Happy 2012 y'all!

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted since September. I haven't been very crafty or doing much cooking as I developed vertigo during my trip to Las Vegas in September and October so I tend to stay away from stoves and sharp objects.

I thought I'd share a photo of our tree and a recipe for a great appetizer.

Bacon wrapped dates:

Get some dates. They come in a box in the dried fruit section. Make sure they are whole and pitted (cause seriously, you do NOT want to try to pit them. It's worth the extra $$$).

Buy some ricotta cheese. I prefer low fat, but to each his own.

Use a pastry bag or a plastic bag and cut off the tip. Put about 1/2-1 cup of cheese into the bag and squeeze it into the hole on top of the date til it's all filled up. Repeat til all of the dates are filled. Then whatever ricotta is leftover, use for some mini lasagnas later.

Get some bacon. Cut the strips in half or thirds, depending on the length. Wrap the bacon strips around the dates, and hold in place with a toothpick.

Put all these bad boys onto a pan and throw into the oven (I use the convection oven as the big oven usually is loaded down with the main course) at 425 degrees F for about 15-18 minutes.

Serve and enjoy! Trust me, they are good, plus they are all the rage right now at swanky lounges (not that I hang out in any kind of lounge...)

And here is our first real Christmas tree! Ain't it purdy? You can't see up close, but we bought those stockings plain then used sparly green twine to tie on bells and decorated with a gingerbread man and woman and ginger cookies.

Watermelon sorbet FAIL

So I had leftover watermelon, and I looked up recipes to make sorbet, but something went amiss between the thought "hey I should make watermelon sorbet" and "holy shit this smells like a sewage spill". Into the trash! No dessert today. Well, I made a smoothie. I'm the smoothie queen.

This week was almond milk, peaches, banana, strawberries and ice. I never need to add white sugar... although technically there is cane juice in the almond milk... so... I guess I'm a cheater. Don't let me near a blackjack table, Vegas!

But hey, I encourage you to get out the blender and have fun. Make concoctions. Get the kids and make edible science experiments :-) Let me know what happens!

Lime chicken - recipe

Ok so dig it like somehow I came back from Texas with a lime in my purse. I'm pretty sure this was Eric Keyes's doing so anyway I'm like, hey, I'm going to cut this bad boy up and plant these seeds and grow me some of my very own limes. For what purpose I do not know at said time. Well son of a gun it's seedless. So here I am with a cut up seedless lime and it's about 8 in the p.m. so I guess I should make dinner... so here we go!

Adjust accordingly...
What you'll need:
2 Chicken Breasts (unless you buy those monstrosities at Whoole Foods, then you'll need like 1/2 of one)
a lime
1/2 c flour (I use organic unbleached)
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1 1/2 TB butter
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (trust me, it aint gonna make it all spicy)
a dash of nutmeg

Take 2 chicken breasts (I cut into quarters so I have 8 small pieces of chicken), throw them in a bowl with the flour and salt (I don't like a lot of salt, so that's why I suggest using more if you are a salt fiend, or a smoker) and toss around.

Meanwhile, in a skillet (big enough to hold all the chicken breasts or pieces), melt the butter on low and throw in the diced up garlic (again, as in the butter instance, see above, if you're a garlic lover, add more, otherwise, stick with less) and the cayenne til it's all melted together.

Shake off the chicken and really make sure that while it's sufficiently coated, that you don't have a thick layer of flour, otherwise, you are going to taste it later, and if you were one of those kids who though "shit, I wonder what plain flour tastes like" you know what I'm talking about.

Ok I went off track. I use tongs, but use whatever you want, and gently place the chicken into the skillet. Don't drop unless you are into having flaming hot butter fly onto your skin and sear you like a calf being branded. Now here is where it gets tricky: depending on the size of the chicken, you are going to have to cook it at varying times, some longer than others. Flip about half way. If you aren't sure if it's done, just cut into it. It's way easier than playing with that thermometer you received as a wedding gift that is still in the package. Or in our case, we broke trying to fry an egg on the engine of the truck

Once the chicken is cooked through and through, place on a dish and squeeze fresh lime over... if it has seeds, squeeze upright, catching the seeds at the top, or be fancy and get yerself some cheesecloth next time yer at Whole Foods.

My recovery

Hey y'all!
My recovery for my knee is going really well! I wore jeans for the first time this week and while it's still a little weird, it's good progress! My physiotherapist says I progressed faster than he ever thought and I have great range of motion and flexibility. Rick and I had hoped to go on a hike today for our 6 month anniversary but a major thunderstorm thwarted our plans. Boo on that!

My knee did hold up in our attempts to go to Riverbend. We missed Miranda Lambert cause of a different storm, and ended up staying in with my Mom and watching Gulliver's Travels (with Jack Black) which was really cute! We also missed Alan Jackson because we sort of got into a fight with a big ol broad who was pushing around lil kids. Uncool in our book! We DID see Huey Lewis and the News and Starship with Mickey Thomas, which was totally badass!

Well I am going to post this before we lose power for the 8th time today.

Yahoo's Ikea article

I totally disagree with the first item in this article --> http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/what-not-to-buy-at-ikea-2482669/ <-- My mattress at my parent's house is from Ikea (going on 8 years) and my husband and I bought a wonderful mattress from Ikea when we first moved to Chattanooga. We bought the box spring locally (we had a coupon and dangit, it's a boxspring) but we absolutely love our mattress. And we sleep just as well when we are at home at my parent's house in Las Vegas.

Now we both agree, you have to know a bit of what you are doing when assembling these items (the few times my husband ever swears lol) and yes, a lot of their products are made from pressed wood (you have to be careful there and read the product info carefully), but we love so many of our items from there, which is nearly half of our house. These items are surpassing the also real wood (we buy real wood 90% of the time) items purchased locally and from Overstock.com (omg we will get together and rant later about that!).

Feel free to chime in, but that is our opinions.

Much love,
Rick and Heather

Surgery and my MIA

Hey y'all!
I've been a bit absent but I have a few reasons. #1 I had surgery. It was knee surgery to fix an old injury from snowboarding, then a more recent injury to the old injury slipping on the ice trying to take a romantic stroll with my darling boyfriend (Rick, my hubby now) and the doctor said it was a great success! So I should be back in the kitchen soon kiddies!

I hope you enjoyed my post on face junk. I have to say, for someone who has been bathing in the sink since Tuesday (it's now 2 am Monday morning), I can't believe how much I rely on these simple at home concoctions. They've helped me stay clean and fresh!

I have also been working on vegan muffins for my dear twitter friend (follow her, she is the effin BOMB)Audrey Layne http://twitter.com/#!/AudreyLayne (her twitter has a link to her kickin etsy shop).

Finally, I've been busy working on my orders from Rockin Baja in SoCal and for catering the sweets for a government function, also in Cali.

Please keep emailing your lovely recipes and ideas. Much love to you all!

~Heather

Easter sandwiches!

As any good Bad Catholic, my Dad and I celebrated Good Friday with Salami sandwiches. Rick would not partake and opted for his veggie burgers. He's not even Catholic and he's better than us! He he he anyway we were able to score some fairly decent french bread (not that soft mushy junk), and we clear out a bit of the insides to make room for genoa salami, american cheese, a little chopped tomato, diced bell pepper (any color), diced celery, a little onion (we use yellow), a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of italian seasoning and voila! A sandwich fit for the Gods. Exhibit A: