Getting Back to Photoshop!

It's been a while since I've played around with Photoshop other than sharpening or cropping my food pictures. I guess life gets in the way of learning new software tricks sometimes but it's never too late to get back into it! I've bookmarked some great websites with tutorials and decided to try this one to turn a photo into an oil painting. Isn't it cool? This was the view from the our hotel during our Laguna trip.


Before:

After:

Tomato Basil Dinner Bread

I ordered Pillsbury Best Muffins and Quick Breads Cookbook and marked down some great recipes to try. One of them was this Tomato Basil Dinner Bread that turned out to be the perfect savory treat! The recipe called for chopped Roma Tomatoes but I had some Grape Tomatoes in the fridge so I used those instead. I just cut them in half so you can still taste the juicy chunks of tomatoes in every bite. I also added Mozzarella cheese cuz we LOVE cheese at our house and some buttermilk cuz my dough seemed too dry. I guess I didn't quite follow the recipe much so here's my version of Tomato Basil Dinner Bread.

Ingredients: (8 servings)


2 c all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 c buttermilk
3/4 c sour cream
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 c chopped tomatoes


Prep:


1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 9-inch Springform pan with cooking spray.


2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and basil. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, butter and egg. Pour into dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Stir in cheese and tomatoes.


3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 22-25 min, until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 min. Detach the outside of the springform pan, using the bottom as a plate for the cake to finish cooling.

I Had an Apple and Some Yogurt...

So I made these Cinnamon Apple Yogurt Muffins from Food Gal. I left out the topping cuz I like my muffins soft and not so crunchy. I love the fact that you could really taste the big chunks of apple and the yogurt kept them really moist. I also added some raisins and walnuts for some extra goodness!

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo Early!

Cinco de Mayo is one of my favorite holidays and it has nothing to do with the fact that Greg is half Mexican. I LOVE Mexican FOOD! I love making it at home and I love going to Mexican restaurants. To me, there's not a single appetizer that can beat Chips and Salsa and there's NOTHING more comforting than a big plate of Enchiladas! It's quick and easy and we always have a ton of left-overs for the week. I like trying out new recipes and followed this one from Campbell's but used Hot Italian Sausage instead of beef. I love how thick the meat mixture was with the refried beans and cheese soup! I heated my corn tortillas by wrapping a few between damp paper towels and microwaving them for 30 seconds. The one ingredient I never change in my Enchiladas is Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce. It just doesn't taste authentic to me without it! (Not that I really know what authentic Mexican food should taste like but still!) Look at how pretty this big pan of cheesy goodness is coming out of the oven!

Now plated and ready to be devoured! I'm sure we'll be celebrating Cinco de Mayo with left-overs ALL week!

My Mom's Favorite Crackers

I was telling my mom how much easier making crackers have gotten with practice and asked her if she had a favorite from the recent ones that I've made. She told me that she liked Ina's Parmesan Thyme Crackers the best but didn't really know why. At first I thought maybe she just really liked the combination of Parmesan and Thyme but then after comparing the recipes, I saw why they tasted better than all the other ones...BUTTER! Yes, Ina uses an entire stick of butter for her batch of crackers when the other recipes call for only half a stick. It might not seem like a huge addition for 30 crackers, but apparently those 4 lil tablespoons of butter made the best crackers ever! Now that I knew the secret, I just had to bake another batch! I switched it up a bit by using grated Asiago cheese and cashews that I grinded up in my mini food processor. Yummy and BUTTERY and I'm sure will be a new favorite for my mom!

The ULTIMATE Crab Cakes

I caught a bit of Tyler Florence making his Ultimate Crab Cakes the other day and have been wanting to make them. I mean, Imitation Crab is good and all but nothing beats REAL lump crabmeat and the price isn't too bad at Costco. We're not big fans of Cilantro so I substituted Parsley. I also topped my cakes with some Mustard Aioli from William Sonoma instead of making Tyler's Garlic Aioli with Celery Root cuz 1) I'm lazy and 2) celery root scares me! These crab cakes were AMAZING and just perfect on a sunny Sunday afternoon!

Yummy Wonton Crackers!

I came across this recipe for Sesame Wonton Crackers and just so happened to have some wonton wrappers in the fridge. I totally trust anything that Martha Stewart makes so I knew they would be yummy! I love the combination of soy sauce and honey. I substituted white sesame seeds for the black cuz that was what I had on hand and they gave these crackers the perfect lil crunch! Yummy and easy and perfect snacks to take along for some weekend shopping!