GLAAD Media Award Nominee!

Wow! I have some exciting news!

I just found out, that our Pregnant in Heels episode, "Welcome to Hollywood,"is nominated in the category of "Outstanding Reality Program" at the 24th Annual GLADD Media Awards.

If you would like to learn more about our award nomination, click here
to read Bravo's blog, The Dish.

Here, you can read host, Rosie Pope's response to the nomination, as well as see a picture of my surrogate family! I gave birth the their darling little girls Coco and Kiki.


Other nominations in the category of "Outstanding Reality Program," are:

  
   



Wish us luck! I hope we win!




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Spiked! Recipe Challenge ~ Champagne Poached Pear No-Bake Cheesecake

Hello Everyone! I'm submitting my recipe, Champagne Poached Pear No-Bake Cheesecake for the first ever Spiked! Recipe Challenge!, hosted by Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama, and Julie from This Gal Cooks.

The special ingredient for this recipe challenge is champagne. The recipe has to be original.

The inspiration for Champagne Poached Pear No-Bake Cheesecake, started with the 2 huge grocery bags of Bosc pears, I currently have stored in my fridge. I knew that champagne and pears went well together, so they seemed like an obvious starting point.

I ultimately decided to poach the pears in the champagne, and use it as a topping. The original recipe I used came from Taste.com. I altered this recipe slightly by reducing the sugar, because I was afraid, combined with the cheesecake, the final product would be too sweet. I also replaced the cinnamon stick with ground cinnamon, simply because when I went to the spice cupboard to get the cinnamon sticks, they weren't there! I guess they were used for something else. I also added a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor of the poaching liquid. Then, reduced it down (thus concentrating the flavor,) and combined it with the pears, as as part of the cheesecake topping.

Now for the cheesecake....I knew I wanted to add champagne to this as well, but was afraid that if the cheesecake was baked, the champagne flavor would be baked right out. I'm not sure if this would hold true or not, but it sounded logical to me at the time!  I decided to go with a no-bake cheesecake. The recipe I used from Food.com called for lemon juice. I decided to replace the lemon juice with concentrated champagne syrup (basically reduced champagne.) I also reduced the amount of sugar in the crust (again, for the fear of over sweetness,) and reduced the amount of vanilla extract to 1/4 of a  teaspoon, since I wanted the flavor of the champagne syrup to shine.

Without further ado, I present to you Champagne Poached Pear No-Bake Cheesecake.

 Champagne Poached Pear No-Bake Cheesecake

Champagne Poached Pear Topping
6 Bosc pears
1/2 cup sugar
1 bottle of champagne or sparkling wine, reserving 1 cup
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 lemon, zested
1 orange, zested
Pinch of salt

Cheesecake Crust
20 sheets of Honey Maid graham crackers
11 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar

Cheesecake Filling
2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup champagne syrup (recipe follows)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Champagne Poached Pear Topping

Step 1: Zest the rind of one lemon and one orange, set aside.

Step 2: Peel the pears, slice in half lengthwise, and scoop core out with a melon baller. Squeeze pears with a little lemon juice to prevent browning.

Step 3: Place Champagne, sugar, water, cinnamon, lemon zest, and orange zest in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir until sugar has fully dissolved, then increase the heat, and bring to a boil.

 

Once the poaching liquid comes to a boil, reduce heat and add pears, cut side down. Cover pears, and simmer until tender, about 50 minutes.
  
Step 4: While the pears are simmering, add the 1 cup reserved champagne to a small sauce pot, and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes, or until champagne has reduced to 1/4 cup. Set aside for cheesecake batter.

Step 5: Remove pears to a dish to cool slightly.

Increase heat, and bring poaching liquid back to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes, or until reduced to a thin syrup.

Step 6: Dice slightly cooled pears, and add to a medium sized bowl. Pour reduced poaching liquid over diced pears. Once cooled, refrigerate.

Cheesecake Crust

Step 1: Put graham crackers in a resealable bag, and crush them with a rolling pin until very fine crumbs form.

Pour the the crumbs into a medium bowl; stir in sugar, and melted butter until mixture is well combined. 

Step 2: Press crumb mixture into a spring form pan, spreading it 1 1/2 to 2 inches up the side; press flat. Chill crust in freezer for at least 10 minutes.

