Grilled Pepper Salad.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

I can't believe its Christmas eve already. This year has flown by but I love being home with the trees, decorations, and holiday cheer. It seems to make all the difference. Isn't the holiday season amazing? It's such a treat to be able to go home and relax a bit outside of the hustle and bustle in the city. 

Last night we had a family dinner, pictures to come, and then relaxed for a little while. After running some errands, Jarrod and I went over to the freight house for a drink. My cousin met up with us and we all chatted for a few hours and caught up on each other's lives. 

My plan for today is pretty simple. I'm heading to the gym, getting ready for tonight, playing darts, and helping prepare tonights meal. Christmas eve is spent at my Uncle Wayne's house, where I help him prepare the meal and the house for guests. He has a pretty cool darts room with a vintage board and correct standing measurments. It's nice to run in and out playing between cooking dishes. 

Grilled Pepper Salad

What you need:
- 4 bell peppers
- 1 can black olives, sliced
- 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, sliced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt

Grill peppers on medium high heat, until soft and charred in spots, 5 minutes on each side. (I used my broiler on high) When cool, chop pepper and toss with remaining ingredients. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 24:

Christmas eve tradition? We have a few traditions that have held up for Christmas eve. We always have ham, because we have turkey the next day, and open our presents after dinner. I like opening them on Christmas eve because it changes the focus on Christmas day. 

Honey Shrimp and Rice.

Almost here.

Christmas is almost here! This post comes late because it has been a busy day! I drove from the cities to La Crosse, thankfully the roads were great. We had an AMAZING breakfast this morning at the Lyndale Tap House, post to come soon. Hope you are having a wonderful time with your families.

Honey Shrimp and Rice

What you need:
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and devained
- 1 cup rice, cooked
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 T honey
- juice of one small lime
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

In a large zip block bag combine all ingredients except rice. Place in fridge and marinate for 30-60 minutes. Take out of fridge and let sit for 10 minutes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add shrimp and marinade to the pan. Cook shrimp for 2-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve on rice. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 23:

Your plans for Christmas 2012? By this time I am probably on my way to La Crosse. If you hadn't caught on before, my blog posts publish at noon everyday, which means I write them ahead of time. Sometimes I will go back in to add things but the general content is written the night before or several days in advance. Back to the question. On Christmas eve we celebrate at my Uncle Wayne's house and Christmas at ours. Lots of food, family, presents, and church involved. I'll take lot of pictures to share our family traditions. 

Chicken Pasta Bake.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit.

I had high hopes for the veggie farfalle, and my expectations were exceeded. This dish was good, real good. I was kind of expecting it just to be a regular old pasta dish but it was far from that. The veggie flavoring added a nice touch to the dish, and really enhanced the colors. My favorite thing about baked pastas are the crunchy edges, there so unexpected. 

The after dinner festivities really stole the show! What's that you ask? Carly and I making treats. Who am I kidding, I sat nicely at the kitchen bar and entertained her while she dipped all 50-something hockey pucks. YUM! 

Ok, funny story: We made bacon wrapped green beans as a side dish for the pasta. The next day at work, when I went to grab my lunch, I realized I had two Tupperware of pasta. That means Damian was sent to work with A LOT of bacon wrapped green beans. I can just imagine his expression when he pulls them out from his (Lululemon) lunch box, yep he uses the lulu bag for a lunchbox. 

Chicken Pasta Bake

What you need:
- 1 box Barilla veggie farfalle pasta
- 1 cup cubed chicken breast
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 6 oz shredded mozzarella
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon butter, sliced into small pieces 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta over high heat until tender and drain. Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes. Add onions and garlic, stirring to combine and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add mixture to pasta, combining with tomatoes, mozzarella, parsley, salt, and pepper. Top with bread crumbs and Parmesan. Place pieces of butter on top and bake for 30 minutes. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 22:

Eggnog or Hot Chocolate? This is a hard decision! I love them both. If I had to choose I think eggnog would be the winner because Hot Chocolate can be enjoyed throughout the year. Also, because eggnog in coffee is really really good! 

Italian Roasted Snap Peas.

First of Many.

This is my first time working with a leek. I have eaten the vegetable many times but I had never actually cooked with it. The taste is similar to an onion, a little dulled down and the texture is almost the same as a chive. Leeks are super easy to cook with and fairly in expensive, score! 

I can't believe it but I still do not feel like Christmas is early next week. I'm going to have to do something this weekend to change that. I decided that next year I am going to have a tree. I am determined this will change the Christmas spirit in our house. I went a little overboard with the pumpkins this year, and lost the thrill of decorating.

