Our Weekend of FOOD!

I tried out some amazing recipes this weekend. Some turned out the way I wanted...others turned into completely different recipes, lol.  Either way, they were all delicious!

On Saturday, Mike and I had another couple over for dinner.  Lately, I've been cooking more and more--such a relaxing activity (when everything goes according to plan...) LOL

This was the menu for Saturday night:

Appetizer
Pecan & Craisin Brie

Main Course:
Grilled Swordfish

Sides:
Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes
Grilled Corn
Grilled Peaches

Dessert:
Blueberry Pie (fresh blueberries from Gma McLean-YUM!)

So I was in charge of the appetizer, the twice baked potatoes, and the dessert while Mike was going to do the grilling. Well, the brie and the blueberry pie turned out great....but the twice baked potatoes, well...they turned into mashed potatoes. ooops! Mike talked me into boiling the potatoes to save on time (instead of baking them) and they got all sorts of messy. The skins were coming off, they weren't cooking fast enough, etc.  So I threw them into a bowl, added all the fixings and compromised by having the next best type of side. You can't go wrong with mashed potatoes and I told Mike to stay out of my kitchen! (jk-Mike is a great cook!)

I first made the brie for Thanksgiving in 2010 and it's still one of my absolute favorites :) Thought you would enjoy this one. It's so quick and easy!
I forgot to take a picture of it so I found one online so you have an idea of what it looks like.

Pecan & Craisin Brie

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry Sheet (I find them in the frozen food section with the whip cream and quiche  cups)
1 brie round
1/4 cup craisins
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup crushed pecans (or any type of nut)
2 TBS of honey or butter-I've used both and they are both good
Butter (you can also use spray butter or egg)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Let Pastry thaw to room temperature. Unroll pastry onto a lightly floured cookie sheet (make sure it a cookie sheet that has sides so that if brie runs out it doesn't spill onto oven floor) .  Mix craisins, brown sugar, pecans, and honey/butter in a bowl.  Scoop mixture into the middle of pastry.  Place brie on top of mixture.  Pull up sides of pastry and seal so that there aren't any gaps.  Flip entire pastry over and brush butter butter/egg on the top.  Cook for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool for a bit and then enjoy with your favorite type of cracker! YUM :)


So the next morning, I was craving some sort of breakfast involving eggs (gotta get that protien!) and I was going to try to replicate a frittata recipe that I tried out the weekend that my Trafalgar Girls came to visit (that turned out to be a hit--I'll have to post that one sometime as well.) So anyways, halfway through breaking eggs, etc. I decided to nix the frittata idea and make a quiche (I had an extra pie crust from the 2 pack that I had bought for the blueberry pie.) Well I've never made a quiche before, but didn't think it could be that difficult. You just mix everything together and pour into the pie and bake? Yeah, I think I got lucky on this one. I'm not usually so good as guessing and I was bound and determined to not look at a recipe. I like making up my own! Well, you are going to have to trust Mike & myself on this one but let's just say it was kiiiiiindof delicious. We both loved it and had it for breakfast AND lunch! There is only one slice left!

 I threw in random things we had in the fridge and this is what I came up with...

Kelly's "born to be frittata and grew into a quiche" Spinach Quiche


Ingredients:
1 pie shell/pastry
6 eggs
1 cup of spinach
1 tomato, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup cream (I'm sure milk will do too)
1 cup of dried bread crumbs (I actually used herb seasoning stuffing-lol. Couldn't taste the difference!)
1/2 cup of shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (more if you like a little kick)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Let it sit for 5 minutes so that bread crumbs can soak up the egg.  Pour mixture into pie crust and bake for 15 minutes at 400.  Then cook for 15 minutes on 350.  You may have different cook times depending on your oven, but you'll know it's ready when you stick and fork in and it comes out clean! I also sprinkled some cheese on top when I pulled it out. Here are some pictures of before....and after. I remembered this time! :)

Enjoy!

Kelly's Kitchen

I'm going to try to start posting some of my favorite recipes.  I usually take a recipe & alter it some how or sometimes come up with my own crazy concoctions. All are very tasty...and the ones that aren't won't be posted! :)


As always, I highly encourage buying your veggies from your local farmer's market. This not only supports your local farmers, but also supports your local economy and not overseas production.  Call me crazy, but local veggies always seem to just taste better.

So lately, I have been obsessed with sweet potatoes. I have made sweet potato casseroles, baked sweet potatoes, or mashed sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes make me so happy. I know that sweet potatoes are typically a fall veggie, but I have created some awesome combos with them and can't seem to stop! The following is one of my faves. 

Tofu & Sweet Potato Jambalaya

I was substituting and playing around with a shrimp jambalaya recipe that I had and wanted to create other recipes using different protein packed ingredients and this is what I came up with!

Ingredients: 

1 package firm tofu (14 oz.)

