10 Clever Food Ideas

1. Cook an egg in a bell pepper slice

Ten CREATIVE, clever, & easy food tricks. Have you tried any of them? They are sure to impress your kids, friends, & maybe even your husband? (more…)

Poolside Cocktails

We are doing dinner at the pool tonight so I have cocktails on my mind. I’ll take a spicy bloody mary morning, noon, and night! What is your favorite poolside cocktail? 1, 2, 3, or 4?
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Food on a Stick

1. Salt & Pepper Prawns on a Stick (with Lime Dipping Sauce)

State Fair season is approaching & one thing comes to my mind…FOOD ON A STICK! I grew up going to the MN State Fair, and back then the food oddities were nothing like they are now. (no deep fried butter on a stick for me!) They now have over 60 types of food-on-a-stick. crazy!

Food is indeed more fun to eat on a stick. So, I’ve collected 10 real food on a stick appetizers that I WOULD try! (more…)

Avocado Spaghetti & Homemade Ice Cream

I thought I’d share one of my FAVORITE new food blogs today, ohladycakes.com. I discovered her through her spectacular Iceland photography. After visiting Iceland in 2007 with my husband I’ve become somewhat obsessed with this country. (her photographs are the most beautiful that I’ve seen!)

Anyway, she has me convinced that I NEED an ice cream maker. Her homemade ice creams are made from about 4- 5 ingredients. I can taste her Chocolate Chunk Coconut & Peanut Butter Chunk ice creams right out of the screen!

I’ve also become a HUGE fan of her Spaghetti with Avocado Sauce. It is quite fantastically brilliant & delicious!

4 Desserts for my overripe bananas!

I have a bunch of about 6 bananas sitting on my kitchen counter turning brown as I type. Last night while watching The Bachelorette (team JEF!!) I made myself a delicious banana split. It was simple…banana, vanilla ice cream, and melted choco chips on top! I bookmarked some tasty desserts that would be fun to try with my bananas. Here are 4 that are fairly simple and yummy.

I love The Leaning Tower! It is the old school banana split with stacked ice cream discs cut out with a cookie cutter! via lemonsandanchovies.com

Banana Split Bites- YES! My kids would eat sprinkles on anything! via fromdatestodiapers.com

Banana Split Pie. There is nothing more delicious than a frozen oreo cookie pie crust! bigredkitchen.com

Banana Split French Toast. Good for a special Sunday breakfast. via blogs.babble.com

Espresso Madness

A perfect morning has to be a coffee morning! In fact, espressos are now taking over my life. It all started when I realized just how expensive my coffee addiction was getting. I would pay extraordinary amounts of money on coffee from generic coffee shops and cafes and I wouldn’t really like the coffee I bought. So I started looking into different options and I quickly realized that making my own espressos at home would be a great alternative to dripped sludge offered everywhere.

What surprised me the most was the relative ease that it took to learn how to make my own coffee to connoisseur standards. My espresso machine allowed me to experiment in the mornings before work waking me up just a little more while giving me that caffeinated bump to start the day. The machine itself is gorgeous and is a simple yet fantastic addition to my kitchen counter. In fact, it’s now one of my most used appliances. If it broke, I’d be devastated – but there’s a lot of websites, such as Partselect that provide replacement parts and help.

I love the feeling of grinding my own coffee. The smell it releases before setting it into the espresso machine is the first thing that gets me. After that it’s the lingering smell after having poured the brown gold into my cup. If only espresso cups could be bigger!

By Sophie

Peas in your SANDWICH!

I would have never thought of it, but it looks like the most refreshing summer sandwich. Especially after a day at the pool! & maybe a glass of white wine too?

Green Peas Sandwich recipe

more great sandwiches HERE

Buffalo Chicken Deviled Eggs

I am seriously intrigued by these deviled eggs. I’ve always preferred mine spicy but never thought of chicken!

1 dozen eggs (boiled, cooled, peeled, and cut in half)
2 tbsp Yoplait Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce
2/3 cup cooked chicken meat, chopped
3 tbsp finely chopped carrots
3 tbsp finely chopped celery
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
1/3 cup blue cheese, crumbled
fresh parsely, for garnish, if desired
Directions

1 Cut the boiled eggs in half. Remove the yolks, and place in a medium sized bowl. Add the Greek yogurt, wing sauce, and 1/4 cup of the blue cheese (reserve remaining). Stir until well mixed.
2 Stir in the chopped chicken, carrots, celery, and onion.
3 Spoon the chicken mixture into the egg white halves.
4 Before serving, add a drizzle of wing sauce, the remaining blue cheese crumbles, and a sprig of parsley.
5 Get your Ron Swanson on and enjoy!