Pesto Salmon

Now that we are in the Season of Lent, Fish dishes are definitely I want to see more of. I know that there are tons of ways of preparing fish but I want something that is going to be good! G.O.O.D!

I saw this recipe for Salmon Packets and thought how could I take it up a notch. I remembered seeing on Rachel Ray's Week in a Day (on Cooking Channel!) that she had buttered and roasted some panko and put it on top of Mac and Cheese. Well, dear ones. I am a Southern Girl through and through. 

(Just ask my brother-in-law David, who lives in New York. I told him yesterday that my Southern Belle butt does not cross the Mason Dixon line- I then told my husband this and he said well It's not true you've been up north before just not to see him-- which we definitely should do, because we haven't seen them since we got married 4 years ago!) Which means that Mac and Cheese doesn't get a topping on it!

We LOVED this dish and I think it would good with chicken as well!

Baked Pesto Salmon

recipe adapted from this recipe at Kalyn's Kitchen

Per Person you are serving:

1 tsp. Olive Oil

1 Salmon Filet

1 tsp. Pesto (I found some at Aldi)

1 Roma tomato

3 tsp. Panko

1 tsp. butter, melted

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Take the Salmon Filet and season with salt and pepper.
3. Top Salmon with Pesto.
4. Cut tomato into slices and place on top of Salmon.
5. Mix together Panko and melted butter.
6. Place Panko mixture on top of Salmon
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes until fish is to desired temperature. (I say this because someone people like their fish more done than others do. When you press on it, it should bounce back!)
8. Enjoy!

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

My sister loves all things cake batter. I saw this pop up on my Pinterest and knew I had to make it soon. Luckily, I had all the ingredients and easily whipped it up yesterday!

It was just as good as eating cake batter (Don't judge!- you probably do it too!) but without the oil and eggs! My sister and I kept pulling cookies out of the cabinet to see which ones tasted best with it! My vote was vanilla wafers and her vote was for iced oatmeal cookies.

Funfetti Cake Batter Dip

recipe adapted from this recipe at Little Bitty Bakes

3 tbsp. Funfetti cake mix

2 tbsp. plain yogurt

1 tbsp. cool whip (or whipped cream)

1. Stir cake mix and yogurt until smooth.  
2. Fold in cool whip. 
3. Refrigerate until serving.
4. Serve with fruit, vanilla wafers, or animal crackers. 

Weekly Menu Plan

We have lots of great things happening in this house right now! Roger is preparing for  Riverbend plus lots of banquets for the restaurant and I am preparing for a new job!!! I am currently driving over 50 miles daily back and forth to work and now have a job closer to home! I start in a few weeks but will be in training in Birmingham for the first two weeks of the new job! This makes me happy that we made the decision to move back home so now we have the support system to help us!

No particular order again this week! We get Cameron at the end of the week and his Spring Break is next week too!

Stove Top Broccoli Chicken and Cheese

Breakfast for Dinner

Hot Dogs (For Coley- we didn't have them last week)-- will grill out Hamburgers that Roger got as a sample for the adults :)

Lazy Sunday Casserole

Friday-- We get Cameron and he will probably want Mooyah Burgers

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Ah, yes. Another lemon cookie. But totally different from the one the other day!

These cookies were another fabulous lemon treat that didn't last very long in this house!

I wish that I could describe all the delicious lemony goodness that these cookies exuded. They were better than a lemon cookie that you would get at the store and literally melted in your mouth!

I think they would be great as a key lime cookie as well!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

recipe adapted from this recipe at Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:

½ cup Butter, Softened
1 cup Sugar
½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 egg
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
¼ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
⅛ teaspoon Baking Soda
1-½ cups All-purpose Flour
½ cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Spray baking sheets with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 
4. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. 
5. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. 
6. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. 
7. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar.
8.  Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
9. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown.
10.  Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
11. Enjoy!

Ham-n-Goody's Lemon Cookies

Once upon a time, there was this little sandwich shop called Ham-N-Goody's and they had the BEST cookies in the whole wide world. 

They were about a mile from my house and on my way home from school after picking up my sister from school we would stop and pick up these delicious cookies.

While these didn't quite match the ones we remembered, they were still pretty good! Ham-n-Goody's had two cookies that they were famous for, Lemon and Almond. They no longer even make the almond. Boo. This was one of the first things I think I ever pinned on Pinterest and I had totally forgot about them until my Lemon hankering decided to take over!

I didn't make the cookies thick enough and I think that was my problem but they were still good cookies!

Don't forget about my Blogiversary giveaway!! It ends Saturday!!

