I rarely get to watch TV during the day, but a few months ago while in my first trimester, I milked my pregnancy for all it was worth and layed around as much as I could.

During this time, I was able to catch a few episodes of Martha Stewart Living. I love that show. The specific episode I caught was with a chef, Jonathan Waxman. In this episode, Waxman demonstrated how to make the perfect roasted chicken with spinach and mashed potatoes.

My mouth watered while watching it…I couldn’t resist the yumminess. A few days later, I make his exact dinner…and it was delicious. Fresh sauteed spinach is divine and healthy at the same time. His potatoes were good and simple to make, although I have to admit I’m still convinced my potatoes are better. Seriously,…all the fats make anything better. But, the chicken, oh the chicken,….it was DELICIOUS. As J said, “the best chicken he has ever tasted”. It was so moist and so tender,….delicious and juicy. And, oh how simple!!! You just rinse off your chicken in the sink and pat it dry (Waxman said to let it soak in warm water for 20 minutes, but I was honestly too impatient). After it’s dry, you pour a bit of olive oil in a roasting pan, coat your chicken with olive oil, rub in some salt and pepper (and whatever else you’d like,…I added fresh thyme and also threw in some carrots and potatoes, tossed in olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper), and throw it in the oven at 475 degrees. You let it cook for about 45 minutes or until the thermometer reads 165 degrees.

Oh man,…it was so wonderful. I encourage you all to make it! Don’t be scared by the “whole chicken” aspect,….they’re not scary at all to cook. This was such an easy meal and very rewarding. You can check out Martha’s video here.

And not only that, but the next day I made homemade chicken salad with the leftovers. I’m not sure which was better, the chicken or the chicken salad!

I diced up the leftover roasted chicken, added in a dollop of sour cream, a few tablespoons of mayo, diced onions, a bit of celery, a dash of cayenne pepper, salt, and ground pepper, and the secret and yummy ingredient,…..diced strawberries!! The mixture of onion and strawberry together was wonderful.

After toasting a couple pieces of sourdough bread, I threw on a few slices of romaine lettuce and then the salad and VOILA! one of the most delicious sandwiches i have ever tasted.

See, now why would you not want to roast a chicken?! You can get a two-for-one meal out of it!

Try it out and enjoy!!

Last week, my mom had me send out a few thank you packages for her, much like the “Bake and Ship” gifts I’ve done before!

I had a ton of fun with them!

Enclosed in each package, was a set of folded, 3 1/2″ x 5″ personalized, dotted-circle stationary (which I have used on previous pieces of stationary and invitations)…

and a matching set of 5″x7″ cards and 4″x6″ recipes cards.

Each set was tied together with a corresponding ribbon and then packed to ship.

I loved the how the matching stationary and recipe cards turned out!

Sometimes I think I enjoy making the packaging look cute, more than even the process of designing the note cards!!

I like how I’m always on top of all my posts… *I’m being sarcastic here*. But, it’s okay, right? That’s who I am. I’m not a structured, orderly person and I never do things methodically so I might as well embrace it, right?

I’m up in Los Angeles this week, hanging out, while my hardworking husband works away. Remind me to never complain about the life I have been given. I am blessed, beyond belief, in so many ways. One of the number one blessings, being my husband. I love him.

Anyways while I’ve been up here, I’ve been slaving away in coffee “boutiques” *sigh*, walking through the Fashion District in search of beautiful fabrics *remind me to post on this, if I don’t!*, checking out the new Americana at Brand, and using free wifi at coffee “shops” *oh, I already mentioned coffee… that’s what I do mainly while I’m up here…drink coffee. It’s decaf for the baby though, I promise*.

Thank you Swork Coffee, for allowing me to have endless hours of free wifi. I am eternally grateful.

I have a new, favorite website. Smitten Kitchen. Although I’ve known about this site for sometime, I have a list of blogs I scan through each day and seemed to have overlooked this beautiful site.

The photos alone are cause for great applause and after trying a couple of their recipes in the past few weeks, they have proven to be also.

