Crunchy, Fruity Chicken Salad

Every once in a while I'll skim through recipes of favorite blogs and one will jump right at me, causing me to make it right away. This is one of those times. Perhaps it was because the recipe called for ingredients I have sitting around just waiting to be used... or maybe because I was intrigued by the combination of flavors, textures and drawn in by the pictures. Regardless of the reason, I'm so glad I made this Crunchy, Fruity Chicken Salad to bring some life to my plain old whole wheat bread...

Cookies & Cream Dessert Bars

One thing that's great about my friends is that they love playing in the kitchen just as I do. So when I'm throwing a pot luck, I can always count on them to share some of their delicious recipes at the table. For the recent Pasta Party Dinner I hosted, my friend Suzanne took care of dessert and she made these wonderful Cookies & Cream Dessert Bars that I'm still craving nearly a week later!...

Cod with Leeks & Tomatoes

If there's one thing I'm trying to be good at, it's keeping a routine. With our little baby on the way, I feel the need to get a head start... in the kitchen, at least. My husband caught on to me when I started making a seafood dish every week and thinks it's great to switch up our menus. So for this week, I have to thank Martha Stewart and her refreshing, tasty recipe for Cod with Leeks & Tomatoes...

Pasta Milano

If there's a dish that recently surprised me, it's this one! For my recent Pasta Party dinner, I wanted to include a pasta dish that had a cream sauce other than alfredo. When looking through some restaurant menus for inspiration, I remembered trying Macaroni Grill's Pasta Milano dish awhile ago. In an effort to recreate that dish for my dinner, I tweaked the recipe to my tastes and hoped for the best. To my surprise, my guests loved my Pasta Milano and even my husband was asking me to make it again the next day!...

Cheddar & Cracker Chicken

I have a deep love for cheese and crackers that having them on hand in my kitchen is a must! Even better is being able to bring the combination of delicious cheese and crispy crackers for a quick and easy dinner. When I skimmed through my most current Real Simple magazine the other day, I knew I had to make this Cheddar & Cracker Chicken recipe. I'm so glad I did because it was a total hit!...

Three Cheese Garlic Bread

What's a pasta meal without some good garlic bread to sop up extra pasta sauce? For the recent pasta party dinner I hosted, I knew garlic bread would make it to the table. However, rather than the usual garlic butter slathered bread most are familiar with, I added a trio of cheeses on top for good measure and good eats! My Three Cheese Garlic Bread didn't last long and it's no surprise why...

BLT Salad with Creamy Parmesan Dressing

Salad is like the obligatory vegetable dish on the table, isn't it? Often times, it can be an afterthought where lettuce is just thrown in a bowl with dressing on the side. Well, for my recent Pasta Party dinner, I didn't want the usual Italian or Ceasar salad to pair along with the meal I prepared. Thankfully, my Real Simple magazine subscription gave me another salad option and I prepared this BLT Salad with Creamy Parmesan Dressing...

Cheese & Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

When it comes to stuffed mushroom recipes, I've seen white button mushrooms used most often. But what about portobello mushrooms? They have such a great, sturdy shape that's capable of handling a good amount of filling and serving them up is as easy as cutting them into wedges. Well, I let portobello mushrooms shine in this Cheese & Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms recipe and they were fantastic! I may not ever go back to stuffing white button mushrooms again...

Toasted Ravioli with Marinara Sauce

I'm not usually big on fried foods but I had a hankering for something crispy and cheesy. One Italian inspired appetizer I enjoy on occasion is toasted ravioli. Having this as an appetizer for my Pasta Party dinner was great since it featured how pasta doesn't always have to be the main course of a meal. In fact, I thought this Toasted Ravioli with Marinara Sauce rivaled versions found at restaurants!

Pasta Party Dinner

I really enjoy Sundays, especially with family and friends. Now that we have a single family home, we thought it would be good to start doing some special Sunday dinners with friends and family. To kick our new tradition off, we had friends come over for a Pasta Party Dinner...

