Miso sorry!

I have neglected this for far too long. Especially considering that I have been cooking up some delicious summer treats! Not to mention, fallen in LOVE with a new cooking website! I'm sure you've heard of her... Pioneer Woman? Maybe I'm a little biased because she lives on a ranch in Oklahoma, but for real her recipe entries are amazing. I just love the way she writes!

Lets travel back in time to Mother's Day... my plan was to give a gift of a multi-course homemade meal to my mother and sister (who is a new mom!). The meal was completely formed from Pioneer Woman's website and recipes and included: "Fried" Chicken with Yogurt and Panko Bread Crumbs, Pasta with Zucchini and Tomato Medley, Hot Rolls with Rosemary and Sea Salt, and for dessert a delicious Apple Tart.

IT WAS A HIT! Seriously, everything was so delicious I couldn't have asked for a better turn out! And my mom and sister LOVED it. Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Here are the links to the recipes that I used...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/08/crispy-yogurt-chicken/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/farfalle-with-zucchini-a-yummy-summer-meal/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/buttered-rosemary-rolls/

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/quick-easy-and-yummy-apple-tart/

Happy Cooking!

_Sam_

Lots to ketchup on!

Sorry for the absence! As most of you know, I have been in Oklahoma for the arrival of my new nephew Ethan! Well he will be one week old as of tomorrow, and boy do I thank God for this last week!

Do not worry, as I have been compiling really yummy recipes to share!

Do you ever have one day or meal that is completely diet-busting and causes you to abandon all thoughts of eating healthy? Well for me that was the barbeque at Lauren and Ashleigh's house two weekends ago, and here I am still struggling to get back to mainly veggies :)

All I seem to

want to eat is PASTA and CHOCOLATE. I mean, is there anything better?

So here are a few recipes I've tried out in the last couple weeks. Sorry they aren't the healthiest of recipes, but I promise they will satisfy!

Jazzed-up Spaghetti Sauce:

1 jar of Prego garden variety tomato sauce

2 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 tsp. i

talian seasoning

1 tsp. garlic seasoning

1/4 cup of heavy cream

As your pasta is cooking, mix all ingredients in a separate sauce pan, except for the cream. Once sauce is hot, slowly add cream and turn down heat. Oh its just so delicious.

Chicken Tortilla Soup: (One of my greatest HITS)

1 pre-roasted rotisserie chicken (usually in the deli section)

1 white onion chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped

2 cans reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 can Herdez salsa verde

1 can rotel

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can sweet yellow corn

1 can canellini beans

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Garnishing:

Sour cream

Cilantro

Blue corn chips

Lime

__My pregnant sister also requested this soup the night before she gave birth, so I toned down most of the spices for her since she was very sensitive to them then.

I hope you guys enjoy these new easy recipes! Let me know what you think! There will be more to come, promise!

_Sam

Mustard Fever

Hello all! I hope each and every one of you had an amazing weekend, I know I did! Today is a GORGEOUS day, but sadly my allergies have rendered me worthless. But that's good for my blog!

We tried some really great recipes this weekend, but alas they were SO good that I didn't have time to snap a picture of ANY of them before they were gobbled up. But trust me, they're all totally worth trying out, just ask Cade, my number one guinea pig :)

Friday night after an amazing bike ride through Lawrence we decided that we just had to eat dinner outside. Looking through my fridge, all I could find were some chicken breasts that probably needed to be eaten soon. But CHICKEN is definitely not the first thing that I crave when I think of grilling outside. Brats, burgers, filets even, but not chicken. So I tried to find a recipe to make this chicken worthy of grilling, and I did!

Mustard-Glazed Chicken (Adapted from Martha Stewart's "Good Food Fast":

2 TBl Grain mustard

1 TBl Dijon Mustard

1/2 TBl Honey

1 Tsp Soy Sauce

1 Tsp White wine

1/2 Tsp Rosemary

2 Garlic cloves thinly chopped

Salt and Pepper

1 lB organic chicken breasts (I like to beat them down to about 1/2 inch thick)

_Mix all ingredients together and fully coat chicken

_Grill chicken about 5 mins on each side until thoroughly cooked

_After flipping chicken once, coat other side with more mustard glaze

Seriously, this was the most satisfying chicken I have ever had. But I'll warn you, if you aren't a mustard fan this is NOT the recipe for you because the flavor is very strong!

Saturday we went to Ashleigh and Lauren's for "Boomer's BBQ", and had a BLAST! There were SO many awesome dishes there, and I'm pretty sure I tasted everything at least twice :) Some of my favorites were Dillon's orange vanilla brownies and Spela's cream cheese dip! YUM! I made a spinach salad, that quickly disappeared, and of course my famous berry cobbler. Gosh, just talking about all the food from yesterday makes me FULL. Here is the recipe for my spinach salad & dressing:

Spinach Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette (I'm sensing a theme for this entry):

4 Tsp Red-wine vinegar

1 Tbl Dijon

2 Tbl Olive Oil

1/2 Tbl Honey

1/2 Red Onion thinly Sliced

1 bag of Baby Spinach Spring Mix salad

Salt and Pepper

_Mix together all the ingredients, but the oil, do that separately while whisking.

