Cake Truffles

I have made lots of chocolate chip pumpkin breads in the past, but this year I found some really cute tin buckets from Target in the $1 section so I wanted to fill them with some goodies. I found this recipe on another Shauna's blog, which was originally adapted from Bakerella's blog (she is crazy talented) and I am SO glad I made these cake truffles.
I have never had such a positive response to my cooking or baking. Ever. I literally had teachers coming to my classroom the entire day and next several days seeing if I had any leftover. I also had a teacher tell me that her day wasn't going very well until she ate one of these truffles. I promise you I am not exaggerating with you, people loved them so much that I started calling them crack truffles instead of cake truffled (yes, I have a weird sense of humor).
Anyway, I will definitely be making these for years to come and I like this recipe because 1. It's easy 2. It looks hard and 3. You can make so many different variations of it.

Here is the recipe from Foodietwoshoes' blog

Cake Truffles

adapted from Good Things Catered, originally from Bakerella

1 box of cake mix (I used red velvet for one batch, and double chocolate for another)
1 can of frosting (I used cream cheese frosting with the red velvet, and chocolate with the chocolate)
1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 bag of dark chocolate morsels
crushed almonds for sprinkling on top

Prepare a 9×13 baking pan and bake your cake according to directions and let cool completely.

Slightly crumble your baked and cooled cake into a large mixer bowl, add the frosting and almond extract, stir to combine completely.

Take small amounts of cake mixture and roll into 1-inch balls, placing onto a parchment or wax paper lined

baking sheet.

When all cake balls are rolled, place baking sheet into fridge overnight (this will form a crust around the edges and make the cake mixture much easier to work with)

In a double boiler, heat the chocolate morsels until they are completely melted and smooth.

Line a backing sheet with parchment or wax paper. For each truffle place a small dollop of the melted chocolate on the paper, place the cake ball on top of the chocolate and then spoon more chocolate over the top of the ball so it drizzles down the sides. Sprinkle crushed almonds over the top. Continue this proce

ss with each cake ball.

When finished, place the pan in the refrigerator until the the chocolate is completely cooled and set. You can then remove them from the paper and serve.

And here are my little cake truffle gifts for my coworkers...

Blueberry Coffee Cake

I recently discovered these new recipe cards at my local Publix. They are not the Publix Apron's Meals, but a different group of individual recipes called "recipes that make cents", and I found them in some racks over in the produce section. I grabbed about 10 of them, excited to try some new things. The first recipe I attempted was for a blueberry-filled coffee cake.

I am in a book club that meets every month and the month of November was my turn to host. We read the book "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson, which I really enjoyed, and because the main character had brunch with her mother every Sunday, I decided my theme would be brunch! Coincidentally, brunch is my favorite meal ever. Plus, this was a great opportunity for me to try out this new recipe.

It was a definite success. Everyone brought a different brunch item and we stuffed ourselves with deliciousness. Lani (Pleasurecooker blogger) made an amazing breakfast cheesecake that I will be trying to make very soon - check out her blog for some awesome recipes. Another fellow book club member, Kelly, made delicious potato casserole, and she has a great blog as well.

If you like blueberries, you will love this recipe. The bread has a cake-like texture and it's very light and moist. I think it could double as a dessert served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cinnamon/brown sugar topping is just the right amount of sweetness. And my favorite part - this recipe is so EASY. Enjoy!














Blueberry-Filled Coffee Cake (recipe found at Publix by Try-Foods Intl')
Prep time: 25 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen blueberries, thawed)

Cinnamon topping ingredients
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Then add sugar, oil, and egg and beat together. Stir in orange juice and vanilla to combine.
2. For cinnamon topping - in seperate bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon ingredients for topping. Add oil and stir until crumbly. Set aside.
3. Spread half of the batter into baking pan. Sprinkle with half the blueberries, and half the cinnamon topping. Repeat layers.
4. Bake 35-45 minutes (use toothpick test.. I had to bake for 45 minutes). Let cool before cutting.

Halloween Festivities!

