oh boy oh boy oh boy did I make GREAT use of my leftovers!!

For dinner tonight I used the turkey leftovers to make poached eggs with herb-roasted turkey breast and sweet potato hash
I made the sweet potato hash with roasted sweet potatoes, olive oil, sauteed onions, fresh thyme, herb roasted turkey (my leftovers), chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Then, I poached an egg in water with a little bit of vinegar. The recipe I used directed me to serve the dish with hot sauce. And, I absolutely LOVED eating this dish with hot sauce! The contrast of the sweetness of the sweet potatoes with the saltiness of the egg with the heat of the hot sauce was incredible.

A turkey dinner

I was sad to not be cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year, so tonight I decided to try my hand at making my first ever Turkey. Since I am only cooking for one person though, I decided to make a turkey breast (which is still way too much food by the way, but it will make great leftovers). I made herb-roasted turkey breast and garlic broccoli for a side.


I rubbed down the turkey under the skin with a mixture of olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh sage, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper. Then, I roasted it in the oven. It is so good! And, it is moist! First turkey (breast) success hooray!

I sauteed the broccoli with sesame oil, fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, and soy sauce. It was really yummy too.

I look forward to turkey leftovers all week.:)

oh my gosh.

Today I made buttermilk bacon pralines. They are one of the most ridiculously awesome creations I have ever made.

The pralines are made with white sugar, brown sugar, buttermilk, light corn syrup, baking soda, kosher salt, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, chopped pecans, orange zest, and bacon.

The sweet and salty contrast in these pralines is incredible. They are so darn good.

Happy Hanukkah!

In the spirit of Hanukkah, I decided to make some delicious jew-food tonight.

POTATO LATKES??











Nope! They look like them though, right?? I totally fooled you.

They are actually salmon croquettes and they were pretty great! I made the patties with salmon, chopped white onions, matzah meal, egg, salt, and pepper. I fried them in canola oil.

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah!

I used to hate brussels sprouts...

...until I decided to roast them!

These sprouts were sooo yummy. I made them with olive oil, honey, fresh thyme, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. This is a great and easy side dish.

I decided to attempt one of my favorite things that my grandma and mom cook for me: chinese cabbage salad. This salad is so ridiculously amazing, I am obsessed with it. I successfully made it (almost) as delicious as my mom and grandma make it, but of course it wasn't perfect. It wasn't made with as much love as they make it with!

This salad is made with shredded green and red cabbage, chopped scallions, toasted slivered almonds, toasted sesame seeds and crushed ramen noodles (uncooked). The dressing is made with olive oil, sugar, and rice vinegar. It is heavenly.

Since my Thanksgiving lacked pumpkin pie, I have been seriously craving something with pumpkin. So, I decided to make pumpkin bread. It is amazing.

Casey would be so proud of me for how successful this bread came out because of how moist it is. It has a delicious crispy outside crust and is completely moist and amazing on the inside. The recipe didn't call for nuts, but I added pecans in the batter which turned out perfect.

YUM!

Tonight I had breakfast for dinner and I loved it.
I made baked eggs with ham, cherry tomatoes, thyme, and gruyere cheese. yummmm.

Arriba!

Tonight I made some delicious mexican food! I made an enchilada casserole with chicken seasoned with cumin and coriander, black beans, green chili peppers, red enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, a mexican blend of shredded cheese, and sour cream. I made way too much and will have leftovers forever, but it was so yummy and had the perfect amount of spice.

So I have been cooking outside of my healthy cookbook (ever since Leah told me to) and while the healthy food is great, the food I have been cooking lately is pretty darn awesome. So, I think I'll cook both healthy and unhealthy, because cooking at home is still a lot healthier than eating out anyway. :) It is all about moderation!

Tonight I made pasta with tomato cream sauce. It was divine.

I made the sauce with olive oil, butter, yellow onion, garlic, tomato sauce, heavy cream, fresh grated parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and then seasoned it with salt, pepper, and sugar. Can you say YUM?

Thank goodness for leftovers. I get to have this another night! And then another!

I'm back!

yay.

Tonight I made beef with snow peas and it was delicious!!!

