At least once a month my apartment fills with the delicious aroma of sautéed onions and garlic.  You can bet that one of those aroma-filled days is a sauce-making day. It’s become a monthly tradition to make a giant pot of marinara to last for the upcoming few weeks. Freeze, thaw and create. The marinara we make is an excellent base for just about anything — chicken, sausage, shrimp, beef, turkey, veggies — you name it. We’ve even used it as a pizza sauce in a pinch.

Oh, and when I say “we” make, I really should probably say Mark makes. It’s really his baby. I would like to try this with fresh tomatoes sometime. Hopefully sometime I will have a garden with which to do such experimentations.

M. Cecconi’s Marinara

2 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
4 large cans of diced tomatoes
Italian seasoning
crushed red pepper
salt and black pepper

In a very large pot, heat olive oil over medium.  Add garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Toss in onion and sauté for 3-5 more minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste (usually a teaspoon of each).

After onions turn glossy, add tomatoes and stir. Add Italian seasoning (usually 2-3 tablespoons) and a dash of crushed red pepper*.

Reduce heat to low and put lit on pot. Let simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has been cooked to the consistency of your liking, let cool and pour 1-2 cups at a time in a blender and blend to a consistency of your choice (I like mine chunky, so I blend half the sauce and mix in the rest). Separate into smaller containers and freeze until use.

*If you like spicy, add 1 teaspoon. If not, go with 1/2 teaspoon. It won’t taste very spicy until after the sauce has been simmered and blended.

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So I love Pinterest. Did I ever mention that? I have a ton of boards, but one that’s always growing is my dessert board. So many naughty decadent things on there that I will probably never make.

I present to you the most naughty-looking desserts that I’ve got pinned for possible future binging.

1. Sweet, Salty, Chewy and Crunchy Brownies
   
   Holy lord these look naughty. I just ran across these the other day. Caramels, pretzels, peanuts and cream. These are actually too naughty-looking for me to attempt baking.
2. Dutch Apple Cheesecake
   
   Apple pie + cheesecake? Yes. Please.
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake
   
   Wow. That’s all I have to say. It’s too much for me … doesn’t look appetizing, but would be fun to make.
4. Homemade Samoas (Girl Scout Cookies)
   
   These look awesome. I think I want to try making these. It would be  interesting to see how I can modify them to have them be healthier than GS cookies (ie. less processed crap and more whole ingredients).
5. Cadbury Creme Egg-Filled Cupcakes
   
   Whoever thought to do this was a mad genius.  I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it, but awesome.
6. Snickers Caramel Cheesecake Cookies
   
   There are no words.
7. Vanilla  Bean Latté Cupcakes
   
   Any filled cupcake is just plain naughty. These look beautiful and delish.
8. Toffee Brittle with Chocolate and Sea Salt
   
   Yum. Sweet+salty=awesome
9. Hot Chocolate Layer Cake with Marshmallows
   
   Just look at the thickness of frosting on this. Whoa.
10. Peanut Butter Cup and Pretzel Terrine
    
    I actually made this for Mark’s birthday last year and made it NAUGHTIER. It was awesome. A nice option for a birthday instead of a cake in the hot summer months.

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I’m currently in love with a local creamery — Picket Fence Creamery.

Although their website is in comic sans *hisssssssssssss*, their ice cream is beyond amazing. But you have to know how to eat it.

That sounds silly. But hear me out. It’s really hard and kind of icy if it’s completely frozen. So you have to let it thaw JUST A BIT. Then it’s like homemade ice cream. And if you’ve ever had homemade ice cream, you know that this ice cream is amazing.

My favorite flavor is their thin mint, which is — you guessed it — mint with girl scout cookies in it. YUM. I also love their vanilla because it tastes just like my grandparents’ homemade ice cream that they used to make for summer birthdays.

Their ice cream is at both Fareways in Ames as well as the HyVees and Wheatsfield. Not sure where it is in Des Moines but I’m guessing similar locations.

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My friend Meredith recently made a trip to Iowa from Texas for work and we went out for dinner with a couple of our other girlfriends and hopped over to Borders.

There we found two of the most amazing books. Ever.

Because regular Pirates aren’t that popular anymore.

I’m a hu-a-hun-a-hungry for some heart-attack inducing food.

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WARNING: making a gingerbread house may sound like fun. IT IS NOT.

My beau somehow talked me into making a gingerbread house with him — although, he still claims it was MY idea. We spent the better part of last Sunday making this monstrosity from baking to assembling, to frosting.

Did I mention he’s an engineer and I’m a designer? So this house was going to be a really cool house. Or so the plans laid it out that way.

He didn’t want just a plain house — it had to have an addition.  I also wanted to go gung ho and do all sorts of cool piping, but that didn’t happen as I was exhausted by the time we got the damn thing to hold together.

Also — if you bake things, they change form. Something I didn’t think about going into this.

Regardless, here is our house. And I’ve got a template for the pieces here for you for FREE. If you dare.

The backside of our house was kind of sad-looking.

The side of the house refused to stay put. It collapsed 3-4 times before I finally just put a bunch of empty bottles around it to hold it up.

