Blade's Culinary Creations

Happy Monday. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I had a great time with my family.  We had a birthday celebration for the September birthdays at my Uncle’s house on Saturday. That means lots of good food & laughs. We even spent sometime looking at old family photos, which means lots of cute and funny pictures of Bryan. I know, I know. You are thinking, I said MY family right. Well technically it is Bryan’s family but they are MY family too. I really don’t understand how people say things like “my wife’s family” or “my husband’s family”. I love them just like they are my very own family. So when I say MY family, they ARE MINE. 🙂

Every time we get together, we try to all bring something. That way everyone contributes and it is not too much for one person. I decided to make Nana’s strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting which I am not allowed to share. Nana usually makes dessert but since it was her birthday I figured I would make it instead.  I also made some quick & delicious Deviled Eggs that no one was able to enjoy because I left them in the fridge and didn’t realize it until I was almost at my Uncle’s house which is a hour away. Don’t you hate when that happens!?!? I am still eating eggs. lol. If you are looking for a quick and easy appetizer, deviled eggs is a go to. Just make sure you don’t leave them at home. 🙂

Deviled Eggs

(makes 2 dozen eggs)

Ingredients:

12 Hard boiled eggs (peeled)

1/2 Cup Mayonaise

2 Tbsp Relish

2 Tbsp Mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp Paprika

Directions:

1. Cut eggs in half lengthwise.
2. Remove egg yolk from each egg and place in a bowl.
3. Once all yolk is removed, place remain ingredients in the bowl with yolk and mix up until smooth.
4. Place yolk mixture into a piping bag and Pipe into each egg half. If you don’t have a piping bag, scoop each mixture into each egg with a spoon.
5. Top with desired toppings i.e. bacon, jalapeño, parsley, chives, etc.
6. Sprinkle with paprika
7. Enjoy

Im on a road (a slightly bumpy one) to eating a little healthier. I decided to trade in my pasta for veggies. I am quite obsessed with this new spiraled veggie craze! I absolutely love Zucchini noodles or as some people call them, Zoodles. A while back I decided to try zucchini with my pasta sauce and not only did I love it, Bryan and Zoe did also. Bryan didn’t even know what he was eating but he tore it up. The Hubs is always up for trying new foods and will basically eat anything(mostly anything). Miss Zoe on the other hand can be very picky at times. When she sees anything green on her plate, she avoids it or will toss it to the side, on the table, on the floor, well you get my drift. She does not like it. I have to make smoothies for her and sneak her greens in that way. She loves pasta, so when I mixed it up with the marinara and meat sauce, she could not tell the difference. She enjoyed every last bite.

Zucchini has such a mild flavor, so you can serve it with a lot of different things. Zucchini can be sautéed, boiled, and even served raw. Instead of using lettuce for this salad, I substituted the zucchini for it. I also decided to leave the zucchini raw so you will still get that crunch you would be missing from the lettuce. It turned out to be very delicious. I hope you enjoy it.

*Note* you will need a veggetti spiral vegetable cutter or similar gadget.

Greek Zoodle Salad

makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

3 Zucchinis,  Made into Spiral noodles

1 small Cucumber diced

1/2 cup Feta Cheese

1/2 cup Kalamata Olives (pitted)

Greek Vinegrette Dressing

1/4 cup Red Onion diced

Salt & Pepper to taste

(add sautéed shrimp as an additional topping)

Directions:

1. Place Zucchini noodles in large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Toss Zucchini noodles in greek vinegrette dressing.
3. Assemble remaining ingredients on top of salad as desired.

Enjoy!

I dream of the days, I can teach Zoe how to cook and hope she will enjoy it as much as I do. Cooking brings me so much joy because it reminds me of my dad. It has been several years since he has been gone, but it feels like yesterday, when I would go in the kitchen to watch him whip up a delicious meal. I wish I could relive those moments over and over again.

