Easter, Easter, Easter!

March 31, 2013 2 Comments

Happy Easter

 

Easter for my family was fairly low key which was nice. I actually haven’t been home in a while for Easter and I feel like I kind of forgot what the celebration was like. I woke up this morning around 7 and started making some goodies for breakfast. The star of the meal was by far the Apple Cider and Rum French Toast, that was topped with chunky applesauce from Trader Joe’s. YUMMY.

Apple Cider French Toast

 

Ingredients:

4 Slices of White Bread 3 Eggs
1/4 Cup Apple Cider 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Bacardi Rum

Directions:

1. Mix up the eggs, apple cider, rum and cinnamon until well blended.

IMG_0850

 

2. Soak the bread lightly in the mix on both sides and cook it on a skillet sprayed with non-stick spray over medium heat. Brown it on both sides.

IMG_0853

 

 

And ENJOY! These were such a hit. You could really taste the apple cider in the french toast, with a hint of rum. the chunky apples sauce on top really tied it together.

IMG_0857

 

 

I also made some soft, hard boiled eggs. Doesn’t make sense…but it will! I am a BIG fan of these guys and I felt like they were appropriate for Easter considering they are shaped like an egg still. If I had thought about it a little more, I may have added a little dye to the water to color them :-)

IMG_0885 IMG_0891

 

So fun right??! They are super easy. Boil some water and place the eggs in for 6 minutes exactly. When you take them out, place them right into a cold bowl of water. When they are cool, peel them and enjoy! Love them!!

We enjoyed all of this with some bacon and fresh berries. I’d say a solid showing for breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed out to church.

IMG_0893

 

Then started getting ready for the main event. I took on the job of just one of the appetizer plates. I decided on a festive Bunny Veggie Platter. I had previously made a cornucopia for Thanksgiving and wanted to do something similar for Easter.

IMG_0930

 

The bunny is simply made of Pillsbury Breadsticks.

Directions:

1. Take a two pieces of tin foil and shape them into the body and the head of the bunny. Place them next to each other on a greased cookie sheet. Start by placing the bread sticks over the bread sticks over the tin foil, making sure you tuck a portion of each stick under the tin foil. This makes sure that there is something to hold up the bunny once your remove the tin foil. Add on a piece for the nose and ears. I had some leftover, so I made a carrot as well.

IMG_0903

 

2. Mix 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of water in a small bowl. With a brush, generously paint it on the bunny. Season with salt to taste and garlic powder to taste. Bake the bunny (and carrot in our case) in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are nice and browned.

 

IMG_0909

 

IMG_0918

 

3. Once the breadsticks have cooled, flip them over carefully and peel out the tin foil. This is why it is important to tuck the breadsticks around a bit. It won’t have anything to stand on if you don’t.

IMG_0916

 

Once the tin foil is out, you are done! Place chopped veggies around it to make it look nice. I used two olive slices for the eyes because the dough ones moved a bit when it came out of the oven. One of the eyes baked onto the ear. Not a good look for a bunny.

I think this turned out really well. So festive :-)

IMG_0922

 

We had some family come over and had little easter egg hunt for the little girls. It was a lot of fun to watch them run around the yard looking for eggs and getting all excited. I was thinking that maybe we should hide beer and have an adult easter egg hunt. That may just happen next year…

Over all, it was a really fun Easter. Nothing too crazy, but exciting enough!

What is your ideal holiday?? Low key with family or wild and crazy?!

 

Filed under Appetizers, Breakfast, Vegetarian Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eggtastic

March 23, 2013 1 Comment

This past week, all that I have been snapping pictures, making mental notes of things that need to go up here, and just never really biting the bullet and getting down to it. This week I ventured to Shreveport, LA for a meeting and spent my Tuesday and Wednesday in the airport. NOT FUN. Shreveport, by the way, is really out there. It’s the north west corner of Louisiana and is REALLY close to where Duck Dynasty is filmed.

We went on a St Patty’s Day run and had some green beer to celebrate. Then went to the St Patty’s Day parade in Southie in Boston. For everyone that isn’t from Boston, Southie is the area of Boston notorious for their Irish population. This is also the place, along with Charlestown, that you see in the movie, The Town. Phenomenal. (Pictures of all of this to follow.)

