Creamy Shrimp Scampi with Kale & Peas

I love any meal with sauce.  Especially a garlic based sauce.  And I love shrimp.  So scampi is, naturally, a favorite of mine.  I’ve made it many ways over the years and tested out many recipes, but I’ve never been fully satisfied with any of them.  Some have too much lemon; too much oil; not enough garlic; not enough sauce.  None of them are perfect. 

This one might not technically be a scampi.  You might consider it more a shrimp and garlic butter sauce, but it’s the best of everything I’ve come to love of the scampi dishes I’ve tried: Lots of garlic & parsley, a little lemon zing, and loads of shrimp. 

Mine is also swimming in sauce.  I like the sauce to be on the creamy side, so I use milk or cream from time to time. But if you aren’t a saucy person, feel free to omit that entirely. And if you’re paleo, definitely feel free to use bone broth. It will be just as tasty.

The first recipe I ever tried for scampi included paprika, but most don’t.  I found that I like it more with paprika.  I use smoked.  It adds a nice bit of depth. 

And, of course, no meal in my kitchen is complete without veggies.  I like to combine them with the shrimp and sauce, instead of serving on the side.  You know, to spread the saucy love. I usually use whatever veggies I have on hand, or whatever I’m in the mood for.  This time around, I was in the mood for kale and peas.  Feel free to use whatever veggies suite your fancy.  Or none, that’s fine, too.  Weird…but fine.   

I like to serve this over pasta.  I prefer to use quinoa pasta.  Most of them have corn flour as an ingredient, so if you have a corn allergy and are gluten free, you can use quinoa or rice. I’ve been known to serve a lot of traditional pasta dishes over quinoa. If you’re strictly paleo, you can make zucchini pasta or just eat it as-is.  If you’re not serving it over something, however, I would tone it down with the sauce quantity, unless you want to be dining on scampi soup, which, actually, now that I’m thinking about it, doesn’t sound too bad. 

Oh, I forgot to mention, there’s bacon. Delicious, tender, salty, crunchy bacon. Yum.

So, here you go.  Creamy Shrimp Scampi, coming right up. 

24 oz shrimp

1 box angel hair

8 oz kale, chopped

16 oz peas

paprika

salt and pepper

juice of 1 lemon

10 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp parsley

1/2 - 1 c. milk, cream, or broth

6 slices bacon

Fry bacon in a pan over medium-low heat.  Drain most of the fat, then fry shrimp in pan with a bit of the bacon fat. 

In another pot, cook kale & peas with the lemon juice, paprika, garlic, and parsley for about 15 minutes, or until the kale is tender. 

Transfer shrimp & any accumulated liquid to the veggie pot.  Add cream.  Simmer for a few minutes.

Serve over pasta, topped with bacon crumbles. 

Raw Trail Mix Recipe

I love trail mix, don’t you?  Trouble is, I can never find a premade mix at the store that I’m 100% satisfied with.  Usually they contain at least one ingredient that I want nothing to do with. Like peanuts, m & m’s, or yogurt covered raisins.  No thank you.  I’ll make my own!

I’ve been making my own trail mix for a while now.  It’s a must-have on our kayaking trips and now it’s a standby in our lunches for work.  It satisfies on so many levels.  There are the salty-smoky pistachios, the bitter-crunchy cacao nibs, the sweet-chewy cherries, and the variation in texture with almonds, cashews, and sunflower & pumpkin seeds.  

This mix is sure to please every palate.  My boyfriend even likes it, and he used to swear he only liked peanuts.  If you have some picky kids, try adding more dried fruit to up the sweetness factor.  Try banana chips, raisins, strawberries, or apples.  They might find the cacao a little bitter, but I find that the cherries (and other fruit, if you’re adding more) balance out the bitter quite nicely and you end up with a nice jolt of chocolate flavor without most of the bitter edge.  Or maybe I’m just used to raw cacao.  Not sure.  I will say that the resident child requests this in her lunch quite often.

It's jam packed with all kinds of fun nutrients, like vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, potassium, B2, B6, phosphorus, zinc, iron, biotin, selenium, calcium, and even a little vitamin A.  And, of course, tons of healthy fats, fiber, and protein. In addition to some of the vitamins and minerals already mentioned, the cacao nibs also add a few other things, like chromium (which is said to help balance blood sugar), theobromine (antibacterial), and vitamin C. They also contain some fun amino acids and many people even claim they boost serotonin. I’m not quite sure how that works, but I’ll take all the serotonin boosting I can get! 

Anyhow… to make this awesome nutrient-dense trail mix, you’re going to need:

1 c. raw almonds

1 c. raw cashews

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds

1 c. raw sunflower seeds

¾ c. salted, shelled pistachios

¾ c. raw cacao nibs

½ c. dried cherries

½ c. brazil nuts (optional)

I like to add the brazil nuts…you know…to meet my selenium quota, but you can leave them out if you’re not a fan, or if you supplement selenium or whatever.  I don’t supplement selenium because it makes my BO smell like garlic, which I think is rather repulsive. 

Toss it all into a bowl, or a bag and shake it up.  Make sure your cherries aren’t sticking together in big globs, then store the mix in glass jars.  I like to store the mix in wide mouth mason jars and vacuum seal them with the food saver.  But that’s just me.  I seal everything.  

Using the measurements listed, this recipe makes two 32 oz. jars. I consider about ¼ - ½ cup to be a serving. 

Here are some rough nutrition facts.  They're not exact, but pretty close.  Don't pay any attention to the vitamin and mineral content or the servings.  That's not accurate at all.  

Baked Egg Cups Recipe

We’ve been trying to make some transformations here in our household.  As always, we’re trying to teach the child the value and importance of a healthy diet. In doing so, we’re trying to slowly morph her diet into one that more closely mimics our own.  Or, at least, something a little closer to real food than the sugary breakfast cereals she usually enjoys and the frankenfoods the school calls lunch. This has been a transformation long in the making, and it has had many challenges.  

One of the last junky things to go is her breakfast cereal.  Although we do buy the stuff from the health food section without HFCS, sugar cereal is still sugar cereal.  I want something that will keep her going up until lunch time at school, but finding something quick and nutritious to prepare in the mornings has had me stumped.  Until I discovered egg cups, which are quick, easy, affordable, AND nutritious. They can also be easily customized, which is always a good thing.  

You'll need:

• 1 dozen eggs (1 egg per cup)
• 6 oz. filler (meat, veggies, cheese, etc., 1/2 oz. per cup)
• liquid (milk, bone broth, water, etc.)
• 2 tbsp. herbs & spices 

To start off, preheat your oven to 325 F.  Then grab your muffin pan and plop a little dab of butter into each cup.  Then slide the pan into the preheating oven for a short time, just long enough to melt the butter.  When the butter is melted, remove the pan from the oven and rub the melted butter around each cup until well coated.

Warning Note: My pan is nonstick, so if yours is not, you might want to run to the store real quick and grab some of those foil muffin liners, then do the butter melting in the liners so they peel off nice and neat. Even with my nonstick pan, this still sticks slightly, so if you don't have a nonstick pan, the results may be disastrous. 

Next, mix up your eggs, liquid (I used milk), and spices, and pour evenly into each cup.  Then sprinkle in your fillers.  For these I used bacon, colby jack, basil, and salt & pepper.  Roughly 1/4 oz. each of cheese and bacon per cup.  

Now, you can go about baking these the safe and clean way, by lining a sheet pan with foil and placing it under the muffin pan while baking. You know, in case they decide to puff over and ooze all over your lovely, clean oven. Or you could live on the edge and just throw 'em in. 

Bake them for about 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Depending on your choice and quantity of fillers, they could take a bit longer. 

You'll end up with something resembling this:

Let them cool for a few minutes.  They might deflate slightly.  That's normal.  Take a butter knife or something and slide it around the egg to release it from the pan, then carefully plop them out.  They won't be perfect, but they shouldn't stick too badly. 

You can keep them refrigerated (if you'll eat them within the week), or freeze for future use.  If you use a microwave, they can be reheated that way, or using a toaster oven.  I haven't personally heated them up using a toaster oven, but I'd imagine running through the toast cycle on medium heat once or twice would do the trick. 

I serve two of them with 1/2 banana for breakfast, which is about 450 total calories. Keep in mind that if you use different fillers, the calories will change significantly.  We find that the child does best (cognitively and physically) with close to 2000 calories daily, so this is a nice start to the day for her.   

Enjoy :)

Meatball Recipe

It seems I spend every waking minute of my life in the kitchen.  I usually spend my weekend prepping our lunches for the upcoming week and cooking big elaborate meals which I don't have time for on weekdays.  My boyfriend and I usually pack soup and fresh veggie juice for lunch.  Last weekend I made pasta fagioli as our "soup of the week."  One of the meats in this soup is meatballs, so I decided to share my recipe for meatballs!

Look at those tasty meatballs swimming in that fagioli!

What you're gonna need:

large chunk of bread
2 lbs ground meat
2 eggs
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 tbsp chipotle pepper powder
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste


Here we go.  Start off with a large chunk of bread (the size of your hand...ish).  Now get it soaking wet.  Yes, that's right.  We need wet bread.  Nice, soggy, dripping wet bread.  Whatever bread you have on hand will probably work, but I usually use a chunk from a fresh loaf of Italian or ciabatta.  Hold it up over the sink until it stops dripping, then squeeze out a little bit of the excess.  Now crumble that into a bowl until you have a pile of what looks like soggy bread crumbs.  I don't ever measure anything, but I suppose if you wanted to be really precise, this pile might be something like 1 heaping cup.

Now throw in your two pounds of ground meat, eggs, and spices.  I like to use 1 lb ground turkey thighs and 1 lb ground beef chuck roast.  Mash everything together.  Yay.  Squishy burger goo.  You're probably wondering why there are two pics of my squishy burger goo.  I forgot some stuff the in the first pic...and I decided to add more chipotle and paprika.  Things rarely go smoothly in my kitchen. Don't judge me.

Roll this squishy burger goo into little balls.  I like them to be this size...

Now place them on a lined baking pan.  Well, really, who am I to tell you what to do.  Line it or don't, but I highly recommend you do.  

Turn your oven on to the broil setting and put a rack in the top slot.  Slide the baking sheet of balls in, and broil those suckers for about 10 minutes.  When they're nice and golden brown and sizzly, take them out and flip them...or do whatever you can that's as close to flipping as possible.  These guys don't really like to flip.  They are balls, after all.

Then cook them for another 10 minutes or so, or until the other side is nice and golden brown and sizzly.  Then slice open one of the larger balls and make sure it's not pink inside.  If there are any signs of pinkness, throw them back in for a few more minutes.  Rinse and repeat until no more pinkness.  But, don't really rinse.  These are meatballs, and that's just a saying...

Now eat these delicious suckers!

What's your favorite way to eat meatballs??  I need some ideas!  I have extra and I'm not a big fan of meatball subs...

Corn & Black Bean Salsa (and a raw update)

I'm not sure if I've discussed this previously, but a secondary reason for me to try a raw diet was indigestion. Before I tried going raw, I was experiencing terrible indigestion in the morning. I was throwing up clear puddles of acidic liquid each morning. It got so bad that I thought i was pregnant (morning sickness), and eventually I had blood work done. It turned out I was not pregnant, so the doctor recommended I take an antacid. Long story short, the antacids didn't work, but the raw diet did.

I tell you this because today, approximately 1.5 months back on a non-raw diet (I've been eating non-raw since about thanksgiving), and its happening again. Granted, I did have spaghetti for dinner last night, which isn't helping.  I usually try to avoid tomato based sauces.  Either way, this is motivation for me to get back on track. My finances are pretty much back to normal, so I thought there is no better time than the present to bring raw back into my life.

