Happy Halloween!

 

 

 Don't use Halloween as an excuse to make yummy dishes today. If you don't "celebrate" Halloween, how about celebrating Fall? I made cake pops, mini pumpkin shaped cakes & caramel apples(first time!!) Yesterday I roasted some pumpkin seeds. Half original(salted) and the other half a sugar/cinnamon mix. Of course the girls loved the sugary ones and hubbz will always chose plain salted. I have made BBQ flavored ones too and let me tell you, I think those were my all-time fave.

 

 Now lets talk about me FINALLY making caramel apples.. I KNOW! It took me long enough. So I found a recipe on allrecipes.com for a caramel sauce. And I had all the ingredients already. I didn't have  white sugar(I know- I gotta go food shopping. blah blah blah) so I used brown sugar instead. The recipe called for non-dairy creamer but I used what we had which was International Delight Irish Cream creamer. My house was smelling like a candy factory when the caramel was cooking.. OK. Maybe I exaggerate a little but it was a sweet smell. I had  5 small apples so I didn't have to make much caramel. My kids are going to be on a sugar high for the next 1 1/2 weeks! Not something to brag about but hey- whatchagunnado? I had a regular sized cake mix box. I was able to make 6 mini pumpkin-shaped cakes and about 30 small/medium cake pops. And maybe half a bag of white chocolate chips frosted all of that too. Not too shabby!  I will post the recipes for all of the things mentioned on this post a little later so come  back lata, ya hear?!

Fondue.. it changes lives.

So last night hubbz and I went out to dinner to The Melting Pot. It was suppose to be a birthday dinner for our 12 year old daughter, Alina, but she wasn't feeling good plus we purchased a living social voucher a few months ago. It was about to expire so we decided to go ourselves. Let me tell you.. it was FAB!

The ambiance was so nice. Our waitress was great. The food was awesome. The price- Eh. Let's just say that was our special treat. Let me break down what we had.

We had the Four-Course Classic which consists of:

First Course- 
 

Cheddar Cheese Fondue

Aged medium-sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler

Swiss cheeses melt beautifully with lager beer,

garlic and seasonings.


The server mixes all oft he ingredients right there at your table and voila! A luscious cheese fondue is born!

Second Course-

The Melting Pot House Salad
Crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, aged
cheddar cheese, Roma tomatoes, seasoned
croutons and sliced egg with your choice of
Peppercorn Ranch Dressing or our sweet and tangy House Dressing (hubbz chose oil & vinegar)

Third Course- This is the main course. The meats come to you raw. You have up to 4 choices of "broths" that is put in a warming pot on your table. You add your meats in the flavored broth and actually cook them. We chose the Court Bouillon which is a vegetable broth hand-seasoned
with herbs and spices. Very happy with our selection.

Seasoned choice Angus sirloin, Memphis-style BBQ pork tenderloin, succulent white shrimp,

herb-crusted all-natural chicken breast and teriyaki-marinated sirloin.


They also give you I think 6 sauces for dipping, I fell in love with the "Green Goddess" sauce. I can't remember all of the ingredients but I think there was some cream cheese, sour cream, onion and I don't know what else. But anyway, it was delish. I asked for more lol

Fourth Course- This was all for me because hubbz isn't a sweets person. I PIGGED OUT!

Ying & Yang

This fondue satisfies dark and white
chocolate cravings in an artfully balanced fondue dessert.

 

Dippers:

Fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, Rice Krispies Treats, marshmallows,

pound cake and brownies.


The quality time was well worth it but next time, we will order take out and just park somewhere and enjoy our time lol

Here we are at the restaurant.... all together now- AAAWW! ;)

 

Stop! Freezer Time!

So today was the beginning of something that will save me some time and just a touch of sanity. I started FREEZER MEALING! What is freezer mealing? Well it's actually freezer meals. I think I just made up freezer mealing but anywho... Freezer meals is when you cook meal(s) that are freezer friendly. I made Beef Enchiladas, Cheesy Fried Chicken, Shepherd's Pie, Pepper Steak, BBQ Chicken & Cornbread.

Tomorrow is day 2 of my freezer meal adventure.

On the freezer menu:
Mexican chicken alfredo
Italian tenders
Spicy sweet potato fries
Chicken crescent bundles
Chocolate chip muffins
Apple crumb muffins 
Mini pancakes

Welp, that is all the freezer meal talkin I can do for one day. Until manana!