I wish these pictures were better, because this dinner was amazinggg. I marinated the flank steak in a combination of soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and fresh ginger. I stir fried the flank steak with snow peas and served it over steamed jasmine rice. Then, I topped it all off with crushed red pepper flakes. It was soooo goooood.

I went to Vegas over the weekend and it was amazing. But, I got very little sleep from staying out late and am now very sick. So, I may not be blogging this week because all I want to do right now after work is sleep and I have no appetite. Hopefully I will be back on here soon. But for now, it is resting time.

Tonight I made an incredibly delicious grilled cheese sandwich. It was a "sweet and spicy" sandwich. I made the sandwich with sharp cheddar cheese, pepper jack cheese (the spicy), caramelized onions (the sweet), and a slice of tomato. It was so yummy. I want to make another one now. yumyumyum.

So I didn't update at all last week because I had so many leftovers from Casey's visit and I didn't want to spend money on more groceries when I had so much food already! But this week I am back to cooking. :)


Lately I have been craving fried chicken. So, tonight I decided to make oven-fried chicken as a healthier alternative to deep fried chicken. I dipped the chicken in a buttermilk, salt, and cajun-seasoning mixture and then dredged it in Panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Then I baked the chicken in the oven. It was really crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. It was great, I loved it a lot and this chicken has about 400 calories less per serving than original deep fried chicken. Awesome.

For a side dish, I made steamed green beans tossed with fresh chives, fresh parsley, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and a little bit of butter. They were pretty good, but not my absolute favorite. They didn't have enough flavor in my opinion, so I don't know if I will make them again.

Casey came to visit this weekend and we had such a great time together. And of course, I cooked for him a little bit :). The first morning I made a peach french toast bake. It was fantastic.


This breakfast is basically normal french toast, but baked in the oven instead of cooked on a griddle. With this recipe, you put all of the ingredients together the night before, let them soak together and become flavorful in the fridge overnight, and then simply pop the dish in the oven in the morning. oh my goshhhh yummm. This french toast recipe includes a whole wheat baguette (my attempt at healthy!), eggs, milk, vanilla extract, fresh peaches, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pure maple syrup topping. I would have ordered this breakfast at a restaurant, it was so good.

I also cooked dinner for Casey but it was a repeat of the miso glazed cod (one of my current favorite recipes that I have already blogged about).

For breakfast today, I made one of my and Casey's ultimate favorites: the BELT. Bacon. Egg. Lettuce. Tomato. Perfection.
I don't know what it is about this sandwich that is so good but it really is THAT good. It is just a classic blt with a fried egg on top but it makes such an amazing breakfast. nomnomnom

Tonight I made black bean Mexican-style pizza and it was delicious! I used a whole wheat tortilla as the crust and topped the pizza with a homemade black bean dip, chopped tomatoes, shredded green cabbage, and fresh cilantro. I made the homemade black bean dip out of sauteed onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, black beans (wait really? black beans in black bean dip? no way!), fresh lime juice, ground cumin, fresh cilantro, salt, and pepper. The dip was AMAZING. It was good to eat all by itself! But the pizza was pretty great too. :)

My kitchen smells amazing

Tonight I made homemade granola and oh my gosh it is so delicious and smells like heaven.

It was also one of the easiest things to make ever. I combined old fashioned rolled oats, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, slivered almonds, pure maple syrup, ground cinnamon, and a hint of salt together in a bowl. Then I spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet and baked it in the oven for half an hour. mmmm.

Tonight I made a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing...but do not be fooled by the salad title...this was definitely a comfort food.
This salad included bacon (YUM),sauteed red onions, and sauteed mushrooms. The warm dressing was made out of reduced apple cider, apple cider vinegar, and dijon mustard.

This salad was the most un-salady salad ever.

I absolutely love moist chicken....and the chicken I made tonight was oh so deliciously moist. I made oven-baked bone-in chicken thighs with a maple-mustard crust. The crust was made out of dijon mustard, fresh garlic, dried marjoram, and maple syrup. I baked the chicken low and slow for about an hour and it was so perfect.

Chop Suey!

