Bonjour
Sandy à la Mode readers, I’m Shea from Bon Chic Bon Gastronomique. I’m so
excited to be able to guest post for Sandy while she’s enjoying her time as a new
mommy (or while she’s enjoying her last few weeks of pregnancy…depending on
just how cozy baby à la mode is)!

Before we get started on this post, I just wanted to announce the lucky winners of the FOUR GIVEAWAYS from last week!!

The winner of the rosette headband and button earrings set by Oh, Sweet Joy is Anna of Be Healthy, Be Well, Be Inspired!

The winner of $25 credit to The Rusted Chain is Amylou of Amylouwho!

The winner of $30 credit to Ashley Carter Designs is Kelly of Just The Two Of Us!

The winner of the Autumn Breeze headband by Lindsay Harmony is Lola of The Life of Lola!

WINNERS: Congrats! Please email me at sandyalamode@gmail.com with your mailing address so I can send it on to my sponsors!

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One of my favorite types of blogs posts to read AND write are food posts (or “The Dish” as I like to call it over here).  Because everyone pretty much has a love for food, am I right?  There aren’t many more things that bring me joy in life than when one of my friends says, “Hey, tried a recipe from your blog and everyone loved it”!  OK, well there are other things that bring me joy in life but this one is pretty high up there on the list.  Not only do I love sharing my own recipes, my parent’s recipes, as well as recipes I find online, from cookbooks and magazines that I’ve tried (and loved)… but more recently, I turn to other blogs for recipes as well!  Because if another blogger has tried it and found the time to blog about it, it must be worth it, yea?!    (All the pictures in this post were taken by me.)

First let’s start off with some Brie and Chive Biscuits from Food Wine and Mod Podge.  These savory bites are like a more sophisticated version of Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits.  They crunch and flake in your mouth and the little bits of brie with make your stomach thank you!

As your appetite gets going, I’d like to bring out another cheese appetizer, the amazing Favorite Cheese Ball by Cooking for Seven, with step-by-step instructions on Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen site!  This chunk of cheese is super amped up with multiple cheeses, onion, garlic powder, cranberries and more, then rolled in crushed pecans.  Serve on your favorite cracker and you’ll have people popping until they can’t stop!  Trust me, that happened with one of my friends!!

Then we move on to Asian- Style Turkey Meatballs by Ruffles and Truffles!  It’s a combination of Asian and Italian, sweet, salty, and spicy all mixed up into a ball!  Not to mention, it uses turkey which makes it leaner than pork/beef (for the most part)!  Serve it with a side of rice and there’s an entree for you!

And lastly, to top off your meals, why not serve some Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles to your guests, or keep them all to yourself, either way (I’m not judging you).  Thanks to Honeysuckle Chic for the recipe!  These are a mix of sweet, salty, chocolatey, and soft!  They sure do hit the spot when you’re looking for a perfect dessert to finish off your meal!  And they are pretty simple to make, can’t beat that! 

Psssst… don’t forget to enter the For The Love Of Joy and Slieberry Designs giveaways going on right here, right now!

What are some of your favorite food/recipes blogs?

(besides mine, kidding!)

Have you entered the THREE GIVEAWAYS currently going on right now?  Click on the buttons over to the right to enter!

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As you may or may not know, February 3, marks the day of the Chinese New Year!  And that means lots of fireworks, red envelopes filled with money, wearing red underwear for good luck, sticky rice cakes, and celebrations galore!

A big part of the Chinese New Year celebration is feast after feast of delicious food, it’s kind of like Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays in the U.S.! On Saturday, I’ll be heading to a friend’s house where we’ll surely be eating it up!! If you are interested in celebrating Chinese New Year in your home, Steamy Kitchen has a GREAT round-up of Chinese New Year Recipes – I already made two entrees from the list. Pictures are taken from Steamy Kitchen (she has the food photography that is truly an inspiration for me)!

Chinese Broccoli Beef Noodle Stir Fry – mmm soy sauce, enough said.

Fresh Pear and Shrimp Stir Fry – sweet, crispy and unexpectedly delicious, added some white pepper on top too!

In the Chinese Zodiac, this year is the Year of the Rabbit, which means babies born this year are (taken from Go To Horoscope):

People born in the year of the rabbit often make ideal diplomats or politicians. Rabbit person has grace, culture and beautiful manners. Although rabbit people get on well with everyone, at heart they are basically reserved creatures, and are only really happy when they are engrossed in some sort of scholarly or intellectual activity. They are just too sensitive to the world around them. They are just not able to thrive in a competitive or aggressive environment, and it makes them anxious if someone forces them to take risks. Their inner world is simply too delicate for unsettled or unpredictable situations, and they tend to create a peaceful and comfortable atmosphere on a hunch. This character trait makes them very hospitable and attentive people, who take care of those around. The average rabbit person emphasizes the importance of small details. They pay attention to everything from colour, design and furniture to food and conversation. And only when they are sure that everything has been arranged as they wished, these people can relax and have fun. Person born in the year of rabbit often leads a conservative lifestyle, where one of the most important things is their security. This quality has a negative side also. Opting for safety over risk they may miss good opportunities. This does not imply that these people are frivolous or irresponsible, for when they truly believe in some thing they are serious, perseverant and capable. Calm as they are, it is not easy to provoke rabbit people. They are sentimental and compassionate. Yes, and they cry easily too. They can be moved by personal problems you share with them. Therefore, if you work as a salesman for a living, you will have much better luck with rabbit people – Nine out of Ten Rabbit people will definitely buy your products!