As a parent myself, I look forward to creating new memories with my baby girl. She’s only two, so I am not really sure how she feels about cooking as of yet, but she does like to help out. I wanted to make something that would be fun for Zoe but does not require heat. I also needed to make sure whatever we would be making wouldn’t take a lot of steps. Two year olds have a short attention span. At least, mine does. Ice Pops is something that does not require a lot of ingredients and does not take long to make (besides freezing).  ***Warning ***  If you are making Ice pops with a two year old, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT tell her that you are making Ice pops. She WILL harass you about them until they are frozen. That would be a LONG 4-5 hours. The good thing is I purchased a “ZOKU Quick Pop Maker” that will freeze your pops right in front of you. Nine minutes is better than several hours of a impatient kiddo. I will create a post soon on my pop maker when I make more Ice Pops. In the mean time, ice pop molds, ice cube trays, or plastic cups can be used for molds. Many different ingredients can be used to make this sweet treats. Be creative and have fun with it.

Berry Lemonade Ice Pops

Makes about 9 pops.

*Blender & Ice Pop molds needed*

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Strawberries

1/2 cup Blueberries

2 cups Raspberry Lemonade

1/8 tsp Lemon Zest

1 cup Simple Syrup (recipe below)

Directions:

1. In a blender, combine strawberries, blueberries, and raspberry lemonade.
2. Blend until smooth, for about 30 seconds.
3. Stir in simple syrup & lemon zest.
4. Pour mixture into ice pop molds and freeze 4 to 5 hours.

To make Simple Syrup:

1 cup raw brown sugar

1 cup water

1. In a medium saucepan, combine raw sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Cook for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool. 

ENJOY!

Happy Friday!!! We all love Friday because it’s the beginning of our very short weekend. I don’t know about you but IF I am EVER off on a weekend, I don’t want to spend several hours in the kitchen even if I love cooking. It’s just not enough hours in the day to do all the things we need to get done. I like to make quick and simple meals when I don’t have much time to spare. That way I can still have something homemade that won’t take me forever to make. I had a few hot Italian sausage on hand so figured I would cook those.  I sautéed some bell peppers and sweet onion with it and served it on a hearty roll. And there you have it. A quick meal for a Friday night.

Sausage & Peppers

Ingredients:

1 pack Hot Italian Sausage Links

1 Green Bell Pepper (cut into strips)

1 Red Bell Pepper (cut into strips)

1 Sweet Yellow Onion (cut into strips)

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 tsp Dried Oregano

1/4 Cup Reisling (or Any white Wine on hand)

Pinch of Salt

Pinch of Pepper

4 Italian Rolls

Directions:

1. In a large Frying Pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Place Italian sausage in pan and cook  for about 5 minutes on each side.
3. Add peppers, Onion, salt, pepper, oregano, and wine to pan.
4. Let Sausage, peppers and Onions simmer for another 15 minutes covered.
5. remove from heat, and serve on a Italian Roll.
6. ENJOY

Blade’s Culinary Creations
Turkey Meatballs

I have battled with my love of food and wanting to stay at a certain weight. Usually food wins. I love carbs! Mostly pasta! But I know that greens should be the main part of my diet. When I was little my family would have spaghetti with meat sauce (usually made with ground beef) just about every week. Most people are into weekly rituals or traditions like that but I can’t seem to eat the same thing every single week. I am the type of person that likes to try new things. I like variety so when I make “spaghetti”, my meat sauce tends to get a little crazy. I put things in it like sausage, shrimp, mushrooms, peppers, olives, onions, and basically anything that seems like it may taste good it. I make different sauces so that its not always the same. But today I wanted to go with a traditional marinara with turkey meatballs. I never use ground beef anymore. I know people say that ground turkey is usually dry but if you cook it the right way then its not. My nieces were here visiting and wanted to help me cook. Of course that means Zoe needs to be involved as well. They had the wonderful job of rolling the meatballs together. (Hence the different size meatballs.) A small cookie scooper will help divide the meatballs into the same size balls.

i made an adult version sauce as well as a kid friendly version. The adult version just means you add wine ;). i hope you enjoy it. Serve over pasta or Zoodles. (Zucchini noodles)

