Everything you wanted to know, and maybe some you didn't

I am OBSESSED with the new template I added to my blog! It's a fork, spoon and knife! How perfect, right? After much searching, I was becoming disappointed at the options out there. I almost fell out when I came across this one!

So, since I went out with friends and didn't cook last night, here is a survey I found on another blog that I felt like filling out. If you don't care to know weird little tidbits about me, then you can stop reading now and come back tomorrow when I post about the pasta dish I am making tonight.

So, without further ado..

Twenty Wacky Facts about Yours Truly

1. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, but mostly grew up in Lexington, SC and now I live in Washington, DC.

2. I was a Public Relations major and Political Science minor at the University of South Carolina.

3. I met my boyfriend, Adam, while studying abroad in London, England in May/June of 2008.

4. I am part Irish, part Canadian and part Polish. That translates to pale and freckley.

5. I want to adopt a dog from an animal shelter/rescue service ASAP!

6. I can usually finish a USAToday crossword puzzle and/or sudoku in under 20 minutes.

7. I have a little sister, Jessica, that is still in college. One day she will be the cutest elementary school teacher in the world!

8. All of my favorite books are on the NYTimes Bestsellers List.

9. I can not wink.

10. I love pickles so much I can eat a whole jar in one sitting.

11. I danced ballet for 15 years.

12. I was the president of my sorority, ZTA, in college.

13. I love eggs; sunny-side up with dipping toast and eggs Benedict are my faves.

14. I love NASCAR.. a lot. I have been to three races and my favorite drivers are Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson. I hate Tony Stewart, as should you.

15. I still have my childhood teddy bear from my Grandma Kline. I also still have my blankie and little stuffed lamb.

16. I love movies. I have a DVD collection of over 100.

17. If I could eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be cheese.

18. I religiously watch Abrams & Bettes on The Weather Channel every morning while I am getting ready. It helps me keep up with time because of the Local on the 8's weather updates.

19. If you need something edited, I am your girl. I keep a copy of the AP Stylebook next to me at work at all times.

20. My favorite genre of music is Christmas music. I probably love the Christmas season more than anyone you have ever met.

So do you still wanna be friends with me? :)

Have a great WEEKEND!!!

West Coast Pizza

Sometimes, when I'm feelin' crazy, I venture away from my beloved Food Network idols into the land of Martha Stewart. That woman is awesome. She has got it figured out. In terms of how to cook, garden and do all those lady things, girlfriend has got it goin' on. I could care less if she wanted to make a few extra dollars being a sneaky snake in the financial world.* That does not concern me in the least. What does concern me, is how much I eat when I create one of her delectable meals. Here's a much lighter variation of pizza that is packed with great flavor and different textures. I changed the recipe because I don't have an accessible grill until after Memorial Day (thanks CP - whomp, whomp) and I edited it to my tastes. Thanks Martha!

West Coast Pizza

Ingredients:

1 Pillsbury Thin Crust pizza dough
4 medium Roma tomatoes, sliced
1 medium avocado
4 oz. Goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup basil, chopped
1 cup spinach
Olive oil

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees or follow instuctions for the dough you have purchased. Stretch dough over well-oiled or sprayed baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Top with tomatoes, Goat cheese and basil. Bake until almost done, about 2 minutes remaining. Add the avocadoes on top and finish baking. Immediately add the spinach to the top and let it wilt and warm for a about a minute or two. Slice and enjoy!

I must warn you that this pizza is really good and may result in you eating a few too many slices. Which may be a good thing, because it is NOT as yummy the next day. Everything gets sort of soggy. Still edible, but not as crisp and delicious as the day you made it.**

So there you have it. No new updates, except that I got my HAIR CUT!!! Finally!! Holy rat tails.. that's what was up. I went out last Friday with a bunch of my girlfriends and realized that I literally had rat tails hanging from my head on either side in all the photos. It was sad. And gross. So, I took charge of the situation and went to Bubbles in the Pentagon City mall to see Jane. I was nervous, but she was great. She also didn't talk a lot. Which I kind of liked. I also found out I have dry hair.. who knew? And, I spent only $7 on three new shirts and a sweater from Banana Republic with giftcards I had been hoarding!*** So, I left there last night with a shorter, layered look, new clothes and a smile on my face!  I'm excited for this weekend so I can take lots of "new hair" pictures!! Yay!!

