The Birthday Weekend

Yesterday was my birthday so I really didn't do much cooking this weekend! Friday night we went to my moms for Filet Minon & BBQ'd Asparagus. So AMAZINGLY good! Then on Saturday we went out with our friends to Pechanga for a night of fun. I like to have people over before and everyone brings their favorite Appetizer to share. We had quite the variety...from Jalapeno Chicken Dip to Brushetta! I love my friends & I love their cooking! I decided to make potato skins and my homemade "Outback Steakhouse" ranch as my app. Let me tell you, that Ranch is always a hit. I will post the recipe links below. The key to the ranch is to use "Cayenne Pepper" instead of Paprika. It's a MUST! The potato skin recipe calls for "Baked Potatoes" I usually just cook mine in the microwave. My microwave has a sensor but I googled how to do it online and they say to put it in the microwave for 6-10 mins. Clean the potato first, prick it several times with a fork, wrap in a paper towel, then set the microwave for 6 mins. Check the potato after 6, then add more time of necessary! ENJOY!

Potato Skins (I used the homemade ranch instead of sour cream)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Potato-Skins/Detail.aspx

Outback Steakhouse Ranch (USE Cayenne Pepper!!)
http://restaurantrecipesbook.com/outback-steakhouse-ranch-dressing-recipe/

Pasta w/ Garlic & Oil and Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I mentioned earlier that I was in the mood for some roasted brussel sprouts so the second I got home I raided the freezer for something I could use as a main dish. I didn't have the patience to thaw chicken or steak out so I decided to make this simple pasta dish. I found the recipe on recipezaar.com (now food.com) and have already made it 3 times! It's pretty easy & if you love garlic, you will LOVE this! The recipe calls for Pasta, Olive Oil, Garlic, Parsley, Red Pepper Flakes & Lemon Juice. I had just enough olive oil for the Brussel sprouts and the pasta so there was no room for mistakes. I covered the sprouts in olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper and baked them in the the oven (450 deg) for about 20 mins. Once they were done I poured butter & balsamic vinegar on them. Not very healthy..but super yummy! If you never tried them before you would be surprised on how good they are. I also thought the dinner could use some french bread and fresh side salad too. As the garlic and oil was cooking (for the pasta)..I got side tracked. As I was taking my sweet old time gathering all the salad ingerdiants I started to smell something funky! Sure enough it was burning garlic. Awesome! Just wasted 3 tablespoons of garlic & most of the olive oil (which I needed!!). I was in crisis mode. I decided to make a non-healthy decision and use margarine instead (80% oil). It worked just as good..minus the fact its a heart attack waiting to happen! After getting through that dilemma the rest of the dinner preparing was a breeze. Hubby was pleased once again and even did 95% of the dishes. Apparently he needed to look up stuff on the internet so he asked me to finish the other 5%. Funny how he seemed to have left me the greasy, hard to clean dishes! Thanks hubs! :) All in All it was a pretty successful dinner. I posted the link to the Pasta recipe below if your interested.

http://www.food.com/recipe/pasta-with-garlic-and-oil-aglio-e-olio-159894

Simple..but Tasty!

On Wednesday, I was so not in the mood to make a complicated dinner. That's when the Farmer John"Smoked Sausage" comes in handy! I usually find them on sale for $2.50! I like to cut it up, then saute it in olive oil until it's nice and brown! I made rice pilaf as a side. A little trick I just learned from a friend is that you can cook "rice a roni" in a rice cooker! I was missing out, it comes out amazing! Less messy & so much easier to prepare. I finished the meal off with green beans & some french bread. The meal took me about 15 mins to prepare, cost under $5.00 to make, and is super tasty!!

Brussel Sprouts - From HATE to LOVE

I would have never thought that one day I would LOVE Brussel sprouts! Thanks to my cousin Kristina for getting me hooked! It's very important that they are fresh & cooked a certain way. Drenced in Olive Oil w/ Garlic...oven roasted to perfection is the way to go! Vince isn't complaining, "Mr. I eat anything & everything" is pretty stoked I added a new veggie on to our dinner menu. In fact, I have some in the fridge as we speak. I think I'm going to cook them up tonight! Details to follow...

Kung Pao Chicken w/ Fried Rice

Tonight I made Kung Pao Chicken for dinner w/ fried rice. The original Kung Pao recipe I found needed to be tweaked a little, so I made it my own! Tonights batch came out pretty good, the reason I wouldn't call it excellent is that I realized after I put in the liquid ingredients that I was using 1/2 tablespoons instead of 1/2 teaspoons, making me overdue it on the garlic. Oh well. Hubby told me that dinner was Excellent, and to me that's all that matters. The fried rice was made from scratch, and I winged it as always do. I cook the rice first with my rice cooker (makes the rice dry/not mushy), which is key! I add onion, butter, eggs, sesame seeds, garlic & soy sauce. If anyone is interested in the rice recipe, let me know. I'll have to write it down, since it's all in my head. I decided that I was going to put all my recipes on these cute little recipes cards for you all to print out if the my dinner sounded appealing to you. I even took pics! (See Below)

I love how authentic looking the picture turned out.
I think I might be part chinese! hehe! ;)

The Recipe Card:
(Click to Enlarge for Better Quality)

My Two Favorite Cooking Appliances...

#1) Crock Pot
#2) Rice Cooker

Buy these two items! you won't be let down...My reasonings will follow in my future blogs.

PS: Kung Pao Chicken (from scratch) for dinner!! Blog to follow....

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Check back in 2-3 days! This blog is set to be up & running!!

So Excited!

xo' Alesha