Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - Bon Appetit's Chicken and Ricotta Dumplings

I am not a big dumpling fan so when I saw this Bon Appetit recipe for chicken and 'dumplings' that used ricotta gnocchi instead I had to try it. This recipe did not disappoint! It is a bit of a pain to prepare so I recommend breaking this into steps and doing some of it ahead of time. You could even skip the gnocchi and have a pretty killer chicken soup. Unless you are feeding a ton of people I would also recommend cutting it in half. Half is enough for at least 4 servings if not more. Hope you enjoy!

Bon Appetit's Lime and Blackberry Meringue Pie

I have to be honest about this one. While it is beautiful it was a major fail for me. All the flavors are amazing, but the blackberry compote turned the pie into a soupy mess when I cut into it. This recipe might be worth revisiting if you leave the compote out of the pie and just serve it as a drizzle over the top. For the original article visit Bon Appetit here.

Homemade Granola

After a recent trip to a B&B I have been craving homemade granola. I read a bunch of recipes online and decided to combine them all to make my own version. This type of recipe is very easy to customize. Just take out or throw in whatever your heart desires!

How to Shred Chicken

Ever try to shred chicken to make enchiladas or maybe pull pork for a sandwich? I have always used the two forks method which gives you nicely shredded meat but also leaves you with hand cramps, bent forks and at least a half hour of your life wasted. Ron sent me this blog post the other day and I didn't believe it until I tried it. All you have to do to EASILY shred chicken (or any other meat I would imagine) is throw the warm meat in your kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment and let 'er rip. You will have perfectly shredded meat in seconds. The longer you let it go, the finer the shred. Love it!

Southern Italian Wedding Soup

I first saw this recipe for Southernized Italian Wedding Soup on Deep South Dish. I loved the idea of using up some frozen collard greens and black eyed peas I had leftover from new years so I gave it a shot. It was delicious and SO filling. I think this recipe could really help stretch a buck if you are feeding a large family. I did tweak the recipe a little so if you want to see the original please click on one of the links above. Enjoy!

Worst $5 I Ever Spent at Whole Foods

The new fad for healthy snacking promoted on all the recent cooking shows is kale chips. I have been trying to eat better, so on my outing to Whole Foods last night I decided to pick up a bag of these Kaia Foods salt & vinegar kale chips and see what all the fuss is about. If I can replace chips or other junk food with kale it has to be good right? I keep a pretty open mind with new foods (I happily ate and enjoyed raw herring in Amsterdam) but, ummmmm, wow, these were DISGUSTING! I really don't understand how they made a vegetable taste so bad. An odd cross between cardboard, gerbil food and hop pellets, I think I would rather eat the bag. And the Salt and Vinegar flavor was nonexistent. When I asked my hubby to describe them his exact words were "shitty shit". Consider yourself warned! Anybody have any luck with kale chips? Did you make them yourself or is there a packaged brand you actually enjoyed?

Key West Best Eats

As you may know, I am in love with Key West. I try to get there at least once a year if not more. I got engaged there, married there and HOPE to one day move there. When anybody tells me they are going I can't help but spew out where I think they should eat, drink, and sleep, what I think they should do and what I think they should avoid. I get giddy just thinking of somebody enjoying some of the lesser known places and getting off of Duval Street to see the real Key West. Given my inability to shut up about the place I figured I should share some of my favorite places to eat in Key West. I left out most of the touristy places because (1) you can find them on your own without any help and (2) if I was going out to eat, I probably would not eat there. I'm not knocking the touristy stuff. There is something about those Key West classics like Margaritaville, Sloppy Joes and Hogs Breath that will draw you in, but trust me, you can find better food and drinks if you venture off Duval.

White Chocolate Almond Raspberry Scones

Everyone always says baking is a science and you have to follow a recipe exactly in order for it to turn out great. I, on the other hand, am always trying to prove this theory wrong. I think this recipe proves that you have some wiggle room when it comes to baking. To make these scones I started out with the cheddar dill recipe, reduced the salt, nixed the savory ingredients and added in a bunch of sweet goodness. They turned out PERFECT! I am seriously obsessed with these and hope you will give them a shot.

Christmas Cookies Galore

Cookies!

Christmas time is the perfect excuse to bake up tons of cookies and not feel guilty about it. This year I made classic sugar cookies (not pictured because we haven't decorated them yet), peanut butter blossoms, gingersnaps, double-chip pecan (use this recipe and add in peanut butter chips and pecans), lemony slice & bakes, bourbon balls, butterscotch blondie bars and double chocolate peppermint surprises. I made a bunch of the dough ahead of time and put it in the freezer. Yesterday all we had to do was defrost the dough and put the cookies in the oven. I think I will use that strategy again, since it was virtually no mess and no stress. The surprise hit... lemony slice and bakes. Everyone was raving! What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

East Coast Cioppino

Cioppino is a fish stew invented in San Fransisco. The dish traditionally uses whatever was caught that day (think dungeness crab, mussels, haddock, squid, etc) and adds the catch into a wine and tomato based soup. I spotted a recipe for cioppino in Bon Appetit and had to try it. Being that I live in Florida and would rather cook with local ingredients, I figured I would switch the recipe around a bit and make a East Coast version of the classic. I hope you enjoy!