Cheesecake Batter

Step 1: Using an electric mixer set at medium high speed, beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in sweetened condensed milk a little at a time.

Beat in champagne syrup, and vanilla.

Step 2: Pour 1/2 of the filling into crust. Spread to completely cover bottom crust. With a slotted spoon, add a layer of champagne poached pears. Add the remaining filling, spreading to cover pears.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

 

When ready to serve, take a butter knife and run it between the crust and the pan. Carefully remove side. Cut into wedges, and spoon champagne poached pears over top. Drizzle with reduced poaching liquid.

 This recipe serves 8.

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Turkey Empanadas with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Okay, I admit it. I'm guilty! Guilty of STILL having leftover turkey in my freezer from THANKSGIVING! Anyone else in the same boat? Luckily, this dish was the last of it. I also made Turkey Enchiladas a couple of days ago, but didn't get any pictures taken before it was devoured, so you'll just have to use your imagination there.

Bits of meat like this has to be used up fairly quickly after freezing, because of that funky freezer burn it gets. I have ham in my freezer about to suffer the same fate. That's next on my list.

This recipe came from Haley at Cheap Recipe Blog. When I was reading the recipe, I thought her substitution for capers said green onions, but it said green olives. Oops! Luckily, I had green olives leftover from my Turkey Enchiladas. I'd already chopped up the green onions, so I just added those in as well. I also decided to saute the white onion in 1 tablespoon of EVOO, before adding it to the rest of the mixture, instead of throwing them in raw.

On another note, I'm officially back on Weight Watchers this week. No more excuses! I'll report back on Sunday with any pounds lost.

Turkey Empanadas with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This recipe has been doubled

Filling

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 packages of Goya Brand Empanada Dough (In freezer section of ethnic grocery stores, I went to a store called Valley Produce Market. They were $1.99 each.)

3 c cooked turkey, finely chopped

8 oz. light cream cheese, softened

1c cheddar cheese, shredded

1 large onion, chopped

4 tablespoons capers (or 1/2 c chopped green olives)

1/2 c green onions, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

2 roasted red peppers

1c light mayonnaise

1/2 c light sour cream

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, set on medium heat, saute white onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, until lightly golden in color. Set aside. Mix all other filling ingredients. Add sauteed onions, and mix to incorporate. Place one large tablespoon of filling in center of empanada dough round. Moisten edges with water, then fold the dough over, and seal the edges. Crimp edges with tines of a fork. Place in oven on greased baking sheet for 15 minutes, or until crust is browned and filling is hot. To make roasted red pepper sauce, combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

This recipe makes 36 Empanadas. 3 Empanadas with 1 oz. of Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is 12 points plus.

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Chicken Stroganoff

 

Here's another easy and tasty recipe from my new Taste of Home, Best Loved Recipes cookbook. It combines the smoky flavor of bacon, earthy flavor of mushrooms and, creamy sour cream. 

I ended up adding a bit cornstarch mixed with cold water, to thicken the sauce, a little bit more at the end. So, you may need to do this as well, or add some additional flour when the recipe calls for it.

My husband really liked this and I think you will too!

This recipe was created by Laura Schimanski from Coaldale, Alberta, Canada.

She says, "I came up with this recipe, a variation on Beef Stroganoff, as a way to use up roasted chicken. It was a hit. I'm usually the only one in my family who enjoys noodles, but even our son will have more when they're topped with the creamy poultry dish."

                                   Chicken Stroganoff

4 strips bacon, diced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4" strips

1 medium onion, diced

2 jars (4 1/2 oz each) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used one 8 oz. can)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoons paprika

Pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup (8 oz. ) sour cream

Hot cooked noodles

Additional paprika, optional

In a large skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon to paper towels to drain; reserving 2 tablespoons drippings; set bacon aside.

In the drippings, cook the chicken, onion and mushrooms until the chicken is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the broth, salt, paprika, pepper and bacon. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and sour cream until smooth; add to the skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with noodles. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.

 

This recipes makes 4 servings. If you are following Weight Watchers, each serving over 1 cup cooked hot noodles is 12 points plus (7 points plus for 1/4 serving of Chicken Stroganoff, and 5 points for the noodles.)

