Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope your day went well and you were showered with LOVE! I wanted to share what I did for the day for my Matthew! I had a lot of fun coming up with stuff I wanted to do and the dinner I wanted to make him.  I thought about it a long time...and actually came up with the idea in December. I decided I was going to make him homemade ravioli!! So this is how I did it :)


I have become the somewhat official dough maker for our family Pierogi recipe. We make them each year now around New Years. They are amazing and I love them. They are, after all, like raviolis! And they have bacon. Yummy!! Anyway, so I decided since I know the feeling of this dough and how to make it without messing it up, that I'd used that recipe for the dough. And I did it exactly like my grandma would. Without any bowls or anything and all by hand!! It's a simple dough recipe with flour, eggs, water, oil, etc. It gets a little messy...but it's all worth it in the end! Especially when you see the results and say to yourself, "I did that!"

See....messy!! You knead the dough until it's soft and elastic. And then you take a bowl, run hot water in it, dry it off and set it inverted over the dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes!

PS Some Raider Brigade pride there behind the bowl. :) I used the 30 minutes to clean up the counter and to make the filling for the ravioli. It was to be a 4 cheese, but it turned into a 6 cheese because I used a 5 cheese blend. Awesome, right?? More cheese the better!

The filling consists of ricotta (~1/2 cup) and then I used, like I said, the 5 cheese blend from Kraft which has Parmesan among the cheeses. Super tasty! :) 1 1/2 cups of that. There is also pepper and salt, along with basil, oregano, and parsley--all dried and finally yummy GARLIC!

Once the dough was ready, I halved it--setting once half under the bowl again. I rolled out the dough to the consistency I wanted...and here's the fun part! I used a HEART shaped cutter. Oh yea. Heart shaped. You just cut them out and roll out the dough again until you get enough out of it. I believe the first half brought out about 18 hearts and the second, about 20. Not bad really!! So all in all, about 16 raviolis total since you put them together.

For each ravioli, I put about 2 teaspoons of filling.

Then took water and with my finger spread it around the edges of the dough. Finally laying the other heart on top and pinched the edges to seal it.

Boom. Heart shaped ravioli. :)

When it was time for dinner, I cooked them in boiling water until they started to float up to the top. Which was about 5-8 minutes give or take a few. Pretty pretty!!!

They were super tasty and worth it!! I served it with salad and of course some pasta sauce that had meat in it. I don't know the calorie count and honestly...I don't care! It was Valentine's Day!! :) We had some champagne and it was lovely!



 

For surprises, I created two cards for Matt along with a Heart Attack box (full of hearts cut out of red and pink construction paper with reason why I love him written on them) and I also made brownies for him! Which were delicious and decadent! And super easy! Using a store bought brownie mix, prepare the mix as directed.

I used an 8x8 pan. Pouring the mix into it after making sure you spray it with cooking spray. You then mix together an egg, 1/3 cup of sugar and 8 oz of cream cheese. Take this mix and dollop it onto the brownie batter. Grab a knife and swirl it into the mix.





Then taking about a 1/2 cup of raspberry jelly, whip it until it's a little thinner. Dollop this onto the mixture and using the same technique with a clean knife, swirl it as well. Bake it according to the package directions. For me, it was 38 minutes or so. It ended up being a bit more though (high altitude problems!) and I believe it was about 50 minutes in the end.

Yummy!!! Baked and delicious!

Here are the two cards I made for Matt (I also bought him a nice one).

And the Heart Attack box....which I made from a feminine pad box...HAHA!!! I covered it up though...you're welcome Matthew.  I hid the cards and the box in his truck and he found them throughout his day.

I have also been busy with another project this past week, but I can't share yet because it'll ruin the surprise!!!! :) I wish I could because I'm super excited about it!!!

Here are the two recipe links if you're interested:

Four Cheese Ravioli

Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

I hope your Valentine's was great like mine and that you enjoyed seeing what I did! I will post more later, but it's pretty late and I think it's time for some sleep!!! Until next time! :)

Happy New Year....two weeks late! :)

Ugly sweater party...pay attention Matt

Well...I do believe we have some catching up to do! I've been a bad girl and haven't posted for over a month, but I was super busy--which is a good thing!!! December went by so fast this year. We had a lot of fun activities that we participated in (note the ugly sweater party picture...I had one of Matt individually, but well...he was being goofy with his smile and I'm sure he'd be embarrassed that I posted it...you're welcome), but the most fun was the drive home to San Antonio for Christmas! I couldn't believe how pretty and relaxing the drive was. I suppose it's because it's through a really pretty part of Colorado, New Mexico, and finally Texas. The drive from Leavenworth to San Antonio wasn't as great. No offense to Oklahoma, but that part of the drive was really boring...sorry. The only bad part about this drive home was called a Tiggie....and she was NOT happy to be in a carrier. In fact we have decided to possibly slip her a little sum sumthin' the next drive to calm her down. She was so mad at me, that she refused to let me near her for a day and a half once we got there. I had a scratch on my leg to prove it...which occurred at some point during the first night when I guess I moved my leg in to her kitty space.

