What do you make when it's too HOT to cook?????

Salsa & Guacamole!!!!
The perfect summer night dinner ;)

I rounded up ingred. for a picture, then after I started mixing things I realized that there were a few things missing, dang it. Anyhow they are listed in the ingred. they just missed the photo opt, the slackers.

My Big Sisters Salsa
Ingred;
3 Roma Tomatoes
1/4c. Onion
1T. Lemon Juice
1 Clove Garlic
1/2t. Salt
1/4t. Cumin
1/4t. Chili Powder

I love my Salsa, non-chunky, so I throw everything in my food processor and pulse until it's really blended, however you can pulse it to whatever consistency you prefer.


Creamy Dreamy Guacamole
Ingred;
2 Avocados
1/4c. Onions
1 Clove Garlic
1/4c. Sour Cream
1/4t. Salt

Run the Onion, and Garlic in the food processor until finely minced. Add the remaining ingred. and pulse until completely blended.

Now I sprinkled chopped cilantro on top of both of both of these, but you could also add it into either of these when you are mixing them.

Add a bowl of Tortilla Chips into the plan and you have one tasty summer dinner/snack. There is a recipe on AllRecipes for Guac. that I wanted to try, it called for cream cheese which I didn't have on hand so it will have to wait for next time.

Great Finish

After a long, and crazy week I treated myself to a few hours of free-time spent with my sister. We wandered around the Saturday Farmers and Peoples Markets Downtown. I enjoy taking the kids and felt a little guilty for going without them this time, so as a treat I bought them these-

Which were yum yummy (I had to taste one), my sister found the sweetest little handmade leather shoes for her baby, I will have to see if I can swipe a picture and post it, they are so adorable & soft. Next week I plan on buying some herb plants & I will take the kiddo's, but for today it was a soooo relaxing to be without them. It was definitely a Great Finish to my week.

I got the shoe pictures, here is one cute shoe-


To go with one cute baby!!

Candy Crazy!!!

I was totally excited when I checked out Monica's post on
Candy Cakes
Hers is beautiful you can check it out here -> ->->
She even did a step by step post on making one yourself, which is wonderful.
The reason this got me all excited, is that all Miss K asks for her Birthday or Christmas is gum, candy, & mints. How perfect of a Birthday Cake would this be for her!?!? So I did a picture search to see what other ones I could find, these were my favorites -

























































How much fun are these!! :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is the first time I have made this, so I will need to do a bit of tinkering I think. It was pretty good, not quite perfect yet though. I am entering this in the Souper Sunday over at Kahakai Kitchen. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingred;
8c.chicken stock
3c. shredded chicken
3c. corn
2 cans black beans, drained
1 large jar of salsa
1/2c. diced onion
1/2c. diced carrots
2 cloves minced garlic
2T. tomato paste
3T. corn starch+ 1/4c. cold water
cumin
chili powder
salt & pepper
minced cilantro
sour cream
tortilla chips shredded cheese

Saute onions and garlic in 1T. olive oil, add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and add chicken, beans, corn, carrots, salsa, & tomato paste. Simmer for at least an hour, season to taste. Stir in the cornstarch/water and simmer 30 min.
Place some crushed tortilla strips in the bottom of your bowls, ladle soup over. Serve garnished with cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips and shredded cheese.

Graduation Fun

Graduation was Wonderful, the BBQ was a bunch of fun, AND we found a house, whew- big sigh of relief. Now I just have to pack up our 5 bedroom, 2 story house in 2 weeks, no biggie, cause I'm super mom ;)

I actually have a lot of the packing done already, so there isn't too much left, I have a few fun pictures to share.


Also three quick recipes-
BBQ Shredded Chicken
This is just the crockpot bbq chicken recipe I have posted here.

Parmesan Garlic Orzo with Grilled Chicken
The recipe for the Orzo is on allrecipes, I topped it with grilled chicken.

Garlic Chicken Marinade
1T. white vinegar
2T. olive oil
1T. minced garlic
1T. Johnny's garlic spread mix
1/2c. warm water

Mix all together and marinate chicken for 4-12 hours.



Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingred;
3c. flour
1/2c. sugar
4t. baking soda
1t. baking soda
1t.cinnamon
3T. oil
2 eggs
1/2c. pumpkin
1 1/2c. milk

Whisk together the dry ingred. Slowly incorporate the wet ingred. Cook on a hot griddle :)

Happy Thursday!! :) :) :)

Wonderfully Busy Weekend

This week was Finals week for my Hubby, And Tomorrow is Graduation!!! Hip-Hip-Hurray!!!
We are so excited :) :) :) :) :) :)

I am taking the weekend off & probably won't have time to even look at my computer. We are having a big graduation party for him tomorrow (all day and into the night :) So tonight, with the help of my lovely cousin, I will be cooking up a storm. I will try to remember to take pictures so I can share them with you all next week. Then Sunday afternoon Hubby & I are taking a trip to his new University so he can meet with some of the Prof's and we can sign papers on a place to live. So I should be back Wednesday. I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!!!!!!!!! :)

In the Mood for some Bakin'

There are SO many cooking/baking/food blogs out there, it's too much fun :) I have googled several things like baking blogspot and cooking blogspot ect..... I'm sure you get the picture, and now have a pile of recipes tagged to try- It's almost worst than my All Recipes recipe box, Almost ;)
Anyway one that I have come across a couple times and always catches my eye is called
The Sisters' Cafe

Part of my fascination with this blog is the wish that I could get all my sisters to do a cooking blog with me, how fun would that be!!! I love the idea & will begin asking/begging them right away :) The other part would be, of course, the FOOD! They have tons of great recipes and pictures, Yum, Yumm, Yummy!! I actually made 2 of theirs today, I have been going through cooking/baking withdrawal. And my poor family is having a hard time remembering what a home-made treat/dinner tastes like! While I have been down my Hubby has mostly done instant or fast food- although one night he did make a pretty good Goulash- Kudos to my Honey.

Anyway I thought I would surprise the Kiddos with some Pumpkin Bars as an after-school treat. Shepherds Pie for Dinner, and for Breakfast tomorrow- Home Made Cinnamon Rolls. That should hold them for awhile.


















So here we have the Link for the Pumpkin Bars Recipe. And here is the link to the
Cinnamon Rolls Recipe. The Shepherds Pie one is in my head, I will try to post it for you, although I'm pretty sure most of you probably already have your standard go to recipe for that :) :)

Shepherds Pie
Ingred;
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 can each corn, peas, beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup-(shhhhh... this is a secret from my Family, they are not mushroom fans)
2 pkts brown gravy mix- equal to making 2 cups gravy
1-1/2c. cool water
3c. mashed potatoes
1c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown your beef, when cooked through add vegies, & soup, whisk together the water & gravy mix & add to the rest. Cook until thick & bubbly. Pour into a 9x13 pan, spread the potatoes over top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 min.
This is my families favorite variation of Shepherds Pie, so there ya go.
Happy Wednesday All!!!