This is the yummiest, easiest addition to a meal. And tastes so good, my mouth is watering as I type! You'll want to use a grill for this but if you don't have one, I suppose baking at around 350 would work too (haven't tried yet). Here's how you prep:
Trim ends of asparagus, and individually wrap each one with a half piece of prosciutto. I found that using a full piece is a little too bulky and thick. Place on a plate and drizzle olive oil all over them. Sprinkle with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute (my "go to" seasoning for just about EVERYTHING, so delicious).You really don't need any salt, as there is plenty in the prosciutto.
Put asparagus on the grill over a high heat for about 3 minutes then rotate and grill for another 2-3 minutes. Adam and I made these at a family BBQ and it was a big hit:) Enjoy!
*I came across this blog showing some other ideas for the TJ 21 Seasoning Salute. :)
September 18, 2011
September 12, 2011
Trader Joes Baby Bell Spicy Chicken Tacos
Adam and I love tacos, especially chicken and fish ones. This recipe can be made in the exact same way with either meat you choose. I shop at Trader Joes because there is always parking and the food is good and affordable. :) BUT, I have experienced several times not being able to find everything I need at TJ and have to make a run by Safeway, which I hate doing for so many reasons. (Crowded & corporate for example). So, I googled "Trader Joes Recipes" and I found the perfect website: Trader Joes Fan. We have made a plethora of dishes from this website and the absolute best part, is that every single ingredient you will find at Traders. If you don't have a TJ in your state, you will still be able to find everything you need, but for our purposes, this will be strictly a Trader Joes recipe.
What you'll need:
-corn tortillas
-canola oil
-TJ super sweet baby bell peppers
-TJ greek plain (whole) yogurt
-TJ chili pepper sauce
-TJ english farmhouse cheddar cheese
-boneless chicken breasts
-fresh or dried cilantro
-Seasoning for chicken: paprika, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin
We cook a few breasts at once and keep some for leftovers to use again later in the week. (Quick and easy for the working couple!)
1. Put chicken on plate, dust lightly with all seasonings except salt (will dry out chicken) and garlic powder. Preheat oven to 350, then on stove, place chicken in medium/hot pan for 2-3 minutes on each side with a small amount of olive oil. Place in glass casserole dish or metal backing pan (on foil for easy clean-up), bake 7 minutes, add 1 cup water to pan (this is an amazing trick to keep chicken from drying out!), turn oven off and let cook for another 5-7 minutes. Be sure there's no pink water coming out of any of the chicken breasts, cut into it and check the center (or use a meat thermometer to make sure internal temp reaches 165). **Sounds like a lot of steps but there is nothing worse than dry, hard to chew chicken!**
2. Cut chicken into tiny chunks, place in bowl, season with garlic powder and sea salt and set aside
3. In separate bowl, mix about 2/3 cup Greek yogurt with 1 tbsp chili sauce. (I guess on these measurements and just look at the color of how spicy we want it), stir, set aside.
4. Put a generous amount of canola oil in medium heated pan. Place corn tortilla until slightly browned, flip over until slightly browned (less than a minute on each side usually). Remove from pan and fold in half immediately while placing on paper towel to absorb excess oil and to let dry. You can slightly season tortillas with garlic powder right after cooking if you'd like. (we are garlic lovers;) Set aside.
5. Chop baby bells into little pieces, chop or sprinkle cilantro and grate cheddar cheese.
6. Add all of your ingredients into shell and EAT! We have been putting the "Chipotle" (yogurt/chili sauce) mixture into the taco shell first, and then again on top of all the ingredients. The sauce is also a lot healthier than sour cream ;) You can definitely add cabbage, avocado, or any other ingredients you please. Enjoy!
September 10, 2011
Distressed Dresser
I have been SO excited to write this blog!! Antique/distressed wood furniture is very popular here in San Francisco. It starts with the Victorian and Edwardian homes that give our city it's signature feel and charm. Well, I was shopping in my favorite neighborhood of Noe Valley when we first moved here and I stumbled across the most adorable store, When Modern Was. The locally owned shop is filled with old dated 1900 dressers, tables, mirrors, clocks and more! Sometimes I think I should have been born in a different decade because I fell in love with every single piece they had. The prices are reasonable (Adam feels differently;) and the wood and paint jobs are gorgeous. SO, after talking Adam into buying a $300 dining table and drooling over the $700 dressers, we decided we would first try to refurbish and distress our own piece for much less. I researched for weeks on how to do this process and took several notes before we were raiding both Craigslist, for old wood furniture, and the hardware store. We found a $30 dresser, here are the before and after pictures: (silly me took the piece apart and started sanding before I took a photo but you get the gist!) You can click on each picture to see them in better detail!
