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- 3-4 pounds chicken breasts, either boneless or bone-in
- 2 16-ounce Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers (one green and one red)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 pound fresh carrots, peeled and diced in 2-inch pieces
- 3 onions, cubed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (4 1/2 ounces)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
Rose Romano’s Italian Peppers Review + Giveaway
November 6th, 2012
A while back I received a lovely package from Rose Romano’s that was beautifully packaged. It took me quite a while to come up with a recipe because well being pregnant sometimes causes a few challenges. Tomatoes happen to be in this category.
NO worries! Now that we have had family stay with us for several weeks, coming up with meal plans is very essential. I am not one to plan ahead of time but the same day based on ingredients I have on hand. I know that sounds crazy but it usually works really well most of the time.
Not so much when pregnant. Some days I just do not feel like cooking or even feel inspired to make a great meal.
Look at these bottles! Each 16-ounce bottle contains delicious marinara that I did not have to prepare. Two bottles are made with red bell peppers and the other two with green bell peppers. Do I make spaghetti? What about a polenta dish with the sauce? So many choices yet so little time.
Once I decided what to do with 2 bottles of this marinara, I decided to use one of each bell pepper color. Even though these are ready to use, I decided to add them to my slow cooker over some chicken.
I have never had chicken cacciatore but after perusing several recipes and ideas, I came up with my own recipes.
Look at these colors and imagine the flavors because it was a hit with the family!
Do you not love the fact that the bottle is labeled “All Natural?” Here is a link to the ingredients that each bottle contains which also has 5 calories per serving too! This sauce is authentic and made with Italian love. It does not come any better than that!
I had my sister make a big pot of creamy mashed potatoes along with a green salad made with baby greens. It was all in all a filling and satisfying dinner. NO hassle and no mess with a sauce ready to be used.
I plan on making some mozzarella sticks or patties to dip into this marinara. I cannot wait!! I will be sharing soon.
In the meantime, check out this recipe and enter the giveaway. You TOO can have a chance to win 4 bottles of this delicious marinara.
Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
by Noelle Kelly
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Ingredients (4-6 servings)
Instructions
Rub chicken with salt and pepper and add to the slow cooker. Add the chopped carrots and onions and then pour the sauce over the chicken along with the water. Place slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours.
Serve with mashed potatoes and a green salad.
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Apple Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
November 5th, 2012
Can you believe that it is November? It means that tons of apples and pumpkins can be consumed in so many different ways.
This month, as part of the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Baking and Boys blog. Katrina loves cooking, baking and taking care of her family. She has four boys and a husband which happens to be A LOT of testosterone!
I applaud her for cooking for a HOUSEHOLD of men since I find it hard cooking with a toddler and a new one about to enter our lives.
Thanks Katrina for posting this recipe on your website. I had been searching for a perfect fall cake that would be perfect for a birthday celebration. While Julianne did not have this cake as her smash cake, I decided to try my hand at two cakes. Julianne had a pumpkin cake that I will be posting later this week and I made this apple spice cake for the adults.
Julianne turned ONE on Friday so I had some quick preparations. I did not do a lot of recipe testing or preparation because I am pretty confident with the recipes I found. The only thing that I was a bit nervous was introducing sweets to my little sweetie. She has not had any processed foods so just giving her sugar and dairy at her birthday party did not sound too exciting.
Luckily the dessert was a light frosting and I knew frosting her cake did not require too much frosting. This spice cake was different. It was for the adults and frosting can never be too much.
This apple spice cake was SO moist and so delicious. I used spelt flour instead of all-purpose and I loved the substitution. Flax seed meal can certainly be subbed for the eggs but I wanted to keep it for added protein.
The cake was a hit with the family but the smash cake was not with the baby. More on that later. We had a tired baby on our hands but we managed to still enjoy the cake.
As Katrina stated in her post, this spice cake will definitely stay in my recipe box because it was a very delicious and satisfying cake. Add some hot apple cider and you are done!
