I have been contemplating going to BlogHer 2009 which I was so excited to find out is in Chicago this year. Last year I was on vacation (if you call being in a hurricane a vacation) when BlogHer occurred so I didn’t make it. This year, of course, I will have a 2 month old baby. I have been weighing my options to figure out if BlogHer 2009 could really be feasible considering how my life will be at that point.

I called my sister to see if she would be willing to go with me. She could watch the baby for me, hang out in Chicago, while I attended the conference. Since I will still be nursing, she could bring me the baby when that needed to happen and all would be well. Then I thought about how you look and feel at month two post baby. Tired, fat, flabby, pudgy, leaky, etc. Would I really want to meet some of the people I have known through blogging for the first time in real life while I was a walking pudge ball? Then I thought… I could use BlogHer as my excuse to not gain much weight and to get back into shape after the baby is born. That could be my motivation.

Well, I’m here to say I really want to go to BlogHer, but in order to do that I am going to have to give up two of my main food staples right now… Wendy’s French Fries and Caramel Corn Puffs. Seriously, one cup of these caramel corn puffs has enough fat and calories in it to instantly make my rear the size of Texas. But, they are soooo addicting… if you like that sweet / salty combo, then these fat inducing snacks are so worth it.

I have a choice to make now… continue enlarging my rear or meet you all at BlogHer. Stay tuned to see the outcome!

Addictive Caramel Corn Puffs

I got a couple of emails after I posted my “kid friendly” menu on Monday. I guess I should have clarified. I know that my definition of kid friendly and other parents definition of kid friendly can be completely different things. I have been very blessed in the fact that my kids are not picky. They eat just about anything I put in front of them, but part of that is because I don’t cater to their tastes. I cook the recipes I want to cook, and they know that they at least have to try everything on their plate. I don’t make something different for them if they don’t like what we are having for dinner. I do always have fruit and vegetable options available that I know they will eat (so they don’t “starve”), but for the most part, they generally like our meals and eat what is put in front of them. I know I’d better count my blessings because my good fortune with picky eaters is sure to change when they get older. We will cross that bridge when we come to it, but for now I’ll continue cooking the way I do.

Lunch time is when we go for the all out kids fare at our house. Chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, PB&J… they get to have the limelight at lunch time. One very kid friendly recipe that my kids go crazy for are Extra Cheesy Crescent Mozzarella Wedges. I love it too because it is so easy to put together and really tastes great.

The ingenious people over at Pillsbury have created a product to make this recipe (and ones like it) even more simple. Crescent Recipe Creations… a product just like the Pillsbury crescent rolls, but with out the perferated seams. Isn’t that brilliant? This will make making the Extra Cheesy Crescent Mozzarella Wedges, Grandma Doyle’s Breakfast Pizza, and more recipes like that so much easier!

The folks at Pillsbury sent me some other great products to try out. Stay tuned for what is new at Pillsbury!

Extra Cheesy Crescent Mozzarella Wedges

22 min | 5 min prep

SERVES 8

I admit… I was torn to see school start this year. It felt like the summer just flew by. Maybe that is something all moms say once they have kids in school, but I truly feel like summer was gone in a blink.

As sad I am to see school back in session, I am truly excited to get back into a somewhat more manageable routine. We may have more things going on during the school year, but at least we are on somewhat of a schedule.

Along with that schedule comes the challenge of finding time to sit down to dinner as a family each evening. During the summer we would eat dinner early or eat late or eat out… we ate dinner together, but it varied greatly as far as times. Now with school getting out at 4pm, and after school activities starting soon after, I am hungrily looking for delicious recipes that can fit into our ever tight schedules.

I recently found this recipe for Asian Lettuce Wraps on another food blog and now I can’t find the blog. Luckily, I did a search on All Recipes and found the same recipe. (If I commented on this recipe on your blog, please let me know and I’ll link this back to you.) I love this recipe because it gives me something besides tacos and spaghetti to use ground beef with. It is a fun, hand held dinner and it can be made in a jiffy. With recipes like this in my repertoire, I feel like I can finally get into the groove of things!

Asian Ground Beef Lettuce Wraps, from Allrecipes

• 16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
2. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
3. Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!

Interested in other recipe versions of Lettuce Wraps? Check out what these food bloggers have to offer:

• Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps, from Picky Palate
• Quick Chinese Lettuce Wraps, from Chaos in the Kitchen
• Ginger Chicken Lettuce Wraps, from The Village Voice
• Five-Spice Turkey and Lettuce Wraps, from Culinary in the Desert

There is still some room for you in the Adopt-a-Blogger 2 event. Veteran’s especially… come on out and mentor a new blogger! Click here to sign up.

I am a very visual person. I love to have recipes with photographs… it makes the recipe that much more tempting and desirable. Often times, I will be flipping through a magazine and will fall in love with a photo of a recipe, only to take a look at the recipe and realize that I really don’t care for some of the ingredients in the dish. This does not happen very often, as I am not a very picky eater, but when it does sometimes I am still lured in just enough by the photo to throw out my picky qualms about an ingredient and to try the recipe anyway.

This happened recently when I was flipping through June/July 2008 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. A photograph for an appetizer called “Sky Blue Potatoes” caught my eye and I immediately was intrigued. Then, I took a look at the ingredients and noticed that the “Blue” in the recipe title actually came from the fact that Blue Cheese is one of the prominent ingredients. I have never been a fan of Blue Cheese. I have always wanted to be, but each and every time I try it it just does nothing for my tastebuds. I was still being tempted by the photo, so I decided to make this appetizer anyway.

This appetizer was not a huge amount of work, but to do all of that work only to discover that you still do not like blue cheese is a little disappointing.  I don’t know what I was expecting my tastebuds to do…did I really think they were going to make a big whopping change, just like that? Actually, yes… yes I did. I just thought that I’d make the recipe, take my first bite, and suddenly be in love with blue cheese! It didn’t happen, folks. In case you are wondering, I still am not a blue cheese fan.

This appetizer got a thumbs up from the Blue Cheese lovers who tried it. If you are of the Blue Cheese loving group, you’ll love this appetizer. If you are not, I’ve done the work for you and can tell you… blue cheese still tastes like blue cheese no matter how tempting the photograph!

Sky Blue Potatoes, from Everyday with Rachael Ray, June/July 2008

Picture this… three women sitting around a table, enjoying some wine and craving guacamole and chips. I mean, really craving… not just wishing that we had some. C-R-A-V-I-N-G. This was my friends Sara, Kathy and I a few months ago. Sara’s husband was always the guacamole maker… he makes some of the yummiest guac I have ever had, but Sara’s husband was not home and again… we had a serious craving coming on.

I don’t remember who eventually gave in and ran to the store, but it was one of us. And, instead of buying the ingredients to make guacamole, we bought a tub of guacamole and some chips. Happy that we at least had something to curb our craving, we ate away and were perfectly happy until Sara’s husband came home. When he walked in the door and saw that we were eating guacamole from a TUB he had words to share. He couldn’t believe we had the audacity to eat packaged guacamole. I clearly remember him saying, “Guacamole is so simple to make… why would you bother with the packaged stuff?”

Of course, we went through the night making fun of Sara’s husband for being such a food snob. Yeah… the packaged guac wasn’t that great and Sara’s husbands was sooooo much better, but it was quick, easy, and fixed our craving.

Fast forward to a couple of months later when I was having a guacamole craving. I happened to have a few avacados in the fridge and decided to give homemade guacamole a try. I called up Sara’s husband, and asked him what else I needed. He ran through a list of ingredients and gave me some instructions of how make it.

Now, I have to eat crow, because you know what… Sara’s husband was completely right. All that ribbing he got that night for being so snobbish about tubbed guacamole had to be retracted by me. Homemade guacamole is easy and is so much better than the tubbed variety! Take it from this non-food snob… fresh is best.

Kind of like Mark’s Guacamole (most of this you just have to taste until you get it just right)

3 Avacados, pitted, peeled and chopped

2 Roma Tomatoes, seeded and chopped

Season Salt to taste

1 dash cumin (to taste)

Juice of half a lemon or lime

2 TBS fresh cilantro, chopped

Take the avacado and mash with a fork to desired consistency. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together with a spoon until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Serve with chips and enjoy!