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!

Napa Valley

Oh, how I miss Napa... Andy and I took a trip there back in October of last year and we had an unbelievable time. I haven't been to Italy yet, but I hear it is the closest thing to it... the rolling hills, the beautiful vineyards, the delicious wine! :)

Here is a funny clip of Andy stealing a grape off of one of the vines at the Sterling Winery:

I used to be a Riesling lover, but lately my taste buds have changed and I've been enjoying some spicy reds. I tried a new blend called "Cashmere" from Cline Cellars while I was out to dinner with one of my very best friends, Sarah, last night. Cline Cellars' website calls it "a very flavorful, smooth wine offering big cherry, raspberry and chocolate notes with hints of cracked black pepper and plum." YUM!

Sisterly love

This post goes out to my favorite sister, Diana! I laughed out loud when I came across this picture- It reminded me of our love of Fiji water... miss you!

Aunt K's Corner

Hi, I’m Chrissy’s Aunt Kathy from NY. I wanted to drop in to say hello and to support Chrissy’s new blog which I think is fabulous! I have a great pesto recipe which I thought I would share with you since many of you grow your own basil these days! Living in NY, the basil growing season is limited so when my basil plants are thriving, I LOVE to make homemade pesto. Before I share my recipe with you, I wonder how many of you know that basil is a symbol of LOVE in Italy and if that’s not enough to make you want to eat it, basil is also a wonderful source of Vitamin K, A, Iron & Calcium…..it’s a win win!! Ok, I know I am going on and on so here is my recipe:

(4) cups whole basil leaves
(1/2) cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
(1) large or (2) small cloves of garlic
(1/2) cup good quality olive oil
(1/4) cup pine nuts

Now, I used to put all of the ingredients in a blender until pureed, but I read a story recently about how the traditional Italians make their pesto. Instead of putting the pesto in a blender, they chop everything by hand until it has the consistency of a paste. Now I know this takes a lot longer, but it is worth it in the end!! The flavor is amazing!!! Try it!! You can use pesto on any type of pasta, but I prefer using spaghetti or fettuccini – just my preference! Before serving my little platter of heaven, I like to chop up a few ripe plum tomatoes to put on top as a garnish – Delicioso!!!

New recipe

I was craving zucchini bread a few days ago, so I did a little research on foodnetwork.com and found two really great recipes by Paula Deen. One of the breads is more of a dessert and the other is really great with coffee in the morning. They are both really easy to make! I had my sous chef (Andy) grate the zucchini for me – it’s always nice to have help in the kitchen! I dusted a little powdered sugar on top to make it look pretty. Let me know what you think if you try them…

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest
(Divide ingredients in half for one loaf)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.


Zucchini Bread
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
(Divide ingredients in half for one loaf)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in.

Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

A little bit obsessed...

So, as many of you may know- my two favorite “celebrity chefs” on the Food Network are Tyler Florence and Giada de Laurentiis. Their recipes and style of cooking most closely resemble the type food that I like to cook – a lot of rustic, Italian dishes. Plus, I just think that their shows are the most entertaining. Tyler isn’t too bad on the eyes either - maybe I just like him because he looks like another handsome man that I know! ;)

I’m really excited because I recently discovered that Tyler Florence is on Facebook… he has home videos and pictures of him and his family on his page, so it’s pretty cool to get an inside look into his life. His wife just had a baby girl that they named Dorothy Tyler Florence.

He also just opened up his own kitchen store in Mill Valley, California, called Tyler Florence - Mill Valley. It is about four miles north of San Francisco- I definitely need to check that out next time I’m in Cali!

Giada and her husband Todd (who is a clothing designer for Anthropologie) also just had a baby girl that she named Jade (the English translation of Giada).

I was kind of sad when I heard that her show Everyday Italian would not be returning next season – but I did hear that she has a new show in the works called At Home with Giada… you know that I’ll definitely be watching!

Blueberries

I love blueberries. Especially wild Maine blueberries straight from the bush! Andy and I took a trip to Maine with our friends Kristi and Tripp last week to visit Andy's grandparents, and while we were there, we picked about three cups of blueberries- they just grow wild in his grandparents' back yard! These awesome berries are smaller than the ones you usually find in the grocery store, and if they are picked just right, they taste like candy! Kristi and I managed to take four plastic containers of blueberries home with us in hopes of making a pie as delicious as the one Andy's grandmother made. This is a picture of the pie I made - every bite I took made me wish I was back in Maine!

Welcome!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my new cooking blog - Chrissy's Kitchen! You all know how much I enjoy cooking, watching the Food Network and entertaining, so I thought that I would create this blog as a way to share what I've been whipping up lately with you. Andy has been appointed my official taste tester, and he definitely doesn't seem to mind! Stay tuned.... :)