Katie: Blend it up!

Throughout my 365 recipes challenge, I really wanted a good blender that would help me make some recipes a little bit easier. All I had was a mini chopper and I had to do things in batches.
Well, thanks to black friday deals I got a ninja master prep and I love it! I didn't pull it out of the box for a while, but now that I have, I think it will always be dirty! Thank goodness there are 3 different sized bowls! I have pulled it out mostly thanks to some recent pregnancy cravings-Milkshakes and salsa!

My first attempt was a blueberry milkshake. With three simple ingredients: frozen blueberries (about a cup or two) some milk (maybe 1/2 cup to a cup) and a heaping 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, we were ready to mix it up... Of course my happy helper had to taste test the ice cream pretty extensively

After the blueberry milkshake Will decided we needed oreos, so our next mission was to make a cookies and cream milkshake!
Alex and I enjoyed the first round of that and then Will made some another day too!

Alex give this another milkshaky smile of approval!

One of my other cravings was salsa--the kind you get in resturants that is not very chunky. 

I use 2 cloves garlic and two green onions and mixed those up first.

Then I added a green pepper, and about 8 roma tomatoes, some lemon juice (two much!) cilantro, salt and pepper. 

I am going to work on the recipe, but it hit the spot! I had some store bought guac with a corn mixture in another bowl and it made a very delicious lunch!

Next on the blender list...HUMMUS!! :)

Recipe #288: Cheese Toast

I ate this on bread we made, but I think it would actually be a nice appetizer to put bits of this mixture on little slices of baguettes...

you need:
cheese mixture (originally from here)

1/2 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup spinach, chopped
3 Tbsp parmesan
2 tsp parsley
sliced bread

• mix together ricotta, mozzarella, spinach, parmesan, and parsley
• put some on top of bread and toast until cheese is melted

Recipe #47: pico de gallo

Ok, I am way behind...I have been on vacation! But now I am home for just three days with a ton of leftovers from the vacation. I don't think I am going to get much cooking in while I am home, so I will probably be even more behind! Oh dear...

anyways, we all took turns with meals this past week and Will and I did hamburgers...of course! but I did add in a new recipe of pico de gallo, that we ate with our chips. of course there was guacamole too!

You need:
5 roma tomatoes
1/2 a red onion
1 lime
1/2 jalapeno pepper
some cilantro
garlic powder, salt, pepper
(We had some left over corn on the cob so I cut off 1/2 an ear and added that too!)

• Dice tomatoes and onion. 
• Seed and destem jalapeno and then dice into small pieces.
• roughly chop up cilantro.
• add corn if you have some.
• mix all together in a bowl.
• Squeeze lime juice in. 
• Add salt, pepper, and a little bit of garlic powder.
• Mix again and enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips!

Sorry, I forgot to take a photo....

Recipe #40: Guacamole

Well, now I am officially behind, but that was bound to happen. I ate a lot of good food though in the meantime. Sunday night the freezer supplied us with some great gyoza and udon. Since there was no prep on my part i didn't think they should count as recipes. You follow the directions on the package...pretty easy! But I love being able to use my japanese dishes to eat off of! Japanese dishes are great because they are small so you eat less...in theory!

Then Monday, Alex and I spent a great day with some of my college friends. We went to Ru Sans. It as AMAZING! They have a sushi buffet at lunch...All you can eat sushi? YES please.

You should go. Now.

Also amazing...Grilled Teriyaki Onigiri (riceball)

Oh, wait, this post is about guacamole....I wonder how that would taste wrapped up with some rice and nori...

We had some friends over today and grilled. We made hamburgers. I know I said I was going to try new recipes. But hamburgers are so good, they can be made over and over again and not get old. (See why soon!)

Anyways, I love some fresh guacamole and chips with my hamburger. Making your own guacamole with fresh ingredients is one of my favorite things!

You need: (These measurements of course can be adjusted to the quantity you need)

3 avocados

2 roma tomatoes

1/2 red onion

cilantro, to taste

half a lemon

cayenne red pepper, salt

•  Cut up avocados and mash them up, as smooth or chunky as you prefer
• dice tomatoes and onion, add to avocado
• tear off several leaves of cilantro and cut up into smaller pieces, add to mix
• squeeze lemon juice over mix, add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

if you want more hotness you can add more pepper or even hot sauce i guess...the fun part is that depending on your ingredients it has a slightly different taste every time but is always fresh and delicious!

Recipe #27: Ham and Cheese Biscuits

I had bought some biscuits before with the intent to use them for another recipe, but never did, so yesterday when we were finishing up leftovers, I decided to make some little munchy ham and cheese balls to eat while we worked on yard sale stuff...

You need:
can of buttermilk biscuits--I used three
couple pieces of ham cut into small pieces
cheese of your choice cut up small.
chives

Open one of the cans put a couple pieces of ham, cheese and chives in the center of each biscuit and roll into a ball. Stick on a ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
Follow the baking directions on the can.

Yummy. Especially when hot!