Brown Butter, Mushroom, and Onion Risotto w/Lobster

 We won a live lobster in a game of white elephant, which was hilarious! So I decided to cook it and turn it into a meal. It was a little tricky to get all the meat we could out of such a small lobster, but Nick managed to get a lot. So we decided to turn it into a lobster risotto. The outcome was delicious and we really enjoyed this type of risotto.

Christmas Gifts For Liz's Livelihood

This Christmas was great! As you can see in the picture above, I am very blessed and I received some really nice cooking gear and food stuffs that I will now be able to use to for my blog. My husband got me a mini photo studio which, along with my new camera, will be able to create a perfect scenario for me to take some amazing food pics that will make you wish you were eating at my house. Not only that, but my hubby pitched in with his brothers to buy me my very own Le Creuset French Oven, woot woot. The Dutch oven I had before was all cast iron and it did not age well, it began to rust and leave behind black specs in our food, at least I can say that that problem is now taken care of. I also received some great cooking items from Joel and Judith, they gifted me double-Dutch dark cocoa powder, espresso powder, Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract, Fiori di Sicilia (a combination of citrus and vanilla with a pleasingly floral aroma), and Vietnamese cinnamon from King Arthur Flour. These are some very exciting ingredients from a legit flour company and so I am super excited to use them, plus they gave me a 3-Quart mixing bowl for my KitchenAid Mixer so I am all set to mix up some smaller batter. Lastly, my co-worker Christina gave me some flavored olive oil from her own Nudo olive tree in Italy, she received them as a gift but she is unable to eat olive oil and she knew exactly who to give them to...me. The three flavors are great: chili, lemon, and mandarin...I can't wait to do some cooking and to share it all with you soon! And thanks to all those who gifted me these great gifts and thanks to God for my wonderful life!

Merry Christmas 2011

 Merry Christmas! This is my most favorite time of the year, I love all that it entails: the decor, the lights, giving gifts, spending time with friends and family, the food, the music, and remembering the reason we are all here, Jesus!

Our décor

 

Our village

Peppermint Brownie Cookie Surprise

I wanted to make something extreme for the holidays and so I came up with the idea to create this all peppermint surprise. My friend Megan once made this crazy dessert that had a layer of cookie dough, then a layer of Oreos, topped with a layer of brownies. It was absolutely amazing so when I decided to make something peppermint for the holiday season, I decided to create a version of that other dessert. This was so good and yet so intense that all you need is one square to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Chocolate Rice Crispy Treats

Even though I made tons of cookies on Monday for my co-workers, I managed to forget to put some aside for Nick's Co-workers. I wanted to make something different and I decided to make rice crispy treats. To make them fancier I created this chocolate coffee liqueur version, they turned out delicious and rich in flavor. I highly recommend these yummy treats. 

Christmas Cookie 2011

The past 4 years I have baked cookies for my co-workers for Christmas. The first and second year I baked chocolate chip cookies, last year I baked coffee liqueur chocolate chip cookies, and this year I baked chocolate peppermint cookies. I baked over 144 cookies on Monday, I felt like I was baking for an army, they all turned out great and I had plenty for everyone at my work, good times. 

Maple Teriyaki Salmon

 

I wanted to make teriyaki salmon tonight and I found this interesting recipe using apple juice and maple syrup instead of the normal pineapple juice. It turned out great and tasty. 

Creamed Corn

Ok, I'm finally posting, yay. I made this for Thanksgiving. This is one of my most favorite sides on Thanksgiving. My Aunt usually makes it every year but this year we celebrated with Nick's family, hence I made my own. I found this recipe online and it turned out perfect and it made for a great accompaniment to our turkey. 

Winners Circle

Hello Everyone, I know it's been awhile. No worries though, I'm just about finished with my Christmas shopping and with my extension classes, so hopefully I will be posting some awesome new recipes soon. I just had to pop in here quickly to mention to you all that my recipe for Triple Orange Chocolate Cake Balls has made it into the winners gallery on the Better Recipes Contest Website. I have been entering their contests on and off for the last year and I have finally made it to the next round, if you click HERE and follow the link and scroll down to the winners gallery, you'll see my post. I haven't been contacted yet and so I do not know if I won the $250 giftcard but I should find out soon, it seems that my recipe tied with another for the winning recipe in the dessert category, so I have about a 50/50 chance to win. Yay! So here's to hoping I make it to the next round. Thanks for all for the support and I promise to post soon.