Friday, April 30, 2010

Today I went to an the amusement park called Kings Island with my school as a reward for kids with good grades and good behavior
We were there ALL DAY!
and it was really hot and I got really burnt
But it was an amazing day and I had so much fun
when I finally got home I was pretty hungry and my parents and sister had gone out to dinner with out me!
well I found their leftovers in the frig so for my dinner I just scavenged on these delicious ribs and a few other miscellaneous things I found lol
Leftover nights are always fun

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ruben on Rye

Tonight I had my first ever RUBEN!
My papa and my sister and I all went out to dinner tonight at this little restaurant/bar right down the street from us called Nick's
It recently came under new management and they have really got the place going again, they have a full parking lot almost every night and the weekends are ridiculous I don't know how everyone fits inside.
well any way I decided to get the Ruben because I have never had one before and after watching all those travel channel food shows I decided I would probably like it
plus now that I know I like sauerkraut I was a lot more willing to try one.
About 2 years ago I actually had the chance to eat at the famous CARNEGIE DELI in NYC, but I was not fully in my foodie stage and my sister and I thought the place looked a little sketchy so needless to say we did not eat their for dinner.
So once we get back we see the place on one of those top places to eat count downs and I kind of let it slip that the food actually looked pretty good, oops, I don't think my dad will ever let me live it down =/
Well its just another excuse to visit the BIG APPLE! =]

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Steak Dinner

This is probably one of my favorite meals!
it just really takes me back to when I was young and my dad would always grill stake like this and we would sit out on the picnic table in the back yard to eat
This was a request from my sister since she is home for the week and tonight was the last night we would all be home for dinner together
I would have to say my dad really went all out for this one
as you can see he grilled the stake, baked potatoes, cooked corn, and he even caramelized some onions to top off the steak!
It was all so good and I ate way to much but I can justify it because my sister and I went on a 2 hour bike ride right before dinner lol

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Oriental Chicken Salad

Tonight for dinner I made my dads Oriental Chicken Salad
my dad makes this a lot for family picnics and my Latin III class is having a picnic party tomorrow lol
we are all brings like real picnic food like hot dogs, potato salad, mac & cheese, PB and J, and some yummy desserts!
It should be a good time
but since its going to be cold and rainy we will probably have an indoor picnic
well anyway I made the salad tonight so we could have half for dinner and I will bring the other half for the party
It is a really simple recipe so here it is
You will need:
1 head of lettuce
3-4 chicken breasts
4 green onions
1 small package of sliced or slivered almonds
1 bag of Chinese cow mein noodles
1/8 cup of poppy seeds
To make the salad first boil the chicken breasts and once cool shred the chicken. Chop both the lettuce and green onions then toss together with the almonds, chicken and noodles.
(If you want the noodles to keep their crunch I suggest not tossing them with the salad but use them as a garnish when serving)
Also I normally put the poppy seeds in the dressing because I think they get distributed better that way
For the dressing you will need:
1/2 cup salad oil
4 tablespoons white or rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
3 tsp. Accent
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Simply mix all the ingredients together and toss with the salad
I think this is a very simple and delicious meal and I hope you try it, who knows maybe you can bring it to one of you next family picnics?

Monday, April 26, 2010

Today we had a family birthday party for my cousin
we all got together at my aunts house for dinner and everyone made a ton of amazing food!


My dad smoked a pork loin and some chicken legs which were so very delicious
everyone gobbled it up!

And my cousin made some yummy green beans with mushrooms, so good!


As you can see I like to get some of everything
and btw this was only my first plate lol

Oh and of course we can not forget the desserts!
we had marshmallow fudge cake, peach cobbler, cherry pie, cookies, and ice cream =]
Oh how I love our family get togethers!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Prom Dinner

For Prom we went to an Italian restaurant called Franco's
It was either that or P.F. Changs but I thought Franco's would be better because its a really nice family owned restaurant and every time I have been there the food has been amazing so I guess you could say I talk them into going there
Everything was delicious and I ate so much I thought I was going to bust out of my dress lol
I got the pasta Scallopini which was fettuccine this mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and artichokes simmered in their famous marinara sauce
It was fabulous!
Franco's was a very great choice for dinner *cough* thanks to me =]

Saturday, April 24, 2010

So today for a kind of little lunch I made a peach mango yogurt smoothie
Tonight is the prom for me so I'm not going to be able to update my dinner for tonight until tomorrow so I just thought I would make a little update to update you that the really update will be up tomorrow! lol
Alright well that's about it for now got to go get ready for my first prom!
Get ready for an awesome update tomorrow because we are going to this amazing Italian restaurant tonight and I can't wait

Friday, April 23, 2010

Salad

Well tonight was another boring night
I was still super tired from getting home so late then having to get up at 6 a.m so when I finally got home today at 5 I took a really long nap and by the time I woke up it was late and everyone was just on their own for dinner.
So I made myself a salad because I really wasn't to hungry but it was tasty

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Soup & Salad

Tonight my mom and I had to go to cincy to pick up my sister from college
So we decided to get dinner at PANERA! =]
I got the French onion soup with a classic salad and a baguette
it was all very delicious but it is very late now and I have to get up for school in the morning so
GOOD NIGHT!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hot Wings

So apparently we are just totally being all American this week
Tonight my papa and I were on our own so he decided to order us a deluxe Cassano's pizza!
and apparently they have this deal that you get a free pound of wings when you order any large pizza! exciting right?
Now I don't get wings very often but I really liked these, they were nice an spicy and my lips were still on fire a good five minutes after eating them (this is a good thing)
Maybe we will have hot dogs tomorrow just to get the full spectrum of American cuisine lol

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Burgers and Smores

My parents came home today and my dad just wanted something simple for dinner so I made some good old hamburgers
But one of my classes tomorrow is having a party so I decided to make a delicious dessert!
RICE KRISPIE SMORES!
This is how I made them
First I melted 3tbs of butter along with one 10oz bag of marshmallows

Then I added 6 cups of rice cereal and stirred until it was all coated evenly
I poured the mixture onto a buttered sheet pan and pressed it into an even sheet

I then repeated these steps in order to make a second sheet of rice krispies

One sheet of rice krispies gets marshmallow fluff

and the other gets CHOCOLATE!

Finally I sandwiched them together then refrigerated it until the chocolate and fluff was set enough to cut into squares
These things are AMAZING super crunchy and sticky and gooey all at the same time!
and you can definitely let them sit at room temp if you like the chocolate to be a little less solid
I hope everyone at school like them =]

Monday, April 19, 2010

Pea Soup

Well my parents are still not home so I wanted to try something I figure they might not enjoy as much as me. So I made my version of a pea soup
I started by microwaving a bag of frozen peas with some water, salt, pepper, and a whole garlic clove. I also sauteed some about 1 half of an onion.
I add all this to the blender and added about a half cup of chicken stock
I pureed the whole thing then added it to a pot to let simmer for a few minutes
Before serving I added about a tablespoon of lemon juice just to brighten up the flavor a bit
I also toasted some sour dough bread to go with the soup and for me I added a dollop of sour cream =]

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Parfait

For lunch today I made myself a lovely parfait
This is how I did it
I simply layered raspberry yogurt with sliced strawberries, bananas, and honey nut granola
It was a very delicious lunch and It was so pretty I almost didn't want to eat it
but of course I did lol

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Italian Sub

My parents have left me again for the weekend so for dinner I decided to go to subway and get myself a $5 footlong
I got the spicy Italian with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and banana peppers.
Its my favorite!
I only ate one half so ill probably bring the other half to school for lunch on Monday

Friday, April 16, 2010

Today we had a blood drive at school so I gave blood and I felt completely fine until I got home and I got SUPER tired!
My parents wanted to go out to eat for dinner but I was to tired to go anywhere and I really just wanted to sleep. So after a good nap I woke up feeling nauseous and a little woozy =/
Probably the last thing I wanted to do was eat but I knew I needed to so I just made myself a bagel with some cream cheese and black berry jam.
It was pretty good and it helped my stomach a lot but I'm still not feeling so hot.
I'm really hoping my tummy will stop all this madness here soon!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Taco Salad

So today was CRAZY hot so I really just felt like making something lite, so I made taco salad!
Alright so this is like the easiest recipe ever here it is if you would like to make it
you will need
1 head of lettuce, chopped
1 pound of ground beef (I used turkey)
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can of kidney beans
3-4 scallions, chopped
Toppings
cheese
salsa
sour cream
Frito's
To make the salad simply brown your meat, then add the taco seasoning. Toss the seasoned meat with the chopped lettuce, scallions, and drained kidney beans. Then crunch up some Frito's and toss into the salad for an extra salty crunch.
Serve salad with the topping above and allow everyone to customize their own.
Something that would also be good in this salad would be avocado!
But my dad doesn't really like avocado so I didn't add it =/
Although I did trick him by using turkey instead of beef so maybe I will try the avocado next time.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Southwest Frittata

So my mom asked me to make something southwesterish tonight so I decided to make a frittata
this frittata had andouille sausage, bell peppers, corn, salsa, and chipotle!
It was pretty spicy and my mom couldn't handle that but she still liked it
I feel like I have made frittata a lot on here but I can't help it, they are so easy and versatile and whenever we have a lot of eggs this is what comes to mind

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Oatmeal & Bananas

So I'm not really feeling to good today, I started feeling a little nauseous when I got home today =/
So I left my parents to fend for themselves and I made myself a bowl of oatmeal with bananas
Oatmeal is always something I like to eat when I feel sick because its very simple and there is not much to it to upset my stomach anymore
If you can't tell that there are bananas in it that's because I cooked them with the oatmeal and they got all mushed up with the oatmeal and made a kind of banana bread tasting oatmeal!
It was amazing!
I just wish food wasn't making me feel sick so I could have enjoyed it more =/

Monday, April 12, 2010

Noodles with Roast Beef and Peanut Sauce

So tonight I decided to try another recipe from one of my cooking mags
This one I tweaked a bit because it really called for roast pork but I had leftover shredded beef from last night so I just used that. I also swapped out the almond butter for peanut butter because if you don't know almond butter is like $16 a jar, a little ridiculous if you ask me!
So this was a pretty interesting flavor, but I liked it! I specially like the green onions in it, they kind of cut through all the richness of the peanut butter
So I found the recipe online so here it is if you would like to try
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1924698
Maybe if you actually make it with the almond butter you will like it better
Let me know if you do?

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Beef Stew

Ok so this is like my take on beef stew/stroganoff lol
The crock pot is like my best friend on the weekends or days when I don't feel like doing much
Basically this morning I got it started my searing my top round roast on SUPER high heat to lock in all the juices and to create a flavor base for the liquid. So once the meat was seared I removed it from my pan and placed it in the crock pot then deglazed the pan with about a cup of red wine.
Then I added a can of beef broth to the crock pot and the wine with all the delicious brown bits! and just about a cup or 2 of water just to cover the roast
I then added all kinds of things like onions, potatoes, carrots, and about 6 whole garlic cloves!
I also added a bay leaf, salt and pepper, and about a tablespoon or so of Worcestershire sauce
After about 6 hours on high I took the roast out to shred
I then added a bag of the no yolks egg noodles and about a half a bag of frozen peas
I only used half of the meat for this dish so I can use the rest of the meat for another dinner this week.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Steak

Mmm yummy lunch!
I had a leftover fillet of salmon that I had cooked the other day, so for lunch I just flaked it up with some mayo then put it on a toasted baguette along with tomato, baby spinach, and provolone cheese mmmm
It was basically a tuna salad sandwich (btw tuna salad is like my FAVORITE sandwich) but instead of tuna you use salmon haha pretty easy stuff
But it was very delicious and it went wonderfully with my iced coffee, yum I love that its getting warm enough for iced coffee!
Now this is a mans meal if I ever saw one!
My papa wanted to grill some steaks since it was so nice out today and I think he went out and picked the biggest steaks he could find, that thing was bigger than my head!
This is a Porterhouse steak which is basically a T-bone with the fillet still attached to it
I was so excited to have these for dinner because I haven't had a good steak in a long time and steak it definitely one of my very favorite things!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Italian Sausage and Peppers

Tonight for dinner I made Italian sausage subs with peppers and onions.
To make them, first I boiled the hot Italian sausages and then finished them off on the flat top, just to add a little color.
I also sauteed some bell peppers and onions with garlic, salt and pepper of course
When everything was done I assembled the subs by slicing the sausage then I layered the buns with tomato sauce peppers and then the sausage
I also added some of my new favorite condiment...pickled hot peppers!
I just love making simple dinners like this because its so easy but its always so delicious

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Baked Ziti

Tonight was my delivery night and I had a request for my baked ziti so I made a double batch and that what we had as well.

I made my own sauce like always but this time I used fresh herbs because I would really like to start using them more often, and you know what? they made my sauce like 10 times better!
I also added Italian sausage then a bunch of cheese, mixed it all up, poured it in the pan, covered with more cheese then baked for about 30 minutes on 375 until the cheese was all golden brown and bubbly!

The finished product
Oh how I love the crispy edges =]

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Southwest Style Chicken & Chile Corn Bread

Tonight I made southwest style chicken along with green beans and Chile corn bread.
To make the chicken I partially cooked it in a pan and then poured a jar of salsa over them and then covered and finished cooking for about 10 more minutes.
The corn bread is simply the recipe on the Quaker corn meal box minus the sugar but I added some extra salt, a small can of green chilies, one can of corn partially blinded, and about 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
I figured I have been doing a lot of worldly food but my mom really likes southwestern food so this is what I came up with for her.
She said she really liked it and she loved the corn bread which is a very good thing because she is very picky about her corn bread lol

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Pork Chops

Alright so I realize that this may not look that appetizing
but it really was very good
I made pork chops in a white wine honey mustard sauce with peas and sweet potato fries.
To make the chops I seared them on both sides for a few minutes then removed them from the pan and deglazed it with white wine. Then I added a few tablespoons on Dijon mustard and brown mustard (the grainy kind) and about half that amount of honey. I then added the chops back to the pan, covered it and let cook on low for about 10-15 minutes. With about 5 minutes left I added a few handfuls of frozen peas to the pan and let them finish cooking with the chops.
Now to go with the chops I made sweet potato fries.
To make these I simply cut the sweet potatoes into strips then tossed them with salt olive oil and some of my families spice rub. I roasted the fries at about 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
My dad also reduced some balsamic vinegar to make a sweet dipping sauce for the fries.
It was all very good and I was very happy with the way the pork chops came out because I basically made the recipe up as I went lol
But doesn't that seem to be my favorite way to cook?

