Mozzarella Stuffed Meatball Sandwiches

My husband was very happy with this meal. The mozzarella stuffed meatballs were a new recipe for us, and I decided to buy bolillo rolls for the sandwiches. I love them. They aren't quite the Mexican rolls that I remember from my childhood, but they are good.

I used a bottled pizza sauce and it was just fine.

Sides: the wonderful buttermilk broccoli slaw recipe that I will never stop making and fresh corn on the cob. The first of the season and surpisingly good!!

And some great Ginger Tea Lemonade.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs.

Ginger Tea Lemonade

This was pretty fantastic! Jim loved it. It was easy but took a while. You need to brew tea, and let it cool. And simultaneously you can make the ginger simple syrup, and let that cool too. Then juice the lemons in a pitcher. Strain the ginger bits from the syrup, and add everything together.

I wish I had made a double batch. This was was 5 glasses of tea. I'm thinking of making this for a girls' dinner or summer grilling party. YUM.

Jim has the great idea of adding his ginger liqueur to this.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Ginger Tea Lemonade.

Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Fancy lunch today! This was an easy recipe to whip up today for lunch.

The coconut chicken was great. The breading was easy enough to mix up, and dipping the chicken pieces in egg whites and then the breading, and then spraying lightly with cooking spray. Easy.

I do think that the best part of the recipe was the vinaigrette. And wow, just a few ingredients to make that goodness. The recipe only made enough for two servings. After we ate our salads I promptly made a quadruple batch for the rest of the week.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Vinaigrette.

Pumpkin Cupcakes & Repeat

I baked four dozen cupcakes last night. It made me happy. My friend Jessica had her baby shower at work today and I knew that pumpkin is one of her favorites. These pumpkin cupcakes were fluffy and moist. Well received today!

Two dozen Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.





Two dozen Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting. I've made these before. I knew they'd be good!



And I have leftover salted caramel sauce in the fridge. Bonus!!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream.

Repeat Skillet Lasagna

Pretty darn good! We need to make this more often.

Click here for my original post.

Lemony Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp

I can't believe I ever bothered with precooked shrimp. We much prefer the fresh(er) taste of cooking with uncooked shrimp, especially if you cook them just right! I kept a close eye on these shrimp so they'd be tasty!

Risotto isn't that hard. I don't know what Gordon Ramsey fusses about. Okay, I do really. I guess I just make sure that I have everything chopped and prepped so that I don't have to scurry around the kitchen during that crucial 18 minutes of stirring and adding, stirring and adding.

I wouldn't change a thing about this risotto. It was delicious! Maybe I would add a squirt of lemon juice on top to brighten it up a bit. Maybe. Personal preference.

Thanks Kristina and Ana (& Rich) for the recipe! It will be one of those that you keep handy for comfort food. Jim will love if this makes it into a regular rotation!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Lemon Risotto with Asparagus and Shrimp.

Pssssst! Do you see my artisan bread in the background? Third batch of bread! I'm still trying to perfect the master recipe. I think they are going well enough, but I'm anxious to try out something more exotic. It's amazing how yeast, water, salt, and flour come together to make such deliciousness!

Salted Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

These look like ordinary rice krispy treats BUT they have 1/2 cup of my most favorite salted caramel sauce mixed in. I told myself that I "had to" make these because I have rice krispies just sitting in my pantry, it would be wasteful to let them spoil. And then I had all the ingredients for salted caramel sauce (butter, cream, salt, sugar), so everything just lined up juuuuust right.


These made me happy today. After a long week it was either make these krispy treats or make myself five drinks (one for each day of the work week). For realz. I did have a dream of making salted caramel ice cream, but I'm still looking around for THE BEST recipe. Soon.


So I did use my favorite salted caramel sauce recipe. I guess I've only made TWO ever, but this was the best of the two. If it ain't broke...


Click here for the stolen recipe for Salted Caramel Rice Krispy Treats.

Pumpkin Spice Custards

I've made these delicious little desserts before. I have a recipe printed out from my dear BFF Christa. The recipe is at the bottom of an email that she wrote to me on November 5, 2006. She tells me how excited she is for me and how she can't stop thinking about me! It was the day before I was to have James :) :) :) It's a good memory, thinking about how exciting that time was. He's such a big boy now.

This recipe does not have a link then, so I'm typing it out below. It is a very simple recipe that tastes of crustless pumpkin pie. Mmmmm. I don't mess around when it comes to pumpkin!

Pumpkin Spice Custards, makes 8 individual desserts

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 can (12 oz) evaporated fat free milk (or you can use full fat)

Directions: Preheat over to 300 degrees. Mix sugar and all spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin, vanilla, and sugar-spice mix. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into eight lightly greased 6-oz ramekins or custard cups. Place ramekins on baking sheet. Bake for 55 minutes or until knife inserted in custard halfway between center and edge of ramekin comes out almost clean. Cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with dollop of light whipped cream, if desired.