Great Weekend

This weekend was a lot of fun. We got a lot of activities packed into it too!

On Friday, we went to a Bees game. I took a few pics...but as you can see, not too many. The game was fun...I think the Bees won...but since I really don't care about baseball (I just care about the socializing) I can't tell you for sure.  :)

haha...funny sign!

It was such a nice day on Saturday, that we spent most of the day inside watching movies...oh wait, that doesn't make sense...OK - I just needed a day to relax. We did have lunch on the patio though, so quit judging :)

Saturday night, we had our Mother's Day BBQ at my sister's house. It was SO fun. We made Thai food and you all know my love of Thai food! We had papaya salad, thai pickles, lots of sticky rice, pad thai, thai bbq beef, etc. There was a ton of food. Great company too!

Yum - look at all that food!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was another beautiful day. This time we were more productive and started the day off with a motorcycle ride up to the cabin. Instead of taking pictures of how green it is getting, I took some pics of our messy hair. 

Woo...look at that hair

We finished Sunday off with a yummy bbq - ribs, chicken, and an awesome grilled corn salad!

You can find the ribs and chicken recipes here. The corn salad was super easy to throw together too:

• 5-6 ears corn
• 1 small container cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/4 of a red onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 jalapeno
• Juice of two to three limes
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Queso fresco or cotija cheese for topping

Cut the tomatoes in half and place in a bowl with the onion and red bell pepper. Grill the corn until it starts to get a little bit of char. Cut off the cobb and place in the bowl. In the meantime, place the cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and olive oil in a food processor. Blend until fairly smooth. Dump over the corn, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. Mix well and top with cheese.

Can't go wrong with that and it is super easy to make!

Well - hope everyone has a great week.

Chicken, tomato, spinach pasta

The other day, I was checking out Pulse when I came across this yummy pasta recipe. Well, you know me - I just couldn't pass up the opportunity and since John was working late it seemed even more appropriate!

And guess what - it was very yummy! I added in some mushrooms, some hot Italian turkey sausage, and clearly topped it with a boat load of cheese. It was great! I suggest you give this little recipe a whirl - I guess that Pioneer lady really does know what she is doing :)

Other than the pasta - life is great. Lots of work for us, but we have some fun trips (Florida and Aruba) planned for this summer and fall - so we will get a break! Whew!

Garlic Risotto

So you all know I have a deep love for the garlic rice that John makes, right? I mean, it is so good! You may or may not smell like garlic for 3 days after - but seriously, it is worth it.I know that John loves risotto - he raves about how good it is every time I make it - then again, maybe it is because I don't make it ALL that often OR maybe he really does love it - yep, I am going to stop over analyzing right now.

Instead of making garlic rice, I decided I would try and make a yummy garlic risotto. It turned out great - definitely a keeper and will be repeated very soon. It isn't quite as garlicky as the garlic rice, but still yummy nonetheless.

Sorry about that spoon - Either way, you can see it looks creamy and D-lish!

Before you make this recipe though - be warned it is labor intensive in that you have to sit there and stir for pretty much 30-40 minutes straight.

1 cup ariborio rice
4 cups chicken stock
6-8 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

Place the chicken stock in a medium sauce pan and heat to medium - keep simmering. In the meantime, place your olive oil and butter in a skillet and heat to medium high. Once your butter is melted and bubbling, throw in your rice and garlic. Toast until light brown.  Turn the heat to medium and add one cup of the hot chicken stock. Stir frequently until it cooks out. Repeat this process one cup of stock at a time until your stock is gone. Turn the heat to medium low once the majority of the stock is evaporated, but the risotto has a nice creamy texture. Add in the cheese, cream, and salt and pepper and stir to combine. 

The recipe has simple components, but like I said, it does get a little cumbersome stirring, stirring, and stirring. We served this with some yummy sauteed spinach and grilled steaks, but if you added in some chicken or shrimp - this could be a meal on its own. 

Mmm!

Enjoy!

Professional Kid Sitter

This weekend we had my niece Liv over so my sis could go out for her anniversary dinner. We had a fun night, but let me tell you - seven year old kids ask a lot of questions. I will be much  better prepared next time I watch her for all the questions. I mean stuff you don't think about asking...for example:

Liv: Who just text you?
Me: My friend, Monica.
Liv: Why did she text you?
Me: She text me to say that she is soooo hungry.
Liv: Why did she text you that?
Me: Because she hasn't eaten because she is working.
Liv: Where is she working?
Me: She is in California.
Liv: Why is she in California?
Me: Because that is where she is working - she is at a tradeshow.
Liv: What is a tradeshow?
Me: It is where a whole bunch of companies that are similar get together and try and sell their stuff.
Liv: Like Overstock.com? Was Overstock.com there?
Me: No, this was for the dental industry. Like for toothbrushes, floss, that kind of thing.
Liv: The dental industry? Was Dr. Barret there?
Me: Yes - yes, Dr. Barrett was there.
Liv: Well, Dr. Barret is my regular doctor - not my dentist.
Me: Thinks to self - oh crap!

And then, just like that - we moved on to a new set of questions. It was so funny! She is entertaining to say the least - I mean that kid has some energy. She is stinking cute as can be though - take a look!

Yeah, she brought her entourage of stuffed animals with her. Oh and yes, she made that pizza all by herself. Pretty yummy!

After we ate dinner, she played us some music from her "phone." I must say - the little girl has good taste.

