food – Page 2 – kristilynk

And It’s Back to the Grind…

It’s official..the holiday season is over. I started my last day of freedom (ya know..back to full work weeks..) with a few large cups of coffee and a tasty little breakfast.

Jason tells me I am the best breakfast maker, he loves my eggs, bacon and toast breakfasts. I secretly know he tells me this because he doesn’t want to make breakfast and he wants me in the kitchen cooking his breakfast and serving it to him and I am OK with that. Sorry, feminists 😉

Today, there would be no fried eggs. For some off the wall reason, the previous day, I decided to boil all of our eggs.

I jumped online and found an easy quick recipe for boiled eggs spread.

Instead of frying the pound of bacon, I baked it for 15 minutes at 400 F, chopped up a bunch of scallions, and slathered it in mayonnaise. Toasted some bread and voila…a tasty, easy..open faced breakfast sandwich.

It’s not the prettiest but it was good..I promise!

Breakfast was followed by our new favorite past time..finding new TV shows to watch on Netflix. We powered through the first two seasons of Orange is the New Black over the holidays..great show and I read it is based on a true story! I may have to put the book on my “to read” this year.

We’re now hooked on House of Cards..good show. It takes some effort to keep up because it’s a political drama with all of the shady business but good scandals for sure… 🙂

So far..it was turning into a super lazy day. I had great intentions of jumping on my bike for a nice ride at some point in the day but there were so many things to distract me!

Breakfast

Netflix

House projects I will certainly never complete.

The internet is the devil (or is it my own mind?). Somehow, my thoughts turned to home projects. It started out with an online search for a new area rug, then on to book shelves, on to reading chairs, on to ceiling beams, on to whiskey barrel coffee tables ( I stayed on this one for a while..plotting to make my own starting with phone calls to Arizona Wineries to see how much they would charge me for an empty one) on to Candy Crush. 🙂 The good thing about Candy Crush is you eventually run out of lives..what better way to pass the time while new lives generate than to pack away Christmas?

See? I NEED a new bookcase! Christmas packed away, tree taken to the recycle center. Which by the way if you are not sure where to bring your “live” tree go to Earth911 and they will provide you the closest recycling center to your location. It’s not only for Christmas Trees either! It’s a handy website with plenty of information to distract you from your workouts! 🙂

For a lot of us..our last day of freedom is over and it’s back to the grind tomorrow so I wish everyone a beautiful week!!

The Plan

A couple of months ago the plan was to bring in the new year with our closest friends and family in the desert..camping. It all sounded great until a few days ago when the plan started to sound…let’s say…mentally challenged.

Winter decided to make an appearance in Arizona! We haven’t seen any snow in the suburbs outside of Phoenix but it rained all day yesterday and it was less than 30 Fahrenheit for the low. We would have died in our sleep. No doubt about it.

Jason and I thought it would be a better idea to have the celebration at our place. Have a nice cozy fire in the backyard (yep, on a NO BURN DAY, we would’ve totally done it) with our friends and our dogs and our drinks. That plan was perfect and the best thing about it? We wouldn’t have to drive anywhere…

For the most part, everyone was all in but…there’s always a but…they all have children under twelve. Of course the children would have been welcome BUT.. we have nothing entertaining at all for children to do in our house. They would have been bored to crazy.

Plan C…get our daughter to drive us to our friends house and then we could take a taxi home! Brilliant! 🙂 But…she left and went up north with her friends AND..that would mean we would be leaving our fur babies at home..alone…scared..to deal with the loud firecracker noises.

In the end, we decided to stay home with our fur babies and power through episode after episode of Orange is the New Black season two. In between we ate a delicious Jager Schnitzel with hunter sauce, beets and mashed potatoes courtesy of chef Jason. There was also whiskey and wine..of course.

Happy New Year people! In my heart of hearts I wish nothing but peace, love and prosperity to er’yone! 🙂

Culinary Bucket List 2014 ~ July

This months culinary dish was difficult..Now that I think of it, the entire month of July has proven to be difficult in both the kitchen arena as well as the blogging arena.

