Fajitas!

Going shopping downtown!

Tattoo earrings! We are waiting to pierce her ears when she is older because mine grew out and the holes were way too close to my head.

My valentines day present! 

Her Valentines books.

For dinner I made fajitas. Marinated them in this delicious chipotle marinade. In a freezer bag I first grated1 tablespoon of my frozen chipotle peppers in Adobe sauce.

Then grated 2 cloves of garlic.

The zest of 1 lemon.

1 tsp of cumin.

Half a tsp of onion salt.

1 tsp of chili powder.

1/4 a cup of olive oil.

I put a pound of sirloin for fajitas in the bag and let it marinade for an hour. Then I cut up 3 peppers, 1 zucchini, 1 squash, and 1 onion.

First I sautéd the onion on a grill pan with olive oil for a few minutes then added the peppers and seasoned both with taco seasoning.

Then after there was a good char I added the zucchini and yellow squash.

When they were all charred I moved them out of the way and took the sirloin out of the marinade and onto the grill with olive oil, letting all the steak juices run down into the onions and peppers.

After I grilled it for like 6 minutes each side I let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it thin. Then I served with canned Refried beans and some Mexican rice I had in the freezer from a previous meal.

These were delicious but I just made some even better fajitas that I will post when I post about my husbands 30th birthday party. Yum!

Valentines Day

Valentines Day is a huge day in our house. Not only is it my Valentines Day but it is my husbands birthday as well! So he gets a huge celebration. I do a birthday week for him since I get to celebrate on the day of his birthday. I get a present and taken out to dinner so I give him the rest of the week haha! He is spoiled rotten I can tell you that! This year is his 30th birthday so I'm throwing him a party on Saturday! I can't wait :)

Here is what we sent out in our Valentines cards. I took the picture and James photoshopped the words onto it. She is so cute!!

The picture I sent to my husband on Valentinesday while he was at work.

Here is us before we went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It's our Valentines day and Anniversary tradition. It's always a blast and we get so full!

The night before Valentines day I made a heart shaped pizza for him since we were eating out on Valentines day. Here is my delicious pizza dough.

First I bloomed the yeast by putting 1 1/2 cups of warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkled 2 packets of dry active yeast over the water and sprinkled 1 tsp of sugar over that.

Let it bloom for 15 mins.

Once it was thick and creamy I added 1 1/2 tbls of sugar.

1/4 a cup of olive oil.

1 tsp of kosher salt.

Whisked that then added 3 cups of all purpose flour.

Mixed together and kneeded once or twice then put in another bowl with oil in the bottom and brushed on top. I turned the oven on to 200° then turned it off so it is warm in the oven, waited like 20 mins then put the bowl of dough in covered with plastic wrap for an hour till it doubles in size.

Punch it down a bit and cut in half. I then rolled it out flat and shaped into a heart shape and put it on an oiled pizza pan. I cut pepperonis, mozzarella cheese, and mushrooms into hearts. The mozzarella was a waste because it all melts down so you won't see the heart shapes when it's done. Then I spooned some jarred pizza sauce all over the dough. Sprinkled some shredded cheddar and Monterey cheese. Layered the mozzarella cheese, pepperonis, mushrooms and some sliced black olives.

Put the oven at 500° or as high as your oven goes. Put the pizza in for 15 minutes till browned and crispy on top and the crust is golden.

Some of it slid off but I just listen it back on. My husband loved it!

My husband got me a dozen long stemmed roses.

And a beautiful necklace.

He really is the best! Which is why I am working so hard for his party on Saturday! And he gets something each day this week waiting on him when he gets off work. I'll post later about that.

General Tso's Chicken

Being a cutie!

Going shopping!

Wearing blue in honor of a friend whose baby passed away. He was 3 months old just like my Zara and it really hit hard for me and our Facebook November Love group. It was a sad week.

Last Wednesday I made some General Tso's Chicken. It was soooooo freakin good! 

First I took a pound of chicken thighs and trimmed them of the fat and cubed into bite sized pieces. Put them in a bowl and poured a tablespoon of Sherry wine.

In a bowl I made the sauce. 3 tbls of rice wine vinegar.

3 tbls of soy sauce

1tsp of hoisin sauce.

1/4 a cup of water.

2 1/2 tbls of sugar.

1 large tbls of cornstarch.

Then I put 1/3 a cup of cornstarch over the chicken pieces and mixed well.

Put vegetable oil in a small shallow pot over medium high heat and fried all of the chicken pieces in batches till browned and crispy.

For the fried rice I started with half a small onion chopped in a medium wok over high heat.

Once softened I added 3 cloves of garlic chopped and 1 inch of ginger grated.

After those softened I put in a large carrot sliced in half moons.

I let the carrots cook down till they were soft and moved them to the side to put in 3 eggs that were scrambled first.

When the eggs were cooked but still wet I added 3 cups of cold rice that I had cooked earlier in the day and put in the fridge uncovered to dry out.

Mixed and let "fry" for a good few minutes without mixing. Then added 1 1/2 tbls of soy sauce and 1 tbls of oyster sauce. Mixed then served.

For the general Tso's sauce I put in 2 cloves of garlic chopped, half an inch of ginger grated, and 5 dried chili peppers. Stirred till fragrant.

Poured in the sauce.

Let bubble and thicken.

When thick and glossy I put the fried chicken bites in and stirred them to coat with the sauce.

Plated and topped with sliced green onions.