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Bold statement…. I think I quite possibly could have made the best lunch ever today.

A few weeks ago I was thumbing through a Good Housekeeping magazine that my Mom had given me and the May 2012 “YourGoodHouse” supplement fell out of it. The front page showed that it included  an article “Mexican Cooking Made Simple” – I immediately thumbed to it and there was a feature with Food Network chef Marcela Valladolid from the show – Mexican Made Easy. The very first recipe for Pomegranate, Basil & Queso Fresca Salsa caught my eye. Every time I went to the store I tried to remember the ingredients, but finally decided to just type them into my iPhone for a future shopping trip.

The Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Pine Nuts
1 Cup Pomegranate Seeds (From 1 Large Pomegranate)  – I used 1 Trader Joe’s clamshell package
2 Tablespoons Thinly Sliced Fresh Basil
2 Tablespoons Crumbled Queso Fresco – I used 3 tablespoons
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil -  I used 2 teaspoons
1/4 Teaspoon Salt – I used ground sea salt
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Pepper – I used 1/4 teaspoon

Directions:

1. Toast pine nuts in dry skillet over medium heat for 4 minutes until golden.
2. Transfer to plate to cool.
3. In small bowl, mix pomegranate seeds, basil, queso fresco, and cooled pine nuts.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix again until well combined.

I had to get a photo of me toasting money… ha! ha! – pine nuts are ridiculously expensive due to the labor intensive work involved in extracting them from the pine cones. I got mine from the bulk bin at Sprouts. I’m pretty sure Trader Joe’s sells a package for around $8.00 – but I only needed 1/4 cup. Make sure you store any leftovers in the fridge, because due to the high fat content, they go rancid rather quickly. They are good for about 3 months in your fridge.

Cooling and toasted to perfection.

I think I should let you know that I ended up eating at least 3 spoonfuls right out of the ramekin before making my tacos.

Yep… grilled chicken tacos were on the menu. I created a lemon juice marinade for my chicken breast last night (lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil salt and ground pepper) and then grilled them today. I used La Tortilla Factory Handmade Style White Corn Tortillas.

The combination was incredible! The recipe suggested using the salsa as a fish topping or in a carne asada taco – which I think would also work really well.

Dan gave them a thumbs up! I can’t wait to make these at my next dinner party. Super easy and they look and taste amazing. The combination of the tart pomegranate and lemon, teamed with the creamy cheese and punch of flavor from the basil… add in the crunch from the toasted pine nuts… YES! – go make these right now!

It sure feels good to be back in the kitchen making wonderful food, but I forgot how many dishes are used when prepping recipes and taking photos for the blog. No worries, the fun factor is still pretty high and that’s what dishwashers are for.

What is your favorite kind of salsa? Think you will give this one a try?

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We spent last Saturday morning at Roxy Restaurant and Bar in Sacramento with a group of amazing people. People that initially came together because of an extreme passion and love for Subaru cars. Those people quickly became family… our Subaru community family… and several became some of our best friends.

Our friend Aaron had been talking about “brunch” at Roxy for months… describing the concept (the owners focus on using as many locally raised and naturally healthy food products as possible – including all natural beef from their own ranch) and talking about the cheddar biscuits & ancho sausage gravy on the menu… we’d been planning to go and then Josh and Deede announced that their going away breakfast would be there. Yes, I said…. GOING AWAY…. so incredibly hard to type that. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will by the end of this week… especially as they pull out of their driveway to start the next chapter of their lives.

My girl… my “go to” girl… my “fellow foodie”… my “bestie”… my “fitness inspiration” is moving to the east coast. I tried to convince her to stay on the BEST coast… but they have been planning this for a while.

Our usual Friday night dinners will now turn into Saturday night dinners in front of computers with Skype… too hard to coordinate with the 3 hour difference on a Friday night. Since the past few months have been filled with sadness, I think I’m just numb to many things… but I really am excited and happy for both of them, and I can’t wait to share Deede’s new blog with all of you. Right now she’s buried in last minute projects before the move, but she will be blogging once settled. I think she’s proved through her guest posts that her blog will be very successful and a fun read.

O.k… enough of that, I don’t want to start crying… changes are happening beyond my control and as some of you know… I’m kind of a control freak… so it’s been hard….

