Image Map
Would you be so kind as to "like" my facebook page?

Please excuse the lack of photos in some of my older posts as I am trying to slowly go back through and add the photos that were accidentally deleted

April 28, 2011

One More Easter Goodie - Easter Egg Nests!







The other day I told you I had another Easter recipe, and I do not want to disappoint! I made these adorable little Easter Egg Nests. I'm sure you have seen a similar version all over food blogland. I combined techniques from two different recipes and came up with my own twist on these adorable "nests". Some people like to use Peeps as the birds. We aren't too fond of Peeps at our house, so I didn't want to use them just for the look of it. I decided to use candy eggs to fill up those nests instead of Peeps. They can still be nests! Just Easter egg nests instead of birds' nests :)








































Easter Egg Nests
adapted from here and here
Melt peanut butter and butterscotch morsels in a large pot. Add in the chocolate square. Mix well. Add in the pretzel sticks, coating evenly. Place on parchment paper and assemble pretzels to look like nests, leaving a center which will be filled with eggs. Chill to let the chocolate harden. Once chocolate has hardened, fill with eggs.

Printable Recipe


I'm linking up to:
What's Cooking Wednesday@ Tales From the Fairy Blogmother
What's Cooking Wednesday? @ Not So Homemade

Looking for more Easter treats? Here's another keeper - simple but SO yummy! They are especially great for the kids :) Check out these Cereal Treat Easter Eggs!


Peace, and bacon grease!


April 27, 2011

Dear Foodgawker.....

Dear Foodgawker,

Every rejection email I get from you just kills my pride a little more. So could you please lower your standards for food photo submissions? I, and I'm sure I speak for all of your other rejectees, would really appreciate it. Thanks, mmmmk?

Until your next rejection letter graces my inbox...

P.S.  Add Tastespotting to that list.

Peace, and bacon grease!

April 26, 2011

Cereal Treat Easter Eggs!



I'm not gonna lie, I felt like a proud food blogger this past weekend because I made two kinds of Easter-themed treats! And both were ever so simple to make! The first are these Cereal Treat Easter Eggs. They are a different take on the classic rice krispie treat, except using Fruity Pebbles. And I must admit, I thought they tasted better than regular rice krispie treats! Why doesn't EVERYONE make them like this? I dunno, but I'm gonna! They are so purty and colorful, perfect for Easter! 

I recommend using a larger pot so that there is plenty of room to add all of the marshmallows and still room to stir. I used a smaller pot and the butter was at the bottom browning away and somewhat burning the marshmallows on the bottom. And it was hard to stir. So some of them turned out being made with more of a brown butter, but the taste was still great! I love the taste of brown butter in a dessert, so really it wasn't a bad thing! Besides making a few of the eggs look a bit dirty instead of bright and colorful. I will definitely be making these more often! I was so sad that it only made about 7 (I had enough for another half an egg but there was no point trying to shape that into an egg so I just ate it. Warm. Oh my deliciousness!). Next time I will up the amount so that I can have enough to take into both my and PJ's work.

Yay for natural light! I am beginning to become a natural light freak. I am always talking about natural light this, natural light that. PJ is becoming a tad annoyed. I'm always nagging, "We need to cook early so I can get my natural light!" or "Let's open our windows so I can see that natural light, it makes me feel better and the day seem cheerier!" It really does make things better, my attitude AND my photography, see... look at my photos! They are improving  : ) I literally took my plate on the porch and took a picture outside. My kitchen doesn't get good light, so a food blogger's gotta do what a food blogger's gotta do, ya know?


Cereal Treat Easter Eggs



Cereal Treat Easter Eggs
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 10 oz bag of marshmallows
  • 5 cups Fruity Pebbles
  • plastic Easter eggs, for shaping
In a large pot, melt butter on low-medium heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Pour in the cereal and mix.

Spray plastic eggs with cooking spray. Spoon the cereal mixture into the bottom half of the egg and then close to form shape. Wait at least 10 seconds for cereal to take the shape of the egg.

*You can use one or two plastic eggs to shape the cereal mixture. I used 6 because that's what came in a package and so I could shape more at one time. You can also use vertical or horizontally split plastic eggs. I used horizontal and spooned the mixture into the bottom part of the egg and closed it off with the top part of the plastic egg.

Printable Recipe


So I know Easter is over, but please make these next Easter.... mmmmk? And they don't have to be in the shape of Easter eggs. You can make these babies just for any ole occasion... just make them in squares like rice krispie treats! And of course you can use any cereal you like. But I'd go with the Fruity Pebbles if I were you.

Looking for more Easter treats? How about these Easter Egg Nests? Kids and adults alike will love 'em!

I am linking up to:
Recipe Swap Sundays


Don't Fruity Pebbles make you feel like a kid again?  :)


Peace, and bacon grease!


April 25, 2011

Menu Planning - Week of 4/25/11

Did everyone have a nice Easter? I did! Besides the yucky weather, that is. But I did enjoy a great meal and time with family. 

Gotta keep this one extremely short today - straight to the menu plan!

Monday 4/25/11:  Probably City BBQ, double point Mondays!

Tuesday 4/26/11:  Zuppa Toscana

Wednesday 4/27/11:  Taco Lasagna
Thursday 4/28/11:  BBQ Shepherd's Pie



Linking up to Menu Plan Monday and Marvelous Menu

Sorry to keep it so short today, guys! Life calls!

Peace, and bacon grease! 



April 22, 2011

Friday Faves and Good Friday

It's Good Friday! I'm not Catholic, but hey, Friday is always a good day!

Another week of wonderful recipes from my fellow food bloggers. Which means another chance to showcase some amazing recipes that have caught my eye! I hope to play around with my photoshop elements this weekend and maybe learn how to make a 'featured' button. So hopefully next Friday I would actually have a button to hand out to my faves, for them to display on their blog! If not, maybe I will pay someone to make me a button : ) Any takers?

Anyways, on to the food....

We love Chipotle, so when I saw this recipe I was instantly hooked! 
I'm excited to make this simple Mexican side item!
{Cassie Craves}



I am so glad I found this new blog! I love cheese and I love chocolate! 
And I love all things red velvet  :)
{Cheese and Chocolate}



Always lookin for some tasty chicken recipes. I am a huge caesar salad fan, 
so these wraps are a must!
{Comfy Cuisine}



I just posted about my newfound love of Indian food. So when I saw these two recipes I got super excited... I can't pass up on a way to make delicious Indian food at home!
{Dainty Chef}




This picture has me drooling! Blueberries, lemon glaze, poppy seeds. Swoon.
{Hun...What's for Dinner?} 
 


You can tell by my name that I love potatoes! I made a loaded baked potato dip recipe that was delish! Now I look forward to making different loaded potato versions, 
like this unique take on potato salad. Yes, please!
 {Seaside Simplicity}


And trust me, I found a gazillion more new recipes this week that I need to try! I wish I could highlight them all but obviously I would have written a book for you guys!

I am linking up to Friday Favorites over at Finding Joy in My Kitchen.

And yes gazillion is a word  :)

Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review : Dusmesh in Clifton

I am officially an Indian food lover! This coming from a girl who cringed at the thought of anything curry-related. Well I was forced by my coworkers to broaden my narrow-minded horizons and venture out to try some fine cuisine from an Indian restaurant called Dusmesh. I agreed, hesitantly, but thought about my blog and how I needed to try new foods. So we took a longer lunch and headed there. It is located across from Cincinnati State, on Ludlow in Clifton (some say Northside), in a building that looks like a house. 

Enter and you will see a cozy setup with some booths in the front area near the buffet, as well as a larger dining section in the back area for larger groups. See for yourself. (note: these photos were taken in dim light with a camera phone!)

dining area in the back













 

They offer a buffet with many delicious options during lunch time, even on the weekends! This is definitely the way to go for me personally, and I think for any newbie, so that I can try a variety of Indian dishes that I would otherwise never have tried. They have some great options, I was satisfied with everything I tried!

This is the plate of deliciousness I ate my very first time there. Everything on that plate is deLISH! Who doesn't like some warm, buttery garlicy naan bread? The mushroom matar was nice, with a pleasant sauce, some peas, and plump mushrooms. I love mushrooms, have you noticed? I also enjoyed the eggs, they were a bit spicy. I could eat those for breakfast very often! Um, love those vegetable pakoras! I didn't expect to like them... heck they are just fried clumps of vegetables. But man did I love em! My absolute favorite dishes from the day were the saag paneer and chicken tikka masala. The saag paneer is a hot spinach and cheese mixture, that I served over some white rice. The chicken tikka masala is so creamy with a great flavor and goes well with white rice or naan bread.

 

















And yes I did go back for more!

PJ swore, like me, that he didn't like Indian food. I persistently asked him to just trust me. For months I would ask him to meet me for lunch there, and he kept putting it off. Finally, when I found out that the lunch buffet was also offered on the weekend, I made him go with me! There was no getting out of it! Though he teasingly complained how the food was crap and he hated the place, over and over throughout the meal, he kept going back for more and more and finished off each of his plates! With a huge smile on his face he joked with me that he would never come back here. He loves to kid me, that one.

Translation: I proved him wrong! Indian food is the bomb! Now he finally can agree with me and not just take my word for it. We are indeed curry lovers.

You can even get a carryout container of food from the buffet during lunch time. They charge you by the weight of your to-go container. Believe me, I have also done this option. But it's not as fun because you can't go back up for seconds!

Now granted I haven't been to Ambar or any other happenin Indian restaurant in Cincy yet, but I'm still gonna say this is the best! Ha! I've read amazing reviews from other people too, so it's not just me. And I did stop in Ambar one day for lunch, but they didn't offer a buffet. That's a no no.

Aw, Dusmesh. Yes, the name sounds like some kind of webbed vaginal irrigation device. (Is that how you say it, Douche-mesh?). And yes, it is spelled Dusmesh on their restaurant, and Dushmesh on their van. But who cares? I don't think I have to worry about there being another Dusmesh out there with which I could get it confused.

Take a long lunch and go there! You won't be sorry.


Peace, and bacon grease!






Dusmesh Indian Restaurant on Urbanspoon

April 18, 2011

Mexican Chicken with Jalapeno Popper Sauce

Well I've seen this recipe on three different blogs now. I trust all of those ladies with all of my food-loving heart! So trust me when I say that this is a must-try!

I am only sorry that my photo isn't as beautiful as those from the other three blogs. This was back in my beginning stages of food photography... not that I'm a pro now, but I am better I would say. Recipe=AMAZING! Photo, not so much. So for pretty pics of this dish, feel free to check out the other blogs! They served it with some Mexican rice, which is a great idea but we didn't have any at the time. 

This sauce is YUM! Spicy and creamy. And the seasonings on that chicken really give it a nice flavor as well as add a nice browning color to the chicken. No one wants to see non-seasoned plain chicken. I'm not big on cilantro, so I could do without it. I know, I know... cilantro is a must in Mexican food. I updated the recipe below to only use 1/2 a tbsp of cilantro in the sauce, as opposed to 1 tbsp. That's a bit much for me!

Mexican Chicken with Jalapeno Popper Sauce
slightly adapted from Krista's Kitchen
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • a sprinkle of cumin per breast
  • a sprinkle of chili powder per breast
  • a sprinkle of salt per breast
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 3 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
  • 8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese
  • 2 cups of chicken broth
  • 3 slices of bacon
  • 3/4 cup of shredded mexican cheese
  • 1/2 tbsp of fresh cilantro, chopped + more for garnish
Fry bacon in a skillet until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate, and crumble. Sprinkle chicken with seasonings, then add to the bacon grease in the skillet. Cook chicken, turning every few minutes, until juices run clear and cooked through. Remove from skillet and keep warm. Add chopped jalapenos to the skillet and cook for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add chicken broth, deglazing the pan. Bring to a boil. Add cream cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Add in the shredded cheese and bacon, stirring until the cheese is melted. Turn off the heat and stir in cilantro. Serve chicken and top with the sauce. Garnish with additional cilantro.


Printable Recipe

I am linking up to:
Mangia Mondays
MAFF Monday
Melt In Your Mouth Monday
Homemaker Monday
Delicious Dishes
Hunk of Meat Monday
Mouthwatering Monday


















Look at my chicken drowning in that sauce! Would you like some chicken served with your sauce?


