Hop to It

Hope everyone had a super Easter—it was just good to be home even if it was just for a day. Oh and the good meal didn’t hurt things either :-) You know when you leave so stuffed you can barely move, it was a success!

Mom made a glazed spiral ham that she got from Sam’s Club.

Mom also made some mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows…a yummy classic!

 

My grandpa made my mom’s Stunning Sausage Stuffing to help her out a bit…

I also had to make my beloved Lean Green Bean Casserole…even the leftovers of this dish are to-die-for!

And last but not least, I am always looking for new vegetable side dishes, preferably roasted because I love the rich flavor vegetables develop after a long time in the oven. I came across a recipe for Lemon-Chive Roasted Vegetables and with lemons in season now, I paid just 0.50 for one. It’s the perfect excuse to try these out any night for dinner,  no special occasion required!

Lemon-Chive Roasted Vegetables

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, halved

1 bag frozen Brussels sprouts, thawed

1 pound baby carrots

2 medium Vidalia or other sweet onions, each cut into 8 wedges

1 tablespoon olive oil

Cooking spray

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425°.
• Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange vegetables in a single layer on 2 jelly-roll pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes or until tender and lightly browned.
• Combine vegetables, chives, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; toss gently to coat.

And saving the best for last of course is dessert! Cupcakes courtesy of Cassie’s Cupcake Creations.

Whopper Cupcakes

Chocolicious cake, whipped malted milk ball frosting, topped with whoppers.

Cookies n’ Cream Cupcakes

Cookies n cream cake, whipped vanilla frosting, Oreo cookie garnish.

I wish holidays came around more often—we all had a really great time!

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Even if your feast is outstanding, leftovers are usually inevitable, and in this case, we have tons of leftover ham. I’ve been brainstorming new ways to use it up and I came up with three. Today’s recipe is also going towards this-->Barilla is challenging Foodbuzz Featured Publishers to imagine an Italian-inspired recipe or meal created with Barilla Tortellini.

For my recipe, I am using Barilla Three Cheese Tortellini.

Italian Chicken Cordon Bleu Tortellini

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Barilla Three Cheese Tortellini
• 1/4 c flour
• 2 c milk, preferably 2%
• 1 Tbsp pesto
• 1 1/2 c shredded Italian blend cheese
• 2 c chopped roasted/skinless chicken breast
• 1 c cubed ham
• 1 c sliced jarred roasted red peppers, drained well
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• dash of red pepper flakes, if desired

Directions:

• Cook noodles according to Barilla’s package directions.
• While noodles cook, combine flour and 1/4 cup milk in a heavy saucepan, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Place the pan over medium heat; whisk in 1 3/4 cups milk and pesto. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low.
• Add the cheese, stirring until melted. Stir in the chicken, red pepper slices, ham, and seasonings.
• Serve over Barilla Three Cheese Tortellini

Keep an eye out for two more recipes on how to use up your leftover holiday ham!

Have you tried a new pasta dish you loved lately?—share!

Making My Way to Nine-a-Day

 

Does anyone remember these guys? I used to watch Veggietales all the time when I was younger! And what does Veggietales have to do with today’s post? Well, nothing really, except for the fact that I think they’re cute and I thought it was a good way to kick off a post pertaining to all thing vegetables. Just bear with me! :-)

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So lately I’ve found some time to finally catch up on my magazine reading. I was developing quite the pile since the start of the new year. So many subscriptions, so little time. Anyway, I started noticing a trend in all of the New Year’s Resolution articles—most people want to get more vegetables into their daily diet. Now as far as my diet goes, I never go a day without vegetables, but the latest recommendation from the new dietary guidelines released by the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services recommends nine servings translate to about 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables every day. A lot of days I can say that I hit the 2 1/2 c mark, but realistically, when my life gets busy, my vegetable consumption takes a nosedive, and lately my life has been busier than ever..I’m sure you get where I’m going with this—I needed to find some sneaky ways to add more veggies back into my life!

1) Pick restaurants that offer all you can eat veggies

This past weekend I went to my all-time favorite restaurant, the Golden Corral. I wish Minnesota would get one, but instead I drive to North Dakota, about an hour away to get my “Corral fix” haha.

They have the best veggie selection ever, and they are all delicious. It’s a perfect way for me to pile on the veggies like so:

Steamed cabbage, baked potato, steamed carrots and broccoli, sautéed onions and mushrooms, and steak.

2) Always start your meal with a salad.

So maybe you can’t always go to an all-you-can-eat buffet. In that case, you always have salads to back you up. I am a huge fan of salads, but as we all know, they can turn into a diet disaster—just stick with veggies, no cheese or croutons, and a light or fat-free dressing. Some places really skimp on side salads, but I am always happy with Applebee’s generous side salads!