I think I’m going to blame it on the intense HEAT of the summer time in Arizona. I really don’t want to get into to much of a whiny session on the sucky hot ass summers in that we, who CHOOSE, to dwell…

But seriously…it’s flippin hot here and honestly the extreme weather makes it most difficult to sleep, walk from the car to the office, from the car to the grocery store..yada yada yada. To top it off..it seems that once the humidity rolls in (around July) the air conditioning does not work as well so even the stores are HOT.

So yea..that’s my “excuse” and I’m sticking to it…

Cruising around the internets for a good dish I have never tried before I found a little number I thought would be a good, fresh treat for summertime dinner.

I have never been a huge fan of mixing sweet with salty but I admit this Hawaiian BBQ Beef Taquito dish intrigued my taste buds.. Why not give it a shot?

My longtime friends were my guinea pigs for this months dish..The mister and I were invited over for the evening but he had a bachelor party to go to so it was just me flying solo. I’m so glad they were so open minded and willing to let me try this out on them with no restrictions! I have such great friends! 🙂

Ingredients: as found on website:

Simple Pineapple Salsa
2 cups fresh pineapple, chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped, divided
1 green bell pepper, diced
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ – ½ teaspoon adobo sauce
(from can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce)
½ cup cilantro, chopped
Taquito Filling
1 ½ pounds flank steak, diced*
remaining red onion from salsa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
2 teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chipotle pepper, minced
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Make the salsa first..Dice all the ingredients then place in the fridge to cool…maybe the freezer..ya know..if you live in ARIZONA..

Bonus about cooking for friends?? You can employ them as sous chefs! 🙂

Danny volunteered to dice the onion AND the flank steak! THANKS DANNY!

Olive oil splashed and heated in the frying pan..I added the meat, the onion and the garlic and cooked until ALMOST done. As soon as that was done, I threw in the all of the spices along with the pineapple and simmered for a couple more minutes.

So pretty and by the way…this blog is taking so much less more time than the actual production! We of course took breaks for chatting and wine drinking (I have..as you know..a very bad time concentrating so this will take the “normal” person about thirty minutes to do…me? It took about an hour)

No..big..deal..I’m used to it 🙂

I’m also not good at rolling anything tortilla related. Enter sous chef Amy Jo 🙂

Notice the rolls on the left? She started rolling them as burritos 🙂 hahah Is OK, we caught it in time and the remaining seven were rolled as taquitos..all is right with the world!

These things only need to bake at 350 for about ten minutes..then turn them over and broil for a few minutes ( I forgot this part..it’s necessary so be sure to do it)!

Add the cheese, top with the pineapple salsa and broil until cheese is melted.

As I mentioned, I’m not normally a fan of sweet and salty but THIS…is the exception. Thank you to my friends for letting me try this out on you AND for being such great sous chefs!!

Look out weekend..Here I come!

Last weekend, I stuffed my overnight bag into the trunk of my car, strapped myself in and headed to work a half day. Around lunch time I scooted out of there as fast as I could and headed down the highway…

West Coast Snyder family here I come! I was off for my first visit to our long time friends in Southern California. I cannot believe I have let so much time go between visits…no worries, I will be back on schedule ASAP!

The ride there …always sucks. It’s brown, flat and HOT. I do have Satellite radio to help ease the pain but honestly…I almost turned around because I didn’t want to be in the car anymore. I pushed through and rolled into town around dinner time.

I made a bad decision and stopped into the Target in El Cajon to pickup a little goodie gift bag for the preschooler in the family. I’m pretty sure that location is either closing down or their purchaser should be fired because normally…Target has a pretty decent selection for little ones..Not this one. Don’t go… I piddled around there for a good thirty minutes before I finally came to the conclusion..Nothing new is going to magically appear, jump in my basket and scream, “pick me, pick me”!

I settled for a little multipurpose Hello Kitty bag, stuffed it with sidewalk chalk and some bubbles. Not too long after I was parked in the front and being greeted by a super sweet smile from a super sweet little preschooler. 🙂 This little one has a really excellent memory or her mama does an amazing job at keeping close friends and family fresh in K’s mind because she seemed to remember me and even happy to see me. Either way, it was so good to see her little face in person again!