A couple of weeks ago, I tried out their “North Fork Table & Inn Scones“, minus the caraway seeds, which I didn’t have on hand. They were delicious; the perfect scone. Not too sweet, not too dry,….moist and lovely; simple too.

I loved making these for an easy breakfast and delicious for an afternoon snack.

This recipe will definitely become a staple item in our home.

I love getting packages in the mail, whether its something from amazon.com that I’m expecting or a fun surprise from a friend,…it’s always fun!

The other day, my sweet friend, Jen sent me a cute bundle of baby gifts. Everything was so precious,… I’m convinced one of her talents is finding unique gifts. Every time she gives me something, I always love it and have never seen anything like it before.

The contents included,…

a “tweet” baby album,….which I have already filled with my ultrasound pictures!

an adorable and soft! little knit hat

a fun luggage tag,…seriously,… i’ve never seen a luggage tag as cute as this!!

Now, aren’t those all so cute?!

I think I may have a new obsession!! I’m so excited……SEWING!

Not that I really know anything yet, but today I decided that I need to learn to sew. I went to the local fabric store and found a few fun fabrics, came home, and decided that a baby bib would be a good starter project.

So granted, I’ve never really “learned” how to sew, I’ve only played around with a sewing machine a few times, but it was a baby bib (which wasn’t too complicated).

The stitching is a little crooked and it ended up not being as smooth and uniform as I would have liked it to,…but it’s a BIB! And you can pretty much tell it is, right?! I love how it’s two different fabrics.

I didn’t have any needle and thread (I told you I was new to this sewing thing!), so I couldn’t sew on the button and make the buttonhole, but I’ll be finishing that tomorrow,… once I head to the store to make the purchases.

Now, I must take this time to thank Sew and So who has motivated me with all of her many fun sewing projects…and the rest of the blogging world who has constantly posted beautiful projects with gorgeous fabrics…the fabrics are pure motivation, alone, to learn how to sew!!

Immediately after going through all my CSA goods,….drooling, jumping in excitement, running around the table a few times, smelling each item,… I got hungry.

So, what did I do but decide to cut up a bunch of those fresh vegetables and make a delicious lunch!

Luckily, I had fresh naan from trader joes and homemade tzatziki I had just put together the night before (sorry, sorry,….the cucumbers were from Vons. Don’t tell anyone!). With those two items, I was able to whip up a yummy sandwich/wrap/taco style meal.

I mixed in fresh peppers, kale, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, avocado, and a large amount of kalamata olives. YUM, YUM! I then threw some fresh ground pepper on top and it was complete!

Oh, and by the way, this was the first time I had ever made tzatziki and it was surprisingly easy!!

Here’s the basic recipe:

Tzatziki

3 cups plain yogurt

2 cucumbers (peeled and diced into small cubes/chunks)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

Juice of One Lemon

A sprinkling of dill (however much you like, to taste)

Splash of Olive Oil

salt and pepper

1. Combine the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, dill, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix together. Stir in the diced cucumber.

2. Chill in refrigerator. Is best when marinating in fridge for a while, but if you can’t wait hours (like me!), it’s still good freshly mixed!!

Try it out! You’ll enjoy it!

Oh my, oh my, oh my,…

So my friends, last week I picked up my first box of fresh fruits and vegetables from our local San Diego CSA.

But, what is a CSA, you ask?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically with a CSA, you are able to obtain local fruits and vegetables that are grown organically, without pesticides and chemicals.

The produce tastes better, looks better, and is better for you.

After spending time up in Oregon with J’s aunt and uncle (I’m SOOO behind on writing posts and I promise to post about this trip later!), who grow their own fruits and vegetables and whatever else they don’t grow, they get from local farmers,…I was convinced that I would never eat dull produce that comes from far away places ever again. (Okay, I’m sure I’ll have to in desperation, but trust me,…there is SUCH a difference in the taste!!)

Fresh and local produce just tastes better. Period.

Additionally, I love the idea of supporting our local farmers who desire to grow pure and natural produce. The more I think about it, the more important I see it is to buy locally.

