Chocolate Milk Pops

I make these for my kids all the time because they are sooo easy to throw together and because they love them. All they are is chocolate milk, frozen. I got these cute little Popsicle molds as a gift years ago. I think they came from Williams Sonoma. Anyways, these are a great easy snack for kids. They are like chocolate flavored ice pops, because they aren't that creamy like ice cream pops would be. Make sure you make the milk sweeter than you would want to drink it, because for some reason, it seems to lose that sweetness when it freezes.


2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup

Mix together and pour into Popsicle molds. Let freeze overnight.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I decided to try out this recipe from Allrecipes.com This is one of the best chicken salad recipes Ive ever made! I left out the water chestnuts, just because I didn't have them and also the Swiss cheese, because I forgot all about it. Still so good, with lots of yummy crunch from all the celery, grapes and onion. The spices were perfect, I didn't tweak it at all. We all loved this.

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cups diced, cooked chicken breast meat
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1 1/2 cups diced Swiss cheese
• 1 1/2 cups halved green grapes

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, salt, poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and lemon juice.

In a large bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, green onions, water chestnuts, Swiss cheese, and grapes. Add the mayonnaise mixture, and stir to coat. Chill until serving.

Phyllo wrapped Salmon

I was really excited when I saw this recipe posted on the Nest. It just looked awesome and the ingredients are all things I love. I tried to scale this down a bit and subbed 2 Tbsp olive oil for some of the butter. I just couldnt wrap my mind around 2 Tbsp of butter per serving. Well, even with using some of the oil, it still was a bit much for us. It looked beautiful, I will give it that, but it was just way too rich for us. We both thought that this is probably how they eat Salmon in Paris. I guess when I fix fish, I want it to be healthy. I felt like this meal probably cancelled out the benefits of the salmon with all the damn butter and cheese. Oh well you love some you hate some.

The recipe I followed is here.

St. Petersburg Potato Skins

A few months ago, Carl and I went to AZ88 in Scottsdale and were introduced to my favorite appetizer ever. St. Petersburg Potatoes is home made potato chips, with sour cream, julienned cucumbers and radishes and smoked salmon. It is sooo yummy. Since that first taste, Ive been thinking of ways I can re create a version for us here at home. Loaded potato skins was always a favorite appetizer when I was younger. Its usually pretty fattening and greasy with all the cheddar cheese and bacon, then ranch dressing for dipping. I decided to try out a different kind of potato skin recipe, and merge 2 favorites.

These were pretty good, and its much more heart friendly. Oh, I also added crumbled feta cheese to a few of these and they were the best ones! Feta is definitely a great addition to this. Carl was disappointed since the potato skins weren't crispy enough. Next time I will broil them on both sides to crisp them up really nicely. Carl made a suggestion that I am going to try, use frozen waffle fries, and crisp them up in the oven, then top with all the goodies. I cant wait to try it that way, I think it may taste more like the resturant version.

4 or 5 baking potatoes
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup julienned cucumbers
1 cup julienned radishes
1 3 ounce package smoked salmon, chopped up

Bake the potatoes in a 400 degree until fork tender, about 45-55 minutes depending on size. Once cooled, quarter the potatoes and scoop out most of the flesh leaving about 1/4 inch on skin. Brush skins with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil for 5 minutes, until crisp. Watch them carefully so they don't burn (well, the edges may be burned, but that adds yummy flavor) then flip them over and broil them on the other side too. When they are finished, arrange them on a serving platter and sprinkle with feta cheese if you like, then let them set and rest a bit, letting them cool down some.

Put the sour cream into a zip lock baggie and cut a 1/4 inch off the corner and pipe sour cream onto each potato skin. Then sprinkle generously with smoked salmon, radishes, and cucumbers. Pipe on more sour cream on top and they are ready to serve.

Watermelon Salad with Feta, Mint and Lime

This is a great, refreshing summer recipe. So cool for a hot day, which we have been having a lot of. I got this recipe from a blog I like to read, Whipped. If you aren't afraid of trying out new flavors, then this salad is for you. Its awesome. Something about this combo of flavors just works so well.

Watermelon Salad with Feta, Mint and Lime

Watermelon, cut in chunks or cubed
Feta Cheese
Fresh Mint Leaves
Lime
Finishing Salt, I used an Australian pink salt that was light and delicate.

Place your watermelon on a plate or bowl. Sprinkle it with feta cheese. Wash mint leaves and cut them into threads. Sprinkle it over the top. Squeeze a lime wedge onto the fruit. Sprinkle with a heavy pinch of salt. Do not use a heavy pinch of table salt. I suggest a courser salt. If you don’t have it, just use a touch of table salt or none at all.

