Spinach and feta meatballs with homemade pasta sauce

Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my very favorite meals. I love it because my dads side of the family is Sicilian, so it's basically in my blood. Seeing as I do have Sicilian roots, I felt it necessary to learn how to make my own pasta sauce-a sauce my family would be proud of. I had a few tomatoes on the vine leftover from grocery shopping that I had not used yet, that were at their peak of ripeness. They were gorgeous. PERFECT for sauce! I also had onion, garlic cloves, tomato paste-hey I was in business! Sauce is one of those things that you can make a ton of, and store it in mason jars for later use, or you can put them in mason jars and freeze! I like knowing exactly what is going into what I am eating so this recipe is definitely a keeper-no more store bought sauce for us! For my sauce I used:

4 very ripe tomatoes, diced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of water, or dry red wine 
1 large onion, chopped (or 1 1/2 cup frozen onion)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
a healthy pinch of sugar
a healthy pinch of cinnamon
dried oregano
1/4 cup tomato paste

I know, the sugar and cinnamon sounds strange but it cuts the acidity of the fresh tomatoes, and makes the sauce sweet-which I absolutely love. If you are not a fan of sweet sauce, just omit completely.

Take out that trusty, huge stockpot and heat the oil over medium heat (I have burned oil many, many times, and medium heat is the best way to go) and add the onion and garlic. Cook until the garlic smells heavenly and the onions are soft and clear. Next add your tomatoes and crush with a potato masher until very juicy. Add the water, or wine if you choose, and the spices. Bring to a boil. Add the tomato paste and stir until well combined, and simmer for 20 minutes. And there you have it! Super simple and a good way to use up those tomatoes you aren't sure what to do with. :)

Next, the meatballs. I knew I wanted to incorporate vegetables in them, so I went looking in my fridge and saw that we had fresh spinach and feta and onions-perfect! The feta allows you to omit using salt in the meatballs, which saves sodium intake, and the caramelized onions it gives it a flavor that just bursts through the roof!

As always, first things first! Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef, turkey, chicken - I always use extra lean meat
10 oz spinach-if it is frozen, thaw it out, if it is fresh-cook it first
4 oz feta cheese
1/2 onion, cut into half-moons and caramelized
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
and the sauce you just made :)

Take out a big glass bowl and add all ingredients, except the sauce. Mash them all together and roll them into perfect little meatballs, like so:

Next, take out a deep skillet and add just a tiny amount of oil, add the meatballs and cook until browned on all sides. Don't nudge them around too much because they will break. They are ready to be turned when they move easily, and do not stick to the bottom of the skillet.

(Don't they look tasty with all those onions in them??)

Once they are browned on all sides, remove from the skillet onto a plate, and drain the fat, if any. Add your tasty sauce to the skillet, re-add the meatballs, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the biggest meatballs is cooked through. Serve over your favorite pasta-next time I might try to make my own pasta. These little meatballs were perfectly stuffed with cheese, spinach and feta-this one is a keeper! Enjoy! :)

Tex-Mex Chicken Soup: light on calories, but heavy on taste!

I was at the grocery store with my husband the other day, and the new issue of "cooking light" was displayed at the check-out line. It had the most amazing looking grilled veggie pizza on the cover, and I have been dying to find a good veggie pizza recipe, so I thought why not? And bought it. Boy, let me tell you I am glad I did because it had a recipe in it for a light tex-mex chicken soup that turned out so hearty, and flavorful I ate 3 bowls of it in the last two days!

I absolutely loved this soup because not only was it super easy to make, it had real great, fresh ingredients and real rich flavored spices to make it a filling, spicy, soup. And, with the different textures from the chicken, and the crunch of the corn, and the bite of the jalapeno-it really turned out amazing. First things first! Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion (fresh or frozen-doesn't matter!)
3 garlic cloves-minced
1 bell pepper-chopped
1 jalapeno-seeded and minced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken (you can get them at the grocery store for like $5)
2 cups corn (fresh or frozen-canned has high salt content)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 large tomatoes-chopped
1 can-no salt added-black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (optional)

My husband used to work in a Mexican restaurant, and when they closed he brought home all the dried peppers, chilis, and spices-so I already had all of these things on hand. The upside of buying these spices is that, guaranteed you will use them over and over again!  First I did all my prep so that the oil didn't burn in the stockpot before I could get the onion in there. I chopped the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and pepper and mixed them up in one big pile. Next, I heated the oil in a big 'ol stock pot over medium high heat, and added my big pile of veggies. Saute for about 3-5 minutes. Next, add the chili powder, crushed red pepper, salt, cumin, and pepper and saute for about 30 seconds-1 minute. Add the shredded chicken, corn, chicken broth, tomatoes, and beans; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 6 minutes or so. Top with fresh cilantro if you choose. There you have it! A healthy, filling soup. Each serving (1 cup) clocks in at:

186 calories
5.4g of fat
18g of protein
18.4g of carbs
4g of fiber
67mg of calcium
571mg of sodium-It sounds high, but you saved about 500mg using low sodium ingredients! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have another bowl waiting for me...