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Liebster Blog Award

I've been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award! I feel absolutely amazing right now. Thanks so much to Heather from Beyond the Aisle for the nomination.

The Liebster Award is a unique award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The purpose of the Liebster Blog Award is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. The award was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to "dearest" (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award.

The Rules

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
4. Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.
5. No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

11 Random things about me

1. I'm a 2 time gestational surrogate. I gave birth to a little girl named Coco in February 2010, and her little sister Kiki in May of 2012.  A gestational surrogate is a woman who carries a baby or babies for another couple, because they are unable to become pregnant on their own. The couple's embryo is transferred into the uterus, where it makes a happy home for 9 months. I have no biological relation to either of my surrodaughters.

2. While pregnant with Kiki, I was on Bravo's Pregnant in Heels, a reality TV show about maternity concierge Rosie Pope & how she comes to the aid of expectant moms & dads to be.

3. I love going to Disneyland!

4. I have a child with high functioning autism.

5. I have a bachelors degree in Recreation Administration with a minor in business administration from Humboldt State University.

6. I was the only graduate in the Recreation Administration department, who graduated with honors, the year I graduated. As a result, I was awarded the only academic achievement award for my department, at my graduation ceremony.

7. I met my husband Jeremiah when I was 16 years old. We dated exclusively, until I married him in 2003 at the age of 23. I'm now 33 and still happily married!

8. I've traveled to Mexico, England, Italy & Greece.

9. I named my blog, My Sesame Seed Buns after a punchline from a joke I heard on the Rosie O' Donnel show many years ago. Rosie had a little girl on the show who told her the following joke. How can you find Ronald McDonald on a nude beach? He's the one with the sesame seed buns! For whatever reason, this joke has stuck with me over the years, and was the inspiration for my blog title.

10. I have an allergy to cold weather. Weird, I know.  If I go into cold water, have cold wind blowing on me, or if I'm exposed to cold temperatures and not properly dressed, I break out in welts.

11. I am not a pet person.




Heather's questions for me

 1. Do you play any musical instruments?  If not, what do you wish you could play?

I don't play any musical instruments. The closest I've gotten, is playing saxophone in my junior high school band. But, I wasn't very good, and no desire to practice to become better! If I could play any instrument, I would choose the Spanish guitar.

 2. What is your favorite holiday to celebrate?

This is a tough one, but I would have to say Easter. I love dying Easter eggs, Easter egg hunts, and making Easter baskets for my kiddos.

3. What was the best gift you received this year?

I would have to say giving birth to my surrodaughter Kiki was the greatest gift I received. Seeing the faces of my intended fathers, after they saw their daughter for the first time was priceless.

4. What is the last book you read and loved?

I have to admit, I'm not much of a book reader. Other than cookbooks, that is! I read content on the internet for hours, obviously!

5. What would be your ultimate travel destination?

Definitely somewhere tropical, like Tahiti or Hawaii.

6. What forms of social media are you active on?

I'm active on Facebook & Pinterest. I can't for the life of me, figure out Twitter, but it's on my to-do list.

7. What DIY or craft project are you most proud of this year?

My son attends a local Boys & Girls Club after school program, and I've made several wall & door murals to decorate their space, including a huge alphabet display using my 4 year daughters hand prints.

8. What are your top three can't-miss TV shows?

American Idol, Glee & The Young and the Restless.

9. Any celebrity crushes?

Tom Welling, the actor who plays Clark Kent/Superman on Smallville.

10. If you could go on any game show, which one would you choose?

 The Price is Right. I'm an extreme couponer of sorts, so I know the price of everyday items pretty well.

11. Why do you blog?

I blog because I want to share my ideas with the world, connect with all the other amazing bloggers out there, and to keep a record of what is happening in my family's life.

Here are my questions for those I nominate
    
1. Do you grow any of your own food, such as a garden or fruit trees? If so, what?
2. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
3. Do you collect anything, or own anything rare or special?
4. What is your favorite cookbook?
5. If you are married, what would be your number one tip for a happy marriage?
6. What are your top 3 favorite movies?
7. If you could have dinner with any non-living historical or pop culture icon, who would it be?
8. If you had one million dollars to give to any charity, who would you give it to?
9. What is your number one pet peeve?
10. Is your family complete, or do you plan on having more children?
11. Why do you love blogging?


