Pin a Day: Pesto Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken

This week, I tried a new recipe that I really loved and has made great leftovers, as well.  I made Pesto Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken.   This recipe was not necessarily quick or easy, but it was definitely tasty and will be one that I repeat again.  I started by boiling my water for my pasta and grilling the chicken.  I used my grill pan on the stove top and heated it up and added a little bit of olive oil.   I used chicken tenders because I knew I had to cut the chicken up and that they would cook quicker.  I had great luck my chicken that night and it grilled perfectly.  I cooked my pasta and started halving my cherry tomatoes.  I put the tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzled them with olive oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper.  I saved a little bit of the pasta water to add back to the pasta later.  The next step was to make the pesto.  I put basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil in the food processor and pulsed it until it was the right texture.  The final step was to combine everything.  I added the pesto to the spaghetti and added a little bit of the reserved pasta water to stretch the pesto.  Next, I topped it off with the grilled chicken and tomatoes.  We served it with extra Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes and a side salad.  This meal was delicious and made plenty of leftovers.  I will definitely be enjoying this meal again this summer.

Pin a Day: Biscuits and Gravy Casserole

I love biscuits and gravy, but I've never actually made it.  I love to order it when I go out and I always loved it when my friend's hubby would make it when we visited Kansas City, but it was always a treat.  Now I've found a great recipe for Biscuits and Gravy Casserole.   I started by quartering the biscuits and baking them for 10 minutes at 400.  Next, I made the gravy.  I started by browning the sausage.  Then, I added in the flour and finally the milk, salt and pepper.  I cooked it until it thickened, but was still a little runny.  I poured the gravy over the cooked biscuits and added the uncooked biscuits on top.  I baked the casserole for 20 minutes, covering it with foil for the last 10 minutes.  Finally it was ready to try.  We liked it, but it felt like the biscuits sucked up most of the gravy.  I probably won't make this as a casserole again, but it was a great recipe to teach me how to make gravy.  In the future, I'll be making this sans casserole.

Pin a Day: Crockpot Steak Fajitas

Another new recipe we've tried lately is Crockpot Steak Fajitas.   Crockpot recipes are really useful on days Mike works or in the summer when I don't want to heat up the kitchen.  I also love that it makes plenty of leftovers, too.  First, I cut my steak( I used top sirloin) into small pieces and marinated it for about an hour.  Meanwhile, I got my other ingredients ready for the crockpot.  I added diced tomatoes, chilies, garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro in he crockpot.  Next, I put the marinated meat on top.  I added some Penzey's fajita mix and onions and cooked on low for a few hours. Then, I added some red peppers and and cooked for another couple of hours.  We served it with shredded cheese and sour cream on tortillas.  The meat was tender and flavorful and the fajitas were so yummy.  We also used the meat for nachos the next day and they were great, too. This is definitely a recipe I will be using again and one that Mike could probably make if I was at work.

Pin a Day: Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Salad

I have been super busy lately, but it's time to get back to blogging.  Another new recipe we've tried recently is this Grilled Lime Chicken with Black Bean Salad.     I loved how tasty and healthy this recipe is.  It was also pretty simple and had the potential for leftovers.  First, I heated up the grill pan and mixed together the marinade.  I let the chicken marinate while the pan was heating up.  Next,  I mixed together the bean salad by mixing black beans, red peppers, scallions, and lime juice.  I added a little salt and pepper for flavor.  I grilled the chicken on a grill pan for about 10-15 minutes.  To plate, I put each chicken breast on a bed of brown rice, drizzled with lime juice mixture, and added a side of bean salad.  We both really liked this dish and it's definitely something that I will make again.

