Costa Vida...Muy Bueno!

Sweet Pork Nachos

Flan and Key Lime Pie

I was perusing Facebook a few months back and stumbled upon a video that one of my friends had posted. It was a guy preparing a tub of nachos, in a restaurant called "Costa Vida." I came to realize that he would soon be opening one in Tulsa, to my excitement. As I watched him drizzle multiple layers of nacho cheese, and apply shredded cheese, beans, slow cooked pork and then top it with cool guacamole and sour cream, I was sold. I had to have this dish, and SOON. Chuck Smith, my friend and the manager of Costa Vida was generous enough to invite me, along with many others to the soft opening to sample the food--for free. It doesn't get much better than that! The food was SPECTACULAR. There aren't words to describe the sweet pulled pork, it really is in a class of it's own. I've never actually tasted anything quite like it, it is sweet, tender with a little bit of a kick. I could have eaten a meal of that by itself, and I'm not a big meat person, as you all know. I knew the nachos would be tasty, but I wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were. The thing that separates them from 90% of the nachos that I have had in the past is the LAYERS! They start with a layer of chips on the bottom, then meat, then cheese, and then they bake them. After they finish baking, they add MORE meat, MORE cheese and their delicious homemade queso--which is out of this world. It is similar to Chili's skillet queso, except 100 times better! I topped mine with mexican cheese, guacamole, cilantro and of course 2 scoops of sour cream. I ate nearly the entire thing. I was so full that I could barely walk, but it was so worth it. Chuck then brought us out some of their key lime pie and their flan. I am not a huge fan of flan, but it was very good. The key lime pie was awesome. Overall I would give them a 10 out of 10. If you haven't heard of them until now, you need to check them out! They open today and they are located at 68th and Memorial next to Red Lobster. If you want to browse their menu before going, I posted a link to their website below, you're welcome :)

Costa Vida Website

Shammy Says "My new favorite mexican place!"

WOW

All in the crock pot!

Anybody who knows me in the slightest knows that Chicken Spaghetti is pretty much my favorite dish. I normally make the Pioneer Woman's recipe, which has been my favorite...until about thirty minutes ago. This recipe, Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti by the Crockin' Girls is fantastic AND easy. My best friend Fawna has been raving about the Crockin' Girls for a while now. She told me about this particular recipe last night and I immediately wanted to try it for myself. I mentioned before that I usually make the PW recipe, which is very good but it is pretty time consuming. This recipe was simple and it tasted just as good, if not better. My husband raved about it, making only one suggestion--to add more chicken. Men. They always need more meat. I could have eaten this sans meat and been just fine, but I am a woman, so that's par for the course. If I consumed cheese for the rest of my life I would be a pretty happy camper, I'm not picky. Back to the recipe, the only heavy lifting was chopping an onion and a bell pepper, if you even consider that heavy lifting. It calls for canned chicken, which is what really made this recipe a breeze, and all the more appealing to me. Throw in a couple of cans of cream of whatever soup and a can of rotel, and of course the star of the dish, VELVEETA. I used the white Velveeta per Fawna's recommendation. I do everything Fawna says because she's never steered me wrong :) The total cook time was around 2-3 hours, leaving me plenty of time to shove Doritos in my face while dinner was cooking. This may be one of my favorite recipes now, and so I shall share it with you all, if you don't already know about it!

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Recipe

Shammy Says "Crock Pot Recipes Rock"

Who You Gonna Call? DOMINOS

Bacon & pineapple = killer combo

I'm a lifer

We used to order from Mazzios all the time, then we started ordering from Pizza Hut, then Papa John's, and then finally just flipped back and forth between the three. Never did we order from Dominos. I have never cared for Dominos pizza, until recently. Ever since they revamped their recipe and came out with the famous "pizza tracker" I have been hooked. So hooked that I will NEVER order from Mazzios, Pizza Hut, or Papa John's ever again. Not because they aren't good, but because Dominos is better, way better. Let me start by saying that their cheesy bread is enough to make anybody break a diet(I am guilty of this,) their buffalo wings are extraordinary for a pizza place and their new pizza recipe is OUTSTANDING. Let me note that I have never really been a pizza person either, I have never craved it until recently. I now crave pizza. Weekly. Dominos has somehow perfected the pizza to a heavenly crispy crust, a perfect amount of cheese and their toppings are above any other. They always have my pizza at my door in less than 20 minutes. That's impressive. I order my pizza with pineapple and bacon, yes bacon. If you have never thought of putting bacon on your pizza, now you do. You're welcome. It's delicious. The crispiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the pineapple create the perfect taste, in my opinion. Give it a try, you won't order differently ever again.

