Sunday, April 29, 2012
A new look!
Well as you can see I changed the color theme of the blog. How did it happen. Well I started to think what theme do I want for my daughter's second birthday (yes I know it is 7 months away but I'm a bit of a freak)? The answer is two part: for one I want to use the Disney princess Aurora because it is her favorite and second, I like pink. As I started to research I decided I REALLY like pink and thought I'd give the blog a face lift. What do you think? If you like pink check me out and follow me on pintrest http://pinterest.com/roseanndowning/aurora-2nd-birthday-party-planner/
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Potato Tacos
We just had the best dinner. So yummy you have to try this one. The original recipe is from Fitness magazine....although my portion size is a bit bigger than theirs and I didn't use low fat sour cream or cheese. This should be able to feed two for dinner.
Ingredients:
4 potatoes cut into 8 wedges each (I used all purpose potatoes)extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a 20 oz package of ground turkey (I used 97% lean)
1/3 cup water
taco seasoning (1/2 the packet)
salt & pepper
For the Topping to be assembled in this order:
shredded cheese
sour cream
diced tomato
lettuce
scallions
....and avocado if you like. I didn't have any but will add next time.
Directions:
Preheat your oven at 425. Placed the wedges potatoes (skin on so be sure to scrub the skin first) on a baking sheet covered with cooking spray. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and season with salt and pepper. Bake for about 25 minutes ...until they are fork tender and golden brown in color). Meanwhile, saute the ground turkey in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Once all the meat is browed, drain out the juices. Then put the turkey back in the pan and add 1/3 cup of water and half the taco seasoning packet. Cook until the water has evaporated. Now it is time to assemple.
Divide the potatoes about two dishes. Top with the ground turkey, then add the shredded cheese, a dallop of sour cream, diced tomatoes, lettuce and scallions....Voila, you are ready to eat a delicious dinner!
Labels:
healthy tacos,
mexican food recipes,
potato tacos,
potatoes,
recipe,
turkey tacos
Monday, April 23, 2012
Project De-Clutter
Here is the picture of my new de-cluttered beverage station...so named by me last night when I told my husband to remove his lap top from my beverage station. He was amused.
This small little counter space used to house our dog's food, biscuits, water cup, medicines as well as recyling piles and anything else I could jam on there. It was always a mess! All those things now have a new home this is dedicated to the espresso machine and electric tea kettle. It also holds flour, sugar, tea and espresso coffee pods as well as a cookie jar :). I love it. When a counter top is organized and de-cluttered it has such a calming effect on me.. Ok yes I may be a bit over the top about this but piles of junk drive me nuts! On to the next project.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Arugula Salad with Balsamic Onions and Feta Cheese Toasts
Here is the salad we had with our soup. The onions make it really tasty! Usually I use goat cheese on the bread but I had feta in the house so that is what I used last night. The below measurements are not exact as I threw this together last night. If you need precise measurements let me know and I will keep track the next time I make this.
Ingredients:
arugula
½ of a medium onion (I usually use red onions for this but didn’t have any in the house so I used a Vidalia), sliced into round or half moons
handful of pine nuts
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and pepper
french bread
feta cheese
Directions:
Rinse the arugula and let dry.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Slice the onions a place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and balsamic vinegar (about 1-2 tablespoons). Stir together and then bake for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the bread into approx. ¼” slices, put on a baking sheet and brush or drizzle both sides with olive oil (if you brush each piece with olive oil you get a more consistent flavor and golden brown color after baking than drizzling) and sprinkle with salt. If you want to add the cheese, do so now. I put the feta on just a few slices and left some slices without cheese to dip in the soup. After the onions have been cooking for 20 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and add the pine nuts. Stir the mixture and put back in the oven and put the pan with the bread in at the same time. Cook for 10 minutes. At this point the onions should be done. Check them about half way through this 10 minutes to ensure they are not burning…if they are you can take them out sooner. At this point flip the bread over and cook for approximately another 10 minutes (they should be golden brown, if they are getting dark it is time to take them out).
To assemble: Place the arugula on a platter. Sprinkle with a bit of salt (and pepper if you like). If the pan with the onion mixture looks dry add another tablespoon or two of olive oil and one of the balsamic vinegar. Toss and arrange on top of the arugula, drizzling all the “dressing” on the greens. Place the toasted feta bread around the platter and enjoy!
Labels:
arugula,
balsamic onions,
crostini,
feta cheese,
recipe,
salad
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
We had this soup for dinner last night. It was yummy and not made with much butter so a healthy dinner. We had it with a salad and some toasted bread slices (I’ll post that recipe later). My husband loved the flavor and even our daughter had some. It’s a simple recipe:
Ingredients:
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 ½ broccoli crowns (I say 2 ½ because I used florets from one crown to make a rice dish for my daughter), trimmed and cut into 1 ½” pieces (give or take… this doesn’t have to be that precise because it will all get blended later)
5 cups low sodium chicken broth (I only had 4 cups so I used 1 cup of vegetable broth)
1 cup of water
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
Kosher salt and pepper
Directions:
In a large pot melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook stirring occasionally until the onion is softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook until slightly softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add broth and water, cover and bring to boil over high heat. Once the liquid has come to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the broccoli is tender, about 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender. If you don’t have one you can do this is a blender or food processor in batches… be careful as the hot liquid can expand and splash out (do not fill you blender to the top with hot soup!!!). Puree until your desired consistency. Once the soup is pureed and back in the pot if you used a blender or food processor, turn the heat back on medium and add the grated cheese. Stir until melted, then season with additional salt and pepper as needed. I made this early in the day so once I pureed it I left it in the pot until it was closer to dinner time. Then I reheated the soup and once warm added the cheese.
This made about 4 largish servings but you could probably get 6 smaller ones out of it.
Serve with your favorite crackers or toasted bread as shown in the pic. Enjoy!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas
Just put the little one to bed. We had a good day today but boy was it HOT! Tonight my hubby and I are going to have a little treat. Frozen chocolate covered bananas. Yum! I saw this recipe in an old issue of Martha Stewart Food Magazine at my mother in laws a while ago and have been meaning to try it. After dinner I cut bananas crosswise into approximately 1” pieces (some are 1 ½”). I inserted toothpicks and then put them in the freezer (on a plate covered with parchment paper). It’s been about an hour so far. You are supposed to leave them in there for two hours so by the time I finish this and take a shower it will be time to coat them with chocolate. I don’t have measurements or pictures as I haven’t made them yet so I will update with those later but I will probably start with about ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. You put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at 10 second intervals until the chocolate is melted. Once all the chocolate is melted grab the bananas from the freezer and dip them in the chocolate holding them by the toothpicks you’ve inserted. The chocolate should set quickly due to the frozen bananas but since tonight is such a hot night I may have to put them back in the freezer for a bit to set. Then, enjoy! Oh..in the magazine they coated these with sprinkles. You can coat them with whatever you want (nuts, sprinkles etc.). Once you dip the frozen banana in chocolate you then immediately dip it in whatever topping you want. I’m not adding any tonight but if I were feeling ambitious I’d go for chopped walnuts or almonds.
…and I wonder why I can’t lose much weight J
**NOTE – this worked as above but if you want the end result to be prettier you should use 1 cup of chocolate chips. The half cup was plenty but got scarce at the end so I couldn’t completely coat the last few bananas. They still tasted good though and so refreshing on a hot night like last night.
Here is what they looked like
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