We were in San Antonio for a little over a week and boy was it great to be home!! I do miss San Antonio a lot. It's a great city. Our trip there was of course eventful as usual. I'm sure a lot of people saw on my Facebook about a lot of my family getting sick during our time there. It was a nice 24 hour thing that was excitedly passed along. But not really. Because it really stunk. My uncle and I were the only ones who did not get sick so therefore Matthew has concluded that I possibly was the carrier since it started with him. :) In any case, I know it wasn't exactly the most pleasant time for those who had this Christmas blessing, but it was also sad for me watching everyone else get sick around me. I definitely wish this hadn't happened since it took away from some family time. But stuff happens and at least we were all well on Christmas morning (note I said morning....)! After Matt and I got back from San Antonio we relaxed, which was nice. Tiggie was not mad at me when we got home, although she did make herself known off and on starting around hour nine of the drive until we got home. We went to a place called Jack Quinn's for New Years Eve. They weren't charging a cover and they had a free champagne toast at midnight along with fun hats and noise makers. Plus who doesn't enjoy listening to upbeat Irish music to bring the New Year in!? It made for some great people watching that's for sure! :) I didn't really come up with any New Years resolutions this year. Only goals really. I would like to find a part time job and do well in school this coming semester (yep...I am a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs student by the way!). I'd like to become more organized and maybe try a few new things...or have the confidence to try some new things. I gave Matt a New Years resolution though...to come to Body Pump with me. :) I'm just curious to see if he'd like it!

Earlier in December, we had our Brigade Coffee which was a cookie exchange! I told y'all I would give you the recipe of these delicious bars that are life changing (well..they are pretty tasty). And Matt really likes them a lot!! So you know they are good! (He isn't a huge sweets person, but I'm working on him!) Here's the EASY recipe complete with pictures.

GOOSEBERRY PATCH TURTLE PECAN BARS

Makes: the recipe says it can make 48...I was able to adjust the size depending on how big you want the bars to be. I ended up getting 24 out of my first batch and they were a pretty good size. 

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
20 vanilla caramels, unwrapped*
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Note: I found Kraft makes caramel bits that are already unwrapped and ready to melt. I used about 3/4 of the package plus a little bit. I eyed the amount to be honest.

Preheat oven to 350!

Action shot!

Stir together your flour and brown sugar, then you cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles course meal.

Next you will want to pour out this mixture into a 13x9 pan. I actually used a tip my mom directed my attention to online which calls for you to line the pan with foil (having it overlapping the ends and high on the sides--see picture) so that when you get ready to pull the bars out to cut them, you pick up the foil from the ends and it comes out really easily. Hopefully that makes sense.....so that's why my pan in lined in any case. I also greased the foil. Bake this at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from oven.

While it was baking, I combined the condensed milk and vanilla in a bowl. It looks kind of nasty in this picture, but don't fear!







You then take this mixture and pour it over the baked crust. Yea...the pan is on the edge of the island there in that picture. I was trying to even everything out. Or maybe I just live life as a rebel...either one.





Add your coconut flakes and pecans on top. Then bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

While it's baking, melt down those caramel bits! Or snack on some...which is what I did. Shhh don't tell anyone! :)

Oh yeaaaaa....

Then pour your melted caramel over the baked yumminess and sprinkle your chocolate chips over the caramel. Looks tasty right?? Don't eat it yet! I put it, covered, into the refrigerator overnight for it to harden enough to cut. This worked really well! I lifted the sides out and took the foil off. Put the whole thing on a cutting board and cut away! I'm not going to lie...they are pretty awesome. So if you ever need a yummy bar recipe, I hope you will try this one!

Turtle Pecan Bars

I haven't been cooking all sweet things of course. I've been still keeping up with my Traveling Tuesdays, but I haven't really been too thrilled with my choices except the past couple of weeks. I've been looking more into stews and soups because it's been REALLY cold here. The other night it got into the negatives. Seriously. So stews and soups really made me feel warm and fuzzy when I was thinking about making them. And this stew that I'm going to share with y'all is pretty awesome. It's similar to Pork Posole.

