Summer Treat - Sorbet Pie

Someone at work recently made this delicious sorbet pie. They found the recipe in a Cooking Light magazine but when I searched online, I couldn't find it on their website.
Here are some reasons I love this treat -
It's only 3 ingredients
You can make it ahead of time and freeze it
It's easy
It's relatively healthy

This dessert is great for summer because it's so refreshing and fruity. You can also vary it with different flavors of sorbet or even add fresh fruit to the top. I could not even get a picture of this full made because it was half gone immediately when I put it out at a recent get together!

Sorbet Pie
from Cooking Light Magazine
Ingredients

Oreo pre-made pie crust (you can make your own but if you are short on time like me, the pre-made crust is the way to go!)
Your choice of sorbet (I used strawberry for one layer and mango for another)
Cool whip

Instructions
Let sorbet sit out on the counter for about 10-20 minutes or until it's softened
Spread sorbet into pie crust - you can do one flavor or layers of different flavors
Cover with tin foil and freeze until ready to serve
Just before serving, add top layer of cool whip - or if some people don't like cool whip, allow the ones who do to add it to their own slice
Enjoy!

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

It has been SO long since I've posted a new recipe. I've made quite a few new things lately so I'm going to do a few posts in a row.
First up, cheesecake stuffed strawberries!

I first saw these on the Novice Chef's blog and new that I had to make them someday. I love cheesecake, I love strawberries, I love chocolate. I knew it was the recipe for me. So I made this recipe when I was headed to a get together at a friend's home. They went over SO well, everyone raved about this treat. I felt a little guilty taking so much credit for them because it seriously is one of the easiest recipes ever.
One tip, I suggest making them a few hours before you serve them and refridgerating them. After you first assemble them, the cheesecake filling is a little soft and tends to ooze out, so it's best to cool them in the fridge and let it harden a bit.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients

2 large crates of fresh strawberries
1 box of Jello no-bake cheesecake
1 potato peeler

Directions
Wash strawberries and cut tops off. Using potato peeler (this was Novice Chef's recommendation and it worked so well!) carve out inside of strawberry from top.
Mix Jello no bake ingredients according to package instructions. This usually is just the powder and milk.
Put cheesecake mixture into a plastic ziploc bag and cut corner to create a squirter. Squirt cheesecake into hollow strawberries, overfilling strawberry slightly.
Dip tops of strawberries with overflowing cheesecake mixture into graham cracker crumbs.
Refridgerate for appx. one hour so cheesecake slightly harden.
*optional* Melt chocolate chips and drizzle over tops of strawberries

Mexican Chicken

This meal came together completely on a whim, and it rocked! I saw some yummy looking avocados at the grocery store so I thought I would make a salad or something with them. Brett had wanted to grill up some chicken so he spiced it up with his favorite chicken rubs -- Emmeril's Chicken Rub and Everglades Seasoning.
I decided to use the avocado to make something Mexican-inspired, because Mexican food is definitely my favorite ethnic food. My mom says I love it because when I was a little baby in her belly, she used to eat nachos at T.G.I.Friday's literally every day because she worked there. And this dish kind of ended up being like Friday's chicken nachos, without the chips! :)

















Mexican Chicken

Ingredients
Boneless Chicken Breasts
Your favorite seasonings
1 avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Chopped fresh cilantro (I only use 2 leaves because it is a strong herb)
Mexican shredded cheese
Reduced Fat Sour Cream

Directions
Chop up avocado and tomatoes into small pieces. Chop up cilantro and add to mixture. Toss mixture in bowl so they slightly combine.
Grill chicken (or bake) with your favorite spices. While chicken is still hot, immediately sprinkle Mexican cheese on top, then add salsa mixture. Top with 1 dollop of sour cream.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!