Hello Strawberry Salad!

Boy do I love my strawberry salad.  And even better, I love strawberry season!  Well strawberry season is here & it's a official with our local Strawberry Festival that was underway this past weekend:) 

What's so great about strawberry season?  I'll tell ya.  You've got super fresh. sweet. delicious. yummy. you could never have enough of these DELICIOUS strawberries.  And one of my favorite things to make (besides desserts of course:) with this yummy strawberries is my strawberry salad.  And I'm calling it my "Love My Salad: Strawberry Salad".  Why?  Because you'll love it.  Whispering to you: trrrrusst mmmeee:)  And what's even better are that the ingredients to make this salad are easy and accessible.  I'll be giving you the tools, to make this salad, again & again.

I'm taking:

A bowl of fresh strawberries (2 cups sliced)

a 4-ounce of container of crumbled bleu cheese (gorgonzola will do too!)

1 1/2 cups of candied pecans

3 cups of fresh mixed lettuce greens

one small sweet onion or red onion, thinly sliced

**My (secret) vinegrette**

(don't worry, I will give you the recipe;)

 

To make the candied pecans you simply just melt, 1/4 cup of unsalted butter in a sautee pan, and then add to it a 1/3 cup of dark brown sugar, half a tablespoon of kosher salt and your pecans.  ( I know what you're thinking..."do I really need that much salt?"  The answer is, you do!  The reason being that between the crunchiness of the pecans, and the sweet butteriness of the brown sugar and butter, the amount of salt here, just works.  It really does.  You'll see what I mean. 

 

Set the pecans aside and let's get our vingrette done.  Go ahead and mix up 1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar (the plain one), 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of french dijon mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  And stir.  Now, about here (at this point) is where I would usually warn, "Do not dress your salad until..." but Barefoot Contessa has taught me a thing or to.  So, hold onto your vinagrette.  No need to panic.  Your salad is not going to go wilting all over the place.  But you don't want to dress it now.  At least not until I tell you the right way to dress a salad ahead of time.  It can be done.  You'll see.  (Keep reading:).

 

Okay, now in a large bowl, you will want to toss (and add these in, in the order that I tell you):

 

Your greens (mixed lettuces)

your onions

the strawberries

the pecans

the bleu cheese crumbles (or gorgonzola).

 

Now toss, without the vinagrette.

 

Now once everyone in the salad bowl looks happy, just take a third of your vingrette and move all of the salad to one side and pour it, only into the bottom of the bowl.  And do NOT toss it again UNTIL you are getting ready to serve it.  Otherwise your salad will wilt.  What to do with the remaining vinegrette?  I like to drizzle most of it (at least half of what's remaining) over the salad and toss right before people eat.

 

It's one of those salads that's really delicious when you eat it fresh, but you've got to really be in love with it to try and take a bite out of it the next day.  You know what I mean;)

 



So do you love my salad?  Think that you'll give it a try this strawberry season or next?  Whisper: You can even make this one in the off season....I won't tell anybody.

 

Bon Appetit & Happy Strawberry Picking!

 

xo- Chemeeka

Every Cooks Must Have {Recipe} for Pound Cake

Any fashion editor will tell you, there are several "must-haves" for every woman's wardrobe..those key things that she need keep handy and be able to call on to really work it on any day!  Well the same goes for us cooks, home-cooks that is.  There are six or seven key components that any wife, mother, cook, should have in her go-to wheelhouse.  Like a recipe for:

 

1) a good dip

2) the perfect one-pot wonder

3) her slow cooker speciality

4) "I'm in a bind but the kids are hungry" (ie, breakfast for dinner or grilled cheese sandwiches & soup)

5) great mashed potatoes

6) a good spaghetti sauce

and last but not least

7) a killer pound cake recipe

 

Now I know what you're thinking..."who even makes pound cake these days?"  But you and I both know, long gone are the days were granny's pound cake is readily available where you can just walk over and get a slice.  Now, we're the mommies and sometimes granny lives, really, really, far away and by the time you convinced her to make and mail it...well, you know where I am going.

