New Recipe: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Avocado and Chicken

I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I tried out a new recipe and a new food!  Sadly, it will probably never be made again when J is home because he wasn’t a fan, but I actually enjoyed this dish.

Brussel Sprouts.

I think for most people this food brings unpleasant flavors to the mind.  It did for me too, but when I sat down and thought about it I couldn’t think of when I had actually tried them.  Now, I know I have eaten them before , but I think that it happened when I was younger and I never went near them again.

I found this recipe that made them look delicious.  I thought that since I’ve been having such a change in my palate these days (a newfound love of chili WITH beans and what’s this, cooked mushrooms actually taste good?) that I’d give them a try.

When I told J this is what we’d be having for dinner initially he gave me a face like he smelled something terrible, but when I told him that you mix bacon and avocado into the brussel sprouts he said to me “So basically you’re masking the taste of the brussel sprouts,” and he agreed to at least try it.

  (Probably the best smelling part of the cooking process)

 (Cooked bacon, sliced avocado, and diced brussel sprouts with seasonings)

(Cook everything but the avocado)

(Add the avocado towards the end of the cooking process to warm it up)

We were only having chicken on the side, but after having J doing a taste test of our brussel sprouts I decided to dice up the chicken and toss it in with the whole pan.  We had this dish, which really could be all you cook for dinner, with a side of pierogis.

I was pleasantly surprised with the dish and would definitely make it again for myself.  It was a savory dish with just a hint of bitterness from the sprouts.  While J ate all of his, he told me he’d rather not have the dish again.  Oh well, at least we tried something new and I found out that I don’t hate brussel sprouts!

Busy Busy Bee

I would apologize for my lack of posts recently, but I'm not really sorry.  J and I have been really busy in the past few weeks with jobs, adventures and enjoying the nice weather that we were having (unfortunately it turned a bit chilly-aka reality check of what March weather is supposed to be like in NJ). Between applying to whatever teaching positions I can, work, keeping on top of general chores and going for long strolls in the beautiful weather, I haven't had much time for projects or new recipes to share with you.

However, here and there I have made some advancements on some tiny projects I'm hoping to share with you in the next week.  Soon after we're heading out to Colorado to visit my brother, and my parents are going to show me around the area in which I was born.  I can't tell you how excited I am for that!  Hopefully I will have lots of pictures and stories to share with you.

That is all I have for you this evening.  Good night!

New Recipe: Spinach and Artichoke Bake

I don’t know how many of you are pinterest users, but from what I can tell, the population of people who use the site is increasing rapidly!  My students, colleagues, family, and friends use it.  I’m constantly hearing people saying that they are addicted to looking through the pages or even some who have to limit their use of the site otherwise they’d spend all day on it.

I’m a member of the site and see it as such a great resource.  I’m found some of my favorite new blogs, diy ideas and recipes through the links that people pin.   The recipe I’m going to share with you today is one I came across on pinterest, but it actually comes from the Budget Savvy Diva. 

I’m looking to spice up what J and I eat for meals.  This sounded like a good recipe to try because I recently found out that J likes artichokes and I like spinach so the mix works out.  J is not looking forward to the next recipe I want to try because the main ingredient is brussel sprouts! I don’t actually know if I like them or not so I want to try it out and I told J I’d make an extra vegetable just incase my recipe is unpleasant.

Anyway, back to this bake.  I made this dish for J and I we both LOVED it!  It was the right mixture of sweet and savory.  Unfortunately for all of you J and I were in such a hurry to eat that we didn't get a chance to take any pictures of our ingredients or the process.  Whoops!

But doesn't it look so yummy!

Spinach and Artichoke Bake (adapted from Budget Savvy Diva)
What you need:

• 1 box Whole Grain Pasta (we used rotini)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic ( Minced)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 1/2 a brick of cream cheese (4 oz)
• 3/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 squirt of lemon juice
• 10 oz spinach (we used frozen, thawed and drained)
• 1 Can Artichoke hearts (mine said 8-10 large artichokes) rinsed and chopped
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella
• Salt and Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

• Set your oven to 425. Spray a large casserole pan.
• Cook your pasta and put to the side.
• Heat the olive oil in your pan(I used a large pan so I could dirty as few dishes as possible) and cook the onions until soft.  Add garlic and cook for a minute.
• Remove onions from heat and let cool for 5 minutes before adding the sour cream, cream cheese, parmesan and lemon juice.  Mix well and then stir in the pasta.
• Add spinach, artichokes, half of the mozzarella and salt and pepper to taste. (Here she also adds a 1/2 cup of pasta water, I did NOT do this and it turned out fine)
• Pour the mixture into the pan and top with remaining cheese (we also added some more parmesan here).
• Bake 10 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden brown.

Enjoy!

