My Favorite Marinade

This is one of my favorite marinades and it is universal to use with many different meats. We eat a lot of venison and I often find myself opposed to its gamey flavor. I do have to give my husband credit though, he's pretty good at hiding that unpleasant gaminess. This marinade has never failed to mask the unappetizing venison-esque taste. I've also used it on fish, particularly grilled tuna steaks. So delicious and healthy. Here is the recipe:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Worchestshire sauce

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon fine sugar

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Marinade the meat for a few hours then grill it up! Its a must try!

Naked2 Urban Decay

My Christmas wish list consists of this Urban Decay Naked2 palette and I am anxiously waiting for it to become available. Of course it is out of stock, which is not surprising since the first Naked palette sold out so fast. This palette consists of 12 taupe + greige neutrals that are perfect for smokey eyes or a natural look. The colors range from soft mattes to high sparkle with a range to completely transform your look everyday. I can't wait to order this palette, so much so I am on Urban Decay's waiting list. If you are as obsessed with this palette as I am you better sign up for a notification of availability here so you too can get your hands on this little treasure.

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

This afternoon my daughter and I decided we needed to make cookies for Santa. I told my daughter about the fair old tradition of leaving cookies out for the jolly old man the night before Christmas. I told her that he has to take presents to a lot of other children so he gets hungry and its nice to leave him cookies to eat. Of course I was telling this to a 2-year-old so its hard to say how much of it she really understood but I do think she got something out of it. If nothing else she knows we made cookies for Santa.

I asked my friends to send sugar cookie recipes because I wanted to try a new one. I decided to use this basic recipe, mostly because in the email she mentioned that the cookies remained soft and I had all of the ingredients I needed already. I'm a sucker for soft sugar cookies, if they are hard or crunchy I won't eat them. They definitely turned out chewy and delicious. Here is the recipe sent to me from Katie McNames:

1 cup butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp milk
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix together butter and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix well until thoroughly incorporated. In separate bowl combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to batter slowly. The directions didn't say whether or not to refrigerate the dough but I did by separating the dough in half, covering in plastic wrap and refrigerating for about an hour. I also rolled out the dough on powdered sugar instead of the flour for added flavor.

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes (I baked for 7 minutes).

I used royal icing to decorate with this simple recipe:

1 box powdered sugar
5 tbsp meringue powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Add water until desired consistency is reached.

Thank you to everyone who sent me your cookie recipes. I will be trying all of them at some point in the near future.

Here are the pretty snowflakes.

My 2 1/2-year-old daughter had to decorate some of her own cookies for Santa too.

Love Notes

I find a lot of ideas on one of my favorite websites, Pinterest. I saw this and immediately had to make it. What a great way for a wife/husband or girlfriend/boyfriend to leave each other a special little love note every day. I already had all of the supplies necessary so I figured why not? I could make it in less than 10 minutes. I used this you tube tutorial to make the flower rosettes using an old t-shirt and then I hot glued a button in the middle to give the flower a little more character. I then attached the rosette flowers to the frame, inserted a piece of lined paper where a picture would normally go and used a dry erase pen to write on the glass. So simple, right?

When life gives you lemons....

Our dinner theme for tonight consisted of lemons. I felt like the Iron Chef trying to find different ways to incorporate lemons into each dish. I'm not sure if its the pregnancy or what, but lately I have enjoyed cooking with the brightly colored citrus fruit. Its a simple way to add a touch of fresh cleanliness to a meal. The first side dish is roasted broccoli, which is the so-called "best broccoli recipe ever" according to The Amateur Gourmet. You can find the recipe here. I do highly agree that it is one of the best ways I have ever cooked broccoli. It beats my old traditional way of steaming it with a touch of garlic salt. I didn't have pine nuts so I substituted with slivered almonds.

Pasta made up the next side dish. Lately I've been on the search for different ways to cook pasta since my daughter is picky and tends not to eat anything with a sauce. I found this recipe for pasta with garlic breadcrumbs. I was immediately attracted to its simplicity and deliciously looking flavorful elements. I held out on the garlic since there was so much of it in the other two dishes and I added a little splash of fresh lemon juice to the bread crumbs. My husband stated that it was a little bland if you didn't take a bite that had bread crumbs in it. For me, it was light and perfectly accented the lemon chicken main dish. 

I found a Barefoot Contessa lemon chicken recipe on non other than my favorite website, Pinterest. I was worried that the chicken was going to be over powered by garlic since it calls for 9 cloves of minced garlic. I've been very sensitive to garlic lately with my pregnancy but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't overly powerful. All in all, I thought the chicken had a freshly citrus and clean flavor. I will definitely be making it again in the future. 

Enjoy!!