The weather continues to swelter here in Florida, so there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on. It's like the heat is sucking out my creativity! My cousins did visit for the weekend, however, so for dinner Saturday night we made personal-sized pizzas. I mixed up a 2-pound ball of whole-wheat pizza dough, then divided it up and rolled them out. We all put on our own sauce, cheese, and toppings:

Rachel and April's: green peppers, onion, and pepperoni (for April).

Mine (pepperoni) and Mike's (green peppers, onions, and pepperoni).

Rachel putting together her pizza.

The pizzas were great - you can't beat homemade pizza! We used Newman's Own Vodka Sauce for the pizzas, and it was delicious. The girls seemed to enjoy picking out the toppings and putting together their own pizzas.

We also made homemade vanilla ice cream in my ice cream maker. I received it as a wedding gift, but it didn't get much use in our small apartment because I had no storage space and couldn't put it in an accessible place. I had forgotten how good homemade ice cream is. I used the clear vanilla extract I have for cake decorating, thus the pretty white color.

We've all heard of the "double-churned" low-fat ice cream, and I wondered what would happened if I tried it myself. So I used low-fat milk instead of whole and let the ice cream maker churn for 40 minutes instead of 20. I plan to do the same thing next time, because it was delicious! It was the most like store-bought ice cream I've ever made, as far as texture goes. Yummmm.



Onto tonight's dinner: chicken and broccoli stir-fry with Pillsbury dinner rolls. I've never been into making stir-fries, but I found a neat chart in a cook book that lists all the different meats, veggies, and spices you could use. It also includes some cool stir-fry tips, like freezing your meat for 30 minutes to make it easier to thinly slice (it works!).

I used chicken breast, broccoli florets, black pepper, soy sauce, and lime juice. It turned out well, but I was surprised at how quickly the broccoli went from firm and bright green to pale and a little limp. They had to sit for a few minutes while the rolls finished browning, so next time I will be more careful to finish everything at the same time. I also realized when I was dishing everything up that I should have made rice to go with the stir-fry! Rolls were the only carb I could think of when I was planning dinner. Like I said, the heat is taking it's toll on my brain! But I still think dinner turned out well.

Just a note to let you know that by request, I have posted the recipe for the Chocolate Cake I made for our anniversary. I have named it Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cookie Cake, and you can get to it by clicking here. Enjoy!

Also by request, I have added hand-mixing instructions to the Rosemary Bread recipe. Personally, I think it would be easier to just go buy a breadmaker, or do what I did and put out the word and have your relatives look for one at a yard sale. Breadmakers seem to be a pretty common item at garage sales, not sure why. Maybe people start out with good intentions to make their own bread, then fall from glory? I know I use mine enough!

Although I wholeheartedly agree with Dee that it's too hot to cook much, I did make a special dinner for my mom's birthday on Friday. Thus, you get lots of new recipes! To start with, Rosemary Bread that the recipe states tastes like the bread from Macaroni Grill.

I've only been to that particular restaurant once, years ago, so I can't tell you whether or not it did, but I can tell you that this bread was delicious! I replaced some of the bread flour with whole wheat flour, so I doubt it was exact. I let my bread maker mix up the dough, then baked it in the oven to avoid that weird rectangular shape my bread maker turns out. We had this bread with olive oil and dipping spices, and it was almost gone by the time the main course was served!


I tried a new pork tenderloin recipe that used my crock pot, featuring an Asian-style glaze. I decided to try a new recipe for tenderloin because I felt like I was in a rut with my favorite way to prepare the dish. I would have never thought to try tenderloin in a crock pot, because it works so well with cheap, tough cuts of meat, but I must say I was quite pleased with this recipe. The pork was super-tender and moist, and the glaze was amazing. The recipe also works with ribs, so I plan on trying that as soon as I can lay my hands on some!


