Strawberry- Watermelon and Mint Granita

In honor of summer's arrival I thought I'd post a recipe for an icy refreshing treat to keep you cool on those roasty-toasty days of unbearable heat.

I got the idea from my food network girl crush, Giada De Laurentiis, who made a yummy looking version of this using cantaloupe and a lot more mint.

photo from foodnetwork.com

I'm not a huge fan of cantaloupe but when I saw her make it, strawberries and watermelon popped into my head. I tweaked her recipe a bit to fit my tastes so here's what I've come up with.

*Side note I use -ish in a few of  the measurements because I didn't exactly measure anything- I just eyeballed it and tasted as I went*

You'll need:
2-ish cups fresh strawberries
3-ish cups watermelon (seedless) cut into chunks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup mint leaves (like 20 ish leaves)
1 & 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar

So heat up your water, sugar and half your mint  in a small saucepan stirring until the sugar dissolves. Heat until boiling, reduce to simmer for about 5 min stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and let cool.

While your simple syrup is cooling. chop the tops off your berries and cut your watermelon into chunks. Toss your fruit and lemon juice in the blender along with the remainder of your mint. Strain your cooled syrup. Or you can cheat and put it in one of those plastic ketchup/mustard dispensers like I did so you don't have to strain it and you can just keep it in the fridge for use later in your iced tea or fresh lemonade, or mojito! :)

See the plastic thingy by the blender? That's what i put the simple syrup in.

Add half the syrup to the blender and blend til smooth. Taste it to see if it's sweet enough for your liking and add more to taste. I only used half the simple syrup since the fruits I chose are pretty sweet to begin with and since they are in season they were already at their peak of natural sweetness.

Pour your mixture into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish (if you use a metal dish just be sure you don't get your hands stuck to it when you take it out ha ha!) and place in the freezer and freeze until firm.

To serve use the tines of a fork to scrape the top of the frozen granita to make it have that snowy texture. Scoop into bowls and enjoy!

You can tweak it to your tastes, if you aren't a mint person leave it out. If you like strawberries more than watermelon put more in (you may not need as much simple syrup though). Heck, you can even switch fruits like I did!

Enjoy!

Home sweet home!

So I got to go home to good ole Waco, Texas couple weeks ago. For 5 whole days! This trip was particularly exciting because I wasn't going back for a wedding, or holiday where you have every second planned and you leave thinking that you didn't really get to see anyone or eat at your fave restaurant. Plus I left my spouse home to so it was just me kickin' it with my family doing whatever I wanted to do. (For the record: I did miss el husbando while I was gone.)

My to do list was short.
Hang out with friends and family.
Shop at Dillard's.
Eat at favorite restaurants.
Pay homage to the Baylor bookstore. (actually I just wanted to finally get my stinkin' Baylor gnome - see below)

Seems easy enough to fit that in to a 5 day trip, eh?? The answer, my friends, is absolutely not when your "eat at fave restaurants" includes 20 different eateries.

Luckily my mom is awesome and understands my affinity for food. I arrived at the Waco airport  to a mommy, a big hug, and a #1 with cheese, no onion no tomato, what-a-sized with a Diet Dr. Pepper!

We headed straight over to Baylor to see my mom's friend Vicky graduate and then stopped at the bookstore where I thought I'd finally get that friggin' gnome that I've been wanting forever. Yeah, I said gnome. I don't want just any gnome- I want the Baylor "foam finger" gnome. Unlike the Baylor "football" gnome, the "foam finger" gnome isn't sport specific and since I love all things Baylor I wanted a non-biased gnome.

They were sold out at Christmas and of course are currently back ordered. *womp wahhhh* And so I will continue wait for more foam finger gnomes or another non-sport specific gnome to become available at the Baylor Bookstore.

Saturday the parentals, my brother and his wife, along with their dog Wookie and I headed to Brenham, TX to see my Granny (who will be 90 in June - holla!) and aunt/uncle and cousins. No trip to Brenham is complete without a stop at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. So we stopped. And we ate. And it was good.

My brother, his wife Kristen and Wookie!