Mini kale frittatas with herbed goat cheese

Lately I have been trying to fit lots of greens into my diet, as well as my husbands. We were not getting nearly enough leafy greens so I bought a ton of spinach, and most importantly kale. Kale has recently been named a "superfood" because it is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein and is rich in calcium. It's basically one of the healthiest vegetables there is. Last time we went grocery shopping I bought a few bundles, figuring I would find uses for it. I wanted to make a frittata this morning out of spinach and feta BUT realized a had a little bit of kale left. So, I used that in place for the spinach, and used a very creamy and flavorful goat cheese in place of the feta. The goat cheese was reasonable at $3.99 for a few ounces at Farm Fresh. It is loaded with all sorts of herbs and the taste just pops in these little frittatas.

Making them could not be easier either. You only need a few ingredients, and you can make it in a 9" pie plate, or you can make individual frittatas (like the one above) by using a muffin pan :) To make them you will need:

2 cups chopped kale
3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced thin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 eggs
crumbled goat cheese

In order to chop the kale you first have to remove it from the rib. After doing so, cut it into thin strips. Heat the 3 tbsp oil in a 10" skillet and heat the garlic, kale and red pepper until the kale begins to wilt, around 2 minutes or so

Next, in a medium bowl, crack the eggs and whip them up real good, and add the kale mixture-whisk until well combined. Grease 6 wells in a standard sized muffin pan (that makes 12 muffins). I have a wilton muffin pan that I got from my mother a million years ago, and I still use that one today :)

Using a laddle, or a very large spoon, fill the prepared wells about 2/3 of the way with the egg mixture. Then sprinkle the tops with as much, or as little goat cheese as you would like. I like a lot!

Then, pop 'em in the oven and bake for 23-30 minutes until the tops are set, and the goat cheese is melted. Once they cool a little, the tops may cave in a little bit-totally normal. We aren't making perfect souffles here!  If you prefer, you can leave them in until the tops get browned, but I like mine just done enough...

 PERFECT! :D

Chicken Souvlaki salad with homemade dressing and tzatziki sauce

Yesterday I was really missing home, and a lot of the restaurants and hidden gems that I used to eat at. One of these places is a little diner tucked in between consignment stores on Main St. called Rachel's. On Mondays, at the chiropractor I used to work at, we had weekly staff meetings, and we would normally order from Rachel's-and their open chicken souvlaki salad was uh-mazing. Now, after week after week of eating the stuff it got a little tiring but I was really wanting it BIG time yesterday. Naturally, I tried to recreate it myself, and I got pretty darn close!

Rachel's makes everything from scratch, including the dressings and sauces and making my own as well was a challenge I was definitely up for. Let's start with the tzatziki sauce! It is made from yogurt, and cucumbers, and garlic and not only is it great with souvlaki, it tastes really good as a veggie dip as well, and it is SO refreshing, especially with cucumber in it.  I just happened to have everything needed to make it right in my fridge:

8 oz plain yogurt (regular or Greek)
1 cucumber, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 of a lemon, juiced
1 tbsp fresh dill
3 chopped garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

This one is easy peasy-just throw everything in the trusty food processor and blend until a it turns into a lovely sauce. Store in the fridge in a squeeze bottle or mason jar!

Next, comes the Greek salad dressing. You know the one-when it sits on the table the oil is on the top, the vinegar at the bottom, and all the herbs and spices are sitting at the bottom of the bottle, and you have to shake it up real good before you use it. Yeah, that one. Equally as easy, and it turned out just like the kind you get it the restaurant. It was oily, and herby, and garlicly-divine! And, as always, can be made with stuff you probably already have in your kitchen:

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 minced garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

I always use fresh garlic, and not the jarred kind so I chop and mince all the garlic myself. Mincing the garlic would be your first step but if you have minced, jarred garlic-use about 3 tsps. Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Slowly whisk, slowly stream the olive oil into the lemon/vinegar mixture until it begins to emulsify (thicken), then just transfer to a squeeze bottle, or mason jar and store in the fridge! I reserved about a cup of the dressing to use as a marinade for my chicken, and let it soak for about 3 hours in the fridge.

I do not have a grill, but I have a cast iron panini grill for the stove, so I just used that and it worked great! Before grilling the chicken, I pounded it so flatten it out a little, so it would grill up faster without drying up or burning and it worked perfectly! Then, I served it with a spinach salad topped with fresh tomato, feta, and whole grain pita and BOOM-Chicken souvlaki salad. Keep the dressing and sauce on hand, and it will play a huge role in a quick weekday meal. Winner winner, Greek chicken dinner ;)

Raspberry crumb bars with homemade raspberry filling

I absolutely love streusel topping. I love crumbly toppings made of flour and oats and butter. I love it atop muffins, cobblers, coffee cakes...to me it really takes baked goods to a whole notha level. That topping makes me weak in the knees. If I see something covered in it I have the urge to gobble up the whole thing-but, that would not be very ladylike of me. (Or I do it in private ;D) Well if you are like me you will love these bars because the top AND bottom are made of crumbly goodness. These bars come out chewy on the bottom, soft and oh-so fruity in the middle, and crunchy and crumbly on the top. Its a triphecta of serious tastiness.

Now, you could just use store bought jam for these babies, but what's the fun in that? Go the little extra mile, and make the filling yourself. It will be a fun and useful thing to add to your repertoire (and a reason to use all that cornstarch that's just been sitting in the pantry doing nothing)

Also, you don't have to do raspberry. You can make the filling blueberry, or strawberry rhubarb, or just plain strawberry...again, whatever you have on hand. But I will give you the recipe I used and you are more than welcome to tweak it accordingly.