 

You need to have (in your cooking arsenal of "I got this!") a really good pound cake recipe.  Until recently, I've found one.   And a really good one at that.  This is simple, yet delicious.  Buttery and tender, yet sweet.  And not too sweet.  And oh, did I say that you'll be really, really proud of yourself, when you make this little nellie and knock it right out of the park?  Yeah.

 

So here it goes,

 

Southern Pound Cake recipe  as adapted by Chemeeka Sparks

You'll need:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) of unsalted butter (at room temperature)

3 cups of sugar

6 large eggs

3 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 baking soda

8 ounces of sour cream

1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1/2 tablespoon of grated orange zest

 

With an electric mixer on medium speed cream unsalted butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly add in granulated sugar until combined.  Next, add your eggs one at a time, continuing to combine until the yolk disappears, before adding the next egg.  Once all of your eggs have been added, set the mixture aside and in a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients.

 

Alternating with your sour cream, begin adding your dry mixture to your butter, sugar, egg mixture.

Starting with your flour mixture you should be adding, dry/sour cream/dry/sour cream/dry/sour cream/dry all of your flour and sour cream have been added.  Next stir in your grated orange zest and both of your flavorings.

 

Grease and flour a 12-cup tube baking pan, and pour in your cake mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 mins or until a tooth inserted comes out clean. 

 

Top with your favorite pie topping or fresh berries that have been mascerated with one tablespoon of granulated sugar per 2 cups of fresh fruit and Bon Appetit!

 

I love, love, love this recipe and hope that you will too.  Happy Spring!

 

xo-Chemeeka



Printables for Spring!

I have more goodies!  I cannot help myself.  With Easter just around the corner, you could always use a little extra paper or wrapper to make things fun.  Find these and more in my shop!

St. Patrick's Day Printables!

I am so excited to share my latest venture with you.  And even better, just in time for St. Patrick's Day!  Since I have a love of all things sweet, and that includes the "paperie" kind of sweet, I felt it only natural to marry my creative and crafty, side to my "design" side, and the sweet tooth in me jumped in and it became one BIG PARTY!

 

I am launching my new shop online (Etsy.com) and it is called, "Papered Sweet", your new go-to shop for inspiration, party-fun, and of course, seasonal & party themed DIY printables.   Check over at our sidebar on the right for our "Papered Sweet" button and link:)

Cheers,
xo Chemeeka

Spring Corn & Ginger Chowder

Spring is in the air.  And along with the spring comes the sunshine, warm sunny days, flowers are blooming, and all that is bright.  I like to take that same brightness and incorporate that into some of my dishes.  One quick and easy way to bring the outside in, and get that "burst" of brightness is to add ingredients like the ones I am using in my Spring/Summer Corn & Ginger Chowder.

 

We're starting with:

 

* one cup or half of a can of yellow corn

* one can of coconut milk

* a can of cream of mushroom soup

*1/4 cup of fresh chopped lemongrass

* one cup of chopped ginger root

* one cup of sauteed portabella mushrooms

* a tablespoon of ground ginger

* salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine can of coconut milk, can of cream of mushroom soup, half can of yellow corn, tablespoon of ground ginger, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Stir and bring to a low simmer 4-5 minutes over medium to low heat.

 

 Now this chowder is going to bring you layers and layers of flavor.  Your basis is going to be the coconut milk, cream of mushroom soup, corn and ground ginger.  That is going to give us our jumping off point:)

 







 

While you're letting your basis for this chowder simmer, sauteed in a medium fry pan your sliced portabella mushrooms. 

I always have a trick that I use for the perfect sautee: three minutes sear, two minutes steam.  Just remember that:

 

Three minutes sear,

Two minutes steam.

 

And what that simply means is this, I sautee or sear let's say my asparagus or mushrooms, or squash, whatever it is in olive oil on high heat.  And then I turn the heat off, add 1/4 cup of water to the pan, and cover it with the lid, and just let that baby steam.  Give it two minutes and essentially, you are done to perfection!  Works for me on asparagus, brocolli, you name it.  And of course if it's a green veggie you can blanche it, but that's another post;)

 

So go ahead and add your mushrooms and let's get to working on our lemongrass and fresh ginger, our spring flavors.