Shrimp Scampi

Tonight I made shrimp scampi. It was yummy. Its not hard to screw it up. How can you go wrong with butter, lemon, garlic white wine? I don't have much to say about this dish. Took about 15 minutes to make dinner. Usually I serve it with pasta, but we are trying not to eat so much pasta, so we had it with bread and steamed broccoli.

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat butter and oil in a pan. Add garlic cook until soft and fragrant. Remove garlic from oil with a slotted spoon. Add shrimp, wine and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-7 minutes, being careful not to overcook the shrimp. When shrimp is done, top with cheese and parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pasta, bread or its even great by itself.

Desayuno Del Jaen

My sister Tiffany lives in Spain with her husband, Luis. They live in Sevilla, but Luis grew up in a small town in the South of Spain called Jaen. In every cafe in Jaen, you will find people eating the same thing for breakfast every single day. Toasted bread rubbed with fresh garlic, drizzled with olive oil and topped with a yummy grated fresh tomato sauce. If you have time you can add cured meats or fish. Its so easy to make the fresh tomato sauce. All you do is grate the tomato in a cheese grater. All of the good stuff goes into the grater and you are left with just the peel in your hand, which you can toss out.

This last Christmas, when Tiffany and Luis came to visit, they gave me a wonderful present that I will cherish for the rest of my life. A hand written cook book, with photos of them and their friends preparing and eating all of the food that they eat in Spain all the time. Any time I am missing my sister and her wonderful Spanish husband, Luis...I can get out my cookbook they made me and find a recipe that reminds me of them and reminds me of my past visits to Spain when Ive visited them. Tiffany and Luis love to cook and have a huge appreciation for fresh food. Luckily living in Spain, they pretty much only eat fresh food.

I love this recipe because its so simple and easy and so satisfying. It might be strange to eat this for breakfast here in the US, but it is so common to eat this in the South of Spain. Ive made it a couple times before but this time, I am using the No Knead Bread that I baked yesterday. Its absolutely delicious and such a nice change from our everyday breakfasts we usually have. Plus, it takes Carl and I back to a time when we were dating and in Spain for Tiffany and Luis' wedding. What a great time that was for everyone that went.

Desayuno del Jaen

Toast: Baguettes or other rustic bread, toasted
2 large tomatoes, grated to make a fresh tomato sauce
extra virgin olive oil
salt, or salted cod, or jamon serrano, or prosciutto
garlic clove, peeled (only on weekends!)

While bread is toasting, grate tomato and serve in a small bowl.

On toasted hot bread, first rub it with garlic clove, then drizzle with plenty of olive oil. Next spoon on fresh tomato sauce and top with little bits of salted cod or slices or prosciutto or jamon. If you don't have meat, just add a bit of salt and pepper.

Usually served with cafe con leche and fresh squeezed orange juice.

A HUGE Success: No Knead Bread #2

Well, I was so excited about the previous loaf of bread I made yesterday, that I got another one going for today. Its been rising since last night. This time, I followed the recipe more closely. I used all white flour. I activated the yeast before adding it to the dry ingredients, since I didn't have instant yeast. Yesterday, I just added 1/4 tsp active dry yeast to the dry ingredients. I couldn't find instant yeast at the store, so I just made do. It worked fine with the last loaf, even though I just added it with the dry stuff. Also, I used a bit less water this time. The original recipe calls for 1 5/8 cups water, but a lot of blogs on that recipe said to only use 1 1/2 cups. I have to say that the tiny amount of water made a big difference. My dough was easier to handle this time. It did stick to the dish cloth though, because I used flour on the bottom. Next time I will stick to corn meal cause it worked beautifully yesterday with the other loaf.

When I uncovered the Dutch oven and saw my beauty of a loaf, I got really excited. Once it cooked and browned for the last 15 minutes, I finally got to remove it from the oven. I was so surprised by how well it turned out! Even better than my loaf from yesterday. This one rose over an inch higher, and the crust browned so nicely this time around. Waiting for it to cool down so I could finally cut into it was torture! I kept walking by and taking close looks at it and thinking to myself that I cant believe that I made that!!! Who would have ever thought that I could bake Artisan quality bread that looks like it came from a bakery in Paris? Just add it to my resume hahaha.


