I'm so excited to share this with you all! Recently I was one of several lucky bloggers selected by Smart & Final to participate in their Grill Up Your Summer promotion. The challenge? Create one of my own grilling recipes using their line of Cattleman's Finest beef. That's a challenge I gladly accepted!
Our Ultimate Vegas Date Night
Last Friday (May 27, 2011), David got a phone call telling him that he has won a contest he has entered on the Wigibuy Facebook page. The prize? A pair of tickets to see comedian Chelsea Handler live at Ceasars Palace (Las Vegas, of course) the very next day. And as if that wasn't cool enough, it included a stay at Ceasars Palace. I freaked out! Just the day before I was thinking about how badly the two of us needed a date night: no work, no computers, no kids. But this? Never imagined we'd win
Root Beer “Baked” Beans
I cook with beans A LOT. My family loves them and they are cheap, plus so good for you. In the summertime, it's very common for us to have them as a side dish - either as baked beans or as barbecue beans. I don't make them homemade every time, sometimes we just buy a can and heat them up, but I would say that the majority of the time, I try various recipes and make them from scratch (sometimes even cooking dry beans).
Another favorite in our home is root beer. Beans + root beer? When I first
Chocolate Marquise on Torched Meringue
It's been a long while since I've talked about The Daring Kitchen. The last time was when I shared about canning apple butter for the first time. It's kinda sad because it truly is one of my most favorite things to participate in. I learn so much when I complete the challenges, including that I really am capable of making some pretty great stuff!
Egg & Soyrizo Breakfast Burritos
In our home, breakfast burritos are a common meal in the morning. One of my husband's favorite ingredients for them is Mexican chorizo (it's a spicy sausage). The last time we had chorizo and egg breakfast burritos was Summer 2010 when we stayed with my brother and his wife. My brother loves chorizo and eggs too, so we had it a couple times while we stayed there. I remember eating my burrito and grease started running down my hands and wrists. Yes, there is that much grease in it that it would
Pesto Pizza with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Self Serve Frozen Yogurt (Daily Photo)
When we moved to Las Vegas, we were pleasantly surprised to find a delightful treat: self serve frozen yogurt! And there is no shortage of them here - Vegas seems to have one on almost every corner.
The place we've visited the most often is U-Swirl Frozen Yogurt. Here's how it works:
1. Grab a cup (we always grab the 16 oz cup)
2. Dispense your favorite frozen yogurt flavors (and there is lots of flavors!)
3. Top with toppings, if you wish (LOTS of choices - nuts, fresh fruit, cookie
Thrift Store Find: Recipe Plaque (Daily Photo)
This evening, we took a trip over to my favorite thrift store. We went looking for gardening tools (shovel, Hula hoe, etc) and rugs. They didn't have what we were hoping to find, but no worries, I didn't leave empty handed. I found this weird plaque. It's wood on the base and someone got crafty with it by doing some distressing to the edges. The top of it is thick metal with the words "recipes" cut out of it near the bottom of the metal. This piece is screwed into the wood base.
It caught my
Daily Photo: Omelet & English Mufffin with Peanut Butter
Today for breakfast I made us a quick omelet with 1/2 cup Egg Beaters (1 WW Points+) and 2 Laughing Cow Light creamy Swiss cheese wedges (2 WW Points+). I added a Thomas' Light Multi-Grain English Muffin (3 WW Points+) with 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter on each half (5 WW Points+). Altogether, it was an 11 WW Point breakfast -- with nearly half of those points being the peanut butter. A pretty hefty price for some peanut butter! But, it was SO worth it.
Daily Photo: Edamame Snacktime!
I have a new favorite movie snack: Edamame (in the pods). When settling in to watch some movies, I wanted to snack on something and went looking around in the kitchen. There was other options, but when I opened up the freezer, I saw the 16 oz bag of frozen edamame. Hmmmm....we've had it with dinner, but never to just "snack" on. Then, I looked on the back of the bag and saw that a 16 oz bag was just TWO servings. That means a LOT of edamame since just David and I were sharing it.
I steamed