It's Balloon Season!  

Posted by Emily in

IMG_2060


IMG_2062

IMG_2063

IMG_2064

A few things I've made recently..  

Posted by Emily in

I made this Dutch Baby for breakfast a few Saturdays ago. I loved how much it puffed up during baking so I took a few in-process photos..


IMG_2048

IMG_2049

It's supposed to have the dip in the middle. The edges are fluffy and the middle is kind of egg-y like the description says. I did cut the eggs own to 3 like the other reviewers suggested and that was plenty to me. I do think there was too much butter so I'll cut that down next time so I don't have to soak up a pile of butter from the middle after it bakes.
IMG_2051

Topped with fried apples (just sliced apples, brown sugar, a squeeze of lemon and some cinnamon sauteed with butter):
IMG_2052

Looks good enough to eat:
IMG_2053

Fried Plantains. I didn't use a recipe, but it's similar to this one, only I don't use nearly that much oil (as you can see in this photo):
IMG_2065

Broiled Grapefruit.. again ,no recipe. Just cut the grapefruit in half, sprinkle with sugar and put under the broiler until it starts to bubble:
IMG_2068

Broiled Mango.. made with the same method as the grapefruit but unfortunately I let it burn. I scraped off the top after taking the photo and it tasted just fine:
IMG_2150

Tofu and Broccoli Stir Fry, made this for dinner tonight (thanks Martha!):
IMG_2151

Baked Apple Cinnamon Wontons for dessert:
IMG_2153

Everything was yummy!

Yowza, Yippee, Yummy!  

Posted by Emily in ,

Tonight I made Cashew Vegetable Korma for dinner and it was DELICIOUS! The recipe is from Post Punk Kitchen (link here). I've made a few things from her site already this week, but this one is the bomb! You're uspposed to mix the sauce in with the vegetables, but I kept them separate because DH wants to see later on if it's good over some chicken (it will be, but I'm not going there right now). Here's a photo (again, sorry for the crappy iPhone pics. Promise I'll dig out my other camera soon):


IMG_2046

I served it with Trader Joe's Garlic Na'an, which you toss in a 400 degree oven for a couple minutes just to warm it up. Just sooo. goood. The recipe makes 16 servings, so I'm really glad it turned out well because I'm going to freeze individual portions which I'll have for lunch whenever I want.

The other food I've been eating has been leftover Snobby Joes on toast, veggies, fruit, etc. Nothing new or noteworthy I suppose, though nice and healthy and pretty good.

Food is my only creative endeavor right now..  

Posted by Emily in ,

..or that how it seems anyway. Besides working (from home for now), doing some housework and preparing to redo the house and backyard, planning healthy meals (well- healthy-ish; I know I'm missing green leafy veggies, but they just don't appeal to me right now) is the only thing I seem to be accomplishing lately. Which is totally fine since that's pretty important :)


Breakfast yesterday. Sauteed (why won't the accent work for me?- pretend it's there above the first e) nectarine and leftover polenta with a little maple syrup:

IMG_2036

Lunch yesterday. Baked sweet potato, grapes and a Morningstar Farms Hickory Riblet (really good!):

IMG_2038

Dinner yesterday. Snobby Joes (recipe here) on jalapeño (the accent worked here!) focaccia (Safeway), homemade guacamole (a friends super-secret recipe) with pita chips and strawberries:

IMG_2040

Breakfast this morning. A toasted crumpet (Trader Joe's) with preserves, strawberries, grapes and mini heirloom tomatoes:

IMG_2041

Lunch was leftovers from dinner yesterday, so I didn't take any photos. Dinner tonight was Chickpea (aka Garbonzo Bean) Cutlets (recipe here), baked red potato and mushroom gravy (recipe here).

IMG_2042

Everything turned out pretty tasty and there's nothing I wouldn't make again, though maybe with a couple tweaks here and there. I froze the leftover Snobby Joe filling by scooping them onto a cookie sheet with an ice cream scoop, flash freezing and putting the scoops in a freezer bag. The leftover individual Chickpea Cutlets are freezing right now and I will put them in a freezer bag before I go to bed. I want to get some ready-made meals in the freezer that weren't mass produced by big companies.