On the night before Halloween this year, we hosted a party at our home and invited several friends and coworkers. We had about 25 people show up and I made some treats for everyone which were gone within about 2 hours. Since the party didn't start until about 8pm, I mostly made finger foods. My dishes were -- crockpot meatballs, mexican dip, brie and raspberry puffs, and pumpkin cream cheese brownies.

Crockpot meatballs

Ingredients
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
1 can of cranberry sauce, with berries
1 cup of orange juice
1 bag of frozen meatballs (I buy the Armor brand)

Directions
Pour all ingredients into crockpot (including frozen meatballs - no need to thaw). Mix around and make sure all meatballs are covered. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, and stir a few times every couple of hours if possible.














Mexican Dip

Ingredients
1 can refried beans (I use non-fat)
1 16 oz tub of sour cream (I use low-fat)
2 ripe avocados
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 large tomatoes
1 bag of mexican cheese
1 small can of black olives sliced (optional.. I opted out because most of my friends do not like black olives)

Directions
Mix sour cream with about 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. Mash up avocados with fork in separate bowl. In 8x13 dish, layer ingredients in this order: beans, mashed avocado, sour cream mixture, cheese, and chopped tomatoes.
~For spider web design, I put aside about 2 spoonfulls of sour cream and put it in a small zip lock bag. I cut the corner of the bag with scissors, and then squeezed it out into the spiderweb design.














Brie and Raspberry Puffs

Ingredients
1 can of crescent rolls
Raspberry preserves
Brie cheese

Directions
Rolls out crescent roll dough. It is already cut into triangles, so simple cut each triangle in half to make 2 triangles. Put a very small slice of brie cheese in the middle with a small dallop of the jam. Then take the corners of the pastry dough and fold them over, basically wrapping it like a present. Try to crease edges so that the pastry is sealed. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until puffs are slightly browned.














Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
(Adapted from Lowfatcooking website)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 13-16 ounce box Brownie mix
  
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (pure pumpkin, not pie mix)
• 1 egg
• For the topping:
• 4 ounces fat-free tub cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I did not use this)
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place brownie mix in a large mixing bowl with canned pumpkin and egg. Beat with an electric mixer until batter is smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice until smooth and creamy. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on to brownie batter. Swirl with a knife.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (I had to cook 40 minutes for it to be done with a toothpick test)

Makes 16 brownies.

Per Brownie: Calories 118, Calories from Fat 10, Total Fat 1g (sat 0.2g), Cholesterol 14mg, Sodium 95mg, Carbohydrate 24.9g, Fiber 1g, Protein 2.1g

















Roast Beef Pinwheels

I've seen a lot of variations on this, such as using herb cream cheese and chopped vegetables. I did roast beef pinwheels since I know we had a lot of meat eaters coming. But if meat isn't your thing, this recipe can be adapted with basically any ingredients.

Ingredients
Large tortillas
Sliced deli meat (I used roast beef)
Whipped cream cheese
Boar's head horseradish sauce

Directions
Spread cream cheese and a few drops of horseradish sauce onto tortilla (only a few drops because horseradish is pretty strong). Then spread 1-2 slices of deli meat, and roll up tortilla. Slice rolled up tortilla into small rounds. Secure with a toothpick. You can also make these ahead of time for a party and put them in the fridge, then slice up right before the party.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

School is back in session, and in addition to working for a wedding planning company, I am also a full-time teacher. I switched from middle school to high school this year so my life has changed a lot and everything is new. I am also coaching our high school dance team, which is very time consuming but has been fun and fulfilling so far. This Monday we had a parent performance night where we performed our halftime show with the band for all of our parents. It started off with a pot luck, and the dance team was responsible for bringing desserts. I wanted to make something that was easy to grab at a pot luck (as opposed to having to cut slices and stuff like that) so I found these PB cup cookies on Joy of Baking and decided to give them a try. I mean, how could you go wrong with peanut butter cups and cookies combined?


















From Joy of Baking --

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, 48 miniature muffins tins.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fill each miniature muffin cup with about one tablespoon of batter.

Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges but still soft in the center. (Note: While the cookies are baking remove the foil wraps and paper liners from each peanut butter cup.) Remove the cookies from the oven, and gently press one miniature peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie. The peanut butter cup should be even with the top of the batter. Return the cookies to the oven and bake an additional 3 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely (about two hours) on a wire rack before removing the cookies from the pan. These can be stored for several days at room temperature or in the refrigerator, or they can be frozen.

Sources:

Wilson, Dede. A Baker's Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies. The Harvard Common Press. Boston: 2004.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies:

2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

I own a crock pot and rarely get use out of it except sometimes when I make meatballs during football season. So right before school went back in session, when I was home for a few more long summer days, I decided to utilize my crock pot and make some bbq pulled chicken! It came out SO delicious and it was so easy to make. I'm definitely going to make them again very soon.
The recipe was kind of a compilation of several recipes I found online where I could use things I already had in the house. It seems like the kind of recipe where you could add in whatever you wanted to your liking. Here is what I used:

Ingredients
3 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup ketchup
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (I used a honey BBQ sauce)
2 tbs of brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 package of Hawaiian rolls or regular sized rolls

Directions
Place all ingredients in crock pot and mix around with spoon. Make sure chicken is covered by the liquid. If not, you can add some more water until chicken is immersed.
Cook on low for 5 1/2 hours
Take chicken out of crock pot and shred/pull apart with 2 forks
Put pulled chicken back in crock pot and re-warm for about 10 minutes
Serve on rolls!

Banana Bread with a little chocolate-y goodness

I had bananas that were very ripe and I only like eating green bananas.. so instead of wasting them I decided to make some banana bread. I had all of the ingredients already because it basically just uses the normal baking staples. I used a Paula Deen recipe and it came out pretty delicious. I added chocolate chips because I think bananas and chocolate are just a match made in heaven. By the way, this recipe makes 2 loaves so it's great for making one for you, and one for a gift!

1. 1 cup butter, softened
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar
3. 4 large eggs
4. 3 cups all-purpose flour
5. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1 teaspoon salt
7. 2 cups ripe, mashed, bananas
8. 1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these because my husband doesn't like nuts)
   
9. 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
   

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.
2. In a medium bowl and with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring well. Add bananas and pecans, stirring just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Martha's Chicken Marsala

So this weekend my family came in town to visit and we had a wonderful time. We celebrated my dad's 60th birthday, so we had a lot of extended family and friends over at our house throughout the weekend. As much as I love having company over, and love love love my parents, it is always a little bit of a relief to have the house back to ourselves when everyone leaves. Since my husband was such a good sport about the whole family weekend deal, I decided I wanted to cook him something delicious tonight (well isn't cooking something delicious always my goal...?).

Anyway... one of our absolute favorite restaurants is Bella's in South Tampa. It is a chic and funky Italian restaurant with the best food, and my aunt's best friend owns it so we go often. They have this amazing chicken marsala there so I scoured the web to see if I could find something similar. The chicken marsala I have made in the past had a beef broth base but this one is more creamy, so I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com and hoped it would come out close to Bella's. Success! It was SO delicious and easy, too! Brett loved it and said it really did taste like Bella's. The fresh sage smelled so good - I love using fresh herbs. I paired this with a side of roasted garlic red potatoes which is also similar to what we get at Bella's. This meal is great, I highly recommend it!
Some of my alterations - I forgot to put salt and pepper on the chicken.. didn't seem to make a difference. Also, I used baby bella mushrooms because they were on sale and I also omitted the shallot. I prefer leaner meat so I used chicken cutlets instead of breasts, which also cuts down on the cook time. The total time for this recipe took about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Creamy Chicken Marsala

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each) (I used cutlets)
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Place flour in a shallow bowl; season generously with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off excess.
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken, and cook until golden on the outside and opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm (reserve skillet).
3. Add mushrooms, shallot, sage, and 1/4 cup water to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until mushrooms are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine and cream; simmer over medium-high until slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter; season with salt and pepper.
4. Top chicken with mushroom sauce, and garnish with sage.