Pin a Day: Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

Now that I'm finally caught up on vacation blogging, it's time to talk about a few new recipes we've done tried over the last couple of weeks.  One of the first new recipes I tried was these Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas.   We always like buffalo and were eager to try a new type of buffalo.  I started by cooking my chicken, but you could use precooked chicken as well.  Next, I heated up a skillet.  I mixed together my chicken and buffalo sauce.  I buttered one side of a tortilla and spread cream cheese on the other side.    Then, I put the buttered side down in the skillet.  Next, I sprinkled on blue cheese, chicken mix, and jack cheese.  I folded the tortilla in half and cooked until it was done.  Then, I flipped it and cooked the opposite side.  It took a few minutes on each side.  When I was done, I sliced it and drizzled it with ranch dressing.  Mike wanted a larger size so I used two tortillas.  We even had a little bit of extra buffalo chicken leftover, which made great nachos.  The buffalo chicken quesadillas were good and a new change of pace from the buffalo chicken wraps. However,   I think I prefer the wraps and I don't always love the blue cheese flavor.  This may be a recipe I try on occasion, but I still think there are better options.

One Stop Cookie Shop

Sometimes you just want one cookie-it's rare, but it happens.  When you just want one and you don't want the hassle of making a whole batch of cookies, you need a decent local bakery.  We are in luck in my neighborhood, as they just opened a Tiff's Treats.  Not only is Tiff's Treats open until 9 pm, but they also deliver.  We've actually been in twice since they've opened, but forgot to take pictures the first time we went in.  It's a pretty basic idea with several different cookie options.  They offer milk and coffee drinks or you can get a scoop of ice cream in between two cookies.  If you are patient, they will even warm your cookies up for you.  You can also call in orders to pick up or to have them delivered to yourself or friends.  In our two trips, we have tried 4 different flavored cookies.  On our first trip, Mike got peanut butter chocolate chip and I got oatmeal chocolate chip.  After this visit, I thought the cookies were just okay.  It's really easy to dry out oatmeal cookies and I felt these were a little on the dry side.  Mike did like his peanut butter chocolate chip, so I knew we'd give them another shot.  Last night we went again after a trip to Costco.  This time I got an M&M cookie and Mike went for chocolate chip.  I must say that these cookies were much tastier.  They were tender, flavorful, and not dry.  Others obviously agree with my second take on the cookies, as there as been a line each time we've visited.  I do still love to bake, but this is a great option for when you just need to quench a quick cookie craving.  Tiff's Treats is also a local based business that is expanding throughout Texas and moving soon to other states, so it's nice to support a growing business.  After last night's visit, I can confidently say, we will be back again. 

May 14: The Long and Winding Road

Our final day of vacation is always the toughest.  It's time to say goodbye and head back to reality.  It also means it's travel time, which always puts me in a special mood.  I got up early so I had a chance to say farewell to Mom and Dad as they got on the road to make the trip home in one day.  The rest of the gang got up a little bit later so we could pack up and make the trek to Charleston, where we'd fly out.  Armed with caffeine and DJ Mike's tunes, we were road trip ready.  It was a very uneventful trip and we got to Charleston with some free time before Katie and Aaron needed to get to the airport.  

Bojangles

Chicken Tenders, Biscuit, and Botato Rounds

It's not a trip to the South without a visit to Bojangles, so Aaron and I introduced Katie and Mike to the wonders of Bojangles.  This particular location was attached to a gas station and the employees were very amused as we pondered over our best options as if we were dining at a 5 star restaurant.  We each settled on some chicken variety and we all thouroughly enjoyed our meals.  After Bojangles, Mike and I dropped off Katie and Aaron at the airport before we took our short detour to the outlet mall in Charleston.  It was a cute, newer Tanger Outlets with the shoppes looking like old fashioned buildings.  We wandered the mall and only ended up buying one pair of shorts for Mike.  We stopped for a cookie and then headed to the airport because I was hot, tired, and crabby.  We had a slight detour returning the car due to poor airport signage, but when we got to the right location, it all ran smoothly.  Charleston's airport is tiny and we got our overweight bag checked in and through security rather quickly.  Unfortunately, there were not many food options at the airport.  It was under construction and it looked like there were several cool options coming in the future.  We ended up with Lunchables and water as a snack before boarding.  Katie and Aaron had a long layover in Baltimore, where there were Southwest agents dressed as superheroes.   Our flight to Chicago Midway was fairly uneventful,  however, I turned into the terrible traveler as soon as we landed.  We had to make it from one end of the airport to the other in about 20 minutes for boarding.  I took off at a fast pace (Mike thought I could be a competitive fast walker.), making nasty comments along the way.  To be fair, I just wanted to go home and see my dog and I hadn't had caffeine in a while.  Our flight to Austin seemed to take forever and I was so glad when we landed and were off the plane.

