Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing aka Cilantro Ranch

Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 1/3 cups sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 bunch of cilantro (chopped)
1 package ranch dressing mix
4 tbsp. salsa verde (green salsa)
2 cloves of garlic
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce
juice of one lime

Mix together in the blender... and that's it!
(thin it with a little milk for pouring on Salad or leave it thick for a veggie dip)

Granola to go

Made a goodie for my "Healthy Friends"

14 c. Regular Oats

6 c. Rolled 6 Grain

3 c. Wheat Germ

1 c. Oat Bran

4 c. Sunflower Seeds

5 cup Shredded Coconut- Tropical Traditions- (unsweetened)

1 1/2 c. Flax Seeds

3 tsp Real Salt

2 lb Slivered Almonds

2 lb Chopped Pecans

2 c. Coconut Oil

3 c. Maple Syrup

5 c. Honey

1 tsp Vanilla

Mix Dry ingredients in a Large bowl. Butter 4 large trays and set aside. Heat oil, honey and syrup in saucepan. Boil 3 minutes, remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over Mixture in bowl, stirring until evenly coated. You may eat it raw-(soft) or -Divide evenly onto trays and place in oven at 200*, stirring often until dry and slightly golden brown.

Cool and store in airtight container up to 2 months

Eat it on Yogurt, with milk, or dry by the handful, like i do ;)

Packaged up- Ready to Deliver

(and this is all you need for packaging)

My Favorite Photos at the moment-

Lovin this pic i took at the park, love the alive realness, and the sweet personalities of my sweet lil brothers and sisters.

Also-I was so thrilled to find this pic of my mother holding me when she was my age...

Shrimp Scampi

Went to dinner with Father and Mother the other night and had this…. Prime Rib & Lobster… It was Delish!

I have a bazillion recipe books checked out from the library, to get new ideas from. One of them is “Barefoot Contessa –Family Style” from which I made this and it was SO good!

Linguine with Shrimp Scampi

Serves 6
Oil
Salt
1 ½ lbs linguine

6 Tblsp Butter
5 Tbls Olive Oil
3 Tbl Minced Garlic
2 lb large Shrimp- Ready To Eat
½ tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup Fresh lemon juice- 4 lemons
½ lemon thinly sliced in half rounds
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Cook noodles in large pan of salt water, with a drizzle of oil- according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in large heavy bottom pan, melt butter and olive oil over medium-low heat.
Saute garlic 1 minute while stirring. Add shrimp and @ 2 tsp Salt and pepper . Saute 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat, add lemon juice, zest, slices, parsley and red pepper. Toss to combine. When pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine, and then pour back into pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce. Toss well and Serve!

Valentine Pretzel Snax

Made these the other day for a snack to take to the library… Simple and yummy

All you need is:

Pretzel twists

Pretzel Rods

Guittard Apeels White Chocolate or Ghirardhelli White Chips

Food color

Sprinkles

Caramel Squares

Lay out whole pretzel twists on a tray covered with wax paper.

Melt Chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Add 3 drops neon food color. Pour into sandwich-size Ziploc bag and poke a whole with a toothpick. (Do not cut a hole, as the stream will be too large and chocolate will just fall off when cool.) Drizzle back and forth over pretzels quite quickly to keep from having squiggly lines. Stop when you have the preferred amount of chocolate.

Cool a few minutes till set up. Break apart and arrange in bowl.

Also made these Princess Wands for the girls.

Use Pretzel Rods and dip in melted caramel. When completely cool, dip in the white chocolate, tinted whatever color you like. When mostly set up roll in sprinkles.

Tie a ribbon around the pretzel at the base of the chocolate.

PS.. if doing caramel, DO NOT lay on wax paper as it just sticks. I ended up holding them up side down for a few seconds and then standing them on end ,chocolate side up in a mug to set.

I seriously need a new job - that or a rich husband...

Come on, why do they make such fabulous shoes!?!?- Thanks to Jessica Sprague, I'm a constant stalker at fluevog.com




Ha! and this kills me! It's a blurb off a page of cute boots!

"I love you. I can't afford these shoes. But I absolutely have to have them. I'm giving up liquor for a bit. Katherine, Salt Lake City, Utah "

Check em out!
I think i'll audition for a period drama just so i can wear these..


And these ones- sigh... ( okay, the heel is a little funny for me, but hey.. nothing is entirely perfect huh?)

Shrimp Pasta Salad - Great Cook book

I've never been a fan of pasta salads because they are usually so bland, but yesterday motha made this and it was scrum-diddly-umptious!

Shrimp Pasta Salad with Lemon Garlic Dressing

1- 14 oz Cara Mia Artichoke hearts

1- 16 oz box bowtie noodles (cooked rinsed drained)

3- stalks of destringed, thinly sliced celery

1- Can sliced olives

1 pkg halved grape tomatoes

1 1.5 lb cooked salad shrimp

1 1 lb pkg imitation crab (cut small)

1 TBS finely chopped parsley

Prepare above listed items to bite sized pieces, and toss together in a bowl. Then add the below dressing, and toss lightly again.

Lemon Garlic Dressing

½ cup Walnut oil or Olive oil

1 TBS (heaping) of finely chopped basil or fresh paste

1 tsp of crushed/fine garlic

4 TBS white wine vinegar

1 TBS Balsamic vinegar

2 TBS artichoke heart marinade

Juice and Zest of lg lemon or two small

Fresh cracked salt and pepper to taste

Mix above ingredients together, the longer they sit mixed, the more flavorful! Pour over above salad.

Enjoy!

New Book!

I got this book from the library and you can bet i'll be gettin one as soon as i have to give it back. It's awesome, everything in it sounds so good, and she's my kind of baker- she uses real butter, lots of cream and all the good stuff.. no fakey substitutes. And my next experiment? Croissants!

Some New Fave pics - Kitchen Gadget

I finally burned our recipe swap CD’s so if you haven’t gotten yours, let me know…

Since I’m always a sucker for cool kitchen stuff, had to share this lil thingy I saw at someone’s house.


It’s a butterbell. You lift the lid off the crock and it has an inverted bowl on it. You fill it with butter and it keeps it soft in the cupboard without gathering up all the odors from the rest of the house. Yeah.. guess it’s been around for centuries, but who knew?

I was downloading my latest pics, and was excited to find this cute pic of Camilla --- I was also thrilled at how these pics from the park turned out... I think i need to get out more!