Kale Salad

Cooking:

It's been a month since I posted (and during that post I told you peeps that I suck), and I still suck.  My camera is broken and, since I've gotten used to the new camera, I haven't wanted to take pictures with my stupid camera phone.  So I've been slacking.

 

I read Andee's blog regularly and when she posted this kale salad I knew I had to try it.  Since the first time I made this salad, I've been incorporating kale into all of my salads.  I actually like it best with some spinach, red onions, tomatoes, parmesan, and a lite raspberry vinaigrette.  But I go back to this recipe regularly, too!

Reading:

With the Season 4 premier upon us (April 6!) it would be wrong of me to not include George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series on this blog.  I am a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy geek, and these books (which I finished last summer but the H is reading now) scratch every itch I have in that genre.  Just don't get too attached to the characters.

Wearing:

T Tahari via Neiman Marcus

The H bought me this dress for Valentine's day, and I'm having it altered in preparation for a conference I'm attending next week.  I'm presenting, too, and even though I'm crazy nervous, this dress will help me look the part!

Layered Bean Dip

Cooking:

So, last weekend, law school besty texted me with a simple question:  what's a fun thing to bring to a Super Bowl party that's not too intense as far as cooking?  That's right up my alley, of course.  When I told her about this bean dip, she asked if it was on the blog.

The answer, of course, was NO because I have been remiss in my blogging.  I suck.

This dip doesn't.  And it's easy.  A layer of beans.  A layer of salsa.  A layer of corn and onions, then a layer of cheese.  You could add more layers, I don't care, but put the beans on the bottom and the cheese on the top to seal in the goodness, and you'll be good to go.

I like this hot, because everything sort of oozes together and gets all creamy.  I've topped this with avocado and sour cream, in the past, and it's wonderful.  And I haven't, still wonderful.  And perfect for the Super Bowl.

Reading:

I am becoming well-versed in the snark of Simon Doonan, and I love every minute of it.  His latest, The Asylum, is no exception.  He is funny, he tells great stories about himself and the wonderful world of fashion, and he seems to know EVERYBODY which I love.  It's like having a best friend who's friends with famous people but with whom you are not actually friends.  For someone like me, who is actually a friend of the friendless, this is perfect.

Wearing:

The H and I are going to the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in a couple of weeks, and I need these:

Christian Louboutin via Neiman Marcus

These will be perfect for meeting my NEW best friend, Alex Guarnaschelli, and brunching at Tongue & Cheek.  I can't wait.  The countdown is on (14 days, for those who are counting).

Spicy Tequila Lime Chicken Quesadillas

Cooking:

First, I almost forgot how to spell quesadilla.  My confusion may come from the fact that I totally forgot that I made these AND I made them back in October (if the date stamp on my camera can be trusted).  Or I'm tired.  One of the two.

I marinated these chicken breasts in a plastic bag with tequila, lime juice, cayenne pepper, olive oil, and minced garlic for about 4 hours.

I grilled my chicken, then my peppers and onions, in the same pan (so the veggies would pick up some of the seasoning from the marinade).

I topped one flour tortilla with sliced chicken, onions, peppers, and shredded Boar's Head three pepper colby jack cheese (I am OBSESSED with this cheese).  Then topped it with another tortilla and threw it on my grill.

We enjoyed these tasty treats with light sour cream, habanero salsa, and homemade margaritas.  It didn't suck.

Reading:

So you're clearly all going to think that I only read really weird books.  Or books with dark characters.  Or books with murder.  Or whatever.  And I'm ok with that, because I always let people know that the books I tend towards are different before I make recommendations.  I give you the same disclaimer, peeps.

Sharp Objects is good.  The characters are interesting (if a little exaggerated in their imperfections) and the setting is well-described and spot-on.  I felt a little like Gillian Flynn fought too hard to make the reader go "WTF!" with this one, and so I didn't love it.  (For the record, I felt this way about Gone Girl, too, but not as strongly).  Given that this was her first novel, though, it was excellent.  And her mind must be a VERY dark and twisty place, which is nice for people like me who like dark and twisty (and slightly depressing) things.

Wearing:

The fun-spending ban is still on, and since I don't consider working out to be much fun, I don't consider purchasing this tank a violation.

via

But a girls' gotta keep herself in shape (for me, to keep myself from going absolutely CRAZY [or crazier than my normal nature]) so bring on the bar(re).  Boo.

Corn Casserole and The Book Thief

Cooking:

Literally years ago, I asked my sister for the corn casserole that she makes nearly every time I come home.  Instead of scanning it and sending it to me, like a normal person, she took a picture of the recipe with her phone and emailed it to me.

The best part about this, though, is that she wrote down the recipe, then took the photo and sent it.  And the recipe was a little loosey goosey on the details:

Who's ever heard of a CAN of sour cream?!  Anyway, I revised this and made my own (more exact) recipe.

Jalapeno Corn Casserole

2 stick of butter, room temperature
2 eggs
16 oz sour cream
2 boxes Jif Corn Muffin Mix
2 cans sweet corn
2 cans cream style corn
1/2 cup diced jalapenos

Mix the ingredients together, then pour in a 9x13 baker and bake at 350 for approximately 60 minutes, or until brown and set.  (My recipe is bigger than the original, and obviously packs a bit more of a punch).

Reading:

 

I'm currently immersed in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and anxiously awaiting the release of the movie.  I'm already bracing myself for the fact that the movie will be a let-down compared to the book, primarily for two reasons:  (1)  the actress they chose to play Liesel has blue eyes and the author is VERY careful to point out that she has brown eyes (not insignificant in a book about WWII); and (2)  the book is narrated by death, which is effective and startling in a way that I wasn't expecting to enjoy, but that I'm afraid will come off as cheesy in the movie.  I guess we'll see!

Wearing:

I am, literally, wearing these jammies as I type:

via Hanna Andersson

These were a must have in my wardrobe for two reasons.  First, they look like prison stripes (the bottoms are also black and gray striped) which is hilarious in my family for a couple of reasons that I won't discuss here.  Second, the H and I walked down the aisle after we were married to the Imperial March from Star Wars.  We are dorks, and my dork status is even more solidified now that I own Darth Vader prison jams.  Expect a pic on instagram of me rocking these sometime soon.

Favorite Things Thursday: Smokin'

I want to tell you about my new favorite weekend past time.

But first, a confession.

Sometimes blogging is a bit of a drag.  I love this blog.  I started it for me, but there is a LOT of pressure to get a million hits a month and make money off of this damn thing.  And I think you can tell from my last few whiny posts, I don't have time or energy for that!  I would love to hear from some of you who blog for fun about how you deal with the stress, or whether you care about statistics and/or pleasing the masses at all!

Alright, enough of that.

New favorite thing:

No, not fire (per se) but using the hell out of the grill.  But not grilling, either!

Smoking!  That's right, I'm a smoker.  And I'm not ashamed to admit it.  Smoking meat is my new favorite thing to do on the weekends, and the rewards are sweet.

This is my grill/smoker/everything:

And I love it.  I can toss some veggies on the left, and smoke meat on the right.  And, keep in mind, I lay in the pool and read a book when I'm not tending the food.  It doesn't suck.

I have now smoked and shredded multiple pork picnics (after rubbing them with a combination of cayenne, salt, and pepper), and then doused them with barbeque sauce.  It's a feast for the senses.  Really.

Rest-assured more smoking recipes will be coming.  And for those of you who like details - it takes about 12 hours, at 250 degrees, to smoke a 12 pound pork picnic (bone-in) with applewood chips.  You can thank me later.

Baked Chicken Taquitos

Have a mentioned things have been crazy?

Oy.

But I can't leave you hanging for much longer, peeps, so I present to you baked chicken taquitos.

Preheat the oven to 350 and combine the following:

4 cooked, shredded chicken breasts,
6 oz. softened cream cheese,
4 oz. shredded Mexican blend cheese
half a jar of jalapenos
1 can rotel (I used the super spicy stuff)
white pepper, cayenne, chili powder, salt, and cumin to taste

I piled my "stuffing" onto a small corn tortilla, rolled it up, placed it on my baking sheet and baked them for about 20 minutes.

The results were cracked and crispy and totally delicious, if not particularly lovely to look upon.

