Leftover Salmon with Summer Linguini

My kids love salmon, a few days ago my mom & I bought a whole fresh wild Salmon from Costco, the kids and I were over for dinner and we cooked it in the oven. She kept half of the leftovers I took the other half home.  In the past when I've made similar dishes I've tried to mix the salmon with the pasta to heat it up, on the last occasion my husband said that it tasted like "salmon noodle casserole" not my idea of appetizing!

This time I knew I'd microwave it to re-heat and serve it on top or on the side of the pasta.

I made a simple Beurre Blanc Sauce with onions, mini bell peppers & garlic seasoned with salt & pepper, I finished it with fresh basil & tomatoes from our lanai container garden :) all with leftover zucchini!

This is actually a pretty simple meal as it's one part leftovers, one part pasta & one part yummy sauce!

 Leftover Salmon with Summer Linguini

 Fresh Basil

 Growing tomatoes - this is actually the first time I've done it successfully!

 My kids picked the tomatoes yesterday & today - usually they eat them immediately!

 My daughter took this photo and is insisting that I use it :)

 I think they liked it!

As a side note, I had two bites of the pasta, unlike my husband & little ones I do not have super-fast metabolism, I had my salmon, zucchini, tomatoes & bell peppers on a bed of spinach with a bit of fat-free dressing!

30% off Gap or Banana Republic Coupon

My best friend just forwarded this to me in an email...

That's 30% off your entire purchase at GAP or Banana Republic!

Print & Share :)

The Best CHOCOLATE Frosting I’ve Ever Had

I'm writing this quick entry for a recipe for chocolate frosting...

(scroll to the bottom for just the recipe)

I bake quite often and have been in search of a frosting recipe that is versatile for decorating but also tastes amazing.  I'm not a fan of butter cream frosting, as a child my mom reminisces that I would scrape the frosting off birthday cakes & cupcakes, it's most often too sweet & buttery for me.

When preparing to make the cake & cupcakes for my son's birthday I simply googled "best frosting" and came across this recipe:

That’s the Best Frosting I’ve Ever Had

I read the article and the recipe, made a face at the computer screen then decided to try it - Oh my gosh! Delicious, this was the heaven I had been searching for all my baking life!  I added food coloring to the frosting for the cupcakes...

I also used Wilton Sugar Sheets, cut on my Cricut, to cut out the super hero symbols, (yeah it worked! - that'll be another post) .  When it came to frosting the cake I wanted a chocolate frosting as my son wanted a "superhero fight on a mountain"  I tried melting cohocolate & letting it cool mixing it in the base recipe and it was too soupy, I tried to let it cool in the fridge, frosted the cake, let it set, in the end it was just too liquidy...

Can you see it falling apart and the words sliding down!? Happy.... So slight disaster but thankfully it still tasted amazing, really!

For my next frosting adventure I was determined to create a
                             "Best CHOCOLATE Frosting I’ve Ever Had" and I did it!! 

Ingredients:

• 5 Tablespoons Flour
• 4 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder, divided
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1 Cup Chocolate (chips/bar whatever you like)
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Butter

Mix the 5 Tablespoons of flour with 2 Tablespoons of the Cocoa Powder the 1 Cup of milk, whisk it REALLY WELL, you don't want any lumps as they will create clumps... Then in a medium saucepan heat over medium heat, stirring and whisking until the mixture is very thick.  Remove it from the heat and mix in the 1 Cup of Chocolate & the 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla until it's incorporated- then cool the mixture completely or you'll melt the butter. You can do this a head of time, put it in the fridge, cool in a water bath or stick it in and out of the freezer stirring every few minutes (what I usually do because I am so impatient!)

Meanwhile cream the 1 Cup of Butter, 1 Cup, 2 Sticks of butter and last 2 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder once creamed (she sugar will still be grainy) add the flour mixture & beat on medium high until it looks like whipped cream, I've beat it anywhere from 45 seconds - a minute and a half, test until you're happy with it :) then frost!  It refrigerates well & tastes like a chocolate mousse frosting, amazing!

Endless Summer

Summer, it seems to be coming to an end with the husstle & bussle of back to school preparations.

We spent most of our Sunday with friends, birthday parties & an afternoon at the tide pools.  The kids had an especially good time exploring & playing; we caught fish & found hermit crabs.  The simple serenity that the tide pools bring are something I remember so clearly from when I was little, getting lost in thoughts & discoveries, these are some of the moments that I marvel in watching my children experience.

My best friend was back home with her two kids for the past few weeks so we've been very busy playing & spending time together.  Now that she's left I'm finding myself with a bit of time before Mikayla goes back to her last year of preschool and Daven starts his first - yikes! oh yeah and I'll be going back to work! Craaazy ha ha.

We're all actually looking forward to it, I am just desperately trying to finish my "summer cleaning" & honey do list.  I have this delusion that our house will be perfect before we start back so that our lives will run smoothly, again, this is a delusion!  No one seems to be buying anything on craigslist which has left me with, not tons but containers full of things, (small clothes, shoes, little toys etc.) I'm thinking of just donating so that they don't take up precious real estate in our apartment, where every cubic inch is specifically designated and mentally organized.

That being said I have dozens of projects I want to do!!

•  Re-finish & re-cover lanai chairs
• Build a shelf/box holder for the lanai baskets
• Re-design our closet (evidently I had it overloaded as the top rod & shelf, really not a surprise started to fall the other day!  I bought 2 new brackets to install when we first moved in but someone, eh hem not me, never got around to it... this is a must as I currently have my storage boxes & all our shirts piled up in our bedroom!)
• Finish the kitchen - it's so close to being done!!

I've also got to do the grocery shopping for the week, my "day off" will be on Friday when I start back at WeePlay, so I have to figure out how to do my outings & errands with the kids on Friday...

Last note, with all of the Back-to-School sales going on now it's the best time to stock up on craft supplies - especially Crayons!  My mom thought I was crazy that I needed more until I clarified that they were for the ones I'll be melting & making for school mates - they're $1 for 4 24 packs at Toys-R-Us, so find an ad from the Sunday paper & price match at your favorite place, where they won't be out of stock!

Happy Summer - while it's still here!!