tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1886650973790709512012-02-22T16:31:52.994-08:00<b>A Liberal Family's Adventures in Cooking, House-Hunting and More</b>thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.comBlogger591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-19084307361457766282012-02-22T16:31:00.000-08:002012-02-22T16:31:53.004-08:00

With Montana weather what it is, unfortunately picnics are usually only an option in the short summer months. When we feel like having a lunch date that doesn't involve a restaurant but it's too cold and windy for an outdoors trek, lately we've been having indoor "room date" picnics. Laying out a blanket over the bed and popping a film or T.V. show on the computer can be a fun alternative to

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-19300361317048792622012-01-22T19:12:00.000-08:002012-01-22T19:15:49.316-08:00

It's been awhile since our last food blog update and we've made quite a few new interesting things to catch up on. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and various other parties we've been cooking up a storm.  Before getting into all that let's check out some of the regular weekly meals we've made over the last few months that take regular ingredients and turn them into spectacular,

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-53772014143620032322011-11-09T18:33:00.000-08:002011-11-09T18:33:49.122-08:00

Our previous experiment with the Italian murder mystery dinner went exceedingly well, so we've been doing more murder mystery evenings with family friends, and of course - food!  Our latest was "Honky Tonk Homicide," which had everyone dressing up as various patrons of a hony tonk cowboy bar.  To keep up with the theme we made "beer butt" chicken, which sounds odd, but is incredibly tasty. The

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-88105808541987018032011-09-07T18:21:00.000-07:002011-09-07T18:21:32.948-07:00

We may be a full week into September, but apparently somebody forgot to notify the Montana skies, as we're still regularly getting high 80 temperatures.  Despite the lack of proper Fall weather we decided to brave the oven anyway and start making some fun baked meals.  Before getting into that though, here's another look at one of our grilled kebab adventures. This time for a little more fun

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-82349644267221559092011-08-26T16:30:00.000-07:002011-08-26T16:30:55.892-07:00

We've still got a few more great grilling experiences to share before summer comes to a close again.  Lately we've been a bit worried about what exactly goes on during the process of making ground beef and what they may be putting in there to extend the product, so we decided to try making our own ground beef.  What was amazing is how incredibly easy this process really is. I had an image in my

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-21009270411277937842011-08-22T16:53:00.000-07:002011-08-22T16:53:30.446-07:00

We've been a little behind in keeping up with our food blogs lately, so this one is going to cover several different topics.  After recently posting a look back at grilling season, now we'll dive into a murder mystery dinner we did a few weeks back, adventures in making some amazingly fantastic pretzels, and even a little more grilled kebab action. We have a weekly gaming group that plays

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-2656844584574441022011-08-19T21:14:00.000-07:002011-08-19T21:14:03.067-07:00

Unfortunately we're nearing the end of the grilling season in Montana, but we've grilled up a storm of tasty in the short time we've had warm enough weather to hang around outside while cooking.  We started the season off with a couple of variations on a real classic - the grilled burger.  We like to do lots of different things with burgers besides just changing the seasonings. For the burgers

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-63731314815781944192011-05-06T16:33:00.000-07:002011-05-06T16:35:13.579-07:00

It may have been snowing out, but you wouldn't have known that from the delicious fare we put together for my birthday a few months back.  It was all sun and smiles inside as we created a unique surf 'n turf style burrito inspired by the Surfin' California burrito at the Lucha Libre Taco Shop.  To start off with, I cut up cilantro and added it to olive oil, allowing the flavors to marinate

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-68006818523344541982011-02-26T11:37:00.000-08:002011-02-26T11:38:05.664-08:00

It's been quite a long while since we mentioned the War in Heaven chicken tacos, as one computer problem after another prevented the video from being prepared.  I am pleased to announce the video clip is finally being editing together today, and should hopefully be available shortly. In the mean time, I thought I'd share an interesting creation I put together today.  We had a bunch of random

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-84006236046392994382011-01-21T19:12:00.000-08:002011-01-21T19:36:20.741-08:00

Friday is easily the most glorious day of the week, and we like to commemorate the end of the work week by making something fun before the real weekend festivities begin. Lately I've been making several different taco variations, such as putting together my own take on the "Double Decker" taco - a hard shell taco inside a soft shell taco with a layer of beans holding them together.Now that

