Beef Pops with Pineapple and Parsley Sauce

Yummy!!!! And look how beautiful! These beef pops and pineapple with parsley sauce are so good and different! The pops remind me of Hawaiian food (obviously with the pineapple) but it's still wonderfully different and a dish this picky eater enjoys! Thanks, Giada! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/beef-pops-with-pineapple-and-parsley-sauce-recipe/index.html This recipe is perfect to show off to others! Just imagine bringing this meal/big appetizer to some one's party! Since it is so simple you'll be a hit without slaving away for hours! To top it off it is a pretty healthy recipe! It is such a simple recipe therefore I only have a few suggestions. Plan for this recipe since you have to marinate the beef for a few hours and soak the skewers (I usually forget about these things). Also, try to cut your beef and pineapple to similar sizes. I was using pineapple I had cut up earlier in the week and I didn't even think about the different sizes until I got to the grilling and saw that the beef was not touching the grill pan! Finally, I want to brag (and maybe help)-- I have found a successful way to store parsley and keep it fresh for at least a week! Cut off the ends when you first bring it home and then put the parsley in a glass of water. Cover with plastic (I conveniently used the bag I brought the parsley home in-- the small plastic bags for fruits and vegetables) and you'll have long lasting parsley! Enjoy!

Poached strawberries, Peaches, and Mango Over Crushed Ice

Well my sabbatical is over! There was this thing called a diet that I didn't exactly follow but attempted.... ahem anyways..... it left my without the options to use evoo freely! How can anyone live a life without evoo or butter?!?! Butter makes everything-- and I mean everything taste better! The point is I'm back to my love of cooking and creating and altering food!

I've got a summer treat for ya that I cooked a while back. It's a sophisticated and grown-up snow cone (it does require a spoon)! Super simple and perfect for this hot weather (and it's healthy!): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/poached-strawberries-peaches-and-mango-over-crushed-ice-recipe/index.html

I did learn something new with this dish-- star anise. I'd never heard of it before but it is a seed pod that looks like a star. Apparently it is the seed for an evergreen tree grown in China and Japan and has medicinal uses. I'm pretty sure it is just used to add flavor in cooking. It has a licorice and kind of peppery flavor to me. You can find them in grocery stores but if you just want to try this dish once I'd try to find a cooking friend or neighbor (a whole container cost a bit and if you just use one seed pod it's not really worth it).

Since this dish is so super simple I don't have any big suggestions other than to definitely try it. The aroma alone of the cinnamon stick, star anise, and vanilla is aaaaammmmaaazing! I wouldn't bother with getting a vanilla bean since they are so expensive-- vanilla extract worked well for me.

Maybe this healthy desert will help you cool off this hot, hot summer!!!

Herbs!!!!

This is the time of year where spring has sprung, everyone is working their gardens, and where grocery stores have fresh herbs for sale. Just take a moment to think of how lovely that is.... Since I've started to cooking, I think fresh herbs are one of the best thing since sliced bread! Seriously. They have so much flavor in such a small package. And if you are calorie conscience....they have barely any! Every time I smell and/or eat fresh herbs it's always rejuvenating. I think herbs will baffle me for a while. Think about it. They are like a vegetable yet I love the taste and flavor of them. Recently I actually enjoyed a salad because it had cilantro in it..... surprisingly Yummmmmyyyyy! I'm not an expert in herbs but I'm pretty positive I'll be growing them for the rest of my life. So I'll be an expert one day. Plus sometimes you can't find fresh herbs in the grocery store and it will save money over time. Some tips I do have is: if you can, grow them outside, research which ones like the sun and which ones can grow in shade, and buy some fresh soil-- My herbs are inside since cats roam the streets where I live. In order to keep pests off safely all you have to do is put water and one dot of dish soap and spray your herbs. I recommend you start your own garden! These herbs are available everywhere right now-- home depot, whole foods, even tom thumb/randalls/safeway. Have fun!

Red Pepper- Basil Pesto Pizza

This recipe is so so good, new, and different! The red pepper basil pesto makes this pizza wonderfully flavored and it's something you definately won't find at your local pizza parlor!

For some reason, food has gotten a little boring for me lately, so when I saw this recipe I wanted to try it immediately! Bobby Flay has never led to me anything boring (so far): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/red-pepper-basil-pesto-pizza-recipe/index.html

Well, prep starts early if you are making your own dough. I recommend making your own simply because it's fun! Of course, if you're in a time crunch you can always go to whole foods and buy a refigerated dough that's already made but not spreaded or if you don't have a whole foods you can buy the already made pizza crust and skip the grilling of the dough part (I forget the brand name but it's not refridgerated and you usually find it at the end of the frozen food aisle). Plus with this recipe you get to cook your pizza on the grill-- how exciting is that?! It seems crazy but it does work!

Although I do worship Bobby Flay I am not in love with his pizza dough recipe. He combines the yeast with all the other ingrediants before adding in the water. Warm water with sugar activates the yeast and if it happens to not work then you've just ruin the rest of your other ingrediants without knowing. In the past, I've always activated the yeast first and then added it to the flower and such. You can tell it's activated because foam starts to form at the top. So I would try a variation of this pizza dough recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/pizza-dough-recipe/index.html You do not need a stand mixer-- a food processor would work or just combining and stirring the ingrediants yourself actually will work when making pizza dough. If you want to grill the dough disgregard the oven and pizza stone instructions. Letting it rest after the pizza dough rises will help you be able to spread the dough. Have fun with spreading the dough-- I do try to toss mine from time to time!

The red pepper basil pesto is AWWWWWesome!!!! When you roast the peppers in your house, the aroma will completely fill it and might make you tear up (that never happen to me, of course). You can grill these instead of putting them in the oven. I don't know the time difference but you want the peppers charred so that the skin will come off easily. Once you've peeled the peppers and taken the seeds out be sure to wash your hands...trust me, I'm saving your eyes from some pain!

You make this recipe your own in many ways, different kinds of cheese (I loved it with mozzarella, but I also tried it with goeat cheese which was good), add meat, add more veggies. I had left over pest0 so I've been adding it to grilled chicken and turkey sandwiches--yummy!!!

Beauty:

By the way, my grill failed me, so the cheese should be more melted than this-- either way, it's still amazing!!

Turkey Burgers

Sounds really plain right?! Oooooo you are soo wrong! Because guess whose recipe this is.... Bobby Flay!!!! The chef who never has a boring recipe or has let me down yet! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/turkey-burgers-recipe/index.html These burgers are awesome! The flavor is absolutely wonderful, different, fresh, succulent, oh I could go on forever! First all, let's just talk about cheese. I love love love cheese! I think at one point in my life I had cheese in every meal. Anyways I recently fell in love with goat cheese. Wonderfully creamy and a tad bit tangy all at the same time. I don't think I tried it before last summer because goat cheese does not sound appealing (remember I'm picky!). I then went to a pizza cooking class that involved a little but of goat cheese and I loved it! If you have not tried it my friends, it is sooo worth a try. But leave it to Bobby Flay to put a decadent cheese on top of a turkey burger with mustard and watercress! Which leads me to..... WTF is watercress????? Well I guess it is the part of the recipe where I learn something new! It's an aquatic leaf. According to wikipedia, it seems to be most often used in the UK and very good for you. So I decided to mosey to Whole Foods to get some. It is a little bizarre. I tried it alone of course and it tasted exactly like lettuce (no, I don't know the taste of individual lettuces but maybe I will someday).....but wait for it.... it has a huge after bite! Very very salty and almost a but spicy. Strange but kinda cool. That's what watercress looks like Okay, let's get down to the cooking. The mustard is very, very good. I've also tried it as a sauce for grilled chicken which was aaaaawwwwsome! Remember, it has to be prepped before the burger is made-- at least thirty minutes. I don't know where they sell slices of goat cheese because it is so thick... so top with whatever amount pleases you (it kinda crumbles). I have no health comments because this dish isn't too bad health wise. And Bobby Flay never sacrifices calories for flavor, but if you want to lower your calorie intake leave out the cheese and/ or the bun. And lastly, I made this recipe only for myself even though it calls for eight servings therefore I suggest making the amount of mustard in the recipe and keep the left over as a sauce! Beauty:

Apple Crumble with Vanilla Ice Cream

I'm in love.

I can hear the bells.

I can taste the sweetness.

Bobby Flay, I love you, sincerely yours, cook Alli....ooohhh wait I just want one more bite.....

Bobby Flay is the BEST!!!! OMG, everything I've cooked of his taste amazing!!!! Well maybe I've only cooked three of his recipes but they were THAT GOOD. And it's really fun and different to make! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-crumble-with-vanilla-ice-cream-recipe/index.html

This recipe is fairly simple but it's fun because you get to grill apples!!!! How cool is that?! I don't have any health suggestions because if you are making this then you should not be worrying about calories and stuff of that nature. Indulge!!!

Also, the only recommendation I have to clarify a point of the recipe-- the apples stay on the grill for about 5 minutes face down and then 4 minutes on the other side.

Beauty:

Chicken and Cheddar Souffle

My first souffle! Of course I dove right in since I'm motivated to make anything with tons of cheese involved, thanks Giada: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-and-cheddar-souffle-recipe/index.html

Recommendations: Have everything ready to go, meaning everything out, measured, cut, etc. I usually get the ingredients out as I go but I definitely got flustered with this one not having everything ready. It helps but not necessary. Having all your refrigerated items at room temperature helps but it is not essential. I usually always forget about that step and I didn't pull out the ingredients until right before I started making the dish and it still worked out! Let me tell ya'll I feel like I made tons of mistakes (didn't even buy the exact ingredients and I was on the phone! :0) in this dish but somehow it still came out beautiful! Folding in the egg whites should not be intimidating-- folding is almost like stirring but gentler. By the way, prep takes way more time than what it says on the website; it is worth it though!

The recipe calls for this to bake for 55 to 60 minutes--mine only took thirty and when she prepares it on her show she says thirty. Therefore I recommend baking this for 30 minutes.

This is a beautiful one dish meal that's great for holidays or potlucks! Tasty, new, and different!