It's Carnival Time!

My sister's 22nd birthday was last week and we had a carnival themed party for her. The main reason we chose this theme was because she has a huge love for cotton candy and funnel cakes and the second reason may shock you! haha At the age of 22, my sister is the world's youngest Elvis fan. She LOVES him and she has ever since she was a little girl. As a result of this love, she is always trying to get her friends and family to watch old Elvis movies with her. There is an Elvis movie called "Roustabout" that takes place at a carnival so we decided to surprise her and have a carnival themed party and eat her favorite carnival foods all while watching "Roustabout"! It turned out to be a lot of fun!

We had some really heavy foods at the party so we decided to make some of the treats miniature so we could still enjoy the taste of a carnival without feeling sick! haha Here are our precious mini cotton candy bags...

We also made mini carmel apples. We used crabapples and cocktail toothpicks to make them mini and them we dipped them in regular melted carmels. I LOVED these!

For dinner, we had corn dogs and onion rings with pink grapefruit sodas. We put it all in little baskets so we could eat while we watched the movie.

And her birthday cake was, of course, a funnel cake!

We found mixes for the corn dogs and funnel cakes but we made the onion rings from scratch! Here's the recipe we used (from a Southern Living cookbook):

Beer-Battered Onion Rings

3 large Vidalia onions

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/4 cup yellow cornmeal

2 cups beer

1 large egg, lightly beaten

vegetable oil

Directions:

Peel onions; cut into 1/2 inch thick slices, and separate into rings. Place rings in a large bowl of ice water; let stand 30 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients, stir well. Add beer and egg, stirring until thoroughly blended and smooth. Chill batter for 15 minutes. Dip onion rings into batter, coating both sides well. Pour oil to a depth of 2 to 3 inches in a dutch oven; heat to 375 degrees. Fry onion rings, a few at a time, 3 to 5 minutes or until golden on both sides. Drain well on paper towels, serve immediately.

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And for your viewing pleasure... the inspiration behind the party and the title of this post :)

Haha! Happy Friday, everyone!! :)

Broccoli Salad

Wow. This has been a super busy week at the Bell house! And the busyness is not over yet! In fact, we have so much going on tomorrow that I had to take off work just to keep up with my own schedule! haha So this will probably be the only post for the week... but I can't wait to start next week off by sharing our fun weekend! Tomorrow, I am going to my great aunt's nursing home with my mom, grandma, Jack and Millie (my mom's westie) for a Halloween party. We are dressing my aunt up as Miss America and Jack and Millie will be in a dog parade dressed as Super Man and a lady bug!! I can't wait!! After that, Evan and I will be headed to a Halloween party at one of my very best friends' house! I am so excited to spend time with our friends and I always love a reason to wear a costume! haha

Anyway, here's a quick and easy recipe that I have been meaning to share for a while now. I don't have any pictures of it but it's super delicious and would be a great side dish to take to a Halloween party this weekend! :)

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli

6-8 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/2 cup raisins

8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

2 T. white vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes

Directions:

Cut the broccoli head into florets and the stem into bite sized pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add the bacon, onion, raisins, cheese and tomatoes. In a small bowl combine the remaining ingredients, stirring well. Add to broccoli mixture and toss gently.

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Did I mention it's a Paula Deen recipe? Now you know it's good!! :)

Come back Monday to see my precious little Super Man and his girlfriend, the lady bug!

Happy Halloween Weekend!!

Grilled Pepper-Jack Chicken and Succotash

I got my September issue of Food Network Magazine in the mail a few days ago and the meal on the cover looked so delicious that I just had to make it ASAP!!

So, for dinner last night, we had grilled pepper-jack chicken and succotash!! It's a keeper recipe for sure. It only took about 30 minutes to make and there were no leftovers! :)

Grilled Pepper-Jack Chicken and Succotash

Ingredients:

4 oz. pepper-jack cheese, shredded

2 cups baby arugula, roughly chopped

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 T. olive oil plus more for brushing

1 1/2 to 2 T. cajun spice blend

vegetable oil, for the grill

1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed

1 medium yellow summer squash, diced

2 cups corn kernels

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

juice of 1 lime

Directions:

Combine the cheese and arugula in a bowl. Cut a deep 2-inch-wide pocket in the thickest part of each chicken breast with a paring knife. Stuff with the arugula mixture. Brush with olive oil and season with cajun spice blend. Preheat grill to high and brush the grates with vegetable oil. Grill the chicken until blackened and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 155 degrees, 8-10 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the lima beans, squash and corn, season with salt and cook until the squash is just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.

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Now, on a slightly related note (since the recipe came from Food Network magazine), does anyone else watch The Next Food Network Star???

I am SO obsessed with this show and I look forward to it all year long!! I LOVED the finale on Sunday night but I am so sad that it's over now!! And can we talk about the winner?

