Juicy, fresh corn wrapped in a crisp layer of salty bacon. Bacon Wrapped Corn On The Cob is a great twist on your usual side dish.


I'm here today to bring you two things my friends; bacon...and corn.

Say whaaat? Yes, bacon....wrapped around my favorite summer grilling side - fresh corn! If you've never tried corn like this, then you've been missing out. Now, the idea of this dish had an immediate reaction from my six year old, he wisely predicted as only a kid can, "Mommy, THAT is either going to be really delicious...or really, really gross."

I have to agree, the idea of crisp, salty bacon and sweet, juicy corn sounded great...but the thought of a limp, greasy slice of meat sliming up my corn didn't sound as appetizing. The only way to find out was to try it of course, so we dove in feet first. Wanna find out how it turned out? Head on over to Culinary Covers where I'm contributing today, and you can find out...and grab the printable recipe too! That should be a hint - would I have you print the recipe to greasy, slimy, meat corn?? :) Enjoy!

Are ya still a bit bloated from all the game day face stuffing? How about a tasty recipe full of veggies to even it out a bit?

Oh, okay...this recipe does have it's fair share of melted cheese, so it's technically not HEALTHY per se....but let's just say the veggies cancel out the cheese.

Good. I'm glad we agree.

I opened my fridge today and came face to face with a sad little jar of my leftover Slow Cooker Chipotle Enchilada Sauce. It was staring at me...all lonely...saying, "eat me." 

What? Like you don't ever talk to the inhabitants of your fridge?

There wasn't enough left for a meal, and just enough that I couldn't throw it away, so this girl got to experimenting. A few butchered veggies later and I'm chomping away on what I like to call the Open Faced Enchilada Veggie Quesadilla. A layer of smoky chipotle enchilada sauce topped with caramelized onions, sauteed veggies and melty cheese, this is another great way to use my Slow Cooker Enchilada Sauce. Cut these up into individual slices and you've got yourself a great appetizer too. 

Hmmm...I think I know what I'm adding to next year's Superbowl menu.



Open Faced Veggie Quesadillas
Yield: 4  Printable Recipe

1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
4 flour tortillas
1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup diced olives (green or black)
1/4 cup Chipotle Enchilada Sauce
1 cup shredded monteray jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place tortillas on a baking sheet, lightly spray with cooking spray and prick all over with a fork. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until they are puffed and begin to turn golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onions to the skillet, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions turn translucent and begin to caramelize (about 8-10 minutes). When the onions are almost done, add the diced peppers and cook just until they begin to soften. Remove from heat.

Spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce over the baked tortillas. Top with the onions, veggies, diced olives and cheese. Place back in the oven and cook for 5-6 more minutes, until the cheese has melted. Remove from oven and garnish with fresh cilantro and sour cream. Enjoy!

 Hello. My name is Amber...and I'm a procrastinator. If you're afflicted with this disease too, then pull up a chair and stay awhile...you're in good company.

If you're a fellow procrastinator then chaaaances are you've put off deciding what to make for your superbowl party until now. Don't worry, I've got you covered.

Here's a few superbowl food ideas from the archives to get the ball rolling...and several more drool-worthy ideas from my foodie friends.

Need some appetizers to kickstart your shindig? (pun intended). Then these Ham and Cheese Potato Skins should do the trick.

Or my favorite spinach dip ever. Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip. Yum!

Need something a little more filling? Cheesy Spinach and Bacon Quesadillas.  Mmmm...melty cheese. Do I need to say more?



Want something you can throw in your crockpot and not worry about? I love this Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chill.



Now onto the good stuff. Dessert baby. These Chewy Gooey Chocolate Bars are everything they sound like they should be.



My Chunky Twix Cookies are the most popular cookies I've created, and are widely requested by my family on a regular basis. They've even made it around the blogging world quite a bit. Taste one...and you'll be hooked.



Want something super quick and easy. Then you'll need these Turtle Rice Crispy Treats of course!



