On Monday, I chose to make the Meaty Quesadillas and Perfect Guacamole from the May 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.  I made the 30-minute Meaty Quesadillas recipe with lean ground beef and only used a few alternative ingredients.  I didn’t have ancho chili powder so I just used the generic chili powder.  I also used the Mexican blend shredded cheese instead of muenster or Monterey jack cheese.  Zoey LOVED the taco meat mixture and shoveled it in as fast as possible. If the recipe can entice my picky 21 month old to eat, I’m sold! 

I wanted an all around Mexican meal so I also made the Perfect Guacamole recipe from the same issue of FNM.  I am a fan of spicy but my tummy is not so I left out the Serrano chiles.  I used roma tomatoes and fresh cilantro to finish out the recipe.  It turned out creamy and light with a little kick at the end.  I made store-bought cheese dip and refried beans from a can as sides.  I also made some of my own Mexican rice.  I brought 2 cups of water to a boil.  I added 1 cup of white rice, 3 tablespoons of my favorite salsa, a 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and a pinch of salt.  Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes and you have a tasty side dish for you favorite Mexican meal.

Both of these recipes were simple to make and wonderfully delicious.  The guacamole recipe has three additional recipes, Spicy Papaya Guacamole, Southwest Corn Guacamole and Creamy Tomatillo Guacamole.  I am looking forward to trying these later. 

I received the May 2010 Food Network magazine last week and decided to use recipes from its contents to feed our family for the week.  I chose Meaty Quesadillas, Chicken Tandoori, Skillet White Fish With Feta, Green Onion and Basil Salad, Curried Salmon Cakes, Ham-Taleggio Grilled Cheese and Trail Mix with Honey-Oatmeal Clusters.  I also made Italian Sausage Lasagna from my Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook and Strawberry-Banana Milkshakes from a recipe I heard on Nick Jr.

The Food Network magazines have such great articles and recipes, but my favorite feature is the Recipe Index at the front of each issue.  As soon as I get the magazine, I grab a notepad and write down the five or six recipes I am going to make for the week.  I write down the recipe name, the book it comes from and the page it is on.  Doing this helps when I have more than one book I am working out of for that week.  I then go through and read the recipes to see how long they will take so I know when I will need to make them according to our schedule.  I also check to make sure I have the majority of ingredients.  I make my grocery list and try to use substitutes when possible.  I try to pick recipes that have some similar ingredients such as the arugula and feta that I bought for this week’s recipes.  I also dig through my pantry to find the items that have been in there for a while.  I look through the magazine to see if they have any recipes that include these ingredients. 

Most of this weeks meals I made to the recipe, but I did change some of the recipes slightly.  I changed the Curried Salmon Cakes to crab cakes which turned out wonderfully.  I used the Ham-Taleggio Grilled Cheese as a template for my own recipe that I think I’ll call the Chipotle, Ham & Arugula Grilled Cheese.  I would say that the family favorite this week ended up being the trail mix.  I filled a airtight plastic container with homemade trail mix and left it on the table. Everyone has been munching on it all week and I even took a few small containers to my coworkers.  Look for later posts about each of the recipes I chose and what changes, if any, I made to make it my own. Cheers!

The past few weeks my husband and I have been battling busy schedules, bad weather, common colds, an teething 18-month old not to mention pure laziness.  In the past I have made large meals such as lasagnas, pot pies, stir fry and other easy freeze meals so that we have them on hand for busy nights.  Unfortunately, we have munched through all of those meals and so I ventured through the freezer isle to try out some premade meals for our family.  I wanted to have some lunches and dinners that were healthy enough that we could take to the office or heat up for dinner when we are in a pinch.  This week was testament to that because we had Freezer Food almost every day this week.