Lemon Iced Cookies from Ham-n-Goody's

recipe adapted from this recipe at Group Recipes

• 3 cups all purpose flourshopping list
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice plus 2 tbsp. for glaze
• 1 1/4 c confectioners sugar

• Directions:

1. Sift flour, baking powder and soda into large bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar.
3. Gradually add dry ingredients and lemon juice to sugar mixture.
4. Chill dough 1 hour.
5. On floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/8-inch thickness.
6. Cut cookies out.
7. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes.

• Glaze
• Mix sugar and lemon juice together.

Meyer Lemon Gelato

 My Grammie's 94th birthday would have been today!

I like to think that she is looking down on all of us and thinking about us and still praying for us just like she did when she was here on earth. 

My Grammie LOVED all things lemon and I know that she would loved this Lemon Gelato. Even though it seems very simple it has a very complex flavor which makes it seem more like Gelato instead of Ice Cream. It also lets me knock something else off of that 30 by 30 list!

Even though Meyer Lemons may be hard to find I am very glad I finally got to try them! At first, I was skeptical of them because the zest didn't smell very appealing but the juice definitely saved the day! I found a 3 pound clam shell of them at Sam's Club just around $3!

Meyer Lemon Gelato 

adapted from Prevention RD who adapted from Ask Chef Dennis

1 cup Meyer lemon juice (about 6-7 lemons)
zest from one Meyer lemon
1 cup sugar
2 cups half and half
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Using a micro plane or a very fine grater, zest one Meyer lemon.
2. Cut lemons in half and juice them. (You will need to strain the juice to discard of seeds.)
3. Add the half and half, lemon juice, zest, sugar, and salt together and using a wire whisk, mixing until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer’s instruction (about 20-30 minutes). 
5. Transfer gelato to a container to freeze until served.

Lemon Pudding Cake- Secret Recipe Club

This month's Secret Recipe Club sent me to check out Lynne's blog at 365 Day of Baking. Lynne is a much braver woman than I am because I don't think I could commit to posting and baking through an entire year! She recently finished her year and celebrated with some gorgeous cream puffs! She has a husband and 3 kids and  has a love of The Patriots football team! They even named their dog, Brady!! (My Husband wishes we could have a dog!)

It was a lot of fun going through her blog and seeing  what all she baked because there wasn't a huge emphasis on just sweets like one would tend to think but a great selection of anything that could be baked including some puppy biscuits!

This recipe for Lemon Pudding Cake actually came from Day 15 of Lynne's journey. One of my co-workers was talking about a Meyer Lemon Pudding cake and how she and her husband ate the whole dessert in less than 24 hours. I must admit that I was happy to try the one Lynne had!

I will state that I am not a very patient person. I didn't let this recipe cool which equaled a gooey, warm lemony pudding which my family LOVED. I've been on a lemon kick (every day this week will have a lemon recipe!) lately. I guess spring started early here and really got my tastebuds wanting something tart and sweet!

Be sure to check out the Secret Recipe Club page for other great reveals!l!

 Lemon Pudding Cake
recipe adapted from this recipe at 365 Days of Baking


2 tablespoons butter, softened                                   
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1½ tablespoons flour
Juice of 2 lemons (approximately 1/3 cup)
1 lemon, zested

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  
2. Beat the butter, then gradually add the sugar, beating it until it is all incorporated.  
3. Beat in the egg yolks one by one.   
4. Add the milk, flour, lemon juice, and rind, and beat to mix well. (The mixture will have a curdled look.) 
5.  Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gently fold into the batter. 
6.  Place batter into a 1½-quart baking dish and set in water bath.
7. Bake for 40-50 minutes.  
8. Let Cool and Enjoy!

Weekly Menu Plan

Last week was a fun week! Somehow, Cameron was able to get two days off of school so I was able to get him on Wednesday instead of Friday. I also got some really great news Friday so we went out to eat instead of cooking!  Another great thing was celebrating my blog's anniversary!! (Great giveaway to celebrate it too!)

We have so much food in this house in between the pantry, deep freezer, and fridge that I'm attempting to use up what we have vs. buying more. It really worked last week because I only send $25 at the store!


No plan for exact days just trying to get it in this week!

Chicken and Broccoli Noodle Casserole

Spinach and Egg Sandwiches

Hot Dogs and tater tots (This is specifically for Coley. We came home one night and

Italian Mealoaf (husband made a few a couple of weeks ago and froze some of them!)

Planning to go eat at husband's restaurant one day as well (haven't been there since Valentine's Day!)




I hope everyone has a good week!

Happy Blogiversary to me!!

