party chex mix

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Let me first start off by saying that if you are not making this recipe for some kind of gathering stop yourself right there. It makes an insane amount of chex mix. It is delicious, but it also makes too much for even one family to enjoy. I was giving it away to people to take home just so it wouldn't go to waste when I had made it.

You need the following items:
4 cups of wheat chex
4 cups of rice chex
4 cups of corn chex
1 cup of unsalted peanuts or mixed nuts whatever you like

and one bag of gardetto's snack mix (I took the lazy/cheaper way out and instead of buying all those things separately I bought one bag that had it all)

Add all those items to a very large bowl and mix thoroughly.



Then melt your sauce to drizzle on top. This is obviously not the most healthiest snack. But I have a secret addiction to chex mix and I wanted to see how my skills matched up to the professionals. As I have said time and time again eat a cup of it. Don't pound the entire bag it makes then hate yourself. Moderation is key as always.

Your sauce is about 1 1/2 sticks of the healthiest lightest butter you can find, then add in 3 tbs of Worcestershire sauce, then about 10 shakes of hot sauce, then about 1 tsp of seasoned salt, then 4 cloves of garlic minced in a garlic press, and finally 1/2 tsp of onion powder.



Once it is completely melted drizzle it all over your mix that has been spread out over two baking sheets.



Bake the sheets at 250 degrees for what seems like forever or about one hour and 15 minutes, stirring it up every 15. Once it is completed and cooled you wont regret it trust me!



Enjoy !!!

pasta alla vodka

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

I have never used hard alcohol in cooking. Wine sure, but adding vodka or any other hard alcohol is something I have never done. I more or less wanted to create an extremely rich tomato sauce that had lots of flavor and not nearly the amount of cream "they" said to put in.

I realized that while making this delicious vodka sauce the cream that is suppose to be in it just makes it that creamy orange color. So I added just enough to make it slightly creamy and give it that creamy orange glow. I took this step to add cream, but I didnt add enough where it would become unhealthy.

I started with 2 cups of sundried tomatoes chopped, a can of fire roasted tomatoes, a can of tomato puree, and a can of tomato paste. This mixture of tomatoes created a perfectly balanced texture and essence of tomatoes.

Combine all the tomato ingredients in a large pot and mix through until it seems incorporated.

Then add about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and mix through.

Then measure out a cup of vodka.

Then chop up 1 onion with 3 cloves of garlic. Saute in a little evoo until they become fragrant. Once fragrant add the vodka and simmer for about 5 minutes. Don't stand to close to this if you have a sensitive nose. It fills up the kitchen with an extremely strong grainy alcohol smell, but it sure does turn itself into one amazing sauce.

Then add the vodka mixture into your tomato mixture. Mix thoroughly and then add some salt and pepper.

Because this is a fairly rich sauce I tried to use a whole wheat lighter pasta and it turned out beautifully.

Mix your pasta and sauce thoroughly together and plate up. Serve it with a hearty salad and you have yourself an amazing meal for a cold night !!

Enjoy !!!

dark chocolate, pecan, pumpkin brownies

Adapted from: Good Mood Food Blog

Don't have a panic attack about this recipe. I know it may not look like it is the most healthiest thing, but you don't have to eat the whole pan of brownies people. Moderation is key. I made these brownies for a baby shower I went to and I just recently made them for Thanksgiving. I think I maybe had 2 in the whole 2 pans I had made.

I think I have come to a conclusion that I never really bake and when I do its got to be from scratch from this point on. Granted there may be times in the future where time is of the essence and I have to use some box brownies. When I baked these brownies I knew there was no turning back.

I got this recipe from the Good Mood Food Blog. Being that the man who operates and posts on this blog is from Ireland he uses grams instead of our tbs, tsp, and cups. So I have tried to convert the recipe to somewhat exact directions and it worked out wonderfully. I know I know not having exact measurements in baking can be a scary thing. But if you take your time and measure without being nervous you too will have some brownie goodness to enjoy as well !!

So when you see things like 1.75 tbs of butter don't freak out! Just get it as close as possible to 1 3/4 tbs. It will come out wonderfully trust me.

So you want to begin with creating your pumpkin mixture by combining

1. 1.75 tbs of butter
2. 5.2 tbs of cream cheese
3. 7 tbs of sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 1/2 a can of pumpkin puree
6. 1 tsp of vanilla
7. 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
8. 5.2 tbs of cream cheese

Be sure to use your hand mixture to thoroughly combine the pumpkin mixture. It will allow it to become a smooth and completely integrated mixture.

Then you need to mix up the chocolate mixture

1. 0.87 cup of unsalted butter
2. 0.87 cup of dark chocolate chips
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 cup of sugar
5. 2 tsp of vanilla extract
6. 8.75 tbs of flour
7. pinch of salt
8. 7 tbs of chopped pecans

Same thing with the chocolate mixture. Once you see things like 0.87 cups of unsalted butter don't freak out just try to get it as close you can to a little over 3/4 cup of unsalted butter.

Start by melting your chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave.



Then combine your eggs and sugar. Then add in the melted butter combination to the egg sugar mixture. Be sure to whisk it in quickly and smoothly so that the warm chocolate mixture does not cook the eggs slightly. That sounds like this step would be quite difficult, but I assure you it is not as bad as it sounds.



Then add your pecans and mix through.

Then pour your chocolate mixture into a greased baking pan. All I did was spray it with a good amount of PAM and it came out fine. Then you plop down spoonfuls of your pumpkin mixture on top of that.



Then swirl around your pumpkin mixture with the back of a knife, toothpick or a wooden skewer like I did.



Then bake your brownies at 355 degrees for about 20 minutes. You are going to want to test it with a toothpick to be sure the center is done.



You will make quite of friends if you bring these anywhere.



Enjoy !!!

jessi's kick butt garlic green beans

It's Thanksgiving today and it sure does feel good to take a break from everything in life and just hang out with my family like everyone is today. As I wind down for the day I have realized that due to the hellish week I had prior to thanksgiving I have not posted anything on my blog.

It has been a little nutty leading up to the holiday. SO on with the post!

My friend Jessi gave me this awesomely delicious recipe to spruce up green beans. All you do is saute some green beans in butter, Lots of garlic, a few dashes of celery salt, a little more garlic, and then some more garlic. Saute that up for a bit until the garlic beans are softer but still crispy. I made these with some spicy flavorful chicken and it was a perfect addition to the meal.




Enjoy !!!

shepard's pie taken up a notch

I absolutely love Shepard's pie no matter what it has in it. It could be all veggies, some spices, or meat and veggies. It is a fantastic all in one meal. With little effort it can be yours too! There is really nothing spectacular about this post besides add in more veggies wherever and whenever you can!!!!!

I wanted to make Shepard's pie one night, but I also did not want it to be the same old boring Shepard's pie I grew up on. I am certainly not knocking on my mom's Shepard's pie, but I figured why not add a little something here and a little something there and try to amp up the regular old Shepard's pie.

So here is what I tried to do and it ended up being quite delicious.

I had a lot of leftover spinach so I figured if I chopped that up small and added it into the ground beef mixture it would add a lot of extra nutritional value. Then I had a lot of baby red potatoes so those are what I used for the mashed potato portion of this delicacy to some. I also kept the skins on to add some extra fiber to the dish. I also added some flax meal to the potatoes and my husband never knew the difference. Then I used some leftover fat free buttermilk instead of adding a lot of added butter to the potatoes that is not necessary.

Then I added some frozen corn, peas, and edamame that I had kicking around. I guess my attempt to add some extra nutritional value to this meal went above and beyond.

I baked this all in one meal in the oven for 15-18 minutes at 350 until it got all crispy and delicious on top. Serve this up with a hearty big salad and you have yourself a complete and easy meal.

TIP:

This is also a great meal to make at the end of the week. This way you can stop throwing out that wilted spinach, bendy carrots, and any other vegetable you have lingered around that might make it's way to the trash can if you wait one more day. Try making meals like this towards the end of the week that you can use those items up and in the long-run you may end of saving money...

Enjoy !!!

fajita night with friends

Last weekend my good friends who are having twins this February had their baby shower. It was an awesome afternoon. After the shower a large group of us decided to have a big dinner together to further celebrate the day. I had already planned some cilantro lime chicken fajitas for the night. So that's exactly what we did except way more of it. We ended up having 8 people that night for dinner at our house. We enjoyed an awesome fajita bar and watched Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Christmas Special. The day felt like it was a holiday like we all snuck away from work and responsibilities and just relaxed. It was great to say the least !

For the cilantro lime goodness saute 3 tbs lime juice, 4 tsp brown sugar, 1 tbs of worcestershire, 1 tbs of minced cilantro, 1/2 tsp cumin, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 a red onion, 1 red pepper, and 1 yellow pepper.

Then set up your fajita bar with some shredded chicken, steamed rice, cheese, guacamole, black beans, sour cream, salsa and whatever else you want to throw into the mix.

