MIA and a new direction

Well.... where do I begin.... four months ago I gave birth to a BEAUTIFUL baby boy! You may have noticed I was smuggling a watermelon in the last post, so as you can imagine I've been busy ever since then. They say life changes when you have a baby and even though I believed them I wasn't really able to grasp HOW much it was going to change and how it changes instantly.

It has taken some getting used to but it has been amazing at the same time, what a beautiful experience. Liam is such a cutie pie - such a happy and healthy baby. Thank God!

This has been a humbling experience, a learning experience and an inspirational experience - I thought I had it all figured out before Liam was born and QUICKLY realized I hardly had it figured out, I am learning something new everyday now; how to take care of a baby, how to be a good Mom and how to be a better person. Inspirational... having Liam has inspired me in many ways that I can hardly put them all into words.

Having a baby for me has given me more clarity (actually I'm hardly "clear" about anything lately I think I'm always in a fog now LOL) and made me more focused. I am focused on providing the BEST life I can for Liam and one of the ways I'm going to do that is providing him with the best meals I can made with REAL food, of course he's only four months old and hasn't started on solids but when he does I'll be READY!

With all that being said I'm going to stop this blog.... and start a new blog that will just be about our culinary adventures not about everything since thing in my life, I think that will help me be FOCUSED on blogging and not feel pressured to have a blogable (LOL) life. Cooking has been a passion of mine for a long time and I can't wait to share that passion with you all.

Stay tuned to for the release of my new blog in the next few days. In the meantime here's a picture of the little cutie patootie.

Is it all about the Centerpiece?

So what is the perfect formula for a great dinner, a great dinner party or a great holiday meal? Is it all about the centerpiece or does it have something to do with your guests, or hmmm even perhaps the meal?

Well here's my formula for a great dinner; first of all it take a lot of practice I would just say it's recently that I've been figuring out how to get it all done and not stress out about it, which is my second point don't stress out (easier said than done, of course) but if YOU do not enjoy the meal and the whole process then there's not point in doing it because you and your guests should enjoy the whole event.

Simply broken done here is my formula: Great Guests + (Great Centerpiece+Beautiful Table Setting) + Great Meal = Awesome Dinner/Holiday Meal.

I would also highly recommend planning out everything at LEAST three days before so you can get the necessary supplies and ingredients before the big day.

I will use our recent Thanksgiving Meal as my example of a Great Holiday Meal, I began with great guests. :) My parents - they traditionally come and visit for Thanksgiving and this year in particular is a really special time for us and I will go into more detail on WHY that is soon.

Then I came up with the centerpiece... I had been wondering what to do for awhile and I looked around what I already had and had been wanting to try for awhile and since we still had our small halloween pumpkin I decided to spruce it up and glitter it and it made a GREAT centerpiece. To glitter it took about 5 minutes and it will last for quite awhile. Then I let it dry over night and kept thinking of what else I do to it to make it awesome. I was orginally just going to put it on a cake plate but then I remembered I had this pottery barn woven charger (which I bought for only $4 a while ago) so I grabbed that and grabbed a bag of mixed nuts that we bought for the holiday and just dropped them around the pumpkin. :) I love it!!!

Then I worked on the table setting. On a trip to Target recently I picked up a new tablecloth a few inexpensive place mats and new napkins. Then for a simple ornament on top of the plate I just bought some pears, which I actually love because I believe that the pears really tied in all the colors and obviously they are inexpensive.

I also used some mason jars (that I had bought a while ago at the grocery store for canning, but I don't can) and put some kosher salt in the bottom and then a candle on top of that for added awesomeness. I think this is a simple table setting but very elegant at the same time which I love.

Next onto the meal. I will post my menu for Thanksgiving in my next post. I hope you all had a great holiday meal this year and that these simple ideas will help you with your next dinner party or holiday get together.

Simple Things in Life

Often after a long day of work it's nice to just come home to a quiet evening and enjoy a delicious meal. Here's a simple sandwich I threw together with tomatoes, mozzarella and prosciutto topped off with basil from my garden and delicious olive oil. Of course a glass of wine to wash it all down. :)

Here's to the simple things in life.

Sangria - How to...