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp cornstarch

Add 2 cups raspberry to pot. Add 1/4 cup water and all of the sugar and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Cook the mixture on medium-low until the berries burst and the mix looks mostly like liquid with a bunch of seeds in it. (around 5-10 minutes). If you don't mind there being lots of seeds in your fruit filling-you can skip this step. I chose to leave the seeds in, but if you prefer you can remove the mixture from the heat and push through a sieve to remove the seeds. Add the mix back to the pot, and return to medium-low heat. Simmer for about 5 minutes and add the rest of the berries. Lastly, add the cornstarch to the other 1/4 cup of water to make a slurry, and add it to the pot-this will thicken the mixture and give it a jam-like consistency. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes. After it is done thickening, remove it from the heat and set aside until you are assembling the bars.

For the bars you will need:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
and the raspberry filling that you just made

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bust out that food processor again! Putting the butter in first, put all ingredients EXCEPT the jam in the processor and mix until it's very crumbly and gorgeous. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the crumbs. Put the rest of the crumb mixture into an 11x7 cake pan and press down to make sure it is evenly distributed and there are no holes or gaps. Next spread that beautiful fruit filling over the top with the back of a spoon, and cover with the reserved crumbs from before. Then you just bake for 30 minutes, or until perfectly golden, cool to room temp and enjoy! I know, I know, it is not exactly the most healthy recipe because of the sheer amount of butter that goes into the crumb topping but they are delicious with a cup of coffee or tea, and you can't say no when you cut out that first piece...

Homemade salt and vinegar chips-bet you can't eat just one!

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Boy let me tell you-I woke up with a SERIOUS hankering for salt and vinegar chips today. Well, we don't have any because I try not to put junk in the house. Kind of an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of thing. Shew, lord- those chips were on my mind today! Two little problems though-I didn't feel like getting out my pajamas and I also didn't feel like going to the store (Hey! we are all entitled to lazy days every now and again!) So naturally I went looking in my pantry for anything that resembled a chip knowing full well there was nothing in there. But wait! I noticed a lone potato sitting on the shelf, *gasp* and the apple cider vinegar, and could it beeee? Kosher salt. Heck, I'll just make my own chips! But how do I go about doing so? Do I sprinkle them with salt and vinegar and throw them in the oven? Nah. They wouldn't come out crunchy because the potatoes would have to be boiled and cooked ahead of time. WAIT!I'll consult my kitchen guru, Martha Stewart. She can make literally anything. After about 2 seconds of searching I found her recipe for S+V chips. I just added my own little twist on them. She suggested boiling them in vinegar, letting them soak, THEN roasting them! Eureka! Man, they came out like kettle chips and satisfied my chip craving immensely. I don't think I'll ever buy another bag of chips again! Imagine all the flavor possibilities!

Making these chippies is a lot simpler than you would think. It is just a time consuming process that is soooo worth it. Trust me. You will never go back to store bought chips again! First things first! Depending on how many people you're making these for you will want more or less of the ingredients. But we will start off as if you were making a whole bag. You will need:

4 potatoes (russet, yukon gold, red..whatever is your favorite!)
4 cups vinegar, apple cider vinegar-whichever you have on hand. No need to rush out to get ingredients!
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp of salt (I prefer kosher salt)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried oregano

Wash and slice the potatoes very thin-use a very sharp knife, or a mandolin if you have one. Place the sliced potatoes in a large pot and cover them with vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let them soak in the vinegar for 30 minutes. **Preheat the oven to 425 degrees when you have about 5 minutes left in the soaking process**

Drain the potatoes and lay them out in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and oregano--mix together with your hands to get every inch. At this point I sprinkled a little more kosher salt on them before putting them in the oven.

Then you just bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until nicely browned and beautifully crispy. Just be sure to flip them halfway! Serve plain, or with ketchup if you prefer. Bet you can't eat just one! ;)

Light Raspberry Crumb Cake-delicious without the guilt

After a very relaxing day off, and a day of beach and margaritas, I feel relaxed and refreshed and ready to tell you about this very exciting and delicious cake. I am so excited about this because it is absolutely delicious, but uses all light ingredients so you can have a second piece without feeling too guilty. And trust me-you'll want the second piece. (my husband nearly ate the whole thing himself!)

I was browsing one of my favorite food blogs mysanfranciscokitchen, and she had this lovely raspberry crumb cake (although it is more of a pie to me), and I HAD to give it a try. I am so glad I did! This will be my go to dessert if I ever need to bring one to a BBQ or party or anything :)

First things first-ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar (1 tbsp extra for sauce)
pinch of salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup no fat yogurt-vanilla or plain
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 oz light cream cheese
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
hazelnuts (optional)

I know, I know-it's a ton of ingredients, and it might be intimidating, but trust me...it is so simple to make this. Ready? Great!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives, until very crumbly. Remove 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and set aside for later. Add yogurt, vanilla, egg, baking powder, and baking soda to crumb mix. Beat with a mixer, or hand mixer for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour into 9" pie plate

 Next step: Add raspberries, 1 tsp sugar, and cornstarch to a small saucepan and heat on medium until it reaches a soft rolling boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a nice thick sauce forms

combine cream cheese and raspberry sauce and beat with a mixer or hand mixer until well combined. Spread over batter in the pie plate. Lastly, top with the reserved crumb mixture and top with chopped hazelnuts

Bake for 45 minutes, cool completely, and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving. Delish! Keep on eye on it though because when you go to get a piece, this maybe what it waiting for you-one very lonely piece of cake because your husband ate the rest of it ;)

Homemade Almond Butter: Simple and Delicious

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Ok, so I am super excited to write this post. Last year for my bridal shower I received a food processor and I was too afraid to try and use it because I have crazy anxiety and just assume I am going to chop my fingers off or something, but I digress. I had a large mason jar of cinnamon roasted almonds, and I have had them for awhile and it seemed like I just was never making a dent in the jar, so I decided to bust out that food processor and make some almond butter! YUM! I will show you how to make it, and incorporate it in my new favorite breakfast-this one is going to be good. Let's get started!

First things first-in order to make almond butter you need a food processor, otherwise you won't be able to get the correct consistency soooo go buy one haha, or borrow one! Anyhoo-in order to make this butter you will need two things:

2 cups almonds
1 or 2 tsps of vegetable oil

Now, they have to be roasted almonds. So if you have raw almonds on hand put them in a 400 degree oven and roast them until they are just right for you. If you have roasted almonds, you are good to go! I used cinnamon roasted, but I bet the cocoa roasted, or even plain or salted would be just as good. Note: Before you use the food processor, make sure you read the safety instructions to be sure that you are using it correctly. (that's the anxiety talking!) Make sure the blade is on snugly and dump in the almonds, secure the top, and start off on low. Let it puree for about 1-2 minutes, it will look like this:

At this point you will want to add 1 tsp of vegetable oil to start. Put the top back on and blend a little longer, about 1 minute. Check the consistency. It should be smooth and creamy, like this:

If it isn't as creamy as you would like, add the other tsp and blend it until it is perfect! Once it's done store it in a jar, and put it in the fridge, it should last about 1 1/2-2 weeks-if it lasts that long!

Now, in order to make my new favorite breakfast you will need just a few things:

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup old fashioned oats (not the quick cooking)
cinnamon and brown sugar
2 tbsp almond butter
1 banana, sliced

If you don't like almond milk-no worries! You can substitute vanilla rice milk, soy milk, or even regular milk if you prefer. Whatever you like is perfect :)

Step 1 is to warm the milk. Put the milk in a small saucepan and turn the heat on high, but keep an eye on it! It will go to rolling boil, to boiling over in seconds. Once it has reached a rolling boil, add the oats and stir. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle a little, or a lot of cinnamon and brown sugar on the top and stir. Then, turn it down to a simmer and let it cook until it reaches the consistency you desire. While it's cooking down, slice the bananas into a bowl, and top with the almond butter. Then, pour the oats over the top, and enjoy!

Take out fake out-my take on mongolian beef

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My husband I both really love Asian food. We love it. But we are not fond of the MSG or the cost of take out, so I decided to tackle Mongolian beef to see if I could make it good, if not better ;) This recipe uses less than 10 ingredients, and took a zippy 15 minutes to whip up-and it was FABULOUS!

You can use chicken in this recipe if you are not a fan of beef, but trust me, you'll want to try the beef. You can buy a flank steak and cut it real thin, or you can buy the pre-sliced stir fry beef they sell at some supermarkets. That's what I used and the beef cooked up really nice, and remained very tender.

We went grocery shopping tonight, and we were both starving when we got home, and when I say it took 15 minutes to cook, it was seriously that fast. So this is perfect for a weeknight dinner if you are late coming home from work and need a filling dish that everyone will love (because they WILL love it). Ok, so I really only needed to buy the beef for this dish because everything that went into it I already had, and I am sure that it is the case for you as well. They are all pantry/fridge staples:

1 package of Stir fry beef
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 tsp vegetable oil, divided
1  tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup water
1/2 soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
sesame seeds for garnish
rice to put the beef on

I always cook my rice in vegetable stock. It gives it a nice flavor, and the rice comes out really fluffy when I cook it that way-so use chicken or vegetable, or even beef stock to cook your rice. You won't regret it. I started to heat up the stock for the rice at the same time I started heating the oil in the wok for the beef. Both took about the same time, so it timed out perfectly when I was ready to plate it. OK first things first! Pat dry your strips of beef. Put 1/4 cup cornstarch in a large Ziploc bag, or tupperware container and add the beef. Shake it up real good to be sure that all pieces are evenly coated, and set aside. Heat 1 1/2 tsp of oil in a large wok, or non-stick skillet if you don't have a wok, on medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic (I had my husband mince some fresh garlic-it was divine), and cook until slightly browned and very fragrant. Add soy sauce, water, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. When you add the liquid the wok is going to be violently bubbling, and steaming, that's normal, just be careful of flying oil! I've burned myself more than once with hot oil and it's not fun. Cook the liquid for about 2 minutes, and transfer it to a bowl, and set aside. Turn the heat to high and add the beef until browned on all sides, about 7-9 minutes. Pour sauce back in, add about a tsp more cornstarch, and cook it until it reaches the thickness you want. I cooked mine down until it was almost caramelized and it was perfect! Serve over your tasty, fluffy rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

I really hope you enjoy this as much as we did! Give it a try-using a wok is a blast! :)

Egg in the hole: Not just good food, but good memories as well

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Egg in the hole is one of those things that when I make it, it always reminds me of some really great times. It's amazing that with such simple ingredients, and a little bit of nostalgia, you remember the weirdest things. That thing for me was the summer of 2010.

