Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Home-Made Garlic Parmesan Croutons

It's so normal to think that getting items at the grocery store is easy and convenient and most people never consider making the same thing at home because it's too difficult, there are too many ingredients, or it takes too much time. I tend to think that if you make it at home it'll be much healthier and you don't have to guess the millions of ingredients that were put inside to make it taste the way it does. 
Today, lets try making garlic Parmesan croutons at home!
Ingredients:
Stale bread - a loaf, you pick the size, no measuring for this recipe.
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Dried Parsley Flakes - or fresh if you have some in your herb garden
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
(the most super simple thing ever!)
1. Turn on the broiler to low
2. Cut the bread into cubes, about an inch, smaller maybe if you have kids...but I like the big ones. Drop your cubes onto a sheet pan and spread them out so they fit in one layer.
3. Drizzle well with olive oil and apply the seasonings on top.
4. With your hands toss around all the cubes so they are as evenly covered as possible. Spread the cubes on the sheet pan.

5. Pop the pan in the oven about 10-15 minutes until golden brown.When you take them out drizzle them with some Parmesan cheese and toss again. 


These are so good warm out of the over as a snack, half of them are usually gone before they have time to cool thanks to my husband..... go figure. Otherwise but them in a ziplock bag and store them in your pantry for up to a week and they will be perfect with your daily salad.  Yumm....

For a quick view at other great ideas from All The Pretty Things you can also check out my PINTEREST board!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

How to Fold a Wonton Bite

There are many ways you can fold a wonton wrapper depending on size and the type of food you plan on making with that wrapper.  I'm just going to show the basic fortune cookie fold. 



1. Top Right - Start by filling your wonton wrapper - make sure not to overfill the wrapper so it doesn't ooze out. Dip your finger in water and run it along all the sides of the wrapper. This will seal the wrapper.
2. Bottom Right - Fold the wrapper in half - corner to corner.  Seal the edges with your finger
3. Bottom Left - With a finger, push the center of the wrapper in pushing your filling closer to the top and making the wrapper bend corner to corner. 
4. Top Left - Fold the corners on top of each other and dab a little water in between the corners to hold them together. 

That's it! Super fast, super simple!
...and when you're done you can have a bigillion of them to pop in the oven.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bummer!

I feel like most of my recipe creations tend to turn out at pretty decent if not delicious, at least that's what my husband tells me, but even I can acknowledge that once in a while I make some poor cooking choices and mistakes and really ruin some could-have-been-amazing food.  

Exhibit A:

Although these may look (and actually taste) pretty delicious, the mess it took to get these six little bites was ridiculous.  I decided to make some wonton cheese bites as a small appetizer and in an unhealthy moment wanted to fry them instead of bake them.  I get the pan all nice and hot full of hot oil and dip these little cuties right in the oil.  By the time I got the last one in the pan my whole front side; clothing, face, hair and all the counter space within five feet of the area was completely covered in oil. I quickly tried to put the cover on until I started to smell very cooked food and I knew it was ready to turn. Problem was, I still had hot oil jumping all over the kitchen.   Needless to say, it was one of the worst ten minutes of cooking I think I have ever done.  I spent about a half hour after this mess cleaning up the entire kitchen top to bottom.    

Sometimes things just don't turn out in the kitchen. We all have those moments when we think it'll turn out a certain way and instead your wonton wrappers throw you the finger and tell you "next time remember to bake me you unhealthy woman!" =)   In my opinion, half the of cooking is enjoining the time you spend in the kitchen weather it's with your cute husband or finally getting that moment away from the stress in your life. So enjoy! and don't sweat the small stuff. It'll work next time. (Hopefully)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

GVSU Enrichment Dinner 2012

I was finally able to put my gold inspiration look to good use last night when my husband and I went to the GVSU enrichment dinner.  This was out second time and after seeing all the beautiful gowns of last year I decided to step it up.  Of course, when I went searching for a dress I found absolutely nothing.  I freaked out all the way home just hoping that I would have a little black dress in the closet that I could at least throw on since I waited to the very last minute to even consider shopping for this year.   
When I got home, instead of going straight to my closet I decided to give the internet one quick search hoping I could find a killer dress that would ship overnight....with no luck, but I did come across a website called renttherenway.com.  

This is where I found my dress!  I was so lucky that they had my size and lucky for me they ship super fast.  They are designer dresses at a really affordable price to rent.  When you're done with the dress you just put it in your pre-paid shipping envelope and return it.  No dry cleaning or anything! Super easy!

I got many complements on my dress throughout the night and we had a very entertaining evening. =)

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Gold...a great summer wedding look!

 The shoes might be expensive but the outfit look pretty killer! =)
I've really got to do a major shopping trip.
Gold...a great summer wedding look!


Badgley Mischka mini dress
£115 - theoutnet.com


BURAK UYAN stiletto shoes
$860 - stylebop.com


A Wear wedding handbag
£20 - awear.com


LK Designs gold butterfly earrings
€80 - pret-a-beaute.com

Summer Drinks!

I would love to say that everything I cook comes from my own genius mind, but unfortunately it does not, and although this summer recipe adventure was a way for me to re-do and re-invent other recipes I did find one that was just perfect the way it was.  This one was found on Pinterest of course... as many good things in life are found. 

This delicious drink I found was called Sarasota Lemonade and you can find the VERY simple but delicious recipe at The Pampered Jes.  I made two batches throughout the night, although it should have been more like four with how fast this got finished.  It was so refreshing and sweet; perfect for summer.   Check out The Parmpered Jes and let me know what you think!


[The drink container is from Pottery Barn and you can find it HERE. Wine glasses from Target]