Life as a Lofthouse (Food Blog): Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

Life as a Lofthouse (Food Blog): Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice:         I have a DELICIOUS recipe for you all! I am so excited to share this one. I found this on  Mels Kitchen Cafe  about a year a...

Pinterest review Hawaiin Sweet Roll Ham Sammies

I am starting a blog today.  I'm not a writer.  I'm not funny.  I don't live an extravagant life and oftentimes don't really have anything to say (or really do not think I have anything that is interesting to say).  However, I have become Pinterest addicted.  I am addicted to trying DIY things, new recipes, and learning how to really apply makeup (after 25 years of applying makeup on a daily basis).  So, I have decided to review the things I have tried.  I have come to realize I LOVE cooking.  It's really quite ironic that I have realized how much I love cooking now.  I had weight loss surgery in November, 2011 and can only eat about a cup of what I cook.  The joy, however, is in seeing the looks in my family's faces when I have hit a homerun with a recipe.  There are times I have seen other things on their faces, and when that happens, I know that I do not need to save that recipe and delete it from my Pinterest. 
The review I am going to do today is for a recipe that I tried last night.  The post was "Hawaiin Sweet Roll Ham Sammies".  I used a whole grain bread instead of the Hawaiin Sweet rolls and it was a hit and when I say it was a hit I mean there was NONE left.  Here is the recipe:



I used sweet whole grain rolls from the Walmart bakery.



Roasted Tomato Salsa

Roasted tomato salsa
so darn easy.
Ok, so I started messing around with salsa recipes.  I wanted fresh tomato salsa and most of the recipes called for canned tomatoes.  I also, love slow roasted tomatoes, so I decided to incorporate that into my salsa.  I go to the farmer's market every weekend.  last weekend I got a mixture of some awesome peppers.  Don't even ask me what they are.  I don't even remember which ones are unbearable hot and which ones are mild.  So, I added 3 different ones...one big red and green one, one jalepeno, and one small red one(I know those are HOT).  Here is how I made my salsa.

Ingredients
6 medium to large fresh tomatoes
3 mild to hot peppers (I know at least one of them was a jalepeno)
1 1/2 onion (red yellow or white...really made no difference but I prefer red)
2-3 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 can rotel drained
1/2 cup cilantro (or how much ever you like)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
juice of one lime

preheat oven to 250 degrees.  I cut the tomatoes in 1/3s and put them on a cookie sheet.  Cut 1 onion in 1/4s and lay them across the tomatoes willy nilly.  evenly spread minced garlic over that then sprinkle with the olive oil.  I also top it off with a few sprinkles of taco seasoning.  put in the oven for 2 hour or until veggies get a little brown.
put in blender or food processor along with the juices in the bottom of the pan.  add remaining ingredients and pulse or blend.  Enjoy in cooking or with tortilla chips....YUM.  roasting the tomatoes really do make a difference.