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!