Category Archives: Cooking

Mediterranean Salad

My husband and I love cucumbers, tomatoes and rice vinegar with oil as a delicious summer snack. I’ve been making this snack all week long and decided to spice it up a bit by adding a lot more items to use as a main dish salad.

We love this salad and it is healthy, filling and fulfilling.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups bok choy, chopped
  • 1 cup cucumbers, chopped
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • ¼ cup oil
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, add bok choy, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado and cilantro.

IMG_4846Mix together in a separate bowl, lemon juice and Oil. Pour on top of vegetables and mix well. 
IMG_4857Rinse and drain beans; add to salad. When serving add salt and pepper.

Sweet and Savory Stuffed Bell Peppers

Tonight I wanted something a little different, something with a pop. I am sick of the Mexican style stuffed peppers that everyone makes. I wanted something a little Sweet & Savory for a change. I taste tested along the way until I found what I believe to be the best combination of flavors.

Tonight was a night I didn’t really want to cook. It seems as of recent with the whirlwind of life, I often have days that I simply am not motivated. With that in mind, I knew I couldn’t skimp on dinner as I have a family to feed. So, while my son napped, I cooked the meat and stuffed the peppers. When he woke up we went for a long walk and came back and popped the peppers in the oven. My son thoroughly enjoys our long walks to the dog park to watch the puppies frolic in the park or to head into the woods on the walking trail and look at the water along the way. Today…we did both.

Anyway, while the peppers cooked, I used my wonderful rice maker. I love my rice maker as it does all the work for me and gets the rice perfect every time.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground turkey (Beef or opt out for vegetarian)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 4 medium mushrooms, diced
  • 1 small parsnip, diced
  • 1 heaping cup bok choy, thinly chopped
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • Garlic Oil (EVOO works as well)
  • ¼ tsp garlic salt
  • ¾ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp thyme
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp honey
  • ¼ cup green salsa
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 2 Large green peppers, sliced in half
  • Blue Cheese, Ranch or Sour Cream for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large skillet chop onion, mushrooms, parsnips, bok choy, and garlic.

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While the veggies begin to cook on medium heat and add the meat.

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Once meat is cooked and vegetables are tender, add in 1 cup of cheese.

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Wash and slice peppers lengthwise and place on a foil lined baking sheet.

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Use a spoon to fill in the crevasses that are hard to get.

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Pile high and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.

IMG_4880After 15 minutes sprinkle with cheese (optional) and broil for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

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Serve with rice! Enjoy!

Fondido Burrito

I am one of those people who tend to get migraines. My mom gets them as well but even worse than I. Unfortunately, I inherited these terrible things. I can’t even begin to explain the intensity of a migraine if you have never had one previously. All you need to know is you never want to experience it. They cause sensitivity to light, to the point I need to lay in bed or I could throw up from the pain. If it doesn’t subside, I would head to ER and get a shot to help alleviate the pain.

On the other hand, I have been migraine free since I became pregnant almost three years ago. I was so ecstatic that my headaches had dissipated with the pregnancy hormones. Well….three years later, I wake up at 4 am from the pain. Writhing in bed, I finally took some medicine which at that point, was already too late. Finally, after falling back asleep for a little bit, I woke up and had to immediately put my sunglasses  on to help mask even the dim lighting first thing in the morning. My head was ragging with a splitting headache directly between my eyes. Unfortunately this was typical for me three years ago.

This day in particular, was the day we celebrated our Father’s Day dinner. My husband was very specific on his request for dinner; a Fondido Burrito wet style. We have a favorite burrito place we frequent for massively cheap burritos that you cannot pass up. My husband was very specific on how he wanted this meal to look. Having my father-in-law over for dinner, was just another reason I had to make this meal succeed regardless of my migraine.

I headed for the store to purchase the items I needed for dinner, hoping and praying that my migraine would subside. As the day progressed, it wobbled back and forth but never really depleted in intensity. As the evening approached, I felt a little bit better but still not so hot. Luckily dinner was a success but definitely took time to prepare as I was lollygagging around trying to keep my thoughts focused on the task at hand.

