March 2014 – Page 3 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Lemon-Garlic Cream Fettuccine

Posted on March 12, 2014 by LFFL

Made with lemon peel, fresh parsley, minced garlic cloves, fettuccine, butter, onion, heavy whipping cream, salt & pepper, cream cheese, lemon juice, plum tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.

I had my reservations about making another “Taste of Home” recipe, but this little pasta dish actually turned out rather good. Previous dishes I’ve chosen to make from “Taste of Home” weren’t much to write home about, but I decided to give it another try.

This was full of creaminess that covered each and every noodle. You can really taste the lemon and garlic in this dish. Adding Parmesan cheese on top is just the way to finish it off. I made plenty of this stuff so I’m set for lunch/dinner for the next few days.

Recipe for—Lemon-Garlic Cream Fettuccine

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make yourself a fabulous noodle dish full of creamy goodness—and don’t forget to load it with lemon and garlic. The flavors are marvelous.

Take-Away Life Lesson: A big pot of noodles is all you need to comfort your stomach.

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Pasta With Bacon & Leeks

Posted on March 8, 2014 by LFFL

Made with rigatoni pasta, turkey bacon, leeks, salt & pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and fresh parsley.

This was a quick and easy pasta dish to make today and it tasted marvelous. But what I want to know is—why are leeks SO crazy dirty?! Have they had a hard life or what? I’ve never seen such filth between leaves like that. Yuck.

I don’t have much experience with leeks but, ohhhh, how I love the flavor leeks can add to dishes. That slight onion flavor is just right.

Crispy up the bacon.

Leeks ready for chopping.

Chopped leeks sauteeing.

Topped with cheese & parsley ready to eat.

Recipe for—Pasta With Bacon & Leeks

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make a quick and easy pasta dish for lunch or dinner incorporating leeks.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always get out the dirt that’s hiding inside the crevices from deep between the leaves of leeks before doing anything else with them.

A Vegetable Frittata To Love

Posted on March 7, 2014 by LFFL

Made with zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red onion, olive oil, salt & pepper, minced garlic cloves, eggs, half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, butter, scallions, and Gruyère cheese.

This was a lovely and fancy breakfast and there were plenty of leftovers for the next few days. Zapping a serving inside the microwave each day was all it took for me to have some scrumptiousness in my mouth in no time at all.

Chopped vegetables ready for baking.

Then pan sautee the vegetables.

Add eggs.

I love looking at all the pretty colors in food dishes. It makes for an appetizing meal.

It was great to not have to think about what I was going to have for breakfast each day. A wedge of this loveliness piping hot from the microwave and I’m ready to roll.

Recipe for—Roasted Vegetable Frittata

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make yourself a frittata and load it up with all kinds of goodies.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You really can pretty much throw just about anything into a frittata and make it your own. And there you have breakfast for a few days.

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Thank You From My Heart

Posted on March 5, 2014 by LFFL

Sometimes you just want to thank the family, friends, and people in your life who have always seemed to be there for you or thought about you when you least expected it. Thanks for giving me fabulous memories year-after-year. You will always hold a special place in my heart.

AEMP—9:00am My favorite girlfriend in the whole world. You always make me smile and I loved your phone call bright and early. My sweetness.

LOC—10:12am A very surprising voicemail message from the person I least expected it from.

LFP—10:14am Your text made me smile. Love.

TRG—11:23am Your Facebook message and text both made me cheese. You’re like clockwork on time every time.

MLH—11:58am Your phone conversations and texts with me were so cool. And who am I to turn down a late dinner or early breakfast this week? Free food for me! Can’t wait.

NN & MN—12:07pm Your texts are always filled with love. Love.

HFP—2:41pm Your phone call meant the world to me and you always make me laugh without even meaning to—which is why you’re so funny. Love.

NXD—4:16pm I love that you always Facebook me and think of me without fail.

CUR—4:38pm My ace boon coon for all these years. You’ve always thought about me and I love that.

BJ—4:58pm Your Facebook message was awesome.

DH—5:30pm Stopping by to see me with those awesome butter cakes will never get old. And you gave me some chocolate goodness, too. How I melted.

