Decorated Sugar Cookies

I just thought I would post a picture of the beautifully decorated sugar cookies that I mentioned in the post below! I know it's a little late for Christmas but hopefully I'l be posting some decorated cookies that are as beautiful as the ones Abby made in the next few weeks!

Lemon Bars

For Christmas, we flew back to Georgia in order to be with our families. I love going home and being able to see our family and catch up on everything. We only make it back to Georgia about twice each year so we try to fit in as much time with family as we can. This means, we eat a ton! We saw a lot of people while we were home but that also meant we ate a lot of food. I didn't mind too much, especially since every woman in my family is pretty much an awesome cook. Well, my grandma isn't exactly a fan of cooking but she makes her own wine which is pretty tasty! My uncles girlfriend, Abby, is no exception. She always brings the most delicious baked goods to our get-togethers and they never disappoint.

For our Christmas Eve dinner, we always get together and have lots of appetizers and a lot of desserts. This year, Abby brought decorated sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, and these delicious lemon bars. I'm personally not a lemon kind of person but my husband loved them! I saw him consume at least 5 and I know he most likely had more. Neil has been begging me to make these ever since we got back to California.

I messaged Abby for the recipe and was surprised when she let me know they were actually from a box! Neil assures me they tasted completely homemade and were definitely blog-worthy. One of the best things about boxed desserts is that you don't have to spend a lot of time putting these together. Around the holidays this is a bonus. With all the desserts Abby brought, especially the decorated sugar cookies which take forever, these most certainly made her baking easier. By arranging them on a cute platter and adding a little dusting of powdered sugar, Abby made a delicious dessert!

Box of Lemon Bars from Krustaeaz

1/3 cup water

3 eggs

powdered sugar, optional

Preheat your oven to 350º and spray an 8 inch pan with cooking spray. Mix the water and eggs and stir in the filling. Let the filling sit while you work on the crust. Pour the bag of crust into an 8 inch pan and press into the bottom and slightly up the edges. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Add the filling on top of the baked crust and bake for 22 minutes. Allow the lemon bars to cool completely before cutting. Cut into squares, plate, and sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

Enchilada Rice Casserole

We love Mexican food in our house but sometimes all the dishes kind of seem similar. I loved this one because the addition of two kinds of rices is not something we normally have in our mexican dishes. This recipe on Mandy's blog was delicious, simple and cheesy, my favorite kind of recipe.

1 lb ground beef or turkey, cooked and drained

1 cup brown rice, cooked

1 5 oz package of Mahatma Saffron Yellow rice, cooked

2 10 oz cans of enchilada sauce

2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese

Mix first four ingredients together and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I wish casseroles were easier to photograph but I couldn't resist showing all the cheesy goodness on top!

The Newest Addition to My Kitchen

I'd like to introduce the newest addition to my kitchen...

Isn't she beautiful? My mother-in-law gifted me with this on Christmas morning! A brand new KitchenAid Artisan Mixer. I can't wait to use it for royal icing, breads, and other baked goods!

Giada's Cheesy Baked Tortellini

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but I love cheese. Pretty much any kind will do but I'm especially in love with parmesan. Neil will occasionally bring me home a block of parmesan as a surprise gift to be romantic. He's kind of cheesy like that :) Bad puns aside, any recipe with the word "cheesy" in it is like a flag waving me down. When I saw this recipe on Melissa's blog, I bookmarked it and put it on our weekly menu the first chance I got. I love watching the food network and everything Giada makes look's delicious. This recipe did not disappoint.

I wasn't quite sure how the smoked mozzarella would work out but it was perfect. It was a tad bit smoky but the flavors of the mascarpone and parmesan cheese blended well with it. If you're not a fan of smoky, I would substitute regular mozzarella. Mascarpone is kind of expensive so substituting ricotta is a possibility I recommend splurging for the mascarpone!

olive oil

2 cups marinara sauce

1/3 cup mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

2 tsps chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 pound cheese tortellini

2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 350º. Lightly oil an 8 by 8-inch baking dish. Mix the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl. Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat. Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese on the top melt, about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

10 Goals For This Year- Food and Blog Related

I can hardly believe 2010 is over! It seriously feels like just a few months ago that my husband and I said "I do" and moved out to California from Georgia together! We made it out just in time to ring in 2010 together in California and I feel like the time has flown by!