Ingredients:

Burrito Assembly:

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • Spanish Rice
  • 1 ½ cups black beans (16oz can works as well)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 4 large burrito tortillas
  • Green or Red Enchilada sauce
  • 1 ½ lbs stew meat
  • Tomatoes
  • Sour Cream
  • Cilantro
  • Hot Sauce

Marinade:

  • 2 tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp parsley
  • 1 tsp itallian seasoning
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • ¼ cup Teriyaki Marinade (Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki)
  • ¼ tsp Paprika

Put together the marinade along with stew meat in a large zip lock bag. Marinate over night or at least for 5 hours prior to cooking.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large pan, saute onions and garlic until tender.

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Once onions and garlic begin to cook add in meat and cook over medium-low heat. Cook until no longer pink.

Note: The higher the temperature, the more tough your meat will become.

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Allow the juices to soak in and continue marinating while cooking over med-low heat.

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Meanwhile, cook Spanish rice and prepare black beans. Once meat is thoroughly cooked, on a large tortilla assemble a large spoonful of meat, rice and beans. Add cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, tomatoes and cilantro and fold up edges. On a large foil lined broiler pan, place burritos and cook for 10 minutes at 425 degrees.

After ten minutes take burritos out and top with cheese and enchilada sauce. Turn oven to broil and cook until cheese is melted and burrito begins to crisp up.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures during assembly, I was completely distracted by conversation with my father-in-law and my migraine.)

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Serve with homemade chips and a fresh salad.

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Luckily, even with my migraine, my husband was completely satisfied with his dinner of choice and it exceeded his expectations. :)

Blackberry Lemonade

I’ve been addicted to this drink lately and it’s so refreshing. Part of my problem is I can drink coffee all day long, but too much caffeine will give me a headache. As summer has officially begun I started making this delicious blackberry lemonade and it’s been a great afternoon replacement to my usual coffee.

I love to make homemade Iced Tea come summer. When using a fresh tea and a little lemonade for sweetener, your hot day just got better.

You can use any tea for iced tea but to be completely honest, any form of black tea is the best.

Ingredients:

  • 8-10 Blackberry Black tea bags
  • 1 gallon of water
  • Lemonade

In a large pot bring water to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat off and add tea bags to the pot. Set aside and let sit for 2 hours. If it’s a beautiful day out, place your pot in the sun for 1-2 hours.

Squeeze any remaining water from tea bags and remove. Pour tea into a large pitcher and refrigerate.

When you are ready for your Blackberry Tea Lemonade, fill a mason jar full of ice, pour iced tea over and leave about 1-2 inches to splash with lemonade. Mix and enjoy!

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Homemade iced tea is really simple. There are many different forms to iced tea as well. You can sweeten your tea while the water is still hot, or leave it as is and sweeten with each drink.

Backyard BBQ Mahi

This backyard BBQ Mahi adds a little taste of sweet and spicy. We love Mahi in our household especially because we buy it from Costco with individually wrapped fillets.

I’m all about healthy, quick and easy clean up. :)

Ingredients:

  • 4 Mahi Fillets
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp Backyard BBQ seasoning
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • Dash of garlic salt

On a foil lined broiler pan, place fillets with seasoning sprinkled evenly amongst the four fillets. Place 1 tbsp butter on each fillet.

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Bake at 375 degrees and cook for 8-10 minutes or until flaky.

Serve with rice and vegetables.

Homemade “Pam” Nonstick Spray

Homemade “Pam” Nonstick Spray. This is an important facet to your cooking that must be addressed. How often do you use nonstick spray? Almost everyday in our household. Do you know what chemicals lay within this simple spray? Do you know what you are blindly putting into your body as well as your families?

I will give you a simple transition to kick the nonstick spray to the trash and make your own. Don’t resort to butter or coconut oil as you will be adding hundreds of calories without even realizing it; directly into your prepared dish.