Monday, April 5, 2010

Fried Pb&Bananas


For lunch to day I made my version of Elvis's fried peanut butter and banana sandwich
For mine I toasted the first side of the bread then drizzled it with honey and layered it up with peanut butter and banana slices, top it off with another toasted piece of bread then finish it off on the griddle.
It was pretty good but I think there is still just something I like about pulling apart a nice gooey peanut butter sandwich and squishing the soft bread before I eat it, but that's just me lol
Repeat!
Ok so I made this cake for my dinner party awhile back but I didn't get to try it and my swim team banquet is tomorrow so I decided to make it for that.
This way I get to try it and I know its a good cake because everyone at the dinner party loved it so I can't go wrong

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

For Easter I thought it would be appropriate to make a carrot cake and I have never made one so I wanted to try.
I got my recipe off marthastewart.com but the recipe is from Paula Dean, so you can imagine it was good and rich!
This cake must have weighed a good 10 pound I think, it was crazy heavy! the icing alone used 2 pounds of powdered sugar along with 2 packets of cream cheese and 2 sticks of butter lol plus it's a 3 layer cake
Well everyone loved it but we still have a whole half left, It needs to go, I'm making another chocolate cake on Tuesday for my swimming banquet so It really needs to go!
Mmmm I love Easter! there is always such good food!
I had my favorites HAM and DEVILED EGGS so I'm a happy girl =]
I hope everyone had a great Easter

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Banana Bread

So we had some bananas that were getting a little brown the other day so I though it would be nice to make some banana bread, so I took the bananas and put them in a brown bag for a few days because they weren't yet ripe enough
well they were pretty much black today so I decided they were ready
I used a recipe from one of our family cook books, It was really simple so I think Ill put it on her.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1tsp. salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix all the ingredients well. bake in bread pan 350 degrees for 30-40 min.
It turned out lovely, very moist and dense, perfect for breakfast or an after dinner snack!

For diner my dad took us to a Chinese buffet in Dayton
Now I know what your thinking why would you go all the way to Dayton when there is a Chinese buffet right in Xenia?
Well this one was sweet because it had sushi and like a hibachi station thing!
It was pretty good I ate a lot of sushi as you can see, I mean really all you can eat sushi for $10 of course I'm going to eat as much as I can!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Orange Chicken


We had some hamburger in the frig that needed to be used up and I also had some already cooked pasta so I decided to put them together and make something good out of it.
First I browned the meat then added some red wine, then I added some diced tomatoes and tomato sauce that I found left over form another dish. I also added a little ketchup because the sauce was a little thin.
It was actually really good, kind of like meatloaf pasta lol
For dinner I made orange glazed chicken thighs.
I also made some lo mein noodles and some summer squash
It was all really good I think it came very close to any Chinese take out I have ever had
The chicken recipe is one of Guy Fieri's
So if you would like to try here is the link

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Apple Muffins & Chicken Rollatini


Today I was kind of bored and I really wanted to make something
I found a recipe on a box of milled flax for some whole wheat flax apple muffins
I had all the ingredients so I decided to make them
They turned out nice and I think they are very cute!
They don't have any spice to them so I like to eat them with some butter and Cinnamon

For dinner I made my own version of Chicken Rollatini
I butterflied a some chicken breasts then layers them with baby spinach, prosciutto , sun dried tomatoes, and provolone cheese. I then rolled them all up and used toothpicks to secure the seams. I seared them on all sides for a few minutes and then I finished them off in the oven.
To go with the chicken I made some garlic and Parmesan pasta and I wilted so more baby spinach into it
It was all very good and I think this could become a new appetizer I could make for parties!

Pork Stir-Fry

OMG I can't believe I missed a day!
I'm so sorry I just had a lot going on last night and when I got home after midnight I totally forgot
So I will make it up by doing two posts today

Alright so last night I made a pork stir-fry!

So I don't know about you but I know I always thought Chinese food was bad for you and full of sugar and what not but this is a very simple very healthy stir-fry that I found in one of my healthy Martha Stewart magazines lol

It was super yummy and full of great veggies and by using pork instead of chicken it made it a little more exciting for me because all I ever cook with is chicken.

Oh and it also had pineapple in it!

Now I know what your thinking pineapple? but it was really good, it added that extra sweetness without adding any sugar.

This was a great recipe and I can't wait to try it again.