Let It Snow Cream!

Raleigh, North Carolina saw it's first snow on Christmas Day in over 70 years! Wow! And boy did it snow! I got about 6 inches at my house, and as much as a foot was reported in some places. I'm so glad I had some time off work to relax and be lazy... Which also calls for some bad cabin fever! I've been snowed in for a couple days now, and as much as I don't like driving on ice and snow, I'm ready to get out the house and return to work. I love being snowed in, but all good things must come to an end.

With all this snow cover, I couldn't resist making some good old fashioned SNOW CREAM!! I don't really have a recipe for it, and I ate it up so fast that I forgot to take a photo!  But all it takes is...

Pumpkin Pie Anyone?

Perhaps one of my most favorite Holiday icons would be a pumpkin. I really do think pumpkins are under-appreciated. We buy them cheap and chop them up, scoop their guts out, then carve em up for Halloween decorations. Then, after Thanksgiving, they seem to fade away against the press of Christmas chaos. I never see another pumpkin until the Fall of the following year. Sadly, pumpkins are predestined for disposal, preferably compost :) However! There are a few that are harvested for a higher calling...

Hibachi Chicken & Shrimp

Many of my blog posts, you will find, will be retroactive attempts to document previous entrees I've cooked before I started blogging. I wish I had the gumption to cook every night, but that's just not realistic. I mostly cook big meals and munch on leftovers for as long as I can. I'm a firm believer in leftovers, plus it keeps me from having to spend money on lunch and dinner everyday... which gets expensive, trust me!

So this Hibachi Chicken & Shrimp recipe is yet another modified version of what I found online. The original recipe can be found

Sloppy Lasagna

While sitting at home one afternoon watching the Food Network (one of my favorite TV shows btw) I saw Rachel Ray cooking up what looked to be such an easy recipe for lasagna. I decided then and there that I wanted lasagna for dinner that night! The picture to the right is the final product, and the picture below is a good cheap vino blanc that I bought at Wal-Mart that complements the dish quite nicely. I had to call my mom to tell her how great this turned out. It felt like a sin to eat it because it was soooo good!!

There's actually a funny story that goes along with this Sauvignon Blanc... So, when a recipe calls for wine, I usually leave it out. One. Because I don't drink wine. & Two. It can be expensive. This time I decided to be fancy and include the wine. I got home, started cooking up the sauce, and when it was time to add the wine, I picked up the bottle and started to screw off the top. SIKE, this bottle had a cork and I didn't think to get a bottle opener. Ugh... I tried a knife, a screw.. nothing  worked! I took my pot off the stove, grabbed my keys, jetted off