New Zealand

Before I get into New Zealand, I must let you know that I took over 2,500 pictures overall and so it has taken a lot of time and effort on my part to pick out which photos are worthy of being shared and so I hope you appreciate them and that you get a feel for what it was like in Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti. I also forgot to mention before that Australia was great! It was beautiful and everyone there was so friendly. The downside was that it was HOT and HUMID, very very humid but, we handled it. Not only that, but it was expensive. We heard people say that Australia is 50% more expensive than New York and I sure do believe it. An average cup of Joe would set you back about $6 AUD, around $7 American! Ridiculous, we did well though by packing our lunches and eating in China Town, Thai Town, and Little India. Overall, Australia was wonderful and we are all satisfied with our trip to Australia and don't feel the need to return in the future.

Now onto New Zealand, New Zealand was gorgeous! It had every scenery possible: tropical rainforests, beaches, farmlands, and mountainous lands. It was a lot cooler than Australia, still humid, but in the 70's rather than the 80's and 90's, we actually had to wear sweaters at night. We only toured the North island and it was amazing but everyone we met said that the South island is better, which we can't even imagine since the North island was so great as it was. We all loved New Zealand and we agreed that we must return to New Zealand to see the South island in the future. So here is New Zealand:

Australia

Hello everyone, I know it has been awhile. This time I have a great excuse. Nick and I went on vacation with our friend Megan to Australia, New Zealand, and French Polynesia (Tahiti and Moorea). Check out the pictures below for a quick recap of our awesome 16 day trip, starting with Australia.

 Sydney, Australia

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

 I love chocolate and peanut butter together, but Nick does not. Nick was out of town the other night so I decided to make some peanut butter chocolate cookies since I never have before. They turned out absolutely delicious.

Cilantro Breaded Tilapia Fish Tacos

The other night I wanted to make fish tacos, but not just any normal fish tacos, I wanted to mix it up, make them fancy. I created this recipe on a whim and the end result was amazing. The Panko and cilantro were a perfect combination, the cooked fish was so good on its own that I almost forgot to turn it into a taco. 

Another One Bites The Dust...

I can now say that I have finished my second half marathon. This past Sunday, my friend and I completed the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach. We did better this year even though I have a small case of bronchitis at the moment, lucky me. But, we ran the whole way and even managed to shave 5 minutes off of our previous time. It was crazy too because we had to walk 2 miles to and from the car to the race, so all in all we actually went 17 miles that morning, fun! I am so happy it is done but I am looking forward to the Hot Chocolate 15K I am doing in March. I gotta keep burning them calories so that I can eat all this food I post for you all. Speaking of, I'm so sorry that I have been slacking lately. I have been extremely busy with extension classes, training, work, and life. I haven't forgotten about this blog of mine, I just have less and less time to devote to it. No worries, here I am and I promise I will post a couple of great recipes this week that I hope you'll enjoy. 

Orange Marmalade Pork Chops

So I have some orange marmalade in my fridge that I love to use on toast, but for some reason I thought to myself that the orange marmalade could make a great sauce for pork. I have eaten cranberry, pineapple, and the ever so famous apple pork, but never orange. I did some research online to help me come up with a recipe. The recipe below is what I came up with and I have to say that I really impressed myself, who knew orange and red onion could taste so good together. Plus, the resulting onion and orange marmalade sauce tasted great mixed in with the cous cous I served as a side. 

Pretzel Crusted Brownies

I love the combination of salty and sweet, especially in the form of chocolate covered pretzels. I wanted to get that combination into a brownie format, so it was perfect when I found this recipe online. I decided to make these for some friends and they were a hit. 

They are a perfect combination of sweet and savory.

Jambalaya

My wonderful husband made us dinner the other night, he decided to make Jambalaya with my new Le Creuset. This recipe turned out so delicious and it was fairly easy to do. Nick did a great job! 

Italian Dip Pasta With Breaded Chicken

I had some leftover Italian dip from new years that is composed of cream cheese, basil pesto, and topped with sundried tomato bits. It is one of mine and Nicks favorite and so I decided to turn it into a pasta sauce. The resulting sauce turned out really tasty and since it was so easy to make it was even better. I will definitely do this again. 

 

Crescent Roll Breakfast Sandwiches

I bought some Pillsbury crescent rolls the other day, something I never do. I decided to make them for brunch but instead of making them plain, I thought it would be fun to make them into a meal by turning them into a sort of breakfast sandwich. The result was pretty tasty. 

Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year Everyone! 

I have a feeling 2012 will be a big year, a year for changes and new adventures, I can't wait!

God bless you!

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.