Fish Tacos

I was on vacation last week so I was excited to make some semi-involved meals for my family. The first up was fish tacos.

I gave the fish a coating of flour that I seasoned with a chipotle rub and fried it in vegetable oil.

When they came out of the frying pan I squeezed some lime juice on the fish.

I made a guacamole, salsa, and slaw to top the tacos with.

This picture refuses to change its orientation and its eating me up inside! But how could I leave out the beautiful condiments I made?

I served the tacos up with some saffron rice.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa they were good and I ate 3 of em.

Praline Peach Pancakes

On Sunday morning I awoke feeling the need for some pancake inspiration (luckily I awoke before my mother could get started on breakfast). A quick peek over at the Bisquick website and I had what I wanted.  Pecans, peaches, brown sugar, yes, yes, yes.

Changes I made: no yogurt, put peaches in the batter.

My oh my that is a beautiful mixing bowl.

I topped them with more peaches and of course some maple syrup.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is one of those desserts that I have always considered "fancy" and have lusted after making.  There is absolutely nothing about this recipe that was in any way fancy or complicated. Just a whole lotta chocolate and butter, oh those Neelys... But guess what? No brown sugar hahahahaha I crack myself up.

Check out that butter and chocolate melting.

I made this for a coworker who is allergic to gluten.  She gave it two thumbs up and so did everyone else.

The only change I made was that I used Kahlua instead of brandy.

Soooo chocolatyyyyyyyy.  

It could have used a nice dollop of whipped cream and a tall glass of milk, but come on who drinks a tall glass of milk?

Panda Bear Cupcakes

I rewarded my class with a cupcake making activity.  Our class is called the Panda Bears so I decided to take an idea from Hello, Cupcake and simplify it down for a 5 year old.  The results? Some pretty excited kids and some cupcakes that may or may not resemble a panda.

And now cute photos of kids!

Everyone concentrating very hard on spreading icing on their cupcakes.

Completed cupcakes:

Here's mine, he looks a bit angry:

 And now my little babies are off to kindergarten, my how the time passes...

Spaghetti with Zucchini in Saffron Sauce

I'm going to throw some big money words (from the food world) at you. Saffron. Truffle oil. Ok, that's all I've got, who do you think I am Ina Garten?

Anyway I cooked this up as a simple weeknight meal a la Rachel Ray.  Her recipe calls for you to have about 500 pots and pans, but there is no reason to put an empty pan in the oven. Seriously. Do not waste your time with that. I also added some garlic and used truffle oil for the zucchini saute.

I did have 3 pots going and that was hectic enough for me.

Mix it all together and smother it with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Get ready for an adorable dessert made by the cutest bakers in town coming later this week!

Happy Birthday Teddy!

Sometimes you just need to eat about 3 cookies at a time. And when that time comes, these cookies will surely suffice.

I give you Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Insanity? Yes. Delicious? Fo sho.

Sadly my camera died so I don't have any before shots.  To make these I rolled 2 balls of chocolate chip cookie dough, placed one on top of the Oreo and one on the bottom.  Then used my hands to smush the cookie dough around the Oreo completely.

I didn't have another cookie to compare it to so I used a quarter to show you how crazy huge these are.

These cookies are gigantic and the recipe makes about 2 dozen, so look out these just might kill whoever receives them as a birthday present.

I don't know why I don't take every photo in macro. Check this one out. Blow it up. Pretend its in your hand. Sweet delicious massive cookie.

Enchiladas Con Mole (with bonus dessert)

I have not cooked in a loooooooong time and I mean a looooooooong time.  So I rolled up my sleeves, acutally I was wearing a tank-top, regardless it was hot ok? If I had sleeves I would have rolled them up.  Anyway I had had a request for mas enchiladas por favor a few weeks back. At last I answered the people's calls. Enchiladas it is! This time with mole and queso fresco (so authentic) and chicken!

The filling consisted of: chicken, zucchini, corn, and queso fresco.

I slathered mole and some more queso fresco on top (this stuff is delicioso!)

MmmmMMm! Just wait until you see what I made for dessert!

I am sure everyone remembers the disaster of the homemade chipwiches of 2011.  I had said I wanted to make them with Archway Dutch cocoa cookies next time (and make them on a less sweltering day). Low and behold as I was in the supermarket today desperately trying to stick to the 4 items on my shopping list I saw the Stop & Shop version on sale.. for $1! How could I say no to that?

Of course I couldn't, so here they are! A not melty ridiculous mess, but slightly less indulgent chipwich.

Stay tuned I've got a show-stopper dessert coming up this weekend.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Baklava is a terribly labor intensive item to bake.  Someday I might be ready to devote an entire day to making it, but for now this shortcut recipe was the prefect substitute.

This recipe uses store bought filo cups to cut prep time immensely, Sunny Anderson knows what she's doing.

The only little change I made to this recipe was eliminating the almonds; I just used walnuts and pistachios.

I almost left out the lemon zest, but do NOT leave it out.  It brings the flavors to a whole nother level.

These were quite well received  and fairly simple to make. I highly recommend trying this recipe out.

Linguine with Corn, Arugula, and Leeks

I finally cooked up a weeknight meal for my family last week. I have been eyeing this recipe from Real Simple for a year now and since we had most of the ingredients already I felt compelled to cook it.

The only changes I made were that I used linguine instead of fettuccine and roasted the corn beforehand.

I absolutely loved this and am ready to make it again.

Stay tuned because it was someone's birthday this weekend and you know what that means... desserts!