Then enjoy your fajitas with friends !!!

Enjoy !!!

Vegetarian Mushroom Quinoa Stew

Adapted from: Bread and Honey

I absolutely love this stew. It is hearty, healthful, and filling. I saw this on Bread and Honey and knew I had to make it. It is also my favorite style of cooking. Making something that looks spectacular and isn't hard to make. I was a little timid when I wanted to make this, but now I have made it 3 times and it has been awesome each and every time. The other best part about this delicious mushroom quinoa stew is that it freezes well. I'm not really totally sure why it freezes as well as it does maybe because it is such a hearty stew.

You need to start with heating 2 tbs of olive oil in a large pot. Then add 1 onion chopped, 2 minced garlic cloves and saute until it is fragrant.

Then chop up a heaping plateful of mushrooms. When I make it I usually use baby bella, large portobella and white button mushrooms.

Then add your mushrooms to the onions and saute through. Then squeeze the dickens out of 1 lemon into the pot.

Then add 3 tbs of whole grain brown mustard and 2 tbs of butter. Mix the ingredients well and let them simmer for a little bit longer.

Then add about 6-7 cups of veggie broth and 1 cup of quinoa. I had red and regular quinoa leftover so I added them both to add some more color.

Let your stew simmer a little longer until the quinoa cooks through, which should be about 15 minutes. If your stew seems too liquidity. Take out a little of the broth and whisk some flour in so you can thicken the stew. Once the flour is incorporated add it back to the pot to thicken the stew.

Once your stew is thick enough take about 4 large handfuls of arugula and add it to the pot.

Check out that goodness !!! You can still see the steam in the picture. This is a complete vegetarian meal so enjoy my veggie and vegan friends!!!! I think if you omit the 2 tbs of butter you can call it completely vegan, but I suppose there are substitutes for that as well.

Of course, I had to add a couple of pieces of grilled chicken to pretty it up even more.

You can beat that for dinner on a cold November day !!!

Mike's quick tandoori chicken

My brother made this last thanksgiving on a Turkey and it was awesome. It is wicked simple too!! All you need to do is marinade 2 chicken breasts in a cup of plain yogurt over night. Then place it down in a hot fry pan.

Then brush with tandoori paste on both sides and cook until it gets a little brown on both sides and it is cooked through.

Then serve it up with some mango chutney, some veg, and some cous cous. You wont regret it!!! Don't be scared of it anyone can do this for sure !!!

Enjoy !!!

simple perfect pasta

This is the most perfect simplest pasta dish you can make that isn't your plain old marinara and pasta of your choice. If your looking for a simple but eye catching meal tonight check this out!

Simply combine
1. 1 lb cooked pasta of your choice
2. 3-4 handfuls of arugula
3. 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
4. 1 jar of marinated feta (with only half of the marinade into the pasta dish)
5. 2 cups of of shredded chicken (I boiled mine then shredded with some forks)

Its so wicked simple, flavorful, healthful, and delicious !!

Enjoy the goodness !!!

stuffed acorn squah

This meal makes me so happy because the entire time my husband was watching it being made he was saying how gross it looked. Then when we finally sat down to eat he was pleasantly surprised at how amazing it was. I didn't even think at the time that I would even enjoy it as much as I did. It was also the first time I had ever made/roasted acorn squash at home and to be honest I was sold.

We just had it with some roasted brussel sprouts and it was unreal. It was savory some sweetness and peppery bites.

You start with a delicious beautiful acorn squash like the one below. If you look for one that still has the stem on it will last that much longer.

Then cut it in half, clean out all the seeds, put 2 tsp of olive oil in a baking dish, then put the halves face down in the pan. Roast your acorn squash in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes. I also sliced a little off the tops of them like you see in the picture below to help with cooking evenly and when you flip it onto the plate it will sit well.

Then put 1 lb of ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pieces of extra firm tofu, or fake meat ground pieces in a fry pan whatever suits your fancy. Then add to that pan once the beef cooks a little longer 1 chopped onion, 4 minced garlic cloves, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg, 3/4 cup of bulgar wheat and 2 cups of water. Mix it thoroughly and wait until the beef, chicken, or tofu is cooked thoroughly.

Once it is cooked through add 2 tbs of parsley, 1/4 cup of golden raisins, and 3 tbs of pine nuts.

Then stuff your acorn squash and return it to the 400 degree oven until it is lightly browned on top. Serve it up with more veggies and trust me everyone will be a happy camper.

Enjoy !!!