Unlike these.

Valentino via Neiman Marcus

These are lovely.

Chicken and Broccoli Quinoa Mac and Cheese

I believe this blog is a testament to how much I like to cook; I hope that each of my readers understands that, despite my typically awful pictures and penchant for taking bites out of my food before I photograph it, I do care a lot about what I put on this blog and like to let you glimpse in at my successes (and failures!) in the kitchen.

I also like to confess, from time to time.

Today's confession:  I freakin' LOVE Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

And if it's spiral mac and cheese - even better.  I LOVE IT.  (image)  With that said, I don't make enough money to support my mac and cheese habit, and I understand that processed, powdered cheese stuffs probably aren't the best for my diet.  A reinvention is obviously in order.

So the answer is obviously additional fake cheese stuffs.  I know, I know.  Not good.  But this recipe only uses two ounces of Velveeta.  Two lousy ounces.  How can you go wrong?!

1 1/2 cups fully cooked quinoa (about 3/4 cup dry)
2 chicken breasts, shredded or sliced
1/2 head broccoli, cut into small florets and steamed
2 ounces Velveeta
Tabasco, salt, and pepper (to taste)

Steam your broccoli until it's fork tender (I did this while I cooked my quinoa) and set aside.

I seasoned my chicken breasts with salt and pepper and grilled them on the stove top, then allowed them to cool, briefly, before shredding/slicing them.  Again, I did this while my quinoa was a-cookin'.

Since I cook my quinoa in the microwave, the next step was the easiest:  as soon as the quinoa was done, I threw the chicken, the broccoli, the Velveeta, and a bunch of Tabasco into the bowl that I used for my quinoa, stirred it all up until it was well-mixed and the cheese was nice and melty.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and then I sat my happy ass down and ate it.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Well, it does, but I'll need to buy stock in Kraft to see a return on my Mac & Cheese obsession.  Getting paid (in a roundabout way) to eat spiral mac and cheese WOULD be better. 

About that I cannot lie.

Nor about this:

Fendi via Bergdorf Goodman

WTF.

Quickie Friday: Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken

A lot of the crockpot recipes that are in my comfort zone include cream soups.  In an effort to change that, I went this route, and am glad that I did!

Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves thinly sliced garlic
4 frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 can diced tomatoes (I used garlic and oregano seasoned tomatoes)
red pepper, salt, and black pepper to taste

Set your crockpot on low for 8 hours, and enjoy a warm, light dish when you get home.  I served ours over orzo mixed with parmesan and spinach.

In other exciting news, we got new plates for the wedding, so the pics will continue to improve.  HOORAY!

These totally fake stingray sandals from F21 are good news, too.

via

When Mr. Mustachio (aka Daniel) got booted from Project Runway this season, I pouted over not being able to see more of his stingray accents.  These will scratch that particular itch quite nicely (and cheaply!)

Jalapeno Corn Bread

A little story about yours truly:  I am a Girl Scout.  Have been since kindergarten, with the exception of a month or so when it "wasn't cool" and then discovered that I could get scholarships and got my head straight.  I am a lifetime member.  Girl Scouting is cool.

And when I was in junior high, I had to shadow somebody who had my dream career in order to earn a leadership badge.  Easy, I thought, I'll write to Martha Stewart.  And write to Martha I did.

Martha's letter writer was very kind in her let down, informing me that Martha's show taped very early in the morning, much too early for a young teen.  I was a happy camper nonetheless, because the letter included an autographed photo of Martha that read "To Ashley, you're a good thing."  I've never been so happy.

Until this happened, of course.  But we're not here to talk about Martha and Snoop.  We're here to talk about jalapeno corn bread.

And Martha's jalapeno corn muffins make a bitchin' corn bread.  Seriously.  So moist, so spicy.  Wonderful.

And while I am normally the person who uses cornbread solely as a vehicle to get as much butter as humanly possible into my mouth - this cornbread didn't require any such shenanigans.  It is a good thing, just like Martha and, according to her, ME!

Oh, ok, these are a good thing, too.

Christian Louboutin via Bergdorf Goodman

And they just scream "Martha Stewart Jalapeno Corn Bread!"  Don't they?!