Is this not the yummiest-looking food-on-a-stick you’ve seen today? And, my gosh, they were every bit as good as they look… and so easy!
I got a new barbeque grill! I’m very excited about it. I’ve been scoping out craigslist for a grill for a couple months. I saw my stainless steel dream listed for $100 and called immediately. No answer. I left a message. No response. I called back the next day and the guy said he lowered the price to $80 since he thought the plates needed to be replaced (awesome – I still would have paid $100). I told him I could be there in 30 minutes. When I show up he shows me the grill and tells me all about his sons and his wife. He had to get a new grill because he was hosting a graduation party for his son and needed to be able to barbeque more food. He also tells me he got the barbeque at CostCo a few years ago for $400. Score.
After looking at it for a bit, he says “tell you what, give me $60 and it’s yours” (awesome – I still would have paid $100). His son helped me load it into my car and I gave him $30 as a graduation present. The new stainless steel grill plates cost me $60 and I love, love, LOVE my new grill.
Barbeque Chicken Kabobs
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5-8 large cherry tomatoes
1 package mushrooms
2 peppers (green, red or orange)
1/2 onion
nonstick cooking spray
salt & pepper to taste
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Cut into large cubes
- Cut the peppers and onion into large pieces
- Spray your skewers with nonstick cooking spray
- Thread the chicken, tomatoes, onions, peppers and mushrooms on the skewers
- Add salt and pepper to entire skewers to taste
- Put on preheated barbeque until chicken is cooked through
So, I’ve only brought my lunch one day this week. BUT in my defense, I had 2 lunch meetings and 1 lunch date this week too, so I’m doing pretty good. The important thing is that I haven’t *paid* for lunch at all this week… right?
This salad recipe is inspired by one I had at Nordstrom Cafe. It is so yummy. Although I couldn’t quite get it right until I found this dressing. I grabbed it by mistake when I thought it was a different dressing I like, and when I tasted it I thought “that’s the Nordstrom dressing!” – and trust me when I say it really makes this salad.
The bring it to work, I put the mixed greens, chicken and walnuts in one tupperwear container, all the berries in another one, and the blue cheese crumbles in a small tupperwear container. I bring the dressing in the bottle (until I can buy a fancy alternative).
Three Berry Salad with Chicken and Walnuts
2 cups mixed spring greens
3/4 cup cooked chicken, chilled (seasoned with salt and pepper)
1 cup berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries)
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1 tbsp blue cheese crumbles
1 tbsp light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (by Wishbone)
Combine all ingredients – enjoy!
For the record, I brought my lunch in this fancy bag:
Fitting that I brought my Nordstrom Cafe-inspired lunch in a Nordstrom bag, huh?
That’s a little arugula leaf as the heart… cute, huh?
This salad is so yummy, and really easy. But it’s not very filling and it doesn’t have protein so if you don’t eat it as a side salad, you’ll be hungry again.
Arugula Side Salad
2 cups Baby Arugula
1 Fuji Apple (diced)
1/2 tablespoon Champagne Pear Vinaigrette with Gorgonzola dressing from Trader Joe’s
Combine all ingredients. Enjoy!
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you my first guest blogger! My adorable dad took it upon himself to not only write this post about his *original* Nutella Stuffed Strawberry recipe, but to also provide original pictures.
Take it away dad! (more…)
I’m baaaaack!!! Wow – I needed a break. I probably wouldn’t have taken one, but I’m staying at Chez Sister and my routine is all off. How do you people with kids get anything done? They always need to be fed and bathed and they want to be read to and played with… I’m not even doing any of those things and it’s stressful. Thankfully the “Auntie Jeannie is living with us!” novelty is wearing off a bit and I am able to walk around without two kids trailing behind me. Although, now I miss them.
Sorry about doing another “Make It Yummy” post. I have some fun things in the works. Please stay tuned.