Last time I started sliding into a raw diet, I started off by drinking green smoothies. But last time, I quickly got overwhelmed by all the fun gadgets and recipes, and started trying to make tons of "gourmet" dishes. This is where I went wrong financially. For me, it was just too expensive and too time consuming to buy so many different fruits and vegetables and prep them for the recipes I had planned for the week. For one, fruits and vegetables are more expensive than other groceries; second, I found I was wasting a lot of produce at the end of the week. This was either because I had more on hand than I needed for my recipe, or simply because I ended up not using it.  Plain and simple, it was poor menu planning on my part.

This time around, I'm taking a more laid back approach. I'm still doing a green smoothie each day, but I'm not going to obsess over making a ton of recipes. I also realized that I like to have a salsa available which includes avocado. If nothing else, I will be sure to make a salsa each week.  I made this really tasty corn & black bean salsa recipe this week.  I was inspired by a picture I saw somewhere.  Probably on Pinterest...  The picture was a huge bowl of corn, tomato, and red peppers with cilantro.  I took that a step farther and added avocado, onion, and beans.  It's heartier and far more satisfying this way.  

Corn & Black Bean Salsa

2 tomatoes, dices

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

3 thick slices of red onion, diced

1 avocado, diced

cilantro to taste

couple splashes of vinegar

1 can of corn (use fresh if in season!)

1 can of black beans

1. Toss together all of the diced veggies.
2. Rinse canned ingredients well, and add to veggies. 
3. Add cilantro and a couple splashes of vinegar.  (The recipe I found called for lime juice, but I didn't have lime juice, so I used vinegar.  Feel free to use lime juice if you have it.  It would probably be better.)  I used garlic flavored rice wine vinegar.  It's just what I had on hand. I'm sure any mild vinegar would be fine.  
4. Scoop into bibb lettuce for veggie tacos (pictured above), or eat it with tortilla chips.  

I'm sure this would be really great with garlic and jalapeno, if you care for a more intense flavor.  If this is a little bland for you, you could easily dress it up with a little bit of greek dressing, or even your favorite homemade dressing!    

Other than eating salsa and green smoothies, I'm going to try to include more whole foods in general into my diet. Easy on-the-go stuff like apples, bananas, grapes, and cherries.  At least at first.  

And speaking of smoothies, I just made an awesome smoothie this morning.  Kale, strawberries, bananas, coconut oil, and hemp seeds.  The coconut oil and hemp seeds really leveled it out and kept me full all morning!  If your smoothies haven't been keeping you full, try adding some seeds and/or oil! 

Oh, and I also think I'm going to start juicing. I've been doing a lot of research on the topic lately, and I'm starting to think it may be the only way to be really successful long term with a raw diet. See, I've also realized that there are a lot of vegetables that I don't care for in their raw form. Sure, I could cook them instead, but wheres the fun in that? I'm a  little off put by the potential strong flavor, but many people claim fresh veg juice doesn't taste at all like what you expect it to. I know that's vague, but I kinda see what they probably mean. So I plan to save up for a juicer over the near future. I'm leaning toward a masticating juicer, but well talk more about that another day! 

Berries and Kale Smoothie, and a healthy new year

I've been lethargic and foggy-headed lately.  I can only blame the food I've been eating lately.  My body is sad and it misses fruits and veggies.  I haven’t really been sticking to a raw diet lately, and my body is rebelling.  A bunch of things sort of came to a head over the holidays which prevented me from sticking to the raw food, but now that the holidays are over and my finances are getting back on track, I’m looking forward to a getting back to a healthy lifestyle.  The two main things that prevented me from maintaining a raw lifestyle are finances and time.  

Let’s face it, raw food is expensive and it can be time consuming to prepare.  Between everything that life throws our way, it can be really easy to let our health take a back-burner to some of the seemingly more pressing issues we face daily.  Life is full of enough stresses as it is; food shouldn't be one of them.  

I’m not a person who makes resolutions when the new year rolls around, but this year I am determined to find a way to make healthier decisions without breaking the bank or dedicating all of my spare time to cutting fruit.  I am determined to find an affordable way to maintain a whole-foods, plant-based diet.  I plan to explore juicing, among other things.  But for now, I may just have to stick to daily green smoothies.  

Speaking of green smoothies, here’s one that I really like.  

Berries and Kale Smoothie

1/2 c. grapes

6 strawberries

3/4 c. pineapple

1/4 c. citrus

1/4 c. blueberries

2 large kale leaves

Water to desired consistency

Combine in the blender and blend until smooth.  Enjoy!  

Amazing Grass Chocolate Shake

The resident child has been sick for the past few days with a fluctuating fever.  We've been dosing her up with the usual meds (cough syrup, motrin, etc.), but the damn fever just won't quit.  I decided today to try giving her a smoothie with some Amazing Grass GREENsuperfood powder mixed in to help give her body an extra germ-fighting boost.  I didn't think she'd be too keen on the idea of consuming something with the word "grass" in the title, so I kept that ingredient a secret.  I just told her it was a chocolate milkshake.  She was none the wiser, and she loved every bite!

The best part about it is that this is almost raw, and can easily be converted to be entirely so, and is packed with antioxidants and vitamins!  To make this entirely raw, just use raw peanuts (or whatever nuts) instead of peanut butter, and raw nut milk, or even water, instead of  the milk.  The GREENsuperfood powder is labeled as raw, so you're already good to go there!

Amazing Grass Chocolate Shake

1 banana, chopped and frozen (~1 c.)

1/4 c. peanut butter

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 scoop Amazing Grass GREENsuperfood powder

milk, to desired consistency

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until creamy.  Serve immediately with a spoon or a fat straw.  
2. Sit back and enjoy kicking some serious germ ass!  Or just enjoy...

This recipe is totally flexible and will stand up well to almost any substitution.  If you want to mask the chlorophyll ("green") flavor, just make sure you don't skimp on the cocoa powder!  Otherwise, you could use 1 cup of almost any frozen fruit, 1/4 cup of any nuts or nut butter, and whatever liquid you like!  I think coconut water (or milk) would be a nice addition.  I might try that next time...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

We baked cookies for Santa tonight!  We used my favorite chocolate chip recipe (adapted from Cook's Illustrated).  They turned out absolutely delish.  Ever since I found this recipe, I haven't used another.  It's my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I did change it up a little this time around though.  I used olive oil instead of butter.  I always like to use oil when possible in recipes, and it turned out to be a really nice substitution here.  

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c. AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. olive oil
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 c. semisweet mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the oil, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time (for giant cookies) or a tablespoon at a time (for smaller cookies) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Avocado-Melon Salsa

I've been craving avocado's like nobodies business lately.  One of my favorite ways to get my avocado fix is to make a fruity salsa.  Today I made what might very well be my favorite salsa to date!  It's a combination of avocado and melon, which might sound strange, but trust me when I say that this is totally delish!

Another reason I love salsa is because it is so versatile.  There's really no way to screw it up.  Just chop up a bunch of stuff and toss it together.  Wabash, you have salsa!  I think I will increase the amount of jalapenos next time, though.  I really like a lot of zing.  As it is right now, the jalapenos just sorta balance everything out without adding much heat at all.

Avocado-Melon Salsa

1 avocado, chopped into small chunks

Melon, chopped, equal parts as avocado

1 handful of chopped red onion 

1 tsp minced garlic

6 jalapeno rings, diced

juice of 1/2 lime

Combine all chopped ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Serve over jerk chicken or fish, or eat with tortilla chips.  Personally, I take the chip route.

I have no idea how long this will keep.  Fresh salsa doesn't usually last more than a day or two in my fridge!

Beer (and my pooch and some pasta)

It was such a bee-a-yootiful day here today!  It was like 85 degrees.  It was awesome.  I took the day off (well, technically flexed the day off, for those of you more acquainted with my work schedule).  I took my lazy bones dog for a walk.  Here's a picture of my lazy bones poojoo:

Her "real" name is Layla.  But she grew into Poojoo mostly because I'm retarded and I call my animals by stupid nonsense names.

