Archive for the ‘Cooking’ Category

So I’m on day three of my diet and I think I might be starving to death.  This morning when I walked into work there were about 4 dozen chick fil a chicken mini’s in the kitchen and the amazing smell of butter and fried chicken almost knocked me to the floor.  I held strong though.  With my smoothie in hand I walked right out of that evil kitchen. 

Not two hours later another 4 dozen chicken mini’s were dropped off at my office.  I headed to the kitchen to get some water thinking “I’m so glad those little suckers are gone” only to be accosted by the warm aroma of a new batch.  I seriously stopped dead in my tracks and started to contemplate how bad one little mini could possibly be??  I mean, what if I picked all the breading off of the chicken and ate only that?  I’m allowed to have butter on this diet so I could technically lick the butter off of the roll and then throw the roll away right??

But deep down inside I knew that if I even so much as opened the lid that all chicken mini chaos would break loose.  My coworkers would find me hiding in an empty cube on the abandoned side of the office gorging myself on all 4 dozen mini’s.                                                  

It is only day three out of 21 days and I’m not sure I’m gonna make it.  Who knew I was such a weakling??

To make matters worse I have dinner plans tonight with some friends at the best pizza place ever.  I just looked up the menu and I’m going to have to order a salad with all the good stuff taken off and dressing on the side, while they eat a cheesy yummy pizza with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil….  I mean, I normally make fun of girls who order dressing on the side.  

Maybe skinny knees are over rated?

Here is my answer to greasy Italian food.  An easy Spinach and Shrimp saute that is uber healthy and just as tasty.  I ate mine without the pasta and I was actually very satisfied.  I served Michael’s spinach over whole wheat pasta.  He thought it was amazing too!

 

Spinach and Shrimp Saute:

1 lb of shrimp cleaned and peeled (1/4 lb per person)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbls  + 1 tsp of Garlic

2 tbls of olive oil total

about 1 tsp of chili powder

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

10 oz baby Spinach

Marinate the shrimp in the lemon juice for about 30 minutes.

Heat a large skillet to medium with the olive oil until the oil is hot in the pan.  Add in the garlic.  (the garlic should crackle but not burn and pop out of the pan)  If you burn the garlic throw it out and start over.  Burnt garlic is bitter – yuck!

Stir everything around and then add in the tomatoes, vinegar, sea salt and pepper.  Allow the tomatoes to cook until they pop open and you have a nice thin sauce.  This should only take about 5-8 minutes.

While the tomatoes are cooking heat a smaller skillet with the other tbls of olive oil.  Add in 1 tsp of garlic. 

Drop in the shrimp so that the shrimp is not too crowded.  Dust each shrimp with a little bit of the chili powder.  Sear each shrimp and then flip them all over to sear the other side.  Dust the opposite side of the shrimp with the chili powder.  Don’t over cook the shrimp!  You want them just seared, not tough.

Add the shrimp back into the tomato mixture and then add the spinach on top.  The heat will start to wilt the spinach.  Slowly, stir the spinach to incorporate it.  Let the spinach wilt just slightly so that it darkens in color.

Serve and enjoy! 

 

 

 

 

 

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I think the one thing I hate the most about Texas summers is the fact that I cannot avoid putting on a bathing suit.  I try trust me.  I have a myriad of excuses up my sleeve and more swim suit cover ups than anyone needs.  I also hate my knees.  I know it is weird but my knees are ugly.  Ok EVERYONE’s knees are ugly but I especially hate mine.  I feel like when I put on a bathing suit my knees are screaming for everyone to look at them.  All my friends know that when I say “geez that girl has really great knees”  that this is the nicest compliment I can give someone.  My knees are white and chubby and I can never quite shave every hair off of every odd angle which is super attractive (sarcasm placed here).  This summer I have decided I’m going to deal with this whole knees/bathing suit issue by just giving in.  I’m going to go shopping in 3.5 weeks for a new swim suit because I have a lake party to attend and I’m pretty sure no one will let me on the boat in jeans…

I plan to face this swim suit issue head on and start working out my knees, amoung other obvious areas that lack in perfection that we really don’t need to talk about today.  I mean for heavens sake this is a food blog right?  I don’t want you all leaving grossed out!!

So for the next 3.5 weeks it will be all healthy skinny knee recipes for you!  Are you ready knees??  Let’s do this.

