Flavor of the Week {copy cats}

I LOVE Food Network Magazine! I get so excited when it comes in the mail! The 1st thing I do when I get it is flip to the "copy cat" recipe (usually before I even walk away from the mailbox!). Each issue they publish a recipe that replicates popular chain restaurant specialties, and living in a small town where our dining out options are limited, I live for this recipe each issue! The day I saw Olive Garden's salad dressing and bread sticks, I screamed and RAN to my kitchen to start cooking! Turns out it's a pretty darn close imitation and I make it semi-regularly since all the ingredients are things I keep in the house at all times and the nearest OG is almost 2 hours from us! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

And to go with the salad tonight, we had another "copy cat" recipe for Red Lobster's biscuits! These were also very similar to the real thing, and I will be making these as often as I can go to the gym and run them off ;-) Again with this one, aside from the Crisco, it's all things I keep (and I think most people keep) in the pantry.

Olive Garden "copy cat" salad dressing:

1/4 cup EVOO

2 TBSP white wine vinegar

3 TBSP Miracle Whip

1 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1-2 TBSP water (start with one and add another if you want is thinner)

Mix all the ingredients in a blender and TA DA! You have a super yummy homemade dressing to pour over your favorite salad!

Red Lobster "copy cat" cheddar biscuits:

For the biscuits:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 TBSP + 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 TBSP vegetable shortening at room temperature

4 TBSP col unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

8 oz  grated yellow cheddar cheese

3/4 cups milk

(next time I will add some garlic powder to the dough so it has more flavor, plus we really like garlic in my house!)

For the garlic butter:

6 TBSP unsalted butter

3 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley

Step 1:

place rack in top 1/3 of your oven and preheat to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2:

Pulse the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add the shortening and pulse until combined. Add the butter; pulse until the butter is in pea size pieces. Add the cheese and pulse to combine. Pour in the milk and pulse just until the mixture is moistened and forms a shaggy dough. (I'm not really sure what shaggy dough is, so I just pulsed until it combined) Turn out onto a clean surface and gently knead until the dough comes together. Do not overwork or the biscuits will be tough.

Step 3:

Scoop 1/4 cup portions onto the cookie sheet 2 inches apart and bake about 15-20 minutes, until golden.

Step 4:

While the biscuits are baking, make the garlic butter by melting the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat then add the garlic; cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley. Brush the biscuits with the garlic butter and serve warm. (I actually did 2 "coats" for more flavor!)

Making all this stuff from scratch was a bit much to tackle in one night, next time, I think I'll stick to one from scratch recipe at a time! However, the whole meal was absolutely DELICIOUS! ENJOY!!!

Project365 {week2}

{08Jan10} great minds think alike

{09Jan10} brrrrrrrr

{10Jan10} yummy snack

{11Jan10} Buster

{12Jan10} this little girl is becoming one of my favorite people to hang out with

{13Jan10} organizing the garage on a warm winter day

{14Jan10} Our good friend Jasmin singing solo on stage for the 1st time

Flavor of the Week {Turkey Chili}

I try new recipes at least 3 times a week and I figure at least 1 of the 3 will turn out well enough for me to share with you, so I'm going to start sharing my "flavor of the week" with you. I hope you find some new great recipes to add to your collection!

It has been COLD here this past week, like it hasn't gotten above 20 degrees cold! When it gets cold outside, nothing makes me happier than a hot bowl of chili, and this is my favorite. This is the closest thing I have to an original recipe, meaning I didn't get it from a cookbook or a website. It's a little bit how my mom used to make it and a lot of adding things that I like to it. It's super easy to make and tastes even better the next day =)

Turkey Chili

Feeds 5

Ingredients

1&1/2 lbs cooked turkey (or chicken) (I like to use the rotisserie chicken you can buy already cooked at the commissary, or left over turkey from Thanksgiving which is what I actually used this time) (or you could use any ground meet that you like)

1 each green pepper, red pepper and onion, cut into bite size pieces

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 cup frozen corn

2 large cans diced tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 tbsp cumin

1/2 tbsp oregano

1/2 tbsp basil

2 tbsp chili powder

salt&pepper to taste

EVOO for cooking

Sometimes I add a can of beans. And I don't like spicy but if you do, feel free to toss in some jalapeños, my husband always adds some to his own bowl.

Cook the peppers and the onion in 1tbsp EVOO in at least a 5 quart pot until tender.

Add the garlic and cook for about 3 more minutes. Chop/tear the turkey into bite size pieces and add it to the pot. Also add the canned tomatoes/sauce and corn (and anything else you wish at this time) and stir to combine. Add the spices and let cook for about 15 minutes then TASTE! You have to taste this while it's cooking and adjust your seasonings to your liking! I normally have to add more chili powder and let it cook for at least another 30 minutes

I like to serve it with corn bread! ENJOY!

Project365 {week1}

So I'm going to try to take a photo every day of 2010 and HOPEFULLY see some major improvements by the end of the year. It's only been one week and I've already had to resort to yummy food pics I've snapped with my cell phone because I didn't get out the real camera that day. I promise to try harder for next week, even if it means I have 7 photos of Buster =) My goal is to update once a week...we'll see how that goes!

PS, this isn't an original idea...Project365

{01Jan10} yummy Japanese dumplings for the Sugar Bowl

{02Jan10} we discovered that if you leave your baking stones in the oven while you turn the self clean on, they also self clean! These things used to be a perfectly seasoned dark brown color!

{03Jan10} we were able to meet up with one of my 1st "army wife" friends for some dinner in KC!!!

{04Jan10} fun colors at the Harley factory

{05Jan10} we tried out the local Japanese restaurant...Jason was more adventurous than I was, I ordered teryaki chicken and he ordered a bunch of raw fish!

{06Jan10} broke out the new fryer and made wings and fries for dinner...not healthy, but made with love

{07Jan10} our 1st big snow and Buster's made a ribbon. I'm glad it's not a yellow ribbon!

leave of absence...

So life has been absolutely crazy busy the past month and a half. While I was gone, I...

had a house full of high school/college boys for Thanksgiving



cooked my 1st turkey (and it was DELICIOUS!)



got our wedding photos in the mail (photo courtesy of Christina of CJ Photography)


Hosted a baby shower (I miss you Erica!!!!!!!!!!!!!)(my husbands insisted I wrap her gifts in a beer box as a joke!)



attended a 4 year old's Transformer birthday party


Found out were moving to JAPAN in October! (Photo courtesy of google!)



Watched my husband put up Christmas lights




Helped my husband put up and decorate our 1st Christmas tree



Attended my husbands graduation ceremony from ECCC



Went back to Cincinnati for Christmas



Saw Josh Hoge, one of my favorite singer/songwriters, perform (check him out on ITunes)

met up with one of my BFF's who lives thousands of miles away



had neighbors living with us for a few days (MISS YOU ALREADY!!!)



and celebrated the new year with some of my favorite people and a good game of Settlers of Catan!