Roasted Salmon with Herbed Yogurt

I've been trying to squeeze in a seafood meal at least once a week for dinner to make up for my seafood aversion I had a few months ago. Salmon is one of my favorite fish, so long as it's not overcooked! Dry, overcooked, flaky salmon is just as bad as dry, overcooked chicken or turkey in my opinion. Thankfully, I came across this recipe for Roasted Salmon with Herbed Yogurt that's a keeper and kept my fish perfectly moist and flavorful...

Strawberry Shortcakes

One of my favorite fruits is the mighty strawberry. I've always been a fan of them ever since my parents took me to a strawberry farm when I was a child. I recall going to the farm and grabbing a big basket (almost as big as me!) and filling it up with so many strawberries that I came home with a strawberry stained sundress... so worth it too! Sadly, that same strawberry farm has changed and instead of a farm, it's more like a strawberry patch. As I sit here reminiscing of those strawberry filled summer days, it dawned on me that I had some leftover sweet cream biscuits that I could use to make Strawberry Shortcakes with...

Korean Style Short Ribs (Crockpot)

I love cooking dishes of various ethnic cuisines. Doing so adds some fun in our usual meals and it's a great way to appreciate other cultures. Korean cuisine is one I haven't cooked in awhile so tonight we took our tastebuds to the deliciousness of Korean Style Short Ribs...

Oven Fried Buttermilk Chicken

My husband is certainly enjoying my pregnancy... probably more than I am. Specifically, he's taken the whole idea of 'sympathy cravings' to heart and added some pregnancy weight too (although I'm considered underweight with my pregnancy)! He's been a great sport catering to my love of cheeseburgers for the past several months and every now and then, he'll whisper to my belly asking our little one to start craving fried chicken - one of my husband's favorite foods. Well, it's my husband's lucky day because I whipped up some Oven Fried Buttermilk Chicken just for him!...

Sweet Cream Biscuits

It's been a couple weeks since I've participated in the Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenges. But now that we're all settled from our move, I'm back in the kitchen baking! This week's Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge is Dorie's Sweet Cream Biscuits, chosen by Melissa of Love At First Bite (who has the recipe within her blog). It came at the perfect time as I loved serving these with tonight's Fried Chicken dinner...

Cake Batter & Sprinkles Ice Cream

My niece recently celebrated her 9th birthday and sadly, I wasn't able to fly out to visit or celebrate with her. When I asked her how she would be celebrating, she eagerly told me that she would be going to a local ice cream parlor and ordering her favorite flavor - cake batter ice cream. This post is dedicated to my little "mini me" niece, Alana, who has great taste in food at such a young age and my sister who inspired me to make Cake Batter & Sprinkles Ice Cream from scratch!

Sunday Cookout with the Stereodrones...

L-R: Joon Bautista (Bass), Gian Aseoche (Lead Guitar), Will Watters (Lead Vocalist),
Louis Tan (Drums) & Mario Favis (Guitar/Keys)

What could be better than a beautiful Sunday, grilling out and enjoying dinner with friends, followed by some good music? This is one reason why I love spring! Today, my husband's band, The StereoDrones, came over for a cookout followed by jamming out...

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

It's been confirmed - homemade meals are and will always be better than fast food meals. It's always been my belief and tonight's dinner justified it once again! Yesterday was a busy day with quite a few errands to run (hence, no blog post) and I shamelessly admit to having lunch at Taco Bell. It's not a usual place I eat at but since it's been ages since I had Taco Bell, it was a good idea at the time. Just as I figured, the food was "eh" and today I felt the need to redeem the lunch I had. As a result, I made these Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas... which completely reminded me why it's been ages since I had Taco Bell!

Blood Orange Marinated Pork Kabobs

One great thing about where we moved to is the awesome grocery options nearby. Better yet is the price of groceries... and being able to shop just across the Illinois/Wisconsin border means no food tax! When I hit up a major grocery store just across the state border, I was surprised to see blood oranges available and on sale for $.50 each. I couldn't pass it up and so I bought a few of them to play with. It took me awhile to figure out what to make since the three blood oranges I had yielded only a small amount of juice. That's when Martha Stewart came to my rescue and I made these Blood Orange Marinated Pork Kabobs...

