Ugh......

I'm home alone for the next 3 days. Findlay has a flood warning and there is nothing I can do but sit here and wait and watch and worry!!! I've driven around town two times already to see how high the water is getting and then I come home, look out the window and pace. I have projects that I wanted to get done before Matt and Bailey get home but I can't concentrate on anything. I was invited to a prime rib and king crab leg dinner tonight for Gretchen's birthday but I'm worried if I leave I won't be able to get back to my house so I'm probably going to skip that. I don't like this feeling at all!! I'm throwing myself a pitty party tonight if anyone would like to join me! :(

Blue Buffalo Chicken Dip

Buffalo chicken dip is a huge success at any get together I've been to but it is in NO way healthy. I threw some stuff together last night and came up with a super healthy yummy buffalo chicken dip.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts cooked and chopped
1 small 5.3oz container of Plain Greek Yogurt (fat free)
1/4 C Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce (add more if needed)
1/4 C Blue Cheese chunks
salt and pepper to taste

Mix, heat up and serve with tortilla chips!!!

Florida Fresca

We made a stop at Harvey's Orchard to pick up some oranges and grapefruit! My mother-in-law introduced me to this drink when we were in Florida last year.

Ingredients:

Equal amounts of:

Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

Tonic or seltzer water

Good vodka

and a splash of grenadine

Serve over ice!

Oyster overload!

Down the street and around the corner from our cousin's house is a fresh seafood market called Claytons! The first day we were there we stocked up on fresh seafood. Oysters, crab legs, sea scallops, grouper, flounder and rock shrimp. Nick manned the grill and we had a seafood fest! This was my first time having fresh steamed oysters. I've had them fried and raw but never steamed. We had melted butter, fresh lemon wedges, spicy cocktail sauce and Crystal's hot sauce as condiments. They were outstanding! We even had more to take with us on the boat trip Sunday and went through 1 1/2 boxes full of fresh oysters!

I can't wait to have more!

Grills Restaurant and Tiki Bar in Florida

This restaurant is great! Right on the water, simple seafood and delicious drinks!

The Hurricane:

The first time I had a hurricane was in New Orleans when we went for Mardi Gras! It's a good, sweet, and dangerous drink! When we were told it was their specialty we had to have one or two or.......

Appetizers:

We were hoping to have their rock shrimp but we brought too much warm weather with us and they only serve fresh seafood so the rock shrimp were out of season. We settled on cheese stuffed shrimp poppers, spicy tuna sushi roll and pepper seared ahi tuna!

Dinner:

After having a seaweed salad I ordered the appetizer portion of bacon wrapped scallops w/ a nice spicy sauce to dip them in. They were SO good!

(Not sure the picture turned out so good though! Oh well!)

Blackened Mahi Philly steak! Soft sub bun, melted cheese, blackened Mahi, sauteed onions, peppers and mushrooms. What's not to like?!?!?

Blackened Mahi Ruben! This is my new favorite sandwich....EVER!!! Grilled rye bread, melted cheese, blackened Mahi, sauerkraut and 1000 island dressing! Perfection!

Great restaurant! I will be back!

FINALLY home

After the day from hell that I just had there was only one thing that would make me feel better. Yep....a big bowl if rice noodles, spicy miso broth and veggies. Perfect!!!!

P.S. I made this again today for lunch. It is so easy and so delicious.

3 C water

2 T miso paste

Dash each of sesame oil, crushed red pepper and hot chili oil

1 star anise

2 T soy sauce

Chopped up veggies. I used cabbage, baby bok choy, edamame, green onion, mushrooms and yellow bell pepper.

Mix all together in a sauce pan, let simmer for 5-10 min., reduce heat to low and add 1 serving worth of rice noodles. Let noodles soften in the broth for about 10 min. Sample broth for seasoning. Add more miso paste or soy if you want more salty taste. Remove star anise and serve!

One thing I learned today.......

SONIC IS DISGUISTING!!!!

Roadside snack...

Boiled peanuts and gator and wild boar jerky! YUM!!!!

Kumquat

Picked fresh from the tree in Melissa's back yard. Bailey loves them!

Lump Crab Omelet

I had one of these about 9 years ago and finally again today! Delicious!!!

ON VACATION!!!!

For the next 5 days I will be in Florida! I will be soaking up as many cancer causing rays of sun as possible (with an SPF of at least 30 of course) and enjoying the 80 degree weather. I will be eating as much fresh seafood as possible. All of my post will come from my phone. I hope to get lots of food inspiration on this trip along with lots of freckles!!!! I will enter back into the real world at about 12:30 on Monday Feb. 21st! See you then!!!!!

