My pick - Watermelon! It's been topping out at 118F here in Phoenix, and nothing has been more refreshing than cold, cut watermelon in the fridge. Our pool can't even compete. It's like hopping in a bath when you're trying to cool off. It just doesn't work. This salad recipe works best with Arugula (very peppery) , Red Onion, Feta (spend more money to get the creamy block cheese), and a Balsamic Reduction. Simple. Cool. Delicious. 

We've spent the past couple of weeks at my brothers and I haven't been in the kitchen much. Until.. My brother asked if I wanted to make dinner. heck yeah I did.
I made the hubs favorite chicken along with some roasted veggies. So where does the watermelon come into play.
The hubs was going through some old cookbooks of my nephews and found this recipe for watermelon gazpacho. Cool, refreshing and perfect with tortilla chips.

I never would have thought that watermelon, cucumber and onion could taste so good together!  I am probably the only one in this house who will eat this combination, but we shall see!   

A little late but here we are!

Watermelon salad looks oh so delish! Perfect for summer!

Until next week,

Nikita, Georgia, Cammy, Jen and Mady

We love summer BBQs as much as we love picnics. Since we are still not able to have gatherings, we went very simple with steaks and chicken breasts. We just put salt and pepper on them and cooked them on low (250°) for an hour. We used some mesquite wood chips to smoke them a little bit. They turned out great.  Very tender and juicy.  Found some marinated shrimp skewers at the meat market so we threw those on at the end.  I guess some would say this is more “grilling” then “bbqing” but to each his own.

Have a great week!
 
Mandy

Annnnnnnnnd.....I'm back. We are officially back in the USA (land of the Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ) for good, and now we're working on rebuilding our lives here in Phoenix. First order of business - Pots, Pans, & Dishes! I bought a anodized aluminum set by All-Clad, and it has been good to me so far. We are without a grill right now, but it will come. I assure you that! This week, I made a sheet pan dinner: BBQ Chicken, Roasted Broccoli & Sweet Potatoes. This is a wonderful meal if you are looking for meat, veggies, & nutrients. In Bulgaria, I was making my own BBQ sauce because it was rare to find. Now that I'm back, Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle was at the top of my list. Try this recipe if you're looking for a quick 30-40 minute weeknight meal.

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Did I make BBQ? No.. Did I make anything in the kitchen this week? Kind-ish.

I lOVE BBQ. Love it. So I was a little sad to not have my own kitchen so I could participate in the BBQ challenge.
But...

The hubs and I are spending the weekend with my stepmother and she had plans for our dinner and let me make it. Actually. She had a task for Randy. So while they working on that I was able to make the dish she had planned for us.
I couldn't tell you the name of it but it's very much like a pasta primevera. Dinner will be served after Mass this evening.

BBQ this week was ordered in.  I was reminded that you shouldn't order BBQ from a burger joint! 

Summertime = BBQ

Grilling or BBQ'ing.. It's all good in my book

Oh.. Nikita is so right.. Sweet Baby Ray's.. The best..

Until next week,

Mandy, Nikita, Amy, Georgia, Cammy & Jen

My AC went out yesterday afternoon and won't be fixed until Monday.  It's 111 degrees out.  Thankfully a friend took us in!  
 
Before it got unbearable yesterday I did cook an Asian dish! Turkey lettuce wraps. They turned out great!

Happy Saturday!  This week for Asian week I made Gingery Greens and Shrimp Soup (aka canh) by Andrea Nguyen.  This is so light and very comforting to eat. I love that there was left overs for lunch the next day.  I don’t really like to eat hot soups when it’s warm outside but this soup was very delicious served warm.  Definitely will make again and again.  

I've got nothing this week. Not that I don't like Asian, but. The hubs and I took a very long journey this week. A journey that took 10 years and many miles. Randy finally brought me home.

It's going to be a couple of weeks until we are in our home here in GA, but in the meantime we're hanging with the cats at my brothers.

I still had cabbage left from last week and it needed to be used.  This recipe looked really good - Asian Stir Fried Cabbage.  I totally missed the fish sauce so I used some Worcestershire sauce instead.  I accidentally used a tad more sesame oil than was called for and used no ginger.  I thought I had ginger, but I was wrong.  Oh well.  It came out a bit spicier with the extra sesame oil but, overall, very good.  I will make this again.  