Superheroes of Southwest Airlines

We found our luggage, which managed to stay intact, and headed over to Linda and Eric's to pick up Cecil.  We were happy to see him and we could tell the feeling was mutual.  We had a great trip and were sad to see it end, but happy to be back to our normal life.   

Cecil is looking dapper in his new bow tie collar. 

May 13: Savannah Smiles (Or I Gotta Go Now!)

Friday was our last full day of vacation and we wanted to go back to Savannah to see in depth some areas that we had missed.  We came up with several different plans for what we might do.  Finally, we decided to head to the Crystal Beer Parlor for lunch, visit St. John's Cathedral, walk around town, and head to Leopold's for ice cream.  Crystal Beer Parlor came highly recommended to us by the people at Old Savannah Tours and on several websites.  We liked that they had a huge beer selection for those wishing to drink and a varied menu for all of our different palates.  The decor was pretty cool, too, as it was one of Savannah's oldest running restaraunts.  Dad and Mike got to enjoy several different local beers.  The food was amazing and our orders were diverse, including a club sandwich, Greek tacos, a meatloaf burger, crab cake sandwich, burger, and shrimp blt wrap.  Mom and I really loved the tangy coleslaw, too.  Another fun fact about Savannah is that you can walk around town with alcohol as long as it is in a cup.  So, several members of our party opted to try that out.

Beer Menu

Club Sandwich

Meatloaf Burger

From Crystal Beer Parlor, we headed to St. John's Cathedral.  It was a beautiful church both in and outside.  We were headed to a cemetery next when disaster struck.  Several members of our party who had enjoyed the to go drinks, now needed to use the restroom.  Savannah has lots of cool things to look at, but not a ton of public restrooms.  We split into 3 teams on our search for a bathroom/the cemetery.  Mom and Mike decided to head towards the cemetery, as they didn't have to use the restroom.  Dad and I were heading back to the visitor center, as we were in the need to go, but not emergency level.  Katie and Aaron were making mad dashes inside any building where they thought they could go.  After our separation, we eventually all made it back together and headed over to Leopold's, a famous ice cream spot, for an afternoon treat.  We made it at the perfect time, as we had to wait in line a little bit, but as we were leaving the line got intense.  Our ice cream was delicious and perfect treat for what was shaping up to be a very hot and humid day.  After ice cream, we were done, so we walked back to the car, stopping back (for Dad and I) by Savannah Coffee Roasters for some iced coffee.

St. John's Cathedral

Inside St. John's Cathedral

Fountain in Lafayette Square

When we got back to the condo, we were in pack mode.  We had to make sure everything fit in the suitcases and was going home with the right people.  No trip is complete without a commemorative shirt, so the parents and I headed out to a few of the bigger souvenir shops on the island to see what we might find.  While not as amusing as my souvenir shopping last year with them, we found what we were looking for and headed home for dinner.  Katie and Aaron had cooked some chicken in the crockpot earlier in the week and it was perfect for Friday, along with the leftovers.  People used the chicken as part of a salad, tacos, sandwiches, and nachos.   

Eaten alive at Waves

After dinner, we decided to head back to the turtle pond to feed the turtles our leftover lettuce.  It was so funny to watch them swim to the pieces of lettuce and step on each other to get it.  We also took the opportunity to enjoy one more sunset before we had to separate to go home.  We posed for the required beach shots and Mom did a great job not going overboard.   

Turtles! 

Feeding Turtles

"Here, turtle!" 

He likes me

The Kids

Bye Beach! 

Our evening ended with more games and laughter.  It was the perfect ending to a great day! 

May 12: Islands in the Sun

Thursday was another island day.  We woke up early to start our day off with Dr. Joe for an ecology tour at the beach.  This was lots of fun and basically our group used nets to catch various creatures found on the coast and Dr. Joe would tell us about them.  It was fun because we got to learn so much and we didn't have to stand still the whole time.  

