Blueberry Pound Cake

First of all, let me apologize for not taking more pictures. I should have... but I didn't. Yesterday was an off day.

I made this blueberry pound cake for my office. It turned out great! It's a pound cake with fresh organic blueberrys folded in with cream cheese frosting.

I adapted this recipe from one my mom has used for years!

Here it is! Hope you like it!

Blueberry Pound Cake

1 package Yellow Cake Mix
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
3 eggs
Blueberries (as many as you like)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of flour


Icing:
2 sticks butter
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon water

Freeze your blueberries so they will be firm.

In a mixer, blend cream cheese (at room temperature) to make it smooth. Then add cake mix and blend on low. Next, add vegetable oil and blend together. Then add eggs one at a time until blended completely.

Next, coat blueberries with flour. This keeps your batter from becoming blue. Then fold carefully into batter.

Bake at 325* for one hour.

For the icing, blend butter and cream cheese, then slowly add sugar, and then water. Drizzle over the top of the pound cake after finished cooking.

Two Years in the Boro!

I figured we should take a minute to take a step back and reflect on our life over the past two years. July 4 marked the two year anniversary since we moved here to Murfreesboro. Our first year, we just got our feet wet, but the second year we were here, we've really made a home for ourselves.





We've gotten involved in church, and around the community. We love Murfreesboro and MTSU, and can honestly see ourselves making a home here.



After two years of being here, we love a new friends, new families, and the community that we've become a part of. Tennessee is a great place to live!

Quinoa Jambalaya

Today we're trying something new. Something healthy. Go with me on this. While I was cooking this, I was honestly worried it wasn't going to taste well at all. I mean, it has some awesome flavors, but the main ingredient... Quinoa... is new to me. I had never tried it, and I thought to myself that this is going to be disgusting! But, the good news is... I was wrong! It was very good! A little different from traditional jambalaya, but very good nonetheless.

So... just go with me on this. It'll be good!



Mince some garlic, cut some bell peppers, some zucchini, and some onions.



Then... drop it likes it hot with some chicken sausage, and let that cook all the way through.



Then add Chicken Broth, Fire Roasted Tomatoes, and the Quinoa.

Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, and then add your shrimp!



Looking good!

And here's the finished product!



My wife got this recipe from Candace Bure... yes, DJ from Full House! I adapted it to fit our style a little bit! I hope you like it!

1 large clove of garlic
1/2 a bell pepper
1/2 yellow onion
1 zucchini
5 links Chicken Sausage
1 lb Shrimp
Salt
Pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1 8 oz can Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Mince garlic, and dice bell pepper, onion, and zucchini. Heat your pot with the olive oil to med-high heat. Then sautee' the garlic bell pepper, onion, and zucchini. Then add sausage, and cook through.

Next, add Quinoa, chicken broth, and tomatoes, and simmer for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, peel your shrimp, and after it has simmered for 10 minutes, add shrimp, and let it cook through. It usually takes 2-5 minutes to cook shrimp through.

*Remember, if you overcook shrimp, it becomes a rubber tire... so keep an eye on it! :D

Chocolate Cobbler

I've been meaning to post this for a while now. I've made it twice in the past two weeks for work and for company that have come over to eat. This recipe is quickly becoming one of our new favorites, and is in the ranking to become a holiday tradition at our house. It's easy to see why though. This is so rich and moist, who wouldn't want this at their Thanksgiving spread.



As always, start with a stick of butter... Melt it. Love it. Embrace it. Butter gets a bad wrap...but man it's good.



Then we get some cocoa...



...and mix it with sugar and flour...



add milk, and pour mixture over the melted butter. Here's the interesting part. You boil two cups of water, and then pour it over the melted butter and batter, and then bake it! And what you get it this...



Don't forget the Whipped Cream! I hope you like it!

Here's the Recipe:

Chocolate Cobbler:

1 stick of butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350*. Melt butter in an 8 x 8 baking dish. Remove the baking dish from the oven and set it aside. Then combine 3/4 cup of sugar, the flour and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Add the milk and vanilla extract, and pour mixture over melted butter. Then, boil two cups of water, and pour on top of the mixture and melted butter. Bake for about 50 minutes to an hour, and don't forget the whipped cream!

