What's for Dinner? - Salty, Sweet, Sexy Scallops

This particular dish has been a home run every single time I have ever prepared it, be it in St. Louis, St. Thomas, or here in Kansas City. There is something so deliciously naughty about teasing one's tongue between salty and sweet. The taste buds for both of these are located on the very tip and front sides of the tongue, perfect for a candy-like, slightly sticky, but just a little salty after-dinner kiss...Yes that's right, for this dinner your inner kitchen goddess needs to come out and play. Perfect for a date night, or maybe when you plan on reading a few more chapters of "Fifty Shades of Gray....."  *giggle*

~Ingredients~

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup lite soy sauce

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

10-12 large sea scallops, cut in half

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

*10-12 slices of bacon, cut in half

*toothpicks

~Directions~

1.  Whisk together maple syrup, soy sauce, and Dijon until smooth.

2.  Add the scallops and toss until they are coated.

3.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate for at least an hour.

4.  Preheat oven to 375.

5.  If you are wrapping your scallops in bacon, this is when you would prepare it either in the oven or in a skillet. However you prepare it, the bacon should still be very soft and pliable so that it is easily wrapped around a scallop.

6.  When the bacon is finished cooking, wrap each piece around each scallop and secure it with a toothpick.

7.  Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and transfer scallops after each process.

8.  Sprinkle each scallop (whether wrapped in bacon or not) with the brown sugar.

9.  Bake in oven 10-15 minutes, until scallops are pink and opaque. Turn them once halfway through.0.

10.  Serve as is and enjoy your sticky-sweet-salty-sexy dinner!

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Kitchen Goddess: Homemade Paints For Toddler!

We don't have to spend nearly as much money on things we can simply make from ingredients right in our own kitchens! All you need is a little cornstarch, some water, and a little food coloring, and VOILA! You have homemade paints for your little person. Don't worry about the food coloring staining their skin for long. One bath, maybe two, does the trick. Their artwork masterpieces are way worth it anyway. 

~Ingredients~

1 cup water

1 cup cornstarch + 1/4 cup

Neon and regular food coloring

aluminum muffin tin

~Directions~

1.  Mix water and cornstarch together. Sprinkle more cornstarch in to achieve desired consistency.

2.  Pour the mixture into the muffin tins.

3.  Add food coloring to each to create different colored paint.

4.  Give the kid a brush or let them use their hands and feet!

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Kitchen Goddess: Must-Have Christmas Aprons!

How adorable is this apron??  I found it on Cupcake Provocateur, one of my favorite sassy kitchen websites. Click here to see the entire Christmas apron collection! Perfect gift idea for anyone who loves to cook, but obviously with a little flair. 

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Kitchen Goddess: BEHAVE FOOLISHLY!

In one of the very first blogs I ever wrote on Footie Patoodie!, I stated that the most important tool of the trade you can bring to the table is a sense of humor.  As a mother of a new baby, your boobs will ache, your hormones will rise and fall with such amazing speed only a NASA physicist could possibly begin to understand, purple bags will appear under your eyes that 6 months prior did not exist, your skin seems to think you have reentered your traumatizing pubescent middle school years, the voluminous hair that once bounced playfully around your shoulders will lay limply against your poor withered skull...As for the men doing it for themselves, all of your preconceived notions that a militant sleeping and eating schedule would be enforced just flew right out the window, frozen pizzas are your best friend, your expensive Craftsman tools you were going to use to restore that kickass rat rod are now being used to assemble the world's most complicated toy sets that will frustratingly come in second to the box and wrapping in which they were packaged (sigh), and you are wondering who this woman is that you married and with whom you decided to have children as she runs around like a chicken with her head cut off, yelling at you for doing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

This is why you must make time to behave foolishly.  Not just foolishly, but really embarrassingly. And most importantly, BEHAVE FOOLISHLY IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN. I truly believe it is important and healthy for children to see their parents being silly, enjoying their lives, dancing like idiots, singing at the top of their lungs, movin' and groovin', and generally being goofy. Not only is it healthy for the kids to see that even during stressful times you are able to cut loose, but it's healthy for YOU.  When have you ever shaken your booty and not felt 10 times better by the end of it? Is it even possible to dance to your favorite throw-backs without grinning ear-to-ear?  Next time you're cooking dinner and you feel pressured to get the meal on the table or in your baby's mouth at exactly 5:00pm, stop.  Grab your favorite CD. Close your eyes. Find the rhythm. AND BUST A MOVE!!!!!  After you're finished you'll realize your family is not starving, and they were just totally entertained by the crazy person flailing about in the kitchen. Now go pop and lock that meatloaf on the table. Your family's waiting for (and still laughing at) you.

These videos were taken in January of 2011, so almost a year ago. Piper was a little over 5 months old and was sitting in her bouncy seat right in front of me. I'm not taking all credit, but today she is a dancing, energy MACHINE.

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