What's in My Amazon Shopping Cart??

One of my favorite food bloggers wrote a post today about what's in her Amazon shopping cart. I found it quite interesting to see what other foodies/moms/humans are pining for and decided to share a glimpse into my Amazon shopping cart (and/or Wish List) with you!

Here we go!

#1: Homes Styles Bordeaux Bakers Rack ($323.71) - This gorgeous bakers rack is the future home of my cookbook collection, a small lamp and maybe a little ivy plant of some sort, not to mention my tiny collection of "fancy glasses" and the wine bottles I use for cooking (not drinking). I'll stash some placemats and fabric napkins in those drawers, too. I have the perfect kitchen wall selected and have recently hung a family photo there so as to not stare at a blank wall that is screaming "Insert Bakers Rack Here!" every time I look at it. Patience, my dear self!

#2: Blumotion Hinge Adapter - 25 Pack ($77.49) - When we built the house, we didn't have the option to make any upgrades to the kitchen cabinets we selected. One of my must-haves (okay, so maybe "nice-to-haves") is these handy adapters that close your cabinet doors for you. ((Wow. I sound lazy.)) They just make it to where you can close the door and it won't ever slam -- it just closes with a soft, gentle close. Who wouldn't want such a thing?! And if we're being technical, we actually have 27 kitchen cabinets, but I'm thinking I can get by with this handy 25 pack. I rarely use the cabinets above the fridge anyway.

#3: Graviti Electric Salt & Pepper Mills ($39.95) - "Adding fresh-ground sea salt or pepper to food can be as effortless as a flip of the wrist. Invert these battery-operated mills over food, and their blades begin to whirl. Turn them upright, and the mechanisms shut off."

Such a fancy description (courtesy of Williams-Sonoma), but you get the gist. Me likey. And the fact that each one requires six (6) AAA batteries? Sort of astounding, huh?

#4: Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer with Storage Case ($71.33) - I don't always have the time nor the need to bust out my Kitchen-Aid for heavy-duty baking, so it'd be nice to have a high-power hand-held that I can rely on. I love how cute this one is (priorities, right?) and the ingenious storage case is a bonus, too! And of course we can all agree Cuisinart is a quality brand when it comes to kitchen appliances.

#5: All-Clad 3-Piece Canister Storage Set ($100.93) - Okay, I have to confess -- these kickin' canisters are no longer in my shopping cart. They're in a UPS box being Amazon Primed straight up to my door, arriving on Friday. I've been eyeing these for quite some time, and I finally decided to give in and pay a premium for pretty storage for my flour, sugar and brown sugar. I'd like to consider a second set for powdered sugar, chocolate chips and cocoa, but I don't think I could get hubs on board with that idea. I can't wait to see these beauties sitting on my kitchen counter! Now I'm thinking I ought to search for a set of All-Clad pots & pans to match!

#6: Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving ($19.77) - I think the crazy-long title says it all, right? If my passion involves a lot of baking (and sampling, of course!), it just makes sense to find "healthier" dessert recipes to try out. I'm a big fan of Nick Malgieri's work (his Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from this book are TASTY!) so I'm sure this cookbook would be a valuable addition to my collection.

#7: They're Real! Mascara ($22.00) - I'm always on the hunt for an amazing mascara, and this is one I have yet to try. The reviews are pretty mixed -- some say it's the best while others claim it's no better than some random drugstore brands. I'd like to see for myself!

For those of you who made it this far, let me just say that I am desperate to share some pics of our kitchen backsplash!! However, we just (finally) grouted it a few days ago, which means we just now (yesterday) caulked it and we still need to seal the grout and replace the outlet covers. Until those tiny little remaining tasks are complete, I'm not ready to share the big reveal. Just know that it is in fact GORGEOUS. And I do love it dearly. And I'm beyond stoked to share it with you!

An Admission...

Okay, folks. It's time I come clean here.

I have a bit of a crush on all things Top Chef.

This includes, but is not limited to, the great Tom Colicchio.

As a Top Chef junkie, I find myself intrigued by making simple food from a few good, quality ingredients. Tom has a like mind, which he emphasized in my latest Amazon purchase:

I loved reading about Tom's early days in the kitchen, from helping the family as a young boy, to running restaurants throughout New Jersey and New York. His thoughts on cooking are simple and easily translate to the home cook. I look forward to trying out some of his recipes and techniques. He inspires me to want to take some cooking classes to hone my skills even further. I've always loved baking but now I'm feeling the itch to develop my cooking skills. I mean, there's only so much you can do with a can of cream of mushroom soup, right people? I've been amazed at the flavors that develop when you cook from scratch, too. I'm so addicted!