So, waking up this morning, I decided to start chipping away at my long list of things that I wanted to share. First, and yummiest, are these delicious Cajun Turkey Breakfast Cups. They are the easiest thing in the world to make, but look quite fancy.

Cajun Turkey Breakfast Cups

 

Ingredients:

6 Slices of Turkey 6 Eggs
Cajun Seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. In each cup, put a slice of turkey lining it.

IMG_0732

 

2. Crack an egg in it.

IMG_0733

 

3. Put it in the oven for 20 minutes or until the egg is cooked through. As soon as it comes out of the oven, tip it with cajun seasoning to your liking.

IMG_0744

 

 

I used the Louisiana Cajun seasoning that I had received as a gift. It tastes a bit differently than the cajun seasoning that you would get anywhere else. If you have ever had it, you know what I’m talking about. It’s got a bit of salt in the flavor as well.

But, this is the second time that I have made these and am already brainstorming on the different ways that you can spin this. I love how easy these are and how fancy they look. They would be perfect for a brunch or breakfast party. You can make a ton of them at a time and they are yummy.

What are some other ways that you can make these Breakfast Cups??

 

I’m thinking Ham and Cheese may be a good option.

Filed under Breakfast Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

The Recipe Book

November 30, 2012 Leave a comment

For lunch today, I made a greek inspired pita pocket. It turned out really well, and was even better than I had thought it would be.

Greek Scrambled Pita

 

Ingredients:

1 Wheat Pita 2 Scrambled Eggs
2 Tablespoon Feta Cheese 1/3 Cup Chopped Cucumber
2 Tablespoons Sun Dried Tomato Humms

Yummy.

This afternoon, I took care of some projects that had been calling my name for a while. One of which, was doing something about my WALL, of cookbooks. During the holiday seasons especially, there are some cute little cookbooks that show up at the check out counter at Publix. Every once in a while I grab one. Well, every once in a while has turned a little shelf into these little cookbooks. I decided to trim it down a bit and consolidate them into 1 binder of everything.

IMG_8948

 

I used pocket dividers for each section, so I can easily add in magazine clippings and things like that. I’m always finding things that I want to give a try, and this is going to be a really easy way to keep it all in one spot. It also made my shelves look just a bit more organized!

Only a few more hours until the big race! I’m chugging water at the moment to make sure I’m hydrated enough. I always seem to get extremely dehydrated after running and I’m hoping to avoid that tomorrow.

See you after the big race!!

What have you done in the past to organize something that just seems to take up too much room??

 

 

Filed under Greek, Lunch, Organize Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Celebrating the Milestones!

November 16, 2012 Leave a comment

This morning I woke up and finished something that I don’t think I would have ever thought possible. After my little freak out earlier this week when I was looking at a 10 mile run, I conquered my fear and completed an 11 mile run! Whoot Whoot! This was the 1st time that I have run this distance (intentionally) and I couldn’t be more pumped.

I started the run with the mind set of, Let’s just finish it. My pace was slower than what I normally start out at for sure but I actually found myself thinking about how many miles I had left. After only a mile, I was thinking only 10 more to go! I can’t tell you how depressing that sounds mid jog.

My mindset for the remainder of the run was really casual. The run wasn’t over strenuous and it was fairly relaxing. Weird I know. When I hit around the 7 mile mark, I could feel myself getting a bit more tired. BUT, I had noticed a little old man hobbling down the sidewalk towards me. A car driving by honked hello at him and he jumped and waved excitedly. When I reached him, he looked up, stepped off the sidewalk and gave me the biggest double thumbs up, while shouting keep going!

Source

Haha! I couldn’t make this up. He put a little extra pep in my step for sure.

I did start to struggle when I was about a mile and a half out. My entire mid-section was started to cramp up and I could tell my body was just really feeling it. I walked for about 25 yards and just decided to power through. I mean, what’s 1 mile in the midst of 11?!

When I got back, I sat on the couch and drank more water than any person should ever consume at one time. Eventually I recovered enough to head to the kitchen and make something for breakfast. Laziness kicking in again, I made my microwave eggs. Side Note: 1 minute and a half works perfectly. I had some comments that their eggs were blowing up a bit with 2 minutes :-) I think I just have a really old microwave!

I chopped it up, and put it on top of a cranberry english muffin. I’m really starting to LOVE these english muffins. The cranberries are so refreshing.

