Mario Batali Spaghetti Sauce

I saw this on the shelf at the store and I had no idea that he made spaghetti sauce. However it looked good. There were three kinds, we chose Tomato Basil. Its made with san marzano tomatoes and fresh basil. It looked really chunky and good. So I decided to give it a try.

I made it with a package of Trader Joe's linguine, grilled chicken breasts and mushrooms. I sprinkled some shaved parmesan on top. I think it came together really good.

I also made some cheesy garlic bread to go with it. Except this time instead of slicing the bread, I just cut the loaf in half and baked it that way. It came out really good. I think it was less maintence that way.

Two new things to try

I love food blogs and I've been seeing a lot of posts about these two things:



Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams
(basically chocolate and peanut butter in a jar! yum!)

and

Barney Butter (or Almond Butter)

I grabbed both to try out and definetly worth it. Both were really good.

I think the chocolate peanut butter was really really really good. Like a peanut butter cup in a jar. Peanut butter cups are my favorite candy ever. I think having this in the house is dangerous.
The almond butter - well tasted like peanut butter - but apparently its better for you with more vitamins and minerals.

Moist Yellow Cake

I made these for Aaron's birthday. I've been wanting to make yellow cake for awhile because its my favorite cake. Aaron likes really any cake thats not chocolate. He doesn't mind chocolate frosting though as long as there isn't a lot of it. The cake was soft and moist. I would definetly make it again.

Ingredients
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line two cupcake pans with liners

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. With a mixer cream the butter and suger. Add the eggs one at a time.

4. Reduce the mixer speed. Stir vanilla into the buttermilk. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Mix just until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

5. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans.

6. Center the pans onto the lower third of the oven and let bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I used this frosting and some store bought sprinkles.

I think they came out great.
The recipe was from epicurious.com

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

I had some fresh blueberries sitting in my fridge that I didn't know what to do with. I've been wanting to make a coffee cake for awhile since my husband loves coffee cake. So I decided to find a recipe for a coffee cake to make. So I went to my favorite recipe hunting ground - recipezaar and found one that looked good.

Ingredients

Cake
1 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

Streusel
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened

Combine the blueberries and 2 T flour;
toss gently and set aside.

Combine 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups flour,
2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 cup sugar
and 3/4 cup milk in a large bowl.

Beat 2 minutes at medium speed with an electric mixer.

Add egg; beat one minute.

Fold in blueberries.

Spread batter evenly in a greased and floured 9-inch square pan.

Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl;

cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Spread this mixture over the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Slow Cooker Frijoles a la Charra

I made these for Aaron's birthday to go with some chicken enchiladas I was making. These were really easy and the flavor was really complex. There was a lot going on. It was kind of smoky and spicy. They were good. A lot of prep work, but really not a lot to do once it was all in the pot.

Ingredients
1 pound dry pinto beans
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 (3.5 ounce) can sliced jalapeno peppers
1 (12 fluid ounce) can beer
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro


Place pinto beans in a slow cooker, and completely cover with water.

Mix in garlic and salt. Cover, and cook 1 hour on High.

Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium high heat until evenly brown, but still tender.

Drain about half the fat. Place onion in the skillet, and cook until tender.

Mix in tomatoes and jalapenos, and cook until heated through.

Transfer to the slow cooker, stirring into the beans.

Cover slow cooker, and continue cooking 4 hours on Low.

Mix in the beer and cilantro about 30 minutes before the end of the cook time.

Tasty Trader Joe's Lunch

We went to Trader Joe's yesterday and I was excited that we were actually on our way home, so we could get some things from the refridgerated section and freezer section. I picked up some Thai Shrimp Gyoza and edamame. I made some up for a quick lunch and it was really good. Especially since it was ready in only 8 minutes.

I love fruit stands

Local fruit stands are all over around where I live. There is one not too far from where I live, but we hardly ever go by it because its more towards the country. Its called the Fruit Bowl. They have gelato and a restaurant. However the fruit is really good there. You can buy it by the flat or the bucket.
We were driving by on the way back from lunch at one of our favorite country restaurants and decided to stop.

We picked up the best cataloupe for only $1.50. Yum!

Do you shop local farmers markets/fruit stands? You should definetly give it a try.

Simple Tangy Steak Marinade

Let me show you one of my favorite marinades for steak

Lets start with two juicy steaks

Add the juice of 1 lemon



Lots of crushed peppercorns



and lots of garlic put through a garlic press.. lots of garlic



It doesn't need long to marinade because of the lemon juice maybe 30 - 45 minutes

Grill and serve

Yummy!

Slow Cooker Barbeque Shredded Beef

Sometimes you need something you can just throw in the slow cooker and know it will be good. I was a little worried about making this because of the root beer. I've never really cooked with soda before so I was a little uneasy about the outcome.

It was good. It gave the meat a little sweetness. It definetly made it easy to shred. The only thing was as it cooked down, I didnt have more to add, so I just added water. Which was fine. It might have been sweeter if I had more - but i actually thought this came out just fine.

My husband actually ate his whole sandwich and half of mine. Then took the rest to work the next day for lunch. I guess he liked it.

Ingredients
1 pot roast (whatever size you want)
1 can of root beer (we used a 20 ounce bottle)
salt and pepper
1 bottle of barbeque sauce (whatever kind you like - we like sweet baby rays)

1. Turn the crockpot on low and put the pot roast in
2. salt and pepper the meat
3. add the bottle of root beer
4. cover and let cook for 7.5 hours on low
5. drain the pot roast
6. put back in slow cooker
7. Add bottle of barbeque sauce and let simmer for 30 minutes
8. dish up and serve. We ate ours on buns - but however you like it is fine

Trader Joe's Product Rave: Trader Ming's Soyaki Marinade

I've been eyeing this for weeks at the store. It looks so good with the sesame seeds floating in it. You can see the ginger too. It has to be good...

and it is. Its not that sweet. For sweetness, I guess you would have to go for Island Soyaki which has the additional of Pineapple Juice. I almost got that one instead but I thought it might be too sweet. I think the soy sauce cuts the sweetness that traditional teriyaki sauces have. The addition of the ginger was really good.

I marinaded chicken in it for about an hour, grilled it up and served it with white rice and voila a quick and easy meal.

Corn Quesadillas

If you read my blog you know that we love mexican food. So when I saw this on a menu at a restaurant I knew it was something I wanted to try to duplicate at home.

It really couldn't be simplier and its really tasty. Its nice to have a veggie option that my husband will eat. I think the sweetness of the corn and the creaminess of the cheese really made this something I would make again.

I love new twists on old favorites.

Ingredients
1 large flour tortilla

kernel corn off the cob
1 handful of cilantro

diced tomatoes

black beans

diced red peppers

diced jalepenos

diced onions

monterey jack cheese

butter

1. butter one side of a tortilla and place in a non stick pan over medium heat

2. add cheese and allow to melt a bit
3. Add corn, cilantro, red peppers, jalepenos, and onions.

4. fold over and serve with black bean salsa

Sugar Cookies

Super Soft Sugar Cookies

I got this recipe from the Crisco container. I was really surprised how soft and moist they turned out. I don't really cook with Crisco a lot. Some of my cookies have came out a little flat, so I decided to give crisco a try. I think they came out perfect.

Definetly something I would make again.

Crisco Recipe

1/2 c. Butter flavored Crisco
1 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk

Cream Crisco, sugar, egg and extract.
Add combined dry ingredients alternately with milk.
Chill 1 hour.

Roll into balls and flatten onto a cookie sheet

Bake at 400 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes