Hope you're hungry!

I didn't mean to turn this into a recipe blog, but I've tried some really great things lately and want to share! I love the transition from "winter" to "summer" recipes!

Bread salad with cranberries, spinach, and chicken
This was yummy, but my complaint with all Cooking Light recipes is that they seem to take so long to make! The prep is pretty time-consuming (cubing and toasting bread, prepping the vinaigrette, etc. ). But this was delicious. The only change I made was that I drizzled the bread with a little olive oil and sprinkled some seasoning on before toasting. The fennel and coriander made a great rub for the chicken! I'll be making this again (and will be prepared for the 45 minute prep time).

Chicken orzo salad
Can always count on Rachael Ray for an easy recipe! This was so yummy! In the magazine, the tip she gave was to shave the parmesan with a vegetable peeler. It worked really well. This will definitely be in our summer rotation.

Mango and brie quesadillas with black bean soup
Due to my love of mango salsa, I thought I would try to incorporate it into a meal. So, I made my version of mango salsa and bought some whole wheat tortillas and spreadable brie. I put a little canola oil in a pan, heated, then put in a tortilla with brie spread on it. I spooned the mango salsa onto that tortilla and then topped it with another. I flipped it when the bottom was getting golden and crispy. I served it with this easy black bean soup. I didn't include the jalapeno since I don't do spicy food. I also thought I had couscous, but I didn't, so I threw in some quinoa. The soup was okay, but putting sour cream and chopped cilantro on top really made it taste great. Nice and easy!

Some new recipes

The nice weather has me cooking some of my old summer classics and some new favorites, so I thought I would share some.

Ever since I visited my good friend, Alexandra, and her sister, Alexis, and brother-in-law, Alexander (try keeping those names straight!) a few years ago, and Alexander made mango salsa, I've been hooked! Heck, growing up in Pgh, I don't even know if I ever had mango before that day! Anyways, I made some last night and I'm enjoying it now. It tastes so good the next day once the flavors have all soaked together. I'll try to post a "recipe", but it's really just a list of ingredients.

Mango salsa
2 mango, diced
1/4 of a red pepper, diced into small pieces (I like to use the alligator for this)
About 1/5 of a purple/red onion, again diced into small pieces with the alligator
1-2 teaspoons of cilantro
Juice of one medium to large lime
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper

Combine in bowl and serve with tortilla chips or over chicken/fish.
I should say that putting too much onion or cilantro in ruins it for me, so I would suggest putting in less than you think is necessary and just keep tasting and adding if necessary. I told you this wasn't so much of a recipe! Very imprecise!

I also tried this recipe from Cooking Light and it was delicious! I went with the chipotle powder instead of ancho since I don't like spicy food and it was still really spicy. Next time, I'll cut the amount of chipotle powder.
Ancho Chile-Beef Fajitas with Mango
I served with guacamole and chips (I made my own guacamole, not the recipe listed here).
I should mention that it's supposed to be a 40 minute meal, but to make it more weeknight-friendly, I would probably do all of my chopping the night before.

I don't think I posted this recipe before, and I'm not sure how I overlooked it since it's SO delicious! My friend, Kristen, recommended it and Ryan and I love it! It's also SUPER easy (just need to marinate overnight).
Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Happy eating!

Yummy breakfast recipe

I found this recipe a few weeks ago and we have had it almost every day for breakfast since! For some reason, Ryan renamed it "gruel" instead of "muesli" though. Even Hudson loves it!!

Muesli with cranberry and flaxseed

I followed the recipe the first time, but since then, we skip the milk. Soaking it in milk makes it mushy and we like it crunchy. I also skip the toasted nuts now (just out of laziness). So I combine the first 7 ingredients and store them in the refrigerator (wheat germ and ground flaxseed need to be refrigerated). When we want to eat some "gruel", I just put some Stonyfield French Vanilla yogurt in a bowl and top it with this mixture. So yummy and healthy!

Delicious and easy!

Any meal that can be described by those two adjectives sounds good to me!
I made this the other night and thought it was fantastic! I cut the amount of chipotle and adobo sauce drastically (I'm not a fan of spicy food).

Sloppy Chipotle Joes

I actually thought the leftovers were even better than the first day!

Atomic chicken?

As I was planning our weekly dinner menu, I came across a recipe in my binder for Atomic Chicken. I honestly have no idea where this came from. But it had 4 ingredients and looked easy, so I gave it a whirl. It was pretty good. (Warning: it's a little sweet)

4-6 chicken breasts (I only used 3)
1/2 jar of Smuckers Apricot preserves
1 bottle of Wishbone deluxe French salad dressing
1 pack of Lipton's onion soup mix

Mix the soup, preserves, and dressing. Pour over chicken in a casserole dish. Cover and bake on 350 for 45 minutes.

I served it over couscous (with the sauce poured over it) and a side of steamed broccoli. It's a great simple recipe for weeknights.

Good, easy cold weather dinner

A bunch of friends were talking about this Stuffed Pepper Soup, so I decided to give it a whirl. It was super easy and super delicious!

Stuffed Pepper Soup
1 lb ground beef
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 cup cooked white rice
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
1 beef bouillon cube
1/8 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
mozzarella cheese for finishing (optional)

In a large pot, brown beef thoroughly. Drain grease and return to pot. - Stir in dry soup mix and heat thoroughly.

Add remaining ingredients (except rice) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until peppers are soft. Add rice and heat through.

Scoop into bowls and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
Makes 5 servings.

Any excuse to bake!

I got two new recipes and decided to welcome Fall with some yummy cookies.

First, I tempted Bakerella's cake balls. I was thinking about making some for Hudson's birthday party so I wanted to give them a whirl. Instead of red velvet, I did French vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and I dipped them in white chocolate or semi-sweet. They are okay - I don't think I like the store bought frosting. Next time, I may try them with homemade frosting.

(If you want to know the best way to make these, here's what worked for me. I baked the cake in a 9x13 pan on Thursday. I crumbled the cake and mixed it with the frosting on Friday. I put it in the fridge for a few hours then rolled the balls on Friday night. I let it freeze overnight and dipped the balls in chocolate on Saturday)

For some reason, blogger keeps rotating this picture, but you get the idea.

I had alot more success with Jaime's pumpkin pizzelles. These are much more cakey than traditional pizzelles. For example, you can fold them and they will bend, not crack. I wasn't sure I was going to like the texture. Then I rolled a few, filled them with maple frosting, and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice. Now we have a winner!!

I used my Aunt Coll's frosting recipe and just added a few squirts of maple syrup. If you're trying to recreate this, just make a basic icing and add as much syrup as you think it needs to have a maple flavor. I probably added 3-4 tablespoons.

The perfect "side" to a great cup of coffee on a cool Fall day!

Gazpacho and grilled cheese - YUM!

GAZPACHO (from simplyrecipes.com):

6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (I use 5 - that's all that fits in my food processor!)
1 purple onion, finely chopped (I use half of one onion)
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper (or green) seeded and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
6 or more drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (omit for vegetarian option)
4 cups tomato juice

Method

Combine all ingredients (I put the tomatoes through the garlic in the food processor and then mix in the liquid ingredients in a large bowl). Blend slightly, to desired consistency. Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to blend.

Serves 8.

OLIVE-PESTO GRILLED CHEESE
8 slices ciabatta, halved lengthwise
2T olive oil8t Basil-Almond Peso (see below)
8 slices fresh mozzarella
1/3c pimento-stuffed green olives chopped
BASIL ALMOND PESTO (this makes enough for two batches of grilled cheese, so I freeze the leftover pesto for the next time I want to make this)
1c fresh basil leaves
1/2c fresh parsley leaves1/4c olive oil
2T sliced almonds toasted
2 garlic cloves
1/4t red pepper flakes
minced zest and juice from one lemon
salt to taste
Puree all ingredients in food processor until smooth (Keeps for one week chilled, one month when frozen)

Preheat grill to med-high (I use the Foreman Grill for this). Brush uncut slides of ciabatta slices with oil.Spread 1t of pesto on the cut sides of each bread slice then top with mozzarella and olives. arrange second slice of bread on top. Grill sandwiches weighted down with a baking sheet and bricks (or the lid to the Foreman Grill!) until toasted on one side, 2 minutes. Flip sandwiches over, weight down, and grill until golden and cheese melts, 2 more minutes.

Day 3 of new recipes

As I mentioned before, I'm trying all new recipes this week. We had another success today. Although I have to say I'm not quite sure how Rachael Ray got this dish made in 30 minutes! It was a 60 minute meal for me!

Red Eye Chili Gravy Steaks with Cheddar-Chive Polenta

New recipes...

This is a week of new recipes. So far, the two I've tried have been keepers!!

Italian beef sandwiches - this is super easy!
2.5 lb round roast
1 can beef broth
1 packet of McCormick's Au Jus mix
1 packet of Zesty Italian dressing mix.

Combine the mixes and the broth in a bowl. Place roast in crockpot. Pour mixture over top of roast and cook on low for 10 hours. (I shredded the beef after 8 hours so that it could soak up some of the gravy after it was shredded.). Serve on a potato bun with a slice of provolone cheese.

Tonight I made Rachael Ray's Lime Rickey Chicky. It's a 30 minute meal. I thought it was pretty good and Ryan LOVED it. Here's a link to the recipe:
Lime Rickey Chicky with Buttered Almond Rice

Me and my sweettooth...

Thanks to the Krivda blood that runs through my body (thanks Mom!), I'm addicted to sweets. So whenever we have a get together, I tend to make as many desserts as side dishes. Last night was no exception. I had some friends over for a mid-week BBQ. I wanted to try two new dessert recipes I just found: Oreo truffle cookies and Mojito cake-tails. Both were DELISH!!!

Oreo Truffle Cookies
1 package of oreos, crushed to a fine dust in the food processor
1 brick of cream cheese, softened
1 bar of white chocolate
a few Kraft caramels (optional).

Put the oreo crumbs and cream cheese in the mixer (I used the Kitchen-Aid - It's becomes a pretty thick dough, so I'm not sure a hand mixer would cut it. ). Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Roll the dough into small balls and flatten to resemble the shape of an oreo. Dip in the white chocolate. Place of wax paper. Optional: Melt the caramels with a little cream in the microwave, watching closely so they don't burn. Drizzle over the truffles.
Chill in the refrigerator.

Mojito cake-tails
AMAZING summertime dessert! From Rachael Ray (link below). I found that the recipe says it makes 12, but I probably could have made 24. I'll cut the recipe in half next time.
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/frozen-mojito-cake-tails/article.html

I'm becoming domestic

I made a New Year's resoultion that I've actually kept. I vowed to make weekly menus of dinners that I was going to cook for the week, buy all of the groceries that I needed on Sunday, and be able to prepare a delicious meal each weeknight. This plan is working MUCH better than our old one that looked a little something like this:

Me: What do you want for dinner?
Ryan: I don't know. What do you want?
Me: I don't really care. What are you in the mood for?
Ryan: Uhhhh...not sure.
Me: Do you want to go to Wine Market/Blue Agave/Pazo (insert any Baltimore restaurant)?
Ryan: I could totally go for that.

To keep it interesting, I've been getting lots of yummy recipes online and trying them out. I figured that this blog would be a good place to share some of our new favorites. Here's what we had last night and it was delish!

London Broil with Texas Toast and Red Onion Jam
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=334276
I actually did not make the toast and instead made sandwiches on ciabatta bread with a slice of provolone cheese. Yum!