Our Bee Hive

So to catch you up to speed with our home projects, our upstairs hall bathroom is almost done! Anthony has been working so hard at this project after putting in long hours at work. His craftsmanship shows how talented he is! The shower is almost done tiling and then we just have the floor left to tile! The sage green color we chose for the walls really looks great against the dark wood cabinetry, and the intricate crown molding up top. We also ventured out and installed the sink faucets to the right side of the sink basin instead of centering them. Yay, so close to the finished product-and then on to the next! Home ownership-it's rewarding but a lot of work! Shewwwwy!

 

Buzz with the Bee

I'm asking you to share with me some of your recommendations this week. Check out my questions/answers below and then "Comment" me with your favorites! I am always up for checking out new things and to see what else is on the bloggers minds!!


1. What's your favorite blog site of the week? http://www.pansiesposies.blogspot.com/
2. What's a new item you bought this week? Giada De Laurentiis for Target - Parmesan Garlic Vinaigrette-found at Target for $2.99

3. What's your favorite way to serve/cook potatoes? Mashed

4. What book are you currently reading? The Help by Kathryn Stockett

5. Favorite reality TV show this season? Bethenny Ever After
  

Cloudy with a bowl of Turkey Meatballs

As I train for the April Fool's 11k run in Atlantic City, I've been spending time at the gym running after work since I keep hitting snooze on my alarm clock in the morning. So I've had to prepare my grocery list and coordinate schedules with Ant to figure out what time I'd be home to make a healthy dinner that wasn't making us sit down at 9pm at night. So I actually took the time last week and spent time perusing my favorite cooking blogs and websites to figure out our dinner menu for the upcoming week by using simple quick recipes but with a dash of culture. I've got to say that if you have time to pre plan your dinner menu the week prior, not only does it make your grocery shopping more efficient and dinner planning easier, but you also avoid stopping at the grocery store every other day if you forgot something from the weekend. Not to mention saves on gas, especially with the prices rising right now, eeek! Sorry, I digress...

Sooooo yesterday was my take on Kraft's Mexican Enchiladas and tonight was Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Sesame Dipping sauce from www.skinnytaste.com and was so super simple and very easy to follow...
I added more panko bread crumbs then it called for since my mixture was still too wet from the egg, added two extra cloves of garlic (I can't help it!), and as I'm typing my blog post this very minute and looking over the recipe again, I realised that I actually forgot the ginger (ha)!  It took me about 10 minutes of prep and 15 minutes to cook. I also paired this with some white rice and the dipping sauce was phenominal. I love the fresh clean crisp taste of the cilantro and when mixed with the turkey meat, it's not overpowering as one would think when you think cilantro. At any rate, we have enough leftovers for tomorrow night if need be. Check out the recipe below and again another thumbs up recipe from Ginas Skinny Recipes

Asian Turkey Meatballs With Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Servings: 4 • Size: 3 meatballs • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 229.1 • Fat: 11.1 g • Carbs: 8.5 g • Protein: 24.3 g

• 1/4 cup panko crumbs
• 1-1/4 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil

Dipping Sauce

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 chopped fresh scallion

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Mix ground turkey, panko, egg, salt, scallions, cilantro, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 2 tsp oil and mix with your hands until combined well. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into a ball and transfer to a baking dish. Repeat with remaining mixture. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
For the dipping sauce mix together lime juice, water, soy sauce, and remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a bowl. Add scallions.

Transfer meatballs to a serving dish. Stir sauce, then drizzle meatballs with 1 tablespoon sauce.

Serve meatballs with remaining sauce, about 1 tbsp per person. You'll have leftover sauce, trust me!

Makes 12 meatballs

Thanks Gina!

Ench for Enchiladas

If you're like me and watch the Cooking Channel and Food Network (along with some Bravo along the way), you would have seen the new Kraft Philly cooking creme commercials. My girlfriend Kellie from Wilmington, NC had emailed me a chicken enchilada recipe a couple days prior when I realized it called for those cooking cremes and after looking at the recipe, it seemed pretty easy. While at the grocery store on Friday night, I picked up a tub of the Santa Fe cooking creme for $1.99 to put on the docket for our Sunday night dinner. I followed the recipe for the most part but  garlic and some diced red and green pepper to the onion and halfed the Santa Fe creme-the recipe below reflects my revisions but you can find the original recipe by clicking on the "Easy Chicken Enchilada's" title below. Check out Kraft's website as both Kellie and I have used a few of their recipes and are easy for midweek dinners!

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Prep Time 15 mins

Total Time 35 mins

servings 4 servings

Ingredients

1 small onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

salt and pepper

1/ 2 cup diced green and red pepper

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 can(14.5 oz.) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained

1 /2 tub (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme, divided

1/2 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese

8 flour tortillas (6 inch)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Cook and stir onions, peppers, and salt and pepper in hot oil in large skillet on medium heat 4 to 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, 3/4 cup cooking creme and shredded cheese.
3. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with remaining cooking creme. Cover.
4. Bake 15 to 20 min. or until heated through and enjoy!

It's like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, but even better...RESTAURANT WEEK IS COMING!

Happy Friday!

Just wanted to let you know that it’s soon to be restaurant week in SJ and thought I would pass on the website with participating restaurants should you be interested

March 20^th-25th

http://sjhotchefs.com/restweek/index.php

mmmm Catelli's, Los Amigos and The Chophouse-my favorites!

http://www.losamigosrest.com/Berlin/

http://www.thechophouse.us/

http://www.catellirestaurant.com/

You can also click on the Recipes tab http://sjhotchefs.com/recipes/index.htm

and find dozens of great recipes from some of our local restaurants

like Scaturro's Pan Seared Scallops by Chef David Levecchia!

Turkey for Tacos!

I have to quickly blog about this recipe I stumbled across online and share it with you all. Unfortunately, my camera was lifeless last night as I left my charger at work, so I have no pictures to post, but like I said, this is blog worthy enough and her pictures do justice!


I love tacos but the meat and grease that goes along with it and taco packets are filled with sodium and high calories that quite frankly I'm trying to avoid...and then Gina's Skinny Recipe's Blog http://www.skinnytaste.com/ came across my eyes..you have to try this! It's super quick and easy and for the most part, you probably already have half the ingredients in your fridge, pantry and spice cabinet.. My hubby loved it and devoured a few of them..the turkey meat tasted soo good you would have never knew the difference. This is also WW friendly! So enjoy and check out my new favorite blogger!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/turkey-taco-lettuce-wraps-3-pts.html?showComment=1299171012958#c8483479149596875459