Our Findings

Kissing a star fish

The Gang

Following our ecology lesson, we headed over to the Breakfast Club to eat.  We could tell it was great when we saw the line coming out the door.  After a very minimal wait, we were seated in this very eclectic restaurant.  Everything was running smoothly until the obvious Chicago fans in the kitchen tried to make me take off my Cardinals' hat.  Nope, not going to do it.  We all went for something different with burritos, waffles, omelettes, and my own personal platter of sides.  Our food was amazing and it was worth the wait.   

The Blackhawk Burrito

Bacon and Waffles

We were all a little tired and each couple decided to spend our lazy day in different ways.  Katie and Aaron felt like exploring, so they headed to the Tybee Lighthouse and museum.  Mom and Dad headed out to the beach for some time in the sun.  Mike and I opted for extra lazy and chilled in the hot tub that was on the porch of our condo.   

Tybee lighthouse

After lazy time, we got ready and headed to the famous Crab Shack for dinner with my parents. The Crab Shack is a Tybee must visit and I say this as someone who doesn't even eat seafood.  It's a very eclectic place with an awesome shaded porch.  We took some time to check out the gators and watched kiddos feeding them.  We enjoyed some local brews and a fruity beverage for Mom as the chef prepared our foods.  Mom and Dad enjoyed shrimp and a low country boil, respectively, while Mike and I split the BBQ pork nachos.  We even finished it off with key lime pie and chocolate cake.   

Crab Shack

Gators at the Crab Shack

Pork Nachos

Low Country Boil

Our next stop was to Wet Willie's for frozen beverages.   Wet Willie's is basically a grown up slushy bar, which was similar to Trops (found in Springfield and St. Louis).  We tried a few varieties before making our selections.  Once we had our beverages, we walked down the pier and did some light shopping for souvenirs.

Cocktail from Wet Willy's

Mike, Katie, Aaron, and I ended the evening with some games through the Apple TV.  It's always fun to play games and we had a wonderful time culminating our lazy day. 

May 11: Visiting Paula's Town

Our next day of vacation had us heading into Savannah for some exploration.  It was only about a 30 minute drive from Tybee to Savannah, but it seemed to take longer due to several areas of construction.  We decided to take an Old Savannah Trolley tour so that we could see all the highlights of Savannah and decide what areas we wanted to hit.  Our tour guide, Donnie, was from Savannah, had been a tour guide at Universal Studios, and was a bit of a history buff, so he did a fabulous job navigating and teaching us about Savannah.  Savannah is a beautiful, well laid out city with tons of parks throughout.  We stayed on the trolley through most of the stops to get a full overview of the history.  We saw several historical and movie sites, as well as many beautiful parks, and had a few characters board the trolley to give us some information.  We opted to stop at the City Market stop to find a place to eat.

Donnie, our tour guide, on Old Savannah Tours

A guest that popped on our tour

Telfair Hospital

Fountain in one of Savannah's many parks

I will fully admit to being a foodie and sometimes even a food snob.  While in Savannah, I was really hoping to try a place with a little bit of flair, even though some members of our party were pretty hungry and might have eaten anywhere.  We ended up at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons.  I was pretty excited, even though I had been there before.  We all decided to take advantage of the lunch buffet so we could try a little bit of everything.  Some of our favorites were the fried chicken, Mac and cheese, green beans, dirty rice, corn casserole, and mashed potatoes.  For dessert, we had the choice of peach cobbler, banana pudding, gooey butter cake or Oreo gooey butter cake.  I had the gooey butter cake, which was delicious, and Paula is the only non St. Louisan I'd trust with this awesome dish.  After eating this meal, we were quite full and knew it was time to get our walk on.

