Showing posts with label Miscellaneous - Good Ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous - Good Ideas. Show all posts

Friday, March 26, 2010

Hey Hey Old Bay!

I wanted to share a few things I am enjoying lately.

While I absolutely love to entertain & happily obsess over my menu for days & days prior, I don't go crazy with unnecessary gadgets or houseware items. Once in a while, though, I see something that just rocks my apron off & I must have. This, my friends, is one such thing. I am in love with my cooler! 


I already christened Tommy last weekend when I had friends over. The cooler even lifts off so that it can be transported. And you just gotta love the bottle opener! Not only is it pretty but it works well too ~ the ice hardly had melted when we checked it the next morning. 

Onto more things I am diggin'...


Old Bay & Garlic Crab Legs by Live.Love. Eat

{ Printable Recipe Here }

My previous post was for crab legs with an Asian twist that were to die for. I loved them so much I had to prepare them again the same way, stovetop, but with my own special sauce this time. The result was a solo lovefest with just me, 1.4 lbs crab legs, a side of mashed potatoes & a glass of white wine. They were out of this world, better than any crab legs I've had. I even thought of starting my own little crab truck where I serve nothing but crab legs in different sauces.

Can you picture that? BYOB!

Bring Your Own Bib


1.5 lbs Snow Crab Clusters
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 stick of Butter
Garlic Powder
Old Bay Seasoning
White wine

Prepare the crab as in in this recipe by breaking the crab legs into pieces & removing joints & unnecessary parts. Since this was just for myself I didn't even bother cutting the shell on one side as I did in the last recipe. I did, however, try out the clusters this time. While a part or two were fishy I enjoyed them.

Heat olive oil & butter in a skillet on medium high. When butter is browned & hot, add crab leg pieces. This will make a beautiful sizzling sound. Toss the pieces around to coat in the oil butter mixture. Add a few sprinkles of garlic powder & Old Bay. Use your judgement here. Add white wine, about 1 cup. Toss lightly. Crab legs should warm through over medium heat for no more than 7 minutes. Take off heat & keep covered until ready to indulge.


{ Food for Thought }

1.4 lbs = 2 clusters was perfect for me. If you're preparing for quite a few people, I say plan on 2 clusters per person. And you definitely want to have a seafood/nut cracker & little fork standing by to help you with this.


And one last thing to enjoy....


I had forgotten how much I loved Old Bay Seasoning. So, tonight after  cleaning out my freezer to make room for about 40 lbs of meat I got from my boss who bought 3 cows in an auction, I decided I needed to make french fries that were taking up way too much space. That's what I told myself.

Have you ever just added a few seasonings on hand to spice up your fries? Oh my.....



Cook your fries the way you want. As soon as they are off the heat, sprinkle with sea salt, a little garlic powder & just a bit of Old Bay seasoning. Wow....


Go spice things up a bit & have a great weekend!!!!!!


Linking Deliciously to Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Penne with Sausage & Escarole

Blogging breaks are necessary but then I get to a point, usually after 5 days, when I feel disconnected from the people who have become a part of my life. So, here I am, I've missed you. And I bring you this dish I made recently which I found in the Today's Show recipe book, a gift for my  birthday in October.

I loved this dish! The ingredients just work so well together. The original recipe called for broccoli rabe which is slightly bitter. I opted for escarole since it pairs beautifully with sausage in a popular Italian soup. It was perfect so I'm sticking with it!!!!!



PENNE WITH SAUSAGE & ESCAROLE

{Printable Recipe Here}

1 lb hot or sweet Italian sausage links
1 tblsp olive oil
8 oz Escarole, chopped (about 6 cups)
1 large leek, cut into ¼” slices (about ½ cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup chicken broth
½ cup purchased roasted red sweet peppers, drained & cut into strips
6 oz dried penne pasta
¼ cup snipped fresh basil
½ tsp pepper
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Fill a skillet with ½” water. Bring to boiling. Add sausage. Cook covered for 15 minutes. Drain. Remove to a cutting board & cut into ½” slices. Return slices to a skillet & cook in oil for 2-3 minutes or until brown. Set aside.


Add escarole, leek & garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring until escarole is wilted & leek is tender.


Stir in sausage, broth & peppers. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat. Cover & simmer gently for 2-3 minutes until escarole is crisp tender.



Meanwhile cook pasta. Add cooked pasta, basil & black pepper to sausage mixture. Toss gently to combine.


Top with parmesan cheese. Serve additional parmesan cheese at table.


A little tip on parmesan: Fresh is best!!!!!!!!!!! I highly recommend buying a fresh block & shredding/grating as you need it. It lasts for a while & is perfect for pasta dishes that require only just a few but very fresh ingredients.

Since I find it to be such a pain to grate on the smallest hole (not shown above) I grate on the hole you see above, then I just do a rough chop to get it just a bit smaller that what you see.


