what's cookin...

John loves to cook. And he is a fantastic cook.

I even overlook all the dishes he uses and I have to wash because he is so good.
He loves to try new recipes and add his own ideas.
For Father's Day we got him THIS stuffed hamburger press.
(if you're interested make sure you do what they say in the reviews and wrap it in saran wrap so it doesn't stick...)
John decided to use it today and this is what we got...

Feta cheese & zucchini hamburger stuffed with Havarti cheese.

can i just say that it was amazing!!
i will most definitely kiss my cook!

ob. sessed.

Back in March after watching Julie & Julia my mom made tomato bruschetta. Now, I am not a tomato person, so when she made it I was thinking yuck! but them I smelled it... and my mouth started watering. What was wrong with me?!? I have never wanted to eat a tomato before! But it smelled so good and we were all sitting around the table eating, I just had to sneak a bite. I fell in LOVE! I ate three pieces right there. The next day I had more, but then it was gone. And honestly I was a little sad. Fast forward to two weeks ago. John and I went out to Macaroni Grill and I saw they had bruschetta as an appetizer. I ordered it and ate it and I realized I had been craving this for the past few months. But theirs wasn't as good as moms. Then a couple days later we ended up at the Souplantation and I got their Tomato Bruscetta pasta. Yummy, but still not as good as the first time. So finally I decided we need to make it! It just so happened that we had lots of tomatoes to use up so mom made tomato bruschetta... and I was in heaven! I couldn't get enough! I ate 4 pieces for dinner and finished it off for lunch the next day. I guess that although I'm not a tomato person I am a garlic person and garlic, tomato & basil is my favorite combo. [ oh & we added bell pepper also, yum]

my lunch.

salad w/ feta cheese & sliced turkey and tomato bruschetta

i've been wanting more every day since then.

just another thursday.

i went to the store today. they had 4lbs of strawberries for just 3.99!! so i bought them.
but what was i going to do with 4 lbs of strawberries??
[... well ok we could easily eat 4lbs of strawberries since the husband loves them]

i decided to make chocolate covered strawberries. i had never made them before but it was suuuper simple! now i totally feel gypped for buying a $5 strawberry from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.. ok ok. theirs are worth $5.

so anyway.. the super easy process..

First, take your strawberries and wash & dry them.


Then, you take 1c. chocolate chips [i used semi sweet] and 2 tbsp of shortening and melt them in a double boiler. [this made enough chocolate for about 20 strawberries but mine were really big berries.]




Next, you dip in your berries, swirl them around, shake off excess chocolate, and place them on wax paper.


Lastly, let your strawberries cool at room temp for about 15 min. then you can keep them in the fridge till you serve & enjoy them!


Now that i've gotten dessert out of the way, Michael Bublé and I are making chicken tacos for dinner. :)

making jam.

[click to enlarge]


My sister helped me make my FIRST batch of jam! It was super exciting! I made black n' blue jam (blackberry & blueberry)
then i made scones the next morning to eat with them. yum!!

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night

Last night John and I were apparently in the mood to make stuff. I made some cute hair clips for scarlette...




while John made this! His uncle gave him some whole fish he caught, so John cooked it up. It was delicious! (John's words) Thanks Uncle Richard! :)

pizza amore

pizza = love.

john made me dinner friday. :)

Father's Day

To all the Father's in my life, I want to say Happy Father's Day!! You are all wonderful at the role you play. And you all work hard to deserve a day all of your own. Thank you for being such great dads!!


This year our father's day was very fun. Yesterday we went to an Angel's game with John's brother and dad. Then today I was going to make John my family's traditional Father's Day breakfast, but my mom called this morning and asked if we wanted to come over there for breakfast. So we came over to mom's and make the breakfast here where we all could enjoy it. It is such a good breakfast. Extremely delicious, yet we only make it twice a year. Mother's day and Father's day. Sometimes John requests them other times of the year and i oblige, but for some reason they seem more special on holidays.

And what is it you are asking??

Betty Crocker's Cinnamon Puffs!!!


Heat Oven to 450º

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. shortening
3/4 c. milk (I've been using 1 c.)
1/3 c. butter (I normally need more)
1/2 c/ sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon (more if you like more cinnamon flavor)


Stir together in a bowl flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening. The mixture should be crumbly. Stir in milk just until mixture holds together and forms a ball. Knead the dough about 20 times to smooth it out. Then divide into small balls (about 16) and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 - 12 minutes. While these are baking, melt the butter in a bowl. Then mix together the cinnamon and sugar. When the biscuits are done, while still warm dip them in the butter and roll them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture (the more covered the better). Place on platter & enjoy!!

tricky eating

Kat told me about this cookbook for getting kids to eat healthy. Well I found it today and I'm really excited about it. It has lots of neat recipes that add things like squash, cauliflower, and carrot to regular old meals. I like this because I'm not a big vegetable eater and maybe I can "deceive" myself into eating them. There is even a recipe for tofu nuggets that I can make for john. I can't wait to try it out!

my husband, the chef

For John's bday i got him a really nice knife set and some cookbooks. A few of these cookbooks were sushi books. John LOVES sushi. And he decided he wanted to learn to make his own. These are his very first rolls and we thought they turned out pretty good... ok i thought they looked good as in appearance. I don't eat sushi, so i didn't try them, but John said they were delish! They are shitaki mushroom sushi rolls. What's next chef?

Desperate Housewives? I think not!

I have officially become elegantly domesticated. Williams Sonoma and pearls. I feel very "Martha Stewart".



I made vegan peanut butter cookies for John.