Feast Your Eyes: I Made and Ate It!

I have a secret - I read, collect, bookmark and save recipes like a collector of fine art orrrr, dare I say it - "a hoarder."  Or maybe I should say,  "My name is Laurie, and I'm a recipeaholic."  Yup, that's me!  I like recipes!  I like to read them and save them, that doesn't mean I ever make them!

There you have it - my deep, dark secret hoarding.  The good thing about having all these recipes is that when the feeling moves me, I can always come up with something new to make.  

Recently, I made two new recipes (new to me) that I think you will enjoy as much as my dinner guests did.  You heard me correctly, I like to use my friends as guinea pigs.  You might come to dinner and get a tried and true dinner or you might get something I've never made before!

First up:

Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles from Ourbestbites.com.  I have to tell you there is not much danger of cooking anything bad if you're making something from their cookbook.

I made this out of their cookbook but the recipe is also on their site (click on the picture for the link.)   I do like green beans and bacon but what really makes this delicious is the rice vinegar, garlic, & onion drizzle over the top.  This is delicious.  I also like that I could get this ready early in the day and then just pop it in the oven at dinner time.

Next:  Candy Apple Salad:

This recipe is from Allrecipes.com.  I have never made it before but it was easy and very delicious.  I exchanged the peanuts (I'm not a very big peanut fan) for pecans.  Other than that, I followed the recipe and it turned out wonderful.  




If you are a recipeaholic like me, get out those recipes and cook something new today or make these recipes.  You won't be disappointed!  

I'm not hoarding any new recipes today cause today is my baby's birthday and I'm making him his favorite meal for his birthday!  
Happy 26th, Mikey!  

~Laurie

Easy and Cool Summer Barbecue Recipes

This morning I was going through my hundreds of emails.  No, I'm not that popular, I just don't check it very often.  Everyone knows that if you send me an email that you want me to look at, you had better text me and tell me to check my email!  


There was a Pillsbury email before I got to the delete, delete, delete, not going to read anything else, just want to clear out my box point that I clicked on and I found some great recipes for our 100+ degree weather that we've been having.

1.  Cranberry, Bacon and Blue Cheese Pasta Salad


2.  Grilled Buffalo Chicken Strips


3.  Ginger Fruit Salad


4.  Miami Black Bean and Corn Salad


5.  Raspberry Lemonade Ice Pops


All of these recipes are super easy and look delicious. 


Also check out the coupon link at the top of the page.  There are some great money saving coupons.  If you make the Raspberry Lemonade Ice Pops, there is a coupon for Yoplait.  I have to say I am a little disappointed that there are not any coupons for any of the other products used in these recipes.


Also check out the partner coupons.  There is a $1.00 coupon for any Sally Hansen Nail Color product and a $1.00 coupon for Huggies Swimmies. And no I am not paid by Pillsbury or anyone else - we can only hope.


~Laurie

Manic Monday > All Over The Map

This weekend flew by like a IRS refund. Sorry, had to do it. Tax day is tomorrow in case you hadn't heard or you are skipping taxes this year - which may not the best idea, just ask Wesley Snipes.

Here in Glossy Flossy land we had a weekend filled with baseball, sunshine, and most importantly, kettle corn. Seriously is there anything better than baseball and popcorn? Well maybe popcorn and wine, but your fellow little league fans might frown on your glass of Pinot in your cup holder, so best leave that combo for home. Which led me to this recipe for home made kettle corn in the MICROWAVE from April over at Frugal Homemaking, with just a paper bag and just four ingredients. Easy Homemade Kettle Corn:

2 Tbsp. popcorn kernels

2 tsp. oil

1 Tbsp. sugar or sugar substitute

Dash salt

Directions:

• Pour the kernels, oil, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Mix until all kernels are well coated with sugar, salt, and oil.
• Pour the bowl's contents into the paper bag. Place the bag on a plate and fold the top of the bag over 1" twice. You can also use a microwave-safe bowl and a vented lid (like a microwave-safe colander or splatter shield),
• Place in the microwave on popcorn setting or for about 1 minute, 15 seconds. Either way, shut off microwave when popping slows to less than a pop every second to avoid burning.
• Open slowly and carefully, as steam will be hot.

