tasty treats

Hello -  Happy 4th of July! Hope you are spending the weekend doing something you enjoy with someone you love. Scott and I decided to stay home - yesterday we cooked on the grill - fabulous!!

It started raining right after we took this picture! Scott made roasted veggie salsa - it is SO GOOD!! It's also fat free - woo hoo!!

I have made some fun recipes. A few posts ago I talked about making yogurt - I have made three batches now. I love it!! The first batch was grainy (still edible) because I heated the milk too fast but now I've got it! The first batch I realized the timer doesn't work like you would expect on the yogurt warmer, so when I was done I unplugged it and put it away even though the timer hadn't run out. The next batch only warmed for a few hours and it shut off.So now I know that if I over-turn the timer I have to let the time run out or I won't get the right warming time on the next batch. The yogurt is good. I bought several kinds of jelly to flavor it - even a pumpkin butter mmmm, I put cereal in it too.I saw a recipe going around the internet for zucchini chips and I had to try them  I got the recipe from Table for Two (I didn't look at the blog other than this recipe so I don't know if it's a good one or not)I used foil the first time and the parts I could unpeel were delicious but they mostly just stuck right to the foil. Yes, the recipe says to use parchment or silicone liner. I didnt have a silicone mat so I bought two at Bed Bath and  Beyond - they were 15 bucks each and of course I used a two coupons!

 So I made them again - they are good but now I need a mandolin to get the sizes even. I actually bought one AFTER I made the last batch, at Walmart for 10 bucks - haven't used it yet though - excited to try it! One more kitchen gadget!! The silicone sheet worked great and easy to clean!!

Scott found a Mexican grocery store in Indy that has a restaurant attached - we are thrilled.The meats and vegetables are cheaper and better than my local store.  The restaurant prices are good and the food is great! I just wish it wasn't so far away. I have two new obsessions - Horchata and tostadas - let me explain -  Horchata - a Mexican rice drink - surprisingly refreshing. Of course at the restaurants they make it full of fat but Skinnytaste has a recipe for it that is fantastic. A warning though - I only use 3.5 to 4 tablespoons of sugar - the first time I used the full 1/3 cup I had to make another batch and add no sugar and put them together (so sad to have to make two batches - not hahah)  so if you make it add the sugar gradually and decide for yourself.

From Skinnytaste I also made peaches and cream popsicles I used homemade almond milk - so much better than store bought and so easy to make! I found a 2 pound bag of natural almonds at Walmart for 12 bucks - I have only used a  cup - so not that expensive either. So the popsicles are very tasty but also too much sugar - so add it gradually as well. Also, on the peach chunks - either puree all the peaches or peel the skin off because the skins are weird when frozen.

almond milk

She bought her popsicle molds on Amazon but I didn't want to spend that much money so I bought these little cheapo ones from Walmart - her recipe makes 6 - mine makes 12 so I guess that means I can eat two at a time!! She also posted a scallop taco recipe that is fantastic - really!!

green scallop tacos

My second obsession - tostadas  - at the Mexican grocery store we found these baked tostada shells (Charras) - BAKED so they have hardly any fat and they are so damn good!! I put a little bit of beans and then I made a "salsa" of avocado, cucumber and jalapeno - that's it!! I have eaten a lot of these - even made Scott go get more of the tostadas!!At the store they are 2 bucks - online they are expensive!

horchata and tostadas!!

The picture shows cheese but that was just once - I like them without cheese.
Scott's birthday is coming up - July 9th. Recently he took a business trip to Iowa and while there stopped at a bakery for breakfast called The Kettle House He brought home "Salted Caramel Chocolate Roos" They are so good he thought he might not share them with me - ha!! So for his birthday I decided to get some sent here

This is a half a sheet and there are 16 little ones - well two are missing.... or 8 (in that case just one is missing haha) big ones. I called to see how much it would be and ended up jumping the gun and ordering too early - she made them and shipped them THE NEXT DAY!!! I asked her not to overnight them - that is too expensive and I still had them in two days! The caramel was stuck to the paper they were separated in but I used a butter knife and everything was fine - I was her first mail order customer but she would like to have more mail order customers. Her sweets are divine so if you need something yummy make sure to call her - mention that Jamie from Indiana sent you just so she knows that I was impressed enough to talk about it (she doesn't know I have a blog or that I posted about the shop)
I have a before and after picture. We brought two dressers from Colorado - one is more of a workshop piece than a dresser. The brown one on the right just needed cleaned up and some wood nailed in to stop the drawers from going too far in. Scott did those things and we put it in the guest room, it is a pretty little dresser. The other one he painted black and put it in the basement for cords and stuff like that.

Well I guess that's it for today. I need to do homework so I can stitch. I got a 97 on the last test and have an A now - ohhhh geeez - only 4 more weeks of class! Be safe celebrating!!  Thanks for stopping by!!