In a perfect world, you'd walk right into your average supermarket and pick up some fresh lemongrass but in a the instance that they're out of it or it's not in stock, the bottled stuff will do.  Two tablespoons to be exact.

Now we can't skimp on the ginger.  The crunch and layers of flavor that this fresh bit is going to add is going to be Un-believe-able!  Trust me.  Take the time to peel it.  *Tip: Cut off each one of the little nubbies on the ginger root before attempted to peel.  Keeps you from having to dig into every little crevice with your peeler;)  Once your done peeling, go ahead and give your ginger a rough chop and add it to the pot now with your other ingredients. 

Once your chowder is complete and has simmered now for about 15 minutes with continual stirring you can tranfer it to a medium-size crock pot and let it simmer on low for the next 4-5 hours. 

 The brightness and layers of flavor in this chowder are sure not to disappoint.  What are you making these days that shines, "spring"?  Try this chowder & let me know how much you loved it.  Oh, and did I mention that....you won't miss the meat:)

 

Happy Cookin' & Happy Spring!

 

xo-Chemeeka 

Inspired by a Fellow DIY blogger

I have been fascinated these days with so many things....Pin-spiration, Inspiration, and overall just being a mom and learning how to be more, frugal, crafty, original and just down-right wife, mom, & family-FABULOUS has just got me going!:-)  Lately, I have been hanging out here.  And I just looove what I have stumbled upon in the way of fonts on Mrs. Smith's site.

There are so many WONDERFUL things that you can do with fonts but before we get to that.  Let's have a little freebie.  I bring you 15 fabulous fonts as seen on The House of Smiths website:

The House of Smiths, top 15 Fabulous Fonts!!!

Mrs. Smith shares:

I'm a font JUNKIE! It all came about when we decided to start up our vinyl shop business about 5 years ago. I just couldn't get enough of all the beautiful fonts that so many talented people had to offer me! I have thousands of fonts stored on my computer, but these 15 are definitely in my "favorites" category :)

ENJOY!

Please note: Some fonts listed are free for personal use! You can find them at dafont.com, fontsquirrel.com and 1001freefonts.com. While others may need to be purchased through various online font sites such as losttype.com, scrapnfonts.com, myfonts.com, veer.com and more.

Quicksand Dash, JFFerulle, Sketch Block, Peach Sundress, Pharmacy, Before the Rain, ROD, CK Cursive, Disco, JB Cursive, SNF Darcy Vaudevill, Learning Curve, LD Announcement, SNF Daphne Light, Lavanderia Delicate.

PS: You can also find the #15 font here: Circus Font

- See more at: http://www.thehouseofsmiths.com/2012/03/house-of-smiths-15-fabulous-fonts.html#sthash.bj8U344q.dpuf

xo Chemeeka

Valentine's Day Dinner for Two!

Oh, how I love Valentine's Day!  Besides Christmas, it is my favorite time of year.  And other than chocolate, cards, and flowers, nothing says Valentine's Day more for me than a delicious meal:)  So this one is easy.  If you're eating in this year, simple and accessible ingredients are sure to produce a fantastic result.  On the menu:

 

Spinach & Feta Stuffed Chicken breasts, with asparagus and brown rice with a

Chocolate Creme Brulee custard (for dessert). 

 

Ding, ding, ding...we've even got dessert on the list and you can make this at home in a jiffy!

 



 

For your stuffed breasts you will need:

Two boneless skinless chicken breasts

Two scallions, chopped

One cup of fresh or frozen spinach (if frozen, chopped & drained)

1/2 cup feta cheese

 

 

In a saute pan on medium high heat, saute you spinach and scallions until soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Once cooled, mix in your feta cheese. 