This is a great recipe to practice chopping veggies! (more…)
We are obsessed with acai smoothies right now. So much so, that we buy the ingredients from CostCo in bulk! These tasty treats are easy to make and really yummy…
Acai Smoothies
1 cup Acai juice
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
2 cups frozen berries (blueberries and/or raspberries are good)
Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy!
This is a super yummy soup recipe that I usually double so I can freeze or just have for leftovers for days and days.
Creamy Chicken Rice Soup
original recipe here
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 (14.5 ounce) cans reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups cooked long-grain rice
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine (optional)
- In a large saucepan, sauté the carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender.
- Stir in flour until blended, and then gradually stir in broth.
- Add the rice, chicken, salt, pepper and garlic powder; bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and wine if desired.
- Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until heated through.
This is what Joe does as I cut the chicken for the soup:
I made these and brought them to a Christmas Cookie exchange (they were Christmas-y in a funny way) recently. These no-bake cookies are super yummy and can be bundled together for a fun gift to give to kids.
Reindeer Poop Cookie Recipe
Original recipe found here
Dry Ingredients
3 cups oats (quaker oats)
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 1/2 ounces flaked coconut
Liquid Ingredients
1/4 lb butter (not margarine)
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk (not skim milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla
- Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, stir together well.
- In a large pot, bring the liquid to a boil.
- Then take off the stove and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
- Pour the liquid ingredients INTO the DRY ingredients and mix well until everything is wet.
- Use a teaspoon to spoon the cookies onto waxed paper.
- Let them cool and they will harden somewhat–that’s it!
I have to bring a dish to a potluck tomorrow and decided on my all-time crowd-pleasing baked ziti recipe. I went on my lunch break at work to get all the ingredients so I could go straight home after work and get started… baked ziti can be time consuming and I didn’t want to be up until midnight. I cooked the noodles and browned the beef, and was starting to layer the ingredients. When I opened the *brand new* package of provolone cheese (that I had purchased *that day*), it was moldy. Usually such things don’t get me worked up, but I was pissed! I had to stop everything, turn off the oven, and drive back to Ralph’s (passed 3 other grocery stores since Ralph’s isn’t the closest one to me). I decided on the way there that I wasn’t going to settle for less than my money back and a replacement package of provolone cheese. I went to the return desk:
Me: I need to make a return – this provolone cheese I bought today is covered in mold.
Ralphs Lady: Would you just like to get another one or would you like your money back?
Me: I would like to get another one *and* get my money back. (Politely, but firmly – and I was fully prepared to raise a fit)
Ralph’s Lady: OK
Right on Ralphs! Made my night… now, back to the baked ziti!
This is the same recipe as on allrecipes.com, but I changed the directions a bit. This freezes really well (if you’re going to freeze it, stop after step 4) and the leftovers are great too!
Baked Ziti
Original recipe found here
1 pound dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream (sometimes I use cottage cheese instead!)
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
- While waiting for the water to boil, brown onion and ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
- Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: a little sauce (just enough to cover the bottom), 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.
I had such a wonderful weekend. It was one of those weekends that subjects unsuspecting co-workers to a 15 minute breakdown of every wonderful detail when they ask “did you have a nice weekend?”
On Saturday, Chris and I took Joe for a hike up Iron Mountain and then headed up to Julian for dinner. It was all completely spontaneous (we’re lucky we had enough water for the hike!) and all so nice.
On Sunday, we started the day with Crab Hash Potatoes and lounged around… mostly recovering from the the hike the day before!
Crab Hash Potatoes
16 oz frozen hash brown potatoes
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 strips bacon
1/3 cup onion, chopped
6 oz crab meat
Dash of Old Bay Seasoning
- Cook hash brown potatoes according to package directions
- In a seperate frying pan, cook the bacon. Remove bacon strips (keep the bacon fat!) and crumble.
- Cook the onions in the bacon fat and transfer to the pan with potatoes. Add the bacon too.
- Add Old Bay Seasoning and crab meat and cook until heated through.
- Serve with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce (made in a blender – it comes out perfect every time!)
