Going Greek

Summer is normally a time when I'm craving all those healthy good for you things like salads, and hummus and veggies... but for some reason my belly has been craving the winter time comfort foods like mac and cheese, pasta, and ice cream... umm ok ice cream may not be winter time.. but it's comfort food for sure!

John and I have decided to get back on the wagon and start having better for us weeknight meals. Ok who am I kidding, he didn't fall off the wagon, it was me and me alone! :)  To satisfy his need for protein, and my need for some lighter but satisfying meals I decided to make us some wraps.

Filled to the brim with rotisserie chicken (super fast and easy), field greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, (a few pop chips for a little crunch) olives, feta, black pepper and a drizzle of balsamic/oil. My belly and waistline were happy and satisfied!

How are your summer cravings going? Out of whack like mine? What's your go to summer dinner?


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Baking with Parchment- and a giveaway

Thanks to the Foodbuzz tastemaker program I got to sample some of Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's ParchmentBake! My post is a bit delayed due to availability, it's so new I couldn't find it at first! Thankfully it showed up in the stores this past weekend and John and I had the roasted garlic talapia variety last night.

The fish cooked perfectly in the parchment. It's super easy to make, place the parchment pouch on a baking sheet and bake for 22-24 minutes. That's it, you're done, no mess left on the pan, no guess work! The best part is one fillet packs 13 grams of protein, only 80 calories, and .5 grams of fat. The only downside is each one has 15% of your sodium for the day, not horrible when you think how much most frozen entrees pack.

We made our meal super simple by serving the fish with its sauce over a big green salad. It was a perfect light meal for a spring evening. I liked the flavor of the roasted garlic sauce but the consistency was a little on the thick side for me. Taste and texture wise the fish was perfect. I would definitely get this again for a quick weeknight meal option, and no I'm not just saying that since I got to try these for free.

Want to try the filets for yourself? I have two more coupons that I want to share with you readers! That means 2 people get to win! To enter just tell me what you'd serve your fish with? Would you do a salad like me? Or maybe over some rice? Pasta? Asparagus?

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One Minute Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake... in a mug... in a minute. Need I say more? I know recipes like this have be circling the interwebs for years but I'm still posting about it because I love the idea. And this way in case you haven't heard about it, now you know!

Mix together all the dry. Add in the milk and vanilla and stir until combined. Pour into a mug and microwave for 45 seconds to a minute. DONE. Scoop on your favorite ice cream and you are ready to go!

Have you made cake in a mug? What recipe did you use? Are you hooked? Links please :)

One-Minute Mocha Cake
recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie

Katie has asked that I don't post her recipe here, head on over to her blog to see it if you want to give it a try (link above). She uses 1 Tbs of oil in her version, I used 1 Tbs of apple sauce instead and I think it came out great with that sub.

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Wolfgan's BBQ chicken pizza

Otherwise known as man pizza if you ask me. I'm being stereotypical but I think just about any man would love this creation... ok fine, and probably every woman, I LOVED it. Sunday morning before I headed to the grocery store I handed John The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook and told him to pick what he wanted to for dinner. He immediately hands down wanted this, period. No more looking necessary.

To make it even easier we used a rotisserie chicken instead of cooking and cubing our own. Super fast and perfect with some home made bruschetta on the side. John literally stopped eating and clapped because this was so good, HA!

Wolfgang Puck's BBQ Chicken Pizza
recipe from The CarbLovers Diet Cookbook

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced yellow and red bell peppers
1 lb refrigerated pizza dough (we used whole wheat)
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fontina cheese (we used sharp cheddar)
1.5 cups cooked chicken breast cubed (I used a rotisserie chicken and shredded the meat)
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

Cook the peppers in olive oil and roll out your dough. Top dough with peppers and cheese. He has you bake it for 12 minutes at 500 and cook the chicken separate, then top the pizza with it. I shredded the chicken, tossed it with the BBQ sauce and put it all onto the pizza and into the oven at the same time. Top with parsley once out of the oven.

