So today before heading off to work I made myself a little lunch

and what I decided to make was a hot ham and cheese sandwich
I actually made it in a pita pocket because they are just so handy and portable they make messy sandwiches so easy to eat
So to make it I simply filled the pita with cheese and ham and heated it up on the flat top until the cheese melted
And finally when it came off the flat top I stuffed in a little lettuce and spread a little pesto inside
So yummy!

Tonight before I left work I made myself my favorite salad

Our homemade pesto salad!

Mmm it is so delicious

But when I got home I saw that my dad had made jambalaya for their dinner

So I made myself a little bowl of that to go with my salad

My dad made the jambalaya with a store bought sauce base and he added spicy sausage and some chicken thighs and served it over brown rice

It was actually really good but what can be bad about sausage or even chicken thighs?

So today being the last real day of summer school and the second to last day I had to wake up before 10 I decided to get myself a donut from Stan's

Mmm that's the breakfast of champions right there

Sand Pudding

Tomorrow is officially our last party in summer school

So I decided to make one of my favorite desserts

Sand Pudding!

Sand pudding is really just a vanilla version of dirt pudding but I love it and it is so addictive

To make it all you need is three simple ingredients

1 large packet of vanilla pudding mix (plus milk)

1 tub of cool whip

1 box of nilla wafers

And to make it is just as simple
I start by mixing up the pudding and putting it in the frig

then while the pudding is setting up I use my food processor to grind up the whole box of nilla wafers into a powder much like sand

Then before the pudding is completely set up I add the cool whip to it and fold it in until thoroughly mixed

I then divide the "sand" in half and add half to the pudding mixture itself and preserve the other half for topping

Finally I let it set up in the frig and serve

This is such a simple and awesome dessert you just can't get enough of it

And with the way the "sand" topping acts like real sand by filling in all the spaces as the pudding is dipped out everyone always gets a little bit of the topping

Who ever invented this dessert was a genius!

Wow my eating habits are becoming terrible because of this job

I always get home late and I'm hungry but there is never anything really good for me to eat and I really don't feel like cooking after cooking at work for 5 plus hours

So its always exciting when I get home and there is leftover take out from flying tiger!

good job dad thanks for dinner lol

Lemon Pepper Cod

So today I continued the fish theme and made cod for dinner

I made baked lemon pepper cod with pasta and sauteed zucchini and squash

This was really just a quick fix dinner I had to make before I went to my class at the Y

I find baking fish is one of the fastest and easies ways to cook it plus it super healthy that way

To make the veggies I just sauteed them in a little olive oil with salt and pepper and right at the end I sprinkled a little dill weed on the squash because I just really love that combination

Oh and the pasta was just a simple box mix I found

Hey I'm allowed to take short cuts sometimes

especially when I'm in a bind and we have nothing else
Any way it was very tasty and I was pretty impressed with it for throwing it together in such short notice

Applewood

Well today was the day my sister left town we had to drop her off at her bus in cincy around 6:30 so my dad decided we should go out to dinner as a family before she left

He chose to go to his favorite restaurant

Applewood

Its in Aurora Indiana right on the river and the food is amazing!

Every meal starts off with their homemade ciabatta and apple butter

I got a salad with my dinner
I mean where can you go wrong there?

My sister and my dad ordered a bowl of french onion soup
so of course I had to try it
They definitely do it the right way
with lots of soft bread and TONS of melty cheese dripping down the sides
In my opinion that is the only way

For my main course I decided on the baked Mahi Mahi with mandarin orange glaze and a baked sweet potato
I really enjoyed this dish and mahi mahi was cooked great and the glaze was delicious but I found I really liked topping it with horseradish
You see my sister got the horseradish crusted salmon but she asked for the horseradish on the side because shes really not the most adventurous eater
and like suspected she didn't like it so I took artistic liberties and added it to my dish
I loved it!

