Caprese Garlic Bread: I Chopped Garlic, Be Impressed

     I have found that when I want to do something, I typically dive right in balls to the wall. This has been both a strong point and a point of weakness depending on the situation. For example, anytime I want to lose weight, I dive in with the most restrictive of diets possible and attempt to run as fast and as hard as I can on the treadmill to the point of nearly passing out. This, as you may know, is the perfect setup for failure. I easily get burnt out and give into my obsession for Cheetos and late night stops at Taco Bell.
 

BIG, ASS KNIFE!

     So, with that being said, I have decided I don't want this to happen with cooking. I am nowhere near ready to be on Masterchef nor am I anywhere close to being capable of whipping up a meal that involves more than say 6 ingredients. I need to take this slow. I need to learn actual skills, like chopping, before I dive into more complex tasks in the kitchen. This Caprese Garlic Bread seemed like a very good place to start. Minimal ingredients with very easy to follow instructions. This was probably a dish my 5 year old could have done by herself if she could read and use a big, ass knife. I don't understand this idea of using said big, ass knife to cut something as small as garlic, but hey that's what the hubs said so I am going with it. He did say I was going to chop my fingers off several times, but relax dear friends, I still have all my phalanges. There is this curvature that is super important to keeping all of your fingers. It is far from a natural feeling, but I can see the importance of doing this, and so I made it work.

 

ME CHOP GARLIC

 This bread is absolutely amazing. It is so delicious, and was super easy to put together. It made for a lovely appetizer to our meal, which of course the hubs cooked. The stand out portion of this appetizer is the garlic butter. I wasn't certain that the flavor was going to be that bold in all honesty. The directions called to chop the garlic, soften the butter, and combine the two to spread onto the bread. I have always thought to make your own garlic bread with Italian bread or other bread of choice, you basically slathered it with butter and garlic salt. Every bite was like taking a risk. Some just right, others so salty you almost vomit. By simply using real garlic and real butter, you get the perfect amount of garlic flavor. Go figure, right? The mozzarella melts rather nicely, and who doesn't love basil? I will say, we did add some salt after taking a bite that involved the tomato. Mr. Tomato was a little bland. It only needed just a touch of salt, but this really helped bring out all the delicious flavors.  This was Husband approved, mother approved, Amy approved, but not so much kid approved. What do they know, right!? Gourmet food to them is yogurt from a tube. Overall, I feel I did a good job, and it turned out great. Again, nothing real complex to make, but I satisfied my hunger to get crafty in the kitchen. All in all, a win. Check out the recipe below, and Happy Cooking!

Recipe courtesy of  Two Peas & Their Pod

Finished Product

Caprese Garlic Bread

Yield: Serves 8
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes



The hubs adding more Balsamic

Garlic bread with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of balsamic! The best garlic bread you will ever eat!

Ingredients:

1 loaf ciabatta bread, horizontally cut in half
4 tablespoons salted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place both sides of the baguette on a large baking sheet with the cut side up.
2. In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic and spread evenly on bread halves. Place the mozzarella cheese slices on top of the bread, making sure the cheese covers the bread completely. Bake the bread for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
3. While the bread is in the oven, make the balsamic reduction. Place the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring the vinegar to a boil, decrease the heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is reduced by about half. This should only take about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.
4. Remove the bread from oven. Top the bread with tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the fresh basil and drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cut into slices and serve. 





Keeping it in the Family

     Sundays have become my most favorite day of the week. Nathan works 6 days a week, which means that Sundays are our only full day together. We sleep in, which as anyone with kids knows that means we sleep until the late, late hour of 8:00 a.m. We slowly make our way out of bed, and yawn as we enter the kitchen. Of course, it is a mess from the night before, and so straight away we get to cleaning so that we can wreck it all over again with breakfast. Nathan does the dishes, and I clean up any of the kid's toys, socks, shoes, shirts, etc and in about 15 minutes we are ready to rock.