Was anyone else foaming at the the mouth with this week's stay a home mom bashing? Lets face it, being a mom is not a job for wimps. It is a freaking hard job to be solely responsible for the complete development of a human being, who at times just wants to cry and break stuff. Why would we as women turn on each other, when we are all in the same boat whether we work or not? Lets face it, the children out number us, so we should stick together -there is safety in numbers!

Is everyone getting ready to plant their gardens? Laurie Glossy Flossy planted her garden this weekend, but I am still procrastinating...I have these two livestock troughs that will hopefully soon look like this:

In the mean time check out all these great gardening plans for vegetables from Better Homes and Gardens:



I'm also jonesing for new melamine plates for summer:



Marimekko Plates, Crate and Barrel

Melamine Summer 2012 Collection, Target (Online only)

Happy Manic Monday!

~Angela

Manic Monday > Sick Day

It's a rainy Monday here at Chaos and Gloss, and I'm hanging on the couch with a sick kiddo. My youngest is home today since the sound of hacking up a lung might be a little distracting to his other classmates.

I always tell my kids ominous tales of what happens if you have to stay home sick, which usually involves lots of naps, yucky tasting medicine, and Pedialite smoothies. I stress to them that staying home with mom is; B-O-R-I-N-G. This usually works, and my children  have miraculously recovered from many mystery illnesses before heading off to school.

But here is a secret truth that I would never admit to my kids: that there is times that I secretly love having a sick kid stay home from school. No, I have not caught my son's fever and I'm not talking about the kind of sick kid days when I'm having to clean up things with a bucket of Lysol. But there is something about cuddling a warm kiddo on a couch while watching a Wizards of Waverly Place marathon and sipping throat soothing, hot cocoa. I think it must have something to do with that it's a little taste of those days of the first baby; where you had all day to snuggle that sweet little bundle and nap - and surf the Internet.

Just kidding on that last one (sorta), but today it's just me, a kid, and a laptop (and some sleeping dogs); so I'm sharing some things to bookmark for your next sick kid day!

I want need to drink this:

Check out this recipe at Going Home to Roost.

My fridge desperately needs these (I have something unidentifiable in the back of my fridge right this minute...):



They are absorbent and stylish refrigerator liners. Gotta love anything that can brings the words functional and pretty together, right? A cute husband and wife team make these and you can find them here.

I'm checking out this page right now:

Great sick day activities from the cute blog Come Together Kids via my lovely friend Brooke's Pinterest board.

I am also using this great arrange - a - room tool from the Better Homes and Gardens web site.

This has been so handy for the  Barn chic living room redo that I talked about here.

Well I'm off to watch the new Puss n' Boots DVD - in bed. Having a sick kid at home is ruff stuff I tell ya...

~Angela

Feast Your Eyes > Lighten Up!

I've been noticing that Pinterest has been overloaded lately with a flood of dieting and exercise tips, and low cal recipes. This has made me feel A) Inspired to get on a treadmill and B) Like I want to stick my head in the oven to block out all this annoying dieting talk... When I do get into these random health kicks, my brain gets all gun ho and Billy Blanks bootcampish but then my mouth wimps out like a traitor, and eats the leftover Valentine's day candy in the back of the pantry.

My only saving grace is that I make dinner for my family almost every day of the week and we eat fairly healthy and always homemade. We just had the best baked salmon with a yummy coleslaw side which everyone had seconds (and some thirds) of:

 Doesn't it look good?


This is a great low cal side dish is one of my smeazy (smart, easy, lazy) recipe standbys, that you can make under 6 minutes.

Jazzed Up Slaw

• 1 bag of coleslaw cabbage mix with carrots, or one head of green and red cabbage, shredded plus 1 1/2 C. matchstick carrots. 
• 1/2 C.- sliced almonds, toasted.
• 1/2 C. - Dried cranberries or raisins
• 4 - green onions with stalks, chopped
• 1/4 C. - chopped parsley
• Coleslaw dressing, Asian vinaigrette, or honey Dijon dressing.

Sometimes coleslaw dressings can have alot of sugar in them, and not be very low cal friendly, so check out different vinaigrettes or make your own, if that's an issue.

It's ridiculously good.

Seriously.

~Angela