Sunday, March 24, 2013

Food.

Well hello there!

I've made a lot of recipes since my last recipe review so I'll just point out some of the ones I really liked.

This one (choose your mix-ins wisely):



This one (though I don't know how they made them so pretty in this picture - I had chocolate EVERYWHERE):

Source: food.com via Nicole on Pinterest


LOVED this one:



And this one:



Honorable mentions: butternut squash mac & cheese, basil parmesan quinoa cakes, and greek salad club.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Discovered: Crepes

Really?!  My last post was November 11th??  Geez.

Yesterday morning I decided to try my hand at making crepes.  And I...fell...in...love.  They are so easy to make and in my opinion, much tastier than pancakes and waffles.  Pancakes and waffles are just so heavy to me.

Yesterday's filling consisted of eggs, bacon, and spinach.  This morning I decided to go sweet rather than savory with a blueberry sauce.


Basic Crepes from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1.  Whisk all wet ingredients together in a bowl.  Whisk in salt and flour slowly so no lumps form.
2.  Heat lightly oiled pan (I just spray PAM onto a non-stick pan) over medium to medium-high heat.
3.  Pour enough batter onto pan so that when you tilt the pan in a circular motion, it covers the surface evenly.  You don't want so much batter that it looks like pancakes...these should be thin.
4.  Cook until the crepe is lightly browned on one side and then flip to brown the other side.

Blueberry Sauce from Allrecipes.com:
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup water
1 cup orange juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
1.In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the blueberries, 1/4 cup of water, orange juice, and sugar. Stir gently, and bring to a boil.
2. In a cup or small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. Gently stir the cornstarch mixture into the blueberries so as not to mash the berries. Simmer gently until thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract and cinnamon. Thin sauce with water if it is too thick for your liking.


If you decide to try out the recipes, let me know what you think!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

What's (Currently) Working For Me

Hello everyone!  I thought I'd check in and discuss what's going on in my fitness and wellness life right now.

I made the decision a couple of weeks ago that I'm going to workout Monday through Friday.  When trying to figure out a way to track my goal, I stumbled upon the Way of Life app.


They call it the 'ultimate habit building app'.  It's basically an app where you add goals and track them each day.  Right now all I have on there is "exercising".  I figured I'd make this easy on myself until I built up momentum so I define exercise as some kind of physical activity.  Brisk walking works.  Squats, pushups, and crunches work.  As long as it's something.  This app keeps me accountable...if I don't exercise, I have to log a big fat red X for that day.  Not fun.  It also made me realize I missed working out on Tuesdays a lot.  Why?  Because Zaxby's (casual fast food restaurant) gives a discount to employees where I work and I tended to choose that over working out.  So I made a conscious decision not to go there anymore.  Go me!  I also changed my schedule so that I eat part of my lunch at noon and then go workout at 1:00pm so I can watch The Chew while exercising.  Hey, don't hate...it's what gets me through.  :)

Thanks to my sister, I started using Lose It again.


This blog post has a pretty good review with lovely images.  I loved their app when they first started and now that they've made their website more 'social', I've rekindled my relationship with Lose It.  I've tracked my food and exercise for several weeks now and it's all thanks to their challenges.  I'm doing two right now:
  1. No Miss November where you aim to log the most days between November 1 and November 30.
  2. Holiday Move It & Lose It where you aim to log the most days between October 31 and January 1.
Honestly, I don't think I'd be tracking as well as I am had I not joined these challenges.  I signed up for Weight Watchers a couple of months ago and did I log?  Nope.  Not even knowing I was wasting all that money.  Give me a couple of challenges and some badges and the competitor in me comes out!  I'm kind of scared what will happen once the holidays are over and/or I get really busy.  I'm hoping I will have made tracking such a habit that I continue to do it.  Or that I've seen such great results that I continue to do it.  Only time will tell I suppose.

Unfortunately, When I weighed myself this morning I hadn't lost any weight...but nor had I gained!  I've decided to go another week with what I've been doing and if still no change, I'll mix something up in my diet/exercise routine to see if it helps.  Here it is in all its glory:

There's a two year period where I obviously wasn't using Lose It.  My starting weight was weight gain from right after my wedding when I went crazy with the food and no exercise.

Anyway, that's what's working for me.  Come join the party and be my friend on Lose It!
 




Monday, November 5, 2012

What's Cooking?

My kitchen has been busy lately!

I've always wanted to try my hand at making sopapillas and these came out alright.  I'm used to very airy sopapillas and these were more dense like bread.  That sure didn't stop me from eating them!



These oven-baked chimichangas were yummy!  I've never baked burritos/chimis and it made the tortillas have such a wonderful texture.  Usually when they go into the oven they're covered in sauce and everything gets so soggy.  Not so with this recipe!