If you must know, I’m a Pig (or Boar) in the Chinese Zodiac.  I’ll keep you guessing at how old I actually am.    But anyhow, here’s a few ADORABLE rabbit photos that will make you say “Awwww”!  I’m not sure of the source of these photos but my friend Lai sent them to me by email.

This holiday is seriously making me miss my family again, even though I just saw them last week!  And this picture makes me go through some nephew and fur-niece withdrawl!

Too. stinking. adorable. (picture taken by my talented sister-in-law)

Hoppy Chinese New Year!

Do you know what animal you are in the Chinese Zodiac?

You can check here if you don’t know!

And it’s back to work, but thank goodness it’s only a 3 day work week, woohoo!  If you saw my last post, you’ll  notice that we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!  For those of you who didn’t have a White Christmas and would like some resemblance of “white snow” in your life, I thought I’d share a recipe from my mother-in-law’s stash, it’s one that I shared with a few bloggers in the Pizelles and All Things Ami “Winter Recipe Exchange“!  I bring to you the delectable (and so simple to make)…

Pecan Balls

(also known as Russian Tea Cakes)

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour

Directions:
1) Cream together butter and 1/ cup powdered sugar.
2) Add pecans, vanilla and flour. Mix well.
3) Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet.

4) Bake in a 400 F degree preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

5) Roll warm balls in remaining powdered sugar to coat all over.  Allow balls to cool and enjoy!

Linking up this one to Sweet Shot Tuesdays because looking at it makes me want to bake more!

Did you have a White Christmas?

So I may have made these delicious little muffins back in September, but recipes can never really be outdated, am I right?  And it’s still sorta pumpkin season in my mind until the first snowflake hits (and luckily, it hasn’t in KC just yet)!  So for all of you who haven’t gotten enough of your pumpkin fix yet, here’s another tested and approved recipe by me, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (via Allrecipes) topped with cream cheese frosting.  And yes, I did just put frosting on my muffin, booya!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

You really can’t beat a recipe that just calls for mixing a bunch of ingredients together, dishing them out to muffin tins, and popping them in the oven (and the cream cheese is just like the cherry on top).  I don’t think it would hurt to double the spices either for a stronger taste, but that’s just me.  Your friends and family and coworkers won’t be able to keep their hands off, so make sure to hide some away for yourself! 

Enjoy and Happy Thursday!

I think it’s safe to say that it’s quite obvious why I’m posting this Flavors To Follow today, we’re in the middle of fall where pumpkin patches and cider mills are  in full force.  I’ve not always been a huge fan of orange, but I have always been a huge fan of pumpkin flavored foods!  But don’t worry, the color orange is really growing on my lately since I’m seeing it all over.  So here are some fabulous finds for this week, and a special thanks to Brandi from Not Your Average Ordinary for sending me some of these!  If you ever have Flavors To Follow ideas or links for me, don’t hesitate to contact me about them!

1 keep your lips moisturized with some pumpkin spice lip balm by natures lip stuff
2 learn how to make a cute pumpkin cupcake on hoosier homemade
3 delicious pumpkin spice latte cheesecake by sprinkle bakes? yes please!
4 give a pumpkin pie card made by friends again
5 spice up a cup of hot cocoa with these  pumpkin spice marshmallows by sweet lydias
6 decorate with elegant lace cut out pumpkins seen on happiness is…
7 send a note to a loved one with a vintage harvest card set by georgianna lane
8 learn how to make a fall pumpkin book by craftberry bush on love stiched
9 jump into fall with this beautiful typographic fall pumpkin print by i shoot nouns
10 and finally make your own fabric pumpkin with thompson family-life’s tutorial seen on yellow songbird

Did you know that my etsy shop is being featured in yellow songbird’s blogiversary giveaway party, yay!  I’m giving away some of my NEW items that I’ll be posting in my shop soon!  Here’s a look at what you could win!  Click here to hop on over to enter!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!  I’m pretty much just going to be relaxing, crafting and baking the whole time.  And we’re finally getting AT&T U-verse, exciting!!

CUPCAKE LOVERS! Have you entered my GIVEAWAY for three sets of moonbeamwishes cards yet?

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I don’t usually do Sunday blog posts, but I thought this was the perfect recipe for a lazy Sunday!