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Fancy in 15 Flat

I love it when a meal looks like it took forever, when really it took 15 minutes total! I made this on a work night and when John pulled into the driveway and found this waiting for him on the table he was seriously impressed.


The secret are the muscles. I've never cooked them before and quite frankly they scare me. I bought these frozen in a butter garlic sauce from BJ's. Pop them frozen into a pan, heat for 5 minutes, cover and simmer for 3 minutes. DONE. I poured the butter garlic sauce off and added them along with some shrimp (fully cooked and frozen variety- just defrost first before adding) to wegmans diavola sauce. Boil up some whole wheat pasta and DONE. Dinner's on the table!! I'll have to let you know the brand next time I buy more of the muscles, since I just realized the cardboard box they came in is currently out at the curb in our recycle bin... and it's snowing out... so I'm not going out to look :D

What quick meals do you like to make? Give 'um up, I need ideas for dinner!!

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Not Falafel

Last night I wanted to make salads for dinner topped with falafel patties... but I got seriously lazy, so lazy that I didn't even pull out a recipe and instead just started tossing things into a bowl. Lets just say the only thing these things have in common with falafel is that they contain chick peas... the similarities pretty much end there :)

The recipe is non existent. 1 can of chick peas, drained, rinsed and smashed up. Add in a few garlic cloves, some grated up red onion, half a grated up zucchini (random much?), seasonings to taste (salt pepper cyan red hot) toss in an egg for good measure and about a 1/2 cup of panko. Mix, and now for the really lazy part. I didn't even make patties, I just tossed the whole shebang into a lightly drizzled with olive oil pan and stirred away until it all got crispy.


Toss on top of some greens, cucumbers, snap peas, tomato, carrots, sprouts, add some dressing and you're got dinner in about 15 minutes flat. Perfect timing for a hungry husband to walk through the door and say "I'm starving what's for dinner??"

Do you have any delicious recipes that came out of you being straight up lazy?

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Hashbrowns or Homefries

Tell me, are you a hash-brown or a home-fry kinda guy/gal? I can appreciate both for sure, but if I'm at a diner I always order home-fries... with two eggs over easy (and of course bacon!).

The drippy yolk makes John want to yak, he refuses to sit at the table with me when I'm eating these bad boys :) Personally I think it's the perfect thing to dip your home-fries in.

Whenever I'm boiling up potatoes for dinner or potato salad I made sure to add a few extra and keep them on hand in the fridge. This way I can just chop them up and toss them in a pan with a little butter, salt, pepper, and a good helping of paprika and I'm set with home-fries in a hurry!

So are you a home-fry or a hash-brown, and how do you order your eggs? :) Are you with John or me on this one?

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Sloppy Joe

This type of sloppy joe isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word... I think of these.


And then I proceed to drool all over the place because I'm in LOVE with those sandwiches, in LOVE I tell you.

Today I bring you what most of you probably think of when you hear sloppy joes. This time it's an almost meatless version from Cooking Light. Mine didn't look like their picture... not even close (maybe I need to grate the carrots more finely next time), but it was tasty and I'd make it again for sure.

My only change was I used fresh ground lean chicken breast instead of the sirloin they called for.
You can find the recipe here at Cooking Light.

Have you ever had the sloppy joe version I'm talking about? Think you'd love it too?

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Super Fast Whole Wheat Rolls & enLiven yogurt

I didn't believe this recipe... 100% whole wheat yeast rolls, without any rise time... seriously?? These things are going to taste like hockey pucks...

Luckily for me (and John) these rolls did NOT taste like rocks! They have a very mild flavor that is for sure, not the same yeasty goodness of a slow rise roll. But I must admit... for the time required to make them, this recipe is going to stick around for sure.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon when I realized I forgot to pick up rolls for the workweek. I was lazy... and there wasn't enough time for a couple hours of rise time... so a quick search found this recipe for quick yeasted whole wheat rolls. I figured... if nothing else John would just have to buy lunch Monday :D lucky for us both, he got tasty rolls instead.

I wont lie, the next day they aren't as great, but a trip in the toaster fixes that problem right up!

Super Quick whole wheat buns
recipe from Food.com

1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour


Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins

1 Combine water, yeast, oil and sugar or honey; let rest for 15 minutes.
2 Add salt, egg, and flour to yeast mixture and mix well.
3 Roll out 3/4 inch thick and cut into 10-12 rounds.
4 Place rolls on cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
5 Bake at 400-425 for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Be careful not to overbake or they will be too dry. Every oven is different.

(picture from enliven.com)

I also wanted to tell you guys about a new yogurt I got to try. Full disclosure: the company sent me a box of 4 yogurts to try and blog about. It's called enLiven, here's a little about it "Today, a new low-cost, all-natural yogurt branded as enLiven launches exclusively in Walmart stores. The low-fat yogurt from Ganeden, the nation’s leading distributor of over-the-counter probiotic products, is available in four delicious flavors and features GanedenBC30 probiotics."

I love yogurt as a snack and eat it most days. I'm always up for a new flavor or brand to try. The texture was spot on, not too thin, not too thick, and you could tell they used real strawberries (no unnatural red dyes here) actually I was interested to see they use beet juice to help keep the strawberries red! That's pretty fun if you ask me. I don't normally find myself in Walmart, but if I was I'd grab a box of these and know it was going to taste great :)

Buffalo Chicken Burritos

First off today is the last day to enter the Joe Bean Coffee Giveaway! So go enter!

A week or so ago I received a package of 2 jars of Pace salsa in the mail provided to me through the Foodbuzz tastemaker program. That night I whipped up these burritos... the reason I haven't posted them until now is because hunger struck that night before I was able to snap any photos. So this is a little late but so very tasty never the less.


I love how quick you can whip these up, and also how you can prep everything the night before for an even speeder dinner. Dinner in under 5 minutes? Count me in!


steph chows buffalo chicken burritos
feeds 4

4 large whole wheat tortillas (warm them up in the microwave a bit before assembling)
1 cup shredded part skim cheese of your choice
2 cups instant brown rice (make according to directions)
1/2 cup - 1 cup Pace salsa (plus more to drizzle on top)
1 can black eye peas drained and rinsed
lettuce
sour cream
1.5 lbs chicken tenders cooked and shredded (I use my george foreman grill only takes 5 minutes to cook)
2 Tbs wing sauce (I use anchor bar)

Make rice according to directions, once done pour in 1/2 - 1 cup Pace salsa and stir.
Cook chicken, shred and then drizzle with wing sauce.
Assemble burritos by laying out a warm tortilla and piling on rice, beans, chicken, cheese, lettuce, more salsa, and sour cream. Roll up and enjoy!

Quick, delicious, filling, now that's what I call dinner :)

Turkey Day BBQ Pizza

Is everyone stuffed? Are you seriously sick and tired of turkey?? Well I've got a fabulous solution for you. Pulled turkey BBQ pizza! You can make this with any leftover turkey you have or if you want just used torn up sliced cold cuts.


Truth be told... I'm not a turkey fan... thankfully my cousin also made a ham!! In all reality though I could have gotten by just fine with everything else there was to eat. We started with fruit salad, followed by homemade ravioli, then cream of chicken soup, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, fried cauliflower, eggplant, cranberry dressing, normal stuffing, pineapple stuffing (this stuff is bright yellow and horrible for you... but I LOVE it)... and so many more things... who ever needs the turkey!! And then there was dessert, pumpkin pie, 2 kinds of apple pie, crumb cake, pumpkin chocolate cheesecake, brandied pears... is anyone else getting full just listening to this? To put it simply it was delicious!! I'll try to wrangle a picture out of my family so you can see the setup... a giant square of cobbled together tables made to fit all 23 of us... YIKES!!!

So how did you all celebrate?