YUMM. That obviously wasn’t enough so I killed about half a container of raw almonds to go along with it.

For the rest of the day, I’ve got some work to catch up on, the dogs to get to puppy boarding and some major cleaning. Busy, Busy, Busy.

Have you ever come across something unexpectedly that motivates you or gives you an extra boost of energy??

Filed under Breakfast, Half Marathon Training Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Slow Cooked Buffalo Chicken and a Breakfast Scramble

October 23, 2012 4 Comments

I meant to post this yesterday, but I guess today will do as well!

Yesterday I had woken up and ran 7 miles. It actually felt really good. The morning was cool and I just seemed to power through it. After the run, I was looking for something that was high protein, lean and fairly light. I wasn’t much in the mood for a high carb meal. I ended up making, what I like to call, A Breakfast Scramble. In a Breakfast Scramble, there is just about anything that you have lying around. There are no real ingredients, just what you happen to have sitting around. Yesterday, was a Broccoli Cheddar Breakfast Scramble.

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Steamed Broccoli 2 Eggs, Lightly Scrambled
1 Tablepsoon Shredded Cheddar Cheese Salt and Pepper to Taste

I had some leftover broccoli in the fridge that I steamed in the microwave for two minutes. I topped it off with some cheddar cheese and placed the lightly scrambled eggs on top. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on there and you have got a yummy, high protein breakfast. Perfect.

Brent was actually on his way over to drop Bacon off before work and I had made some buffalo chicken for him this weekend in the slow cooker. Even though I am vegetarian, I told him that if he bought the chicken, I would prepare it for him. Buffalo chicken is by far his favorite, so that’s what ended up happening.

For lunch, I made him a buffalo chicken sandwich.

Ingredients:

1.75 Pounds Chicken Breast 1 Cup Buffalo Wing Sauce
1 Hamburger Bun 1/4 Cup Lettuce

Directions:

1. In a crock pot, place your three chicken breasts and cover them with a cup of buffalo sauce. Cook on low heat for 7-8 hours.

2. After 7-8 hours, drain all of the sauce. Using a fork, break apart the chicken into shreds.

I ended up just putting it into the fridge afterwards because it finished up at 830 on Sunday. I plan on using this chicken throughout the week in as many recipes as possible. On the sandwich, I stirred in 1 Tablespoon of buffalo sauce into the single portion and put it on the hamburger bun.

Brent HATES blue cheese, so if that had not been the case, there would be some blue cheese on there. Or maybe some Muenster cheese?! He LOVED the sandwich though. Some of my other plans would be a salad and a flatbread. So stay tuned!

Today, is another day in Melbourne. I just finished up Jillian Michaels Yoga DVD, jumped in the shower and am now starving. I swear, there aren’t enough hours in the day.

What’s your favorite Buffalo Chicken dish?? Sandwich? PIzza??

Filed under Breakfast, Gluten Free, Lunch, Vegetarian Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Paleo Oatmeal and an Interval Workout

September 10, 2012 4 Comments

This morning I woke up and ran off to the gym to do my 3 mile run as scheduled. Upon walking through the kitchen, I noticed my bananas had literally peeled themselves. Bananas for breakfast it is!

Haha! How funny is that?! I laughed out loud when I saw that. Before I gave into my bananas, I went off to the gym.

Per the usual, I hate running on treadmills for a long period of time, I came up with another interval workout. This time, with distance and speed as opposed to a timed workout. So here’s what happened this morning:

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t jump off a time or two towards the end for a real quick breather. This run really had me going, and I am still recovering from it.

And then, we were back to the self peeling bananas. I was trying to come up with a unique way to cook up these bananas, because clearly, these were not normal bananas. I found a recipe on several blogs for Paleo Oatmeal, which is really an oatmeal without the oats! Say what? I ended up choosing this recipe from OnaPinkTypewriter.com. The recipe was changed up just a bit from what she originally did, but follows the same guidelines.

Looks just like real oatmeal doesn’t it?!

Ingredients:

2 Eggs 1/2 Cup Almond Milk
2 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseeds 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Banana, mashed 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Whisk together the eggs, and almond milk in a small bowl. Then stir in the banana, flaxseed, vanilla and cinnamon. Make sure the banana is smooth in the mixture.

2. In a small saucepan, heat up the mixture for about five minutes until you get the texture that you prefer. Just make sure you don’t leave it too liquid because there are eggs in there!

