I've got a feeling...

....i am feeling SO crafty right now. it's ALL i can think about. work is the last thing on my mind and it shouldn't be. i need shift my ass to high gear to close out this work week so that i can act on my crafty feelings...

to make/cook:

• homemade thin mints. holy sh*t i'm drooling.
• i need another attempt at parisian macarons, despite the extreme failure the first time
• making plenty of beautiful flower hair piece options for my gorgeous biggie's wedding! (big = sorority big sister for the non-greek)
• making the awesome beaded necklaces i posted about earlier this week
• making my chipotle meatloaf for my momma's birthday this weekend!

i have a feeling this domestic bug that has bitten me is slowly taking over my life...and besides the whole not worrying about work thing, i'm pretty okay with it! if only i could make it a full-time thing.

one can dream, right?

Spicy Tex-Mex Chicken with Tomatillo Cream sauce

THIS WAS OMG DELICIOUS. just saying...

i got back from a week of eating and drinking non-stop in florida so i've been trying to go light on meals...and at least make an attempt to "healthy-fy" things. this meal does NOT taste light, but when you look at the ingredients, the only real fat is in the cheese. woop!

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, pounded
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• chili powder
• cumin
• red pepper flakes
• s&p
• 2 tsps fat free cream cheese**
• 2 tbsp tomatillo salsa, already prepared (i use harris teeter brand)
  
• 1/2 box reduced sodium, 98% fat free chicken broth
• 2 pinches of shredded mexican cheese
  
• sprinkle of cilantro

Preparation:

spray deep skillet pan with cooking spray. heat pan on high. add ingredients through s&p to pan. add as much or as little spice as you'd like. i like spicy. so a lot. wait until chicken browns on one side, flip. add chicken broth, and cover to steam/cook through.

while that is cooking up, in a small pan, add softened cream cheese, tomatillo salsa, a pinch of shredded cheese and about a tbsp of chicken broth. heat until all ingredients are all melted together. add more chicken broth if you want a thinner sauce. season with s&p.

once the chicken is done, serve with veggies. top with cream sauce and add that extra pinch of cheese to melt on top. garnish with cilantro.


a;sldfjal;fajkfl;ajk LOVE THIS. making it again soon.

** i used cream cheese because my fat free sour cream expired in january. woops. next time i'll use sour cream for a more smooth sauce.

Nutella Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Icing

Nutella Cupcakes

: makes 10 cupcakes

10 tbsp butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 10 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until combined.

Fill each muffin liner with batter. Fill about 3/4 full.

Top each cake with 1 tsp Nutella.

Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Icing:

1/2 cup (one stick) butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely ground sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Melt butter in saucepan and continue over heat until the butter is brown, but not black. There’s good step-by-step instructions at All Recipes on how to brown butter.

Remove pan from heat and add lemon juice and brown sugar–stir until smooth.

Return pan to a med-low heat and bring to boil while constantly stirring. Boil mixture for one minute and remove from heat. Then add cream, stir until cream is incorporated.

Return pan to heat and stir until just boiling. Then remove from heat, add salt and let mixture cool to room temperature. When you taste the mixture at this point is may taste very strong and a bit too salty–that’s what you want.

Transfer caramel mixture to mixing bowl and slowly beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth.

Ice the cupcakes and then place a caramel candy on top :) Enjoy..they are DELICIOUS!! the salty sweetness is divine!

i know i suck for not having a final outcome picture. it kills me, too.

Mahi Mahi with Cilantro Cream Sauce

adapted from this sauce

Ingredients:

• About 1.5-ish pounds Mahi Mahi (for 3 people)
  
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Panko bread crumbs
  
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine - i used more b/c butter is awesome - i used light
  
• 2 tablespoons minced green onion
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, plus a few sprigs - i used more b/c i love it
  
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons whipping cream - i used more because i used too much lime, woops
  
• Lime wedges

Place mahi mahi filets in a baking dish, preheat the oven to 450. drizzle evoo and liberally S&P the fish. Cook for 15 mins and continue to check for an opaque middle.