Serves 4 people with chubby knees.

Hot Mama Tilapia:

4 Tilapia filet’s

1 tbs. olive oil

2 Jalapenos

1 tsp Cumin

1 Lime

1/2 Red onion

1 tsp Garlic

1 tsp Black Pepper

Avocado Sauce:

1 ripe Avocado

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 TBS diced red onion

Veggie broth

Cauliflower Mashers:

1 head of white Cauliflower

sea salt to taste

black pepper to taste

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/2 jalapeno de-seeded

Hot Mama Tilapia:

Pat each Tilapia fillet with a paper towel to make sure the fish is as dry as possible.    Dice up the jalapeno and onion and set aside.    Heat the olive oil in a large pan.  When the oil is hot add the garlic, red onion, and jalapenos.  Cook for about 1 minute just enough to really let the garlic open up but not burn.  Add in the Tilapia and spritz each fillet with the limes juice. Dust each fillet with the cumin, pepper and garlic.  Flip the tilapia over and spritz with the lime and dust with more of the spices.  It is ok if the red onion mixture is in the way of the fish touching the pan this will actually help with the flavor of the fish.  Cook the fish all the way through and plate.  This should only take about 5-8 minutes.  Sprinkle each fillet with the left over ingredients in the pan.

Avocado Sauce:

In a small food processor puree the ripe avocado, garlic, onion, and about 1 tbls of veggie broth until creamy.  Add more veggie broth as needed to reach desired consistency.  Drizzle over plated tilapia.

Cauliflower Mashers:

Boil enough water to submerge cauliflower in a large pot.  Cut off stems of cauliflower and discard.  Add the tops of the cauliflower to the boiling water and cook until the cauliflower is soft.  (You want to be able to stab the cauliflower with a fork easily)  Don’t over cook or it will just disintegrate.

Pat dry the cauliflower and place it in a large food processor.  Add all the additional ingredients and puree until you reach a similar consistency to mashed potatoes.   This is normally when I would tell you to add Asiago cheese but I will have skinny knees so I’m not going to.  If you have skinny knees than I suggest adding about 1 cup of Asaigo cheese and mixing it all together.

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So I had quite the fiasco or what I like to call “Emily’s Epic Failures” on Monday night when I was attempting to make some red velvet cakesters.  They were coming out super flat and no matter how many eggs I added they were little pancakes.  My husband walked in the kitchen as I’m starting to panic and says “huh, they kind of look like tacos”.  Have I mentioned my husband is a genius?  I looked at him and said “dude, thats awesome” – yes unfortunately we talk like this.  So I finished up making the red velvet cakesters/tacos for my coworkers to eat and starting planning these little suckers.  My poor coworkers get all of my epic failures as long as they are still edible.  I’m sure they look in the kitchen after I send out my dorky e-mail letting them know of  said failed recipe that is in the kitchen and think “this girl has a food blog?  Sccaaarrry!!”

These are super easy and perfect for a Cinco de Mayo treat.  You can get super creative and stuff them full of great stuff.  I went with the normal taco ingredients of lettuce and tomatos because I was a little afraid they were not going to look like tacos and I wanted it to be super obvious.  They turned out so freaking cute!!

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Makes about 50 tacos

1 box cake mix (I used a spice cake so that the “tortilla” looked a little more brown.)

Follow the box directions but use less water.  For instance – my box called for 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and 1 1/3 cup water.  I only used 1 cup of water.  You want the batter to be runny and not too thick or you won’t get that flat tortilla look.

Pour the batter in 4″ rounds on a cookie sheet.  Bake for about 7 min.  I kept them in for about 7.5 minutes.  Yes I’m serious….  If they cook too long the “tortilla” will crack in half, too short and the “tortilla” is too sticky.  You might have to play with the time on the first batch to get it just right.

Icing:

1 block of cream cheese or 8oz

1 pound of powdered sugar (half a standard bag)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

using a mixer combine the cream cheese, vanilla, and the powdered sugar.  Whip like crazy until it is combined and creamy.

Toppings:

I used coconut as the lettuce and chopped up hot tamales for the tomatoes.

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I love this messy oatmeal photo.  It makes me want to get a tall cup of coffee and sit on the porch outside on a cool spring morning.  All the little nooks and crannies filled with gooey peanut butter and chewy raisins.  I’m officially addicted to this breakfast.  My puppies love when I make this because I let them lick the peanut butter spoon.  Oatmeal+peanut butter=Awesome!

