Snack Attack

I would definitely be okay with living off of appetizers.
Everything tastes better when it's mini and made into a dip anyway, right?

Which leads me to the reason for this post: Spinach and Artichoke Dip and Jalapeño Poppers.

Before I get into the recipes, I have a confession to make...
Although I made these for us to enjoy on Superbowl Sunday, we didn't actually watch the Superbowl, per se... whoops. In my defense, the food is the best part anyway and we had a lot of shows on the DVR to catch up on! I know, I know...next year for sure.

Whatever the occasion, both of these recipes are sure to please and easy to make!

For the Jalapeño Poppers, you will need:

- WHOLE jalapeños (as many as you want, I had 6 wish made 12 poppers)
-cream cheese
-bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Wearing gloves, cut the top (stem) off each jalapeño and then cut each in half lengthwise. Next, filled each half with cream cheese and rolled them in breadcrumbs. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes. That's it!

Warning: These turned out too spicy for me to eat more than one :( but the BF loved them! It depends on how spicy the jalapeños you buy are, but you may want to try this with a slightly milder pepper if you're a wuss like me.


For the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, you will need:

-1 8oz. container of cream cheese
-1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
-1/2 block of sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 oz.) + another 1/4 of the block (about 2 oz.)
-1/2 tsp. black pepper
-1 tsp. garlic powder
1 can of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
-1 cup of packed frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients in a bowl (except the extra 2 oz. of cheese - that's for the top). Spread the mixture in a pie pan or other shallow baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, or crackers.

Side Note: We basically ate this entire dish of dip in one sitting...it's that good. Also we're gluttons for snack foods. 

Veggie Wrap Delight

Sometimes I open the fridge and groan that there's nothing to eat. However, when we remember to stock the fridge with fresh organic veggies (usually whatever's on sale), I don't get a chance to groan. 

Veggies + tortilla = delicious healthy lunch, every time. 

I made this one today with:

Organic Carrots

Organic Kale

Organic White Onion

Organic Fresh Cilantro and

Leftover homemade steak sauce. 

Of course you can use any veggies and sauce that you like, the point is, a yummy, quick, healthy lunch is easy to make with the right ingredients. And if you buy too many veggies, just freeze extra to use later in soups or stir fry. 

Side note: we just recently realized how awesome buying fresh organic herbs is! The cilantro was about $2 for a huge bunch that we will probably end up freezing part of, and makes everything we cook just a little more special. 

I hope this post reminds a few people that it's not too hard to eat healthy, inexpensively, organically, and quickly. 

Bon appetite! 😊🍴

Phenomenal Coconut Brownies

I don't use that word lightly - these brownies are indeed phenomenal. 

If anyone still reads this, they may have noticed that I don't blog quite so often as I had hoped and planned. Alas, they don't pay me to do this so I have to work 8+ hours a day elsewhere. However, I am happy that it has been 8 months and I am still blogging away, whenever I get the chance.

These brownies came out so amazingly perfect that I couldn't not blog about them. 
I found the original recipe on Pinterest, which brought me to this lovely blog: http://simonesmith.hubpages.com/hub/Simple-Homemade-Brownie-Recipe. Her recipe is coconut-free, so if you're into that sort of thing, by all means, use her recipe instead. 
I, on the other hand, am definitely pro coconut. In almost anything really, but especially in desserts with chocolate. 

Here is my adapted recipe: 
Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup of organic coconut oil
• 1 cup of organic sugar
• 2 large organic eggs 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder 
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Coconut flakes (optional topping)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil brownie pan and dust with cocoa powder. 

2) Mix together the coconut oil (melted)*, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.

3) Pour batter into a brownie pan (about 8x8). Top with coconut flakes, if desired. (I did half and half just in case the BF didn't like the idea). Bake for 25 minutes. VOILA! Brownies :) 

*(Mine is always melted because we live in Florida.....)

I didn't pre-plan and take many photos, but here's one of the finished product! Hope you like them as much as we did! 