ANCHO PORK AND HOMINY STEW
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons ancho chile powder*
2 teaspoons dried oregano 
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika 
1 teaspoon ground cumin 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided 
2 cups chopped onion 
1 1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper 
1 tablespoon minced garlic 
2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth 
1 (28-ounce) can hominy, drained  
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
Added: 1 can drained, whole corn...I know hominy is in the corn family, but I love corn! and now I'm obsessed with hominy too...

*Notes: I used regular chili powder because I could not find ancho. Feel free to not use this much depending on your desired heat level. I did two heaping tablespoons. Spicy! 

First you mix the first five ingredients (chili powder through salt) setting aside 1 1/2 teaspoons of this mixture. Mix the non set aside spice mix with the pork pieces in a bowl and set aside for the pork to get happy with flavor! 






The next things I did were chop all of the veggies (bell pepper, onion and garlic), as well as the pork. I'm all about prepping before hand. Y'all should know this by now! :) I also drained the corn and hominy. I put the veggies on top of each other because they were getting mixed into the pot together. Easy clean up and not a lot of dishes! 

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium high heat in a Dutch oven or if you're like me and don't have one (sad day!)...a big pot! Add your pork and cook about five minutes or until browned. Once cooked, remove the pork from the pot and keep warm. Weird how it kind of looks like beef since the spices turned it that color....





Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil to your pot and add your bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Saute until they are nice and tender! Return your pork to the party along with your reserved spice mixture, broth, hominy, corn (if you're adding it), and your can of un-drained diced fire roasted tomatoes. 




Bring all of this to a boil. Partially cover and reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes. There was also a comment online that said she did everything up until covering the pot and once it was at a boil, she poured it into the Crock Pot for 5 hours or so. The original way was pretty easy for me. I also think the slow cooker might be something to try as well. If you do try it, let me know. I didn't know if the pork would get tooooo tender.



I made some cornbread to go along with this stew which compliments it well. Topped it with some avocado (YUM!) and ate happily in this cold weather!!! This stew comes in at 300 calories even. Maybe a tad more with the corn added, but I think it was really good. Very comforting! 

Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew


In this New Year, I also decided that since I make dinner 3-4 nights out of the week and usually don't take pictures of it (your welcome)....I would still share some of the links of the dinners I've made with some comments and such. I thought it'd be neat for you to explore different foods without me typing a bunch of stuff! :) 

Here are just a few yummies that were on the menu recently: 

Braised Beef and Mushrooms --I actually HALVED this recipe because it makes 12 servings (yikes!!). I made this during the day last week so that I could prepare it in enough time for dinner. I think you could definitely make this in the Crock Pot. Since I don't have a Dutch Oven, I transferred it to a baking dish for the oven and baked it for 2 hours, took it out (turned off the oven)...went and worked out then came back, removed any fat floating (gross), and finished it off, baking it for 30 minutes or so. I also used baby portabella mushrooms because I couldn't find what the recipe called for. So I used 2-8oz packages of those mushrooms. This recipe was amazing. Matt really liked it a lot. I served it with salad and egg noodles! 224 calories per delicious serving!

Bacon and Goat Cheese Chicken --I love stuffing chicken or pork with different things and this was no exception! I actually used blue cheese for this recipe. But would definitely try goat cheese with it later. I was able to get more blue cheese per oz than goat cheese for a cheaper price. It made sense in my head. :) Plus I love blue cheese. I used the pre cooked thick cut bacon (yum) and made the chicken exactly how the directions said to. Except I add a bit of cooking time on for elevation purposes. I served this with a salad and orzo pasta. There are 283 calories per serving. I halved the left over chicken breasts and ate them on salads throughout the weekend! :) 

Sweet and Fiery Pork Tenderloin --this was more sweet than fiery to be honest! I think I could have added a bit more Sriracha to it. I was a little nervous since Sriracha is pretty spicy! But this was really great! It was sweet with just a background of spice to it. The pork came out cooked perfectly and tender. The mango salsa compliments it very well and I actually took her suggestion and made the Brown Coconut Rice with Cilantro with it. Everything was extremely tasty. Besides the rice coming out a bit too al dente....note to self...pay attention when it says SHORT GRAINED rice (not long grained!). The flavor was amazing and out of this world. Just a tad crunchy...hey...I can make mistakes! At least it tasted lovely! The pork stands at 247 calories per serving and the rice at 206. A good healthy meal!

