A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Hello again! This is a short one, but I wanted to share now while I was think of it. Mike and I occasionally like to try a new cocktail or beverage.    When were out to dinner with my parents last week for their anniversary dinner (Happy 44 Years, Mom and Dad!), I noticed a Spiced Pear Martini on the menu at Olive Garden. I didn't get one for dinner, but the idea of stuck in my head. I Googled "Spiced Pear Martini" later, and I found a recipe that seemed tasty and easy to whip up.    I would say it tastes more like Christmas cookies than pear, but it's still delicious and very holiday-inspiring. The original recipe places one maraschino cherry at the bottom of the martini glass, but we omitted that as maraschinos are not something we keep on hand, nor would we finish a jar bought for this purpose.   We would make this again, though I think I might look for pear vodka (which I feel certain I've seen before) to see if the outcome would be mo...

So, we were lounging about yesterday morning, thrilled at having no plans for the entire weekend (a rare occurrence indeed). We were enjoying some (deer) steak and eggs for breakfast and watching The Pioneer Women on the Food Network channel. We like Ree a lot. They seem to have a really cool family, and her recipes sound delicious and totally make-able. Anyway, while we were eating breakfast yesterday, Ree was making Rigatoni and Meatballs. The meatballs looked amazing, and the more we watched, the more we thought we needed meatballs for dinner last night. I've made meatballs plenty of times, but have always used either my mom's recipe or no recipe at all. We decided we needed Ree's meatballs. And so, as we ventured out in the rain and drizzle for a few Christmas things, we stopped by Kroger for meatballs fixin's. And nothing against rigatoni, but decided we really wanted spaghetti with our meatballs. Three things we did differently: We used 3/4 cup breadcrumbs...

Mike and I enjoy sweet potatoes, and in the farm box we subscribe to, we often get some fresh ones just in time for fall. It seems though, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas, that most if not all of the recipes we have copious amounts of one or more of the following: brown sugar, marshmallows, bourbon, maple syrup/molasses/sorghum, etc. We wanted savory sweet potatoes. With our sage plant still producing in the garage under a grow lamp, the recipe I found for Sweet Potato and Sage Butter Casserole was just what were looking for! This was easy to put together and very tasty. So tasty, in fact, that I forgot to take any photos. Ours looked just the original, so check out this link for a visual: Sweet Potato Sage Casserole 2 pounds sweet potatoes , peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes , peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces ...

I'm way behind, so we'll keep this one short and sweet. Jalapeño Pimento Cheese In a medium bowl, beat 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 8 ounces cream cheese, 1 jalapeño (seeded and minced), 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder and salt and pepper to taste until we'll blended. Mixin 4 ounces well drained chopped pimentos and 2-3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese. We've enjoyed this on crackers and on sandwiches. My favorite was as a grilled cheese on sourdough with thick-sliced cooked bacon. Yum!

Today was a triple threat in the Nash house: a Boston game was on TV, Titans are playing tonight, and Mike had his annual Fantasy Football draft. Even better, baseball started at 3pm, and Titans are playing a night game. (There was a brief disagreement about what to watch live and what to record when we thought they both played night games.) Anyway, after a very tasty breakfast of bacon and eggs, we decided to rock snacks/appetizers for dinner tonight. We had homemade salsa, homemade black bean hummus, and needed one more thing to round out the "meal." Once again, Food Network Magazine and one of their "50 things" booklets came through for us. Horseradish Kielbasa bites sounded perfect! The recipe is so easy, I'm not even going to list it all formally at the bottom like I usually do. Make a sauce with the following: 1/4 cup sour cream, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard, and 2 teaspoons horseradish. I didn't meas...

It's that time of year again when the veggies start rolling in faster than we can eat them. (Thanks, Delvin Farms !) We recently got a couple of huge, beautiful eggplant that we knew needed to be used sooner rather than later, so last night I fired up Pinterest to see what I could see. There were several recipes in contention, but ultimately we went with Eggplant Steaks. (Technically the recipe was for Eggplant Stakes, but I decided not to hold that against the pinner.) The recipe was super easy and super quick. We ended up broiling the eggplant in 2 batches, as it was too much to fit all in one pan. Otherwise, we made it exactly as directed and served it with wild mushroom couscous and dinner rolls with German honey spread. Even for two meat-eaters like Mike and I, it was delicious and absolutely filling. We've already packed up the leftovers for lunches tomorrow!   Eggplant Steak  2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons thick steak sauce (we used Lea ...

Some of my readers may know that I was recently laid off (along with my entire department) due to "budgetary constraints." While I could be really mad about this (and some days, it's tempting), I'm choosing to use this time to my benefit. Getting things done around the house, helping out those who need me during the day, and getting dinner started before Mike gets home. A week or two ago, I found a recipe that had my hubby's name written all over it: Austin-Style Chicken Chili. It came in a pull-out from our recent issue of Food Network Magazine that was "man-themed" in honor of fathers' day. We love trying new chili recipes, and this one caught my eye for several reasons. 1) It was a red chicken chili. Most chicken chili I see is white. 2) You braise said chicken in beer, which is one of our favorite "secret" chili ingredients. 3) It contained chipotle chiles and a habanaro. This last reason caused me slight concern, as Mike certainl...

  Have you ever come across a recipe in a book or magazine, or perhaps an idea on Pinterest, that once you see it, you think, "Duh! This is brilliant and easy. Why didn't I ever think of it?"   Several months ago, Mike and I had such an experience when we saw a recipe in our Food Network Magazine for, wait for it....Tomato Orzo Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons .   Seriously? How many of us grew up eating Campbell's tomato soup alongside a grilled cheese sandwich, dipping the sandwich into the bowl or mug of hot orangish liquid?   ( Side note: growing up, my mom called the soup "orange soup" for YEARS, as none of my siblings nor myself liked tomatoes. I guess none of us ever looked at the label or noticed that it had a distinctly non-tomato flavor. A fond memory nonetheless.)   Anyway...we knew we had to try this. I'm happy to say it was fantastic! While it may be tempting to push the "easy button" and open up that fail-sa...

So this post isn't a recipe, but a kitchen gadget recommendation. For Christmas, Mike bought me my very first cast-iron skillet. How in the world have I been cooking all these years without this?? One of my fondest memories takes place during a visit at my late Great Grandma Lela's house. Grandma Lela always sent us handmade ornaments every year for Christmas (and every year they were different), made each of Christmas stockings (which we still use at my parents' house), and was always so much fun to be around the few times we made it out to see her.   On this particular visit, she offered to make dinner for us—cheeseburgers. Never one to pass up a tasty burger, even in my younger days, I was ready for her to fire up a grill and get to cooking them. Instead, she pulled out a very seasoned, very loved cast-iron skillet. Nevermind that...a burger is a burger, right?   Wrong. They were delicious, juicy, one of the tastiest things I remember eating even to this day ami...

Burek (aka Beef Pie ) I have been meaning to write about this place forever. I keep thinking I've already posted about it, then we eat there again and I realize I haven't. For those of you not in the Mt. Juliet/Nashville area..I apologize. You're missing out on an excellent eatery—Cafe Bosna. For those of you in the area who have never heard of it, or who have heard of it and never tried it...what are you waiting for?!  Mike first heard of this place about two years ago via Urbanspoon or Yelp or some such site. It didn't have a ton of ratings yet, but all the ones that were posted were positive. When we finally tried it for the first time, we were instantly in love. It's nothing special to look at, just a little cafe/diner in the bottom level of a corner strip mall. There are maybe 8 tables in the entire place. But the food...oh, the food. Don't come if you aren't hungry...the portions are meant for hungry people. It was difficult to decide what w...

Man…have I been slacking off, or what? Despite my lack of posts here, I have not quit cooking. On the contrary, I have tons of food pics stored up in my phone—so many, in fact, that the storage is almost full. I decided I better get some posted to make room for others. To look at my previous posts, you might be thinking to yourself that I never have kitchen mishaps, or downright disasters. Ha! I have burned dinner (just once, but still). I have overcooked a birthday cake for Mike to the point that it was totally inedible. And, I have made this pie. I really had high hopes for it…peach pie with a sunflower crust just sounded so tasty to me. I like peaches, pie, sunflowers…it seemed like a match made in heaven. I had a little trouble finding any of the specialty flours, so used whole wheat flour. I carefully followed the recipe to the letter, and yet…this just wasn’t all that great. It definitely has potential, and I would still encourage you to try it, but it just didn’t do...