Meals and Treats lately…

I actually feel like I’ve been doing some productive cooking and baking lately!  Last week I had three nights in a row of home cooked dinners which is now considered a record!   Bonus points for having leftovers for lunches.

Then I made some awesome cupcakes for Superbowl Sunday…which we ended up just staying at home.  Needless to say we enjoyed cupcakes for days and have leftovers in the freezer for when I get my next cake craving :)

These aren’t my recipes but just wanted to share because they were delicious and pretty easy.

First came out of the January/February Cooking Light!  This is the one that boasts “Chicken 25 Ways!” on the cover.  Well, we had chicken in the freezer so I checked out the options.

I thought the Chicken BLT Salad sounded great, and made sure to get all the ingredients that day at the store.

Everything’s better with bacon…

Crispy chicken

But my favorite part was the dressing!!

Seriously, that buttermilk dressing was awesome and I’d make that to have on hand any day!!  Tasted like a delicious restaurant dressing, but not as heavy as most creamy dressings.

My changes to the recipe:

• I used chopped romaine instead of iceberg
• I let the chicken sit in buttermilk for about 30 min before dredging in panko…I didn’t use the egg white.
• If I did it again I’d use Giada’s method for the chicken as it always comes out crispy.  This version was good, but not great…I found the breading didn’t crisp up as well.

I’m not even a huge blue cheese fan, but a little bit worked great with this salad.

The next day we set up the crock pot to do the work.

My friend had told me she made this spinach lasagna in a crock pot and it was SO good.  Sounded like a great weeknight meal so I added it to my list.

This was soooo simple.  We already had some Italian sausage in the freezer, and all I needed was a good jar of sauce, no-boil lasagna noodles, frozen spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella. 

The only “prep” needed was to make the spinach and cheese mixture and slice up the sausage.

Brian comes home for lunch some days to walk the dog, so we planned it for one of those days as it only takes 5-6 hours to cook.  We assembled it the night before and he just turned it on that day at lunch time.  I came home to this:

My thoughts:

• The lasagna sits kind of in the middle of the crock pot, don’t worry if everything doesn’t go all the way to the edges.
• I cut my sausages into coin slices so I used a lot more than 4 per layer…maybe she sliced hers the long way.
• Don’t worry too much about the order of the layering…it will come out good no matter what.

Delicious and super easy.

Now the sweet!

Oh yes.  Funfetti.  I’ve been craving a good vanilla-y birthday cake type cake for a while now!!  Specifically with a good butter cream…the butter cream I grew up with.

You don’t need the sprinkles but it just makes it so much more fun.  I googled “homemade funfetti cupcakes” and thought this recipe looked pretty simple.

My notes:

• I didn’t want to waste my vanilla beans here, so I just used 2 tsp of vanilla extract in the batter, and 2 tsp of vanilla bean paste in the frosting.
• I made MINI cupcakes and they bake 9-11 min, and I got about 30 from this recipe.
• Whenever I make this simple butter cream (butter, confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla), I always start with the recipe and then add more sugar and milk as needed until I get to my desired consistency…plus it makes more and tastes just as delicious.  Oh and I always use salted butter.

Such a great vanilla cake!!  

So happy we have some of these babies in the freezer!

On a healthier note we broke out the juicer!!

I love getting a small green juice sometimes at Whole Foods but then think how stupid it is when we have a nice juicer at home and used to make these all the time. 

It’s a great way to get lots of nutrients to the baby :)

In other news:

• working on the nursery!  We’ve purchased the crib, dresser, and glider! 
• Brian’s working on a new closet upstairs so I can turn the 2nd bedroom (i.e. my closet) into the nursery.
• The baby registries are all done and my shower is in a few weeks :)
• I’m 30 weeks!!!  Holy crap!!  Sorry no new pictures, but I’ll have to take a new bump shot this week!

So there’s my update!

Made anything good lately??

Christmastime Craziness Dinners

It was the week before Christmas…and there are just not enough hours in the day!!

