Living Room: Before & After

I'm finally catching up on my blog, I'll admit I've been lazy about it. It's just been a busy couple of weeks since Christmas and we have put a pause on the home renovation projects. We barely finished painting the trim in the kitchen, and fixing the loose ends of painting the ceiling and bedrooms. We still want to finish the backsplash in the kitchen, but I think we're going to change the tile countertops to granite with the help of my best friend, Des. I love our house, it's perfect for Eric and me.

However, we recently purchased a new tv for my 30th birthday. It's a funny story because my wonderful husband was planning to take me to Napa Valley for my birthday weekend. We were going to visit the vineries, take a wine tour, stock up on some great wines, stay at a bed and breakfast, and maybe a balloon ride over the beautiful area...it didn't work out. Eric has a saturday class for his professional engineering license which started Feb. 7th until April 11th. I didn't want to put any time constraints on my birthday weekend so I did a little calculating for our trip. The amount we would have spent on the wine trip, flight tickets, wine tour, balloon ride, rental of a car, hotel price...would have been over $1000. Eric would have taken me on the my wine trip if I still wanted it, but I asked if we could put the money towards a new tv. We have been eyeballing them for 2 or 3 years now. Our current tv was a 32" Sony and it weighed 200 pounds, and we bought it used on craigslist. It was a perfect fit in out apartment, it looked like a smurf in our new house. We bought a 52" Samsung 1080p, 120 hz Flat panel LCD Hdtv. OMG, it's awesome, and beautiful. We also purchased new TV entertainment center at Costco that fits in beautifully with our living room furniture.

Here is the before picture of our living room, futon couch & recliner and 2 rocking chairs from Eric's parents.

After: New espresso brown leather recliner couches, new rug from BB&B, added the patio blinds, added additional bracketless shelves along the wall - all found at Lowes. Added some decor touches, we have our Unity sand bottle & cake initial topper on one shelf, a couple vases filled with my saved wine corks (yes, we drink alot of wine), some orchids that my girlfriend gave as a housewarming, and a wine cork tree that I had made, and these cute wooden flowers that I got from Costa Rica. Our Wii is tucked away inside the entertainment center, my balance board is in here as well. You don't see it, but there are side shelves that open up where I put all my games & DVDs. The entertainment stand has a swinging floater for our tv, and its not mounted on the wall. That would have been a huge hole in the wall!

We need an end table here, we're NOT adding a coffee table because we like the extra space when we play Wii.

I love the new look of the living room, but I think it needs more color but I'm searching the furniture stores, garage sales and craigslist for little decor elements. What do you think? What am I missing?

Stuffed Conchiglie Chicken w/4 Cheeses

I came across this recipe from the What's Cooking board and knew it was something that I just had to make! I love anything with cheese and pasta! Stuffed shells were a fave dish of mine growing up, we would get a bag of them from Price Club aka Costco. I loved how cheesy and yummy these were, and I remember asking my mom when we could get more of them! I think the only pasta dish my mom ever made was spaghetti the filipino version, you know with hot dogs instead of ground meat and lots of noodles and little sauce. *We still ate it though!!**

This was really easy to make, and easy to freeze as well. This dish could serve a party, too. We will have leftovers tonight, and I'll freeze the rest for my little sister to enjoy. She loves cheese and pasta just as much as I do!

Stuffed Conchiglie Chicken with 4+ Cheeses Source: Beachlover's Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 box conchiglioni aka jumbo shells
1 lb boneless chicken breast - cut into small pieces

1 lbs Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb Ricotta cheese
4-8 oz (1 box) chopped frozen spinach
5 strips cooked bacon (chopped)
2 can pasta sauce **I used my homemade tomato sauce.**

**Added chopped proscuitto, 1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese**

*Garnish with Italian parsley, chopped*

Directions:
1. Cook the conchiglioni (jumbo shells) in a large pan of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well, set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare in lasagna dish, or baking pan about 11 x13. You will need 2 if you don't have a lasagna pan.

3. Remove water from frozen chopped spinach, combine with cut chicken, shredded mozzarella, and ricotta cheese,mix well in a large bowl.

**add Italian seasoning - it's a great seasoning **

**add bacon & proscuitto**

4. Spoon a tablespoon of the mixture into each shell and arrange onto the baking dish. * I used my cookie scooper to measure out the portions into each shell.*

Repeat the procedure until completed. Spoon pasta sauce on the top of stuffed shell. Top with shredded cheddar cheese & mozzarella on each shell, then sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese.

