2008 Jun 3

Parmesan Chicken

Posted in cooking

Tonight, I made this quick and very easy parmesan chicken (recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa from the Food Network). I found the recipe last night and it got a 5-star review from almost everyone that made this dish, so I thought I’d give it a shot. The prep-work was so easy and the chicken was cooked in no time! One thing about this parmesan chicken is that its not your traditional Italian parmesan chicken with marinara sauce. This chicken is breaded with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, pan fried, then topped with fresh salad greens with a lemon vinaigrette. I was really surprised that the greens with the vinaigrette paired really well with the chicken. If you do try this recipe it’s important to note that you should eat the chicken with the greens on top (rather than just a side salad) because it really makes this dish.

1 Comment

2008 Jun 3

Long Time No Blog

Posted in baking, life, travels

My apologies for not blogging for an entire month…I’ve been away, well actually I was on vacation for 2 weeks. But, the week before I left, I was busy packing and getting ready and it took me another week to back into the swing of things. So, I guess that accounts for the whole month I’ve been absent here. So, this week I’ve decided to go on a baking frenzy. I’m planning to make a variety of things that I’ve been wanting to make for a while now such as scones, red velvet cupcakes, and creme brulee. Update about the torch: I have not bought a torch yet, but that’s on my to-do list this week, so keep an eye out for my post about that.

Comments

2008 Apr 30

Torch Time

Posted in dessert, shopping

During my trip to Vegas a few weeks back, I was had some of the best creme brulee. I’m usually not fond of creme brulee, because 1) I’ve never really had great tasting creme brulee before and 2) there’s no chocolate in it & I tend to not order non-chocolate desserts (that’s just the chocoholic in me). But, the creme brulee I tried in Vegas made me see creme brulee in a new light and see how versatile and delicious it could be. The creme brulee dessert I tried, was a duo of creme brulee, one was classic vanilla and the other was deep chocolate. I was surprised to see a chocolate creme brulee, this was new to me and boy was I excited. So, now I’m sort of in my creme brulee phase and craving it more than ever. I’m in the process of looking for a creme brulee torch, so that I can whip it up in my kitchen, but I’m stuck on whether I should invest my money into an expensive professional one or just get one of those dinky creme brulee torch sets. Bed Bath and Beyond, sells a creme brulee torch set that comes with a torch and 4 ramikins for $19.99. This sounds much more tempting than the Williams Sonoma torch for $39.95 which sadly comes with nothing else. Oh, decisions decisions.


Bed Bath & Beyond Torch Set
Pros: $19.99 and I can use the 20% off coupon. Sweet!
Cons: there’s probably a 90% chance that the torch will be a dud


Williams Sonoma Kitchen Torch
Pros: you could probably torch to your heart’s desire with this baby
Cons: $39.95…and this torch probably won’t be used very often in a regular kitchen

1 Comment

2008 Apr 24

Light and Fluffy Quiche

Posted in cooking

I made quiche for dinner tonight, after I’ve been wanting to make it for about a month now. It was my first attempt at making quiche and I’m glad to say it was a success. I was worried because I had already messed up one part of the recipe, but I managed to make it work. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com, but I tweaked it quite a bit. Instead of spinach I used broccoli and added some garlic, bacon, feta cheese and an extra egg. I also forgot, I used less mayo. The quiche had a lot of flavor and the broccoli gave it a great texture. This recipe is definitely a keeper! Here’s my tweaked version of the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup light mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 5 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup feta cheese
  • 1 cup fresh broccoli cooked & chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 4 strips of cooked bacon cut into bacon bits
  • 1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie shell

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with foil.
  2. Sautee onions and garlic in pan until tender. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and milk until smooth. Whisk in eggs. Layer broccoli, cheese, bacon, and onion & garlic in pie shell, making several layers of each. Pour in egg mixture. Place quiche on prepared cookie sheet. Cover quiche with foil.
  4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove cover, and bake 10 minutes, or until top is golden brown and filling is set.

