Showing posts with label Dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dinner. Show all posts

5.4.11

It's my birday

As my good friend put it, it's my birday! Well it was! I am now the BIG 26!

Anyways, I had a blast at my birthday parties! I am a lucky girl in that I got two celebrate twice, one with friends and the other with family!

I got some fabulous presents. I will share more over the next few days!




This Cole Hahn purse was from my great aunt and I love it. She has great taste and never disappoints.

Have a good day! Toodles!
- I should blame it on the iphone, but this girl cannot spell so please excuse any misspelled words

24.3.11

Chipotle Pork Tacos

I recently took a subscription to Cooking Light, a magazine that I have long adored and loved several recipes that came from them.  I was lucky in that my sister worked for Southern Progress for a few years.  She always got magazines for free (back issues) or extremely cheap (some for $.25 - yes 25 cents an issue).  This one is one of my favorite magazines, so I finely bought a subscription. 
Boy am I glad that I did!  April 2011 issue has not disappointed me.  I have 6 or 7 recipes I cannot wait to make!

This recipe I made on Sunday for LML and myself.  Neither one of us like our food too spicy, and this dish was perfect for us...just the right amount of heat.  The chipotle peppers in adobe sauce were fantastic addition and I will be experimenting with other ways to use them!  I love their smoky flavor!

Without further delay...Enjoy this recipe...I doubled it and loved every bite!


  • 1 lb. Pork Tenderloin 
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons  finely grated lime rind
  • 1  tablespoon  fresh lime juice
  • 2  teaspoons  minced fresh oregano
  • 1  teaspoon  honey
  • 2  teaspoons  chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce
  • 2  large cloves of garlic pressed
  • 1/4  teaspoon  salt
  • Cooking spray
  • 1  cup  thinly sliced shallots
  • 2  teaspoons  olive oil
  • 8  (6-inch) corn tortillas
  • 1/4  cup  reduced-fat sour cream
  • Chopped cilantro (optional)
  • shredded cheese (optional) - I just lightly sprinkled some cheese on the dish!

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots to pan; sauté for 4 minutes or until tender. Place shallots in a large bowl. Add oil to pan. Add pork; sauté for 3 minutes or until no longer pink. Add pork to shallots.
3. Warm tortillas according to the package directions. Spoon 1/3 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla, and top each tortilla with 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream and cilantro. Fold in half.

1. I placed a sheet of parchement paper on the counter and covered it with plastic wrap.  I then put the tenderloin, with the fat trimmed, on plastic wrap.  I covered the pork with the plastic wrap to prevent splattering.  (I also cover my meat mallet with plastic wrap to help with cleanup!)

2. I pounded the tenderloin to about 1/4-inch thickness with a smooth side of the meat mallet.  You can use a heavy frying pan if needed.  I then cut the pork into really thin strips.  (I learned the hard way to cut them as thin as possible to make them cook up faster.)
 3.  I combined lime juice and zest, salt, honey, oregano, garlic, and chopped Chipotle peppers (and some of their adobe sauce).  Then in a large bowl I poured it over the thin slices of pork and tossed to coat it all. 
4. At this point, I took time to clean up everything that had touched the pork, including washing my hands and getting a fresh cutting board.   I then thinly sliced some shallots.
5. I used a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat to cook the shallots with just a little of the cooking spray or olive oil.  Once the shallot was caramelized just slightly, I put them in a clean bowl (large enough to add the pork to once it is cooked).
 6.  I then dumped the pork into the hot skillet. I cooked the pork until there was no pink showing and dumped it into the bowl with shallots.  I tossed it to mix the shallots evenly with the pork.  
7.  I heated my tortillas in my toaster oven. (I sprinkled a little water on them and wrapped them in foil to heat them.  You can wrap in a damp paper towel and warm in the microwave or you can heat them over an open flame too!)
My delicious pork tacos before I added sour cream!

19.3.11

Brain Dump

I finally finished up my posts about my weekend in Atlanta and here goes a brain dump on stuff that I have been wanting to share:

1. SIL - Since you never read emails, I figured you would check this out eventually.  Here are two things you need to think about:
A. More Aesthetically Pleasing Color for you Wax Seal - Here are a few links:
A true gold color
http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Gold-Sealing-Wax/3907.030/406928.html 
A Silver Color
http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Silver-Sealing-Wax/3907.030/406927.html

A Pretty Red swirled with gold
http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/Red-Gold-Swirl-Sealing-Wax/3907.030/433453.html
Just Sayin' All three would be nice options!

B. Lululemom - The athletic wear I was telling you about in Atlanta.  Check it out!
http://shop.lululemon.com
2. Spring is in the air...I am so excited because LML is supposed to buy my two new Hydrangea plants to replace the ones he killed last year! Nico Blue, please....

Granted mine will be babies and not this majestic for a few years (Source)
3. Besides being excited about my new plant, LML and I are switching phone carriers pronto!  Verizon works great in the rural area of Alabama near LML's job!  I am excited and cannot wait to have better reception.  I should also add that we decided (i.e. I told him) to go ahead and get me an iphone.  I am so tired of no internet at home so this solves it!  Wahoo!
Do you have any app recommends?  I have a few on my ipod but not too up on them since I just got Angry Birds this month.

4.  Speaking of Angry Birds...Can we say addictive?  I am so obessed with that game!

5. My birthday is in April and I am so excited!  I know that my 26th birthday is nothing too special, but birthdays always make me excited.  I hope to have dinner at the Bright Star with a few friends and family!  I love that place! (if you do not know, it is the oldest restaurant in Alabama and Greek style food...so delic!)

6. My good friend J's little girl is celebrating her 1st birthday in April too! I am going to take some photos for her just like I did last year right after she was born.  I will ask J if I can post a few pictures from last year to show you how precious the little one is!

7. Have a great weekend...This weekend is a low-key one for us.  Just hanging out around the house and going to look at cars to replace LML's old one finally.

3.1.11

Enchilada Casserole

This casserole is one of my favorites and is always a hit when I make it for other people.  I discovered this one day when making one that would freeze well to deliver to a friend that just had a baby.  She loved it so much, I sent her the recipe.
I somehow always have some sauce left over and it make a wonderful "Mexican Spaghetti" sauce that can you can freeze for a day when you have no clue what to serve for dinner.


Serves 6 to 8
10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
½ onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground red pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
14 oz diced Mexican style tomatoes
8 oz tomato sauce
4 oz diced green chiles
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp sugar
10 (6 inch corn tortillas, quartered)
1 stick butter melted
8 oz shredded Monterrey jack or cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream

Squeeze any excess moisture from the spinach.  Brown the ground beef with the onion, garlic, cumin, red pepper, salt and pepper in a skillet.  Stirring until the ground beef is crumbly; drain. Stir in the spinach, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chiles, lime juice and sugar.  Simmer covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Dip tortilla quarters in the melted butter and arrange ½ of them in a greased 9 by 14 inch baking. Spread with ½ of the ground beef mixture and sprinkle with ½ of the cheese. Layer with the remaining tortillas, sour cream, remaining ground beef mixture and remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes. 

NOTE: I thought one time that since I love spinach so much, what harm would some extra spinach do.   Let me tell you that while it was edible, the proportions were not right and it was not as delicious!   

28.12.10

Christmas Dinner

I had LML's Family over for Christmas Dinner this year, yeah can we talk about how weird it was being THAT OLD!
The Buffet

I mean it seems like just yesterday that I was the one so excited to see what Santa brought myself and my siblings.  In fact, I can remember pouting one year when Dad made us wait to open all of our gifts until after Christmas Dinner at our house.

This year, LML had to make me open his gift before Christmas, because I just did not have time.  I was on a schedule and trying to get everything made for Christmas Dinner.  I do have to say that everything went beautifully, except for a minor mishap with spilling heavy cream in the fridge.  That resulted in a time out to clean out the entire fridge since I spilled it on the top shelf.  (OOPS!)
One of the Tables for Christmas Dinner

I had a wonderful Christmas and throughly enjoyed visiting with my family Christmas Eve and Christmas Night. I guess we are lucky that we live so close to both of our families because we are able to juggle them on holidays for the most part.  I do refuse to drive back and forth from one town to the next, but my family was up here Christmas Eve and Christmas Night for visiting my parents siblings at their Christmas parties.
The Dining Room Table

I could not have asked for a better Christmas.   I will try and post a few of my new awesome recipes that I made for Christmas over the next week .  I know that most of them are Gluten Free due to diet restrictions in LML's Family, but I would make them again for my family who eats bread likes it going out of style.  They were just that wonderful!

27.12.10

Christmas Decor, Part Two


Besides the Christmas Tree, which I leave up until the new year, I always love to decorate the mantels.  This year, I did a fresh greenery swag again on the big mantle in the den and used two china-berry garlands to sit on the formal living room mantle.

I will be back tomorrow with my Christmas Dinner set up!

27.11.10

Christmas Dinner

2009 Christmas Tree
I am sitting at my grandmother's recovering from a minor sinus surgery.  Do not fret, everything went well and I am well on the way to feeling fine and dandy!

The only downside is that I have spent Thanksgiving weekend not eating.  I mean I do eat some ice cream, yogurt or other cold items.  Just missing the traditional Thanksgiving staples.

In order to deflect my focus from what I am not going to eat, I am already planning my Christmas Dinner menu.

This is the first year to have Christmas at our house.  I am really excited about the possibilities and the ability to start a new tradition.

Growing up my family tended to have just another turkey and some ham for Christmas.  I would like to adopt a new traditional meat for our Christmas so that it does not blend with Thanksgiving.

I am leaning towards beef or duck.  I think LML would prefer beef.

Now starts the hard part, I have to cypher through the millions of different recipes to find the perfect recipe. Then build the rest of the menu around my meat dish.

Any suggestions out there?  Links?

Much Love,