 

 Slice your chicken breasts horizontally, center of the side to form a little pocket to place your filling.  Stuff each breast with about 1/2 cup of your mixture.  Place both breasts in a pan or on a lined cookie sheet in an oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  While you're waiting on your chicken breasts you can go ahead and get your brown rice ready. 

 

If you are not a fan of brown rice, I think that after you try this recipe you will be! I have been using this for our family for at least the last 12 months. I originally came up with it to please my no-brown-rice-for-me-please protesting family. This recipe did the trick!

No-fail brown rice:

2 cups of water

1 cup of uncooked brown rice

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

2 chicken stock boullion cubes

In a medium saucepan, add rice, water, salt, pepper, olive oil and bouillion cubes and bring to a boil. Cover pot on place on low heat for the next 30-35 minutes. And perfecto!

 

Next go ahead and grab two handfuls of your fresh asparagus.  Chop off the bottom four inches of the ends and you're ready to go! (I know that four inches seems like a lot but trust me, you don't want eat those ends.  They can taste very "woody").   Add them to a saute pan that is already on high heat, and saute for two minutes in olive oil and them turn the pan off, but leave it over the heat, add 1/4 cup water to the pan and a lid and let it steam for another two minutes.  Remove from pan, and immediately serve on the plate.

 

For our Chocolate Creme Brulee custards, add a heaping 1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to 2 cups of heavy cream in a medium saucepan.  Stir and heat over medium heat until your chips are completely melted.

 

 

Add your chocolate cream mixture:

 

5 egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract that has been whisked together.

 

 

You will want to add the warm cream 1/8 of a cup at a time, whisking while you add, to temper the eggs (and to keep them from scrambling by the heat of the milk on you;)

 

Next, fill about 6 small ramekins with the chocolate cream custard mixture.  And place them into a large 11x15 baking pan.  Fill your 11x15 pan halfway with warm water to give your custards a smooth and creamy texture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the refrigerator to chill.  Allow 3-4 hours to chill before serving.  Garnish with fresh berries.  Bon Appetit!

Whether you're staying in or waiting till the weekend to celebrate, this meal is sure to sweeten up anyone's day.  So get in the kitchen, get out your apron, pull this recipe up and take a hack at it.  You never know....you just might impress yourself! 

 

Happy Valentine's Day to One & All!

 

xo Chemeeka

 

 

 

Sweets N' Snapshots with Jennifer Louise Photography

This weekend, one of my dear friends, Jen with Jennifer Louise Photography is hosting a wonderful, wonderful event at a place that serves up on of my favorite treats....you guessed it,

cupcakes!   Join Jen & the team at Dottie's Cupcakery in downtown Waxhaw for a memorable

moment and something special:-)

 

Jennifer Louise Photography is holding mini-sessions, for mommies, daddies, little ones, young & old for Valentine's Day.  Let Jen capture you & your sweetie pie.  Or get your picture taken to sweeten up someone else's Valentine's Day.  You won't want to miss this event!

 

 

Everything's Better with {a little Washi tape!}

Okay, I am looovvving this new & lastest "find" of mine.  Haven't heard of it?  That's okay:)  It's called washi tape.  I stumbled upon it while shopping over at Etsy and was smitten right away!  Since another family birthday has rolled around and it's time to mail a card I thought, why not?  Now let me back up to say that my little sister Chenelle is always sending the sweetest little dressed up cards and packages in the mail.  When something is coming from her, you know it even without checking the return address so I figured that I'd send that same sort of love to someone else to brighten their day.

 

I bought this set of washi tape (and some other...of course!  You know that I just couldn't stop at one;)  And for this card, since I had a nice blue envelope and a red one, I went the "kraft" route.  Looove kraft color.  I feel like it's totally making a come back.  And so help me God if everyone's packages this coming Christmas aren't "brown paper packages tied up in string...these are a few of my favorite things!"  Julia Andrews and I are both dancing upon the mountain top & I am dancing with my washi tape.  Okay.  Back to reality!   But this here washi tape really dressed things up.  I can't wait to get some more uses out of it and put on some more things. 