Breakfast (Smoothie) of Champions!

I've been a little lazy with the cooking and blogging lately, but now that we're starting to get settled here in Florida, I'm trying to get back on the bandwagon.

This is a very simple and easy breakfast (or dessert) smoothie that is also ridiculously healthy
and ridiculously delicious. (I just finished mine and I'm considering making another one for lunch).

Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT be deterred by its green hue! It tastes nothing like "green" as some people might say... and I think the color is actually quite pretty.



Here we go! Ingredients:

- 1 frozen banana
- a handful of spinach (this is not much)
- 2 dashes of cinnamon
- a dash of nutmeg
- about a cup of coconut milk (or any other milk you like)






Directions:
Put everything into a blender (or nutribullet, which is what I used), and blend until smooth. Drink!


Now some of you might be wondering, 'what's so great about a smoothie with bananas and spinach in it? And what's up with the cinnamon and nutmeg!?' 

Well, besides all the ingredients being yummy, here's why they are also really good for you:

Bananas

 

Spinach                       

Cinnamon

Nutmeg



Happy Blending! :)

Spinach Shrimp Quesadillas

 Some of the most delicious meals can be made from fridge leftovers.

Quesadillas are especially good for leftover concoctions. You can literally put anything in them. We had shrimp and spinach in the freezer, so I went in that direction. It was a good decision for a Friday night quickie dinner. 

Here is what I used, but like I said there are many variations:

-1/2 a white onion, chopped

-1/2 a jalapeno, chopped 

-shredded cheddar cheese

-flour tortillas

-shrimp, thawed and patted dry

~1/3 cup chopped (frozen) spinach

-a dash each of: cumin, chili powder, salt and cilantro 

Directions: 

In a small pan, saute the onion, jalapeno, spinach and spices in olive oil. Then add in the shrimp and cook for another minute. In another pan, (NOT oiled) place a tortilla. Turn it on medium-low. Put cheese on the tortilla, and then spoon some of the filling you cooked on top. 

Cover with another tortilla. Cook for about 5 minutes (or until slightly brown on bottom) and then carefully flip over with a spatula. Cook for another 5 minutes. 

Eat! 

Buffalo Chicken Wraps and Homemade Potato Salad

Happy Memorial Day! It is FINALLY beautiful here in New York and I am officially ready for it to be summer!

All this nice, warm weather puts me in such a good mood! 8-) It's one of the many reasons we're moving to Florida (in exactly one month tomorrow!) I can't wait to live in a place with amazing weather more than 3 months out of the year. That being said, I will miss summertime in NY - so far it's the only thing I can think of that I'll miss! (Except our friends and family, of course!)

In honor of this lovely 3-day weekend and my upbeat attitude, here are the recipes for our dinner tonight - Buffalo Chicken Wraps (made in the Crockpot), and Red Potato Salad.

The Chicken is EXTREMELY easy to make.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (I used frozen organic)
- ~1/2 cup buffalo sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
- thin cut carrot sticks and celery sticks
-tortillas
-lettuce
-blue cheese crumbles

Directions:
Place the chicken and sauce in the Crockpot for about 4 hours on high (if frozen). Shred the chicken with 2 forks and mix around in the sauce.
Build your wrap. You can add whatever you'd like, but I recommend a few carrot and celery sticks, a leaf of lettuce, and some blue cheese crumbles.

For the potato salad, you will need:
- 6 red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
- ~ 1 tsp. mustard
- ~1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
- ~ 1 tsp. red wine vinegar
-salt and pepper to taste
- ~ 1/2 tsp. dill
- ~ 1/2 tsp. garlic
- ~ 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (or mayo if your prefer)
- ~1/4 tsp. paprika (I used smoked)

Directions:
I'd be lying if I said I actually measured any of these ingredients (I rarely measure when cooking, but ALWAYS when baking). That being said, I gave you some approximations, but it's salad not rocket science, so feel free to add or subtract as you see fit.
First, cook the potatoes in just enough water to cover them, on medium-high for 20 minutes. As soon as they are soft when poked with a fork, they're done. Let the potatoes cool, or use cold water to cool them off. Make the sauce while they cool.
Mix all the remaining ingredients together. Then mix with the potatoes. Cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Homemade Toner/Astringent

Homemade Toner or Astringent is probably one of the easiest DIY skincare products you can make. There's only 3 ingredients, one of which is water, and another of which is optional.