Cover the baking dish with aluminium foil.

5. Bake for 2o minutes, removed the aluminium foil bake for another 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. *Garnish with Italian parsley, and more parmesan cheese if you like.*

Serve warm.

I enjoyed my Italian night with a chick flick, The Women, and was happily stuffed! No need for dessert for me.

Herbed Focaccia

My theme for dinner was Italian night. I found a great recipe for stuffed shells, and I've been love dipping nice crusty bread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Usually I pair garlic toast with my pasta dishes, but I've been experimenting with making bread. Also, I say "experimenting" because I have had 2 or 3 or possibly 4 FAILED experiments that I would like to forget that ever happened. It's a personal goal of mine to "bake bread."

However, with careful attention to detail, this recipe was a success! I tested the yeast to make sure it was active with the warm water, added a teaspoon of sugar to see it foam up. I have this worry that I'm burning the yeast with HOT water. This bread did take about 3 hours to make, 20 mins to prep the dough, 1 hour to let it rise, and knead it down, and 1 more hour to let it rise. And another 25 minutes to let it cook, but it was well worth it! My only problem, the bread was crunchy in some areas...and I think it was due to my warm oven being a little too hot. When you let the dough rise, it's supposed to be in a warm draft area...it might have been to warm sitting on top of my hot oven! I'm going to study up some more on baking bread videos and books...I will re-visit making bread again this weekend...but with my breadmaker!!!!!!!

Herbed Focaccia Source: Williams-Sonoma

2 1/2 tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105° to 115°F)
1 1/2 cups milk
6 Tbs. olive oil
5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary or 1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. chopped fresh sage or 1/4 tsp. dried sage
Coarse salt, to taste

Directions:
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. Stir until dissolved. Add the milk and 4 Tbs. of the olive oil and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the flour, salt, thyme, rosemary and sage. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms, about 2 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Shape it into a ball.

Oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn it once to coat the top. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Oil a 15-by-10-by-1-inch jelly-roll pan. Punch down the dough, transfer to the prepared pan, and flatten it out with your hands to cover the bottom completely. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Preheat an oven to 450°F.

Using your fingertips, press down firmly into the dough to make dimples about 1 inch apart and 1 inch deep. Drizzle the entire surface with the remaining 2 Tbs. oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Slide the focaccia onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into squares to serve. Serves 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Savoring Series, Savoring Italy, by Michele Scicolone (Time-Life Books, 1999).

The dessert: PB Oatmeal & Choco Chip Cookies

Thank you to Mulan922 from What's Cooking to recommending this PB recipe to me. This was supposed to be a surprise for my sister for dessert, but she couldn't make it up to my house. It's okay, Jessica, was my taste-tester had gladly approved the cookies! My husband had 4 of them with a large glass of milk. These are really good cookies, and a great sweet treat!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from mykitchenjourney & allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter = 1 stick of butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter **(I used half creamy & half crunchy peanut butter)**

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips **(I did 1/2 semi-sweet & 1/2 reese's peanut butter chips)**

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, & sugars until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla, and egg until well blended.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt and mix well. Stir into the batter until moistened.
4. Mix in the oats and fold the chocolate & peanut butter chips until evenly distributed. Using my cookie scooper *thanks Kaytie* by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet. *I didn't flatten the cookie since they don't spread, I wanted little mini cookies. *
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Mexican Lasagna

Last night I had an April knottie, Jessica aka Jessibeth, come over to my house for dinner. The last time we had met, we had ate at one of my favorite Cuban restuarants, Felixes. I was going to cook a cuban meal for her, but I had found a great recipe for Mexican Lasagna from a food blog I frequent, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I couldn't resist cooking up something new, and I was expertimenting with baking bread and had made PB cookies for dessert, too. My fave double date couple, who Eric and I always spend our time with Adrian & Monica, came over as well.

I didn't take a picture of the Mexican Lasagna, I think we were too busy eating it and drinking the Italian wine that Jess had brought over. Quattro Mani - Montepulciano d'Abruzzo - great table red wine from Italy, we all enjoyed it the wine. I know my husband did, his cheeks were a nice rosy red for awhile!