 

Have you tried using washi tape?  Ever heard of it to begin with?  If not, you've got to get out there and get some.  Serious!  And start slapping it on EV-REE-THING.  I know that I will!

 

Cheers Everyone!

 

-Bakie (Chemeeka)

A Meal with a Resolution!

On any given weekend in our home, you can find either my husband or myself cooking up something yummy.  Since we are both "foodies" by nature, many times we try to go "over the top" in impressing the other person.  This weekend, it was my husband's turn.  He was making me chimichurri sirloin steak, sauteed brocolli rabe, tri-color peppers and onions and a cauliflower-brown rice blend (with a little carrot) that made what we're calling "risotto".  Introducing.....

 

A Meal with a Resolution!

 I say that because this meal was not only delicious but more than half of my plate was taken up vegetables, not including the veggies that were in our rice as well as the yummy chimichurri sauce that was drizzled over the meat.



Here's how you make it:

*Chimichurri sauce If you have fresh herbs laying around you can always make something average extraordinary but even if you don't...get out to the grocery store.  There are tons of fresh markets and farmer's markets (in season) that have readily available what you are looking for.  For the chimichurri sauce you will need a package (or 1/2 cup) fresh parsley leaves, chopped, 1/2 fresh oregano (again, this is in your produce section), 1/4 extra virgin olive oil, one clove of garlic minced, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, to taste.

 

Finely, finely chop your herbs as best as you can.  Many times for either a pesto or a herb-based sauce we will use a food processer, and you can do that in this case.  If you are not using a machine and you are chopping it by hand, make sure that you mince your garlic thoroughly so that you get an "even" flavor throughout your chimichurri.  Now in a bowl, add first your olive oil (to infuse the flavors of the garlic and the herbs) then the kosher salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside & wait for our steak to be ready :-)

*The Risotto
This one was a real treat.  For our "risotto" Don sauteed up a small yellow onion in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and then added in about 1/2 cup of hand-grated cauliflower.  Yeah.  When I heard him out using the grater, I thought, "what is he doing?"  We both have our "signature" dishes that we make and he doesn't always use the grater for his.  So this was new.  Next, he added about 1/2 cup of chicken broth and cooked the cauliflower until soft.  Sauteed up the already cooked brown rice (1 and 1/2 cups) and mixed the two together.  He let those cook together for about ten minutes and added ten finely grated baby carrots and 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan.  YUM!

*Brocolli Rabe

Now Mama loves her some brocolli rabe!  I was first introduced to the dish by an Italian woman that I used to work for.  She was having a family dinner for her entire immediate family and their spouses and children and that totalled up to about 40 people including the children.  She and her sister were making dinner and I offered to help and this was one of the dishes that I was assigned to.  I was smitten ever since!  For the brocolli rabe, you start it the "traditional" way: a little olive oil in the pan with two cloves of sliced garlic.  Next you add your cleaned brocolli rabe (rinsed and with the ends chopped off) and you sauteed until wilted.   If you feel that your pan is not moist enough, you can add a little bit of water.  No more than 1/4 cup.

*The Steak

 For the steak, you want to go with your favorite cut of meat.  Be it prime rib, or filet.  The choice that we made in this case was: sirloin.  Now interestingly enough, this was (1) the cut that was on sale, and (2)just as delicious as prime when it was cut.  For the meat, it's all about how you season it or tenderize it and how it's cooked.  If you know what you're doing, a good steak only needs a little drizzle of kosher salt and fine cracked pepper.  My hubby fired up our cast iron skillet for this one.  He seared it nicely about 4 minutes on each side & then he let it rest.  Once it rested for about 6 minutes then he sliced it and served it with our sauce.

 

I have to tell you that this meal was deeeeliiiicious!  And it was so easy on the waist line.  I had about 4-6 ounces of steak and 1/2 cup of starch that was 1/3 vegetables.  The rest were all veggies.  You couldn't ask for more!

 

This is my meal for the month.  A meal fit for your resolutions!

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

xo Chemeeka