I'm a Guest Blogger!

Last Tuesday, Jessica from Healthy Obsessions invited me to be a guest blogger!  You can view my ramblings post here.  :)

Someone's turning 30!

Thank God it's not me.  Not until March anyway.

My husband is turning the big 3-0 the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  He's not too excited about it.  He's more excited about something else that's happening that day...

The UofM vs. Ohio State game.

He's a huge Michigan fan.  Don't believe me?  This is our house:

Yes, our house is "maize and blue."  Not technically those colors, but close enough.  The door and shutters almost look black in this photo, but they are definitely blue.  All we have to do is tell people we're the Michigian house, and they immediately know which one.  I actually think the color combo is rather charming. 

Since the biggest game of the year is on his birthday, I suggested throwing a small get-together for our family and his close friends.  He agreed to that.  I don't think he would have let me give him a party otherwise.

Now, you know how I like designing invitations.  I couldn't let this important birthday slip by without coming up with something special.  And I think I did!



I really think they turned out pretty great.  Well, the second version turned out great.  I kind of forgot to include the date of Ryan's birthday/the game on the invitations that were mailed out.  Oops.  I figured that everyone who was invited knows and loves Ryan, so they would know the date without me having to tell them.  Right?  Wishful thinking? 

We've had a few RSVPs so far, so I'm pretty sure our guests figured it out.  They're smart people.  :)

Baked French Fries

As I predicted the other day, Ryan and I did indeed have chicken fingers again.  I made them for dinner on Friday.  Instead of throwing some Ore-Ida frozen French fries in the oven to complete our meal, I decided to try and make my own fries.

That idea sort of worked.

Ryan's baked French fries turned out great.  A little crispy, but nothing that reducing the baking time won't solve.

My sweet potato fries, however, did not fair too well.  This is the good photo.

This is what happened to some of the beautiful potato slices:

Rest in peace, yummy sweet potatoes.  Rest in peace.  The same goes for my cookie sheet.  I think I did it in.


Oven Baked French Fries
Recipe courtesy of eHow.com

Ingredients:

• Russet potatoes
• Olive or canola oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Spray a roasting pan or baking sheet with non-stick spray.
3. Wash 6 russet potatoes.  You can peel them or leave the skin.
4. Cut the potatoes into 1/4 to 1/2-inch fries.  A thinner fry will cook faster.
5. Put the fries in a bowl and toss them with 1/4 cup olive or canola oil and salt and pepper.  At least 1 tsp salt will be needed.
6. Put the fries in a bowl and toss them with 1/4 cup olive or canola oil and salt and pepper.  At least 1 tsp. salt will be needed.
7. Cook them in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.  While cooking be sure to turn the fries with a spatula, or take out the pan and toss them so all sides get browned.
8. Serve.

I only used one potato, so I adjusted the oil, salt, and pepper as needed.  I should have adjusted the baking time.  Oh well.  Live and learn, right?


Ina Garten's Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Recipe courtesy of Food.com

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled (if desired)
• 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut sweet potatoes in wedges or like french fries.
3. In a bowl, pour olive oil and toss to mix.
4. Sprinkle brown sugar, salt, and black pepper.  Toss to coat wedges.
5. Spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes, then take out and turn wedges over.
6. Place back in oven and bake another 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
7. Sprinkle with extra kosher salt to taste.  The cooking time will depend on how big the wedges are. Enjoy!

Clearly, this was way too long to bake my sweet potatoes.  I did keep the oven on 450 since that's what the chicken fingers were baking at, but that shouldn't have made that big of a deal, right?  No biggie.  I ate around the charred parts, and they were still delicious.  Next time, I will only put the fries in the oven for the last 12-15 minutes the chicken fingers are baking.

You hear that?  Next time.  Yep, they were still pretty darn good!

Healthy chicken fingers

Sometimes I feel like Ryan and I are just two giant kids. 

