Foodie Friday: Caprese

Tomatoes are delicious in, on or around just about anything in my opinion. Making caprese is very simple and can be done in various ways. All you really need are tomatoes (any size: grape, roma, beefsteak, plum, cherry), fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and basil.

You can use any variety of tomato in any form, I chose to use grape tomatoes and bocconcini mozzarella, sliced in halves... For those of you not familiar with fresh mozzarella, most stores sell three sizes: ciliegene (cherry size), bocconcini (bite size) and ovoline (egg size).

I sliced my grape tomatoes and bocconcini mozzarella balls in half, mixed them together, poured olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top and added a little chopped basil for garnish.





Here are some more ways to prepare caprese that I found via google image:

fat day

My friend and I ate at several places among our busy errand-running day, and they were as followed:

When I picked Ashley up, we immediately tore open a bag of sunflower seeds, that we eventually demolished.



There was a Baskin Robbins across the street from where I took my car to get her oil changed and washed up all fancy, so we grabbed a scoop while we waited.


cookies n cream and red velvet


65 degrees, sunny, red velvet ice cream, dry roads, can't complain.

We had to hit the dreaded mall, but I turned this into a positive experience by getting an awesome veggie Hot Dog on a Stick!



On the drive home I wanted to stop at Trade Secret to get some new OPI, but the shelves were raided through and nothing good was left. THEN I started having a major Sonic craving, so Ashley and I took a mini road trip to Santee to get my Ocean Water fix... plus some onion rings and jalapeño cheddars. If you have never tried Ocean Water (like Ashley hadn't), I suggest you get into your car and drive to the nearest Sonic, wherever that might be!



Marty was anxiously awaiting our arrival, so we hung around and watched some shows on Netflix.



Hunger started setting in, so I yelped some sushi places and we headed out to RK Sushi. Cute place, good food, close to home, will be back for sure.



Ahi Poke Salad and a couple rolls later...





Now I'm home with a full tummy and happy heart.

Movie Mondays! Netflix

Not only do Jon and I own hundreds of movies combined, it doesn't help having Netflix instant streaming at our disposal in two rooms of our house and three discs coming in/out at all times. If you don't already have Netflix, I would highly consider doing so. If you have a PS3, Wii or Xbox 360 you can easily stream to your console and the disc is free if you have a minimum of one disc plan.

Right now we have a DVD Queue of 244 movies and and Instant Queue of 283 movies/tv shows, so you can see where WE are getting our money's worth.



This week we got Winnebago Man, I give it 3 out of 5 stars. It is truly hilarious how frustrated this man got while filming Winnebago sales videos in the 80s, but as the movie progresses, you see that Jack Rebney doesn't even know how he became an internet superstar, with thousands of hits on youtube. He actually has no care for the world laughing and loving these vulgar and angry clips.

Here is the trailer (NSFW):




Do me a kindness... and see this movie!

Christmas Dinner

Last night I made spaghetti with roasted garlic tomato sauce, veggie meat crumbles and sauteed mushrooms with kitty shaped garlic bread!



After we made sugar cookies and continued watching my new Six Feet Under series box set. Christmas was good and this globe was my favorite gift, what was yours?

Foodie Friday: Baked Mac n Cheese

Since we can't be home with our families this year, Jon and I decided to make a very simple baked mac n cheese recipe that his mom used to make when he was a child. Nothin' like being close to home without being AT home!



You will need:

16 oz. box elbow noodles
1 block of cheese (we used 3/4 lb extra sharp cheddar cheese)
A few small dollops of butter
2 slices of bread



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Boil elbow noodles in large saucepan for 8-10 minutes

3. While boiling noodles, grate block of cheese



4. Drain noodles

5. Butter bread and cut into small squares



6. In a small rectangular casserole dish, add a single layer of cheese



7. Add layer of noodles and a dollop of butter



8. Repeat the layer process ending with cheese on top



9. Place bread pieces on top layer of cheese



10. Bake for 20-25 minutes



Baked mac n crack, as I like to call it, and virgin margaritas! Happy Holidays all!

127 Hours, rain and polish

I find it funny to watch people in Southern California drive in the rain. It's a little precipitation people, we get it only a handful of times per year! I always sit and laugh when I think to myself "what would these people do in REAL weather?" I guess growing up in Salt Lake all my life has made me a little biased. ;)

Jon and I saw 127 Hours yesterday. I remember hearing about a man cutting off his own arm in Southern Utah years back, so it was interesting to watch a movie about it created years later. Plus, Danny Boyle is an amazing director, I highly recommend. The movie actually almost made me cry, it's amazing what the body can withstand.