Peace, and bacon grease!

 

Menu Planning - Week of 4/18/11

Today's Monday. Guess what that means?

You guessed it!

Menu plan time!

We didn't end up making that Crunchy Garlic Chicken last week. I wasn't too excited about it the more I thought about it. Plus, PJ isn't a big fan of panko (crazy, right?) so he too wasn't very enthused about this recipe. But we've got all the ingredients, so we will probably make that tonight. We made that barbeque jack chicken twice last week! And grilling out was wonderful! I can't wait for more steady warm weather so we can make grilling out a regular part of our cooking rotation. We also didn't make that pork milanese.

Monday 4/18/11:  Crunchy Garlic Chicken

Tuesday 4/19/11:  eat out


Thursday 4/21/11:  Marinated Pork Tenderloin

Friday 4/22/11:  Pork Milanese

I know, I know. My menu plans always look the same. Because I carry over recipes I didn't make from the previous week, which is usually most of the recipes! It will be a great day when if I can ever make every recipe on my menu plan for a single week.

And this Sunday is Easter! I get paid on Friday, so hopefully I can run to the grocery store and get some things needed for a few Easter treat recipes. My mama will be cooking I'm sure, but I would love to bring some treats, or at least take some to work.


I am linking up to Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie....



.... And to Marvelous Menu at Ask Ms. Recipe.



Peace, and bacon grease!

April 15, 2011

Friday Faves

Looky what I found this week in the food bloggy world - some wonderful recipes that I can't wait to try one of these days! Definitely go check out all of these yum recipes and the masters behind these recipes over at each of their blogs :)  If you are anything like me, you could get lost in each of their blogs for hours! And considering that I follow over 300 blogs, let's just say I spend a lot of time blog surfin!
















It's almost Easter time... so of course I have been seeing tons of Easter-related recipes all over the blogosphere. I'm a sucker for themed recipes. I would love to make these Easter treats!
{Vanilla Sugar}

More Easter recipes! I am not a big fan of Peeps, but they are put to great use in these cute Easter goodies that would be great to make for your kids!
{The Cutting Back Kitchen}



Ok and one more Easter recipe! They are super cute and ultra easy! I kinda wanna make some and take them into work!
 {In Katrina's Kitchen}



I'm always on the lookout for tasty chicken recipes, since we buy chicken a lot. This one immediately grabbed my attention! Love the photo! I love lemon and garlic, and the breading looks amazing! This one's definitely going into the rotation!
{This Mommy Cooks} 



 I loves lasagna. And that sauce is intriguing me! I love to find different twists on lasagna! We will be trying this one for sure :)
{Sweet Peas and Pumpkins}



Peej and I are always on the lookout for delicious burger recipes. We kinda have a dream to open up a burger cart with one of our friends, so we are constantly looking for ways to make the best burger! This burger sounds like it could make the "best burgers" list!
{Sisters in the Kitchen}



What faves did you find this Friday? These were just a handful of my favorite recipes from bloggy world this week. 

I am linking up to Friday Favorites over at Finding Joy in My Kitchen. Won't you join me?




Peace, and bacon grease!



April 13, 2011

Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders














I noticed something. I cook a lot of chicken, despite my blog name. Hey, it's cheap and versatile. And these tenders are a good example of a cheap and simple, yet tasty, meal. I love to have different breading options for chicken tenders. Bread crumbs and panko and cornflakes are great options, but I had never thought of using french-fried onions. You know, the kind you use to top green bean casseroles? Yes, you know of them.

And you wanna know another great thing about this recipe? It only requires three ingredients! Yes, I said it. Chicken, eggs, and the star of the show... those french-fried onions. Quick, tasty, inexpensive AND not laborious.... that's my kinda meal! 















Crunchy Onion Chicken Tenders
slightful adapted from here
Beat eggs and place in a shallow dish. Place french-fried onions in a plastic bag and crush. Put crushed onions on a separate plate or shallow dish. 

Dip chicken strips into the eggs, and then in the french-fried onion crumbs. Place strips on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve with your sauce of choice.