Last, dessert! I tried the blueberry-orange cheesecake recipe from the latest issue of Taste of Home, but with a few twists. First, once I had decided to make this recipe and had assembled the ingredients, I remembered that my springform pan has been MIA since the move. I decided to go ahead with the recipe, but make them into individual-sized cheesecakes. They were much easier to serve that way, and I think they still turned out well. Second, I used strawberries to creat a pretty design on top of each cupcake. I decided to try this recipe because it uses cottage cheese instead of cream cheese, and I wanted to see what a difference that made in taste.

It definitely was different - more mild, but with the sour cream-sugar concoction on top, and the pretty berries on top, it was a great dessert, and not as heavy as New-York style cheesecake, which was great after a big meal.
I think this meal was a success! Happy birthday, mom!

Playing Catch-Up

As I've said on my personal blog, I took a few days off from blogging to celebrate Mike and I's anniversary, so now I have a slew of pictures to show you! First off, the special dinner I made for our anniversary:


The steaks were thick ribeyes that I got at Publix for $6.99 a pound. They originally had porterhouses and t-bones on sale at that price, but the selection was picked over, so the butcher gave me these amazing-looking steaks for the same price. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I love Publix. They were EXCELLENT! I'm salivating right now just thinking about how good they were. Mike also requested mashed potatoes and cheesy broccoli, so we had that along with strawberry daiquiris:


And then...the motherlode!! I've been wanting to try my hand at recreating Ruby Tuesday's Chocolate Tallcake, because I think it's one of the best desserts out there. I'm the type of person who typically prefers the creativity and freshness of locally-owned places, but Ruby's got this dessert right. I looked online for a copykat recipe to no avail, so I had to combine several different recipes: one for an oreo-embedded chocolate cake from a mix, one for buttercream icing which I combined with crushed oreos for the filling, and one for chocolate mousse for the icing.


This was a very involved process, but holy cow, just look at it!! It was sooooooo good. I noticed that this cake seemed to taste even better after sitting in the fridge for a day. Paired with a tall glass of milk, eaten while floating in my pool....yes please!

Now let's all wipe the droll off our faces so I can show you tonight's dinner. I used the rest of the steak from our anniversary dinner to make steak fajitas. They were sauteed with green peppers, onions, and...zucchini? Yes, that's right. I don't care much for onions or green peppers, so I decided to throw some zucchini to sautée for the last few minutes and try that in my fajita, and I must say I enjoyed the extra serving of vegetables. Even Mike enjoyed some zukes in his fajita! I was careful to take out some of the squishy, seedy stuff out of the middle, much like you core an apple, and I think that helped.

Tonight I used my crock pot to make dinner. I love my crock pot, but I don't use it as much in the summer because of the heat it generates. I know I could set it on the washer in the garage, but that's way too much work. Anyhoo, tonight's dinner was beef pot roast with Yukon gold potatoes and a can of French onion soup poured over it all. I've used cream of mushroom and chicken soups before, but I was bored of that, and the can of French onion soup had been sitting in my pantry for a long time, waiting to be used. It turned out very well, the soup tenderized the meat and gave it a nice flavor. A taste test a few hours in revealed that the dish was a little bland, but some celery salt fixed that.

We also had pretzel rolls from the Yalaha Bakery, one of Mike's favorite, and some sauteed green beans from the freezer. By the way, if you like the Yalaha Bakery as much as we do, go here and vote for them for WESH Channel 2 news' A-list contest. They're up against some big bakeries in Orlando, so they need lots of votes. Everything I've ever had there has been absolutely delicious, and they deserve to be named the best bakery in Central Florida!

I wanted to share this summer family favorite with you all: Fruit Pizza!


This picture is of the fruit pizza my mom made for my uncle's birthday. It has a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese filling, and a fruit and glaze topping. It's perfect for summer, and always gets compliments when we bring it to a gathering.

I actually didn't used to be a big fan of this dessert when I was a kid, but now I LOVE it! I think it's not something that kids traditionally go for, because it doesn't have icing, chocolate, cartoon characters, etc. But I love it now, and it's especially good for when you don't want something too heavy.

