Happy Birthday To MEEEEEE!

Yay! I'm officially a quarter of a century today. To celebrate first, Carl made me a wonderful breakfast on Saturday morning.


Then, last night we had Carl's family over last night for pizza and cake. YUM cake! White with real strawberry filling! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws!




I'm off to continue celebrating!

I wish this had a fancier name

Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes

Yeah, so I wish this had a better name. It sure deserves it! Is this the best way to get your veggies? Well no, we are about to coat them in butter, but we are getting our veggies so just deal with it!

Again, another recipe where I (say it with me) didn't have to go to the store, woo hoo. This was honestly the best way I've ever had green beans. Take that green bean casserole!

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces (I used 1 pound frozen)
* 1 1/2 cups water (I used 1 cup)
* 1/4 cup butter (I used about half of this)
* 1 tablespoon sugar (I omitted completely as reviews suggested)
* 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt (I used about 1/2 tsp)
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper (1/8 tsp)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil (1/2 tsp dry basil)
* 2 cups cherry tomato halves (I used quartered campari tomatoes)

DIRECTIONS

1. Place beans and water in a large saucepan. Cover, and bring to a boil. Set heat to low, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain off water, and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in sugar, garlic salt, pepper and basil. Add tomatoes, and cook stirring gently just until soft. Pour the tomato mixture over the green beans, and toss gently to blend.

Mashed Red Skin Potatoes

Red skin potatoes were on sale, thank you St. Patrick's Day, so I bought a big bag. I have been wanting to try to make mashed red skins for quite some time, and it seemed like the perfect pair to my roasted chicken. I found this recipe which again, didn't make me go to the store, woo hoo.

I basically cut the recipe in half and it worked out so we could eat these for dinner and then have them again as leftovers. They were really really good! I will absolutely make them again....now just to decide when is too soon to make them again!

Ingredients

* 4 lbs small new red potatoes, quartered
* 2 teaspoons salt, plus
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup sour cream (I use reduced-fat)
* 3/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1.Place potatoes in 5-6 quart Dutch oven; add enough cold water to cover potatoes.
2.Add 2 tsp salt to water; bring to a boil.
3.Reduce heat to low; simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a small knife.
4.In small saucepan over low heat, heat together heavy cream and butter for 5 minutes or until butter is melted and mixture is heated through.
5.Drain potatoes; transfer to large bowl.
6.With potato masher, smash potatoes together with hot cream mixture until well blended.
7.To potatoes, add sour cream, remaining salt, and the pepper.
8. Blend in with the potato masher; continue to smash until desired consistency is achieved.

*I just used my hand mixer on low and left a few lumps...yummy!!!

Zesty Roasted Chicken

I bought two full chickens at Sam's for less than $8, how can you beat that? I wanted to use my crock pot so it could cook while we were at my nephew's brunch birthday party. I just searched through a few websites and found this one. It didn't require me to go to the store and it had great reviews- woo hoo! It ended up being quite the Sunday dinner, you'll see the rest of the menu above.

The chicken literally fell off the bone as I was trying to get it out of the crock pot. My only issue is I think my crock pot cooks things too fast. It was definitely done after 4 hours, but since I was at the party, I couldn't test it beforehand. It might have been done sooner. It still tasted really good and the juices the chicken made were awesome!

Ingredients

* 4 teaspoons salt
* 2 teaspoons paprika
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 teaspoon onion powder
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 1 teaspoon white pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
* 1 cup onion, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the spices.
2.Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
3.Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
4.Place in resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. (I usually skip this step because I'm always in a hurry).
5.When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
6.Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make it's own juices.
7.Cook on low 4-8 hours.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I've pretty much had a fascination with pineapple upside down cake since I saw one baked on Saved by the Bell. You know what I'm talking about right? Remember...the school received some money and to decide how to spend it the girls and guys have a sports competition. The final event is a bake off, but Zack (swoon) switched the oven knobs so the girls would burn their....you guessed it, pineapple upside down cake. Well anyway, I've always wanted to make one, but never had. But when I saw this recipe, I decided to give it a go. Success.

Sorry my picture isn't the greatest, I made this with my mother-in-law at her house and had to bring a piece home to take a picture.

1 can(s) (20 1/2 ounce) pineapple rings in pineapple juice
12 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter
1/2 cup(s) light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup(s) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 cup(s) chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar
DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Drain the pineapples and discard the juice. Place the pineapples on six layers of paper towel and allow the excess liquid to absorb for 5 minutes. Flip the rings over onto a dry spot of the towel and repeat.
3. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter, pour it into a 10-inch round cake pan, and sprinkle with the brown sugars. Arrange the pineapple rings in a single layer over the brown sugars, sprinkle with the nuts, and set aside.
4. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Lightly beat the eggs, yolks, and vanilla together in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
5. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in the flour mixture and egg mixture. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean — about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes on wire rack. Run a small, sharp knife around the edge of the pan to release cake.

Awesome Banana Nut Bread Muffins

I have a love. A love of banana nut bread. And in a search to find that perfect recipe, I luckily...LUCKILY found this one at allrecipes.com. OMG. Just omg. If you like banana nut bread, you MUST try this. It is definitely a sweet version of the bread. Now, I've made this a few times, but this time, I decided to go the muffin route. Mostly because they are fast, but also because they are darn cute. And the single serving portions are just an added bonus.

I'll state my changes/information here to make it easier (easier on me that is...).
1. This recipe made 12 regular muffins and two batches of mini muffins- so that's 12 large and about 60 mini.
2. The mini muffins were done at 12 minutes at 350 degrees/The regular muffins took about 17 minutes at 350 degrees

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 cup butter or margarine
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 cups mashed overripe bananas
* 4 eggs, beaten
* 1 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter or margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in the bananas, eggs, and walnuts until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture, and stir just until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the crown of the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for at least 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack, and cool completely. Wrap in aluminum foil to keep in the moisture. Ideally, refrigerate the loaves for 2 hours or more before serving.

Weekend Frittata

Saturday morning we wanted something decent for breakfast. We were working on the guest room, and Carl had to make a Home Depot run. So while he did that, I tackled the Internet to see what I could possibly make with the food I already had. I found this one at RecipeZaar rather quickly, and for the most part I had everything. Cheese? Good. Veggies? Good. Eggs? Good. Off I went.

I pretty much cut this in half, and it was plenty for us to have...and then there were still leftovers.

Ingredients

* 8 ounces bulk pork sausage (I just used 3 breakfast maple sausage patties)
* 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
* 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
* 4 ounces medium mushrooms, sliced (I only had canned)
* 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, if needed
* 6 large eggs
* 2 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (No fresh basil here- I just used a 1/4 tsp of dried)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
* fresh ground black pepper
* 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
* basil leaves, for garnish (again...no fresh basil, so I skipped this. My presentation is lacking)

Directions

1.In a large ovenproof skillet over med-high heat, cook sausage and bell pepper, breaking up sausage with a spoon, for 3 minutes.
2.Add in onion and mushroom; cook until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes; add oil, if needed.
3.Preheat broiler.
4.In a bowl, whisk the eggs, water, basil, salt, and pepper together; pour over sausage mixture in the skillet.
5.Decrease heat to med-low, cover and cook, 10-12 minutes, until eggs are set and top is almost dry. (*Mine took a little less since there was less egg to cook)
6.Sprinkle with cheese; broil until frittata is puffy and cheese melts, about 1 minute.
7.Let stand for 5 minutes; cut into wedges and serve; garnish with basil leaves.