A few weeks ago we attended a party and they had Sangria (now Sangria can go either way... good or bad, I think) but this Sangria in particular was DELICIOUS! It starts with Boxed Wine (LOL)

don't pay attention to what is holding up the boxed wine... Zico's food bucket
add lemons, oranges, apples and mint
a cup of cointreau, and a bottle of sprite and you're done! ENJOY

Soccer Parties

Just in case you are having soccer withdrawals let me post about a soccer party we had back in May when Inter de Milan played in the European Championship game (Fer correct me if I'm wrong) and WON! We had an Italian themed party since we were rooting for Inter.

We made Panini and Caprese Salad, had breadsticks and followed up the meal with Tiramisu sounds like fun huh.

Cookbook Review: Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals

I have had this cookbook forEVER and it's one of the cookbooks I go to time and time again. Just the other night I made Spaghetti Carbonara and realized I must share this book with everyone.

This is such a yummy recipe and I could eat it everyday if it wouldn't make me gain 100 lbs in a month. So for now we'll just have it from time to time when we're in the mood for some serious comfort food.

Do you have this cookbook? I've had it forever, what do you think about it?

Samba Flavor - Check them out

Let me introduce you to Samba Flavor
Samba Flavor is a small business (soon to be big!) started by two friend of ours here in Atlanta (also recently from South Florida like us) that is specializing in making Authentic Gaucho Style Chimichurri and catering events with delicious food made with a Brazilian twist.

They have recently started selling their Chimichurri at the Green Market in Piedmont Park and have had so much success that we are all jumping for joy for them! Chimichurri is a steak sauce originally from Argentina and when done right (like Samba Flavor) it's made with fresh ingredients. I've tried several different Chimichurri sauces and none of them compare to Samba Flavor's even the one's at my favorite Argentian Restaurants in Miami. I'm so excited for them and wish them much success in their new endeavor. If you'd like to purchase some of their delicious products why don't you (if you live in the Atlanta area) check them out at the Green Market in Piedmont Park or go to their website and pick up some of their sauce online.

Here's a photo of a delicious meal Fer and I whipped up this past weekend. We made Black Bean Cakes, (as featured in a previous post) Brazilian Cheese Breads and Skirt Steak topped with Samba Flavor's Chimichurri Sauce - major YUMMOO.

Cookbook Review: Emeril's 20-40-60 Fresh Food Fast

This past weekend I tried a recipe for Black Bean Cakes from Emeril's latest cookbook 20-40-60 Fresh Food Fast and they were DELICIOUS and easy to make by the way. They were from the 40 minute section of the cookbook but they didn't take that long at all to make. They turned out just as Emeril described crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. YUMMO. I really like that idea of organizing recipes by the amount of time they will take to make them it helps when deciding what you want to make. I highly recommend trying out this recipe and serving it as I did by setting the black bean cakes on top of some guacamole and putting some tomatoes, cilantro and a dollop of sour cream on top. :) ENJOY

everyday food challenge

I saw yesterday on the Martha Stewart Everyday Food Blog that a fellow blogger is hosting his own challenge of making at least one recipe once a week from EVERY issue of the Everyday Food Magazine. One of my favorite magazines as well. He has every issue - I'll have to check I think I do too. I'm really going to enjoy watching/reading his posts as he progresses thru this culinary journey and it may inspire me to come up with my own cooking challenge. You can follow along with Mike over at his blog, click here. Enjoy.

Ribs!

For the Superbowl I tried a new recipe for ribs that I saw Emeril make with his son on the Martha Stewart Show recently. The recipe couldn't be easier and couldn't be tastier. I was not able to find Emeril's BBQ sauce that he recommends in the recipe so I tried a Jack Daniels BBQ and it was good but that's the only aspect of the recipe that I can see changing around a bit is the sauce you can experiment with that until you find one you like and lord knows there are a million out there. What I loved about this recipe was how easy it was to make it. The only thing it really requires is time. You have to bake the ribs for 3 hours with just the rib rub on so that takes being home for that period of time at least but it worked out great for us on Superbowl Sunday I was able to start the ribs and get everything done around the house I needed and then the ribs were ready when the party started. You can find the recipe here if you're interested in making them yourself, which I highly recommend!