Here is what you'll need:

~2/3 cup water (I used filtered)
a few drops of tea tree oil (Trader Joe's sells it and of course Amazon has everything)
a few drops of lemongrass essential oil (also on Amazon) (optional)

How to use it: 

Fill a small bottle with filtered water. Mine held almost 2/3 of a cup. Put in a few drops of tea tree oil, and a few drops of lemongrass EO (if you want). It still works REALLY well without the lemongrass, however TTO does not smell so great, so if the smell makes you gag, add the lemongrass (or other essential oil). I chose lemongrass because of what it says on the back of the bottle:

I use this toner/astringent/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, after I wash my face to remove excess makeup, dirt and oil. I also use it sometimes when I haven't worn makeup that day, and I'm too lazy to wash my face. Probably a terrible idea (to not wash my face), but hey, it's better than nothing I guess. 

Pour a small amount onto a cottonball and wipe your face. You will be shocked at the amount of dirt that is still on your face after you just finished washing it.
I have normal/oily skin, so I don't always put moisturizer on after, but if you have dry skin, you might want to do that. This toner tends to dry out your face a little. 

Also note, DO NOT GET THIS IN YOUR EYES. I haven't done this (yet) but I have a feeling it will sting a lot. 

I hope you give this very easy DIY toner a try!  Leave a comment and tell all your friends! :) 

~Mallory~

Pea Soup

Pea Soup isn't the prettiest of foods. 

But it is quite delicious. Especially in the spring or fall, and especially when you have leftover Easter ham and you're tired of ham sandwiches. 

So here is my recipe for pea soup in the Crockpot, which is VERY easy to make, and can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the ham and replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock (if you're into that sort of thing). 

Ingredients:

1 bag (16 oz.) dried split peas

4-5 celery stalks, diced

4-5 carrots, diced

1/2 a white onion, diced

~6 cups of warm water, mixed with 

4 heaping teaspoons of Organic Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base (or any other stock you want to use)

2 Bay Leaves

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

~1 cup diced leftover ham, or however much you have left (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in the Crockpot (in the order listed). Cook for 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. You can use an immersion blender to mix it a little if you want, or leave as is. I blended mine for about 20 seconds, just to make it a little smoother. ENJOY! 

The BF gave it 2 thumbs up :) so I hope you try it! Please leave a comment if you do! THANK YOU! 

Balsamic Veggie Wraps

With (optional) chicken and rice! 

Sometimes, the simplest meals can be the most satisfying. This weekend, I had a craving for a grilled veggie wrap, mostly because I'm longing for summer hardcore. There was another snowstorm here today (which I had to drive to work in) and I was beyond angry about it. For me, cooking and baking have become more and more of a de-stresser. I like that I'm able to do something I like, while also feeding my family (aka my lovely boyfriend), and of course it's nice that he's always so appreciative (even when I mess up..oops!).

Ready to wrap! 