Anyway, after we got back I was in the mood for a nice, cold beer.  I have a case of the Sam Adam's brew master collection right now.  My favorite is the Noble Pils.  I'm always a fan of a good pilsner.  Especially on a hot day so I chose the pilsner to drink with dinner.  We had grilled marinated chicken. Grilled indoor on the grill pan because my boyfriend's a meanie mean pants and won't buy me a grill.  Just kidding.  He didn't actually say he wouldn't.  But I don't have a grill so I'm blaming him ;)

You can check out the recipe for the marinade at Homemade by Holman.  It's bangin'.  I didn't change a thing.  No pics of the chicken.  I was starving.  No time to mess around with a camera and a tripod.  I wanted to drink my beer and stuff my face, damn it.

I made some really simple pasta with the chicken.  It was surprisingly good for how simple it was.  It was really light and perfect for the hot day (if pasta is ever perfect for a hot day). It went something like this:

6.5 oz. of dry angle hair, cooked to al dente
1/2 c. pasta water reserved
2-3 tbsp. evoo
2 tbsp red bell pepper and garlic perfect pinch seasoning (mccormick)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp parsley flakes

Just toss all of that together and you've got yourself a side dish. 

I've gotta say, I'm not usually a huge fan of premixed season blends, but I rather enjoy that red pepper and garlic perfect pinch stuff.  I know it's probably full of disgusting preservatives and strange additives.  For once, I don't care.  This stuff is delicious. 

Anyway, I enjoyed a Boston Lager after the sun went down and that brings me to my photo of the day.

April 11, 2011:

If you view it larger (on flickr perhaps) you can see all of the condensation, which I thought was pretty nifty. 

I hope you all enjoyed this beautiful day as much as I did!

Chicken Linguine with Pesto Cream Sauce

This was a really simple meal that was surprisingly delicious.  It was a crowd pleaser, for sure.  I had this flavor in mind when I was throwing this recipe together and I was totally sure it wasn't going to come close.  I was way wrong.  This recipe hit the nail dead on the head.  I think I just got lucky with the pesto that I bought.  I really had no other option because I can never find anything at walmart (even though I do my grocery shopping there every week) and the Classico brand was the only thing I could find.

I think next time I will double the sauce tho because I'm just a saucy kinda person.  I like everything drowning in copious amounts of sauce.  I made a one substitution and that was to use almond milk (because it's what I had in my fridge) instead of heavy cream.  It turned out just fine.  In fact, I think I prefer the thinner consistency.  Oh, and I also added some veg. 

Once again, this meal is also my photo of the day for April 5, 2011.

Chicken Linguine with Pesto Cream Sauce

adapted from Handle the Heat

2 large chicken breasts, cut thinly in half lengthwise 

(my two weighed exactly 1 lb 11 oz)

Coarse salt and pepper

EVOO or cooking spray

1 box of linguine 

1 (8 oz) jar of basil pesto sauce

1/2 c. milk or heavy cream

1/2 c. reserved pasta water

Frozen veg (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and grease the pan with cooking spray or oil (I used EVOO in a misto). 
4. Bake chicken for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.  When chicken is done cooking, slice thinly across the grain and keep warm.
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta to al dente according to package directions (the shortest cook time listed on the box).  
6. Remember to reserve 1/2 c of pasta water before straining the noodles.
7. Add pesto to the pan and heat until loose. Add milk (or cream).  Stir to combine.  Heat through then remove half of the sauce to another bowl. 
8. If your adding veg, add it now and cover the pan for a few minutes until the veg is warm. 
9. Add the chicken, pasta, and reserved water to the pan once the veg is warm.  Toss to coat evenly.  
10. Serve with some of the reserved sauce drizzled over each serving.   

If you double the sauce this would be good served with some bread to sop it up.  If you don't there won't be enough extra sauce to sop. If doubled, I would then reserve 3/4 of the sauce instead of half or all the extra will get absorbed by the pasta. 


Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

The name says it all.  It's chocolate chip cookie dough baked in a pie shell.  The dough for the filling isn't a traditional CCC dough.  That's to say that I don't think it would make good cookies by itself.  It does make a delicious filling tho because, lets be honest, anything involving chocolate chip cookies is delicious.  (Am I right??)  But next time I think I will forgo the pie shell and maybe just bake a huge, thick cookie.  I kinda think the shell detracted from the deliciousness of the cookie.  But then again your talking to a chocolate chip cookie purist.  I don't like anything messing and interfering with the awesomeness of my CC cookies.

