Beef....It's What's for Dinner

Last night I went out and purchased all my groceries that I would need to make supper for the next week and prepared for today's lunches and supper.  The first recipe on the list for today was Ginger Beef.  Ok, I have to admit I was a bit freaked out over this recipe.  I am not one to normally jump out of my comfort zone when it comes to foods however I have been quite proud of myself with the food I have been eating and tonight was no exception.  This meal started with some centre cut steak I purchased at Costco.   I had to cut this up into strips and sauté it with fresh grated ginger and extra virgin olive oil.

 After this was done, I set it aside and added some frozen veggies to the frying pan.  This only took about 6 minutes to fully cook and in the mean time, I also boiled the water and cooked the egg white noodles for it.

After the noodles were cooked, I drained them and then added several other ingredients to them, including peanut butter, red pepper flakes, soya sauce and green onions.

Then came the mixing.  I have to admit this was a little interesting to do as the peanut butter was sticky as you would expect but after it heated up a bit, it stirred in perfectly.

Once this was all stirred in, I added the veggies and beef to the pasta mixture and Voila!  Toute Fini! :)

Curtis and I definitely enjoyed this meal.  We figured we would rate it about a 8 out of 10 and would definitely make it again....As well as eat it for lunch tomorrow.  Yay leftovers :)

Viva Las Vegas

So as I stated in my previous post I was in Las Vegas last week and oh my goodness it was something else.  I have never seen anything so grand in all my life.  I was there for work however I did have some fun while at the same time.  First and foremost we stayed at Caesar's Palace and lets just say holy cow.  Here are a few pics of my room while I was away along with the view.

I ended up going to see a Cirque du Soleil show called "Mystere".  There are apparently are 6 or 7 different shows that Cirque does including "O" and "The Beatles".   Also there was the Bellagio Hotel and Casino that was right beside our hotel.  This is the hotel that they rob in Ocean's 11.

And the fountain in front of it is amazing.  I have seen it both during the day and the night and I do prefer the night as it also includes a light show but I only took pictures during the daytime.

On the last night we were there - we went to a restaurant that over looked the fountain and the Paris hotel.  It was a sweet view for sure.

This was a few of the people that were with us from New Brunswick.  A very nice stranger took the picture for us :)

Even though both of these hotels were amazing, after going to the Venitian hotel I was mesmerized.  The art on the ceiling and the indoor gondola rides were quite the additions that really made the experience.

Salvador was the name of our gondola driver...if that is proper name for it. lol.  He sang to us and everything.  It was definitely worth the $18.65 it costed us.   These are two of my friends that were down there during the conference as well.  Also notice the ceiling - all the hotels have made them look like the sky and they change the lighting to make it look either day or night.  Pretty cool.

While I was in Vegas, I had the absolute privilege to see my parents as they were down in the US when I was.  We ended up going on a little road trip to the Grand Canyon.  After that experience, I can tell you that God is amazing.  It felt like it was a picture that I could reach out and touch.

So that is a very short description of my week but without writing until midnight, I guess I have to say goodnight.  All around the trip was amazing.  I learned a lot for work and I met a lot of great people.  I hope you enjoyed my pictures :)

Ending to a great week

As some of you may know, I have been gone for the last 8 days to Las Vegas for work....yes I said for work. lol.  Anyways I have been internet free for most part so there was no updating of my blog but I am back today to share all my fun and adventures however I would like to start with my final two recipes that I made before I left.  :)

First off I made the Herb-Crusted Chicken Piccata.  This recipe was a flattened breaded chicken breast with a lemon zesty sauce drizzled over the top.  I started with 3 boneless skinless chicken breast and cut them in half lengthwise - then I had to flatten them out with a rolling pin.  Once this was completed I had to create a crust for the chicken.  This consisted of italian bread crumbs (or in our case regular ones), garlic powder and pepper.

Once this was put together then I had to press the chicken into this breading mixture on both sides.  