 Here are the 11 blogs I nominate for the Liebster Award
1.It's Yummy to my Tummy
2.Kandy's Kitchen Kreations 
3.Life of a Foodie and Her Family 
4.Food is Love
5.Skinny Sweets Daily
6.Whatcha Makin' Now?
7.Utah Munchies
8.Cake Balls, Cookies, and More.
9 She Cooks, She Crafts, She Runs
10.Good Morning Sweetums
11.Hot Eats and Cool Reads

Sweet 'N' Spicy Chicken

Happy Monday Everyone! I'm glad to be home. My family and I got back yesterday afternoon, after 3 days and 3 nights at the Disneyland Resort. We had a blast, but as you can imagine, I'm one tired mommy!

On top of being exhausted, I received a message on our answering machine from my son's Dr., asking for me to give them a call. I called this morning, and they wanted me to come in and discuss results of an MRI my son had several weeks ago. After hanging up with the Dr.'s office, I had 2 hours until my appointment, so of course, I was quietly freaking out during that time. The reason my son had a MRI was because he was experiencing frequent headaches, so I'm thinking they're going to tell me he has a brain tumor or something. Thank goodness, that's not the case! However, he does have sinus issues, and is being referred to an Ears, Nose & Throat specialist.

Anyway, after an emotionally draining morning, and not really having much in my fridge, due to being out of town, I wanted something super easy & yummy for dinner.

I just bought this awesome cookbook, Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes, where I found this recipe by Sheri White from Higley, Arizona.

Sheri writes: My family loves this tender chicken that has a spicy sauce. Peach preserves add just a touch of sweetness, while taco seasoning and salsa give this dish some kick. This entree can be made even zippier yet by adding more taco seasoning and using spicier salsa.

I thought the balance of flavor in this dish was perfect. I wouldn't change a thing! It only took about 20 minutes to make.

Sweet 'N' Spicy Chicken

3 Tbsp taco seasoning

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2" chunks

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 jar (11oz) chunky salsa

1/2 c peach preserves 

Hot cooked rice

Place the taco seasoning in a large resealable plastic bag; add chicken and toss to coat. 

In a large skillet, brown the chicken in the oil until no longer pink. Combine the salsa and preserves; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Serve with rice.

This recipes makes 4 servings. If you are following Weight Watchers, each serving is 7 points plus.

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Skinny Cranberry Scones

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that everyone had a fun and safe New Years Eve.

Okay, so I'm gearing up to get back on the weight loss track. I've been working the Weight Watchers program on and off, since giving birth to a baby girl in May, as a gestational surrogate. I haven't done too badly(I've lost all my pregnancy weight,) but was "fluffy" before getting pregnant, so I still have more weight I would like to lose.

I say "gearing up" because my family and I are leaving to go to Disneyland on Thursday for 3 days. I don't plan on counting points while at Disneyland, so I won't officially start back on Weight Watchers until Monday Jan.7th. 

Getting back on track is very important to me. Not only for my health, and to be a good role model for my kids (I have one skinny mini & one chunky monkey,) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have some exciting news to share with all of you in a couple of months, so I need to lose the weight! Darn you holiday cookies! It's so hard to eat just ONE!

This Skinny Cranberry Scones recipe is adapted from a recipe I found on Pinterest via Skinny Taste. I had leftover buttermilk from making Fried Ravioli as a Christmas day snack, so I searched Pinterest and came across Gina's recipe for Skinny Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones. When I asked my husband, if he would eat these, he told me that scones should have dried fruit, not chocolate chips! His mom must have made them with raisins growing up, so that is what he was used to, I guess? I humored him, and substituted the chocolate chips for dried cranberries!

Skinny Cranberry Scones 

3/4 cup cold reduced fat buttermilk

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 cup all purpose flour 

1 cup white whole wheat flour 

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces 

3/4 cup Ocean Spray dried cranberries

cooking spray

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use 2 knives, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in dried cranberries. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist.

Place dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands. Form dough into an 9-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4" thick. Using a knife, cut dough into 8 wedges all the way through.

Brush egg white over dough and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Serve warm.


Makes 8 servings. If you are following Weight Watchers, each scone is 6 points plus.

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