We don't eat anything that's particularly fancy or out of the ordinary.  Neither of us eat seafood.  We like chicken, beef, potatoes, pizza, ketchup (me), ranch dressing (him), and chocolate.

A lot of those items aren't particularly healthy, so when I stumbled upon a recipe for crispy baked chicken fingers, I couldn't wait to try them.

Crunchy Chicken Fingers

Recipe courtesy of How Sweet It Is

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenders  (I used two chicken breasts, butterflied, and cut into strips)
• 2 cups low-fat buttermilk  (I used powdered buttermilk)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup corn flake crumbs
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Note:  This amount of breading is enough for probably 3 lbs of chicken.  I will either half or third this the next time I make it.

Directions:

1. Soak chicken tenders in buttermilk for 2 to 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
3. Lay a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray it with non-stick spray.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, panko, corn flake crumbs, salt. and pepper.  Dip the chicken tenders in the panko mix and coat thoroughly, then lay on the baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining chicken.
4. Spray each chicken piece lightly with cooking spray (it will help them crisp) and bake for 12 minutes. Flip and bake for 12 more. Let cool.

I really enjoyed these.  After one bite, Ryan said he wasn't sure about the breading.  That didn't stop him from eating all of the chicken fingers, minus the three I ate.  After the last one, he declared them good.

I ate mine with a gallon of ketchup, and Ryan paired his with a gallon of ranch dressing.

We will be having these again.  And soon.

Happy Halloween

It's about an hour and a half away from when we expect to hear high squeeky voices yell, "TRICK OR TREAT" at our front door.  That's our candy bowl above.  I think it's actually a punch bowl, but I use it as my trick-or-treat candy bowl.  The saying is just too cute, so I make the bowl multi-task.  :)

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween night!

Sounds Like Halloween

For some odd reason, I've been slightly obsessed with having a Halloween playlist this year.  So yesterday at work in my spare time, I put together a list of possible songs to include in my Halloween-worthy playlist.  Shockingly enough, I had most of these in my song collection already.



I'm sure I'll get some weird looks from my darling husband, but I plan on playing this while we pass out candy on Sunday evening.

How about you?  Are there any songs you HAVE to hear around Halloween?  I think Thriller is a given, but I may have  possibly missed a few songs that are essential.  In fact,  I'm sure I missed some!

Birthday Pie

No, I didn't mis-type.  There's no such thing as birthday cake for my dad.  For as long as I can remember, he has always had an apple pie at his birthday celebrations.  My mom used to make it, but over the last few years, I have been given the task of baking her famous pie. 

I posted the recipe and a photo last year, so I thought this year I would give you my tips for making pie crust.

Please excuse the poor quality photos.  It was night time when I made the pie.

Normally I use a pastry blender to mix my flour and shortening, but I decided to try using my food processer instead this time.  HELLO??  Why haven't I been using this all along?  It took about a mintue for my dough to be perfectly ready to go.  If you have a food processor, USE IT.  I told my husband that the food processer is my new BFF.  He asked about my Kitchenaid mixer.  Oh yeah.  Food processer, you're a very close second!

One of my mom's tips for great pie crust is to touch the dough as little as possible.  We always roll our dough on our Tupperware Silcone Mats and use plastic wrap over the top.  Just go ahead and roll right on top of it.  I usually use two pieces and cross them like a plus sign right over the top of the dough ball.

One the dough is flat and as big as I need it for my pie plate, I take a knife and gently run it between the dough and the silicone mat.  Then I fold it in half and then in half again and transport it to the pie plate.

Once that's done, peel off the plastic wrap and fill with the pie filling of your choice.  We like apple around here.

I then top the filling with the second pie crust and attempt to make the edges look pretty.  I'm not very good at fluting them, but it doesn't stop me from trying.

Don't forget to cover the edges with aluminum foil so they don't get too crispy or burn.  Remove them when there's only 15 minutes left to bake.

Oh, and then top your birthday pie with birthday candles!  Dad turned three this year apparently...  ;)

Happy birthday, dad!