My best friend Jen had finally moved home after four very long years, and we moved in together-into her childhood home. This place both held very special memories of Halloween parties, and secret wine coolers, trips to mighty taco, and most lovingly the lyric "it's 8:45!" from our favorite song by Brand New. We had an absolute ball living in that house as kids, and as adults. Fast forward to 2010 when we moved in together- I remember things like punching an air mattress down the stairs because the only TV in the house was the one in the living room and we HAD to watch the Degrassi movie. Eating leftover antipasto salad and Manhattan clam chowder from her brother's benefit that was the night before. Special trips to Tops to steal all of the peppers out of the antipasto salad, and her ever reliable "baby car" which even had it's own theme song (which I will explain in detail soon)

Jen and I were invited to her friends birthday gathering at a bar called K Gallagher's. Neither of us had been there before, but we were excited to go out and get some drinks. Little did we know that this bar would become our favorite place of ALL TIME, making one, sometimes two trips there a week. I remember our second time there asking the world's greatest bartender, Max, to make us "something fruity" that we could take a shot of. So we took shot, after shot, after shot, staying out late and waiting for them to finally play "The Lonely Island" album so that we could sing to our favorite song "We Love Sports" (When I say sports, you say nutz, when I say cheating, you say sucks). We declared it out "secret bar" and no one else was allowed to go there but us. Shane and I weren't married at this point but he was none too keen on the idea of us going out in the city and having no idea where we would be, which i GUESS is understandable, but I told him not to have a crap attack. Anyway-one night a bunch of us went out to K Gals, it was the weekend so parking spaces were slim...but the baby car could literally fit into any space imaginable. "Sick nasty" spaces, if you will. And my husband would sing a song about the car every time we fit into a tiny parking spot: "Babay car, fuck yeah! It's the best tiny car in the whole fuckin' world!" We still sing that til this day when the car magically parks in tiny spots. So every week/weekend we would go out, drink our fruity drinks, do some shots, and come home (there was always a DD, don't worry!). When we would get home we were always starving...and this is where egg in the hole comes in. Jen used to make it every week, and it became our late night snack before bed, where we would recap the night, and dance to Michael Jackson if we weren't quite done partying yet. That bar gave me some of my closest friends and acquaintances, and some of the best memories from the best summer ever.

Egg-in-the-hole

2 slices of bread
butter
2 large eggs
S+P to taste

It could not be easier to make this dish. Cover each side of the bread with a healthy amount of butter. Cut out the middles of the bread with a biscuit cutter, and place into a hot skillet. Crack one egg in each hole and continue to cook until set on the bottom. Flip and cook until the other side is also set and browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and ENJOY! Great for breakfast, great as a drunk snack, or even a hangover lunch. Now go make some memories with your food. :)

Zucchini fries might be my new favorite snack!

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So first off let me say that I don't have a real fancy camera to take pictures of my food with, so my pictures have not been all that good or exciting. Last night, however, I put "Instagram" on my phone and I was playing around with camera filters and effects and I am really excited with the quality of pictures that were produced. So boring pictures are now a thing of the past-thank goodness!

Anyhoo- Lately I have been trying to make snacks that are tasty but still somewhat healthy. It's easy to grab a bag of chips and call it a day but I wanted something that would have a crunch like a chip, that I could also dip like a chip, but still gave me a good serving of vegetables. I was browsing mysanfranciscokitchen.com and she made these really amazing, crispy looking zucchini fries. Well, luckily for me I had two zucchinis in the house because I LOVE zucchini and I try to always have 2 or 3 on hand. My husband and I are both nutso about all things baked in bread crumbs, and if you throw in a side of marinara sauce to dip-we are completely sold. These little fries turned out great! I dipped them in egg white, rolled them in Italian seasoned bread crumbs, and baked them as opposed to frying them in oil and they really fit the requirement for what I was craving. Shane loved them too!

(Ta-da! Way better looking picture, right?)

Honestly, these could not be any easier or faster to make. All you need is:

2 organic zucchini

1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs, divided

2 egg whites (or use the whole egg if you prefer)

a shake or two of Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut the ends of each zucchini off and cut in half, then slice into nice even matchsticks. Be sure that your knife is really sharp! It will cut the zucchini like butter and give you nice uniform matchstick slices that look beautiful! Put the egg whites in a small or medium sized bowl, and a handful at a time put them in the egg wash and swish them around until covered. I divided the bread crumbs, and put a 1/2 cup each in two large Ziploc bags. Put the handful of fries in and shake it all up until covered. I divided it because after two shakes the crumbs get sticky and lump together, so by doing the last two batches in a different bag, they all come out completely coated and not sticky and weird. 2 zucchinis should produce 4 handfuls of fries. Next, put them on a parchment lined, large cookie sheet one by one and bake for 20 minutes. Serve them right out of the oven because they are tasty warm and crisp right out of the oven. One more thing-give them a quick shake of grated Parmesan cheese right before serving and that's it-you've got yourself a fulfilling snack that you don't have to feel too guilty about. Hope you enjoy!

Becoming reacquainted with breakfast

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As a teenager, I very rarely, or never ate breakfast. It was just a meal that I felt was useless and I just could not give myself enough time in the morning to eat. Then by lunchtime I would legit feel like I was dying of hunger. No longer is this the case!