However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t found the time to make a few delicious dinners. Here’s a little recap of the week in food. 2 fairly quick and easy dinners and 1 longer.

Sometime last week we new we were going to have the pork chops we were letting thaw out, but didn’t know exactly how we were going to make them. I knew I had some red and green peppers so I wanted some sort of Italian dish.

Dinner #1: Cue Mario Batali and his Zingara!

I had never heard of it but it sounded easy and delicious!

My pork chops were on the thicker side than what the recipe called for but it was fine. They were seasoned and dredged in flour, then browned on both sides in a pan with some olive oil.

After taking them out, and deglazing with some white wine, the peppers and onions were added, as well as the rest of the ingredients (minus olives, didn't have any).

Then the pork chops were added back

This simmered for a few, then served over brown rice (easy Trader Joes microwavable pack of brown rice…those things are awesome!!), as well as some Brussels we roasted.

That night I also figured out how to fix a cookie craving. I frequently want a HOT chocolate chip cookie and it never happens haha.

So I toasted up a Kashi Heart 2 Heart waffle, added a few choc. chips after, and dipped in Maple Syrup!

This TOTALLY satisfied that craving and then some with the syrup….I LOVE real maple syrup!

Dinner #2: Veggie Lasagna! (using the “wing-it” method :)

I have been wanting to make a pan of lasagna for a while and when I took off Tuesday from work to get some Christmas shopping done I knew that would be the day.

I roasted some zucchini, red peppers, and onion with some olive oil, S&P.

Roasted at 400 for about 30min.

I made a quick sauce, somewhat based off this recipe which is an awesome fast sauce!

However I realized I had a can of crushed tomatoes with Basil. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing but I think the pre-basiled tomatoes made this ending up tasting more like a jarred sauce than homemade. Not bad by any means just not exactly what I was hoping for.

I also added some frozen spinach to get more veggies in there!

To the ricotta, I added a mix of sundried tomatoes and fresh basil chopped in the food processor.

Part-skim ricotta with tomato and basil mixture.

Layer it up! I had no rhyme or reason to this layering. I also used uncooked noodles…I like it better when they just absorb the liquid from the other ingredients and I knew there would be enough between the sauce and the veggies.

I added a little shredded mozzarella in the layering too.

Side salad of mixed greens, tomato, and mixed olives with a dressing of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Mmmm melty.

The roasted vegetables really made this dish! It was really good and provided leftovers for lunches many days this week :) I was definitely missing the tomato-y garlicky sauce I wanted but oh well.

Dinner #3: Compliments of Trader Joes…

Brian bought this Mandarin Orange Chicken once and LOVED it. So we got it again and I decided to cook it up last night and since I was home first I wanted it all ready by the time he got home.

I also steamed some broccoli to add to the chicken…gotta add veggies!

And once again some TJ’s brown rice. Note: I like TJ’s brown rice that comes in the little bowl packs better than this one, but this worked.

I used the oven method instead of frying to keep it as healthy as I could.

Sauce packets…heated in the microwave and added at the end.

I added the sauce to the cooked chicken and steamed broccoli.

Served on brown rice! SO EASY and really flavorful! This is great when you have a Chinese Food craving but don't want all the greasy calories that come with it.

P.S. Still LOVING Body Combat and Body Pump!! My friend who I go with even said she’s noticed a little more tone in my arms….SCORE!!

Also made it to Hot Yoga last weekend…every time I go I wonder why I don’t go more often, I love it!! I really want to get there again before Christmas.

Fun Christmas Cocktail party tonight!! Picked up a fun dress at Forever 21 ;) Gotta love that place for awesome party dresses under $30!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Last Minute shopping?? Anyone have good $20 Yankee Swap ideas??

It's all Fine for 2009!

Happy New Year Blogland!!

I can't believe 2008 is all over...it seriously went by SO fast. I got engaged in March and it's crazy to think that it's now the year I am getting married!

This is also the year I started this blog. I can't remember how I stumbled upon my first food blog, but since then I enjoyed reading them so much, that I just really wanted to have one of my own. I wish I had more time to devote to it, but for now I work full time already and so I just blog when I can.