I just LOVE little Aarti Paarti!! I can't wait to watch her show because I have never in my life cooked anything Indian and I really look forward to learning how to do it!!

What do you think? Do you watch the show? Were you pleased with the outcome? Will you watch Aarti's new show?

Fresh Tomato Salsa

I have SO much to catch you guys up on this week... last week was CRAZY... but also very fun. Last Sunday, Evan and I woke up to a broken air conditioner (for the second time in a week and the third time this year). We ended up having to purchase a new unit and the company that installed it was SO busy in this hot Arkansas weather that they couldn't get to us until Wednesday. So, once again, we had to live with my parents... for four days!! The crazy (and fun) part was that we weren't their only guests for the week. They were also keeping these precious kiddos while their friends (the kids' parents) were on an anniversary trip.

Lucy

Brandon

I have several kid friendly recipes that I will be sharing this week that we made for Lucy and Brandon last week... so get excited about those! :)

Then, last Thursday, I packed up again and headed to Hot Springs, AR, for the wedding weekend of one of my best friends. On Thursday night we had a lingerie shower/bachelorette party for her so I will also be sharing those pictures this week and maybe a few recipes too!! :)

And because I am too tired to actually blog about any of the things that I just told you about, here's a delicious salsa recipe that I made during our first extended stay at my parents' house (when we cooked through the July issue of Southern Living magazine, remember?)... haha bless their hearts! I am sure they are glad to have their house back! :)

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

3 cups seeded and diced tomatoes

1 large avocado, diced

1 small jalapeno pepper, diced

1 (2.25 oz) can sliced black olives, drained

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 t. balsamic vinegar

1/2 t. seasoned salt

table salt to taste

Directions:

Stir together diced tomatoes and next 7 ingredients. Season with table salt to taste.

(I also added fresh garlic)

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Happy Monday!!!

Tomato-and-Corn Pizza

This past weekend, our air conditioner decided to stop working and when the temperature in our house reached around 80 degrees, we decided to move in with my parents for a few days!! While we were there, we basically cooked through the July issue of Southern Living magazine... delicious!

This pizza recipe is definitely a keeper!!

Ingredients:

3 small plum tomatoes, sliced

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 (14 oz.) package prebaked Italian pizza crust

Parchment paper

1/3 cup refrigerated pesto

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. sugar

8 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced

3 T. fresh whole or torn basil leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place tomato slices on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; let stand 20 minutes.

2. Place pizza crust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet; spread with pesto. Stir together corn, Parmesan and sugar. Top pizza with corn mixture, tomatoes and mozzarella slices.

3. Bake at 450 degrees for 14 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden. Remove from oven, and top with basil leaves.

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Did I mention that this recipe is a keeper??? ;)

Oh, and don't worry! Our air conditioner is back up and running and we are no longer melting!!

The Story of the Nutty Bird

Something about a hot summer day makes me want to eat a really light and healthy meal... maybe it's because I saw myself in a swimsuit this past weekend... haha I'm not sure but when I was thinking about what to "cook" for dinner last night, I just kept coming back to the Nutty Bird.

The Nutty Bird is a sandwich that I haven't eaten in FOREVER but I have many fond... and some not so fond.... memories of. When I was a little girl, my family used to have a favorite Saturday lunch spot called Daddy's Serious Sandwiches. The "Nutty Bird" was a sandwich on their menu that my dad and I used to always order. Some time when I was in middle school, the location of the restaurant where we ate closed. I missed the sandwich (because I've always loved my food! haha) so my dad started making it for my lunch at school.... and this is where the not so fond memories come in!

The ingredients on this sandwich are pumpernickel bread, smoked turkey breast, cream cheese, cucumbers, sunflower seeds and bean sprouts... very uncool for a middle school girl... with braces... to eat bean sprouts. Haha My friends (one of which is still one of my best friends... and hopefully she will read this post! haha) were RELENTLESS in making fun of me! They thought I was so weird for eating that sandwich and they used to wave their fingers in front of their mouths while I was eating it to represent the bean sprouts that got stuck in my braces... Awesome, I know. Needless to say, I asked my dad to go back to putting plain turkey sandwiches in my lunch and I haven't eaten a Nutty Bird since! Until last night... when I introduced my silly sandwich to my husband... he loved my sandwich and he did NOT wave his fingers in front of his face while I was eating... such a relief! haha

We also had a delicious summery salad to go with our Nutty Bird sandwiches. I had some fresh tomatoes from my grandparents' garden that I wanted to use so I looked up this Paula Deen recipe on the Food Network website:

Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked corn, fresh or frozen

1-2 avocados, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (I chopped up some regular tomatoes)

1/2 cup finely diced red onion

Dressing:

2 T. olive oil

1/2 t. grated lime zest

1 T. fresh lime juice

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

Directions:

Combine the first four ingredients in a glass bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients in a separate bowl, pour over the salad and gently toss to mix.