*BEWARE OF DROOL*

A few weeks ago, I had an immense craving for sweet potatoes.  But not just plain sweet potatoes, I wanted Sweet Potato Bread.  My first instinct was to check Allrecipes and to my excitement I found the perfect recipe!  And the reason I am posting it here, is because it is MOIST, DELICIOUS, SEMI-HEALTHY, AND PERFECT FOR AUTUMN!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (I left these out because I didn’t have any)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F ( 165 degrees C ). Grease an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg cinnamon, and sugar. Add the eggs, oil, and milk; mix until well blended. Finally, stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, pecans, and golden raisins. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in the pan at least 15 minutes before removing. For best flavor, store overnight before serving.

For the DOG LOVER, we still have the scratch and sniff custom dog silhouette print giveaway going on~!!  Make sure to head on over to this post and enter if you haven’t already!

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One of my favorite things about home ownership is the fact that we have a yard, and in that yard we can grow whatever we want!  A tiny basil plant picked up at a Farmer’s Market a few months ago has turned into this!!

We decided to hang the basil to dry so that it would be one less spice container that we need to purchase!  I just love this photo which I’ll be linking up to…

And to go along with it, I came up with two fabulous recipes where the basil really adds a nice kick of flavor!  We’re still happily eating the leftovers!

Caprese Salad

Ingredients


2 large tomatoes
1 package mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon basil
Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions

1. Slice tomato and mozzarella cheese into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
2. Layer tomato and mozzarella on serving plate.
3. Mix together olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Pour mixture over tomato and mozzarella.
4. Sprinkle basil on top.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mushroom Flatbread with Cheese and Herbs

Ingredients

3 mini pizza crusts (pre-packaged)
8 oz. assorted shitake mushrooms, cleaned and cut
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons basil pesto sauce
4 oz. romano cheese
3 oz. goat cheese
1 tablespoon thyme
caprese salad from above, cut (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Heat skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil, garlic, and onions.  Stir in mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
3. Spread basil pesto sauce on pizza crusts and sprinkle on romano cheese.
4. Add mushroom mixture to pizza crusts as well as goat cheese.
5. Sprinkle thyme on top.
6. I felt like adding the chopped caprese salad mixture on top (tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar). It added more dimension and taste to the flatbreads.
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

What is your favorite recipe that contains basil?  I still have a lot left so I can sure use some more ideas!

*SIGH* I just heart you all!  You, my blog friends, make my world (and my husband and my coworkers and my friends worlds) soooo much yummier!  I’m a huge advocate of finding new recipes to concoct.  There’s nothing more boring than eating the same foods over and over again (trust me, that was totally me a few years ago).  So yes, I scour books, magazines, allrecipes.com, other online recipe websites, but what I really love trying is my BLOG FRIENDS’ RECIPES!  Why do I love trying your recipes, because I totally and completely trust you, your expertise and opinions!    Can I get “Awww”?!?  So here’s just a few of the things I’ve made recently…

1) Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread by

I didn’t get to take a picture of the one I made, but let me tell you, it was gobbled up by my coworkers in a matter of minutes!  This picture is taken from Chelsea’s blog, she has some very unique and delicious recipes on there all the time, so you must follow her if you love food!

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2) Fresh Corn and Avocado Salad by Happiness Is…

The perfect refreshing Summer salad!

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3) German Pancakes by

first seen on

I changed things up a bit and baked the pancakes in mini muffin tins.  As for topping I used:
a) maple syrup and powdered sugar b) peanut butter and honey c) strawberry jam

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4) Beanless Chili Cheese Dip by Much Love Illy

One day I sent out a twitter message asking for a good appetizer recipe and this is what I got back from Ilene @muchloveilly: beanless chili at the bottom of a pan, cream cheese, and LOTS of cheese. bake for 250 degrees, 7-9 min. absolute heaven!

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5) Cake Mix Ice Cream Sandwiches by Small Burst

Took this picture right before freezing!  My husband’s favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip so he was very pleased with this treat!  We still have some frozen ones in our freezer! 

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Thanks again to Chelsea, Shannon, Dee Dee, Megan + Kristin, Ilene and Gena for sharing these recipes!  Hope that the rest of you get to try out these recipes sometime!

I was never really a fan of spicy food until I met my husband, and seeing that a lot of Indian food is generally spicy, I was never really a fan… until a few years back when I met Chicken Tikka Masala, nom nom!  And now, every time I go to an Indian restaurant, which isn’t THAT often, no fail, I will order Chicken Tikka Masala + Garlic Naan.  When I’ve gone to buffets, I’ve had Tandoori Chicken, Lamb Vindaloo, Saag Paneer… but of course, I am not satisfied until I get my Chicken Tikka Masala.  So I figured, since I LOVE this dish so much, why not try and make it??  And lucky for me, my favorite online recipe site, allrecipes.com, had a 4.5/5 rated Chicken Tikka Masala recipe posted, and let me tell you, it is WORTH a try, a la mode promise!  The recipe below has been adapted because I chose not to grill it, but rather just mix it in a saucepan.

Chicken Marinade Ingredients