Dominos Website

Shammy Says "You can call me shammy any day as long as I can shove Dominos in my face"

Any Dish That Begins With CARB...

How beautiful is this?

Carbonara is one of my favorite dishes to eat, but not to prepare. If any of you ask me the one dish I absolutely hate to make, I would vehemently answer "CARBONARA!" Every time I make it I feel like I am running a marathon with two broken legs. You need to have nearly all of your ingredients prepped and ready before you begin cooking your bacon, because once the bacon is done, you have about 30 seconds to chop it up, add the noodles, make the sauce and whisk in your eggs fast enough so that they don't scramble. However, on the bright side, once you're done being a maniac in the kitchen you get to sit down and enjoy this delicious meal, with a few glasses of wine of course. I have made numerous carbonara recipes, from healthy to heart attack on a plate. After making this particular recipe by Emeril Lagasse, I find that with food, along with everything else in life, "less is more." (Nacho cheese does not apply to that.) The healthy recipe I tried was by Bethenny Frankel--which was AMAZING by the way--but this one was better. She used turkey bacon instead of regular(which is sacreligious in my opinion,) soy milk instead of regular, and whole wheat pasta. My love for Bethenny runs deep and her recipe was very yummy so I will post a link to her recipe at the bottom as well. Some of the others I tried used heavy cream(whole milk works just as good in my opinion,) along with excessive amounts of fancy cheeses. This resulted in a dish that was too rich and when a dish is too rich you can say sayonara to leftovers, blegh! Ok now on to the winner, Emeril! I found this recipe after scouring the internet for an hour in search for the perfect carbonara recipe. His recipe seemed so simple and easy, that I almost didn't even make it. But Emeril is one of the greatest so I trusted his recipe and decided to go for it. His recipe was one of the only ones that didn't call for milk or cream. All it called for was bacon(duh,) spaghetti(I used linguine-which I find to be a perfect fit for carbonara,) garlic, parmesan of course, eggs and parsley(I sub'd for chives, because chives are the shit.) I also added cooked chicken, because my husband has to have his meat. The end result was so delicious that I was standing over the skillet(after two servings,) spooning more into my dome. Who has been there before? That's what I thought. It was creamy and delectable but not too overwhelming, the perfect combo. I will say that when you go for the leftovers add a bit of milk or water before re-heating it because it was a tad dry, but that still didn't stop me from devouring the entire bowl. Overall, this was the best carbonara recipe YET!

Emeril's Classic Spaghetti Carbonara - The winner

Bethenny's Low Fat Pasta Carbonara - If you are wanting a healthier version that still kicks ass

Shammy Says "BAM!"

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Can you guess which picture above is mine and which one is the original? Yeah, I can too. I am very upset with myself for how I screwed up this recipe. I am notorious for never getting a recipe right on the first try, the guilt and self loathing never goes away either. Sigh. Ok, this recipe could have been phenomenal, and super easy I might add. But I got ahead of myself and thought I would rush it instead of doing it right. First of all, the recipe calls for double the amount of filling, but I used half per the comments from the woman who posted the recipe. She explained that it was too much filling. WHY did I listen to this woman? There is no such thing as too much cream cheese filling! Lesson number one learned, moving along. My next mistake was making them and then refrigerating them overnight, big mistake--HUGE! Of course refrigerating it dried out the crust. The glaze was also too much, I should have halved that. So for any of you wanting to give this recipe a shot, and you really should because even my ruined disaster was still quite good, go ahead but follow these tips: use the suggested amount of filling, half the glaze recipe, and DO NOT REFRIGERATE! I will be buying the ingredients this week to make up for my blunder. 

Cheese Danish Recipe

Shammy Says "Don't mess with my cheese"

It's Like A Taste Explosion!