It seems you can go into most towns and find a really decent Asian Restaurant. But nothing beats making your own.
Either way. Asian food is yummy!

Until next week,

Jen, Mandy, Nikita, Amy, Georgia and Cammy

This week was my week and for whatever reason, I chose cabbage.  I had two options in mind, but only one got thrown together.  This simple salad has chopped red cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, red pepper, an orange and some chick peas.  For a dressing I made just a simple vinaigrette.  

Okay.. True story. We are in full move mode. Tuesday the hubs and I leave NM for the beautiful state of GA. So yes I will be Georgia in Georgia once again. We're heading home. With that. Our house including the kitchen is pretty packed up. It wasn't until we sat down to sandwiches and salad that I remembered this weeks food challenge of cabbage. Lo and behold our salad was an asian inspired salad. So here ya go. My cabbage recipe.

Asian chopped salad with ham

There are really so many ways to have cabbage. Cooked or raw.

Until next week,

Cammy, Jen, Mandy, Nikita, Amy and Georgia

My favorite time of meal is breakfast. I could eat breakfast at any time during the day. But this week I didn't make it. The hubs and I are spending the 4th of July weekend exploring The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. So food has been on the go. Breakfast was a simple breakfast sandwich that we got from our hotel this morning in ID.

Fun fact. I know people who love tacos or even pizza (both are pretty tasty) But I'm pretty sure I would never turn away a yummy sandwich. Fancy or plain. I like a good sammy.

My favorite meal has always been and always will be breakfast.  Just about any kind of breakfast food will do.   Just don't give me too many options because I really can't choose.  Breakfast buffets are the absolute best because then I really don't have to choose!  I don't much care for cleaning up after the cooking of breakfast food though.  It tends to be too messy.  I was starting to wonder what I was going to do for this week, when across my facebook feed came a recipe for this delicious breakfast casserole.  I made it for dinner tonight, because, let's face it, dinner is probably one of the best times to have breakfast!  

Biscuit and gravy casserole? I feel like I haven't been living my best life and need to kick it up a couple of notches.
And Jen's red, white and blueberry pancakes look like the perfect 4th of July breakfast.

I'm noticing a theme here. We all LOVE breakfast

Happy Independence Day! What a great gift it is to live in the United Statess!

Until next week,

Georgia, Cammy, Jen, Mandy Nikita and Amy

My family loves breadsticks.  For Copycat week we made Better Than Pizza Hut Breadsticks.  These were the best breadsticks I’ve had in a while.  They are so soft and fluffy.  The topping is delicious.  The recipe makes 2 batches so everyone can have as many breadsticks as they can eat.  We will definitely add these to our weekly menu.  Hope everyone had a great week!  

Nikita and fam are living the life they dreamed of when they moved to Bulgaria. This week was spent in Paris and although we are not there with them she has shared photos of all their fun adventures.
On our weekly Saturday morning call with the ladies she was live and in person from Barcelona. Fingers crossed she has a fun filled post about this newest adventure. (check out my homepage for a link to Nikita's Adventures)

This week when Mandy challenged everyone to a copycat recipe I knew exactly what I was turning to. The bottle copycat Chick fil A sauce in our fridge that the husband made.
If you've ever had Chick fil A's sauce and you like it.. You are going to LOVE this copycat. I actually like it better than the OG. I'll use it as a dipping sauce for homemade chicken strips and even for fries.

I really had a difficult time trying to think of a copycat recipe and then I thought of the rolls as butter at Texas Roadhouse.  My pops took us all there the first time I went there so I will always associate those delicious rolls and sweet honey cinnamon butter with fond memories of my pops.  To have made these on Father's Day made them even more special.  

Fun times making our favorite copycats. Interesting that we had two copycat recipes for bread.

Until next week,

Mandy, Nikita, Amy, Georgia, Cammy and Jen

In our house, bananas are usually used in smoothies or banana bread.  I wanted to try something different so we found a recipe for “Healthy Banana Oatmeal Pancakes”.  They were pretty easy to make, and tasted good.  My older daughter didn’t love the texture – they aren’t smooth like normal pancakes (because of the oats), but otherwise thought they were fine.  My husband loved them

😊Jen

For the banana challenge we made Sweet and Savory Banana Splits.  I mean, what’s not to love about a banana split.  It was a little weird at first.  I think that is probably because our brain is wired to how it tastes with ice cream.  It will grow on you though and it is really delicious.  Great way to use up that one banana that is always left behind. ;) Hope everyone has a great week and Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads. 
 