Apple Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
by original recipe by Paige Vandegrift / adapted by Noelle Kelly
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients (10 slices)
Cake
Frosting
Instructions
For Cake
Grease a 9-inch round cake pan and grease the pan. Flour the pan and set aside. Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream the butter and coconut oil with the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. By hand, fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the applesauce (add the vanilla with the first half of the applesauce), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean—about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Loosen the sides of the cake by running a thin knife around the edge of the pan. Turn the cake out of the pan. Cool the cake on a wire rack. Frost with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.
For Frosting
Using an immersion blender, beat the butter and cream cheese with the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy—about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides, drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until smooth, about 15 seconds.
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Fashion Friday & ConcertOPERA Masked Ball Fundraiser
November 2nd, 2012
Remember when I asked your opinion 2 weeks ago on what I should wear for a masquerade party?
This is what I ended up choosing but instead of black pumps I worked some silver sparkly open-toes heels. Went perfect with my sparkly jewelry.
This past Friday, Ryan and I had the opportunity to attend a fundraiser for the opera, Verdi’s The Masked Ball, being performed in the spring.
The event was held in the historic Beaux-Arts Mansion, The Oaks Cloister which sits on a hill overlooked Farimont Park. This was our first time driving into Philadelphia so it was hard to see the area in the dark but as we found the place it was located in tightly knit area in the along Wissahickon street.
This mansion was gorgeous! My LG Intuition phone camera does not do it any justice even though it would have been worse with the Droid phone. The invitation asked everyone to attend in their best cocktail / black tie attire. Masks were provided. Sad to say we got stuck in traffic and the best masks had already been claimed.
We were only allowed to certain sections of the mansion, but even so it was so breath-taking. Look at this staircase!
So who is ConcertOPERA Philadelphia? This company was established back in 1995 in order to provide a venue for rising professional singers. They hold very competitive auditions in the summer to then perform an concert version of a select opera.
Each performance is lightly costumed and only semi-staged but all performances are held in an intimate setting as opposed to being held in a big opera house. You are able to experience the singing so much better.
While I have yet to experience one of THIS company’s performances, I did perform in a small opera company in Houston called Opera in the Heights that was very much like this company. I hope to check out their performances in early spring.
Sorry for the lighting but here we are trying to look stylish in our masks.
The evening started with some cocktails in the nice opening area with the staircase which followed with a dinner buffet. The food was VERY delicious and gourmet. There was some lightly dressed greens salad with pears, grilled chicken with pears and delicious and perfectly roasted potato wedges as well as some grilled asparagus.
After some introductions we adjourned to an adjacent room where we heard 3 performers. These 3 performers will be part of the opera.
This soprano’s name is Galina Sakhnovskaya. She is a graduate of Peabody Conservatory of Music. Go read her bio HERE. She sang a selection from the opera and was really great! It was nice to be in this intimate setting listening to opera again.
The next performer used to be a baritone but recently decided to change singing tenor. It was very amusing because I had told my husband that he, Moses Yungbae Yang, reminded me of a famous baritone even though he was singing tenor. Even so, he sang a selection by Puccini and did pretty well.
The sound that most impressed me came from the baritone, Eric T. Dubin. He had such a rich and creamy tone that had me engaged the whole time. His interpretation of his aria was amazing and I cannot wait to see what he brings to the production come spring.
After the performers were done, in came 2 ballroom dancers who came in and taught the crowd how to dance salsa and a waltz. It was really lots of fun. You would think the night was over after that but then some instrumentalists from the Philadelphia String Quartet performed some dance selections giving some of us an opportunity to put our dance skills to the test. It was pleasant!
All in all, the experience was lovely and I thank the director, Diana Borgia-Petro for allowing us to attend this lovely experience.
Place these dates on your calendars, March 15th, 17th and 23rd for the Un ballo in maschera. I might have failed to mention this, but this company is run by volunteers and while the chorus involved in each performance are volunteers as well, the cast, musicians and conductor are all compensated.
Check this company out on Facebook as well.
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Shoes For Crews Review + Giveaway
October 31st, 2012
As a mother you find yourself on your feet sometimes most of the day. When I worked at the hospital I was up on my feet 8 hours a day! I do not feel like I am on my feet as much as that but when I am it is going on walks with my daughter, taking to her to the playground, going on errands and doing work around the house.