Mexican Lasagna adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:

2 cups unprepared rice

4 cups chicken broth

2-4 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

2 onions chopped

9 cloves garlic, 3 pressed, 6 minced

1 can black beans -undrained *I had leftover black beans from my last dinner party, so I did not use a can*

Taco Seasoning or Chili Powder, Paprika & Cumin*I used New Mexico Chile Powder, Sweet Paprika & cumin*

1 1/4 lb ground sirloin *I substituted ground turkey*

12 small flour tortillas

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese *I used half cheddar & monterey jack cheese*

8 oz enchilada sauce *I used the 24 oz can&

1 can corn, drained

1 (16 oz) jar salsa verde *I omitted this*

Sour cream & cilantro, for garnish

Directions:

*I used my own recipe for spanish rice here.* Cook 2 cups of rice with 4 cups of water or chicken broth. Add 1 tablespoon of tumeric, it gives a great yellow color to the rice. Also add 3 whole pressed garlic cloves. Cook on low for about 20 minutes with the lid on. In a large skillet, drizzle 1 tablespoon of EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, and garlic to the pan and saute until onion is tender. Add in chili powder mix (approx. 1 1/2 tbl), paprika, and cumin (approx. 3/4 tbl of each) to taste. Stir to combine. Add the black beans and stir to combine. Transfer to a large bowl and add cooked rice. *I skipped this step on accident, and kept the beans & rice separate.*

In the now empty skillet, brown the ground turkey. Mix with chili powder (1 1/2 tbl), paprika and cumin (3/4 tbl of each) and salt to taste, as well as 2 oz of water to create the taco turkey.

To assemble the lasagna, pour half of the enchilada suace in an even layer over the bottom of the casserole dish. Layer evenly with flour tortillas to cover. Spread the rice mixture evenly over the tortillas. Sprinkle with a layer of shredded cheese. Add another layer of flour tortillas. Pour a thin layer of enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Spread taco turkey evenly over the enchilada sauce. Layer one can of corn over the beef. Top with the bean mixture in an even layer. Spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the rice, and sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese to finish. *I always add extra cheese to everything, YUM.*

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and begins to brown a bit. Allow to sit 10 minutes before serving. Top individual servings with sour cream & fresh cilantro, for garnish.

Emjoy, and thanks for coming over for dinner Jess!! We had a great time with you. Can't wait to see you again! ;-)

Some cute snap-shots...

My adorable niece, she always plays it up to the camera!

My chocoholic nephew, will eat anything or lick anything with chocolate.

My little sister, my sous chef, she helped me cook up the bouchons in the kitchen!

Bouchons

I'm finally getting back into the groove of blogging my recipes, I'm behind like 2 months. The holidays, work and everything has taken a toll...I just needed a break from everything. I promised Becky, my wonderful April nestie, that I would update my blog. This is dedicated to you Becky!!

On my recent trip to Williams-Sonoma, I picked up this chocolate bouchon mix by Thomas Keller, and the silcone molds. Thomas Keller is an American chef born in my hometown, Oceanside, and his famous restaurant, The French Laundry, is located up in Yountville, CA. Up nearby my favorite area, Napa Valley. His famous desserts, bouchons, are a mix of cake and brownie - a mix of my favorite desserts...so I knew this would be something I would love. Bouchon is a French word that translates to cork in English, which is the shape of the dessert. It's a perfect treat that I had made for my birthday weekend! Bite-sized and tasty!
Bouchons
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (3 1/2 ounces) flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, melted and just slightly warm
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, such as 55% Valrhona, chopped into pieces the size of chocolate chips
>Butter and flour for the timbale molds
Powdered sugar
Recipe:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the eggs and sugar on medium speed until thick and pale in color, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add about one-third of the dry ingredients, then one-third of the butter, and continue alternating with the remaining flour and butter. Add the chocolate and continue to mix to combine. (The batter can be made up to this point and refrigerated, covered, for up to one day.)
4. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 12 timbale molds. Set aside.
5. Put the timbale molds on a baking sheet. I used my mini-cookie scoop from my April 2008 elfster, Kaytie, to scoop the perfect amount in. Bake the bouchons until the tops are shiny and set (like a brownie), and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out moist but clean (there may be some melted chocolate from the chopped chocolate), 20 to 25 minutes.
6. Transfer the bouchons to a cooling rack. *TIP, cool the bouchons upside down with a dish towel .* Remove the molds and serve, or store until needed (the bouchons are best eaten the day they are baked).
7. To serve, invert the bouchons and dust them with powdered sugar. Williams-Sonoma has a pre-made mix available as well, but when you buy the bouchon molds, the recipe is provided for you as well. Enjoy!!!