Tonight I made chicken chop suey. I love the name, but the dish was only so-so. It had great potential, but ended up being a little bit bland. It also took a whole lot of time to prepare (lots of chopping...I guess that's why it is called chopped suey?:))

But it was still decent, and definitely very healthy because it was LOADED with veggies! The recipe included: scallions, garlic, cabbage, celery, bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and much more. It was pretty good but could have used some more seasoning. I am thinking about loading the leftovers with soy sauce:) can't ever go wrong with soy sauce!

Tonight I made ziti with sweet italian sausage, onions, and fennel. This was my first time cooking with fennel and it was so great! I love its licorice flavor. I'm sleepy so this is all I am going to write for now.:)

It was a surprise in my mouth!

Tonight I made STUFFED turkey burgers!!! yum!!!!! These healthy recipes just keep getting better and better.


For only 310 calories per burger, this turkey burger was just as mouthwatering as any beef creation. I stuffed the burger with roasted red peppers and mozzarella cheese. It was so good.

Tonight I made a classic cuban dish called Picadillo. It was divine.
This dish is kind of a cuban take on hamburger casserole. It is one of those simple recipes where all you have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients in a skillet and then let those ingredients slowly simmer and marry together. And this marriage is incredibly delicious. This picadillo recipe includes white onion, ground round beef, garlic, beef broth, raisins, pimiento-stuffed olives, capers, tomato paste, and freshly ground black pepper. All of this yummy-ness is then served over rice. The flavor of Picadillo is sweet and savory at the same time. The sweetness of the raisins combined with the saltiness of the olives and capers is amazing. I really loved this dish.

The best lamb I have ever had

Other than incredible lamb madras at a select few indian restaurants, tonight I made the best lamb I have ever had.

I marinated the lamb chops (at room temperature for 20 minutes) with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, fresh oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper. Then I broiled the lamb for about 5 minutes on each side. The meat was so tender, so moist, so perfect. I absolutely loved this marinade and will definitely make this lamb again. I was also very careful not to overcook the lamb because overcooked lamb is chewy and icky and dry. Moist lamb is yummy yum yum.

For a side dish, I tried out a grilled romaine lettuce recipe. I really didn't like it much and wouldn't recommend it. But the lamb made up for the side dish.

Today I attempted my first homemade soup, and I am SO happy with the outcome! I made lemon chicken soup with orzo, basically a chicken noodle soup with lemon substituting orzo for noodles. It was DELICIOUS! It was definitely a comfort lunch.

Tonight I made balsamic chicken with baby spinach and couscous. It was great. I made plain couscous with a little bit of olive oil, sauteed spinach with toasted garlic, pan grilled chicken, and finally the best part of the entire meal: A sauce made with balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, and chopped tomatoes. The flavor in the sauce was outstanding and made the entire meal perfect.

Quick update: I had the fettuccine alfredo leftovers tonight and to help thicken the sauce, I added cornstarch and it worked miracles. I literally googled "how to thicken sauce" and found a random website with directions. So, I used a tablespoon of cornstarch for every cup of sauce, added a bit of water to the cornstarch to make it a thin paste, added the corn starch mixture to the sauce on the stove top, let it simmer to activate the corn starch and voila! Thickened sauce. Perfection.

Tonight I made fettuccine with homemade alfredo sauce. The alfredo sauce came from a healthy cookbook, so it was supposed to be a healthy rendition of the typical fettuccine alfredo. I made it with butter, half-and-half, fresh grated parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.The flavor was spot on and very delicious. Unfortunately, the consistency was not there. The sauce was very liquidy. But, because the flavor was so good I will play around with this recipe and hopefully get it to a better consistency where the sauce is still relatively healthy.

French fries are my number one guilty pleasure, but chicken fingers come in as a very very veryyy close second. When I found a recipe for healthy chicken fingers, I had to try it. And I am so glad I did because the chicken fingers I made tonight were amazing!

To make the chicken, first I soaked the slices of chicken in buttermilk for 15 minutes in the fridge. Then, I breaded the chicken with crushed corn chex cereal seasoned with salt and pepper. Then, I simply baked the chicken pieces in the oven until fully cooked through.