     Coffee is on, and the aroma of bacon fills the room. We put on some Sunday morning tunes, such as Van Morrison, and for a brief moment in time, life is peaceful. And then....Cue the kids! And let the chaos begin. "Mommy, I need chocolate mik." "Mommy he hit me." "DDDDAAAAADDDDDDYYYYYY what's for breakfast, I'm hungry." And so on and so forth. I don't remember being this needy as a child, but truth be told, I wouldn't have them any other way. They keep us on our toes, and we are working diligently to come up with some sort of "magic and misdirection" to get them to be a part of our Sunday morning calm without them realizing what hit them. Should you have the magic plan in place already, I bow in your awesomeness and beg you to share your secrets. No, seriously, I am on my knees. Teach me oh Great One!

     In today's efforts to trick the kiddos into staying chill on this beautiful Sunday morning, we have bribed Molly with filming her own cooking show. On the menu is her favorite: Blueberry Pancakes. She swears these are her most favorite pancakes in the whole world, and so we agree to pancakes with blueberries. I grabbed the phone per Molly's request and began to film the first episode of her Cooking Vlog. We did it in two parts, but I am not sure I am going to post the second part as there was a minor meltdown due to the misplacement of the blueberries. We shall see. If the readers comment enough that they must see it, then perhaps I will consider it.

     I will admit they did a pretty good job. I don't know what daddy does to his batter, but his pancakes are totes amaze! Please don't stop reading because I said "totes amaze." Sometimes that description works, and with Nathan's Hot Cakes, I think it is completely warranted. Anyway, they have a really nice fluffy texture and they are perfectly moist. Yes, I used the word "moist." Yes, I got the shivers when I typed it. Let's move on. They are all around delicious. The blueberries were a delightful addition, but some of them were a bit tart. Molly renounces her love for blueberry pancakes, and refused to eat her breakfast. Go figure. I think she really just wanted to use the blueberries to make smiley faces in the pancakes. Next time we will try chocolate chips, because who doesn't love chocolate. Am I right? Can I get an Amen!?

     So, long story short, today's "magic and misdirection" plan of attack worked, and we had a fairly peaceful Sunday morning. These are the kind of mornings I hope stick in their memories for years. When they are grown and sharing their life stories with their significant others, I hope they reminisce about Sunday mornings with mom and dad in the kitchen. These are truly special memories for me and the hubs. So with that being said, I am off to torture the children with yard work! Of course, I will turn it into a game so they think we are playing. Bwahahahahaha!

Ps. Molly's video will be coming soon. Just working on uploading it.

Gordon Dishes on Masterchef: His Take on the Breast Milk

      Gordon always gets a bad wrap for his lack of anger management skills, but I think he has strong anger management skills. I think he just lacks being able to put up with complete and utter bullshit skills, and so he explodes. I mean think about it, every time he flips out, it is pretty much warranted. Am I right? So with that being said, this interview from Variety shows a really nice side of him. As someone inspiring to become at least decent in the kitchen, I found this article quite inspirational.

     One of the things he talks about is having a contestant make Mac and Cheese. Gordon raved about the presentation, but one bite in and he knew something was up. He noticed a sweetness to it, and when asked about the sweetness, it was unveiled that he was in fact eating this woman's boob milk. As a woman who has nursed, I would never want to trick someone other than my husband into consuming my breast milk, which incidentally I did by the way. I mean, c'mon, really lady!? Maybe next time we can try blood in place of oh, I don't know, BBQ sauce. Let's give that a whirl. Gordon said that was the grossest thing he has ever had to try on the show and for good reason. Worst part, this was at the auditions! At least if he had known her a bit better, it would have seemed a little less bizarre.......Ok, yea, maybe not. Anyway, check out Gordon talking about his experience with the TaTa Milk.

     Gordon talks about the how the show is easy to relate to, and he is right. The contestants come in hungry, and not for the breastmilk mac and cheese. They come in with a hunger to learn and grow as chefs. They come in with dreams of leaving their everyday, mundane jobs that they hate for the opportunity to work in a field they are passionate about. They come in looking to satisfy something inside of themselves that has been missing, and these are the reasons this show is easy to relate to. For me, specifically, cooking has never been a huge priority. I grew up in an "on-the-go" family. We were constantly running from one sports practice or music lesson to another. Our family dinners consisted of Subway or Mickey D's in the car, and for the lifestyle we led that was fine. As an adult who works in a high stress industry, I need this outlet. I need to satisfy my hunger for creativity and growth. Masterchef inspires me to get out of my comfort zone and try new things. It takes the idea of cooking dinner from something we have to do to something we get to do. When your meals consistently require hamburger meat as your main ingredient, it is easy to get burnt out, but when you know each night is going to require a challenge with something you may have never tried before it becomes exciting!