1 Comment

2008 Apr 23

Dessert Heaven

Posted in dessert, travels

I went to Vegas this past weekend, and by far it was the best Vegas trip. Not only because of the good company and many highlights during the trip, but also because of all the delicious desserts I had, which probably increased my chances of diabetes in just one weekend. The first dessert I have to rave about was the Boston Cream Pie DeLux at the Grand Lux Cafe in the Venetian. Honestly, it was one of the best desserts I’ve ever had…Creamy Custard Layered Between Moist, Rich Vanilla Cake. Covered with Warm Chocolate and Whipped Cream. I was smiling the entire time I was eating it! Haha. The next thing I have to rave about was the dessert bar at the Treasure Island buffet. It was dessert heaven! I’ve never seen such an impressive array of desserts…freshly made miniature donuts, chocolate dipped banana pops, chocolate dipped strawberries, cupcakes, creme brulee and best of all a cotton candy machine! I think I have to say that it definitely beats the Wynn’s dessert bar.


Boston Cream Pie DeLux

Comments

2008 Mar 20

Cupcake Apron

Posted in shopping

For all you cupcake fanatics out there! Here’s an adorable cupcake print apron by Jessie Steele. It’s so cute and I love the bow details.

2 Comments

2008 Mar 19

Eggstatic!

Posted in dessert, holidays

So, to my surprise the Easter Bunny came early this year! My boyfriend was nice great enough to buy me those Bonnat Chocolate Eggs I kept talking on and on about. I was ecstatic when I saw the Dean & DeLuca package right before me. As promised in my last post that upon receiving these eggs I will love the giver forever and so yes I will love you forever! Thank you!!!! You’ve made this girl very happy and also filled with lots of chocolate and hazelnut praline. So about these eggs, how good are they you ask? Because they better be damn good if they cost $55 for six eggs! My answer to that question is they were delicious and everything I expected them to be. Good quality chocolate and the hazelnut praline filling was so creamy. YUM! Now that I think about how yummy these eggs were, I feel silly for ever believing that Cadbury cream filled eggs were the best chocolate eggs. Sadly, I feel a little disgusted by the thought of that overly sweet cream filling and milk chocolate shell. Not only did the Bonnat eggs taste great, but the whole process of getting to the highly anticipated confection was pretty fun. I enjoyed taking the brown egg from its egg crate and cracking and peeling the shell away. To my surprise it was really easy to peel and within a few seconds I was already biting into it. So, here’s wishing all of you a Happy Easter and hopefully some Bonnat Chocolate Eggs in your basket this year!

Comments

2008 Mar 19

Love Treats

Posted in dessert, holidays

I know February is long gone and Valentine’s Day seemed like ages ago, but I finally uploaded pictures of some V-day treats I made for my valentine <3 I found these large pink strawberry flavored marshmallows at the market and decided to make pink rice krispie treats. To make it extra chessy, I made them into hearts and sprinkled some heart sprinkles for some added flare. They turned out pretty well. I was worried that the marshmallows would have a disgustingly artificial strawberry flavor, but the berry flavor was pretty mellow and a nice change to the original rice krispie treats. And how did my valentine like them? Well, let's just say he ate the entire plate of treats in one night.

Comments

2008 Mar 5

Eggcellent!

Posted in dessert

I MUST have these: Bonnat Chocolate Eggs. Wow, real brown eggshells lined with dark chocolate and filled with hazelnut praline?!? If you filled these in my easter basket I would love you forever. But, who’s willing to shell out $55 for a box of 6 eggs plus the required next day shipping which comes to a total of $65.95! Now, that’s just ridiculous and heartbreaking for me. I’d be willing to buy one egg, but unfortunately that’s not an option. Anyone willing to split a box or buy it for me?

Comments

2008 Feb 1

Blooming Tea & Crumpets

Posted in food, shopping

The first time I ever heard about blooming teas, was a few years ago when I was at a friend’s home and her mother made us tea. When I looked into my tea cup, I noticed there were things floating in it that did not resemble tea leaves and to my surprise they were actually chrysanthemum petals. Her mother had used dried chrysanthemum blossoms to make the tea with and I was so amazed by it. Until now, I haven’t had any more floral teas with actual blossoms in it, but I ran across these Teaposy Blooming Teas today and I immediatly wanted to purchase it, but alas it’s temporarily sold out. They even have a glass teapot and cups set which is perfect so you can watch your blooming flowers blossom.


2 Comments

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »