A Peek Inside

A peek inside what you ask? The Pinch of This, Dash of That fridge and freezer of course! I always like looking in other peoples fridge, because I think it tells a lot about who you are, hence the quote, “You are what you eat!”. I definitely think mine is a pretty good representation of me! Take a quiz here to find out what the contents of your fridge says about you—mine says I am a somewhat adventurous eater, which I can be sometimes, but I’ll let you be the judge….

Starting in the freezer..

Well, let’s see..there’s a few bags of frozen vegetables, grilled tilapia fillets, a flatbread pizza, Parmesan Bocas, my ice cream maker canister, a box of vitamuffins and vitabrownies, a box of Holey Donuts, and in the Ziploc bags are leftover baked goodies and my yummy breadsticks.

Freezer door…

Boca crumbles, Heart Thrive cookies, Kim’s Light bagels,and some frozen No Pudge Fudge brownies.

Onto the refrigerator..

Too much for one person? Nah! :-) Starting on the top shelf is a major stockpile of Egg Beaters—they were marked down to $1.50 for the huge cartons which usually run close to $5!! Some Whipped Brown Sugar Cream Cheese, my ice cream mixture prepping for the maker, a 1/2 empty jar of baby food(for baking), some canned SF fruit cocktail, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spread, some steamed baby carrots, and a pepper/onion stir-fry blend used in my omelets. Second shelf: KETCHUP!, some SF lemonade, V8 smoothie juice, Jell-o Rice Pudding, baked beans, Mott’s SF applesauce, banana peppers, pickles, canned crab, stewed tomatoes, and a pitcher of Kool-aid. Bottom shelf: Garden onions, spinach, lettuce, and iceberg mix, more eggbeaters, acorn, and butternut squash.

Refrigerator door:

8th Continent Light Vanilla Soymilk, Skim Milk, SF Strawberry preserves, Heinz FF Chicken Gravy, FF Mayo, Dijionaise Mustard, Regular Yellow Mustard, SF Ketchup, Unsweetened Almond Breeze, Walden Farms Syrup, Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup, FF Italian Dressing.

Bottom drawers:

Fresh zucchini, yellow squash, baby carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, cherries, strawberries, and kiwis.

And that’s all for today folks!

What kind of things are your fridge staples?

p.s. Won’t be back till Friday—see ya then! :-)

Cheese Whiz

Hope you all are enjoying your Monday whatever it is your doing! Do you have anything big planned for the week? I am headed to the one and only Mall of America again to do a little back-to-college shopping. (Ok, that may or may not be an excuse to go on a little road trip & spend money!) So Wednesday and Thursday I probably will not be making an appearance here! But, Friday expect some fun pictures and some yummy eats! (I never knew so much food could exist under one roof—the possibilities are literally endless!)

Today I decided was a good day to review some cheese-themed things. As I mentioned a couple times before, I am not a huge cheese fan—I will never eat just plain cheese like some people do, and I am limited to the “white” cheeses because I can’t handle the taste of cheddar—crazy I know! But it’s a good thing I like cheddar flavored foods. Are you following me? Ha-ha! What foods/food can’t you stand? Anyways, this first snack has been a snack favorite of mine for a couple years now and is made by my beloved Quaker man. [I know all ya oat lovin’ folks out there know who I am talking about ;-)] Did you know he makes things beyond oats, and in this case I am talking about QUAKER Snack Mix in Baked Cheddar flavor.

Have you seen/tried this? If the answer is no, hopefully it’ll be a yes soon! It even has the Smart Choices check which means that it is part of a healthy diet! I like that it’s baked so your not left with greasy residue on your fingers, and I also love that it has such a variety of snacks all in one bag! The beloved Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Cheez-It type cheddar crackers, thin pretzel sticks, regular knotted pretzels, Chex-like cheddar cereal pieces, and baked bagel pieces with cheddar on them. You can usually find these anywhere—Wal-Mart, your local grocer, and they are even conveniently stocked at most gas stations!

And recently I was overjoyed when the awesome people over at Fiber Gourmet offered to send me their brand spankin’ new Lite Snack Crackers that come in two different flavors—how could I resist? So I awaited my box in the mail and when it arrived I dove right in. At first glance, you would swear this was a Cheez-it—well it sort of is minus all the bad-for-you stuff and add in a hefty dose of fiber—we’re talking 12 grams in every 80 calorie bag! And did I mention you get a whole lot of crackers!! Check it out!

Definitely enough to satisfy a cheese snack craving for sure!

I also got this flavor……

These had more of a subtle cheese flavor, not as much flavor as the other kind, but still super good—just depends what you’re feeling for. And check out the comparison to regular Cheez-its--->

Thanks again Fiber Gourmet!

Double Whammy

That is the exact word to describe me when this recipe turned out fab! I had been brainstorming a double kind of dessert for quite some time. After perfecting the measurements, I nailed it! I could barely contain myself and knew I needed to share it immediately. Are you sitting down?(obviously you are if your on the computer hehe!)

Let me introduce to you….

Mini Cookie Dough Pies

What do they consist of you ask? Well only some of the best things—a healthy Fiber One crust with a “raw” cookie dough taste(they are not really raw), a mix of peanut butter and chocolate chips with a piping of chocolate syrup! Whoo, that’s a lot of goodness in one dessert—good thing they’re mini! ;-) So grab your mini-muffin tin and get going!

Makes: 16

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Fiber One cereal (original)
• 2 Tbsp whipped butter
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 c whipped butter
• Water
• 1/2 c sugar (I used Splenda)
• 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 c mini chocolate chips
• 1/8 c peanut butter chips, chopped
• Chocolate syrup, if desired

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350  F.
• To make crust, place 2 Tbsp butter in a bowl and mix with 1 1/2 Tbsp water and cinnamon. Place Fiber One in a food processor or blender. Add in butter mixture and pulse until a crumb consistency forms. Like this-->

• Mix together flour, sugar, chips until combined. Add in butter, egg whites, extract, and mix until just combined.

• Spray 16 mini muffin cups with non-stick spray. Take 1 tbsp of “crust” and form a pie-like bottom, making sure to get about halfway up the sides. I found an easy way—>

• Once that is done, take 1 Tbsp of cookie dough filling and pour over each crust.
• If you want to add a shot of chocolate syrup (I did just for fun!), then squirt a little in the middle of each pie.

• Now they’re ready to bake—mine took about 17 minutes, but start checking around 15 because all ovens are obviously different.
• Now the hard part—wait and try not to drool at the yummy smell!
• As soon as they’re done, get them out of the muffin tin and put on a cooling rack. (They should pop right out—if not take a knife and run it around the cookie pie gently.)

 

You may or may not be able to eat just one! The other cool thing about these is they’re totally customizable! Add in coconut, butterscotch chips, cherry chips, caramel chips, mint chips—whatever suites your taste!

Hope you guys liked these! How would you customize your cookie dough bites?

We Have a Winner!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

3	

Timestamp: 2009-08-07 23:44:38 UTC

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Thank you all for entering the contest and for all your kind words! =) Like I said before, I would like to send you all some lovely Lavash if I could. But keep your eye out for another fun future giveaway. Anyways, congrats to Kelly from the Pink Apron—if you’d email me with your address, your Lavash bread will be on the way soon!

By the way, I’d just like to shout a friendly “Hello!” to all the new visitors—hope you enjoy your stay! :-)

You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s post—two of the best desserts combined into one! Yum!!

Olive Garden at Home + Giveaway

I was so glad you all liked my my method of making pizza—one of the reasons I love the blogging world is the endless amount of inspiration in the art of cooking that I can both give and receive.. which brings me to a giveaway! This is only the second giveaway since I started my blog almost a year ago, which in my opinion is much too long—I love free stuff! Since a good portion of commenter’s on my last post said they didn’t have access to Joseph’s Lavash bread, but would like to try it, I figured I’d be the one to help ya out! (I would love to send everyone some, but unfortunately, that isn’t in my college budget!) Btw, the lovely Kelly from the Pink Apron recommended the book American Pie to anyone who has struggled with the search for finding the perfect pizza—thanks Kelly! :-)

All you have to do to enter is:

#1-Shoot me an email or comment in this post about what blog you go to for the most culinary inspiration.

#2-Drop me a note letting me know you linked back to this post—the more the merrier!

The contest ends this Friday at 12 pm Central Time & the winner will be chose via random integer.(And this is open to US residents only)

Onto the food business…

I have always loved Olive Garden, but not for the usual reason—most people head there for the pasta, but I am not a huge pasta fan—instead I tag along and eat all the breadsticks :-) And yes, I do order a dish—minestrone to be exact. So much to my delight, when I received the recent issue of Food Network Magazine and their Top Secret Recipe Revealed was how to make Olive Garden’s breadsticks, I couldn’t help but do a little dance!

 

Making breadsticks sounds a bit daunting, but once you see the ingredients and the simple steps, you should be on your way to making these also! My kitchen smelled like an exact replica of Olive Garden, and the taste test definitely passed with flying colors! Now I can have Olive Garden Breadsticks any day the craving strikes! You can check out the recipe here.

But first, check out my breadstick-making adventure..

 

 

See you tomorrow!

Perfect Your Pizza

Do you ever go to a local pizza place or buy a pizza at the store and wish you could recreate that same flavor, texture, and of course taste? Ever since I was little, I have been eating pizza from a local mom and pop shop called Dave’s Pizza. It’s nothing completely out of this world, but I think the thin crust, their special sauce, and the overall put together of the pizza is to-die-for. So, through the years I have been trying to perfect my own pizza pie making skills—finding the right base, the right sauce, and the right combo of flavors. After a few years, I am finally happy with my pizza technique! And the awesome thing about it is that it’s totally customizable and takes under 30 minutes to whip together. This is not gourmet, but it’s good nonetheless!

I could make my own dough, especially with my bread machine, or I could whip together a quick whole wheat crust by hand. I could even buy premade pizza dough, but I choose to use a unlikely candidate. Lavash bread—more specifically Joseph’s Lavash bread, and I use their pitas interchangeably for this recipe also.

Do you have these in your area?! I’m interested as to what areas don’t have them, because you are missing out on a AWESOME bread opportunity and should request them at your stores stat!

Now usually when using pita breads or flatbreads in pizza recipes, they can turn out a soggy mess instead of the pizza crust you were going for. This happened a few times to me, and besides being a mess to eat, it wasn’t like pizza at all. So, after a few tries of different techniques to getting the perfect flatbread pizza—I found it and couldn’t wait to share!

The key to prepping the crust is to pan fry is before adding toppings and baking. Using the dry heat method (turning your burner on high and letting the skillet completely heat), you need to place your pita or flatbread on the skillet and place a heavy spatula on top, flipping the bread about every thirty seconds until the desired crispiness is reached.

Once you’ve completed that step, since your skillet is already hot, you can add all your pizza toppings you are going to add and sauté them until caramelized. If adding spinach, wait until the last minute or so to throw it in.

Meanwhile, place pan-fried bread on a tinfoil lined cookie sheet and spread with the desired amount of sauce. Once toppings are finished sautéing, place those on next. If you’re adding some type of protein, this would come next followed by cheese! I then add some roasted tomatoes to add the the overall appeal. :-)

Bake in a 350 F preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted. Take out, cut, and savor each bite! I can never get enough of this—the crust turns out fabulous with a hint of that “brick-oven” taste so many pizza places try to achieve. Check out how I made my latest pizza creation! 

 Garden Veggie & Crab Pizza

• Started by pan-frying my Lavash bread.

• Meanwhile, I chopped my veggies. This time I used fresh garden spinach, garden onion, and garden bell pepper(good ol’ grandpa is a fab farmer I tell ya!), mushrooms, zucchini, and canned stewed Italian tomatoes.

• Next, I spread the Lavash with pizza sauce while the veggies were sauteeing. Once they were done, I layered them next, then came the canned flaked crab meat(if you’re a seafood fan this is an amazing addition!), Italian blend of cheeses, and then some Italian stewed tomatoes to give it a real tomato kick! Once I sprinkled it with some fennel seeds, in the oven it goes!

• And then here is the finished result—this super satisfying pizza in less then 30 minutes. Plus it’s not expensive to make either! One pack of 4 Lavash’s runs about $2.08 give or take a little. I use 1/2 a Lavash per pizza :-)

What’s your favorite method for creating a priceless pizza?!

Let me know if you try my method—I’d love to hear what you think!

Fruit Filled Monday

Happy Monday all! Today I figured would be a good day to post this article from Woman’s World magazine about what your favorite fruit says about your personality! Kind of a “start your week in the know” post, a little light and fun to get you through whatever the beginning of the week brings your way! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s delish and totally customizable meal!

What Does Your Favorite Fruit Say About You?

 Mangoes: You’re a peaceful nurturer!

Craving the mango’s consistently smooth texture reveals you seek harmony and are diplomatic enough to resolve conflict with ease. It is this quiet strength that makes you as polite as you are polished. You sport a philosophical streak that allows you to be equal parts objective adviser and supportive friend. You may be enviably serene. but you’re also as charming as the mango is sweet!

 Grapes: You’re an independent go-getter!

A bite-sized fruit that you can eat on the go—and have as much or as little as you want—grapes really appeal to someone who dictates her own pace in life. Detail-oriented and ambitious, you are highly efficient, quickly forging ahead with your five-year plan, be it personal or professional. Always prepared and ever mindful of the future, you live life on your own terms and succeed precisely because of such determination.

 Peach and Nectarines: You’re an energetic people person!

Super juicy and super-messy, these mouthwatering fruits appeal to you because your unafraid of getting a little messy yourself. Comfortable with ambiguity and a certain lack of formality, you are the life of the party, easily able to step outside the box of tradition and put your own memorable mark on things. Witty, dynamic, and full of life, you give 100% of yourself to anything you do and anyone who might need you.

 Watermelon: You’re an open-minded thinker!

With its crisp texture and burst of sweet juices, watermelon stimulates the senses like few other fruits. Your craving for it, therefore, reveals your inquisitive, searching nature. Smart and a bit competitive, you are a true leader, open to different thoughts and ways of doing things. As focused as you are, you’re also completely relaxed—a temperament that stems from your confidence about who you are and where you’re going.

 Pineapple: You’re an adventurous chameleon!

Sweet, tart, acidic—a pineapple is many things and therefore attracts a complex individual. As contemplative as you are thrill-seeking and as reflective as you are outgoing, you have as many facets to your personality as a pineapple has flavors. You don’t recognize boundaries, nor do you acknowledge the word ‘compromise’. You seek out adventure everywhere you go for you, the more choices you have in life, the more in control you feel.

What is your fruit personality? Does it fit you?

My all-time favorite fruit is a cherry, and it wasn’t featured, but out of these my top fruit would be a grape, and I think it describes me quite well!