Food Bloggers Recipe Swap: Shredded Beets with Citrus Vinaigrette

December 14, 2016December 13, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

It’s my first time posting in the Food Bloggers Recipe Swap and I’m pretty excited.

I probably should have just waited until the new year to begin participating, but I was just too excited!

There’s been a lot going on here, as I’m sure in most people’s homes, the past two months. I’m now feeling the crunch to Christmas (and that is in no way a bad thing) and have been neglecting a lot of my blogging responsibilities, frantically scrambling to pull together a post the night before it’s due to go live.

I’ve been enjoying the bit of a break though, and have revived my cross stitch hobby. Christmas time always does that to me. I’ve also just begun a new friendship and have enjoyed getting out of the house and killing time at the mall talking to another adult human being during the day.

Somehow this week though, I’ve got to find time to pack for our holiday vacation, wrap the kid’s presents, send those Christmas cards, and order a few final gifts. My mother-in-law is coming into town tonight so I’m hoping I’ll be able to sneak in some of that holiday cheer while the kids are otherwise preoccupied. (hint hint, Tilly!)

What does any of that have to do with Food Bloggers Recipe Swap?

Well, nothing really. Except that by opting in for December, I committed myself to being assigned a blog, finding and recreating a recipe from that blog, and then sharing it with all of you, my dear readers. Much like the Secret Recipe Club which has sadly come to an end.

The main difference between this group and that is the posting leniency. As long as I get my post completed by the end of the month, life is peachy! I don’t think the assignments are a secret either, and should I choose, I could search through the assignment list and figure out who is digging through my recipe index, but I won’t spoil the surprise. 🙂

For my first month, I was assigned Love and Cilantro written by Danya. Danya grew up in Jamaica and now lives in Canada where she attends culinary school. I envy her bravery to switch up her life and live out her dreams. I often think about going to culinary school, maybe after the kids are in elementary school?

Danya’s blog is relatively new, just over a year old if my calculations are correct! With a shorter recipe selection than some blogs I’ve scoured you’d think my decision would be fairly simple. Think again! I’d narrowed it down to Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast (which will still probably happen), Asian Salad, and the Raw Beet Salad I ultimately picked. Oh wait! There’s this beautiful Greek Chicken she shared on Sunday, too, dang – too late!

I’m really happy with the Beet Salad, though. I mean, I love beets, so why wouldn’t I like this salad!? I don’t often work with beets raw and it was fun to do so. The vinaigrette the shredded beets are tossed in is perfectly balanced – the lemon mellows out the orange and the white balsamic is a fun new ingredient to my pantry. I didn’t have chives so very thinly sliced a scallion.

I think this salad would make a beautiful addition to your holiday table this month – the bright color and flavor would brighten your plate wonderfully!

Shredded Beets with Citrus Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1 bunch beets, peeled and shredded
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 C white balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp agave (or honey)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1-2 scallions, thinly sliced (or 4 chives)

Steps:

Place shredded beets in a bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together the citrus, vinegar, oil, mustard, and agave. Season to taste with S+P. Toss beets with as much dressing as desired. Garnish with scallion/chives.

*This recipe is adapted from Danya at http://loveandcilantro.com/orange-beet-salad/*

Shredded Beets with Citrus Vinaigrette for Food Bloggers Recipe Swap from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Buffalo Chicken Chili

December 12, 2016December 11, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

There I was, standing in my galley kitchen with a fussy one year old on one hip and a wooden spoon in the opposite hand stirring some beautifully softened onions and celery in butter.

All of a sudden, there I was, standing in my galley kitchen with an over turned bowl of bread cubes, dried cranberries, and pecans on my hideous floor.

Does this story sound a little familiar?

Don’t worry, I didn’t make the same mistake twice. I’m simply leading you into one of our newest favorite recipes.

Buffalo Chicken Chili!

Of course, I had to share the amusing event with my mom. Along with a plea for what to do with half of that pan of onions and celery. She suggested chili and I immediately thought buffalo. Buffalo wings and celery are like partners in crime!

I’ve since made this recipe twice in less than two weeks, we loved it that much! My husband says its his favorite chili that I’ve made.

To play off of the buffalo wings & ranch/bleu cheese pair, I bought some sour cream & onion potato chips for garnishing the chili as I require a crunch with my chilies. (Usually tortilla chips or oyster crackers depending.) If you need to tone down some heat, swirl in a little bit of ranch dressing or sprinkle on some bleu cheese. If you want extra heat, shake some hot sauce onto your bowl of chili.