I made Beef Daube Provençal last night and do actually have pictures as it was a part of my Traveling Tuesdays (FRANCE!), but will include them with my next post. It was really awesome and I prepared it a bit differently so stay tuned for that! :) 

Lastly, I'm excited about tomorrow night's meal of Baked Chicken Parmesan. All the taste of chicken parm without all the calories!!! It comes in at 224.5 calories per serving. I can't wait to try it and I can't wait to share my thoughts with you as well. 

Okay so I think I'm done with this post. It's long. I apologize. Hopefully you have enjoyed yourself for the most part! :) Until next time my friends!!! 

"Nope. Don't think so."

OH! PS....also amazing this year...how about my Aggies?!?!?!?! What an amazing year for our football team. Beating #1Alabama...having a Heisman winner. Winning our bowl game (O-WHO?). I've always stood by our team no matter the rankings (or embarrassing losses) because I bleed Maroon and am a true Aggie through and through...but this year was amazing to be an Aggie in all aspects! What a wonderful introduction to the SEC.

...Jeni talk Thai real good....but not really...

Okay, so the title is silly of this blog...but I'll explain. The past two weeks I've made two Thai recipes that I'm going to share with you. They were really good!! However, the whole time I was making them I couldn't help but chuckle to myself because I kept thinking about that scene from Meet the Parents, where Greg (Ben Stiller) is confronting Jack (Robery De Niro) about the conversation Greg overheard in Thai (which is really Jack planning a surprise honeymoon for the bride and groom). And Dina (Blythe Danner--who I love by the way in Will and Grace!) remarks that Jack can't talk Thai, to which Greg replies "Oh no Dina, Jack can talk Thai...Jack talk Thai real well." I love that movie and that scene...so of course the whole time I was cooking I kept laughing to myself. I know I'm silly (read: nerdy!), but I don't care! :) I know I haven't blogged since my Veteran's Day post (which if you haven't read...do so! It's about my favorite Veteran in my life!), but I'm about to grace you with a great post (hopefully) and maybe that will make up for it! On to the recipes...

#1: THAI-STYLE STIR FRIED CHICKEN
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
 
1/4 cup rice vinegar 
2 tablespoons brown sugar 
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
2 teaspoons red curry paste 
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces*
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 
1 cup chopped onion 
1 cup chopped carrot 
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms*
1/2 cup light coconut milk 
1 tablespoon fish sauce* 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 cup fresh bean sprouts  
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Added: Snow Peas!!!! Because they are yummy....
*Revisions: For the chicken, I actually bought about a pound or so of chicken tenders. I find that they are easier to cut into chunks. For the mushrooms, I bought an 8 oz package of whole mushrooms and sliced them myself. I find that the pre-sliced are often a bit more expensive than the whole. Just compare and go with what you feel comfortable with! Pre-sliced are fine especially if you don't have time to slice them. The fish sauce, I actually did not use because I forgot to get this at the store. I used Oyster sauce instead since I had it. I don't think it ruined the flavor at all, but of course would have used fish sauce had I not forgotten it! :)

The first thing you want to do is to combine the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-lock bag. Add your chicken; seal and marinate in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or so. You can always marinate overnight as well! 

While the chicken was marinating, I chopped up the onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Then washed the bean sprouts and snow peas! I also made extra marinade (as per the reviews and comments!) combining again the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a small bowl.

Set aside your veggies, and heat a tablespoon of oil in your pan (or wok if you have one). Add your chicken (reserving the marinade it was in) and cook for about 4 minutes or until done. 

Once the chicken is cooked, remove and cover to keep warm (and to develop the juices). 







Add the remaining oil to your pan, then add your carrots and onions. Stir-fry for about two minutes. 

Then add your mushrooms! Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. 

At this point, I also added the bean sprouts and snow peas. Even though the bean sprouts, according to the original recipe, aren't supposed to be added in until last, I like to cook them in. 

Using the extra marinade I made as well as the reserved marinade from the bag (which there wasn't a lot left over to be honest so I'm glad I made extra and I encouraged you to do the same), pour it over the veggies and scrape up those browned bits/flavor fairies. :) 

Add your coconut milk and fish sauce (or oyster in my case!) and bring everything to a boil. Reduce and simmer for about a minute. Then add your chicken (plus accumulated juices) back into the mix.  