A good sandwich goes a long way, like this Grilled Bacon Strawberry Peach Sandwich.



And how about a little bit of gluten free chocolate goodness for all my gluten free peeps? Flourless Chocolate Coconut Almond Cookies.



And because I'm a liiitle obsessed with buffalo sauce...and I haven't shared any buffalo recipes yet (gasp), here's a few of my favorite ideas from some of my foodie friends. Go check them out, and have a great superbowl party!

Layered Baked Buffalo Chicken Nachos courtesy of Jessica from How Sweet It Is.

I hope this has given you enough ideas to get you started...I know it's got my belly rumbling. Do you have big plans for the game, or are you taking it easy? We're just going to be chillaxin it at home. Later!

Today we're going to talk about soup folks. I love soup. There's just something about a bowl of warm, silky, soup that makes you feel like you just got a giant, cuddly, grandma hug.

(Because grandma hugs are the best. You know...they're squishy and smell like cookies...and stuff)

Soup makes you feel all warm and happy and reminds you to just stop, take a breath, and relax. That's my relationship with soup anyway. Now, if you're the open-a-can-and-dump-it-in-a-bowl kind of soup eater...you probably think I'm a few bricks short with all this talk of soup love.

I've got a secret...that's because you're not eating REAL soup! Ooh, yeah...I want a bowl of artificial flavors, preservatives, and fake squishy (not in the good grandma way) meat.

Said no person ever.:) Seriously, if you don't get my love of a good, homemade soup, then you need to dust off that pot, whip out that spoon, and try your hand at one of these soup recipes.

The added bonus? These soup recipes are full of healthy ingredients and low on calories. That's what we're looking to do this time of year, right? You can also make most of them in your slow-cooker, making them a super easy AND healthy dinner choice. Have I won you over yet? How about a few photos to get you going? Here's a collection of some of my favorite healthy soup recipes.

I hope you all had a great holiday with your loved ones. I know we did! Christmas may be over, but with New Year's coming up, the need for good party food isn't over. I've got a delicious dip here that not only tastes great, is actually HEALTHY. Well, healthy insomuch that is uses creamy Greek yogurt and light mayonnaise to avoid added calories.

Throw in some ranch seasoning, hearty artichoke hearts, and spicy jalapenos, and you've got a deliciously decadent dip (now say that as fast as you can), that will be a great addition to any New Year's party spread...or football party.

Have I got you drooling yet? No? Well, head on over to the Tasty Kitchen blog for my full step-by-step recipe post. You can grab the super handy printable recipe while you're at it!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Mine was full of waaaay too much good food, followed by promises to myself that I would never eat again, which were quickly broken by stealthy trips to the kitchen to pilfer leftovers.

One of my favorite leftovers to eat, is this sweet potato casserole that has been a part of Thanksgiving that dates waaaay back into my childhood.

Of course, when I left home it was one of "those" recipes that I just had to take with me. Thanksgiving just isn't the same without sweet potato casserole.

This casserole is full of perfectly fluffy sweet potatoes, topped with the best crunchy sweet pecan streusel topping. We're not re-inventing the wheel here, many of you have probably had this recipe in some form another. But every year I say, "I need to share my mom's sweet potato casserole."

So here it is.

Warning: This post will be full of raw, honest feelings on the loss of our child. If you don't want to read this type of material today, or are here simply for a recipe, I suggest you skip to the bottom.

This is a hard post for me to write. My last one was filling you in on my pregnancy and the complications I'd been dealing with. Today I have to share that my baby was born into the arms of Jesus last week.

When I went for my 14 week checkup, the doctor wasn't able to find the heartbeat with her doppler, so we went into the next room to check things with an ultrasound. As soon as I saw the monitor and heard the deafening silence, I knew my baby had died, but I still kept praying, "Please God, let her find a heartbeat. Please God." As the doctor turned to me and whispered, "Amber, I'm so sorry." I already knew my baby was gone.

