July 2010 Weddings
House Renovations
Married Bio
I am a gluten-free, gun-toting wife! :P
I love you, Daddy...2/24/1953 to 2/13/2011
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tasty Tuesday!
Post your most recent favorite recipe (or a good 'ole standby)
House Renovations
Married Bio
I am a gluten-free, gun-toting wife! :P
I love you, Daddy...2/24/1953 to 2/13/2011
Re: Tasty Tuesday!
Copy of Olive Garden's Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Zig told me it tastes nothing like the real soup from Olive Garden...but it's still tasty!
http://www.copykat.com/2010/02/28/olive-garden-chicken-and-gnocchi-soup/
Yield: 8 servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 quart half and half
1 14 ounce can chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese ? optional
1 pound potato gnocchi ? can buy this in the gourmet section of many supermarkets
Saut? the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil, over medium heat when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.
Cook gnocchi according to package directions.
Into the roux add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings, simmer until soup is heated through.
Comments about this recipe: You can add more chicken if you like. While you could use left over cooked chicken breasts, I really think using the rotisserie chicken that are found in many grocery stores is the best way to get the optimal flavor of this soup. If you want to make the soup lower calorie you can use milk instead of half and half. Half and Half, does taste better, and it also reheats better than milk does
House Renovations
Married Bio
I am a gluten-free, gun-toting wife! :P
I love you, Daddy...2/24/1953 to 2/13/2011
I'm soooo bored with the food I'm making lately, but I just haven't had time to sit down and pick out a few new recipes. Maybe this weekend - I don't think we have anything going on.
I did make this recipe a few weeks ago and they were soooo tasty!
Baked Spinach Dip Mini Bread Bowls
13.3 oz roll of refrigerated french bread loaf
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped (I used a package of frozen chopped spinach that had been thawed)
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
3 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 Cup light sour cream
2 Tablespoons fresh shredded parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Ancho Chile Pepper
1/8 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Garlic Salt
1/8 teaspoon McCormick Gourmet Sicilian Sea Salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 Cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 10 muffin cups with non stick cooking spray. Unroll package of french bread loaf and slice into 10 equal size slices, about 1 inch thick. Press each slice into about a 3 inch round, I did this by pressing in between my hands. Press into the bottom and up sides of the muffin cup. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir spinach until wilted, about 3 minutes then add garlic, cook and stir for another minute then turn heat off.
3. Place cream cheese, sour cream, cooked spinach and garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Ancho Chili Powder, garlic salt, salt and pepper into a medium bowl. Mix until well combined. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dip into each of the centers of bread bowls. Top evenly with shredded cheese and bake for 15-17 minutes until just turning brown on edges. Remove and let cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from oven.
Pork-Chop Abracadabra
4 pork chops (preferably boneless)
1 bottle BBQ sauce (any kind you like)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Chicken and Rice soup
2 cups of rice
Directions:
Brown the pork-chops in a frying pan (no need to cook through), Mix BBQ sauce, and both cans of soup in crock-pot, then add the pork chops. Cook on Low for 8 hours or high for 4. The pork chops will fall apart on their own(if they don't you should be able to gently assist them.) Serve over cooked rice.
You Grew in My Heart instead of My Tummy
Proud Step-Mama to Clayton- 11/8/03
Proud Step-Mama to Amelia- 11/16/04
Proud Step-Mama to Brennan- 6/10/06
TTC OUR first
BFP#1 10/8/11, Blightened Ovum 10/17/11, D&C 10/18/11 @ 7w4d
BFP#2 6/10/12, EDD 2/14/13 ~Team Green! Grow baby Grow! Stick baby Stick!! IT'S A GIRL!!! Abbigaile Mae 2/21/13 7lbs 6oz 21inches 4:15am
Green tea veggie soup!!
2 green tea bags
4 cups of water
onion, garlic, celery, oregano
Steep tea bags in water for approx 5 minutes, add onions, garlic, celerey and any other spices you wish. Bring to a full boil, then turn to low and add remaining veggies and rice.
Add kale, turnip, peppers, and basmati rice.
mmm good, it doesn't sound that appetizing but even my kids are eating up this soup.
I usually make my soups with veggie broth, but was out and reading recipies and read that you can make it with green tea. Cool!
I bought my husband the "Baker's Edge Brownie Pan" a couple years ago (he likes to bake cookies and brownies). The first couple of times we used it we just used boxed recipes. The last couple of times, he used the recipe that came with the pan. They are amazing!! The link is for the pan itself- which is a really nice and heavy pan.
Edge Lover's Chewy Edge Brownies
Ingredients
12 Tbls Unsalted Butter, room temperature
5 oz Unsweetened Chocolate, chopped
1 cup Sugar
1 ? cup Brown Sugar
4 ea Eggs
1 ? tsp Vanilla Extract
1 ? cup All Purpose Flour
? tsp Salt
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions1. Preheat oven to 375?F. Lightly spray the Baker's Edge with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, sitting over a simmering pot of water (make sure the bottom of the
bowl does not touch the water) melt the butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally
until melted and then remove from the heat. Stir in the sugars to the chocolate
mixture. Stir in one egg at a time followed by the vanilla extract. Stir in the flour and
salt, just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into it comes out with moist
crumbs. Cool the brownies completely in the pan.
I'm guessing the dip part could be made ahead of time and pulled out to room temperature before putting it into the bread? Have you tried it like that at all?
You Grew in My Heart instead of My Tummy
Proud Step-Mama to Clayton- 11/8/03
Proud Step-Mama to Amelia- 11/16/04
Proud Step-Mama to Brennan- 6/10/06
TTC OUR first
BFP#1 10/8/11, Blightened Ovum 10/17/11, D&C 10/18/11 @ 7w4d
BFP#2 6/10/12, EDD 2/14/13 ~Team Green! Grow baby Grow! Stick baby Stick!! IT'S A GIRL!!! Abbigaile Mae 2/21/13 7lbs 6oz 21inches 4:15am
Fiesta Rice Salad
Ingredients
Preparation
1. In a small bowl, stir together lime juice, oil, salsa, cumin and salt. In a large bowl, stir together rice and corn, breaking up any rice clumps.
2. Pour lime-juice mixture over rice mixture and stir well to coat. Add beans, bell pepper, tomatoes and scallions, and toss gently to combine.
3. Just before serving, pit, peel and dice avocado, and stir gently into salad. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired, and serve.
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=50400000109742
I cut down the amount of olive oil I used, and I didn't use any onions (I hate onions). But it's REALLY good and very filling. It goes great as a side dish, and I think it would be a wonderful dish to bring to a pot-luck.
I haven't tried that (I've only made these once) but I don't see why that wouldn't work. Nice thinking!! Mmm....now I want to make these again!