Roasted Red Pepper and Ham Pinwheels

Since I have been on maternity leave, we do lots of play dates and picnics. When we can back from our trip I decided to plan a swimming/lunch date. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate, it was still beautiful, but it was a little chilly for the pool. So we had a picnic at the park instead! We made it a pot luck, and man can my mom friends cook! The food was amazing!! The only problem with pot lucks...I eat WAYY too much. But it was worth it :)

I made roasted red pepper and ham pinwheels. They were so yummy!! I roasted the pepper myself, which was a little more time consuming than I anticipated, but well worth it!! Other than that they were super easy to make, and a perfect pot luck item!

Ingredients:
- 1 red pepper, whole
- Approximately 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
- Herb and Garlic cream cheese, room temperature
- 5 Slices of ham (I used Black Forest)
- 5 whole wheat tortillas (small ones, I think they are 6")

Directions:



1. Set oven to broil. Generously coat pepper with oil, ensuring you are getting it in all the grooves. Place pepper on a cookie sheet and broil until the skin starts to turn black. Turn the pepper and continue broiling until most of the pepper is black.
2. Place the pepper in a bowl and cover with saran wrap until the pepper is cooled. Once cooled, peel the skin off the pepper and slice.
3. Spread cream cheese over tortillas, add slices of pepper and top with a slice of ham. Roll tortillas and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
4. Remove Saran and slice.

Beef Nachos

Shawn made us dinner Saturday night. He went to the grocery store, bought all the ingredients, came home and made it all by himself...without asking me any questions. This is huge for him! He knows how to cook. If I am not home he can whip up a good dinner and serve it to me when I get home (he has made mac and cheese, one pan taco dish, glazed carrots, chicken wings...just to name a few). BUT if I am home, it's a whole other story! He asks me a million questions! I always make fun of him for this, but I think he just wants the reassurance that he is doing it right. And he always does :) I do have a pretty good husband!!! <3

Anyways over the weekend we had an appetizer night. He made beef nachos and they were really yummy! Can you believe we ate the whole tray...just the two of us!!!

All you have to do is fry up some ground beef and add in taco seasoning. Put some nachos on a cookie sheet. Top with beef, green onions and cheese (he used the Kraft Habanero Heat) and broil until cheese is melted and nachos are crisp. Serve with sour cream and salsa. Ohhhh I love nachos!!!! They are defiantly my weakness :)

Enjoy!

Chicken Pesto Pizza - My 100th Post!!!

This past weekend, my sister in-law and I went on a hunt for this dress I saw on Cityline. My husband is the best man in his friend's wedding in June. I really want to wear a backless dress, so I have been looking for one for the past month or so and have had no luck. This dress on Cityline was from Winners and was really cute...and cheap!! Unfortunately I couldn't find it in any of the three winners I went to over the weekend :( Guess I will keep looking!!!

But during our search, we stopped for lunch at this little Irish pub in one of the towns. We had chicken pesto grillbread and loaded potato skins. The grillbread was amazing!!!! I had a pizza crust in the freezer and though I would make something similar tonight for dinner. I don't usually like chicken on pizza, but I think I liked this one because it had pesto in place of tomato sauce. If you use pizza crust, use one that is already prepared and just needs to be heated up. You could also use something similar to naan bread or pita pockets.

Pesto
In a food processor, process 40g fresh basil (stems removed and coarsely chopped), 2 tbsp pine nuts (you can toast them if you want), 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 2 cloves garlic, Sea Salt and Pepper, and 3 tbsp olive oil until well blended, ensuring you scrape sides a couple of times.

Chicken Pesto Pizza
Ingredients:

• Prepared pizza crust, naan bread or pita pockets
• Pesto (see above)
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into strips and cooked through
• 1 pepper, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*
2. Cook pepper, onion and mushrooms in a frying pan over medium heat until tender (about 5-10 minutes).
3. Spread pesto on pizza crust. Top with shredded chicken, vegetables and cheese.
4. Bake for 8 minutes and then boil until cheese is bubbly (2 minutes)

Nacho Dip

This past weekend was my friend's daughter's 1st birthday (she blogs over at Just Another Mummy Blog, and is awesome so you should check her out!). Let me tell you I have some crafty friends! She made all of the decorations by hand!!! I (unfortunately) didn't take any pictures of the decor, but I did take pictures of the neat snacks they made! I wish I was this creative!



Sailboats



Rainbow Fruit Kabobs with Marshmallows Clouds



Individual veggies and dip (love this idea!)

I made a nacho dip. I am sure everyone knows how to make this amazing dish (it is my weakness...put this stuff in front of me and I will finish it), but I am going to tell you how *I* make it :) You can vary the amount of ingredients you use to make it to your liking.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 jar of medium chunky salsa
• Shredded cheese (I usually buy the Kraft Tex Mex)
• Green onions, thinly sliced
• Pepper (any colour), thinly chopped

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning together until well blended. Spread in a dish.
2. Pour salsa on top and sprinkle with cheese.
3. Top with green onions and pepper.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

It was such a beautiful day today! I honestly can't believe it is February. And what do you do on a beautiful day? BBQ of course!! We had homemade burgers and stuffed portabellas. Such a delicious meal :)

The mushrooms were honestly amazing! Probably the best thing I have made in awhile! I can't wait to make them again!

Ingredients:

• 4 portabellas
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1.5 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 125g (half a package) of cream cheese
• Feta cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300*.
2. Wash portabellas and remove (and reserve) stems. Place caps on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil.
3. Melt butter in a pan and saute onion and garlic until tender.
4. Finely chop mushroom stems and add to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook for an additional 2 minutes (stir constantly)
5. Stir in cream cheese until melted.
6. Spoon mixture into each portabella and top with feta cheese.
7. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes

French Onion Soup

Earlier this year I had French Onion soup for the first time. It was amazing!! I really enjoyed sitting at William’s Coffee Pub waiting for my husband’s uncle and cousins to get back from Alberta (I work near the airport so I am sometimes a taxi!) indulging in a delicious bowl! I then had it again while I was shopping with a friend.

Shawn had never tried it before so I decided to make it for him. I loved it!! He liked it, but I think he prefers a dinner with more mass! It is more of a lunch thing for him (with grill cheese of course!).

Ingredients:

-          2 tbsp oil

-          2 tbsp butter

-          5 onions, thinly sliced

-          1 tsp each of dried thyme, salt and pepper

-          ½ cup sherry

-          1 bay leaf

-          6 cups beef broth

-          8 1” slices from a baguette, toasted

-          Shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, heat butter and oil over medium heat
2. Add onions, thyme, salt and pepper; cook until onions are a caramel colour stirring occasionally
3. Add bay leaf and sherry to deglaze
4. Once deglazed, add broth and bring to a bowl
5. Ladle soup into oven safe bowls, float baguette slices and top with cheese
6. Put bowls on a cookie sheet and broil until cheese is melted

Jalapeno Poppers

We had a bunch of jalapenos left from the garden, so my husband decided he wanted me to make jalapeno poppers. I am really happy with the way they turned out! The breading part is pretty time consuming, but it was worth it!!!

To remove the seeds from the peppers, I used my Pampered Chef Core & More. It worked really well! I would recommend wearing gloves when removing the seeds, because your fingers will burn afterwards!!