I have always been flat-footed and it has been a pain in my behind for a long time. I wore inserts for a year and it only proved to be uncomfortable. I searched high and low for comfortable shoes. I was told that the flatter the shoe the better it would be for my flat foot. Seemed strange.
When I was asked by Shoes For Crews to try one pair of their shoes I decided I would be a good fit to try one of their slip-resistant shoes. Even though I work from home AND take care of my baby, I know I had to find a good-looking shoe I could wear inside and out of home.
I searched through the women’s category and noticed that there were A LOT of options for stylish footwear and well as athletic, casual, dressy, work boots and clogs.
WOW! While I was very tempted to try a pair a pair of clogs, I decided to would try a completely close-toed shoe that would be perfect even in the winter.
I decided to try one of their newer styles that seemed stylish and easy to wear with casual clothing. I chose the Daphne style, which is a full-grain leather shoe with cushioned insoles (perfect!), adjustable Velcro straps and a steel shank for support.
I wore these with socks and without socks and the comfort was equally great! While these were in the “stylish” category it was not the MOST gorgeous shoe. It is definitely something to wear with jeans and would be great on walks.
If I still worked at the hospital I would wear these with my scrubs because these are for-sure comfortable. The size of the shoe was definitely perfect with the same size shoe I wear on a regular basis.Another beautiful thing about this company is that if you order something and it does not fit, you do not like or just want to try something else, they have a 60-day wear and compare guarantee for FREE!
Would you like to try a pair or do you have someone that complains of foot pain because they have not found the right shoe? The company has generously provided a coupon code for ONE reader to win a pair of ANY shoe of choice.
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GIVEAWAY
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Fashion Friday: Séraphine Maternity Review
October 26th, 2012
Happy Friday to all! Anyone excited about the impending hurricane about to hit the east coast? Yeah, I did not think so. So strange that we have to be thinking about that and not about some snow storm.
I have heard and seen pictures of snow in Utah and way north but all I see in our parts is rain and more rain. I’ll take it, just give me a little more cooler weather, but no ice. Thank you. Oh that was a prayer to God. 🙂
So good news, I have at least three opera-related events I get to be a part of in the next couple of weeks. This is, after all, a website called Opera Singer in the Kitchen, right? It has been a tough transition not being to perform as much but I know it is for a season and I will take what I can.
I get to sing the Alleluia section of Mozart’s Exsulate Jubilate this coming Sunday for Reformation Sunday at our church so I am really excited and well a little nervous since I have not been singing as much with THIS pregnancy as I had been being pregnant with Julianne. I leave it in God’s hands because I sing it unto him. It gives me great joy singing and I love practicing in front of Julianne too. She lights up! 🙂
Not to be vain or anything, but I AM continuing my Fashion Friday theme with a review of a lovely maternity called Séraphine Maternity. They are largely known in London and in Paris but are quickly growing in popularity in boutique shops in the US.
This company was founded by Parisian designer and stylist Cecile Reinaud and has grown in popularity with Hollowood starts for their elegant sense of style and the quality of design for pregnant women. Nice to know that they are now a world leading maternity fashion brand even after celebrating 10 years in the business.
I was able to try this beautiful knot dress in purple, my new favorite color. I ordered it in size 12 and I had to wait a few weeks, close to my 6 month mark to wear this dress because it felt big. I believe the sizes run a little bigger than usual so I would have gone with a size 10. The dress will probably fit better closer to my due date.
Even so, I received SO many compliments with this dress. Not only was the dress color attractive but the flow and fit of the dress was very comfortable.The great thing about this jersey dress is that I will be able to wear this as nursing dress too! It did have a bit of a plunging neck line so I for church I felt like I needed a safety pin to make sure I did not flash anyone. I then realized that the dress just needed to be adjusted. It felt wonderful!
You have a chance to try anything from this company because they are running a mid-season sale up to 50% off! I just purchased a lovely top that I will be showing off soon. Don’t wait too long because this sale does not last for too long.
On top of this, you can get free shipping! Use the code SVKFD at checkout to get free delivery. What a deal! Thanks Séraphine for letting me try this chic dress!
Check out Séraphine on Facebook
and on Séraphine on Twitter
