2. In an effort to eat healthy I bought a gigantic bag of kale the other day. It’s been too hot to even think about turning on the oven to make kale chips so instead I’ve been making some made up version of massaged kale salad. There really is no recipe but here’s what I do:

Throw some kale in a bag. Pour a little bit of olive oil, honey & lemon juice on top. Season with salt & pepper. Massage {i.e. squeeze} the kale for a few minutes until all of the leaves are coated with yumminess & seem a bit wilted. Then add some freshly grated parmesean cheese. Judging by Mr. Spoon’s full bowl at the end of every dinner I don’t think he likes it as much as me, but that’s ok, more for me!

3. To go with our healthy kale salad I made a delicious pasta dish the other day with some Giadia pasta {Bucatini} that Mr. Spoon bought from Tar-jay. Normally I love the thinnest pasta available & shy away from thick pastas but this one was deliciously doughy & almost reminded me of gnocchi. To make the sauce I just sauteed some onion & garlic with lean ground beef which I seasoned with a random assortment of spices {pepper, cumin, dry mustard, cayenne powder, paprika - just a dash of each…I like to just use a little bit of a ton of spices that probably don’t belong in there}. Then I added a can of Kroger $1 traditional sauce. And added about a tablespoon of brown sugar to make it extra sweet. Topped with freshly grated parmesean & some basil from our garden & Mr. Spoon declared it the best pasta dish ever {second only to a bowl of paparadelle with beef short ribs which he had on our honeymoon in Rome}. SCORE!

4. Finally, I must share with you a non-guilty indulgence that I recently discovered. Seriously. Go buy some. Tastes ALMOST as good as key lime pie. And perfect for this mama who needs a treat every now & then but would also like to fit into non-maternity work pants when school resumes in August.

First order of business is to introduce you to Baby Spoon. He made his debut on Valentine’s day & has been charming us ever since.

The little guy is starting to be more interactive now {cooing, smiling, recognizing things} which is great since as a teacher/librarian today marks the start of summer vacation & I’ll get to spend two months home with him! Summer break will also afford me more time & sanity to actually go grocery shopping & cook real meals again. In my former, child free life, I actually LOVED grocery shopping.  I know, call me crazy, but looking at all the products & thinking of meals I could create with them, all while shopping for the best bargain excited the dorky foodie in me. Now…not so much. I’d rather be at home playing with Baby Spoon, not to mention if I bring him with me that’s a whole nother adventure right there!

Anyway, the other night I was staring at a near empty fridge wondering what the heck I could make with our random assortment of ingredients. Then my eyes darted from the pork tenderloin, to the pineapple in the fruit basket, back to the fridge to the soy sauce & finally to the pantry where I spotted a bag of rice. Dare I hold my breath to hope I had all of the ingredients for The Pioneer Women’s delicious Pineapple Pork Fried Rice? Yes, dear readers, I did! It was a culinary miracle.

I did adapt the recipe slightly by chopping up the pork & adding it to the fried rice. I also used less Siracha as I didn’t want it too spicy. And to save time & sanity I didn’t bother grilling the pineapple. The end result was fabulous & made enough to be enjoyed for many days. I highly recommend you try out this recipe!

This one was so good that I knew I had to recreate it at home. Luckily, it isn’t too difficult to figure out the ingredients in a salad. Salad dressings can be a little bit harder. Fortunate for me, someone else had already done the dirty work & posted a copycat of their citrus herb vinegrette. I did change some of the amounts because I found there to be too much sugar & not enough lemon/lime juice the first time around.

This is the perfect salad for the warm summer nights that are approaching. Even the SC gave it two thumbs up & he said he doesn’t usually like to eat salads as an entree.

CopyCat Bonefish Grill Salmon & Asparagus Salad

Ingredients:

For the salad
spring mix
asparagus (cooked al dente)
goat cheese
tomatoes, chopped
salmon (cooked in the oven, or grilled)

For the Citrus Herb Vinegrette
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried basil t
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together.

Assemble salad & drizzle dressing on top.

Note: dressing can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Simply set out at room temperature for 20 minutes & stir vigorously before using.

Directions:

confession: I’ve already cleaned the front of it twice. 

This beauty was delivered on Wednesday & we said out with the old…..

& in with the NEW!!

This refrigerator is bad ass! {sorry, mom..there’s just no other way to say it!}

It’s so beautiful it makes me want to go spend a fortune at Whole Paycheck & stock up on beautiful produce to fill these drawers with…

Check out all that freezer storage!

One of my favorite features is the measured fill on the water dispenser. No more guessing how much water you’re drinking, or standing at the fridge pressing your cup against the lever. KitchenAid solved that problem. Simply hit the measured fill button on the beautiful blue led lit screen, select the number of ounces you want & watch as your glass is filled with refreshing & purified water. AMAZING.

The SC & can’t walk into the kitchen without opening it. He even said, “It’s so nice I had to think twice about where to put something in it.” I agree! I usually hate putting away groceries but I had a blast filling this beauty up yesterday

A huge thank you again to KitchenAid!

]]> http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/04/im-in-love/feed/ 8 http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/03/lessons-learned-at-food-blog-forum-orlando/ http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/03/lessons-learned-at-food-blog-forum-orlando/#comments Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:59:34 +0000 spoonful http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/?p=602 This past weekend I was in Walt Disney World attending Food Blog Forum. This was a wonderful experience full of meeting fellow food bloggers who I have only communicated with via comments & twitter, & inspiring sessions on everything from photography (yep, took about 20 pages of notes in that one!) to writing bigger & better posts. I learned so much and have a lot of knowledge to vamp up my blog, however these are the ones that will resonate in my mind & heart for awhile.

1. Think fiction, write nonfiction. When I write about my life through my experiences in food, I am writing nonfiction which can often be boring, so instead I should write as if I’m writing fiction (not fabricating details of course, but use a similar style to fiction) That leads me to number two.

2. Tell a story. Who cares if you are making plain ole tomato sauce, every recipe, every restaurant, every food experience is a story from your life. Tell it richly, tell it well.

3. Don’t compare your blog to others. I’m not setting out to write a cookbook or make a bunch of money off this blog. Set you’re own goals. Mine is to chronical my life each spoonful of the way. So even if I only get 1 comment, or 100, I am blogging for me & I will continue to!

Some other things learned along the way….

Disney World is just as magical at age 27 as it is at age 7.

Disney sure does know how to wine & dine us food bloggers

Crossing your fingers & hoping to win the grand prize really does work!

A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thank you to KitchenAid for donating a beautiful refrigerator for our grand prize drawing!! This beauty is set to arrive next Wednesday & I can hardly wait to fill it with ingredients for future posts

However, I am hoping that two major events this weekend give me the motivation to blog. 1) the arrival of my ipad3! woot woot! When my netbook was stolen in January I decided to hold off on buying a new computer & instead buy an ipad. The SC has a laptop, I have one from work, & honestly 99% of of the time that I’m on the computer I’m simply surfing the web. I’m hoping posting from my ipad will be seamless thanks to my wireless keyboard

2) {and no doubt most important} I am attending Food Blog Forum in WALT DISNEY WORLD this weekend!! I am soo excited to meet so many foodies like me who I’ve gotten to know from the blogging community & of course to be inspired by the seminars. I’m also ridiculously excited for Disney World itself!

Coming soon are some deliciously inspired posts including two new fabulous nashville restaurant finds!

Also, do yourself a favor & make The Pioneer Woman’s pork chops with pineapple fried rice. I made it last week & it was fabulous!

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Adapted from Budget Bytes

Ingredients:

(2) 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
6 oz tomato paste
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons italian seasoning
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a large pot, stir and cook on low for an hour stirring every 10 minutes.

]]> http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/02/homemade-tomato-sauce/feed/ 4 http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/01/chocolate-chipotle-shortbread/ http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/2012/01/chocolate-chipotle-shortbread/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:27:22 +0000 spoonful http://www.lifebythespoonful.com/?p=566 Life has been a little ca-ra-zy around here lately. Two weekends ago we spontaneously got a new addition to our family. A rambunctious & loveable lab mix named Jolene!

She has brought us a ton of love & excitement – but MAN are puppies hardwork! I think this is very good practice for a baby I have never had a dog before so I am learning the ropes & trying to train her before she trains me! (haha!)

Then a week later, our house was broken into and many of our possessions were stolen!

candlelight vigil for our stolen tv.

I had just gone to meet some friends for lunch & when returned found our back door open & the house torn apart. It was very scary & an experience I hope we never have to deal with again. Sadly, my computer & both of our cameras were among the stolen items so any future posts will feature pictures from my lovely iphone Luckily, the things we care most about (each other, the pup, sentimental jewelry, etc) were ok. In another year or so Jolene should be big enough to scare off any future intruders!

Last night I got in the baking mood & scoured my Epicurious app (GREAT app!) for some cookies that don’t require eggs (we were all out) &came upon a recipe for Chocolate Chipotle Shortbread. These babies were so easy to whip up and feature my favorite combination of spicy & chocolate! The SC on the other hand doesn’t quite share my love of spicy chocolate & upon biting into his said, “you just had to add cayenne huh?” hehe…more for me! These were very delicious & are even better dipped in hot chocolate or coffee.

Chocolate Chipotle Cookies

Yield: 20 cookies

Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 teaspoon cocoa chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle.
2. Whisk together first six ingredients in a bowl.
3. Beat together butter, sugar & vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
4. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until well blended.
5. Scoop into small balls and flatten to about 1/4 inch thick circles. Place on greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.

The appetizer that got the most raves however, was this Cranberry Pistachio cheeseball. I was inspired by a recipe I saw in Real Simple but theirs looked a tad too boring for me. I jazzed mine up with some honey goat cheese from Trader Joe’s {substitute this for regular goat cheese in basically anything & you’re taste buds will thank you!} & also added a mixture of the pistachios & cranberries into the cheeseball itself instead of simply coating the outside with it. Pair this ball of yumminess with Trader Joe’s Raisin Rosemary Crisps & you’ll want to devour the whole thing immediately.

Cranberry Pistachio Cheese Ball

Note: I purposefully made this cheeseball small since there were only 8 of us. Double the amounts to make a full sized ball :)

Ingredients:

1/2 log of honey goat cheese (I find mine cheapest at Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup cream cheese

Directions:

1. Crush the shelled pistachios & cranberries in in the food processor. (reserve a few tablespoons of each before blending)
2. Add to a small bowl with honey goat cheese & cream cheese & mix until creamy & well blended.
3. On a sheet of wax paper spread out the remaining whole pistachios & cranberries. Roll the cheese mixture into a ball and then roll onto the pistachio & cranberries until well covered.
4. Chill for at least one hour & then serve with your favorite crackers. (My favorite pairing are Trader Joe's Raisin Rosemary Crisps).

 And what New Year’s post would be complete without some resolutions thrown in there? Mine include:

1. Being healthy (working out, watching what I eat)

2. Judging & gossiping less.

How about you, did you make any resolutions this year? Or care to share a recipe you tried on NYE?

 The SC’s day of surprise in Philadelphia ended at the famous restaurant Osteria. I have heard many good things about this restaurant & celebrated my 27th birthday at one of the owner’s Mark Vetri’s other restaurants, Amis last summer. Osteria was nominated as best new restaurant in 2008 by the James Beard Foundation, and the chef won the James Beard Foundation Best Mid-Atlantic Chef in 2010.  I was really excited to partake in some amazing Italian food which I hoped would be reminscent of our honeymoon in Rome.

We started out by sharing the Polpo pizza which featured octopus, tomato, red chili flakes & smoked mozzerella. The crust was perfectly thin & crispy & was reminscent of my favorite pizza at Nashville’s City House. I’m usually not a huge fan of smoked flavor but the smoked mozzerella was not overpowering & I found myself really enjoying it. Lately I have become a lot more adventurous when it comes to eating meats & I got over the tentacles of the octopus & ended up loving the flavor & texture of the meat. The pizza earned a big thumbs up from both of us!

Moving on we both opted for pasta dishes. For me, the homemade paparadelle ragu with venison caught my eye. When in Rome one of our favorite dishes was paparadelle with lamb so I was hoping for a similiar dish at Osteria. However, I was a little disappointed when there wasn’t any tomato in the sauce. This dish was ok, but not my favorite. It didn’t help matters much that the SC ordered a dish that ended up being almost exactly the same as mine except with different noodles & meat. I was pretty disappointed in this dish. I really think I just ordered the wrong thing though.

We ended our meal with three scoops of house made gelato which unfortunately were devoured so quickly I didn’t get a picture The standout was the cinnamon gelato but they were all amazing. So cream & rich in flavor. Luckily the meal started and ended on a good note so I will forgive the main dish