So last Thursday, I picked up my first box of produce from Garden of Eden Organics. To my surprise, there were a handful of local CSA’s in San Diego, but Garden of Eden just stuck out to me. They seemed like the best deal in San Diego, their website was easy to maneuver around, you could sign up and pay online, and they had the best pickup location for me. Another cool thing was that they have online recipes to go with the produce they hand out. So obviously, I went with them! I may try out the Sausage Kale Soup tonight!

And, my oh my, oh my,… was it ever exciting!

A box of delicious and yummy produce. Some things that were familiar to me and other things that were not. I loved it!!

Pears (the first of the season!), asian apples (I totally can’t remember what they were called), asian pears (I think that’s what the green guys were (!)), apples, figs,…

The apples were my favorite. I’ve been hoarding them all week,…The first time I took a bite of out the apple, I felt like fall had come. I was immediately placed in an apple orchard, with a cozy sweater and jeans, changing leaves all around, it felt like fall… Ahh…it was wonderful.

Green beans, jalapenos, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, onions, avocados, squash. Sooo wonderful.

I’m telling you, if you dont’ belong to a CSA yet, JOIN! They are amazing and you will not regret it.

Also, if you are a local to San Diego, check out Garden of Eden Organics… I promise you will be pleased!

This is what a stack of 600 wedding invitations looks like. 

My largest order yet…

Completed last week for a sweet, sweet girl in Tennessee. 

More detailed pictures to come soon!

At this point, I’m sure everyone knows how much I enjoy getting my bimonthly issue of Everyday Food.

However, these past few months have not given me as much time to test out their recipes,…with moving, summer visitors, traveling, a pregnancy, etc. But, I am happy to say that my life has slowed down a bit and I am back to normalcy,… with lots of cooking included. Needless to say, my husband is a very happy man.

So, what I have to say is this. Either Everyday Food came up big this month or I just had more time to test out their recipes than usual and was delightfully surprised that practically* every recipe I tried was delicious. *I must admit that I didn’t like the white-bean and tomato salad recipe, but my husband and our friends did, so maybe it was just my pregnancy taste buds.

So, today my friends, I’d like to tell you about the Broccoli Chowder with Corn and Bacon. YUM! It was wonderful and SO easy!

I love making soups, just because they’re so simple to make and, at the same time, so comforting to eat. The combination in this chowder was delicious. Potatoes cooked just to the tender bite, little bits of broccoli and corn kernels…

…bacon and cheddar cheese on top. As J says, anything that involves milk, cheese, and bacon is going to taste good…how can you go wrong?!

I did add a few little tweaks to the recipe to make it better for us,… a dollop (or two) of sour cream mixed in to make it more creamy (and fatty,… i know), a TON of pepper (I like pepper, what can I say), garlic salt, and shredded cheddar cheese to go on top. I always just add what tastes I know I’ll like.

Here’s the recipe below, but you can also check it out at Martha Stewart’s site.

Broccoli Chowder with Corn and Bacon (taken from Everyday Food, September, Issue 55)

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (add more if it seems too thick, I had to)
• 1 large baking potato, peeled and diced
• 1 head broccoli (about 1 pound), cut into bite-size florets, stalks peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup whole milk
• Coarse salt and ground pepper (I added a TON of pepper!)
• (my own preference,….garlic salt!)
• (and a few tablespoons of sour cream, if you like creamy chowder)
• (cheddar cheese to go on top!!)
  

Directions

1. In a large pot, cook bacon over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Increase heat to medium. Cook onion, stirring, until it begins to soften, 6 to 8 minutes.
2. Add flour; cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds. Add broth and potato; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cook until potato is tender, about 10 minutes. Add broccoli, corn, thyme, and milk. Cook until broccoli is crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with bacon.

So cozy up in your favorite pajamas and blanket, sit by the fire, and enjoy a bowl of this chowder. YUM!

I’ll be posting some of the other Everyday Food recipes I enjoyed in the next week…complete with some yummy pictures…so be looking out for them!!