Have a great Thursday!!

 








* Sneaky snake = a term I stole from Casey. I think that it adequately describes MS's shady-ness in matters of finance. I'm talkin' about Enron, y'all.. Remember?

** This is the opinion of the author and does not reflect on all of Martha Stewart's ideas in any way. Just sayin'.

 *** Hoarding -- it creeps me out, but when it comes to giftcards, it is a must. Seriously, if you save them up, it is amazing all the stuff you can buy at one time. I recommend.

Just a little weekend sweet!

I literally did nothing this weekend, except clean my room, wash clothes, dust, etc. But, I did wake up on Sunday morning remembering that I had bought fresh raspberries at HT this past week, and I really wanted to make a coffee cake. I dug this recipe out of the depths of my cooking references and definitely knew it was going to be a winner. I made this for my mom, sister and her friends on a beach trip a few years ago. I edited it, but Paula is the original creator.

Granite Steps Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (12 oz.) can bisquits
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups (1 1/2 pints) fresh raspberries or blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well. Separate bisquit dough and cut each into quarters. Dip each into melted butter and coat with the brown sugar mixture. Arrange in single layer in the baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup oats. Combine the berries and sugar and toss. Spoon over the oats and bisquits and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup oats. Drizzle with the remaining butter on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and center is done. Cool for 20 minutes and serve.

If you have ever had "Monkey Bread," this is a fancied-up version. It's definitely worth a try for a brunch, or just a lazy weekend. :)

Nothing much is happening this week, so I'll have plenty of time to cook dinner and relax. Have a great Monday!

Oh, hello there!

Well, it's been awhile! And lots of fun things have happened! Here's the rundown..

Two weekends ago was Greek Week at Hampden-Sydney! I took the day off on Friday so I would be able to spend lots of time there with Adam and all of his friends. It was so much fun! The weather was so nice, so we were able to hang out each day in the sunshine! There were all kinds of bands all weekend long ranging from a real bluegrass band to a Guns and Roses cover band.. costumes and all! The Last Waltz also made a repeat appearance on Saturday night, which was my favorite night! I ran into so many friends from USC and all over, and it was nice to just kick back and have a great time. I'm sad it's over, but maybe next year I can convince Adam to stop by HSC for one more GW!

I have mentioned before about the mutual love Adam and I have for onion rings, and one of our favorite places to order them is Macado's in Farmville. Not only are their onion rings the bomb, but they have great food in general. The sandwiches are the most popular because they have a variety of about 40 different kinds. I took a picture of the menu, much to Adam's embarrassment, but I knew it would be necessary to this blog post. Here it is.

This is only one side of it. I couldn't risk any more stares from people in other booths, so this is all I got. But, that's the largest menu I have every seen. The entire right side are different sandwiches called "Macado's Friends" because they are all named after someone or something famous. And it continues on the other side. Crazy!

Of course, we ordered the onion rings, and scarfed them down in about 2.5 seconds. I always get a side of ranch with rings, but Adam is all about the spicy dip. Here's a peek.

I have tried several different sandwiches at Macado's over the last two years, but my favorite is definitely the "Betty Boop." It has Mesquite turkey, bacon, melted Muenster cheese and mayo on Rye bread. I always ask them to add some lettuce and tomato, for crunch. :) It comes with a pickle and chips. Here it is below..

Adam ordered the "Steak Stack Sandwich" as a wrap, which are also just as delicious. It had Grilled London broil, melted Cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion rings and bistro sauce. I don't know what bistro sauce is, but there was nothing left, so I am assuming it was good.

Needless to say, I was happy as a clam after my weekend in HSC. Lots of food, friends, fun, beer and bands. Too much? Mmm kk. Moving on.

