Monthly Archives: March 2012

Week in Review (3/26-3/30)

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Ahh, what a relaxing week I had this week. So nice to take a break and spend the week in beautiful Florida for spring break!

Monday I shared with you guys my SRC post which featured Homemade salsa! Such a yummy and handy thing to have in the house. I’m so happy I made this and was so shocked at how easy it was! Once you have all the ingredients prepped, you are literally less than a minute away from fresh salsa. YUM

Tuesday I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine in Florida and started my day off with a nice run a little over 6 miles. Such a good feeling. Then…Then, I went up 14 flights of stairs. Yes, 14. FOURTEEN PEOPLE FOURTEEN! That’s insane! But you know what? It motivated me to where I ended up doing that the rest of the week.  FYI: It never got easier..

Wednesday I shared with you guys the sights of Ft. Lauderdale…this place sure has proven itself to be one ca-razy, unpredictable place!

Thursday was just another lovely day spent in sunny Florida. Ran. Laid out. Ate dinner. Repeat. Pretty much the same thing everyday, but hey, that’s how I like it! So nice getting a break from the busy school-soccer life and just veg out for a week.

Friday I showed you guys a post that I dug out from months ago! It actually made me a little proud of myself to see how far my photography has come. But the main reason I pulled this guy out was that I have been meaning to post it but it just kept slipping my mind and so it was just perfect timing to share it while I was out of town and soaking up the ray on spring break! :) Besides…you can never go wrong with any post that involves peanut butter!

Oh and another great thing that happened Friday? Well, we had our BEST, BEST, BEST meal of the week. We went to the Chart House, yes I do know it is kind of a chain. But ohmygawd after a week of on and off, kind of disappointing food, we had our BEST food that night.

We decided to try an appetizer, and we ordered the Oysters Rockefeller, which were fantastic. For the main course, I ordered grilled swordfish, and it was fantastic. It had the perfect char on it from the grill, but still was super moist and maintained it’s awesome fishy flakiness. There was delicious rice on the side as well as yummy green beans. Yes, yummy green beans, they do exist!

To finish off the meal, we ordered two lava cakes. (We always have a separate section reserved in our tummies for desserts!) The lava cake was awesome! Perfectly warm, and super chocolatey. It was topped with vanilla ice cream and bits of chocolate and chocolate sauce. I can not even put this dessert into words. I might try to recreate it, but if I fall short, I may just cry. It was so good. The whole meal was just the best possible way for us to end the week. I would not have changed a thing. Great food. Awesome service. Beautiful restaurant and view.

Best picture...now you can't tell me you don't want some of that!

Today I am sadly coming home. It’s such a bittersweet moment leaving lovely Florida. I’ll miss the beach, sun, and fish, but it sure will be nice to get back home and in the kitchen!

Random Fact of the Day: The average cough comes out of your mouth at 60 miles per hour.

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Peanut Butta Time!

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WARNING!: okay, so I made this post up a long time ago, like probably 5 months back, so I’m just warning you the pictures may not be the best quality…not that I really have the whole photography thing totally down yet, anyways but just warning ya. Also, I’m not quite sure why I’ve held onto this post for so long without posting it, but I figured that since I’m out of town this week and have like no time to make any new recipe that this would be the perfect time to share this guy. I do remember these being quite scrumptious. Of course, I wouldn’t expect anything less from Jessica, anyways.

Yes, I know I’ve made a few peanut butter cookie recipes before. But I swear, I seriously love them all. I can’t get enough of peanut butter..clearly.I actually have been known to eat a spoonful or two of peanut butter out of the jar? Is that gross?? Don’t answer that.

Anyways, Jessica’s brilliance has shined through in yet another scrumptious recipe. This one is actually somewhat of a variation off her M&M cookies, that I made before. All I have to say is pure brilliance! Oh… and definitely go on the under-baked side. They’ll seem kinda heavy, but they will turn out to be incredible, dense delicious cookies with nice soft peanut buttery middles. :)

Puffy Peanut Butter Cookies

(adapted from How Sweet It Is)

1 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

pinch of salt, I used sea salt to liven it up a bit

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

8 tablespoons of salted butter, melted and cooled

6 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

milk, as needed

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, optional (I actually left this out because my dough was too crumbly, which could be partially due to the fact that I hadn’t used a mixer)

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Add butter and peanut butter to a microwave safe bowl, and heat in 30 second increments until melted. Let cool completely.
  3. In a large bowl (I recommend using a mixer, since later on your dough may become difficult to combine by hand…course I could just be a wimp), mix the cooled butter/peanut butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed.
  4. Gradually add flours, salt, and baking soda and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I  used my hands to bring it all together. If necessary, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk, I actually added in probably a full teaspoon. If you decide to use as much whole wheat flour as I did, you’re dough will be crumblier than a dough using all all-purpose flour. Fold in chocolate chips, if using.

Shape the dough into balls of desired size. Place on a baking sheet two inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be soft and puffy. Do not over bake. They’re actually fantastic slightly under-baked, nice and dense!! :D Complete cooling on a wire rack.Random Fact of the Day: The odds are 9 out of 10 (89%) that you describe your diet as “healthy” (if you’re an American) - Time Magazine, 1/17/11

P.S. sorry that picture is absolutely atrocious! It’s got this weird orangeish-yellowish tint that I just could not get rid of.