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Lime Shrimp Lettuce Wraps

As misleading as this blog may be, Ashlynn and I do try our best to lead a healthy lifestyle. We workout regularly, and for the most part, try to eat right. We're truly learning what it means to be "healthy." Healthy is using nutrient rich ingredients, and moderating the amount of food you intake... it's a pretty cool thing once you grasp it.

Anyway, one of our favorite meals is Lime Shrimp Lettuce Wraps. It's mouth watering... filling...soul satisfying... and healthy as long as you don't have a cholesterol problem! The best thing about this dish is it's so versatile. We've served it over pasta and as a salad before.

Eating healthy can be great... really, it can.



We'll start by marinating our peeled, deveined shrimp in soy sauce, vegetable oil, lime juice, and minced garlic.

...here's the deal on minced garlic. I'm not a big fan of the canned or bottled (whatever) minced garlic. The taste just isn't the same. I mince my own garlic!... it's better that way!



Then, after you marinate the shrimp for about an hour in the fridge, cook them on medium heat for about 3 or 4 minutes... and that's it! You're done!

Here's the deal on shrimp:

It cooks so quickly. You have to stay on top of it. In my parents restaurant, I always told my employees that cooking shrimp takes only a couple of minutes. If you cook it just right, it'll come out plump and juicy. The shrimp literally will pop open in your mouth, and the flavors will exude throughout it. If you overcook it, it'll taste like you're eating a tire, and we don't want that!



The finished product tastes as amazing as it looks!

I got this recipe from Paula... you can get it here

Now it's your turn! Ashlynn and I want to know what healthy recipes you cook at home???

Puckett's Grocery!

Ashlynn and I went out to eat last night in Franklin Tennessee. Check out our Adventures page for the details!

Blackberry Butter

I'm a blessed dude. There's no doubt about it. Between God and the love of my wife, all three of us have got it covered. Yesterday morning, I woke up, and my wife fixed me.. (Drum Roll)... Whole Wheat French Toast with Blackberry Butter. I'm speechless...

I don't know what else to say.
It was that good.

I love the little things in life. Sure... get me an iPhone, iMac... anything that Apple makes, and I'll think you're pretty dang awesome, but when my wife shows me unconditional love (the kind they talk about in the Bible), nothing tops that... and this unconditional love was poured out in the form of breakfast!



Start by mixing 4 sticks of butter (at room temperature) until smooth. Like I said before, anything that starts off with butter is going to be good, much less this specific instance, where it's the main attraction.



Next, in goes the fruit... Now it becomes healthy ;)



Don't let this picture fool you... From the looks of it, we've got our mixer on high... but we don't! Turn it on a low speed, and proceed to mix just until it's all incorporated together. This is where you can get a little crazy with the recipe. You can add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar, or in our case, we added some Truvia instead to keep it a little lighter.



When you get done, it should look something like this... Now, strain it to get the excess fruit juice off, and place into a bowl.



And your done! Put in the freezer for about an hour to let it firm up, and then refrigerate! I hope you like it!

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a Chicken Pot Pie recipe on another blog, and then last weekend, I ate Chicken Pot Pie at the Paula Deen Buffet. I took this as a sign that I should make it tonight... so I did. This isn't just any Chicken Pot Pie. It's made with Heavy Whipping Cream, and biscuits!

So Let's start with the bread...



With some Bisquik, Sharp Cheddar Cheese, and milk, you can make Cheddar Biscuits in no time.



After that goes into the oven, get out the skillet, and get started by melting a stick of butter. Once melted, mix in flour to make a roux, and then we get started on adding the other ingredients...



Heavy Cream, onions, garlic, carrots, peas...more heavy cream... and then you simmer... smother your biscuits, and serve!



Here's the recipe! I hope you like it!