After the movie, I dropped Jon off at work and decided to head to the mall to buy nail polish. If you know me, you know I hate the mall. Being only a mile away, before 4pm and rainy outside, here I thought it would be an okay idea... NOT. One mile, multiple detours, three closed streets due to flooding and two freeways later, it only took me 40 minutes! Silly rain.

Here is the nail polish, I couldn't get a good picture, but it looks great on! I don't usually like glitter, but I love red and it's festive so what the hell!

Movie Mondays!

The holidays are a perfect time to break out those festive movies! Here is a list of my all-time, must see, watch every year, top five movie staples:

Planes Trains and Automobiles, comical, witty, touching and an overall good time. "Larry Bird doesn't do as much ball-handling in one night as you do in an hour!"



How The Grinch Stole Christmas, the cartoon, you just can't remake a classic like this. Last year I saw the musical in San Diego at the Globe Theater, it was awesome. Highly recommend.



A Christmas Story, this was a Christmas Eve standard growing up. "I want a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle, oooh" "You'll shoot your eyeout!"



Christmas Vacation, Chevy Chase, you're so great in everything you do. "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah."



Elf, although fairly new, I really make it a point to watch this great film every winter. "Buddy the elf, what's your favorite color?"

something new!

In hopes of updating more and having something to look back on, I've revamped my page and decided to start merging my life stuff with my food blog. I will continue updating mostly food entries, but now you can visit if you want to see pictures, read life stories, participate in giveaways, get some step-by-step recipes, diy and more!

Feel free to click the "all things food" button to the left if you would like to go straight to the food section of this blog. Thanks lovelies!

Palermo's Pizza

A little over a month ago, Jon and I were in Los Angeles for a Florence and The Machine show. The next morning we had planned to wake up and go to a taping of The Price is Right, but decided to ditch out on those lines and get Palermo's and stand in lines at Disneyland instead. Boy am I glad that we did!

Palermo's has an authentic environment with a lot of character, from celebrity signed photos in the front waiting area, to walls painted to look like Italy and place mats that are maps of Italia on the tables. Geography lessons, beautiful paintings and some real Italian accents, I was impressed.

We got the Pizza Rosa: feta, mozzarella, parmigiano cheese with tomatoes. This is some of the best pizza I've ever had. Pizza is a staple in this household, so we only eat the best and most delicious! :)



Location: 1858 N. Vermont Avenue Los Angeles, California 90027
Los Feliz

nutella banana waffles

This morning we had nutella banana waffles, vanilla caramel coffee and watched A Christmas Story!



I also found these awesome little single serving nutella's at World Market, I love that store!



Happy Saturday!

Capellini pasta

My favorite pasta is, hands down, Capellini (aka angel hair). I love capellini in spaghetti, alfredo, hot sauce, or just plain butter... there really isn't a better noodle.

When there isn't much left around the house, I like to make this artichoke heart, tomato, garlic toss pasta dish!


click photos to make bigger!

You will need:

1/4 pkg. capellini noodles
1 tbsp. olive oil (or butter)
1/2 can artichoke hearts
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp. minced garlic
Tabasco to taste (I like spicy!)
Parmesan cheese to garnish

*sidenote: this dish can be made vegan, by leaving out the parmesan cheese

Serves: 1 (I like to double the recipe and take the leftovers to work for lunch)



1. Boil noodles



2. While noodles are boiling, in a large skillet, heat olive oil and minced garlic.



3. Once skillet is hot, add artichoke hearts and sauté



4. When the artichoke hearts start browning, add diced tomatoes



5. Strain noodles of all water, then add capellini to skillet and toss.
Add Tabasco if you are feeling spicy.



Voila!

homemade hot cocoa

The holidays are a perfect time to get creative by making cute cards and
homemade things for family and friends. If you know me, you know I'm
a huge fan of snail mail pen pals and care packages, so when I have a
reason to send goodies and cards, I'm all about it.

This year I decided to make some homemade hot cocoa and tried out these
holiday photo cards on Walgreens.com!


click photos to make bigger!

For homemade chocolaty hot cocoa, you will need:

10 cups dry milk powder
4 3/4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups powdered non-dairy creamer
6"x4" treat bags or cute little jars
ribbon, yarn or something to tie treat bags

Makes 50 cups



1. In a large mixing bowl (I'm talking 6+ quarts, I actually had to use a big pot)
combine milk powder, confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, and creamer



2. Stir, stir, stir until thoroughly combined, no cocoa or milk powder lumps!

3. Scoop 5 tbsp. of cocoa mix into each bag or jar





4. Tie a little bow to make it nice and pretty




5. Attach a little note or card letting your friends know to add 1 cup boiling water
to cocoa mix. Stir to dissolve. Top with whipped cream or marshmallows!