Let’s get back to the restaurant and focus on the delicious food!

A bag of housemade doughnut holes with three dipping sauces for $3.95 – Sign me up!

I tried doughnuts with all three sauces and the chocolate was my favorite. Deede and Ryan ended up pouring the extra caramel sauce into their coffees, brilliant!

I had a hard time deciding what to order…. Should I go big with french toast or go more savory with an egg dish? After a recommendation from our server, I went with savory.

Shaved Prosciutto, grilled asparagus, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and potato chips… Yep – crispy, vibrant, colored potato chips… they definitely added a level of whimsy to the dish – also a great way to incorporate potatoes into any dish in a non-heavy way.

The plate came very hot (on purpose) – this crisped up the shaved slices of prosciutto.

Such a fun presentation and the poached eggs on a bed of grilled asparagus was much lighter than the bread options in some of the other dishes. The sauce took care of the “heavy” just fine, ha! ha!

That did not stop me from drooling over Josh’s French toast.

Or Ryan’s Lucky Dog Ranch beef Benedict with corn cakes and spicy hollandaise sauce.

A good time was had by all. Bitter sweet… saying goodbye is always hard, but everyone tried to focus on the excitement surrounding their move. I’m excited to have an awesome reason to fly to the other side of the country and to follow along in Deede’s journey – baking and food adventures and finding running/triathlon buddies in her new city. I will link to her blog once she’s got it ready to go.

Love you Josh and Deede, and wish you the best on your cross country adventure.

P.S. – I also wanted to thank all of you for your kind words, texts, facebook messages, emails and cards about Higgy. Your thoughts and personal stories have given me the comfort I needed.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve started this post in my head probably 50+ times. I miss my blog, I miss my readers, I miss social media (facebook and twitter) and commenting on other blogs. The past couple of months have changed me. I am definitely a different person because of it. Saying that life has been a roller coaster – would be the understatement of the year. A lot has happened.

Just over 2 months ago I lost one of the most important things in my life… the constant love and companionship of my beloved Higgy. It was sudden. He got sick on a Wednesday and a trip to the regular vet and another to emergency on Sunday left my husband and I with giant holes in our hearts and a very quiet and empty car ride home. I have not been the same since. I won’t ever be the same. I can’t even say his name out loud or in my head without tearing up. He was more special to me than I could ever explain in a blog post, status update or tweet.

My angel Higgy gave me my life back after the sudden death of my first husband. It was because of him that I was able to sleep, smile and open my heart to love again. I think we both gave each other exactly what we needed in life. He helped me become the person that I am today and I in return was the best dog mommy I could be, by giving him the most comfortable life possible.  I now add Higgins to the list of angels that continue to look out for me.

I made a promise to myself to get back to cooking and blogging… but how could I do that without talking about Hig and my absence from the Internet? He was such a major part of my life, my writing and my blog over the past 9 years. I need blogging back in my life. So I’m putting away the convenience foods, dusting off my camera, cleaning out the pantry and clipping recipes from the foot tall stack of magazines I plan to attack. I can’t say when or how often I will post, the plan is to ease back into things.

I will miss my little kitchen buddy… and I will certainly miss the Higga stares and licks I got as I laid on the floor to get the perfect food shot.

RIP my sweet baby Higgins…

Continue reading »]]> There hasn’t been a whole lot of inventive cooking going on lately.  If it’s quick, it’s what’s for dinner these days.

I was selected through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program to receive a sample of an Alexia Foods product. I chose their delicious Spicy Sweet Potato Fries. Plain sweet potato fries are o.k., but add the chipotle seasoning and I’m a happy camper.

I set the oven at 400 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes and my side dish was ready…

I love that my new french fry holders came with little paper inserts that explain a bit about the history of the french fry. Thanks Bon for my gift.

I whipped up a little dipping sauce. Light sour cream, light mayo, chili powder and garlic powder and the combo did the trick. You really don’t need to dip them in anything, but I had to fill my new sauce holder with something – and a little cooling action from the heat was also nice.

Now through March 30, 2012 – you have the chance to help select the next Alexia french fry flavor by voting in their “Reinvent a Classic” campaign on Facebook. Just visit: http://facebook.com/AlexiaFoods and click on the “Reinvent a Classic” tab to vote for one of four gourmet french fry flavors created by other food bloggers.  After inviting 22 food bloggers from across the country to submit recipes for the next great french fry flavor, Alexia narrowed down submissions to the top four and put the four finalists to a consumer vote.

The flavors were introduced to us at the Foodbuzz Festival back in November.

• Classic Dill Julienne Fries (created by Angela Williamson of Fab Find Foodie)
• Thai Spiced Sweet Potato Julienne Fries (created by Marla Meridith of Family Fresh Cooking)
• Herbes de Provence & Garlic Sweet Potato Julienne Fries (created by Chrystal Baker and Amir Thomas of The Duo Dishes)
• Bruschetta Waffle Fries (created by Farihah Ali of Spice’s Bites)

Thank you Foodbuzz and Alexia for the free sample!

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I recently got my March 2012 Everyday Food magazine and was excited to see that the “In Season” section highlighted cauliflower. I just happened to have 4 heads of Colorful Harvest Cauliflower in my fridge that needed to be cooked. Cauliflower is an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber and potassium and I’ve loved it since I was a kid… kind of random, but true.

The magazine had recipes for dip, a pasta dish, soup and roasted cauliflower with shallots and golden raisins. I didn’t have shallots on hand, I didn’t have regular breadcrumbs, only panko… so I decided to give it a try with what I had.

Ingredients:
1 Large Head Cauliflower – cut into florets
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion – thinly slices
4-5 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1.5 Cups Panko Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Pre-cook cauliflower in microwave in shallow dish with some water for 2-3 minutes and pat dry with paper towels.
• Toss cauliflower with 2-3 tablespoons olive oil.
• Saute thinly sliced yellow onion until softened.
• Add cauliflower and onion to a rimmed baking sheet and add salt and pepper before placing into the oven.
• Roast for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium sized bowl, whisk together dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons oil, then stir in panko breadcrumbs and golden raisins.
• Take cauliflower out of the oven after 15 minutes and sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over the top and roast until golden brown – about 15-20 more minutes.

I used florets from all three different colored heads of cauliflower. I placed them in a shallow glass dish with less than an inch of water, covered them with a paper towel and microwaved them for 3 minutes. I then patted the florets dry on a towel.

The colors were so vibrant…

I added the florets to a plastic bag with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and mixed things up really well.

I sliced up 1/2 the medium onion and put it into a pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper and cooked them until they softened a bit.

I then combined the onion and cauliflower onto the baking sheet and put them into the oven for 15 minutes.

While the cauliflower was roasting, I made the raisin, mustard and breadcrumb mixture. I whisked the mustard with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and then added the cup and a 1/2  of panko and 1/2 cup of raisins.

The original recipe was for a smaller batch – but I used almost double the cauliflower, so I thought I’d need more of the crumb topping.

I coated the cauliflower and then put it back into the oven for an additional 20 minutes. The original recipe had a total cooking time of 20 minutes… mine needed much more.

I loved the flavors of the dish. The dijon, raisin and breadcrumb mixture was a perfect match to the cauliflower. Next time I might not use as much of the breadcrumb mixture and I also might try it without pre-cooking the cauliflower – just to see if the texture changes. I did end up adding some shredded parm to the leftovers and that worked well too.

Thank you Colorful Harvest for the cauliflower and carrots – I sure had fun trying out some new recipes.

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I was lucky enough to receive a box of Colorful Harvest vegetables to sample. I’ve posted other recipes on my blog using Colorful Harvest vegetables and they ended up using my Cauliflower Spanish Rice recipe under the “blog recipes” section of their website and facebook page. I was excited to try their Whole Rainbow Crunch™ Carrots and jumped at the chance when they offered to send me some. The carrots come in 2 lb. bags and I was sent 3 bags… which I shared with friends.

The colorful Rainbow Crunch™  Carrots are grown from heirloom seed varieties. I loved the different colors… shades of orange, red, yellow and a white (similar in color to parsnips) – The added color = a diversity of nutrients and antioxidants. They are basically a fun, foodie-licious way to add lots of flavor and color to your meals.

The carrots look so rustic, pretty sure I’m going to roast the ones I have left.