Birthday in the City

This past Sunday was J’s 26^th birthday and we decided to go to NYC to celebrate.  J and I are pretty familiar with the city and I’d have to say it is one of the biggest reasons we miss living more upstate because we used to live 10 minutes from the station and could hop right on a train for a day trip.  Now it takes a 40-minute car ride just to get to the station and then about an hour and 15 minutes (if you are lucky enough to get an express!) to get to the city from our new station.

Anyway, we go into the city around 11 and made our way to the TKTS booth in Times Square.  Many people groan about how all the tourists go to Times Square, but I could care less if I’m going to pay almost half of what the normal cost is for theater tickets.  We decided to go see Blue Man Group since it was different from our normal (Last time we saw How to Succeed in Business with Daniel Radcliffe.   It was fantastic).

We had about 2.5 hours to kill until show time so we headed towards Rockefeller Plaza to walk through the NHL store.  J was hoping to find some ice hockey supplies there, but was sadden to find out it was mostly expensive NHL team jerseys and other merchandise.

Since the show was all the way down in the Village, J and I jumped on a train and headed downtown thinking we’d kill time down there.  We ended up grabbing some lunch at Soup N’ Burger: I got a turkey club and J had a bacon cheeseburger.  We still had time to kill so we walked around the area and found these crazy zip-tied stoplights and lampposts.

The show was definitely an interesting experience, especially since I had no idea what to expect.  There was a lot of music, paint splattering, audience participation and creepy blue man stares!  Overall we both liked it, but I just wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who hasn’t seen a show in the city, there are so many other really great choices for show to see.

We wandered around for a bit longer and actually had to look for another subway entrance because the train we wanted to take was not operating from the street we wanted to take it at.  Luckily in this area you really only need to walk a handful of blocks to find another subway entrance.  We went back uptown to see if we could find another hockey store that J wanted to go to, but unfortunately it was closed.

Since we couldn’t think of anything else we wanted to do, J and I checked the train schedule and were lucky enough to not only find a train leaving in twenty minutes, but also one that was an express!  We played back and forth games of Dice with Friends on J’s phone before he fell asleep.

We grabbed some Qdoba for dinner on the way home, J’s favorite East Coast Mexican food place (he loves Del Taco back in California).  Afterwards I lit up the candles on the small ice cream cake that I got him (tradition for us) and we dug into with just forks (no need to dirty any plates up!).   We spent the rest of the night relaxing (other than me preparing some meals for work this week) and groaning about eating too much food!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY J! Love you!

Leaping from the Weekend to Midweek

Happy Leap Day everyone!  I hope your extra day of the year is treating you well.  The weather here isn’t that pleasant, raining and gloomy.  We’re expected to get nearly 1.5 inches of rain today!   It has me wishing that we were back to last weekend, despite the high winds.  I’ll take wind over rain any day!

Over the weekend J and I wanted to take advantage of both of us having the day off from work.  We decided to take a day trip into Philadelphia, but didn’t know what to do.  We knew it was going to be windy so we decided to find somewhere we could be indoors for a while.  Initially we were going to head over to the Franklin Institute for their dinosaur exhibit, but after looking at the prices to go (there were separate costs to enter the museum and then the exhibit!) we decided that it was too expensive.  So we opted to a less educational spot and off to IKEA we went!

We left the apartment to a crazy flurry!  It was awesome, but then half-way down the street it became misting and then all of a sudden it was all gone!

J and I had fun walking through and thinking of ideas for our house one day.  I could spend all day in IKEA if you let me!  Unfortunately for us the store was in transition with their winter and spring displays so there were a lot of empty areas, which are usually filled with fun goodies.  We ended up purchasing a set of wine glasses (only $4.99 for 6), 2 wooden cutting boards, and a bookcase/table to put in our entryway.

Our stomachs were rumbling as we left the store so we ventured over to Reading Terminal Market to get some lunch and see if there were any yummy goodies to bring home with us.  After walking around for a bit J and I ended up getting cheese steaks (his steak and mine chicken) at By Georges.  They were delicious, not overly greasy and just the right amount of cheese.  We both only managed to eat half of our meals and brought the rest home with us (we later decided to just eat our leftovers for dinner instead of cooking).

Afterwards we walked around deciding if we wanted to purchase some seafood, meat, or fresh produce home with us.  This market has the biggest shrimp J and I have ever seen!  In the end we did not bring any groceries home with us, but stopped for ice cream on our way out.  We bought ice cream at Bassetts: J had a creamsicle shake and I had a grasshopper shake.  MMmm.

After arriving home J and I decided to go right into putting our new entryway table together.  The piece did unfortunately have a couple nicks here or there, but we managed to piece it together so that those edges would be against the wall.  Now all we need is better wall décor and a basket to throw our keys in.