Over the past two months we have tried a few different frozen pizzas.  DiGiorno’s was pretty tasty and so was California Pizza Kitchen but I must say that I didn’t mind the Wal-mart  version very much. I was surprised how well it was made and it was a couple of dollars cheaper than the other two brands.  And by the way, the Totinos pizza that I adored as a child, tastes pretty nasty as an adult. 

We have been trying out a bunch of frozen meals to take to the office for lunch.  We tried a bunch of the Hot Pockets products such as the HOT POCKETS SIDESHOTS – Mini Cheeseburgers 4 Pack, HOT POCKETS® Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizzeria – Pepperoni Pizza, HOT POCKETS® brand Bruschetta Chicken Panini, HOT POCKETS® brand Deli-Style Ham & Swiss Panini plus a bunch of the other hot pockets.  My personal favorite was the Chicken Panini.  The exterior was flaky and the interior was flavorful.  Not too bad.  We also tried the Boston Market® Beef Pot Roast which was pretty good and a more food than the typical meals.

For our “Little Bit” we bought a few of the Michelina’s products, in particular the Chicken Nuggets and Potato Fries which are shaped like smiley faces.  Her favorite freezer treats are Gorton’s fish sticks and Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage biscuits.  Of course, none of these items are particularly healthy, they do there duty when necessary.

Another wonderful, food-related page by Danielle.  She writes: Despite having just given birth two weeks earlier nothing can keep Aunt Brandy out of the kitchen. So when Maxx and Lexy came to visit, that was the perfect excuse for her to get in the kitchen and make brownies! And of course, the kids happily obliged! August 2, 2008.”

I love this scrapbooking page by Danielle.  She wrote: “Will someone please tell me what I did to piss off the cake gods? Last year, the kids’ cake was left on the radiator and melted. For Maxx’s birthday this year, they raked their fingers through the icing and for Lexy’s birthday, I put the ice cream cake in the refrigerator instead of the freezer, and it too melted into a big pile of goop.  It’s a damn good thing they still taste good.”

Have you had to buy chip bag clips and thought to yourself, “Why am I paying $10.99 for three or four clips?” Well, I have great news you can get 22 various sizes of chips clips for a whopping $4.99! “How?” you say. Well, earlier this year my wonderful stepfather, Gary took Adam and I to a store we hadn’t heard of before, Harbor Freight Tools USA. I am sure most of you know of this store and think I’m in the dark ages, but needless to say, we spent over 90 minutes touching everything in the the place and leaving with tons of wonderful finds.  My favorite of course was the above mentioned clips listed as the 22 Piece Spring Clamp Set.  I bought them to hold up decorations at Zoey’s birthday party and now use them to hold various things in place, primarily as chip bag clip holders. Gary uses the clips a lot while fixing up his ‘59 Oldsmobile Super 88. He says he used them to hold the roof headliner up after gluing the edges to make sure it would dry in place. When he and my mom were on their way to Dothan last month to meet us for the Peanut Festival, they mentioned they were stopping off at Harbor Freight Tools USA on the way. Without missing a beat, I said “Can you grab two more of those chip clip things for Beth and Carol?” Now we are all happy mommy’s with not a stale chips, pretzel or bag of cereal in the house. Thank you HFT USA for The Best Chip Bag Clips Ever!

Note: Harbor Freight doesn’t have online shopping but they do have their inventory online and locations to stores near you.

My husband, Adam, designed a great logo called I Like Pi.  He has it posted on CafePress and we have ordered a shirt, magnets and a coffee mug and they turned out great. 

http://www.cafepress.com/ilikepi 

He chose a variety of items to add the logo to and they have done very well so far. I posted some photos of the most popular items below. For the last few years, Math teachers have purchased groups of the I Like Pi shirts for various math competitions.  I think that is so cool.  Great Job Adam!