Instead of using butter or coconut oil you will save time and money by making your own nonstick spray. Don’t buy Pam Spray as you will be purchasing preservatives and chemicals when you can easily make your own at home!

Speaking of chemicals, after reading a couple different articles on the ingredients in Pam cooking spray, come to find out they use an ingredient called Propellant which also resembles propane and nitrous oxide. Neither of these are chemicals I prefer to eat with my eggs and bacon in the morning. Yikes. This actually defeats the purpose of homemade meals when you still have the chemicals floating around in forms such as this.

I reluctantly admit that I used to purchase the store bought product without thinking twice. When I ran out, I started to think about it and if it really was worth purchasing. To be honest nonstick spray works really well. I never had problems with anything sticking so I was a little doubtful about transitioning over. I thought I would start by using butter or coconut oil and wiping down the pan, but when I realized how much I bake and cook, I was using a lot of butter (and calories) just to create a nonstick surface. I began making my own nonstick spray and love it and am happy to see my butter stay put in the fridge rather than adding hundreds of calories to simply keep the food from sticking. :)

Please, any of you out there who have any form of Pam Nonstick Spray, toss that sucker in your trash and make your own today! All you do is take equal parts lemon juice and olive oil (or vegetable oil), whichever you prefer and combine in a mini spray bottle. Label and place in refrigerator. Lemon juice needs to be refrigerated once opened otherwise it will spoil almost immediately.

When you go to use it, shake well. This works like a gem and you can rest easy knowing you are avoiding any propellant in your homemade meals.

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Those 30 seconds it takes to create this product is something worth doing!

Moment of Truth: When preparing homemade meals, stick as close to it’s original form to help avoid preservatives. These days it takes a lot more work to avoid added ingredients but your body and family will thank you!

M&M Cookies

Yummy yum! As I prepare for this coming week extravaganza I decided to make some cookies to take with us. We will be taking my dad to the beach for his 60th birthday and Coopers 2nd birthday. We wanted to do something fun and memorable. We will be taking off for 5 days and enjoying lots of good food and entertainment with the family.

I am trying to make as much food for us as possible without over doing it. My sweet mom will be helping out as well and it’s greatly appreciated. :) Thanks mom!

My father-in-law gave us three large bags of M&M’s as he was overly stocked for his wife before she passed away. She loved M&M’s and they were easy for her to eat. He shared in the abundance of M&M’s with us this past weekend which sparked my desire for M&M Cookies.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups M&M’s

Preheat oven to 375. In a stand mixer, mix together butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Beat well.

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Add in flour, salt and soda. Mix well.

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Fold in M&M’s.

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Place on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on a wire wrack.

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These cookies freeze nicely as well.

Coffee Crumb Cake Muffins- NY Style

Coffee Cake Muffins, New York style. OH MY GOODNESS! These are almost too perfect! They are entirely unhealthy but how can you have healthy coffee cake and actually enjoy it? I don’t believe in wasting calories and fat on muffins that simply are a knock off. :)

We LOVE these muffins and decided to take them to the beach this weekend to enjoy with family and allow them to partake in our indulgence as well. They are a great hit and everyone enjoys a good coffee cake muffin with some fruit and coffee.

Ingredients:

For the muffin:

  • 1¼ cup unbleached flour (Cake flour works great too)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp butter softened but still cool
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅓ cup buttermilk

For the crumb topping:

  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
  • ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
  • Dash of salt
  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 1 ¼ cups cake flour

In a stand mixer, mix together flour, sugar, soda and salt.

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Add in butter and eggs.

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Stir in vanilla and buttermilk (for homemade quick buttermilk click here)

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Beat until incorporated but do not over mix.

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Fill muffin cups 1/3 full leaving plenty of room for the crumb topping and for the muffin to rise.

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Make the crumb topping: In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients except flour together and mix thoroughly. Add in flour and stir really well. Spoon on top of batter.