We made our way back to Waco and ate at Shorty's Pizza Shack. For those of you who are familiar with my little hometown you may be wondering how a brand new restaurant can be on my favorites list seeing as I'd never been there. Turns out "Shorty" of said establishment and I bartended together way back in the days of yore and has recently opened up his own place. and it. was. AWESOME! Great pizza, great atmosphere, and of course a most wonderful owner who was nice enough to pop out of the kitchen on a Saturday night and say hi. If you're in Waco- check it out! It's on 12th St. a block down from the "ghetto H-E-B".

Sunday we went to church and had lunch at Clay Pot! Mmmmm spring rolls, pho, and fried rice! I got to see one of my gal pals, meet her hubby and baby and my mom and I hit up Dillard's where I proceeded to have a coronary in the shoe department. $200 later, we left and picked up a shaved ice on the way home. There's not a single sno-cone stand in the state of Oregon so a sno-cone was a must. It was a glorious Sunday.

Monday I got a bonus favorite when we went to see Dr. Ron. Dr. Ron has been my chiropractor since the lovely nurse recommended I see someone about my curvy back after my scoliosis test in the ninth grade. It doesn't help that I'm also, how do you say,"top heavy". We then hit up Leal's for breakfast tacos and I got my usual lunch order to go (yes you read that right- breakfast and lunch!) to eat later because I had already planned to meet with one of my besties for lunch at Schmaltz's Sandwich Shoppe (think Schlotzsky's but wayyyyy better). I'm embarrassed to say it but for dinner my mom and I hit up Georges and ate fried pickles and crazy wings! Perfect ending to a perfect visit!

it's a hunk o' chicken stuffed with jalapeno & cheese, wrapped in bacon and fried (then dunked in ranch of course!)

Lesson for the day: You can't say small towns don't have good food! (I find it humorous that I'm referring to Waco- a city of over 100,000 as a "small town" while the town I currently live in has something like 8,000 haha!)

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend which made getting on the plane that much harder!

Stuffed Mini Peppers

So I bought a bag of these little mini peppers because they are cute and colorful and I wanted to stuff them with cheese! The bag they came in suggested stuffing them with goat cheese and chives and.... well, I wanted something more fun.

So I tweaked it.

A lot.

I started by heating the oven to 350° and lightly spraying a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Then I chopped off the tops of the adorable little sweet peppers....

...and de-seeded them. Easy cheesy.

Now for the mixture...I wanted Italian-ish pepper poppers so I sauteed up some pancetta (Italian sausage would be yummy too),  1/3 cup of finely chopped onion & 2 cloves of garlic (minced).



In a small bowl I mixed 1 1/4 cup ricotta, 1/2 cup each of fresh grated parmesan and mozzarella with 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper, 1 tsp italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper for a little kick, and 1/8 tsp of nutmeg. 

Then I added the onion, garlic, & pancetta mixture....

 ...put it in my ghetto piping bag, and started filling the peppers.

Here they are ready to go. Next go round I'll make a little foil roll to lean the peppers on to tilt them upward as the baking process melts some of the cheese out.

Bake at 350° for 18 minutes and enjoy!! This recipe makes about 30-35 little peppers.



Sorry, I was in a dark spot and have yet to gain any photo editing skills so all my pics are SOOC.



Happy snacking!

{Meatless Monday} Grilled Veggie Sammies

These are delish (the carnivore husband loved them!) and for you picky veggie eaters are super easy to customize to your liking!

You'll need:

• bell pepper (I used mini peppers)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 1/3 onion
• sliced mozzarella or provolone
• gooooood bread (I used asiago focaccia) the "bread & the spread" make the dish.
• sliced avocado
• baby spinach

for the spread I made a kind of aoli-ish type thing:
1/4 cup low fat mayo
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cloves garlic (I use the garlic press and smash the crud out of them)
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

I also used store bought pesto. Because I'm lazy.


Aaand here we go.....

So we'll start by slicing your zucchini and squash into 1/2 -3/4 inch slices. I say the bigger (surface area- not thickness) the slice the better! I'd recommend the slices like the yellow squash below...makes for less "stuff " to fall out of the sammy when you're trying to eat it a few steps from now! Place them in a Ziploc with 3-4 tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette dressing, give it a shake and let 'em marinate while you do the rest of the prep. Which is only like 5-10 min. but that's all it takes!)