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The Sights of Fort Lauderdale

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So I have been spending this week in Fort Lauderdale for spring break and have seen quite a few things we don’t necessarily get to “experience” at home. Care to take a gander? I took pictures for you!

Wait, you mean you *don't* want your face on customizable 3-D cuff links?

We found Santa…

That guy up there ^ is the one who I was talking about on Facebook the other day :)

The found of LA Fitness' little getaway place. It's for sale! Got a few million $$$ laying around?

I guess the next size up was just TOO expensive!

Between the red shorts, blue shirt, and the stance, i think this guy feels he is superman's long long brother. Or he kinda looks like he just is emptying his bladder...yuck

The owner of Oscar Meyer's house

Why arent speedos more common? Doesnt this just scream "I'M COOL AND FASHIONABLE!" ?

Sonny and Cher's house..where Cher gave birth to her daughter. She didn't believe in doctors. I think it's safe to say she sure does today

Hope you enjoyed the good, bad, and downright ugly of Ft. Lauderdale. There may or may not be more coming at ya later! I don’t even know…Ft. Lauderdale has proved itself to be one unpredictable little place.

Random Fact of the Day: Laughing for 15 minutes burns 40 calories.

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SRC Post- Homemade Salsa

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Woohoo! Another month of the Secret Recipe Club!! :) For the month of March I was assigned to blog about Apeksha, from Veggie Wiz. She is 30 year-old girl from India. She is vegetarian and fun fact-she can speak French, Spanish, German, and English! You can read more about Apeksha on her “about me” page, she’s a pretty cool cat!

After searching through Apeksha’s recipes, I finally picked her “Fresh Tomato Salsa in a Jiffy” recipe. I love salsa with everything. It’s perfect for substituting in a salad to make it more flavorful and a bit more healthy than dressing, it’s great in wraps, awesome with chips, pretty much perfect for spicing up any dish!

I have never made my own salsa before, but I’m sure glad I tried this recipe. It was super easy and pretty darn tasty. Plus, I love having salsa in the house at all times. It’s a definite must around here. With this recipe, you are pretty much always 10 minutes away from fresh salsa. Yum!

Oh yeah, and if you’re picky about the texture of spiciness of your salsa, this is perfect for you!

P.S. Don’t forget to go over to The Heritage Cook in exactly one week from today to see my guest post! It involves chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Can’t go wrong! ;)

Fresh Tomato Salsa in a Jiffy

(from VeggieWiz)

5 tomatoes (I used a 24 oz. can of diced tomatoes)

1 onion

2 gloves garlic

2 Tablespoons chopped jalapeños (1 jalapeño)

1 green chile, chopped (I used chopped green chiles from a can, I used about 3/4 teaspoon of chopped green chiles)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon salt

  1. Roughly chop the tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes), onions, and garlic. PUt all the ingredients into a food processor or blender, and turn on at the lowest speed for 10-15 seconds. Check the consistency. If needed, repeat on more time. Be careful not to puree it. We don’t want Tomato sauce here! It’s best on the chunky side. Keep in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes to allow to flavors to mix. Serve with crisp tortilla chips or use in your favorite mexican dish and enjoy! :)



Random Fact of the Day: Alaska is the only state that can be typed using one row of keys of the keyboard.

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Week in Review (3/19-3/23)

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Hey guys! What a hectic week I had this week!!! The high school soccer season officially kicked off this week with THREE games.

Monday you guys saw the grilled potato wedges I made. I love pretty much any potato/fry thing but I really liked how I didn’t have to turn on the oven when I was making these, because it was like 94801 degrees!! I also had my first high school game for the season, and we ended up tying, which I guess is okay but not as fun as a win.

Tuesday my team and I had another game.We tied AGAIN. We played against a much better team and even though we tied I think we did pretty good and held our own very well. We have a lot of new players on the team this year, so it has definitely been an adjustment.

Wednesday I showed you guys my new little version of a grilled cheese sandwich. BBQ chicken grilled cheese. Deeee-lish! Kind of like a BBQ chicken pizza, sandwich style! Perfect for those night where you just want a sandwich and some chips.

Thursday I had my third soccer game of the week. It was crazy! Total downpour, on and off, thunder and lightning, sitting waiting for the lighting to stop, finally starting the game back up around 8:15 and unfortunately finishing in a loss. It was super frustrating to go through all of that to come out with a loss, but I can guarantee they will have no chance against us next time we play them. Watch out!!

Friday I shared with you a first guest post ever!!! I know, I can be a little bit of a tease ;) . Also, I just found out that the post won’t be posted until Monday, April 9th. I totally thought it was going to be this upcoming Monday (the 29th) but that just goes to show…never assume or you’ll make a you-know-what out of U and ME. So basically, I feel terrible about spilling the beans like 3 weeks early, so just sit here and stare at this picture for 3 weeks. Or just make some cake. Whatever floats your boat all the way until Monday, April 9th and then you can jump over to The Heritage Cook and see what all the fuss is about. This cake is was ah-mazing. I wish I could like transport it through the computer screen so my sister could enjoy some for her birthday, while she’s in Spain. Oh well, just an excuse to make it again!

Today (Saturday) is my sister’s birthday and I’m leaving for Florida today for Spring Break. What an exciting/fun/incredible day! So excited!!

Random Fact of the Day: ’Jedi’ is an official religion, with over 70,000 followers, in Australia.

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