I encourage you to post your cool designs there, you never know who will buy something. I plan on designing some items to post there so I can earn funds for my niece’s medical bills http://hopeformckenna.blogspot.com/

For those meat lovers in the Birmingham, Alabama area DJ’s Fine Meats is the place to go for the highest-level quality meat choices, delicious sides and friendly service.  This locally owned and operated butcher shop helps the Birmingham residents turn their “homes into steakhouses”.  I have been visiting DJ’s Fine Meats for over two years now and though it is an across town drive for me to Alabaster, I wouldn’t buy my meat goods anywhere else. My all-time favorites are the Tortilla Encrusted Tilapia, the Ribeye Steaks, and their Applewood Smoked Bacon.  I literally buy a dozen of the tilapia filets just to have on hand on any given night.

This week’s theme is Tailgate Specials. 

• GAME DAY – $89.00
  • 8 x 12 oz Ribeye Steaks
• FIRST DOWN -$89.00
  • 8 x 12 oz NY Strips
• FIELD GOAL – $99.00
  • 3 x 12 oz Ribeyes
  • 3 x 12 oz NY Strips
  • 3 x 8 oz Filets  
• TOUCHDOWN – $129.00
  • 6 x 12 oz Ribeye
  • 6 x 12 oz NY Strips
  • 6 DJ’s Steakburgers
  • 6 Jalapeno Sausages
• SAFETY – $13.00
  • 2 Tuna Steaks
  • 2 Chicken Breasts
• P.A.T. – $10.00
  • 4 x 3 Cheese Potatoes  OR
  • 1 x 32 oz Loaded Potato Salad and 1 x 32 oz Deviled Egg  Salad
• FREE TWO POINTER
  • All Beef Packages come with 2 lbs of sausage.

*As always call-ahead orders are encouraged and appreciated.

Currently, DJ’s has new extended spring/summer hours and they are open seven days a week. Check out their website www.djsfinemeats.com for their daily specials, store hours and savings discounts.

…Bob, Meet Everyone.”  I admit it. I admit it. I love Rachel Ray’s cookbooks.  More importantly, I adore her book Rachel Ray’s Big Orange Book or better known as BOB by her followers.  I have probably  made around 30 recipes from the book since it was mailed to me from one of those annoying book clubs. I intended to send it back but then after flipping through the pages, I couldn’t help but use it as a spoon rest while I fixed a myriad of recipes from inside its tangerine colored cover.  Darn that enticing photo of Roasted Lamb Meatballs with Honey-Rosemary Polenta and Tangy Red Onion and Fire-Roasted Tomato Sauce. All I can say is, if you like quick meals that are super easy and very tasty but aren’t the best chef in the world, you should try this book.  I have a couple of her other books and don’t like them nearly as much because there is no rhyme or reason to the layout. Sometimes it is really hard to find recipes by category. Thankfully, BOB is well put-together with gorgeous full-color photos. The recipes are typically 30 minute with easily accessible ingredients.  I give this one a 9 out of 10.

As you can see, I am a lover of great cheese. Last year Adam and I were watching the Food Network Channel and we caught an episode of Road Tasted featuring Wisconsin specialties. The show featured a 114-year old Wisconsin cheese-making company named Beechwood Cheese Company, who still makes its cheese “the old-fashioned way.” After mention of their famous cheese curds, we were almost jumping for joy and had to place an order. Last year we ordered 5 or 6 different types of cheese that we shared with guests at our wedding reception.

This year we received a 10% OFF offer from Beechwood and immediately reordered. What’s on the menu?

• Smoked Gouda
• Chive and Bacon Jack
• Garlic Jack
• Southwest Chili Cheddar
• Chuckwagon Cheddar
• Uncle Charlie’s Chicken Soup Cheese

All of their cheese is available in either 11 oz. sticks or 20 oz. blocks and they are creamy and delicious.

Beechwood, Wisconsin is blessed to have this wonderful cheese company since 1894. I recommend that you visit their website www.beechwoodcheese.com or call 1-877-2 CHEESE and find your favorite. With over 40 different cheeses, you will definitely find something you’ll love.