I like Freezer Meals and I cannot lie!

I've been seeing a lot of blogs about freezer meals. Those are meals that are freezer friendly. Thanks to The Virtuous Wife, I can make it happen. I have 7 mouths to feed and it isn't easy making sure everyone has dinneralmost everyday and trying to stay on a budget. Somedaays I do want to be in the kitchen at all so freezer meals is going to help me out a whole lot.

 

Things I will be making and freezing:

muffins: chocolate chip, banana crumb & PB muffins

Meals- beef enchiladas, shepherd's pie, mexican chicken alfredo, meatloaf muffins, scalloped potatoes & cheesy fried chicken breasts, italian chicken tenders.

Veggies- broccoli, brussel sprouts, peppers, onions.

I will also be making & freezing uncrustables(PB with jelly and fluff with nutella) & mini pancakes.

Maybe even some soup.. something fast and easy like homemade chicken noodle soup or chicken & rice soup.

 

 

I am so excited about making this. It will save me some time and energy. Let's see how it goes!

 

 

 

 



M.I.A Nomore!

 

Have not done much cooking lately due to a shortage of ingredients due to my laziness. I have been putting off grocery shopping for a week  now. It's getting cold over here so I naturally start hibernating at the first sign of Fall weather.

 

I do have 1 recipe to post and that is a dish that my mother made yesterday.

 

Chuleta's en Salsita (pork chops in a little sauce)

 

Will post the recipe soon! It is SO good!

 

Pretzels! Get your soft pretzels hea!

I did it! I made soft pretzels! I have been wanting to make them but thought it was hard to make until I looked over a recipe from my fave recipe site, allrecipes.com I had the ingredients and a toddler willing to mix and bake.

Here they are in all their salty and buttery glory!

 

 

It was fairly easy to make. The only thing I had an issue with was actually making the pretzels. It wasn't so easy to make the shapes so I made only a few pretzel-shaped ones and mostly did pretzel bites. The girls loved them. Julian isn't a fan of pretzels- hard nor soft.

 

Recipe is a keeper!

 

Click for recipe.



Hostess(cupcakes) with the Mostess!

 

I made hostess cupcakes yesterday. YOU READ THAT RIGHT!

I.MADE.HOSTESS.CUPCAKES.YESTERDAY.

 

Look!

 

 

*Squeal!!*

 

I know they don't have the famous white swirl on top but that's OK! They were just as delicious, maybe even more. ;)

 

They were not made from scratch. I used boxed devil's food cake mix to make the cupcakes and used these lovely and yummy things to add filling and frost the tops.

 

I also made minis!

 

 

 

 



Tomato soup virgin nomore!

As many of you know, I don't eat veggies at all. So I've stayed away from tomato soup until now! It has been getting chilly lately so I was in the mood for something warm but easy to make for dinner. I wanted to make a soup so I was originally going to make egg drop soup but didn't go with the grilled cheese I had in mind. So of course tomato soup was an automatic choice but I never made it from scratch. Allrecipes.com, here I come! I found a recipe that got rave reviews plus I had all the ingredients- BAM!

Let me tell you. The recipe was super easy and it was super delish. Yes. I had some and loved it. Even the kids loved it!

Look at this.... Does that not look yummy? Perfect for such a chilly and rainy fall day.



Go take a look!

Super cute items at great prices!

 

 

There will be a preview showing tonight at midnight. I've already written down a few things to purchase as Christmas gifts. They have earrings, necklaces, rings, watches and so much more will be added!

Don't forget- Red & Pink Preview Sale tonight at midnight.

I even scheduled a limo just for you. Just click on the boutique's banner up above ;)

 

Oh. Another thing!

 

And another thing! They are going to do a giveaway when they reach 50 likes!

GO! GO! GO!!!

 

 

 

G-I-N-G-E-R, And Ginger was his name-o!

Has anyone tried these?

 

Gosling's Ginger Beer and Goya Jamaican Style Ginger Beer.

 

My husband came home with them. I don't like ginger like that. Ginger ale is as far as I go. I'll let my mother have them. She's a huge ginger fan so I'm sure she'll enjoy them.



OhMahGah!