I’ve made carrot ribbon salad before, nothing fancy – just a basic vinaigrette using red wine vinegar. This time I wanted a different flavor profile, so I got to work in the kitchen using items that I already had on hand.

The Ingredients:
1 lb. Rainbow Crunch™ Carrots
3-4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Cube Dorat Crushed Ginger
1 Cube Dorat Crushed Garlic
1 Medium Sliced Shallot – thinly sliced
Zest from 1/2 a Lemon
2-3 Tablespoons Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
2 Teaspoons Honey
1 Tablespoon Flat Leaf Parsley – chopped
Crushed Red Pepper
Salt

I got started making my carrot ribbons. I ran my veggie peeler the entire length of each carrot – holding the carrot firmly on the cutting board. I chose to not peel my carrots first.

I was left with a bunch of square carrot cores – which I chopped up and threw into a bag and placed into the freezer -  to later add to something, maybe soup.

I filled a large bowl with ice and cold water from the fridge and then started a big pot full of water on the stove.  I added a pinch of sea salt to the big pot and brought it to a roaring boil. I dropped my carrot ribbons into the boiling water, counted to 25 and then removed them quickly and placed them into an ice bath.

I got to work on the vinaigrette while the carrots sat in the ice bath. I added 2 of the 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan set to medium heat. I dropped in my frozen cubes of ginger and garlic and waited for the cubes to thaw out and separate. You could definitely use fresh garlic and ginger, I just didn’t have any. I took the mixture off the heat while I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

I zested 1/2 of the lemon and then juiced it. I sliced the shallot, chopped the parsley and measured out my honey.

I added the lemon zest, lemon juice, shallots, honey, parsley and remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and whisked everything together. I then added 3 good shakes of crushed red pepper and a pinch of salt. You can use regular pepper if you want – the red did add some heat.

I placed my carrot ribbons on paper towels and patted them dry with more layers of paper towels. I then put my ribbons back into the dry/empty ice bath bowl and I poured the vinaigrette over the carrot ribbons and gently tossed.

No more winter blues. This salad screamed SUMMER! and I loved every bite. You could definitely play around with measurements – less olive oil, more lemon juice… less honey, etc. I don’t thing there is a right or wrong to making the vinaigrette.

Do you have a favorite carrot recipe to share? I have 2.5 more lbs. of carrots to eat and we won’t even talk about the amount of cauliflower I have. Be on the lookout for another cauliflower recipe soon.

Link to printable recipe on my Recipage.

Enjoy!

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With February 14th approaching, I thought I’d fill my blog with Valentine’s Day swoon-tastic food and decor. O.k., so maybe that’s a stretch. I picked up the latest copy of Phyliss Hoffman’s Celebrate magazine (the same magazine I created the super bowl themed tent cards from) and found a fun little activity that I wanted to explore further.

Heart shaped hard boiled eggs… Who knew? Don’t mind if I do. I mean come on, everyone is making pink cupcakes, heart shaped tarts dusted in powdered sugar, red velvet and candied everything… not so many heart shaped eggs out there. This is cutting edge stuff.

Instructions: Heart Shaped Eggs

1. Boil eggs.
2. While eggs are still warm, but cool enough to handle, remove shell.
3. FOLD (very important) 1 8×4-inch piece of paper (poster board or card stock) in half lengthwise.
4. Place warm egg in center of poster board.
5. Place a lollipop stick on top of egg, pressing gently.
6. Wrap rubber bands around both ends of lollipop stick and paper to secure egg.
7. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.
8. Remove egg from paper and slice to approximately 1/8 -inch thickness

I read the “how to” instructions… but not very well. I forgot to fold my paper in half lengthwise – this resulted in a round heart, whoops! I also over boiled my eggs, so the insides were crumbly, but that’s another story. The shells didn’t stick, so I’m looking at that as a win!

I didn’t have any poster board or card stock, but I did have photo paper. I also didn’t have any rubber bands (I don’t get the newspaper and have never thought to actually buy rubber bands, does anyone purchase rubber bands?)  – I did however have a new packet of hair bands, so I used those. No lollipop sticks either, but I had some caramel apple sticks lefts over from Halloween. Hmmm, perhaps I should have taken inventory before starting the project, ha!

I got to work on making my egg salad while my egg torture contraption chilled out for 15 minutes on the top shelf of the fridge.

I decided to get all fancy with my sandwich. I broke out a ring mold to waste bread . I added some mayonnaise, salt, pepper and fresh parsley to my chopped up hard boiled eggs for the salad. I then double plated that puppy and got it ready for the ultra amazing heart shaped topper.

1-2 shakes of smoked paprika and voilà… wait, you can’t even tell it’s a heart…

Oh… so I needed to FOLD the paper – Son of a… Whatever, it was a fun afternoon project and it made my sandwich go from drab to dazzle in a matter of minutes. Next time I will be FOLDING the damn paper.

I also decided to decorate my house a little bit for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t go all out, but it does look like cupid threw up a little here and there.

I love my funky heart figurines. I put them in front of numbered mason jars filled with heart tags and little love notes.

My stamped spoons are new this year. I picked them up at my favorite antique/gift shop and put them into a glass spice jar. I deconstructed a heart garland I found last year at HomeGoods and then I used jute twine to tie them to everything I could think of.

I wasn’t kidding… my Higga-type dog needed a festive collar. Jute and heart collar, coming right up.

My numbered candle holders needed heart necklaces…

I blinged out my magazine/catalog holder…

I broke out my several year old “love” wooden blocks… the bonus there, I also bought an “n” so I could create “noel” at Christmas time.

A little heart filler replaced the natural pods and artichokes I had in the black and glass containers… the fun glittered sphere says, “My Funny Valentine.”

More Scrabble fun… I get high score.

Happy early Valentine’s Day from me to you and from my home to yours…

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It’s Super Bowl Sunday – a day filled with friends, good food and stuffed bellies. When I was trying to figure out what to make, a childhood memory came flooding back to me. My Mom’s BFF made “Meat and Cheese Rolls” for our Lake Tahoe family trips to the snow. She also sometimes had them frozen in bags in her freezer for occasional quick dinners and snacking. I have not made them in probably 10 years, but as I was thumbing through my recipe box… yes, I still have an old-fashioned box – I came across a scribbled note with the ingredients and cooking instructions.

I downloaded a tent template from my new “Celebrate” magazine, and my Super Bowl snack started to take shape. What? It’s my inner Martha, I can’t help it… and yes, I laid on my patio to get a photo of my tent card on the grass. Hig wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Note: I’ve since changed the name to “Meat and Cheese Rolls” so veggie readers/friends like Dave2 and Julie won’t be disappointed when they click on the post to find that it does indeed include meat.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 Medium Yellow Onion
1 Small Can Chopped Olives
10 oz. Package of Cheddar Cheese
1 Small Can Tomato Sauce
1 Package of Rolls
Salt and Pepper to Taste

I love that the ingredients are so simple, yet so delicious when baked together. My ground beef was 10%, because it’s what I already had. You could probably go leaner, since you are adding fat with the cheese. I went with a medium cheddar for the cheese and my rolls where from the deli. I’ve also used packaged rolls from the bread aisle before. I really like the fresh baked deli rolls, because they get flaky like a croissant.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brown ground beef and onions in a pan. Add salt and pepper to the mixture while it is cooking. Once ground beef mixture has been cooked through; drain the meat and transfer to a bowl for cooling. You don’t want the mixture to be hot, when adding the shredded cheese.
3. While ground beef is cooling, slice the tops off the rolls and hollow the bread out using a spoon. Make sure you save the top lid of the bread.
4. Shred your cheddar cheese.
5. Once ground beef is cooled, add tomato sauce, olives and shredded cheddar cheese and mix ingredients together.
6. Fill rolls with mixture and place bread lid on end and wrap in foil.
7. Place in oven at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
8. Unwrap and Enjoy!

My ground beef and onions cooked on medium/high heat while I got busy shredding cheese.

I shredded the entire brick of cheese. The brick was just shy of 10 ounces, it didn’t make a difference in the final recipe.

Once the ground beef was done cooking, I drained off the extra grease, then put the ground beef into a bowl for cooling. I then got to work on my bread domes. I remember calling them bread garages as a kid. I loved helping with this part as a kid.

I hollowed out a dozen rolls and ended up having mixture left over. I think depending on roll size, you could easily fill 16 rolls.

