12.29.09

One thing I will miss about the mall during the Christmas season: See's Candy! I bet you just think this is just another chocolate/candy shop and might as well be Fanny Farmer or Buddy Squirrel, but you would be wrong! These suckers from See's are so freaking good! They actually give them out as free samples, so every time I would go to the mall, I would lurk around the kiosk until they would offer me one. :) Every time I would act surprised and thankful also...ha! If they only knew! St. Nick brought us a whole bag of them too, so I will be able to enjoy them for a little while longer still, even thought he kiosk is now gone.

And not only are they delicious, I think they are a great long lasting, low calorie dessert! If you are watching your weight, but craving chocolate, these only have 80 calories, taste super rich (almost like a hot chocolate in a sucker form) and take a long time to finish because they are so big. They have 3 other flavors too...the butterscotch is good, but the caffe latte and vanilla are not so much my cup of tea.

Make yourself a mental note to have one of these next Christmas.

12.13.09

On the heels of my last post re: Nancy & Tyler's FHP, I just HAD to give some props to these adorable favors Nancy had for everyone. She ordered these stickers from Tiny Prints and had chocolate covered pretzels and peppermint oreos for everyone to talk home. I mean really, top notch job, Nancy.

10.26.09

More cookies. we need to stop with the cookies probably. Especially because I bought about 4 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that are coming soon. Are Girl Scouts all over selling cookies now? or is that just in Madison? Either way, I can't wait to get my hands on some of those tasty Lemonades!

10.12.09

Jon's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies. This is an amazing combo and I don't understand why it isn't more mainstream.

9.9.09

These are those delicious potatoes I talked about back in July. They have been my favorite thing to eat this summer. Yummmmmy!

Jon had a stroke of genius a couple weeks ago and added a little Tastefully Simple Dried Tomato and Garlic Pesto seasoning. Oh, extra yummy! (and as always, you can get this stuff from Gina!)

8.12.09

My new favorite thing. Betty Crocker lemon poppy seed muffin mix.

It comes in a pre-mixed bag, you just at water, it makes about 25 mini miffins and it was like 95 cents or something ridiculously cheap like that.

love that value!

6.13.09

Oh hello, Haribo Grapefruits. It's been such a long time, old friend.

These are my all time favorite candy. And really, I don't do sweet candy. I much prefer chocolate...except for these. I believe I first got them at Mr. Bulky's at Mayfair, then found them at whatever that candy store was called at Brookfield Square, but after both closed they are no where to be found! Haribo sells a lot of other gummies prepackaged, but not the grapefruits. The past 5 (or so) years have been a constant search for them. Don't you feel sorry for me? I've had it so rough.

The good news is there is a savior in the form of a kiosk in the middle of the mall called King of Sweets. They are pretty sure of themselves - selling 1/4 lb of candy for $2.99 - but I did/do not care. Give me my Haribo Grapefruits!

6.8.09

I was so proud of this little pizza!

why?

Because I used a bunch of leftovers to make it. Doesn't it feel so good to actually finish a jar of pasta sauce instead of letting it go to waste? what about a bag of cheese and an onion? And using a tortilla for things other than mexican? So proud of myself.

The pizza was just ok though. ehh. you win some you lose some.

4.23.09

On Thursday, we grilled dinner for the first time this year!

love. it.

4.13.09

Since Easter was being spent in our 'hood, it was my job to make a dessert. I had been shamefully thinking about the deliciousness of these brownies since March 13th, so I decided to make them again.

Selfish? Perhaps.

Still freakishly good? Oh yes.

and as a side note, these are the leftovers...there are only a couple left because my husband and I cannot control ourselves when there are baked goods in the apartment. Save us.

4.11.09

I saw this sammy on Giada at Home recently and thought it looked yummy, so I gave it a whirl. [Side note: have y'all noticed Everyday Italian doesn't exist anymore? She only does Giada at Home now. The girl finally ran out of Italian recipes apparently...] Anyway, I thought this looked interesting because she used puff pastry instead of bread. Unfortch, it wasn't quite as delicious as I anticipated it would be. It was good, but not great. I actually think it might be better with bread - the puff pastry was a tad too crumbly. Here is the recipe:


Grilled Chicken and Avocado Napoleons

Ingredients:

2 (9 by 10-inch) sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed and cut into 12 (3 by 5-inch) rectangles
4 (4-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken breast halves
Kosher salt
Olive oil, for drizzling
3 tablespoons reduced fat mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 large avocado, thinly sliced into 8 pieces
2 cups baby spinach leaves

Directions:

Place an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the pastry on the prepared baking sheets. Using the tines of a fork, prick the top of the pastry all over. Cover the pastry with parchment paper and place another baking sheet on top. Bake for 25 minutes until golden. Remove the top baking sheets and parchment paper. Set aside to cool.

Preheat a grill pan or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Season the chicken with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Grill until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise and cayenne pepper.

To assemble the Napoleons: Place 4 pieces pastry on a work surface. Slice each chicken breast diagonally into 6 (1/4-inch thick) slices. Place 3 chicken breast slices on each piece of pastry. Place 1/4 cup of spinach and 1 avocado slice on top. Spread 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise mixture on the underside of another 4 pieces of pastry to create the middle layer of each Napoleon. Place on top. Repeat the layering. Each Napoleon should be completed with a piece of pastry as its top.

Arrange the Napoleons on a platter and serve.

original recipe found here

4.4.09

Meghan and I checked out the new Five Guys at Bayshore for lunch on Saturday. I had been to this fine establishment many times before in Madison and Delafield, but it was Meghan's first time!

You can find my opinion of this joint here.

Her opinion: The fries were better than the burger...but she thought maybe she picked bad toppings. Sobelman's is still #1 in her burger book.

2.23.09

Don't mind me. Just being domestic around here. These were delicioso! Which style looks best? I'm not sure.

2.19.09

This is one of my favorite dinners - my homemade meatballs are so delicious! (I have to remember to post the recipe) I changed things up a little and put our salads in our cute little dessert bowls instead of on the plate or in a real salad bowl. Not going to lie - it made eating salad a little more fun.

We ate this delcious meal while catching up on Lost from yesterday. It was a very enjoyable hour in my world.

2.3.09

Look at how cute these are! I tested them out because I am thinking of making them for Dizzy's shower next month...and well, we like desserts in our house.

I definitely do not like the plain ones with the m&m on top. The flags might be a little overkill too. I think I like the white one with the red sprinkles best. Oh, and they were yummmmmy. Like, really yummy. I found the recipe on the Bakerella blog here.

1.23.09

*onion ring*

get it? onion. ring.

1/13/09

*afternoon snack*

One good thing about winter is that oranges are in season! If my memory serves me correctly, this one was really big, thus unfortunatley not very juicy and flavorful.

1/12/09

I am going to post these separately rather than in one post. I didn't like them being lumped together the way they were. This way each photo can be their own shining star.

*best lollypops around*

I bet you pass by the See's Candy kiosk at the mall during Christmas and don't think twice about it. Well, that is a mistake. They were giving free samples of these lollipops one day, I tried one, and have been hooked ever since. (The chocolate ones are the best) You can thank me after you've tried one for yourself.

365 vol. 2

1/6
Christmas in a box

1/7
Kohl's on a Tuesday

(a lady walked by me right after I took this picture and I think she thought I was crazy. I imagine that is only the first of what is to come this year...)


1/8
us in our cozy sweatshirts


1/9
8:56 am from the driver's seat


1/10
2 macs and 1 tom


1/11
a snack at the mall

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

My sister posted about this crockpot recipe for Mexican style chicken and I tried it out last night. I have to say, it was so delicious that it deserves to get posted again here. Since it was crockpot style, it was also super easy. I think Gina may have served this over rice (?), but we had ours on tortillas with a little cheese. I also didn't have any corn, so I substituted that for diced green chilis, which might have given it an extra little kick.

Interestingly, as I was throwing everything into the crockpot, I realized these were the exact same ingredients for the enchiladas I make! In that recipe, I cook the diced chicken first, then add the rest of the ingredients below, combine them on the stove top and let it simmer, then fill tortillas and bake them with cheese on top.

So basically what we had last night was exactly the same meal, but the cheese was wrapped in the tortilla rather than being baked on top, the flavor was so much better, and again, a lot less work.

I imagine it would be really good as a regular taco filling too - add some lettuce, tomatoes, avacado, whatever floats your boat. So tasty!

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Ingredients:4 boneless chicken breasts (diced)

1 jar salsa (around 24 oz.)

1 can black beans

1 can whole kernel corn (I substituted diced green chilis, but I bet BOTH would be fantastic!)

1 box rice (I used Goya Yellow Rice- 8oz. box)

Tortilla chips and/or tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese/Sour Cream

Directions:
Pour the diced chicken, salsa, black beans, and corn into the crock pot and stir to mix.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Make rice according to box and serve with Mexican chicken mixture either on tortillas or with chips.

Top with cheddar cheese and sour cream.