05T21:22:00.006-05:00

I can't wait. We just got notification that this year's Foodbuzz Blogger Festival will be November 5th-7th, in San Francisco again. Last year was so amazing. I can't even imagine what's to come this year! I hope all of the wonderful people I met are planning on returning as well. This year, I will bring an empty suitcase with me to bring home all my swag! At least we all have plenty of time to plan.

Today my preschooler and I ate lunch at Asian Fuzian Cafe. He had sweet and sour chicken and egg drop soup I had Asian laksa. We had never been to this restaurant before and we liked it very much. We are going to bring Daddy next time. Excuse the crappy Blackberry half-eaten food pics. They were obviously an afterthought. We were actually going to go out for sushi, but we saw this place and thought we'd try it out instead.

That's about it for tonight. I'm just trying to stay warm. It's so cold here and it's snowing!! Burrrr!!! I hope to make some fun goodies for the Superbowl this weekend! I don't care about the game, but I love the food and of course the commercials. :o)

xoxo

Melissa

Enter to win Rachel Ray Cookware

2010-02-04T20:53:00.000-05:00

http://jennasjourneygiveawaysandreviews.blogspot.com/2010/02/rachel-ray-giveaway-is-here.html

An Anniversary and Two Recipes; Maple Chocolate Chip Bars and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto-Goat Cheese Crescents

2010-01-28T18:50:00.009-05:00

Today is the 15th anniversary of when my husband and I first met. We met through some mutual friends. I'm so terrible with names and when I met him, I really made a conscious effort to remember his. Later, I said something like, "Your name is D, right?". And he replied with a smirk, "no, it's John". I should've known then.... Anyway, the next day was the Superbowl and we talked on the phone for most of the day. We went on our first date the next weekend. He cooked for me. He bought the stuff in a jar they used to sell called "Chicken Tonight". The best part is that he scribbled some notes down on a piece of paper, threw away the jar of sauce and pretended it was an "old family recipe". Then, he told me the truth. He couldn't even go through with the charade. I didn't care. I thought it was so sweet that he went through all that trouble to try to impress me. Happy 15 Love! Anyway, I have two recipes for you today! the chocolate chip cookie bars I made a few days ago, but the crescents I made tonight. They were both really good. I mean, really, really good.

Maple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 12 oz package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt for the top (optional)

preheat oven to 375 degrees
cream together butter, shortening and sugars
add eggs vanilla and maple extract
in another bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda
add dry ingredients to wet ingredients
fold in chocolate chips
spread dough into a buttered 9 x 13 casserole dish
bake for 20 minutes or until golden
cut into bars when cooled
sprinkle with a tiny bit of fine sea salt

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto-Goat Cheese Crescents

1 package refrigerated crescent rolls
crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup prepared pesto (or home made)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil

in a food processor, chop sun dried tomatoes
add pesto and pulse a few times until combined
open and separate all of the crescents into triangles
spread triangles with pesto-sun dried tomato mixture
sprinkle triangles with goat cheese
roll triangles starting from widest side, moving towards the narrowest, to form crescents
place crescents on a baking sheet
bake in a 375 degree oven for 13 minutes

These pics are pretty bad. I know the lighting really sucks, but these are so good! You must try them. I used the reduced fat crescents. I am going to make baby ones for appetizers.

xoxo

Melissa

Johnny Marzetti ~ Mamaw Style

2010-01-26T10:23:00.006-05:00

Johnny Marzetti ~ Mamaw Style

This was a very popular recipe in my house when I was growing up. I really thought it was something that my grandmother made up, until I did a search and found lots of different recipes. Most of the recipes I found use ground beef, and we always used pork loin or chops. Another difference is that a lot of the recipes I found use macaroni noodles and we always used egg noodles. So, I guess she did make up the recipe, in a way. My parents are both from Columbus, Ohio, so I guess it makes sense that, that is where the recipe originated. Here are a couple of interesting tidbits I found about Johnny Marzetti with links from where I found them.

This classic recipe is called by different names, the most common of which is Johnny Marzetti. Historically it was also known as Johnny Mazetti in the Canal Zone, and was a classic dish served at special occasions; also Johnny Marzotti in Texas. In truth, it all started at the Marzetti family restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

What's Johnny Marzetti? Johnny Marzetti is a casserole created in the 1920s by the owner of the Marzetti Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Who was Johnny Marzetti? According to the "American Century Cookbook" by Jean Anderson, Johnny Marzetti was the brother of the owner of the Marzetti Restaurant. Casseroles steamrolled into the kitchen in the 1940s and have remained popular staples to this day. The Johnny Marzetti casserole was popular in the mid '50s and early '60s. It consists of meat, pasta and either tomato sauce, soup or juice

~Johnny Marzetti~

1 package egg noodles
1 onion
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
1.5 lbs pork cubed (I used tenderloin)
1 large jar of tomato sauce that you like-no basil (or make your own)
1 tbsp dried oregano
10 oz sharp cheddar cheese
butter and olive oil for sauteing

saute 1 chopped onion in butter and olive oil
add chopped pork and garlic and brown meat
add salt and pepper
meanwhile, boil egg noodles in salted water as directed
when pork is browned, add tomato sauce and oregano
cube 8 ounces of cheddar cheese, shred 2 ounces
mix cooked egg noodles with pork/tomato sauce mixture
add cubes of cheddar
pour everything into a buttered 9x13 casserole dish
top with shredded cheddar
bake at 350 degrees until top is golden and bubbly

xoxo Melissa

p.s. I realize this is not the most figure friendly meal and I know I said I was going to be posting lighter recipes, but I had to make this. My brother, sister and I (with kids) are planning a visit to see my grampa soon and he LOVES Marzetti! I planned on making a double batch and freezing half to take to him, but I decided to make him some fresh before we go. My husband will be out of town, so he won't be able to join us. We are also going to go to one of those indoor water parks. The kids are very excited. It should be a fun mini vacation!

Black Bottom Brownies

2010-01-24T13:33:00.003-05:00

SMS Black Bottom Brownies

This week's recipe was chosen by Cynthia of Bakingtherapist's Blog. You can find the recipe here. I did not love this recipe. There are a whole dozen eggs in there! I've had better brownie recipes and I think I could create a better cheesecake top, too. Anyway, I will not be making this one again, it was ok, but like I said, I've had better brownies. Oh well, you can't win 'em all. I know they won't go to waste. There are 4 people in this house who like them just fine!

Check out the other SMS bakers here.

xoxo

Melissa

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

2010-01-21T23:26:00.002-05:00

So, I'm totally not the kind of person who makes a birthday cake for her dog. I love her and everything, but she is a dog, not my child. We bought Lola from a breeder, so we know her exact birthday. She happens to share her big day with my step-mother. (Happy birthday Connie!)Kids love to celebrate birthdays, so when it was Lola's big day, my youngest suggested we go out and buy her a new toy. I really didn't want to leave the house (lazy pj day) and the last thing we need around here is another dog toy. I suggested we make her some dog treats instead. I hoped could find a recipe. Wow-once I started looking, I found tons of recipes, for not only treats, but dog food and kibble. I am thinking of making my own dog food all the time. Lola LOVES my cooking. No complaining from her!! Anyway, I learned a lot, and I think it can be inexpensive and it's definitely healthier. For now, here are some peanut butter biscuits~

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

2 c whole wheat flour
1 c quick cooking oats
2 tbsp flax seed
1/4 c peanut butter
1 1/4 c water

preheat oven to 350 degrees
mix flour, oats and flax seed
add peanut butter and water
knead dough on lightly floured surface, adding more flour as necessary
roll out dough and cut into shapes using cookie cutters or a pizza cutter
bake for 20 minutes and turn oven off
leave biscuits in the oven until they are cool

*Jasmine-Thanks for the tip to use a pasta machine to make the cracker dough thin enough! I'm excited to try that next time I make cheese crackers. :o)

xoxo

Melissa

Cheese Crackers

2010-01-20T17:11:00.003-05:00

I have wanted to make my own cheese crackers for a while now. I just wanted to see how they would turn out. I like the idea of being able to control what goes into them. You can change up the cheese, or the spice. Try to get past the fact that they are brown and look like dog food. They're actually really good. :o) Whole wheat flour = brown One thing I did wrong, was not rolling the dough thin enough. I was afraid they would fall apart. This was a mistake, though because the crackers didn't get crispy enough. The edges were crispy, so I got a glimpse of how they should have turned out. I will make them again, next time much thinner. Maybe with some garlic, too. Yum!

Cheese Crackers

one stick of butter
2 cups of shredded cheese (I used asiago and parmesan)
1 1/2 cups of flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

preheat oven to 325 degrees
mix all ingredients together in a food processor
dump out dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball-I had to add a splash of water to make it come together
roll the dough out to 1/8 of an inch thick
cut crackers using a pizza cutter or cookie cutters
place on a baking sheet covered with foil or a silpat-sprinkle with more parmesan
bake for 11 minutes or until crackers just start to get golden
cool on a cooling rack until completely cool

Melissa

xoxo

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Lemon Almond-Yogurt Cake

2010-01-17T07:26:00.001-05:00

Lemon Almond-Yogurt Cake

It was so nice to be baking again. I think with all of the Christmas cookies I made, I just got burnt out. I didn't even want to eat the cookies. Does that ever happen to you? You are in the kitchen so long, that by the time you are done, you don't even want to look at whatever you were making. Well, the recipe is actually Lemon Walnut-Sour Cream Pound Cake. I felt like making it a bundt cake, instead. Then, I decided to use almonds, because I had a whole bag of them and no walnuts. Finally, I realized I was out of sour cream, so I used yogurt. So, mine is a bit different from the actual recipe, but it was soooo good! The lemon flavor was the perfect amount, not too much, not too little. The texture of the cake was really moist and light. The whole cake is almost gone a few short hours after I made it! When the cake was in the oven, I realized that I had actually used a cup of yogurt, as opposed to the half a cup of sour cream that the recipe calls for. Oops! Maybe that's why my cake was so moist. I didn't have plain yogurt, either. I used key lime flavored yogurt.

Thanks to Raeann of Basically, Baby Boots, for choosing this yummy cake. You can find the recipe on her blog. You can find all of the other SMS bakers' blogs here. Check out their blogs to see what variations they came up with and how they turned out!

Melissa

xoxo

I'm alive...

2010-01-13T18:13:00.009-05:00

Ugh. Thanks for still coming by, that is if anyone is still coming by... I have been feeling so uninspired lately. I've had some personal things going on, that I can't address on here, but I'm ok. I haven't even uploaded my Christmas pictures until now. That is so unlike me. I had a pretty good Christmas though, how about you?

I want to start getting some recipes up here, but the things I have been making lately, I'm not very proud of. I did make a nice soup tonight with veggies, chicken broth, smoked sausage and pasta. It's nothing that requires a recipe, just carrots, onion, garlic and celery sauteed in olive oil, add sausage, Mexican oregano, salt and pepper and a splash of wine. Mexican oregano is my favorite spice to use lately. Anyway, you let that cook for a few, then add the chicken stock, a small can of tomato sauce and some fresh spinach and parsley. I cooked the pasta separately, so it didn't get soggy. Add the pasta to the soup and some grated parmesan and you're good to go. I didn't have very good luck trying to take a picture of it. I gave up because I was hungry. There is no cheese in this picture. You could leave it out, but you know I love my cheese.

Anyway, as most of us do, I overindulged during the holidays. Now, I have joined a gym again and am trying to start 2010 in a healthy way. (the smoked sausage was turkey sausage 5g of fat per serving) So, the recipes I will be featuring on here will be mostly healthy-ish things. I am going to resume Sweet Melissa Sundays as well. That will be my weekly indulgence. I can't cut out ALL sweets!!

And this is Pipsqueak. Thanks to a call from my friend, Christine, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Zhu Zhu pet for my son for Christmas. At first, it was one of those toys that was fun for a few minutes and then pushed aside. Then we made a house for them (we have 4 now), and furniture. All those years of making Barbie furniture finally paid off! We have a lego couch and a bed made out of a small pillow, a tv and even a garage! The kids and I have had fun playing with the Zhu Zhu pets and making new things for them.

So, I hope you continue to stop by here. I will not have new posts up every day or every other day, but I will be posting regularly again. I have missed my blog! Happy New Year!!!!!

