Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

GARLIC HERB GOAT CHEESE AND BACON STUFFED MUSHROOMS Yesterday as I was pondering what I was going to make for dinner I decided to have a nice appetizer waiting on Scott for when he got home.  Since we both love mushrooms I decided at the last minute to get the fixings for this recipe.  I totally came up with this while in the store shopping.  I had planned on using cream cheese as most recipe call for this ingredient.  However, I wanted to step up my game and decided on using goat cheese instead.  I have been playing around with goat cheese with other recipes this summer.  I love the nice tangy bit of goat cheese.  I buy this cheese at Lidl.  I love it.  The cost is awesome and the flavor is amazing.  It also comes in honey and plain.   I must apologize I normally take step by step pictures but honestly had not planned on putting this on my blog but Scott loved it so much and I had several people comment on my picture.   During the summer the house tends to get ra

JA-MAKING ME CRAZY RICE AND PEAS Scott and I decided to have Jamaican night at our house with our good friend, Jeremy.  Jamaican night always means Jerk Chicken smoked on the BGE.  We started growing MOA (minster of agriculture) Scotch Bonnet peppers a few years back and I needed to figure out what to do with a gazillion fruity hot peppers? So me being me, I got out my handy dandy notebook and started tons of research hoping to find recipes that look really good.   Since Scott was going to smoke some Jerk Chicken I wanted to be as authentic as I could be and find another Jamaican recipe.   While doing a bit of research I came across this recipe.  AKA Jamaican Rice and Peas.  I looked at several recipes and pretty much combined them and made my own version of this wonderful dish.  Let me say the name is a bit misleading.  It is rice but it is NOT peas.  You actually use kidney beans in this recipe.   My version consisted of white or brown jasmine rice, a scotch bonnet pepper

 SUN-DRIED TOMATOES WITHOUT THE SUN

CHOCOLATE CHERRY JAM

I love my zoodle addiction.  I love the fact that it is helping me to become healthier and keep my new lifestyle easy.  I am seriously bad to work myself half to death and totally not make time to eat.  I have always been this way.  I like getting my stuff done early in the day so I know that after all is done I have the rest of the day for myself.  However, this is not healthy when it comes to your eating habits.  Especially if you are wanting to change your eating lifestyle. Making zoodles are super quick and easy.  They are delicious and you can seriously add just about anything per your desire to them.  My love affair with zucchini started years ago and it has not faded any.  Here are a few of the ingredients. If you have a spiralizer making zoodles can be done in a snap.  I used one medium zucchini. Make sure you dab the zoodles with a paper towel to remove as much liquid as possible. Open a jar of black beans and rinse well.  I actually used some Cuban

If you have been keeping up with me this week you know since Saturday I have a new not so guilty obsession.  I am totally and 100% addicted to zucchini zoodles.  Oh (sigh a little bit), my not so guilty conscience is clear to have this off my chest. I can not explain it but I have a thing for zucchini.  I love it.  AND NOW that I know I can have it as a substitute for pasta I am beyond happy.  I mean I have seen zoodles in the grocery stores but being my frugal self I surely was not going to waste money on a small pack of zoodles that is upwards of $5!!!   A couple of weeks ago I was at the lake with my friend Karen and her daughter Brittany and granddaughter Kinsley.  I did not eat them but I saw Karen making zoodles with a julienne slicer/peeler.  Seeing how easy it was to make them I decided that I would give them a try soon.   I have been using my julienne peeler but I had a spiralizer that I have purchased some time back but had not taken out of the box.  Then la

Talk about a labor of love, well this sure was.  I hurt my shoulder a while back and since I have had issues with my hand on my right side becoming numb.  I have to admit I have made it with a food processor many times but I can tell a difference in using the mortar and pestle. I always have an herb garden each year and have tons of basil.  Not only do I make pesto, but I will also flavor oils with basil, I love to have dried basil from my own garden, and our rabbits love the basil.   For this recipe, I chose to use pine nuts.  I toasted them in a #3 cast iron skillet just until they got a bit of color. I prefer to use fresh garlic.  Peel them and give them a rough chop. Add the garlic and a small amount of sea salt to your mortar. Now the fun part begins.  You get to beat the garlic and salt silly.   You want the garlic to be like a paste. Make sure you have cleaned your basil well.  I mean really well.  Bugs love to hide in the le