I have been wanting to make fish tacos for a long time now, a very long time. I always talk myself out of it at the last minute because I am daunted at making multiple things just for one dish, and I'm lazy. You can't have fish tacos that are worth a damn without the slaw, the pico de gallo or the fish(in my opinion.) So tonight I made the best decision of my life, and that was to create my own combination of recipes to make the perfect fish taco. I started with the Pioneer Woman because she is my idol. I found her shrimp taco recipe and got all the stuff to make the slaw and the shrimp. Here is where life happens...I finish preparing the slaw and put it in the fridge to chill, I go to make the shrimp and I peek at my can of specialty mexican sauce and see that it is over a year expired. This seems to be a recurring theme with me when I am making new recipes. As I was throwing my temper tantrum about nothing ever going my way when cooking, I suddenly realized that mexican/enchilada sauce actually didn't sound too appetizing along with the other ingredients anyway. So I took to my computer and googled "cilantro lime shrimp," clicked on the first one I saw, gave it a once over and headed back to the kitchen. It was SUPER easy, and turned out better than I expected. Most of the heavy lifting was in the preparation of the pico de gallo(my own recipe,) and the slaw prep. When I was done cooking the shrimp I warmed my corn tortillas and started topping them with the shrimp first, then slaw, then pico, then I squeezed fresh lime juice all over my tortilla(which is a non-negotiable step) and finally, topped with fresh avocado slices. So there you have it, my version of the perfect fish taco. I will post all recipes below just because I love you guys so much and want you to enjoy these just as much as I did! By the way I would like to note that this is NOT a normal pooh bear styled recipe, however like most of the things I have been cooking lately he devoured it and went back for seconds. I'm not sure if that means that his palate is expanding or if I am becoming quite the phenomenal cook, I prefer to go with the latter;)

Pioneer Woman Shrimp Tacos (Slaw Recipe)

Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe

Pico De Gallo Recipe

4-6 Roma tomatoes diced finely
Ton of cilantro
Half a large red onion chopped
Half a jalapeno chopped
1 clove garlic minced
Lime juice
Salt
*I added some white corn to mine

Top your corn tortillas(or if you prefer flour like my husband, those are fine too,) with the shrimp, then the slaw, then the pico de gallo, then squeeze some fresh lime juice over your taco and top with fresh avocado! YUMMY!

Shammy Says "Literally a burst of flavors all at once"

Enchi-lotta yumminess!

They looked like they were straight out of a restaurant

Perfectly topped with homemade guacamole and my very own life source SOUR CREAM

Where do I begin? Oh, hello there it's been a while since I've done a post and I have missed you! I have been seriously pondering creating a YouTube channel for myself to cook, eat, moan about how delicious the food is, and finally fulfill my dreams of eating and sharing my love for eating with others. Ok I lost track of what I was doing again...the Enchiladas! Yet another Pinterest delight, who needs cookbooks anymore? I saw this, and the picture immediately caught my attention, and then when I arrived at the website and read the woman's eager description of the recipe, it made me feel right at home. I will note that these were not the easiest, yet also not the most difficult enchiladas I have ever made, but they WERE the most delicious. Have I confused you yet? Let me clarify, it wasn't the easiest because it required a lot of cook time, and I'm a simple gal. I like "pop in the oven for 20 minutes and voila!" This was, cook, prepare, roll, pop in oven, remove from oven, cover with foil, blah blah blah. Don't get discouraged and stop reading, they were worth EVERY MINUTE of cook time. The good news is that there was virtually zero prep, all I did was mince some garlic(which you could even skip if you have minced garlic, I just happened to have fresh,) and chop up some cilantro. I am still attempting to come up with a few words to describe the taste. I really can't put my finger on it, so I will just say that when I eat something REALLY good, I go into a state of euphoria, yes I have mentioned this multiple times in previous posts but it really does happen. It happened, and it was just as I remember it. I reach the same state of utter satisfaction when I eat the Chicken Cobb Salad from Charleston's, my beloved Cream Squares from Daylight Donuts, Sour Cream, Buffalo Calamari from Sonoma, Veggie bowl from Chipotle, my Green Monster from Haruno, or anything from ITR. I could go on, clearly. But I won't. I'll stop there so you can go check out the recipe, print it out and make it for your family. ENJOY. 

Shredded Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Shammy Says "Fifty Seven Thumbs Up"

My Own Delicious Creation

Last night I was making tacos, when I suddenly got the craving for a taco salad instead. Me choosing a salad over tacos is something that happens, well, never. The only thing I can attribute this craving to is having a delicious taco salad at my friend Fawna's house recently that she made using a pork loin and it was PHENOMENAL. As I was browning the ground beef I decided to add a packet of "cheesy" taco seasoning(which I had never tried up until last night and coincidentally will be using from now on.) It created a thicker sauce that I enjoyed much more than regular taco seasoning. After the beef was ready I tossed some romaine lettuce into a bowl, crumbled some whole grain tostitos scoops over the lettuce, added some meat, a large scoop of my homemade guacamole(recipe below,) shredded medium cheddar cheese, picante sauce and of course a very generous dollop of light sour cream. Now I state the specifics of all these ingredients because I think it makes a difference, so just do it. All of these ingredients worked surprisingly well together; even my husband(who is on somewhat of a strict diet at the moment) had me make him a bowl as well. I don't have a beautiful picture to accompany the recipe because I wasn't intending on blogging this, until after I finished licking my bowl. I will post an actual recipe below so you guys can make this for yourselves and taste just how delicious it is. ENJOY.

Shammy's Taco Salad

1 lb of ground beef

1 packet of Cheesy Taco Seasoning

Shredded Romaine Lettuce

Shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese (Do not buy the prepackaged shredded cheese, buy the block and shred it yourself, it makes a huge difference in taste)

Light Sour Cream

Medium Picante Sauce

Tostitos Whole Grain Scoops

Homemade Guacamole (2 or 3 avocados, fresh lemon juice, sea salt and garlic powder)

Shammy Says "I don't want to toot my own horn but---TOOT!"

The Dark Horse

I have never really cared for spaghetti until a few years ago, when I started making it myself(sorry mom.) Most spaghetti recipes are very runny, and coincidentally make me want to vomit rather than eat. A few years ago, Pooh Bear asked me to make spaghetti and I vehemently declined. It got me thinking that I could make it and possibly tweak it to where I might actually eat it. I did the usual, boiled the noodles, browned the meat and added a jar of sauce, thus creating a runny, yet not so terrible bowl of spaghetti. I suddenly realized what was wrong, it needed to be THICK! The next time I made it I added cream cheese, tossed it in a casserole dish after preparing everything and baked it, voila! Scrumptious! Now I had achieved the perfect spaghetti, or so I had thought. Yes it was perfect, but now it was double the cooking time. I have been wondering for a while now why I couldn't just use my crockpot to make it, so today I logged into Pinterest and searched for "crockpot spaghetti," and my dream came true. Not only is this recipe slightly better than my own, but it was EASIER! This will definitely be a weekly meal at our house from now on. And if you are trying to keep it on the healthy side, then you probably won't want to make it. Let's face it, the cream cheese makes this dish. Don't skip it.


Creamy Crockpot Spaghetti



Shammy Says "I am proud to say that this recipe just bumped Chicken Spaghetti out of it's number one spot"

Best Barbecue In Town

What Barbecue should look like

Hello there, it has been a while since my last post but that certainly doesn't mean that I haven't been shoving my face with delicious food in the meantime. I ate at Oklahoma Joe's again a few weeks ago and it was even more glorious the second time around. I love me some barbecue but I don't eat it often because I have yet to find a place decent enough to rival Chipotle, my home away from home. I'll start with these three words: spicy cole slaw. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could order 3 sides of that and be completely satisfied. Their french fries are so phenomenal that I am having trouble finding ways to explain just quite how phenomenal they are. Their meat is tender, juicy, amazing. Their barbecue sauce is REALLY good, and not too rich(like most barbecue places.) I still haven't had the pleasure of trying the beans but I hear they are just as wonderful as the slaw so that gives me an excuse to go again this week for lunch ;) Oklahoma Joe's rocks, and so does the manager Chuck Smith! If you go there, tell him Shammy sent ya!

Oklahoma Joe's Official Website

Shammy Says "Be prepared to inhale your food, not just eat it"

The Best Dilly in Town

The "Till"

It's about time I'm sitting here writing a review on Dilly Deli. I have been wanting to try this place for about a year now. Man have I been missing out. I didn't get a picture of it, but they make the BEST skinny margarita that I have ever had, and I have tried too many to name. None stack up to this one. It was light and fizzy, but most importantly it was refreshing. I have also heard great things about their mimosas(their orange juice is homemade,) their brunch--particularly their Eggs Benedict, their sandwiches and too many other things to name. Unfortunately I couldn't try all of these things in one visit, so I will be revisiting very soon. Another thing I love about Dilly Deli is that after a little researching and reading, I found out that they get their rye and tuscan breads from a local bakery here in Tulsa, and you can never go wrong shopping local for your food. Also their turkey and chicken are both all natural, no preservatives, no nitrites, no MSG,  no artificial ingredients, AND they are gluten free! Overall this is an awesome little deli that serves up fresh, homemade sandwiches, soups, salads, drinks, pastries and breakfasts on a daily basis. I will be going for brunch next time for sure.

Dilly Deli

Shammy Says "Don't Dilly Dally"

Buffalo Calamari is PRIMO

Utter Perfection

I professed my love for all things buffalo a long time ago. Therefore it should come as no surprise that this is going to be a rave review. I have eaten buffalo shrimp, buffalo chicken, buffalo fries, buffalo enchiladas and have even been known to dunk my tater tots in buffalo sauce. I honestly could eat anything as long as it is doused in buffalo sauce. It truly is the sauce of champions, in my opinion. Now to the entree of the year, Buffalo Calamari with Bleu Cheese. I love calamari so I was fully aware that I was about to have my mind blown. This meal did more than that. When I eat something truly delicious, I tend to slip into a deep state of euphoria, paying close attention to each delectable bite, and savoring every chew knowing that this wonderful feeling will not last forever. That being said, I normally can't recall eating said meals afterwards because my mind was somewhere else the entire time. Some of you may think that this is weird but my fellow foodies will know exactly what I am talking about. The sheer genius of Buffalo Calamari is a combination of a few things: the first is that they are thin so with each piece you get a perfect ratio of buffalo sauce to meat, unlike chicken, which I normally have to re-dunk in between bites; the second being that they were served underneath an avalanche of bleu cheese crumbles; the third and final reason for perfection was that they were tangy and not vinegar-y. They were also crispy and not soggy, which happens sometimes with buffalo sauced dishes. I'm done with my rave review, now all of you can go to Sonoma Bistro and Wine Bar and order the Buffalo Calamari, with a side of anything else on their menu. Great food, great atmosphere and great wine.


Sonoma Bistro and Wine Bar

Shammy Says "Five Stars"

Million Dollar Brownies Are Priceless

Unbelievable


I am going to let you all in on a little secret. I hate brownies. For me to even be dedicating an entire post to them is like going against my nature. I have never been tempted by them, ever. I love chocolate but brownies have never been a dessert I would even look twice at, because they are all either too dry or thick and in my opinion just not tasty enough to earn my attention. Now, with that being said I was having a major chocolate craving last week, you ladies will know what I am referring to. The kind of chocolate craving that makes you head to the grocery store at 8:30 at night to buy ingredients to make an entire chocolate cake. Yes I've done that. So last week when the above referenced craving was in full force, for some reason brownies were on my mind. But if I was going to make them, I was going to find the best recipe I could find and make the best brownies in the world. I succeeded, not surprisingly. They say when you want something bad enough, nothing can stop you from getting it. That was precisely what happened. These brownies were creamy, soft and so flavorful I could have eaten the entire pan if I allowed myself. Without further ado, here is the recipe.


Million Dollar Brownie Recipe


Shammy Says "The title is not an exaggeration"