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Have a great Thursday!

Mom's Marinara

I read somewhere that good bloggers don't apologize for their absence because it's annoying... but I'm going to do it anyway! haha

My mom is turning 50 next week (I'm not sure she's going to appreciate me sharing that info!) and Evan's birthday is exactly one week after hers... so I am busy planning two birthday parties!! I will still be posting in the next few weeks but most of my free time will be devoted to making both of their birthdays special and memorable for them! :)

Anyway, I shared in this post my family's favorite recipe for spaghetti sauce... but lately my mom has been stepping outside the box and making a new (meatless) marinara. I finally got the recipe from her and I made it a few nights ago. It was GREAT!! I mean... I'm not going to give up my old recipe but I will definitely add this new one to the mix! We had this sauce with cheese filled tortellini but it would be great over most any kind of pasta! :)

Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 1/2 T. lemon juice

salt to taste

Directions:

Saute onion and garlic in hot olive oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven, stirring constantly, over medium heat until tender. Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, uncovered, 3o minutes or until mixture thickens and liquid evaporates, stirring often.

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I served the tortellini with marinara sauce with baked squash and french bread with olive tapenade (that I bought). Here are a few pictures!

Have a GREAT weekend!! :)

Spinach Stuffed Zucchini

I borrowed this one from my friend (at least I feel like we're friends), Paula Deen. :) She served it with steak and I served it with grilled chicken. It's just a fun and summery side dish and it's pretty simple to make! It's like the twice baked potato's healthier (sort of) cousin!! :)

Here's how it goes...

Spinach Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:

5 large zucchini, halved lengthwise

2 T. olive oil

3/4 t. salt

1/4 t. ground black pepper

2 T. butter

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 cup chicken flavored stuffing mix

1 (10-ounce) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush cut side of zucchini with olive oil; sprinkle with salt, and pepper. Place zucchini, cut side down, on a lined baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, or until tender. Scoop out pulp, keeping shells intact; reserve pulp. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until transparent. To the skillet, add stuffing mix, spinach, sour cream, Cheddar and zucchini pulp. Mix together and add salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for 3 minutes. Spoon mixture evenly into zucchini shells. Place on baking sheet, and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until heated through.

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Finally, if your zucchini's are this big.... you may have to double the recipe! :)

(This is not my child... I just found his cute little self wandering around the Internet...)

For Brittany

Fried Corn

This is how I make fried corn... because every good southern girl should know how to take the nutritional value out of a vegetable every once in a while! :)

I throw a family size bag of frozen corn in a skillet with about half a stick of butter, add salt and pepper to taste and saute/fry it until it's a pretty golden brown color! SO easy and delicious!

And, of course, you can always enhance this by adding chopped onions, herbs, or even a little cream.

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And unfortunately, I still don't have any recipe/prayer requests for "Pray For Us Friday" so unless I get an email in the next few hours, we'll have to postpone that until next week. :(

Sausage Muffins

You're going to LOVE this recipe!! It is SO easy to make and it is SO easy to make a meal around these muffins! The other great thing about this recipe is that most of the ingredients are probably already sitting in your pantry or fridge.

When I made these, we had them for dinner and I served them with a plate of fresh veggies (fried squash, sliced tomatoes and black eyed peas). However, they also make a fabulous breakfast food, alone or with scrambled eggs or fruit! They are very versatile! I think they would also be great with soup... but I've never served them that way.

Sausage Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground pork sausage

2 cups all purpose flour

2 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Brown sausage, stirring until it crumbles; drain. Combine flour and next 2 ingredients; make a well in the center. Combine milk, egg and butter; pour into well in dry mixture, stirring just until moistened. Stir in sausage and cheese. Place paper baking cups in muffin pan and coat with cooking spray. Spoon batter into cups. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately. Yields 1 dozen.

And here are some pics of the veggies that I served the muffins:

I just sliced some fresh tomatoes, sprinkled them with a little salt and pepper and put a little fresh Basil on top... delicious and couldn't have been any easier!

Then I sliced up some fresh squash, sprinkled each slice with salt and pepper and then a little bit of flour (on both sides), sprayed a skillet with butter flavored cooking spray and then pan fried them! Also delicious!

And finally, I opened a bag of frozen black eyed peas and cooked them according to package instructions! haha What? There's no shame in frozen vegetables! :)

There you have it! A quick and easy meal! Enjoy!