Finished veggie/chicken mixture

ANYHOO! Here's the recipe! It's perfect for a quick weeknight meal or even a weekend lunch. Enjoy! :)
Ingredients:
*Note* - This will cook faster if you use frozen veggies (ironically enough), but fresh are of course good too. And you can use basically any mix, these are just the veggies that I had on hand. And the measurements are approximate, depending on how many people you are cooking for (and how big their appetites are....). I also "eye-ball" measurements a lot when cooking, so use your own judgement for this.
~1/2 cup bell peppers, thin sliced
~1/2 cup thin cut carrots sticks (see photos)
~ 1/4 cup leeks, sliced
~1/4 chopped spinach
~ 4-5 button mushrooms, sliced
lettuce (for garnish)
~1 tomato (for garnish)
~1 tablespoon olive oil
~ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
a few shakes of salt, pepper, and garlic powder
1 chicken breast (if you want - still really good without it!), cut into thin strips
brown (or any other kind) rice, to eat on the side
tortillas


Directions:
1. First I start making the rice, since it takes the longest to cook. I made brown rice on the stove top.
2. I cut up any veggies that need to be cut (some were frozen and pre-cut), into small, longish pieces.
3. I cut up the chicken into small, longish slices. Then I cooked the chicken in olive oil, a large skillet on the stove.
4. When the chicken is cooked, I take it out ( or move to the sides of the pan), add a little more oil, and cook the veggies. Add the salt, pepper and garlic now too. It took about 15 minutes total.
5. I add the chicken back and the balsamic vinegar when the veggies are almost done. Cook until the veggies are as crisp or not-so-crisp, as you'd like them.
6. Scoop mixture onto a tortilla. Add tomato and lettuce if you want. Attempt to wrap it up. (This part never works out for me). Serve rice on the side.
7. EAT! :)

I hope you try and like this recipe! Please sign up for email updates if you like what you see! You can also follow my blog on Google+ if you have a Gmail account!

All wrapped up with a side of rice! 

~Mallory~

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars

I have been wanting to try to make my own granola bars for a while now, but haven't been able to find a recipe I liked. This one is a mix of a few I found on the interwebs.

Forgot to take a "before" picture, but here they are in the oven! 

Ingredients: 
2 tablespoons (softened) unsalted butter
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
2-1/4 cups rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit of your choosing)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 13x9 (or similar size) pan with olive oil or cooking spray.
Combine the butter, applesauce, brown sugar, honey, vanilla and flour by hand or with a hand mixer (I have a lovely purple hand mixer I use every chance I get).
Add the baking soda, rolled oats and cinnamon. Mix again.
Stir in the raisin with a wooden spoon.
Pour mixture into the pan and spread evenly with the  wooden spoon.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are brown and top is golden. (see photos).

How freaking delicious do these look!? This is right out of the oven, pre-cutting. 

I'm glad I finally got around to making these! They came out so good and we're ridiculously easy to make. The whole thing probably took about 10 minutes, including clean up (but not baking time). I let them cool for about 30 minutes before I cut them into bars, and wrapped them up for easy breakfast grabbing.

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Mallory :)

Easy Pull-Apart Rolls!

I'm eating a fresh baked dinner roll right now and it's so good, I cannot form words. You'll just have to look at the photos.

The one roll I couldn't wait until dinner to eat.

It snowed here today and I stayed home from work, (I hate the snow by the way, but that's a story for another day), so of course I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to bake! I am so happy these rolls came out so good!

I got the original recipe from http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/easy-fluffy-pull-apart-whole-wheat-buttery-dinner-rolls/ but tweaked it a little since I have a bread machine.

Here's my version:
Ingredients:
1 cup very warm water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2-3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (I use the Trader Joe's brand)
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

Place all ingredients (in the order listed) in your bread machine. I think some bread machines could be different, so if your machine says to put the ingredients in a different order, then by all means, do that! 

Set it to the "dough" setting.

When it's done (mine takes about 90 minutes), pour the dough out onto a floured surface (it will still be a little sticky) and form into a ball. 

Cut it into 9 sections and form a small ball from each one.

Spray an 8x8 inch pan with olive oil spray (we have a Misto!) 

Place the dough balls in the pan.

Cover with a dish towel and let rise for 20-25 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

When the dough is done rising, spray (or brush) with olive oil, and sprinkle with spice of your choice (I used rosemary).

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. 

ENJOY! :)

The dough right after I took it out of the bread machine.

Dough balls in the pan, ready for the towel and some rising.