Two years ago, I was sitting at work and decided to create myself a blog to help cure some boredom! At first, I was just saying things I wanted to say and had no direction because I didn't want a food blog. My world revolved around food. My husband was a chef, I went to school originally to be in the same industry and I had been catering with my godparents since I was a teenager. I wanted something different. But then A few months later, I found a group doing The 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies and wanted to join and then a food blog was born!

I've had a lot of fun the last two years and can't wait to have more fun! To celebrate two years of blogging I'm giving you a present! A present of your choice!


The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond -- one of the first food blogs I ever read and still read!


 Push Up Pops by Courtney Dial Whitmore (of the famous Pizzazzerie) -- This book looks like a lot of fun and I can't wait to buy it myself!


Food Network Magazine -- hands down my favorite magazine, I read this baby cover to cover every month-- The pictures are fabulous and it's fun to see all the trends in food as well


The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook-by Lindsey Landis- I can't wait for this book to come out-- I love cookies and all things cookie dough!


Marshmallow Madness by Shaun Sever-- Marshmallows are probably one of the funnest things I have ever made and I would love to see all of the fun in this book!

For the giveaway!

Let me know which ONE cookbook/magazine you would want! 

These are a few things that I want and I want to show you love as well for reading this blog and following my craziness!!

The prize will be shipped via Amazon and is paid for out of my pocket :)

The giveaway will end next Saturday, March 24th. The winner will be notified by email so be sure to leave a valid email address so I will know where to ship your prize!!!

Brown Sugar Chess Pie for Pi Day

Happy Pi Day! 

See today is 3/14 and a day to celebrate Pi(e)!!!!

Years ago I saw a story on chess pie and how it was a pie that people just kind of through together and poof a pie came out of the concoction. It may be a total southern thing as well to add cornmeal to a pie batter but it gives it a really neat texture.

We thought this pie was really sweet but it was still really good and had a great flavor!

I've seen all kinds of forms of Chess Pies (lemon, chocolate, brown sugar,etc.) but I do have to say that this is probably my favorite kind so far.

This recipe came from one of my mom's Mary Starr cookbooks. Mary Starr was Knoxville's famous homemaker in the 60's and I love this cookbook. It's fun to go back and read old cookbooks and see the stars placed beside each recipe to tell you how good it is supposed to be. 

(This recipe gets a 3 out of 3 stars!)

Brown Sugar Chess Pie

recipe from Mary Starr from Greystone Lodge cookbook

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. cornmeal

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 unbaked pie shell, thawed

Combine both sugars, flour, and cornmeal until well combined. 

In a separate bowl, add the eggs, milk, butter, vinegar, and vanilla. 

Blend together both mixtures together and pour into unbaked pie shell 

and bake at 320 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Almost Famous Whole Wheat Waffles

I love waffles. Back when I was a single mom, Cameron and I used to go and split the All Star Special at Waffle House because it had so much food that we could split it-- It has 2 eggs,  a waffle, 3 pieces of bacon, hash browns, and even toast! Now of course he has grown up on me and wants his own and even sometime wants a DOUBLE waffle.

You already know I love breakfast and I now have a new favorite waffle recipe. I tweaked it a little this past weekend and made it a tad bit healthier by subbing some whole wheat flour for a part of the all purpose flour. You could absolutely not taste the whole wheat flour and I think it made the waffles better!

I found this recipe in the Food Network Magazine (one of my favorite magazines!) a few months ago and love that it doesn't have to rest for 30 minutes like this recipe. These waffles also seem to crisp up better than those waffles as well. 

Almost Famous Whole Wheat Waffles

adapted from this recipe at Food Network

Ingredients

• 
  
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup whole milk (I normally sub skim milk with no issues)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Syrup, for topping

Directions

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

 Stir the egg mixture, melted butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until just combined. (The batter will be lumpy.)

Preheat a waffle iron and brush with melted butter or spray with non stick cooking spray. Spoon batter into the waffle iron.  

Cook until golden brown, then transfer the waffle to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. (You can keep oven warm at 200 degrees with keep waffles warm while cooking the others.)

Repeat with the remaining batter. Top the waffles with butter and syrup.Enjoy!

Weekly Menu Plan

I had full intentions of posting on something that my husband did last week but I think my loving 2 year old got my phone and deleted photos from the event. Boo. There is a local blog that did a great job on the event and their site is here.

We also found out last week that a long awaited dream is coming true. At least we think it is! My husband used to work for a wonderful company that kept saying that they were going to build in Chattanooga and that is why he was hired on but because of the economy and in order to keep a job we were transferred out to Greenville, SC instead of staying here in Chattanooga. Needless to say, they started excavating last week on the site where the hotel the restaurant is going to go into! I started crying when I saw it! I was so happy! I plan to go by there soon to start taking pics maybe month by month. We've been told it's an 18 month process and we knew it was going to open in 2013.