Turkey BBQ Pizza (the easy way)
by steph chows

1 premade crust (sure you can make it yourself but this is the easy version)
Dinosaur BBQ sauce (or whatever your favorite is)
part skim mozzarella
turkey (cooked and torn into small pieces)
chopped onion (if you want to get fancy caramelize them first)

Layer sauce onto the crust and then cover with torn turkey, sprinkle on cheese and then finish with some onions. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

CHOW!!!!

Peach quick loaf

So remember that delicious raspberry loaf I made a little while ago? MMMMM SO GOOD. Well, raspberries are darn expensive, so I tried making it with some cheep and cheerful canned peaches (not packed in syrup!) I made the loaf half raspberry half peach... just in case the peach side came out gross for some reason. The verdict, YUM!


This peach loaf is perfect for dessert, breakfast, snack time, you name it! And now that you can make it with peaches... it's even more economical :) OH I made a version with frozen blueberries too (no pictures) also a total good to go version! Don't you just love recipes were you can toss in a new fruit and it's like a whole new thing!


love it.

PS don't forget to enter the giveaway!!



Peach Almond Streusel Quick Bread
recipe redo by steph chows
Makes 1 9x5” loaf

Streusel:
1 cup lightly toasted almonds, finely chopped
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons agave nectar

Bread:
2 cups canned peach slices, drained and divided
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash fine grain sea salt
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used Musselman's)
1/3 cup granulated organic zero (or granulated splenda or white sugar)
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup fat free sour cream

Make the Streusel: Toss the first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add agave and stir until combined. Divide mixture in half into two bowls; set aside.

Make the Quick Bread: Arrange oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9”x5” loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Chop 1 cup peaches and toss them with half of the reserved streusel; set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to aerate and combine; set aside.

Beat together apple sauce and sugars. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry mixture in three additions, alternately with the sour cream. Begin and end with the dry mixture and beat briefly until just smooth.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly with a small offset spatula. Top with streusel/chopped peach mixture, forming an even layer. Scrape remaining batter on top, spreading carefully to cover center streusel layer. Top with remaining streusel and place remaining peach slices evenly over top, pressing gently to help adhere.

Bake for about 55 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs when removed. Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then unmold directly onto rack, right side up, to cool completely.

PB chocolate swirl Loaf

oh yeah... you see that title... makes me want to chow, how about you? Unfortunatly I didn't have any chocolate or PB chips on hand... I just used up the last of the chips the other day... so I tried making it without them... not such a great idea, it needs those chips. I'd make this again for sure, but I'd make sure I had the chips on hand!


I found this recipe over at Sugar Plum. As for my changes... since you know I made some. I used organic zero for the sugar, and used half whole wheat flour... oh and I used Better n' Peanut Butter instead of normal PB. But don't try making this without the chips, it just tastes like it's missing something LOL which it was :D

You know how you make it taste good though without the chips? You toast up a slice and add some cream cheese on top, totally yum.

You can find her recipe here.


Don't forget to sign up for the cookie exchange! All the info here :)

5 Minute Cheesecake in a Mug

Yes you read the title right. And yes, it's amazing, and yes it seriously only takes 5 minutes to make... the only bad part is you then need to let it cool and chill in the refrigerator... which in reality is a really good thing, because I might be making this every night if it didn't requiring the chilling time. So lets be thankful for that... so my bum doesn't double in size. I think John will be very thankful for that too!

I read about this fabulous idea over at Not Quite Nigella. A beautifully stunning and tasty blog. She takes the best pictures and is always tempting me with different high end restaurant reviews. Her original recipe can be found here. I changed up a few things (hers involved berries and lemon- much healthier than my version). I decided to have it mimic my 100% favorite dessert ever: Amaretto amaretti chocolate cheesecake. YUM


I wish I had some amaretti cookies on hand, that would have put this over the top... I had to settle for some almond biscotti I had made the day before.