And Finito! Just put it into a bowl and top it off with anything that you like. I added more banana, because I had two self peeling bananas! and some more cinnamon. I could definitely see sliced almonds working well in this as well.

The texture is a bit different than anything else. It’s very fluffy. Add some granola or anything else crunchy if the texture gets to you a bit.

For lunch, I made some pasta because I was again, starving! SImple, Easy, Delicious.

Ingredients:

1 Serving Whole Wheat Penne 1/4 Cup Tomato
3 Chopped Basil Leaves 1/4 Cup Red Pepper
Tablespoon Fresh Paremsan Cheese 2 Tablespoon Catalina Dressing
2 Tablespoon Fresh Chives

No directions needed, just cook up the pasta and throw the rest on top! So easy! It was really light and filling at the same time. Just to give you an idea of HOW MANY VEGGIES I PUT IN THIS THING…

OH yea, I went nuts.

Brent had asked me to bring him by some lunch as well. But he didn’t want any of this “healthy” stuff. He wanted something SPICY! So I made him a quick, spicy pasta.

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Garlic and Onion Ragu 2 Tablespoon Hot Sauce
1/4 Cup Jalapenos 1/4 Cup Fontina Cheese

Really, nothing crazy at all, but much healthier than the Mac N Cheese covered in hot sauce that he wanted! Just adding the hot sauce to something that was already fully flavored and could handle a little spice made this pasta just that much better. Don’t be afraid to take those pre-made pasta sauces and turn them into something unique. Think of them as a starting point instead of the main attraction.

What are some other ways that you can dress up pasta quickly and easily?

Filed under Breakfast, Dinner, Gluten Free, Half Marathon Training, Lunch, Snacks, Treadmill Workout, Uncategorized, Vegetarian Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Great Road Trip Food

July 23, 2012 1 Comment

This past week, I went for a longer vacation up to Boston to visit my family and to also be a part of my friends wedding. It was absolutely beautiful and a perfect vacation. The only thing that makes this such a daunting trip, is the drive. Yes, I drove from Orlando, FL to Boston, MA. It’s not exactly a short trip and making it with two dogs and a cat just makes it an even bigger trip!

In preparation for the trip, I was trying to come up with some great foods that are portable, would clear out your fridge of all of the things that would go bad, and also help you stay healthy along the way. With so many terrible fast food restaurants out on the road, it makes it really hard to find something that isn’t going to sit in your stomach like a greasy brick.

So here is what I came up with!

1. Hard Boiled Eggs: These ended up being me and Brent’s favorite snack. It was perfect to just munch on and filled you up fairly quickly. They are also high protein and low calorie, so you don’t have to worry about these sitting in your stomach too long or making your feel uncomfortable. By hard boiling them you also can make sure those guys don’t go bad in the fridge while you are away. Yes, eggs have expiration dates, which they have now started to print on the eggs! Whooo

2. Fruit Roll Up: I took my left over strawberries that were for sure going to rot in the fridge while I was away and turned them into something that was fantastic to snack on, packed with flavor, and great for the road. You don’t have to worry about your fruits going bad on you and it is extremely easy to do. (The recipe for this will be posted this week)

3. Banana Apple Streusel Muffins: These muffins were delicious. They travel really well, and were a perfect breakfast on the road. You can take care of the bananas that you have turning brown on you, or use up the ones we all have in the freezer. They also make a great gift for when you arrive. (Recipe will be posted this week)

4. Banana Blueberry Muffins: I went a little muffin crazy, because I couldn’t decide which ones I wanted to make. These were a lighter muffin than the Apple Streusel because I used wheat flour in the previous batch. But these are just another example of how you can get rid of some of your fruits that will go bad and turn them into a gift and a perfect snack or breakfast. (Recipe will be posted this week)

5. Pepper and Cheddar Cheese Pasta Salad: When I came up with this idea, I was looking for something that was going to suit well for dinner without needing to be heated up. A pasta salad travels extremely well and tastes great cold or at room temperature. (Recipe will be posted this week)

6. Apples and Peanut Butter: Although this isn’t terribly complicated, I just chopped up some apples into slices and brought a little tub of peanut butter. As we were driving, this was our snack at 4 AM and it was perfect. The apples were still cold and woke us right back up and gave us the energy to finish out the trip. They were extremely refreshing and would highly recommend this on your next trip.