Last Thursday, I attended the USC Alumni happy hour at Crystal City Sports Pub. I dragged Adam and Courtney along with me, since all of my friends that actually graduated from USC were all busy. No worries though, they welcomed the LSU grad and HSC kid with open arms. It was nice chatting with everyone there, but I was really excited about the raffle prize: two free tickets to the Nationals baseball game the next night!! I thought I had a pretty good shot, considering A and C both received raffle tickets when they came in. Well, we didn't win them, but by some stroke of amazing-ness, the president of the group, Melissa, gave them to me!! She said she was busy, and was more than happy to let me take them! I was so happy and thankful! It was so nice of her to do that for us.  After CCSP, we ventured to Clarendon Grill for the weekly happy hour with my friends. We had a fun time, as always and ventured home pretty early.

On Friday, we went here, despite the impending storm:

Although it did rain a bit during the game, we found some really good standing spots under the overhang near the beer stand, so we were happy campers for the most part. When it stopped raining, we would venture back down to the seats. We had a good time and the Nats ended up winning! So that made it even better!

On Saturday, I got tickets for us to go to the White House Garden Tour. I was pretty excited, since it is pretty rare you get to be up-close and personal with the WH. We took the Metro into the city, and found the line backed up 5 blocks and around the corner. Yeah, the WHGT didn't happen. We decided to walk around some more instead. We ended up traveling 1.5 miles to Foggy Bottom, Adam's old stomping ground last summer, and found ourselves in Froggy Bottom Pub.* It was so fun to be there again. I can't believe it's been a year since we first went there. Time is flying that's for sure. Overall the rest of the weekend was great too. We went to Katie and Heather's apartment and also went to Georgetown and Glover Park for a bit. Definite success.

So that's about it, up until now. Last night, I made Salmon Cakes for dinner and they were amazing. Thank you again, Giada. I changed some of it, but for the most part it's the same. Also, let me point out that this recipe takes about 2 hours from start to finish, so if you are super hungry make the salmon a day in advance. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. fresh salmon fillet
Olive oil
S & P
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup fresh chives, chopped
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crushed finely
1/4 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Recipe:

For the salmon, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the salmon on a baking sheet lined with tin foil and coat with olive oil, S & P. Bake for 20 minutes until done. Let cool.

For the cakes, using a fork, flake the salmon into pieces and add to a medium bowl. Add the egg, chives, half of the saltine crackers, mayo, mustard, corn, lemon juice and zest. Mix gently until combined. If the mixture is a bit dry, add a bit more mayo. Form the mixture into patties, the size of each is up to you. I was able to make 5 out of this mixture. Lay the rest of the crushed saltines on a plate. Carefully coat and cover the patties with the crackers. Be careful to handle them gently, as they fall apart easily. Refrigerate them for one hour. This is to ensure they set and don't fall apart when cooking.

In a large skillet, melt the butter and vegetable oil together over medium heat. Starting two at a time, place the patties in the skillet and cook them about 4 minutes per side, depending on your stove. Be careful to check them for burning. Place on a paper towel to drain. Serve with tartar sauce.

Here they are.. I made corn bread muffins with Cheddar cheese, green onions and corn as a side.

They are realllllllly good. The cracker coating makes them really crispy, but the inside is so creamy with lots of salmon. The lemon juice and zest really go well and give them a bit of a punch. Definitely try them if you are tired of baked or broiled fish!

Well, there are two weeks worth of updates for you! Nothing too exciting is happening this weekend, so maybe I'll get creative and have more foods to blog about! Adam graduates in three weeks, so I'll be heading up to HSC for the last time that weekend. And in 37 days, my whole family is heading to Corolla Beach in the Outer Banks of NC for a WEEK! I can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

PS: Here is a little pic for you to enjoy. Those who know Adam's little friend, Jeero,  will appreciate this. Good thing he looks manly with his Budweiser and that he doesn't read my blog that much. Bahaha. You can find out more info about Uglydolls here. Hehe!

* Note to self: Jack Rogers are NOT conducive to roaming around a concrete jungle with a boy that sprints when he walks.

More cheese, please..

I recently read back through my blog and noticed a quite disturbing, recurring theme: I use cheese in every recipe I make. Well, almost. There was that period of time when I tried a diet, and NONE of those recipes called for cheese. Which is probably why it only lasted two weeks. Go figure.

