I leave you with this...

Well, today is my last day blogging until we get back from our Honeymoon.

I'll miss you all! ha!

No offense, but YEAH RIGHT! :-)

We will be traveling to Sunny Jamaica for 5 glorious days.

OH yeah, and we'll be tying the knot! This Saturday!

I leave you with this wonderful, deliscious, mouthwatering picture. Eh, I'll even give you a recipe! I might just have to try this when we get back... Doesn't it look so awesome?!

Unfortunately, I'd have to eat it all by myself (ooh la la!) because my soon to be Husband isn't one for sweets.

Gasp...I know...

source

Chocolate Souffle

the article says the best way to do this is to make it ahead of time and then just pop it in the oven when you're ready for it

2-1/2 T. Unsalted Butter
5-1/2 T. Sugar, divided
1 t. Cornstarch
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
4 Egg Yolks
7 Egg Whites (6 if baking immediately)
Confectioner's Sugar

Chocolate Sauce:
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 heaping tablespoons of chocolate chips

Prep:
Butter a 1-1/2 quart souffle dish. Make a paper collar about 3" high. Butter and sugar it slightly then press to the buttered rim of the souffle pan. Now sprinkel a little sugar coating in the souffle dish.

Base:
In a heavy pan, slowly add milk to cornstarch, stirring constantly until smooth. Keep stirring and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate, 2 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons sugar. Stir until melted. You can put the pan back on low heat if necessary. Remove from heat. Stir in egg yolks one at a time. Cover in plastic wrap. May be kept refrigerated up to two days in advance.

Whites:
Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold in 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat to stiff shiny peaks. Stir 3 or 4 tablespoons into the base to lighten it, then using a spatula, gently fold (not stir!) the lightened base into the egg whites.
Pour into the prepared souffle dish. Smooth the surface with your spatula. Refrigerate up to six hours. Bring back to room temperature before cooking.

Baking:
Place the souffle on a cookie sheet in the lower third of a preheated 350 degree oven. Make sure it has enough head room to rise! Bake for 25 minutes for a soft center. No peeking! Be sure not to bake more than 30 minutes as an over-baked souffle will fall.

Sauce:
Heat the cream in a heavy pan. When hot (not boiling), add the chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.

Serve:
Serve the souffle straight from the oven. I place my souffle dish on a folded towel to protect my serving plate underneath. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar or cocoa powder as shown. Serve the warm chocolate sauce on the side.

Dang good chili!

Last week I decided to make chili one day.

I have no personal recipe that I prefer - I only really know my Dad's chili. His is a pretty simple chili - no frills, just your typical stuff.

I think I'm pretty partial to that kind of chili myself.

I went onto the worldwideweb in search of a good recipe and found a one pot chili, went to the store, got my ingredients and came home hoping it would turn out okay.

Well...I tweaked it a bit and ended up with a dang good bowl of chili. Mmmm...it was delish!




One Pot Chili

2 lbs ground beef
1 onion
salt
pepper
1 big can tomato juice
1 big can diced tomatoes
3 cans dark red kidney beans
chili powder

Brown ground beef along with onions. Season with salt and pepper. Drain. Add tomato juice, diced tomatoes and kidney beans and bring to a light boil. Add chili powder to taste - about 4 tablespoons or just over half of 2.5 ounce bottle. Add a dash of sugar and salt to flavor.

Yields: One big pot

Mmm...fresh goodness

Homemade Fruit Rollups

Go HERE

I think I may try this...

Some good looking recipes

This is mostly for my own good, but I suppose you all can benefit from it too! Have you ever been to Pimp My Dinner (it's a blog)? Well if not, you should visit! I have been browsing through saving recipes that I can print and bring home - you know possibilities for dinners. I always do this and then stash the paper recipe in a drawer, never to be taken out again.

So, instead of wasting paper, I'm going to link to the ones that I like and want to try out. All for my own future knowledge (and saving of the trees! ha!). Feel free to click on the named recipe below. It'll bring you right to the page.