I topped this with the cilantro and served over thin spaghetti (I couldn't decide on what Asian noodles would be best) and of course a salad. The calorie count for about a cup of the chicken mixture is around 271 and boy was it tasty!! It's not spicy at all and reheats pretty well. I enjoyed it because it was really easy to make and the sauce was really creamy and tasted comforting without the calories! Recipe is below! Onto the next...fist bump. Matthew may be the only one who gets that. At the end of Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel they always say Onto the next at the end of the episode and then fist bump...haha...so we sometimes fist bump. You have to had the explosion at the end or else it isn't a proper fist bump! ;-)

Thai-Style Stir Fried Chicken



#2: THAI COCONUT CURRY SHRIMP 
Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

1 tsp oil
4 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 oz light coconut milk
2 tsp fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Added: surprise! Snow peas. 

First before I go any further, this recipe is from a different website called Skinny Taste! I've been trying to make more recipes from this website. This week in fact everything I'm making comes from it. The recipes are very tasty and full of flavor. I encourage you to look around. Also before we go any further, I have a funny picture. So I'm making dinner which has shrimp...who do you think was excited about it??? Yep...the cats. I'm sitting there cleaning and taking the tails off the shrimp and look up to these two staring at me. They kept inching closer and closer....so I teased them. Silly kitties.

As I said, the first thing I did was clean the shrimp under cold water and remove their tails (gently pinch and twist! you don't want to lose any valuable shrimp yuminess!). I love shrimp.

Next I chopped up my green onions and garlic. I chopped up more than what was called for because I love the flavors of both. :) Remember to separate the whites and the greens of the scallions. I basically chopped all of them in half width wise and then set aside the ALL green scallions and then chopped up the whites/somewhat green parts.



Heat oil on medium high heat in your pan. Once hot, add your scallion whites/somewhat greens and the red curry paste. Saute for about one minute.







Add your garlic and shrimp! I also add the snow peas so they could get all garlicky and yummy too! They were jealous of the shrimp. ;-) Also, side note: notice the awesome gingerbread decor in the kitchen! I love the pot holder there. He makes me smile because he looks like he's saying "Hey! You should give me a hug!" I don't hug him though...so don't think I'm nuts y'all.



Once you've cooked everything for about 2-3 minutes (or until the shrimp are pink and pretty), add your coconut milk and fish sauce...which yes, if you were wondering, I did remember to pick it up at the store this time! :) Simmer everything for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the scallion greens and cilantro. Easy as that!!!



I served this with jasmine rice and a salad! The calorie count for this yumminess is about 135 calories per serving. Not too shabby in my book! And it was sooooo good! One of the great things about doing these two recipes back to back was the fact that they had similar ingredients. So...buy once...use twice! :)  Here's the link:

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

What's been going on over here you ask? Many things! It seems like these weeks are going by really fast lately! Matt's plane landed at around 11am on November 12th. Which was awesome! I was so happy to finally see him! And I know he was excited to be home. For Thanksgiving we stayed in Colorado Springs and were really blessed to have gotten an invite over to one of his co-workers homes to join their family for dinner. It was a lot of fun--full of food, football, and fun games with their three girls. I'm fully convinced everyone should play Hedbanz because it was too much fun! :) I know our family missed seeing us, but it was a really nice relaxing day and we really did appreciate the invitation. The day after Thanksgiving was Christmas decoration time. Our tree went up and decorated, the nativity scene went out, all of my gingerbread decor is up, along with other various decorations. I really enjoyed bringing everything out and especially while listening to Christmas music! :) The only thing that hasn't gone up yet are our lights on the house, this is because the whole city of Colorado Springs was sold out of Christmas light hooks. I'm not kidding. We went everywhere! I finally found some at the very last Walgreens I stopped at yesterday. I bought three boxes. I'm sure we will be taking some back, but I just wanted to make sure we had enough because I wasn't going to drive all over the city again! This week we are having a cookie exchange with the Brigade Coffee group I'm a part of. I'm really excited. I love to bake, so any excuse to do so is something that makes me giddy! :) I've narrowed down my cookie choices and hopefully will make a decision...they all sound so good! Perhaps I may just share the recipe with pictures! :) On Friday morning, Matt and I are also participating in the Brigade's "march" to the Marian House. I am really looking forward to it because in the spirit of Christmas it's very humbling to be able to help others!! I can't wait to experience it.

Well as this post is already pretty long, I'll leave y'all with that!! More later...especially after tonight's dish that I'm super excited about. Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

PS: did you notice the new background and falling snow?????? :) :) :) :)