I would like to clarify, however, that I am NOT a fan of a certain Top Chef judge's unsightly unibrow...

Here's hoping "Hugh's $100,000 Eyebrow Challenge" is a success and they raise enough money to rid the world of The Hughnibrow's distracting mess! Haha!

New Family Member!!!

Yes, folks, it's true.

After weeks of deliberation and internal discussions/arguments with myself, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered this bad boy:

Only $3.99 for overnight shipping, thanks to Amazon Mom (if you're not a member of Amazon mom, you should be!). This beut will be arriving tomorrow.

And it's mine!

All mine!!!

I've got two birthday cakes coming up in the next few weeks, so I figured now is as good a time as any to go ahead and add this little guy to our family.

((swoon))

Pick Me Up

If you're ever having one of "those" days (or weeks or months... whatever the case may be), do yourself a favor and make these Apple Fritters. And for best results, make half a batch. You'll feel less guilty after you've eaten them all.

I sprinkled some with powdered sugar and some with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Dinner for Two

When LO was very young and just starting out on table food, we immediately realized that she had some serious "texture" issues. The child wouldn't touch anything that had a weird texture: the "stringiness" of chicken, the "gooeyness" of cranberry sauce or jell-o, the "sliminess" of pasta. We knew we would have our hands full keeping this kid fed and satisfied.

Fast-forward a couple of years... she's still as picky as ever. Still almost impossible to get her to try new food. Still feeding the child at least one pb&j per day--every day. So I guess I was imagining Chase would be just as picky. But you know, he'd probably enjoy all the opposites of what LO likes, thus making dinnertime in our house a MAJOR source of stress.

Well, wouldn't you know it's as they say... every child is different, and a lot of times, you end up with kids that are exact opposites. In this case, it means Chase will pretty much put anything in his mouth that isn't nailed down to the floor. He's not picky. At all. It's awesome. And now that's he's pretty much shunned all forms of "baby" foods, I have no choice but to figure out ways to feed him table food -- enough to keep him full and happy.

Imagine my surprise when I was preparing dinner Monday night, and had a great epiphany: my kids can both eat the SAME THING for dinner!!! What an amazing realization! So I went to work making ONE meal (for the kids--hubs and I flaked out with some Joy of Tokyo take-out) for both of my kids, just slightly modified!

• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Apples
• Cheddar Cheese
• Crackers
• "Ants marching on a log" (for LO only... until we confirm Chase doesn't have a peanut butter allergy) ;)
  

What a relief it was to not have to make THREE different meals for dinner. Usually it's one for hubs & I, another one for LO (Little Miss Picky) and one for Chase (baby food, etc.). I can definitely get used to this two-meal situation! And of course, the nights when I cook dinner (and don't go for take-out), I typically give both kids some of what we're having, which takes us to -- you guessed it!! -- only ONE meal for dinner! Yay!

Whole-Wheat Tortillas

I couldn't help but share this recipe, folks. I whipped these up the other night to make chicken tacos and they were DI.VINE. It was insane how good these were. And the effort it took to make them? So minimal it's not even worth mentioning. I've always been one to prefer soft tacos over hard, but I've never considered myself a tortilla snob. I'll just take what I can get -- whether it's what the restaurant serves or what the store stocks on their shelves. And really, the only time I'd use tortillas would be for tacos. I've never tried them as wraps or anything crazy like that.

But let me tell you, these tortillas are SO MUCH BETTER than ANYTHING you can find in the store, and I'd say they are even better than what is served in your typical restaurant. When I made them the other night, I cut the recipe in half to make only 6 tortillas (knowing LO wouldn't touch one and hubs isn't the biggest fan). Plus I wasn't sure if I would have success with the recipe or admit defeat to yet another failure of homemade cooking (it's not as easy as you think!). After I tasted the first one I made, I immediately wished I had made the full recipe for 12 tortillas. They were THAT good.

The best part? And if you know us well, you'll know this is a HUGE accomplishment... I was able to get LO to eat one! She wasn't a big fan of the chicken and cheese "roll-up" I made for her that night, but when I put her trusty peanut butter and jelly into a "roll-up" and served it for lunch the next day, she scarfed it down with only slight pleading on my part! I was amazed! LO just doesn't eat (or like) anything new! Yay!