After finally cutting it up and tasting it a bunch of different ways, with butter, with jam, toasted....it was heavenly! My mom was here and we ate half the loaf, just testing it out. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the best loaf of bread Ive ever made. Its easy enough to make on any day. I cant wait to serve this up for company some night. Im going to make a No Knead Bread tag because I plan to experiment a lot with this recipe and make plenty more loaves in the future.

Here is my exact recipe I used this time around. Adapted from Jim Lahey's recipe.

No Knead Bread (why is it called this??? I prefer Dutch Oven bread)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water (115-120 degrees F)
cornmeal or flour for dusting

1. In a small bowl stir yeast into warmed water. Let it rest for 15 minutes to activate.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Add water and yeast to flour and salt. Stir until dough forms. Dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

3. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

4. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

5. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Jessie's Baby Shower

Today my mom and I gave a baby shower for my beautiful cousin Jessica. She is having a baby girl in September. They are naming her Hanalei Lee. We are all so excited a for Jessie and Mike. I know they will be such great parents.

The menu for the shower was extensive...as are all menus for parties we usually throw. Its so hard to decided on what to serve and what not to serve. We had fruit salad, pasta salad, goat cheese and watercress tea sandwiches, roast beef and horsey sauce tea sandwiches, ham and pickle roll ups, Caprese salad, and of course chocolate ganache cake and ice cream. I was in charge of making the goat cheese and watercress sandwiches, and the cake.

I first made these goat cheese and watercress sandwiches for another shower I did for my niece, Kristi. Its a crazy combo, goat cheese on cinnamon raisin bread, but it works so well! I love these! The recipe comes from epicurious. The chocolate ganache cake recipe comes from Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade Desserts cook book and is so easy and extremely elegant and rich.


Goat Cheese and Watercress Tea Sandwiches

2 5 1/2-ounce logs soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), room temperature
1/2 cup chopped watercress leaves
16 thin slices cinnamon-raisin, date or whole wheat sandwich bread, crusts trimmed
5 tablespoons (about) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup finely chopped toasted pecans Watercress sprigs (for garnish)

Mix cheese and chopped watercress in medium bowl. Season with salt. Spread mixture evenly over 8 bread slices. Top with remaining bread. Butter edges of sandwiches. Cut sandwiches diagonally in half. Place pecans on plate. Dip buttered edges of sandwiches into pecans. Arrange sandwiches on platter. Garnish with watercress sprigs. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover sandwiches tightly; chill.)


Chocolate Ganache Cake

Cake
1 box Swiss chocolate cake mix
1 box instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup water
4 eggs
1/3 veggie oil
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Ganache
1 cup heavy cream
1 package semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 12 cup bundt pan. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, eggs, and oil in large bowl. Beat for 2 minutes or until well blended. Stir in the 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Transfer batter to bundt pan. Bake 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted neat the center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool cake completely.

2. Heat cream in a small sauce pan over low heat until small bubbles appear. Remove from heat. Add the 12 ounces of chocolate chips to the cream and stir until smooth. Cool ganache just until slightly warm. Pour ganache over cooled cake. Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish with additional chocolate chips if you like.

My first attempt at No Knead Bread

I just celebrated my Birthday this week and my mom got me 2 cast iron skillets, and a cast iron Dutch oven. I was super excited about this because Ive really been wanting to try out a No Knead bread recipe, but you need the Dutch oven. Well, now I'm in business!

I was skeptical when I mixed up this dough because it was so wet! More like a batter than a dough, I was barely able to shape it into a ball. Ive since read a ton of blogs about this bread that say to use 1 1/2 cups water, not 1 5/8 cups like the original recipe calls for. Even though the dough was so wet, it still turned out great. Next time I will do it with a bit less water though.

I just have to say that this is the best loaf of bread that I have EVER baked! Sure Ive done plenty of quick breads, but I'm always so afraid to try out yeast breads. My last batch wasn't like what Id hoped for, so I went into this as a skeptic. Well, I am forever changed. This is the kind of bread that Id be proud to serve at any dinner party. Its the crusty, holey texture of the Artisan breads I always see in bakeries, but have never figured out how to duplicate at home. This loaf of bread took me about 5 minutes of prep time then it just rested for 18 hrs! Easy!

I added a bit of whole wheat flour as well as some flax meal, since I'm always trying to sneak something good into recipes. It is still so yummy! Usually I am bummed I tried to make it more healthy. Not this time. I am definitely going to try it out again with just white flour, just to see if its really so much better, but I doubt it.

I cant wait to make this bread again and again! Definitely my favorite bread recipe Ive ever come across.