Chicken Tandoori Pitas

Tonight for dinner I tried a new twist on an old favorite: chicken tandoori (the old favorite) in whole-wheat pitas (the twist). I put the chicken in a tandoori marinade last night (plain yogurt, 2 T. tandoori seasoning from Penzey's, and half the juice of a lemon), then tonight Mike put it on the grill. I didn't want to fire up the grill for one measly chicken breast, so we did the sides on the grill, too: tiny yellow potatoes and the last of the squash, with a few carrots thrown in.

The chicken definitely needed something. Mike ate his second pita with Caesar dressing and said it was better, but I think next time I'm going to make some sort of cheese sauce. That should make it less dry.

I wanted to show you the simple dinner I threw together tonight. I say that I threw it together because I waited until the last minute to decide what we were having. After a consultation with my freezer, I pulled out some honey ham and bread that I got from the local discount bakery called Outback bread. It really is the same bread you get at the restaurant, and I've always meant to try it on a sandwich. This is Mike's sandwich:

Toasted Outback bread, ham, white American cheese, and pepperoni. Mine was sans pepperoni. I also broiled some squash that was given to us by my mom, who got it from her neighbor. I tossed it with some olive oil and sprinkled some kosher salt and chipotle pepper, and at the last minute I threw some carrots into the mix for me. I always forget just how much heat that chipolte pepper packs until I eat it again! Not too bad for a thrown-together dinner at the last minute.

New Recipe - Pizza Pancakes

Tonight we had a great Friday night dinner. I got this recipe from a Quick Cooking recipe book and have been meaning to try it for several weeks. The recipe calls for an all-purpose baking mix (like Bisquick), and when a recipe calls for that item, I usually use my homemade pancake mix, but I thought it would be too sweet for this recipe. I would have used Bisquick if I'd had any, but I didn't, so I looked up a Bisquick copycat recipe online, and we were cookin'. In addition to pepperoni, I browned some sweet turkey sausage by Jennie-O and added that. I also used Penzey's pizza seasoning instead of italian seasoning. Paired with some homemade tomato sauce and a fruit salad of cameo apples, strawberries, and green grapes, we had a tasty dinner. This recipe is definitely a keeper! I figured it would be, since it combines two of our favorite foods: pizza and pancakes!

A New Recipe - Black Bean and Rice Burgers

Last night I decided to try something daring - a meal with no meat in it! With Mike that is a daring move indeed. I cut this recipe out of a Taste of Home magazine several weeks ago, and just now worked up the courage to try it. And guess what...he liked it! He even ate the rest of mine when I got full! It was a joyous occasion indeed.


Now that I got all that sarcasm out of my system, here's the specifics: I decided not to make them "burgers," per say, but instead used whole grain mini pita pockets so they would be sandwiches. To me, a burger has to have beef in it, but a sandwich can have anything in it. I was glad I used the pita bread rather than hamburger buns, because the patties didn't stay together incredibly well. Next time I make this recipe (there WILL be a next time!) I'm going to use a more bold cheese than American, like maybe a sharp cheddar. Another new recipe that's a keeper! Yes!!

Yesterday we had a simple favorite: beef tacos. When we have tacos, I like to put out as many toppings as we have in between us and let each of us build our own. We're both kind of picky (SOME of us more than others...ahem...), so this works best for us. This time we had beef along with sour cream (for me), onions (for Mike), homemade salsa, and refried beans (for both of us).

We also had a green salad to go with the tacos. We tried two new types of salad dressing - I've been getting bored with plain 'ole ranch, and I've been trying to find something not cream-based. I picked a Caesar vinaigrette with Parmesan cheese and a Greek dressing with feta cheese from the wall of salad dressings at Wal-Mart. I never realized there are so many types of salad dressing out there - I've always just gone straight for the ranch. We liked both of them.



