New Salad!

Have you ever made a new recipe, been excited to try something new for a change, and have it totally FLOP?!  Well, that won't happen with this one!!!  This morning I was looking for some new healthy options--it's time to think about my wedding 'bod.  I love salads and hate to admit that I fall back on the basic green salad far too often.  But this salad is much different!  What defines a salad anyway???  This particular one could make a delicious lunch (that's what I'm doing with leftovers tomorrow), a side for grilled chicken (which I did tonight), a salsa for a chicken taco...... the options are endless.  I halved the recipe, because I knew Adam wouldn't like it and it was plenty for my side dish and there's a bunch leftover for lunch and probably dinner tomorrow too.  I also subbed vidalia onions for the red onions (because I like them better.... and next time I'll probably go lighter on the onions).  The heat was PERFECT (except when I bit right into a jalapeno).  Do yourself a favor and go make this Grilled Corn Salad!!!

Grilled Wings

Okay, so Adam requested wings this week on the new grill.  I was pretty psyched... it's something different from what we normally grill, plus I LOVE wings!  I don't know that I've ever grilled any before and I have to say I was slightly mortified when I pulled them out of the nice neat package and they looked like this:

Gross!  But nothing a couple glasses of Pinot Grigio can't fix...

I sprinkled the wings with just a little salt, pepper, and garlic...just like mom and dad make.  Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best!

This is when they started to look good!  I grilled them on medium/low heat for 20ish minutes... until they looked like this:

Although I had some reservations, these wings turned out delicious!  They were good just like this and also I dipped some in blue cheese and hot sauce.

Grilled Pizza- Whaaaaat?!

My parents got Adam and I an early birthday gift last week- a new grill!  Unfortunately due to our busy schedules, I didn't get to play with the new grill until today.  When creating our menu this week, I wanted to use the grill every night!  The first thing I thought to make was grilled pizza.  Adam looked at me like I was nuts.... suggesting burgers or steak.  I wanted to try the nontraditional route first.  With a little help from Annie's Eats Blog I was ready to test it out!  The great thing about grilling pizza is, it takes 1/2 the time to cook....so our growling tummies didn't have to wait too long to bite into this deliciousness.  I bought fresh dough at Publix, but you could create your own if you want.

First I sprayed the grill with some oil and heated it up.  I cut the dough in half so Adam and I could have our own little pizzas.  In the future I would do this, I think it was easier to manage 2 small pizzas.  Once the grill was heated I put the dough on the oiled rack.

I closed the lid, lowered the heat to medium, and went to prep my toppings.  I was probably gone for 4-5 minutes.  When I returned, look what I found:

I flipped the pies over onto the unheated side of my grill.  If I were using a grill with only one burner I would remove the shells for the next step.  Armed with my toppings, I started decorating the pizza shells and then moved them over to the hot side for another 5 minutes.

Adam wanted a traditional cheese (I use Prego's traditional sauce as pizza sauce, it's way yummy!) and I made an olive oil/garlic/Italian seasoning with mozzarella, parmesan, romano cheeses with fresh tomatoes.  Yum!

Here is the end result:

Needless to say, we BOTH loved my creation!  As usual Adam acted like it was his great idea. 

what CAN'T you do with a banana?

When I was growing up I hated (i know that's a strong word) bananas. The texture of them grossed me OUT! I even had this banana-flavored chap stick--EW! For some reason my palate must've matured when I went to college. One day I decided I would try out a banana and- can you believe it- I liked it! So immediately I called my mom and told her the news. It was one of those "firsts".... 1st step, 1st pee on the potty, 1st taste of a banana.

So yesterday I was searching on blogs for yummy things to make and I came upon some banana pancakes. http://annies-eats.net/2010/08/18/banana-pancakes/ Now that I have a mature palate, I figured it was time to test them out! Can you say, YUM?! I was wishing I had some fresh strawberries to put on them but Adam and Bob wouldn't run to the farm stand..... so I used blueberry syrup instead. MAN, they were good! The recipe says to use a small banana but I used a large one and there was just enough banana flavor. I thought they were very filling but worth it.

This was some thick batter.....

The BEST blueberry syrup. Ever.

Yum Yum! Had to make a little guy so I could make sure they were good!

That's 1 stack of deliciousness!

The final product, so good!

Cookie Fun!

Part of getting into the Christmas Spirit is baking up a storm!!! From as far back as I can remember, baking cookies and other various goodies has surrounded December 25th. I remember being knee-high to a grasshopper and my mom lining the countertops with fudge, nedhams, thumbprints, peanut butter blossoms, spritz, and many other cookies. Of course it was always a convenient gift to give friends and co-workers...not to mention she had 3 girls and a husband who all LOVED her confections!

There was one day in particular I LOVED before Christmas though. It was our cookie-decorating day. Mom's friend Candy would come over with her two girls- Kiley and Kristen. We would literally spend what felt like the entire day creating the most beautiful cookies! All the kids would try to make the BEST-decorated cookies. Meanwhile the adults would create "naughty cookies." No wonder Santa never came for them! I can remember singing along to the Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers Christmas CD.... and the soundtrack to The Sound of Music. ...oh to be little again!

So it's no wonder as the 25th approaches I start getting the itch to bake. This Saturday I loaded the Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers CD into the player and sang along while creating some cookies. Man, if only we could've created some cookies this awesome when we were little....

This one is my fave:

A cookie a day.....

Don't you just LOVE baking??? Well, I do! There's something about making cookies that I L-O-V-E. Actually, lots of things I love about making cookies.

First of all, aren't homemade cookies 100 times better than the ones you can buy in a store??? I definitely think so. When you buy them in the store you miss out on so much----- the cookie dough tasting----the smell of the cookies in the oven----the satisfaction of a completed project----the first taste right out of the oven----the overall craftiness of creating your own----the look on people's faces when they taste your homemade cookie.

mmmmmmmmmmmm nothing like it! ....now will someone come and clean the dishes?!

These were my back-to-school creations...pencils and apples!

The dough from my ultimate oatmeal cookies (with craisins and chocolate chips)~ thanks to mom's recipe!

In the oven, gettin' pretty!

The end result of the ultimate oatmeal cookies. SO tasty!