Side Dish














Garlic Roasted Red Potatoes

Ingredients
4 red potatoes, sliced
3 tbsps of bottled minced garlic
salt and pepper
3 tbsps olive oil

Directions
Toss sliced potatoes in the garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (I used very little salt). Bake in shallow pan at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are browned.

More Blondies

Can you tell I love blondies? They are just so delicious and always a hit. My parents came in town this weekend to visit and I wanted to have some baked goods on hand even though we were mostly going to be going out to eat a lot around town. My dad loves things with nuts, so I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com that was a blondies recipe with walnuts. It came out delicious of course. Make sure you don't overbake these, they are way better when slightly underbaked and mushy. :)

Ingredients

Makes 16

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with butter; line pan with a piece of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugars until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Fold in 1/2 cup each chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and walnuts.
3. Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack, and let cool completely. Using parchment overhang, lift cake from pan and transfer to a cutting board; cut into 16 squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

Dijon Crusted Tilapia with sauteed veggies

I try to cook fish once a week or every other week. It's hard because I don't particularly like fish, and Brett loves it. Tilapia is one of the only fish I will eat because it's so light and not fishy tasting. I recently had Seabass at a restaurant though and loved it so maybe I will try that next time.
Anyway, I just threw this together one night because I had bought fresh tilapia and we planned on grilling it but it was pouring rain (which we needed because we are in a serious drought down here!). So I made up this random recipe and it turned out OK. Brett really liked it but I thought it tasted a little too dijon mustardy if that makes sense. He loves dijon mustard though so there you go. If you like it, you will like this recipe.


















Ingredients

3-4 tilapia filets
1/2 cup of dijon mustard
1 juiced lemon
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions

Mix together dijon mustard and lemon juice. Dip filets in mixture on both sides, then bread with pank crumbs on both sides. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until panko is slightly brown and fish flakes easily with fork. You can also use extra dijon mustard for a dipping sauce.

Side dish
I made a quick side dish of sauteed vegetables while the fish was cooking. I simple sliced up yellow squash and zuchinni and sauteed it in some olive oil and italian seasoning.

Orange-Glazed Chicken

I saw this recipe first on Loves2eat's blog, which originally came from a Martha Stewart recipe, so I made it the other night and it turned out pretty good. It was very simple, it was fast, and it was tasty. Can you believe I had never cooked bone-in chicken before? That shows you how much of a rookie cook I am. I just always use boneless.. so this was a new experience for me but it went well. I made a side of instant mashed potatoes to go with it because we had a softball game to get to. I prefer Diner's Choice instant mashed potatoes.. and they are a good staple to keep in the fridge if you ever need a quick side and want some carbs. I am not an anti-carb person by any means.. potatoes are my absolute favorite side. :)
Anyway, here is the orange chicken and the recipe from Martha Stewart. I did, however, omit the salt because I try not to use a lot of salt when I'm cooking.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 8 chicken drumsticks (about 3 pounds total)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, arrange chicken in a single layer; season with salt and pepper. Roast 10 minutes. Brush with half the marmalade, and rotate sheet. Continue to roast, brushing once more with marmalade, until chicken is browned and cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Quick Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

When we have parties I love to make the Buffalo Chicken Dip from Kelly's blog (My Sweet Life) and it is always a hit. Brett is seriously obsessed with this dip and wants me to make it all the time. But since it's not really dinner-ish for your normal weeknight meal, I decided to make a quesadilla version of it which turned out pretty good! I've made it a bunch of times now and it's an easy meal to throw together when I'm having one of those busy nights. Sorry, they really didn't photograph very well, but they taste great!
























Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

ingredients

1 can of Tyson shredded white chicken
2 tbs hot sauce (I prefer Texas Pete.. and you can add more or less depending on how spicy you like things)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 carton cherry tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1 tbs cream cheese
Tortillas
Ranch dressing for dipping

Directions

Add drained can of chicken, hot sauce, and cream cheese to a pan on medium heat. Stir for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, on another medium heat pan, place tortilla and cover with cheese. Add chopped tomatoes to half of the tortilla. When chicken mixture is warm, add that to cheese and tomato side of tortilla. Then fold empty tortilla side over mixture side and flatten with spatula. When bottom is slightly brown/golden, flip carefully to other side until golden. Makes 2 quesadillas.

Happy Cinco De Mayo .... Mexican Wedding Cookies!

I love holidays, especially ones that give me excuses to make food! Today we had a faculty luncheon for Cinco De Mayo and all of the teachers were asked to contribute by bringing a food dish of their choice. I decided I would make Mexican Wedding Cookies because A. I love cookies and B. I am a wedding planner as my 2nd job. So it was perfect. I found this Paula Deen recipe and decided it seemed easy enough. Of course, I didn't have enough butter so Brett had to run out at 8:30 to the store to get me some.. but that's why I love him so much. :)
These cookies were easy to make and smelled SO good when they were baking. I have the last lunch of the day and by the time I got down there, all of them were gone! They were a hit.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
• 1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

Chicken Gyros

I was inspired by seeing some greek food on someone's blog (probably Ellysaysopa since I'm very into her stuff lately) and I wanted something quick and easy since Brett had a softball game later in the night.
I went over to Whole Foods which is right behind my school to see if they had pre-made tzatziki sauce and low and behold, they did! So this was a simple recipe -


Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into small pieces
Oregano
Juice from 1 lemon
Olive Oil
Cherry tomatoes
Red onion sliced
Tzatziki sauce
Naan (the thick pita things)

Cut chicken into small pieces and sautee in pan on medium-high heat with some olive oil. After chicken is almost cooked, pour in juice of one lemon. Sprinkle with oregano and any other spices of your choice.
Spread sauce on pita and add chicken, onion, and tomatoes. Enjoy!

Lemon Pesto Tilapia with Roasted Tomatoes

When I saw the title of this recipe on EllaSaysOpa's blog - "Fish for people who don't like fish" - I thought, that is me!! I have lived in Florida my entire life but I have never really been able to accept fish as a part of my diet. I love tuna fish salad and I will eat shrimp if it's breaded, but that's been the extent of my fish-eating until lately. I've been trying to eat more fish since it is good for you, it's a nice change from chicken or red meat, plus B loves it. So I gave this recipe a try since I do love pesto and lemon flavors (as you can tell, it's a common ingredient in my other recipes). Well it came out great and B loved it too! He wanted me to make more, but I only bought 2 piece of fish. Now I know for next time. :) This recipe took probably only about 20-30 minutes to make which goes along with my quick and easy philosophy, so I definitely recommend it to all of you other lazy chefs out there who are like me!

Tilapia with Lemon Pesto and Oven Roasted Tomatoes from Ellysaysopa
Serves 2

1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
5 cloves garlic, peeled/smashed (I used onion powder and some other dry spices instead because I didn't have garlic)
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp refridgerated pesto sauce
1 lemon
2 tilapia filets, about 6 oz.
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425. Toss the tomatoes and the garlic with the olive oil and some salt and pepper. Roast for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, juice the lemon and reserve both the juice and the juiced lemon. To the juice, add the pesto and stir to combine. Season the tilapia with salt and pepper and then spread the pesto mixture on top of the fish.

Take the pan of roasted garlic and tomatoes out of the oven and nestle the cut lemon into the pan. Place the tilapia on top of the lemon and tomatoes and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is flaky and no longer opaque. Spoon the tomatoes over the fish.

Nutritional Information per Serving: Calories: 282 / Fat: 13.5g / Carbs: 10.6g / Protein: 33.8g

Too good to Passover.. Chocolate Kiss Cookies

I completely forgot to post this recipe a few weeks ago when I made it for Passover. So B and I are not the most religious people, I'll admit. But we do appreciate our Jewish culture and our roots, and I happen to be a big fan of some of the food (matzoh ball soup, noodle kugal, challah, etc.).

After my mom converted to Judaism 20-something years ago, she went to a Jewish cooking class because she loves to bake and wanted to learn some recipes she could make for holidays. She has been making these chocolate kiss cookies for years and they are really yummy. They are very rich and chocolate-y. Even though they are specifically made for Passover (because they don't contain flour or yeast), I think they are delicious for everyday entertaining as well!