Hugs and hellos were had and I was settled in. And I got to meet the babay!!! 😀

For such a struggle in utero, trying get out too early and all, and a difficult few days of life in NICU, it made my heart happy to see such peace on her tiny tiny face. In my mind she was much bigger..while I was holding her I was mentally kicking myself for not grabbing the newborn cutey pattootey outfit I was going to get for her. Anyhooo…

Into the evening we, adults, enjoyed patio time, conversation and vino.

Cut to MORNING! 🙂

Thump, thump, thump, thump…no gentle pitter patter of little feet here..Little K makes her presence well known with the thump of her little feet bright and early on a Saturday morning. Thankfully..we all fell asleep at a decent hour so I was more than happy to be awoken in such a manner….Again..with the super sweet smile but this time with super sweet major bead head! 😀

Snuggles in the morning before she headed out to Sea World with Grandma and Grandpa while Mommy, Daddy, Uncle B and I took a little day trip to Ramona..La region vinicola del sur California.

First winery stop was to the summer release celebration at Milagro Farm

My favorites here were the 2013 Pinot Gris and the 2012 Barbera. I had to bring the Gris home with me though because I knew I was saving my wine allowance for our last stop.

Second stop was the wide open space of Edwards Vineyard & Cellars

A comfortable patio for tasting and enjoying company, perfect weather and the gorgeous view.

* Disclaimer..I did not steal this grape..it was placed in my hand from an unnamed source * 😀

Colorful, aromatic soaps are made and sold here.

Big lazy German Shepard’s lounge here.

Some outdoor decor is staged appropriately here.

I forgot to mention…Baby A (and when I say baby..I mean like she was 9 days old..baby) all the while this little miss was the PERFECT A*N*G*E*L

She snoozed quietly, awoke quietly and just enjoyed being in this world, our environment, with her mommy and her daddy..pure sweetness 🙂

I’m a little upset with myself for not getting more pictures of her for myself but we did have Uncle B there taking photos so I thought it would be a bit much to be all up in her business right behind the other paparazzi 🙂 I’ll be quicker with the camera on my next visit!

OH! I almost forgot…my favorite taste here was the 2009 Syrah. Again, I was still saving my wine allowance for our last stop. *sigh* Next time..next time..

Not too far away was our final stop, the one I had been waiting for, the ever quaint, ever friendly, ever delicious…Chuparosa Vineyards.

Darn it..I just realized (while uploading the above photos) I didn’t even get pictures of the new indoor tasting area. They really did a great job on this structure..comfortable seating, air conditioning (by this time it was starting to get a teeny bit warm), views of the vineyard and tables for our cheese, bread and cracker spread. Oh mylanta we (and by we..I mean I) ate entirely too much bread and cheese. It was all so yummy..too much to pass up.

My favorites this go round were the 2009 Sangiovese and the 2009 Zinfandel. I spent the remainder of my wine allowance and made them my own. 😀

We said our goodbyes, thanked the people of Chupa, piled into the car to headed back to the house.

I wish I could remember what we had for dinner but by the time we got home, I had had a long day of wine tasting I do know there was burrata involved and it was delicious. I’m pretty sure all I did the rest of the night is eat and drink. Between Uncle B and the Mr. of the house…my glass was ALWAYS full of some sort of tasty wine.

There is a vision in my head of the neighbors coming over and we played Cards Against Humanity. Which by the way…I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (maybe not in any blogs but I’ve said it..trust me) everyone must own a box of Cards Against Humanity ..seriously one of the best games I’ve played in years. Totally foul and inappropriate fun for friends for hours.

The night ended, I don’t remember how but I woke up Sunday morning in a terrible terrible way. Sadly I rolled around the house for a few hours, eventually had to pack up and head out. I was so bad off I didn’t even get to have a snuggle moment with the teeny baby A 😦 I missed out..Again I have to say..next time.

It was hard to walk out the door but I know I’ll be back soon (because I will make time to do so)!

The ride to the beach was painless, I found a good spot, walked along the beach for about twenty minutes before I found my perfect chill station. Threw the towel down, laid back, closed my eyes and just listened to the sounds of the waves, the children playing and the seagulls squawking..squawking is probably not the best word to use.. it sounds like a bad noise but it wasn’t. It was relaxing. I found myself taking in super deep breathes, the smell of the salty air mades my brain happy.