Taco Soup
Classic Chicken Salad
Steak Marinade - 'cause we've been looking for a good one
Corn Salsa
Lovely Creamy Chicken Soup
Big Batch Vegetable Soup
Sticky Caramel Corn - mmm...homemade caramel corn?!
Carrot Stew - as the recipe states: sounds gross, looks gross but tastes great, it's worth a shot!
You-have-all-the-ingredients-truffles
Hummus
Chicken Fajitas - even better...in the crockpot...yay!

*another cool thing I learned from this blog (yet never remember to use) is, when you are cutting brownies, use a plastic knife and the brownies will NEVER stick to the knife! Pretty neat, huh?!

Stuck in a dinner rut

We are as you can see...stuck in a dinner rut. It's horrible! We can't seem to come up with anything out of the norm and if we do, it takes too long or one of use doesn't like it.

It's really bad...we have the same thing every week. I don't know what to do!






Any suggestions? We're all about quick and easy meals...considering I don't get off of work until 7:00pm. Please feel free to leave me comments!

I want this!

I saw this over on DaisyChain and thought that I must have it (along with my other books on the bookshelf that I have yet to read). I have heard of, but haven't read the book Skinny Bitch. I was kind of like WOW at first and then like OH WELL after that and now I'm like WOW again! Look at the chapters...I just love how they are named :-)

Bitchin’ Breakfasts
PMS (Pissy Mood Snacks)
Sassy Soups and Stews
Down Home Cookin’
Grown-Up Appetizers
Happy Endings (Desserts)

First things first

Okay, so I promise I'm going to do another post today. I had a few ideas anyways...so that will come a bit later. I HAD to post this though. I was reading the lastest edition of EVERYDAY with Rachael Ray (it's the May issue) and oh my gawsh!!! There are like 10+ pages that I've marked down already for recipes and I'm not even half way through it! I usually find so many that I like in there normally but there are just so many mouth watering recipes. I just thought I had to share...pick one up at the store....love it!!

OH and (I haven't read it yet but) I saw some really cute cakes in there and some dee-lish recipes for nachos...it made me want them immediately!!!

Boredom = Food

I am currently bored, watching the minutes tick by, waiting for that glorious clock on my work phone to click to 7:00pm. In my quest of something to do, I decided to googled 'crab avacado salad'. Why, you ask?! I used to work at this hotel. They have this really good restaurant called KARMA. It shouldn't be where it is and it needs a little update, but one of my FAVORITE dishes there was THE CRAB SALAD. It was SO good! It was under the appetizers but I would get it as my meal...mmm, thinking about it right now is making my mouth water :-) It was formed a little bit differently than the recipe I'm about to share and had a bit less crab, but it comes in pretty close, and well, anything with crab and avocado will do for me!

Here is the recipe, shall you need it :-) If you want the link to the recipe, click HERE

1 cup Crab Meat, Cooked (approx 1/2 lb)
2 Jalapeno Chiles, seeded and minced
1/4 Red Onion, Chopped
1 Clove Garlic, Finely Chopped
1/4 cup Tomato, Chopped, 1 small
2 tbl Cilantro, Fresh, Snipped
2 tbl Olive Oil
3/4 tsp Salt
Ground Pepper (to Taste)
2 Avocados, Peeled & Chopped
1/4 cup Lime Juice
Place the Crab meat in a medium glass mixing bowl. Add the jalapenos, Onion, garlic, tomato and cilantro. Mix well. Add the oil, salt and pepper.
Fold in the chopped avacados, being careful not to smash the salad. Mix in the lime juice. Either serve immediately, or cover and chill.
Serves 6

I would, personally, emit the jalepeno's...if you didn't know, I'm not a huge fan of spiciness.

Mmm Mmm Goooood!

We got this wonderful Crockpot for a Christmas from my Uncle.
I LOVE IT!
I made a wonderful chicken din din for us last night!
I just want to use it ALL OF THE TIME!
Just thought I'd let ya'll know!




P.S. Any good recipes that you make in the
Crockpot? Please share....
pretty please?!