The key is making sure you don't let the cookie dough be exposed to the air very long and that you spoon them quickly and bake right away.














Passover Chocolate Kisses

1 small package chocolate chips
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. salt

Melt chocolate in microwave according to directions on package, and cool. Beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each. Continue beating until mixture stands in stiff peaks. Add vinegar and vanilla, beat well. FOLD in coconut, nuts, and melted chocolate. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Do not overbake.
Makes about 30 cookies. Takes appx. 20 minutes total.

Sweet Blackberry Chicken

B and I just got back from a cruise this morning and we definitely brought back a few pounds from all of those buffets. I decided this week I would cook some lighter foods and try to be a bit healthier since both of us started working out again and are trying to get back in shape. I was inspired by this dish from Ellysaysopa's blog - although I altered it a little as I usually do to most recipes I make.
I have to say it came out pretty good. It was different and at first B wasn't sure if he liked it... but 4 pieces of chicken later I think he decided he did! I added the goat cheese because I love cheese, and I especially love cheese mixed with fruit. The sweetness of the sauce is offset by the saltiness of the cheese. If you don't like goat cheese it can definitely be left out of the recipe. I actually did not use it on my husband's chicken because he won't even try goat cheese (he is a very picky eater). But the picture shown is my piece which obviously is covered in it.

















Blackberry Chicken

Ingredients
4-6 chicken filet cutlets
dry thyme, salt, and pepper for seasoning
2 tbsp's balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp's blackberry preserves
sliced goat cheese

Directions
There are two methods - in the inspiration blog, the chef sauteed her chicken in olive oil after coating with the spices. My husband is really into grilling so in our recipe, we grilled the chicken after coating in the spices. I'm sure either way is fine!

Sauce:
In a low heat saucepan, mix the balsamic vinegar with the blackberry preserves. Do not overheat or you will burn the sauce. When chicken is done cooking, top with sauce and slices of goat cheese.

Blondies by a blondie

I used to buy a box mix of m&m blondies and make them with my mom all the time when I was growing up. Of course, they discontinued this mix (food I like ALWAYS get discontinued) so when I saw this blondies recipe on Just2Good's blog (who in turn got them from Lovestoeat's blog), I thought I could alter it just a bit to make it reminiscent of the blondies I used to love. They came out so yummy! I brought them to work and my coworker's raved. My husband loved them too and he's pretty picky with desserts (if it's not chocolate, he's usually not interested). I will definitely be making these again and again.











These pics didn't come out very good.. definitely let them cool before you cut into them because otherwise they fall apart. :)














Blondies
Ingredients
1 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 Cups brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 tsp vanilla extract
1 Cup chocolate chips
1 Cup baking m&m's or regular m&m's

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.

4. Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in chocolate chips and m&ms and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.

5. Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Chicken Piccata

I found a new blog to steal recipes from called Just2Good... and I already made two. The first one is this chicken piccata dish which was fairly easy. My breading didn't seem to want to stick and I used chicken tenderloins as she suggested but I think next time I would use chicken cutlets because they are thinner and usually more tender. In my constant quest to use as few ingredients as possible (yes, I'm that lazy of a cooker), I omitted the garlic/shallot ingredient and the parsley and thought it still came out very tasty, but I will leave it in the directions in case you want to use it. I also did not use any salt because I try to void salt when possible. Other than that, this was a good recipe and I loved the lemon flavor.

Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
2 large lemons
6-8 chicken breast tenderloins
salt & pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 small shallot, minced or 1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbsp small capers, drained
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp minched fresh parsley leaves

Directions:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, set large heatproof plate on rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees.

Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim ends from one half and cut crosswise into slices 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick; set aside. Juice remaining half and whole lemon to obtain 1/4 cup juice, reserve.

Sprinkle both sides of cutlets generously with salt and pepper. Measure flour into pie tin or shallow baking dish. Working with one cutlet at a timme, coat with flour, and shake to remove excess.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot, about 2 minutes. Add 2 Tbsp of oil and swirl to coat pan. Lay half of chicken pieces in skillet (or all if you can fit them). Saute chicken without moving them, until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Turn cutlets and cook until second side is lightly browned, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and transfer chicken to the plate in the oven. Add remaining tablespoons oil to the now-empty skillet and heat until simmering. Add remaining chicken and repeat.

Add shallot or garlic to the empty skillet and return skillet to medium heat. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds for the shallot or 10 seconds for garlic. Add stock and lemon slices, increase heat to high, and scrape skillet bottom with wooden spoon or spatula to loosen browned bits. Simmer until liquid reduces to about 1/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Add lemon juice and capers and simmer until sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter until it melts and thickens sauce. Add parsley. Spoon sauce over chicken and serve immediately

More Panko... Chicken Pasta

I told you I love Panko.. I was not kidding. This is another recipe that is similar to my 3P chicken but it is a pasta dish and also very easy. Do we notice a theme here? When I make this meal, I usually do two version - one with Alfredo sauce and one with tomato sauce because I prefer Alfredo but my husband prefers the latter. It's pretty easy to customize it with whatever sauce you like. Recently a friend came over and when I made this and he made a sauce with 1 part Alfredo, 1 part Tomato, and about a half a shot of vodka. So it's pretty open to your interpretation!













































Ingredients

1 box of Angel Hair or Thing Spaghetti Pasta
1 carton of cherry tomatoes
Appx 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
1 pkg chicken filets or boneless breasts
Alfredo sauce OR Tomato Sauce -- your preference
olive oil

Boil water in pot and cook pasta according to directions on box.

While pasta is cooking - Heat pan over medium-high heat, add a few tsps of olive oil to coat pan. Wash cherry tomatoes and put in pan, turning over frequently so all sides get heat. Cut chicken filets or breasts into small bite-sized pieces and sautee in pan, flipping over until both sides are lightly browned and chicken is cooked all the way through. Add a bit more oil to pan and pour panko breadcrumbs into pan. Using wood spoon, mix ingredients in pan and allow breadcrumbs to turn a golden color.

Drain pasta. Put pasta on plate and spoon chicken and tomato breadcrumb mixture over pasta. Pour sauce of choice over pasta.

This meal takes appx. 30 minutes from start to finish.

3P Chicken

I am really trying to add more to my food blog to help myself keep track of my recipes AND to inspire other lazy cookers like me. :) If I can do it, so can you! So I've made a few things lately but just didn't get around to blogging them until now. Here we go..........


I am obsessed with Panko breadcrumbs.. I will admit it right now. I try to use them in every dish I possibly can. They are amazing. If you haven't tried them, go to the store and get them - they are usually right next to the regular breadcrumbs. They are bigger, crunchier, and just better overall in my opinion!
So this chicken is my invention based on some chicken dishes I have had at restaurants like Cheesecake Factory and BJ's Brewery that use similar ingredients. My husband and I love this chicken dish and it is SO easy to make.
I named it 3P Chicken because it's basically Panko, Parmesan, and Pesto.

Ingredients -
Chicken cutlets
olive oil
1 egg
Appx 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
Appx 1 cup parmesan and romano shredded cheese
Alfredo Sauce
1 spoonfull of premade pesto sauce

Directions
Heat pan on medium-high burner, coat pan with olive oil.
Put chicken cutlets between to sheets of wax paper or saran wrap and pound thin. Whisk egg in shallow bowl. Mix panko and cheese in another shallow bowl or plate. Dip chicken in egg first, then coat both sides with breadcrumb cheese mixture. Put chicken in pan. Flip when bottom side is golden brown.
In a small microwaveable bowl, pour appx. 1 cup of alfredo sauce and add about a spoonfull of pesto. Mix and cover with saran wrap. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds or until hot. Do not overheat.
When both sides of chicken are gold brown, cut into chicken to make sure there is no pink remaining. Pour sauce on chicken.

I typically serve these with a side of potatos. I love Diner's Choice refridgerated garlic mashed potatos.. it's an easy side dish and delicious. Enjoy!