BAoK, BBQ, Key Lime Tartlets

Hi friends! Hope you are enjoying your weekend so far! Mine has been lovely. Yesterday, I received a FABULOUS BAoK gift from Allie. The gift contained tons of tea, two zing bars, and two of her soon to be famous Allie Bars (which are seriously out of this world amazing). Thank you so much Allie!!

I wanted to mention two additional BAoK taking place around blog world:

• Alisa (whose guilt free banana bread will be featured in a future post), sent an email to a fellow blogger to thank them for being such a great support and inspiration.
• Janetha saw Kailey (snackface) write on Brooke's (homegirls) wall that she could not find a specific color of nail polish. So, Janetha found it online and ordered it and had it shipped to her house (so sweet!)

Have you done a BAoK? Email it to me at Itzyskitchen at gmail dot com!

Last night we had friends over for a BBQ. I didn't take very good pictures (whoops), but here are just a few)- I made beef burgers for the boys, a chicken sandwich for my friend Mandi (shout out ;)), and a rice burger for myself:

Unfortunately...the burger was very cardboardy. I guess I'll stick to making my own meat free burgers at home!

I made up a spinach and strawberry salad:

And placed almonds, feta, and Maria's dressing on the side:

I also laid out some pickles:

Grilled up some buns and pineapple:

and asparagus.

Dinner was great! Mandi brought over some coconut lemon bars for dessert that were DELICIOUS.

This morning, I taught Body Step & Pump and baked up some mini key lime tartlets for my Uncle whose birthday is today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE GARY!!!):

I also spent a ton of time outside (its gorgeous out) and listened to the new Body Step music to prep for our practice tomorrow and launch on Monday. Now I'm debating whether to go to the Family Circle Cup (women's pro tennis) or relax with Josh... decisions, decisions! I'm also on the way to deliver the tartlets and a bottle of my Uncle's favorite beverage :)

What are you up to?

Chicken (or Turkey or Bean) Fiesta Bake & A Win

We made it! Friday!!!! Aside from the usual work, I also have food shopping, a hair appointment, and a BBQ planned. What are you up to today?

The other night, I made up Rachael Ray's Turkey Fiesta Bake for Josh. What I love about this dish is you can really play with the ingredients. Her original recipe called for chicken, but I used turkey. I think it would be great with two kinds of beans (which I plan to make for myself in the future) and no meat or fake meat crumbles. Instead of using the diced tomatoes with chilies, I used a can of tomato sauce and added in cumin and chili powder (since Josh isn't a fan of tomato chunks). I think salsa would make a great substitute here as well.

After combining all ingredients in a skillet:

And into a baking dish:

Top with cheese:

And baked until melty:

This dish is fool proof and makes a ton! Josh can eat this for a few nights for lunch and/or dinner (perfect when I'm teaching and don't have a lot of time to throw a nice dinner together).

Josh's brother recently sent us some pictures he had taken this past New Years. I thought I'd share one of my favorites (thanks Jer!!):

On a side note, I won three tickets to the 2010 Taste of the Nation in Greenville, SC!! I am very excited to cover this event for FoodBuzz. I will also be giving away 1 ticket to this event in an upcoming post. Want to attend a Taste of the Nation event near you? Just go to their website for information on how to purchase tickets.

Have you heard about Sabrina's I Love Salad! Challenge? If not, check out the information here. I think its a really fun concept. I hope you have a fantastic weekend!