It's not like I just love cheese. I feel like I NEED it. It adds that special little "ummph." I (no kidding here) keep a tub of grated Parmesan in my fridge just to sprinkle it on everything. I try to tell myself I am "finishing the dish," like they do on TV and in books, but let's be honest: I love cheese and any excuse to have more is fine by me.*

So, my roommate, Courtney, and I have been on a little Giada kick lately. I have clearly outlined that I am obsessed with her, so when I found out that she was coming to DC, I almost fainted. I also convinced sweet Courtney to get up at the crack of dawn last Saturday morning to go stand in line with me for 2 hours. And spend $40 on her new cookbook, just so we could get it signed. Yep, totally worth it.**

Which brings me full-circle and combines both Giada and cheese. Courtney and I found a new recipe called Penne with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese. It will change your life. Take my word for it.***

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4 in. cubes
1 onion, diced into 1/2 in. pieces
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 lb. penne pasta
1 cup (8 oz.) goat cheese, crumbled
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Recipe:

Put an oven rack in the top 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place squash and onion on the baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes until tender. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (firm to the bite.) Drain and reserve two cups of cooking water. Put the pasta, 1 cup of the reserved water and goat cheese in a large bowl. Toss until melted and creamy. Add the squash, onion, walnuts and basil and toss to coat. Garnish with the Parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Courtney also made asparagus as a side dish. Just toss trimmed asparagus spears with salt, pepper and olive oil and roast it in the oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes until tender. We made some garlic ciabatta rolls as well.

Courtney and I both agreed that the dinner was one of the best we had tasted in a really long time. And, we had a ton of leftovers, so I get to enjoy that for lunch and possibly dinner tonight. Yes!

Have a lovely Wednesday!

*OK let's be even more honest: If only you knew that I just like to have a tub of cheese in my fridge to pour handfuls of it into my mouth while I am waiting on the oven buzzer to tell me my cheesey, delicious dinner is done. But, really, who does that?

**Picture will follow.

***I literally couldn't speak until after I had had a few mouthfuls. It is THAT good.

Caprese Sandwich Creation

Tomatoes. That one word brings a little light to my heart. And my tummy. Growing up in my family, tomatoes were a constant on our table for every meal. I swear I think my dad could bite into one and eat it like an apple. We all have our preferences on what type we like and how to serve them best: Vine-ripened Roma tomatoes sliced with salt and pepper, Cherry tomatoes tossed in a salad with Ranch dressing, Beefsteak tomatoes on a cheeseburger, or my personal favorite and the best invention the Italians gave us (other than pizza, clearly): Caprese salad or Insalata Caprese, if you're fancy.

There are many variations on this dish, especially on whether or not it is an actual "salad." In fact, it is. The most important part, however, are the main ingredients: Plum tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella and basil.* After that, it get's dicey. There are many ways to prepare this salad, but I prefer to add salt, pepper and a drizzle of both olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The differences in consistency and taste in the oil and vinegar give it a sweet and fruity taste.

I have made this salad countless times for a variety of reasons. But, last night I was really hungry. So I knew that I would need more. I remembered I had frozen some sub rolls about a month ago, so I pulled those out and baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes at 425 degrees. They came out perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. So I sliced up the tomatoes, mozzarella and tore the basil leaves from the stem. Then I cut down the center of the roll and stuffed it with as many of each ingredient as I could. I drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar all over and then topped it with S&P.** It was SO GOOD. I told Adam about how yummy the sandwich was, and his reply, "where's the meat?" So, yes, this meal is vegetarian, but you could add all sorts of meats to this combination. My personal choice would be a thick cut salami or pepperoni. Keepin' it Italian, ya know?

Lovin' the fresh ingredients

In the end, I probably ate that sandwich in 2 minutes flat.  Tomatoes are in season, so go grab some and experiment with your Italian side. You could always go a little crazy and combine my two favorite inventions, pizza and Caprese. It'll be a masterpiece.

Y'all have a great day!

*Italians take great pride in this creation since the colors represent the Italian flag. :)

** Sometimes it's just easier than typing out "salt & pepper."

Happy Birthday Katie!

Happy birthday to my dear friend Katie!

I hope you have a wonderful day! Love you!