I wasn’t able to stay too long but the sun helps all and my horrible hangover state was just about non existent by the time I left!

Thank you friends, Thank you San Diego! 😉 I will be back!

It’s a Girls Day Out…

Crap, I was supposed to wake up, at the latest, 0700. The plan was to hit the 0915 Power Yoga class at Sutra Midtown ~ the drive is a little over 15 miles.

Yea, well Kiah didn’t wake me up until after 0800..no way were we going to make it.. Instead we figured we could make it to the Basic Yoga class at 1045, be done in time for lunch! Perfecto!

We left in a timely manner but stupid construction put us a little bit behind schedule..that and the weirdos on the road doing like five miles UNDER the speed limit..Honestly..I really don’t understand..

I wanted to take some pictures of the place for the you all but we got there just in time to toss our belongings into a cubby and head to class!

From the spacious front room – decorated with super cute yoga apparel along with walls clad with amazing local art – the front desk attendant walked us through the clean hall and into the “dungeoneaque” practice space. The entry door was really neat..it was made of iron and had welding marks.. like it was a bunch of little iron piece welded together..and it was a sliding door.

The room was dimly lit and was full of aspiring yogis in savasana setting all intentions. Kiah and I followed suit.

Just like myself..my yoga practice has been random and inconsistent. With that said..My skill level is somewhere between a beginner and the intermediate level. These past few months have set me back so my STRENGTH is totally at a beginner level.. This class actually worked out pretty well.

The instructor reminded me of Seth Meyers a little (1st impression) as the class (slowly) progressed..I was beginning to work deeper into going back to the basics. Damn…that was tough. I forgot how much hard work it is to build strength. I was surprised my legs were so weak, my wrists had a hard time holding on and that I actually broke a sweat. 😉 Mr instructor did such a great job at reminding us to root ourselves and to keep breathing. Those who don’t yoga..yes…we doing yoga…must sometimes be reminded to BREATHE 😉

Although I would have much preferred an intermediate class (they flow faster and require less strength..in my opinion) it was great to get back to the basics and the instructor did a wonderful job at reeling me back in. I will definitely be back to see what else Midtown Sutra has to offer!

And…next time I go back…I will take pictures..the vibe of the place is excellent..you have to see it..

After class, we jumped into the ridiculously HOT car (thank you to the brilliant man who invented window coverings for cars!!!) and drove downtown for a little lunch.

Again..traffic was HORRIBLE..guess who forgot this weekend was Phoenix COMICON.?? Yep..me..bad decision but we stuck it out. I am pretty sure we drove around for like 25 minutes trying to fight traffic and figure out how to get to the restaurant before finding the parking garage adjacent to out destination.

Walking to the Pizzaria Bianco was like walking in an oven..People..it’s friggin HOT here.

I have been obsessing about this place for months having heard it was one of the best pizzas in the nation..naturally I was curious! Surprisingly, the wait was not too long and we were seated within two minutes of arriving. The inside is super small, the tables too close together and the acoustics are not that great..it was loud. We opted to dine outside. Thankfully, there was a little bit of a breeze, some shading and we had cold cold drinks..I prefer dining outdoors so I was completely OK with it.

The staff was wonderful. So attentive but not annoyingly so…and the lady who brought us our AH MA ZING pizza margarita even entertained us and took a picture of me and my lovely when I asked her to. 😉 Thanks lady!!

Now..check out the goods:

Thin crust with just the right amount of crunch with every bite. The freshness of the tomatoes and sauce is well worth the 15.00 we paid for this little pizza. The mozzarella cheese was perfect and the basil…mon amie…I am not a pizza expert and have no idea what constitutes the best pizza in the nation but I would imagine this place deserves big props for what they create.

Here’s a tip thoug…if you are dining with a male…you’ll need to order two pizzas…Kiah and I could have probably eaten one per.. we are thanking ourselves for not because that would have been glutenous of us but..we totally could have..

We tossed around the idea of checking the menu again for maybe some dessert or a salad..luckily we just paid the check and left.

Half way home Kiah spotted a little cupcake shop she’s been wanting to try out so I swung around and we went in.

The Treehouse Bakery is a vegan bakery..

