How to Customize Shoes

This is a pretty cool and informative video about how to customize shoes.  Sergio’s been interested in customizing his shoes lately, so I thought this was a good reference guide on how to go about doing that.  If you click on the video and click more on About This Video, WiggaTriggaTV gives you a list of places to buy the materials for this project. 

If you do try this, then please send me pictures!  I’d love to see the outcome. 

Wow. Those Stuffed Mushrooms have a kick

My sister made these for her party and although she had her doubts in the beginning about the stuffing’s flavor, these bite-sized appetizers have an explosion of flavor.  It was the first thing that “sold out” at the party and who could blame our guests?  The mushrooms are stuffed with cheese and after you put them in the oven, the top becomes slightly crisp revealing a gooey center leaving everyone wanting seconds.

Mouth Watering Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

12 Whole Fresh Mushrooms

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon Minced Garlic

1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder

1/4 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel.  Carefully break off stems.  Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet.  Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic.  Set aside to cool.
3. When garlic and mushroom misture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion power, and cayenne pepper.  Mixture should be very thick.  Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing.  Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes* in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

*If you’re preparing these the day before, you can bake them for about 10 minutes, cool them, set them in the refrigerator, and bake them again the next day for the remaining 10 minutes right before guests begin to arrive.

Yawn

I just woke up from an hour nap–it’s been a while since I’ve indulged in an afternoon nap.  But I’m so glad to be back after a short blogging vacation.  My sister is in town so it’s been hard to keep track of the blog and I haven’t really been able to make anything new since we’ve been so busy catching up (it’s different when you see someone in person as opposed to the phone).

I went to the movies twice this week and saw I Am Legend (for the second time) and National Treasure:  The Book of Secretsrespectively.  If you’re looking for some entertaining movies, then I recommend those two.  I won’t say that they’re the deepest, well thought out, oscar worthy movies, but they’re definitely very entertaining.

My family hosted two parties back to back, one for my sister’s friends on the 23rd and one for our family on the 24th.  Those two days were extremely hectic and we all had very little sleep.  Although I’d have to say that the 23rd was exceptional because we went paint-balling before preparing for the party.  Nothing like getting paint filled pellets flung at you at pretty high velocities to bring a family together.  It was my first time and I walked away with about four bruises.  That was about 10 less than I expected, so there’s some good news!

The food on both nights were so amazingly delicious.  I wish I took some pictures because it was both impressive on the eyes as well as the tongue.  I know the holiday season is almost over, but if you’re looking for a quick but surprisingly delicious appetizer to make, I definitely recommend Tomato-Mozzarella Basil Bites.

Tomato-Mozzarella Basil Bites

Serves approximately 12 people

Ingredients:

6 Small Tomatoes (or 4 Medium Sized)

8 oz Mozzarella Cheese

Fresh Basil Leaves

Crushed Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Slice tomatoes about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch horizontally (so that they look circular).
2. Slice cheese approximately the same amount of thickness and size as the tomato.
3. Top with a basil leaf, sprinkle some salt and insert a toothpick for easy eating.
4. Enjoy!