Cooking Weekend

We went to Cedar City and enjoyed some relaxing time there and at Bryce Canyon during Memorial Day Weekend with Kevin's parents. 
As you know I love to cook but I love to cook there more!
Kevin's mom has an amazing kitchen with all the gadgets and tons of space (including a very large granite-topped island)
She loves the break from cooking, and I love cooking for vacation; so we're a perfect match.
The best part is that Carol graciously buys all the ingredients for me (and I can get kinda nuts with the  ingredients for the new recipes - fresh ginger, fresh basil, snow peas, flank steak this time plus 50 more...)

The other best part is that she just cleans up after me as I move around the kitchen creating new and exciting things to eat while making new and exciting messes along with it. 
Carol will quietly clean up right behind me so when my tornado self destroys the kitchen, she becomes Utah Disaster Kleen-up... and round and round we go, happily (I hope) all weekend.

So all I get to do is create! No shopping, No Cleaning! (YES!)

This weekend I made:


Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf - a sweet AND tangy moist bread made with yogurt and fresh lemon juice and zest, make sure you use a LARGE loaf pan or two smaller ones.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta - this needed some tweaking but it was okay; next time I will use shredded parmesan not grated.  - So the texture was off, but it tasted great!

Chocolate Silk (Mousse) Pie - cookie crust piled high with fluffy creamy mousse; it was so good and Kevin's new favorite

Nathan made Crepes for breakfast with fresh fruit - he did a great job!

Monte Cristo - We made this for Brunch and it was a hit!

Fresh Orange Rolls  - again with real fresh squeezed orange juice and zest - the whole batch went in one meal!

Pot Roast - tender, juicy, pull apart with your fork

Raspberry Cream Pie - so sweet and creamy - it can be served frozen or chilled

Cherry Chocolate Cake - moist and chocolatey with the perfect fudge frosting

The recipe's are linked; I got them from Pioneer Woman Cooks, or The Sisters Cafe

I also got inspired by this blog post from IHeart Organizing to start a project this same weekend and move and re-organize all my recipes from my old smaller binders, which are 6x8 all inclusive with 15-year old food smears; all over them - to my new and bigger 81/2 x 11 binders; I'll be able to have new tabs that work and are custom to me! New sheet protectors with 4X6 pockets and bigger ones for larger recipes too etc; and a place to store my weekly menu plans and recipes I want to try; I'll show you the finished product soon as well; but here's the old binders.....

Complete with fingerprints and food particles

And the new!

(Wipe able surfaces too)

With way cute designs to match my kitchen!

I'll have 3 recipe binders; one for Breakfasts and Main Dishes,

one for Breads, Veggies, Sides, & Salads,

and one for Snacks & Desserts.

 (If you're wondering why 3 binders...it's because I'm usually making 2-3 things at a time

and don't want to flip back and forth in one book for 3 recipes.)

 This way; I'll have three books open and ready for me to cook;

unless my recipe is on this blog, then I'll have my IPad open too!

Wish me luck!