The selection was not big but they did have the vanilla, chocolate and an interesting combo of strawberry basil..I am curious about that one so I just might have to go back for that one.

The lady behind the counter amused me when I asked her to find the biggest one because Kiah and wanted to share one 🙂 and then she offered to us this cappuccino hazelnut delight!

I am not sure how, without butter, she made the frosting taste so buttery but it was super good!! Glad we stopped. 🙂

There’s Always Tomorrow..

Motivation and self control are playing a mean game of “keep away” from me!

Good lord, eating right, exercising and being nice are difficult!

My story is the same as everyone else’s ~ “I was doing so good” and then…. There is always an “and then” isn’t there?

November through March.. I had not had any fast food and I was a Bikram Yoga going fool!

And then… as I mentioned in a previous post…the eczema issues arose..I’m still battling it BUT it is not as horrible as it was. I am still afraid to sweat which makes it difficult to not be bummed out and shovel food in my face. I mean serisouly..I don’t necessarily have to sweat and heat up horribly to burn some calories..I just need to eat better and move around..to start again, right?

Well, that’s when motivation and self control come into play..and by play..I mean they are completely messing with me right now.

Today, I started out with excellent intentions..I had an Herbal Life cafe mocha healthy meal shake plus a couple of protein scoops added some ice and was off to work..Happy as a clam ** uh oh..side bar..who knows how happy a clam is and why is this a saying?? **

The plan was also to have a shake for lunch, with almond milk…

and then I would make a decent meal for dinner..

And then…

The boss man announced, “Pizza’s here”!

Pizza is ALWAYS good but when it is from Roasati’s ??? Its almost irresistible. And what I mean by almost..I mean COMPLETELY irresistible.

I ate what is featured above PLUS…two more of the little slices.

On a brighter note..at least I didn’t drink the shake too!! 😉 You know me…always looking for a silver lining. 😀

There’s always tomorrow!!

And Down the Mountain We Went…

Tent – tarp = waking up with the sun..which is O.K by me!

I mean..who wants to waste a perfectly gorgeous day in nature…sleeping it away?? Not this lady!

Darn, I just realized..I completely forgot to take a snapshot of the mess I woke up to. When I sat up for the first time I peeked out the mesh of the tent and spotted a H.U.G.E crow wondering around our campsite. He picked up, what looked to be, a piece of bread and fluttered himself up onto the bench of the picnic table. This guy was extremely “healthy”. Now I’m really bummed I didn’t get a photo of him, I just tried to Google “fat crow” and “huge crow” and NOTHING came up as big as the crow I saw… and no one else was awake to verify my story….oh well just believe it..

I crawled out of the tent and all three of the bags Jason had put in the tree the previous night were on the ground riddled with beak holes. Buns, chips, bottles, packaging for the meat were strewn all over our camp area. That bird ate, four hamburgers, three hotdogs, like eight slices of pepper-jack cheese, a bunch of buns and some chips. As much as I don’t like birds (aka rats with wings), I certainly hope that creature is OK. That pepper jack cheese could NOT have been good for him…eeeek.. I would hate to be walking along minding my own business while he was flying over head when that cheese kicked in!! WOOOO

Pretty much as soon as I finished cleaning up the birds party mess up..everyone woke up and we all started packing up to head down the mountain.

But first! We had to stop at the Watch Tower:

We climbed up and up and up and up, I have no idea how many flights of stairs but it felt like it was never ending. Totally worth it..the view was amazing and the inside with the drawings (not sure if they are original or if they were drawn on as an added effect) were super neat as well. Gahhh…another missed photo opportunity.. when we reached the top there was yet another flight of stairs that was roped off with a really tempting note that said something along the lines of: “Do not climb these stairs that lead to the top of the tower”.. haha surprisingly, as much as we all wanted to, we did not disobey their request. 🙂

Thoroughly at peace and happy with our intake of the Grand Canyon, we strolled on over to the trading post for a quick bite and a to-go of java. Both of which were completely sub par..the best part of the teeny burrito Jason and I shared was the jalapeño hot sauce we doused it in and I’m pretty sure the coffee was Folgers..made with too much water and not enough grounds.. By the way..normally Jason and I don’t share plates but we wanted to save our appetites for lunch at the famous Rock Springs Cafe on the way home.