I also tried a new recipe - Blueberry Pound Cake, which I found on GardenWeb's Recipe Exchange Board.

Fresh out of the oven, still in the bundt cake pan, which hardly ever sees any action. A bundt cake pan is one of those things you hardly ever use, but really need once in awhile.


This was some good cake! The blueberries didn't all sink to the bottom, and it tasted GREAT still warm from the oven. Tonight I'm going to try it cold with a little vanilla icing on top.

We had a very nice Sunday. After a trip to Bass Pro Shop (and driving home in a thunderstorm), I made a simple dinner of turkey kielbasa on white-wheat buns and a green salad.

We had never tried turkey kielbasa until this weekend, and we were very impressed by it. We tried it on the grill, and to me they were an improved version of pork kielbasa - not as heavy and guilt-inducing. I think Mike liked them, but still would prefer the original. But he still got to play with the grill - it's winner all around!

Tonight we had a date night, so I decided to make a simple meal that also happens to be Mike's favorites: homemade pizza, featuring my homemade no-rise pizza crust. I tried a new cheese blend from Sargento; smoked provolone with asiago and mozzarella cheese. I also got a turkey kielbasa to try later, and decided to brown half of one and top the pizza with it. I did a simple side of cherries, strawberries, and blueberries. The pizza turned out okay; it was a little too smoky-tasting for me, between the kielbasa and provolone.



I tried a new recipe yesterday with the local blueberries I bought. After debating over my recipe book, I decided on the Blueberry Breakfast Bars recipe I found over at Farmgirl Fare. They have an oatmeal crust, blueberry center, and streusel-like topping.

They were very good straight from the oven, but since they've cooled off I've decided that I could probably cut the amount of butter in half and still enjoy them. I mean, shiny stuff seeps out when you press down on one. I ended up taking just the blueberry middle part and topping it with a little vanilla ice cream tonight during movie night, and it was delicious.

I made this dinner last week, but I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to post it. We had Cornish Game Hen that I did in the Crock Pot, mashed potatoes, and a mixed vegetable medley from the freezer. The hen was sprayed with olive oil, then seasoned with a garlic pepper blend. I like to do Cornish Game Hens in the crock pot because it makes the meat fall-off-the-bone tender. Mike actually introduced me to the wonders of the "little chicken;" he decided he wanted one for our first Valentine's Day, and after a frantic phone call to my mom, I actually pulled it off! My grandmother was the one who suggested I try it in the crock pot.



I tried something new to go with the meat and potatoes - a gravy! I planned to mix a can of cream of mushroom soup with the drippings from the hen, but there weren't that many drippings. I de-glazed what I could with white wine, but Mike suggested I cook off the wine a little more before adding the soup.





Now onto tonight's dinner. I made barbecue beef sandwiches in the crock pot with a beef chuck roast. I decided to actually pull out my cookbook and look at the recipe, instead of the usual pull out whatever I think will be good. It turned out really tasty. We also had fresh corn cut off the cob, and a fruit salad of bananas, granny smith apples. strawberries, and locally grown blueberries. I could not control myself around the blueberries! They were so good! I didn't get to pick any blueberries myself this year because it was too dry to get a decent-sized crop. I was pretty sad about that, because I've gone berry picking every year since I was born. My mom lugged me along in a backpack for the first time when I was six weeks old!

I have a whole mess of pictures to show you, starting with my first stab at making tomato sauce from scratch. I got some tomatoes from a Farmer's Stand near our house, and after removing the seeds and adding some spices, I cooked them down in the crock pot for about 4 hours. One thing I learned was this: the amount of tomatoes you use seems a lot smaller once they're cooked down! I only did about 10 of them because any more seemed like an awful lot to me. This is all I ended up getting, minus some that we used to make a pizza on Thursday night:
The sauce could have stood a few more hours of stewing, because it was still kind of watery. They're in the freezer now, however, so I'll have to cook them some more when I decided to use them. I only wish the herbs I planted for my greenhouse window had already come in so I could have used those instead of dried! I'll post more specific directions on my recipe blog soon.


