Oat Bread

My newest intereste is bread. My dear mom bought me a bread maker (yes, I did hint that I wanted one). She came over and surprised me, not with one but two for me to choose the one I liked. Thanks Mom!!

So, obviously I made a loaf the same night I got my newest addition. Since I didn't have all of the ingredients for bread, I searched the web for a simple recipe (I couldn't possibly go to sleep without using it).

I found an easy recipe for Oat Bread. I just love that I can set it, add the ingredients and come back in 2 hours and have fresh bread! Isn't that nice? I will also use it to make the dough and then just shape it and bake the bread in my oven. Well, here is the loaf I made for my mom and certainly not the last I will make for her.

Tamales

I will be the first to admit that I never thought I would:

1. make tamales

2. make them and have them turn out to be really good!

I'm so excited about the outcome. My mom (she is always honest with me...at least about my cooking) really liked them. My husband ate 3! I was amazed of how easy they were to make. I always thought that making tamales would be extremely difficult and boy was I wrong! They are definetely worth all the steps and time. I made a batch of 30 and they lasted two days.

Corned Beef Hash Browns

As you probably have noticed...the majority of my postings are about what I cook for my husban and family. Yes, my husband loves food and I love to please him.

This weekend, I decided to have breakfast ready by the time my Gorgeous woke up. I made him one of his favorite breakfasts-Corned Beef Hash Browns, toast, coffee (half reg and half decaf) and freshly squeezed orange juice.

As always (almost always) je gave me the thumbs up!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake-Yum!

My mom and husband LOVE pineapple upside down cake. So, being the good daughter and wife that I am; I baked one for them.

This is an easy and fast cake to make. Great for a last minute dessert when you have company or in my case, your husband wants something sweet other than me:)

Ravioli- Easy and oh so good!

So, I had the pack of ravioli from Trader Joe's. I was and still am having a lazy mood. But, being the good wife that I'm (Lol!) I HAVE to have diner ready for my Gorgeous.

Garlic Bread- Toast some bread (sourdough) when is still warm peel a clove or garlic and rub it on the bread; brush some butter (not too much) o nthe bread but please don't make it soggy. This is the best and easiest way for garlic bread.

Ravioli (Mine was a 10oz package-I choose four cheese, but the options are endless)- One of these days, I will make ravioli from scratch, not any time soon thought:) Since all I had to do was boil it, there was no rush or pressure, just boil in a pot with salted boiling water. I made a yummy creamy tomato and basil sauce for my ravioli to swim in.

Simple Creamy Tomato Sauce: (the good thing is that this sauce goes good with almost anything, chicken, shrimp (any seafood), pasta.

2-Tbsp Olive Oil

1- Tbsp butter

2- Cloves minced garlic

2 cans (14.5oz ea) of crushed tomatoes

1/2-Tsp red pepper flakes (for a nice kick!)

1- shallot or 1/4 C of sliced onions

1/2-C Heavy Cream

1/4-C Basil (chopped)

Salt & Pepper

Heat the Olive oil with the butter, add the minced garlic and et it cook for a minute on med-low heat. Add the sliced shllots/onions and cook for another minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, pepper flakes and let it cook for 10 minutes. After the 10 mins, slowly start adding the cream. Let it cook for another 10 mins and you're all done! I prefer to add the basil on top of the plate rather than cooking it with the sauce.

Place your ravioli on a plate, cover with sauce, sprinkle the freshly chopped basil on top and shred some fresh parmesan on it and dinner is served.

Oh, once again there were no left overs!

Easy and Delicious Dinner

I try to have dinner ready a couple minutes before my husband comes home from work. After a long, hard worked day what's better than coming home to a delicious warm meal? I went to Trader Joe's earlier this week. I decided I wanted to take it easy this week but still serve my husband tasty meals. So, inspired by the Old Spaghetti Factory, I purchased a pack of Tortellini and a pack of Ravioli (four cheese).

Wednesday- I cooked a creamy, yummy Alfredo sauce for the tortellini. But, it wasn't going to completely satisfy my dear hubby. So, I thawed, peeled and deveiened some shrimp. I minced some garlic, added butter and mixed it with the shrimp and let it marinate for a few minutes. I sauted the shrimp. I mixed the tortellini with the Alfredo sauce, placed the sauted shrimp on top and sprinkled with a bit of basil (we LOVE basil). I then shredded some fresh parmesan cheese on it. I also toasted some sourdough bread and once it was nice and toasty I rubbed a clove of fresh garlic on it and brush it with a bit of butter. It was delicious. My Gorgeous (hubby) walked in the door right when I was putting the platter with the bread on the table. It was so, so good. There were no leftovers!