You, however, might think this is the best thing to grace the pie world since coconut cream (wait, you don't like coconut cream?).  Apple then?  I'm not really a huge pie fan which might be where my slight dislike for this recipe is stemming from.  Despite my feelings towards pie I tried this anyway because my inner fat kid just couldn't say no to the cookie.  Thinking of it as a pie (which it is) and not as a cookie (which it technically is not), it's honestly one of the best pies I've ever had.  Right up there with coconut cream and french silk. 

I'm sort of cheating with my photo of the day because the photo for this recipe is my photo for April 4, 2011 (Yes, I know...I'm a day late.  Whatev's.  I took it yesterday, I swear!).

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

adapted from Bakerella

1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 ounces) mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Beat eggs in a large mixing bowl on high until foamy.
3. Beat in flour, baking soda, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter.
4. Stir in morsels and spoon into pie shell.
5. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with ice cream and syrup of your choice.  Maybe even some whipped cream if your feeling extra crazy.

Enjoy!

Spinach and Sausage Penne

Today's photo of the day just so happens to be of my dinner.  So today is a double wammy day.  You get my photo of the day and also a recipe.  Woo-Hoo!

March 28, 2011:

See it on flickr.

This is a modified recipe for Sausage and Spinach Penne I found over at Your Home Based Mom.  I kinda just used what I had on hand and went with it.  She calls for chicken sausage, I had pork.  She called for fresh diced tomatoes, I didn't have fresh or canned, so I went with tomato sauce.  She calls for topping it off with almonds (which I did have but my fam isn't too big on nuts) but I decided to throw in a can of beans.

I think it turned out pretty well.  It was quick, cheap, and easy.  Not to mention it was easy on the dishes...only one pot for the whole meal!  These are things I think everyone can appreciate, am I right?

Here's the recipe:

Sausage and Spinach Penne

8 oz. dry penne

1 lb sausage, casings removed

2 cloves minced garlic

4 C. loosely packed fresh baby spinach

2 tsp. chicken bouillon 

1 (4 oz.) can tomato sauce

4 oz. water

1 can of beans

Parmesan cheese to taste

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Strain and set aside. 
2. Cook the sausage in the pot that you cooked the noodles in.  
3. When sausage is done cooking, add the garlic and smoosh around until the garlic is fragrant. 
4. Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes, until the spinach is wilted.  
5. Add the chicken bouillon, water, and tomato sauce and stir well.  
6. Add the pasta back into the pan.
7. Let everything simmer for a few minutes.  Top with some shredded parm if you wish and serve!

I would say this yields about 4-6 servings, depending on the size of your servings.

Enjoy!

Best ever chocolate cup cakes (seriously)

Don't they look yummy?  I used a recipe I found here.  Awesome.  It's called the only chocolate cake recipe you'll ever need and it's so true.  Ever since I found it, it's become my go-to chocolate cake recipe.  It's super moist and super fluffy.  It almost melts in your mouth.

I then used a recipe for chocolate icing I found here.  It's called 1-minute chocolate frosting.  It takes a bit more than a minute from start to finish to actually have usable icing, but it does cook in 1 minute.  This, too, is super awesome.  And, like the cake recipe, has become my go-to chocolate icing. It sort of turns out more like a donut icing than what most people think of as frosting.  My boyfriend says it tastes like the icing that tasty-kake puts on their cakes.  And ya know what, thinking back, it kinda does.

I chopped up some Rolo's and Reese's cups and threw a small handful into each cup after I poured the batter into the pan.  It didn't turn out so well.  This batter is sadly not sturdy enough for candy insertion :(  All the candy kinda fell to the bottom and melted into a puddle of gooey goodness.  It did taste really good tho, once you got the goo peeled off of the wrapper!

Then I topped each cake with a some of the peanut butter cups (for the ones with pb cups inside) and some caramel bits and chocolate chips (for the ones with rolo's inside).  Yum-o.

Anyway...here are the recipes: