Spicy Chilpotle Tamale Pie

Tonight's dinner was an experiment, a VERY spicy experiment.  Still delicious! Recipe below. If you have never used Hunt's new fire roasted diced tomatoes you should!  They just add another level to the way canned diced tomatoes taste.  I think they are amazing! Especially in Mexican dishes. 

Side Note: If you have never used coupons.com I highly recommend it.  Today at Walmart, I saved over $10 using coupons I had printed off the internet. There were some really great coupons today including one for Starbucks ice cream, stuffing mix, and chicken broth and stock. 

SPICY CHILPOTLE TAMALE PIE

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 onion chopped

1 can drained black beans

1 can drained Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 small can chilpotle, use 2 peppers from can and dice and use 1-2 tsp adobo sauce in can

1 cornbread mix

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

garlic powder to taste

black pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and onion in skillet.  Add black beans, tomatoes, chopped adobo and spices and let simmer for a few minutes. Place in a pie or gatin dish.  Mix cornbread batter according to directions and pour on top of meat mixture.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top. Bake in a 350*F oven for 30 minutes.   I used 3 chilpotle peppers from the can and it was VERY spicy.  Next time I will only use 2.  These are very spicy and you may end up wasting the rest of the can, but they are very inexpensive and have a great flavor! Chilpotle or as it is usually spelled "Chipotle" is a smoked jalapeno. 

Homemade BBQ Picnic Wedding Shower Invitations

 This is not a food post but a craft post. Today I tried to make my own invitations for a shower I am co-hosting. Our friends Becca and Braxton are getting married in July and Hood and I wanted to co-host a fun summery wedding shower for them.  We are doing a BBQ picnic type event down at Tuscaloosa's River Road Park Gazebo.  I have been all over town looking for really cute picnic themed invitations and I can say..... THEY DO NOT EXIST!  All the fun wedding shower or summer invitations all were Hawaiian or Cocktail themed.  There was nothing with picnic print, or lemonade, or a picnic setup!   So I decided to make some myself and this is what I came up with. I tried to make it look like a plate on a picnic table, their wedding colors are blue and yellow. They look very homemade but I guess that is the point.  Haha, sometimes when I look at my handwriting I don't think it hasn't changed since 4th grade!  My cursive looks a lot prettier but I wanted to match the font of the stamp.  Hobby Lobby was having a great paper sale, so most of the supplies I bought were 50% off including the two fun wood block stamps.  1 stamp is for writing addresses on the envelopes and the other is for listing party details.  Best part I think was the paper plates I bought at the dollar store. If you ever want to do something similar to this, I recommend popping the paper plates inside out because the tops are coated with a thin layer of plastic making it hard to make ink stick. Also, I am now obsessed with Sharpie brand pens!!!!  They are amazing! I just wish they had a gel grip on them.  Only pen I write with now! In a few weeks I will post the recipes I used for the BBQ shower.  I am getting the BBQ catered and am making the fixings myself!

UPDATE:  Lesson Learned:  DON'T BE A SQUARE AT THE POST OFFICE BECAUSE THEY WILL CHARGE YOU EXTRA! My envelopes were 5 1/2 inch by 5 1/2 inch....... even though they were really light weight and actually very small, I was told that was an irregular size so I was charged 64 cents  per envelope!! Just FYI.  So strange.   This makes me appreciate facebook event invites..... they are free and you get instant rsvp from people!  Still fun to make but I think the post office needs to get their priorities straight! 

Enter Contest at Marx Foods to win 2 lbs. of fresh Morels!

This is the company that sent me a package of trial sized dried mushrooms, they are not offering a giveaway for a chance to win 2 pounds of fresh mushrooms!  I really recommend this site!    MarxFoods.com

Spice Giveaway Winner

YAY!  The spice giveaway winner is Victoria Bassham!  Her suggestion was for chocolate covered strawberries and stinky cheeses!  I love both! Please email me at Rich010@bama.ua.edu with your address.  Thanks and Congrats!!!

Spice Giveaway Winner:VICTORIA BASSHAMTrue Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:5Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Store Bought Pad Thai Mix Recommendation and Recipe!