Italian Roasted Snap Peas

What you need:
- 1 Lb snap peas
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 large leek, white part only, sliced lengthwise
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss snap peas, leaks, olive oil, and salt in a bowl. Spread evenly on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and return to the oven and roast for an additional 10 minutes, until vegetables begin to brown. Toss with oregano and serve. 
Lightly adapted from Eating Well

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 21:

Do you travel on the holidays? Travel- technically. I drive to La Crosse, which is about a 2.5 hour drive. I thinking flying during Christmas would be a mess but I don't mind the drive to La Crosse. 

Tilapia with Capers and Tomatoes.

What makes this sauce so great? Butter.

I really like the food I make but I rarely impress myself. After the first few bites I declared that I would order this dish at a restaurant, it's that good. The fish was cooked with a perfect flaky texture and the sauce was to die for. Damian actually asked what was in it and surprised when I responded with butter. When making an amazing dish, sometimes you have to ditch everything that's "low fat" and use the real thing. The rest of the dish uses great ingredients to make up for it. If you don't like the kick, stay away from the red pepper flakes, but I think it makes a great combination with the tart capers. 

There is supposed to be another snow storm hitting the Midwest this weekend, thankfully the radar looks as if it will be south of here. I don't think the twin cities are ready yet for another blizzard. 

Tilapia with Capers and Tomatoes

What you need:

- 4 Tilapia fillets

- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

- salt and pepper

- 2 tablespoons butter

- 4 Tablespoons lemon juice

- 4 tablespoons capers

In a nonstick skillet, bring 1/3 cup water to a boil. Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Top with tilapia, and season with salt and pepper. cover and cook for 3 minutes. Flip tilapia fillets and cook covered for an additional 2 minutes. Transfer tilapia to a separate plate. Turn off heat, add butter, lemon juice, and capers to the skillet. Stir until butter is melted. Season with salt and pepper and serve over tilapia. 

Lightly adapted from Martha Stewart

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 20:

Favorite Christmas Meal? My favorite Christmas meal is turkey. We do a similar thanksgiving meal again on Christmas and I love it because its not too often that I make that meal. 

Asian Pineapple Pork.

Foodie Emergency.

Thank goodness for Trader Joe's Soyaki (a unique blend of teriyaki sauce and marinade for meat, fish, or vegetables). Caitlin introduced me to the dressing a few years ago and now I always have a bottle in the fridge in case of a foodie emergency. This was one. I made this pork in the crock pot because it was on super sale at rainbow. The pork was tender and fell apart but the flavor was a little off. We decided to pour out the juices in the pot and add the Soyaki sauce. It turned out amazing. I tweaked the recipe a bit to achieve the same results without waste. 

Do you enjoy Christmas movies? I love that they are always on TV. We have watched quite a few silly Lifetime ones and our fare share of ABC family movies. There just so darn positive!

Asian Pineapple Pork

What you need:
- 2-3 lbs pork steaks
- 1 can pineapple rings
- 1/2 car of Trader Joe's Soyaki 
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil

In a crock pot add pork, olive oil, and juice of half the can of the pineapple rings. Add a little water if you desire more liquid. Cook 6-8 hours on low, pour out juice and replace with Soyaki. Cook for an additional 30 minutes on low. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 19:

Favorite stocking stuffer: I am boring and really like the useful stuff! I still use the Nivea chap stick from last year- its almost gone. I usually receive things such as hair products, shaving cream, or household products. Its funny but I love that stuff WAY more than candy. 

Chino Latinos.

Red room= Red pictures.

Sorry in advance for some of the photos in this post, the restaurant is lit with red light and my Iphone is not good at making it look normal. On Saturday night we visited a favorite spot, Chino Latino's. If you haven't been before, the restaurant is family style and all the food is meant to be shared. I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience at Chino Latino's. The atmosphere is trendy and the food is extremely flavorful. Damian and I decided to let Danielle and Jarrod chose all the food. We are not picky eaters at all and I can't stress enough that there is no bad dish at Chino's.  I can't remember the last time I was this full!

I surprised them with personalized menus!

We started with a round of Saki Bombs.

I enjoyed a "Mexican 3 way" margarita- it was delicious. 

You get these headbands when you take the saki bombs.We were actually the first table downstairs to order them. Once other tables realized, everyone began to follow the trend. 

We started with the Kobe beef lettuce wraps- These were delicious topped with everything. 

This was the nachos del sol- crispy plantain chips topped with black beans, chorizo, queso fresco, and pico de gallo. 

The sushi sampler- tiger shrimp roll, mango shrimp caterpillar roll, wasabi tuna drano balls, and the chipotle salmon roll. 

Pork fried rice- this dish stole the show. I'm not the biggest rice person but the tenderness of this dish was amazing. 

The biggest dish we ordered was the carne asada- a platter of slow cooked beef barbacoa and chipotle spiked chicken tinga served with Cuban black beans, guac, pico de gallo, chile de arbol salsa, and fresh corn tortillas. 

We ordered the s'mores for dessert. They make cinnamon snap cookies instead of gram crackers, which makes all the difference. This is definitely one of my favorite things we ordered. 

After dinner we went out for a few drinks Downtown to celebrate being together for the weekend. It's always great to have them visit and hopefully we will be able to get out to Chicago sometime soon. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 18:

When do you open gifts? We open most of our gifts on Christmas eve. On Christmas morning we receive stockings and a few extra gifts from Santa. 

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms.

Italian Feast

This past weekend my brother Jarrod and his fiance Danielle came to Minneapolis to visit and have some fun. There flight arrived on Saturday morning and we were all starved when we got back to the house. I prepared an Italian spread buffet where the food combinations were endless. It was absolutely delicious and we were all stuffed by the end. 

The weather here has been crazy. After finally warming up enough for ice to melt on the roads, we had rain all day on Saturday. Rain in December is not common in Minnesota. Now the temps have dropped again so the lovely ice is back. If you know me well enough, i'm very uncoordinated. I'm trying to be extra careful for slippery spots. 

Can you believe Christmas is next week? I'm not sure if its the lack of tree in our apartment but it really has not hit me yet. 

Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms

What you need:
- 1 Lb mushrooms
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss mushrooms with all ingredients (minus butter) in a small baking dish. Top with butter slices and roast for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

A sandwich platter- Roast beef, provolone cheese, turkey, prosciutto, sopressata salami, avocado, and pepperoncini's.  

Caprese- Tomatoes, Mozzarella cheese, fresh basil. 

Black olives, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and roasted red peppers. 

Arugula, sandwich and salad toppings, and other goodies. 

I would eat this everyday if I could. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 16 and 17:

Hardest Person to Buy For? The hardest person to buy a gift for is my brother. I can never judge what he actually wants for Christmas rather than what I want to give him. 

Post a picture of an old Christmas Card. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of old Christmas Cards. My family really likes to do picture cards, so i'm excited to see what was chosen this year.

Arugula Caprese Pasta + Barilla Review.

Family and Friends.

Despite being sick all week, I couldn't be more excited that I have had so many visitors. Andrea came into town on Wednesday, I can't believe how long its been, to spend a few days in the cities before heading home for an early Christmas. I forgot how much I missed seeing her more frequently. The best kind of friends are those that can go months without seeing, talk sparingly, and still be best friends throughout. I'm blessed. I always find it fun to sit around and reminisce about old high school stories, especially when they involve Wally. 

On top of this already exciting visitor, Jarrod (my brother) and Danielle are visiting this weekend! The last time they visited the twin cities was January. The weather was awful that weekend and caused many flight delays so I'm happy that we had the big snow storm last weekend. Having a 10 year age difference, my brother and I rarely lived in the same place. I'm so happy how close we are now as adults. 

Arugula Caprese Pasta

What you need:
- 1 Box Multigrain Penne Pasta, cooked al dente
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 6 oz container Mozzarella balls
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 8 oz arugula
- Handful of basil
- Salt and pepper

Reserve 1/3 cup of pasta water from the boiling water. Saute garlic in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved cooking water and simmer for 2 minutes. Toss sauce with pasta and stir in mozzarella, Parmesan, arugula, basil, salt, and pepper.
Lightly adapted from Barilla

Barilla sent me a bunch of products to try from the new lines they just released. This recipe is actually a version of one that I found on there website. I used a mixture of the multigrain penne and regular penne for this dish, Damian has a weird aversion to multigrain pasta. I didn't think it tasted much different than the regular, so why not get the added protein and ALA Omega-3? I'm really excited to try out the veggie farfalle because I think it would be a great addition to a baked pasta dish, hint hint. 

I really love that Barilla is making a huge effort toward adding more variety in there pasta lines. As you probably have noticed, we eat A LOT of pasta. Damian would eat it every day if he had it his way. In fact, before we met, he did eat it everyday! I'm going to start sneaking a little variety in and see if he notices. 

Whether you are a college student, post college student, or any other life title, Barilla really does make it affordable to eat well, just make sure you are pairing it with the right ingredients ;) 

* These are all of my personal opinions and I was not compensated for them. 

Christmas Blogging Challenge Day 15:

The best gift you given? This is tough because I think the best gift I have ever given might be this year. I won't write exactly what, because I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I made it a point this year to get everyone something they truly want or need. Sometimes it's not about what you think they would like, but what they would actually like. It's a nice lesson to learn.