I love her!!!

Bailey Elizabeth, my 5 1/2 year old daughter, is slowly and surely turning into a tiny mini-me-foodie! She is very adventurous when it comes to food. She will try just about anything if I talk it up and tell her that it is delicious. She loves to help me in the kitchen. Although I think she is careful, letting her use a knife kind of freaks me out. I found a "lettuce knife" at TJ Maxx for her. I got her her own cutting boards at Ikea and she is in Sous Chef heaven!

She really enjoys baking sweets! I do not like to bake at all. There are three reasons I don't like it.

#1 I don't like to measure.

#2 I don't like to follow recipes.

#3 I don't like to have sweets in the house because I would rather waste calories on savory seconds than dinner and dessert. I'm just not a big dessert fan!

Every once in a while I give in and do a little baking with her. It only happens a couple times a year. This was for Valentine's Day and she actually found the recipe online on NickJr.com, printed it herself, brought it to me and asked me if we could please make these for her classmates. I just couldn't resist! I could have copped out at bought a box mix, added egg and water and baked it but I didn't. I followed her recipe (after she got back online, found it and reprinted it because I lost it somehow...oops). We had fun and they actually tasted good and looked super cute!

I look forward to many, many years of fun in my kitchen with this little lady!!!

Spring Rolls

There is a really good Thai restaurant in Findlay called Jack and Jin's! The atmosphere is pretty poor but they make up for it with the food. One of my favorite things there are the spring rolls. The are light, healthy and delicious! After a couple tries on my own and watching my brother make them on Christmas Eve I was successful this time. And....Matt even liked them (or at least he said he did).

INGREDIENTS

Rice paper

Romaine lettuce chopped

Cilantro

Bean Sprouts

Cucumbers cut into sticks

Red pepper sliced thin

Rice sticks or noodles cooked

Chicken breast meat shredded & seasoned with soy sauce

Shitake mushrooms sliced thin

1. Use a cookie sheet coated with a small amount of sesame oil to roll on.

2. Fill a large shallow bowl with warm water. Place rice paper in the water one at a time until they soften.

3. Gently spread the rice paper out on the cookie sheet and layer the fillings up in the middle and roll up folding the sides in first, bottom up and roll to the top. Repeat as many times as you wish.

4. Cut the rolls in half and serve with dipping sauce.

I used the sweet chili sauce as a dip. I also served this with an Udon noodle and vegetable stir fry.

Enjoy!!!!

My food discoveries this week!!!

I was trying to diet this and last week. I'm not very good at that. But I must say I did give it a good shot. I thought that eating soup would work. Not really!! I need meat and carbs (noodles mostly) and anything else that I see that looks delicious. Anyways.....while trying to eat good I made a few discoveries.



This is all that you need to make a delicious soup broth. It is Miso Paste. This was one of the ingredients that I needed to make Miso soup. I spent 1/2 hour making a special broth, Dashi, that was required for authentic Miso soup. Once that was gone I wanted more so instead of going through all of the steps I dissolved about 3 T of this in 2 C of water and viola.....perfect miso soup broth. Add in any noodle, veggie, meat, fish or tofu desired and you are all set!!!




This is my new favorite condiment. I picked it up at the Japanese market to use as a dipping sauce for spring rolls that I made earlier last week. It is so good! I've used in in sauces on noodles, stir fry and salad dressing. It has a nice sweet flavor with a little bit of spice. YUM!!!!







Dark Chocolate should always be made with "a touch of sea salt"!

I CAN bake.....but I still don't like it!!!

and most importantly of all.............

.....I don't know how I lived almost 33 years without these!

All in all it's been a very educational week. Now if I could just find some time to type of some of my recipes for this week I would be all set!!!!

I am a horrible crash dieter!

I give up! 3 dayz to go....it's a lost cause!

So excited.....

I have been wanting new knives for a long time now. My brother is a chef and has been pushing for me to get one knife in particular. He said if I'm going to spend money on a good knife that I had to buy a Wusthof Classic Santoku 7". So I shopped around for this knife. IT WAS $149.00. That's crazy! For one knife?!? Over the past couple months I would find some sales on knives and call him to see what he thought. No matter how good the deal he told me NO everytime. He even called me when he was out shopping once to tell me that he found that knife on sale for $100.00.....still too much for me.

