Iron Chef: Cream Cheese

Since this is the last night for the cream cheese challenge, I knew I needed to try out my new recipe. My cream cheese recipe (which is totally better than Calli's cream cheese recipe) is Stuffed Chicken Breasts. To make this yummy dish, you will need:

1/4 cup PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread
1/2 cup cooked instant white rice
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
6 slices OSCAR MAYER Shaved Ham or Turkey
1 egg, lightly beaten
8 RITZ Crackers, crushed

Then just:

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Mix cream cheese spread, rice and spinach until well blended.
PLACE chicken breasts, top-sides down, on large cutting board. Top each with 3 ham slices and half of the rice mixture. Starting at one of the short ends, tightly roll up each chicken breast. Dip in egg, then in cracker crumbs, turning to evenly coat each chicken breast. Place in greased 8-inch square baking dish.
BAKE 35 to 40 min. or until chicken is cooked through (170°F).

My taste tester (TJ) loved this dish! He loved the spinach/cream cheese, but wishes he could have had more of that flavor. I will definitely make this dish again, but next time I will make a sauce (1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/3 cup chive and onion cream cheese...melt together!) to serve on top of the chicken. This will give a lot more flavor to the chicken!

Overall, my dish was a hit! Try out my recipe and make sure to check out Calli's cream cheese recipe (her blog is at http://www.biggestlewiser.blogspot.com/). Help us decide who is the Iron Chef in this week's competition and stay tuned for the next Secret Ingredient!

Dave and Buster's = Super Fun!!

This weekend has been so much fun! After our fun bowling/karaoke night with Eric and Emily (see below), we decided to get together again Saturday night. And, our awesome friends Jeff and Atrina came out with us too so it was a fun filled evening. We headed out to Dave and Buster's at the new Tempe Marketplace. It is a restaurant slash game arcade and it was so much fun. We all got tons of "tokens" on our card (everything is so high tech now...) and had a blast playing all the arcade games. There were a couple of games that we were addicted to, including the horse races and the jumprope game!Emily and I even tried our hand at DDR (dance dance revolution for those of you living under a rock!) and I am sure we looked rather foolish! The boys loved the shoot 'em up games and, of course, Madden football. After we used up all our "tokens" we were able to cash in all our tickets. The prize assortment at Dave and Buster's is so much better than Peter Piper Pizza! Jeff and Atrina spent 220 tickets on a Dave and Buster cup; Eric and Emily cashed in over 600 tickets for a giant calculator. TJ decided he would rather save our 406 tickets until we can come back again...the prize he has his eye on (a ginormus TV remote) is 1300 tickets!! But I did not walk away empty handed. There is a giant toy crane at D & B's and, on his first try, TJ won a giant stuffed teddy bear for me! I love being able to get out of the house and do things with friends...so if you ever have a free night, give us a call!

Cosmic Bowling and So Much More!

Lately, TJ and I have felt like old, married people...mainly due to the fact that we really don't get out and do much anymore. Sure, we might go out to dinner or catch a movie now and then, but we don't do any fun activities we did while we were dating. So TJ and I actually got out of the house Friday night and were able to hang out with some old friends. We went cosmic bowling with Emily and Eric, old friends of TJ's from his high school days, for Emily's birthday.

We had such a blast...can't you tell by TJ's face!?

Eric taught TJ how to do that cool "spin" thing with the ball, so TJ was able to get better and better as the night went on.

We played 3 games...even though I totally beat TJ in the first game, I only got a picture of the final score. Way to go, hon!

But my favorite part of the evening was after the bowling. There is a karaoke bar inside this particular bowling alley so we of course had to pop in and belt out a few tunes! Emily and I wowed the crowd with our renedition of Goodbye Earl. TJ was responsible for the following video of our singing...he recorded the whole song sideways, so do a couple of neckrolls and get ready to have your socks knocked off!!!

