Coffee and Cannolis

As I recently mentioned in my Cilantro Lime Rice post, I love Qdoba and Chipotle.  When I go there, I always order the same thing - a Burrito Bowl, or Naked Burrito, consisting of: Rice, Meat and Cheese.  As plain and simple as it is, I cannot get enough of it and often crave it.  Whatever meat I chose all depends on my mood, but it's usually Grilled Chicken or Shredded Beef.  Eventually I will find a shredded beef recipe that I will want to use to make these at home, but until then I stick with a simply marinated grilled chicken - the marinade usually consisting of a little EVOO, Lime Juice, a bit of tequila, some garlic, chili powder and jalapeño... delicious! While this isn't much of a recipe, I still wanted to post, for anyone that loves burrito bowls like I do.  They're so easy to make at home with your own modifications.  Just because I like mine plain, as you can tell from the picture, doesn't mean you can't go all out! Burrito Bowls Ingredients: Cila

I have a love for side dishes, however unless it's a meal that I'm trying to impress with, like a dinner party for friends or family, I typically don't spend a lot of time on side dishes.  Most nights I tend to just throw some veggies in a steamer, roast them or grill them and pair with a pasta side, potatoes or some other starch.  While browsing through Pink Parsley Catering, a new favorite blog of mine, I saw these amazing looking green beans that looked perfect for a quasi-dinner party I was hosting not so long ago.  These green beans ended up being easy enough that I think I'll have to add them in to my arsenal of go-to side dishes.  Yes, they are a little more time consuming than just sauteeing or throwing in a pot to steam, but in the end they're really not all that time consuming and are so worth the extra few minutes. Green Beans Parmesan  Ingredients: 1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread (without crusts), torn into quarters 2 Tablespoons unsalted

I love the flavor of peaches, and recently I've switched up my grocery store due to better produce and I've been seeing amazing looking peaches.  My husband doesn't like peaches so when I bought some I wasn't sure what to do with them, aside from cutting and serving with some whipped cream or something.  I've been seeing some homemade wine cooler recipes recently that I've also been wanting to try but I needed an excuse.  Voila - dinner party with the family - perfect excuse, and I had some peaches! These wine coolers were exactly what I was expecting.  Peachy, delicious wine and not a hint of nasty bottled wine cooler flavor, reminiscent of high school "rebellion".  This is a perfectly delicious adult beverage that you can drink without any shame! Peach Wine Coolers Ingredients: 1 pound fresh peaches, peeled and chopped 2 ounces peach schnapps or favorite "plain liquor" generous pinch of Kosher salt 2 750-mL bottles dry Reisling, Pi

I have no aversion to semi-homemade meals (minus Sandra Lee's "tablescapes" - seriously?!), however if I'm going to use a box mix, frozen something, etc. I like to add something special to the plate. Recently I was making a Chocolate Angel Food Cake and while I love chocolate angel food cupcakes from scratch, I just didn't feel like separating a dozen eggs.  I looked in to doctoring up boxed cake mixes and found that you can easily add in cocoa powder to a boxed angel food cake mix and bake as directed.  Score!!  At the end of the day - I may have enjoyed this recipe more than the one from scratch. That being said, as I mentioned above, I like to add a little something special.  I was not able to attend the party at which the cake was served (thankfully a slice of cake was saved for me), so I wanted something simple and easily transportable to add that special touch.  While the cake was baking I happened to be looking through The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovit

More and more lately I've been wanting Mexican food.  Truth be told - because I'm {relatively} picky about my food I haven't really been a huge lover of it - but over the past few years, it's become craveable to me.  I'm still picky and like things relatively plain, but without a doubt, one of my favorite "Mexican" foods is Qdoba and Chipotle.  I'm putting Mexican in quotes because - well, let's face it - it's not real Mexican.  That being said though, you can't argue that it's not delicious! I am a sucker for Cilantro Lime Rice - I love the stuff.  The best part about it - it's so easy to make at home, and much better for the wallet than getting Qdoba anytime you have a craving.  I always have rice and limes on hand, so $.99 for a bunch of Cilantro - can't beat that! Cilantro Lime Rice Ingredients: 2 cups water 1 tablespoon butter 1 cup long-grain white rice 1 teaspoon lime zest 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1/

Last week, the lovely Jade over at The Mess Pot , tagged me in a blogging "getting to know you" event, so to speak.  I've been so busy that I'm just now getting caught up on my Google Reader and happened to see this.  Anyway, this challenge is supposed to be passed along to fellow bloggers, but with how busy I am, I'm just going to answer the questions, and if you want to do on your own as well - please do so!  I must admit, I LOVE these kinds of things.  Remember in high school and college all of the old forward/chain emails with like 100 questions to answer... the procrastinator in me did ALL OF THEM! Here you go! 1) What was on your To-Do list today: - Finish up my IDP for work as it's due while I'm on vacation next week - Research in to a few competitors  - Finish up the plan of a project I'm working on and touching base with the vendor on tomorrow - Wash and sanitize bottles for the beer we're bottling tonight! - Wrap wedding gift for

In my opinion, one of the best frosting recipes to have in your repertoire is a Vanilla Bean Buttercream. It's sweet, buttery, full of flavor and goes well with almost any cupcake or cake flavor. I am a huge fan of Vanilla Bean Buttercream on nearly any cupcake, however most recently I became addicted to these Snickerdoodle Cupcakes , of which I frosted with Vanilla Bean Buttercream.  This recipe is as easy as they come, and as soon as you taste it you'll be hooked!   Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream Ingredients: 2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise 2½ cups confectioners' sugar (10 ounces) Pinch salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 Tablespoons heavy cream Directions: In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds. Add c

I have to admit something - I'm not a huge sweets person.  Coming from someone that loves to bake that may sound a bit odd, but honestly, my favorite part of baking is sampling the doughs and batters.  Though I'm not much of a sweets person I do love (and I stress love ) to lick the beater, spatula, etc. before everything goes in the oven.  And, it just doesn't get much better than snagging some delicious chocolate chip cookie dough straight from the bowl.   As soon as I saw these cupcakes on Annie's Eats  I knew I wouldn't be able to resist them too long.  Cookie Dough batter, filled with cookie dough, and then still topped with a cookie dough flavored butter cream?!  Hello lover!  I knew that I would have to make these with the specific intent to giveaway, or for a large crowd, because I would be too tempted to eat all of the batter myself. Of course, though I don't eat a lot of sweets, I still always eat some of everything I make.  I am so glad I trie