Tagged: postaday2011

Top 11 Recipes of 2011

Ask yourself this question: Will this matter a year from now?

RICHARD CARLSON

To ring in the new year, I wanted to share my top eleven recipes for this year. Since I started my blog on 11/11/11, I thought the top eleven seemed fitting. From healthy lunch ideas, to indulgent Chipotle Raspberry Black Bean Dip, here are the most visited posts of 2011:

#11. Healthy Lunch Idea

This salad is so easy to prepare on Sunday and take to work all week. I love it because it is dairy-free, full of fiber, and has a good amount of protein to keep me from getting hungry in the afternoons.

#10. Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin

Though I did not try the Bacon Wrapped Deer Tenderloin, my husband swears this marinade takes away a lot of the gamey flavor. Plus one can’t go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon.

#9. Spinach Wraps

Who doesn’t enjoy a good wrap? Spinach Wraps are so easy to whip up on a busy night, and they save well wrapped in Saran wrap for lunch the next day.

#8. 30 Second Salsa

Being the salsa fanatic that I am, it was hard to narrow down my favorite salsa. But any salsa that can be made in 30 seconds in my own kitchen, has got to be the best. I cannot get enough of this stuff. I put it on everything.

#7. Savory Sweet Chex Mix

Savory Sweet Chex Mix is like crack! Do not make it unless you plan to give most of it away. It is too good to have sitting around the house. The mix of savory garlic, sweet candy coated nuts, and heat of red pepper, is out of this world.

#6. Buffalo Chicken Dip

Buffalo Wings…good. Dip…good. Mixing the two…AMAZING! Buffalo Chicken Dip is such a crowd pleaser, and it is the perfect game day appetizer.

#5. Whole Wheat Spinach Gnocchi

It seems wrong to consider Whole Wheat Spinach Gnocchi a healthy food, when it is so darn cheesy. But for anyone wanting to shed some holiday pounds, this is the recipe to make.

#4. Blue Cheese Pear Pizza

One cannot go wrong with pizza, but when I want a really special treat, this is my go to thing to make. Crunchy nuts, crispy pears, and flavorful blue cheese all on top of a pizza, yes please!

#3. Spicy Southwest Egg Rolls

Everyone has been a Chili’s Bar and Grill, and hopefully they have tried the Southwest Egg Rolls. For any vegetarian, Spicy Southwest Egg Rolls are the perfect substitute, or anyone wanting to make their own version for that matter. Yummy!

#2. Spicy Shrimp

The Spicy Shrimp is really packing some heat. When I want to kick-start my metabolism this is what I reach for. I would totally recommend doubling this recipe because it is gone before I know it.

#1. Chipotle Raspberry Black Bean Dip 

Chipotle Raspberry Black Bean Dip, also known as Heaven on Earth, is by far my FAVORITE recipe. There is nothing out there quite like it. The smokey chipotle sauce make this dip stand above all others.

According to all the crazies out there, like my cashier at Whole Foods today, we have one year left. Let’s make it a good one. Here’s to 2012 and finding even more wonderful recipes to share!

Thank you to everyone who continues to read my blog. I’ll keep writing as long as you all keep reading:)

What’s your favorite recipe?

Iguana Mexican Grill

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.

UNKNOWN

How am I enjoying my staycation? Time is flying by. This might be because Chris and I slept in until eleven today. What! Is that even possible? The latest I ever sleep in on the weekend, if I am lucky, is nine o’clock. So eleven is unheard of. After getting around, I kind of feel like sleep has cheated my time today.

After a few miles on the treadmill, Chris and I headed out to wrap up some Christmas gift shopping for each other. We hit up some furniture stores for me, and then went straight to Bass Pro for him. Being the picky person that I am, I left without making any major purchases, but Chris sure did score this Christmas:

This gun is for some type of water fowl hunting…I think. Please don’t ask me any details because all I know is the price.

Our next stop was way more fun! We met the roommate to do a little apartment hunting. After reviewing my pictures from today, I think I need to look into a new phone versus furniture. I will show you them anyways because this place was just so darn charming. Here is a picture from the kitchen.

I just love the black and white tiling. The bar was my favorite spot, only because I can visualize myself settling right up to it with a cocktail in hand.

The living room windows covering three walls, which gave a cheery feeling to the space. Please look past the blurriness of the photo, to see just how amazing the apartment really is. Um, hardwood floors, I think so.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Mel scores this amazing deal. The site is ideal. It is right next to an amazing source of top-notch bars and restaurants.

After viewing the potential living space, we headed over to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Iguana Mexican Grill. It is in Oklahoma City’s Automobile Alley district, and I guess the cuisine is technically tex-mex, but the salsa so refreshing. I have had trouble finding really good salsa since moving to OKC, and was pleasantly surprised by Iguana’s fresh cilantro mix. They also serve pretty decent queso.

The stand out ingredients are cumin and cilantro. Tonight I ordered the fish tacos with a side of citrus and cilantro white beans. I am a sucker for cilantro.

Please take note of the empty salsa bowl in the back because it was gone in a matter of minutes. The white beans were an interesting side. I had actually never had white beans at a Mexican restaurant, but I would totally get these again.

It was a wonderful meal! Mel and I ended up actually splitting the tacos, but by the time we factored in all the chips we ate, it was the perfect amount of food. Iguana Mexican Grill is the perfect spot to eat right by downtown OKC. It is near a wonderful bar district or the Chesapeake Arena, if you are going to a concert or Thunder game.

*I apologize for the poor quality of these pictures. I promise to take a better camera with me next time I eat out. I just love to see other diner’s faces when I take a million pictures of my food. Okay, I just love to be the creepy girl in the room.