So many wonderful things have happened this year.

Neil and I spent our first year together as a married couple and celebrated our one year anniversary on December 19th. I feel so blessed to be married to him and even more blessed that we were able to spend our entire first year together. As a military couple, I wasn't sure it was going to happen especially since many of his buddies deployed. But here we are in 2011 and the only separations we've had to endure were during my canoe trip and a trip home for spring break- not even a single field exercise!

We also welcomed our pup Lucy into our home. She is the sweetest little cuddlebug and the perfect addition to our family. Although she suffers from severe separation anxiety and drives us nuts sometimes, we couldn't imagine our life without her. I also welcomed a new brother into the family when my older sister got married a day before our anniversary! It's been such a wonderful year and all of these things and more have helped to make it so. Thank so you much for reading my blog and sticking with me! I wish you a very happy and healthy 2011!

My 10 Food/Blog Goals for 2011

1. Post at least twice a week- I actually want to post more than this but considering my 21 hour load that I'm taking at school this semester ( :0 ) I decided to stick with two. I admire all the bloggers who update daily and would one day like to be able to do that. But in the meantime, my goal is twice a week and more when I can manage.

2. Host a giveaway- I won 2 giveaways in 2011 so I'd like to give something back to you guys! As soon as I decide what to give away, I'll be sending some goodies your way!

3. Do a Blog Makeover- Right now, I'm using a template provided by blogger. I'd love to design my own header and make over my blog but since I have absolutely no skills with HTML or any design talent, I think I might have to pay someone to do it for me. Once I get over my indecisiveness and decide what I want it to look like, this blog is getting a makeover!

4. Join some kind of blogging group- I'm not sure exactly how to word this but I'd love to join a group that posts once or twice a month in response to some kind of challenge. I know there are a few that work through cookbooks and post weekly so as soon as I find one my goal is to join in!

5. Host a dinner party- We've had people over for dinner and I've hosted Thanksgiving and Easter but I'd love to host an elegant dinner party and go all out on food and decor. Reading the Luxury Dinner Party posts from Project Food Blog gave me all sorts of inspiration. Our kitchen table only seats 3 though so perhaps a new table is in order :)

6. Work with yeast- Yeast intimidates me and I've never even attempted to work with it. This year, I'd like to work with in in order to make pretzels and bread and maybe even doughnuts!

7. Tamales- I had tamales for the first time at my internships Thanksgiving party for the kids this past year. They were delicious and I'd love to try my hand at recreating them.

8. Dog Treats- I received a book for my birthday on how to make organic dog treats and have yet to try it out. Lucy, our pup, loves all the table treats she secretly gets from me but I think it's time to actually make some dog-only treats for her.

9. Grill More- We live in Southern California so with the exception of a few weeks out of the year the weather is almost perfect for grilling. I love food prepared on the grill and hubby likes the manly feeling of manning a grill so I'm surprised we didn't do much grilling. This year we will grill more!

10. Royal Icing- I've tried and failed when my little hand mixer gave out but this year will be different. With the help of my newest kitchen addition (she'll be featured on here as soon as she gets shipped from Georgia) royal icing shouldn't be a problem. I love decorated sugar cookies and how you can make some for almost any occasion and I would love to master the technique!

Weekly Meal List

I'm feeling slightly better today so I got up and made a meal list and then sent the hubby out to buy groceries :) I'm so glad he doesn't mind because that is one task that I hate doing. This week is loaded with some of my husband's favorite meals since chicken noodle soup is pretty much all I have eyes on. Plus, most of these are pretty simple to make so Neil won't mind doing all the cooking :)

Saturday: Frozen Pizza

Sunday: Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Monday: Salsa Chicken

Tuesday: Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday: Maple Glazed Chicken Drumsticks

Thursday: Enchilada Rice Casserole

Friday: Eat out