And here is the side. Kind of cute, but frustrating!

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I love making homemade pizza, but not as much as my beau does. In fact, he loves it so much, I have to let him have full reign because he likes everything done a CERTAIN WAY.  Apparently it doesn’t taste as good if the sausages aren’t in a certain formation.

So I sat back as he made a yummy awesome pizza. I need to get his pizza crust recipe so I can post it here — but on this pizza was italian sausage (from Fareway — they make the best) , arugula, spinach and mushrooms with lots of mozzarella cheese.

YUM. The pizza stone makes all the difference. This one is from Pampered Chef.

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Nothing like a good breakfast to end your weekend.  I created a fluffy omelet with ham, pepper jack, mushrooms, onions and spinach. Sooo good!

Fluffy Omelet

3 eggs, separated
1 T milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 T oil or butter
toppings of choice — I used ham, cheese, spinach, onion and mushroom.

Heat a large skillet over medium/high and add the butter or oil to coat the pan.  If you have any raw vegetables or meat that you want cooked, do so at this point. I cooked the onion and mushroom for 7 minutes, until the onions were  glossy.  Set these aside when finished and continue heating the pan.

Crack your eggs and separate the yolks into a small bowl and the whites into a larger bowl.  Beat the yolks with the milk and some salt and pepper. Using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat your egg whites to soft peaks.  Fold the yolks into the whites.  Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pan and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes, until the top of the omelet starts to set up. VERY carefully flip your omelet*.  Cook for 5-7 minutes more. Add toppings at this point. Cover to melt cheese if desired.  Remove from heat and serve.

*I cheated. I had a 2nd pan heating and flipped the omelet over into that pan.

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Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve done a Humpday Blog Love post.

This week’s Humpday Blog Love goes to one of my favorite local ladies: Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats.

Kristin has been on a fabulous vacation in Italy for the last several days (I’m so jealous!), but she is a foodie who’s into being healthy and fit. Her blog includes a lot of recipes, ideas for food combinations, reviews of local (and far-away) restaurants and foods, fabulous traveling escapades and tips for running/walking/working out.  I’m always inspired by her — she’s healthy and fit, but isn’t afraid to eat what she wants — good food is good food.

So thanks for the inspiration, Kristin! Be sure to check out her blog, Iowa Girl Eats.

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Oh boy.

In case you didn’t know, I hate the fair. It is absolutely NOT super-magical. Honestly, if I didn’t have to go for work, I wouldn’t go.  And I really should play state fair bingo when I do go (after my shift) because it would make the day so much more exciting.

Regardless: it’s over.

Well, my day there is anyway — the fair is still here for a few more days … blech.

First off, I must mention that I parked in front of the Slaughter residence. Yes. That is an epic last name. I wonder if they have a son around my age …

I got there and ran my shift at the Drake Day at the Fair tent. Check out the cool pix on our facebook! That was a lot of fun. My shift was slow, but we had a few awesome alums come through that made it totally worth while. Our theme this year was “Capture your love for Drake” and we were handing out pennants with a contest for the best fair photos with the pennant.  What a cool idea. Yay Drake!

I also worked at the VI building earlier that day and met a lady who graduated from Drake in 1930!  NINETEEN THIRTY.  She was amazing. She was an art teacher and a counselor for years. She also apparently has a golf cart with a bulldog on it that she wants to paint blue. Not just any blue, DRAKE BLUE. How cool!

Also, let me just say, I hate temporary tattoos. Most of my day was spent putting these on kids. Every time I put one on a kid, I felt like his mom was going to kill me. I had this one kid that asked for it on his FOREHEAD.  Seriously? I put another kid’s on the back of his neck. Honestly, he was out of room everywhere else. These kids went around to every station and got temporary tattoos. I’m sure to the delight of their parents.

Regardless. Adorable photo op!

Between my two shifts, I kind of geeked out over the quilts. I’m more of a fabric-a-holic than anything and the quilts at the fair never pique my interest as far as fabrics go, but damn. There is a lot of stitchery that goes into those quilts!

This one had a few fabrics I like and was a cute pattern.

Seriously. Look at that stitching!

All I have to say for this one is: wow. Those are a LOT of little tiny squares. This was a huge quilt. It didn’t even get an honorable mention. Really? Really.  I want to find out who did this so I can make him/her a ribbon because this is amazing.  Not as beautiful as some of the other quilts, but super amazing nonetheless. Can you imagine how much time and effort went into this? Seriously. CRAZY.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. Wait.  I almost finished my post here, but then I realized I didn’t mention food. You can’t blog about the Iowa State Fair without food, right? Yeah. Okay, so I’m a health nut. I found the ONE thing that probably won’t kill me (and it was cheap too!). I had an apple with caramel and peanuts. OM. NOM. and only 2 bucks! That’s cheap for fair food.

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And I wouldn’t really classify this as cooking either.

Mark’s busy with work this week, so I’ve been whipping up my own concoctions that I would say are just about as awesome as his.

Beet and Feta Salad with Prosciutto …

Pickled beets meet goat cheese and the salty crispy yummyness that is prosciutto.

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