How do you decide where to live moving to a new town?

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.

UNKNOWN

Well it was strange to leave the leftover snow in Kansas and head into 66-degree weather in Oklahoma, and by strange I mean wonderful. I love a white Christmas and all, but now that it is behind us, I am all for the warmer weather. Being at home is a great feeling, but I sure did enjoy seeing my family and friends.

Sadly, I did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked today, but I did get most of our things unpacked. Settling in for the night, we decided to watch Friends with Benefits. It was super funny, and I would rank it higher than No Strings Attached in my line up of movies about random hook-ups.

Movies go well with wine, so I went to my local liquor shop and bought a bottle of Castle Rock Pinot Noir. The wine was smooth and delicious, and my non-red wine drinking roommate even enjoyed a glass or two.

After the day of traveling and unpacking, I decide against cooking tonight, but I did want to share with you another one of my brother’s creations:

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

White rice

Cucumber

Carrots

Green onion

Spring roll wrappers

Directions:

1. Place rice on wrapper.

2. Add vegetables, which should be chopped into matchstick size.

3. Tuck in sides and roll wrapper.

4. Enjoy!

We dipped our rolls into a peanut and sweet chili sauces.

I don’t typically choose spring rolls, but I enjoyed how much lighter the wrapper was from the typical egg roll wrapper I would use.

We really did eat quite a bit of Asian cuisine while I was home. Why? Because it is amazing! It is one of my top choices for sure.

Have you rented any good movies lately?

Smoked Salmon Sushi Rolls

You may think the grass is greener on the other side. But if you take the time to water your own grass it would be just as green.

UNKNOWN

It has been real Kansas, but this Dorothy has to head home. I am only allotted so many vacation days a year, and there are two ways I spend my vacation days. Either I travel to relax or to spend time with family and friends. They are both wonderful in their own way.

I have to admit that sitting on the beach is hard to beat…man I kind of wish I was on a beach now, but I am thankful to have one more night with my family.  What would be perfect would be, me and my family on a beach now. Oh, one can dream…

Being home does have its perks. Of all of my siblings, I would be the last one that anyone would guess would have a food blog. My brothers love to cook, and they are really good, I mean REALLY good. During my stay, I have enjoyed many dishes they have served.

The law student from Washington D.C., Tommy, has taught me all about Japanese style cuisine. So far I have learned to keep the cooking simple, so you can really taste all the ingredients. Another fun fact, short grain rice has higher starch content than long rain, which makes the rice sticky after it dries. This come in handy when making…

Smoked Salmon Sushi Roll

Ingredients:

Sushi nori (black seaweed wrappers)

White rice

Sliced cucumber

Green onions

Smoked Salmon

Sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Place sushi paper on mat and cover with rice.

2. Slice vegetable to add to roll.

3. Layer cucumber down middle of rice.

4. Add smoke salmon on top.

5. Sprinkle on green onions and sesame seeds.

6. Turn water on to slight stream.

7. Begin to roll sushi.

8. Moisten finger and wet edge to seal.

9. Slice roll into eight pieces or so.

10. Enjoy

Following with the Japanese minimalist culture, we used very few ingredients. Less is really more when it comes to sushi.

We let the smoked salmon be the stand out flavor in the roll. To garnish, we whipped up some soy sauce with Sriracha, sliced ginger, and wasabi.

The sushi was crazy good, and I couldn’t believe it was so easy to make. Guess I will be saving a few bucks opting to make my own instead of buying at Whole Foods.

Are you a fan of sushi?

Jenny’s Oreo Balls

Happy girls are the prettiest.

AUDREY HEPBURN

My car and I have been in a fight all week. From the dreaded oil change experience to a recent flat tire on the interstate, it’s been a rough week.

After wrapping up our Christmas celebration in Kansas City, Chris headed back with his parents, while I stayed behind to spend time with my friends. Just as I was exiting the interstate, I heard the most dreaded sound, that signaled there was a major problem. In the small amount of time I had, I was able to pull over to a tight shoulder. It was right by a really creepy forest in nowhere land Kansas City.

I (so clueless about anything vehicle related) had no idea what to do. Hum…I checked to see if I had room to attempt a tire change. No dice. Okay, I knew I needed to call someone who wasn’t problem-solving challenged. It was a good decision. I called my friend Penny and she gave me the number to my insurance company’s hotline. One would think it would be listed on their insurance card, but it wasn’t.

Thank you State Farm for sending someone to my rescue!

Being the freak that I am, I sat in my car without it running, in hopes that people would think it was an abandoned vehicle until help showed up. Not the smartest thing to do, with it being winter and all. On the positive side, I wasn’t starving or anything since I was still full on goodies. Amazing goodies by the way.

Jenny’s Oreo Balls

Ingredients:

1 package Oreo cookies, crushed

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

2 (8 ounce) package white chocolate bark

Directions:

1. Mix Oreo cookies and cream cheese.

2. Shape into balls

3. Put in the refrigerator for an hour.

4. Melt white almond bark on stove over low heat.

5. Dip balls into chocolate until completely covered.

6. Place on wax paper and allow to harden.

7. Enjoy!

Besides my travel troubles, Christmas was a success. I have lots of wonderful memories of smiling children.

Being with the family was the best gift of all. As time goes on, people get busy and it is harder and harder to spend time with the ones you love. I am so thankful that Chris and I got to enjoy our families company this year. Here is a shot of Chris’ grandmother with all of her boys:

It’s sad that the celebrations have come to an end, but I was ready to get on the road and get moving, with my new tire of course! Hoping that my love/hate relationship with my car will be more loving down the road.

Have you ever gotten a flat tire?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...