For the past week I've been watching an auction on Ebay for THE knife that came with a wooden cutting board. Retail price is $199.00.

I WON!!!! I got the combo for $66.00. Shipping was $12.50 so my total was $78.50. That is 61% off! Quite a deal! I even bought a sharpener to go with it. I can't wait for my new toys to arrive.


Here is a picture of my new knife>>>>>>>>>>







and here is a picture of the cool sharpener>>>>>>>>>








Watch out fingers! You are in real danger now!!!!

Why?!?!?

Why is it that I woke up so early this morning? It's Saturday.....I should be sleeping until at least 9! Nope, I was up at 6:30. And what was going through my mind? Food of course! What should I cook today for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Why did I agree to baking for Bailey's class Valentines Day party? I hate baking!! Oh well....might as well get up!!! Bring on the coffee!!!

OMG....I'm officially in food heaven!

I grabbed these at the market because they were low in fat! I can't even explain how good they are. Steam for 15 min. and bite into a pillow of awesomeness!!! I could eat the whole bag right now!!!

Tea Egg - Japanese Snack

I went to the new Japanese market that I found in Findlay to get all of the ingredients that I would need to make Miso Soup. She talked me into getting one of these. They are simmered in a broth made of Oolong tea, Anise and Soy Sauce. I was very skeptical.......it was DELICIOUS. I'm a huge fan!!!! I will be dropping in there on a regular basis!!!!

Appetizers Galore!!!!

Friday night, friends, and fun = finger food!!!

• Spicy Crab Dip

1 block 1/3 fat cream cheese

1- 8 oz. pkg. imitations crab or lobster chopped

3 T light sour cream

2 green onions chopped

1 T Sriracha

1 tsp. salt & pepper mix

Serve on crackers (I prefer Triscuits) or roll up in tortillas and cut into rounds!

• Faux Hummus

1 can Great Northern Beans juice included

1 small Garlic clove

1 T olive oil

1 dash sesame oil

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. salt n pepper mix

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Serve with veggies, pita bread or chips!

• Salsa, salsa, salsa!!!!!

1 small or 1/2 lg. onion

1 garlic clove

1 small can Rotel tomatoes

1 lg. can stewed tomatoes

1 large handful of cilantro, large stems removed

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Adobo

2 tsp sugar

Serve with tortilla chips!

Ole!!!

Three Sheets

I came across this tonight flipping through channels. He travels around the world discovering, tasting and drinking a little too much of the countries most popular spirits. Tonight's episode was in Chile. He highlighted their signature wine called Pisco. I can't wait to try it.

The show is called Three Sheets and will be on Spike TV in Tuesdays at 10:30.

Check it out!

http://www.spike.com/video/three-sheets-comes/3514505

8 days and counting...

We booked a spur of the moment vacation to Florida last night. We will be leaving next Wednesday. I can only stay for 5 days but Bailey and Matt are going to stay until March 2nd. Luckies!!! Anyways.....I have 8 days to be on a CRASH diet. For the next couple weeks all of my meal blogs will be light, low fat, healthy, nutritious, veggie and fruit filled boringness!!!

Sorry, gotta do it!

Udon Noodles with Vegetables and Poached Whitefish

I am a total noodle junky! I could eat noodles for every meal. I found some organic dried Udon, Soba and Lo Mien noodles at Anderson's yesterday and couldn't wait to try them. I made a simple vegetable broth, added in a piece of white fish and poured it all over a huge bowl full of Udon noodles. Pure heaven!!!!!

Ingredients

3/4 C Water
1 garlic clove cut in half
1 slice of ginger root
1/2 shallot sliced
2 shredded baby carrots
2 T shredded cabbage
1 sheet of Nori (dried seaweed paper) cut into thin strips
1 green onion chopped
2 T soy sauce
1 T Agave syrup, or honey
1 dash of both sesame and hot chili oil
1 piece of pre-cooked whitefish
sprig of cilantro

1. In a sauce pan boil the Udon noodles as directed.
2. In another pan combine all ingredients except for the fish and cilantro. Let this simmer for about 5 min. Taste to make sure the seasoning is good. Add a little more Agave, or honey for sweetness or soy for saltiness.
3. Add in the piece of fish. Let it cook on one side for a couple min. to heat through and then turn over to heat the other side. (Raw shrimp would be a good substitution for the fish)
4. Fill a bowl with Udon noodles and pour the sauce and fish on top.

Enjoy!!!!