Also, I made a homemade honey mustard sauce. I combined dijon mustard, honey, and a little bit of mayonnaise. It was so much better than store bought honey mustard.

My guilty pleasure has now become just a pleasure. Healthy childhood favorite win.

pizzaaa!

Okay, so I took the easy way out with making pizza, but I still made it! The crust is a whole wheat tortilla (why it is the easy way out) but it was still legit! I topped the tortilla with sauteed arugula, caramelized red onions, and fresh goat cheese. Then I simply baked it in the oven for 10 minutes. And oh boy oh boy oh boy it was DELICIOSO!

I made a DELICIOUS dessert/anytime yummy yummy yummy yummy yummy snack today.


Unfortunately, the picture is out of focus. But I made candied maple glazed walnuts and oh my goodness they are soo sooo soooooo good, I am addicted.

All I did was heat a pan on the stove to medium high heat, add walnuts, maple syrup, and a little bit of salt and let the maple syrup carmelize and the walnuts toast. Oh my gosh you have to try and make this it is SO good!! I'm gonna go eat more now.

Homemade mexican food is so amazing.

Today for brunch I made huevos rancheros. On top of a toasted corn tortilla I added a mixture of diced tomatoes, sauteed onions, chopped green bell peppers, garlic, chopped green chiles, mexican style chile powder, ground cumin, oregano, and hot sauce. On top of the tomato mixture I added a fried egg. On top of the fried egg I added fresh salsa. On top of the salsa I added shredded monterey jack cheese. And finally, on top of the cheese I added fresh chopped cilantro.

This meal bursted with so many fresh, delicious flavors. It was great. Fresh mexican food is the best.

Tonight I made pasta with kale, white beans, and turkey sausage. It was yummy.

I'm really sleepy so I don't have a lot to say about it other than it was delicious.

okay bye:)

Last night, my dinner was divine. So good, in fact that I went into a food coma after eating it and forgot to blog. So now I blog.
I made miso-glazed cod and broccoli with toasted garlic. Not only was this dinner restaurant quality delicious, it was really easy. The cod marinade called for the following ingredients: white miso, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and mirin (Japanese cooking wine). I was able to find all of these ingredients in a commercial grocery store except for the white miso, so I improvised. The only thing close to white miso that I could find was instant miso soup mix, so I bought it and I used it. And it was awesome. I have found that improvising substitution ingredients in recipes is always either a hit or miss, but it is worth it to try because those few hits are incredible. I brushed this marinate on the fish, let it sit in the fridge for a little while, then broiled the fish for like 5 minutes. So easy. So mouthwatering. If you like asian food and seafood, you would LOVE this fish.

Then for a side dish, I made broccoli with toasted garlic. I microwaved the broccoli with a little bit of water in the microwave for a few minutes, toasted some garlic with olive oil over the stove, then combined the two. YUM.

I have a cold:( So tonight I made some comfort food. and it was happy.


I made roasted pork tenderloin seasoned with garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Simple and delicious. Then for a side, I made caramelized carrots. I mixed baby carrots with soy sauce, brown sugar, olive oil, salt, and pepper and then baked them in the oven for about 20 minutes. They reminded me of sweet potatoes, but in a carrot form. I loved them.

I am so happy it is the weekend. Time for some rest and hopefully I will get over this cold!

It is monsooning like crazy here. <--video of the monsoon from my apartment


On another note, I had a cooking fail tonight. :(

I made a mushroom rigatoni bake which sounded so good in the recipe but it did not turn out well at all. I am thinking there are two reasons I didn't like the recipe. First of all, I am not too familiar with making a white cream sauce from scratch and the flour for the sauce never completely dissolved, possibly resulting in a weird flavor. Also, the recipe called for asiago cheese which is a very strong cheese and it is possible that I simply do not really like asiago cheese. Whatever it was, I did not like the taste of this dish and it made me sad. But I am determined to blog about it anyway because I am a learning chef! Below are pictures of my failed creation.
I need something happy in my mouth. Time for some icecream.

another one of my favorite meals

I worked from 6-3 today, so with my extra time in the afternoon I decided to take some extra time in the kitchen. Tonight for dinner I made some of the best chicken I have ever had. And it is all about the marinade. I marinated boneless skinless chicken thighs in lemon juice, lemon rind, honey, fresh thyme, and olive oil for 2 hours. Then, I broiled the chicken. The result was amazing: moist, flavorful, succulent chicken. I will make this recipe again for sure.

