November 2009

Holiday Appetizers 101: Fresh Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Bacon.

Update your readers! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp Here we have another excellent appetizer to cause you to unbuckle that belt one meal too early! It is the holiday season, right? Unbuckling pants mid-meal is inevitable. Just wear a cute, long top like I do. I love a thick, creamy spinach dip. I love it even more with bacon. I love it even more with smoked cheese. This is a treat every will love. Even veggie-haters like myself. Along with cream cheese, I use mayonnaise and sour cream and my base. Just as with the buffalo chicken dip, if you are making this for a crowd, I suggest using full-fat ingredients. I happened to have low-fat mayo, so I used it up. I’d much rather clog my arteries with full-fat mayo, though. Don’t you? Fresh sauteed spinach, garlic and shallots. Make sure you use an entire bag of spinach so you are left with enough for the dip by the time it cooks down. I love using fresh spinach, and must admit I’ve never even tried frozen spinach. I fold everything together with a spatula [...]

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Holiday Appetizers 101: Baked Brie with Cranberry, Pancetta, and Spiced Pecans.

Update your readers http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp Oh, my. Can we please count the ways that brie cheese can be served? This one is very festive, and better yet – EASY. Just wait until you see how easy it is. I start with a small wheel of brie. And some store bought cranberry relish. Since it is Thanksgiving, you may have some extra cranberry sauce laying around that would make an excellent topper. If you don’t, just buy the stuff in the jar! The brie gets gobbled up so quickly that I rarely take the time to make cranberry sauce just for the brie. But if I have some extra homemade goodness, I will use that. I do take the time to fry some chopped pancetta. It is sinful and delicious. And comes in tiny pieces. So, I eat alot of it. Shocking. The pecan picture escaped my camera snap, but I use the pre-packaged Emerald Pecan Pie pecans. Have you ever had these? They are incredible. I can’t stop at one bag, but that’s just me. And, well, you know how I am. I crushed the pecans in [...]

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Holiday Appetizers 101: Cinnamon Sugared Roasted Almonds.

Update your readers! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp If you are anything like me, walking through the mall this time of year without buying some cinnamon roasted almonds is just torturous. Can you smell them now? I can’t, but that’s probably just because I’m sitting by my husband. Who smells like a boy. And rotten eggs. But I still like him. Most of the time. Everytime I am at the mall during the Christmas season (which, let’s be honest, is every single day), I blow a few bucks on those almonds because they smell so good. The outer shells are hard, they hurt my teeth and cut my gums. I eat the entire bag while walking around, then throw a tantrum in the dressing room while trying on jeans. I have no idea why they won’t fit. And then I go get more almonds to eat my emotions. They are THAT good. I knew I needed to recreate these before I bankrupted my family on sugary almonds and new jeans that fit. So I grabbed some raw almonds – a large bag was less than $2.00 at my store. I beat an egg [...]

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Staying Fit During The Holidays.

It’s no secret that we all struggle to stay fit and find a balance during the holidays, right? I don’t think we should be as hard on ourselves as we normally are – it is the holiday season after all, and spreading the love should also include loving ourselves. How do you plan on staying fit during the holidays, if at all? I want to enjoy myself, but hope to keep away the extra pounds. Here are my top tips and how I plan to stay fit during this holiday season. 1. Exercise early. I have always been a morning person and enjoy starting my day with a sweaty workout. However, on those days off it is tempting to stay in my warm bed and put off my workout until later. I want to get it out of the way first thing in the morning, so I can spend the rest of the day enjoying time with family and friends, and not miss out. 2. Enjoy the meal. I never feel guilty about eating certain foods. I have never experienced food ‘guilt’ and don’t plan on starting now. I plan to fully enjoy myself on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and [...]

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Holiday Appetizers 101: Fruit Salsa.

Update your readers! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp While it may be a bit summery, fruit salsa is one of my all-time favorite holiday appetizers. It always gets rave reviews when I take it to parties, and it is something different that your typical chips and salsa. This also is a waistline-friendly salsa. I add a tablespoon of sugar, but it is not necessary. You can opt out of using any sugar, or you can use another sweetener. The fruity goods. The chopped apple is the ‘onion’ of the salsa. It is crisp and tart, and provides a nice crunch to the salsa. I simply mix the other ingredients in with a spoon. I use orange marmalade, because I like to add an orange flavor to the salsa without adding liquid (orange juice). You can add any preserves, jams or jellies you would like (I think blueberry sounds good!). Make it your own. This is such a sweet treat. Guests love this. It tastes like dessert, and is a bit on the healthier side that other fattening dips. Which means, you know, I can eat 5 or 6 [...]

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I Love Sparkles.