With some fuel in our bellies we were ready to roll!

Jason brilliantly suggested we take the back route and hit Slide Rock on our way home. Taking the scenic 89A route from Flagstaff to Slide Rock is a MUST. The geological transformation from the forests of Flagstaff into the red rocks of Sedona is an amazing display of Mother Natures pure awesomeness. Breath it, live it, feel it and go hug a tree! 😉

The last time I went to Slide Rock, parking was along the one lane two way highway..dangerous and it was pretty hard to come by a spot!

Since then, a parking lot has been built and now for a small fee of 10.00 you can park and have great fun at the park until they close if you like.

A little walk

A little hike

And just a little further is a peaceful oasis that in the summer time might be the perfect swimming hole!

Unless your Jason..it’s perfect now!! NUTBALL! That water was like 50 Fahrenheit!!

Going in for round two!

Sandro was VERY much tossing around the idea of free falling

While Carmen and I sat back and watched the show 🙂

I can’t even imagine how PACKED this place must be in the dead of summer?? Shoes and jackets came off as the heat set in a bit so we could put our toes in the water to cool off. Jason won the badge of bravery for the day! 🙂

No doubt we could have all spent the night in that very spot but with lunch to eat, showers to take and friends to meet..We had to go.

We pit stopped at the famous Rock Springs Cafe for lunch and pie, sped home (as safely as possible of course), showered, rested and readied ourselves for guests! ** Click on Rock Springs Cafe..this little place deserves a blog all its own. Super friendly people, excellent food, out of this world pies and old saloon type decor. My subliminal message to you is…You must go !! **

No pictures from here on out because by lunch time Kristi Kodak was closed for business. 🙂 Trust me when I tell you we had more great food, great drinks and great friends! We didn’t over do it because the next day ..there were plans of more shenanigans!

Culinary Bucket List ~ May 2014

When Kim and I started this monthly culinary bucket list..I was a little worried I would have a hard time finding good, easy, fresh dishes I had never created.

It’s proving to be the case that I could, if I were motivated enough to, create new dishes like twice a week. Turns out, I forgot..I am not a professional chef, nor am I even an experienced chef. I would certainly not even make a good sous chef…Oh well..I am having a great time playing around in the kitchen and making tasty vittles. 🙂

With that said…on to tonights menu!

Caprese Stuffed Chicken Breast

That’s right folks…guess who’s never stuffed a chicken breast??? This girl!! And I’m not any kind of good at it either, but I’m jumping ahead of myself and I’ll just have to let you be the judge.

Here is the set up:

Straight off the bat I veered from the instructions. The recipe told me to start the grill. I am afraid of the grill soooo… THAT was not going to happen. Besides..I am SURE all of the stuffing would end up in the fire and I would have nothing tasty to share. It’s just best for everyone that I pre-heat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit/177 Celcius

Pull the handy dandy cast iron skillet out, lube it up with some avocado oil. I’m seriously in love with my cast iron skillet. I really use it for as many kitchen experiments as I can! And if you noted…avocado oil? Yes, we switched to avocado oil..especially in the oven because it can take much more heat than olive oil. This was a huge issue in our house because, I am not kidding you, every time I would cook in the oven with EVOO the fire alarm would blare it’s terrible tune. Now…my dogs are petrified every time they here the “beep” of the oven buttons or the microwave. Ok..Ok..if I’m honest..every time I go into the kitchen..the dogs are suspicious.

Since avocado oil…I have not set the alarm off once 😉 win ~ win !~

So anyway…dinner..

I had to get the nasty chickens out of their packages to butterfly them. I am a little leery of these chicken breasts. Seriously..what kind of chicken has a boob that weighs almost a pound? I guarantee you MY boobs don’t even weigh a pound..

and what exactly does “minimally processed” mean? Sorry get off course again..

Butterfly the chickens massive boobs.. check. Sprinkled pepper on them, thinly sliced up the cherry tomatoes to layer them, sprinkles the fresh basil I chopped up and shredded the Mozzarella Fresco on top..

Folded them up and put them in the skillet. I was supposed to put a little bit of basalmic vinagrette and some balsamic glaze but I only had balsamic vinegar so I used that instead and probably too much of it but whatever… 😉

Looks gross..I really really don’t like raw chicken skin. Good thing after they are put in the oven and this mess is cleaned up…

They turn out quite tasty!