Here's the finished product. They were so good and the meat was falling off the bone!

Here's the process. Take your slabs of ribs and rub them with Emeril's Rib Rub and then make a pocket out of parchment paper and aluminum foil for them to bake in.

closeup.

then after the 3 hours in the oven take the ribs out and lightly coat them all over with the BBQ sauce, then put them back in the oven uncovered for about 30 minutes.

mmmmm mmmm good.

Superbowl XLIV

Two weekends ago now we hosted a Superbowl Party at our place. It was so much fun because it was full of good friends and good food. Here's some pictures from the party.

I began the process of getting ready early in the day so I wouldn't be running around at the last minute all stressed out. Here's a picture of me choosing which bowls would work for each snack and getting them out and ready to go.

Then I put one piece of each snack in the bowl I wanted to use for them so I planned it out early and when the time game I would just fill up the bowl or someone else could for me the map was already laid out.

Swiss Jager. Very good and not as harsh as the typical Jagermeister.

The fridge was well stocked.

some closeups.

Ribs! I made these for the first time for the party that night and they came out AWESOME! Will definitely be something I make from time to time. Recipe to follow tomorrow.

Cubanito platter, since the game was in Miami.

Hamburgers too. Definitely was not going to run out of food

Yummy Guacamole.

all set up and ready to go.

aren't these balloons cool.

we also celebrated a friends birthday so of course champagne was in order.

some bubbly anyone?

I hope you enjoyed your Superbowl festivities and stay tuned for the Ribs recipe and instructions tomorrow. Until next year! Go Brett Favre. :)

Caprese Chopped Salad

I whipped up this simple salad the other night since I had purchased a delicious Heirloom Tomato and some fresh mozzarella. Chopped up some fresh basil from my garden and splashed some olive oil over the salad and voila it was GREAT a nice summer evening salad.

{Red Lobster} Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Did some quick baking last night to produce these wonderful little delicatesys ... the biscuits from Red Lobster. Who can resist these biscuits. I remember a few years back tearing thru the internet with a good friend to find the top secret recipe, well now it's easy to find I was checking out Robin Lynne's blog the other day and stumbled across her post on her biscuit making experience. For the recipe please see her blog.



Here's my pictures from my biscuit making adventure (I only made half a batch because I knew I would be the only one eating them last night and I didn't need 12).




fresh out of the oven

mixing up the melted butter, garlic powder and parsley flakes to go on top of the biscuits

enjoy.

now it's time for you to whip some up for yourself, let me know how they come out. :)

Turkey Florentine Meatball Sandwich

Rachael Ray has a recipe called Florentine Meatballs and it is DELISH! YUMMOOO I turned it into a meatball sub and kicked it up a notch by putting sauteed onions and provolone cheese on top of them and I just don't think you can get any better than that.


making bread crumbs
mixing it up

ready to go in the oven. this is a really easy and healthy dish

sauteed onions
setting the mood :)
ta da!

Here's the recipe:

Florentine Meatballs
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 box frozen spinach, defrosted in the microwave
1 1/3 pound (1 package) ground turkey breast
1 medium onion, finely chopped, divided
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups milk, divided
3/4 cup bread crumbs, 3 handfuls
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 palm fulls
Coarse salt and black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 (10-ounce) sack shredded provolone or blend of Italian cheeses, available on dairy aisle
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it
1/4 cup parsley leaves, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Wring defrosted spinach dry in a clean kitchen towel. Place turkey in a bowl and make a well in the middle of it. Add the spinach, all but 3 tablespoons of the onion, all of the garlic, 1 large egg, about 1/4 cup milk, bread crumbs, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix well. Form into 12 large balls and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange on a nonstick cookie sheet and roast 20 minutes, or until cooked through.
While balls are in the oven, heat a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Melt butter, add remaining finely chopped onion and cook 2 minutes then whisk in flour. Cook flour 1 minute, then whisk in 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 cup stock. Bring liquid up to a boil then stir in shredded provolone or blended Italian cheeses. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg, turn heat to lowest setting.
Place 3 balls on dinner plates and top with sauce, garnish with parsley.