Not Your Regular Chicken Taco

A refreshing twist on our normal tacos


I get stuck in food ruts from time to time, as I'm sure most of you do as well. This week I was trying to come up with different recipes to try that would please not only me, but my picky husband and my 2-year old. When I came across this one, I won't lie I wasn't too intrigued until I started reading the reviews. Every single review was raving about how delicious this was, not ONE bad review. I always read reviews, they never steer me wrong. I was also very anxious to try it since it only called for 5 ingredients. The entire dinner cost about $4 to make, which made me extra happy because that left me enough money to buy the economy sized can of nacho cheese I had been eyeing at the store. Chicken, cream of chicken soup, salsa, taco seasoning and sour cream, that's it folks. The only thing I was debating on was how to serve it. The recipe I found served it over white rice, but frankly that didn't sound too appetizing to me. After reading through nearly all of the reviews I found one lady who suggested serving it in a soft taco with fresh pico, sour cream and lettuce so that is exactly what I did, except I added even more toppings! I put shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese on mine, along with sour cream, lettuce, pico de gallo, fresh guacamole and some crumbled tostitos. It tasted even better than it looked, if that is even possible. It was such a nice change of pace, kind of like when Taco Bell brings the Crunchwrap Supreme back around after it's been gone for a while.


Crockpot Salsa Chicken Recipe



Shammy Says "Mouthwatering"

Two Different Recipes, One Delicious Dish

As the title states, this dish consists of two different recipes, one for the shrimp and one for the pasta. I decided to pair them together in a fit of creativity and it was a raging success! The shrimp recipe is a Pioneer Woman recipe, need I say more? Didn't think so. The pasta recipe is one that I have pinned over and over and salivated over on many a night. The reason it took me so long to make the pasta is because it called for pine nuts and basil. Here is my problem with pine nuts, yes they are delicious and add a nutty and crunchy texture to pasta, however they cost an arm and a leg. The problem I have with basil is that my grocery store NEVER has it, it is always the one herb that they are out of. So I finally decided to snub these two high class ingredients and go on my merry way, using my beloved parmesan cheese and garlic. The pasta turned out great, but next time I will use fresh grated parmesan instead of buying the prepackaged tub of the flakes because they didn't melt into the pasta like I was hoping. The shrimp was SUPER easy to make, consisting of about 5 or 6 ingredients. Once they were both prepared and tossed together, it was like heaven in my mouth. Enjoy!

Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp Recipe

Lemon Garlic Pasta Recipe

Shammy Says "It takes two"

Tuna Salad Can Be Tasty After All

Isn't she lovely?

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of tuna salad, unless it is bomb delicious tuna salad. It is similar to my love/hate relationship with potato salad, it's gotta be good or I'm not interested. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was titled "The Best Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich."  I like my tuna salad to be crunchy and creamy at the same time, and this recipe hit the nail on the head. The ingredients consisted of --spoiler alert-- tuna, dill pickles, green onions, celery, mayo and salt/pepper. It's shockingly one of the healthiest recipes I've come across also, which leaves me still wondering why I enjoyed it so much. All kidding aside, I DO eat healthy every now and then. I assume that it's just my body crying out for nutrition so I cave, but only for a day or so. I could have made this super healthy and paired it with whole grain bread of some sort but I chose the buttery croissant, considering all of the veggies I was eating with it. It was mighty tasty and perhaps in a few more months I'll have another one ;)

Tuna Fish Salad Sandwich Recipe

Shammy Says "This one's for my health nuts!"

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas = YUM

These have been on my list of things to make for a very long time now and last week I struck gold when my friend Fawna said she was making them for our get together! I could not wait to sink my teeth into these babies. I love mexican food and I could eat a calculator if it was drenched in buffalo sauce, so I knew going into this that I would thoroughly enjoy this dish. Clearly my expectations were high, and these somehow managed to make me so much happier than I was already expecting. Surprisingly they are not too unhealthy either, with the ingredients consisting of shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, buffalo sauce(which without the butter is not bad at all,) some gorgonzola and monterey jack cheese and you can use whole wheat flour tortillas! This was the type of meal that I could gorge myself on and eat the entire dish, but I didn't considering there were other guests present. These shot way up the list of my favorite meals and I will definitely be making them for us soon. Until then, buffalo on.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas Recipe

Shammy Says "Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas are GENIUS"