JEP—6:33pm Your hundreds of informative texts from love never cease to amaze me. Love.

TMP—7:50pm Your text made me smile with all the little faces. Love.

TRGJ—9:47pm Your Facebook message made me smile as they always do. I always feel your love.

SM—Your text was a wonderful surprise yesterday morning. Who knew? I’m anticipating what’s to come in the mail and so grateful already before it’s even happened. You have been so kind to me.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, thank all the people in your life that always make you smile, laugh, or have always been there for you. After all, there are people out there who have no one at all and are all alone in this world.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always be grateful for what you do have because you never know when you may not have it anymore.

No-Bake Cookies

Posted on March 3, 2014 by LFFL

Made with butterscotch chips, crunchy peanut butter, peanuts, and crispy rice cereal (Special K cereal or Rice Krispies).

So, I was craving the taste of something sweet and I started thinking of these no-bake cookies. I’ve made and posted about this particular cookie before—but, oh, how I had to make them another go round.

These took all of five minutes to make. The time-consuming part was sitting around the house waiting for them to harden enough so I could pick them up.

Naturally, I’m impatient when I’m hungry and had to have one straight away. So I had no choice but to use a fork to eat the last one I was scraping from the pan. That bad boy never even made it to the cookie sheet.

Have a little more class than I did, folks, and just wait for the hardening process to take effect.

Melt butterscotch chips & peanut butter.

Stir to creamy goodness.

Add peanuts.

Stir in crispy rice cereal.

Recipe for—Special K No-Bake Cookies

1 pkg (11 oz) butterscotch chips
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
2/3 cup peanuts
3 cups Special K cereal

Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat.
Stir until melted.
Mix in peanuts and cereal and stir until coated with mixture.
Spoon out into individual cookies onto a cookie sheet covered with wax or parchment paper.
Let sit an hour or longer until hardened.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, spend five minutes making any variety of assorted no-bake cookies. The best part is you don’t have to bake them.

Take-Away Life Lesson: It’s always better to wait for the cookie hardening process to take effect so you’re not holding a saucepan to your face while you scrape the last bits of cookie gump into your mouth. It’s not a good look.

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Eggbert's Sunriser—A Hash Brown Goulash

Posted on March 1, 2014 by LFFL

Made with frozen diced hash browns, frozen steak fries, canola oil, salt & pepper, butter, onion, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, diced ham, sharp cheddar cheese, eggs, and salsa.

This was a big pile of goulash with a little bit of everything thrown into it—or so it seemed. I don’t think it really mattered what you put into this.

Once again, I must say—this would have probably tasted SO much better had I made my own hash browns from scratch instead of using the frozen store-bought kind that the recipe called for. I mean, I just followed recipe directions and, soon after, regretted getting the frozen variety.

I thought this was a pretty good dish for goulash, but “real” potatoes would have made a BIG difference—I know for a fact.

Melt the cheese in the oven.

Cook the steak fries.

Cook the hash browns.

Sautee the veggies & ham.

Top with shredded cheese.

Cheese melted.

And although a jalapeño is optional for this recipe, I did buy one just in case I wanted to use it. I’m not a spicy foods girl so I was reluctant to even bother with it. As I sliced the jalepeño, I made the mistake of chopping a teeny tiny part and tasting it. That was a HUGE MISTAKE!!! And I mean HUGE!

I didn’t realize my tongue and lips were going to burn for an eternity while I sucked ice cubes, drank milk, soaked cotton balls in milk and put them on my tongue, and everything else I could think of to put out the fire—OH THE MISERY!! Why would I think a piece of jalapeño THAT tiny would burn the dickens out of my mouth?!

Needless to say, that darn jalapeño went straight to the garbage and never made an appearance into the recipe or my LIFE ever again!

Once you’re done with the goulash, make some eggs to your liking and top the goulash with the eggs and some salsa.

Recipe for—Eggbert’s Sunriser

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try your hand at some hash brown goulash with some fresh potatoes.

Take-Away Life Lesson: NEVER pop a raw jalapeño piece into your mouth to taste it no matter how tiny of a piece it is unless you have about 30-45 minutes to set yourself on fire.

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