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Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until crumb topping is golden brown and batter comes out clean with a toothpick inserted.

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Cool on wire rack and enjoy! They also freeze well in an airtight container.

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Recipe adapted from Table for two blog

How to Hard Boil Eggs

How to hard boil eggs.

I didn’t realize that it can be a struggle to peel the shell and not have the yoke fully cooked. After talking with a friend, I decided to share my little secret for the perfect hard boiled egg. No problems peeling and no under cooked egg.

I didn’t realize you could actually buy pre-boiled eggs from Costco. I was actually shocked when I heard this and figured it was time to share these simple directions as I boil eggs weekly for snacks throughout the week.

As I was talking with her, she explained that she can never get the eggs just right; a little too soft or too difficult to peel.

So… here ya go. The no fail hard boiled eggs. If you follow these directions you shouldn’t have any problem peeling the shell. I haven’t and would be surprised if you did.

In a large pot place cold eggs. Use COLD water, enough to cover the eggs. (This will keep them from cracking)

IMG_4542Bring to a roaring boil. 

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Once boiling, turn off heat, cover and set the time for 13 minutes. (Leave the pot on the hot burner) 
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When timer goes off, rinse with cold water and place in the refrigerator. 
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Enjoy your delicious eggs that will cook without fail. 
IMG_4552Simple as that!

English Muffin Bread

***UPDATED***

This is my ‘go to’ recipe. No fail, no harm, simply easy and simply delicious.

This recipe makes 4 loaves and it freezes spectacularly. I usually freeze two at a time although currently my freezer is stuffed to the brim. Literally packed full. I am beginning to wonder how to gain more space. The talk of purchasing a small freezer has been the topic of discussion lately. I freeze quite a bit of items including: turkey broth, pumpkin puree, leftover soups and lentils, meat, leftover chicken potpie, bread and much more. It allows for great meal ideas, healthier options by making your own broths and purees and good news is… they are on hand at all times.

I believe keeping the freezer and pantry stocked allows for meal plans to spread out for up to two weeks. I grocery shop one big trip every two weeks. I will return to the store for produce and perishables. Other than that my I am able to stay on budget very well. It’s taken some time for me to figure out the best way to avoid the store on a frequent basis as well as spending the least amount of money while still cooking and baking without purchasing premade foods. I’ve found it works very successfully.

First I write out my meal plans, than go back through and write down ingredients that I don’t have on hand or am low on. Second, I constantly monitor what is on hand and close to running out as I like to keep stocks in the pantry of salad dressings, beans, pasta, flour, sugar, etc. This allows for moderations to be made throughout the week on those nights when particular meals don’t hit the spot.

Bread is definitely a must have item. Those sandwiches, toast, and dishes where you need bread as a side do frequent in our house. Also, having bread on hand is great because you don’t have to make it as often, although it’s extremely easy and quick, it allows for more time out of the kitchen by nailing it down in one afternoon. :)

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Ingredients:

  • 5 1/2 cups warm water
  • 6 3/4 tsps yeast (3 packets of yeast)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 11 cups unbleached flour

In a small glass container add yeast and 2 cups water together. Let sit until yeast begins to bubble. (Do not worry about mixing thoroughly)

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Meanwhile, add 6 cups flour, salt and sugar together in a stand mixer using a dough hook. IMG_4383

Add in water and yeast as well as remaining 2 1/2 cups water, begin to mix. Once mixture is beginning to incorporate well, slowly add remaining 5 cups of flour a little at a time. Make sure all flour is intermixed and no lumps are found.

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Once dough is thoroughly mixed, grease 3-4 bread pans any shape or size; grease well! Divide dough equally into pans.

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Cover with a tea towel and let dough rise until dough reaches the top of the pan.

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Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Bush top of bread with melted butter (optional). Then continue baking an additional 10-15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

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Let bread rest 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool on wire rack.

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This bread makes the most delicious sandwiches and simple toast with butter or jam!