Next, I made a special dinner on Friday, as that date celebrated Mike and I being together for 4 years [awwwwwwwwwwww]. I can't believe our 2-year wedding anniversary is coming up! I had some blueberries that needed to be used up, so you'll see that as a recurring theme. First, blueberry-lime daiquiris, made with banana-flavored rum.

I got some T-Bone steaks for the occasion, and tried them with a Jim Bean steak marinade. The recipe came from a cookbook my mom bought when we visited the Jim Bean factory in Kentucky. When I asked Mike what he might like on the side, he requested that I get the recipe for my grandmother's mashed potato casserole, which she makes often for holidays. After a phone call to her, I had the recipe and the potatoes in the oven. While that was cooking, I sauteed some fresh green beans with garlic, and Mike finished the steaks on the grill. We had a very nice dinner! I was afraid to marinade the steaks for too long, because the cut of meat was so good, but they could have stood up to the marinade for much longer. Next time I'll make it in the morning and see how it goes.



For dessert, I finished up the rest of the blueberries by making Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake, recipe courtesy of Dee's Eating at Home? It was enjoyed with the last of the daiquiris, floating in the pool.



Now for last night's dinner. Yesterday was a cloudy, dreary day for us, and it stormed heavily all afternoon and most of the evening. I decided to celebrate the much-needed rain by trying some new recipes. First, Irish Whole Wheat Soda Bread. The recipe does not require any risings, although you do have to knead it a little. While that was baking, I tried my hand at some sauteed apples. The original recipe (from Taste of Home) was for Sauteed Apples and Raisins, but I didn't have any raisins. Along with that we had a wee bit 'o bacon, and I made myself some scrambled eggs. The bread was a little undercooked in the middle, but we enjoyed the pieces closer to the end. I'm beginning to think my oven is a little funky, because stuff like this keeps happening. The apple recipe is definitely a keeper. I want to get some raisins and some Granny Smith apples (I used Galas this time) and try it that way.

Howie the Guinea Pig was glad that my apple recipe called for peeled apples! He had quite a feast.

Tonight for dinner I boiled some shrimp with Old Bay Seasoning, which was nothing new. It got interesting when I decided to make some brown rice. I've mentioned before that I make boring rice, so this time I branched out. I got some saffron from a friend who went to Thailand awhile back, and it wasn't until I became a Penzey's addict that I learned how expensive it is. I added some of that, along with some minced garlic and some saffRAN, which apparently is different. I know that because it's yellow, and saffRON is red. Beyond that, I have no idea. All I know is that my rice was NOT BORING! Yeah!! I also tried an Italian veggie mix from Bird's Eye, which surprised me by having red peppers (which was not on the bag). Then we had an excellent fruit salad made of watermelon, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, apples, and bananas. I picked up the watermelon at a roadside stand, and it is gooooood. Even Howie the Guniea Pig is enjoying the rind. I love summer, because of all the great fruit we get in Florida!




Now for some catch-up: last night's dinner. I made one of Mike's favorites, Meat Loaf Wellington. I love that recipe because it looks so fancy, but using the crescent rolls makes it so easy. I got both of the side dishes from the aforementioned roadside stand; green beans and corn, fresh off the cob. The sign at the stand said "candy corn," which I just couldn't pass up. Both tasted extremely fresh, and the corn was indeed very sweet. For dessert, I made the Best Ever Blueberry Pie. It really is the best ever! I wasn't able to pick any blueberries this year because it's been so dry, so I was glad to find some at a good price at Publix this week. We enjoyed our pie in our bathing suits, floating in the pool. Summer has now officially begun for me!! Doesn't that picture just make you drool? I'm going to the fridge to have a piece! [logs off quickly]

Yesterday I tried a recipe from Kraft's Food and Family Magazine, Blueberry Cheese Rolls. They were very easy, and I'm enjoying one for breakfast as I type this. I think it would be good with any berry, but the blueberries were especially good, bursting in the mouth as you bite into them. Mine didn't come out quite as pretty as the picture in the magazine, but they look elegant; like they took a lot longer to make than they did. If you don't get Food and Family Magazine, I recommend that you try it. It's free, so the only thing is, you have to put up with shameless product plugs. I've tried many different recipes from there with good results.

Breakfast: Honey-Oat Quick Bread with Fruit Salad and Bacon

I wanted to share a new recipe with you guys that I found in Eating Well magazine. This Honey-Oat Quick Bread was yummy and healthy - a winner all around! I tried one slice with honey and one with apple butter, and both were very good. It was great toasted this morning, too. I love quick breads. Banana breads, beer breads...basically anything I don't have to knead. Plus, it features ingredients I usually have on hand. Paired with a little bacon and a fruit salad of bananas, apples, and strawberries from the freezer, we had a great breakfast on Sunday!

Burgers with Grilled Red Potatoes


Tonight I decided to see if I could make a whole meal on the grill, so I started with the obvious: hamburgers. Then I decided instead of the usual baked fries I make with burgers, I would try roasting some red potatoes in a basket. Next, some whole green beans from the freezer in a foil packet. They aren't in the picture because Mike didn't realize they started out frozen, so they had to go back on the grill. I even did dessert on the grill: grilled pineapple brushed with a mixture of brown sugar, Jack Daniels, and a little butter.

The verdict
I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of a whole meal done on the grill. It was pretty tasty, too. The pineapple was great; it was like dessert...but it was fruit! I give this meal 5 stars for taste and 4 stars for health.

Cornish Game Hen

On Monday I bought two Cornish Game Hens from the freezer section at Publix. One went right to the freezer at home, and the other one went into the fridge to start defrosting. This afternoon I stuffed the hen with some jalepeno pickled garlic that we got in California, then sprayed the outside with olive oil. That went into the toaster oven to bake (I found my miniature baking pan today!), and I put some potatoes on the stove to cook for mashed potatoes. We also had a steamed veggie mix from the freezer.

The verdict
The hen was good, but the garlic didn't impart as strong of a taste as I thought it would. I really like the pickled garlic we got! I think once I use it all up, I'm going to try my hand at making some myself. Oh, and I took a picture of the whole table so you could see the progress my mom and I made today. There's no clutter on my table! That in itself made for a great meal. I give this meal 4 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 and a half stars for taste.


I also tried my hand at making the Peach Melba Muffins from my friend Dee's blog. I made a few minor changes, mainly using a variety of berries instead of just raspberries. I also didn't use peach yogurt like the recipe called for. I needed 8 oz. total of yogurt, and the cartons I buy are 6 oz., so I used one carton of strawberry and a little of raspberry. Why, you ask? Because that's what I had.

These muffins were great! I definitely plan on making these again. I think next time I'll try to find a way to cut back on the sugar. I would like to give props to my mom for coming over today and helping me get my kitchen (among other places) in order. It was much more enjoyable to cook in my kitchen today. Thanks, mom!

We got back from our vacation in Reno early this morning, and I wanted to show you the two dinners I cooked in our unit. After we got in on the first day, we went to the grocery store. The challenge was to buy ingredients to make two meals while having as little waste as possible. I decided to make chili one night and pizza the other night. That meant I could buy one jar of tomato sauce to use for both. I also got some mozzarella cheese to top the chili with and use up on the pizza. I made the pizza Hawaiian by buying a small can of pineapple and some lunchmeat, which doubled up to make sandwiches. I also got some stuff to make a salad with for both nights.



I was glad to have a kitchen in our unit. As good as the food was in Reno, it was nice to have something familiar those two nights.

For a journal of our vacation, visit my regular blog.