Mandy

Ok, so Banana Bread is my default reaction when I see browning bananas in the fruit basket. This week, I decided to try a new recipe on Pinterest - Chocolate Banana Bread. But Matt quickly corrected the title of this recipe. It's not bread; it's cake. LOLOL! This loaf is rich with dark chocolate and moist with mashed bananas. Absolutely delicious. 

I will be the first person to tell you. I do not like bananas in things. I don't like banana flavored anything. Naked bananas are fine. I'm the gal who orders a banana split without the banana. Blech
So finding something that I would even be willing to try was a challenge... Until I found this yummy recipe

So here's a funny as I'm looking through these recipes. I am not a fan of bananas in things and my oh my how we all have founds ways to take ripe bananas and make them yummy.

From healthy, to decadent.

Until next week,

Jen, Mandy, Nikita, Amy, Georgia and Cammy

Blueberry Camerita  - I knew I was going to bake something with blueberries (Sunday Bakery tomorrow) but I also wanted to do something different.  I ran across a recipe for a blueberry daiquiri but I'm not all that fond of rum unless it involves pineapple and coconut)  and I didn't have any regular lime juice on hand.  I did, however, have key lime juice and tequila on hand.  Thus, the birth of the Blueberry Camerita  

We made a simple yogurt blueberry parfait for breakfast today: vanilla yogurt, blueberries, and granola layered in a bowl.  And some eggs, just because. 😊

Smoothies and yogurt are my kids go to breakfast foods right now.  So for this weeks blueberry challenge we decided to try Blueberry-Chai Seed Jam.  It goes great with just about any yogurt.  Easy to add to smoothies.  I don’t know how to can, but this recipe will fit in a small jar you can keep in the fridge and use up within a week or so.  A quick and easy recipe that I’m sure could be used is many different recipes. 

So we've been eating Blueberries all week long. It's June which means they're in season, cheap at the farmer's market, and soooo flavorful! Pictured above is my morning breakfast of Greek Yogurt, Granola, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, & Honey. I started eating this several months ago after receiving a tempting recommendation from Georgia. The Greek Yogurt is full of protein and keeps me full through the morning and early afternoon. This weekend, Matt and I are heading to a Spa Retreat in Velingrad where we intend on soaking in thermal hot springs and pools and saunas etc. Because of the amount of time we'll be spending in our swimwear, we decided to host a Salad-For-Dinner Week leading up to the weekend just to shed a pound or two. Not pictured (because we ate it before I realized what happened) is a Chicken & Berry Mixed Greens Salad. I had intended on serving the salad with a sliced Flank Steak on it, but the store had ZERO steak. Like nothing. I've said it before but the stores here in Sofia are a hit-or-miss operation. So we settled for chicken - meh. But the salad was still yummy. Btw, we made it four days with salad every night for dinner. Sushi won us over on Friday. LOL! 

I have no idea of what this food challenge is. While I am not officially back ( I don't recommend moving during a pandemic, shit doesn't get done) I thought I'd drop by to say Hello.
I am still getting my house in order. Let me put it this way, my new home is literally within eyesight of my old home and it took the waste management workers 5 weeks to realize this l. Yes, they had been properly notified. You see what I'm dealing with?
Anyway, I made stuffed bell peppers in my slow cooker and a berry and spinach salad for tonight's dinner.
And I now have pretty pink dinnerware because I'm a girl.
Make something delicious y'all!

So many healthy benefits to blueberries and I choose to make them into a coffee cake. So worth it.

We can think that because blueberries are included that it's a "healthy" coffee cake. It works for me.

So truthfully though. If you are a fan of blueberries and a fan of coffee cake you won't be disappointed in this one. Even the hubs, who I just found out really likes coffee cake, like this.

Enjoy!

