Homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette

So I woke up one morning and had the strangest craving for a strawberry salad with walnuts and blue cheese crumbles, but I didn't have any dressing to top it off with so my creative juices got to flowing.

I decided to try my hand at making a vinaigrette. Here;s what I did:

1/4 cup  Sliced Strawberry
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Canola Oil
2 T Balsamic Glaze
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Sugar
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

Simply blend in a blender until smooth and just a little runny. You may need to add more or less oil for the perfect consistency, and there you have it, Your own Strawberry Dressing!!! Yummy :)

Father's Day Meal for Trent

So I thought I would prepare a meal that all men should love, Steak and Potatoes, lol. Good idea too, becuase Trent loved it!! Here's what I did......

I made Sirloin Steak with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Garlic Roasted Asparagus Spears.

I cut some Yukon Gold potatoes into 1-inch pieces and boiled them for about 5 mins. I then put them in a casserole dish with Olive Oil, Onions, Rosemary, Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, and Pepper. I baked them for about 40 mins.

For the Asparagus, I simply seasoned with Olive Oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, and roasted for 10 mins.

The steak was easy as well. Simply pat the steaks dry with a paper towel then season with whatever you have. Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Add olive oil and cook steaks on each side for about 5 mins to reach medium well temp. This is the most important tip of all. When you take the steak out of the pan LET IT REST. Meaning, do NOT touch it, cut it, poke it or anything!! Let it rest on the cutting board, loosely covered with foil for about 5-10 mins. This will help the meat stay moist and redistribute the juices.

All in all  this was a pretty easy meal to cook and does not take a lot of effort.

P.S. I start my new schedule at work and I'm super excited about it!!! :) AND I go home to Memphis in 5 days for my Baby Showers!!!! Yay!!!!

Themed Gatherings and Party Foods

I absolutely love to host small gatherings with friends and family, especially at home with my mom! The two of us together can pull together a party fit for royalty in under an hour with the right planning and preparation. Since we've been doing it for so long, it's easy for us to plan because the you always have key items that will make the menu no matter what and then specialty items that fit the theme. For instance,  my mom and I are in the process of planning a baby shower for me, coming up really soon on June 24th. My lovely line sisters are planning a baby shower for me too for June 25! So I get to go home and have multiple showers! Yay!!! But any who, my mom and I are still working on the menu for the family shower.

So here are some of the ideas I had:

Essentials
1.) Fruit Tray
2.) Cheese and Cracker Tray
3.) Chips
4.) Some sort of dip, preferably 2 types
5.) Veggie Tray with different dressings

Needless to say you need beverages to accompany the food.

Some specialty items that may go along with the Hawaiian outdoor theme that I want to have are:
1.) Skewered Shrimp with Coconut Pina-colada Sauce
2.) Meatballs with a Sweet glaze
3.) Citrus grilled chicken wings

We may even do some snow cones!! But this is a pretty simplistic menu that will surely make people happy. :)
I encourage you to all throw a little party using the essentials and a few specialty items of your own!!

P.S. Shout out to my mom!! She is super excited to be a grandma soon. She bought like 15 outfits for Cristopher already and he isn't due until October :) Gotta love her :) And another shout out to all of my line sisters who are working really hard on a bay shower as well. I love you girls and appreciate all that you do :)

Shrimp Diablo

So I was watching Cooking Channel, Fresh Food Fast with Emeril Lagase, the other day and he made a really simple pasta dish that inspired me to create a twist to call it my own. I actually made this for dinner last night and Trent absolutely loved it. It's so easy to make and takes only like 10 mins at the most.


Angel Hair Pasta
2T chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 can crushed tomatoes or can of diced tomatoes
1 T Siracha Sauce
1 lb Shrimp, Peeled and deveined


So this is how you do it, start by cooking angel hair pasta according to the package instructions. Enough for two people. Simultaneously, in a large skillet, heat about 2 T of Olive Oil to a medium high heat. Add the garlic and onions. Saute for 5 mins until onions are soft. Be sure not to burn the garlic!! Add the Red Pepper Flakes along with the tomatoes and siracha sauce. Cook for 10 minutes. If sauce is getting to thick, add just a little water or seafood stock to thin it back out to the consistency of a sauce. Add the shrimp in the sauce and turn off the heat. It only takes 2 minutes for shrimp to cook. At that time also add the pasta and coat in the sauce. Serve with sprinkles of fresh chopped parsley for color and flavor. Delicioso!!!