Ok Back to food!!

I have no clue which order that these will be in this week!!


Mexican Triple Decker Pizza

Impossible Spinach Pie-- I plan on subbing Feta for the parmesan in this

Pork Tenderloin-- didn't make this last week-- made something else instead

Baked Potatoes and fixings to go with it

Friday-- we get Cameron this week!!! He ALWAYS wants Mooyah burger for dinner

Saturday--- will probably make this Crockpot Ravioli


I hope everyone has a great week!!!!

Spinach Lasagna Rollups

I have been making these rollups for a while but for some reason have never blogged about them!

While they are not a true lasagna they do use all of the same elements and is a little bit more friendly! These are not as time consuming either!

I've made different variations of these as well but this recipe is the one I make the most! I actually froze the one I took pictures of so that is why there is no cheese on top!

This would make a great meatless meal for those of us celebrating Lent!

Spinach Lasagna Rollups

recipe adapted from this recipe at Skinny Taste

Ingredients: 

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese 
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• 32 oz spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese,shredded

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°. 
2. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. 
3. Ladle about 1 cup of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.
4. Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle.
5.  Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.
6. Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with mozzarella cheese. (If making into a freezer dish, stop at this point and let dish cool and don't add cheese on top.)
7.  Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts.
8. Enjoy!

Weekly Menu Plan

Ah yes, another week is upon us and this will be a very busy week for us!

This little boy gets registered for preschool this week!

This crappy thing is on my foot because I am accident prone :)

and all that with Food shows galore thrown into the mix!!

Monday/Tuesday-- My mom has Cole tonight and tomorrow night for dinner because we are out of town at a food show!

Wednesday-- Pork Loin of some sort and vegetables

Thursday-- husband is participating in this event so dinner will be there!

Friday-- fish of some sort (Maybe this one?)

Krystal's Virtual Baby Fiesta-- Cuban Lumpia Rolls

Today is a VERY special day! My blogging (and fellow A08er) friend, Krystal, is expecting the arrival of her baby Cookie. Yes, Cookie, because we don't know yet if Cookie is a boy or girl! In honor of Krystal, Eric, and Cookie we are having  a Virtual Baby Fiesta! Krystal is a dear, dear friend and I could not be more excited for her and Eric!

Our hostess, Joelen, asked that we create something to celebrate either Krystal's heritage (Filipino) or Eric's heritage (Cuban).  My husband and I tag teamed on this one and created a spring roll with the elements of a Cuban Sandwich. Lumpia is actually a Filipino filled roll. The chef even went one step further to create a dipping sauce which makes them "Slap yo Mama good" as my mom said!

I'm so honored to have joined in on this special day!!

Cuban  Lumpia Rolls

recipe adapted from this recipe at Cooking Light and this recipe at Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 cup onion, small diced
2 tbsp. garlic, chopped
3 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
4 tbsp, bread and butter pickles, chopped
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. soy sauce, low sodium
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 pkg. Lumpia wrappers (other spring roll type wrappers CAN be substituted)
4 slices Swiss cheese, cut into 10 seperate pieces 
Dijon mustard, as needed
Canola oil (or other oil) for frying


Directions:


1. Place ground pork, onion, ginger, and garlic in a heated saute pan and cook until pork is browned and cooked all the way through.


2. Season pork mixture with salt and pepper.


3. Add soy sauce to pork mixture. Let cook for additional 2-3 minutes.


4. Add cilantro and pickles to mixture.


 5. Place one of the wrappers on your work surface with the short edge facing you. Spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on each wrapper. Place a piece of Swiss cheese in the center of the wrapper.


6. On top of the Swiss cheese, place a heaping tablespoon of the filling on the wrapper about half an inch from the edge closest to you.


7. Grasp the bottom edge of the wrapper and roll it up and over the filling, continuing to roll until 2 inches of wrapper remain.

8. Dip two fingers into a bowl of water, then moisten the last 2 inches of wrapper with your fingers. Finish rolling the lumpia, then rest it on its seam. 

9.Continue rolling with the rest of the filling and lumpia wrappers.

10. Fry the lumpia in 350 degree oil until browned.

11. Enjoy!

Dipping Sauce:

2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce, low sodium

1 tsp. garlic, minced

1 tbsp. cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1. Take all ingredients and place in a sauce pan.

2. Bring to a boil.

3. After the mixture has boiled, place in a heat safe container for dipping.

***** Be sure to visit Joelen's Blog Tomorrow to see what everyone brought*****