Watermelon Margaritas

Thanks to Mary we got to try this refreshing summer beverage!

Watermelon Juice
Tequila
Triple Sec
Sugar
Lime Juice

Blend with Ice!

Peach Pound Cake

AMAZING!!!!!

So good. First time I ever got a pound cake out of the bundt pan!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract (I didn't have almond so I just doubled the vanilla)

3 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups diced fresh or frozen peaches

Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts. In a separate bowl, soft flour, baking soda and salt; add to batter alternately with sour cream. Fold in peaches. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in fluted tube pan. Bake for 60-70 min or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 min before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Black Bean Hummus

So I wanted to make hummus to eat with my favorite Baked Multigrain Pita Chips from Target so I asked Chris to pick up some ingredients on the way home from work. But he got stuck in a meeting and I got desperate! So I decided that you could make hummus with black beans.
I think it is awesome and Chris agreed.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 chipotle pepper (I had it in the fridge and wanted to give it a kick and some flavor)
S & P

Put all in a food processor and churn. Serve with whatever you like!!

Chipotle Pulled Pork

I had very good intentions on making this pulled pork with sweet potato biscuits but I became very cooked out over the weekend and put off the biscuits. Please they are not a new recipe and I am supposed to try new recipes....Anyways I was very skeptical about the pork but Chris told me it was good so here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 (7oz) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/4 c bbq sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 (1lb) pork tenderloin
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
Remove 1 chile from can and finely chop. Place chile and remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover and reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 10 min or until sauce thickens and pork is tender and remove from heat. Remover pork from sauce and shred. Return to sauce and stir together. Let sit 5 min or more so sauce can be absorbed by the pork.


No Photo cause it kind of looked like Alpo Dog Food...

Crepes!

Crepes for breakfast on Sunday!

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
Pinch of Salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1.5-2 cups milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Sift flour and dash of salt into bowl. Make a well. Add egg and yolk in well. Slowly and constantly pour half of the milk in the well and stir at the same time. Then stir in vanilla and butter. Add remaining milk. Cover and let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.
Pour 1/4 cup batter in greased med - med-low frying pan and let cook. Flip and cook. Remove from heat and stuff for fillings of your choice. We used nutella, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, bananas, and maple syrup. Oh and of course powdered sugar!

Lemon Chicken and Bulgar Salad

So here is a photo of the chicken and bulgar salad I made for dinner on Friday night. We ended up throwing out the recipe because we decided it had no taste but it is healthy and today we had it for lunch and it tasted WAY better. SO here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp olive oil

(I added some minced garlic and salt and pepper as well)

2 cups of vegetable broth, warmed

1 cup wheat bulgar

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

(I added chopped tomato as well)

So put the chicken through the olive and garlic and S & P in a ziploc bag squish around and marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Grill chicken. And let cool then chopped 1-inch sized cubes. Boil the broth and add it to the bulgar. Cover the bulgar for 10 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Add everything into a bowl and toss.

Low-fat Cake for the World Cup

So I had written out a recipe for Low-fat Cake awhile ago and I never had tried it. So I decided that since I had some zucchinis laying around I would give the cake a try. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cake mix (I used Devil's Food)

1 egg

2 egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups shredded zucchini

Combine first 6 ingredients with a blender on low for 2 minutes. Fold in zucchini. Pour in a prepared cake pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

I made half of my mom's icing recipe but added too much milk so the icing was runny but really good. Recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter, softened

1.5 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

Then I put topped with sliced fruit in the design of the American Flag in honor of the World Cup game (England vs America) which ended in a 1-1 tie.

Chicken and Squash Casserole

This recipe came from Clean Eating as did the cookies but I made some changes based on my liking and availability. It was very dry but I like things like that. It was still eaten.

Ingredients:

10 slices of whole wheat bread

3 medium yellow squash, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, chopped finely

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 tsp Italian seasoning

S & P to taste

Cube the bread and toast it in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the italian seasonin while warm and let sit.

In a very large saucepan, mist with cooking spray and add chopped onions. Saute till tender. Add sliced squash. I added some vegetable broth because it needed something to help it saute. Add garlic. Saute till tender. Remove from pan.

Add cubed chicken and cook in saucepan. I cooked it through which was also probably why it was dry but I like it dry. Add back in the squash mixture and the bread crumbs in the sauce pan (hence why it needs to be BIG). Stir together and try to get the bread down. Add cheese and stir. Sprinkle with S & P. Transfer to casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

3 thumbs up...as I said it was dry but healthy...

Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies

So for Kara's birthday I made some Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They are wheat and diary free something I normally don't do but Chris said they were good. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup All-Natural Almond Butter

3/4 cup Succant (I used dark brown sugar)

1 egg

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt (I used regular)

3 oz dark chocolate (I used 60% bittersweet chocolate)

Stir the almond butter well and measure out a cup and put in a medium bowl. Add sugar/succant and egg and stir well. Add soda and salt and stir. Chop up chocolate into chunks and add to batter. Stir together. Drop on a non-stick or parchment lined baking sheet in tablespoon sized balls. Leave at least 2 in between cookie balls. Cook in a 350 oven for 12 minutes. Remove promptly and let sit on pan for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack for 15 min.

8 thumbs up

Pesto!!!!

So I made some pesto...I actually didn't follow a recipe for this. We had extra basil in our garden that Chris had cut when we got home from our vacation. Anyways, we had garlic chicken with pesto whole wheat pasta. No complaints from the peanut gallery but then again it was a rough Monday so he knew better.

Ingredients:

3 - 18-in stalks of basil, cut leaves off at the bottom of the leaf and rinse

1/3 cup evoo

3/4 cup shredded parmesen cheese

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 -2 tbsp water

12 raw almonds, chopped

S & P to taste

I always think it is gross and depressing when recipes ask you to pour over half of your bottle of expensive olive oil into a bowl/blender/sauce pan so I try to use as little as possible - hence the water in the recipe. Anyways throw everything in a blender and process until smooth. I used almonds because I didn't have pine nuts. Probably should have used pine nuts but oh well - didn't have them.

8 Thumbs Up from Chris

Recipe Review #1 - Strawberry Sorbet

So I pulled a recipe out of Coastal Living on the trip home for a Strawberry Sorbet. We had been talking about how we needed to use our ice cream maker and this recipe looked sooo delicious that I decided to take the plunge.

Ingredients based on my modifications:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup warm water

2 lbs of strawberries sliced (it called for 3 but I was cheap and would only buy 2 - they were even on sale 2 lbs for $4

2 tbsp fresh key lime juice

3 dashes of salt

You just stir the sugar into the warm (I used boiling from the kettle) water until it dissolves and then add the lime juice and the salt and stir. In a blender put everything together and blender. Then strain through a sieve so you get ride of the seeds (it takes a while but I am thinking that it is better to put in the time - no one wants a strawberry seed stuck in their tooth). Then put that into a ready to go ice cream maker and turn it on for 30 minutes. Then transfer into an airtight container and put in the freezer...which is where we are now. I will let you know how it tastes although Chris did preview it and gave it a thumbs up.

Vacation Inspiration

So we just returned from a "9" day vacation (3 of those days were driving) and I feel inspired! Memorial Day Weekend was spent in Tuscaloosa Alabama at the Wingate Inn. Chris and I drove with Ouisie on Saturday to Alabama for the Regional Soccer Tournament only to play our Houston rivals. We lost on Sunday after a considerable rain delay 1-0 so we jumped back on the road and drove to Charlotte (arrival time: 11:30pm). We got to spend 3 days in Charlotte during which we celebrated Dad's 65th birthday, hung out with the fam (including Patrick who was recovering from a recent ACL repair), went shopping at Dicks, and ate at an awesome restaurant (Crepe place). On Thursday we drove down to Daufuskie but had to back track a bit to meet Mom at Carowinds with a backpack we had left on the bench in the garage (Thanks for meeting us Mom!). The Carowinds exit brought back fond memories of humid summer days riding the Vortex and Wayne's World. We continued down to the beach and arrived at 2:30pm thus missing the 2:30 boat so we got a smoothie at Planet Smoothie (used to be my favorite but this time tasted like sugar water) and put gas (BP - it was the only option) in the car. We caught the 3:30 boat and were on the island by 4pm! We were excited about Ouisie visiting Daufuskie because this would be her first trip to the beach. We took her out to it on Friday and she did great! It was awesome to watch. She was off leash chasing the waves playing in the water and listening to our every commands. She was an all-star. Friday evening on our way to play a short game of tennis - I rode in the back of the golf cart feeling very content and revived - exactly what a vacation should do! After establishing that Chris should become a professional tennis player and I his manager and trainer we got back in the car and headed back to Houston. 18 hours (including many rest stops for myself and Ouisie) later we were back in Houston.

We were able to make a Bucket List for the Summer of 2010. Here are some of the things that we decided we should accomplish by the end of the summer:

1. Go Paddle/Yolo Boarding

2. Watch 1 World Cup Soccer Game at a Bar

3. Try a new restaurant each month (June. July. August)

4. Go to the theatre -- Wicked, the obvious choice!

5. And have parties in our backyard for ourselves -- imagine paper lanterns, burgers on the grill, icy margaritas in hand and our kiddie pool filled with water

I was also inspired to go through all my recipes that I have pulled out over the many years...there are a lot. So I decided I would try and pull a modified Julia and Julia and blog about my cooking. Now there are no guarantees that I will be able to keep up or even make daily entries but that is the goal as of now. It will be called the Recipe Review and I will publish ever recipe I make, along with pictures, and comments (based on availability).