And we musent forget dessert
Applewood makes the absolute best bread pudding I have ever had and it happens to be where I stole my recipe from for my bread pudding
The bread itself it spiced and the custard makes it to moist and the use of apple pie filling just gives it that special Applewood touch
Oh and the amaretto sauce just puts it over the top
Its a humble dessert and not one that everyone it a fan of but if you haven't had this bread pudding it could convert you

Alright so this is where the real story begins
My sisters bus got delayed 3 hours and since its a Sunday nothing is really open after 6 so we spent the time driving around cincy and Kentucky and being a cliche family
but finally around 9:45 the bus arrived and my sister went home
But my parents and I believe it or not were quite hungry so as you can see we made a late night stop to whit castle
One of the greater fast food establishments we have in America
and like waffle house its better after night fall

Pulled Pork

So it was another late night at work tonight and when I finally got off I was really hungry so I decided to make myself a little something for dinner

What I made was a little mini version of the pulled pork dinner

I just made myself yummy johnny cake and a little bit of pulled pork

Mmm so delicious

I just love those little johnny cakes they go so well with the pork and just tastes like nothing I have ever had before
I Love My Job!

BW3s Hot Wings

Today we had yet another party in summer school

And this time it was a WINGS PARTY!

Yesterday we made our orders at BW3s and one of the students picked them up last night and brought them in this morning

It was awesome we had so many wings and some other really good food

I got the Asian Zing favor which was really good and really hot

I compared them to extremely hot general tso

I really haven't been to BW3s more than probably 4 times but every time I do go I love it even more

Pesto Salad

So today was a very long day and I really didn't have much sleep

So basically my day consisted of loading myself up on COFFEE going to school coming home taking a little nap going to work and soon I will be going back to bed

Well I really didn't have a ton to eat today just a little something here and there

But I accidentally made the wrong kind of salad at work so I decided to just set it in the frig and eat it later

So once I finally got off work at 9 I grabbed my pesto salad and headed home

Plus this late at night I never like to eat a lot so this was just perfect

Chicken Pesto

So my cousin, my sister and my dad all have birthdays in July so today we had a big family birthday dinner

And my dad got to choose where we went and he decided to go to Smokin Aces

So even on my day off I had to go into work

Well any way for dinner I decided to get the Chicken Pesto because well I actually hadn't tried it yet

I also got the sauteed mushrooms and scalloped potatoes

It was really delicious and I ate every bit of it

After dinner we had birthday cake of course!

Oh and it was red velvet which happens to be my VERY FAVORITE

We also had coconut pound cake and my cake truffles but I was focused on the red velvet

Cake Truffles

Today I made cake truffles!

these are something I saw on food network a while back and I have been wanting to try them

mind you this is not exactly how I saw them made

The one I saw were on a stick and called cakes pops but I like my way

To starts simply bake you favorite cake

for me I chose spice cake

next crumble it all up and throw it in the mixer

mix until the cake is almost sand like

then either use homemade icing or you can doctor some store bought

I used store bought cream cheese icing and added some vanilla and cinnamon to it

Add as much icing as you like to the cake crumbs

not to much just enough to make it stick together and mailable

Finally roll your cake mixture into balls and refrigerate

I froze mine but either way works

And lastly use melted white chocolate to either drizzle or dip your cake truffles in

The only reason I drizzled mine was because I have terrible luck with any melted chocolate let alone white chocolate

I would recommend refrigerating before serving to allow the chocolate to set and so the icing doesn't melt and get all sticky

I really love this recipe and I think I will be making these a lot more often for parties and what not and I hope you liked it also and try it with your favorite cake

So yesterday I had a lot of trouble with my Internet and I tried really hard to get my update up but my computer just wouldn't let me.

So this is a double update for yesterday and today

So yesterday my dad took us to lunch at his favorite Chinese restaurant called Flying Tiger

I got the chicken with mixed vegetables

I normally get general tso but I felt like trying something different for once

Oh and since it was lunch you get soup, an egg roll, and a chicken leg with your meal!

I love that place

So later that night after being at Kings Island all day my sister and her boyfriend and I all decided to go to Waffle House

at 11 o'clock!

It was great I was starving and I ate so much

Both my sister and I put her boyfriend to shame

Alright so tonight for dinner I made enchiladas

To make them I used shredded chicken, sauteed peppers and onions, and a mix I made of corn and black beans seasoned with chili powder and cumin

I filled whole wheat tortillas with some of each and rolled them and placed them in a glass pan

I also made a quick mole sauce with tomato sauce and a ton of chili powder

I poured the sauce over the enchiladas and baked them in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes until they were heated through

I finished them off with some cheese and served with refried beans

I was super delicious and everyone liked them

even my sister who is kind of a picky eater

So tonight I wasn't really home until late and when I did get home my parents and sister had all gone out to eat so you can guess what my dinner was

LEFTOVERS!