Add onion to pan and stir just to wilt, about 30 seconds. Add cilantro, lime juice, and cream, stirring until it boils vigorously, 1 to 2 minutes. Add bread crumbs to thicken the sauce, if desired. (I LOVE thick sauce) Divide fish among 3 dinner plates. Pour sauce equally over fish. Garnish each plate with a lime wedge and cilantro sprigs.

more on the Tomato, Corn & Crab Salad coming later...:)

Recipe posts coming today

This mini-post is designed to FORCE me to catch up on my recipe blogging!

• Nutella Cupcakes with Salted Caramel icing..oooooh.
• Mahi Mahi with Cilantro Lime cream sauce and a Tomato, Corn, and Crab Salad
• Tex-Mex Chili Chicken with Tomatillo cream sauce

the last two sound similar, but you'd be AMAZED at the difference in flavors. and the healthiness!

How Low

if you need some ghetto in your life, i'd suggest the "how low" station on pandora.com

i've heard SO many awesome throwback jams - somecut, move b*tch, snap yo fingers, booty booty rockin everywhere

*don't judge me. i know i'm all over the place with wholesome crafts and delicious meals and then i switch to cRuNk music hahahaah...makes me want to drink a 40.

Dear Anthropologie,

you, my friend, make your jewelry far too expensive. I am taking this as my personal challenge to make a cheaper, but equally as beautiful, option for at least one of the following necklaces:

(all from anthropologie)

top middle - you are my fave. i WILL make you. others, you are just as adorable...you are my goals! how amazing would it be to include my own versions of these in my spring wardrobe? i'd be SO excited!!
be on the lookout for my creations...we'll see how this goes :)

Happy Face!

Boyf: "Make me a drink with a FACE!"

and here you go, from the lovely bartenders at The Lighthorse in Old Town :)

haha stuff like this makes me so happy, its hilarious!

Pan-Seared Shrimp & Scallops on Linguine with Tomato-Cream Sauce

Well, this is long overdue. On Valentine's Day weekend, we took some AWESOME friends to my parents beach house (last minute switch from the bay house) to relax, eat good food, and drink great wine!! It was the most fun I've had in a REALLY long time!! We played games NON-stop (If you haven't played Loaded Questions, do yourself a favor and get the board game and some dirty minded friends! you'll be happy you did!) and if we weren't playing games, we were watching random funny movies. We drank the.entire.time. - not the typical weekend, but it was great and I CANT WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!

I posted about what was on the menu, and we pretty much stuck to it! (very unusual for me..)

I had to adapt this recipe a LOT because it was quite a bit too wine-y for my liking - weird because i drink wine like it's water...

first off - i tripled everything since i was cooking for 6....second, i added shrimp....third, i added a hell of a lot more heavy cream (woops)

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup minced shallots - ** i used regular white/yellow onions
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger - ** i used ginger paste
  
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream - ** entire small container
  
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup chopped seeded plum tomato - **whatever tomato is cheapest...
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups hot cooked linguine
• Cooking spray
• 3/4 pound large sea scallops - ** i used 1.5 lbs
• **add 1lb Jumbo shrimp
  
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Chopped cilantro

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium skillet; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 5 minutes). Drain mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids.

Return wine mixture to skillet. Add cream; cook over medium heat 1 minute. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Stir in tomato, 2 tablespoons cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Add linguine; toss well. Cover and keep warm.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Arrange scallops in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Repeat with shrimp. Cook until pinkish-red. Add shrimp&scallops to pasta mixture; toss gently to combine. Garnish with cilantro, if desired

this recipe wasn't the best thing i've ever made, but it was still great!
i also should have made the sauce ahead of time to let the flavors combine, but i was too busy drinking/playing games to remember!

UGLY Bouquets

(photo credit)

Dear Canada, can you do ANYTHING right besides play hockey? (and beat us in a few other sports....but that's neither here nor there)


Your 1,800 bouquets that you passed out during the 2010 Winter Olympics were HORRIFIC. As my friend Holly said "you can't pass a man a bouquet of peonies" - but you CAN pass them something that isn't heinous. If I was passed one of those, I wouldn't be thrilled. The medal, however, was beautiful. I'll give that to you.

Next time, although there will probably never be a next time because you managed DEATH in your Olympic games, do better.

Thanks,
Madeleine

Want some info about the ugliness - here you go.

also - i realize i have been gone for quite some time, i was doing "big things" in florida...haha - i have plenty of great posts on hand for today and this week, bloggy friends! :)