After this was done, I had to melt some butter in the frying pan and and cook the chicken on either side.  Where the chicken was supposed to be flattened it shouldn't have taken much more then a couple of minutes per side, however I didn't quite flatten them like I should have and it took a bit longer.  Once that was done, I set them aside to make the sauce.

The sauce consisted of chicken broth, lemon juice and butter.  I had to whisk this together in the frying pan over low heat for about 1 minute and then spooned it over the chicken.  I ended up cooking some rice and veggies for the side.

 We did enjoy this meal however the chicken was a little overcooked where it wasn't as flat as it should have been and it took me longer to cook it.  Personally I wouldn't add the lemon juice next time as I am not a huge fan of the lemon flavour on foods.  Curtis and I decided that we would rate this a 7 out of 10.

The second and final recipe of the week that I tried was the Crock-Pot Corn Chowder.  I have to admit I didn't actually get to eat this meal however from the rave reviews I got from Curtis I have to say this was most likely the highlight of the week of recipes.

This was quite a simple recipe as all I really had to do was put the ingredients in the slow cooker and then leave it for the day.  There were 5 potatoes, 2 onions chopped, 2 stocks of celery, 2 cans of corn, butter and chicken broth.  I personally don't do well with chopping onions so I used the mini chopper for those and the celery.

 I added all those ingredients to the crock pot and then put it on low for 8-9 hours.

We did think by mid day that the onions may be too overwhelming as the scent was very strong in the house however Curtis did advise me that when he did eat it, it ended up being the perfect amount in it.  Around 4 pm during that day, I got the bright idea to add bacon to the recipe.  I ended up adding about a half a pack of bacon sliced up and mixed.  This did end up taking longer then I expected to cook as I wanted to make sure the bacon was done properly.  Around 7pm, I added a cup of milk and I was supposed to cook it for about another half hour - however I accidentally forgot about this until 10pm when I was in bed :).  Hence why I never got to actually eat the chowder.

The next day Curtis did have it and LOVED it!  I am pretty sure he would have rated this about 9.5 out of 10.  So as you may have guessed, I am looking forward to making this again as I want to try it this time.

As for the Vegas pics, I will definitely share more either later today or tomorrow.  I had a great time and learned lots (as I was there for work) but also had a great time shopping and sight seeing.  Looking forward to sharing more details soon.

Oh How Sweet It Is....

So last night was a busy night but thanks to my new cookbook, I had everything I needed to get supper cooked and it only took about 30 minutes at that!  The recipe that we tried last night was called Sweet Bean Burrito and let me say - You must try it!  It was super yummy and for anyone who is a vegetarian this is a great tasty option for you. 

First of all I must say that this recipe got me out of my comfort zone but it was well worth it.  I experienced using Cumin for the first time and I had no idea it tasted just like taco seasoning (which I am sure is a big part in taco seasoning) but I would have never tried it had I not tried this recipe.

Before I could really get started I had to book two medium sized sweet potatoes and mash them.  The recipe says that you could cook these a day or two before and keep them in the fridge until you need to use them but I did only cook them yesterday.

So basically this recipe started out with cooking an onion and 3 cloves of fresh garlic in some extra virgin olive oil.

Then I added the black beans, sweet potato and cumin, mixed it thoroughly and let it cook through.  This smelled lovely!  It was a little difficult to mix this through at first but I just keept moving it and gradually it worked perfectly.

After it is cooked through I was supposed to divide it into six and put it on a flat bread and roll up like a burrito however I just made two to start as it was only Curtis and I.  It also has some cheese and cilantro on top of the filling which added the perfect flavour.

Curtis and I LOVED this recipe and would give it a stron 8.5 out of 10 however I would recommend adding some salsa to it as it can be a little pasty with the sweet potato and beans.  Anyways like I said this rocked and we would definitely make it again.

On another note - I have been crocheting some chuncky scarves that I will add on here later today! :)