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-14718533540561430792010-12-04T17:12:00.001-08:002010-12-05T16:32:02.747-08:00

For food fanatics like us, Thanksgiving isn't so much a holiday as an event/food extravaganza. We look forward to this day all year long, and eagerly await the week's worth of turkey sandwiches afterward. After five years of Thanksgiving dinners together, we've got our family meal down pat, but this year we also branched out a bit and tried a few new things.No one wants to spend all day putting

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-18253219785645855082010-10-14T16:24:00.000-07:002010-10-14T21:08:57.748-07:00

We're taking a little side trek from the Great Dinner Retrospective this week because we took a trip to Portland with Megan's brothers. Any trip to a town that amazing has also got to include some amazing meals. Unfortunately we didn't get to sample everything we wanted to, missing out on a fun restaurant we heard about that only serves variations on the grilled cheese sandwich and the Voodoo

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-73029903422161030462010-10-03T17:41:00.001-07:002010-10-03T18:31:50.154-07:00

With our last dinner retrospective we went over a lot of quick, easy, and economical meals, so this time around we'll be delving into more elaborate and fun dinners we've made over the course of the past year.To start off, here's one of the many quiche variations we've tried out. This is a meal that's easy to customize and make in many different styles just by swapping out the type of cheese and

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-32835942622980380002010-09-18T17:32:00.000-07:002010-09-19T16:04:00.685-07:00

Here we are with another round of delicious meals we've made over the last year of our cooking adventures. If you missed the last dinner retrospective, you can check it out here.This week we'll start off with a quick, but still amazing, meal. Every now and again I get the urge to make sushi at home, but Megan isn't a fish fan, so she usually puts together a simple stir fry for the less

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-40210320318171604032010-09-16T19:09:00.000-07:002010-09-16T19:45:13.423-07:00

Hey there food fanatics! We've been on a massive "not spending" spree lately, which unfortunately means we haven't been making anything in the grand old "man vs. food" tradition. That doesn't mean we haven't been making delicious meals, though! While we are in between massive food projects, and while we wait for our chicken taco videos to be finished, I'll be putting up several new posts in

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-9931724500959038002010-08-20T20:15:00.001-07:002010-08-21T09:00:35.451-07:00

Hey again food blog readers! Our massive chicken taco project is still in the works, but fear not, it's going to be here soon. In the mean time we've made quite a few delicious things that need to be shown to the world. A few weekends back I was craving something to snack on while spending an unnecessary amount of time playing video games (the original SNES version of Lufia and the PC game

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-29973399420844446612010-08-08T15:18:00.000-07:002010-08-08T15:40:25.439-07:00

All the voice overs have been recorded for our upcoming first video blog, and now all the video is being spliced together for our amazing take on chicken tacos. You can check out the first two teasers for the upcoming video here and here if you haven't seen them yet. Just to keep you hooked a little bit longer, here are two more photos from the recording:Trust me when I say the final product

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-22339603159406091132010-07-24T11:31:00.001-07:002010-07-25T19:40:22.908-07:00

We recently recorded the voice overs for our upcoming video blog, which means its time for the second teaser for our "War in Heaven" chicken tacos. Here's two more pictures to give a taste of the upcoming glory:Last weekend I decided to take a second crack at the french fry sandwich. I liked how it went before, but I wanted to change up a few things. This time around I went with waffle cut

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-76432856286783717742010-07-15T18:32:00.001-07:002010-07-15T18:40:00.281-07:00

The making of our latest, greatest creation (which we've dubbed the "War in Heaven Chicken Tacos") was all caught on film. Since it will be some time before its all edited together and we've recorded all the voice overs, I thought I'd give a little brief taste of the glory to come. What could all these photos possibly have to do with each other?Taste buds excited yet? There is much, much more

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-31775813629461833282010-06-19T18:24:00.000-07:002010-06-19T19:12:04.400-07:00

A few weeks back Jacob and I were discussing our previous sandwich creations and thought up some of the more absurd possibilities for a truly "Man Vs. Food" style burger. All sorts of nonsense got tossed around, such as Texas toast grilled cheese sandwiches as buns or a full lobster tail going on top. This week we decided to try out one that had been brewing in our minds for awhile: putting

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-74804390267357932342010-05-29T16:49:00.000-07:002010-05-30T14:12:59.783-07:00

Unlike the last two posts, our latest Man Vs. Food excursion is more emulation than inspiration, as we only changed a single ingredient from the original recipe. This delectable meal was brought about due to the Las Vegas episode on Season 2. The idea is to take two heavy breakfast favorites, the chicken fried chicken and the eggs benedict, and meld them into one single perfect dish.The Fried

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-91111030874001774442010-05-22T17:16:00.001-07:002010-05-30T17:33:16.392-07:00

We've been going through and re-watching the first two seasons of Man Vs. Food thanks to the glory that is Netflix instant streaming via the Wii. Every episode has given us new ideas of amazing meals to try out, and we've got a stack of potential recipes just waiting to be made. Our most recent concoction came about due to the Pittsburgh episode of the first season, when Adam Richman heads out

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-65327044266807263782010-05-08T18:33:00.000-07:002010-05-08T19:21:25.680-07:00

Hey there food blog readers! We're taking a break from your regularly scheduled Megan blogs so I can show off a real monstrosity of a sandwich I made awhile back. We've been watching the "Man Vs. Food" TV show, and all the ridiculously mouth watering meals Adam Richman partakes of have given us a lot of ideas for our own over sized entrees. In one of the episodes a cook added macaroni and

Ty Arthurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11428461596419098108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-16341470851842352392010-05-05T12:50:00.000-07:002010-05-05T12:50:54.235-07:00

For the past three weeks Ty and I have been picking up the Albertson's store ad when it comes out on Wednesdays. What began as a diversion to get out of the house for a few minutes has become a real money-saver. Though we still do most of our weekly grocery shopping at WalMart, Albertson's always has a few of the items that we need (or want) for less. Here are some of the highlights from this

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-90968161508171432912009-08-23T14:17:00.000-07:002009-08-23T15:02:25.327-07:00

I found the recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with Fresh Nectarine Salsa from AllRecipes.com after it was featured as the "Recipe of the Day" a couple of weeks ago. I find a lot of my recipes through the great "Recipe of the Day" newsletter from AllRecipes.com and would recommend it to any and everyone. The recipe takes flavorfully-seasoned boneless pork chops, grills them and then tops them with a

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-42464897595961956472009-08-23T13:57:00.000-07:002009-08-23T14:17:06.250-07:00

Meatloaf was on our meal list last week, but because we wanted to make sure we used up all our leftovers it ended up getting pushed to the next week. When we finally did make it, the guys were definitely ready for it. I've been making meatloaf for a long time, honestly it's one of those dinners that I probably popped out of the womb knowing how to make. I never use an exact recipe, but nearly

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-55237214423269039632009-08-17T11:40:00.000-07:002009-08-17T11:56:03.487-07:00

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away... Just kidding, I couldn't resist. Anyway, a long time ago when we lived with our grandparents here in Montana, our Grandma Vicki introduced us to a delicious Chicken Enchilada Soup that she made. Honestly, it was one of the highlights of living there...it was THAT tasty! So after we moved out, Matt decided that that couldn't mean the end of our Chicken

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-83288119415999238552009-08-16T11:13:00.000-07:002009-08-16T11:37:32.563-07:00

Ravioli is a lazy night favorite at our house. We can have the ravioli and the garlic bread done and on our plates in just under 20 minutes. What could be better than that? I always buy one package of three-cheese ravioli and one package of meat ravioli and use half of each bag. I put the rest of the mixed ravioli in a Ziplock bag for another lazy night dinner occasion. Keeping with the marvelous

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-63914374137096988602009-08-16T10:58:00.000-07:002009-08-16T11:13:10.957-07:00

This was another recipe I found in my Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" book. The chicken had to be pounded to a quarter-inch thickness, which was, surprisingly, not as much fun as it sounds. Still, I pressed on. The filling consisted of chopped fresh spinach, Ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, and various seasonings which was spread on to the flattened chicken breasts and then rolled up.Here's what

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-52096885421026033772009-08-13T12:54:00.000-07:002009-08-16T10:57:59.660-07:00

We're always trying to include variety in our diet so this week I decided to make a grilled eggplant recipe that I found on About.com. I'm not very familiar with eggplant, in fact this was the first time I'd ever had eggplant that wasn't fried! But the recipe sounded tasty so I decided to give it a try. The eggplant was sliced and brushed with a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, thyme,

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-40051898867503541792009-08-11T13:13:00.000-07:002009-08-11T13:36:35.808-07:00

The Quiche Lorraine we made last week was such a hit that I decided to make another variety of quiche this week. I'm a big spinach fan, so Quiche Florentine is absolutely my favorite kind of quiche. I looked for a good recipe for Quiche Florentine online, but didn't find one that really "grabbed" me. I decided to use the basic recipe for Quiche Lorraine and modify to make it Quiche Florentine. So

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-91846796416577141662009-08-10T21:58:00.000-07:002009-08-11T13:12:39.957-07:00

Breakfast burritos are a favorite food around our house. We could eat them any time of the day or night, and a lot of times we do! Ty's the resident breakfast burrito chef, and he makes one tasty breakfast burrito! The ingredients for our breakfast burritos always vary depending on what we have on hand. This particular time we used a pound of Gimme Lean veggie sausage, a can of green chilies, a

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-65812351373418743762009-08-09T19:15:00.000-07:002009-08-09T19:18:33.995-07:00

Here is a list of the meals we'll be having this week, in no particular order.Breakfast BurritosGrilled Eggplant and Summer CouscousQuiche Florentine and SaladSpinach and Ricotta Stuffed ChickenMeatloaf

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-60883248663940828762009-08-09T18:57:00.000-07:002009-08-09T19:23:28.599-07:00

Things have died down a little bit since Jayne went home (gosh, we miss her!). Here are some of the meals we had the week after she left.Quiche LorraineTy and I wanted to make a quiche. To keep things simple I went to AllRecipes.com and found the highest rated recipe for Quiche Lorraine. Classic, simple, DELICIOUS!! Here's a link to the recipe in case you'd like to try it for yourself: Quiche

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-29154306473758959212009-08-09T18:43:00.000-07:002009-08-09T18:57:33.944-07:00

Jayne had such a good time making sushi when she visited for Christmas that she put in a special request for another sushi night. So we called over our friend Cristal, who also loves sushi, for a night of good fun, good food and raw fish. Here are some of the pictures we took that night.

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-32924903910559910942009-08-09T16:13:00.000-07:002009-08-09T18:43:37.966-07:00

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've posted any new meals to our cooking blog! We've had an amazing summer so far! Our good friend Craig visited from Scotland for two weeks and we had a blast showing him all of the sights here in Montana. The day after Craig headed home Jayne came up to visit from California. All in all, the whole friends and family summer vacation experience was two full

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-8535330181029797922009-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:002009-05-12T20:50:32.940-07:00

We live in an apartment building, so having an amazing grill is a little impractical. But we all love to grill so recently Ty decided that we had to get one, even if it was just a little one. So we went to Wal-Mart, picked out a little $35 propane grill and grabbed some hamburger and hot dog fixings! Here's the grill Ty picked out, complete with accessories! Ty made potato packets to go with our

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-41582656475704718122009-05-11T21:20:00.000-07:002009-05-11T21:57:32.910-07:00

We had a seasoning packet for Thai Red Curry in our cabinet for months and months. I found it a couple of weeks ago and thought it looked pretty awesome. I don't know why we waited so long to make it!Here are the chicken and vegetables cooking together. You were supposed to add coconut milk to the packet to make a sauce for the curry. I forgot to buy coconut milk so I used what I had on hand,

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-65559287069846115992009-05-11T20:23:00.000-07:002009-05-11T21:18:58.143-07:00

Cottage Pie was one of my favorite things I ate when I went to the United Kingdom in 2004. When AllRecipes.com sent me the recipe for Proper English Cottage Pie as a recipe-of-the-day awhile back I was excited to make it! We made it a couple of days after Easter and because we still had leftover Colcannon I used that in place of plain mashed potatoes for the topping. It was great. The fried

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-41781677990466692009-05-11T19:12:00.000-07:002009-05-11T20:23:28.726-07:00

This year for Easter dinner I decided to cook my first whole chicken. I found a really great recipe on AllRecipes.com called Juicy Roasted Chicken. The ingredients were simple and the recipes had great reviews. One woman said she used this recipe for a chicken she submitted in a chicken contest and she won the blue ribbon. It sounded so wonderful we just had to try it!Here's the before picture...