Turkey Meatballs

By Sonia Jones

Meatballs

1 Lb Ground Turkey

1 Large Egg

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup Bread Crumbs

1 Tablespoon Pesto

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Oregano

2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

For the Sauce

1  32 oz  can Crushed Tomatoes

2 cloves of Garlic (minced)

1/4 of a cup diced Onion

1 1/2 tablespoon Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

4 basil leaves

1 Bay Leaf

salt and pepper to taste

*** adult version***1/4 cup sweet red wine

Basil and parsley  for Garnish

Directions: 

In a bowl, blend egg, bread crumbs, pesto, parmesan, salt, pepper, and oregano.  Fold in the turkey. Using  a small cookie scoop, scoop mixture out of bowl and shape into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs.

In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat. Sauté meatballs, turning occasionally, until light brown, 5 minutes.

Remove meatballs from pan and place on baking dish with paper towel to drain excess oil.

In the same frying pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil  Add onion and cook for about 1 minute. Then add garlic and sauce until fragrant and translucent for an additional minute. Add remaining ingredients to pan crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, Bay Leaf. Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes. Add Meatballs back to pan and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove Bay leaf and transfer to serving dish. For the ***Adult version*** add 1/4 cup sweet red wine to sauce before transferring to dish.  Serve over pasta or Zucchini Noodles. Garnish with Basil, parsley, and parmesan.

Blade’s Culinary Creations

In my spare time, I love to sit down and watch a good movie. I love comedies, romantic comedies, dramas, and my favorite, action movies. Or as I would like to call them “shoot em up bang bang movies” Anything with fast cars and guns, I am all for. But in no way am I a violent person. hehehe. One movie that I have seen several times is “The Transporter” with Jason Statham. Love him! Well in the movie the lady he was transporting was at his home making little shell shape sponge cakes that originated from France better known as Madeleines. Every time I watch “The Transporter”, I want to put my hand through the TV and grab a few but we all know that would be kinda crazy. Or would it? Well I figured I would bake some myself before Bryan kills me for breaking his TV.  This was my first time making Madeleines so I decided to use the help of Martha Stewart. Madeleines can be enjoyed as is or can dipped in chocolate or even coconut. To make these you would need a madeleine pan which could be easily purchased on amazon, Michaels, Marshalls, or Walmart.

Lemon Madeleines

By Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted, plus more for pans
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted (not self-rising)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons total)
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Blade’s Culinary Creations

It has been a long time since my last entry. I am very excited to be back and to catch up with you all. During my absence, a lot has happened. So to make a long story short, we have relocated to Atlanta, I am now Mrs. Jones (for almost 3 years), and mother to a beautiful, smart, sassy, two year old girl named Zoe. There has definitely been some major changes in life and I am enjoying every moment of it.

Below are a few updates of what has been going on in my life. I have thousands of pictures but that may be a bit overwhelming.  So below are a few of my favorites. I look forward to sharing a lot more with you. New recipes to come. I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I know I sure did. I spent it with the ones I love. I have such an amazing family. It is always so much fun when we get together. I know myself, like many others, have a difficult time getting through the holiday season. When you think about those people who are no longer here, it’s not easy. It makes me sad that my Dads can’t be here to create more memories with our family but what makes me happy is being able to cherish the moments I have with my family who is still here. Family is a very important part of life. Be grateful for what you have because you never know what tomorrow brings. On another note, Egg Nog is a very popular drink this time of year. Spiked Egg Nog is even better. Whip up a couple batches of this for your NYE celebrations.

Ingredients: 

2 cups Vanilla Egg Nog

2 Small Bananas

2 Shots of Vanilla Vodka

2 Shots White Rum

Cup of ice

Directions: 

Blend all ingredients in a Blender until smooth.

Serve and Enjoy! 🙂

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. I wanted to share a few pictures with you so you could get a glance of the National Harbor in DC. I don’t live far from DC so we  hang out in the city pretty often. A couple days ago we went to see the Christmas tree, Ketchup, and Cake Love before we took a trip to the mall and went shopping. It was a great and busy day.