Today's entry is more of a recommendation than an actual recipe! I love Pad Thai!!!  I don't like ordering it in Thai restaurants because I know I can just make it at home for around $3-4 for twice as much!  The first time I had Pad Thai it was homemade! So that may be why I love it so much....because the first time tasted amazing!  Maiben, one of my best friends that I met when I was 16 on an archaeological dig, and I were staying with one of our museum bosses (Monica and her husband Walter) before we left to be counselors for the Alabama Museum of Natural History's Summer Expedition Program (archaeology and paleontology kids/adults camp). Her husband made us Pad Thai for dinner and made the sauce from scratch using tamarind and fish sauce with all the optional fixings to put on top!  Delicious!  Thanks for getting me addicted Walter!  : )   I have tried a few times to make the sauce myself, but I am quite partial to "A Taste of Thai" brand Pad Thai mix.  I am not a fan of "Thai Kitchen" Pad Thai, but I love their curry pastes. This is as close to restaurant taste that I have found and is about $2 for a box that includes the noodles and sauce, you have to add the meat, eggs, bean sprouts, green onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and roasted peanuts (all optional items).  Nothing beats the joy of making homemade, but this is much faster!  Some stores carry the "A Taste of Thai" instant Pad Thai, that is not the same thing, those are single servings you just microwave in a bowl.  Only a few stores carry this, and I believe Publix has quit carrying it, so look around for it, or order online.

You add what type of meat you like to use, I usually use fried tofu, but used sliced chicken today.  Follow directions and add what additional items you like, I like all recommended items including green onion and cilantro and I like my mung bean sprouts to still have a slight crunch to them.  You soak the noodles in hot water for 30 minutes first.

The price for the pad thai below is for a pack of 6 boxes.  Not bad if you can't find it in store.

Lemony Salmon Campanelle Pasta with Capers and Marinated Artichokes!!!!

Campanelle pasta is my new favorite kind of pasta to use, I am usually a bowtie or rotini kind of Gal, but these are so pretty and curly.  The curl and the scalloped edge really help grab hold of the sauce you toss it in too. They look flowers or bells.  Yes, I now have wedding bells on the brain.  Barilla is the only brand I know of that I have found.  This can be served cold as a pasta salad or hot.  Tonight I served it hot.

1 lb.  chopped cooked salmon meat (I used Walmart brand wild salmon fillets)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 box cooked pasta

1 large jar of half drained marinated artichoke hearts

1 bunch of fresh parsley or basil chopped

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp fresh chopped garlic

1 tsp Cavender's Greek Seasoning

2 tblsp olive oil

1 tblsp capers

Toss Together!  Voila! Pretty simple, delicious, and cheap (well.... cheap except the marinated artichokes, a few dollars).

Giveaway Reminder and Why Having a Food Blog is Awesome!

Hello Readers!  Don't forget to sign up for my spice giveaway in the post below.  All you need to do is be one of  my signed up readers and post a comment about what the most awesome wedding reception food was that you have tasted.  I will be picking a person on Thursday by using a random number generator.  If it happens to pick a person that doesn't list a food or isn't a signed up reader, I will use Kathryn's method at Bonafide Southern and write down all the names and have my fiancé draw a slip of paper. Check out her blog if you want to see some really cute and creative Southern decorating/staging ideas!   Good Luck with the Giveaway!

 I wanted to share with you one particularly awesome sample I received in the mail.  As part of the foodie blogroll, you can sign up for giveaways and free samples.  I received 5 sample sized packets (enough for a two person meal) of gourmet dried mushrooms:  morels, black trumpet, lobster, porcini, and chanterelle!!!  I can't wait to research and make-up recipes to use them!  Look up their awesome fine foods in bulk website Marx Foods

Also, One of my best friends, Maiben, sent me a happy food blogging package that I took a picture of and forgot to post!  I love the book, and now use the bag as part of my grocery shopping to cut down use of plastic bags!  Thanks Maiben!!!

Gourmet Spice Giveaway! Calabrian Hot Pepper Powder and Herbs De Provence! Sign up to follow me and Win!

I won my first blog giveaway the other day off of the foodie blogroll.  The blog was the Sausage Debauchery! http://sausagedebauchery.blogspot.com/ This is a very interesting blog dedicated to homemade sausage making with some amazing looking recipes. He also shares alot about other pork products!  Reading this blog is quite a learning experience for me! Go check it out! I won a huge bag of delicious Calabrian (Southern Italy) hot pepper powder (can replace paprika or crushed red pepper in any dish), it has a wonderful taste.  Now that I have this and have thrown it in quick pasta a few times for an added flavor, I love it!  Definitely has a slightly different taste than most powdered peppers readily available.  The bag I got was so big, that I can't possibly use this stuff up in th next few years (see pictures)!  It made 12 bottles full!!!!  So I am going to do my first blog giveaway with a glass vile of this and a glass vile of herbs de provence (a mixture of savory, fennel, thyme, basil, and lavender that is great on steaks, grilled veggies, and seafood).  I recieved a huge bag of this as well for a Christmas present!