I feel like I have, in my own right, mastered pies, cupcakes, tarts, chicken a jillion different ways, crock pot cookin' etc etc. BUT my list of accomplishments was missing one thing....and that would be breakfast. I felt that this past weekend was the perfect time to get myself reacquainted with it. I have been reading "eating well" magazine lately, and they had a picture of this gorgeous hash of potatoes, and chick peas, and zucchini, and spinach and boy let me tell you- I was sold. It was just so savory looking and so atheistically pleasing with all the beautiful golden browns and greens-I had to try it. So I did. Not only was it sublime in color and look, it was actually pretty healthy coming in at 325 calories per serving and 14g of protein-not bad! Even if you are not the hugest fan of zucchini or spinach, you will not be disappointed with the way this turns out. This serves two people :)

 Chickpea and Potato Hash-Ingredients:

2 cups frozen shredded hash browns-or coarsely grated potatoes if you have 'em
1 cup finely chopped baby spinach-or frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/4 cup fresh or frozen chopped onions
2 tbsp creole seasoning (my new obsession)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 cup EVOO
7 oz chickpeas, rinsed (save the other half of the can for hummus!)
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
2 large eggs

Combine the potatoes, spinach, onion, creole seasoning, and salt in a large glass bowl.
Heat the olive oil in a large, non stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the potato mixture and press with a wooden spoon into a layer. Cook without stirring for about 5 minutes, until the bottom is a beautiful golden brown.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Fold in the chickpeas and the zucchini, breaking up chunks of potatoes, until combined. Press back into an even layer with that trusted wooden spoon!
Carve out 2 "wells" in the potato mixture, and crack an egg into each one. Now it's all coming together! Cover and continue to cook, around 5 minutes or so (for a gorgeous soft cooked egg)
And that's it! You're done! a one skillet breakfast that is delicious, filling, and guilt free.

Now-onto Sunday. Sunday is a day for bumming it, being lazy, and taking a break from being healthy to just indulge into some decadent, amazing breakfast in bed. And that, my friends, is where my chocolate chip waffles with raspberry sauce comes in. It is tangy from the sauce, and mixes perfectly with the chocolate chips in the huge, soft waffles. It is a true delight-indulge a little! You worked hard all week exercising and eating healthy. No need to feel guilty about what you eat today-Sundays don't count in my book (Plus this would be a great recipe for any momma. I know my momma would love this because of her immense love for all things raspberry :D happy mother's day shout-out!)

I cheat a little bit with these because, well, it's Sunday and again, Sundays don't count. I use boxed belgian waffle mix, and add the chocolate chips, but the real star of the show here is my magical raspberry sauce that sits atop the gorgeous, not so homemade waffles haha. So here's how you can make a delicious raspberry sauce from scratch. You can actually use any fruit with this...blueberries, strawberries, anything you think would sound good. This is why I keep a bunch of frozen fruit in the freezer! It literally can be used everyday!

Raspberry sauce for waffles or pancakes:

1 cup frozen raspberries
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cold water
1 tbsp corn starch

This will make about 1 1/2 cups of sauce. If you don't need that much-cut in half! My husband loved this sauce, and I made a half portion, which was almost not enough. Next time I know to make more!

Add 3/4 cup of water, sugar and frozen raspberries to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold water until fully dissolved, then add to raspberry mixture. Stir. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. That's it! easy-peasy! Use your imagination-use any kind of fruit you want. AND don't feel guilty if you use a boxed mix every once in a while- we all do it ;)

Turning leftovers into something special

(^ From this................to this! ^)

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What can you do with leftover Shepard's pie?

Last night for dinner I made a beautiful Shepard's pie. Well, technically, It was a "cottage pie" because it was made with ground beef as opposed to ground lamb but you get the idea ;) 

I made the mistake of using the whole pound of ground beef, which produced a 4 serving pie. Which is wayyy more than my husband and I could eat. Needless to say, there was a bunch leftover after we were both full and happy. I hate throwing out leftovers so i racked my brain thinking of something  I could make that would be special and delicious. Then it dawned on me- SOUP! My grandma used to make me this soup that she referred to as "hamburger helper soup" she used hamburger helper seasoning, ground beef, a can of tomatoes, frozen vegetables, and noodles and somehow turned it into this incredible soup that I am just NUTS about. So-I am giving the inspiration credit for this soup to her.

Now, I did not use hamburger helper seasoning, but I did start with some things that were in my pantry. I literally used 5 ingredients to turn the pie into a hearty, delicious soup:

3 cups vegetable stock

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

creole seasoning

tomato pasta sauce

and quinoa 

I took out the biggest stock pot I have (I feel like soups come out better in a big stock pot), and dumped the can of whole peeled tomatoes in, juices and all. To make it even juicier, I took a potato masher and mashed the tomatoes until they were in bite sized pieces and smelled heavenly. Next-the shepard's pie. I covered the pie in gorgeous mashed potatoes mixed with butter, sour cream, and milk so they were super creamy, and went perfectly with the beef mixture. I use large wooden spoons for everything, so I took a giant spoonful of the mashed potatoes and the rest of the remaining beef mixture and added it to the stock pot with 3 cups of vegetable stock. I used the potatoes to thicken the soup up a little, and it worked like a charm! I think soups also come out great when they are cooked slowly, so I simmered that mixture for about an hour. When I came back to it, it was lacking a little something, and I have been obsessed with quinoa lately so I soaked some quinoa for about a half hour before adding it to the soup. ALWAYS soak your quinoa before you cook it, unless you buy the pre-soaked. When I lived in Buffalo we had a Wegman's and you can buy literally anything in bulk so I bought a few pounds of quinoa before we moved- I am so glad I did because I have used it a bunch! 

