Makin' banana pancakes...

Another great gift that I got for my shower is an electric griddle- perfect for making pancakes! Andy and I just finished a delicious breakfast of banana walnut pancakes and maple bacon... our apartment smells pretty amazing right now :).

Weeknight dinner

This is a dinner I made last week- it was quick and easy and I got to use my new All-Clad grill pan!

I was in Publix last month and they were handing out samples of this McCormick herb crusting blends for steak and chicken. I tried the steak one on a new york strip and it came out great! I also sauteed a vidalia onion in a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a dash of sugar (a trick I learned to make the onion taste sweeter). Then, I blanched green beans and added them to the pan with the cooked onion - this is a great vegetable side dish! Everything was done in about 20 minutes...

Dinner party

Every single gift I received at my bridal shower was so cool that I had to have a dinner party to show them off! Seriously- my apartment looks like a Williams Sonoma catalog! I am just in love with all of my new stuff. Anyway, Andy was out of town this weekend, so I invited my parents over for dinner to keep me company. It turned out that he was home by the time we got around to cooking, so we all got to eat together :)

I had won a gift card a while ago to this gourmet Italian market by me, so I decided to pick up some things there for dinner tonight. If you have one of these type of markets by you, I highly suggest that you try Rao's homemade pasta. We had the fusilli tonight and it was unbelievable!

So, for an appetizer, I used my new cheese board and knife and put out an assortment of cheeses, salami, olives and crackers... it goes great with a glass of red wine.



For dinner, I decided to make this pasta dish that my friend Erin made when she had us over her house for dinner one night- it has sausage, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and it is soooo delicious! The recipe is from Giada de Laurentiis.

AND for dessert.... the other night I was flipping through the new Food Network magazine and I came across a recipe for the Cheesecake Factory's pumpkin cheesecake, and being a pumpkin-lover, I had to try it. The only thing was, I had to be up for work on Saturday morning at 4 a.m. (don't ask!) and I decided to start making my cheesecake at 9 p.m. on Friday- not realizing it takes almost 3 hours total to cook! To make a long story short, I got about 3 hours of sleep that night but my cheesecake turned out great! Thanks for my springform pan Aunt Susie!

We had such a nice time tonight and I got to use my new bread basket, new placemats, new candlestick holders and new dishes... and my new squirty sponge got a lot of action too :)

Cheers!

Oh, and my dad and Andy hung the mirror I got today... what do you think??

Amazing Spinach Dip

Robyn requested this recipe a while ago and I completely forgot to post it! It's from Billy Joel's much, much, much younger wife, Katie Lee. It is really pretty amazing- try it and you will know what I am talking about!

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

One 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
One 9-ounce package artichoke hearts (drained jarred or canned, cooked fresh, or frozen, but not marinated)
1 cup steamed spinach (1 pound raw or one 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed), well drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
6 large fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. In a food processor, combine the cream cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, mayo, Parmesan, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper. Spoon into the baking dish. Top with the mozzarella. Bake until bubbling and the top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or toasted rustic bread.

Yield: 4 servings

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Wow- it's been so long since I've updated my blog... I have been a little bit busy lately, so I apologize, but now that I have all of these amazing new kitchen gadgets, I just had to get back on here!

This post is dedicated to my awesome new Cuisinart wine cellar that got delivered today! It was a bridal shower gift from my Aunt Sylvia, Aunt Shirley, Aunt Marilyn and cousin Kim and I LOVE IT SO MUCH! It fits perfectly next to my refrigerator and has a cool amber light that illuminates the inside so that you can see the wine bottles.

I can't wait to get back in the kitchen and start cooking... in fact, I'm going to head out to Publix right now to get something to make for dinner :)

Chicken soup for the football lover's soul : )

You might think I'm crazy for making chicken soup today since it feels like its 100 degrees outside, but I saw Tyler Florence making his "Ultimate Chicken Soup" on TV this morning and it made me crave it!

This soup was a little different because it has chicken meatballs made from chicken and apple sausage in it. I am not a big fan of ground chicken or chicken sausage, so I was a little bit skeptical at first, but it came out great.

Besides the typical chicken soup ingredients (carrots, celery, onions) it also has cheese tortellini (my favorite part!) in it.

Andy and I are enjoying a bowl right now and watching football... :)

If you ever have any questions about anything I make, email me at crisi77@aol.com!

Happy Birthday Abby!

This post is a little late, but I wanted to show you these delicious cupcakes I made for Andy's sister's birthday party last week. I didn't make them from scratch, but they were soooo good!

Football and Sauce

Andy and I have been waiting for football season to start for what seems like forever! We are watching the UF vs. Hawaii game right now and since Miami plays Florida next week, I am sizing up our competition.

Three-day weekends are so great because I never feel guilty about sitting home and doing nothing all day since we still have two more days to do things!

I'm not sure what we're doing for dinner yet tonight, but I decided to make a pot of sauce in case we feel like having it later - or I can always freeze it so I have a quick dinner option later in the week.

It smells so good in the apartment right now - too bad you can't put smells on this blog! ;)

Dinner party!

Last night was so much fun! Andy's parents came over for dinner, so I got to test out my mom's famous roasted chicken recipe. I hear it's been in the family for generations! Everything turned out great... I made mozzarella, tomato and basil kabobs for an appetizer (with basil fresh from my mini garden). I've saved so much money on basil by having my own plant! Tiny little packages in the grocery store cost around $4, so if you use basil often, I highly suggest you buy a plant. Anyway, here are some pictures of my creations...

Breakfast on the weekends...

When I woke up yesterday, I turned on the Food Network and Tyler Florence's show, Tyler's Ultimate, was on. He was making the "ultimate brunch" and I decided that I too would make the ultimate brunch!

The upside down baked apple french toast that he was making sounded too good to be true, but it just so happened that I had all the ingredients in the apartment, so I decided to give it a whirl.

You start out by preparing the bread like you would when you make regular french toast - dip the slices in a mixture of eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Then you cut the apples into slices and make a caramel sauce out of brown sugar and butter in a skillet. Once the sauce has caramelized, you remove the pan from the heat and position the apples in the bottom of the pan. Place the french toast slices on top of the apples and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes - all I can say is WOW! It is definitely rich, but definitely AMAZING!

For Tyler's recipe, click here.

Have a great Sunday everyone!