Rainbows!

My friend Steph had a little family birthday party for her daughter, Ella. Ella told her mommy she wanted a rainbow birthday and mommy delivere. :)

Rainbow fruit kabobs, rainbow noodles, giant tissue paper pom poms in raibow colors....

Coloring (with all the colors of the rainbow of course), and the Pièce de résistance:

RAINBOW cupcakes

G2G: Jimmy's Food Store

This is absolutely the coolest grocery store in Dallas. It's Italian! We went, enjoyed some sandwiches, did some shopping, and grabbed fresh made cannoli to go. 

Here's the website to check it out: http://www.jimmysfoodstore.com/.

Go there!

After our trip we were ready to make a scrumptious Italian pasta: Bucatini Amitriciana.

I use this recipe: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/05/bucatini-allamatriciana.

Enjoy!

Mavericks Watchin' Food

I know this happened a week ago. According to Erik, this was "his year." The Packers won the Super Bowl and the Mavericks won the NBA Playoffs. Is it just me or should "his year" have been when he was lucky enough to marry me? ;)

All that is sort of besides the point.
During the playoffs, we had some people over to watch the game. While on the hunt for good "man food," I found the website salad in a jar...or how to eat dessert without dieting. Who would think I'd find a good meaty recipe there? I did!

Super simple. Here it is:

You need a lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast. Cut each in half and pound 'em out.

 Get some bacon. "Man food," right?

 Chop up and seed a jalapeno pepper.

Pull out the good ol' cream cheese (look: we can make Paula Deen proud too!).

 Once you have all your supplies together, lay out a strip of bacon. Put one of your flattened chicken breast halves onto the bacon. Add a teaspoon of cream cheese, or more. Your jalapeno goes in with the cream cheese (the amount per chicken really depends on your heat tolerance). Then you roll it all up and stick a wet toothpick in it.
                               

Once you've got that ready, you can pop 'em on the grill. I have no "final product" pics! I'm thinking as soon as they came in off the grill we started tasting. Plus, those Mavericks vs. Heat games were intense...but we WON!

The Princess and The Pea

This is hands down the best recipe Giada de Laurentis has come up with yet! It is delicious!

I have spent the majority of my life HATING peas. Back when I was forced to eat peas by my parents, I would ask my dad to give me a bowl of ones that were still frozen. I thought that way I could taste them less. My whole life I've pretty much been a diva about food. It keeps me from eating a lot of stuff, but also makes it hard for me to choke down "diet" food. I need my Coke to have all the sugar and calories it can hold.

Erik isn't a big pea eater either and he isn't that picky (ask his brothers about the time they told him some dog poo was raisins...). The point is: we both LOVE this dish. I mean literally, we battle for the leftovers. You have to try it.

Find the recipe here.

Wine Pairings

For the party everyone brought a food and wine pairing. Our wine was Care Tempranillo/Syrah, 2009. It was on sale for $8! Everything I found online said to pair it with red meat or peppers. I couldn't decide what to bring and Erik said "what about that dirty risotto from Giada?" AhHa! This stuff is delicious. Plus, I had made it before, and hopefully wouldn't screw it up for the party!

It's a recipe from Giada on the Food Network. You're not supposed to trust skinny cooks (and she is seriously tiny), but the woman knows food. You can find the recipe here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/dirty-risotto-recipe/index.html

I also looked up a pairing for my in-laws to bring. For them I chose a white: Chateau de St. Michelle Pinot Gris (I can't remember the vintage). Together we threw together a super easy veggie.

You need:

one package frozen phyllo dough, thawed

24 asparagus (rough ends trimmed)

about a cup of grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp melted butter

Grease a couple cookie sheets and preheat the oven to 350. Then you take a sheet of phyllo, fold it in half, and brush it with melted butter. Take two asparagus spears and set them on one end of your folded phyllo. Sprinkle in some grated parmesan and roll up in the phyllo sheet. Brush the top with some more melted butter and sprinkle on more cheese. Repeat until your aspargus is used up. Place the aspargus rolls on the greased cookie sheets and put in the oven for 15 minutes or until browned.

You'll love this recipe because it looks fancy and is totally easy to make.