Core & More

Ingredients:

-          25-50 Jalapenos, sliced in half with seeds removed

-          250g cream cheese, room temperature

-          1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

-          1 egg

-          ½ cup milk

-          1 cup flour

-          2 packages of Kraft Shake N Bake Classic Herb And Parmesan  

-          Vegetable Oil

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese and cheddar cheese
2. Spoon cheese mixture into jalapeno halves (I used my fingers…it was WAYY easier!)
3. In a bowl, beat egg and milk. Put flour in a separate bowl.
4. Dip jalapenos in egg mixture followed by the flour mixture, and allow them to dry (or put them in the fridge for 5 minutes)
5. Dip flour-coated jalapenos in egg mixture followed by Shake N Bake (I put 3 or 4 in a large bag and shook them.
6. Put coated jalapeno poppers in the fridge (or freezer) for 2 hours before cooking

Heat oil in a medium pot (to 365^oF), and fry poppers for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Tonight was a mushroom night! Not only did we have the previous posted Mushroom Pork Tenderloin, but we also had these stuffed mushrooms. Obviously I love mushrooms! Raw, fried, baked, in a sauce….you name it, and I will probably love it!! I also found these mushrooms from allrecipe.com and they were delicious!! Very garlicy but just as yummy!

Ingredients:

- 12 large whole fresh mushrooms

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

- ¼ tsp ground black pepper

- ¼ tsp onion powder

- ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems and reserve

3. Process mushroom stems and garlic cloves in a food processor

4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms, fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

5. When garlic and mushroom mixture is cool, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper.

6. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until liquid starts to form under caps.

Bruschetta Bread

I don't like uncooked tomatoes (but I love salsa, tomato sauce, etc...weird I know), so I would NEVER order bruschetta! But I went out for dinner with a co-worker and she ordered bruschetta from Jack Astor's, she offered me a slice, and of course I tried it. I must admit it was really yummy!

With that said, my husband LOVES tomatoes! So when I told him about my bruschetta experience he suggested we have it with our leftover soup. Well I started looking a recipes and mixed a few together to come up with my own variation. I used a french loaf, but I think it would be better with a baguette. I would also top with mozzarella and feta cheese!! I also used my food processor to make this (since the tomatoes are not completely cooked, I wanted them in small pieces), however you can easily chop everything and mix together.

Ingredients:
- 4 medium sized tomatoes, cut in quarters
- 1 small onion, cut in quarters
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup fresh Basil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 French baguette (or loaf)
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Crumbled feta

Directions:
1. Preheat oven on broiler setting
2. Add tomatoes, onion and garlic to a food processor, and pulse until smooth
3. In a large bowl, combine tomato mixture, oil, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper. Allow mixture to sit for 10 minutes
4. Cut baguette into 3/4-inch slices, arrange on a baking sheet and broil for 1 to 2 minutes until slightly brown
5. Top bread with tomato mixture and cheese
6. Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted

Deep Fried Pickles

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE pickles. When I go to restaurants and order a burger, I ALWAYS ask for extra pickles (x10)! Speaking of restaurants, last week I went out for dinner with a friend and we decided to go to the Pickle Barrel. But guess what...they do NOT have pickles on the menu!! WTH is up with that!!!! I did order a burger and they do have pickles to go with it, but I thought the Pickle Barrel would have different kinds of prepared pickles on their menu...but I was wrong!!

But back to my post :) Last night my husband wanted a "finger food dinner" so we had deep fried pickles, ribs and cheesy garlic bread while we watched the Grammy's!! I got the recipe for the pickles from another blog I read Tyler's Taste Tests. I did change it slightly, but I pretty much followed it exactly. They will be a repeat for sure!! I did good :)

Ingredients:

-          1 jar of dill pickles, undrained

-          1 large egg, beated

-          1 tbsp, plus 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

-          1 tsp garlic powder

-          1/4 tsp salt

-          1 tsp paprika

-          Vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Slice pickles into spears and press between paper towels to dry
2. Combine 2/3 cup of pickle juice, egg and 1 tbsp flour. Set aside
3. Combine remaining flour with garlic powder, salt and paprika. Blend well
4. Dip pickles in egg mixture followed by flour mixture
5. Put coated pickles in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile heat oil to 375^o
7. Fry pickles until golden brown and drain on paper towel

I found the coating was a little thin, so maybe next time I will re-dip in the egg and flour mixture, but other than that they were fabulous! I served them with ceaser dressing for dipping!