Jalapeno Poppers

I recently bought a bag of jalapenos for a dollar and so I decided to make some jalapeno poppers even though I don't ever recall ever eating any jalapeno poppers before. I mixed a few of my favorite ingredients together, stuffed the jalapenos, and then once the poppers were cooked I wrapped them in a tortilla like a taco with some leftover carne asada and grilled veggies, pretty tasty.

Ingredients:
10 jalapenos, seeded
1 tbsp. jalapeno seeds
1 cup of cream cheese (1/2 pound), softened
1/2 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup Mexican cheese mix, shredded
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

1. Cut off the stems of each jalapeno and use a small spoon, I used a 1/8th teaspoon spoon, to spoon out the seeds and the insides of the jalapeno while keeping the body of the jalapeno intact. Make sure you save about a tablespoon worth of seeds on the side.
2. In a bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients: seeds, cream cheese, cilantro, cheese mix, cajun seasoning, and garlic salt. Mix together until evenly blended.
3. Use the same small spoon from earlier and stuff each jalapeno with the cream cheese mixture.
4. Place the jalapenos on a grill safe sheet and stick on the grill until the outside of the jalapenos are a tad wilted.
5. Remove from heat and serve immediately as an appetizer by themselves or wrap them in a tortilla along with some taco fixings to make Jalapeno Popper Tacos. Enjoy!

Nick's Steak and Chicken Kabobs

We just got a brand new grill and so we had our first grilled meal today, nothing is better to start off with than Nick's steak and chicken kabobs. They turned out wonderful.

Nick uses a mixture of soy sauce, worchestire, powdered ginger, powdered yellow mustard, garlic salt, and some Makers Mark whisky as a strong and tasty marinade for these steak and chicken kabobs. We paired the meat with red onions, and some orange and red bell peppers. As a side we had some white rice with Peruvian Aji Sauce and some fresh baked rolls (thanks to Megan). Go ahead and try it out for yourself and Enjoy!

Mudd Run

Sorry I have not been posting much lately. Nick and I have been quite busy with work, family trips, and packing to move. Either way, we did find time to participate in a Mud Run a week ago, the same weekend we were moving to our new apartment, we had a blast and it added some fun (and some extra exhaustion) to our moving weekend.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

One of my favorites in our household is to make some homemade BBQ chicken Pizza, I have simplified it and it has become a quick and easy dish that also tastes delicious. Give it try, I believe you will be impressed.


Pizza Crust-

Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup what flour
  
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• pepper to taste

Ingredients:

1 cup of your most favorite BBQ sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1 red onion, sliced and grilled in butter until tender
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 can of chicken, drained

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flours, salt, oil, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan. Place in oven and bake dough for 7 minutes.
   
4. Remove dough from oven and top with BBq sauce, cheese, grilled onions, cilantro, and chicken.
   
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Meatballs

Alright so I love to make spaghetti and more times than not I use spicy Italian sausage as the accompaniment. Well this time around I decided to opt for some homemade meatballs. The meatballs I came up with were absolutely delicious and my friends who are not red meat lovers, loved them too.

Recipe:

Makes approximately 30 meatballs

Ingredients:
2 pounds extra lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:
1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. Place all the ingredients, minus the beef, in a mixing bowl. Mix everything together until the mix looks evenly blended. Then add the ground beef and mix everything together until beef is evenly coated. Then form 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Serve meatballs with your favorite spaghetti recipe and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Meatball-Nirvana/Detail.aspx

No Doubt

Ok, don't make fun of me but I feel like it is about time I made a quick mention on my blog about how much I love the band No Doubt. I don't want to sound like a crazy but I just had to mention how I have been a fan of No Doubt and their music since the early 90's. I have gone to over 6 of their concerts and to more than 3 Gwen Stefani concerts. There is something about their music that just makes me giddy and I love it. Plus from what I know about the people in the group, Gwen, Tom, Tony, Adrian, Gabe, and Stephen; they are such amazing, wonderful, and super talented and creative people. I really do look up to them and Gwen (well she is a female like me) and I am just so proud of how they have evolved over time, how they've stuck together through good times and bad, and how they have stayed out of the drama that exists as a musician in the pop world. SO yes, this is my small but huge tribute to No Doubt. I hope someday to meet and perhaps hang out with all of the members of No Doubt and maybe cook them one of my recipes :)


Anywho, the reason I decided to include this on my blog today is because I follow No Doubt on twitter (No Doubt is actually the only reason I am even on twitter) and they responded directly to me and so it made me feel really special. So yeah, I felt the need to pay tribute here :) Thanks for listening.

Falafel

For the Fourth of July, my friends and I decided to cook Mediterranean instead of the usual burgers and hot dogs. With that being said, I decided to make falafel. This is my first ever attempt and for some dumb reason I decided to triple the recipe; and as you can see by my pictures I ended up with way too many. That was a bad choice on my part. But, other than that and besides the fact they ended up being miss-shaped, they tasted very good, especially when served along with hummus, pita, and cucumber salad. Good thing my husband and I liked it, because we will be eating falafel for the next week :)

Ingredients:
1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Directions:

1.Place dried chickpeas in a bowl, covering with cold water. Allow to soak overnight. Omit this step if using canned beans.
2. Drain chickpeas, and place in pan with fresh water, and bring to a boil.
3. Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low for about an hour.
4. Drain and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
5. Combine chickpeas, garlic, onion, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper (to taste) in medium bowl. Add flour. If mixture is too moist, keep adding flour until it becomes somewhat form-able.
6. Mash chickpeas, ensuring to mix ingredients together. You can also combine ingredients in a food processor. You want the result to be a thick paste.
7. Form the mixture into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Slightly flatten.
8. Fry in 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown (5-7 minutes).

Serve hot. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from: http://mideastfood.about.com/od/maindishes/r/falafelrecipe.htm

Mint Brownies

My co-worker Angela introduced these to me and I just had to make them for the fourth of July. They are super delicious and if you love mint then you will love these.

Ingredients:

Brownies
Brownie mix (a mix that will fill a 9 by 13 pan). I used two bags from the Ghiradelli triple chocolate brownie mix from Costco. yumm.

Mint Layer
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Prepare brownies as instructed on brownie mix box. Cool completely, maybe refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. To prepare mint layer, combine the powdered sugar and the melted butter in a medium bowl; stir together with a whisk or a mixer until well blended. Then add milk, peppermint, and food coloring and mix well until the mixture becomes smooth, green, and frosting-like in texture. Spread mint mixture over cooled brownies.

3. To prepare the glaze, combine the chocolate chips and the butter in a medium microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high in 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds until melted (about 1 minute total). Let stand for 2 minutes. Spread chocolate mixture over top of mint. Cover and refrigerate until 20 minutes before serving, so that cutting goes smoothly. ENJOY!