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-31442484335348191452009-04-17T22:57:00.000-07:002009-04-17T23:41:04.005-07:00

Can you call it an extravaganza when you're only coloring a dozen eggs?For the last several years we've colored Easter eggs with our nieces or with the nieces/nephews/small children of friends. This year, none of the aforementioned children were available so Ty and I decided to color Easter eggs by ourselves while Matt caught up to where we were in "Big Love" (we've been power-watching it, it's

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-32243942271457406272009-04-17T22:07:00.000-07:002009-04-17T22:57:04.634-07:00

As part of my quest to continually expand our culinary horizons, I wanted to introduce the deliciousness that is Tandoori to Ty. Matt, Jacob and I had Tandoori years ago when my parents picked up a big shaker of it from a natural foods store. For the short time that we had it, I sprinkled Tandoori on nearly everything. Then, when it was gone, it was, well, gone. Recently, the deliciousness

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-44504704142621572842009-04-17T21:30:00.000-07:002009-04-17T22:05:47.832-07:00

We found this delicious recipe for homemade fajitas in an issue of Martha Stewart: Everyday Cooking. Ty and I were so happy with how they turned out! We had restaurant-delicious chicken fajitas in under 30 minutes...start to finish. It just doesn't get better than that!First, we cut an onion, one red and one yellow bell pepper into thin strips. We threw them into a bowl and tossed them with some

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-70025449023972090742009-04-06T21:50:00.000-07:002009-04-06T22:39:58.193-07:00

Ty and I sat down over the weekend and came up with our meal plan for the week. We had everything just about the way we wanted it when we realized that we'd completely forgotten that Easter is on the 12th. So we reworked the meal plan and this is what we came up with...Fast and Easy Chicken FajitasBecause of my new-found love for bell peppers we decided to try out a recipe for chicken fajitas

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-5835778582779923802009-04-03T21:48:00.000-07:002009-04-03T22:19:57.881-07:00

Another new recipe we tried from AllRecipes.com this week was Chicken and Peppers with Balsamic Vinegar. This was kind of a test recipe for a curious craving I've had lately for bell peppers.A little backstory... I've never cared for bell peppers, especially green ones. For as long as I can remember I've thought they were pretty gross. But because I'm a big believer in expanding one's culinary

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-1212667970386604052009-04-03T21:02:00.000-07:002009-04-03T21:46:28.458-07:00

One of my favorite meals this week was English Sausage Rolls. Ty and I made them using a really simple recipe we found on AllRecipes.com and they were delicious!!I'm not a fan of regular ground sausage so we used Gimme Lean ground veggie "sausage" instead. For people like Jacob who feel I need to explain EXACTLY why I don't like regular sausage, my reasons are as follows... It's really greasy...

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-61609597330551401652009-03-29T21:55:00.000-07:002009-03-29T22:20:00.414-07:00

Ty and I were at 2J's today when Ty discovered that they had genuine French escargot. He had to try it.I was very skeptical. Eating snails just didn't sound like something I would enjoy. I was especially worried about the texture. Ty, on the other hand, looked forward to his escargot all day long.Here are the little guys before they're put back into their shells...After Ty stuffed them back into

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-84973420396854664612009-03-29T21:38:00.000-07:002009-03-29T21:55:35.998-07:00

Ty loves making homemade sushi on the weekends. Here's what he came up with this time...

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-66212058219685092462009-03-29T20:55:00.000-07:002009-04-01T19:49:33.360-07:00

We have a great restaurant here in Montana called The McKenzie River Pizza Company. They have delicious pizzas, pastas, salads and more. It's so good, that every time we go there we have to wait for a table...sometimes for a long time, but we do it because it's delicious.On my wedding night, June 28, 2006, Ty and I had dinner at McKenzie River with my relatives who were in town for our wedding.

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-40030654584564057892009-03-29T15:03:00.000-07:002009-03-29T15:07:52.759-07:00

Last Sunday I wanted to do something fun for Ty, so I got up early and made him pancakes while he was still sleeping. To cut back on sugar we ate the pancakes with light vanilla yogurt and sliced strawberries instead of syrup. So yummy!!

