WE’VE MOVED!!

I originally started this blog in Nov 2006. I posted very infrequently until earlier this summer. I’ve since started reading a lot of food blogs which help keep me inspired and keep me posting. In my foodie blog surfing I’d also found several other blogs out there with the same name as mine (Eat, Drink & Be Merry), and I wanted to come up with something else that wasn’t already out there. I think I’ve found it. Well this is what I’ve settled on anyway…. Delish. So here it is, my new blog!!!

You’ll also find a few new pages including a favorite links page, including other foodie blogs. Now if I can only master the art of food staging and photography… Enjoy!

So please update your bookmarks and update your Google Reader!

Sandwiches are great for lunch, but I have to confess that I get sick of them really quickly and I have to make goood sandwiches or I won’t eat them… peanut butter & jelly just doesn’t cut it for me. I recently started putting roasted red peppers on my sandwiches and they add the perfect touch to a good turkey sandwich.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend!

I tried stuffed shells for the first time a couple months ago and immediately fell in love with the entire concept of stuffed pastas. I still can’t believe I had never had them before! I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with different fillings, and I think this one is a winner. The hubby definitely thinks so anyway I love making stuffed shells in advance and freezing because it makes for a really easy weeknight meal. Instead of putting them into a baking pan, line them up on wax paper lined cookie sheets and put in the freezer (its best to freeze individually as opposed to throwing them all into a bag right away so they don’t stick). When you’re ready to eat them, put them straight from the freezer into a baking pan. Top with marinara and bake for about 45 minutes. Delicious and easy!

Cheesy Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

• 16 oz package pasta shells
• 1 lb ground beef
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onions
• 3 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 cup marinara sauce
• 1/2 – 1 cup mozzarella cheese, as desired

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place shell pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
3. Place the beef in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly brown and crumbly. Drain grease from skillet. Add garlic, onions & herbs. Saute 5 mintues over medium heat.
   
4. Remove from heat and add in cream cheese, ricotta, and 1/2 cup of marinara.
5. Stuff the cooked pasta shells with the beef mixture, and arrange in the prepared baking dish. Cover evenly with the marinara sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese.
   
6. Bake 15-25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly. Sprinkle with Romano cheese just before serving.

We were headed to friends’ house for dinner and I needed to whip up something for dessert. We had some leftover homemade vanilla ice cream from the weekend but I wanted something to spice up the ice cream a bit… I decided to make some chocolate covered strawberries.

They’re so easy to make (and I almost always have both ingredients hand) and a nice little treat that aren’t too bad for you I melted chocoalte using the double boiler method by placed a large pyrex bowl over simmering water until the chocolate was melted. Dip strawberries in chocolate and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. If you have white chocolate on hand, you can melt it as well and drizzle over the strawberries. Refrigerate and enjoy!

I had a whole pineapple in the fridge that i haven’t used and its on the verge of going out so I knew I needed to eat it tonight. Decided I’d spice it up a bit and grill it to eat with some of the homemade ice cream that’s still in the fridge. I came up with the marinade, grilled up the pineapple. Served with cinnamon ice cream topped off with pecans. Delicious summer treat!

Grilled Tequila Cinnamon Pineapple

Ingredients:

• 1 whole pineapple, peel, cored & cut into rings, chilled
• 1/2 cup tequila
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine tequila, brown sugar & cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix until brown sugar is dissolved.
2. Brush marinade on slices of pineapple.
3. Grill pineapple until brown, basting with marinade and turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Saturday evening, 6 family members joined us for dinner. Its been awhile since I’ve made any sort of cake so I knew what I wanted to make for dessert. I grabbed my cookbook to find my Grandmother’s recipe for Texas Sheet Cake… I knew I had the perfect dessert for our BBQ. Our cousins ohh and ahh’ed over the cake when they arrived and had it been pre-sliced, I guarantee they all would have eaten some before dinner. Everyone ate less dinner because they wanted to MAKE sure they had room for the cake! And it lived up to its potential!