Rest In Peace

It is with a sad heart that I must create this post. I am very sorry to report that when TJ came home from work this evening, he discovered that Mick Jagger was no longer with us. Mick has passed on and gracefully left our family (via a flush from the toilet). I would like to say just a few things about Mick. Mick was a very happy fish, always darting around in his bowl. He was a very friendly fish and would often try to encourage his friend Fifi to play with him. Mick touched the lives of all those he came in contact with and will forever be a part of our family. Even though Mick is no longer in our home, he will forever live on in our hearts.

Fifi is still with us, but does not seem to be handling the loss of her friend well. We will continue to monitor Fifi's health and do all we can to provide a happy and healthy home for her. We are grateful for all your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time in our lives.

Iron Chef!

So as you know, from my post below, my new year's resolution is to try one new recipe a week. When my sister Calli found out about this resolution she came up with an ingenius idea...turn it into a competition. Inspired by one of our favorite cooking shows, Iron Chef America, we will choose a secret ingredient each week and will then have one week to come up with a recipe using that ingredient. We will post the recipes on our blogs and our families and friends can decide which recipe they like best! We are so excited to get started with this new challenge. And now, the moment of truth...this week's secret ingredient is...cream cheese! Stay tuned for our recipes!!!

51 Weeks of Recipes: Week 1

My new year's resolution this year is to try one new recipe a week. Now, I didn't really follow through with this last week, so I am rededicating myself to this resolution starting today (hence the "51 Weeks" rather than 52!).
The new recipe I tried this week was grilled tilapia. Now, I am fairly new to this whole "eating fish" thing but tilapia is a pretty non-fishy fish so it was a safe choice.
This recipe was extremely simple...all I had to do was sprinkle some lemon pepper on the fish fillets, toss them on my foil-covered grill, and cook for 5 minutes. It was quick and simple, my first two requirements for any recipe! I also cooked seasoned potatoes to go with the fish.
The fish was moist and flaky, but didn't have as much flavor as TJ and I would have liked. Next time I will take my mom's suggestion and marinate the fillets in Italian dressing. I think I will continue to experiment with fish recipes this year!

Happy (Belated) Birthday TJ!

I know, I am a horrible wife. TJ's birthday was Friday, January 11th and I had every intention of posting something that day for him...but I just forgot to. TJ's birthday this year was pretty relaxed. We went to Gecko Grill for dinner (yum!) and TJ got a free fried ice cream (double yum!). Then, because we are boring old married people, we just watched a movie at home and fell asleep. But now TJ is one year older, and wiser too! Happy 24th birthday honey...I love you!

Meet the newest Grier's

As TJ and I were out running errands today, we decided that today was the day we expanded our family. So we ran into Petsmart and bought two goldfish. Fifi Trixibelle is white with a spot of orange on the top of her head, and Mick Jagger is black with giant eyes bugging out of his head. Fifi and Mick are living in a bowl on my coffee table and they couldn't be happier. Fifi is still adjusting to her new home, but Mick is swimming around like crazy! TJ and I consider these fish to be our starter family...if we can keep our fish alive, we just might be ready for something a little bigger (like, something pink with ten fingers and ten toes...if you know what I mean!)

Fifi Trixibelle

Mick Jagger

Check out my blog!

So I am becoming obsessed with my blog. Weird, I know, but I am addicted to editing the colors, the fonts, and now the template! My cousins have the cutest background templates on their blogs and I have been trying for days to get a cute template on my blog. Thanks to my sister Lindsey, I have finally found a site with HTML codes that actually work! Do not be surprised if my background changes every few days...there are so many cute templates to try out, I can't make up my mind.

One year later...

WOW! I can hardly believe that I have been married for a whole year! TJ and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend doing our favorite thing...just spending time together! We rented some movies, bought gelato, pulled out the couch bed, and just hung out together. After the crazy-hectic year we have had, we look forward to the times were we can just chill together. Our first year of marriage has been great and we are both looking forward to our second year!