Puff Pastry..

My friend and fellow blogger, Kim, shared with me another blog which we now both follow. I love to “hate” this girl..she’s like Barbie…the *&tch* has everything… I put “hate” in quotes because I don’t hate her..Its a jealousy thing..

She’s all about the traveling, cooking, dining and fashion but in a humble not so pretentious manner.. and to top it off..I’m pretty sure she gets paid to do all of this through her blog..wha???

Anyway, I will not bore you with my mental issues…today anyway 🙂

This back story has a point..FOOD! Rosie turned Kim and I onto this delight!

Now I will just tell you up front. Mine did not turn out as pretty as hers OR Kims’ for that matter…

First issue..I had to to find out, what is Boursin cheese? Turns out..it’s just like Rondele soft cheese but you get less and pay more 🙂 Kim says its better but my memory is just not that good. Maybe, if I had them side by side I would be able to taste the diff but from my memory (my memory…not sayin’ much) .. it tasted the same.

Found it and bought it!

Second issue..where the heck am I to find puff pastry? I don’t even know what that is. I thought it was the pillsbury dough boy stuff that comes in a pop can..Again, I had to use the phone a friend option..

Found it! It was hiding in the frozen pie section.

The mayo has nothing to do with this recipe so please just ignore… 😉

Third issue: Really Bashas?? You don’t carry Heirloom Tomotoes?? I had to go to Sprout’s ~ why is it that non of the grocery stores carrier EVERYTHING we need? It never fails. For those of you who say..Wal-Mart does..I say NO..you do not buy produce at Wal-Mart..

After a long day at work, long drive home, two grocery store trips I finally got home and started in on putting dinner together.

It only took about 30 minutes for the puff pastry sheet to thaw out. I kept busy prepping the kitchen and then cutting up romaine lettuce, purple onion, cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad.

Yes, it took me 30 minutes.

Once it was thawed, I spread the Boursin (not really that easy so be careful not to tear the pastry sheet)

Pre-heat oven to 420

Cut tomatoes

Put them on top of the cheese on top of the puff sheet and don’t forget the fresh basil!

Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and just a teeny sprinkle of sea salt.

Pop it into the oven for 20-25 minutes ~ Now…For me, I think 420 at 20-25 minutes was too much.. Look..my edges are not pretty:

It may be that I used tin foil instead of parchment paper so the tin made it cook hotter?

In any event..it was REALLY good! The husband loved it too!! WINNING!

Off to Fat Camp!

It is astounding at how quickly the universe and her sneaky ways can trip you up and make you feel like you have fallen flat on your face.

Since November of last year I have been doing so well at eating right things, cutting out horrible habitual habits * aka nasty smoking habit * exercising, drinking a ton of water (well for my standards) and in general just being good to myself.

All was rolling along great until one stupid day…nasty nasty flare up of eczema! Absolutely ruined everything..slooooowed my roll. I had to stop going to the Bikram room – heat only agitates this stupid skin allergy, I became completely obsessed with “how to fix it”, naturally of course.

In the meantime..me completely stressing about it is doing nothing but making the problem worse. I would show you pictures but it’s just gross..seriously..google eczema if you’ve never seen it before. Not only is it gross but it itches beyond belief. Not a fun time..

Long story short..I ended up having to take 10 days of steroids. Here I am three weeks later and my exercise habits are NIL…AND..I intensly crave nothing but food that is so not good for me. Like cheeseburgers and cupcakes. That is all I want to eat.

In fact 🙂 Just the day before yesterday I was driving back from lunch, turned my head to the right and spotted HEAVEN ! CLICK IT …I DARE YOU!

I ordered a strawberry cheesecake cupcake and immediately fell into addiction. I went back the next day 😦

They didn’t have the strawberry cheesecake one so I chose the tiramisu hoping I would hate it. I was wrong it was just as moist and bursting with sweet deliciousness as yesterdays. It’s confirmed..I officially have a problem and must report to fat camp immediately!

Be prepared for a change in posts…wine intake must sadly be reduced, no more cupcakes and I MUST get off my squishy butt~!