Mix up your "almost aoli" by combining the mayo, lemon juice, garlic, and Dijon and set aside.

Slice the peppers and onions (I did mini peppers in half lengthwise and onions in rings) and toss the onions in a small pan to saute with a tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.

We are currently grill-less but we have the handy dandy indoor grill/griddle. So this is when I turn that puppy on medium and brush it lightly with oil to prevent sticking.

I go ahead and toss the peppers on because they need a 3-4 minute head start. Then add the zucchini and squash and cook 3 min on each side.

While the veggies are grillin' put your spread (or in this case- spreads) on the bread add the cheese and place on the grill to warm the bread and melt the cheese. Once melted, remove from grill and build away! Throw on some baby spinach, avocado and layer on all those grilled veggies- onions, zucchini, squash and peppers. Pop the top on and enjoy!!


asiago cheese focaccia...deeeeeelish!



You can easily add and remove to your liking- eggplant, mushrooms, even asparagus would make good veggie toppings and sun dried tomato spread, hummus or an olive tapenade would be yummy options too!

Parmesan Tilapia

I'm sharing another quickie meal that often makes an appearance in our home. I love it because it literally takes 30 minutes from start to finish for the entire meal. It's actually an adapted version of the Parmesan tilapia on allrecipes.com. I will admit it's not the most beautiful dish I've ever made, but the funny lookin' topping on the fish is what makes it so darn gooood.

You'll need:

• tilapia fillets (I only do 4-6 at a time since there are only 2 of us)
• old bay seasoning (optional)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 c. butter (softened)
• 3 tablespoons mayo
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• 1/8 tsp. celery salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 c. dried or panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese (and not the powdered kind they have at pizza shops, go buy a wedge of parm at the store and grate some- it'll change your life)

I know, I know - That's a bunch of seasoning! But trust me it's tastes scrumpy (that's my yummy-scrumptious hybrid)

So once you take every seasoning you've ever owned out of your cupboard.......

1.) Preheat the oven's broiler, line a pan with foil and spray some Pam on it. That could be a rap song....."just spray some Pam on it, dog, spray some Pam on it..." I know, no one says dog any more, except Randy Jackson, clearly rapping is not my gift.

2.) In a small bowl mix together the softened butter (I put it in the bowl first and microwave it for 5-10 seconds), mayo, Parmesan, breadcrumbs and lemon juice with the 8 million spices I made you take out of your cupboard! (pepper, basil, onion & garlic powder, celery salt, paprika and crushed red pepper)

3.) Arrange the fillets in a single layer on the pan (sprinkle old bay on one side of fish if using). Broil on top rack for 2 minutes, flip fillets and broil for 2 more minutes. Remove from oven and cover the top of each fillet with some of the mixture and place back in the broiler 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily. The topping makes like a spread so don't be afraid to get your hands dirty, I always start spooning some on then trying to use the back of the spoon to spread the mixture but every time, without fail, I get frustrated and end up using the kitchen tools God gave me! :)

I served this with sauteed zucchini and squash and Parmesan orzo.

see how the topping gets bubbly and crunchy?! mmmm....

Cheers!

Quickie Quesadilla

I loooove a good chicken quesadilla and hadn't ever been able to successfully recreate the restaurant kind of taste at home.....until now-I think I finally got it!!

I think the 2 most important rules to remember are to 1.) butter the tortilla and 2.) season the chicken well. That makes a WORLD of difference! So without further adieu here's the lowdown on easy and yummy quesadillas.....

You'll need :

• Large tortillas
• chicken (cooked) -I used 2 breasts
• fajita / taco seasoning
• butter
• 1/2 onion, diced
• bell pepper, diced (optional)
• grated cheese (I like to use cheddar jack)
• all the fixin's you'd like (lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, salsa)

So I'm a cheater and usually buy a rotisserie chicken ready made from the grocery store. It saves time and sanity. And it usually tastes better. I'm a white meat kinda gal so I pull that off and run a knife through it and toss it in a bowl. For this occasion though I had some leftover breasts so I used those.