This recipe for Chicken, Spinach, Goat Cheese Quesadillas with Avocado Sour Cream left a lot to be desired.  I think the chicken I used was too bland maybe.  I don't know, but I wouldn't make this again.



And same thing for this baked quinoa and broccoli casserole.  I used a vegetable mix in place of the broccoli and used asiago in place of some other cheese.  I think the combination of those two just didn't sit well with our tastebuds.  Such a waste of perfectly good quinoa.  :(



This Weekend Brunch Casserole was good if you like super rich and heavy breakfasts.  There's crescent rolls on the bottom so you can imagine how soft and chewy they stayed (not in a good way).  Also, I feel it called for entirely too much mozzarella cheese. 

Source: culinary.net via Nicole on Pinterest


This was definitely an interesting recipe.  Mine did not come out looking like the picture.  I must've used too much butternut squash because you couldn't find the macaroni in my mixture contrary to what this picture shows.  This is roasted butternut squash and goat cheese macaroni by the way.  Tasted on the sweet side due to the butternut squash.



Yes, I decided to try to make a bloody mary.  No good.  The Hubs said it might be because I used tomato juice instead of Clamato or the like.  All I know is that I'll have a professional make me one the next time I decide to try one.



Don't you hate it when photos lie?  This one does!  Look at how yellow that soup is.  This recipe doesn't come out looking like the picture at all.  I guess ultimately that doesn't matter; I was just sorely disappointed.  The soup is good though.  Except the chicken tortilla soups I'm used to have crispy tortillas as a topping.  For this one you just slice corn tortillas and plop 'em in there.



These spicy pork lettuce cups with noodles were really good.  I'm beginning to realize I like lettuce wraps very VERY much.  But I couldn't find the noodles so we just used rice.  Just as yummy! 



I made these for tailgating.  Beer, pretzels, peanut butter (and sugar), and chocolate...you really can't ask for more.  YUM!!



Corona and lime chicken bean dip.  Eh.  That is all.



Ranch-pepper crackers.  Instead of using a ranch packet I made my own mixture.  You can find the recipe here.  She has other mixes too.  Pretty neato if you ask me.  These crackers have a nice taste.  I especially love the heat.  It blows out my palate and stops me from snacking on other things.  Haha!



Let's all give The Hubs a big round of applause for making the recipe below for the soup/chili and sandwich day his office held the other day.  He said it wasn't a hit because of the spice, but I loved it.  Vegetarian sweet potato chili for everyone!!



Ham and cheese quiche.  Eh.



Baked french toast.  Only make this if you're not going to have leftovers.  I didn't think it was very good reheated.  But then again, I'm the girl that doesn't like soaked bread type texture.  I'm not sure if I've ever had bread pudding. but I probably wouldn't like it. 



Rustic autumn fruit tart (two apples, one pear) - don't skip the apricot preserves...it really makes it.  I know, I was surprised too.



These were awful.  Tossed them all out...such a waste of freakin' expensive eggs.  And no, my chickens haven't started laying yet.  :(  First, I think I used too fresh of eggs so I couldn't peel them.  The egg kept sticking to the shell.  Then the yolk looked funny.  Not the powdery yellow I'm used to.  I'm not sure if it was because they weren't cooked long enough or if it was because they were too fresh.  Do eggs stick to the shell when they haven't been cooked long enough?  But all of that aside, the recipe called for minced shallot;  which I've determined, I DO NOT like in deviled eggs.  Aagh!  I so wanted this to go well...  maybe I'll get my grandmother's recipe the next time I see her. 



That's it for now!  Happy cooking!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Recipe Results


I made this "Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole" for a breakfast retirement celebration I attended.  It was okay.  I think if I'm going to eat unhealthy, I want it to be very very good...and it wasn't.


I made this "Fresh Strawberry Upside Down Cake" for the Hubs' birthday.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The cake fell apart when I dumped it out of the pan and then molded because I didn't put it in the fridge, but other than that, it was pretty good.


I had some leftover frozen brisket I hadn't used so I decided to roast it and shred it for bbq sandwiches.  I had to guess on the cook time and I think I over cooked it.  :(  It was really dry but we still ate it all!


This apple pie infused bourbon is really yummy!  We mixed it with sweet tea but I'm sure you could mix with cider and it would be just as good.


Made this jalapeno popper dip for tailgating last weekend.  Winner!


Made this buffalo chicken dip for tailgating last weekend.  Not a winner!  Well, the hubs liked it...I preferred the jalapeno dip.


Broccoli pasta.  Healthy.  Burnt broccoli.  Enough said.


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Oh the places you'll go

The hubs and I made this list the other day on our ride back from Orlando.  I'm hoping we'll cross more off than we add.  I didn't include Italy since I know we're going there soon anyway.  Here's my question to you:  how does one travel in a country where one doesn't know the language?  Going to China scares me!