This recipe is adapted from Jim Lahey, of the Sullivan Street Bakery, in NY.

No-Knead Bread
Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Well, I am on a Sweet Baby Ray's kick this week, I guess. I decided to make some pulled pork today and I am so glad I did. It is really easy and quick and tastes SOoooooo good! I had this in the crock pot this morning, and the kitchen cleaned up and then dinner was a breeze!

2 lbs boneless pork loin chops (any thickness works)
1 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
salt and pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the chops. Brown in a little oil on both sides. Put chops into crock pot and pour 1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce over it. Turn the chops over to coat both sides. Cover and cook on low about 5 hrs. Take the chops out of the crock pot and let them sit for a bit until they are cool enough to handle, then shred them with a fork. They should fall apart really easily. Return the shredded meat back to the crock pot and stir with the sauce and juices that are there. Then add the rest of the bottle of sauce and stir. Cook on low or warm setting another couple hrs, or until ready to eat. Serve on soft buns.

Grilled BBQ Pork Chops

I don't usually like pork chops very much because they always turn out dry for me. Well, today I used a little different method of cooking them on the grill and these turned out so good. They are the juiciest chops Ive ever made on the grill. Its also the first time I tried out Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce and it is fabulous! I think its the best BBQ sauce Ive ever had! Honest. I saw that Albertson's had the sauce on sale for $1 a bottle, so I grabbed one and I think I will go back tomorrow and grab a couple more! This was so quick and easy. I am definitely going to try out some other grilled pork chop recipes, now that I know how to cook them so they don't lose all their juice. I also cant wait to try out a BBQ pulled pork recipe with this sauce. YUMMY!

1-2 lbs of boneless pork loin chops, trimmed and 1 1/2 inches thick
salt and pepper
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

Let your chops sit out at room temp for 30 minutes or so, to warm up a bit. This helps them to cook faster and more evenly. Heat up a gas grill on medium high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the chops, then brush with some BBQ sauce...all over. Just slather it on. When the grill is hot, put the chops onto the hottest part of the grill and let some great grilling marks sear onto both sides, about 2 minutes per side, with the grill open. Move the chops to the coolest part of the grill and slather with some more sauce then cover, turning once. 3-4 minutes per side, or till done.

Test with a meat thermometer and when the chops are at 145 degrees internally, they are perfectly cooked. Once done grilling, immediately put them on a plate and cover them with tin foil and let them rest for 10 minutes. This gets all those yummy pork chop juices to redistribute....making a delicious tender chop! Enjoy.

Creamy Cucumber Salad

I had a cucumber sitting in my fridge and I didnt really know what I wanted to do with it. After looking at a lot of blogs and websites, I decided that what I was craving was more like tzatziki than an actual cucumber salad. So I decided to kind of make a tzatziki cucumber salad, if you will. The only difference really is that the cucumbers are chopped up pretty big. I definitely wanted it to be a cucumber side dish, not a dip. It was crisp and cold and healthy. Very refreshing. Its been really hot and humid here and this was exactly what I needed. This made just enough for 2 servings. If you want more double it.

1 English cucumber, sliced in half length wise, then chopped into 1/2 inch thickness
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp dried dill, or to taste (fresh would have been so much better)
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Cut up the cucumber and set aside in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix the yogurt, dill, and lemon juice until combined. Pour over cucumbers. Mix to coat all the cucumbers, then salt and pepper to taste. Refridgerate for awhile before serving. I only had about an hour and they turned out fine.

Pasta Alla Vodka

This is a yummy recipe that my awesome sister in law, Audrey, gave to me. Its supposed to be Penne alla Vodka, but I wanted to use the mini bow ties because my kids love them. And I also added some fresh basil to sweeten it up a bit. This is a super easy meal for week nights. I almost followed the recipe exactly, so I will put the original recipe here. Oh and you could probably leave out the vodka if you are opposed to cooking with it, and it would just be a tomato cream sauce, but why would you want to leave out the very best part??

3 Tbsp butter
2 Cloves garlic, chopped (I used 2 cubes frozen garlic)
1/4 cup chopped prosciutto
1 large can diced tomatoes (I used 1 can then 1 cup tomato sauce)
1/4 cup vodka
1 cup cream (I used Half&Half)
1 lb penne pasta

In a large skillet, melt butter, saute garlic and prosciutto for a minute, then add tomatoes and vodka. Let simmer a few minutes until it starts to reduce. Add cream and cook a few minutes more. Season with salt and pepper and some basil if desired. Serve over your favorite pasta.