03-25-2015

Weekend Recap [New Hampshire]

Last weekend Josiah & I flew to New Hampshire to visit some of my family. It was a short trip (Friday-Sunday) and I had some worries about weather delays but we made it and had a great time! I only wish it had been longer! It was much colder than it is here in Texas and so I don’t know if we were prepared for that!

On Saturday we had lunch at Portsmouth Gas Light. It was absolutely delicious! I had chicken pot pie. This started my weekend of lots of eating! Wait, I lied. I had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast! And I may have also drank plenty of Moxie while I was there. It has always been a drink my grandfather has drank and I just couldn’t help myself!

We then walked around downtown Portsmouth. It is so crazy to think how old some of these buildings are when in Tennessee and Texas they are a lot newer! Some of these ones go back to the 1600s!

We drove along the coast and even though it was absolutely freezing it was so incredibly beautiful. And I love the smell of the seacoast!

I was so happy that we were able to spend time with family. My grandparents are absolutely wonderful and I pray they can make it to the wedding!

I also got to spend time with my cousins and I cannot wait to see them in a few months! For dinner we had chicken tenders which are famous from The Backroom. They were delicious. I may of had another can of Moxie and we had homemade angel cake for dessert.

On Sunday morning we had more eating at Chez Vachon. Oh my goodness was that apple crepe absolutely amazing! Apparently this restaurant is a big stop on presidential tours before elections and I see why! You have to go at a certain time and we got there right in time as just a little bit after us there was a line out the door. And with the cold, that must not have been fun!

Then we had a four hour layover in Baltimore, MD and we did something I have never done. We left the airport and went to the Pier! We took a taxi from the airport and on the way back we took an Uber. Really because we have never taken an Uber and thought it would be fun. We still made it back to the airport in plenty of time to get through security and then for our four hour flight! ugh!

We made it back to Texas after a whirlwind weekend to 75 degrees and sunshine. Now I feel like I need to eat really well this week to make up for this weekend!

Filed Under: Travel, Weekend Recap Tagged With: food, new hampshire, texas, travel

01-29-2015

Delicious Brussel Sprouts

I am not a fan of brussel sprouts, at all. But I have found a way to cook them where I actually enjoy eating them.

Brussel sprouts are a super healthy food. They can do so much to help your body. But in my opinion, they have a weird name (which makes things hard to eat!) and unless you prepare them in a delicious way, I do not like how they taste. I stumbled upon this delicious recipe from Food Network.

It is super easy to prepare using olive oil, salt and pepper. You place them in the oven and let them cook. They taste amazing when they are done. Sometimes I will grate some parmesan cheese over them just to give them an added oomph.

So, if you want a super healthy vegetable that you didn’t know you liked. Try this recipe! I am pretty sure you will discover you like them like I did

Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: food, vegetables

07-03-2014

Red, White ‘n’ Blue Salad

This is probably, hands down, my favorite dessert. My mom has made it for years for holidays (changing up the colors for Christmas etc.) and this is my first time attempting to make it myself. I doubled the batch because 1. there will be a lot of people and 2. I absolutely love it and wanted to make sure I had some for me. My major issue was the colors ran on two of the batches. You can see some white in the red in the bowl. I am going to cover it with cool whip and then you won’t be able to see that. I do have another container I used and that one ran a little more… oops! I did make sure that the layer underneath felt solid and cured, but I guess it even has to be cured more. It says about an hour between layers but I would wait a little longer.

The recipe is here from Taste of Home. It is a really simple recipe to follow and looks amazing. You can do it without the blue berries/ raspberries if you want and you can do it with Strawberry jello instead of Raspberry.

Prep Time: 30+ Minutes + Chilling // Serves: 14-16

Supplies Needed:

3 oz Berry Blue Gelatin
3 oz Raspberry Gelatin
1 Envelope unflavored Gelatin
2 Cups Boiling Water, divided
2.5 Cups Cold Water, divided
1 Cup Fresh Blueberries
1 Cup Fresh Raspberries
1 Cup heavy Whipping Cream
6 Tbl Sugar
2 Cups (16oz) Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Any additional Whipped Toppings or Berries

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve berry blue gelatin in 1 cup boiling water; stir in 1 cup cold water. Add blueberries. Pour into a 3-qt. serving bowl. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, sprinkle unflavored gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water; let stand for 1 minute. Add the cream and sugar; cook and stir over low heat until gelatin and sugar are completely dissolved. cool to room temperature. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla. Spoon over the blue layer. Refrigerate until firm.

3. In a large bowl, dissolve raspberry gelatin in remaining hot water; stir in remaining cold water. Add raspberries. Spoon over cream layer. Chill until set. Garnish with whipped topping and additional berries if desired.

Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: food, holiday, recipe

06-07-2014

Tastiest Lasagna [Recipe]

I have grown up eating Italian food as my grandmother is full Italian and my mom is half. It creates for some amazing cooks and some wonderful Italian food. Whenever someone in the neighborhood was sick or needed food Mom was the first one who offered to bring dinner and 9 times out of 10 she made lasagna for the neighbors. I have started making the same lasagna when I am making meals for people. It is a perfect meal to make for families because I can cook it and freeze it and then bring it to them. They can keep it frozen if they want and heat up piece by piece or cook the entire lasagna at one time. You can also half the recipe for smaller lasagna as this makes a large amount.

Ingredients

1 lb. lasagna noodles (the kind you boil)
2 lbs ricotta cheese
2 eggs
16 oz mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on top)
64 oz jar favorite pasta sauce

*Most of the time when I make this I 1/2 it. This recipe makes A LOT.

Directions

*Preheat over to 350 degrees

Boil noodles in salted water until just above soft and then Drain.
While noodles are boiling, mix the ricotta cheese and eggs until they are smooth.
Add most of the mozzarella cheese and mix that up.
Take your pan and put sauce in the bottom.
Place three noodles across the bottom of pan.
Spread some of the ricotta mixture along top of the noodles.
Add some sauce and spread that over the ricotta.

Then layer with three more noodles.
Then add more ricotta over next noodles.
Then add more sauce.
Repeat till you end with three noodles.
Top that with more sauce and sprinkle with remaining parmesan and mozzarella.
Bake at 350 covered with foil for about an hour.
Take off foil and bake for 15 more minutes.
Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: dinner, food, recipe