For Valentine’s Day, it was Lobster Palooza at our house (expect several more recipes).  I wanted to make something special, out of the ordinary and luxurious.  Then lobster tails went on sale…we bought 10.  That’s 10 tails for 3 people, nearly ridiculous, but only nearly.  The tails were small, not langoustine small, but definitely on the small side.  We started off our meal with these refreshing Lobster Verrine.

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The rumors on the web about me are true!  My Secret Club Recipe assignment this month is, Thrifty Veggie Mama.  Before I delve into SRC recipe stuff for this month, I have a funny little story involving Thrifty Veggie Mama.  One day I was heading home from running errands and my phone did the tada thing.  I checked it at the next red light and I had a direct message from Thrifty Veggie Mama (Jamie).  Huh?  Did she find out that I have her as my assignment?  I was starting to feel a little panicky.  With a sense of impending dome,  I read my message: It said “there are nasty rumors about you on the web” or something to that effect and there was also a web link.  After two seconds of thought I realized that Jamie had been hacked, I let her know and she took care of it right away.  What she didn’t realize was that she was my SRC assignment.  What a a co-inky-dink.  I was relieved.

A little about Jamie, she quit her job as a physical therapist to do an even tougher job, be a stay at home mom to her adorable three children.  Jamie and her family made a conscious decision in 2010 to become vegetarian, they already didn’t eat pork, then bit by bit they cut out the rest of their meats.  Jamie said it was an adjustment but well worth it, the family is definitely healthier for it.  Jamie started her blog to chronicle her experience with learning to cook vegetarian and of course, be thrifty about it!

Confession time for me.  I was absolutely petrified of getting a diet restrictive assignment through SRC.  My family are serious carnivores.  It’s not that we don’t eat a meatless meal once in awhile, but it’s easy things like a pasta dish, pizza or a veggie sub.  However, my hubby and I started on Weight Watcher’s about a month ago, so this SRC assignment ended up being the perfect fit!  I put my trepidations aside and got really excited about it, especially after checking out the awesomeness that is Jamie’s blog.

I made up my mind not to take the easy way out and make one of her drool inducing soups (I’m dying to try her roasted garlic soup she recently posted), or her pizza, or pasta.  I wanted a real vegetarian challenge.  When I read that Jamie’s Barbeque Red Bean Burgers was one of her most popular recipes for 2011; I knew I found my winner!  Plus, it has a nice familiar look that my guys would probably be more receptive to.

I served it up to McGyver, who was loving it.  I asked him if he knew what kind of burger it was?  “Hmmm, tastes a little different, lamb?”.  Seriously!  He could tell it was different but assumed it was meat so he was “fooled”.  I gotta tell you that I’d eat these burgers anytime!  I got a nice crust on the outside and they were creamy and tasty on the inside.  I added a slice of cheese to give it that delicious cheeseburger effect and I resisted my urge to add turkey bacon, hope you are proud of me Jamie!  If you haven’t already been to visit Thrifty Veggie Mama, you really need too!

For those of you who do Weight Watchers this came in at 12 points!  You can reduce the points value by 4 just by omitting the cheese and the avocado, you could reduce it even more if you skipped the bun…but what fun would that be?

It also happens to be giveaway time!  February is my blogoversary month so I’m doing giveaways every week this month.

Congratulations to Leann for winning the salad set!

Continue reading “Barbeque Red Bean Burgers a Secret Recipe Club Reveal” »

I was making some black bean soup in my amazing pressure cooker.  The soup takes a total of one hour start to finish and no soaking the beans; the pressure cooker has basically changed my bean eating world.  But I’m not posting about pressure cooker/bean love today, however when you have a pressure cooker to do all the work it gives you time to make other things.  Things like Chipotle Cornbread Muffins.

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No, I’m not having any holiday confusion.  I know it’s St. Valentine’s Day but it is also The Daring Cooks challenge for this month…patties!  Get it…Saint Valentine’s Day, Patties…heart shaped patty?  The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

Continue reading “Happy St. Patties Day – A Daring Cook’s Challenge” »

Sometimes I just know what I want, I crave it, think about it, plan it, prepare it and eventually devour it with delight.  Other times, it’s all about whatever I have left in the fridge that absolutely needs to be used up.  Other times, meal decisions are based  on time, and way too many times they are based on the hunger factor.  In other words, I’m hangry and I need to eat NOW!

Continue reading “Sofrito with Beans and Rice” »

I love photo props.  Some of you other bloggers apply the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid), but me, I can’t help myself, I keep finding adorable little things.  I really love vintage things (including McGyver).  My children will attest to my love for vintage items, I think I spent a good portion of all my money in Europe on antiques and what-nots.  Thinking of Tongeren…

Continue reading “Smoked Turkey Noodle Soup” »

Because the day belongs to lover’s, because the day is a Hallmark holiday, because if you don’t do something special for Valentine’s Day you’ll be in the dog house…

Continue reading “Cocktails for Lovers” »

Last week I shared our first European H.O.G. rally together in Lido de Cavillino Italy, If you’d like to see the wet time that we had, you can catch up here.  Although we went to Italy for all the motorcycle shenanigans, we did take a day off to visit Venice.

We took the ferry to Venice and stepped into an entirely different world.  It was so fascinating to see all the buildings, the water ways, bridges, people and pigeons!

Continue reading “Motorcycle Monday and My First Give-Away” »

It’s incredible that it’s been two years since I started blogging!  On this very day in 2010 I posted my first recipe with step by step instructions.   I had a good camera, but I was a lousy photographer and didn’t realize I had floating margins so my giant 17” screen photos were to big for anyone with a smaller screen.  I didn’t know much about blogging then…boy have times changed!

Continue reading “Happy Blogoversary TKW” »

After yesterday’s post I thought that I better post something a little more healthy than cupcakes.  This is almost not a recipe, more of a gathering of ingredients that turned out, to me, a great healthy snack, and for my Weight Watcher’s friends it’s only 1 points plus value.

My inspiration came from buffalo wings.  With the Superbowl just around the corner, my mind had definitely been on party snacks…the whole blogosphere is literally smattered with them.  Although I probably won’t eat as healthy that day, I did want to have some healthier choices.

Continue reading “Buffalo Celery Sticks” »