Birthday Decisions

My parents gave me some money this year for my birthday and these are the two things I am debating between. The foodie in me really wants the stand mixer but the crafter in me wants the sewing machine. So we will see if the crafter or if the foodie wins out.

The other thing I may use the money for is a digital camera. Mine was stolen during our trip to Southern California. The friends we were staying with had their house broken into and they grabbed both my purse and my friends purse. The neighbors saw it and chased the guy and so he ultimately ditched our purses, but only after he grabbed my cash and camera. We praise God that he only got those two things and not our ids and credit cards too. I wonder what he thought when he realized it was a pink camera with about 200 pictures of food on it....

For my birthday on Saturday we are planning on going to Tex Wasabi's here in Sacramento. Tex Wasabi is one of Guy Fieri's restaurants. We are huge fans of his and we have been to his other restaurant in town, Johnny Garlic's. We have really wanted to try Tex Wasabi's for their "gringo sushi," which is sushi filled with pulled pork or BBQ chicken. I will defiantly post about that adventure!

Summer Corn and Pasta

School is out for the summer and therefore, I have lots of time to cook! I was catching up on my 46 hours of Rachael Ray that I have recorded and I came across this recipe for fettuccine with sweet corn and fresh dill. I was inspired by those flavors in this dish and adapted it to go along with what I already had on hand.

I love summertime food, especially corn on the cob. It is such a good deal at the grocery store, I had bought 6 ears of corn for the two of us! We had used one ear of corn in a stir-fry, so I had 5 ears of corn to use. The method that Rachael Ray used was she sautéed half of the ears of corn and making a puree out of the other half.

So I did just as Rachel Ray did. I sautéed half of the ears of corn along with a large onion and lots of red pepper flakes. Once the onions were soft and corn caramelized, I added the corn that was pureed with a little bit of the cooking water from the pasta.

Do you see something else that doesn't belong in the sauce? I forget to hold the blade sometimes and this does happen often. :)

It created a very thick sauce, so I added a little extra of the cooking water to thin out the sauce. Lots of black pepper, parmesan cheese and parsley went into the sauce as well. I then added lots of angel hair pasta and we topped it with crispy turkey bacon. It ended up being a really light (and pretty healthy) summer dish. It ended up being equally good cold today as leftovers. So, if you have lots of corn, try this one out!

Caramelized Onion and Fennel Spaghetti Penne

Doesn't that look delicious?

Everyone knows that I am a huge Rachael Ray fan and often times I do not follow her recipes exactly, but use a recipe in order to gain ideas of something different to make. I came across a recipe for Fennel and Onion Spaghetti and I thought that the combo sounded really good. My parents used fennel in cooking as a kid and I remember liking fennel, but I don't think that I have ever cooked with it as an adult. So i bought a bulb of fennel (which was kinda pricey $3.99 and I used it all in one meal-is that a normal price for fennel?) and I had everything else on hand to make it.


If you noticed in the title that the word Spaghetti was crossed out, well here is why. I went to pull out the box of spaghetti and I ended up dumping the entire box on the floor. Oops. I had a box of whole wheat penne and I really liked the whole wheat pasta in this recipe. I caramelized the onion and fennel and then I added some chicken sausage (since my hubby likes meat in his dinner) and put it all together with the penne. I topped it with a few fennel fronds, because it looks pretty, but neither one of us really liked the texture of the uncooked fennel fronds along with the rest of the meal.


What are new foods that you are cooking with?

Broiled Brownines

No, broiled brownies is not some fantastic dessert I have created. Sadly, quite the opposite. One night I wanted to make some brownies for dessert, and I had a box of the No Pudge Brownies (so that dessert is guilt-free too!) and I mixed all the ingredients together and got the brownies in the oven. I set the timer for 25 minutes and my hubby and I sat down on the couch and after a few we were already smelling brownies. We thought it was a little odd that after 8 minutes the brownies smelled great. Then the realization washed over me: I set the oven to broil, not to bake!

Now before you judge me harshly for making such a silly mistake, take a look at the knob on our oven. Can you tell which way to turn the knob? If you turn it to one side, you will turn the oven to bake and make all your food come out delicious, if you turn it to the other side, you turn on the broiler and ruin your food.

Can you tell which way to turn the knob?

Caesar Salad with Fried Ravioli

I am a Caesar Salad junkie. I love Caesar salad anyway that you can make it. It is one of my fall-back meals that I make all the time and I was feeling like finding a new way to have my old favorite. I decided to look on Rachael Rays' website and I found this recipe for Caesar Salad with Fried Ravioli. I didn't make my own dressing since I always have a bottle of Caesar Salad dressing around. The best part was replacing the croutons in Caesar Salad with the fried ravioli!

It was super easy to do and elevated a Caesar Salad to an entree (and my hubby didn't even complain that it was a vegetarian dinner too!). You cook the ravioli to package directions, we used cheese ravioli, then drain the pasta. Then you toss it in a combo of cornmeal, parmesan cheese and lots of pepper. Then it goes into a skillet with a little bit of olive oil, a few minutes on each side, and then you have beautifully golden fried ravioli!

Next time you are in the mood for Caesar salad (or fried ravioli!) try this one out!

Oatmeal Carmelitias

I love to make up my own recipes, or take my own spin on recipes, but I can't do that when it comes to baking. I am a Rachael Ray girl to the core and so I cook a lot, but I have not mastered the art of baking. If I bake, I follow other peoples recipes exactly. One of these days I am going to learn what the difference is between baking powder and baking soda, but until then, I am going to use other peoples recipes.

A dear friend of mine, Rebecca Hoehne, made these Oatmeal Carmelitias one day and brought them to work and I fell in love! They are such a unique taste and texture combination. It is like an oatmeal cookie covered in carmel and chocolate chips and then topped with more crunchy oatmeal. Out of control!

The recipe is pretty simple, the only downside is you have to wait 1-2 hours for it to cool before enjoying! But it is worth every minute of the wait!

Pizza Panini

This is my new favorite idea that I am obsessed with. Who doesn't love pizza or grilled sandwiches? This is super fast and easy dinner and I am excited to keep playing and perfecting this meal.


I used really good sourdough bread, spread both sides with butter and then stacked up my sandwich. One side got shredded mozzarella, then pepperoni, a little bit of spaghetti sauce and a few slices of provolone cheese.

I don't have a real panini press, so I put my sandwiches on my grill pan, put another pan on top of it and weighted it down. Ghetto, I know, but it served its purpose. The sandwiches got pressed down and gooey with cheese.

I love this meal because it is super fast and easy. Next time I want it try it with some spinach....what else should I try putting in it? What do you like on your panini?