Guest Posters!

Stay tuned everyone, I'm going to have a friend of mine, Sundeep, my "brown twin" post a few things here. She's gorgeous, can cook like crazy and is TOTALLY awesome, of course.





If you would like to do a guest post on my blog, please let me know- we can make it happen!

I'm Gettin' Stabby O'er Here!

Don't say anything about my hair or lack of make-up, I'm knocked up and lazy, ok?

Anyway, I come home from visiting a neighbor today and notice fresh footprints in the snow, leading to my front door. Curious, I go in through the garage, as I usually do, and head to the front door.

I totally expected to see a business card or note on the door, selling tree cutting or snow plow services. I get about 3 per week. Those of you who have been to my house, know about the giant dead tree in my front yard. Ha. But no, instead, there is a brown box on the porch. What's in it?

THIS!

YAAAAAAAAY!

I stumbled upon the Daily Deal at housewaredeals.com through slickdeals about 30 minutes before the deal was over. Thank you insomnia! I got this beautiful set of 14 knives, kitchen shears and the wood block for $40.95 SHIPPED! I think that's a pretty good deal...don't tell me if it's not. Ignorance is bliss, k?

I look a tad scary here. Hopefully, this'll never make it into the news. EEK.

So- here it is, in all of it's sharp, stabby, metal glory in it's purdy little wood block stand. I'm in love. LOVE I TELL YOU! Love. I've been using hand-me-downs and cheap knives (except for my cook for the cure santoku knife- my favorite) from the Omaha Steak Company. Ha.

This is my KitchenAid corner.

Pizza! Pizza!

I'd much rather have homemade pizza over frozen, and really- most delivery places. This way, I know exactly what goes into making it. I mean, COME ON! Look at that beautiful thing...right above this. Awesome.

Now, Mikey grew up with his mom making pizza like, every Friday night. It's good, but she doesn't seem to understand, or want to understand the concept of more cheese, less sauce...but that's my preference.

So, you'll need the following for each pizza:

• Dough
• marinara sauce (we like Barilla marinara or tomato & basil)
• cheese (we use Sargento Mozzarella & Provolone-about 1 bag per lg pizza)
• toppings : pepperoni, baby 'bella mushrooms, onion, green pepper, sausage, chicken, olives, pineapple, ham...whatever you like!
• garlic salt seasoning

To build your pizza:

Stretch dough over pizza pan or stone. Top with marinara sauce- as much or little as you like. Be careful not to put the sauce all the way to the edge, leave a little dough to raise as the crust.

Top with your desired amount of cheese, again, leaving the edge clear to raise as the crust. Then, add your desired toppings.

We like sesame seeds around the crust edge, so if you'd like that, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, etc., brush the crust edges with olive oil or butter and sprinkle with desired crust flavoring. We also like a bit of garlic salt sprinkled all over the entire pizza. Soooo delicious! Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese and crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

NOM NOM NOM!

So- how do YOU top your pizza?

Black Bottom Banana Bars.

My husband generally eats bananas like they're becoming extinct. However, the last few times I've bought them, he hasn't. Perhaps my pregnancy hormones are changing his eating habits. (See picture at right, lolsies)

Anyway, I've had 5 bananas looking like the ones described in the Grinch (You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel) icky! I don't like bad bananas, or how they smell.

Today, I finally decided to get them off of the shelf and turn them into something yummy and delicious! Thanks to Food.com's (formerly recipezaar.com) recipe for Black Bottom Banana Bars for helping me to get rid of those nasty bananas!

I decided not to change or alter the recipe in anyway- other than to add chocolate chips to the top and so far so good. I just took them out of the oven and OH MAN do they ever smell delicious! I can't wait until they cool and I can eat the shit out of them. **UPDATE- I just ate a little - surprised that I stopped myself from eating the whole pan, aren't you? Bastards. Anyway they're effing scrumptious. **

Photo courtesy of Derf, from Food.com, since mine didn't turn out nearly as thick as theirs!

Here's the recipe!

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup baking cocoa

I also topped with a hand full of chocolate chips to make it look a little prettier (ok fine, I did change the recipe just a bit, but I don't think this counts!)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined. Blend in the bananas. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide batter in half. Add cocoa to half; spread into a greased 13-in x 9-in pan. (I think this is too large a pan, mine turned out really thin) Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl with a knife. (This also didn't turn out well, it didn't look like when you swirl a brownie batter with cream cheese, etc.) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the bars test done. Cool and enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

My Cheesy Obsession: Cheesy Potatoes

This is my aunt's recipe. I'm not sure where she got it. The fact that it came from my estranged aunt only subtracts slightly from the SUPER DELICIOUSNESS that is...CHEEEEEEESSSSYYYYY POTATOESSS!

2 lb. package frozen OreIda hash brown potatoes ("Southern Style", not shredded), thawed
1/4 c diced onion
1 can cream of chicken soup - undiluted
1 lb sour cream
4 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
8 oz cheddar cheese, keep some aside for topping (amount is up to you)
dash ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for one hour. Top with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes more. Remove from oven and serve! nom nom nom

Texas Hash!

This dish sounded absolutely disgusting to me until I gave in and finally tried it. Mikey's mom used to make it all the time and he begged for over a year before I caved.

1 lb ground beef
3 lg onions, chopped
1 lg green pepper, chopped
1 can (16 oz) whole tomatoes (I like to use Diced Tomatoes w/Mild Green Chilies, add 1/4 can extra water)
1/2 c uncooked reg. rice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder, heaping
1/8 tsp pepper
Garnish however you'd like. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cilantro and cheese.

Cook and stir ground beef, onions and green pepper in 10 in skillet until beef is browned; drain. Stir in tomatoes (with liquid) and remaining ingredients.Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer; stirring occasionally until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed- about 30 minutes.

** For a family of 5, double all ingred. except ground beef. <3>

"Everything" Chicken

I'm tired of oven fried, marinated grilled and gravy smothered chicken. Tonight, I needed something new, so I searched food.com and found this. I love making bagels, especially everything bagels so I thought these sounded scrumptious! It took less than 30 minutes from start to finish and is definitely a keeper (duh, I'm not adding it to the blog for no reason)

Of course, I don't measure anything, so I'll give you the measurements that were given on food.com.

3 tablespoons instant minced onion
3 tablespoons garlic flakes
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 tablespoons black pepper (they called for 2 tbsp)
1 tablespoons coarse salt or 1 tablespoons sea salt (they called for 2 tbsp)
1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Preheat oven to 375 f. In a bowl (I used a ziplock bag) drizzle the tenders with olive oil, coating completely. Mix all other ingredients to create the seed mixture in a separate bowl. Dip each tender into the seed mixture, making sure to coat completely. Place on an ungreased baking pan. Once all chicken tenders are covered, bake for 10-15 minutes, or until juices run clear. Enjoy!