Andddd to top it all off I had a REALLY delicious side dish of asparagus! In fact, it is now my favorite way to make asparagus. I first baked the asparagus in the oven and then drizzled them with a balsamic browned butter made with browned butter, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. The combination of those three ingredients was a taste explosion. I loved it!!

Tonight I made tacos. They were REALLY delicious! I used corn tortillas, but to be honest next time I would use flour tortilas. Corn tortillas are wayyy too dense in my opinion and I like the airy fluffiness of flour. I filled the tacos with grilled flank steak, sauteed onions, oregano, garlic, coriander, mushrooms, anaheim chile peppers, mexican blend shredded cheese, and store bought fresh salsa. mmm.

I'M BACK! Did you miss me?

Yesterday I got back from a week long vacation in Longboat Key with mom, Richie, and Casey. It was SUCH a blast. However, I gained about a thousand pounds from eating out so I am definitely excited to be back to cooking for myself (at least for a few days before I go to Atlanta this weekend).

We ate so much delicious food and played a LOT of golf there! And I think I played pretty well! I only lost a few balls and although I started from 150 yards from the pin, I hit a few pars and a few bogies. hooray for me!

So tonight, I decided to make a yummy salad.

I made the salad with sweet butter lettuce, peaches, prosciutto, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. I made the dressing with fresh squeezed lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, and fresh mint. It was a really light and refreshing salad. I liked it a lot! The only thing I would change would be to add a little bit less mint to the dressing because its flavor was a bit mint heavy. But other than that, I loved it.

Every once in a while, I cook something so delicious that I wish everyone I knew could take a bite of it to tell me how awesome it is. And tonight, I made something that good. Oh my GOSH I was really surprised by how good my dinner was!! I'm really excited for leftovers tomorrow night.

I made a seared tuna sandwich with balsamic onions.

The picture does not do this sandwich justice. This sandwich bursted with so much flavor and even though I am stuffed, I am kind of craving it again already. So how did I make it? I dredged the tuna fillet in flour, salt, garlic powder, and pepper and then cooked it in a skillet for a few minutes on each side. Then to cook the onions, I sauteed them in butter and then sauteed them with balsamic vinegar and dried thyme. On the bun I put a little bit of dijon mustard, add the tomato and lettuce and bam! There you have an incredibly delicious sandwich. For a side, I made roasted green beans with lemon (a repeat).

My tummy is really happy right now.

Today I decided to venture out of my own cookbook...and into my roommate's cookbook! So I made asian food tonight, and I didn't fail. hooray.

I made shrimp pad thai and while it was a little bit lighter than what I am used to from restaurants, it was actually really delicious!

I never thought I was capable of making asian food, so this triumph was very exciting for me. I will for sure try to cook again from my roommate's cookbooks.

My big fat greek recipe!

Tonight I made Greek lamb chops (for some reason I like imagining the word lamb being pronounced with a thick Greek accent, so do me a favor and imagine the same). Awesome. I seasoned the lamb with oregano, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Then I broiled the lamb. For a Greek side dish, I made couscous tossed with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese.

Me cooking all of this Greek food is not going to help correct people who swear I look Greek. I promise you, I am not Greek. Ask my mom and dad.

A deliciously healthy alternative to mexican food

It is so important to cook with fresh ingredients. And the recipe I made tonight proved this fact. Fresh ingredients make food taste so good!

Tonight I made chicken with black bean salsa. And it was awesome. In the first picture you can see all of the ingredients I used to make the salsa: black beans, fresh sweet corn, red onion, jalapeño peppers, fresh lime juice, olive oil, salt, ground coriander, and cherry tomatoes. The chicken was cooked very easily: over the stove in a pan with a little bit of butter. It was tender and simply delicious.

I really enjoyed this dish and do not feel greasy and icky like I usually do after eating mexican food. win.