Made a recipe that I've been dying to try.. Sesame Orzo Salad

It was super easy and fast! Oh. And DELISH (duh!). I doubled the recipe because the original recipe was for 4 servings (I have 7 mouths to feed including mine) and thank goodness I did! Everyone loved it even the kids! I thought the sesame oil was going to be overpowering but no. That stuff is strong though so please take it easy. This recipe is a definite keeper. The girls are even taking some to school for lunch!

Give it a try!

My hobby aside from cooking..

I love decorating wooden letters. Started out as doing 2 for my girls then as a baby gift for our friends' granddaughter. And it took off from there. I know I haven't done much of them but it's so much fun and my creative juices flow when I get told of the theme (colors, characters). Next will be making one for the family with the letter "F". Or maybe the full lastname. Hmm. Anywho.. check out the wooden letters I have made so far! Any questions? Send me a message!

Ello Govna..

.. or however it goes. I am feeling SO much better thanks to hubbz. I was getting really bad indigestion which gave me chest pains, bloating, cramping & backaches. So he picked up some over-the-counter medicine and Ta-Da! I'd say I'm about 95% "normal".. whatever that means ;)

I have so many great recipes to post and I will for sure get to that as soon as I can have a few hours of "quiet time".. whatever that is! New things I have made lately were Chicken Scampi, Copy Cat KFC Cole Slaw, Cake Balls, Lasagna Cupcakes & White Pizza. Everything came out delish but not too sure about the cole slaw because I don't eat veggies (wait, WHAT?!). Yes. That's right. I DO NOT EAT VEGGIES.WHATSOEVER. But I do love make veggie dishes for my girls and hubbz. They L-O-V-E vegetables. But my son has taken after his mom. Hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad! I'll take that!

I've seen traffic was really good a few days ago but no comments (besides from my cousin). Please comment on anything! I would absolutely love to hear from you. Share your fave recipes with me, let me know if you've made some of the things I've posted.

Don't forget to feed my 3 little fish! Yep! I've adopted 3 little guppies. I have yet to name them so any suggestions?

Look out for new recipes!!

Never forgotten!

Hello my fellow bloggers or just blog-readers!

I have not been feeling well at all so for now, my blogging is at a standstill. I have put the recipes in categories to just click on a category to the right and BAM! Please let me know if you have tried a recipe and your thoughts. I haven't added all of the recipes but that will get done once I feel better.

Happy blogging/reading!

~Jo

Cake balls. Easy enough, right?

Nerp! It would have been a lot easier if I had cake mix. See, my 2 year old likes to help so a cake mix would have been fast and I think the cake balls would have been more moist. I saw a cake ball recipe a little while ago that was super easy. All that had to be done was make a simple cake(any flavor), let it cool, crumble up the cake with your hands and make balls. I've had coconut oil for a few months now and have heard that it's great to bake with. So that's what I did. Instead of using regular oil, I used coconut oil(1/2 cup).

I also used the chocolate cake recipe that was behind the Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. Well, the cake wasn't all that moist. Not sure of it was the recipe itself or the coconut oil. The balls were a little difficult to form but I stopped making balls when I finally made enough for my 3 kids (made 15). I had about 2/3 full of a frosting container so I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds then started throwing some of the cake balls in there to coat them. When I was done I put them in the freezer for about an hour so the frosting can harden a bit. All in all, the kids loved them so I guess all that trouble wasn't for nuttin :)

Will post the recipe and pics soon!

Welcome to my blog!

I love to cook and bake for my family and friends so I am constantly searching the web, cookbooks & mags for new recipes so these are all the recipes I have used so far. Since the kids are back to school, I like to make after school snacks for them. They especially love the Biscuit Donuts, Donut Mini Muffins(will post recipe soon) & Chocolate Croissants(will post recipe soon). Being Puerto Rican, I came from a family of great cooks and grew up eating the best foods. The thing is, I got tired of eating rice and beans every other day. Don't get me wrong, the food is beyond amazing but I can't eat it every day anymore. Grant it I do make other non-healthy foods but I do alternate! ;) My kids really enjoy being involved in the kitchen somehow so I try to have them help me make muffins or cookies or something kinda easy for them. Just pour and mix- Easy Peasy!

So, now that you know a little about me and the reason for my blogging, come back often. I'm pretty sure recipes will be added weekly. And if you have recipes to share, please do just that- share with me please! ;)