Cinnamon Roll French Toast

Lately, my sleep schedule has been way off. I've been taking queues from my body and sleeping/napping when I'm tired and being active when I have the energy. Sometimes it doesn't always correlate with the appropriate times the rest of the world is on. Take for example last night. I had the urge to bake cinnamon rolls around midnight. This morning, I got up around 10:30am and by the time most people were thinking about lunch, I opted to make breakfast. So to kick start my day (albeit late,) I made Cinnamon Roll French Toast with the leftovers from last night's baking urge...

Fig Balsamic Glazed Salmon

Balsamic vinegar is one of my favorite pantry staples because it can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. I especially love using it for salad dressings and marinades as well. For tonight's dinner, I used a special balsamic vinegar given by my friends, Camille and Kelby. They gave me a lovely bottle of fig balsamic vinegar a couple of weeks ago which I used to make this Fig Balsamic Glazed Salmon...

Root Beer Float Ice Cream

If there's one kitchen appliance I missed using the past year, it's my ice cream maker. While living in our last apartment downtown, my freezer never got cold enough to freeze the bowl so I could make homemade ice cream from scratch. As a result, last summer was pretty sad since I missed out on making so many flavors and trying out new ice cream recipes. So now that we've moved and I have our regular kitchen freezer and a deep freezer out in the garage, I was eager to freeze my bowl so I could get back to churning ice cream! What flavor did I make first? Root beer float ice cream was the winning flavor and also my husband's favorite...

Baja Chicken Tacos

Now that we're settled in our new home, my husband has been enjoying all the space of single family home living. After years of renting and living in city apartments, I'm starting to think he's enjoying the suburban life despite his initial hesitation. One reason for his change of heart is probably due to his 'man cave,' which he has transformed our full finished basement into. In fact, every Tuesday and Saturday night, our basement becomes the perfect spot for my husband's band, The StereoDrones, to practice in. What this means for me is that I have 5 hungry guys to feed Tuesday and Saturday nights! Tonight, I prepared some Baja Chicken Tacos with all the fixings...

Creamy Chocolate Tofu Pie

Are there any foods out there that kinda make you cringe when it's used in an unexpected way? For me, it's tofu. I use it occasionally, mostly in savory applications. I've had tofu in sweet recipes only a few times, though never made a sweet recipe using it. Well that all changed when my friend Colin made a Creamy Chocolate Tofu Pie...

Beef & Broccoli

One important ingredient I've learned to always have in the kitchen is soy sauce. Growing up, my mom could make something spectacular with soy sauce incorporated in the dish and it's definitely a staple in our pantry today. One such dish is Beef & Broccoli, that has both sweet and salty notes.

Wisconsin Cheese Tour

It doesn't matter where I am... I learn about my surroundings through food. Having moved to the far north Chicago suburbs recently, I had to reacquaint myself with the area I grew up in, What better way to do that than host a foodie tour of the area?! Today, I hosted a cheese tour just over the Wisconsin/Illinois border, which happens to be a favorite foodie hot spot to satisfy my love of cheese!

DIY Homemade Pizza Night

Ah... it's Friday and in our house it's Pizza Night! Now that we're pretty much settled into our new home, we had some friends come over to join us in our weekly pizza night... and to have fun making their own. If you're looking for a tasty alternative to ordering pizza, making them yourself is a lot of fun!

Italian Chicken Over Pasta with Lemon Thyme Cream Sauce

I'm so thankful to have a kitchen to cook in and a chance to finally prepare a meal. Last night's burgers were great but even still, it was a quick dinner that didn't require too much thought or preparation. I've been craving some pasta so tonight, I whipped up this dish to make use of some of the pantry staples I stocked my new kitchen with.

California Chicken Burgers

Oh, how I've missed being in my element! It was definitely hard to be without a kitchen to play in for over the past 2 weeks. Even worse was having to eat out a majority of that time or having a diet of frozen pizza... blah! Now that I have a kitchen that's fully stocked with my fave pantry staples, I finally broke it in with my deep love of burgers... including this California inspired Chicken Burger!