Another Chicken Dinner

Yep...I'm making chicken...again

Chicken Pot Pie

 Your ingredients:
1 cup peeled carrots cut into bite size pieces
1 cup frozen peas (thawed)
1 cup frozen corn (thawed)
2 tbsp butter
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in bite size pieces
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup  flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine (NOT riesling)
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 tbsp parsley (I just use dried...I sorta killed my parsley plant last year)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust

First you're going to bring a pot of water to a boil. Throw in your peas and carrots for about 3 minutes. Drain your peas and carrots, but keep the boiling water. Next, you throw in your corn for just a minute. Drain it as well and set all three aside.
Heat up your oven to 400 degrees.
In a pretty big frying pan, heat up your butter (medium-high heat). Once it is melted, add the chicken. Cook the chicken until it is browned (takes about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and onion and cook until they are softened.
Stir in your flour.
Add the stock (which Martha probably would have actually made fresh), wine, half-and-half, and parsley. Stir them all together and bring to a simmer. Then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Let it cook together for 10 minutes.
While that is cooking together, roll out your pie crust (again...Martha would've made this from scratch) and brush the egg yolk mixture around the edges.
Once your ten minutes is up, pour the contents of the frying pan into a 9 inch pie dish. Put your pie crust on top, egg side down. Crimp the edges and remove excess dough. Finally brush the top of crust with remaining egg mixture and cut two little slits in the top.
Bake your pie for 30 minutes. Then it should look like this:

 Yum!!!

Chicken Dinners

The grocery store had buy 1 package of chicken breasts, get the other free. So, here are two really great chicken recipes. Both require 3 cups of cooked chicken. You can cook the chicken for both one night (when you aren't running to practices or meetings or games). Use half that night and half the other.

 The first recipe is from Paula Deen, so you know it is going to be delicious (and probably include lots of cream cheese, sour cream, or butter). It is mini Chicken Empanadas.
Your ingredients:
3 cups chopped, cooked chicken
8 oz shredded CoJack cheese (typically the size of the pre-shredded stuff at the store)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 package of refrigerated pie crust (I use Pillsbury and it comes two to a pack.)
Water

 All the ingredients, minus the chicken, ready to be mixed. You see all that cheese? That means it is going to be AWESOME.
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Lightly grease a baking sheet. In your bowl combine chicken, shredded cheese, cream cheese, red bell pepper, jalapeno, ground cumin, salt, and pepper. Unroll your piecrusts and use your rolling pin to spread them out into 15 inches. Cut out your rounds. I use an upside down ice cream bowl. Brush the edge of each circle with water. Arrange a big teaspoon of your chicken mixture on one side of the round. Fold the other side of the round over the top and press the edges together with fork tongs. Put your empanadas on a baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes.

If they don't look absolutely delicious, it's because my photographer (me) is horrible.

The next recipe is a little more involved, but still not that big of a fuss.

It's a variation on Chicken Tetrazzini.

Your ingredients:

8 oz. thin spaghetti

2 tbsp butter

4 oz. fresh, sliced mushrooms

3 oz. chopped prosciutto

3 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

10 3/4 oz. can of cream of mushroom soup

10 oz. refrigerated Alfredo sauce

1/2 chicken broth

1/4 cup Marsala

1 cup shredded Parmesan

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 minutes. While that is cooking, melt your butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add your mushrooms and prosciutto to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir together mushrooms, prosciutto, chicken, peas, cream of mushroom soup, Alfredo sauce, chicken broth, Marsala and half your cheese. Stir in your pasta (after it's drained). Pour everything into a greased 11x7 inch baking dish and cover with the remaining cheese. Bake for 35 minutes. It should be bubbling when you take it out.



Ladybug Cupcakes

Wow, that ladybug looks kinda mad! Anyhow, my friend's birthday (25th) was this past week. She L.O.V.E.S. ladybugs. So, I had seen little ladybug cupcakes with oreo heads somewhere in blogland (I'm sorry I can't seem to find them again) and decided to make her some for her b-day dinner.

 Why did I only take pics of them inside the tupperware? I mean, I am pretty pumped about my little Martha Stewart cupacke traveler....

These guys were made with Martha's delicious marble cake recipe (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/best-marble-cake) that I used for my husband's birthday last year. It is delicious! Then I just covered them in some red frosting, put some chocolate chips upside down for the spots and added oreo heads.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/2 stick melted butter (yum!)

1 tsp oil

2 mashed bananas

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 400  degrees (where is that symbol on my keyboard?). I used a non-stick pan. If yours isn't you'll need some Pam or Crisco to grease your muffin tin.
In a medium bowl combine your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
In a small bowl combine egg, milk, butter (melted), oil, mashed bananas and chopped walnuts.
Mix your wet mixture into your dry mixture until just moist.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. Bake for 18 minutes!

These are so delicious!!

Raspberry Thumbprints

Raspberry Thumbprints are my husband's new favorite cookie. At Christmas I give out baggies of cookies. I added these ones this year. He's been waiting for me to make them again. After the 200ish cookies I made over the holidays, I was on break. I think the reason he loves these Thumbprints is the entire package of cream cheese! Here's the recipe:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
Raspberry (or strawberry or peach) preserves

Beat cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. Add flour and baking soda; mix well. Add vanilla (if you want you could throw in 1/2 cup chopped pecans here); mix weel. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes (really important!). Preheat ove to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumb in middle of each cookie; fill with about 1 tsp preserves. Bake for 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Make about 3 dozen.
Personally I think the preserves don't taste very good until cooled...