My photos for this breakfast were all kinds of terrible so forgive me this one time.  It is super hard to make messy bland colored oatmeal look all scrumptious.  All you food photographers out there who can – I’m so jealous and when can you please come over and teach me?  

I have mentioned several times on this wonderful site about how much I hate eating dessert for breakfast (donuts, toaster strudels etc…)  So it may come as a surprise or even hypocritical of me to post this recipe.  Well for this oatmeal I’m willing to risk being called names.  My hubby and I have been eating homemade oatmeal for years but we never really got creative with it.  Well we were missing out big time.  Now my obsession for all things oatmeal might start getting out of control.  Oats are simply amazing.  They absorb whatever you put in them, making them these amazing little pockets of flavor holders.  Crazy…..

So now I pre-pack my breakfast for the whole week – and let’s just say I’m not exactly a pre-packer of meals.  AKA I’m lazy and not a morning person.  Do any of you live with a morning person?  The type of person who sings in the morning or dances?  Maybe even jumps on the bed like a crazy person? Well welcome to my mornings with my crazy morning person husband. 

But enough about me.  Let’s talk breakfast. 

What is your favorite breakfast??

1 Serving size, About 250 calories 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Oatmeal

1 tbs organic peanut butter (it just tastes better)

1 little packet of Truvia or any Stevia based sweetener

About 10 Raisins

hot water – the amount will vary depending on how watery you like your oatmeal – I do not like mine watery.

Place the oatmeal, peanut butter, raisins and Truvia in a small container or bowl.  Heat your water separately in a microwave safe bowl for about 2 minutes.  Pour the water slowly over everything in the bowl.  Stir everything together until the peanut butter melts and the oatmeal is wet enough for your liking.  This seriously tastes like a peanut butter oatmeal cookie.  So yummy.

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CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE STUFFED WITH AN OREO

I realize I’m not reinventing the wheel here with everyone stuffing cookies and brownies and candy inside cookies and brownies and candy, but who can resist really.  It is a cookie stuffed with a cookie!!!  How can you go wrong?  I also love everyone’s expressions when they pick up a seemingly innocent chocolate chip cookie and bite into it to find ANOTHER cookie!  Every adult turns into a little kid and starts using sayings like, “dude, this rocks”.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE STUFFED WITH TWIX

My husband is a cookie connoisseur/monster.  He can tell you where it is worth buying a cookie and where it is not anywhere in town.  Everywhere we go he buys a chocolate chip cookie.  It is insane.  He is constantly in trouble for eating a dozen cookies straight without taking into consideration that someone else might want ONE cookie.  I can’t tell you how many times he has accidentally eaten my cookie as well as his because he didn’t remember eating the first one.  It is a problem and I’m looking for a good counselor to discuss the matter with….

CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE STUFFED WITH A THIN MINT

Over the weekend Natalie brought me a cake to surprise me with while I was not home.  She brought Michael a cookie to eat to keep him from cutting into the cake before I got a chance to see it.  He has absolutely no will power!!

Needless to say these suckers were a total hit at my house.

TRIO OF AWESOMENESS

My hubby wasn’t home while I was baking all of these crazy cookies so I actually got to take photos of them all without fighting him off.  He lays claim to all of the “ugly” cookies that I don’t deem pretty enough to photograph.  Once the photo session is over he lays claim to all the other cookies.

Recipe:

This is the easiest recipe ever.  Go buy a box cookie mix and your favorite cookie or candy to stuff it with.

Preheat your oven and make the cookie dough according to the package directions.

Take about 2 tbs of dough and flatten it out on your pan.  Place the Oreo (or whatever stuffer you choose) on the dough and top with another 1 tbs of cookie dough.  Mush the cookie dough all around the “Oreo” until you can’t see the Oreo anymore.  If you have too much dough take some off.  Don’t have enough?  Add some more!  It is up to you how big you want your cookie.  Just make sure the stuffer is fully covered.

Bake according to the packaged directions.  (350 for about 13 minutes was perfect for me.)

Cool the cookies on a cooling rack and enjoy!

Of course you can use homemade cookie dough but I made all of these on a Wednesday night after running errands so 3 different cookies from scratch was so not going to happen!

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