It's been a very busy New Years Eve/New Years Day. I went into for for a few hours yesterday, then hit the gym, and then got a second workout shoveling the driveway, only to finish and realize it was covered in white again. But then I treated myself to a beautiful plate for lunch...I really wanted to enjoy some of the deli meats and cheese mom and I picked up in the North End, and then also have some veggies!

This plate consisted of

• 1/2 of a pita, drizzled in EVOO, dusted with garlic powder, topped with some steamed broccoli, and a little shredded cheddar, toasted! This was AWESOME
• 3 slices of sweet sopressata
• a few slices of prosciutto with fresh cantaloupe
• chunks of aged provolone cheese
• 1 carrot, sliced

This was an incredible comboThen, the roomie, fiance and I headed out into the snow, to head down to our friends (Jen!) dad's house on the south shore. Her dad has an incredible house in a quaint New England town right on the ocean. When we used to come visit during college we'd call it a hotel, and we still do.

This was the gorgeous view this morning from the Kitchencloser to the door:
So peaceful...From the living room...notice the hot tub right outside the window, we didn't make it in last night, I just couldn't bear the thought of being in a bathing suit for even 20 seconds in the cold last night!However, when we finally arrived last night (took over 2 hours for a normal 45min trip), I was on a mission to make a delicious veggie lasagna!For this lasagna I used:

• about 6-7 tomatoes, cut into quarters, tossed with EVOO, and S&P, and baked for about 30 min at 350 (if I had more time I would of baked them at a lower temp for a lot longer)
• whole wheat lasagna noodles (the regular kind, but I don't pre-boil them)
• part skim ricotta mixed with some goat cheese crumbles
• shredded mozzarella and some fresh mozzarella for the top
  
• thinly sliced zucchini and summer squash
• a quick tomato sauce I made when I got there

I don't remember the exact layering but I think it went like this...

From bottom to top:

• sauce
• noodles
• ricotta mixture
• tiny bit of shredded mozz.
  
• zucchini and summer squash
• roast tomatoes
• sauce
• noodles
• ricotta mix
• shredded moz.
• Z and SS
• roast tomatoes
• noodles
• sauce
• fresh and shredded mozz.

Again, I don't know if that was it, but something along those lines.

Cover in foil, place on baking sheet in case of spillage (learned that one the hard way), bake for about 45min at 375. Remove foil, bake another 10min or so until cheese is a little browned :)

LET IT SIT! For about 20min or so...it looks watery at first but letting it sit lets all the water absorb back in. I was a little worried about the noodles just cooking while it baked, but it turned out FABULOUS!

This was most low key New Years Eve I've had in a LONG time. We mostly played Wii Fit!! So fun!!! I want one. I dominated the hula hoop one :) We then crashed at 1 am...man I feel old.

Jen had bought items to make some stuffed french toast! The roomie(Jocy) and I remembered that she likes fake syrup (aka Aunt Jemima)...sorry but this stuff makes me gag. So we set out to buy some REAL maple syrup before breakfast. Of course some places weren't open and convenient stores don't carry it...so our excursion took a little longer than expected but we got it!

Since everyone else had eaten by the time we returned (woops), Jen made ours when we got back.This was my first half serving... She takes 3 slices of light wheat bread, soaks them in the egg mixture, cooks on a skillet with a smidge of butter, then when the are done stacks the 3 with light cream cheese spread in between.

I added some banana and my SYRUP!
This was AWESOME!!! Mmmmm.

I was so relaxed in her dad's house this morning I just wanted to stay in PJ's and relax all day, but finally we got dressed and headed out. Stopped at a few stores, had a delicious dinner (more on that later), and now back to the apt.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful New Years and had time to look back and reflect on 2008. I have a feeling 2009 is going to FLY by...so many weddings this year :) I am also very excited to hopefully improve with my running and actually run a real race this year...that will definitely be a feat for me!

What are you looking forward to in 2009??