5 minute amaretto chocolate cheesecake in a mug
adapted from Not Quite Nigella

2 1/2 tablespoons icing sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons low fat cream cheese
2 tablespoons fat free sour cream
1 tablespoon amaretto
1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder
1 egg white beaten well
1 amaretto cookie in a zip lock bag to crush

1. In a bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, egg, icing sugar and whisk well until very smooth. Add amaretto and cocoa powder and stir. (If you want to get fancy, add the amaretto and then separate into 2 bowls and add cocoa to one... then mix back together to create a fun swirl pattern)

2. Spoon into cup or mug and place on a plate in the microwave. Microwave for 1 minute on medium. Once done, check it for doneness (it shouldn’t be cooked). Microwave for 45 seconds on medium again. Jiggle it gently, the center should be slightly wobbly and it will firm up once refrigerated. If it’s still liquidey give it another 30 seconds on 50% power.

3. Bash the cookie in the ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Sprinkle the bashed up cookie crumbs on top of the cheesecake.

4. Place cooled cheesecake in the fridge for a couple of hours. When cold and set, eat greedily and smugly knowing that this only took you 5 minutes to cook it and it is low fat. (love her description of this step!)


PS I'm being featured over at the Down and out Chic!! If you haven't heard of her site you need to go check it out! She also has an etsy store which is filled with so many wicked cute things (like those earrings to the left... LOVE THEM)!! I'm totally honored that she asked to feature me!! So go and check her out!

How to pit a cherry... and then make jam!

OK first off... the first annual steph chows jam exchange is underway!!! I've gotten some very exciting emails back from some of you already detailing what you sent... and MAN does it sound delicious!!! Maybe I should have just had you all send your jam to me... now that would have been an evil little plot if I do say so myself :) Thank you so much everyone for joining!!

If you signed up or think you signed up and didn't get an email from me this weekend with your exchange person's address... please email me right now and let me know!!! ( stephchows at gmail.com )


Now lets talk about some cherries. I bought a GIGANTIC container of cherries (like 10 lbs no joke) for the grand total of $6 at the public market last weekend. Hence why I had to make some cherry jam! I don't own a cherry pitter... my mom does, she said I could drive on down and borrow it... yeah 10 hours round trip... for a cherry pitter... no thanks :) Instead of going and buying one (the obvious solution), I went to the internet to find inventive ways to pit said cherries. One place had a great idea of using a straw... too bad the straws I had at home were so flimsy they just bent in half LOL (great idea though, it would work perfectly if you had a strong straw!) Next I tried a skewer... a few self inflicted jab marks later I moved on to my most obvious solution... the "squeeze them till the pit pops out" method.

squeeze.
thumb pins the pit to your other finger (or palm of your hand) as the rest of the fruit goes mushing in all directions (notice this method also gets rid of the step where it tells you to chop up the cherries) giddy up it's a two for one deal!


TADA!! Easy as pie! Yeah that puddle of cherry juice next to the measuring cup... that was from the straw method failure :D

I must say this was a seriously fast method! No buying a cherry pitter for me, think of all the time spent placing each cherry carefully into the pitter... my way... pure brutal force! Bring it on!


Cherry Jam
5 cups pitted cherries (somewhere around there)
2 cups sugar
1 package low sugar pectin (I used sure gel)

I used the recipe on the back of the low sugar pectin... except they say measure exactly and they also say to use 3 cups of sugar... Yeah.... I decided "screw that I only want to use 2 cups" and you know what... it jelled up no issues, and tastes great!!!

Take your 5 cups of pitted cherries and toss them in a sauce pan with 1/4 cup sugar and the package of pectin, stir it all up. Bring to a rolling boil (that means when you stir there are still bubbles bubblin away). Then add the rest of the sugar (1 3/4 cups) and stir that in. Return to a boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat and process in a 10 minute water bath. More info on processing here.

SO FRAKIN GOOD!

No time to cook - chocolate edition

So I read about this NTTC (no time to cook) challenge over at Gel's Kitchen. It sounded like fun so I figured I'd give it a whirl!


Of course I needed to use some of the hazelnut spread I posted about yesterday! So with that as my inspiration I came up with this quick single serving dessert!


Chocolate hazelnut cake with strawberries in a hurry [Serves 1]

Checklist : small Pyrex bowl / 3 Tbs low sugar chocolate cake mix / 2 Tbs water / hazelnut spread / strawberries

Task : Mix cake mix and water in your small Pyrex bowl until smooth without lumps, microwave for about 30-45 seconds (may be more/less in different microwaves) top with a dab of hazelnut spread and a strawberry.

CHOW!



And don't forget about the giveaway... TOMORROW!!!! So come back and see!

Ravioli, I love ravioli...

...ravioli, it's so good for me! Anyone else remember that song from when you were a kid?

I've been blogging about a lot of baked goods lately so I figured it was time to tell you something to have for dinner. I had received a package of Buitoni fresh not frozen ravioli through Foodbuzz awhile ago. I had great plans on making something with them and never got around to it... until the other night. I arrived home from the gym and had no clue what I was having for dinner. A quick look in the fridge and I noticed the pack of ravioli still hanging out (don't worry it hadn't reached its expiration date yet!). I looked around to see what else I had to put with it, because lord knows if I had made just the ravioli I would have eaten the entire package by myself no questions asked :)

My veggie drawer was looking a little sparse... collard greens... eggplant...random... these will have to do.

I must say I'm pretty picky about my ravioli, my mom dad and I make a seriously mean ravioli from scratch, super thin pasta, amazing filling... so I don't eat ravioli other than home made very often... they tend to be too thick and doughy for my taste. These Butoni were pretty good though I must say, good flavor mix inside, and the dough wasn't too too thick (it wasn't crazy thin though).

Here's what I did to make a quick dinner!

Ravioli with eggplant and crispy collard greens
serves 2

1 package Butoni wild mushroom ravioli
4 leaves collard greens
1 small eggplant cut into medallions
olive oil
salt pepper to taste
couple glugs of white wine (plus more for drinking with your meal... I know I used good wine to cook with... but I didn't have any crap cooking white wine on hand. plus it added a seriously nice flavor... ok don't use crap wine, mom made a great point in the comments... use the good stuff!)

Put water on to boil for ravioli (they only take 4-6 minutes to cook so that makes this a super quick meal). Rinse collards and tear into small pieces. Place in a pan with a little olive oil and toss until wilted. Add eggplant and let brown on both sides. Ok now season with salt and pepper and glug in the wine! They will steam up a bit and the longer you cook them the crisper the collards will get. I took some of mine out early and left some in to get them to a potato chip crisp quality. YUM. Once ravioli are done cooking toss them with a little olive oil and pepper and top with collards and eggplant. CHOW!

TVP stands for tasty

Every heard of TVP? It stands for textured vegetable protein.

Sounds kinda weird and maybe gross right? But give it a chance! In this economy a seriously cheep high protein substitute is a good thing right?? It's under $3 a bag, and the bag could feed a large family for at least 2 full dinners if not more. Plus it's tasty!

It looks like some kind of dehydrated grain... then when you hydrate it... it looks like light tan ground beef... I'm making you want to try it right? Hmmm marketing skills not kicking in... Ok how about a picture of it in action?

whole wheat gnochi with TVP red sauce and portobellos

Hmmm that's not the best picture I took... is it? Darn, guess it is... well, you'll just have to believe me on this one... It's super tasty. Crazy healthy. Protein packed. Low fat. And when mixed with red sauce and pasta... you'd think you were having ground meet... not TVP. We made this up last friday (it's Lent, so no meat). Gnocchi cooks in 4 minutes so this whole thing was ready to go in about 15 minutes. Seriously I know! I love fast food don't you?

Portobello Pasta with "meat" TVP sauce
recipe by me. (Feeds John and me, that means three normal people, with sauce left over)

1 package whole wheat gnocchi
1 bottle (1 lb 8 oz) Diavola Red Sauce from Wegmans (or your favorite go to sauce)
1 cup TVP (I use Bob's Red Mill TVP)
1 cup boiling water (to hydrate TVP)
3 large portobello mushrooms sliced
2 tsp chopped garlic
olive oil spray
cottage cheese (if you are John or if you like to mix it into your pasta too)

Boil water for gnocchi.

Microwave 1 cup water in a medium size bowl or large pyrex cup for 2-3 minutes. Remove and add 1 cup TVP, let soak for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed. Set aside.

Spray a wok, or large sauce pan, with olive oil, saute garlic until brown. Add mushrooms and cook through, flipping after a minute or two to cook the other side. Add jar of sauce and TVP. Simmer until heated through.

Once water boils, add gnocchi and cook according to package directions (4 minutes). Drain, and immediatly divide between 2 or 3 bowls, top with sauce, stir in cottage cheese if desired. Serve.

Chow!

Whole Wheat Yeastless Focaccia = Happiness

This stuff is amazing. It's SO GOOD!! Seriously 45 min from when you start you have hot fresh bread and it makes the house smell delicious! Make it for someone special tonight and they will think you were slaving away all day :) I found it over at Food for Laughter. Go check her out, she ROCKS, tons of good chow :)


So this makes a good amount of bread, and I know what you are thinking... If you live alone or with others and just can't be trusted with a bunch of hot bread (yup that's me... can't trust me, I'll eat it all), you can easily half this recipe, just put half the beer in and drink the other half (no losers here!). I made the whole recipe, shared some with my house mate, then brought a bunch into work. Sharing is a good thing :)

OH and this is the bread for you if you are scared of making bread. All it takes is a little stirring, spread it in a pan, and toss in the oven. My sister loves making things that involve stirring, it's her favorite part! Jen do you hear me?? ALL it takes is stirring! Seriously... stirring!!! That's your favorite :D So go make some!


Whole Wheat Yeastless Focaccia
recipe by: Food for Laughter slightly adapted by me

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 T raw sugar ( I used 1Tbs splenda blend)
1 tsp salt (I used a little less of Kosher salt)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano and thyme leaves I bet red pepper flakes would be good too! (I added this in my version)
1 (12 oz) bottle dark beer (I used Yuengling Black and Tan)
1/4 cup water
2-3 T olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp dried oregano (I also added thyme leaves)
1/4 tsp salt (I used large grain sea salt)

~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat an 8X8 baking pan with cooking spray. (Next time I'm going to use a bigger pan and spread it thinner, the top crust was my favorite part... I want more of it next time :) )
~ Stir together the flours, raw sugar, 1 tsp salt, baking powder, and spices.
~ Pour in the beer and the water, and stir until just combined.
~ Spread the dough into the baking pan.
~ Drizzle the olive oil across the top of the dough.
~ Sprinkle the dough with the oregano and 1/4 tsp salt.
~ Bake for 30 minutes - until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
~ Serve warm, sliced from the pan, and dipped in olive oil and herbs...

Be prepared to have to hide this so you don't eat the whole thing.

PS... I know I was supposed to post about humus and baba this week... but between phillips and this bread... it got bumped! Don't worry it will be here next week :D

shrimptastic

Sunday nights have turned into sauce night for me and John. This past week we made skinny pasta and topped it with turkey kielbasa, shrimp, and mushrooms in a red sauce. Easy, fast, and delicious!

Cook the pasta (whole wheat for me!) according to the package, I like mine aldente yum! Slice up the turkey kielbasa and mushrooms and toss in a sauce pan with a little olive oil spray. Toss them around until they are nice and browned, at this point plop in a jar of your favorite sauce (in a pinch wegmans Diavola sauce is the hands down best in my opinion, spicy!) Stir and turn the heat down to low. I used frozen cooked shrimp so once they were defrosted I just tossed them in the sauce for the last few minutes to warm them up.

This meal goes from start to finish in 20 minutes. Top with some parmasian cheese or a little parsley and you are good to go! I also added in a bunch of spinach into mine for a little added boost.

Chow!