Empanadas

Empanadas. For some reason before taking an empanada making class I had never even thought about making them. They seemed tricky, like you had to have some special dough making skills passed down from your Latin American great grandmother. Of course, those skills wouldn't hurt to have, but for the gringos out there like me, I found out you aren't too far away from being able to make the fresh baked pillowy pockets. You can make them baked or fried and fill them with whatever your heart desires. I think this might just be one of those most versatile foods ever! Vegetarian? Fill them up with black beans and cheese or some fajita veggies. Have kids? Stuff them with cooked hamburger meat and cheese. (I know that's not traditional, but what kid and parent doesn't love their own hand held self contained dinner?) Below are 3 more ideas to get you started. The first 2 are from our class, the last one we made up. Have any filling ideas to share?

Living Social Adventure - Empanada Making and Wine/Cheese/Chocolate Tasting

Who wouldn't get excited about an unlimited wine, cheese and chocolate tasting and the bonus of learning to make empanadas!? Well, last Saturday that was our M.O. I purchased gift certificates from Living Social for the deal and off to Miami we went. Overall it was fun to get out of the house (remember I work from home, so getting out is always fun), have some wine, meet a few people and learn to make something I would have never even attempted on my own.  There were a few things I think Living Social could have improved on though. Read more to see my review of the event. In a future post I will share my new empanada skills so you can make empanadas yourself!

Crock Pot Turkey Chili

It was a washout weekend here in Boca and the rain still hasn't stopped. Other than an empanda making class I went to in Miami (more on that in a later post) I was stuck inside and ended up doing a ton of cooking. I made pizza dough to freeze for easy weeknight meals, key lime cookies with a white chocolate glaze to use up some buttermilk I had in the fridge, banana bread and last but not least turkey chili. Chili just seems like the perfect match for a rainy day when you have football on the tube. I hope you enjoy!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

I LOVE carrot cake. Well, let's be honest, I  love any cake, or anything sweet for that matter. But this carrot cake is probably one of the best I have ever had. And the frosting, WOW! Originally I made it exactly as described in the recipe, but I think this version is better. Hope you enjoy. And remember, it has both fruit and vegetables in it so you don't have to feel guilty eating it. Right?

Food Truck Pile Up

This Friday October 14th there will be a Food Truck Pile Up at JM Lexus Margate . Ron and I went to the last one and had a great time sampling all of the different food. The people watching wasn't bad either as many people, young and old, hit the dance 'floor'. If you are in the area you should definetly try it out. One tip, BYO beverage. Last time we spent a fortune on bottled water and drinks. (Legal disclaimer) I am not advocating brown bagging your beer or doing anything naughty, but I doubt anyone would notice if you had a nalgene full of your drink of choice.

What do you think of food trucks? Love or Hate? Any issue with eating food from the road side?

Oktoberfest Bites and Brews

The second part of our European adventure was spent in Munich for Oktoberfest. Some fellow beer guzzling fun loving friends of ours from high school (yes we still talk 14 years later) met us there for the party cultural enrichment. Before I get to the beers and food I wanted to share a few things about Oktoberfest that surprised me. First of all Oktoberfest is kid friendly. We saw tons of kids in the beer tents, playing carnival games, riding the rides, etc. They even have family nights where they discount the rides. Second, somehow they keep the bathrooms decently clean. I have been in bars with under 100 people that have bathrooms worse off than a port-o-potty, but somehow the Germans manage to keep the bathrooms used by thousands of beer drinkers clean. Amazing! Third, everyone is a happy drunk. In the US if a drunk guy standing on a bar bench spilled a liter beer on the unfortunate guy below him, I am pretty sure a fight would break out. At Oktoberfest the spiller hugs the spillee and invites him to join his table. We sat and talked with more strangers than I can count. At times we didn't even speak the same language but we were friends by the end of the night. I love happy drunks! :)

As far as beer goes, the Germans mainly still stick by the 'Reinheitsgebot' or German Beer Purity Law, that states beer can only be made with water, barley and hops.  You are not going to find any IPAs or Blueberry Wheat Beers at Oktoberfest. And the food, well it IS exactly what you imagine, Meat and Potatoes. The only green on the plate is usually a sprinkling of parsley over your Knodel (potato dumpling). I hope you enjoy the picture tour!

Crab Cakes

This was my first attempt at making crab cakes other than heating up the frozen kind and they turned out great. I served them with a remoulade sauce and steamed broccoli. I forgot to take a picture so you will just have to use some imagination. Or you could try out the recipe and send me a picture of your creation.

Amsterdam Bites and Brews

I'm back from my European adventure. Did you guys miss me? Since I have been doing a lot of eating and drinking and not a whole lot of cooking lately, I figured I could share some of what I tried while on vacation.

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Oooooeeey goooooeeey cinnamon rolls! The only problem with ‘em is you either have to get up at the crack of dawn to start them or pop them out of a can. I am not hating on canned cinnamon rolls, but they really don’t compare to the home made version. With these you do most of the work the night before and the morning of is stress-free and simple. 

The Elvis

On our way out of Savannah we stopped at Clary's Cafe for breakfast. One item on the menu that caught everyone's eye was called The Elvis. Sourdough french toast stuffed with peanut butter and banana! We all looked at it, drooled over it, but somehow out of the 7 people there nobody ended up ordering it. It has been on my mind ever since, so this morning it was copycat time. I must say, this stuff is delicious and not as hard to make as you might think. It is really filling too. I made 2 slices each for Ron and I and we both made it through maybe one and a half.  And if you are ever in Savannah you should check out Clary's. The food was great.