Lady and Son's Restaraunt

Paula Deen's gift shop

Samples from the buffet at Lady and Sons

Gooey Butter Cake

From The Lady and Sons, we walked down to River Street, which is home to the Port of Savannah, and many of Savannah's bars and tourist shops.  It was fun to watch the boats travel down the Savannah River, while we walked and shopped.  Our favorite shops included a cute craft store, where we bought a bow tie collar for our dapper pup and Savannah Bee Company.  Savannah Bee Company had honey and mead tasting, along with many beauty products made with honey.  By the end of River Street, we were hot, sweaty, and ready to go back to the house.

Port of Savannah statue

Waving Girl statue

That night we skipped a formal dinner and snacked a little bit as we were pretty full from our lunch.  My parents, Mike, and I headed down to the beach at sunset so we could get some pictures and admire the scenery.  The beach was really pretty as the sun set and it was a peaceful way to end our day.  We tried to get an early bed time in so that we could wake up early for our ecology trip.

Gazebo on the way to our beach

Sunset at the beach

Beach Selfie

May 10: Flippers, Forts, and Fools

Tuesday morning, we had a late start, but had decided to stay on the island all day.  We had breakfast on the porch and got ready for a dolphin cruise with Captain Mike.  The dolphin cruise was fun and we got to see several dolphins and learned many new facts about dolphins.  We saw several boats and even crossed the state line to South Carolina via the Savannah River.  Our cruise took up about 2 hours and we weren't totally sure what the rest of the day would bring.  

 The Whole Family

Dad, Me and Mike on the dolphin cruise

Flipper! 

Lighthouse on a tiny island

Our next stop winded up being Fort Pulaski located on Tybee Island.  This actually ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip.  It was a historical fort built before the Civil War, used for many different things before becoming a National Park.  We liked that you could mostly roam free with optional signs to read.  There were both indoor and outdoor attractions, with the caveat that outdoors, there was a moat that was known to be home to alligators.  There were cave rooms set up to explore and historical depictions of rooms to view.  We also liked that we could climb to the top of the fort for an awesome view. 

Fort Pulaski

Fort Pulaski

Inmates or soldiers? 

After Fort Pulaski, we had worked up an appetite, so we headed to Hucapoos for pizza and drinks.  We had a hard time picking pizzas, but we knew we wanted garlic cheese bread and drinks.  Mike, Dad, and I sampled several local brews.  Katie and Aaron stuck to various ciders, while Mom let the waitress create some fruity concoction for her.  The drinks were just what we needed and the cheese bread was super tasty.  In the end we ordered 3 large pizzas that were each split.  So we had a half chicken/half beef taco pizza, a pineapple pizza with half pepperoni/half ham, and a pizza that was half meat lovers/half sausage.  There was a little something for everyone.  Our pizza was really great and we had plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. 

Garlic Bread at Hucapoos

Meat lover's pizza at Hucapoos

Taco Pizza at Hucapoos

Our final stop was to the turtle pond by our condo.  There were so many turtles and they were very entertaining.  They all seemed to be tracking us and begging for food.  We promised them we would eventually bring them some snacks.  We ended our evening making plans to visit Savannah in the morning.

Sunset by turtle pond

Turtles

Acting a fool on a bridge

May 9: Come Fly With Me

Today is a cool and wet day, so it's the perfect time to begin reflecting on our recent beach vacation to Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia.  Four of us had been before and were eager to share some of our favorite parts with the newer members of our family during our annual family vacation.  As per normal, we began arriving at various times by various travel methods.  Mom and Dad drove the trip in 2 days and were able to visit her aunt along the way in Tennessee.  They met up with Katie and Aaron at the airport in Charleston, South Carolina and got the rental car situated.  Mike and I flew into Charleston the next day, not without my usual side of travel drama.  Air travel brings out the absolute worst in me. It started out rough that day because I was running on 2.5 hours of sleep because we had an early flight and I was up late packing.  We didn't run into any traffic due to the early hour and we were able to get really close parking easily.  The first part of the drama ensued when we got to the ticket counter.  We opted to use only 1 bag on the trip for the both of us.  I had just gotten a new giant suitcase and everything fit, so I thought we'd be good to go.  Wrong.  Our suitcase was 5-7 pounds overweight.  The lady told me I needed to take something out or pay a fine.  She asked if there was something I wanted to leave behind.  Nope, I wouldn't have packed it if I didn't need it.  So, $75 later, my bag was ready to go.  Next, it was time to go through security, another favorite of mine.  One of the security checkpoints in Austin is designed to go as quickly as possible, so there is an agent with a dog that will sniff you and another agent that randomly questions travelers.  Then, everything stays on you or in your bag with no little gray bins.  At 5 am, I wasn't in the mood, so apparently I ignored the agent asking questions, leaving Mike to overcompensate for my rudeness.  Then, my bracelets beeped going through the machine and Mike made fun of me for putting my new bag in its dust bag before I would place it on the conveyor belt.  We had a little bit of wait time and a successful flight to Nashville, Tennessee, where we had a short layover before headed out to Charleston.  When we reached Charleston, Mom and Dad were waiting for us and our luggage arrived safely, so overall it was a good trip.