It still was lacking something, and I noticed that it was not tomato-y enough for me. So I thought to myself-pasta sauce! I added probably around a 1/4 cup of sauce and stirred it in. Getting there, but still needing something more. Before my husband left for boot camp he made this incredible creole seasoning that I have used in chicken, shrimp, beef, soups...it kicks anything up a notch. I didn't even measure it out. I think I used about 2 capfuls which would add up to around 2 or 3 tablespoons. Honestly though, I truly feel like you can never have enough spice!! I let it simmer for about another half hour on LOW. Shew, let me tell you-that pasta sauce really gave it a really, delicious tomato flavor. My husband loves the taste of tomato and ground beef together so I knew he would be a happy camper, and guess what? He LOVED it. I don't think I have ever seen him devour a soup so fast. So he's happy, I'm happy, and now I have a new recipe for an awesome soup using leftovers :) 

 ( ^from this..................to this! ^)

Peach Cobbler: My new favorite dessert

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I really try to make a dessert of some sort every night. I love sweets, my husband loves sweets so it's a must in our house. I always keep frozen fruits of different varieties in the freezer so they are always on hand for things like sorbets, tarts, pies, and tonight it was a really delicious, perfectly portioned peach cobbler.

Because it is just my husband and I, I really tend to scale things down for two perfect servings and boy did this recipe fit the bill. If you happen to have 6 oz ramekins they will be PERFECT for these little cobblers. I love this recipe because it is so sweet and brown sugary and just enough dessert to finish any meal. There has been a wave of tiny desserts in restaurants all over, and I figured I could try my hand at it as well. I got the idea from mysanfranciscokitchen.com.This recipe was so easy, and I did not feel guilty eating it at all!

In order to make this guilt free peach cobbler, you will need:

Filling:

I cup frozen peaches (she suggests fresh but the frozen turned out so juicy and delicious)
2 tsp brown sugar (I suggest an extra tsp if you really like brown sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp flour

Crust:

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter-I used margarine-it gave the crust a nice buttery flavor
1/3 cup of milk
more more more brown sugar for garnishing

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Divide the peaches evenly between the 2 ramekins. Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and flour and stir into the peaches until combined. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the crust ingredients in a bowl. Cut the butter with a knife into the dry ingredients until nice and crumbly. Slowly add the milk and mix until a wet dough forms. It won't look like a crisp or a bread dough-more like a cake mix. And because there is no raw ingredients in it-I would suggest trying it before it's baked. It's delicious!
Drop onto the peaches by spoonfuls and garnish garnish garnish with brown sugar. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake in the 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. After that long the crusts were a perfect golden brown, and light and fluffy in the middle.

These little cobblers were so delightful, I think I might put them in my weekly rotation! My husband really enjoyed them, and as did I! and there was literally no mess to clean up afterward-bonus!!

When life hands you lemons-make literally anything

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I love lemons. I seriously do. Every time I go grocery shopping I buy them by the dozen because you can use them for anything. Lemon curds, scones, desserts, chicken marinades-you name it. Using fresh lemons is SO much better than using the store bought lemon juice because using the zest and squeezing the lemons yourself makes things so much more fresh and lemon-y tasting. It's seriously to die for.

Two of my favorite things to use lemons for is chicken marinades, and lemon blueberry (or raspberry) bars. Both are so simple to make and produce really amazing results. Things to have on hand when using lemons:

a grater
a juicer
a sharp knife
measuring cups to catch the juice.
-you can use a bowl but I squeeze into measuring cups so I know exactly how much juice I am squeezing :)

I made an amazing chicken marinade recently that came out kind of Greek-ish. I really enjoyed it. The marinade used about 4 ingredients, all things on hand, and the results made the chicken so flavorful! I used chicken thighs because they are really inexpensive and so versatile and I personally am a fan of dark meat. You can use chicken breast for this recipe if you prefer.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp lemon zest
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano

Combine all ingredients, and add 4 chicken thighs-skins removed, of course. (double the recipe if cooking for more than 2 people) marinade overnight. I got a really awesome panini grill pan for my wedding and I grilled the chicken on that for about 15 minutes to get those beautiful grill marks on there, but being in an apartment it got smoky in there pretty quick so I finished them in the oven-350 degrees for 15 minutes longer. If you have an actual grill, I'm sure they will turn out just fine that way too! For the lima beans I tossed a small can of cooked beans with lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic. The idea to toss it with feta cheese came to me afterward, but I think it would really finish the meal. Marinading overnight made the chicken really tender and juicy. This one is a keeper!

On the sweeter side of things you can literally make no end of desserts with lemons. Lemon sorbet, lemon cheesecake, lemon curd, etc etc etc. I made a really good batch of lemon bars today that kind of turned into a pie because I used a pie plate instead of a square pan-but the results were great! You can use any kind of fruit that would go good with lemon. I used frozen blueberries because I had those on hand but raspberries, or strawberries would go wonderfully as well.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one lemon

Filling:

2 large egg yolks
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp lemon zest
6 oz blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 cake pan or 9" pie plate with cooking spray and set aide.
In a medium bowl, combine graham crumbs, melted butter, sugar and lemon zest. Stir until the crumbs are moist-press into pie plate or cake pan. Bake the crust for 10 min and cool completely.
Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and condensed milk until well mixed. Stir in lemon juice and zest. Whip until slightly thickened. Gently fold in your fruit of choice. Pour over cooled crust and bake 15 min, or until set. Cool to room temperature and chill in the fridge for one hour before serving. It was a huge hit with my husband, who absolutely loves anything lemon flavored, as does my mom. :)

Seriously guys, buy some lemons, and look up uses for them and guaranteed you'll use them daily!!