That's it for now.. explore the blog I linked to (with the recipes), she has some other recipes I'm going to try eventually.

Joe.. how ah've missed ye..  

Posted by Emily in ,

I hadn't been to Trader Joe's in months and months before I decided to make the trip this afternoon. What a dope I've been- they have so many great products and actually have pretty decent prices! I bought a 1 liter bottle of olive oil for $5.50- I was expecting to pay $18.00 at Safeway later this week, d'oh! So anyway, I came home with quite a few items and I managed to use six of them in my dinner tonight.


I didn't take step-by-step photos since this is pretty easy and I didn't use a recipe.

Ingredients:

Polenta (I purchased the kind in a roll, but you can use the mix if you want), sliced to 1/2 inch rounds
1/4 of a small yellow onion, sliced
A handful or so of white mushrooms, chopped roughly
4 cloves garlic (more or less to your own taste), crushed and minced
Thyme
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Sage
Olive oil

Heat the olive oil in your pan. Add the mushrooms, onions, garlic and spices and keep this to one side of the pan. Add the polenta rounds to the other side of the pan. Saute everything, keeping the polenta more or less separate from the rest so you can flip it over without trapping a mushroom or something underneath. Heat until browned and yummy :)

Then I made a simple caprese salad with the mini heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella balls that I purchased, topped off with just sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. So good!

Besides the spices, the only thing on my plate I didn't purchase today are the grapes. This turned out to be a great dinner, light (non-greasy or heavy) but still filling.

Here's a quick pic from my crappy iPhone and horribly lighted kitchen:

IMG_2035

My favorite side dish (that is frequently the main dish here)  

Posted by Emily in , ,

I make these jalapeño "poppers" pretty often. They're so fast, they have 3 ingredients (unless you decide to tweak them a little) and most important- they're SOOO yummy!


I was texting with my sister, describing these awesome morsels and decided to whip up a batch (I had just purchased the ingredients earlier today anyway). I took pictures along the way.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (mine is convection so it adjusts down 25 degrees automatically).

IMG_2028

Assemble the ingredients: fresh jalapeños (try to get uniform size and avoid really thick ones), Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese (or regular cream cheese or another cheese you like), and Turkey bacon. I accidentally bought the regular instead of extra lean like I normally do (or use real bacon or vegetarian bacon). You can tweak the kinds of cheese and add seasonings if you want (ranch dressing mix powder works well), but I mostly like to keep it simple. The Tofutti tastes just like cream cheese in my opinion and has far fewer calories and fat. The turkey bacon of course has fewer calories and fat as well- which means I can eat more of these haha!

IMG_2021

Cut jalapenos in half lengthwise (wear disposable gloves from this point on if you're like me and can't keep from touching your eyes after cutting peppers):

IMG_2022

Use a smallish spoon to remove the seeds and ribs.

IMG_2023

Use the spoon to spread some cream cheese into each half. I don't fill all the way to the edge, but feel free if you'd like:

IMG_2024

Using one slice of bacon per whole jalapeño, cut the bacon in half like so:

IMG_2026

Place on baking sheet with some foil and bake for 30 mins or until bacon is crispy:

IMG_2027

That photo turned out a little too blurry and I already plated up, so here's a photo of my plate with half a Morningstar Farm Riblet (so good!):

IMG_2032

I took all these photos with my iPhone. I have a camera but it is so slow and difficult to adjust with lighting I just went the easy route. I'm currently putting money aside for a new camera, so my photos will look much better soon. Also, I wasn't being too artistic about displaying the food.. If you want that, check out Pioneer Woman (which is where I got the original recipe)!

Dinner's served :)

Click for a chance at a TI TI-Nspire Calculator  

Posted by Emily

There is a great giveaway contest at Moms Need to Know, a wonderful blog- check it out!!

Weight Loss - New Blog  

Posted by Emily in ,

I will be posting any updates on weight loss to: http://fromfattofabourjourney.blogspot.com/


This is a great site that my friend Julia has just started. Feel free to join in, the more the merrier!!!

So far I have posted a short intro and a "Before" picture of myself that was taken right after eating dinner at Valle Luna Mexican Restaurant & Cantina (which, yeah.. is not exactly health food!) hehehe, guess I have some work to do!