Now I’m not sure where the name Texas Sheet Cake originated. Jokes immediately started when I said it was Texas Sheet Cake. “Oh what’s in it” to which I replied nothing unusual “flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, eggs… just the usual.” Oh so what makes it Texas Sheet?? I don’t know! I did a couple Google searches but no definitive response. Anyway, its a delicious cake. You can change it up as you please. Add toffee or peppermint to the icing, add 1 tsp of cinnamon to the icing (one of my favorites), use coffee instead of water, etc. Its absolutely delicious!!

Texas Sheet Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of flour
• 2 sticks of butter
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa
• 1 cup of water
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. Sift the sugar and flour together in a bowl.
3. Melt the butter on low in a saucepan. Add cocoa and water. Bring to a rapid boil and remove from heat.
4. Pour cocoa mix over sugar and flour. Mix well with a spoon.
5. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda and mix well with a spoon.
6. Pour batter into greased pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes.
7. Pour icing (recipe to follow) over cake when you take it out of the oven.

Texas Sheet Cake Icing

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa
• 6 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 cup of chopped pecans
• 1 box (1 pound) of powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Bring melted butter, milk & cocoa to a boil.
2. Remove from heat, and mix in powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nuts.
3. Beat well, and then spread over cake while both are still warm.

I loove baked beans. I never really had them growing up (except the kind that comes straight from a can) and had them for the first time a couple years ago at a friend’s house on the fourth of July. I found this recipe on allrecipes and I was hesitant to use it since it calls for cans of pork & beans; I was really looking for something that called for raw beans but it had a good rating so I went ahead and gave it a try. They were a surefire hit. I made them again this weekend for our BBQ and everyone immediately begin spitting out raves and asking what the secret ingredient was because they were so good!

Easy Baked Beans
Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 3(15 oz) cans pork & beans
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp prepared mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3-4 slices bacon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients except bacon. Refridgerate for several hours or overnight.
   
3. Pour into a 9×9 inch baking dish. Top with bacon slices.
4. Bake for 1 hour, or until sauce is thickened and bacon is cooked.

My sister-in-law came to visit this weekend from school. Not thirty minutes after she arrived she asked if I’d make her some Pumpkin roll. I know how much you miss home cooked food when away at school, so we ran off to the grocery store to get supplies so I could send her home with a bunch of pumpkin roll. Its a wonderful fall treat. I look forward to making it every year. I’ve been itching for fall to hurry and get here and even more so after smelling the kitchen full of pumpkin and cinnamon. I can’t wait for fall!

Its easiest to double this recipe and make two large rolls. One 15 oz. can of pumpkin is exactly enough to make two rolls. I prefer pecans with this recipe, although I’m from Texas and pecans are must in the Lone Star State! My husband and brother actually prefer it without nuts, so that’s usually how I make it. Yum!

Pumpkin Roll
Original Source unknown

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Line a 15×10x1 inch baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper (enough where it sticks out over the sides).
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high for five minutes. Gradually add white sugar and pumpkin. Add flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle with nuts evenly on top if desired.
   
4. Bake 15 minutes. Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners sugar.
   
5. Roll cake up in the towel, lengthwise. Allow to cool.
6. Prepare filling per directions below
7. Unroll cake, remove parchment paper. Spread with filling and re-roll. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.
   

Pumpkin Roll Filling
Original Source Unknown

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Mix confectioners sugar, vanilla, butter or margarine, and cream cheese together till smooth.

meet the newest member of my kitchen appliance family. Due to a misprint in Lowe’s weekly advertisement, you can score a Kitchen Aid 5 Quart Artisan Stand Mixer for $150 right now (regularly$300). I had to special order my green apple mixer, but for $150 I’ll wait a week for it show up! I can’t wait to make a batch of bread next week! I can’t wait to get it in! Isn’t it beautiful?

Taro root is a potato-ish tuber. Its got a hairy brown skin (reminds me of a soft coconut) and and a grayish-white/purple-tinged flesh. It has a slightly nutty flavor when its cooked. In itself its not really sweet, but you eat this with sugar and its yummy! This treat was something I grew up eating and I love it; its been years since I’ve had any so when I saw it at the supermarket, I had to pick some up.

To prepare, boil as you would potatoes until they’re nice & soft. Peel while warm and dip in granulated sugar. I’m not sure if its a treat the masses would like or not but I think its delicious!!