No sleep 'til breakfast

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My husband gets up really early for work, like really early, 5 am early. I don't know about you but the last thing I want to be doing at the ass crack of dawn is making breakfast. BUT if I leave it to him, he will leave without eating because he most likely slept in ;)

I was browsing a few of my favorite food blogs, trying to get ideas as to what I could prepare ahead of time that would be a good healthy breakfast on the go when the idea for a breakfast bar of some sort dawned on me--THUS the homemade granola bars were made! The best part of these delicious bars is that I didn't have to run to the store to get any ingredients-I used what I had in my pantry and I assure you if you dig deep enough in your pantry you will be able to make these with no problem at all! They were so easy to make, and turned out so chewy, toasty, fruity and sweet. My husband likes chocolate with his grains so I drizzled a little bit of chocolate on half the bars. I know if my nieces and nephews were here, they would gobble them right up!

NOW I will give you the exact recipe that I used but there is plenty of room to substitute a lot of the ingredients for things you would prefer in your bars. Easy peasy!

Homemade granola bars (drizzled with chocolate-or not!)

3 cups plain quaker oats
1/2 cup crushed walnuts (or any other nut you prefer)
1/2 cup quinoa (this stuff is awesome-and full of protein)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp oil (or applesauce if you prefer!)
6 1/2 oz dried fruit (I used dried pineapple, cranberry, and coconut flakes)
1/8 cup of any nut you want (i used cashews and cinnamon roasted almonds)

I know that it sounds like a bunch of stuff all mashed together, and that's exactly what it is! And they are DELICIOUS.

Butter a 9x9 baking dish or cake pan, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spread oats, quinoa, and walnuts evenly onto a sheet pan and toast for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the honey, brown sugar and oil (or applesauce!) in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until the brown sugar is dissolved.
once the oat mix is done toasting, remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees.
Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit and nuts, and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Turn out into prepared baking dish or cake pan, and press down to evenly distribute.
Bake for 25 minutes at 300 degrees, cool for one hour, and cut into even squares.
If you wanted chocolate on them as well-just melt 2 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler, or microwave and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the bars-the chocolate will harden nicely.

 I individually wrapped my bars in wax paper, and put them on the dining room table so he can just grab and go in the morning-OR you can store them in an airtight container for up to a week if you prefer. That's it--you're done! Now breakfast is good to go, and I don't even have to wake up!

Always be droppin' that crockpot

Image courtesy of  http://www.nataliedee.com

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Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE my crockpot. I got it as a wedding gift from my lovely sister and I seriously have used it a billion times. Crock pot meals are so awesome and so easy. It's literally like those old infomercials: "Set it and forget it!"

I love to experiment in the kitchen and just throw things in there and see what I come up with. I have made amazing stews, chicken, ribs- all by accident. I think my secret is to just use what you have. Open the fridge, the freezer, the pantry, throw some shit in there and literally set it and forget it. All of the meals I make are meant for 2 people but you can just double or triple the recipes for more people :)

I find that I can make pretty much anything as long as I have a few staples in my kitchen. For amazing crock pot cookin' I always need:

Condensed cream of chicken soup
Condensed cream of mushroom soup
Frozen mixed vegetables
canned pineapple 
Dijon mustard
BBQ sauce
bonless pork ribs
chicken thighs
chicken breast
all kinds of different potatoes
corn starch
white and red wine 
etc etc etc

Last night I made this amazing sweet and sour ribs for my husband and I and he LOVED them. He also loves all things sweet and sour-add pineapple and it's a total food boner situation. To make my sweet and sour boneless ribs you need:

1 lb of boneless pork ribs (I got them pretty cheap at 3.25 a lb at food lion)
Sweet baby Ray's BBQ sauce
Canned pineapple chunks-juice included
One sliced green pepper
frozen diced onion
2 tbsp corn starch
cooked rice (to put the pork on)

Place the ribs evenly in one layer in the crockpot. Squeeze about 3/4 of the bottle of BBQ sauce onto the ribs.
Pour half of the pineapple juice onto the ribs and half of the pineapple (I saved the other half of the can for my husband to have as a snack later)
Top with the frozen diced onion and sliced green pepper
Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. At the 6th hour of cooking remove the ribs and whisk in the corn starch. It will thicken up the sauce nicely. Put the ribs back in and cook 1-2 hours longer.
Serve on top of cooked rice. Delightful!

Another great crock recipe that never fails is my chicken and vegetables with herb mustard. I use dijon mustard in the sauce right before serving. It gives it a tangy zip that is so tasty. to make this tasty chicken you need:

2 red potatoes-quartered
1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables (I like the kind that has potatoes in it)
4 chicken thighs-skins removed (I love removing the skins-i feel like a bad ass butcher)
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 tbsp herb mustard

Basically throw everything in the crockpot and top with the soup. Cook 6-8 hours until the chicken is tender (it will be trust me-it will be falling off the bone)
When done cooking, remove the chicken and vegetables-cover to keep warm.
Stir the mustard into the soup and cooking juices-it will make a lovely, tangy sauce.
Serve poured over the chicken and vegetables and dig in!
This recipe will make you a lover of dark chicken meat. It just turns out so tender and juicy!

Crockpots are incredible. Buy one. Learn it, live it, love it.