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-75366726822878603472009-03-29T14:32:00.000-07:002009-03-29T15:02:49.465-07:00

For St. Patrick's Day 2009 I decided to try my hand at making a delicious Irish stew recipe. After consulting our cookbooks we decided to go with a recipe we found on AllRecipes.com called Special Irish Stew.Since there was a lot of chopping involved, I decided to enlist the help of my brother Jacob, who is a wonderful cook himself. We always have a wonderful time cooking together and there are

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-5693722648547569632009-03-29T14:04:00.000-07:002009-03-29T14:31:45.135-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, Ty decided that for his birthday he wanted to serve a 3-course meal featuring recipes that were made with infused vodkas. The dinner was spectacular, but of course, we've come to expect nothing less from Ty!The first course of Ty's 3-course vodka dinner was Vodka White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup Served in a Roasted Tomato. Yeah, you heard that right...served

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-65254625505084571282009-03-29T13:36:00.000-07:002009-03-29T13:59:47.588-07:00

When Ty's mom gave us several sweet potatoes a couple weeks ago we weren't quite sure what we wanted to do with them. We looked at some cookbooks and on AllRecipes.com and finally decided on Onion-Roasted Sweet Potatoes. The recipe turned out to be as simple as peeling and dicing the sweet potatoes, then tossing them in a mixture of vegetable oil and store-bought dry onion soup packets.Then we

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-43355871023703197272009-03-29T13:18:00.000-07:002009-03-29T13:35:15.700-07:00

It would be an understatement to say that Ty "likes" vodka. Vodka is Ty's favorite hard liquor and he often uses it for cooking as well. Matt got Ty a vodka cookbook for Christmas as a last-minute gift having no idea how much Ty would actually like it. Ty immediately began planning an all-vodka recipe birthday dinner. Each of the recipes he chose needed their own flavor of infused vodka. Ty made

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-8317874592338275702009-03-28T01:08:00.000-07:002009-03-29T13:17:26.935-07:00

This pizza was featured on the cover of a vegetarian magazine we picked up while out-of-town one weekend. It looked too delicious to pass up so we had to give it a try!Here I am chopping some veggies for the pizza...Look at all those colorful veggies!!Next, we sauteed some minced garlic in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil...Then it was time to roll out the pizza dough...We topped the

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-86167952385872688612009-03-28T00:44:00.000-07:002009-03-28T01:07:25.778-07:00

Ty is an avid sushi fan. When you live somewhere like Great Falls, Montana, where sushi is a largely unappreciated form of cuisine, you have to get a little creative when it comes to figuring out where your next sushi fix will come from.I decided to solve this problem for Ty by getting him a complete sushi-making kit for Christmas and following that gift up with a set of sushi knives for his

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-43832620168514619392009-03-28T00:17:00.000-07:002009-03-29T14:04:24.975-07:00

More than anything Matt wanted steak for his birthday, but not just steak; steak and lobster. So we set out to make Matt's birthday awesome by recreating a meal he'd raved about at a restaurant months earlier.Here's Ty prepping the lobster...Here he's making the butter sauce to brush on the lobsters before they're broiled...In these next two photos he's making some kind of seafood topping for the

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-84557091755937263772009-03-27T23:50:00.000-07:002009-03-28T00:14:32.923-07:00

Today Ty and I sat down and completed our meal plan and grocery list before work. Last week we found a couple too many recipes to try so this week we already had a couple of meals in mind. This is what we'll be making this week:The "Madison Pizza"The "Madison" is a pizza served at The McKenzie River Pizza Company here in Great Falls. It has a soft, chewy crust, light tomato sauce and is topped

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188665097379070951.post-54558101181323400292009-03-27T23:26:00.001-07:002009-03-27T23:45:29.797-07:00

Our wonderful little family consists of me, my husband Ty, my brother Matt who is our roommate and my brother Jacob who lives next door. We're all very close and since we live in the same apartment building it just makes sense that we eat most meals together. Ty and I do the meal planning and then Matt, Ty and I do the shopping.We when were first living together Ty and I had a very relaxed

thespitfiredragonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10294292569114660381noreply@blogger.com0