Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves, Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Rice Krispie Treats

When Dr. Bob and I moved to the Metro Atlanta area last June, we rented an apartment sight unseen.

We were nervous to say the least.  Had we made the right decision?  Was it in a good area of town?  Was it safe?  Were we going to like our neighbors/complex staff?

Turns out it was a GREAT find!  We love where we live.  We love the area.  We love the staff at our complex.  We feel blessed that we lucked out!

A leasing agent by the name of Nicole was pivotal in making our transition a smooth and stress-free experience.  She was very friendly, helpful, and efficient.  We were so excited to get down here and finally meet her!

Fast forward about 9 months....Nicole has decided to move up in our complexes company and that means she is relocating to an Equity complex in Scottsdale, Arizona.  We are thrilled for her success but very sad to see her go!

She has been a big fan of our baking so when I stopped in to chat about her move she requested some baked goods as a farewell gift.  (I had already planned to make her some goodies, so it was good to get some guidance on her favorites.)

What am I making??

First, I am dying to have her try my absolute favorite/current "go-to" chocolate chip cookie recipe:  Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Next, she loves Rice Krispie treats so I am going to use the original recipe on the Rice Krispie website.

And finally, I have a new recipe that I have been dying to try, so here is the perfect opportunity.  I will be trying out Lisey's Chocolate Chai Mini Loaves.  I can't wait to taste test these suckers.

I think it is a nice mix and I know Nicole (and the rest of the staff) will really enjoy them.

What have you been baking lately??

P.S.  Stay tuned, I think there is going to be another blog entry coming up either today or tomorrow.  That's just plain unheard of around here these days!

Superbowl + Pinterest = Amazing

Hi Folks,
Well this past Sunday the Pats ended up losing the Superbowl - Boo.  But we were able to spend it with a ton of friends in the area as well as a visitor from the North!

We had such a good time showing Bits around, playing tourists, and checking out 3 - count them 3 - new to us restaurants.  Slowly but surely we are going to eat our way around Metro Atlanta!

Okay back to the point of the post.  I am having way too much fun on Pinterest.  I am absolutely not addicted like some people I know, but I am having a ton of fun checking out food decorating, recipes, crafts, and simple solutions.  I decided to make some of my "pins" become reality for the Superbowl.  Here is what I made:

Fruit Ka-bobs:

The idea originally came from http://www.theantiperfectionist.com.  I figured we were going to be munching on a ton of other non-healthy things so let's incorporate some fruit in a cute and colorful way.

Next - Healthy Cupcakes, not so healthy frosting/design.

A friend of mine from college pinned an idea of taking a cupcake box mix and adding only 12 oz. of diet 7 up, keeping the original baking temp and time.  It was estimated that each cup cake would be about 100 calories if using a "lite" box mix.  I tried desperately to find a lite mix but it did not happen.  I was okay with it though because the cupcakes were already going to be healthier by nixing the regular ingredients and just using the diet soda.  They came out so light and fluffy!  And they tasted delish!

The design aspect of the cup cakes came from http://sixinthesuburbsblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-you-ready-for-some-football.html.  We decided to only put goal posts on a few of the cupcakes so people could get the idea.


Finally, who doesn't love brownies?!  This idea originally came from http://www.20goingon80.com/2011/11/last-time-i-posted-football-treat-ideas.html.  I was befuddled that I could not find a football shaped cookie cutter.  I almost threw in the towel.  But my good pal Bits came up with a brilliant idea - take a circular cookie cutter and squeeze it until it looked like a football - DUH!

Ta-dah!

I loved these!  So simple to make.  So delicious.

All of our items were a bit hit!  I think we came home with only a few cup cakes.

This is why I really like Pinterest!  (I don't think we are at the degree of love yet, give me a few more weeks ;-)  )

What did you have at your Superbowl party?

Ode to the pizza cutter

Dear Pizza Cutter,

It's been a great 4.5 years.  

You were a good friend.  

All those wonderful pizza's, quesadilla's, and the like. 

I have enjoyed every moment.  

.....................................

But another cutter has entered my life.  

I can't help it.  

I'm weak.

"KA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I hope we can still be friends!

Take care!
Love, Erin

Asian night with the Bobs

I wish I could say it was 100% homemade, but there were a few things out of a box.  Oh, well.  

Course 1 - Potstickers.  

Ling Ling brand chicken potstickers.  I found the best way to cook these is to put about 1/4 cup water in a large frying pan and a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of vegetable/olive oil, for cooking 8-10 potstickers.  Put the pan on medium-high heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and let the potstickers steam for about 8-10 minutes (depending on how frozen they are).  Take the lid off, let the steam evaporate and lightly brown with the oil in the pan.  

Dipping sauce - 1 teaspoon minced garlic, two tablespoons reduced sodium tamari, a few splashes of mirin, a quick sprinkle of ground ginger and a few shakes of crushed red pepper.

Main course - teriyaki chicken.

Brown rice in the slow cooker.  

Bite size chicken marinated in a mix of reduced sodium tamari, brown sugar, minced garlic.  Heat a mix of sesame oil and vegetable oil over medium high heat and add the chicken and enough marinade to half-cover.  Cook until browned on one side (brown sugar should help it carmelize a little), then stir around and continue to cook until chicken is fully cooked through and marinade remnants have reduced down to a nice coat over the chicken.  Serve over brown rice.