Printable Recipe

sorry some weren't strips, more of giant nuggets


















We served ours with some honey mustard - I literally just mixed mustard and honey together and served it as a dipping sauce. But if you have already-bottled honey mustard, by all means don't make this more complicated than it has to be! Barbeque dipping sauce would work deliciously here too. Pretty much any sauce that you would find at Wendy's or McDonald's for dipping... you can use here.

This is definitely a kid-friendly meal for all you mamas and daddies out there! Though I don't have any kids yet (sniff, sniff) sometimes feeding my man is like feeding a child lol! When it comes to kids, you can't go wrong with chicken tenders  :)



Peace, and bacon grease!

April 11, 2011

Menu Planning - Week of 4/11/11

Monday's here again. Yesterday we had a beautiful day here in Cincy, so we were able to grill out. Today, not so much. We do have some leftover burgers and metts, so hopefully we can grill out tomorrow evening since today is so yucky and rainy.

And as usual, we didn't make all of the meals from last week... so we are gonna use some of those again this week. I'm also trying to budget wisely this week with my menu plan. We have been eating out a lot which has been pricier than I'd like. So this week's menu plan will be a cheap one! But still a good one, because being on a budget doesn't mean you have to eat crap!

Monday 4/11/11:  Barbeque Jack Chicken - already have the cheese and bbq sauce, just need the chicken!

Tuesday 4/12/11:  grill out with burgers, brats, and metts - already have everything... leftovers from Sunday

Wednesday 4/13/11:  Skillet lasagna - have noodles, but that's about it

Thursday 4/14/11:  Pork Milanese - only need to purchase pork and eggs

Friday 4/15/11:  Crunchy Garlic Chicken - we will use panko bread crumbs instead because that's what we have on hand, again.... only need to purchase chicken




Linking up to Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie.

What kinds of meals do you all make when you are on a budget?


Peace, and bacon grease!

April 8, 2011

Guest Posting at Jenn's Food Journey!! Filet Mignon with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Hey yall! Today I am guest posting over at Jenn's Food Journey! Yay... my first guest post! I am over there sharing a delicious steak recipe today, which I will tell you about below.

I am super excited and honored that Jenn has asked me to be a guest blogger for the day! My name is Desiree, but you can call me Desi. I'm a steak n potatoes kinda girl, if you couldn't tell, but to be honest I don't get to make a lot of steak recipes because I love my filet, and well... it's pricey! But I do love steak (and potatoes, and bacon, but that's another story for another time) so I thought, why not share a recipe that reflects my name?

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I love me some mushrooms. I could probably eat them on ANYTHING! It's obvious that they go well with steak. And anyone who follows my blog also knows that, like Jenn, I am a sauce girl! Again, I could pour sauce on just about anything. That's why Jenn and I are foodie soul sistas! 

So this one's for all the steak lovers, the mushroom huggers, the sauce addicts! Run to the store and buy your fave steaks NOW, cuz it's about to get delicious in here!















Filet Mignon with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
adapted from Taste of Home 
  • 3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 5 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
  • 6 filet mignon steaks, about 4-6 oz each *we used only 2 steaks but still made all of the sauce
In a large skillet, saute mushrooms in 3 tablespoons of butter for 7 minutes or until tender. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper until blended. Gradually add the cream, small amounts at a time, stirring between each addition. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in parsley; set aside and keep warm.

Meanwhile, in another large skillet, heat the remaining butter over medium-high heat. Cook steaks for 7 minutes on each side, or until meat has reached desired temperature. Serve with mushroom sauce.

Printable Recipe

 

















*The recipe does make plenty of sauce, I just didn't want so much sauce on my steak this particular time because I was watching my weight, and well this sauce is loaded with heavy whipping cream and butter. I know there isn't much sauce in the picture... I served myself mostly mushrooms with a bit of sauce.  But believe me, the recipe makes plenty of sauce and you can slather your steak in this sauce if you really wanted to (like I used to). So don't let the picture fool ya.   :)

I am linking up to:  
Make a Food-"e"-Friend Monday










...and to Mangia Mondays  
 

...and to a new linky that doesn't have a name yet! Over at Big K, Little a

Of course, I want to thank Jenn for the opportunity to share this recipe with all of her readers. It's been fun!


Peace, and bacon grease!