I Won!!!

I can't remember the last time I won anything. I'm so excited!!!

Remember that recipe contest? Well, I really did win! My Pinot-Pepper Portobello Panini did the trick!

I'm on their website and everything!

This means I get to treat my husband to a REALLY NICE date night out and experiment with one each of the delicious Czar sauces. 

Thank you, Czar's Fine Foods for making and tasting my sandwich!

Oh man, this lady is pretty pumped. :-)

I was even thinking that this would have been way better on my homemade flatbread; I'll just have to give that a try.

The sun is rising, the power is back on (lovely surprise at 5:55 AM), and I don't have to work until 1 PM. Oh yeah, and I won a recipe contest. :)

I Dream of Pumpkin

I had pumpkin on the brain. Two weeks in a row. So I made a few things...

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Here.

I only had a LARGE can of pumpkin (which is actually why I made so many goodies, trying to use it up), so I weighed out what I needed for my bread.

It kinda, sorta, maybe fell when I took it out of the oven- so I eventually turned it out into a bowl and served it like a bread pudding... without the pudding.

Pumpkin muffins. Here.

I added diced almonds on top just for prettiness.

These are delicious and so pretty. I think they could be in a display window. 

Starbucks pumpkin scone. Here.

This is one of my favorite Starbucks pastries, so I was so excited to recreate it!!!

You can cut the scones into 16 small pieces for even more to share.

So gorgeous.

And let me tell you, they were incredibly good.

Baked pumpkin donut holes. Here.

These are just mini muffins dipped in butter and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. So simple, and so much fun!

These were the husband's favorite out of all of the recipes.

So tell me: What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Using My Very Own Basil

I was watching Food Network. Ina Garten went out and picked her very own tomatoes and basil to make roasted tomatoes with pesto on top. Yum. Yum, yum, yum. That sounded pretty delicious to me!

Well, I didn't have my own tomatoes, but I did get some from the fruit and veg stand down the road. 

Even though the tomatoes were actually from Canada (who knew?), I could at least boast having my very own basil.

My mom set me up with a small herb garden a while back, and they have been flourishing (finally) in the greenhouse. This was my first harvest.

Sliced tomatoes, salted and drizzled with olive oil.

Part of a large Italian sweet basil leaf and a slice of fresh mozzarella.

Baked at 425 for 10 minutes.

I thought these would be especially delicious with tilapia, briefly marinated in lemon juice, salt, and garlic.

Cooked for a few minutes per side, allowing the lemon marinade to reduce.

The plating isn't my very best (fish juices/residue on the side), but it was ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!

Paired with some roasted broccoli, mmmmmm. My favorite way to eat broccoli now.

A few shots of the pup, who was watching us eat, thrown in for cuteness.

And the husband, for good measure. 

This was before the shave.

And after.

Blender Surprise

This is awesome.

I found this idea through my friend's blog, here.

So I decided to root around in my kitchen and see if I could do something similar.

Huzzah!!! (Anyone else picturing one of the final scenes in the first Pirates movie??)

I found that the Classico sauce jars that I keep fit perfectly on the blender blade. So I loaded one up with cold coffee, vanilla ice cream, coffee ice cubes, and butterscotch syrup. This was for the hubs. NO WAY would I have that many calories in liquid form in one sitting. That man can handle them, but I surely couldn't!

I need to do something about that label. It doesn't look very appealing, huh?

My little ice cubes (made from leftover coffee) are hearts. Way too cutesy. :)

THEN I had the idea to drill holes in the Classico lids so we could use a straw and take these on-the-go! How neat is that? Love a husband with power tools. I was sure he was going to drill my finger.

My mix was yogurt blend ice cream, yogurt, coffee, and the coffee ice cubes. It wasn't too tasty. I need to try a new combo.

I can't wait to make fruit/veggie smoothies this way! So fun!

So tell me: What kind of smoothie do you love to make? Give the goods! :)

Homemade Tortillas & Fajitas

Following the instructions on the Maseca bag, I mixed 1 cup of corn flour with 2/3 cup water and 1/8 tsp salt. I used a fork to mix this up until I needed to use my hands to really make it into a ball of dough.

After forming the dough, I split it into 8 smaller balls, covered by a dampened paper towel. (Keep the towel over the balls of dough as you shape each one to keep them from drying out.)

Using a cut Ziploc bag (stronger plastic), I placed each ball in between the two sheets of plastic on the tortilla press (Amazon.com - but could have stolen one from my mom's pantry - oops).

Press, peel, and look! A tortilla!

Kevin got so excited that he wanted to make the rest. Gotta love a man that wants to help out in the kitchen!

In an ungreased frying pan, cook the tortilla on medium-high heat, 50 seconds on each side.

Then, if you are crazy about kitchen goodies like me, put the finished tortilla in your tortilla warmer.

 

These babies are so much tastier than store bought corn tortillas, in my opinion. They're small, but SO yummy!

Here is our skirt accordian-style steak (much too big for this pan) marinating in my made-up mix: lime juice, minced garlic, cumin, and onion powder. Unfortunately, I didn't think to have this marinating earlier. The best option is at least 2 hours marinating in the fridge, even up to 6 or overnight.

As a side dish, Kevin sliced squash... and meticulously placed them on the baking pan in an awesomely OCD manner. That's my man.

Sprinkled with taco seasoing (from a packet), this was delish!

Sauteed onion and pepper (and two cloves freshly minced garlic) - perfect for our fajitas. (One yellow onion, two bell peppers, one Tbsp olive oil.)

Let the stacking begin.

I loaded my fajitas with 2 Tbsp each of low fat shredded mozzarella (40), 2 fat free sour cream (18), and freshly diced vine tomatoes (13); add to that 2 oz of thinly sliced skirt steak (124) and about 1/2 cup sauteed veggies (62) and Valentina hot sauce (0) to finish with a zing.

Together with 2.5 fresh tortillas (165) and 1 cup roasted squash (29), my meal came in at 451 calories. It was so yummy, so filling, and so healthy.

My kitchen came in as: messy and loaded with dirty dishes. Always a sign of a good meal!

So tell me: what homemade alternative do you use to store bought?