{Food for Thought}

The recipe didn't mention taking the casing off the sausage but I did anyway. After it boils & you remove it to a cutting board, let it rest for a few minutes. Then just take a knife & make a slit the long way, removing the casing like a jacket with your hands. Since the sausage & escarole are perfect together I wouldn't recommend substituting chicken but if you're not a meat eater I think turkey sausage would be fine too.


 { Deliciously Linking to Friday Food with MomTrends }

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package Giveaway

I love parties & planning for them. So be it if I get happily & mildly obsessed as I plan. It's fun, something to focus my energy on, plus I know my son appreciates it. And while I may not be the biggest fan of Spongebob it does lend to some pretty fantastic party ideas.

I am not a year round crafty gal but when I have a goal in mind, my crafty side comes out. So, I spent a lot of time making things & coming up with ideas for this party. After much time, money, love & sweat, I thought it would be nice to pass on a lot of the goodies that made this SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Pool Party a wonderful one for my sweet boy. He had a great time, as did the adults. We had Tristan's swimming teacher come act as lifeguard so the kids could play in the pool while the adults enjoyed themselves too.

Below are some pics (make sure to doubleclick for details) I wanted to share as I normally would but there is also a description & then details on what exactly I am giving away as part of the:


SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package ~ Valued at $130-$150


Deets: I came up with this invite idea within 5 seconds of Tristan saying he wanted a SB party. Simple & easy but creatively effective. And people will be surprised getting a sponge in the mail. Address & number have been scratched off. Giveaway: The electronic template for winner to attach to sponge. I'll even make you the little red ties.



Deets: The sweet birthday boy just moments before his friends arrive. Giveaway: That SB birthday banner hanging from the mantle & the SB centerpiece right behind sweet birthday boy.


Deets: Take note of the real Krusty Krab sign from the SpongeBob show. I knew I had to duplicate it somehow for the food table.

After I was lucky enough to come across a half-clamshell dish I decided to make the top from white cardstock, making it look like one big clam.


Then I propped it up just right behind the clamshell dish with a placecard holder. Giveaway: Clamshell dish, white cardstock Krusty Krab sign with placecard holder & the net too!


Deets: Let's look at this picture again. 'Cuz I made the menu too. I bought this nautical tray on sale at Michael's, turned it on its side. Then made up a menu of what we were actually serving, cut it out with weird scissors then colored the edges.
I had my supermarket make me 45 mini burger patties. My Dad was wonderful enough to grill them all. I also served mini chicken patties that I had catered in from a nearby restaurant. I served cut up fruit in pineapple boats & chips & dip. I also didn't take a picture of some apple juice that I added blue dye to in order to look like ocean water.

Giveaway: The tray and the secret formula bottle with sand.




Deets: A proud craft moment for me was making this sign for the front yard. I wanted the ambience to begin before guests even came to the door. I was going to hammer it into the ground in the yard but rain stopped me from doing that. If you click on the picture, the brown is real sand. Yes, I glued sand to the picture. The rest I just drew & colored in. Giveaway: The sign, large net & starfish & seashells.





Deets: I think my best idea for this party or ever was the pineapple entrance. By this time I knew I was out of my mind. But it was easy & made for an awesome photo op. I glued large orange cardstock together. The top was cut from a palm tree cut out bought from the party store. I also made the life preserver/buoys from that foam stuff at the craft store & painted red stripes & draped rope through them. Giveaway: Pineapple top, a tutorial on making the pineapple & the life preserver/buoys.




Deets: This 2 piece sign never made its way up on the wall but it's cute. Giveaway: 2 piece birthday sign.





Deets: SpongeBob loves to catch jellyfish. I crafted most of the 14 here but had some visiting family make one to represent themselves since they couldn't be at the party (my sis made the NY Yankees one). The plan was to have a sign out back by the tent that said Jellyfish Fields & hang all the jellyfish from the tent. The rain foiled that plan so I brought it all inside, except for the sign. The jellyfish were all hung from jewelry making cord.

My SpongeBob jellyfish.

I got lucky enough to get this sign out of a Spongebob Jellyfish game so I glued it to dowels & put it in the ground while it was still raining. Ideally, I wanted the sign with all the jellyfish together. Giveaway: All the jellyfish & the sign along with the original stickers that came with the game. You put each child's name on a sticker & they have to stick it to the sign, sort of like pin the tail on the donkey.


Deets: I hung 24 feet worth of streamers in 2 shades of blue from the patio frame, to appear like the ocean. I don't have those anymore but I do have.......Giveaway: This rectangle tablecloth that wasn't dirtied at all. I folded it to fit this round table.


Deets: I bought this custom made banner off of Etsy. I had planned to hang it from the pool fence but again, the rain. Giveaway: Bikini Bottom banner.



Deets: I made SpongeBob labels on the computer to wrap around the bottles of bubbles for the beach pail favors below. Giveway: Already made labels.




Deets: My son found this little craft, Captain's Wheel perhaps, at the store & said it looked like SpongeBob's front door. Light bulb came on so I attached it to a real pineapple which served as part of the centerpiece. Giveaway: Captain's Wheel craft.

Deets: I am not a huge fan of all the plastic tablecloths so I thought it would be cute to display all of Tristan's SpongeBob artwork by arranging it on top of a blue tablecloth & placing a clear one over it. Giveaway: Both tablecloths, clean!


Other items in giveaway: Not pictured is a roll of blue cellophane that you can put up on a window to make your guests feel like they're under water as well as a pinata stick & mask. One highlight of the party was watching all the kids try to bash in the SpongeBob pinata before I realized it was a pullstring pinata.
Alrighty, that concludes all the items for the
Spongebob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package.
Below are some other pictures from the party.
The cake:

One of Tristan's best friends, Angel.



One of the other highlights of the party ~ After most had gone home, Tristan & his two girlfriends were running around the yard kissing each other. They didn't know we were spying. Just about one of the cutest things I ever saw.

Photo ops by the pineapple.



Tristan & his girlfriends.


Ok folks:
  • For 1 entry, leave me a comment telling me why you, or someone you know, would benefit from this package.
  • For 2 entries, in same comment above tell me what your favorite giveaway item is.
  • For 3 entries, post about this on your blog & let me know that you did.
Easy! Winner will be chosen randomly on Monday, September 21.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Steamy Affair

He makes my life easier.



He works hard so I don't have to.



And he makes me happy.



I'm in love





Oh if the walls could talk......................they're just jealous!






{You can believe all the hundreds of amazing reviews on Amazon. As for the very few bad ones ~ they're from people who don't know how to chew gum & walk at the same time. If you don't have an ideal everyday floor cleaning system for tiled floors then you need this! Ask me anything about it, it's just too easy!}

Isn't it time you had a steamy affair!!!!!!

Brought to you by Angie & Wordful Wednesdays from:

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Beautiful Buffet

Today's Wordful Wednesday is a hodge podge of things I want to share. Life's Buffet, the things I'm diggin'. I try to keep things simple on recipe days to avoid much too lengthy posts, so Wednesdays are a good day for me to deviate, to give you more of me & what's behind the apron. Not that you asked or anything.....hah.

Getting an unexpected little treat in the mail from not just a bloggy friend but also simply a ...



Thank you Kacey!


And remember the island I was waiting for? It came a while back & I'm loving it!

Scary Mommy sent me that cute little dishtowel after I entered a contest I didn't even win. Thanks again Scary Mommy!!! The Island wanted to dress up for the holidays...

Tristan's 1st tree. What fun not to have any rules. Anything goes on this one unlike the formal one in the living room. Both favorites but for different reasons!

Lovely handmade organic soap made by the amazingly talented Nazarina over at Giddy Gastranome. These will make perfect additions to homemade goodies in a gift basket! Thank you Nazarina. Go visit her here ! Everything she makes is beautiful & with lots of care & love.

The perfect Poinsetta to dress up the dining room!

And lastly, perfecting my newly acquired napkin folding skills for my Christmas table setting. Decisions, decisions. The one on the left or the one on the right? Visit here to see how you can fold napkins for your next gathering.




Brought to you by Angie & Wordful Wednesdays from:


Thursday, November 13, 2008

A Plate of Muffins

I came across a Martha Stewart craft for making a glittered party pedestal over at a Life Made by Marcie. Go check her out to see the awesome pedestal she made for a Halloween party she had. You can mark it for next year. Although I had no need for this exact kind, it did give me an idea to make my own serving plate.

Here it is & I love it. I plan to make more at different heights which will make for a nice presentation at the holidays. Sure you can buy them but this was fun to make & cheaper. I found the plate on clearance & the candlestick at Michael's. Just glue them together & you're ready to entertain.

Garlic & Sundried Tomato Corn Muffins

What would look nice on this serving plate are some of these muffins I made a few weeks back. This recipe is from Giada & while I got mixed reviews I thought it was worth sharing because it's easy enough & intriguing. If you like garlic, sundried tomatoes & corn muffins you might want to give them a try. I think they're nice served with soup.


2 (8 1/2 oz)pkgs Jiffy corn muffin mix
2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3 garlic cloves, minced
2/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes (from an 8oz jar)
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2 muffin tins. In a large bowl combine the muffin mix, corn, garlic & sun-dried tomatoes. Stir to combine. In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream & eggs until well blended. Add the buttermilk mixture to the muffin mix. Stir to combine. Spoon the mix into the muffin tins, filling up the cups about halfway. Bake until golden brown on top, about 15 minutes.

My Thoughts:

I would recommend decreasing garlic to 2 cloves & maybe adding a bit more sundried tomatoes. Not by 50% but just a little bit more.

Click Here to Print Recipe

Since this post is getting long I will hold off until tomorrow to share with you a family favorite I have grown up on. It's something some of you may never have had before!