Poppy seed rolls and honey butter

Chicken tenders and cream cheese grits

Our flight landed just in time for lunch, so we opted to eat in Charleston, as we had a 3 hour drive to Tybee.  Mom and Dad had scoped out the area the previous day and recommended Fatz Cafe.  Fatz was a Southern style restaurant known for their chicken.  Upon finding out we were new, they gave us each a chicken tender to try, along with some delicious poppy seed rolls.  We all ended up with various types of chicken, such as tenders and sandwiches.  I personally, enjoyed the chicken tenders with cheddar cream cheese grits.  The chicken was well seasoned and breaded.  When in the South, I always take advantage of the opportunity to indulge in cheese grits.  Fatz took them to another level by adding cream cheese so the grits were both cheesy and creamy.  I will definitely start adding cream cheese to my grits from now on.  

Beach house on Tybee Island

It as a 3 hour trip from Charleston to Tybee, so we ate and ran.  It was neat to get to see a bit of the Southern low country.   We also drove through Savannah on our way to the island.  Our home away from home was a lovely multilevel condo located a few blocks from the beach.  As per usual, we forgot to take many pictures of the house. 

Taco Salad

The Elvis Burger

Victory! 

For dinner, Katie and Aaron had done some research on Tybee restaurants and came across a burger challenge at the Rock House.  Aaron thought he and Mike should try the challenge, which was a burger with 6 patties, toppings and fries.  If you ate the burger, you got a shirt.  Mike debated and ultimately decided to bow out of the challenge.  Aaron went forward with the Elvis burger challenge and in the end, he beat the challenge, finishing in about an hour.  The rest of us enjoyed our meals of burgers, tacos, and taco salad, without feeling quite as full.  Everyone was pretty tired after our days of traveling so we hit the sack a little early after setting some plans for the next day. 

Pin a Day: Perfect Blondies

Back before we went on vacation, I made a special treat for my work pals.  We had been out celebrating our 1st date anniversary and when we got home, it was time for boozy baking.  I was feeling good and decided to make a recipe called Perfect Blondies.   I started by gathering all my ingredients, reading the recipe and preheating the oven.  I prepped my pan by lining it with parchment paper for ease of cleaning.  Next, I mixed together my butter and sugars.  Then, I added in the vanilla and eggs, beating until smooth.  I mixed in the dry ingredients, but I wasn't quite done.  Finally, I added in some white chocolate chips and poured the mixture into the pan.  The Blondies baked about 30 minutes and cooled before I cut them.  Boozy baking seems to suit me because these were excellent.  They were rich, chewy and flavorful.  I took in a nearly full pan to work and they were all gone by the end of the evening.  This was a simple, tasty recipe that I'm sure I'll make again.