I was scheduled for a D&C the next day, and though having to go through the rest of the day knowing my baby was dead inside of me was hard, waking up from surgery feeling that emptiness was harder.

Miscarriage. It's something that can seem so common, but until you live it, you never know what you've lost. I may not have held my baby in my arms, or created memories together, but I carried the hopes and dreams of what the future was supposed to hold - with this particular baby - in my heart. That is what I have lost.

I've lost the chance to learn this child's personality, to know the contours of their face like the back of my hand, or feel the comfort of their small hand grasping my own. This is more than a setback in the plans for our family. We lost a child. A child that was unique and will never be replaced by another. If I'm being honest, I may not even have the chance to try again. My pregnancies are so difficult on my body and my family, it takes a lot of careful planning and consideration to decide if it's something we can go through again.

I'm hoping, given time, that I'll have the opportunity to give my son a sibling, and know the joy of snuggling a soft, downy head again. Until then, I'm focusing on healing my body from the months of malnutrition, and giving my son all the hugs and attention I wasn't able to give him these past few months.  I'm getting a great start with this delicious soup my sister-in-law made for me while I was recovering, which is a recipe of her friend Victoria Costilla. I was so lucky to have her there helping me, I cannot give her enough praise - thank you Christel!

This soup is full of vitamin C veggies and vitamin E from the brown rice. Did I mention it tastes great? And while it does have jalapenos in it, it's not too spicy at all.

3-4 cups water
2 chicken breasts with bone (or meat from a rotisserie chicken)
3-4 chicken tenderloins (not needed if using rotisserie chicken)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, diced
7-8 cups chicken broth
1 cup brown rice, uncooked
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
1/2 head cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen green beans
1 cup water
1-2 fresh jalapenos
1/2 tbsp black pepper
pinch of salt (to taste)
cayenne pepper powder
fresh lemon

Combine 3-4 cups water and the chicken breasts and tenderloins, cook until the meat falls off the bone, about 1-2 hours. Turn down the heat, remove from heat and shred chicken with a fork. Alternatively, you can use the meat from a rotisserie chicken to save time.  Return to stovetop and add the following: garlic, onion, chicken broth and brown rice. Cook until rice is soft and cooked through. Add celery, carrots, cabbage and green beans. Cook until veggies are semi-soft.

While soup is cooking, using a blender, blend one cup of water with the fresh jalapenos. Add the blended sauce to the soup. Cook about 10 minutes longer, adding more water if necessary until you reach desired consistency. The soup will thicken once the rice is cooked.

Before serving, remove any bones, garnish with cayenne pepper, salt and fresh squeezed lemon or lime. This soup freezes really well, and can be frozen in single one cup servings for reheating later.



My husband wrote a letter to our baby that he posted on his facebook page last week. He's a typical man, and rarely expresses himself verbally, but his heartfelt words struck a chord in me, and I wanted to share it with you since we're entering the month of giving thanks. You can read his letter below.



"To my child, 

I want to take a moment to tell you about your family. You have a brother Cade. He is awesome, he has the biggest heart of any person I know, and loves harder than any brother you will ever have! He is your protector and he will take great pride in that job. You have a Mom and Dad that love you to no end. We will never forget you and look forward to the day we see you and hold you. 

A part of me says I am glad you did not have to experience this world as it can be a cruel place. That being said, I would die this very second if it meant you could experience the love that you have with this family. I would die this instance, if it meant Cade could hold you in his arms and kiss your forehead. I LOVE YOU! and will celebrate you everyday of my life. 

I question why you were taken from us. This I may never know. I do know that this emotional storm will pass, the scars will heal, and ours days will go on. 

To those reading this, I encourage you the next time you feel like you are having a bad day, stop and think about the things you do have in your life. Don't think about the things that you want, you can't lose those. However, you can lose the things you have, so be thankful and protect the things you hold close to your heart."

I think this is good advice for us all this Thanksgiving. :)