Side dishes (probably for later in the week)

Thin mein noodles (10 oz) boiled, drained and mixed with one bottle House of Tsang Peanut Sauce.

I also made an extra batch of rice (about 4 cups cooked) to make fried rice tomorrow.  That will contain green onions, diced carrots, a mix of soy and sesame oil (for stir-frying), and pork.

Pork for fried rice - cut boneless pork loin into small pieces (about quarter size)  and toss with about 1/4-1/2 cup reduced sodium tamari, a few splashes of mirin, a few loose crumbles of brown sugar, a healthy drizzle of sesame oil and chili oil.  Marinate for about an hour.  Heat a large pan over medium high heat, and cook like the chicken above.  

There'll be more adventure later - with homemade wontons and egg rolls, but not tonight.

One of the next things to make again will be this sweet and sour chicken from Brown Eyed Baker.

January (& hopefully longer) freezer cooking

Holidays are over, back to a normal routine, thankfully. 

Starting some hardcore cooking for the freezer tonight.

Pork loin in the slow cooker for BBQ pulled pork.
Cheeseburger soup simmering on the stovetop.
Homemade enchilada sauce thawing and taco-seasoned turkey cooking for ground turkey/bean enchiladas. 

Later in the week - creamy chicken & rice, chicken/potato/spinach stew, chicken parmesan, Italian pork with a bacon-infused red sauce. 

All of these will be finished and pre-packed into portion-controlled (and freezer hogging) Gladware containers.

In addition, we have about two and a half pounds of ground turkey that we should be able to get about 10 quarter-pound turkey burgers stored away.  Old-school Tupperware burger stackers are amazing!

Links and recipes coming soon.  Stay tuned!

Grampy Brownies

I'm NERVOUS!

Today is the day.

I have put it off long enough.

I am attempting my Grandfather's "world famous" brownie recipe for the FIRST time!

Have I mentioned I'm nervous?!

This is a big moment.

I need to relax and just do it.

I am not sure if I will end up sharing the recipe but I will share the end results.

Here are 2 ingredients though:

I didn't say it was a healthy recipe!  (It also includes 8...count them....8 eggs!  YIKES!)

I am going to follow the recipe exactly this first time around, then I will see if I can make them in a way so as to not clog any arteries.

Wish me luck!

Freezer cooking for November

Well folks, Dr. Bob and I have been busy this past weekend prepping our freezer for the coming month.

All last week I was scouring recipe blogs looking for yummy new recipes to try.

I really liked all the recipes we made last month, but it gets old after a while.  You can find all those yummy recipes here and here.

This month we are attempting to make more of a variety (without running out of freezer containers...proving harder than we thought!)

Too make this cooking weekend possible, we did the bulk of our basic shopping at Aldi, meat shopping at Kroger, and 2 quick back-up trips to Publix and a different Kroger (ask Bob about that story, you should get a giggle!).  We ended up spending $182.48 and we got this:

So far we have made:

~ 34 turkey meatballs

~ 7 turkey burgers

~ BBQ chicken calzone (leftover BBQ chicken in the freezer for later use). Dough recipe can be found here.

~ Sloppy turkey joes - in the freezer to be used later

~ 7 or 8 individual containers of turkey chili.  I will have Dr. Bob write up this recipe some time soon.  Sooo good!

~ 4 individual containers of Corny Chicken Bake

~ 8 individual containers of a Creamy Southwestern Chicken Soup.  Basic recipe can be found here but we made some modifications:
              added diced jalapeno to onions while sauteeing, and added about 2 tsp cumin, 1 tbsp paprika, 2 
              tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp cayenne pepper.  Chicken was cooked with garlic, cumin, paprika, 
              cayenne, salt and pepper.  Added a can of black beans with the potatoes.  During the final 
              boil/cook, added about 3/4 cup shredded cheese.  Note: increased all measures (in initial recipe; 
              what's written here was as used) by 50%, to use the full 12 ounce can of evaporated milk

~ 6 individual containers of Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (Good guess Leslie!) (And thanks for the recipe Susan!)

~ 3 turkey and feta quesadilla's (more to be made this week)

~ 6 individual containers of a Deconstructed Burrito Bake: Rice mixed with salsa, can of refried beans, some taco seasoned turkey chili and cheddar cheese- layered in that order and then baked at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

~ Teriyaki seasoned chicken - this will be packed with fried rice eventually.  (Our rice cooker died yesterday so we purchased a new one today and have yet to make the rice due to football...ugh!)

~ Cheesy chicken paired with Cheesy potatoes

Still to come:
~ Pierogie lasagna
~ Fried Rice
~ Cheeseburger soup
~ Baked pumpkin ice cream glazed donuts

Here's everything ready for the freezer....look at all those containers.

That's over 40 meals ready to go for this month.  I am so excited about all of the above!  We have been taste testing it all and I can't wait to dig in!

Luckily I found more recipes than we could possibly make this month so we already have a list going for next month.

Any recommendations or suggestions to add to our list??


How was your Halloween?  Did you dress up?