To Win:  If you are not already a follower of my blog, please sign up to follow my blog on the right side column above where it shows my followers and please leave me a comment about what the most amazing thing was that you ate at a wedding reception..... Oh yes, I went there.......  I am pulling out all stops to try to plan an amazing and memorable wedding!  More details to come! I think my favorite thing I ever ate at a wedding was sampling off of a huge gourmet cheese display!  Pretty boring I know, but I love cheese!!

I'm Engaged!!

Taking a short week hiatus from cooking anything spectacular this week..... have had other things on my mind....I got engaged!!!!  I'm so happy!!!   Been with my sweetie for almost 5 years!

YAY!!!     Prosecco and Raspberry White Chocolate Bread Pudding at Dipalma's Italian Cafe in Tuscaloosa, AL were involved!

Happy Easter!!!!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad (Copy Cat Cracker Barrel Marinade for Grilled Chicken)

Caesar Salad Night! Trying to keep going on that summer is here diet, so I am trying to eat more salads.  Grilled chicken caesar salad seemed a good idea!  Plus when you buy the romaine hearts instead of the salad being precut, you get WAY more salad!!!!!

Cracker Barrel Chicken Tenderloins:  Usually every time we go to Cracker Barrel, starting at 10 years old, I order the grilled chicken tenderloins.  I love love love the flavor!  I always thought that they had to marinate them in something like soy sauce and honey or balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.  I did a lot of internet research and came up with this recipe that was listed on several different websites so I thought I would try it.  The trick is to not over crowd the pan so that the chicken tenders sear instead of steam, this creates the brown caramelized outside you see in the restaurant.  Don't marinate the chicken for much over or under an hour!  One girl's blog stated that she asked her waitress at Cracker Barrel exactly what brand of dressing to buy for the marinade and the waitress said "Marzetti's." Unfortunantly, they didnt' have it where I went grocery shopping, so I bought another brand.



CRACKER BARREL GRILLED CHICKEN MARINADE

1 lb. chicken tenders
1/2 cup Marzetti's Italian Dressing
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp honey

Mix marinade ingredients together, and add chicken.  Marinate for 1 hour.  Pan fry chicken tenders on medium high heat, spaced well apart, until the outside turns golden on both sides, plate. I grilled mine in a George Foreman grill.  I must say, they turned out extremely juicy, tender and delicious!  However, I do not think they tasted like Cracker Barrel!  Next time I will double the Honey amount and try to use the correct brand of Italian dressing.

I couldn't resist buying the Pooh Bear shaped honey with the honey pot on his head!

I made my own croutons using some french bread, olive oil, seasoning, and baked them in a 300*F oven until they were crispy. The only caesar salad dressing I use is Cardini's.  Caesar Cardini is credited as inventing the casesar salad in 1924.  You can buy it at Walmart and most other grocery stores.





If you want to watch a really silly video on caesar salad, click the below link.  It goes to part of a Bewitched episode with Elizabeth Montgomery about her trying to make a Caesar salad! Yes, Caesar is summoned and does not know how to make  a Caesar salad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YhWoTRDywE


Below is a fancy caesar salad making bowl  for dinner parties!

Foodie Blogroll Contest Winner!

Yay!  I recently joined the Foodie Blogroll and have received a lot of wonderful visitors because of it!  Please visit the foodie blogroll main website: http://www.foodieblogroll.com/  You can find lots of other wonderful food blogs, and enter their monthly contest giveaways.  This month, I miraculously won a giveaway for a bag of Calabrian Hot Pepper!  I am so excited! Spring feels so great here in Tuscaloosa and I really want to do a picnic soon so I think I will try this new hot pepper in some fried chicken, deviled eggs and potato salad!  If you have a food blog, this website and blog widget can really help you find a wider audience.  You must sign up to enter their contests.

 Also, the founder, a very interesting lady, writes a blog called the Leftover Queen...http://www.leftoverqueen.com/   She has some very interesting healthy recipes.  She doesn't use processed foods, and tries to stick to organically grown items and creates some really beautiful food!