In the end we hadn’t really done much over the course of the day, but it felt like the perfect Saturday.

New Recipe: Indian Chicken Wraps

I apologize for the lack of posts this week, well only kind of!  I had four day weekend from work and I fully enjoyed it.  I got caught up on some things around the apartment, but also managed to have fun time with J and my friends.  It was a great turnaround from last week where I felt like I could not get a single thing accomplished.

I haven't had a chance to try any new recipes or projects yet this week, but I remembered that I never shared one of the new recipes J and I tried last week with you!  This recipe came from (surprise, surprise) Food Network Magazine.  I did change it up a little to fit what we had in the apartment already(I HATE running to the store for 1 or 2 items because I always come home with like 10 more items than I meant to).  

My changes to the recipe:

• No cumin or ginger.  However, I will say that next time I would absolutely add the ginger and cumin as it would have added a lot of flavor to the dish that I think it needed, we just didn't have it in our apartment at the time.
• I did not use rotisserie chicken.  We had chicken at home and instead buying a chicken I just baked two chicken breasts and shredded them myself.

• No naan or pita bread. I had some sandwich wraps in our fridge so we just used those instead and the wraps were still really delicious.
• Greek yogurt instead of low-fat yogurt

Indian Chicken Wraps (From Food Network Magazine)

What you need:

• 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled (I omitted)
• 1 chili pepper, chopped and seeded
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 tsp cumin (I omitted)
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 2 medium carrots shredded
• 2 or more wraps

What you'll need to do:

• Put the ginger, chile, onion, cumin and dash of salt in a food processor and pulse until it is a thick paste.

• Mix the yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro in a bowl then refrigerate until ready to use.

• Warm the vegetable oil up in a large frying pan and add the paste you made initially and cook until  lightly toasted.

• Stir in the chicken, carrots, and 1/2 cup water and cook until the entire mixture is warm.

• Fill the wraps with the chicken mixture and spoon on some of the sauce that you placed in the fridge.

These wraps were really good!  Like I said before I definitely would make sure to add the ginger and cumin the next time we make it, but this is definitely a recipe I'd make again!

Enjoy! 

Will you be my Valentine? (Red Velvet Cake Roll Recipe)

I guess it is a little late to be asking that question since it is the day after Valentine's Day...  I'm not a huge Valentine's Day fan and so J and I usually do not exchange gifts, this year was no exception.  This does not mean that we don't celebrate it though!  I planned a nice dinner for us to enjoy at home because I'm would not even consider going close to a restaurant on Valentine's Day, going to the grocery store was enough of a pain!

On my way home from my interview (I think it went pretty well!! Crossing my fingers that I get the job!) I stopped by the store to get ingredients for a new dessert recipe!  It was funny to see people who were definitely grabbing last minute flowers and cards for their loved ones.  When I got home I changed out of my suit and into baking clothes.

J really likes red velvet cake and I've never had any so I decided to try yet ANOTHER Food Network recipe this week!  I decided to make a Red Velvet-Cherry Cake Roll.  I've never made a cake roll before, but was definitely up for the challenge.

Red Velvet-Cherry Cake Roll by Food Network Magazine

What you need for the batter:

• Butter (to butter the pan with)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups cherry soda
• 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (I made mine by taking a cup of milk and adding a tbsp on vinegar)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring (this will turn it BRIGHT red!)
• 2 teaspoons almost extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

What you need for the filling:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

How to make the cake (Directions are from Food Network):

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 11-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet and line with parchment paper; butter the parchment and dust with flour.

Bring the cola to a simmer in a medium skillet over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.

Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, almond and vanilla extracts, and the cola syrup.

 Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. 

 Spread the batter on the prepared baking sheet; bake until the cake pulls away from the pan, about 15 minutes. Let cool on the pan on a rack, 5 minutes.

Dust a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) with confectioners' sugar. Invert the cake onto the towel and peel off the parchment. Trim the cake edges. Starting with a short end, roll up the cake around the towel; let cool completely on a rack.

Make the filling: Whisk the cream cheese, 1/2 cup cream and the almond extract in a large bowl. Beat the remaining 1 cup cream and the confectioners' sugar with a mixer until soft peaks form; gradually fold into the cream cheese mixture. Chill until ready to use.

Unroll the cooled cake. Spread with the filling, then gently reroll the cake and transfer to a platter. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

This probably cracked because I didn't let the cake cool completely in the towel

While I was in the process of making the cake these arrived for me!

We enjoyed our delicious dinner of Salmon, rosemary potatoes, and cauliflower, and after letting ourselves digest a bit I pulled the cake roll out of fridge, sliced a piece for each of us and surprised J with some delicious cake!  For my first time experience with red velvet it was good, but I definitely enjoy other cake flavors better.

Hope all of you had a pleasant Valentine's Day!