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 cloves of garlic, or garlic powder (I love garlic so I just add however much until I feel as if there is enough! :)

1 can of broth ( I use veggie broth, but chicken is fine too)

3/4 cup uncooked whole grain rice

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 can of black beans

3/4 cup onion (red or white)

Directions:

1. Drain tofu and cut into 3/4 cubes. I usually drain my tofu by placing paper towels on a plate and pressing to remove water.

2. Heat skillet over medium heat. Cook tofu in oil for 6-8 min, until golden brown. Remove and set aside.

3. Add sweet potato and garlic to skillet, cook 2-3 min until SP starts to brown. Stir in broth, rice, and cayenne. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover & simmer for 10 min.

4. Stir in beans. Cover and cook for 8-10 min, stirring here and there. Make sure rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. You don't want it to be soupy! Stir in tofu and onions last and cook for 1-2 min.

Serve with fresh veggie/salad or eat a bowl by itself! Enjoy  and let me know what you think! :)

What would Jesus Eat?

Ok. So anybody that has come into contact with Mike or myself in the past 6 months (lol, I'm making it sound like I have a disease) has learned that we have a made a huge change in our everyday diets. We decided to become vegetarians.

For me, it started around the time that I was in grad school in 2007 when I stopped consuming certain things that freaked me out. First, I read in a magazine that Splenda could possibly be carcinogen. So...there goes Splenda. Shortly after the Splenda kick, I cut diet sodas from my diet as well. I don't drink them at all now. I started thinking about how I was consuming all of these products that weren't naturally put on this Earth by God. They are man made products that yes, may make you feel better because you aren't consuming as many calories but they aren't REAL. They are fake. Splenda is the spam of sweeteners.

So when I started realizing how easy it was just to say NO to these habits that I had slowly incorporated into my diet, I decided to keep going. I picked up a book (at Target, of course!) called Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long-Lasting Health and Beauty.

It was a little pricey ($14.95) too be so small but it looked like a very informative book and a quick read so I bought it. I read the entire thing that night. I couldn't put it down! It began by taking you through the scientific ins and outs of the food that we put into our body. I'm going to quote the first paragraph of the book because it was one helluva hook and I fell for it.

Word on the Street: We are what we Eat:

"Food is the medicine that heals our bodies--if we are choosing the right things to eat. Some of the food we put on our table may be undermining our health in ways we don't even realize. Many of the fruits and vegetables in our markets are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and most meats are pumped up with antibiotics, hormones, and fungicides. when we ingest these chemicals, they can have a harmful effect on the body."

Yuck! And I'm thinking to myself, all these years I have been eating these things and because I couldn't see them, I didn't really pay attention to them. It went on to explain all the foods that we put into our body like sugar, flour, cheese, and processed foods that our body has a hard time digesting which clogs up our system while disabling our bodies ability to properly absorb nutrients and the minerals that it needs to be healthy. It just really opened my eyes to the fact that I have one life (duh, you think this light bulb would have gone off sooner. Don't worry it did-I've just been ignoring it) and I needed to start treating my body with respect. The more I treat it like crap, the rockier the road will be for me when I get old. Reality check!

So I stopped eating meat and stopped drinking coffee (now, it's green tea for me) Why coffee?

I've just read enough about the pesticides they spray on coffee beans, how coffee can hinder intestine absorption of much needed vitamins and minerals, and how taxing it can be on your liver (helllllo, my liver is still recovering from college!)

These were enough reasons for me. Bye bye coffee (this has been the hardest one, by far) I still crave a nice warm cup of coffee and a good book on a Sunday morning. Can I just tell you though that I had the worst migraines for two whole days when I stopped drinking coffee? I had my last cup on a Sunday and by Wednesday I could hardly teach and was feeling nauseous from the pain? I'm not exaggerating. It was terrible. That is a little scary, don't you think? I was going through a painful caffeine withdraw!

Anyways, to wrap this long story up, I have always had somewhat of an obsession with having a balanced diet and so I already knew how to eat healthy but this book just lit the fire underneath me to get me going on a higher level. I always like for my meals to have an appropriate amount of fiber and protein (most important), antioxidants, and vitamins. Yes, I'm a freak and I think about these things EVERY TIME I eat. It's a little exhausting. I don't eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner without a protein just because it is that important to me. I ease up on the fiber (ewww I would be on the toilet 24/7) but I incorporate it daily. So while I've been getting a lot of flack and a lot of "why?"s about becoming a vegetarian, I don't care, because I've always been obsessed with the nutritional value of food and I've enjoyed this lifestyle change so far. But, I don't make a big deal about it either. There are some people who are like "OH I'M a vegetarian. I can't eat THAT." I think this is so rude. I don't ever want to be perceived as someone who judges others who eat meat. This isn't something that I have decided to so I can be like "hey, look at ME." No, this is something that I have decided to do because I wanted to. I don't even mention it unless I'm asked about it. It makes me happy and really, isn't that all that matters?