Melissa

xoxo p.s. My marshmallow wreath fell off the door and broke in to three pieces. I almost cried I was so sad! I'm thinking of making one for spring with the colored marshmallows.

Amazing Giveaway for Christmas!!

2009-12-05T21:03:00.010-05:00

Go here: http://www.fantabulouslyfrugal.com/2009/11/you-deserve-best-giveaway.html I promise, it will be worth your while. It's one of the best giveaways I've ever seen! If you decide to enter, please mention you heard about the giveaway here and both of us will get an extra entry. Good luck to us! Also, use coupon code "cwcblog" at Donkey T's to get 15% off! They have lots of funny t-shirts. They make great stocking stuffers! xoxo Melissa

My Christmas Wreath

2009-11-29T20:02:00.005-05:00

Isn't it cute? I got the idea from Food Network magazine. They have a lot of cute wreaths in the latest issue, all made of food. I loved them all! I figured this one would be pretty inexpensive to make, so I thought I'd try it. Disclaimer: I am NOT crafty! This is why I wanted to do something cheap. I wasn't confident it would turn out right, but it was easy! To make it, you need a styrofoam ring, toothpicks and marshmallows. I used 3 bags of big marshmallows and about 1/4 of a bag of small marshmallows. I did have some fall off, so I glued those, but mostly the marshmallows are secured by the toothpicks. The syrofoam ring was about $5, and the marshmallows were on sale for $1/bag, so that was $9, plus another $2 for the ribbon and red berries. That makes the grand total $11. Not bad-and it's original. My neighbor, Keith, liked it so much, he ate one of the marshmallows...

So, my Thanksgiving was really nice. We went to my mother-in-law's house, like usual. She does the turkey, potatoes, and dressing and everyone else brings a side/sides to pass. I make a chocolate chip cheesecake, roasted maple squash, broccoli salad and bread. Everything turned out great, but I don't have a single picture. (forgot my camera) Besides, none of them are original recipes. The broccoli salad I've made for years, the cheesecake came from a Nestle cookbook. It is an old standby-always turns out perfectly. The roasted maple squash is from Ina Garten and the bread is from the book: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It was the rosemary flax baguette recipe. Anyway, the food was great as well as the company. We all had a lot of laughs.

This time of year is filled with parties for me. I may not have very many recipes for the whole month of December! I always host Christmas and always make pulled pork. I asked for requests for a new main course this year, but was asked to do the pulled pork that everyone looks forward to. I guess it's about tradition. So, we'll have pulled pork sandwiches, apple upside-down french toast casserole for breakfast, put out reindeer food, open new jammies on Christmas Eve, exchange dirty Santa gifts, play American Idol on the Wii, drink Jagermeister and Baileys, play board games and sing karaoke. This is what we always do, and I wouldn't change a thing! We have such a great time. Everyone looks forward to it. I really have the best family. Ever. What are your favorite family traditions?

xoxo

Melissa

Who Can it Be, Now??

2009-11-22T00:15:00.000-05:00

It's time to announce the winner of my giveaway. I wish I could give an apron to each and every one of you, but I can't. I know this is something that many of my friends and readers would LOVE to win, because, I assume that, those of you who read this, like to cook. Anyway, here's my old school way of choosing a winner. Everyone who left a comment and is either a follower or became one, got their name on a slip of paper. Even my mother, who is not ACTUALLY a follower, but I cut her a break because she gave birth to me and all, and she did leave a comment. ;o) If you signed up or already follow me on Twitter, I gave you another slip of paper. Lisa D., can you see your name in the bowl? I think I can see Mrs. G in the front, too.

I was trying to decide who would actually pick the name, since D. said I shouldn't do it myself, and at midnight, the only people awake in the house, are me and the dog. I was considering lining them up on the floor to see which one the dog would go to first, but, I worried about her eating the papers. I was stirring up the papers trying to make sure they were thoroughly mixed and one popped out. I stopped for a second and thought, maybe I should just choose the one that jumped out. Maybe the little guy jumped out on purpose! I figured that would be a fair thing to do. Now, that I've put all this thought and energy into the one who jumped out, I had to see who it was.

It says, "Karen Twitter", if you can't read my chicken scratch. Karen jumped out! Karen is a very special friend of mine, even though we've never met in real life. We met through ivillage on a message board. We both have four year old sons with birthdays in May. So, Karen, you are the winner!! You win the Dorothy apron in yellow from Carolyn's Kitchen! Karen has a yellow kitchen and her favorite color is yellow. I know about her kitchen because she is an amazing photographer and takes tons of pictures! Karen, when you get your apron, I expect to see lots of pics of you wearing it! Maybe you'll let me post one here? Thanks to everyone who entered, and I'm really sorry you couldn't all win. I will have another giveaway in December, though, so please try again! xoxo Melissa

How to Follow Me

2009-11-15T22:52:00.006-05:00

Part of the contest is to become one of my followers. That sounds rather cult-ish, doesn't it? I promise I'll be nice. :op To follow me, click on the button on the lower right that says, "Follow". Underneath that, it says, "with Google friend connect". Under that, it says, "Followers", with pictures of the people who follow my blog. Extra XOXO

Melissa

My Carolyn's Kitchen Apron <3

2009-11-15T21:13:00.008-05:00

Just so you guys know what I actually look like when I'm cooking, here's a pic. I'm not sexy. The apron might be sexy, but me - I am unshowered, wearing sweats and no makeup. The apron does spruce up the outfit, though, don't you think? I did get a whistle when D saw me... (-: See the post below for a chance to win your own apron from Carolyn's Kitchen!! Men can enter too. This apron makes a GREAT gift for any woman in your life. Or you can wear it yourself, no judgement here! ;o)

xoxo

Melissa

Giveaway!!!

2009-11-15T13:43:00.005-05:00

Giveaway From Carolyn's Kitchen!

I'm so excited! I've been waiting to announce this giveaway for months. I discovered these vintage inspired aprons when I was visiting the blog, At home with Vicki Bensinger and fell in love. I entered Vicki's contest, but didn't win, so I put one of the aprons on my birthday list. My mother-in-law bought me one! (Rock-n-Roll in hot pink to be specific) I loved it so much, I contacted Carolyn, of Carolyn's Kitchen, about doing a giveaway on my blog. She was so nice and emailed me back immediately. She is generously offering her Dorothy apron in yellow to the winner of my little contest.

To enter the contest, you must first be a follower of my blog. Second, go check out Carolyn's Kitchen's aprons, and leave me a comment telling me which apron you like best, and what you will do with it if you win. Will you keep it for yourself? Give it as a holiday gift? Give the apron as a hostess gift? If you follow me on Twitter, you will get another entry in the contest. Be sure to leave me a comment telling me that you are now following me on Twitter, though. Good luck! I will announce the winner, chosen randomly, next Sunday morning. That will be November 22nd.

xoxo Melissa

The First Annual Foodbuzz Festival in Photos

2009-11-11T20:51:00.008-05:00

I had an amazing time in San Francisco! Spectacular food, too much wine and really great people. I can't wait until next year's festival. We were given so many gifts, my suitcase would barely close and I had to carry on a bag containing a set of wine glasses and a set of beer glasses. I was a little intimidated at first, being in a strange city, not knowing my way around, but, the people of San Francisco were very kind and helpful. I stayed at the Marriott in Union Square. The staff there was amazing. They made me feel right at home and helped me with whatever I needed, including weighing my suitcase for me! Ha! I was worried I would be over the weight limit. I actually was by two pounds, but Delta let me slide.

I have much more to say, but being gone for four days has put me way behind in my work and my other responsibilities. I wanted to post something, though. Especially since I was mentioned in the Foodbuzz Festival program, for inspiring a cocktail. Actually, they misprinted the name of my blog as, "Cheese, Wine and Cheddar". Today Foodbuzz sent out an email with the correct name, (Cheese, Wine and Chocolate), and a link , so I wanted to have something from the festival up to share.

See? Melissa York of Cheese, Wine and Cheddar. I appreciate the recognition, but Cheese, Wine and Cheddar? Isn't that a bit redundant? Oh well, I forgive the people at Foodbuzz. They did a fantastic job organizing everything all weekend, and they did, make the correction. :o)

xoxo

Melissa

Catch Up Post

2009-11-04T20:07:00.006-05:00

I know it's been a while, (again) since I've posted. I've just been so busy! I could have done a post here or there about what's been going on in my life, but this is a food blog, and I figure nobody really cares about the day-to-day things that go on in my life. So, feel free to skip this post. It may end up pretty boring. Let's see.... The last time I posted was on the 18th of October, the day after my husband's birthday. Here is a picture of him:

No, I'm really serious. If they were to make a blow-up doll of my husband in his uniform, this is what it would look like. I wish I could have this guy in my house! He's so cool. I even tried to get one, but as far as I know, this is the only one and they use him for recruiting purposes. Like seeing this giant blow up doll will make you want to apply for a job.

And, just because I was so amused by this, here is a picture of Lola with her bone. She looks like she's smoking a cigar. I thought it was hilarious! We gave her this bone before we were going somewhere and this was how she looked as we were leaving the house. She didn't want to eat it, because she didn't earn it. I was feeling bad because we were leaving, so I gave it to her, but she usually finds the bone herself. Every night, we play a game with her that she absolutely LOVES! She waits in her kennel while we hide the bone. Then, we tell her to come and to find her bone and she just goes crazy running all over looking for it. Sometimes, she'll catch the scent and stop dead in her tracks. She's so good at it now, I've run out of places to hide it! She gets disappointed if we just give it to her. She's a really good dog. We really got a good fit for our family when we picked her.

Ok, so what's next? Well, my daughter turned 12 on the 23rd of October. She got an ipod Nano. Originally, to celebrate, she wanted to wait and take some friends to see the new Twilight movie coming out in November, but she ended up deciding to have a sleepover on Halloween. It was fun. We stayed up and watched the movie Orphan. Notice I said, "we", like I was party of the party! Ha! Anyway, the movie was ok. It had a different ending than I would've guessed.

Here she is:

Isn't she cute? Poor thing just got braces put on today. I know her mouth is sore. It will be worth it to have perfect teeth, though.

The day after my daughter's birthday, was my birthday, October 24th. I had a very nice day. It was a Saturday, so we had 2 soccer games. It was my youngest's last game. (4 years old) The coach gave them all a medal, then individual awards. My baby got the award for scoring the most goals! He was so proud. We all were!

We went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants for dinner. It was delicious! I just love chile rellenos. I always get a combination plate of some sort, but chile rellenos has to be a part of it. I also had one shot of Patron. I love tequila, too. I want to make a basement bar decorated in a Mexican theme with lots of colors, maracas, sombreros and lots of different bottles of tequila. How fun would that be?! You would totally want to come hang out. Wouldn't you?

And, so I don't exclude my older son, his soccer team ended their season tied for first place! Not bad, not bad at all. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. I planned on taking some that day, but it started to rain, so I put my beloved camera back in the car. I'd hate for anything to happen to it. Also, I don't have one single picture of him in his Halloween costume. He went out with a friend, and I didn't know it until he was gone! (Dad said he could go)

And now, for the small food portion of the post: For the Halloween parties at school, I made pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing. I actually made some Halloween cut-out cookies with sprinkles the Wednesday before Halloween, for my youngest to take to school. I didn't take any pics, though. The muffin recipe can be found here. The cream cheese icing was NOT a hit for some of the fourth graders, I heard. They said it tasted weird. I think they're too used to the king of frosting that comes out of a can!! I know I've said it before, but I heart cream cheese icing. I thought the muffins were GREAT! I'd totally recommend the recipe. With or without the icing. Aren't the little skull and cross bones cute? I got them at Target.

Now, I'm getting ready for my trip to San Francisco. I leave Friday morning and come home Monday morning. I will have a lot to blog about, so stay tuned! Also, I have a really fun giveaway coming up! Don't miss it!