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

4 chicken breast halves, or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
Seasoned salt and pepper

1/3 stick butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken base
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 cup frozen green peas, cooked
1 cup chopped cooked carrots

Filling:

Season chicken with seasoned salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through. Remove from heat and cut into chunks. Alternatively, you may use precooked chicken.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and then slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter, but not brown like a roux. Slowly add cream and keep stirring. Add chicken base, garlic, and onion and stir until thickened. Add peas, carrots, and cut up chicken. Remove from heat. Place biscuits on top and serve.

BIscuits:

2 Cups Bisquick
1 Cup Cold Milk (about)
1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Mix and roll into biscuit pan, and bake at 450* for about 10 minutes.

Patriotism at it's finest!

Evidently the Fourth got the best of me, because I didn't take any pictures of this awesome recipe because I was sleeping on the couch while my wife baked this awesome cake. This is my grandmother's recipe, and every bite brings back memories. I hope you like it!


Louise's Strawberry Cake

1 Box Yellow "Butter" Cake Mix

1 Small Pkg. Strawberry Jello Mix

1 cup Hot Water

Fresh Strawberrys

1 Lg Cool Whip

1-2 Cups Sugar (Depending on how many Strawberries you have)


Make Cake according to directions on the box. While the cake is baking, sprinkle sugar over the strawberries so they will sweeten up and they will get soft. Stir them often so to get all of the strawberries covered.

You will then mix the Jello with the water and pour into the strawberry's. Then get a straw to punch holes all over the cake. You then pour the Strawberry mixture over the cake evenly. Top with Cool Whip or Homemade Whipped Cream.

Dinner and a Movie...

Tonight was awesome. It's the little things in life that I love. One of my absolute favorite things to do is stay home, cook dinner for my wife, and watch a movie. We throw on our sweats, cook a good meal, flop down on the couch.... what could be better?

I know... that's exactly what I was thinking.

Tonight, I fixed Roasted Tomato Pasta with Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and Garlic Bread buttered with my very own homemade butter that I owe completely to Joy. The butter came out exactly the way she explained it, and I highly recommend it... it was amazing!



So let's get started! Preheat that oven to 450*, and grab some tomatoes and garlic. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper on top (this makes the tomatoes plump and adds flavor). What we're doing here is roasting the tomatoes and garlic. It's simple... Depending on size, grab about 5-10 cloves of garlic, and leave the skins on. Then, roast them in the oven for 20 minutes. When your done, let the garlic cool for a few, and then remove the skins. What you should have is this...



I know... my mouth is watering at this point too...

Oh! I forgot an important step... while this is going on, boil Penne Pasta, and when you finish, set two cups of the water it was boiled in aside. We have plans. While you're at it, cube some chicken breast and throw it in a pan with some olive oil, italian bread crumbs, garlic powder, and onion powder, and let that cook.



Now, in your serving bowl pour one cup of the water in, and the garlic. With a wisk, begin working the garlic and water together. The garlic will dissolve into the water eventually making a base for your pasta sauce.



Then pour in your tomatoes, and the remaining cup of water, and work it in just like the garlic. Boom... pasta sauce...done.

Pour in your pasta, and then add 1/2 a cup of fresh parmesan cheese, and mix it all together... did I mention this is all healthy? Then, pour your chicken on top, add a little more parmesan, and serve!



Let's not forget the bread... Please wave at my homemade butter as you scroll down. He says what's up?



I hope you like it! Here's the recipe:

Roasted Tomato Pasta with Parmesan Crusted Chicken

2 cups Cherry Tomatoes
5-10 cloves of garlic
Penne Pasta
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 450*. In a pan, lay your tomatoes, and garlic (skins on), and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook your penne pasta, following the instructions on the box, but save two cups of the water you boiled it in. Also, cube your chicken, and cook on a stove top will a little olive oil. After they finish cooking, mix 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon of onion powder, and pour over chicken. Let simmer, tossing to cover chicken.

After the tomatoes and garlic cools, remove the garlic skins, and mix the garlic well in one cup of water from the pot you cooked your pasta in. Then, add the tomatoes and remaining cup of water, and mix well.

Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and pasta, and mix well. Then add your chicken on top, and generously pour more parmesan on top (if that's your thing).