This meal will be a little spicy, hints the name, Shrimp Diablo, but anyone can enjoy this by using less of the crushed rep pepper flakes and the siracha sauce. :) Eat up!!

P.S. Today I am 23 weeks into my pregnancy. I'm feeling great and more and more excited to meet my little bundle of joy :)

Final Course and the NBA Finals!!!!!

There's always an opportunity to make a meal better if it didn't start off too good, but the final course has to be great, because it's the last thing your guest will taste. You want to make something that is fabulous, looks like you took all day to make, yet easy for you to prepare. Some really great dishes that are eye-catching and simple include: Cheesecake, Pie, Banana's Foster, Layered Fruit Parfait, Bread Pudding, and many more desserts. One of my favorites is Bread Pudding!!

Bread Pudding is simply pieces of bread mixed with an egg mixture and baked. The wonderful thing about it is, many people usually already have all of the necessary ingredients on hand to make it. For my recipes, I like to add a bit of raisins just to jazz it up a bit.

8 slices of  Bread cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup Milk
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Raisins
2 tbsp Cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut bread into cubes. Mix both Milks and beat in eggs, cinnamon and raisins. Spray a pan with non-stick spray and add bread. Pour egg mixture over bread and mix to ensure all bread in moist. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 mins or until golden brown and custard has set.

This recipe is even more delicious served warm with extra cold ice cream. Simple, yet tasty enough to be considered hard work, lol.

One really fancy light dessert that I think is really good for a hot summer's day is a Granita. Granita is Italin for fruit ice and originates from Sicily. To make this wonderful item simply add equal parts fruit juice and warm water to a shallow glass pan with half the amount of sugar. (ex. 1 cup water= 1/2 cup sugar). You don't want it to be overly sweet like a snow cone or anything. Mix these ingredients in the dish and freeze for at least 4 hours. To serve, just scrape the fruit ice with a fork and serve in a fancy martini glass with a sprig of mint as a garnish.

Whatever it is you're making, always try and make it your best dish ever!! :)

And about the Finals game last night between Dallas and Miami..... Wow!! I don't want to be too quick to judge or take sides, but I'm thinking that Miami may have the Finals in the bag. It was a good game, but I'm just anxious to see how the rest of the series will play out. There's always a chance Dallas could make it interesting and make it last til game 7!!! :)

Comfort Foods

Everyone on the face of the earth, hopefully, loves a good hearty meal every now and then. I know I surely do. In fact I craved what is arguably one of the most comforting foods, Pot Roast. For this Pot Roast, I went to Walmart and bought a package of meat that had the veggies already packaged with it. And because I really like veggies, I added parsnips to the roast as well. It looks like a White Carrot, but tastes more like a potato when cooked to a tender texture.

So I started off the roast by searing all sides in a hot pan and preheating my oven to 350 degrees F. I then placed the roast in a casserole dish and poured the veggies, potatoes (cuto into 4), baby carrots, celery, onions, and parsnips, all around the meat as well as a seasoned water mixture to keep the meat and veggies moist. Place the dish in the oven and cook for 5 hours, or longer if desired.

I served the Pot Roast over brown rice and Trent absolutely loved it!!!

M.I.A.

Hey everyone! I know I have been missing in action as far adding new posts and I apologize. My life has been going going going non-stop and I didn't make time to check on my website.

Great news though, I have a new job that I love AND...... Trent and I will be having our first child!!! Don't know the sex of the baby yet, but today, he or she is about the size of a grape :) We are super excited and can't wait for our bundle of joy to be done baking in the oven, lol.

I have been thinking about new topics of discussion. I'll list a few here and let me know what you think:
*Gluten-Free.....What's the Big Deal?
*Whole Wheat vs White
*Comfort Foods
*Chopped Allstars
*How to Play Iron Chef at Home :)

Feel free to add topic items :) I'm always open to suggestions. Anywho, gotta get ready for work, ttyl :)