Butters turns 1!

We cannot believe that our little puggle is already one years old! It was just 9 months ago when we were official owners to this cute 5 pound puppy! We both grew up with dogs and it should be obvious that we both wanted one eventually. As I got older, I wasn't much of an animal person anymore! My husband did some convincing and we added this little munchkin to our small family! Our little family of 2 became a little family of 3! She is definitely a huge responsibility and most of all, she taught us how to be more patient! SO for her birthday I made "PUP"cakes for her! She absolutely loved it and so did all her little fur friends! She was totally mesmerized by the candle on her pupcake...intently thinking of her one simple wish! Happy birthday little one!

 All regular ingredients that you can find at the grocery store...and you might already have some of it in your pantry! ***Although these ingredients are safe for pups to digest, please be sure to only give them moderate portions.

Carrot PUPCAKES with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup shredded carrots

Frosting

1/2 low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tbs honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in cupcake pan.

In a small bowl, mix together dry ingredients for the cupcake batter. In another bowl, whisk the egg, honey, peanut butter and vegetable oil until thoroughly combined. Stir in the dry ingredients and then the shredded carrots. Spoon the cake batter into the liners until they are 2/3 filled. Bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on racks.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. Whip the cream cheese, peanut butter, and honey together until light and fluffy. Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. Top with extra shredded carrots for the "sprinkles".

Pepper Chicken with Caramelized Onions

Can you say, Delicious?! This recipe is packed with flavor! The only big whoops that I made was substituting 2 tbs McCormick's Grill mates Steak Seasoning for 2 tbs McCormick's Grill mates SPICY seasoning!! The original recipe asked for the regular steak seasoning. OH MY GOODNESS! It burned straight from my throat to my stomach. I've gotta say though, I kind of liked it! haha! Well, that's coming from someone who LOVE spicy foods! No but seriously, it was REALLY spicy! SO do me a favor, don't make the same mistake I did...reason being? Even though you may like the extreme kick, others around you may not--->  like my husband. He hasn't had any yet, but I can already hear the words coming out of his mouth! lol. My advice, if you want a little kick just make sure you adjust it to your liking. Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless chicken (cubed)
• 2 tbs olive oil (divided)
• 2 onions (sliced thin)
• 2 tbs McCormicks steak seasoning, or spicy (if desired)
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger (paste, grated or powder)
• 2 tsp garlic (paste or grated)
• 1 cup celery stalks (finely chopped)
• chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions

	Heat one tbsp olive oil on med-high heat. Add 1/3 sliced onion and saute about 4 minutes until dark brown. Add ginger, garlic and saute 2 minutes.
	Add chicken chunks and the steak seasoning and cook uncovered about 10-15 minutesor until all the liquid as evaporated.
	Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on med-high heat. Add remaining onions and cook until it get soft brown and caramelized. About 6-7 minutes.
	Add 1 tsp fresh pepper, paprika, salt to the chicken mixture and cook another 2 minutes on med heat. Add chopped celery and remaining caramelized onions and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro.
	Serve hot with rice or in lettuce leaves to make lettuce wraps!

Garlic Tri-tip Steak

My husband and I are trying a new diet...Over the past couple years we have managed to cut a lot of process foods and focus more on healthier foods. We stopped eating out several times a week and started cooking more food at home. We are not that big on "minimal eating" diets but more focused on natural ingredients, less sodium, and less sugar...eat more several times a day kind of thing. We had to make it work with work, our workouts and gym time regimen. At one point, we were what you called "gym rats"...Now that we have gotten use to being healthier people, we are aiming towards life time goals. Sure, we'll try a couple different diets here and there but not one that we know for sure we could not follow through. So what diet this time? The Paleo Diet...Daniel however will do it strictly. Me, not so much! I'm here as a support system and most obviously: the cook. LOL. He is only giving this a couple months and then maybe on to something new. I guess I'll go along for the ride since I'm the one making all the yummy food! SO the first recipe is...Garlic tri-tip steak!

I marinaded all the ingredients together 8 hours before cooking it. I took the short cut and threw it on the George Forman at 400 degrees for 4 minutes because I couldn't wait any longer! You can cook it in the oven, forman, grill, whatever you please! The beef cooked to medium, was tender and juicy! To DIE for! Oh my goodness, it was absolutely delicious! Don't think of this as a diet dish. Seriously, this is a dish that needs to be in the books! You can also serve this over rice, tortilla, or just plain with a side of mash potatoes and veggies!

Ingredients

• 1 lb tri tip steak
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• ¼ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• juice of 1 lime
• salt and peper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine garlic, EVOO, cilantro and lime juice and pour on top of the skirt steak and make sure it is completely coated.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Marinate for 8 – 12 hours.
4. Preheat convection oven to 350F.
5. Place skirt steaks on a baking pan and cook for 10-15 minutes.
6. Once cooked, slice thinly and serve with pico de gallo.

Food blogging? Say What?

As most of you know, I love food! Come on, who doesn't?! For as long as I could remember, I have always had the desire to learn new things in the kitchen. It all started when I was a little girl...middle school to be exact. My first time making something in the kitchen was when I was in 6th grade. I was taking Spanish and my best friend and I had a project coming up. So we decided to make a dish...what kind of dish? An African dish! African dish...in Spanish class? yea...I don't know what we were thinking but it was a total hit! After that point, I always had this desire to learn something new in the kitchen from my parents. The most difficult part about learning how to cook with them was that they did not have basic instructions for their mostly Asian dishes. Every dish complete by the way it tasted! So I had to learn the hard way. I didn't stop there... In college, I would have at least 10 people over for Sunday night dinner and feed them whatever I felt like cooking at the moment...I call it, "This is how you get the boys". LOL. For some reason, cooking for the boys worked! Several days after I met my husband, I made dinner for him and his roommates. Apparently I was a keeper after that. You know what they say..."The way to a mans heart is through is stomach!" :) Wife duties came shortly after that...I was able to utilize and use all the imagination possible to try and make breakfast, lunch and dinner different everyday. After a year of marriage, all that eating got us in trouble! haha...it died down a little bit but my desire to stay in the kitchen didn't end there. Now, with all the demands of being a full time worker, homemaker, and wife, I stay trying to develop my talents in the kitchen. There's just this peaceful and calm feeling that comes over me when I create something new. I guess you can say it is my stress reliever. With all this said, I hope to start blogging all my recipes... Many of my friends encourage me to start blogging my recipes, it just took awhile. I hope that you are patient with me because I am not that great of a blogger! So here we go. I hope you enjoy!