I also ate some for leftovers the next day, and hubs sounded somewhat disappointed when I told him that yes, the tortillas were all gone. :( These are definitely a keeper, and I will be making these often for our family. Give the recipe a try -- you won't regret it!

Click here for the recipe from The Food Illusion -- one of my newest favorite blogs!

((The photo above is from The Food Illusion.))

Food Processor Help

So this is totally random, but I wanted to ask my readers a few questions about food processors. First of all, if you don't use one or don't know what one is, just quit reading now. However, if you have one and know how to use it, keep reading.

I bought a brand new KitchenAid 9-cup food processor last Saturday for ONE purpose: making homemade whole-wheat pizza dough. We were having friends over for dinner (to make pizzas) and I needed to make at least two batches of dough. The 3-cup capacity food processor that came with my blender/food processor combo unit was NOT overly suitable to make this dough, and certainly not a double batch of it. While I knew I wanted it specifically for the dough, I also knew that it would come in handy for several other recipes, especially the more I try to get away from processed foods and make more from scratch.

I was totally stoked to put it to use once I got it home and all washed up. I had my King Aurthur white whole-wheat flour, yeast packet, salt, olive oil and water ready to go. With this particular pizza dough recipe, you're supposed to pulse the water, yeast, salt and oil together. I followed the instructions and did so. I immediately noticed the water seeped out of the bowl where the lid and bowl meet when I turned the unit on. I guess it made sense that it's not a tight seal, and it would be possible for the water to leak there. I figured the mixture was pulsed enough, and went ahead and added the 3 cups of my expensive $9 bag of flour and turned the food processor on. Almost immediately, I noticed the huge, wet mess all over my counter. Apparently the water was ALSO leaking out the BOTTOM of the bowl in the middle where the blade attachment sits. So it poured all over the base unit and all over my counter.

Of course this batch of dough was completely ruined, as the yeast was dissolved into the water, which was now located all over my counter and I knew there was no way to salvage it. I was irritated. No way in the world did I expect this to happen! Can you imagine if I would've tried to double the batch from the beginning? Ugh!

After lots of reading through the instruction guide, I determined I had in fact put the pieces together correctly. Unfortunately, I then found this page:
A maximum liquid level?? I had no idea! To make matters worse, ONE cup of water actually sits above this maximum liquid level indicator. How many recipes call for less than 1 cup of liquid? When using a NINE-CUP capacity food processor??

This makes NO sense to me!

I'll be honest, this is the first time I've owned or operated a food processor. I'm new to the game. But is this common? Should I expect ALL food processors to leak if I use more than 1/2-cup of liquid in a recipe? This seems totally insane to me. Not to mention the fact that this bad boy set me back $150! I would imagine the cheaper ones to have this problem, but not this one and not a KitchenAid!

Help!!!

Easy and Delicious

I can't help but share this awesome recipe. It is THE EASIEST crock-pot chicken recipe I know of, and it is sooooooooooooooo good! I hope my friend CM doesn't mind me sharing this recipe with you, but I just KNOW you'll love this as much as I do!

Creamy Crock-Pot Chicken

Ingredients:
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8-16 oz. sour cream

Directions:

1. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry.

2. Place onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup and sour cream in a lightly greased slow cooker.

3. Mix ingredients well, adding a dash or two of salt and pepper. Add chicken to slow cooker, covering it with the soup mixture.

4. Cook for approximately 4 hours on High or 6 hours on Low.

5. Serve over mashed potatoes (or rice) and enjoy!


[NOTE: Sorry for the horrible cell phone pic AND for the fact that I forgot to take a picture of dinner plated and looking all pretty. Yes, this picture is of the leftovers! I also served with applesauce (not pictured). :)]

Bon appétit!

V-Day Bling!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We had a very special day, consisting of a big 'ol breakfast I made from scratch:


lots of gift-opening for LO:


a dessert that ended up taking all stinkin' day to create (even though I had a GREAT helper!):


some lasagna for dinner (forgot a pic -- sorry!)

and of course I can't forget the beautiful flowers hubs gave me, and now the latest trinket of his affection...

Isn't it gorgeous? It's a Heart-Tag Bracelet in Sterling Silver from my favorite jewelry shop, Blue Nile. It has LO's initials engraved on it and I absolutely LOVE IT! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!!!

We had a most wonderful day and I'm so very blessed to have hubs and LO in my life!!!

Take That, Panera!!

You all remember the great bread bowl debacle of 2008, right? The one where two different Paneras were out of bread bowls on two different consecutive days? Well, let's just say those experiences have left a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended). It's very frustrating to plan a meal and set an expectation around a delicious bread bowl only to find there are none. At this point, I'm not quite ready to tackle making homemade sourdough bread bowls from the comfort of my kitchen (I'm not very well versed in working with live active yeast). But I did decide to give our favorite Panera soup--Broccoli Cheddar--a shot from home. I actually made it about 2 weeks ago and It. Was. Awesome. I made it again for hubs and I tonight and thought I'd share this delicious gem with my blog reader(s). It's really a very simple recipe and doesn't require much skill in the kitchen at all! But it comes out so delicious that people will think you picked it up from your local Panera on your way home from work!

Enjoy!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

1¼ hours | 30 min prep
SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon melted butter
  
• 1/2 medium chopped onion
  
• 1/4 cup melted butter
  
• 1/4 cup flour
  
• 2 cups half-and-half cream (I've used either whole milk or 1% milk instead--just as yummy!)
  
• 2 cups chicken stock
  
• 1/2 lb fresh broccoli
  
• 1 cup carrot, julienned
  
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I just use a dash or two)
  
• 8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
  
• salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sauté onion in butter. Set aside.


2. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.


3. Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.


4. Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat 20-25 minutes.


5. Add salt and pepper. Purée half of soup in a blender. Return to heat and add cheese. Stir in nutmeg. Continue to cook until cheese is nicely melted. Serve hot!

Mmmmmmm!!!

Pumpkin Time!

It's been a busy few days around here! Saturday we spent the day at a local pumpkin farm and LO just loved it! She picked out her very own pumpkin, went on a hay ride and got to ride a little cow train! It was so much fun!






Saturday night we joined the billion other residents in our county at a downtown event. It was C-R-A-Z-Y!! There were people everywhere!!! We barreled through the crowds, enjoyed some food and spent time with a few friends, then headed HOME! LO enjoyed some mini Oreo cookies, hence her chocolate-y face.


Sunday evening we capped off our busy weekend with a surprise party I helped plan for our beloved music minister at the church. It was incredible! We had a great turnout, a ton of "potluck" food, and the best part--we actually seemed to pull of an actual surprise! Woot! Since our music pastor is a H-U-G-E Apple fanatic, we had an iPhone cake made for him. It came out really cute! And we asked all of the guests to wear black shirts, which we put a white Apple logo sticker on. It was a room full of "mock" Apple geniuses! Too awesome!


Of course today is hubs' birthday, and he decided to take the day off! Sweet! We pretty much hung out all day like it was the weekend. I cooked some cheesy stuffed shells for dinner, we bought a patio firepit for hubs so we can have some s'mores fun once the weather gets a bit cooler and we will be enjoying some chocolate chip pie a la mode in just a few minutes! Over all I think it's been a good day for big ol' daddy!

Recipe Time!

Hey, all! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been a bit busy and have been enjoying the new lifestyle I've adapted! Since reading this book, I haven't been able to eat any meat, chicken or pork. And it's actually a good thing! It's been a lot easier than I expected! I'll write more about that later, but I've been sitting on this recipe since last week and I wanted to share it with you! It's a delicious recipe from my good friend H. I made it last week (before I read THE book), so it does have chicken in it. BUT, you can also make it with some fresh veggies instead, just steam them so they're slightly undercooked and use them in place of the chicken! Yum! I hope you guys enjoy this one!

H's Crescent Chicken

Ingredients:
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1 can Pillsbury Big and Flaky Crescent Rolls

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can of milk


Directions:

1. Separate the crescent rolls and line them around a small casserole dish with the base being on the bottom and just the "tails" hanging over the side.
   
   
   
2. Divide the chicken pieces evenly on the bases of the crescent rolls.
3. Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheddar over chicken (add more or less depending on how cheesy you want it).
   
4. Pull the "tails" of the crescents over the chicken and cheese and tuck them under the base.
   
   
5. Pour the soup over the crescents and then sprinkle cheese on top.
   
   
6. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned and soup mixture is bubbling.
   
   
7. Serve with your favorite side dish and enjoy!
   

Bon appétit!

Carnivores Beware!

I like me a good, medium-well done steak. I love chicken. I'll eat pork, too. I've always been a meat eater. And never really thought that much of it. No big deal, right?

Insert book here. Pardon the expletive, but the book is called Skinny B*tch. It caught my attention when I was watching a rerun of The Ellen Show and the books authors, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, were guests on the show. I thought to myself, "Hmmm... I could use a No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous!" I was thinking it would be all about how fad diets are bad, carbs and sweets should be eaten in moderation and exercise is key to losing weight and looking thin.

WELL... boy was I ever surprised with this book! Sure, I could definitely do without the expletives strewn about on most of the pages. But overall the information contained in this book was absolutely nothing short of phenomenal! Essentially these writers researched the crap out of the foods Americans tend to eat on a daily basis. It went all "scientific" on what's really hiding in some of our favorite foods. It went on to talk about some very intriguing information about the dairy and meat industries that we as consumers have no knowledge of. The reason for this is the billions of dollars these industries spend in marketing their products. They want us to think that milk really does a body good and meat should be an essential ingredient in everyone's diet.

Let me clarify here that I am NOT currently a vegetarian. The thought of becoming one had never really crossed my mind. Sure, I get totally grossed out like every other person on the planet when prepping meat or chicken or pork for dinner. I sometimes physically gag while removing skin or fat or whatever. But after reading an entire chapter devoted to how that meat, chicken or pork gets from the "farm" to your local grocery store, I was convinced that becoming a vegetarian might be something worth looking into. Seriously, every vegetarian saves more than 100 animals a year from horrific cruelty. If you aren't afraid, click on the video below to see just one example of how the chicken suppliers for KFC are treated.



Watch more videos at KentuckyFriedCruelty.com.

Anyway, I'm seriously considering the idea of eliminating meat from my/our daily diet. Of course LO has already beaten us to the punch... she's been refusing to eat meat since the day she started solid foods! But I seriously can't help but think that I'd be focused on what I read in that book if someone were to put a steak in front of me. I'm not about to go overboard and turn our lives upside-down, but I do think there's something about vegetarian and organic foods that I ought to look into.

Do yourselves a favor. Read this book. You should know what foods you're putting into your body and the process that brought them to your table. If only for information purposes. Really. You'll learn about carbs, sugars, caffeine, meat, dairy, exercise and so much more! After all, knowledge is power and you'll definitely find yourself empowered after reading this book! Oh, and I read it all in about 3 hours last night... it's a easy, short read!

Recipe Time!

Lately I've been scouring the Internet for new recipes. I'm tired of the same old chicken! I especially love recipes for my slow cooker. Just dump a bunch of stuff in and forget about it, then have a delicious dinner ready and waiting 5 hours later! I love easy!

One of my favorite recipes growing up was Cranberry Chicken. My mom would make this for us--usually for Sunday lunch after church--and I really loved it! She baked it in the oven over rice, so when it was done, you'd have chicken and rice with a super-tasty cranberry dressing. Yum!

I asked my mom for the recipe. She remembered most of it. Basically everything but the rice part. Sweet! So my next step was to modify it for the crock-pot. Should be super-simple, right? Well, I will admit that the chicken came out delish, but the rice just never managed to cook so the whole thing turned out soupy with crunchy rice. But have no fear! We ended up ditching the rice for my fabulous mashed potatoes (i.e. backup plan).

Since this recipe really is quite good, I thought I might share it with you guys in case any of you are looking for a new and different way to cook the same ol' chicken. Believe it or not, you really don't have to like cranberry sauce to enjoy this recipe. Trust me. Hubs is not a cranberry sauce man but he really likes this dish!

So without further adieu, here is the recipe... with pictures even!

Slow Cooker Cranberry Chicken

Ingredients:
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 cup French dressing

Directions:

1. Rinse chicken with cold water; pat dry.

2. Place cranberry sauce, dressing and onion soup mix in a lightly greased slow cooker.

3. Mix ingredients well, adding a dash or two of salt and pepper. Add chicken to slow cooker, covering it with the soup mixture.

4. Cook for approximately 4 hours on High or 6 hours on Low.

5. Serve over rice and enjoy! Unless you attempted to include rice and some water in the slow cooker like I originally did, in which case the rice would've come out crunchy and inedible. In this case, whip up some mashed potatoes, top 'em with the cranberry sauce mixture and serve with a veggie of your choice!

NOTE: This recipe makes enough to feed our family of 3 (keeping in mind LO only ate a bunch of corn). When I cook dinner, hubs and I always split a single chicken breast and it's plenty for us. You can use this same recipe but with 2 chicken breasts and it'll come out just fine!

Bon appétit!