- Another take one the apples and peanut butter is sliced green peppers and Hummus. This is another thing that would be great to munch on on the road, but you run into the need to keep things cold there.

Each of these foods was great to have on the road for its own reason. We obviously needed to have Breakfast, lunch and dinner available so this is just what I thought would fit in well with our travels.

For drinks: I strongly recommend the Tazo Tea. It is lightly sweetened and gives you a great pick me up right when you need it without getting the awful crash that comes with a lot of coffee or high sugar drinks.

WATER: You are definitely going to need water. A trick is to freeze your water the night before because then it will not only act as a refreshing drink but also a freezer pack to keep your food cold. I did this with 2 liter bottles and it was still frozen 24 hours later. The food was still cold, but we needed to grab some more water on the way. So try a 1 liter bottle instead :-)

I also found some Tupperware at Target that allowed you to snap a cooler pack into the lid of the Tupperware. All you do is freeze that pack the night before and throw it in the container right before you leave. It worked fantastically.

Try not to load up on energy drinks early in the trip because you WILL CRASH and it will make driving later in the day much harder. Have your coffee and energy drinks only when you need them and you should make it the whole way.

And my little secret weapon and new love….My Cooler Bag! I packed everything into this guy and it stayed cold the entire way to Boston. I was never expecting that. I just got it the weekend before for 30 bucks at Dillards, and they have a whole bunch of other patterns.

I love love love it. It’s perfect to bring to the beach with some beers or cocktails in it. The only downside is, Brent doesn’t really like carrying a pink bag around. BUT, if I throw some beer in it, he’ll take the ego hit.

Anyways, the trip to Boston and the wedding were unbelievable. I just can’t believe it’s over. So stay tuned for a bunch of the recipes for the food that I brought on the trip, and a few things that I picked up in Boston!

Happy Eating!

Filed under The Sizzle Eat Way Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Southwestern Fritatta

June 26, 2012 Leave a comment

I have never actually made a fritatta before but after doing so, it will definitely be happening again! So don’t let the fancy name scare you, this is a really easy, simple, quick breakfast to make. You can even pack it for lunch or make it for a light dinner. It is absolutely full of flavor as well.

I did end up substituting Almond Milk for Non-Fat milk for the simple reason that I had no idea someone chugged my gallon of milk that I bought this weekend (naughty naughty). So feel free to sub back the Non-Fat milk. We all know how fluffy the milk can make those eggs!

( I went a bit heavy on the cheese, but hey, who doesn’t love a little extra cheese in the AM??)

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Chopped Onion (I used Red)                       1 Large Tomato

1/2 Chopped Green Pepper                                          1 Garlic Clove, Diced

5 Eggs                                                                                1 Tablespoon Non-Fat Milk

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Mustard                                  1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Pepper                                     1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Mozzarella Cheese (Low Fat)

 

Directions:

1. Heat up a large skillet to medium high heat. Add chopped onions, peppers, and garlic into the skillet with Olive Oil. Cook until soft.

2. Add chopped tomato and heat through. Feel free to add anything else to the veggies, such as olives.

3. In a small bowl, mix 5 eggs, milk, ground mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk.

4. Add egg mixture to skillet with vegetables.

5. Let it cook through, while taking the edges of the cooked eggs and allowing uncooked egg from the top to run underneath. Repeat this until the fritatta is cooked through.

6. Add cheese to the top, and wait 1-2 minutes for it to melt. Placing a cover on the skillet will speed up the melting time.

After the cheese is all melted, just cut it into quarters and eat up! It’s like a breakfast pizza, without all of the crazy carbs from the crust. Give it a try and mix things up a bit. Let me know what you come up with!

 

If you are worried about the portions or anything like that, try a PERSONALIZED Fritatta with a smaller skillet. You will much less of the ingredients and cook time will be reduced quite a bit.

 

Absolutely yummy and cheesy!

 

Have at it!

Filed under Breakfast Tagged with , , , , ,

frugal feeding

n. frugality; the quality of being economical with money or food.

into mind

a minimalist approach to personal style and wardrobe building

Storypiece

Stories About Life & Home

Storypiece

Stories About Life & Home

Sizzle Eats

Sizzling Food and Sizzling Fitness

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 372 other followers