_In a large bowl pour dressing over spinach and coat thoroughly

_Today I bought some mango sherbet to try instead of yogurt in my smoothies, so I'll let you know how that works! I just thought a more fruity, and less creamy smoothie would be better now that its getting really warm out!

I am seriously so thrilled about all the awesome feedback from everyone. And I absolutely LOVE hearing about your attempts at the recipes, so keep me updated! I will be stuck inside with a roll of toilet paper and my nasal spray watching cheesy movies like Mystic Pizza all day :) Have a great week people!

_SAM

Day TWO!

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback! I am already super excited about what this blog can be! I have had many requests for some recipes, so today I'll start with some of my faves! I really didn't want to add recipes without pictures so we'll see how this goes...

1. SNACK ATTACKS:
I'm a habitual snacker and if I don't keep healthy ones around you bet I'll be diving into some spicy chips and yummy dips. So here are some of my ideas for yummy snacks that don't break your daily calorie bank!

Smoothies:
1 c your choice frozen fruit (I love the mixed berries)
1 c organic plain yogurt (or use vanilla for extra sweetness)
1 c organic milk
Thats it! Put all the ingredients into blender and VOILA you just saved the $4.00 that Juice Stop would charge you for relatively the same thing. The trick to keeping this snack interesting is mixing up your frozen fruit. Another idea is using fresh fruit + ice, or freezing fresh fruit that you cut up yourself.

CHEESE (my fave):
Try some Vermont Extra Sharp White Cheddar on Reduced fat Ritz crackers
Be careful with this one, my trick is to cut only a small portion of cheese and then RETURN it to the fridge so that I don't end up eating the entire brick. When you choose extra sharp cheeses, you get a great amount of flavor with smaller servings.

Main Act:
Like I said, when you make your own meals you can really control what you're putting into your body. To pack some extra veggies into my diet, and still eat "happily" I like to turn salads into salad-sandwiches. There's not any special trick to doing so, and I think you end up getting fuller while getting all your veggies!

Strawberry Chicken "Salad" Sandwiches: A GREAT recipe for summer
1 lb organic chicken breast
as many stawberries as you like (for me that's like half a package)
mixed greens
red onion
crumbled blue cheese for a little punch
Hard roll or ciabatta bread
Two servings of my balsamic dressing
_Marinate chicken in one serving of balsamic dresssing for about an hour
_Grill chicken until completely cooked (about 5 mins each side)
_While chicken is cooking mix strawberries, greens, onion, and 2nd serving of balsamic together. Make sure greens are thoroughly coated with dressing
_Cut bread in 1/2 and grill each side until you get those gorgeous crunchy edges
_Make a bed of greens on bottom 1/2 of bread and then lay cut-up chicken on top
_Sprinkle with blue cheese and VOILA nom nom nom

_Sam_

Day ONE!

I must start by saying that I never thought that I would ever become a "blogger", but after following a few cooking blogs I have decided to start my own! Lets hope it doesn't fail miserably haha

Lately, with the weather turning GORGeous, I have been in the Spring detox mood. This time of the year is great for starting a new "diet" or exercise routine! I say "diet" because I believe it should consist of lifestyle CHANGES, not just a short-lived trend in eating nothing but celery and rice cakes. Here are a few of my tips on how getting healthier for Spring can be easy!

1. Drink more H2O!
I know I know, you've probably heard this a thousand times. Drinking water is hard for me, I just simply like something with more taste. That's why I choose to flavor my water with fresh limes and lots and lots of ice. Another great alternative is Crystal Light, I just love the lemonade flavor.

2. Active FUN:
Once summer gets here we'll all have the excuse of "It's 100" degrees outside to stay indoors in the a/c. But right now its PERfect weather to get out and get active. Go for a bike ride and discover a part of town you've never been too, and invite a friend/love along for the ride! Grab a basketball/football/frisbee/other flying things, and throw it around with a buddy. When going out to eat, try walking to the destination and then walking afterwards. This helps get your body active for consumption and digestion, and also doesn't make you feel so bad for ordering the dessert special!

3. Make your own meals:
This DOES take some extra time, but hey just come on over to my blog and grab a recipe (once I add them of course). Making your own meals allows you to control what exactly goes into your body. And by saying this, I must specify that I do NOT mean grabbing a pre-packaged & preservative-filled something or other. I mean actually getting your hands dirty.

Here is a great recipe for home-made balsamic salad dressing:

1/2 tbl. Soy Sauce (light sodium)

2 tbl. dijon mustard

2 tbl. sugar

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil

_Mix together all ingredients except for EVOO (you can do so in a small bowl with a whisk). Then WHILE whisking, slowly pour in olive oil.

And VOILA! The cheapest salad dressing sans high fructose corn syrup! Enjoy

None of these are innovative ideas, but I do think that putting a realistic spin on things makes you more likely to keep it up!
I also want to know some of your ideas on getting healthy, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle!

recipes to come soon, promise!
_Sam_