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.