Homeade Popcorn, Stuffed, Mushrooms,Roma Tomato Sauce, Bacon Date Scones,

 1     sweet & spicy tacos I'm not a huge fan of soft or hard taco shells so I thought I'd try it with nan. I made some ground beef with cumin, chile pepper and some herbs. I made guacamole (the spicy) from a kit at Trader Joes' which turned out to be spicy and delicious. Then I used a corn salsa (the sweet) as the topping for the other taco. I fried up some tomatoes, onions, and red an yellow peppers to throw on top too. I haven't been the biggest fan of tacos in the past but we've been on a margarita & mexican kick here so I gave them a go. It was really tasty to get both the spicy and sweet tacos together.

2     homeade popcorn Josh doesn't really like popcorn but I have always wanted to make it from a skillet so one night I went for it. He ended up loving it and ate as much of it as I did.

put 2 tbs. oil in pan, set on medium heat.
Put in 2 kernels, when they pop then put in a 1/2 cup of kernels. C
ook until they are done popping. MAKE SURE TO PUT ON A LID. And don't open the lid- I did and got popcorn everywhere :)
I just melted 2 tbs. of butter to put in it and then coarse ground salt & pepper. I went heavy on the pepper and it gave it a nice kick that really made it great.

 3     stuffed mushrooms Our friend Danielle gave us a Cheesecake factory gift card for our wedding present because she knew there was one in downtown Seattle and we had never been and were stoked to check it out. We found a winner in the stuffed mushrooms. 2 weeks late we went back and just got 2 orders of the mushrooms! Josh has been dying for me to try to make them and I finally thought I had all the right stuff and went for it the other night. He said it was his favorite thing that I've made (which he followed with and you've made a lot of good stuff :) He's learning) I loosely based it off the recipe link and only used fontina cheese and I used marsala wine and just went by touch on most of the amounts.

crate of crimini mushrooms
olive oil
2 cloves garlic; minced
parsley
cilantro
salt and pepper
3/4 cup Marsala wine- dry red wine
1/2 cup fontina cheese; grated
1/2 cup parmesan cheese; grated

1   Remove mushroom stems and brush tops with oil, place in baking dish
2   Sprinkle olive oil in bottom of dish and over mushrooms
3   Mix cheeses with garlic and herbs, add generous salt and pepper
4   Stuff mixture into mushrooms
5   Pour Marsala wine into dish and sprinkle over mushrooms
6  Sprinkle remaining cheese mixture into bottom of dish
7   Bake 8-10 minutes
Enjoy- it is so so good!!!

4     roma tomato sauce I think red sauces don't fit with summer but I found this recipe and is is a light and purely tomato sauce, nothing to muck it up. I substituted regular tomatoes for roma because I love love roma.
3 lb. roma tometoes
coarse ground salt
1 clove garlic; sliced
basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
12 oz. spaghetti
1 tbs. butter
serves 3

1    Boil pot of water and cut small "x" in bottom of tomatoes, Blanch tomatoes in water 20-30 seconds
2    Remove tomatoes and place in ice bath (favorite new trick makes so easy to peel them!!!)
3    Peel tomatoes (I brought in Josh to help, he didn't like it :)
4    Cut in 1/2 and remove seeds
5    Place tomatoes in large saucepan with salt. Break them down as they cook- I used a whisk
6    Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes
7    In another pan put garlic, oil, basil and slowly bring to a boil, then remove immediately
8    Add salt to tomatoes and bring up heat.
9    Make spaghetti
10  Add oil mixture to sauce and heat 5 minutes
11 Garnish with basil

 5    bacon date scones Not a huge bacon fan but when talking with a gal from work I said I loved scones and wanted to try making some and she said her husband made bacon date scones and they were heavenly. So then I knew I needed to make them and I'm so glad I did. We had these for breakfast all week and I woke up thinking about them. They were super simple and just heavenly. I froze our extra dates so that I can make them for when his mom comes to visit.
10-15 thick-cut apple smoked slices of bacon
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup chopped and pitted mejool dates
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup buttermilk
raw sugar
preheat to 400 degrees F

1    Cook bacon throughly but not crispy and drain on paper towels, save grease in bowl
2    Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
3    Chop bacon coarsely and add to flour mixture
4    Add dates a few spoonfuls at a time and coat with mixture
5    Grate butter, stopping to mix it in frequently
6    Add buttermilk and stir until moist clums form
7    Knead dough a few times
8    Transfer to floured surface and flatten to 8 inch round
9    Cut into 8 triangles and place on parchment paper on cookie sheet- cover and chill 2 hours
10  Brush reserved grease on top of scones and sprinkle with raw sugar
11  Bake 16-18 minutes

6  banana bread I don't want to put a link to this one because I think I can do better. It was delicious but I got my mom to send me her recipe because I thought all banana bread recipes were created pretty equal but I think hers is better. So right after I made this I went to the store and got more bananas that I'm currently letting ripen I think I'll wait til they are black this time. My mom was very happy when I told her I needed her recipe- some things mom's just know best