Heat a couple teaspoons of olive oil in a skillet and toss in the onion for a minute or 2, add in your chicken and about a tablespoon or so of seasoning (I use the McCormick chicken taco seasoning) and about 2 tablespoons of water and get it all nice and mixed (I usually let it all hang out together for several minutes on low- let the seasonings soak in)

and now for my fave wedding gift....the griddle/grill thing. I heat that puppy up to low med/low and butter one side of my tortilla (I got the mega huge tortillas -you can use 2 of the small ones but I found that when I do that all the stuff falls out of the edges when I try to flip it!)

Lay it on the griddle thingy and sprinkle a layer of cheese (it acts kind of like and adhesive for the chicken to the tortilla) then add the chicken /onion/ (pepper) mixture, then more cheese, then close 'er up!After a few minutes, I give it a flip-a-roo.

and now it's time to eat!!!!

...aaaand you can put any extra chicken mixture into the fridge or freezer for your next quesadilla hankerin'!

Next I'm trying buffalo chicken quesadillas or BBQ chicken. Giddy up!

Week 2 : Sir cooks-a-lot

I've quickly learned that if you are going to not eat out a single meal or snack or soda you've got to be prepared so that you don't have to make an emergency purchase because you are on the verge of gnawing off your own arm after you forgot to bring lunch.

I wanted to make this month a fun food month so that ideally we don't even miss eating out. So last Monday I headed to the grocery store to stock up on our weeks grub!

On the menu for last week:

• Stuffed bell peppers
• Parmesan Tilapia with sauteed veggies
• Sauteed shrimp over spinach & feta orzo pasta
• Big salad (ha! that's our version of a salad with all kinds of goodies on it...turkey, bacon, egg, avocado, etc.)
• Chicken Quesadillas

and for lunches we had leftovers and I bought hoagie rolls for sammies. For some reason sandwiches are so much more appealing to me when they aren't on plain sliced sandwich bread. I also purchased some snacks (baby carrots, teddy grahams, snack packs and popcorn) that we can keep at our offices to keep us me from wandering over to the campus convenience store and  spending money on candy and chips!

I'm also realistic and know that there are days I won't want to cook dinner and will be running late in the morning and won't have time to pack a lunch so I've got got that covered buy buying a few of the heat and serve skillet meals and hooray for the grocery store having a sale on Healthy Choice "nuke-a-meals" (that's what I call frozen lunches).

Turns out the Tilapia didn't make the cut last week since two nights we were at events and fed there so between leftovers and sandwiches we had plenty of food in the fridge.

The hard part is coming up with new stuff- I mean you can only have meat sauce and a different kind of noodle and call it something different lasagna, spaghetti, ziti so many times before it's just noodles with meat sauce.

Anyone have any fun dinner ideas??? 

DIY: Spicy!

You know how I told you about starting several DIY projects that I may or may not finish? Well 1 down and 2 to go! Giddyup! Here's DIY #1.

This is what my spice cupboard looked like:

It's a smorgasbord of spice containers in varying sizes, colors, shapes, and brands. The worst part is they all have those dadgum sprinkle tops that you inevitably break a nail trying to remove because NO recipe calls for a "sprinkle" of something, nor does it help your sanity to attempt to sprinkle a spice into a 1/4 teaspoon. I like to be able to just dunk the appropriate measuring spoon in the jar and -shazaam! Got me some basil. 

I thought the ol' spice cabinet was due for  a little "prettifying".

So I ordered a gazillion little glass jars from http://www.specialtybottle.com/  (Ikea has cute 4 packs for $2.99 and the Container Store has several fun options as well). I chose these because they are fun and have an opening wide enough for a tablespoon.

 I popped them in the dishwasher for a rinse and let 'em dry overnight (wanted to be sure the inside of those suckers were bone dry) and proceeded to print my own labels. I purchased oval labels from http://www.onlinelabels.com/

Here's what I came up with:

I toyed with the idea of using more color in the labels but decided that it'd take away from all the fun colors of the spices once they were in the jar.

I popped on the labels and began transferring the spices. I made a paper funnel to use with some of the ground spice jars that were more full so I didn't end up with a spice festival all over my table!

And here's the now more uniform spice cabinet!

now on to the art project......