Satisfied

I'm happy

Alright I don't know if I just get too excited or if I'm a complete space cadet but EVERY time I try out a new recipe I make at least one mistake. This recipe was more like five or six mistakes, and they STILL turned out phenomenal if that tells you anything. I have stayed up late salivating over this recipe on Pinterest for months now and finally decided to make it. They were simple and the ingredients were fairly cheap, which makes this a perfect weeknight recipe for when you really aren't in the mood to cook. Now I am going to list the mistakes I made, so that you don't make them and then I will list what I am going to change for next time. First off, the recipe called for rice along with some seasonings. Anyone who knows me knows that I have zero common sense, although I'm starting to think it is delayed common sense, because I always seem to figure it out AS I'm dumping the wrong ingredients in the bowl. For some reason I bought a bag of mexican rice, which is already heavily seasoned, then proceeded to dump all my seasonings on top. Like I said, as soon as the seasonings were on the rice was when I realized I should have just cooked plain brown rice and added the seasonings to it. Classic Caroline, nothing new to see here. The next mistake I made was buying my cilantro a week before I made the recipe, so when I opened up the bag it went straight to the trash can. I feel the cilantro would have made this recipe about 53% yummier than it turned out to be, so next time I will not make that dreadful mistake. Next mistake was using black beans, which the recipe called for but my husband HATES black beans and I actually agree with him that this particular recipe would be better without them, so next time I'm ditching the frijoles negros. Mistake number four and probably the most critical one--I had no salsa to go with them. Salsa would have made these the best burritos that have ever crossed my lips. So I am going to the store tomorrow to get some to have for our leftovers. After all of this, I wasn't expecting them to be very good but I was SHOCKED at how yummy they were. My husband LOVED them, despite the beans fiasco. The burrito was crispy and light, and inside was creamy and tasty. Next time I make these I will definitely use the cilantro, add lettuce, skip the beans, make brown rice and season it and make sure my fridge is stocked with Picante sauce. Oh and I added sour cream to my burrito...DUH.

Crispy Southwestern Chicken Wraps Recipe

Shammy Says "Not a total Betty but a vast improvement"

And The Winner Is....!

Not the best picture but I was too busy shoveling this in my dome to care about getting a picture

A few weeks ago I posted a status asking for your favorite recipes and I had to pick ONE out of many delicious sounding recipes. It wasn't easy but the reason this lasagna won out over the others is because I had to make sure it would also please my picky husband. I have never made lasagna before either, so I also took that into consideration when making my decision. This recipe was posted by Katie Newman on her blog "Katie Lately," which I will post a link to below, along with a link to the recipe. I have always been afraid to attempt lasagna because I've heard it is difficult to make. This was one of the easiest recipes I have made to date and it turned out wonderfully! You use oven ready lasagna noodles which cuts your time in half--and that leaves you time to make a cocktail as you're cooking. It's always good to keep your priorities straight. Bottom line is I threw this together in under 15 minutes and then popped it in the oven and watched it cook while anxiously waiting to taste it. It isn't as rich as some other lasagna recipes that I've tried, which is good because you can eat more and finish up the leftovers, which is what my husband did. He gobbled this up like it was his last meal. Very yummy recipe and thank you to Katie for posting it! Until the next contest, enjoy this dish!

Katie's blog - Katie Lately

Lasagna Recipe

Shammy Says "My friends know good food!"

One Delicious Heart Attack On A Plate

"Creamy" would be a hideous understatement

Lemony Tuna Noodle Casserole. Those were the words that caught my eye when I was browsing Pinterest last week looking for new recipes. I love tuna noodle casserole and I love lemon even more so I figured this would be the perfect recipe. Only one thing was standing in my way, my picky husband. Pooh Bear is not a huge fan of lemon or tuna so I knew I would have to play with this recipe a bit. I subbed out the tuna for grilled chicken and used half of the amount of lemon that it called for. The chicken seemed to work out perfectly. It was a success, he loved it and so did I. The only drawback to it is that it is VERY RICH, so rich that I couldn't eat as much as I wanted to because I knew I would end up with a bellyache deluxe if I did. It was very decadent, rich and creamy but I think next time to balance out the richness I will use skim or 2% milk instead of whole milk, a lighter cheese(which may be difficult since it called for Gruyere cheese, which is a classy version of Swiss,) and perhaps olive oil to cook the leeks in instead of butter. If anyone has any other substitutions or tweaks to this recipe that would lighten it up a bit, I would love recommendations because I will definitely be making it again!

Lemony Tuna Noodle Casserole Recipe

Shammy Says "RICH but very delicious"

Homemade, Easy, and Delicious!

Amazing

Who knew homemade pop tarts were this easy to make? All you need is pie crust, jam or preserves(flavor of your choice,) powdered sugar, sparkling sugar and an egg if you want to put an egg wash on them before baking. They taste wonderful, very different from a Pop Tart you buy at the store though, since these don't have all the preservatives. These are still not considered healthy but they are a much better choice than the boxed Pop Tarts. Enjoy!

Homemade Pop Tarts Recipe

Shammy Says "Pop Tarts are the greatest invention ever"

I Need An Apple Tree

Cute AND delicious

These mini apple pies were hands down one of the best things I've ever made. I was nervous considering I had never even baked a pie before but these were super easy, the hardest part was slicing the apples. I LOVE apple pie but I like more crust than filling so I just added more dough on the tops of each one before baking. They were phenomenal, that is all.

Mini Apple Pie Recipe

Shammy Says "12 was NOT enough"

My World Has Just Been Turned Upside-Down, Pun Intended

I stared at this picture for 5 minutes trying to think of an appropriate caption and came up with nothing.

I have ALWAYS wanted to try a Pineapple Upside-Down cake. I knew it would be something I would like, before ever tasting it. I love pineapples, I love maraschino cherries and I love cake. I found this recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down cupcakes and figured I would go for it. I couldn't wait for them to cool so, consequently I burnt my mouth as I was tasting them, but I am pleased to report that the burn was worth it. They turned out even better than I was expecting, if that is even possible. They were fairly easy to make and I will definitely be making them again!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcake Recipe

Shammy Says "An out of body experience"

The clouds parted, and it rained PANCAKES

What a lovely way to start your day

WOW. I just thought I had found the best pancake mix when I blogged about the Kodiak Cakes last year, which are good but they don't hold a candle to Krusteaz. I stumbled upon this brand when I was picking up the ingredients for my Corn Dog recipe from the Pioneer Woman. The recipe stated that you COULD use any pancake mix, but it highly recommended the Krusteaz brand because that is what Corn Dog 7 uses. I don't question Corn Dog 7 so I was hoping to find this at Reasors, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it sitting right next to my Kodiak Cakes. This morning I woke up and was about to make pancakes when I saw this box staring at me from the top shelf of my pantry. As I was mixing up the batter I noticed it was very white, unlike any other pancake batter I had ever seen. I was growing very anxious to try them as they were fluffing up in my pan. As I sunk my teeth into the first bite I got very lightheaded. The feeling took over me like a calm breeze on a cool summer night. Heavenly. I thought to myself "these are the best pancakes I've ever had in my life." The feeling was bittersweet, I was so happy to have found this pancake mix yet so sad that it had taken me this long to find it. Oh well, the point is that I have found it and now I can share it with my shamsters. Go to Reasors and buy it today, and enjoy the best pancakes of your life tomorrow!

Shammy Says "Did I mention you just add water?"

Oh Thank Heavens for Indian Tacos!

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

So I was craving Indian Tacos the other day and decided I couldn't wait another nine months for the State Fair to roll around. I went to my tried and true website where no recipe fails to satisfy me: : Pioneer Woman. This woman deserves a Nobel prize for cooking food. I have tried over thirty recipes of hers and every single one has been pure fireworks. I love mexican food and I love fry bread, so whoever came up with the Indian Taco is a genius in my book. The dough was surprisingly easy to prepare and easy to fry, although the frying was a tad time consuming but totally worth it when I took my first bite. This is going to be a staple meal in my house from now on. Although next time I may go all out and make homemade nacho cheese to drizzle over it :)

Indian Taco Recipe

Shammy Says "Homemade Indian Tacos: 1. State Fair Indian Tacos: 0"

Crack-pot Beef Stroganoff

Mesmerizing

Beef Stroganoff has long been one of my favorite meals to eat ever since I was a kid. My mom makes a killer Beef Stroganoff, so when I decided to jump in feet first and try my own version I was hesitant. I had big expectations going in and this recipe fulfilled every last one of them. On top of being one of the tastiest meals I've had, it is also the EASIEST meal I have ever prepared, ever. It is a tad rich but the mashed potatoes help balance that out. This meal is in my top 5 favorite meals now of all time, and that is a coveted list to be on.


Crock-pot Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Shammy Says "Cheap, easy, delicious, and fool proof, need I say more?"