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

After making a lasagna dinner for a friend who lost her mother recently, I had a huge container of ricotta cheese that I needed to use up.  I decided to use basil pesto marinated chicken breasts, stuff with a ricotta filling and serve over pasta with marinara sauce. 

Ingredients
2 Garlic cloves minced
1/2 Shallot chopped
1/2 C Thawed out frozen spinach (all liquid removed- squeeze through a metal strainer)
2 T Olive Oil
Salt, pepper, basil and oregano

1 C Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
2 T Parmesan Cheese
1/4 C Mozzarella Cheese shredded
1 Egg
Salt and Pepper

2 Chicken breasts (marinated or plain)

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Cook first 5 ingredients in a saute pan, on medium heat for about 5-7 min. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. In a mixing bowl combine next 5 ingredients.  When the spinach mixture is cooled combine with the cheese mixture.
3. Butterfly the chicken breasts (click for instructions) then place between two pieces of plastic wrap and beat with a meat mallet, being careful not to make holes, until the chicken is about 1/4" thick (I didn't pound mine thin enough so I had to cook it a little longer).  
4. Lay the chicken flat and cover the top with a generous layer of the ricotta cheese filling, roll up and hold closed with toothpicks.  It doesn't have to be perfect or look perfect.  It's kind of a messy job.
5. Sear rolls on all 4 sides in a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil. 
6. Place in a baking dish and bake @ 375 for 1/2 hour.  Remove and let sit for 15 minutes. 
7. Remove toothpicks and slice into rounds. 
8. Serve over pasta (I chose high fiber spaghetti), marinara sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!!!!

I am totally going to make this!

Homemade Sriracha!!!  YUM!!!!

I've made my decision......

I will be building/planting a garden this spring.  I read this article in The Courier yesterday that has inspired me to take another stab at gardening.  My brother, Christopher, went to school with this guy. 

I had a huge garden at our first house in Findlay and loved it.  We tried to plant one last summer but baby bunnies ate all of the sprouts days after we planted it.  I will construct a maximum security garden that will keep out all of the sneaky little critters and I will, I hope, have fresh, organic veggies on hand all summer. 

Come Ooooon spring!!!!!

New Plates!!!

I bought myself 8 new dinner plates today! I thought it was time for a change and these were super cool! So......now they are mine!!!

Cookin it Old School.....

Get it? Like kickin it old school but cookin it! I really need to get out of this house!!!! :)

After being cooped up in the house for a couple of days I decided to try something new.  I wasn't really sure what this was going to turn into.  I put the following ingredients in the pot in the morning and let it simmer on top of the wood stove all day long. 

Ingredients

2 Split Chicken Breasts (bone in)
2 Small Onions chopped
3 Cloves Garlic minced
1 C Carrot chopped
2 T Olive Oil
2 Tomatoes chopped
1 C Dry Beans mixed (I used pinto and great northern beans and black eyed peas)
Salt and Pepper, 1 Bay Leaf, Dash of Cayenne Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper, Old Bay Blackened seasoning, Chipoltle Chili Powder and Cumin.  (Sorry, I didn't measure.  Just add a little bit of any or all)

Fill the pot to the top with water and let it all simmer for a couple of hours.  Remove the chicken breasts, pull off and shred the meat of one of the breasts and return it to the pot.  I put the other one in the fridge to use for something later.  At this point taste the broth to see if it needs any more salt or pepper.  Return the pot to the stove and let it simmer for a while longer.  About an hour before we ate I added a bottle of Yuengling Porter Beer and let it continue to simmer and reduce down.  Full cooking time should be at least 4 hours.

Right before eating I used a potato masher to mix up all of the ingredients and to break up some of the beans.  It really thickened the soup up nice.  It turned out to be a nice rich chicken chili. 

I made some homemade garlic cumin croutons to put on top along with some shredded sharp cheddar cheese and cilantro. It was a hit!!!!

Enjoy!!!!

Brisket BBQ Sauce

Like the brisket, I decided to give Grandmother's BBQ Sauce a little kick! 

Ingredients

1/2 C Water
1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
2 T Sugar
1 T Yellow Mustard
1 T Horseradish
1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1 1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2 Lemon sliced
1 Shallot sliced
1 Garlic clove quartered
2 T Butter
Combine all in a sauce pan and simmer for 20 min. 

Then add:
1/2 C Ketchup
2 T Worchester Sauce
1 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
Bring it all to a boil, turn off heat, let cool, strain and serve with Brisket!!!! 

Enjoy!!!!