Burgers and Brews

On Wednesday, we didn't have dinner plans and hadn't visited one of our favorite breweries lately, so we headed over to Whitestone Brewery for dinner and a few beers.  That night Whitestone was serving 2 new beers, Oatmeal Stout on Nitro, which was delicious and Smoak on the Blacklands, a smoky strong ale, which tasted like smoked meat to me.  In additon, the featured visiting food was from Ron's Hamburguesas.  We had heard that it was good and every time it was the featured food, we seemed to have something else going on.  Ron had a very simplistic set up with just a grilling station set up on the porch, as opposed to a truck.  It was also a great deal getting a decent sized burger and chips for $6.  We paid at the bar and took our tickets to pick up our burgers.  He cooked to order, so I dropped off my tickets and he told me to come back in 5 minutes to get them.  In 5 minutes, they were ready to go. I didn't see exactly what he put on the burgers, so I was excited to see what made these different.  They definitely had a southwest twist, with either pico or salsa being one of the toppings.  The burgers were delicious and we were thrilled that we made it up there to try them.  As the burgers had a bit of a kick, the creamy Oatmeal Stout was a perfect pairing with the burgers.  We left full and happy.  We will definitely try to head back next time Ron is the featured food choice. 

Pin a Day: One Pot Chicken Risotto

Risotto is a great side and even a wonderful meal option.  However, I forgot that the worst thing about risotto is cooking it and stirring it.  On Monday, I made this One Pot Chicken Risotto.   It was a tasty meal that provided us with plenty of leftovers, but it may be a bit before I make it again.  I did like that it was all in one pot, which minimized the amount of dishes we had to clean later.  I started by heating up the oil and cooking the chicken until it was browned on each side.  Next, I added the vegetables.  We used onions, carrots, and a red pepper.  I cooked this until the veggies were browned and added the butter.  I lowered the heat and added the rice, cooking it until it was toasted.   Next, I added my dry white wine and stock to prevent it from sticking.  I stirred until it was incorporated and then began the process of adding stock and stirring it in until the risotto was thick and creamy enough.  It took a long time and several bouts of stirring.  Once it was almost cooked, I added in some frozen peas.  Once it was finally done, I added it salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.  This was delicious, but rather a pain to make.  My advice on this one is to put on your patient pants before cooking.

Pin a Day: Thai Chicken Pasta

Last Friday, I was super tired, but I still made time to try out a new recipe.  We decided to have Thai Chicken Pasta.   Mike helped me out by chopping up our various vegetables.  I first cooked my chicken in my braised with a bit of chicken broth.  Next, I boiled my water and cooked the pasta.  Next, I heated up some oil (I used vegetable because I was out of sesame.) and added green onions, carrots, chicken, cabbage, garlic and ginger.  I sautéed those for about 2 minutes.  Next, I added in honey, peanut butter. sriracha, vinegar, and soy sauce.  I stirred all that and then added the noodles and chili paste.  I mixed it well and we were ready to eat.  The pasta had great flavor and was full of veggies, too!  I also loved that it made plenty of leftovers, which is perfect when heading into a busy weekend.  We also loved that the pasta seemed to get spicier as leftovers. This was a great copycat recipe that we will definitely repeat again I the future,

Pin a Day: Meatball Sub Sandwiches

Sometimes, a good recipe is defined by to right ingredients.  The was the case when we tried these Meatball Sub Sandwiches.   I used some of my favorite ingredients, but these may have been even tastier if I used even higher quality ingredients.  I started by cooking some meatballs in pasta sauce.  Both were from Target's Market Pantry brand.  I used Italian style meatballs and a sauce with Parmesan chees in it.  You could change the flavor based on your sauce/meatball preferences.  In an ideal world, I'd use meatballs from a little Italian deli in St. Charles, but that wasn't a option.  

After the meatballs were cooked through, I assembled the sandwiches.  I used sub sandwich rolls that were soft because I don't care for crusty bread.  Plus, even if they got stale, they wouldn't be too hard.  I used provolone cheese from Target, but really wished that I had some good old St. Louis provel cheese.  I popped them into an oven heated to 400 degrees for about 5-10 minutes. 

Once the cheese had melted, I pulled them out to enjoy.  The bread was nicely toasted, the meatballs were tasty and the cheese was so gooey.  We enjoyed these along with salad.  I made extra meatballs and we had these several days for lunch too.  These were relatively quick and easy and extremely tasty so I know this will be on our menu again in the future.

Pin a Day: S'Mores Cookie Bars (One of the Best Things I've Ever Made)

Do you guys want s'more?  The answer for me is yes!  I say this as I drink my s'mores coffee.   Saturday, before I went in to work, I made these tasty S'Mores Cookie Bars for my coworkers.  I got up early to make sure I had plenty of time to cook and cool these before I left.   First, I preheated the oven and prepared my pan.  I smashed my graham cracker and melted the butter. I felt like there wasn't enough crust so I ended up doubling the recipe.  Next, I made the cookie mixture.  I started by creaming together the butter and sugars.  Then, I added in the egg and vanilla.  I mixed the dry ingredients and then added them in.  Finally, I stirred in the chocolate chips and marshmallows.  I spread the cookie mixture on top of the crust and popped it in the oven for 10 minutes.  I broke up a Hershey's bar and put it in the freezer to chill.  After 10 minutes, I put more marshmallows on top and cooked it for another 12 minutes.  Once it had finished cooking, I added the Hershey bar pieces.  I had to leave around 12:15, so when I ate lunch, I cut up the very messy bars and transferred them to my signature carrier with the pink lid.  When I got to work, I made sure to label that they were messy.  I knew that Mike liked them, but I wasn't sure about the rest of my audience.  Have no fear, lunch was soon for some of my coworkers and they kept popping out on the floor to tell me how bad I was and how amazing the cookie bars were.   By the end of our very busy evening, there were only a few crumbs left- a first for this crowd.  This recipe was obviously a surprise hit and has already been requested again.

Pin a Day: Santa Monica Street Tacos

We love tacos and will eat them everyday, not just Tuesdays!  I'm always looking for new ways to make tacos and found a great new recipe in these Santa Monica Street Tacos.   I typically make tacos with ground turkey or ground beef, so when I saw these used steak, I jumped at the chance to try them.  I omitted two ingredients from the recipe: the onion, because I forgot to buy it and the cabbage, because Target didn't have red cabbage the day I shopped.  Otherwise, I tried to stay true to the recipe.  I started by heating the oil in the pan and seasoning the steak.  I substituted beef cut into strips for fajitas for the skirt steak.  I cooked the steak about 10 minutes, then I added the garlic and cooked it for another 2 minutes.  While the steak was cooking, I mixed the cilantro lime vinaigrette.  I whisked all the ingredients together, but forgot to pulse them in a blender.  It turned out fine and I didn't dirty another dish.  Once the steak had cooked, we were ready to assemble our tacos.  We used flour tortillas, tomatoes, Monterey Jack cheese, and the vinaigrette to top our tacos.  They were amazing!  The steak had a bit of a kick, which paired great with the tangy dressing.  We had enough meat for two tacos each, plus leftovers.  The next day, we used the leftover meat to make some pretty awesome steak nachos.  My only regret was that we didn't have even more meat.  This was a fast and easy way to put a spin on a traditional taco and it was a big success for us.

They Call it Mellow Mushroom

On a rare Saturday off, Mike and I decided to head out for another Austin adventure.  I wanted to hit a mall a bit further south and to try a new restaurant.  A few months ago, several new places opened in Round Rock and Mike had a recommendation for Mellow Mushroom Pizza, so we decided to try it out.  It was a rainy day and we lucked out and found a decent parking spot.   

We were really excited that we didn't have to wait and were seated immediately.  The place had a very cool, mellow vibe and we took some time to browse the menu.  We were excited to see that there were beers on the menu from Redhorn, which is just down the street from us.  We opted to start with a 1/2 order of pretzels with a side of beer cheese.  They were so yummy.  The pretzels were made from pizza dough, so they were super soft and almost fluffy.  They paired wonderfully with the beer cheese.  We were impressed that a 1/2 order was 3 pretzels, which was plenty for 2 people. 

For the pizza, we opted for a small buffalo chicken pizza.  The pizza was New York style, so it was medium thickness of crust.  It was so tasty!  The crust had plenty of Parmesan cheese and was topped with cheese, bacon, chicken, buffalo sauce, and ranch dressing.  We were so full after trying everything.  I was so happy to be heading to a mall to walk off all the pizza.  The menu had lots of great options, so we will definitely be back to try those and maybe save some room for dessert.