A Little Bit of of Spain in Iowa GIVEAWAY! Go Diana!

My good friend and fellow blogger Diana from A Little Bit Of Spain in Iowa is giving away an absolutely amazing carry along bag for convenient shopping at the farmers market. It is called Reisenthel Wheeled Trolley Bag. Check out their site! Please take a minute and stop over to see Diana and her remarkable site! Enter this giveaway! Good LUCK!! (But...I secretly hope I win this bag..hehe)

Carrabas! Carrabas! Carrabas!

I had a marvelous experience at Carrabas this Saturday - all thanks to the brilliant and unique Tastemaker Program through Foodbuzz and the fantastic staff at Carrabas.

We arrived on Saturday at noon. There were no other patrons as the doors are closed until 4. There were about fifteen to twenty Foodbuzzers and Guests. My guest and I was the first to arrive. We walk into the double doors and are escorted to a bar right in front of the kitchen. A few minutes later the festivities started…..

The kitchen was amazing with all the water boiling and the mind blowing aroma of garlic and spices.


The Managing Partner of Carrabas, Angela Gutierrez, entered the kitchen and introduced herself and began cooking up a storm. Angela descriptively gave us the directions of each dish. She was incredible.



The first dish the Foodbuzz Tastemakers tried was Carrabas Calamari. The Calamari is lightly breaded and served with their marinara sauce. The Calamari was tender and cooked to perfection. It was my guest first time in trying Calamari and she enjoyed it immensely

The second dish was the simple but delightful Tag Pic Pact. Roma Tomatoes, Garlic, Olive Oil and Basil is all. The garlic was caramelized and had a delightful taste. It was served a top homemade pasta! The pasta alone was to die for!

I loved this photo...I had to include it!
This special sauce is jammin' - for all you G-Love fans.
Angela is cooking the dish and serving it to the Foodbuzz Tastemakers.
The finished product. Look at that huge slice of garlic at the end of my fork! It tasted so yummy.
Angela is showing us the garlic and oil used to make this dish and how it caramelized the garlic.


The third dish was undeniably my favorite dish, The Linguine Pescatore. This dish contains massive tender scallops, Prince Edward Mussels, and Shrimp. It is tossed in a spicy tomato sauce containing crushed red pepper. I finished the entire dish. I am ready for a nap.

What a beautiful dish. It was topped with lots of freshly chopped parsley. YUM!

Sea food, see...

Service!

Mmmhh. It is almost gone. Oh. I miss this dish. I need a Carrabas fix SOON!

As for our last dish, my stomach would not allow me to finish it. Penne Franco is a light sauce using the pasta water, garlic, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black olives and topped with freshly grated ricotta salata. Angela served ours with roast chicken. Oh my! The chicken was to die for!

simple. beautiful.

The char marks from their grill. It is cooked with wood under a grill!! I am not sure what kind of wood, but you could taste they smokey taste in the chicken. They used their own seasoning mix on top of the chicken.

Angela grating fresh Ricotta Salata on top of our pasta dishes.

We were not disappointed! Every dish was simple, yet flavorful and delightful!

Last but not least...THE DESSERT!!! We had a variety! My guest loved the Cannoli one and ate three of them! The first dessert is strawberry, banana and pineapple with whip cream and it was amazing! The second was a chocolate moose with nuts. The third and final was the cannoli cream with crushed up pistachios. Wow.....

I do not think words can describe how unforgettable this dinner was. I am now a huge Carrabas fan!

Thank you Foodbuzz Tastemakers and Carrabas for the most amazing dinner!!

"Makes The Worst Day Vanish Curry"

I have had a little bit of a rough week. (Welcome to parenthood)
Let's see......Where to begin....OOOHHHH I KNOW...

My youngest decided to hide my keys (house and car linked onto ONE BIG KEY CHAIN). That is where it ALL started. I did not notice right away, but when we ran out of Juice and I searched everywhere for them.

My mother-in-law informed me that while having a conversation with her on the phone I interupted her to say, "Bailey Leland put my keys back. You can not play with those! I do not want you to lose them!"

They are gone. MIA. Vanished.Disappeared....

What could make this much worse? My husband who has my spare on his set of keys is out of town for a few days. I am stranded at my home! No where to go! I can't go get Juice. Milk. Food. SANITY....

What could make that worse?!?! The power goes out in the HOT HOT Florida sun. (105..Did I mention?) No air. No internet. No phone. No cable. No lights. Must I go on?

You may ask...Can it get worse!?! Yes. It can!
As I am searching under my bed for my missing keys I hear the most god awful bang! I run into my living room to find my youngest crying and hiding....Our flat screen t.v. is laying on the floor.

While searching for my keys she decided to use the flat screen t.v. as a jungle gym. Don't worry...She was not hurt. The t.v. on the other hand has a shattered base, but it is still working..LUCKILY!

That was not the only thing she decided to do while I searched high and low for my keys....My lovely two year old also decided to scoop all the kitty poopie from the box and put it all over the kitty. Yep.

BATH TIME for the kitty!!! Claw marks for Mommy!!In the heat of my home!! With no keys!! With a shattered t.v.!!!

But at the end of the day without my husband I lay down with my beautiful little girls cuddled under each arm after devouring a huge bowl of my favorite most comforting dish .......I smile, because no matter how awful my day is I am blessed. I adore my kids no matter what type of trouble they get into. I love my husband because he is working hard away from the what he cherishes most so I can stay home with my girls....I am overwhelmed with the love I feel..


"Makes The Worst Day Vanish Curry"
By: Miranda Hagan

This is by far my favorite dish of all time. It makes you forget everything. It is so yummy!!! This is also a healthy dish!!! It warms your soul!!
1. Toss 1 16 oz. Bag Fresh Spinach, 1 Large Vidalia Onions, 1 Large Package Mushrooms sliced then, 3 Chicken Breast Sliced Thin, and 4 cps Sugar Snap Peas together with 4 tsp garlic chopped in 1 tsp Canola Oil over medium heat.


2. When the meat is cooked add 1 can of Lite Coconut Milk, 2 Cps Chicken Broth, 1 tsp. Red Curry Paste, 1 tsp. Curry Powder, 1/2 tsp. corriander, 1/2 tsp. Turmeric, 1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp. salt and 3 TB sugar.


I just wanted to show the bag of noodles used in this dish! They are FANTASTIC!



3. Add the entire bag of Asian Egg Noodles and let it cook for three minutes until soft. Add 1/4 cp. soy sauce and 1/2 cps. of diced up cilantro. Simmer.


4. Toss and it should be ready to eat....



Yum Yum Yum!!!