An Original Recipe

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp butter
3 ribs celery, diced
1 large sweet onion, diced
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried parsley
2 C chicken broth
1/4 C buffalo sauce

Steps:

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook ground chicken completely. Remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add the butter. Saute the onions and celery, season with S+P. Cook until tender.
Add the beans, onion powder, garlic powder, and parlsey. Stir in the chicken broth, and buffalo sauce. Return the cooked chicken to the pot.
Partially cover, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook 50 – 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Buffalo Chicken Chili | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 10, 2016December 10, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

My husband occasionally gets the craving for cookies hot out of the oven. And when that happens he’ll typically run to the nearest store and pick up a break-apart refrigerated cookie dough and preheat the oven.

But what happens when he gets the idea to actually make the cookies?

Turns out he breaks open the Cookie cookbook and finds a recipe for us to bake. The cookie was supposed to be a Chocolate-Chip Hazelnut Cookie. Of course we didn’t actually have any hazelnuts. So… it’s just a chocolate chip cookie. But, since when was a chocolate chip cookie a bad thing?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 C butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 C chocolate chips

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.
In a small bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cream together butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Spoon cookie batter onto prepared baking sheets an inch or two apart.
Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from The Cookie Book: Over 300 Step-by-Step Recipes for Home Baking*

Chocolate Chip Cookies | Sew You Think You Can Cook | http://sewyouthinkyoucancook.com

#FoodieExtravaganza: Maple Syrup

December 7, 2016December 15, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 9 Comments

foodieextravaganza-300

The Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party hosted by bloggers who love food! Each month we incorporate one main ingredient or theme into recipes to share with you. We take turns hosting and this month it’s my turn!

December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day and I challenged the crew to bake with, cook with, or make a beverage with maple syrup. (For some international bloggers who can’t find maple syrup, they’ll be joining the fun with honey as a substitute.)

With the hectic holiday season, I managed to forget to make something for this event. Before I scrambled to add extra maple syrup to my grocery list, I scrolled through my camera to see if I had anything that would satisfy my call for this maple syrup extravaganza.

Happily enough, I did! Unhappily enough, the photos made want to curl up into a ball and hide. Alas, that’s just the way it is.

I made this turkey breast in January. (Hey, at least it was January of this year!) In January we were living in Ohio. It was cold. I assume it was snowing. And it most definitely was dark at an unacceptable early hour. Those are the excuses I give for the awkward glare of the glaze. It’s a bummer, too, because as I pulled it out of the oven, my husband (and I remember this vividly) declared that it was almost too pretty to eat and that it belonged on the cover of a magazine.

This Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey is perfect for your holiday table and pairs nicely with Roasted Pears and Parsnips.

Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey Breast

Ingredients:

1 turkey breast, 4-6 lb
4 onions, halved
6 cloves garlic, smashed
6 stalk of rosemary
2 C chicken stock
2 C balsamic vinegar
1 C maple syrup

Steps:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Season the turkey breast with S+P, inside and out. Stuff the cavity with 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 stalk of rosemary.
Arrange the remaining onions, garlic, and 2 stalks of rosemary in the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the prepared turkey on top. Pour the stock into the pan.
Roast turkey for 2 – 2 1/2 hours (or according to turkey instructions) until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F is reached.
Make the glaze: In a small saucepan over medium heat bring vinegar, syrup, and remaining rosemary to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to reduce 30 minutes, stirring often.
Brush the glaze over the turkey every 30 minutes. Reserve any remaining glaze and keep warm for serving with the finished turkey.

*This recipe is adapted from Erin at http://www.5dollardinners.com/real-food-holiday/*

Rosemary Maple Glazed Turkey Breast for #FoodieExtravaganza from Sew You Think You Can Cook

And don’t forget to check out all these other maply recipes:

Basbousa – Egyptian Semolina Cake from Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe

Bangin’ Breakfast Potatoes from Rebekah of Making Miracles

Gluten-Free Maple Chestnut Cookies from Caroline of Caroline’s Cooking

Maple Pecan Bars from Nichole of Cookaholic Wife

Maple Sugar Cookies from Sue of Palatable Pastime

Maple Walnut Vinaigrette from Tara of Tara’s Multicultural Table

Momiji Tempura from Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Overnight French Toast Casserole from Elaine of Cookin and Craftin

Roasted Maple Glazed Carrots from Wendy of A Day in the Life of the Farm

The Back Forty Cocktail from Stacy of Food Lust People Love

If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

#SundaySupper: Eggnog Recipes

December 4, 2016December 14, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 20 Comments

December is National Eggnog Month. No big surprise there.

I’m not the biggest fan of the drink. I tend to be sensitive to nutmeg – though I am getting much better about it!

I’ve used it in baking twice before. Once in cookies for #FoodieExtravaganza, and once in my #BundtBakers cake that will be debuting later this month. I quite enjoy eggnog as an ingredient. I haven’t tried it in a savory application, yet, and was hoping a Sunday Supper member might have figured out a way, but all the offerings are on the sweet side of the specrum. Be sure to scroll past my recipe to see all the sweet, delicious recipes!

That remaining eggnog in my fridge was begging to be used in pancakes and we went right ahead and did just that! By happy circumstance, today’s #SundaySupper eggnog event was announced shortly after that. Thanks to Christie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventure for hosting this festive event.

These eggnog pancakes were a huge hit with my kids. I don’t think I’ve seen Firecracker eat so much in one sitting in quite some time!

Eggnog pancakes with cranberry syrup would make for a perfect Christmas morning breakfast.

Eggnog Pancakes with Cranberry Syrup

Ingredients for pancakes:

2 C flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 eggs
2 C eggnog
1/4 C vegetable oil

Ingredients for syrup:

1 C fresh cranberries
1/2 C real maple syrup
1 tbps butter

Steps:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, eggnog, and oil.
Combine wet ingredients into dry.
On a hot buttered griddle drop 1/4 C of batter into pancakes. When bubbles form and start to pop flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides.
Make the syrup: Combine cranberries, syrup, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until cranberries have burst and the syrup thickens. Serve with pancakes.

*This recipe is adapted from Jocelyn at http://www.grandbaby-cakes.com/2014/12/eggnog-pancakes/*

eggnog-pancakes-with-cranberry-syrup-for-sundaysupper-from-sew-you-think-you-can-cook

Join the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement

Thursday Thoughts #19

December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Thursday Thoughts

Please consider this Thursday Thoughts an open letter to help me find my lost ornaments!

The day after Thanksgiving is always decorating day in my home. Decorating for the first time in a new home always brings some challenges. Decorating for the first time with two toddlers to get into things adds extra challenges!

We live in a townhome so there wasn’t any outdoor decor to do, unfortunately. It was also raining all weekend (what?!) so the only outdoor space I do have freedom to decorate, our balcony, still hasn’t been tackled.

We did put up the tree, string it with lights, and waiting patiently for Treat to wake up from a long nap before pulling out the ornaments.

I opened up the box my husband brought up from the garage and handed Firecracker the first ornament of the year – a fun Auburn snowflake – which he happily put on the tree. I handed my husband Treat’s First Christmas Ornament from last year to assist the one year old in hanging.

As I dig further into the box I recognize that these ornaments are all from the Snowman Tree my family surprised me with 3 years ago. This box is not THE ornament box.

5-10 minutes passes and my husband comes back upstairs with a saddened expression. He can’t find the box. And he looked in every single box down there.

With a knot in my stomach and tears falling down my face I traced his footsteps and had to agree with his inventory check. It’s the hardest I’ve cried in a long time.

Ornaments spanning 6.5 years of married life, 2.5 years of parenthood were in that box. But those weren’t the ornaments giving me pain. I’ve already reordered Firecracker’s First Christmas Ornament. The ornaments that plague my dreams were those that had belonged to my grandfather, those that I had made as a child, those that my husband made as a kid.

It’s time now for my children to be the ornament makers and continue to make happy memories for us to relive every year we trim the tree.

My husband’s advent calendar that he loved a little boy was also in that box. We were looking forward to starting that tradition with the boys this year. My mother-in-law says she has extras from her mom though, so that heart-string didn’t get completely cut.

The silver lining, if I can find it, is that the cross-stitch stocking my grandfather started for me was not in the ornament box. My grandfather passed away in ’96 and my mom took it upon herself to complete the stocking. A task that took her over ten years, I’d finally received my stocking in 2012. My husband also had a cross-stitch stocking from his childhood that I believe his mom did. Those two stockings are hanging by our fireplace. When it’s time to pull down the Christmas decorations following our final holiday season in CA, those stockings will not be boxed back up; they’ll be put with the other items we will move ourselves. (It’s a good thing our handmade stocking from my mother-in-law are down in Florida with my parents!)

My last hope is for a bit of Christmas magic. All I can do is cross my fingers and toes that some other family received our box of ornaments by mistake and that maybe they haven’t noticed it until they go to decorate their tree. I hope they contact the moving company and figure out a way to get a hold of us. I’m going to call and see if there’s some sort of Lost & Found at the storage facility where our things were held after arriving in the Los Angeles area. I know it’s a long shot, but had I discovered a box of some other family’s holiday memories I would do everything I could to try and find them.

If you have my box, the ornaments are stored using my DIY storage solution – check it out here! If you just want to get me the few I’m seriously missing I’d be forever thankful. There’s a balding styrofoam Santa with a beard, a cute little blue elf with knitted long orange hat, two Silver Bells from the year 2015, a flat foam gingerbread with pipe cleaner handle, and a laminated fingerprint reindeer.

Update: My mom scrolled through her phone’s photos and found this one from 2012 of our tree. That Santa head in the lower center is the one I really want back!!!