Finger Foods

This week I am starting off with finger foods! My family loves finger foods because they are easy to pick and grab on busy nights.  All of the meals this week are inspired by recipes I found online but tweaked to make them my own.  The first recipe is for nachos.  My family loves to visit the Rainforest Café for their famous Lava Nachos, so I decided to make my own to see if I could even come close to making a recipe like theirs.  I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's website.  In her recipes she uses pinto beans however I used black beans because it is more preferable by my family.  Here is the recipe for the nachos: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/05/loaded-nachos/.  This is the final product.  My family said they almost beat the Rainforest Café recipe.  I'd say that one is a hit!

 

I also found a queso recipe from foodsweet.com.  I had never made a queso recipe so it was something new to try.  It was super easy and I am definitely making it again.  Here is the recipe for the queso: http://foodsweet.com/the-best-queso-cheese-sauce/.  The Pico de Gallo  is attached to the pioneer woman's recipe.  For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a mild salsa.  It is best made with fresh garden vegetables. 

 

 

Another one of my family's favorite finger food recipes is veggie and fruit pizza.  We have had this recipe so long that it can not be tracked back to the original, but all I know is that it is the first recipe my mom ever cooked for my dad.  The veggie pizza is a crescent roll crust with a ranch filling, made with an 8 ounces cream cheese, half a cup of sour cream, and one dry packet of ranch dressing.  It is than topped with an assortment of vegetables and cheese.  Some of our favorite toppings include broccoli, cauliflower,   onions, tomatoes, and carrots.

 

 

Along with veggie pizza my family loves fruit pizza.  This recipe can be made with homemade or store bought sugar cookies. (I prefer store bought because it is just as good and simpler to make.) We then use a homemade or store bought cream cheese frosting.  Then it is topped with an assortment of fruit.  We prefer blueberries, oranges, strawberries, and pineapple. Last but not least, a drizzle of white chocolate! 

 

 

Another fun way to add a creative twist to your meals is to have breakfast for dinner.  It is a big hit in my family.  Tonight we created potato pancakes, fruit crepes, and a spinach and feta crepe.  You may remember our trip to The French Crepe a few weeks ago in Caliornia.  My family enjoyed their crepes so much I decided to create my own. My first crepe was a fruit crepe.  For the crepe I used a recipe from Martha Stewart.  It was tricky at first but with my mom's help I was able to figure it out.  Here is the recipe for the crepe: http://www.marthastewart.com/335089/simple-crepes. For the filling I actually used a recipe from another crepe.  It was SO good. I also opted for cherry pie filling on top instead of strawberries, but you could use any you like!  Here is the recipe for the filling: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/strawberry-creme-crepes.

 

 

Did I mention I also had help from Izzy? :)

The next crepe was a more savory recipe.  It is a spinach and feta crepe.  My mom had something similar at one of our local restaurants and recreated it at home. You can either make it with whole eggs or egg whites - basically create an omelet by scrambling eggs with a bit of milk and salt and pepper to taste.  Add sautéed onions and spinach, and finally some feta cheese.  Fold over and tuck in a folded crepe.  They actually serve it at the restaurant with a side of poppy seed dressing and mom says it tastes very good!

My last entrée for the breakfast for dinner meal is a potato pancake.  Let me tell you these are not as easy as they make them sound.  I made a mashed potato recipe so of course first I had to make the mashed potatoes.  The recipe I used was another of the Pioneer Woman's.  Here is the link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/delicious_creamy_mashed_potatoes/.  I then had to make the actual potato pancakes.  I only ended up making a few because they are kind of tough.  In order to keep them stuck together I had to add a few more eggs to the recipe and about a bit of butter to the pan before cooking each pancake.  Although they are tough they are very delicious!! Here is the link to the potato pancake recipe: http://fooddoodles.com/2011/03/24/mashed-potato-pancakes/.

I also made a fruit salad with some of our fresh fruits.  I used a few melons I had found that farmers market last weekend.  They were very unique and very good. 

 

For all my Trader Joe's fans, don't forget to check out next week's post for a variety of Cookie Butter recipes! Here is a sneak peek at the Cookie Butter Milkshake! YUM.

 

 

That's it for this week! Have a good week! Don't forget to check out my Etsy business for more perfectly posh clothing for you and your pet!  Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IzzabelesCreations.

 

 

 

 

Fourth of July Weekend

It was a wonderful fourth of July weekend and our week was very busy preparing for the holiday.  We had planned on visiting friends in the afternoon for a homemade meal and fireworks but before we headed out I prepared an all American lunch for the family. 

 

The cupcakes on the left were created for the cookout as we had promised to bring dessert.  The recipe and more images are below.  I love chalkboards and for the Fourth I decided to find a quote and write it on a little chalkboard from Michaels.  I found the design and quote on Pinterest.  My family loves lemonade and I decided to make a strawberry lemonade.  It was gone it seconds!  This is the recipe for the Strawberry Lemonade: http://thefrugalgirls.com/2013/07/homemade-strawberry-lemonade-recipe.html.

 

Another idea I found on Pinterest was the fruit American Flag.  I used strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and skewers of course!  The lunch meal include baked beans, homemade coleslaw, and Cowboy hotdogs.  My mom is a tough coleslaw critic and she said it was very good so it must be!  The recipe for the coleslaw is: http://www.seededatthetable.com/2012/03/21/memphis-style-coleslaw/.  The hotdog recipe was already a hit in our family so I decided to bring it back for the Fourth.  Here is the recipe for the Cowboy Hotdogs: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/the-cowboy-hot-dog-50400000121902/.

 

 

The friends we were planning to visit in the afternoon on the Fourth had asked us to bring a dessert, so we decided to bring cupcakes.  I had originally seen this idea on Pinterest and honestly didn't think I could pull it off but decided to give it a shot!  I was surprised at how easy it was.  It took a lot of patience and food coloring but turned out better than I had expected.  The original recipe said it would only make about 16 cupcakes so I bought a box of cake mix and canned frosting just in case.  However I was able to get 24 cupcakes out of it!  I ended up making the box mix as well and had a total of 48 cupcakes to share with our friends and neighbors!  It was cupcake overload! Truth be told, the box cupcakes are good in a pinch but nothing beats homemade!!

 

 

 The decorating took the most patience but it was well worth it in the end!  Here is the recipe for the cupcakes: http://www.bakerella.com/snow-cones/.

 

 

We love to support our local farmers market and purchase some of the fresh veggies the local farms have to offer.  This weekend we decided to try a few new markets and this is what we purchased and what it became.

 

I used the fresh strawberries to make a homemade jam from allrecipes.com.  My family and I love to put it on toast and my frozen waffles.  Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Jam: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Jam/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=strawberry%20jam&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1.

 

My dad loves HOT peppers, so I bought some jalapeno peppers.  In order to make them less spicy we took out the seeds and stuffed them with cream cheese and cheese.  It is very simple to make and my family loves them!  Here is the recipe for the stuffed peppers: http://www.marthastewart.com/317501/stuffed-jalapenos.

 

I chose a Vegetable soup recipe to use up some of our fresh veggies. Once again it was a big hit for our family.  Here is the Martha Stewart recipe for the vegetable soup: http://www.marthastewart.com/318100/big-batch-vegetable-soup.

 

 

I love to go out to eat at some of the local restaurants to get some inspiration.  We went out to breakfast on Saturday morning to the Breakfast Club in Scottsdale.  Every thing was amazing from the spicy biscuits and gravy to the Bananas Foster Pancakes!

 

The Breakfast Grilled Cheese sandwich was also a delight.  It had every element of breakfast, like eggs, bacon, hash browns, and cheese!

 

 

My last recipe of the night is a "Quick and Easy" recipe.  Sometimes I just whip things up with thing we have at home and this week I made a chicken Alfredo.  I found the recipe for the Alfredo sauce at allrecipes.com.  Here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Sauce-2/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=alfredo%20sauce&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1.

 

That is it for this week!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and you, too, try out some of these recipes yourself!  Check in next week to see what is cookin!

 

Also check out my Etsy business, IzzabelesCreations, for puppy tutus and handmade headbands. Here is the link: https://www.etsy.com/shop/IzzabelesCreations .
 

California

My family loves to take weekend trips, and lucky for us the California beaches are only about six hours away.  This weekend we were able to travel to Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Laguna and Newport beach   We are always researching the area for good restaurants and cute cafes before we go.  It is also important for us to search for dog friendly restaurants that Izzy can eat at too!  bringfido.com will give you dog friendly restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, etc.  urbanspoon.com is another great website if you want to see reviews and suggestions on good restaurants in the area.  When we arrived in Laguna we were ready for lunch so we got a table at the Cliff restaurant.  It has great views of the ocean.  One thing we like to do is get a bunch of appetizers and mix and match.  For example they had excellent crab cakes and buffalo chicken bites.  Avocado is big in California and available on most menus in the local restaurants.  Of course my mother had to have a sandwich with avocado on it.

 

 

We also went to Newport Beach which is right next to Balboa Island.  We had heard about the famous frozen bananas there on the island, so we had to check them out.  There is a story behind two of the shops that carry the bananas.  They were invented somewhere between 1945 and 1960 on the island, no one is quite sure.  There are many places you can get bananas but Dads Donuts and Sugar and Spice are two of the most notable.  They are right next door to each other and both claim they invented the Frozen Banana.  We chose to have ours from sugar and spice because the line was longer and we thought that was a good sign. They also both carry an ice cream bar called the "Balboa Bar" which is and ice cream bar dipped in chocolate just like the banana.  They can than be sprinkled with an assortment of toppings.  They were delicious!

 

 

They were so good we decided to try making our own.  We found a picture of these penguins on Pinterest and kind of made it up as we went along!

 While at Newport we stopped at a restaurant called Charlie's Chili on the pier.  They are famous for their chili cheese fries.  Me, my dad, my sister, an my brother all had the chili cheese fries.  Their servings were huge so we probably could have shared our chili cheese fries, but they were SO good!!  However they also serve breakfast all day, so my mom decided to have an omelet with avocado of course!

 

 

 

Our last stop was Hollywood Boulevard where we ate at The French Crepe.  Since I am learning French as a second hand language it was fun to eat some authentic French food.  I can't wait to experiment with some of my crepe recipes very soon!

 

 

Now that I am back home I am picking up new ingredients for next weeks recipes, but that is it for this week!  I hope you have a great week and I will see you again soon!

 

 

 

School is out for the summer and it is the perfect time to create, make, and bake!  In order to stay organized this summer I have created a meal plan including some of my family's favorite recipes from crockpot chili to grilled pizza.  The meal plan includes recipes to fill several weeks of dinner meals, saving one night for pizza night and an empty night for leftovers.  I will be talking more about the meal plan later on, in case your family would like to give it a shot as well! 

 

I am always looking for good recipes on my favorite blogs and Pinterest.  I will highlight some of my favorites, plus share family recipes as well as my own personal recipes along the way.  Besides everyday meal planning my family loves to celebrate national food days, such as national fudge day and vanilla milkshake day, which we celebrated recently.  It is fun to do and easy to find out about.  If you want to know more about national food days, you can register at http://nationaldaycalendar.com/ and receive emails to alert you when they are occurring during the year.

 

Keep in mind that we spread out splurge foods and keep a close eye on healthy eating.  We are big supporters of our local farmers markets to find the freshest ingredients when we can, to use when cooking.  This week I am sharing some of our favorite meals from my meal plan, a couple of national food days and one of our family favorites.  Enjoy!!

 

 

 

One of my family's favorite recipe from this week was Debbie's crockpot chili. We have tried many chili recipes in the past and this was by far the best. Here is the link to Debbie's chili: http://www.food.com/recipe/debbies-crock-pot-chili-45069.

 

 June 16th was National Fudge Day so we celebrated with a peanut butter fudge from Sally's Baking Addiction.  We added Reese's Peanut butter cups to ours but that is only one option; feel free to add whatever you desire to your fudge.  We noticed living in very dry conditions in the desert southwest, that we probably could have cut back on the amount of powdered sugar. You will want to make that judgment call based on where you live.  Here is the link to the peanut butter fudge recipe: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/10/29/peanut-butter-fudge/.

 

 

 This is Izzabele, my dog and inspiration.  She is the happiest dog I know and she is also the biggest peanut butter lover too.  If we don't keep an eye on her things like this happen when peanut butter is around.  Oh and by the way she is NOT allowed on the kitchen table!

 

June 20th was National Vanilla Milkshake Day.  After searching for the best milkshake place in our area, we found Udder Delights, which is an ice cream shop run by our local dairy farm.  They had multiple ice cream flavors to choose from and adorable chalkboard painted tables.

 

I love how the local businesses are so puppy friendly.  Izzy was able to get puppy ice cream.  I even got a kiss.

 

 

Since my brother was not able to go to the milkshake shop we decided to try making one on our own.  We chose Paula Deen's vanilla milkshake recipe.  Here is the link to Paula's vanilla milkshake: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/vanilla-milkshake-recipe.html.

 

 

My family loves whipped cream so we added LOTS and LOTS of whipped cream to our shakes!!

 

 

My brother and sister were my taste testers and they thought they were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!  Of course all that sugar made them a little crazy!

 

After drinking the milkshakes, I attempted to shoot whipped cream in my brother and sister's mouths but I don't have very good aim...

 

 

My family and I have experimented with foods we can freeze and reheat.  This week I chose to make waffles because my family loves them.  My favorite recipe is from allrecipes.com. They are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  All you need to make them is a waffle maker.  I used white flour for my waffle but I am sure you can use whole wheat flour if you would like.  Here is the recipe for the waffles: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/waffles-i/.

 

Izzy recently discovered she also has a love for waffles and did everything she could do steal a bite.

 

Food Trucks are huge were we live and they will often park at the local farmer's markets on the weekend.  One of my favorites is Waffle Crush and this strawberries and cream waffle was inspired by one of the waffles I had off their truck.  I found this recipe on myrecipes.com.  Here is the link to the strawberries and cream cheese waffle recipe: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cream-cheese-waffle-sandwiches-50400000130022/.

The sky is the limit on the toppings you can use for waffles.  This waffle is called smore's.  All you do is put four large marshmallows on top and broil until golden brown and top with chocolate and another waffle.  Get creative and you will be surprised what you can come up with!

One of the places we found after we moved here is Shnepf Farms.  They are local growers of fruits and vegetables.  Depending on the time of year you can find all sorts of good stuff there picked fresh.  In the spring is the peach festival. On mother's day we went out for the peach festival and picked some of the most amazing peaches I have ever had!  We even picked up a peach topping that was delicious on waffles.  More peach picking pictures below.

Well that is all for now!  I m going to try and post once a week, so I hope you will come back and visit soon for more ideas and recipes! You can join my instagram @izzabeleandcompany for more fun pictures and updates!