Chicken Squares and Insalata Caprese

First of all, I would like to apologize for slacking on the blog. I guess I have just been preoccupied with trying to find a job! I know that is no excuse for abandoning all three of my readers and I am happy to say that I am back in business because I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia! My original plan was to play catch up and blog on everything that I have cooked since I quit blogging but since that is WAY too overwhelming and it probably wouldn't have ever happened, I'm starting fresh... from tonight! Let's try this again...

Tonight, I made a very quick and easy dinner but it was still great! We had Chicken Squares- which is basically a (semi) homemade "Hot Pocket" and a cheaters version of Insalata Caprese. The recipe for Chicken Squares has been around my house for as long as I can remember. So long, in fact, that I don't remember where it came from and I don't even have it written down. The recipe for Insalata Caprese came out of my head (which you'll realize isn't that impressive once you see how simple it is) because I wanted a quicker and cheaper version of this traditional Italian salad. So, here are two simple recipes for those nights when you just don't feel like cooking but you still feel like eating! :)

Chicken Squares

Ingredients:

2 cups of canned chicken

3 ounces of cream cheese

1 tablespoon of chopped chives or green onions

2 tablespoons of milk

Cavender's Greek Seasoning (to taste)

2 cans of crescent rolls

1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

Drain the canned chicken. Mix the first five ingredients together to make the filling. Roll out the can of crescent rolls. There should be eight triangles that make four rectangles in one can. Separate the dough into the four rectangles (two triangles make 1 rectangle) and smooth the perforations together. Next, take a spoonful of the filling and place it on one end of the rectangle and fold the other half of the rectangle over to close the pocket and make a square. Then take the square and sprinkle it with Italian bread crumbs on both sides. Continue this process until you have 8 chicken squares. Finally, place each square on a greased baking sheet or stone and bake it at 350 degrees until the outside of the squares are golden brown.

Side note: It is very easy to make these low fat. Simply use low fat crescent rolls, low fat cream cheese and skim milk. However, I wouldn't use fat free on the first two ingredients because the fat free crescent rolls don't stick together as well and the fat free cream cheese makes the filling watery.

Insalata Caprese

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (whatever kind you have)

Fresh whole milk mozzarella cheese

Fresh or Dried Basil

Italian Dressing

Directions:

Slice the tomatoes. Slice the cheese. Arrange on a plate alternating tomatoes with cheese (and basil if you are using fresh leaves). Sprinkle with Basil if you are using dried. Drizzle with Italian dressing. Enjoy!

Margarita Pork Tenderloin, Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic- Chive Butter and Almond Blueberry Cookies

Last night we had margarita pork tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob with garlic-chive butter, fried okra and almond blueberry cookies... They were all wonderful! They were also all pretty easy for me to make because it was all grill work... which is Evan's job! haha Here are the recipes... and a few pictures of our little man, Jack, who always lays in the kitchen floor and watches us while we cook. I think he really wanted us to take his picture last night because he was being exceptionally cute!

I found the Margarita Pork Tenderloin recipe in the newest edition of Ultimate Southern Living cookbooks. The recipe made A LOT of pork tenderloin but that's ok because I plan to use it in another meal soon... I'll be sure to let you know what I come up with! Here's the recipe...

Margarita Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green onion, minced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tequila
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 (1 lb.) pork tenderloins

Directions

Combine first 10 ingredients in a shallow dish or large zip-top freezer bag. Cut pork diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices, and add to tequila mixture. Cover or seal, and chill 1 hour, turning occasionally. Remove pork from marinade, discarding marinade. Grill, covered with grill lid, over high heat (400-500 degrees) 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 160 degrees.

I also found the recipe for grilled corn on the cob with garlic-chive butter in the same Southern Living cookbook. The recipe calls for 6 ears of corn but if there aren't that many of you, just cut the recipe in half... that's what we did! It was delicious... but isn't anything with that much butter and/or garlic??

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic-Chive Butter

Ingredients

6 ears fresh corn with husks
1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives

Directions

Pull back corn husks; remove and discard silks. Pull husks over corn. Cover corn with water; let stand 1 hour (this keeps husks from burning). Drain. Stir together butter, garlic and chives. Grill corn, without grill lid, over medium heat (300-350 degrees) 20 minutes or until tender, turning often. Remove husks. Spread desired amount of butter mixture over corn.

Finally, the Almond Blueberry cookies! These are a recipe from Giada De Laurentis that I found on the Food Network website. I just really wanted to make something with fresh berries because they are so summery! This was a very good recipe- the sweetness of the cookie, the tartness of the blueberries and the crunch of the almonds made a great combination- I'll definitely be making it again soon!

Almond Blueberry Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 to 1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest, about 1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped almonds, toasted
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and drained (I used fresh berries)

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In another medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar using a hand mixer. Add egg and beat to incorporate. Add milk, almond extract and lemon zest. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the almonds, then the blueberries. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Using two small spoons, dollop mix onto cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack.