WHO Forgot to Take Out the Meat?

Shoot.
Totally me.
Seriously though guys, I know I am the only person who knows what the kitchen looks like in our house but why is it always my fault when there's nothing to eat?
Likely because this mentality has been passed down for generations. 
Way to go June Cleaver.

SO blame the mom, there's no thawing carcass on the counter.
I guess the mom gets to create something out of, um, hmmm, *digs in the cupboard and back of fridge wildly* quinoa!!

June never cooked with that before.
Me - 1, Mrs. Cleaver - 0!

Now how to make this into a complete meal you say?  Ha, I think I said that about 50 times while pacing the hallway. 
You know what I really wanted tonight?
Chicken parm.
I wanted it because we picked up the most awesome local"ish" buffalo mozzarella and I made a marinara sauce the other day.
Way to go not taking out the chicken!
hmmmmmmm......I wonder..........
You guessed it, I was ready to try something new tonight.
I should really do this more often.  Dinner tonight was AWESOME!

FAUX Chicken Parm, and I still got to use the buffalo mozz and my marinara!

So I do need to tell you it took some time, not like waiting for a cake to cool time but there are some steps.
First you need to rinse or soak your quinoa (I used red and white)

Then of course you need to boil it and let it cool a bit (20+ minutes).
Incorporate ingredients, form, fry and finally top with sauce/cheese and melt in the oven (15+)
Now the combining of ingredients etc. step could likely be scaled back if I had done this before, there were a few minor revisions and near catastrophes.  I'll give you the clean version.

Enjoy!

I'm listening to: Lonely Day - System of a Down

Fruit Eruption Muffin - Copycat Recipe

Ok, I don't know why people call it a 'copycat recipe' when in reality we all know that the fine establishments we find dishes to re-create at home don't give us their recipes to copy.
So lets just say this is a "made my own version of your idea without any instruction" recipe shall we?

For some this may be a fantastic new muffin recipe you have to try because you've never seen anything like it (and in that case, I made it up all on my own HA HA) but for others, you have heard, seen or eaten a "fruit explosion" muffin from Tim Horton's before.

If you follow my fan page on Facebook, you might have recently seen me post that I don't often make muffins. I see them floating around on pages/blogs and every time one catches my eye I think, hell ya, I've gotta make muffins. 
And then I go about my business and it never happens.
Kind of like when you think to yourself I should really clean out the fridge.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Then I woke up this morning, smoothied (like juiced only creamier LOL) and had a whack load of energy so on top of the other 75 things I wanted to do today, making muffins was at the top of the list!
So I did!

I used the base of my award winning (for reals) blueberry muffin recipe (because if it ain't broke don't fix it), added in some oatmeal, created a fruit mixture to put in the middle of the muffins and made these!

And yes, they are exploding with goodness!

Enjoy!

I'm listening to:  Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness

Kid Friendly Watermelon Soup

Oh sitting on the stoop, big ole wedge in hand, juices dripping down your arm - that symbolizes summer for me for sure!

Now what kid feels the same about eating their veggies?
Mine does but he's a weirdo.

I wanted to create a kid friendly variation of my previous watermelon soup recipe for the National Watermelon Promotions Board, one of two recipes I am submitting for their Kid-tastic Watermelon Blogger Challenge.
Their request was quite simple.  An original recipe featuring watermelon that would get the kiddos excited about them....

No need for messy stickiness for this recipe!  You can drink it, with a spoon, slurp it up from a bowl, endless possibilities really and it doesn't even need to be for the youngens either.
This would be a perfect tag along to your family picnic or bbq.

Here's what you'll need for about 6-8 servings *bowls*

1/2 watermelon cubed
1 cucumber peeled and cubed
1 tsp olive oil
1 med. yellow pepper diced finely
1 med. red pepper diced finely
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cantaloupe, cubed to bite sized pieces
salt and pepper to taste

Now, you can add other colour peppers, onion, other veggies or fruit but these are the ingredients I chose to use.
First puree watermelon and oil in batches in a blender or food processor. Pour juice through a strainer to make a clear liquid and add to a separate bowl.
Take a small handful of each of the other veggies *not fruit* and pulse. Pour this into the watermelon juice to give it a little consistency.
Simply add the rest of the fruits and veggies to the juice bowl, salt and pepper if you wish and cover. Refrigerate at least a few hours so the flavours merry together.
Easy, tasty, and slightly weird but definitely worth trying!

This post was supported by the National Watermelon Promotion Board by means of supplying a watermelon and tools in order to create and prepare a dish for their review.
The recipe was created by me, tasted by the family and requested to make again!

Pineapple n Heirloom Tomato Salsa! Guest Post - Its Yummilicious

Hi everyone! I'm tickled pink that Katrin asked me to offer up a recipe for all of you. I think she's absolutely wonderful (and I'm sure you agree, or you wouldn't be here), so when I heard that she needed some help this week, I jumped around and waved my arms like a crazy girl until she picked me. You should know that I'm a bit obsessed with helping others. I love the smiles it brings when I can help remove some of the heavy load from the shoulders of people that I care about.
This past Saturday, I spent a couple of hours at my local farmers market. I can't even begin to describe how giddy it made me to walk up and down the streets. I loved being able to chat with the local farmers. The Wisconsin weather has taken a huge hit on the crops around here. We had virtually no snow last winter and the spring and summer have been outrageously hot. Spring crops like cherries were virtually non-existent, and the poor corn, beans, and zucchini are just scrawny and dried out. About the only crops that haven't suffered too terribly bad are the tomatoes. Many of the farmers grow them hydroponically or in hot houses, so we've had some luscious looking beefsteak, plum, and cherry tomatoes. Even the heirloom turned out well, so I definitely took advantage of the situation and bought some gorgeous yellow ones. I wanted to use them in a dish where they would become the shining star, so this salsa recipe was just the ticket!

This salsa is light and refreshing, with just a tiny bite from the diced Chile peppers. Depending on how spicy you like your food, you could also use diced jalapeno peppers or even something hotter like habeneros. I served this over broiled Haddock and it was awesome, but it would make a perfect snack with some chips or crackers, too!

SPICY YELLOW TOMATO & PINEAPPLE SALSA Yield: 4 cups 2-3 Heirloom (yellow) tomatoes, seeded and medium diced 1 cup fresh pineapple, diced 3 Tablespoons fresh pineapple juice 2/3 cup red onion, finely diced 1 fresh jalapeño, Serrano, or Habanero pepper, seeded and minced 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste Combine all ingredients except salt, pepper, and basil together in a non-reactive bowl and refrigerate 2 hours, stirring occasionally to allow the flavors to combine. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with basil and keep chilled until ready to serve.

Searching for Lite Rye Bread

Bavarian Light Rye, toasted, peanut butter.
Makes my mouth water every time.

I'm still searching for that spectacular recipe - if you have one PLEASE do share!

I managed to wrangle a decent lighter rye bread recipe from a good foodie friend, Becca from Its Ymmilicious a little while ago and I have been holding on to this one for dear life - I have it saved on my computer, backed it up and even printed it because its pretty darn good.
NOT my Bavarian but a tasty lighter rye (no caraway) version.

Thanks Becca for answering my call!!
She even typed it from her textbook "On Baking - A Textbook of Baking & Pastry Fundamentals, 2nd Ed.; Sarah R. Labensky; Pearson/Prentice Hall 2009"  how great is she?

Trust me, it should be on your list of things to make if you like rye breads
Just look at this!

Now how can you say no to that?
I didn't think so.

Enjoy!

I'm listening to (the song that is stuck in my head for weeks now) Whistle - Flo Rida

Lovin the Lima Bean

My dear friend Terra from Cafe Terra and I were chatting about foods some people said they didn't like after I posed the question on my facebook fan page. One of the culprits was the lima bean. We both concluded it has been a lonnnng time since we've had one and rarely do you see posts about them.
That was it, we decided to each create a lima bean hummus recipe and post together on the same day.
See below.
Now the term "hummus" actually means chick peas so TECHNICALLY this isn't a true hummus but whatever its my variation of hummus.


First things first - monkey see, monkey DO NOT DO!

Now that I got that off my chest I should probably elaborate for you.
Long story short, I haven't had a lima bean in my vicinity since I was probably 10 years old.  I never cooked them, my mom did - remember this information for the next part of my post.

I tried to poison the Mr. with cyanide, or so he tweeted anyway.  This is not accurate people.
I did not intentionally give him something to make him sick!
I did not poison him.
I did not try to kill him.
Lima beans, actually a lot of beans when raw are toxic, so says Google/Wikipedia/everyone I know but me.....you're supposed to boil them first. 
Who knew?
Apparently everyone but me.

When I started out creating this recipe I decided to use frozen limas.
I did not boil them.
I used them straight from the freezer.  They are likely blanched anyway right?
THEN I did some research on other lima bean recipes because you know what, I kinda like em now.....which is when I discovered I probably shouldn't have eaten my creation, or given it to the Mr. to eat about a cup of it.  *remember, I have never made them, my mom did*

For the next 4 hours I wasn't sure if the heavy feeling in my tummy was because I was going to die of cyanide poisoning or because I felt so guilty and so stupid for NOT knowing I should have cooked them first.  It was the latter....we're still alive.
Lesson 1 - always boil your beans (kidney, lima etc.)
Lesson 2 - don't tell the other half you may have poisoned him/her because now they wont EVER try anything they haven't ever eaten before or be leery of what you cook.
Lesson 3 and the most important one - you can most certainly make the most delicious hummus using lima beans!!
I bet you're gonna love this (we did and even the second batch that was safer to eat too!)
Now, you should go and check out Terra's post too!!

I'm listening to:  Beautiful Disaster - 311