Add your tomato sauce, olives and cheese to the cooled ground beef mixture and stir everything together.

Grab your first roll and add the ground beef/cheese mixture using a spoon.

Once you have filled the roll, find the bread lid, close it up, and wrap in foil.

Place your foil wrapped cheese rolls into the oven at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes. I put mine on a baking sheet, but it’s not necessary, they could go straight onto the rack.

Meaty/cheesy goodness right on a plate. So simple and so delicious!

Bring on the football/commercials! The Super Bowl was a big thing for me back in the day. Ace worked as a grocery store manager and the weeks prior to the Super Bowl were filled with late nights, huge store displays and one tired husband. I usually ended up going to parties with my brother and friends because he had to work, but we always watched it together once he got home. He was a HUGE Budweiser/Anheuser Busch fan… the reason I used some of his collectible cans and things in my photos… and the Budweiser commercials were his favorite part of the Super Bowl. Great memories for sure.

I hope there are some good ones today! I tried to stay away from the commercial spoilers all over the Internet, but managed to still see a few. The Canadian Hockey Budweiser commercial is awesome! I’m also looking forward to Madonna at half time. How about you? What are/were your Super Bowl plans?

Have fun today!

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Vacation is over and it’s back to reality. We headed up to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend of snowboarding. The drive up wasn’t too bad – they had chain control, but we have AWD and snow tires, so we breezed on through both check points. We did witness a truck slide all over the road, but other than that… I just white knuckled it and told Dan he was driving too fast the entire time – he was going 35 mph – I’m sure he loved it.

We arrived at our destination and there was a light dusting on the ground – nothing major at our elevation. We ate pizza for dinner and just chilled until our friends arrived the next day.

I had fun walking around taking pictures with different lenses. The guys decided to go snowboarding on Friday and ran into horrible conditions. They got in 4 runs and called it a day. We ended up grabbing lunch and then making a big Italian dinner. The lighting was bad, so no photos were taken – I just took the opportunity to enjoy a meal. Our entertainment for the evening  included watching episodes of Southland and playing Monopoly. I thought buying up the railroads and utilities was a good idea… not so much.

We woke up to a winter wonderland… snow everywhere. We turned on the TV to get the latest weather reports. 6-12 inches and still falling. The problem was high wind advisories at the resorts and it was slated to get worse.

We dug out the cars and the plows came by to clear the main road a bit – we decided to head to the grocery store for more supplies. We stopped at the lake before hitting up the store.

It was FREEZING – the wind off the lake was insane. I was wearing thermals, my snowboarding pants and jacket, snowboarding socks, casual snow boots, a wool hat and gloves… and I was shivering.

My girlfriend Britt was taking a panoramic photo of the lake and her adorable pup played in the snow. It was his first time and he had a blast.

He was such a good boy all weekend – it sure made me miss my own – he stayed at “Camp Grandparents” and had a wonderful time too.

I LOVE the above photo…

I even got to pose with the little guy… he looks really comfortable huh?

Slight distraction with other playmates at the lake. There were several dogs running through the snow while their owner threw tennis balls for them to fetch.

We made our way back to the car and headed to the store for lunch and dinner supplies. I got a panini for lunch and then we ended up making shredded BBQ chicken in the crockpot with Hawaiian rolls. We also got a bunch of side salads from the deli and it was perfect. The roads were closed in some areas, the higher lifts at the resorts were definitely closed, so we stayed in for the afternoon/evening. Dan kept the fire going and we played hours and hours of poker. Good times!

The next morning was clear, but more snow was on the way. We had a wonderful time, minus the no snowboarding part. I had psyched myself up, Britt was going to give me 1 on 1 lessons since I’ve only been once before. All in all it was a super relaxing weekend with great friends. I’m already looking forward to the next time. There is just something so magical about Lake Tahoe – if you haven’t been… you should definitely plan a trip soon. Winter or Summer, there’s plenty to do and the lake views are just incredible.

I promise to get back to cooking and food soon.

Continue reading »]]> This past weekend was spent perfecting the perfect nacho combination. Dan and I have very different views when it comes to the perfect plate of nachos. Let’s just say… he is not a fan of guacamole or sour cream… Gasp! I know…

When I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday – his short answer was – let’s just have a few friends over for dinner.  You all know I can’t do “simple” – so I got to thinking of something that would be fun and that could be personalized by each dinner guest. Nachos… a nacho bar with tons of ingredients.

I looked on different party idea websites and blogs and started my master ingredient list. I knew I wanted to have bean, shredded chicken and shredded beef as options. I like to make salsa crockpot chicken, but decided on a different plan for the nacho chicken. I chatted with the butcher and he recommended boneless/skinless thighs. I ended up cooking those in chicken stock with a can of green chilis, cumin, salt and pepper. They sat in the crockpot on low for a good 8 hours. I also got a 3 lb. rump roast and cut that into small pieces and coated each piece with a chili powder, cumin, garlic and onion powder mixture. I then placed the pieces in a different crockpot with a cup of beef bullion and several dashes of liquid smoke. I put that crockpot at 250 degrees and cooked them for 9 hours. Both meats turned out perfect!

I also tried something different for the guacamole. I was buying avocados and this woman stopped me and asked if I was making guacamole. I said yes… so she grabbed the above packet out of her own cart and told me that I just HAD to try it. It was Chef Rick Bayless -  Frontera brand original guacamole mix with tangy tomatillo, green chile and garlic. You use 1 liquid pack for every 2 avocados. I ended up adding a little kosher salt, but really liked the flavor. It was a “hit” and one guest said she couldn’t stop eating it. Victory!

The master “Nacho Bar” ingredient list included:

• Chips
• Shredded Chicken
• Shredded Beef
• Black Beans
• Refried Beans
• Pinto Beans
• Tostitos Salsa Con Queso – Medium
• Shredded Jack and Cheddar Cheeses
• Fresh Salsa
• Pace Picante – Medium
• Sliced Olives
• Pickled Jalapeños
• Green Onion
• Red Onion
• Cilantro
• Sour Cream
• Guacamole
• Assorted Hot Sauces
• Enchilada Sauce

Each dinner guest got a foil pie tin to create their masterpiece. I set the oven on broil for those that wanted to heat their chips and melt their shredded cheese.

The pie tins were GENIUS! I was trying to think of an easy way that they could go in the oven and still work as a serving vessel. A package of 3 tins was only $1.99.

Mike’s Margaritas…

Skinnygirl® Margaritas – Have you had them? It was my first time and the consensus was that we pretty much HATED them… one guest thought they tasted like “bug spray” – I’m an agave fan, I use it on a lot of things… but something was just off with the margarita. If you like Crystal Light, you might like Skinnygirl®, but I just wasn’t a fan. It was chilled – tried without ice and with crushed ice and we all just weren’t fans. The blender ended up coming out and Deede whipped up frozen margaritas and daiquiris from mixes that I had in the freezer.  Problem solved.

Rock Band was played… someone gave Dan those glasses as part of his gift, LOLZ.

The drinkers may or may not have played Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

And then there was CAKE. A giant “Hostess Cupcake” cake baked by Deede.  Dan is a huge fan of junk food. He enjoys the occasional fruit pie, cupcake and zinger. This was the PERFECT cake for him.

A quick switch of the candle order right before the birthday song was Deede’s idea. Dan loved turning “83″ – hah!

The cake was awesome! Deede used Smitten Kitchen’s homemade devil dog, ding dong or hostess cake recipe. She used the recipe for the cake, cream filling and ganache. The recipe made enough for (3) 8″ cake pans.

She put the filling between the layers of cake, but didn’t make it thick and made sure that she didn’t frost it to the edges of the cake. She didn’t want it to be visible in the finished product – since she ended up tapering the edges of the cake by hand with a serrated knife. She used the ganache on the top and down the edges about 3/4″. She used Ghirardelli’s semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder in the recipes.

The Icing Loops
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1.5-2 Tablespoons Milk
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla

Deede used a #804 piping tip with the above recipe for the cupcake loop icing. She wished the frosting was white, but was happy that  it tasted like delicious butter. Deede did a really great job – a huge shout out and thank you to her for taking on the birthday cake project.

The entire get together was a huge success. Everyone had fun and we now have enough leftover nacho toppings to make salads, tacos, enchiladas and just about every other Mexican dish you can think of. Next time I’ll know to invite more people.