Summer is in full swing, and there are parties and cookouts galore. Wondering what to bring? How about an easy crowd pleaser: crab dip in a bread bowl. Continue reading
recipe
87 posts
Please tell me that you don’t open a jar of Prego and pour some on your spaghetti. Please tell me that you at least sauté some onions and garlic in olive oil, add your sauce from the jar, and doctor it up with some basil, oregano, and cracked pepper. Continue reading
Is your mouth watering yet? Continue reading
Disclaimer: this salad will give you dragon breath for the rest of the day (or the morning after if you choose to have it for dinner). It is still delicious. Feel free to chop the ingredients to whatever size you prefer.
Greek Salad
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves two
Ingredients
2 plum tomatoes, chopped into large chunks
1/2 cucumber, sliced thick
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 white onion, sliced
black olives, can be whole or sliced
crumbled Feta (as much or as little as you want)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (or 3 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Combine vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper. Whisk to form dressing. Pour dressing over vegetables and mix together five minutes before serving. Top with lots (or a little) feta cheese, and serve with warm pita or flatbread. If you want, you can add sliced grilled chicken and make a larger meal out of it.
Share your favorite recipes in the comments!
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes. It’s super easy and makes a great gift, but it’s perfectly O.K. not to share the results with anyone. I always make these during the Holidays as a gift for some of my company’s top clients, and the one feedback I consistently receive is that they are gone within minutes. I believe the two keys to this recipe (and most other cookie recipes) is to chill the dough while you are preheating the oven (about 20 minutes) to prevent cookie spread (nobody likes a thin cookie), and using a teaspoon (instead of a tablespoon) to shape the cookies in order to create a bite-sized treat.
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Total prep time: About 30 minutes
Total cook time: 8 to 9 minutes per batch
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature [you can use salted butter if that’s all you’ve got, and feel free to use the microwave to soften the butter]
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour [you can substitute self-rising flour here, just omit the salt and baking powder]
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rolled oats
4 ounces semi-sweet morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
4 ounces white morsels [just over 1/2 cup]
Directions
Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add the oats, white morsels, and semi-sweet morsels and stir until well combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place teaspoon-sized spoonfuls a few inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, until the tops of the cookies turn light golden and the edges just start to brown. Let cookies cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.
Store leftover cookies (how do you have any left?!) in an airtight container. They will keep for about 5 days, and can also be frozen for up to 3 months. I like to put my leftover cookies in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften the chocolate before I dig into them again.
Share any suggestions and substitutions, or pimp your favorite recipe in the comments!
Last week, the lovely DahlELama brought up Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits and I remembered that I had recently printed out the recipe with the intention of making them. I figured cheddar biscuits by themselves are not quite a full meal (although I won’t judge you if you eat all of them as soon as they come out of the oven) and I thought I would share one of my favorite easy recipes: shrimp scampi. Typically, scampi is a butter heavy dish, so I decided to make mine with butter and olive oil to make it “healthier”, or as healthy as pasta in oil can be.
Cheddar Biscuits (12 biscuits)
Recipe courtesy of Todd Wilbur and ABC News
Total prep time: About 15 minutes
Total cook time: About 15 minutes
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold whole milk
4 tablespoons cold butter chopped into small cubes (1/2 stick)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
Brush on Top
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl, making sure there are small chunks of butter left. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an un-greased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.
While the biscuits are baking, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and the parsley flakes. When the biscuits come out of the oven, use a pastry brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. Makes one dozen biscuits.
Shrimp Scampi (2 servings)
Total prep time: About 10 minutes
Total cooking time: About 10 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled, de-veined, and cut in half
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Red pepper flakes to taste
Flat leaf parsley to taste, chopped
4 ounces spaghetti, freshly cooked
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Heat butter and olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the garlic and saute for about a minute, being careful that it does not burn. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Add red pepper flakes and lemon juice. Cook the shrimp until they are pink, between 5 and 7 minutes. Add the parsley and add the cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine and serve immediately.
Last month, while pondering what I wanted to do differently in 2011, I thought about what I put in my mouth.
For about seven years (age 14-21), I was a vegetarian. Back then, there weren’t nearly as many ready-to-eat or veg-friendly ingredients carried in regular grocery stores. Now, even Wal-Mart has organic and veg-friendly options.
Needless to say, I fell off the veg wagon and was OK with that for many years. Then, in 2010, after putting on some unwanted weight, I started working out with a trainer. I still didn’t change what I was eating, but knew that would need to change sooner than later.
While identifying what I wanted to change in 2011, I wrote down that I wanted to institute vegan Mondays and Wednesdays each week to force myself to really think about what I’m putting in my mouth and to start preparing healthier meals for myself.
A friend told me about the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine and their 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program. I signed up, bought a few recipe books, and put together a meal plan for the first week.
Since January 2, 2011, I have been eating a plant-based diet and I feel great. Seriously. I’m a life-long insomniac, but have been sleeping really well lately. Also, I find myself waking up and wanting to get out of bed. My body feels energized. Usually, I felt sluggish around 2PM or 3PM while sitting at my desk. Last week, I breezed through that time with ease.
I’m now in my second week and feel like I could do this for much longer than 21 days.
Of course, it helps that I love to cook and throw stuff together in the kitchen. It also helps that I live in a city where there are tons of vegan-friendly restaurants in addition to the options available in the grocery store.
Because of my access to veg-friendly options, I consider myself quite lucky to be able to even do this. I know not everyone in this country has easy access to quality, fresh vegetables, which is something that needs to change.
Being on a plant-based diet has made me realize how important it is to keep track of what’s going in my body if I want it to continue working properly without slowing down.
Vegan Lasagna
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed (or a bunch of fresh spinach, rinsed well and chopped)
1 Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into small chunks
4-5 Fresh basil leaves or 2 tablespoons of dried basil
1 container of firm tofu
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
About 2 jars of marinara sauce (or use your own)
1 cup of vegetable broth
About 12 dry (uncooked) whole-wheat lasagna noodles
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place the cut butternut squash in a large pan or stock pot. Pour in enough water to cover the squash. Put on medium-high heat and cover. Cook until the squash is tender. Remove from heat and drain.
In a food processor, add the cooked squash, garlic cloves, and tofu. Purée the ingredients. While the processor is in purée mode, slowly add in 3/4 cup of the vegetable broth. When all ingredients are mixed, turn off the processor.
In a large sauté pan, add 1/4 cup of vegetable broth and the spinach. If using fresh spinach, sauté until it’s wilted. If using frozen, sauté until it’s warm. Remove from heat and add in the marinara sauce. Mix together.
Coat the bottom of a 9″×13″ pan with the marinara/spinach mixture, then add a layer of lasagna noodles, overlapping noodles slightly. Then, spread on a heaping amount of the butternut squash-tofu mixture to cover the noodles. Then, add on another layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat this process again. The final layer should be the marinara/spinach mixture. Sprinkle nutritional yeast all over the top.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Stick a knife through the center of the lasagna to make sure the noodles are completely cooked. Let cool for about 15 minutes, uncovered, before serving.
Enjoy!