     The last topic I will touch on from this article is this idea of being a celebrity chef, and how this concept has evolved over time. When cooking shows came onto the scene, we think of incredible talents like, Julia Child being the typical celebrity chef. Fast forward to 2015, and now we have celebrity chefs that have literally emerged out of their home kitchens largely due to the shows like Masterchef. This is an amazing concept in the world we live in today. Not that long ago, the only celebrity status one could gain would be from signing with an agent or inheriting an ungodly amount of wealth. With technology today, we are seeing celebrities being created everyday through this notion of viraltivity. (Yes, I just made up a word....If it was good enough for Webster, right?) People and their crazy antics are going viral each and every day. Some folks try too hard, and earn their fifteen minutes of fame, while others like the Bieb skyrocket to top celebrity status. How any of this works is beyond me, but one thing I know for sure is that these celebrity home chefs are heating things up on the viraltivity scale! I am excited to see where this season's chefs take us, and hope to give a few of their challenges a try.

 So, with that being said please enjoy some of these internet celebrity sensations, and Happy Cooking!

 

 

 

 

 Oh snap!

I'm Back to Let You Know That I Can Really Shake Em' Down

Hello my fellow Gordon lovers!

It has been about 3 years since my last post, but alas, I have returned! SOOOOO much has happened in the last 3 years. Way too much for one blog post, but I am looking forward to sharing all the crazy antics that have taken place, as well as, getting back on this journey I was once on. I have done so much soul searching over the last few years, and the more I search the more I realize I am far too creative to be stuck in an office. I need to create something every single day to be happy, but more importantly to keep my kids happy. They are both budding, little artists that can't get enough of painting, creating, baking, playing pretend etc., and as a working mother,  it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day of "what needs to be done next?" that we forget that these little people in our life need us for more than just a dinner on the table and a kiss goodnight. It is easy to fall into this routine of get home, cook dinner, clean up the day's mess that the kids made that resembles the aftermath of an F4 tornado, get the kids in the bath, read a book, kiss them goodnight, and fall into bed as if you have just ran your first Chicago Marathon. It's repetition and structure, but for those of us trapped in the mind of the creative, it is a prison sentence. And this my friends is why I am returning to this blog that I have neglected for the last three years.

This is my happy place. Creating meals, daydreaming about Gordon Ramsay, and telling you fine folks all about it. I am a creative. I am trapped in a mind that views the outside world in an unusual way. I romanticize just about anything, and I NEED to create. I NEED to express myself....and then I remembered this blog. So I decided that I should do a quick search for it, and to my surprise I found it pretty easily. I read through some of my old posts, and the biggest smile came across my face. Remembering the feelings of what this blog provided to me, urged me to get back to it ASAP! I wanted to write last night! I wanted to come home from work and whip out some crazy meal I have never tried cooking before and blog all about it. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards due to a 4 week hiatus from grocery shopping because I have been involved in a theatrical production of "Lend Me a Tenor." So instead, I came home, the hubs had made tacos, and I cut up an avocado. OOOOOOO, AAAHHHHH, right? Badass, I know. And then I did a couple baskets from the mountain of laundry that has taken over our living room. All things that had been neglected because mommy thought it was a super awesome idea to do a play while the hubs is in his super busy season with work. Dumbest idea ever, and will not happen again! So with that being said, I am back on track to a normal life, but this time I refuse to fall into the structured schedule of work, come home, cook/eat dinner, give the kids a bath, read a book, and go to bed. I need more. I need to feel alive again, and I am hoping that you, my readers will come back to me and know that I am in it for the long haul this time. I am sorry that I disappeared on you so quickly. You didn't deserve that, and to make it up to you, I am going to go to the store ASAP to get ingredients for something super exciting for this weekend. Of course, I will take pics, and tell you all about it!

Ps. I have not honed my cooking skills any more in the last three years....I am still an infant when it comes to being in the kitchen, but damnit, I still want to meet Gordon so so badly! And therefore, I learn.

Happy Cooking Everyone!!