 3) Or better yet, make your salad the main meal.

I don’t know about you, but just the word “salad” doesn’t sound filling enough to be a meal, but trust me, one you load up on all the good stuff, it can be the perfect meal to satisfy your appetite and a tasty way to get even more veggies!! My favorite salad that I eat as a meal is Subway’s Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki salad with Sweet Onion Dressing (is anyone else is love with this dressing?) And even better, you can make any sub into a salad—so you have lots of options!

4) Soups on

Soup has always been one of my favorite ways to get in lots of veggies, especially with the cold wintery days of late. I’ll usually whip up one of my favorites ( a good one for lots of veggies is my Very Veggie Soup) or if I am out to eat, I love Olive Garden’s minestrone soup!

I also recently tried this soup for the first time..

Dr. McDougall’s Minestrone

Loaded with chunks of fresh-tasting veggies.

5) If your favorite produce isn’t in season, use frozen or canned (low-sodium preferably)

I especially love having lots of canned veggies now ever since I got my soup can organizer from Progresso Soup—love it!

6) And the last way I like sneaking in extra veggies to my diet? Baked good of course!!

My veggie loaded cupcakes…

Zucchini Nut Cupcakes
Moist Zucchini Cake Studded with Orange Zest
Topped with a Brown Sugar Frosting
Garnished with a Pecan
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Moist Carrot Cake
Topped with a Cream Cheese Frosting
Garnished with Walnuts and Coconut

Now for a new & delicious veggie loaded cookie recipe—Bonus: it’s semi-homemade!

White Chocolate Dipped Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box carrot cake mix
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 oil
• 1 bag white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 c sliced almonds, if desired

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil until thoroughly combined—add it grated carrots.
• Place in preheated oven on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake 7-11 or until edges start to brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool on cooling racks for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate chips over a double broiler, stirring until a dipping consistency is achieved.
• Dip half of a cookie in the white chocolate, and immediately dip in the sliced almonds.
• Place on parchment paper to harden

How do you reach the daily serving of vegetables, or are you still working on it?

--Thank you for the votes on my POM Pink Velvet Cupcake—keep voting here!!--

Some Like it Spicy, Some Like it Hot

 

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The 2nd annual Foodbuzz Festival is right around the corner, and being a featured publisher, I get the chance to participate in a few different things to try to get a chance to go and share a recipe I’ve created!

Sometimes people ask me how I come up with recipes, and I can’t always give them a clear answer—however, that’s not the case with the recipe I decided to enter in the Nature’s Pride bread contest.

If I remember right, it started with brainstorming my favorite way to eat bread…

After considering sandwiches, stuffing, croutons, etc, I just couldn’t decide, so I decided to sift through recipes I’ve made….

That’s when I remembered. “Duh, I love strata's!” Why a strata you ask?Because it combines three of my favorite foods—bread, veggies, and eggs!

Then I thought, “Hey, this needs some protein..what would be best?” After consulting my pantry and finding a can of chicken, the decision was made…

But wait, it’s not over yet. I saw a bottle of Frank’s Buffalo Wings Sauce hiding behind some cans. Aha!!..

And at that moment the Buffalo Chicken Strata was born!

(And yes I am the proud parent of this recipe!)

Buffalo Chicken Strata

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 5 slices Nature’s Pride Country White Bread, cubed
• 1 9.75 oz can of white chicken, or 1 cup shredded chicken breast
• 3/4 c diced sweet potato, microwave until tender
• 1/2 c diced celery
• 1 3/4 c milk
• 1/4 c Frank’s Buffalo Wings Sauce
• 1 c chicken broth
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 c blue cheese crumbles
• dash of pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Arrange bread cubes on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake until crispy and lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add chicken(drained if from a can), sweet potato, blue cheese, and celery. Add bread cubes to the mixture and toss to coat.
• In another medium sized bowl, add milk, broth, buffalo sauce, eggs and pepper. Pour into bowl with the bread cubes and mix until combined.
• Spray a 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and pour mixture into it. Bake, uncovered, at 350 F for 45 minutes, stir. Bake 45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

What’s your favorite way to eat bread?

Summertime Snack Attack

“Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.”

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Hope everyone’s week went well and that you have a fun or relaxing weekend planned. As for me, I will be working today and then possibly meeting my parents for a lunch date tomorrow afternoon at one of our favorite buffets! Speaking of eating out, I forgot to mention that last week I ate at Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time ever. We don’t have one in our city yet, but word is one is in the works! I ordered the Buffalitos which are two soft flour tortillas with seasoned, grilled chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, a blend of cheese, sour cream and whatever sauces you choose. I picked their Spicy Garlic and Caribbean Jerk. I fell in love with both sauces and the Buffalitos were the perfect amount of food, plus I got the roasted potato wedges.

Here’s the rest of this weeks work re-cap:

Wednesday

Supper

• Finnish pasties (recipe here)
• Tossed salad
• Sautéed zucchini and corn
• Rice Krispie Bars

(Side note: Pasties are a northern Minnesota food that started out due to the huge demand of mining. Miner’s would find it easy to just grab a pasty, which is somewhat like a hot pocket filled with all the necessary nutrients they needed. Many restaurants in northern Minnesota specialize in pasty making. More of the story here.)

 

(Had to make one gluten-free rice krispie bar, in front)

Thursday

Supper

• Cream of Asparagus Soup
• Cucumber Boats with Egg Salad
• Perfect Bread with Peach Preserves
• Strawberry Shortcakes

Friday

Supper

I had to draw the Indian Tribe flags because the wild rice came straight from the lakes surrounding our area and it is harvested and picked by the Native Indians.

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Like I said before, working 6 days a week gives me a chance to finally try all the different on-the-go snacks I have had sitting around for quite some time.

First of all..have you heard of a jazz apple?

“Jazz is a modern apple variety, developed in New Zealand in the 1980s. It is a cross between two other major apple varieties - Braeburn and Gala. Not surprisingly it has a lot of "shelf appeal", being a medium size, and with a very attractive appearance. It is marketed as a "bi-colored" apple, because the strong red/maroon color is broken up by areas of green / yellow / orange.”

It’s by far my new favorite apple!

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Heard of the sugar free Crystal Light Iced Cups? I hadn’t either until I stumbled upon them at Wal-Mart. I got the Lemonade/Cherry Pomegranate flavor—so good, and at only 35 calories a cup, you can’t go wrong!

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I also tried a new-to-me bar, Powerbar Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie.

Chew Review: It was just ok. It was somewhat small in size, and didn’t really have a taste resembling a cookie at all. However, I did like the generous amount of cranberries and the non-sticky texture of the bar. Probably wouldn’t buy it again.

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Chocolate and peanut butter have to be one of my favorite combos, and rice krispie bars have to be one of my favorite childhood snacks. This bar satisfied it all in one, plus it was a decent size and organic which is a plus!

EnviroKidz Organic Crispy Rice Bar—Peanut Choco Drizzle

 

Stay Tuned for a homemade granola bar recipe tomorrow!

What’s your current favorite snack food?

Workin’ My Way Through the Work Week

“I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.”—Oscar Wilde

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I just looked at my calendar, and can you believe it’s almost July? Summer is going too fast, but at least we’ve had decent weather here in Minnesota, and it is continuing through this week, or so I am told—I am inside most of the day in a hot and steamy kitchen, so the 80 degree weather isn’t benefiting my situation. But I am glad it’s ideal summer weather for everyone who is out baking on the beach!

This work week is actually quite nice. We are serving only 8 adult students, some from Canada, and various places in the US. So like I said before, we are trying to serve dishes native to this area. I’ve been trying some amazing food, some new to me, and others are old favorites. And every night I have food to take home, oh the perks of a foodie job! It’s pretty hard to take pictures of everything when we are on a time schedule and things move fast, but I’ll try my best to get the highlights of the days for a recap!

--Sunday--

Only dinner was served

• Vegetarian Vegetable Soup
• Whole Grain Bread
• Eggs and Olive Mold
• Crackers
• Fruit

This has to be hands down the best vegetable soup I’ve ever had. SO loaded with numerous veggies, I can’t wait to make more for me!

You can find the recipe we used here.

--Monday--

Lunch

• Fry Bread Tacos
• Tomatoes, Lettuce, Onions, Sour Cream, Salsa
• Potato Salad
• Corn on the Cob
• Orange Cream Frosty (a mixture of vanilla ice cream and orange juice—so good and refreshing!)

Dinner

The potato and leek soup was fabulous. It was my first time having leeks in a soup. The recipe we used can be found here, but the only adaptation we made was using our water the potatoes boiled in for the 6 c of water called for in recipe—it definitely added more flavor.

(Yes, I am in charge of the menu board!)

 

This cake, Gateau Breton, was out-of-this world. I am so glad we have such a good baker on staff! :-)

--Tuesday--

Lunch

Dinner

A similar recipe for the corn stuffed peppers and sauce we used can be found here.

Peppers ready to be cut and stuffed. 

Corn stuffing 

The pound cake was to die for, and the lemon curd was the perfect summertime flavor.

What is your favorite soup? If so, share a link to the recipe!