It was a fun night and totally out of the norm for us - but it seriously was a good time. For amateur kid sitters, we did OK :) Maybe we will be professionals soon if my sister lets us watch her again.

Grilled Pizza

Sometimes I think we all need meals with little or no cleanup, right? Well,  you can pretty much achieve that by grilling things...just chuck whatever you are wanting to eat on the grill/BBQ - and tada - no clean up. Well, except the dishes you use to eat on oh and I guess if you used dishes to prep - hmm this isn't helping my case :)

I love traditional thin crust pizza - and I think I have finally gotten John to buy in on them too. Yeah, I am good ;) Since we do not have a humango brick oven to cook those pizzas in, I decided a while back to try and use the grill. Well, it worked. You get the awesome crisp thin crust with a little bit of char. Soooo good!

These are super easy to make - and guess what? The only clean up really is the dish you eat on and a cutting board! Now that's my kind of meal.

• 1 refrigerated thin crust pizza dough (makes 3 to 4 individual sized pizzas)
• Olive oil to brush on the crust so it doesn't stick
• Sprinkle of garlic salt or Italian seasoning
• Toppings

Light your bbq grill and heat to medium. In the meantime, get your refrigerated dough out of the package. Layout and cut into 3-4 small manageable pieces. Brush each side with olive oil and season with garlic salt or Italian seasoning. Place dough directly on the grill. Grill until the first side just turns brown. At this point, take your dough off the grill and top the grilled side with your favorite toppings. Take your pizza back out and put on the top rack. Now you are going to get the ungrilled side nice and brown. Grill for about 3-5 minutes more until your cheese is melted - make sure you watch it carefully because the dough can burn in an instant.

I made my pizzas with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, crispy pancetta, and an arugula, balsamic, and fresh tomato salad. I have never tried to make these with any sort of sauce because John and I don't love sauce - so I am not sure how that would turn out. Anyway - these are fun to make and you could have a fun pizza part with all sorts of different toppings.

Enjoy! Oh and since it is Friday night and all - have a GREAT weekend!

Jucy Lucy or Juicy Lucy

Seriously...is there anything better than a great cheeseburger? I mean - they just scream summer, BBQs, pool parties, diners, awesomeness, whatever...oh and they taste delicious too!

I was watching one of those food shows on the Travel Channel - not sure if it was Cheeseburger Paradise or Junk Food Paradise or wait - it could have even been Bar Food Paradise :) OK...I will stop now. Anyway, I was watching one of those shows when they introduced the Jucy Lucy - or as I like to call it, the Juicy Lucy (yeah, I had to spell it correctly - must be my OCD or something). What is a Juicy Lucy you ask? It is only one of the most genius ideas ever - instead of topping your burger with cheese - you just put all the oooeey goooooey goodness on the inside and grill or BBQ away!

Look at that beauty...

The process...

• 1 pound of hamburger (this made two burgers - but they were freaking huge)
• Several slices of your favorite cheese (I used some awesome Gouda that my Gram and Aunt Malena got for me at the cheese factory)
• Salt, pepper, and a little garlic salt to season your meat
• Toppings - lettuce, tomato, avocado, roasted jalapenos, whatever your little heart desires
• Buns

Make 4 patties that are the same size and season both sides. Place your cheese in the center of two of the patties. Take the patties without cheese on them and place them over the top of the ones with cheese. This will be a little bulky - that's ok though it is a good thing! Seal your sides so no cheese can escape. I mean really seal these up good - pinch the sides - kind of remold and reshape. Place on the grill or BBQ over medium heat. Cook through so your cheese gets super melty.

These suckers are hot in the center - bite with caution! They are so great though. I think next time I might try and stuff my burger with some sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese. Oooh I am already getting excited!

One of my fave's!

The first time I went to the Old Spaghetti Factory I fell in love with the creamy ranchy pesto dressing they serve on their salads. I know this is a little bit strange because it is JUST salad dressing after all and because if you know me, I really don't like eating at chain restaurants (I am not going to explain, just know that I like to try and keep it local when possible).  :D

I haven't been to the Old Spaghetti Factory in years, but I ran across this recipe on Pinterest for that very dressing! I was way excited and then I sat an reminisced about the times I ate there growing up - drinking Italian sodas - sitting in the little trolley car (I think it was a trolley car) - and such! Ooooh oooooh oooohhh and the spumoni ice cream - yeah, it was awesome!

So - in true Hailee fashion - I couldn't JUST make a salad, I had to serve this up with some yummy pasta and of course some sort of awesome bread.

Pancetta and Parmesan Scones - holy yum!

Chicken and Shrimp Alfredo

The FANTASTIC Creamy Pesto Dressing

For the pasta, I made your basic Alfredo sauce and served it over linguine (I like it better than fettuccine for some reason). You can find basic recipes for Alfredo here, here, and here. It is actually super easy to make and there are a ton of different ways to make it, but if you don't want to take the time - just get something in a jar or in the refrigerated section. I added some shrimp and chicken that were sauted with garlic, lots of black pepper, and a little bit of Italian seasoning - perfecto!

Those yummy little scones - yeah, I found this recipe cruising on the Internet too. Instead of bacon, I used Pancetta since I was making an Italian inspired meal and instead of gruyere, I used parmesan. These were awesome and came together really fast.

As for the dressing, it was very yummy. I suggest thinning out with some milk though - it was way too thick - like clumpy thick. About 1/3 cup of milk though or adding extra buttermilk worked though.

Well, I am off to figure out what to do for dinner. Maybe something adventurous!