Remeber what I told you about being inpatient? Couldn't wait to eat so I didn't take pictures!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband LOVES sweets, specially chocolate. He wakes up in the middle of the night (about 4 nights of the week) just to eat sweets. Personally, I'm not too into cookies. But for my dear husband I tried for the first time to bake them from scratch. He loved them! They weren't hard/dry or flat. They were nice, sweet, chewy and oh so yummy!

Daring Baker's September's Challenge

Well, I have been so busy. I thought this whole thing about starting a blog would be simple and carefree...boy was I wrong. It seems I have no time and when I do...I forget to take pictures. You see, I am not patient. I'm VERY inpatient. So, when I have finished cooking, baking or finished a project I don't take the time for pictues because I just want eat them! That would explain the weight gain!

Macarons!

So, I finally had the courage to take a shot at Macarons! I think they came out pretty good, being my first time. The only set back was trying to remove them from the pan. But, with the good advice from http://www.mytartelette.com/ I was able to put a few drops of water under the parchment paper and remove them. They were 2" round and made 24 Macarons.

Anyway, here are my delicious Macarons filled with Nutella (I took a shorcut with making the filling as I could not wait to try them). I had my husband, brother and Mom try them and they all loved them.

David's Birthday Cake

For my husband's (David) birthday I decided to bake him a Harley Davidson cake. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make it as I had sketched it (I baked the Bratz cake the day before). It ended being covered with whipped cream rather than fondant. I have saved the actual sketch so I can make it next year! He loved it either way but I wish I would have had the time I need it.

Birthday Cake for a 7 year girl.

So, for a few months I became obsessed with baking cakes, specially fondant ones. This was a very stressful cake to make as I was running out of time and it was HOT in SD! I was trying to use marshmallow fondant but the heat was not helping! As always, my gorgeous husband came to my rescue and sped off to purchase fondant.

Breanna bakes for the first time!

Breanna is one of my many little cousins. She's 4 years old, a grown up according to her. I asked whether she wanted to go to the beach or bake cookies...and she chose cookies! This was the first time fo her and she pretty much did everything. I simply read the recipe to her and worked the oven! Here are some cute pics of the process...forgot to take pics of the decorated cookies as she gave them all to her mommy! She made baby carriage cookies as her mom is expecting a baby boy. Told you, my family is once again in Baby Cycle!

Babies, babies and more babies!!

Oh my!

My family seems to go through baby cycles! From 1993-1995 my Mom and Aunt had 4 babies (2 each). From 2002-2009 there have been 8 babies born (immediate Aunts and Uncles). Also on St. Patrick's Day of 2009, Javier Guillen was born and I became an Aunt for the first time! So exciting!! Well, there are 3 more babies that are due from Aug 2009-Jan 2010! So many babies!!

Here is the diaper cake I made for my uncle's wife's Baby Shower(100 diapers!)! The baby is due August 10! That's the day before my 2nd Wedding Anniversary!

David LOVES Waffles

David, my husband loves food, that's no secret. We were watching some t.v. show Sat 1/10/09 about breakfast places throughout the country. A waffle place caught our attention and I decided I needed a waffle maker. So, the next morning I drove to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought this beauty although I wish I could have gotten a "prettier" one, yes, I said prettier which is how I see all my large & small appliances. It was pretty inepensive and so far I have made 3 batches of 11 waffles each...no I have not thrown any away.

Cute Kitchen "Must Have" Items

So, I ran into (not like I was looking where else I can "invest" my money) these kitchen cuties.

You can find these cake cutter/server at http://www.cakecutter.com/krystal.html I can't wait to order it...or maybe I can:)

Also, I am not a wine drinker or an alcohol drinker for that matter...but since my 25th B-day is a couple weeks away I would love to have a couple of these bottles which you can get at http://www.amazinggrapeswinestore.com/store/product/3251/R-Winery-2006-%22Bitch%22-Grenache/

Baking Phase

I'm going through a "baking" phase, which happens every few months. Except this time I want to stick to it. Thankfully, my husband, mother, sister, and brothers are willing to devour my "creations". These are just a few of the things I have baked ( I will start taking pictures).

Hailey & Lola's 2nd B-day!

Hailey and Lola turned 2 on Fri. 01*09*09! I baked them a delicious cake and had pizza for the "guests". My mom and Daniela brought them gifts...how sweet of them.

Welcome!

So, I decided to start blogging!

I will be trying to keep an updated record of my "adventures" not just as a first time wife, but as a woman in a new phase in life.

I have now been married for 17 months! I'm married to a wonderful, loving man, David. We have 3 beautiful dogs (Bolo, Lola and Hailey).

Oh, my 25th B-day is in 16 days...can't wait! A QUATER Century:)