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes

2009-10-18T17:02:00.003-04:00

Yes! It's still Sunday and I'm ready to blog about this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe! I am on a roll, I tell ya. This week's recipe was chosen and posted by Debbie of Every Day Blessings of The Five Dees. What a perfect choice for October. I didn't have any trouble finding canned pumpkin, like some others did. This recipe was pretty easy and very delicious. The cookies really are like cakes-very soft and moist. The filling is a cream cheese frosting, which I love. It is supposed to be flavored with orange zest and vanilla, but I used maple extract and left out the orange zest. They remind me of pumpkin cookies I made last year that were topped with an orange glaze. The orange really works well with the pumpkin flavor. I was just in the mood for the maple. It is really good in the cream cheese icing, but it made the icing a little brown. I like these so much, they may sneak into the Christmas cookie rotation!

xoxo

Melissa

Happy Birthday, Cake in a Cup and Stuff

2009-10-17T00:00:00.004-04:00

UPDATE: We went to the pizza place and then afterwards, went to Cake in a Cup. When we pulled up to get our cupcakes, I said, "Wouldn't it be a tragedy if they were sold out?". Maybe it was a premonition, because when we walked in, the lady behind the counter said they had no cupcakes left. Sadly, we walked back to our car and were ready to leave when there was a knock on the window. It was one of the owners. The blonde one. (Dana, I think?) Anyway, she said, "Can I give you some cupcakes?" Of course we said yes, and she came back to our car with a dozen beautiful cupcakes.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo. It was taken with my Blackberry. I had a red velvet cupcake and it was amazing! The other 2 flavors we got were strawberry and tropical getaway. I had a taste of the strawberry icing and it was so good. D was very happy. We were all happy, actually. We are fans for life!! If you are ever in or near Toledo, Ohio, check them out.

original post:

So, I've been a very lazy blogger. I'm sorry for that. This week has been a very long, very busy week. My recovery from bronchitis has been very slow. I'm not really sure why. I'm usually very healthy. Anyway, I've been sort of lost in general, the last two weeks. October is a very busy month around here. Three out of the five of us have birthdays in October. I've been busy shopping, planning and baking. With the extra birthdays comes extra expenses, including car registrations. It's not nice to make you renew your car registrations on your birthday. I don't like having to pay $350 for my birthday, thankyouverymuch!

I've also been busy going to the doctor, the orthodontist and the dentist. My daughter had a tooth pulled yesterday and will be getting braces in a few weeks. I'm sort of excited about it. I will be happy for her to have perfect teeth. She doesn't really care right now, but I know she will one day. Everyone wants to have nice teeth, don't they?

Anyway, I've been working on a recipe to enter in the Pillsbury Bake-off contest for next year. I have a winner. I plan on making a couple adjustments, but this is one of the recipes I plan on entering. Nothing to lose and a million bucks to gain. My sister is the one who convinced me I should enter. I probably don't have much of a shot, but it's worth a try.

And now, on to the birthday. Today is my husband's birthday. This will be the 15th birthday I have been lucky enough to share with him. He is my Superman. He's my Prince Charming. He's my best friend. I am so thankful to have him in my life. Sometimes I think about when we met, and how long ago that was. We were so different, then. We have been through quite a lot in these last 15 years. We were really just babies back then. It's amazing to me how far we've come and how much in love we still are. We have grown together, but are still the same people. The qualities I fell in love with all those years ago, are still the things I love about him. He is a hard worker and very ambitious. He is always willing to help out a friend. My friends, too! (Aimee...., lol) He loves his family and thinks family is important. He does what he says he's going to do. I can count on him. He's a wonderful father and we agree on how our children should be raised. He is supportive of anything I want to do. He always listens to me. We still laugh together, every day. He sends me an email every morning and every night when we go to bed, he asks me if I want to snuggle. He appreciates me and everything I do. He always likes my cooking, too!! Of course, there have been good times and bad times, there always are. He works very long hours. We live an hour and 45 minutes from his work right now. He travels a lot, too. He always makes sure it's ok with me if he's going on a trip, though. (if he has a choice) The good, the bad and the ugly, I can't imagine my life with anyone else. He is my heart and I wouldn't change a thing. Happy birthday, handsome!

This is his almost birthday cake. I asked what he wanted to do for his birthday and he told me he wanted to go to this new pizza place and then Cake in a Cup, for a cupcake. Other years, I might have been upset that he didn't want me to cook or bake for his birthday. This year, I am okay with it. :o) I couldn't resist and made an almost birthday cake, though. It's a coconut-lime coffee cake. I will post the recipe later. For now, you just get a picture.

xoxo

Melissa

In Memory of Sheila Lukins

2009-10-05T19:46:00.007-04:00

Sheila Lukins

November 18, 1942-August 30, 2009

Maybe you know who she is already. Maybe you are just learning about her, like I am. Regardless, Sheila Lukins was the owner of the Silver Palate, a food shop on New York's Upper West Side. She co-wrote the Silver Palate cookbook with her business partner, Julee Rosso in 1979. It is one of the ten best selling cookbooks of all time. There are now four Sliver Palate cookbooks. I didn't know anything about Sheila Lukins until recently. A friend of mine suggested I do a post in her honor because she was a strong, independent woman. She started a catering business out of her apartment after she and her husband divorced. She had two small daughters, then.

When I was trying to decide what recipe of Sheila Lukins' to make, over and over again, I found Chicken Marbella. This is probably her most well known recipe. These are her notes, from the cookbook:

This was the first main-course dish to be offered at The Silver Palate, and the distinctive colors and flavors of the prunes, olives and capers have kept it a favorite for years. It's good hot or at room temperature. When prepared with small drumsticks and wings, it makes a delicious hors d'oeuvre. The overnight marinating is essential to the moistness of the finished product: The chicken keeps and even improves over several days of refrigeration; it travels well and makes excellent picnic fare. Since Chicken Marbella is such a spectacular party dish, we give quantities to serve 10 to 12, but the recipe can be divided to make smaller amounts if you wish.

I do want to make this recipe, but it will have to wait. Please leave me a comment if you have made Chicken marbella before, or want to make it with me. We can do it together! This time, I was in the mood to bake. I decided to look for Sheila Lukin's dessert recipes. I finally decided on Decadent Chocolate Cake. It wasn't a hard decision. I love chocolate cake!

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso

Ingredients: 1 cup boiling water 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate ½ cup sweet butter (1 stick) 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 cup granulated white sugar 2 eggs, separated 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 cup sour cream 2 cups less 2 Tbsp. unbleached, all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder

Method: Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 10-inch tube pan with no-stick spray, then flour. Knock out the excess flour and set aside. In a large heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the chocolate and butter. Let the mixture stand until melted. Stir in the vanilla and sugar, then whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, until blended. Mix the baking soda and the sour cream in a small bowl, and then whisk into the chocolate mixture. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a small bowl, and then add to the chocolate mixture, mixing thoroughly. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the batter. Scoop the remaining egg whites on top of the batter and gently fold them in until the batter is almost uniform in color. Pour the batter into the prepared tube pan. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the edges have pulled away from the pan and the cake tester inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; unmold and cool completely before frosting.

I couldn't leave well enough alone and added Heath Bits to my cake. Oh, and I also added salt. I always add salt to the things I bake. I decided to serve this cake with no icing or frosting, just some coffee ice cream. (my fave) I ate it when it was still warm and the ice cream got all melty. The cake is so moist and so light. The flavor was perfect, also. I will definitely make it again.

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Apple Orchard Almond Crumble

2009-10-04T19:21:00.004-04:00

SMS Apple Orchard Almond Crumble

This post is going to be short and sweet. I unfortunately have bronchitis, but I made this recipe earlier in the week and I wanted to post it! Thanks to Cristine of Cooking With Cristine, for choosing this week's recipe. It was a good one! You can find it on her blog. I used almonds instead of pecans and doubled the crumble. My 4 year old and I went to the Fruit Farm to pick our own apples. We had a great time and had some apple cider with doughnuts.

xoxo

Melissa

Beer Cheese Potato Soup

2009-09-29T18:31:00.004-04:00

I created this recipe when I had about 3/4 of a cabbage and thought maybe I could make some sort of cabbage soup. What? That makes no sense, you say? You're right, it doesn't. I was trying to use up the cabbage I had and couldn't think of anything but coleslaw and soup. It's fall now, and a nice bowl of hot soup sounded wonderful. I started thinking about what I had on hand, and eventually came to the conclusion that I did not want to eat cabbage soup. I wanted baked potato soup. I was looking through some recipes, when I remembered the beer cheese soup I like at a certain restaurant. I had made beer cheese soup before, but it wasn't really a hit. It seemed to be lacking something. I figured by combining the two soups, I could have the flavor of the beer cheese soup, with the texture of the potato soup. This combined soup was a hit! It's basically a beer cheese base with potatoes and bacon with green onions on top. I love the flavor of beer and cheese together and the aroma is so nice.

Beer Cheese Potato Soup

6 tablespoons butter
1 pound bacon, chopped, cooked and drained
1 large onion chopped
1/2 cup flour
about 30 oz chicken broth
1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (some type of ale works best)
2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups milk
1 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup grated parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
2 tablespoons hot sauce
freshly ground pepper to taste
chopped green onions for garnish

Melt the butter in a large stockpot or Dutch oven.
Add the onions and saute 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Add the flour and stir to coat, cooking the raw flour for a couple minutes.
Slowly add the chicken broth and beer, stirring well. (it works best if it is warmed)
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When the mixture has thickened slightly, add the potatoes and continue to simmer, approximately 12 minutes, until potatoes are cooked through.
Add milk, cheeses, herbs and spices. Stir constantly over low heat until cheese is smooth.
Add bacon and taste for seasoning.
Add pepper, and salt if necessary.

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Carmelized Onion, Sage and Cheese Muffins

2009-09-28T15:34:00.004-04:00

SMS Caramelized Onion, Sage and Cheese Muffins

Better late than never, right? Or is it, a day late and a dollar short? Whatever. In this case, I had a bit of an advantage making these muffins a day late. I got some tips from all of the other Sweet Melissa Sundays bakers who had made these muffins already. Some said the muffins were a bit bland. I added garlic and a touch of balsamic vinegar to my caramelized onions to give them more flavor. I do not love sage. I added the amount the recipe called for and it was enough for me. It's just a hint of flavor, but very aromatic. I think they are a lot like a biscuit. They have a nice texture and are not dry at all. I also added extra caramelized onions. I used a whole vidalia onion. The recipe calls for one cup of caramelized onions. I probably used 1 and 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of onions. The batter was very thick and my 12 muffin cups were piled high, but there was no overflow, they rose perfectly and were big and beautiful.

Thanks to Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen, for choosing this week's recipe. She has the recipe posted on her blog, if you'd like to make these muffins. (which you totally should) Hanaa and the other bakers, I apologize for being late. I will get around to commenting! I have been fighting a cold and the weekend just got away from me.

I really enjoyed this recipe. It's similar to the savory scones I made last week, but much lighter. Also, you can add any cheese/herb/veggie combo you want, to the muffin base. According to my daughter, they have great flavor. That's always a good thing. Check out the pics. Can you see the caramelized onion on top? Yummy!

xoxo

Melissa

Barefoot Bloggers Beatty's Chocolate Cake

2009-09-24T10:28:00.003-04:00

Beatty's Chocolate Cake Ina Garten

This is the second Barefoot Bloggers recipe for September, Beatty's Chocolate Cake. The two recipes that were chosen this month were both cake recipes. I made this one a few weeks ago, since my son said he wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday. Unlike some of the other bloggers, I had no trouble with this recipe at all. Some had the problem of their pans overflowing all over their ovens. I did not make the chocolate frosting that goes with the cake, though. My son requested a peanut butter cream cheese frosting. It was very similar to the recipe by Martha Stewart I posted here. The cake was very good. The only problem I have with the recipe is, there is too much sugar for me. It calls for 2 cups of sugar. Most other chocolate cake recipes do not have nearly that much sugar. There is more sugar than flour! I think next time I make it, I will start with one cup and after tasting, decide if I want to add more sugar or not. I will definitely bake this cake again, though. It was very moist and chocolatey. I actually thought I had over baked the cakes when I took them out of the oven, but they were perfectly tender. The texture was fantastic. There is hot coffee in the recipe as well as buttermilk. I think those are the key ingredients for the chocolatey taste and moist texture. As for the chocolate on top, I just melted chocolate, put it into a plastic bag, cut off the tip and decorated. I had made pretty swirls going around the top, but I had a lot of extra melted chocolate. The family vote was to let the chocolate drip down the sides. Nobody wanted to waste perfectly good chocolate! Thanks to Mary of Passionate Perseverance, for choosing this Ina Garten recipe. Happy birthday to her, as well! If you would like this recipe, Mary has posted it here.

xoxo

Melissa

Thai Peanut Sauce

2009-09-23T15:46:00.006-04:00

Is it Friday yet? We had such a busy weekend, that I was actually looking forward to Monday. That was, until I realized all of the games/practices/school events that we have every night this week. This is my daughter's last weekend of softball. I think I can make it. I do have a cold, though. It would be nice to rest. Oh well.....

