I Present To You...Delicious White Fish!

So while I was at home one weekend, my older sister and my older cousins asked me to cook a meal for them since I'd started this blog and they'd never actually tasted my cooking. One of my cousins doesn't eat red meat so I decided that fish would be the perfect dish. And better than just any normal fish, I decided to use tilapia. Tilapia is a light, white fish; very delicate and very delicious!

Bow-tie pasta is the cutest!

The completed dish! Mmmmmm!

I followed this recipe and served the fish with a side of pesto bow-tie pasta! The pesto was freshly made too! Everything about this meal was light and delicious. This is good if you don't want a really heavy meal, but a definitely filling meal. Opening up the little package was the best part! It was like Christmas all over again! Careful when you open them up though, it's super hot! 

Hope you try this out! It's really simple and it'll turn out great!

Hugs! - Lardy

Shells' BOMBdotCOM Macaroni Salad

I've been making this BOMBdotCOM macaroni salad for the past two years for BBQs and birthday parties and I don't mean to toot my own horn but it never fails to be a crowd pleaser. And today on a car ride back from an amazing weekend in Las Vegas (woot woot!), I suggested that we have macaroni salad for dinner. So when we got home we immediately got to work on some delicious macaroni salad.

First we brought some salted water to a boil and cooked the ditalini pasta. In the meantime, we busied ourselves with chopping up some onions, green bell peppers and celery.

Sous chef Lards working on some fresh green bell peppers

Onions, celery, and green bell peppers chilling in a mixing bowl

Pasta straining in a colander

Lastly, we added the rest of the ingredients and mixed everything together in a large mixing bowl, making last-minute adjustments to some ingredients..

Flavors are melding together

After we seasoned the macaroni salad we popped it in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes (since we didn't have the time or patience to allow it to properly chill) and dug in! It was BOMBdotCOM!

Serving of Shells' BOMBdotCOM macaroni salad

Looks good, doesn't it?? Well, lucky for you, here's the recipe!! It's a pretty simple recipe, the hardest part is trying to chop the onion without crying. Give it a try under one condition- don't you dare omit or substitute any ingredients. :) enjoy!!

Shells' BOMBdotCOM Macaroni Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups uncooked ditalini pasta
• 1 cup mayonaise
• 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup white sugar (adjust to taste)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 4 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)

Instructions:

1. Bring pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Strain and allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, relish, salt, and pepper.
3. Chop onion, bell pepper, celery and add to mixture in large bowl. Allow mixture to sit for 30 mins.
4. Transfer pasta into large mixing bowl and combine contents of large bowl into a super large bowl.
5. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, but preferably overnight.
6. Share with people you love!

Yields 10 servings (but goes by fast- trust me)

Note: The macaroni salad might look liquidy when you initially mix everything together , but have no fear- the pasta will absorb all the vinegary mustardy goodness in a matter of hours.

Toodles!

The Best Things Come in Small Packages!

Aren't these little sliders absolutely adorable?!

Each one was made with love by Shells and I. Carefully put together, these little guys are pretty filling. I was full after about two and a half! This delicious concoction is something we just decided to put together one night. Quick trip to the store and we were on our way to amazingness! These sliders so easy to make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You'll need ground beef (or turkey if that's your preference), salt, pepper, barbecue sauce, garlic salt (because we add garlic salt to everything), and what ever other kind of spice you want to add to this mash up.

We pretty much winged the measurements, just don't over do it! Put all of these in a bowl and mix it together with your hands to distribute all the spices throughout the meat.

Next we just molded the little patties by rolling up cute balls of meat and gently pushing them into a flat disk with our fingers. Wrap the little patty in bacon (because bacon makes everything better) and set on a baking sheet. Bake for about 25-30min until cooked all the way through. Before it's done though, you want to add a slice of provolone (or your choice of cheese) to the top of each of the patties and place back in the oven. This will melt the cheese perfectly!

After they're done, take them out and slide each onto a slightly toasted split hawaiian roll. Top with the other half of the hawaiian roll and enjoy!

Hugs! - Lardy.

Pigs-in-a-Blanket! Nom Nom Nom!

mini pork sausages wrapped in pillsbury crescent dough and seasoned with a dash of garlic salt

Feast your eyes on the cutest little pigs-in-a-blankets!! Laura and I concocted these little cuties from Pillsbury Crescents dough and mini pork sausages. We popped open the scary little can, unraveled the dough and cut them into small triangles just like you would for normal crescents but instead of rolling them up in themselves like ordinary uncreative folks, we wrapped them around a mini pork sausage!! We even got a little more creative in the end and rolled a few with cheese inside, too. Then, we finished them off with a dash of garlic salt (what would we do without garlic salt?!) and popped them into the oven for about ten minutes until the dough turned into a delicious golden brown crisp. These pigs-in-a-blanket were so tasty that Lards and I polished off the entire dish in a matter of minutes. They were crispy and golden on the outside and warm and fluffy in the inside- the definition of delicious perfection. Give these babies a try and experience delicious perfection for yourself!

Oh, how I adore pigs-in-a-blanket.... :)

Toodles!

Stuffed Pork Chops...Always Worth The Wait!

Bacon makes everything better.

Warning: very photo heavy!!!

Fresh parsley and smoked gouda

Ready for grilling!

On the grill...

Ready to eat!

YAY! First post with my DSLR photos. Now you can see all our delicious creations in HD. 

First of all, so sorry for the lack of posts. Winter break happened and therefore laziness happened, but now we're back and hopefully will have a plethora of posts for you to enjoy! :)

Shelley and I made this amazing meal a while back, but looking back at these photos has me drooling! Pork chops stuffed with bacon and smoked gouda. As I've said before, bacon makes everything better! We followed this recipe step by step and it turned out great! This was pretty heavy and extremely filling. Adding a side of spinach salad with a light vinaigrette rounded out our meal.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! Look forward to more scrumptious treats from us in 2012! 

Hugs! - Lardy