From Me: February 2012

2.25.2012

Crockpot Chicken with Hot Sauce

My bestie who lives in NYC recently took a trip to Barbados and brought us back this amazing hot sauce. It is literally the best hot sauce I have ever had! (And my brother is friends with Danny Cash- You've gotta try his hot sauce!) So I decided to try it on a whole chicken I was planning on cooking in the crock pot. I poured it all over the chicken, and some in the cavity, then topped it off with a thinly sliced lemon for extra tang. The result- scrumtuous, moist, spicy chicken that falls right off the bone. I usually take the leftovers after we have this for dinner and shred it for lunch meat for the week. Give it a try with your favorite hot sauce!

2.20.2012

Movie Night

Decided to make breaded tilapia with lemon and Kalamata olives

Here's the breaded Tilapia with roasted zucchini

and a grapefruit and avacado salad with balsamic vinegarette

It was very much enjoyed with one of our favorite movies: Bridesmaids

A great Sunday!

Romanian Potato Thingy

I saw a picture of this delicious dish on Pinterest last week. It looked so good I had to try it. However, when I clicked on the picture it sent me to a cooking website written in Romanian. I figured out how to translate it, but it was a rough translation at best. And I had to further translate the measurements from grams. This weekend I gave it a whirl. How hard could it be?
Took a good 2-3 hours. But it was quite good and now I feel like I got the hang of it so I can improve and speed it up next time!

Here is the link to the recipe: http://barbatlacratita.blogspot.com/2010/11/rulada-aperitiv-din-cartofi.html I feel like you can put anything you want inside as well.

2.13.2012

My love of SNL

No food here. Just wanted to share my life long love for SNL. I have been watching it ever since I can remember (Eddie Murphy days). It has had its off years and its "I can't believe they can be this funny" years. The current cast makes me laugh throughout the majority of the shows. Here is a recent fave I had to share.
PS- I also love Bjork. Kristin Wiig's impression of her is the best!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/328553/saturday-night-live-bein-quirky-with-zooey-deschanel

2.12.2012

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

I wanted to make a Valentine treat for my co-workers as they always hear me jabber on about my creations, but rarely get to partake in them. Thus, I settled on strawberry cupcakes (not a huge cookie baker). And who doesn't like cream cheese frosting?

Here are the ones I made to give to my co-workers:)

And here is mine:)

Super Cinnamon French Toast

I have to admit I have never really LOVED French Toast. It always tasted like burnt eggs to me, bleh! What changed my mind about it was the Uptown Tavern. They make a granola rolled french toast that is to die for! However, I still did not attemp to make it. I am a through and through pancake fan and have stuck to those for the past few years of brunches. This morning I wanted something different, hence the french toast venture. I did my usual browsing of some blogs looking for a good recipe. The one I found sounded perfect with just a few tweaks. The result: FABULOUS! I highly recommend you give this one a whirl!

Super Cinnamon French Toast
Ingredients:

4 large eggs
3 tablespoons cinnamon (trust me)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
dash of nutmeg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1 loaf wheat bread (I buy the cheap kind for this)

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk the eggs, cinnamon, ginger, sugar, nutmeg, and vanilla extract.
Add the milk and whisk (don't worry if there are still lumps, they become little morsels of cinnamon).
Heat a large skillet or non-stick frying pan to med-high, melt a portion of the butter to coat the pan.
Quickly dip and remove bread from egg mixture, making sure it is covered but not soggy.
Brown both sides of bread.
I like to heat my syrup. And cut the toast into strips so you can dip into syrup. Enjoy!