Raspberry Freezer Jam

With help from Riley and Molly, I've made a batch of freezer jam. First thing you need is to pick raspberries. I had the best helper ever. Of course she ate one for every one she put in the bowl.

Molly stirred while I poured the sugar into the bowl. It's so easy that you really can't mess it up. We followed the recipe that came on the box of pectin. Chris commented that it sure has a lot of sugar in there.

Looking delicious!

We ended up with 9 little jars. The look so cute. They have to sit on the counter for 24 hours and then they will go off to the freezer.

Thanks for making jam with me Molly and Riley!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri

Had a slow day today so I thought I would try something new for dinner. This is from the Best Bites cook book. It looked so delicious that I've been thinking about making it for a while. I have so much parsley and oregano in the garden it seemed like a good time to try it.

I wasn't sure how much I would need so I cut a bunch, measured and then cut some more.

Sorry the picture is a little blurry - I was using my phone - I wish you could smell this. It smells incredible. The fresh lime and the herbs together, WOW!

I cut back on the EVO. I felt like it was a lot and I really don't need the extra fat. I just used one small pork loin since it's just the two of us. It was plenty. I marinated it for just over an hour and the crust after Dirk grilled it was really tasty. Dirk cooked it to 140 because we didn't want it to dry out.

I don't know if you can tell but it's just a little pink and the ends weren't pink at all. See how the crust formed, it was so delicious. We put extra chimichurri sauce on top and I made wild rice and carrotts with it. We loved it and I'm sure I'll be making it again especially since I still have lots of parsely and oregano in the garden.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

So this is a traditional yet classic recipe! My mother in-law gave me her recipe and it is one that is so good and so easy, why use anything else. Today in the kitchen I had Sous Chef Riley accompany me. Since my Sous Chef wasn't the most experienced, the recipe did take a little bit longer than planned. I think with Chocolate chip cookies everybody has their own variation, but with this recipe you don't need to add any variation. Thanks to my mother in-law for the recipe and especially to my happy Sous Chef Riley. I love her!

Choptle Chicken Taco Salad

Decided to cook today and thought I would try a recipe I saw on the Our Best Bites Blog. It's a lot llike a Cafe Rio salad but isn't as heavy. I marinated my chicken in their Taco Chicken marinade and I liked it and will definitely use it again.

The dressing for the salad seemed a little spicy. I used 2 tsp. of the adobo sauce. I also added a couple tablespoons of mayo because I thought it tasted like flavored sour cream and not like salad dressing.

I cut down the portions and still had left overs. We dressed the salad on our plates so that I can eat the rest tomorrow and not have wilted lettuce. I didn't use tomatoes and Dirk said he would have loved a little shredded cheddar cheese. This is a winner and I will be making this again.

Tim Riggins Brownies

Well I'm not sure if we love Tim Riggins but maybe it's just that people love things that are a little bit wicked - like Tim - and these brownies are wicked. The recipe is similar to the brownie recipe we've been using for years. This recipe melts the butter and has a bit more cocoa which is probably why they are so chocolatey. That plus the chocolate chips. Don't forget to lick the bowl! We couldn't find the flat marshmallows and oops! didn't buy the mini marshmallows so we cut the big ones in half and used them.

The frosting is awesome. Basic butter cream recipe but you melt the butter. It's a really fluffly and once again you should definitely lick the bowl.

Delicious! Wickedly sinful brownies. But maybe we should call them the Vin Diesel or Paul Walker Brownies. Jill votes for the Neil Caffrey (but if a man is gay can you really pick him?) Matthew McConaughey - that's our final decision.

Of course, the guys all ate their brownie with ice cream, chocolate sauce and carmel sauce.

The recipe is on the Our Best Bites blog. Enjoy! - Lisa and Jill

Yummy Chicken!

Tonight I had my sister and her Family over for dinner and we had the best meal. I made Teriyaki chicken from "Our Best Bites" with rice. What was different about my chicken was I actually made my own Teriyaki sauce! I made the sauce the night before so I could have my chicken marinate all night and all day. the sauce was so easy and filled my condo with a yummy

smell.

To go along with this meal I cut up some fresh water melon and my sister brought a delicious Cesar salad and three cheese rolls. This was such and easy meal I highly recommend trying it.