This and that

Thursday, May 2, 2013

#FoodieFriendsFriday and a Cinco De Mayo Party

It is time for Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party and this week we are going to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. Bring your best Mexican recipes....

Welcome to Foodie Friends Friday!

Please take a moment to read through the rules before getting started, Thank You!

*By linking up you agree that you read these rules and all photos/recipes are original and belong to you. You agree to allow Foodie Friends Friday and any of it's affiliated websites or publications (Social Girls Media, LLC) to use photos, links, and recipes for reprint and/or republishing and distribution without monetary compensation to you. If photos & recipes are used, proper link backs to you will be included.

Adding Links back to Foodie Friends Friday and our Button is our only form of advertising to bring in more people to see YOUR recipes.

Please remember to do this. It benefits you! To thank you, we will continue to feature those with links throughout the year on various outlets.

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Meet our Co-Hosts at Foodie Friends Friday:

Last Week's Party Winners

Each week, each host picks their favorite recipe. These recipes are then featured in the Daily Dish Magazine

RecipesThat Caught Our Attention. To be featured you must have a link back to either Foodie Friends Friday or the host blog that you link up with. Next week your recipe may be here.

Most Voted

Most Clicks

Host Favorite

This week my host favorite is bread. I am all about the bread. I love bread and when I saw this recipe for bread made in your slow cooker.... I was so excited. I have been wanting to try it and now I have a recipe. This recipe also has seeds on the top... I can't wait to make this. I was so excited about this recipe that I forgot to tell you where to find this recipe. This recipe comes from Joanne of What's on the List and the recipe is called Oatmeal Amaranth Seeded Bread. I am not sure what Amaranth Flour is but I am sure going to find out.

photo credit: What's on the List?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Fajitas of sorts...

I am back on nights again and today when I woke up, I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner. I did need to go and get a few groceries so I though that maybe walking down the aisle of our brand new local grocery store I would come up with something and it did...
As I walked into the store the first thing I saw was this wonderful cheese display. I love cheese and as I was perusing it my eyes fell upon one of my favorite cheeses - Tillamook Cheese . There also was a new flavour - Smoked Black Pepper White Cheddar Cheese.
My mind started to churning, cheese, I had some leftover Fiesta Porkchops and I also had some Salsa Me Krazy salsa... I could make Fajitas. And that is how my dinner was born. I also thought that this would be great to keep on the Cinco De Mayo theme.

Pork Fajitas

Makes 1 fajita

1 pork chop ~ I used this recipe (sliced thin)

Mini peppers and onions sliced - I had approx 1 cup together

1 tsp oil

1/4 tsp cumin

crush red pepper to taste

1/4 to 1/2 avocado slice thin

grated cheese ~ I used Tillamook Smoked Black Pepper White Cheddar Cheese

salsa ~ I used Salsa Me Krazy medium salsa

sour cream

Tortilla - I used Garden Spinach and vegetable Tortilla

In pan saute peppers and onions in 1 tsp oil, added cumin and crush red pepper. Add pork chop and continue to saute for a few more minutes until every thing is warm.

Warm tortilla, add mixture. Top with cheese, salsa, avocados and sour cream. Enjoy.

Enjoy!

I had received my Salsa Me Krazy from a contest that I entered. This salsa tastes so wonderful, fresh and homemade. The medium has just enough heat to give it some punch without over powering the taste. On there website, it says that this salsa was made from a family recipe and made in small batches to preserve the homemade taste and is made without preservatives. I have been hording my jar for a long time, eating only a small bite at a time. But alas the jar is now empty and I will have to get some more. The company is based out of Greenwood Indiana and this just might be the excuse I need to go and vist my brother and his family in Indianapolis to buy some more.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

The review on Salsa Me Krazy is done on my own as I really enjoy this product and want others to know about it. I have not been given any compensation or product to promote this.

LINKS: Foodie Friends Friday

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Fiesta Porkchops

Cinco De Mayo is celebrated this weekend on May 5th. It is a celebration of the Mexican army over France at the battle of Puebla in 1862. Now this holiday is a celebration of both Mexican culture and heritage.

I love the Mexican food and all the wonderful flavours that it holds. I am not sure that I have ever made anything Mexican, and have only eating Mexican food in restaurants, except having taco and salsa or guacamole.

This year I thought that I would try to make my own variation of Mexican type food, seeing that we were going to have a Cinco De Mayo party on Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party this weekend.

