This blog is movin' out folks!

I have finally been sucked into the world of using Wordpress for my blog instead of this site. Please change all of your links to my new blog which will be:

http://wineloverscookingdiary.wordpress.com/

Keep visiting and keep the comments coming! : )

See you all on the other side!

Random Things About Me - Part 1

Many of my great foodie blog friends have been doing a "100 random things about me" blog in which basically they just shoot out a bunch of random facts about themselves. I have been literally laughing my arse off reading these random facts. I mean, who knew Amanda was afraid of lettuce? LOL So, I will split this up into 4 parts so you don't go into random April overload. : )

1. I am highly allergic to poison ivy (I have the scars to prove it)
2. I can't stand the taste of coffee but I like the smell
3. In college I got into 3 wrecks in ten days
4. My favorite Yankee candle smell is Harvest
5. My mom has a one eyed dog that she rescued
6. We had the same dog for 14 years - a black poodle named Claude
7. My brother graduated from Basic Training for the National Guard the summer before his senior year of high school
8. I have a habit of accidentally breaking wine glasses
9. I only use plastic wine glasses at home
10. I can't stand the texture of mushrooms
11. I have yet to find the perfect shampoo and conditioner for my hair type
12. I am the oldest of 5 including my brother, two half sisters, and a stepsister
13. I love expensive purses
14. I pass out very easily
15. I had braces during high school
16. I used to have the messiest room on the face of the earth
17. I am a neat freak
18. I have a really big rubber band ball at work that I have made over the past 6 months
19. I am scared of the dark
20. My favorite cake is banana
21. I don't like yellow gold
22. I will be 27 this year
23. I ran cross country all 4 years of high school and was MVP 3 of those years
24. I do not like elevators or subways
25. I have a birthmark on my right hip

More to come later... : )

Baked Good Exchange January - part 1

Saturday morning Tommy and I were working on Sheridan's bedroom when the doorbell rang. Of course I'm thinking, "Oh crap! The house is a mess, I'm in my pj's...etc." You know, all of those things you think when the doorbell rings unexpectedly. : ) However, when I opened the door, there sat a box on our doorstep and I glanced at it and saw it was a cheesecake box!!! From New York!! I knew it had to be one of my awesome JFacie friends sending me something for our January exchange! Sure enough, there was a note on it from Kat Graz saying that even though she was sending this awesome New York famous cheesecake, she was baking me something as well. She is supposed to be my nutritionist/personal trainer friend! What is she thinking?! LOL : ) I took it in the house and yelled for Tommy to come see it and he literally started jumping up and down like a little kid. Cheesecake is his absolute favorite thing ever!

We had some of this finally Sunday evening - we were so busy that we didn't have time to really enjoy it until then - and we literally had this for dinner. LOL It was SOO good! I think it's the brownie marble cheesecake flavor - so freaking amazing! I can't get cheesecake like this around here so the fact that Kat thought to do that makes her awesome in our book! Tommy says he really likes Kat now a lot. LOL : )

Thank you Kat for this unique and awesome foodie gift!!!! You are the best!!!

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

So, I have this lovely menu all typed out on my blog for this week - to make things easy on myself. Um, yeah. Except for when I don't want what is on my menu. LOL I was going to make chicken parmesan except that T and I both had baked ziti leftovers for lunch. I couldn't do pasta twice in a row, so I spent the afternoon begging my foodie friends for recipes and scouring every blog I could find. I finally found a recipe that looked pretty yummy on Katorade's blog.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon dried parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded thin

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat, and cook the garlic until tender, about 5 minutes.
In a shallow bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, parsley, oregano, pepper, and salt.
Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter to coat, then press into the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining butter and top with any remaining bread crumb mixture.
Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Pig Rating: The pig thought this was pretty good for something different. He was just excited that I was making roasted red potatoes again. LOL

Mrs. Pig Rating: I like this for an easy chicken recipe that I typically have all of the ingredients on hand for. It had a really good flavor to it and was pretty good. I think I'll definitely save this one for the make again list. :)

Rachel's "Chicken Dorito"

So, I have seen a recipe for "Dorito chicken" floating around out on foodie blogs. I was pretty leary of this. I mean, throwing Doritos on chicken seemed a little odd to me even though I love Doritos and I love chicken, therefore I never really thought much about this one.

When my friend Clara asked a question on her blog this week about her readers' favorite proteins AND made them put recipes down (geez...so needy), I found that the "Chicken Dorito" made the list from our great friend Rachel. The recipe that Rachel posted is from her grandmother and it looked a lot better to me than a lot of the other recipes I had seen for this. So, why the heck not try it right? I'm always willing to try new chicken recipes to shake things up a bit. My changes are in red.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded (I didn't shred - I cut into strips)

Cheddar cheese, grated

2 cans cream of chicken soup

milk (1/2 a soup can’s worth)

1 can diced green chilis (you decide the spicy level)

1 bag Toasted Corn Doritos

(I only made 2 breasts so I halved everything)

Directions

Combine soup, milk and green chili’s in a sauce pan and cook until blended and warm.
In a 9×13 pan (or use a casserole dish) layer 1/3 amount of the Doritos, Chicken, Soup, and Cheese. Repeat twice ending with cheese on top. Cover and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Pig Rating: The pig took his first bite and was like, "Eh, it's okay," but then he had a 2nd bite and actually got some of the "dorito crust" in it and he said it was much better. Plate was cleaned by the pig. : )

Mrs. Pig Rating: I think that this would be great with the shredded chicken and put over nachos. Now, of course, anything on nachos is good to me, but I think this would be awesome. I like it pretty well though I have to say. I retract my previous thoughts about Dorito Chicken now. Thanks Rachey : )

PS- the pictures of this suck. It's just not pretty. Sorry. : )

Roasted Red Potatoes

As you have probably figured out, we love potatoes in our house - love them fried, mashed, baked, roasted, etc. While Tommy's favorite is fried, I've been trying to find a recipe that is more health friendly to make with things when we want potatoes. I love red potatoes so I went on the hunt for a good roasted red potato recipe today and stumbled across one on one of my favorite blogs to stalk - Amber's Delectable Delights. I love her blog - great recipes, great instructions and reviews, great pictures, etc. Thanks for another great recipe Amber!

Ingredients

4 red potatoes

2 Tbls bread crumbs

1 Tbls olive oil

1 Tbls Parmesan cheese

Your choice of seasonings (I used garlic power, onion powder, and parsley)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees

- Slice potatoes into wedges and place into medium bowl.

Season with all the remaining ingredients and place into preheated oven.

Cook for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are done to your desired crispness.

Pig Rating: The pig really liked these! He said they were a great substitute for fried potatoes and he couldn't believe that they were really TOO bad for him as far as potatoes go.

Mrs. Pig Rating: Like I said, I love potatoes, so these were no exception. I loved the flavor as well as how crispy they were on the outside and soft on the inside. I will most DEF be making these again and adding these as a staple on our menus.

Menu: January 20th - January 26th

I so have to get back in the habit of posting my menus... : )

Sunday- L: 5 Minute Southwest Salad, D: Dorito Chicken ala Rachel, via Clara's blog, roasted potatoes, salad
Monday- (T & I both off work-woohoo!) L: Out to lunch, D: Chicken Paremesan, salad
Tuesday - Chicken Nachos (Okay, not so healthy but haven't had them in FOREVER!)
Wednesday - (Kids) Taco Pie (healthy style)/Tacos
Thursday - Crockpot ribs (from Lorena's Blog), corn on the cob, salad
Friday - Date Night
Saturday- L: Chicken & Potato pizza, D: Company Party

I'm being not SO good this week with dinners. I have some things I need to use up so back on the super healthy train next week, though hopefully I can make everything with enough substitutes to not be too terrible for us. : )