Mommas Day

For my wonderful mother and grandmother I made a delicious feast last night.  Marinated grilled pork chops, twice baked buttermilk basil potatoes, sauteed yellow squash and onions with fresh squeezed lemonade to drink.  

For dessert, mini lemon pound cakes served with fresh strawberries and black berries and whipped cream.

Triple Feature

Well I haven't updated in awhile some of my delicious creations, so here are the last three mashed into one post.

Chocolate cake with chocolate satin frosting (with is the worlds best chocolate icing!) for my Grandma's birthday.  One of the best chocolate cake recipes I've ever had.  Super moist, tender, and a good chocolate flavor that worked perfectly with the satin frosting.

I also grilled.  Marinated chicken with the random contents of our spice drawer and sauce collection that turned out tasting quite good.  Sauteed zucchini with onions and soy sauce and a vinegar mustard potato salad.

Sunday afternoon I was feeling like Chines, so I made chicken egg rolls and curried mei fun noodles with vegetables and chicken.

Cupcake Time

Who doesn't like a tiny portion of chocolate cake filled with homemade chocolate caramel sauce, then topped with a dollop of cream cheese whipped cream vanilla frosting? Crazy people, that's who.  And if you don't like chocolate/caramel (which would make you crazy) then you can have a miniature spiced carrot cake topped with cream cheese whipped cream vanilla frosting and a dusting of cinnamon to top it off.  

Spiced carrot cupcakes

Close up

Cupcake army of carrot and chocolate cupcakes

Chocolate caramel sauce

Chocolate cupcakes

Cupcake essentials 

In the oven

Chocolate caramel sauce 

Cream cheese whipped cream vanilla frosting 

Baby cupcakes 

Inside of chocolate cupcake 

Tzatziki

Dinner tonight was gyros.  Lamb gyro sausages from the Butchers Block, homemade tzatziki sauce, all on a nice toasted whole wheat pocket pita with fresh heirloom tomatoes and homemade lemon pepper home fries. It was pretty tasty, and a snap to make too (I feel like Rachel Ray saying that).

Lamb gyros with tzatziki, lemon pepper home fries

I started out by cooking the sausages in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, then added thinly sliced onion rings and cooked until the onions were caramelized and delicious looking.  Meanwhile, the potatoes were cooking in the oven.  They were quartered then lightly tossed with olive oil, lemon pepper, and some kosher salt then put onto a baking sheet covered with parchment and cooked at 450 degrees until crispy on the outside. 

Tzatziki

Lemon pepper home fries

Pita pockets 

Heirloom tomatoes 

With the sausages and potatoes cooking, I started on the tzatziki sauce.  I diced up three baby cucumbers and put them in a colander over the sink then dusted with a little bit of kosher salt. I left those to sit for about 10 minutes.  While they are resting, add about two cups of whole yogurt to a bowl and add lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.  Mix in the cucumbers and there you have it, tzatziki!

What with school, work, and the essential social life, I haven't made dinner at home for quite awhile.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it! Tomorrow I'll be preparing some tasty little cupcakes.
Love and peace, have some chocolate.

Subject

First blog! Woohoo! Well I didn't know exactly what I wanted to start blogging about at first, so I started thinking about nifty things that I like.  Of course anyone who knows me will soon realized that I am a complete and TOTAL food nerd.  Food is almost always on my mind, even while I'm eating dinner I'll be thinking of things to have for breakfast the next morning.  So food.  I love it, but not just eating food.  I love to make food too.  It might seem weird, but I really enjoy cooking a meal, or cookies, or some cupcakes.  It relaxes me.  Well, and you get to eat all the tasty stuff you make.  This blog will be dedicated to all my food explorations and discoveries, invented recipes and pictures of my creations.  I hope you like it!
Love and peace, enjoy your dinner.