What a banner week. Everyone is here and those are my favorite kinds of weeks

Until next week,

Cammy, Jen, Mandy, Nikita, Amy and Georgia

So I honestly had every intention of making something. Then we got notice that we would be able to go to my step daughters graduation. Which is in Maryland. Tickets were bought, bags were packed and we were blessed to be there with her and also to spend a few days with her.
Once there I thought maybe we would be able to find a restaurant where I could order something on the menu with chickpeas. But noooooo. Very little was open.

So here's my great add for this week. What I hope is a super cool pic from the pier in Ocean City, MD

Hmmmm, chickpeas.  The only thing I've done with chickpeas is to throw them on my salad at the local salad bar.  Well, I found this pasta salad recipe and figured, why not?  Never mind that I didn't even know what tahini was.  I marinated some chicken tenders in some lite Italian dressing, dumped it all into a baking dish and put it in the oven to bake.  Then I got the brand new jar of tahini out of the cupboard.  Interesting.  Gooey gunk at the bottom and liquid at the top.  No directions on the bottle except for a dressing recipe.  I assumed the gunk and liquid needed to be mixed up so I attempted to do so.  I was only somewhat successful after losing some down the side of the jar and causing a mess on my hand and counter.  I will admit, it was not nearly entirely mixed before I dunked the tablespoon in and withdrew a combination of paste, mixed paste and liquid.  Ugh! I made the dressing and must have dirtied nearly every spoon in the drawer taste testing, adding more fresh squeezed lemon, more pepper, more salt, more garlic, back to more lemon juice.....  I eventually decided enough was enough.  I'm guessing that tahini is an acquired taste. In the end, when mixed in with the pasta, chickpeas and spinach, it came out pretty good.  Seconds were even had.  I guess I know what I will be having for lunch tomorrow as well.  Bon Appetit! 
 

Thank the good Lord Cammy made a dish.

Here's hoping next week offers more for all of us.

Georgia, Cammy, Jen, Amanda, Nikita and Amy

This week's challenge was Phyllo (Filo) which is incredibly versatile. I couldn't decide if I wanted to make dinner or a dessert. When that happens, just do both. Dinner = Egyptian Goulash. To be honest, I probably won't make this again because the leftovers were chewy from the soaked and reheated phyllo dough. I've made Spanokopita in the past (Greek Spinach Pie) and the flavor far outweighed the Egyptian Goulash not to mention the phyllo was crispier on the greek pie. BUT....I'm happy we tried it. Wait for tomorrow's Sunday Bakery to see how phyllo was used in our dessert! 

So I found out the challenge this week was phyllo. I'm like. Cool. I'll find a sweet recipe, buy my phyllo (because who has time to make it?), put it together and call it yum.
Found this recipe and just knew I wanted to make it. It looked so amazing and the flavorings for the halvah sounded interesting.
The husband goes to the store. Zero phyllo. So I ask how about puff pastry? No puff pastry.
What on earth is going on?
Did a real quick run to a different grocery store this morning and all they had was phyllo shells. Not quite what I was needing, but phyllo none the less.

Here's the final result. Not as visually appealing, but the flavor was just as interesting as I suspected. I mean the combo of tahini, honey and whipped topping. Interesting? Right?
I ate two and probably could've eaten more. But the hubs is at work and wanted him to try them too.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Phyllo!  
 
Since I couldn't decide on sweet or savory, I made both! First, I went with Key Lime Mousse Cups.  These were yummy just following the recipe though I didn't have raspberries or lime for garnish so I used blueberries.  They complimented the lime well.  Then Georgia started talking about the chocolate dipped key lime pie she had in Florida. Yes, I melted some dark chocolate chips and just spooned a little bit over  some that I had frozen.  Key lime and chocolate -- can't go wrong!

Then there was the savory.  I couldn't leave well enough along when I made the phyllo wrapped asparagus.  I added a layer of prosciutto on the phyllo before adding the asparagus and rolling them all up.  The prosciutto was a tad bit too salty, but overall, it still tasted pretty good.  

Several different ways to use phyllo. Dinner and dessert. All oh so yummy.

Until next week

Nikita, Amy, Georgia, Cammy, Jen and Mandy


Oh.. Make sure you swing back by tomorrow. Nikita and Cammy both baked up something yummy.
Fun fact. On our call this morning we got to watch Nikita finish up hers.