Yeah I actually do get excited about leftovers especially when they are from an amazing Italian restaurant

Also this way I got to have a little bit of everything

I'm not sure what either of these were called but they were both really good

and I know this kind of looks like a saucy mess but it was delicious and I'm sure it looked better in it original form
I have had leftovers from this place a few times now
I'm hoping one day I will get to actually eat at the restaurant itself

Today I had a very BUSY BUSY day so I just decided to post my yummy breakfast

A French croissant!
very delicious

BBQ Eggrolls

Today I brought home a little piece of my work because I was very impressed with myself

Yes I made these eggrolls all by myself from scratch!

Drew and been were also impressed

they both said the ones that I made looked way better than any of the ones they made and they even looked like we may have bought them

lol Well I just think its because I'm a perfectionist and I probably waisted to much time trying to make them perfect

Alright well anyway if you didn't know these are the BBQ eggrolls that we make at Smokin Aces

They are simply just pulled pork and cole slaw wrapped up in a wanton wrapper and deep fried

With a little BBQ sauce these things are dynamite!

Sloppy Janes

So my sister is home and her first request for dinner was Sloppy Joes

So I made her some of my own homemade Sloppy Janes

which are sloppy joes just with ground turkey instead of beef

I would give you the recipe but to be honest I don't really have one

I have made these twice and both times I have just added everything to taste without measuring

But basically all I did was brown about 1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey along with one chopped onion and right at the end about 4 cloves of minced garlic

I then added 1 can of tomato sauce and that's where the measurements stop

After that I added a little soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chipotle ketchup (Just because we had it not a big deal if you don't but it added a nice heat) and of course lots of pepper because you know my family loves it

and just a splash of apple cider vinegar

That's about it not to complicated sorry its not an exact recipe but that's just not how I do things

Today we my sister came home from Chicago so my mom and I went to Cincinnati to pick her up

Well she was supposed to be in at 1:30 but the bus was running late so my mom and I decided to grab a little lunch at Bruegger's Bagels

I got the Turkey Toscana hot panini

My mom got the Primo Pesto Chicken panini

I really liked my panini and I tried hers too and it was also really good!

I wish we had one of these places closer to home I would go there all the time

But then again maybe that wouldn't be to good

especially for the wallet

Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs

Tonight I made spaghetti with turkey meatballs

To start off I made my regular marinara sauce that I always make and then while it simmered I got started making my meatballs

I used a recipe I got from Giada De Laurentiis for turkey meatballs and it worked very well

they were very moist and just as good as any other meatball

to make them combine

1 small onion (grated)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 egg

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons of ketchup

1/2 cup of Parmesan

a few tablespoons of basil and oregano (however much you like)

and finally 1 pound of ground turkey

To cook them you can either bake them of simply fry them in a large pan with a little olive oil

I decided to fry them in a pan

So I used my small disher to make bite sized meatballs and I quickly seared them all off in the pan about 2 minutes per side

I then added my sauce to the pan and allowed them to simmer in the sauce for about 15 minutes

At that time I cooked my pasta and then when the meatballs were ready I simply served the sauce and meatballs over the pasta with a little extra Parmesan cheese

Hoisin Glazed Pork Roast

Tonight for dinner I made a hoisin glazed pork roast with apples and red onions

as well as green beans and roasted potatoes

To cook the roast I simply seasoned the pork loin with salt and pepper and seared it in a cast iron pan on all sides
I then added some apple cider vinegar and soy sauce to the pan covered and placed it in a 325 oven for one hour
After about 45 minutes I uncovered the pan and glazed my roast with a simple mixture of hoisin sauce apple cider vinegar and soy sauce
I let the roast cook the rest of the time uncovered and I removed it when its internal temp reached 150 so it would carryover while it rested
So while the roast rested I got started chopping my apples and red onion
I then added it all to the pan drippings and added some extra hoisin sauce and a little bit of garlic
I cooked down the apples and onions until they were soft and the sauce was thickened
To serve I poured the sauce and the apples and onions over the roast and sliced individual servings for everyone
Now my dad doesn't really like the whole apples and pork thing but he really liked this so I think it was a success

Veggie Pita

So today I got called into work unexpectedly so before I went in I threw my self together a little lunch so I didn't have to resort to chips and onion straw at work lol

So I made myself an little pita pocket filled with some roasted red pepper hummus and some of the leftover veggie mix I made for dinner the other night

It was really quite tasty and It was easy to manage with the pita pocket while I drove to work

I probably should say that I ate and drove but oh well

I'm a girl I can multitask lol

Cheesy Sausage Dip

Today we had yet another party in government and my contribution was cheesy sausage dip

Its a very simple recipe that my dad likes to make for parties

To make it you need

1 pound breakfast sausage

1 pound hot sausage

1/2 green bell pepper

1 small jar of pimento peppers

2 pounds of Velveeta

To make it start by browning the sausage along with the diced bell pepper

then simply cube up the Velveeta and add it and the sausage mixture to a crock pot

Finally add the pimento peppers and allow the cheese to melt occasionally stirring so as not to let it burn

Well that's just about it

very simple but SUPER delicious!

Smokin Aces BBQ Hog Wings

Tonight I had to work so I didn't get to make dinner for my parents but before I left I did bring them home a nice snack to try And to make up for not cooking lol
Neither of them have had the Hog Wings from work so I decided to make a few for them and let them try
They both really liked them and I think this may become a regular take home item

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Today I made not BBQ pulled pork sandwiches but BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches!

And man were they good

I got the recipe from Ellie Krieger on food network

I'm not usually a big fan of her recipes because I think she goes a little crazy trying to make them ULTRA healthy

And personally I don't think a little extra olive oil or salt and hurt to much

But in this case I followed the recipe to the T and I had no complaints

This recipe was super easy and the sauce was awesome very sweet and tangy

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/pulled-bbq-chicken-sandwiches-recipe/index.html

So this just goes to show that even though I work at a BBQ place doesn't mean I will EVER get tired of it lol

Today for lunch I made myself an delicious sandwich

I made my sandwich with roast beef, jack cheese, lettuce, and honey mustard all on a yummy focaccia bun

It was a really nice lunch and something good to eat before I went to work and ate a dinner full of fried goodies lol

Red White & Blueberry Cheesecake

So I said I would make a cool patriotic dessert for today and I didn't break my promise

I made a Red White and Blueberry cheesecake!

I made my crust by combining 6 graham crackers, 1/3 cup of almonds, and 1/4 cup of sugar in a food processor until it was finely ground

I then added 5 tablespoons of melted butter to the mixture and processed it until combined

I presses it into an 8in tart pan and let it chill in the frig while I made the filling

To make the filling I simply combined

2 8oz blocks of cream cheese

1/2 cup of sour cream

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla
I then filled my crust and let the cheesecake cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes

once it came out of the oven I let it cool then I refrigerated it for about and hour before serving it

And finally for the color

I simply made a topping by defrosting a bag of mixed berries and adding just a few teaspoons of sugar

So there you have it a perfect red white and blue dessert for your 4th of July holiday

Skyline

Alright so I know I said I was going to make some really intense patriotic dinner for the 4th

But my dad decided that he wanted to go to Gold Star Chili tonight

Well as you can see we didn't go to Gold Star because we couldn't find it lol

But we did find Skyline!

So yeah skyline is where we went for dinner on the 4th of July

But really I mean whats more American than a Coney from skyline?

Well this was probably only the 3rd or 4th time I have been to skyline so this time I decided to try a Coney and the classic 3 way

Mmmm it was so good

And as much as you would like to hate it because of that mound of radio active orange cheese and the mystery chili

You know you love it

Red White & Blue Pancakes

So this morning we all decided to have a big family breakfast since the 4th of July is tomorrow my dad will be working to early in the morning to do it then

So as you can see I was feeling a little creative and extra patriotic so I made

RED WHITE & BLUE PANCAKES!

I also made some garlic home fries and scrambled eggs with cheddar and jalapeno sausage

Such a great start to the day

minus the fact that I went back to bed and took a nap after eating so much

Well since tomorrow is really the 4th I'm going to have to come up with something even better to do for dinner to top this

Oh and I think our family is having a get together on Monday so Ill have to make some kind of awesome dessert or do something for that

EXCITING! =]