Lime Chicken Empanadas with Ranchero Ranch Dressing
Posted: February 24, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: appetizer, baking, brasil, brazil, chicken, chicken broth, chile powder, chili powder, cooking, crock pot, crockpot, cumin, dinner, dough, dressing, empanada, ethnic, flour, foodblog, goat cheese, olive oil, onion, ranch, recipe, side dish, slow cooker, spicy 30 Comments »
Sometimes, when I’m trying to figure out what to say about a particular recipe or topic, I realize that someone else has already said it perfectly.
Since Joanne from Eats Well With Others often has thoughts that are often as wacky as similar to mine, it came as no surprise that her prompt for the Brazil edition of Regional Recipes resonated so well with me:
I could use a vacation.
And from what I hear, it’s summer in Brazil right now. That whole south of the equator thing. It works out well sometimes. Let’s go.
Amen, sister!
As soon as I read this, I went straight to Orbitz, found the next one way ticket to Rio de Janeiro, and booked it on the spot!
….
I wish.
If I didn’t have a job… or school… or any other responsibilities… and was independently wealthy, I totally would have. But since I’m not Paris Hilton, I was forced to find another way to add a little Brazilian sunshine to my life.
These Lime Chicken Empanadas with Ranchero Ranch Dressing were just the thing! Seriously, how could the delicious combo of lime, caramelized onion, goat cheese, and the kick of spicy ranch dressing not make you feel like you’re in a tropical locale?
S’mores Bars
Posted: February 20, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: baking, bars, buttter, chocolate, cooking, dessert, easy, egg, foodblog, graham cracker, marshmallow, marshmallow fluff, recipe, smores, sugar, vanilla 25 Comments »
Growing up, I lived on Long Island. I was your typical LI girl, hanging out at Starbucks every day after school, going on a Caribbean vacation every year, having my parents buy me whatever I needed. In short, I was spoiled lucky.
It wasn’t until I went away to college that I realized that this was not the norm for everyone. My first week away, I earned myself the nickname “Grey Poupon” when I mentioned that on Long Island, hamburgers from McDonalds didn’t come with mustard.
“What do they come with, grey poupon?”
And that was that.
It was then that I realized that how my friends and I lived on LI is not the norm. I realized that the other kids at school viewed me as different. I realized that I am a snob.
I have to admit that I was surprised by that last one. I had never really considered myself snobby before. And compared to a lot of my LI cohorts, I probably wasn’t, but in the grand scheme of things, I learned that I really was.
Since then, I’ve tried to tone down a lot of my snobbiness. I’m not saying that the occasional snooty thought doesn’t occur to me, or comment doesn’t come out of my mouth, but I do try to suppress most of it.
Unfortunately, some of it is ingrained in my DNA. (No time for a nature vs. nurture discussion… just humor me.)
One of those insuppressible instances occurred when I first saw this recipe from Paula Dean on Let’s Dish.
Truth be told, Paula Dean alone sets off my snob-o-meter, but coupled with a recipe that contains marshmallow fluff?? Forget it. That’s off the charts.
Turkey Black Bean Chili
Posted: February 18, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: beans, black beans, chili, chili powder, cooking, foodblog, galric, green chilies, ground turkey, lime juice, olive oil, onion, recipe, tomato, turkey 5 Comments »
I’m sure you can tell by the circles under my eyes my lack of posts this week that school is back in full swing. Between work, school, and life in general I am exhausted. I think I could just curl up in a ball and fall asleep on my desk right now.
Since my brain is fried, I don’t have a funny story or whitty observation for you today. Just a good recipe. Which I was supposed to post over a week ago. Better late than never!
Thank You and Green Giant Giveaway Winner
Posted: February 14, 2011 Filed under: Giveaways | Tags: giveaway, Green Giant 12 Comments »
First of all, I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone that voted and rallied for me in the New England Country Soup Challenge! I ended up in second place with a total of 905 votes, which was enough to earn a spot in the finals! I can’t wait to go make my soup for the judges. Of course, I will take a ton of pictures and share the experience with all of you. I absolutely could not have done it without your help!
Pomegranate Margarita Cupcakes
Posted: February 13, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: baking, butter, cooking, cream cheese, cupcake, dessert, egg, flour, foodblog, margarita, pomegranate, pomegranate concentrate, recipe, sugar, tequila 19 Comments »
You may have noticed that this is the first cupcake recipe I’m sharing on Food for Thought.
It may seem weird to you, considering that I am clearly no stranger to making yummy sweets and baked goods. But there is a method to my madness.
You see, to make a cookie look good, you basically just have to make it and bake it properly. I mean, who ever saw a batch of perfectly golden brown delicious chocolate chip cookie that didn’t look scrumptious? No one.
But cupcakes? Well, they are an entirely different story. You have to decorate cupcakes for them to look appetizing. And I’m sorry to say that I have absolutely zero artistic ability.
At all.
In fact, I have so little artistic ability, that I am quite possibly the only person in the history of the world that has actually hurt themselves in elementary school art class. And by “hurt themselves” I mean my parents were called, I was rushed to the doctor, and I needed 3 stitches.
I wasn’t running with scissors. I wasn’t putting anything into the hot kiln. I was just sitting there, doing my project, when I cut myself and started bleeding all over the place. In art class.
So, considering the last time I attempted to be artistic in any fashion resulted in me being held down in the doctor’s office with a needle piercing through my skin, I was, admittedly, a little nervous when Pom Wonderful gave me a free sample of their new Pomegranate Concentrate, and asked me to use it in a Valentine’s Day cupcake.
Today is the LAST DAY….
Posted: February 13, 2011 Filed under: Giveaways | Tags: challenge, giveaway 2 Comments »…to vote for me in the Soup Challenge. Please go vote! CLICK HERE I promise I’ll stop bothering you after today!
It’s also the last day to enter my Green Giant Giveaway…. go for it!
I’ll be back later with a yummy new cupcake recipe. In the meantime, go vote!
Green Giant Giveaway
Posted: February 11, 2011 Filed under: Food, Giveaways | Tags: challenge, cooking, foodblog, giveaway, Green Giant, MyBlogSpark, vegetables 25 Comments »
In the past two days, I have received two tickets. But I haven’t seen one police officer. Strange? I think so.
Let me explain.
The first ticket was actually received by an intermediary: my mom. Apparently, in December I ran a red light. And one of those creepy Big Brother traffic cameras snapped a picture. The ticket was delivered straight to my mom’s front door, addressed to me. Sneaky.
The second? A parking ticket. Covertly left on my windshield while I was in class. When I returned to my car, I could see the obnoxious orange paper from a mile away. But there wasn’t a police officer in the vicinity.
See what I’m saying?? Clearly this is some sort of conspiracy. The police are blatantly avoiding me.
The only thing that I can deduce from this “coincidence” is that I am being watched. In fact, I believe they are monitoring this very blog. They must know that I am not above a good bribe, so they’re not even sending their best men to deal with me.
No, they’re not taking any chances. The word is out about my bribing ways, and the NYPD has embraced it. And now, so have I. I figure, if the NYPD can use it to their advantage, then I may as well benefit from it, too.
Which is precisely where today’s giveaway comes in.
Thai Tofu Vegetable Soup with Rice Noodles
Posted: February 9, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: carrot, challenge, chicken broth, cooking, dinner, ethnic, foodblog, garlic, ginger, lime, lime juice, mushroom, olive oil, pepper, portabella, recipe, red pepper, rice noodles, soup, soy sauce, thai, tofu, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian 12 Comments »
When people ask me where I went to college, I answer with a mildly vague “upstate NY,” hoping that it’s enough to satisfy them. It’s not that I’m embarrassed or anything. I would answer more specifically, but I know it’s useless. Of the ten million times I have answered with “Potsdam,” a total 2 people have ever heard of it.
So instead I give my vague answer, and I wish that it’s sufficient. It never is. It would be really great if it was one time, because it would save me from having the following conversation. Again.
So, where did you go to college?
Upstate NY.
Oh, me too! Where?
Potsdam.
Never heard of it… where’s that?
It’s way upstate. Like as far as you can go.
Oh, like Buffalo?
No, farther north than that but in the other direction.
Like near Syracuse?
No, 2 ½ hours north of that. About 20 minutes from the Canadian border.
Oh.
And it’s true. The closest landmark that anyone not from upstate NY can relate to Potsdam is Canada. In fact, we were so nearby to Canada, that we would travel over the border to take advantage of the lower drinking age there was a lot of Canadian influence around campus.
It was not uncommon to see Canadian flags being flown from dorm room windows, to hear people adding “eh?” to the end of their sentences, or to be offered Labatt Blue at a party.
Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies [Gluten Free]
Posted: February 7, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: baking, chocolate, chocolate kiss, cinnamon, cookies, cooking, dessert, easy, egg, foodblog, gluten free, peanut, peanutbutter, recipe, sugar 17 Comments »
A few months ago, after a string of posting one delicious baked good after another, I received the following IM from my cousin, Liz:
Liz: your pitas looked good
Liz: i might have to block your blog though
Liz: too much gluten
me: haha sorry… i realized i’ve been doing a lot of baking lately
Liz: yes, I am like f*** you
Liz: and your chocolate chip nutella, just f*** you
Liz: in a nice way
And I know she does mean it. In a nice way.
You see, Liz is a chef — an amazing one. Not only does she cook a mean Thanksgiving turkey (I know from experience), she has owned her own (very successful) restaurant, and, most recently, travels to people’s homes to cook, chronicling the wacky diverse experiences on her blog, Stranger Than Kitchen.
Like most chefs, Liz is very passionate about her food.
Since she has recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, she can no longer eat anything containing gluten. Needless to say, she has some pretty strong feelings on the subject. To her, me posting a yummy picture of Nutella Cookies is just a cruel joke.
Buffalo Chicken Baked Potato
Posted: February 4, 2011 Filed under: Food, Recipes | Tags: baked potato, buffalo, buffalo sauce, chicken, cooking, crock pot, crockpot, dinner, easy, foodblog, Frank's Red Hot Sauce, potato, recipe, slow cooker, spicy, wing 19 Comments »
Ready for your mind to be blown?
The following is a real, grammatically correct sentence in the English language:
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
It’s true! I know because I read it on the internets. And everything on the internet is true.
Basically, this sentence is saying that bison from Buffalo, NY, that are bothered by other bison from Buffalo, NY, bother other bison from Buffalo, NY.
Now, if you’re anything like me, your brain is melting out of your ears from trying to figure out which ‘buffalo’ is which. And you’re also thinking about buffalo wings.
Well, fret not! I have an easy recipe for you that requires very little brain power and results in a delicious meal to satisfy that craving!