This recipe was created for a friend of mine. She gets these Thai chicken wraps from work, and asked me to recreate them. I made the peanut sauce for the chicken on a Friday night when I was making pizza for dinner. I thought I'd try and see how the Thai chicken turned out on a pizza, so I used half of the chicken for the pizza and the other half for the wraps. I don't have any pics of the wraps because my husband made them for his lunch. It was chicken with the Thai peanut sauce, cilantro, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots and sliced red peppers in a whole wheat wrap. I have no idea if the wraps at her work are like this or not because I've never eaten one! This is my best guess. I hope Aimee likes it! I actually like getting requests. Sometimes I don't feel very creative.

Thai Chicken Pizza

The pizza is the Thai peanut sauce, chicken, red and yellow peppers, feta, mozzarella and cilantro on a whole wheat crust. I did not love this pizza, but my daughter did. I think the sauce/chicken would be better on pasta.

Thai Peanut Sauce

1/2 c peanut butter
2 T apricot preserves
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T hot sauce
2 T sesame oil
2 T lime juice
zest of one lime
2 T soy sauce
2 t fresh grated ginger
2 chopped garlic cloves
2 T brown sugar
1/4 c brewed tea
2 T fresh cilantro

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly except cilantro. Add cilantro at the end. Excuse the bad picture, please! I'm sorry for the large ingredients list, also. A lot of the time I just keep adding things to try and get the flavor I'm looking for. For example, the apricot preserves. I happen to have a jar, but if I didn't, I would probably just use extra brown sugar. I used hot sauce because of the vinegar and the tangy-ness and red pepper flakes for the heat.

xoxo

Melissa

Greek Meatloaf

2009-09-22T15:13:00.005-04:00

I was having drinks with some friends that I don't get to see very often, and we started talking about burgers. They had mentioned that they liked one of my other burger recipes, MC's Grizzly Burger. Then, because of the kalamata olives that are on this burger, we started talking about our love for Greek food, especially feta cheese. You know how one thing leads to another. Well, that night, we came up with a Greek burger recipe. I told them I would make the recipe and post it on here. When I went to the grocery store, I bought all of the ingredients I needed to make these burgers we had dreamed up. It was a dark and rainy day. I felt like having mashed potatoes instead. I decided I could still have my mashed potatoes if I made a Greek meatloaf instead of burgers, so this recipe was born.

Greek Meatloaf

1.5 lbs ground sirloin
1/2 onion chopped
1 egg
1 piece milk soaked bread torn into small bits (about 2-3 tbsp of milk)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tsp Greek seasoning
1 tbsp fresh mint or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz feta cheese
1/4 c kalamata olives chopped
1 c plain tomato sauce
2-3 lemons sliced

mix ground beef with onion, egg, bread, garlic, seasoning, mint, feta, olives and salt. This can be done ahead of time and left in the refrigerator until ready to bake
form a loaf out of meat mixture and place on a baking sheet or put in a loaf pan
cover top of meatloaf with tomato sauce
cover tomato sauce with lemon slices
bake at 350 degrees for around an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes or until internal temperature is 170 degrees

I wish I would have made some tzatziki sauce to go with it. I think that would have been perfect. Next time, for sure! The potatoes were good, also. Just some good old roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Rosemary Cheddar Scones

2009-09-20T13:44:00.008-04:00

SMS Rosemary Cheddar Scones

This week's SMS recipe was Robin's choice, of http://ladycraddocksbakery.blogspot.com/ . She chose Orange Scented Scones. I know scones are something people either like or don't really care for. I happen to really like them, but I prefer savory scones. There is a bakery/deli here that makes, these lovely savory scones. It's called Zingerman's. http://www.zingermansdeli.com/content/pages/home.php You may have heard of it. It was featured on Food Network before. I don't remember what the show was called, though.

It's been years since I've had one of these scones from Zingerman's, but I remember them to be flavored with rosemary and cheddar cheese. Right now, they're advertising bacon cheddar scones. I'm sure I'd be a big fan of those! I was excited to try and make these savory scones that I used to love so much. Especially after all of the sweets I've been making lately. I am very pleased to say that the recipe turned out very well. I LOVED them. I will make them again and I think you should try it too! I used rosemary in place of orange zest, left out the sugar and added 1/2 c of cheddar cheese. I cracked some fresh pepper on the tops before baking, also. Oh, the best part about the whole thing was that my kids actually did most of the work. They got out all of the ingredients, measured everything and added everything. My daughter used a pastry blender and mixed the dough by hand. I helped get the dough together and into a disk. She cut the wedges and brushed the tops with cream. My son measured the cheese and chopped the rosemary.

I have no idea why I've never tried to make any kind of scones before. I guess I never thought to make them or never really had an occasion. I can't wait to eat another one. There was something missing from my scones that made them a little different from Zingerman's. I'm pretty sure it's garlic powder. Next time, I will add some and I bet that will do the trick. If you'd like to try and make your own scones, you can find the basic recipe I used here: http://ladycraddocksbakery.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Robin for hosting this week's SMS. Great choice, Robin!

xoxo Melissa

Herbed Lemon Pasta

2009-09-16T16:04:00.005-04:00

Herbed Lemon Pasta

This was just something simple I made the other night. I am not happy with the way the pictures turned out, but the pasta was delicious. The chimichurri is in there, even though you can't see it. I added broccoli because I had it left over in the fridge and peas, because there wasn't enough broccoli. You could substitute pesto for chimichurri and any other veggies you like.

one pound of pasta
one head of broccoli florets
about a cup of peas
a cup of chimichurri (below)
the juice of one lemon
about 3/4 c of pasta water
olive oil
2 cloves chopped garlic
Shaved romano cheese

Cook pasta in salted water as directed. Drain, reserving about a cup of the water. Saute garlic in olive oil, about 2 tablespoons, in the same pot. Use more or less as you like. Add pasta into pot with garlic and olive oil. Add lemon juice and chimichurri. Add broccoli and peas. Top with shaved romano cheese.

Chimichurri Sauce

1 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup cilantro
1 cup fresh basil
3 T red wine vinegar
2 T chopped onions
2 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp honey
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in food processor. Blend until smooth. Add water if necessary.

xoxo

Melissa

Fun-do! Yes, It's Cheesy

2009-09-14T20:22:00.004-04:00

So, like I said before, it was my daughter's idea to use the SMS pound cake to dip into chocolate fondue. I couldn't just stop at chocolate....the name of my blog is cheese, wine and chocolate, afterall. I made a delicious cheese fondue, drank some wine, and made a chocolate fondue with peanuts. Perfection. It was a cheddar cheese fondue, made with Newcastle beer. We dipped veggies and pumpernickel bread. Yum! Oh, how I love my cheese.

The pound cake was delicious in the fondue. It held up very well and even being a day old, it was still moist. The chocolate fondue was just some chocolate, heavy cream, a little almond extract and peanuts.

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Perfect Poundcake

2009-09-13T20:46:00.004-04:00

I was pretty excited to try this recipe. My family really likes poundcake. There are a million different ways you can serve it. You could do strawberry shortcake, or plain with chocolate syrup, or lemon glaze, maple butter sauce, or even ice cream. My daughter suggested that we use it to dip in chocolate fondue. I thought it was a great idea, but we ran out of time. Maybe we can do it tomorrow. I did have a chance to make the cake and it tastes delicious. It is an easy recipe, as well. Thanks to Michele of http://www.veggienumnums.com/, for hosting and choosing this week's recipe. It was a wonderful choice. You can find the recipe on her blog, along with Melissa's comments.

xoxo

Melissa

Etsy

2009-09-11T09:27:00.012-04:00

Do you guys ever buy stuff on Etsy? I love that site. You can search for all kinds of handmade things, and usually find what you're looking for. Jewelry, baby blankets, clothes, Halloween costumes, art, bags, purses, the list goes on and on. It's like a craft show on your computer! Check it out! http://www.etsy.com/ They have TONS of personalized items and lots of sellers take custom orders. My best friend's mother, Judy sells her glass art/jewelry on there. Here is her site: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5214681 She only has a few items up right now because she spent all summer taking care of her grandchildren in a different state. Check back for more items soon! Actually, check out her blog, http://desertroseartglass.blogspot.com/, to see more of her work.

I have quite a few necklaces and some stained glass art that she made, very beautiful and great quality at reasonable prices! Maybe we can convince her to donate an item for a giveaway? Leave a comment if you think that's a good idea. Here are a couple of my favorite purchases from Judy:

This picture does not do the heart justice! It is so sparkly in the light.

The humming bird is made from recycled glass. I think it came from an old church in Chicago. how cool is that?

Anyway, I was looking for a camera bag. I want something that is cute, stylish and original. I want it to be made to hold a camera, but also, so that I can carry my phone, wallet, and maybe some lipgloss in there too. I don't want to have to carry a purse and a camera bag. I also want something that I can wear while shooting. I did some searches online and found tons of different options. Some were very functional, but not cute. Some were very cute, but not exactly what I had in mind and too expensive. I decided to check Etsy. It didn't take long to find exactly what I wanted, but didn't know existed! GypsyRosehandbags - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5173714 It took a while to decide which style and size bag I wanted, but soon I realized the bags I liked the best were all the same style, the Karrie. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_6&listing_id=30346283&ga_search_query=karrie&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5173714

I love the fabric in the picture, too. Fabric...., that was my next big decision. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I obsess about making a decision. I obsess over the little details. Shopping takes me forever because I want to make sure I've made the right choice, even at the grocery store! Sometimes I obsess over choosing a grocery store. Do I go to Whole Foods because I need this or that, but it's farther, or do I go to Kroger, which is super close and may or may not have what I need? Is it worth the risk? It's exhausting being me, I tell ya! So, getting on with the story, It took me all day do decide on a fabric. Judy, aka GypsyRose, has hundreds of choices! (yes, another Judy!) In the end, I took my daughter's advice and chose this fabric:

This led to a discussion of what color trim to choose. My daughter suggested red, knowing it's my favorite color. Red, while my favorite color, wasn't my favorite for the bag I have in mind. I decided to go with hot pink! The zebra is a little wild, I thought the hot pink would be a good compliment. Now, I was ready! I sent Judy my order and got a quick confirmation response from her. I ordered this as a birthday present for my husband to give me, (October-he doesn't mind, trust me) because I wanted it in time for my San Francisco trip. GypsyRose says it should take 10-15 business days to make a custom bag, and then, of course, there's shipping time. So, I figured I'd sit back and wait. Well, the next morning, I got an email from Judy. She said she was so excited to do this bag, she stayed up until midnight to finish it. She had wanted to do the zebra print with a bright color combination for a while. She wanted to make it right away, so she could see what it would look like. That's why I love Etsy. Creative, talented people, making things because they love to do it. I told Judy she is a ROCKSTAR!!! Don't you agree? As you can see, it turned out beautifully!

It's in the mail as we speak! I chose the largest Karrie bag. It will hold my camera and lenses, plus my laptop, wallet, keys, phone and probably some lip gloss. Oh, and maybe a pen or two. I'm so glad I can carry everything I need in a cute bag. Thank you so much Judy. (don't expect her to finish YOUR bag in one night, though!)

xoxo

Melissa

Barefoot Bloggers - Birthday Sheet Cake

2009-09-09T20:50:00.008-04:00

Barefoot Bloggers

Birthday Sheet Cake

Ina Garten

This is my first Barefoot Bloggers post! I joined a group where twice a month, an Ina Garten recipe is chosen and we all make it, then blog about it. This time, it was Susy, from Everyday Gourmet's turn to choose. She chose "Birthday Sheet Cake" for us to make. There were a lot of mixed reviews on the Food Network site about this recipe. The baking soda to flour ratio is incorrect and a lot of people didn't like the flavor of the cake. I adjusted the baking soda to 3/4 tsp. instead of the recipe's 1 tsp., because that was recommended. My cake was a little dry and dense anyway. I also added more salt because the batter tasted overly sweet, to me. If you would like this recipe, hop over to Susy's blog: http://www.marksusy.blogspot.com/. You can see how hers turned out!

xoxo

Melissa

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-09T11:04:00.005-04:00

Birthday Pics

xoxo Melissa

SMS Fallen Chocolate Souffle

2009-09-06T04:15:00.000-04:00

Fallen Chocolate Souffle

I'm not going to write a whole lot on this post. It's my son's birthday today and we're having a party! Yay! I'll blog about that sometime later this week. For now, thanks to Sarah of http://blueridgebaker.blogspot.com/, for chosing this week's recipe. If you would like to make this chocolate souffle, you can find the recipe on her blog. For reviews of this recipe and other ideas, please check out the rest of the Sweet Melissa Sundays bakers, here: http://sweetmelissasundays.wordpress.com/bakers/

xoxo

Melissa

Guacamole

2009-09-04T14:20:00.005-04:00

Guacamole

It's so good, so good, you see! So I will eat it in a box. And I will eat it with a fox. And I will eat it in a house. And I will eat it with a mouse. And I will eat it here and there. Say! I will eat it ANYWHERE!!!!

Melissa + guacamole = true love

I made this the other day. It's the simplest thing ever and so tasty. I love guacamole. I ate this for lunch-by itself! Here's what I do: Take one avocado, cut it in half and remove the pit. Then, with a knife score the avocado into pieces, vertically and horizontally. Take a spoon and scoop out all of the pre-cut pieces into a bowl. Add 1 clove crushed garlic, 1/2 small poblano pepper, diced, the juice of half a lime, about a tablespoon of cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. Then stir everything together. if you like it chunky, leave it alone. If you like is smoother, mash it with a fork.

xoxo

Melissa

Comment Moderation

2009-09-04T09:26:00.006-04:00

Hi everyone! It has been brought to my attention that it is not very easy to leave a comment here. Well, I aim to please, so I've fixed that. If you wanted to leave a comment before, and couldn't, give it a shot! You should have no problem, now. I only ask that you leave your name. I just like to know who's talking to me! This weekend is my son's 9th birthday. The funny thing is, for Sweet Melissa Sundays, the recipe this week is a fallen chocolate souffle. I also joined a group called the Barefoot Bloggers. Twice a month they make one of Ina Garten's recipes. It can be any of her recipes. The two chosen for this month are both cakes! I guess I know where I'm getting the recipe to make my son's birthday cake, this weekend. As for the fallen chocolate souffle, I have a friend who I think will appreciate testing it. I'm going to make that one today, although the blog post will be on Sunday. Come back to see how it turned out!

xoxo

Melissa

Foodbuzz Blogger Fesival!

2009-09-02T21:49:00.007-04:00

I'm going, are you? Please leave me a comment or email me if you are going to the First Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival. I hope someone I know will be there. I am registered, have my hotel reservation and flights booked. I can't wait!

Schedule of Events*

Friday 11/6/2009

Meets 5-7:00

Welcome! What better way to wind down your week and sneak in a few tasty bites pre-dinner than at the welcome cocktail reception? This is a great initial networking opportunity to make new friends and put faces to blogs before the weekend gets underway.

Eats 8-10:00

Street Food FareWhether it’s the Namu Korean Taco Truck or Kara’s Cupcakes Pink VW Cupcake Van, we’ll be bringing you the best of SF street food for dinner paired with local brews, vinos and specialty booze—got an idea for a Foodbuzz signature cocktail? Let us know and your name could be on the menu.

Saturday 11/7/2009

Food for Thought 9-12:00

Morning at the Farmer’s Market, Ferry PlazaRehash the night over Blue Bottle Coffee and Golden Gate Meat Co. breakfast sammies before we join passionate artisan producers like Cowgirl Creamery and local farmers as they discuss their craft. Roam the market on your way out and soak up the color and flavor of late harvest CA fruits & vegetables.

Adventures in Tasting 12:30-3:30

Afternoon Tasting PavilionBring your appetite. This is where our favorite producers, brands, wineries and chefs get to shine. They’ll share with you a taste, a sip, a recipe, or a secret. You’ll leave with a new perspective on everything from olive oil to chocolate; mixology tips to artisan bread making. Local wineries will offer tasting notes throughout the event (full disclosure: we don’t care if you don’t spit!). Anyone special you want to see there? Email us.

Feastings 6:30-10:00

Family Dinner & Food Blogger Awards—“A Pig, A Lamb, A Cow & A Mushroom”Imagine one, giant Foodbuzz Community Table with everyone! We've teamed up with the crew from Outstanding in the Field for an old-fashioned, family-style feast (think long tables and a lot of dish passing and sharing). Our only rule of thumb: if it's on the table, it's up for grabs. After dessert, we'll be honoring each other's incredible talent in blogging with the First-Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Awards. Mistress of Ceremonies Jenn Di Piazza will be helping to present the “golden forks.“

Sunday 11/8/2009

Goodbyes 9:30-11:30

Wind Down Brunch. We don’t want the weekend to end so soon! We will send everyone off with a great brunch before we set you loose to explore the city for the rest of the afternoon! *Programming will be added as the weekend develops; programming and times subject to change.

xoxo

Melissa

My Cupcake Weekend!

2009-08-31T20:28:00.004-04:00

This weekend we celebrated my sister's birthday, (on time) and also, my father-in-law's (very late). I wanted to make cupcakes for the occasions. My littlest son and I looked through Martha Stewart's Cupcake cook book for inspiration. We decided on peanut butter and jelly cupcakes and peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes. I don't know if he was the one in the mood for peanut butter or I. My guess would be, that it was me, trying to gently lead him to the cupcakes I felt like eating. I mean, baking. I decided to use whole wheat flour for both recipes. Just straight, not mixed with any white flour. This makes the cupcakes pretty dense, but hey, they're healthier, right?! Besides, I think the texture, especially in the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, really goes well with the flavors. Feel free to use white flour or half and half or whatever.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 c butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 1/3 c sugar
2/3 c creamy peanut butter-natural style
3 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c strawberry jelly or jam
creamy peanut butter frosting

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners (22). Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture; beat until just combined. Mix in sour cream.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden, about 22 minutes.
To finish, use an offset spatula to spread frosting over cupcakes, leaving a small well in the middle. Dollop about 1 tsp jelly into each well.

Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (I added the whole block)
1/3 c powdered sugar (I added extra because my peanut butter was very runny)
1/2 t salt
1 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 c heavy cream

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until pale and fluffy. Add salt and peanut butter, and beat to combine. Beat in vanilla.
In another bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk cream until medium-stiff peaks form. Fold cream into peanut-butter mixture.

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Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart

2/3 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
peanut butter filling

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Put butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Remove from heat, and let cool slightly.
Whisk sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.
Spoon 2 tablespoons chocolate batter into each lined cup, followed by 1 tablespoon peanut butter filling. Repeat with another tablespoon of batter, and top with 1 teaspoon of filling. Swirl top of cupcake batter and filling with a wooden skewer or toothpick.
Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until a cake tester in center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes.

Peanut Butter Filling

4 t (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c powdered sugar
3/4 c smooth peanut butter
1/4 salt
1/2 t vanilla

Stir together all ingredients until smooth. Use immediately.

xoxo

Melissa

SMS Fresh Peach (Cherry) Muffins

2009-08-30T18:29:00.006-04:00

Fresh Cherry Muffins

First of all, thanks to Jovann of http://thegivenschronicles.blogspot.com/, for choosing this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe. If you'd like this recipe, you'll find it on her blog. Well, I was really going to make these fresh peach muffins, even though I really don't care for peaches. At the last minute, I just ran out of time. I was already baking two kinds of cupcakes for two different family members and the thought of going to the store to buy one more thing, after I had already been twice that day, didn't appeal to me. I decided instead to use what I already had on hand, cherries. Instead of the lemon zest, I used lime, because I love the combination of cherry and lime. In the cookbook, there are several different fruit suggestions to add to this muffin recipe, instead of the peaches. It's basically a muffin base, to which you can anything you like. I also used whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar for the top. There were some comments from the other bakers about the muffins being dense and not peachy flavored enough. I have to agree, mine could have used a bit more cherry flavor. Mine were also dense, but that is usually the case when using whole wheat flour. Also, the muffins are not very sweet, which I happen to like. I think they make a very nice breakfast.

xoxo Melissa

Cheese Souffle or Souffle Au Fromage

2009-08-28T16:51:00.008-04:00

I actually made this a while ago and forgot to post about it. I had never made a souffle before and wanted to try. I used Julia Child's souffle recipe. I think it came out perfect, don't you think?

Souffle Au Fromage

Serves: 6 / Preparation time: 30 minutes / Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Room temperature butter (about 1 tablespoon), for greasing mold and collar
2 to 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups hot milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Grating of nutmeg
6 large egg yolks
7 large egg whites
5 ounces Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Arrange oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Butter a 6 or 8 cup souffle mold and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the bottom and sides.
Cut a length of parchment paper or foil long enough to wrap around the mold with a 2-inch overlap.
Fold the sheet in half lengthwise for a 6- to 8-inch band, and butter it well on one side.
To prepare the béchamel, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon to make a smooth paste.
Cook for about 2 minutes without allowing it to color.
Remove the pan from the heat, let it cool a moment, stirring, then pour in all of the hot milk at once, whisking rapidly to blend.
Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat, stirring and clearing the sides of the pan with the whisk.
Cook for 2 minutes, whisking, as the béchamel bubbles slowly and becomes as thick as mayonnaise.
Remove it from the heat and whisk in the salt, pepper, paprika and nutmeg.
One at a time, whisk in the egg yolks.
In a large, perfectly clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they're stiff.
Scoop one-quarter of the egg whites into the béchamel and whisk into the warm sauce to lighten it.
Then scrape about one-third of the lightened sauce back over the egg whites in the mixing bowl and sprinkle on a good handful of the grated Gruyere cheese.
Fold in the sauce and cheese by rapidly cutting down to the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then drawing the beaten whites up from the bottom and sides, and turning them over into the sauce blend.
When almost blended, fold in half of the rest of the sauce and Gruyere cheese, then the remaining sauce and cheese. Work rapidly, and do not over-blend.
Scrape the soufflé mixture into the mold. Smooth the top, wrap the parchment band, buttered side in, around the mold to form a tight collar, rising 3 or 4 inches above the top.
Fasten at the overlap with 2 straight pins. (The unbaked soufflé can stand at room temperature for about 30 to 45 minutes, away from drafts.)
When ready to bake, place the soufflé on the rack in the lower third of the preheated oven. Bake the soufflé for 45 minutes or more, until it has puffed about 2 inches into the collar and the top is nicely browned and slightly firm to the touch.
To check whether it is done, open the oven quickly and plunge a long skewer into the side of the puff; withdraw it and close the oven. If the skewer has moist bits of soufflé clinging to it, your soufflé will be creamy inside (and may not hold its height); serve now if you like it that way, or bake for a few more minutes. If the skewer is almost clean, the soufflé is more set and will maintain its puffiness better.
As soon as the soufflé has been removed from the oven, withdraw the pins and unwrap the collar. Immediately bring it to the table.
To serve, hold your serving fork and spoon back-to-back and plunge them into the crust to pull it apart. Spoon out portions that include some of the crusty sides and top, as well as the soft center.

xoxo

Melissa

Calling All Vegans!!

2009-08-26T10:31:00.005-04:00

I need some help. I have a basic understanding of what vegans eat/don't eat, but I need to know the things that aren't obvious. Such as, is there a good vegan substitute for milk, butter, eggs for baking? What about for cooking? Are there certain brands that are better than others? What about bread and pasta? Tips for eating vegan at restaurants. Where would animal products be hiding that I wouldn't necessarily think they would be? Is there any GOOD cheese substitute? If you have or know of a vegan recipe blog, would you please email it to me or put it in a comment? Thank you!

xoxo

Melissa

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

2009-08-26T10:25:00.002-04:00

And the winner of my first giveaway is..........

Comment number 3!!!

Cindy!

I will be sending your prize package out today or tomorrow!

Congratulations and thanks for entering!!!

My son chose the winning number, randomly, out of his cereal bowl.

xoxo

Melissa

Baked Cucumbers in Butter

2009-08-24T16:38:00.007-04:00

Have you ever eaten cooked cucumbers? Baked, roasted, fried? I never did, until last night. The idea, to me, just didn't sound very appealing. I imagined mushy, flavorless, hot cucumber rings. Gross! Well, let me tell you, I was wrong! According to Julia, you have to prepare the cucumbers first and then, you don't have the problem of a wet, soggy, flavorless cucumber. She is totally right. By tossing the cucumbers in a bowl with salt, sugar and vinegar for at least 30 minutes, you draw out the extra water and bitterness, without losing the cucumber flavor.

cucumbers tossed with salt, sugar and vinegar

I baked 3 cucumbers, and ate them all myself. I am going to make them all the time. In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Juila suggests possibilities such as parslied cucumbers, creamed cucumbers and cucumbers with cheese sauce. Next time, I will try the cheese sauce. This time, I wanted to do something simple. I wanted to taste the cucumbers, not mask the flavor in any way.

Concombres Au Beurre

1.5 T melted butter
3 cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, cut into strips and patted dry (after first being prepared as above for at least 30 minutes)
1 t dill
1 t chives
pepper
one garlic clove halved

toss the cucumbers in a baking dish with the butter, herbs, chives, garlic and pepper
set uncovered in a preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour, tossing 2-3 times

Try this one, really. It's very unusual, but very good. The cucumbers still have a crispness to them, and they still taste like cucumbers. They have a similar texture to a cooked summer squash or zucchini. I love the combination of dill and cucumbers, but you could also use basil or even parsley. It does take some time, but I can see adding this recipe to the Thanksgiving menu. Next time I will add more garlic, because I love it. ;-) I apologize for my pictures. I keep cooking at night when there's no natural light and the fluorescent light in my kitchen stinks!

xoxo Melissa

Giveaway

2009-08-23T17:19:00.002-04:00

Please keep leaving comments to be entered in the Bumble Bee Tuna giveaway. I will keep the comments open until Tuesday at midnight, then draw a winner! xoxo Melissa

SMS Mom's Banana Apple Bread

2009-08-23T17:05:00.002-04:00

Mom's Banana Apple Bread

Apples in banana bread??? What a great idea! This bread is so good and so moist. The trick is that the apples are caramelized. The only thing I would do differently is to leave out the cloves. I don't really care for cloves, but I thought I'd make the recipe as it was written. For the people who don't love bananas, I don't think the banana flavor is very strong at all. I think it just gives the bread a great consistency. Thanks to Joy of Hot Oven, Warm Heart, for chosing this weeks recipe. If you would like to make this bread (or use it for yummy muffins!), you can find the recipe on Joy's blog. http://hotovenwarmheart.wordpress.com/

xoxo Melissa

Bumble Bee Tuna Sundried Tomato Pasta and Giveaway!

2009-08-22T15:28:00.006-04:00

I was sent some tuna and wooden spoons from Bumble Bee Tuna and HouseParty.com, to throw a party, and test out some recipes. I have extra packets of tuna and wooden spoons that I would like to offer as a giveaway. To enter, leave a comment. It's that simple. I will draw a number and whoever's comment matches that number will win! I will also include some tuna recipes and a coupon. If you tell a friend, have them mention your name in the comment, and if I draw either of your numbers, you both will win! You can enter more than once, U.S. only, please. (sorry!)

Sundried Tomato Pasta

1 - 5 oz bowl Bumble Bee Sensations Sundried Tomato & Basil Seasoned Tuna Medley
4 oz dried spaghetti
1/2 pint (about 15) red and yellow cherry tomatoes halved
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

prepare spaghetti according to package directions
combine spaghetti with tuna
top with cherry tomatoes, parsley, olives and cheese

I added a bit of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon to mine, because that's how I roll.

xoxo

Melissa

Chipotle-Apricot Chicken Burritos (for Jimmy Sandbags)

2009-08-20T18:59:00.003-04:00

I was asked to write a recipe for burritos, and this is what I came up with. This is a chipotle-apricot burrito with black beans and veggie rice. I decided to make the rice and beans kid friendly. Also, full of veggies and protein so it can be eaten alone. This way, you can make one meal for the whole family and hopefully everyone will have something they like. The rice is made with roasted then pureed veggies, instead of water. This makes it colorful, and flavorful as well. I threw the black beans in for protein, but you could easily leave them out. You could add corn if you wanted, also.

Jimmy Sandbags' Chipotle-Apricot Chicken Burritos

1 lb shredded chicken
1 red pepper
1 package flour tortillas - burrito size
1 t cumin
1t coriander
2 T apricot all fruit (preserves)
1 chipotle in adobo chopped
1 T adobo sauce from can of chipotles
2 T tomato sauce
1 or 2 limes
fresh cilantro
1 c rice
1 can black beans
veggies for roasting-Whatever you have on hand. You will need to fill 1/2 of a 9x13 baking sheet with veggies chopped the same size. Such as: carrots, peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, or squash
olive oil
optional condiments: cheese, cilantro-lime sour cream, salsa

roast veggies-Chop all the same size, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, 1 t coriander and 1 t cumin. Spread out on 9x13 pan and roast for about 20 min. at 400 degrees.
when veggies are done, puree them, adding enough water to make 2 cups of liquid
cook the rice, using this veggie mixture, adding salt if needed
when rice is cooked, add black beans and cilantro
to make sauce for chicken, mix chipotle, adobo, apricot all fruit, tomato sauce, 2 T lime juice and 1/2 t salt
pour sauce over chicken, heating in a saucepan if necessary
slice red pepper and saute in olive oil until tender
assemble burritos by layering beans and rice, chicken, red peppers, cheese and cilantro- lime sour cream
fold burritos and enjoy!

veggie rice

shredded chicken with sauce

cilantro-lime sour cream

assembled burrito

I really like how this recipe turned out. The chicken is sweet and spicy, but not too hot. If eaten alone, it's spicy, but in the burrito, with the other ingredients, it's very mellow. My four year old ate it without any complaints. The cilantro-lime sour cream is a must! I know I said it was optional, but it's so, so good on here. Just add a little lime juice and zest and some cilantro to your sour cream. It's wonderful. D would really like this one. Maybe there will still be some leftover by the time he gets home! xoxo Melissa

Feta Bread and Bruschetta

2009-08-19T17:01:00.007-04:00

I'm back!! I went with my brother on a road trip to visit our grampa. It was us two adults and five kids. Let me just say, I'm glad to be home! Did anyone miss me?? I missed you all. I really missed cooking. I miss Lola. She's staying with my mother-in-law, probably having a great time. (I'll pick her up tomorrow) Who I really miss, though is my husband. I have spoken to him on the phone once in four days. We are able to email several times a day, but I just miss him. Only three more days without him though!

Here is the feta bread recipe I promised you and also the most delicious bruschetta I've ever eaten! We went and saw Julie and Julia again, while we were on our trip, and if you've seen it, you'll know why I had to make bruschetta. It's so, so good. Fresh picked roma tomatoes from my garden just made it that much tastier!

Feta Bread

1 pizza crust (dough)
1 stick of melted butter
2 cloves garlic chopped
dried parsley
3 c mozzarella cheese
4 oz feta cheese

preheat oven to 500 degrees
brush pizza dough with butter
par bake pizza crust for 3-4 minutes -try NOT to brown the crust
add garlic and 2 tsp dried parsley to melted butter
cover pizza crust with feta, then mozzarella
here's the good part-pour the rest of the butter all over the pizza dough-on top of the mozzarella
bake for 5-7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden

Feta bread is served at one of our favorite local restaurants. It's called Aubree's. I've tried to re-create the recipe several times before. This was the closest I've come. I think the butter is what makes it! I've never used nearly that much butter in making it before. Butter makes everything better, though, right?

Melissa's Bruschetta

Italian bread-I used 9 grain
roma tomatoes-less liquid and seeds!
fresh basil
good extra virgin olive oil
chives
1 clove garlic
vinegar-I used salad vinegar because I am out of balsamic
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese

heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a pan
brown bread in pan, on both sides, adding more oil when you flip it over
rub hot bread on both sides with the clove of garlic
chop tomatoes, chives and basil and place in a bowl
add about 1/2 T vinegar, a tiny bit of salt and pepper to taste, to the tomatoes
put tomato mixture on toasted bread slices
sprinkle with parmesan cheese

Try this one. Really, try it. It's so simple and fresh. It tastes like summer.

Coming up, I have a request for burritos, so I'm working on that. I have some surprises up my sleeve for this one, so be sure to check back for it. Also, I really want to make a souffle. I've never made one before and they are so elegant, I just want to make one. I have high hopes it will be beautiful. ;o) Any suggestions on what kind of souffle I should make? cheese? crab? bacon? some sort of combination? What sounds good to you? What flavor combination are you in the mood for? Okay, well, that's all for now. Au revoir.

xoxo

Melissa

Sweet Melissa Sundays Hazelnut Truffles (or almond truffles)

2009-08-16T11:56:00.004-04:00

Ahhh, truffles. My favorite, although I must admit, not my favorite to make. I have hot hands-not good for rolling truffles. I had a pan of ice water that I had to submerge my hands in every 3 truffles or so, to keep them from melting. Also, I left the chocolate in the fridge overnight, which made scooping impossible. I have no pictures of the process, because it was such a mess. Anyway, I think they turned out pretty good, although I could not find hazelnuts! I've bought them before, but this time, I couldn't find them anywhere! I probably could have found some at Whole Foods, but I didn't have the time to go over there. I ended up using almonds and almond extract, instead of the liquor. If you would like the recipe, please go to http://foodcarious.blogspot.com/, you can find it there.

xoxo

Melissa

Preview

2009-08-14T23:45:00.003-04:00

xoxo

Melissa

Feta Bread and Cheesecake Bars

2009-08-14T10:47:00.004-04:00

I'm still working on this recipe. It didn't turn out the way I had hoped. I will try again and hopefully it will be something I want to share. Last night's tasted ok, but it wasn't what I wanted and I didn't even take any pics. I did make some cheesecake bars. It's a recipe I borrowed from: http://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/ They turned out great! Much easier than making a cheesecake and still has all the flavor of a cheesecake. I will make these again with different toppings. Here is the recipe: http://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/2009/07/crumb-topped-blueberry-lemon-cheesecake.html

xoxo

Melissa

No recipe today...

2009-08-13T13:42:00.001-04:00

because I was busy doing this:

p.s. The winning recipe from the poll was feta bread. I will hopefully get that up tomorrow!

xoxo

Melissa

Cook Books and Crispy Rice

2009-08-12T12:19:00.013-04:00

Look at this old cookbook! One of these days, I'll share a recipe from inside. It's pretty funny. It was my great grandmother's cook book.

Just to clairify, I have never written a cook book. I have never had anything published. Sweet Melissa Sundays is a baking group. Every Sunday, we bake a recipe from the book "The Sweet Melissa Baking Book". Yes, my name is Melissa. This book is written by Melissa Murphy, chef and owner of Sweet Melissa Patisseries, in Brooklyn, New York, not me. http://www.sweetmelissapatisserie.com/main.html

Crispy Vanilla PB Squares by Maple N' Cornbread

I love anything chocolate and peanut butter. When I saw this recipe over at maplencornbread.blogspot.com, I knew I had to try it. When I

realized how simple it was, I knew I had to try it right away!

It really was simple, too. It only takes a few minutes.

The longest part being, melting the chocolate.

You can find the recipe here:

http://maplencornbread.blogspot.com/2009/07/crispy-peanut-butter-vanilla-squares.html

xoxo Melissa

I Love Ina and Her Goat Cheese Tart.

2009-08-11T05:08:00.000-04:00

I have wanted to make this recipe for a while, now. As soon as my friend Tracie raved about it, I was sold. It's a tomato goat cheese tart recipe by Ina Garten. How bad can that be? ;-)

Have you ever seen Ina's Chefography on The Food Network? Growing up, she wasn't even allowed in the kitchen. She used to be a White House nuclear policy analyst. Also, she's had no formal cooking training. Weird. I love the stories about people finding their passion at a young age. The people who are lucky enough to have always known what they wanted to do. Even more, I love the stories about people like Ina, (and Julia, for that matter), who don't realize their passion until they are older. It's very encouraging and reassuring to know that you can start over, no matter what your age may be. In high school, the questions start coming, maybe even earlier than that. Where do you want to go to school? What do you want to do? These questions sent me into a panic. I wanted to do a hundred things. How was I supposed to make a decision the rest of my life would be based upon? At the time, that's what it felt like. Now I know I can do whatever I want. I can change my mind. I can try different things. It will be ok. Anyway, I hope that this wasn't too boorrinngg! I'm not going to type out the recipe, just post the link, but I'll share some yummy pics!

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tomato-and-goat-cheese-tarts-recipe/index.html

Oh, and I will include the salad that is pictured here because it is so yummy. I mean, unbelievably yummy. The dressing rocks and the combination of the strawberries, feta and almonds is delicious! Here it is: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-and-Feta-Salad/Detail.aspx

On a side note, obviously if you've looked at the recipe already, I didn't cut my puff pastry into circles. Ina, I love you, but throw away the scraps??? Sure it would be prettier with a nice round crust to match the round tomato, but I wasn't about to throw away perfectly good puff pastry. I made mine triangles and only used one sheet of the dough. Also, I didn't have any white wine, so I used red. That's why my onions look so dark. It's not because they're burnt!

xoxo

Melissa

A Nice Weekend and Yes, I Play With my Food

2009-08-10T08:43:00.003-04:00

My New Friend

Our Dinner

D and My New Friend

This weekend, D and I had a chance to go out alone. We went out to dinner then met up with some friends for drinks. It was a lot of fun and the food was great. Then, on Sunday, my daughter and I went to see Julie and Julia. This is my favorite movie EVA! I LOVED it. I never say that, either. I don't like most movies. I don't even like The Notebook. Or Titanic. I love watching movies. We usually watch 2-3 a week. I just really dislike movies that are predictable or where everything seems to fall into place like a perfect puzzle. On the other hand, I love happy endings. I guess I'm hard to please. Anyway, this movie was so funny. Julia Child was so loveable and hilarious. Meryl Streep was amazing playing her! I want to watch it over and over. Am I gushing? Anyway, it was a good weekend. Hope yours was, too! xoxo Melissa

Sweet Melissa Sundays Snickerdoodles

2009-08-09T08:01:00.001-04:00

I got my cookbook! Amazon said it should be here on August 10th, but it came early, on the 7th. Spike the Baker, chose snickerdoodles for this week's recipe. If you want the recipe, you need to go here: http://spikebakes.blogspot.com/

I made my cookies a little bit different

than the recipe. I rolled the cookies

in turbinado sugar and cinnamon

instead of regular white sugar.

I like how they turned out. I think

refrigerating the dough is really

key in making this recipe. My

snickerdoodles came out light

crispy and chewy. The kind of

cookie you can sit and eat a whole

plateful and not think twice about it,

until it's too late-all of the cookies are

gone.

So, do yourself a favor and make these cookies.

I love that you need only 8 ingredients, and it's

likely that you already have everything on hand!

Again, you can find the recipe here:

http://spikebakes.blogspot.com/

Thanks to Spike, great choice. Here's to my first

SMS recipe being a success!

xoxo

Melissa

Sorry

2009-08-08T08:53:00.002-04:00

I've tried fixing the Noodles Romanoff post several times and it just keeps going back to the way it was. I'm sorry the recipe is so hard to read. What a pain! Hope you have a great day! xoxo Melissa

Beef Noodles Romanoff

2009-08-08T05:43:00.007-04:00

Ok, so I've never made noodles romanoff before. Actually, I never even heard of it until about a week ago. I was looking for recipe ideas to use what I already had in the house and found it. I decided that I would try it tonight. When I made my menu plan on Sunday, I made a grocery list that included all of the ingredients that I would need to make everything on my list, so I knew I had everything. So, usually, when I find a recipe online that I want to try, I bookmark it. Then, I set the laptop on the counter and start cooking. Well, tonight, when I went to look for the recipe, I couldn't find it. I Googled it and most recipes that I found called for tomato sauce, which I don't have today. Plus, I already went to the store today (for 2 things) and came out with five bags -not plastic bags either, five reusable totes! Anyway, I decided to just make up my own thing and use bits from all of the recipes that I saw, and added things that I like. I really liked how it turned out. It is really a comfort-y food. It reminds me a little of stroganoff. The kids liked it. They even ate the hidden veggies in it. D isn't home yet, but I'm sure he will like it. I will be pretty mad if he dumps a bottle of hot sauce on it, though. I'm just sayin'....

Beef Noodles Romanoff

1 package egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion
1/2 pepper
3 cloves garlic
seasoning salt
red pepper flakes
1/4 c ketchup
1 c sour cream
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 c cottage cheese
1 tsp djon mustard
handful fresh parsley
handful fresh chives
2 c cheddar cheese
10-15 cherry tomatoes quartered
salt and pepper

- brown ground beef , while cooking, add chopped onion, pepper and garlic

- sprinkle with seasoning salt and red pepper flake

- drain off any fat

- add ketchup to meat and reduce heat to low

- boil noodles in salted water according to directions

- in a bowl, combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard, parsley, chives, salt and pepper (I used a hand mixer to make it smooth)

- drain noodles when done and return to hot pot

- add meat mixture, then cheese mixture to noodles

- pour beef and noodles into a 9x13 casserole dish

- sprinkle with cheddar cheese

- cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes

- top with tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes

xoxo

Melissa

Polenta Lasagna, It's So Good!

2009-08-07T04:14:00.002-04:00

Do you ever buy spices from Penzey's? I have never been to a store, but I love to buy from the catalog. The catalog is cool in itself and always has great recipes. They also have gift boxes and you can choose which spices you want in them. http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html

D absolutely loved this polenta lasagna. The kids ate it, too. Spinach and all. The flavors work really well together. It does have a lot of steps, just like regular lasagna, but no boiling noodles. The bechamel sauce takes hardly any time at all and making your tomato sauce in big batches and freezing, saves even more time. If you make your own polenta, it takes a little time to get the firmness you need. I recommend buying the premade version or making this recipe when you have leftover polenta.

Polenta Lasagna

You will Need: -1 lb turkey sausage-remove casing if you have links (I added fennel seed to mine)

-1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed (really SQUEEZE the water out of this) -1 package premade polenta, cut into rounds, or make it yourself, let it set and cut it into squares (just because squares fit better)

-Your favorite tomato sauce homemade or jarred (I made my own with crushed tomatoes, wine, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, sugar, Penzey's Pasta sprinkle and fresh torn basil)

-1 c parmesan cheese, divided in half

- bechamel sauce

For bechamel sauce: -2 tablespoons unsalted butter

-2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

-1 cup plus 3 tablespoons milk

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

-1/2 c parmesan cheese Directions:

1. cook turkey sausage and drain off any fat

2. heat tomato sauce

3. add turkey to tomato sauce and keep over low heat 4. Make the bechamel sauce: In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat

5. add flour, and cook, stirring frequently, 5 to 6 minutes

6. meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring milk and salt to a boil

7. Slowly whisk milk into the flour mixture until completely incorporated and smooth

8. add nutmeg, and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes

9. remove from heat and add thawed, well drained spinach and 1/2 c parm

10. to assemble lasagna, layer tomato sauce, polenta and bechamel sauce, repeat

11. top with remaining parmesan cheese

12. bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes

Tip-it is not necessary to use all of the sauces. Use enough to cover each layer and keep the bechamel sauce thick. You don't want the lasagna to be runny. The pan I used was about 8x10.

xoxo

Melissa

The Next Food Network Star and Chocolate Banana-Zucchini Bread

2009-08-06T05:00:00.005-04:00

So, what did you think about the outcome of The Next Food Network Star? Did you want Melissa or Jeffrey to win? I was undecided until the last show. When they did their pilot episodes and Jeffrey's was called, "The Ingredient Smuggler", he kind of lost me. I mean, what if you're in an area where you can't get unusual ingredients? Also, I didn't think he described harissa well enough.

Melissa has improved so much throughout the season. I really love her little tips and tricks. Her personality has grown on me also. I'm looking forward to watching her show. Plus, I love her name. ;o)

Now, onto the recipe portion of the program. I was looking in my garden, wondering why I don't have any zucchini yet, when I lifted up the huge leaves and found a giant zucchini. I had no idea that guy was growing under there. I wish I would've put a ruler next to this guy so you can see how big he actually was. I think he was close to 18 inches long. The seeds inside were as big as pumpkin seeds. A zucchini this big is not great for eating, but not wanting to waste him, I decided to make zucchini bread. Actually, chocolate zucchini bread. Then, I remembered the old bananas I had and figured I should use them up as well. So, chocolate banana-zucchini bread was born.

Chocolate Banana-Zucchini Bread

2 1/4 c flour
1/2 c Hershey's cocoa
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 c vegetable oil
2 c sugar ( I used slightly less)
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 c shredded zucchini (I pureed mine because I was worried about the texture of my huge zucchini)
1 c mashed banana
1/2 c milk
1 c nuts for the top (I used almonds)

mix dry ingredients together
mix wet ingredients together
stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients
pour into prepared pan(s) and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees

I doubled the recipe, since I had so much zucchini to use up. I had enough for 2, 9x13 pans. You can always use loaf pans if you prefer. This recipe turned out great! It's moist and chocolatey with a mild banana flavor. You can add cinnamon if you like, but I don't like cinnamon in my chocolate.

xoxo Melissa

Gingerbread Pancakes

2009-08-05T06:31:00.000-04:00

I got this recipe from an old friend and it says it's from La Note Restaurant. I'm not really sure where she got the recipe, but I'm sure she didn't write it herself. Anyway, it's really good. The pancakes are light and fluffy, flavorful, but not too sweet. The lemon juice, salt and coffee really help balance the flavors. It reminds me of Christmas. Heeeyy, it's Christmas in July! Except, it's August, now. Anyway.....it's a lot of work for a weekday, (especially for me), but a perfect weekend breakfast served with bacon or sausage. Next time I am going to use the batter for waffles. Yum!

Gingerbread Pancakes

-3 c flour

- 1 c packed dark brown sugar- 1 T baking powder

- 1.5 t baking soda

- 1 t salt

- 1 t cinnamon

- 1 t ground ginger

- 1/4 t nutmeg

- 1/8 t cloves

- 1/2 c water

- 1/2 c brewed coffee

- 4 large eggs

- 1 stick melted butter cooloed

- 1/4 c lemon juice

- vegetable oil for brishing griddle

1. whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a bowl

2. whisk together water, coffee, eggs, lemon juice and butter in another bowl

3. add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until just combined

4. let stand 15 minutes

5. brush griddle with oil and heat over medium heat until hot, but not smoking

6. working in batches of 3 or 4, pour 1/4 c batter per pancake onto hot griddle

7. cook until bubbles appear on surface and egdes are lightly browned then flip

8. cook 1-2 more minutes

9. serve with maple syrup

xoxo

Melissa

Chimichurri For Breakfast

2009-08-04T11:23:00.004-04:00

I told you I was going to eat the leftover chimichurri on my eggs!

1 toasted mini bagel

1 piece turkey

1 fried egg

shaved parm

chimichurri sauce

It was soooo good, too!

Have a great day!

xoxo

Melissa

Beef Kabobs with Chimichurri and Mama's Got a New Bag

2009-08-04T06:54:00.002-04:00

It's been a pretty good day. I figured out how to put some new stuff on here. This was a big accomplishment. I have been trying for days with no success. I am NOT very good with computers. I'm not like a grandma or anything, but I do not know as much as I'd like.

Then, I actually made a menu for the week. This is something I always want to do, but never want to take the time. I made a grocery list, based on the menu for the week and came out of the store for right around $100. Woo hoo!!! I may have turned over a new leaf.

I had a great suprise in the mail. A $200 rebate from Sprint! I put that money to good use, I bought myself a new bag. It's this one: http://www.kathyvanzeeland.com/shop/item.aspx?style=H42020, except it's in the color cork. I love it.

Oh, one more important thing before I move on to the recipe for today! I have joined the group Sweet Melissa Sundays. http://sweetmelissasundays.wordpress.com/ The host for the week chooses a recipe from the cookbook and then we all try it out and post about it on Sunday. Hopefully, I will start this Sunday with my first Sweet Melissa recipe! I'm so excited!

Ok, now for the food part!

Have you ever tried chimichurri sauce? I LOVE the stuff. I could eat it with a spoon. It is excellent on and kind of meat, especially grilled. I've seen many different recipes, but this is how I like to make mine. I'm sooo using the leftover chimichurri on my eggs tomorrow! This recipe was a hit. I haven't made any sort of kabobs in a long time. The kids even loved it. I served them with couscous cooked in beef broth.

Beef Kabobs with Chimichurri

-1 pound steak (I used round steak)

-3 large green, orange, red, or yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 1/4-inch pieces

- cherry tomatoes (about 10)

- about 10 wooden or metal skewers (if using wood, soak in water 30 minutes before using)

for marinade:

-1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt

-1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

-1 tablespoon Red wine

-2 teaspoons dijon-style mustard -1 teaspoon honey

- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley

- 2 Tbsp fresh basil

-1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. mix together all ingredients for marinade

2. marinade meat, overnight is best

3. cut meat into 1 1/4 inch pieces 4. skewer meat, peppers and tomatoes

5. grill until meat is done to your liking

Chimichurri Sauce (my favorite!!)

- 1 cup fresh parsley - 1 cup fresh basil

- 3 T red wine vinegar

- 2 T chopped onions

- 2 T lemon juice

-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

- 4 cloves of garlic

- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

- 2 tsp honey

- salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in food processor.

Blend until smooth. Add water if necessary.

xoxo

Melissa

My Sweet Hubby

2009-08-03T20:56:00.003-04:00

D sent me this pic while he was gone last week. He saw this place and thought of me. Too bad he didn't come home with any chocolate for me!!

Star Wars FAN!

2009-08-03T20:53:00.004-04:00

This was taken with my crackberry, so the quality isn't very good, aaannnddd, I was driving, but I had to take a pic of this car. He has Star Wars seat covers and a whole collection of Star Wars bobble heads in his back window. He is one biiigg Star Wars fan.

Black Bean and Chorizo Pizza

2009-08-03T09:24:00.004-04:00

I love to use whatever I have on hand, in the fridge, pantry and freezer, to create something new. Sometimes it turns out great, other times, just okay. That's the way it goes! Part of the reason I like to do this is, that I'm happy to not have to run to the store for that missing ingredient. The other part is the challenge. That is how I started making my own creations. When D and I were first married, I didn't make anything that didn't come out of a box or without a recipe. I remember calling my mom asking how to make this or that and needing exact instructions. Ahhh, the good old days, when I was young! Ha!

Anyway, this recipe was created when we all came home late after a softball game and were starving. I didn't plan anything ahead of time (as usual), so it had to be something quick.

Black Bean and Chorizo Pizza

- 1 pizza crust of your choice

- 1 cup salsa

- 1 can black beans

- 1/2 package veggie chorizo (or the real thing!)

- 1/2 red pepper diced

- 2 cups monterey jack cheese

- 1 cup cheddar cheese

add more cheese if it doesn't seem like enough

optional garnish:

-sour cream

-hot sauce

- green onion

- cilantro

1. cook chorizo until mostly done in a large saute pan

2. add red pepper and beans and saute until chorizo is fully cooked - drain if using real chorizo

3. roll out crust onto pizza stone

4. pre-bake crust according to directions

5. spread salsa over crust

6. spread chorizo/bean mixture over crust

7. sprinkle with cheese

8. bake pizza according to directions on crust

9. garnish with sour cream, hot sauce, green onions, cilantro or any combination you like

xoxo Melissa

Copy Cat Cherry Pie

2009-08-02T06:56:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine (actually, two different friends), recently introduced me to a cooking blog, http://smittenkitchen.com/. The first time I went there, I saw a recipe I knew I had to try. It's called Sour Cherry Slab Pie. It was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, by Deb at Smitten Kitchen dot com. I had all of these cherries in the fridge and a pre-made pie crust. (I know, I know-but it's good when you're in a pinch) Also, I used Bing cherries and only used 1/2 a cup of sugar, since I didn't use sour cherries. I guess you could call it a free form cherry pie. Doing it this way was fast and it tastes great! Cherries are so cheap right now-try it! This is the recipe I used: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/sour-cherry-slab-pie/#more-4130 xoxo Melissa

Avgolemono For Mamaw

2009-08-01T07:42:00.009-04:00

Aunt Shorty, Gigia, Mamaw (Teeny), and Aunt Ethel This post is dedicated to my Mamaw. She was teeny, fiesty and Greek. I miss her so much. There has never been anyone else like her in my life. She and I always had a lot in common. Food and makeup being #1 and #2. She used to call me Missy Pooh, or Miss America. She taught my mother, my brother, me and my daughter how to make Greek spaghetti, a family fave. After she passed away, my brother, sister and I decided to have Greek night once a month to celebrate her. We haven't been able to get together every month, but tonight, my brother and I were able to get together and share this soup. I know she would have loved it.

Avogolemono

-8 c chicken broth (homemade if you can)

- 3/4 c orzo

- 3 cooked chicken breasts, chopped

- juice of 3 lemons plus more for garnish (this is very lemony, use 2 lemons if you don't love lemons, like I do)

- 3 eggs

optional:

- fresh dill or parsley for garnish (I prefer dill, but my dill died. I used some dried dill for flavor, but parsley for the picture)

- shaved parmigiano reggiano for garnish

1. Place stock in a large pot and heat to boiling

2. add orzo and cook for 8-10 minutes

3. turn heat to low and add chicken

4. place eggs in blender and blend

5. add juice of 3 lemons and blend again

6. with blender running, drizzle in 2 c of the hot broth

7. pour contents of blender into the pot

8. cook briefly until soup has thickened (do not boil)

9. taste soup and add salt/pepper/lemon as needed

10. serve with shaved parm and fresh herbs and/or a slice of lemon

Enjoy!

Love you Mamaw!

xoxo

Melissa

Friday Five

2009-07-31T19:26:00.008-04:00

For Alisa ;o)

Buffalo Chicken Cutlets

2009-07-30T14:50:00.008-04:00

This recipe came about

because of my love for these:

I love hot wings and Frank's Red Hot sauce. This chicken

did not turn out spicy, so don't be afraid to try it out, if

you are not a fan of spicy food. Snyder's also makes cheddar and

honey mustard pretzel pieces you could use as well.

Buffalo Chicken Cutlets

1.5 lbs. chicken cutlets (about 8)

1/2 c flour

1 Tbsp Frank's Red Hot sauce

1 egg

1 c crushed hot buffalo wings pretzel pieces

-salt and pepper

-4 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil

optional:

- blue cheese dressing

- celery

1. combine 1/2 c flour with a pinch of salt in pepper in a shallow bowl

2. whisk egg with a splash of water and 1 Tbsp. of hot sauce in another shallow bowl

3. add crushed pretzel pieces to a third shallow bowl

4. One at a time, dredge cutlets into flour, shaking off excess

5. Next, dip chicken into egg mixture, letting excess drip off

6. place cutlets into crushed pretzels, patting them on

7. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add 2 Tbsb. of oil and cook four of the chicken cutlets, about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and chicken is no longer pink

8. repeat with remaining 4 cutlets

9. serve with a side of blue cheese dressing and celery

xoxo

Melissa

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-29T22:28:00.005-04:00

xoxo Melissa

MC's Grizzly Burger

2009-07-28T20:35:00.013-04:00

This burger is so good! You really have to be careful of the salt, though. Between the olives, bacon and Vermont white cheddar, it can get pretty salty.

MC's Grizzly Burger

- 1 large yellow onion sliced

- 1 c. kalamata olives chopped

- 1 lb. ground round or any ground beef of your choice

- 1 tsp. dried parsley

- 1 Tbsp. worchteshire

- 4 slices Vermont white cheddar cheese

- 1 bottle of flavorful beer

- 4 crusty rolls

- 8 slices cooked bacon

- pepper

- extra virgin olive oil (1Tbsp.)

1. Mix beef with worchteshire, parsley and a little pepper and form into 4 equal patties. Refrigerate until ready to cook.

2. Saute onions in olive oil for 5 minutes. You can cut back on the oil a bit if using a non stick pan.

3. Add 1 c. of beer to the onions. Cook until beer has cooked away. Remove from pan.

4. In the same pan, add burger patties. Brown on both sides on med-high heat. Do not cook through.

5. When burgers have browned on both sides, add 1/2 c. of beer. Continue cooking until beer is gone.

6. Add olives and onions to the pan.

7. Cover each burger with cheese, take pan off heat and cover with lid.

8. Put each burger on toasted, buttered roll and top with bacon, olives and onions.

xoxo

Melissa

A Few Pics From the Zoo

2009-07-27T18:11:00.022-04:00

Souvenirs from the zoo.

A cute stuffed lion for

little C and fudge for me.

Did I really need to buy

the fudge? YES! There

were no samples out, like

they usually have. Chocolate fudge,

tiger striped fudge and caramel fudge.

I guess I didn't need to buy three

kinds..... :-D

I'm pooped, but I wanted to post some pics from the zoo. Aren't these some gorgeous animals? I love the tiger and zebra.

The three monkeys are cute, too.

These are tomatoes from my garden.

Aren't they beautiful?

and, this is a preview of tomorrow's recipe.......

xoxo

Melissa

Salmon For Two and American Idol

2009-07-26T13:45:00.019-04:00

It's Sunday. My house is a mess. D is in Washington for the week. I should use this time to clean and get myself organized, but I don't feel like it. I really feel like taking a nap. Outside it's getting darker. It's supposed to storm this afternoon. Great weather for a nap. Maybe later...

I put on a new dress this morning. I took D to the airport and went grocery shopping. I came home and cleaned out the refrigerator, ate lunch, put some things away and called Ticketmaster. Then, I sat down at the computer and saw something near my armpit out of the corner of my eye. It was a tag on my new dress. I thought I took it off, but I was without coffee this morning. My memory is a little fuzzy. Good times...

This is the dress, by the way.

only $15 at old Navy - cute and comfortable!

So, why was I calling Ticketmaster? Well, for tickets, of course! Ha! (don't worry, I realize it's not funny) I was trying to buy tickets online for American Idol, but after putting all of my information in three times and nothing happening, I decided to just call. I'm glad I di because I got better seats than they offered me on the computer. I am taking my daughter and her friend to the concert.

Yes, I love American Idol. It's not something that I'm proud of, but I can admit it. I am looking forward to the concert. It should be a lot of fun! I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom. :op(remember Amy Poehler in Mean Girls? love her!!)

So, with D gone, the kids and I have big plans for this week.

- Monday, we're going to the zoo.

- Tuesday, Lola is getting spayed. (our 6 month old golden retriever)

- Wednesday, some friends are coming over.

- Thursday, I'd like to go to Ikea. - Friday, we're going to see a movie.

It's very different when D is gone. I really don't cook much and I like to stay busy. I also stay up waaaay too late. When he's here, I can email, text and call him all day. When he's on a trip, we usually only talk at night and only for a few minutes at a time. I will miss him, but at least it's only a week. Anyway, this is a recipe I made for him, because he likes salmon. Salmon is probably my least favorite fish.

Salmon For Two with Roasted Vegetables and Cheddar Jalepeno Cornbread

for cornbread:

- 1 c. flour

- 3/4 c. cornmeal

- 3 Tbsp. sugar

- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/4 c. melted butter

- 2 eggs

- 1 c. milk

- 1c. cheddar cheese - 1/2 c. chopped jalepenos

mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl

combine butter, beaten eggs, milk, cheddar cheese and jalepenos in another bowl

add wet ingredients to dry ingredients

pour batter into greased pan

bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

for salmon:

- 1 pound salmon

- 1/4 red pepper

- 1/4 green pepper

- 1/4 onion

- 4-5 grape tomatoes halved

- 1 clove garlic

- 1 lemon

- extra virgin olive oil

- salt and pepper

- few sprigs of fresh cilantro (or flat leaf parsley if you prefer)

dice all veggies and put into a bowl (and halved tomatoes)

add chopped or crushed garlic

pour 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil and a squeeze of lemon over veggies and sprinkle with salt and pepper

rub salmon with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper

pile veggie mixture in the center of a small roasting pan

place salmon on top of veggies skin side up

squeeze more lemon over fish

Roast at 4oo degrees for around 20 minutes

add torn fresh cilantro when plating (or parsley) Serve with lemon slices or wedges

Enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This is a picture of my handsome hubby, since he hates the other one I have on here. Love u, D. xoxo

Melissa