Dough balls after they rose, sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary! 

Finished rolls! Right after I took them out of the oven! Mmm! 

French Onion Soup (In the Crockpot!)

A few months ago, I found this recipe for French Onion Soup (made in the Crockpot!) on Pinterest. I had to change it slightly (I didn't have enough beef stock - oops!) But it still came out delicious!
I'll post my slightly edited version of the recipe or you can use the link above. It was very easy, but has a few more steps than most Crockpot recipes, so it's best to save for a weekend day.
Enjoy! :)

INGREDIENTS
¼ cup (1/2 a stick) unsalted butter
4 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 tsp. crushed garlic (we always have some in the fridge)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons flour
1 can beer
2 cups beef stock
~1/2 cup water if needed
1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
½ teaspoon pepper
bread, rolls, or crutons (we had leftover rolls I used)
Shredded Gruyere and/or Swiss cheese

DIRECTIONS
Turn on your slow cooker and set to high. Add butter and let melt. Add onions, garlic, vinegar, brown sugar, and salt. Mix well. Cover and let cook for 1-1.5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until onions begin to turn brown. Stir in flour, allow to cook for a couple minutes then stir in beer and beef stock and water a bit at a time, stirring well between each addition to avoid lumps. Stir in thyme and pepper. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low. Taste and season with additional salt, if desired.
To serve: Top with cheese and serve with bread either on top or on the side. (Our rolls didn't fit well in the soup...)

Apple Cranberry Pie

This is a recipe for an apple cranberry pie I made a little before Thanksgiving. I didn't make it for Thanksgiving, but because it was November and I wanted a damn pie. I wanted it to have cranberries (fresh ones because I had never cooked with them before), and I wanted to make it from scratch.
I found a recipe similar to this one (which I tweaked slightly), and let me tell you - pies might be my new thing because this one was amazing. My boyfriend and I each ate a slice every night for a little over a week. And hey, there's fruit in it, this is a healthy pie!
I hope you try the recipe. It was really fairly easy and as I mentioned, a-freaking-mazing.
And look! There's a picture this time! :)

Apple Cranberry Pie 

Ingredients: {Filling}
1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour

1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. orange zest
1 TBS. salted butter

1 unbaked pie shell
1-1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups peeled and sliced granny smith apples

{Topping}
1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large pot, stir together the syrup, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, orange zest and butter over low heat for about 2 minutes, then add the cranberries and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the apples. Pour the mixture into your pie shell. Prepare the topping: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats and cinnamon. Add the butter with  your fingers to incorporate. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit filling.

Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven. Place a cookie sheet lined with foil on the rack underneath to catch any escape juices. Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the pie to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

*Note: I made the pie crust from scratch for this pie (whole wheat too...). If you have time/want to try it, I will post that recipe too, however, since then I've been buying pie crust because it just takes too damn long. Maybe in the future when I'm not working full-time I'll be able to handle the pie crust challenge again. 

Here's the recipe I used:

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water

Directions:In a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture had turned into crumbs the size of peas. Drizzle in the water (4 tablespoons) and continue to pulse until the dough comes together. Add the 5th tablespoon of water, if needed. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball, then flatten slightly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

And here's the pie! 

Pecan Pie

Did you know most pecan pie recipes call for corn syrup? Ugh. I didn't realize that was still a thing....
Luckily for me, there's the internet (all hail the internet), so I googled "pecan pie recipes with NO corn syrup" and I found one similar to this:

Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9″ pie shell

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1 cup pecans (halves)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350℉. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugars and flour. Add remaining ingredients, beating very well with a hand mixer. Pour mixture into prepared 9″ pie shell. Sprinkle nuts evenly on top. Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool for at least four hours.

***UPDATE*** 

Made this again for thanksgiving this year so here are some photos!! Enjoy!!

PS - I made this for Thanksgiving AND Christmas Eve because it was such a hit at Thanksgiving! :-)

I hope you try it!