Fiesta Porkchops

I was planning on making fajitas but decided that I would just make some porkchops and stir fried vegetables. I did have some left overs so I might just make some fajitas with that. I went to allrecipes.com and adapted my recipe from Fajita Marinade III and Fajita Marinade I and this is what I came up with....

1/4 lime juice

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic -crushed

2 tsp maggi liquid seasoning

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp hot peppers or cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp fresh rosemary

1/4 tsp fresh thyme

1.5 lbs porkchops

Grind/crush garlic, rosemary and thyme. In bowl mix, lime juice, olive oil, crushed garlic, rosemary, thyme, maggi liquid seasoning, salt, hot pepper/cayenne pepper, cumin. Place porkchops in ziplock bag and add marinate. Marinade in fridge for at least 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

Cook porkchops with a small amount of marinade on hot grill for 7 minutes, flip and cook for another 7 minutes or until internal temperature reaches between 140 degrees to 165 degrees F. I used my George Foreman Grill on 4.

Cooking on George Foreman Grill

For the vegetables I used the remain marinade and heated it on the stove, stir frying peppers, onions and mushrooms until they start to turn brown and liquid was completely gone.

Enjoy!

We ate the pork chops and vegetables with Spanish Rice. I will be writing up my recipe for the Spanish rice in a day or so. So watch for it.

This recipe was a fiesta in your month!

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

LINKS: Tasty Thursdays, Foodie Friends Friday, Tried and True Recipes, Saturday Dishes

Related articles

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Herb Garden

Do you grow your own herbs or buy them?

Last year I decided to grow my own and see what happens. My plan was to hopefully grow them all year round but by the end of September they were starting to die. I am not sure if it was because I had too small of pots or because I kept forgetting to water them. My husband said that it was because of the latter. He probably is right, but I won't tell him that.

I do plan to plant more this year. I might even branch out to a few different types. We will see what happens. I really should get doing them. I do have the pots ready.

I took small clay pots and spray painted them a blue and green colour as that is the colours of my kitchen and pantry. I had some scrapbooking letters that I used to label the pots, so that I would know what was growing and not mix them up.

As you see I planted Anise, Oregano, Parsley, Basil and Thyme. These are the spices that I use a lot of. This year I am not sure about the Anise as I didn't know when I should be harvesting them and I waited to long..

I had to replant the Thyme as it didn't grow..

I loved having fresh herbs to use in my baking and cooking and can't wait have them again. This year I am going to try and dry them and crush them. Hopefully that will work.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

Links: 4 You With Love

Friday, April 26, 2013

Rosemary and Thyme Lime Chicken

As you know I have been trying very hard to stay on the Whole 30 Program. I wrote how things were going on this program over at the Daily Dish Magazine, so I won't go through that again. But I did want to share the chicken recipe with all of you. I found this recipe over at Mom's Recipe Collection .
Mom's Recipe Collection is a facebook group and was started by Susan Harder. It is a group of bloggers and home cooks from every walk of life and experience. There are many recipes posted, along with tips and techniques. It is a great place to ask questions if you have them as you get responses quickly. You do have to ask to join the group and has over 7,000 members and growing every day. If you want to join, head over to Mom's Recipe Collection and ask to join.

Rosemary and Thyme Lime Chicken

2-3 chicken breasts

1/4 cup lime juice

1 tbsp lime peel

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tbsp thyme

Salsa either homemade or store bought - approximately 1 tbsp per breast - I used Salsa Me Krazy medium

In mixing bowl, add lime juice, lime peel, balsamic vinegar, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Place chicken in ziplock bag and pour mixture over them. Place them in the fridge to marinate for approximately 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place either aluminum foil or parchment paper in baking dish, place chicken in baking dish and pour marinate over each piece of chicken. Bake for 30 -40 minutes until chicken is completely cooked. Serve with Salsa.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻ Marlys

(¯`✻´¯)
`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻ Enjoy your day....`*.¸.*✻✿*.¸.*✻

Links: Sweet and Savory Sunday, Swap N Share, Party Thyme, Everyday entrees around $5.00 , Food Holiday Link Party

Thursday, April 25, 2013

#FoodieFriendsFriday and A Crock-Pot Party.

I love my crock pot...

It is easy to use, all I do is throw my ingredients in, put on the lid and forget.

What better way to make a meal.

Do you use your crock pot? I hope you do and you have a recipe or two or three

that you want to link up to our

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party ~ It's a Crock-Pot Party

We also have a fun Pin It to Win It over at the Daily Dish Magazine.

You could win

The new Crock Pot Slow Cooker with Smart Timer Technology! (value $129).

Welcome to Foodie Friends Friday!

Please take a moment to read through the rules before getting started, Thank You!

Adding Links back to Foodie Friends Friday and our Button is our only form of advertising to bring in more people to see YOUR recipes.

Please remember to do this. It benefits you! To thank you, we will continue to feature those with links throughout the year on various outlets.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com/" title="Foodie Friends Friday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj628/busyvegetarianmom/FFFDDButtonNEW150Darker_zpse238f637.jpg" alt="Foodie Friends Friday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Meet our Co-Hosts at Foodie Friends Friday:

Last Week's Winners

All Host Favorites.

Each Week, each host picks their favorite recipe. These recipes then will be featured over at the Daily Dish Magazine on the Monday after the party. To have your recipe picked as a host favorite you must have a link back to Foodie Friends Friday and/or the host blog that you link up with.

Sponsor Giveaway

Top 3 Voted

White Bean Roasted Garlic Hummus ~ The Big Giant Food Basket
Vindaloo Prawn Curry ~ Amelia's Dessert
Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing ~ Young Adventures Kitchen

Most Clicks

Garlic Parmesan Knots ~ The Cookin' Chicks
White Bean and Garlic Dip ~ Yesterfood
Garlic Chicken Pizza ~ The Cookin' Chicks

Host Favorite

This week my host favorite recipe is Sole with Caramelized Garlic by Cooking with Curls. When I saw this recipe linked up last week it really intrigued me. We eat a lot of fish and also a lot of garlic. I not sure I have ever thought of putting the two together but it was delicious. I used White Fish instead of Sole and cooked my fish slightly different and I also put in some onion when I caramelized the onions. I love this recipe and it will definitely be part of our menu again. Thanks Lisa for linking up this recipe.

My picture of this wonderful fish

Saturday, April 20, 2013

April #SurpriseRecipeSwap - Seared Lemon Pepper Salmon

Looking outside and seeing all the snow and the blizzard that we are having, I can't believe that April is here and just about over. With that it is time for our Surprise Recipe Swap. This is my second month doing this and it is so much fun. Surprise Recipe Swap was started by Jutta from Hungry Little Girl. At the beginning of the month we are give a blog to go and research and find a recipe that we would like to make. Then on the 20th we reveal the recipe.
This month the blog that I received was Jessica's over at Simple, Clean and Homemade. I was familiar with her blog as she has linked up some of her recipes to our Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party. After reading her blog I found out that we started blogging around the same time. She has so many wonderful recipes that I want to try. One in particular is her Spice Lamb Flatbread and I would have used this one in the Recipe Swap but right now I am off eating grains and the flatbread is party of the recipe that I don't want to change. So I have filed that away for another time.
The recipe that I did pick was her Seared Lemon Pepper Salmon. I picked this one as we eat a lot of fish and also salmon, although the salmon that we eat is usually smoked. I have tried to bake and bbq salmon but it always seems to come out dry. This recipe looked so good and I have to tell you it was.

Seared Lemon Pepper Salmon

slightly adapted from Simple Clean and Homemade

1 lb salmon, cut into four pieces

lemon pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 tbsp fresh thyme

juice of one lemon

Liberally add lemon pepper to the top of each salmon piece. Heat your skillet on a medium-high heat. Drizzle a small amount of oil on the pan. Place the salmon flesh down onto the skillet and cook without moving for a few minutes until a crust forms. Flip and add remaining ingredients. I mixed the oil, butter, garlic, thyme and lemon and poured over salmon. Turn heat down and cook until you reach desired temperature. Spoon sauce over salmon while cooking.

We ate ours with roasted vegetables and grilled pineapple wedges. This salmon was the best salmon I have ever tasted. It was moist and the flavour was wonderful... buttery and lemon. I used thyme instead of cilantro as I am not a very big cilantro fan and also because I had some fresh thyme that needed to be used up.

I did make a pound of salmon so that we would have some left overs but it was so good that every little morsel was gone when we left the dinner table. We had this for our Anniversary Dinner and it was lip smacking good.

Thanks Jessica ~ Simple, Clean and Homemade for a wonderful recipe.

I am no longer nervous to make salmon anymore.