Good evening! Today was pretty uneventful, and now we are one week closer to Thanksgiving! For dinner, I threw the Firecracker shrimp into some pasta. It was delicious – it is so much more versatile than your plain old cocktail shrimp. I didn’t snap a picture since I have a hungry, angry husband, but it was tasty. When I arrived home tonight, I saw a package at my front door. I was pretty suprised being that I haven’t online shopped recently, something I dislike, but my bank account likes. I opened it to find this incredibly cute cupcake garland from my Aunt Ann, who lives in San Diego. Isn’t this just so adorable?! Of course, I love it because I love all things that sparkle. Thank you so much, Aunt Ann!! I snuck in an awesome workout that consisted of: *30 minutes on the elliptical *30 minutes of full body alternating lunges 3 x 20 x 25lb dumbbells + incline chest presses 3 x 12 x 30lb dumbbells squats 3 x 15 x 35lb dumbbells + seated row 3 x 10 x 90lbs stiff-legged deadlifts 3 x 12 x 110lbs [...]

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The Best Smashed Potatoes.

Update your readers! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp Missed appetizers 1 & 2? Buffalo Chicken Dip Firecracker Shrimp What do ‘smashed’ potatoes mean to you? To me? Smashed = mashed with skins on, with some chunks. Mashed = mashed smoothly without skins. Smashed also refers to what I was after drinking a green monster Sunday evening. These smashed potatoes are easier and quicker than most mashed potatoes. The reason? I use baby yukon golds, and cut them in half so the potatoes don’t take very long to cook. The skin is also nice and thin, so you don’t feel like you are chewing on a brown paper bag. I’ve never chewed a brown paper bag before, but I’m guessing it’s not very pleasant. Small potatoes, chopped. Make sure to fill the pot with cold water – this helps the potatoes to cook more evenly. If you use the baby potatoes, they become extremely fork tender after only 20 minutes of boiling. This is my tried and true, favorite plain smashed potato recipe. I say plain, because I’ve also used this recipe for Roasted Garlic and Gorgonzola Smashed [...]

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Holiday Appetizers 101: Firecracker Shrimp.

Update your readers! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp This is a spicy twist on traditional shrimp cocktail. It is also fantastic with pasta, rice, or stir fry veggies. Not that I can testify to it being with great with veggies, since I detest them, but I’m sure it is for those of you veggie lovers. I mix everything together in a large baking dish. This doesn’t look very appetizing, but it is. Trust me. The shrimp gets tossed with the sauce, then topped with lemons. When cooking with shrimp, I prefer to use raw as often as possible. I feel that it soaks up more flavor. However, it is not readily available everyday around here. Cooked shrimp is, and I just happened to have a bag of it. Peeling and deveining shrimp also drives me batty. It is one of those things I don’t have the patience for. I’d rather scoop my eyeballs out with a slotted spoon. And I know what you’re thinking. Now you know the truth. Zero patience. That’s me. Just imagine how much fun it is to live with me! So, once the shrimp [...]

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My Favorite Green Monster.

When we woke up this morning, my husband made some of his fabulous pancakes. They were tasty. Over the weekend we hung these nifty shelves on one of our kitchen walls. I think they are so neat. Notice the picture of Mother Lovett in the upper right corner. I set it up there so she could ‘look over’ me while I cook and bake. My husband quickly noted that this was the first time she had looked over me since I was about 8 years old, considering she was 4 feet tall. We also hung some other funky shelves in our family room. As I was cleaning up, I noticed something new had been set on the shelf. Oh, no. This is not happening. There is no way that is staying there. I had enough of that before we moved in. I threatened my husband’s life lovingly let my husband know I was moving that piece of garbage thing, while he was outside fighting with a tree. After watching an excruciating Steeler’s loss, we decided to eat our emotions. Luckily, [...]

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Holiday Appetizers 101: Buffalo Chicken Dip.

I figured there was not a better party favorite to kick off my appetizer segment than some good ole’ buffalo chicken dip. There are a million variations out there, and I’ve been making this one for about 6 years. It never fails. This is one of the most-requested snacks at our house. We have even been known to eat this for dinner. Which my waistline just loves. The key is combining ranch and blue cheese, and using buffalo wing sauce, not just plain hot sauce. Occasionally when making this just for the 2 of us, I will use low-fat ingredients. If you are making it for a group, I suggest using all full-fat ingredients. The low-fat cheese doesn’t melt as well, and the cream cheese and dressings don’t combine as smoothly. I combine it all into a bowl and use an electric hand mixer to beat until smooth. I always boil my chicken because I think it’s best for shredding, but you can broil or bake it if you’d like. I fold in the chicken and some of the shredded cheese. In this case I grated my [...]

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