1. After you have found the wood piece you would like to re-do, the first step is sanding. As annoying as it may be, don't be tempted to skip this step! Proper sanding is essential to achieve an even, smooth surface that your paint will latch on to without chipping. I have read people using electric sanders, we do have one, but opted out because we found that doing it by hand gives you much more control. You can also bend and fold it to reach into awkward areas. Our purpose was to have the original color of the dresser show through when we got to our distressing step, so we sanded it very lightly to begin with. (Started with 80 grit paper and finished up with 120 to even out the surface). Once you've finished sanding, remove all the dust with an old rag to help the primer and paint stick to it. Also, don't forget to remove your hardware, you'll reattach everything at the end. 2. Once you have prepped and cleaned up your piece, you've gotta prime it. You can buy a spray primer but we bought the brush on and painted it. Zinsser was the brand we used. We only did one coat which seemed to be efficient enough. Since we are aiming for a distressed look, it's ok if your wood shows through the primer. Luckily, distressing is very imperfect, there are no exact ways to do this! Be sure the primer is dry before painting. The primer we used was stark white, I think this varies a bit, but it seemed to work. 3. Ok, now onto the fun part! We used a latex paint in a very light green color. These pictures are really hard to see, but it's a gorgeous green. We bought a quart of paint and barely put a dent in it, as it goes a very long way. Did I mention paint brushes? Don't cheap out them!!! We bought 2 brushes by the Purdy brand and spent about $15-$20 on them each. But they will last forever if you take care of them and they don't shed their bristles. We painted on 1 coat of paint, but there are several ways to do a paint job that we are going to try in future projects. (I have also read priming and painting with several thin coats works better at getting a smooth finish but again, we are distressing, so for our purposes we just "went with the flow" not really knowing what we were doing). 4. Next, you'll want to wait at least 2 days for your dresser to dry. I was taking a vacation, so we waited 2 weeks. This will be hard for impatient people but I have read waiting the 2 days is a much better idea before distressing. So, 2 weeks later, I took 80 grit sand paper (lower the number, coarser the grit), and "willy nilly" sanded down the piece in areas that would naturally get more wear and tear. (Corners, where the shelves open, legs). I sanded down rough enough to have the dark original color of the dresser show through. We also took chains and beat up the top of the dresser along with using a hammer to chip away some of the paint. I used just my regular digital camera for these next photos which I will never do again, they didn't turn out as well. 5. First, soak your brushes in a paint thinner to preserve the life of those expensive brushes. ;) Attach all of your hardware back onto the dresser and find a cute place for it in your home. :) We opted out to buying new hardware or painting over it, which you can do with spray paint. We liked the color and the "old" feel so we kept the originals. This is our very first project and I know with time, we will learn different techniques and find which ones work better than others. I will be sure to share our experience, as I know there are a lot of "crafties" out there! I should also mention that we didn't have any supplies when starting. We spent close to $100 on brushes, paint, primer, sand paper, etc. BUT we will be able to use most of these time and time again, and the paint/primer lasts so long. You gotta make that first big purchase but then you'll be able to start saving. :) Thanks for reading!!!
1. After you have found the wood piece you would like to re-do, the first step is sanding. As annoying as it may be, don't be tempted to skip this step! Proper sanding is essential to achieve an even, smooth surface that your paint will latch on to without chipping. I have read people using electric sanders, we do have one, but opted out because we found that doing it by hand gives you much more control. You can also bend and fold it to reach into awkward areas. Our purpose was to have the original color of the dresser show through when we got to our distressing step, so we sanded it very lightly to begin with. (Started with 80 grit paper and finished up with 120 to even out the surface). Once you've finished sanding, remove all the dust with an old rag to help the primer and paint stick to it. Also, don't forget to remove your hardware, you'll reattach everything at the end. 2. Once you have prepped and cleaned up your piece, you've gotta prime it. You can buy a spray primer but we bought the brush on and painted it. Zinsser was the brand we used. We only did one coat which seemed to be efficient enough. Since we are aiming for a distressed look, it's ok if your wood shows through the primer. Luckily, distressing is very imperfect, there are no exact ways to do this! Be sure the primer is dry before painting. The primer we used was stark white, I think this varies a bit, but it seemed to work. 3. Ok, now onto the fun part! We used a latex paint in a very light green color. These pictures are really hard to see, but it's a gorgeous green. We bought a quart of paint and barely put a dent in it, as it goes a very long way. Did I mention paint brushes? Don't cheap out them!!! We bought 2 brushes by the Purdy brand and spent about $15-$20 on them each. But they will last forever if you take care of them and they don't shed their bristles. We painted on 1 coat of paint, but there are several ways to do a paint job that we are going to try in future projects. (I have also read priming and painting with several thin coats works better at getting a smooth finish but again, we are distressing, so for our purposes we just "went with the flow" not really knowing what we were doing). 4. Next, you'll want to wait at least 2 days for your dresser to dry. I was taking a vacation, so we waited 2 weeks. This will be hard for impatient people but I have read waiting the 2 days is a much better idea before distressing. So, 2 weeks later, I took 80 grit sand paper (lower the number, coarser the grit), and "willy nilly" sanded down the piece in areas that would naturally get more wear and tear. (Corners, where the shelves open, legs). I sanded down rough enough to have the dark original color of the dresser show through. We also took chains and beat up the top of the dresser along with using a hammer to chip away some of the paint. I used just my regular digital camera for these next photos which I will never do again, they didn't turn out as well. 5. First, soak your brushes in a paint thinner to preserve the life of those expensive brushes. ;) Attach all of your hardware back onto the dresser and find a cute place for it in your home. :) We opted out to buying new hardware or painting over it, which you can do with spray paint. We liked the color and the "old" feel so we kept the originals. This is our very first project and I know with time, we will learn different techniques and find which ones work better than others. I will be sure to share our experience, as I know there are a lot of "crafties" out there! I should also mention that we didn't have any supplies when starting. We spent close to $100 on brushes, paint, primer, sand paper, etc. BUT we will be able to use most of these time and time again, and the paint/primer lasts so long. You gotta make that first big purchase but then you'll be able to start saving. :) Thanks for reading!!!
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