I hosted this month at Food ‘n Flix and chose Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for my inspiration (see the announcement post here). One of my favorite childhood movies, Willy Wonka is full of fun, wonder, and tasty looking creations (the snozberries taste like snozberries!) – and what better time for a sugar fest than the holidays?! (more…)
I wanted to do a big Christmas dinner, but I didn’t want to be in the kitchen all Christmas Day. I also wanted to try something different than the usual rib roast and Yorkshire pudding. So I decided to do dinner on Christmas Eve and to do some easy, low-prep dishes for Brunch on Christmas Day.
I ordered a half fresh ham through Whole Foods to try cooking a Christmas ham for the first time, but I made a few mistakes. I wanted to cook it in the slow cooker with brown sugar and cider to make a glaze, but I didn’t realize that “fresh ham” is not really what we consider ham – without the curing or smoke, it is more like a pork roast – so I didn’t really get the flavor that I wanted. I also couldn’t get the whole thing to fit in my (very large) slow cooker insert, so I had to chop a chunk off – which actually ended up being a good thing because I roasted that piece and it came out better. (more…)
As I stated in my Announcement Post, I am hosting this month’s Food ‘n Flix with inspiration from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I wanted to get a little wacky and fun and colorful (and a little naughty) so I made this beautiful stained glass jello and boozed it up a little.
The process starts out with setting a few different colors of jello – you can use less colors (red and green for Christmas, for example) but I wanted to be pretty colorful. I also added alcohol, which you can leave out.
Once the jello is fully set, cut it into cubes and toss together gently in a 9×13 glass pan. Put it back into the fridge to make sure it stays cold. (more…)
The recipe calls this “mac and cheese”, but I feel like it is more of a “cheesy casserole”. Either way, it is tasty and good for you – packed with protein rich quinoa and tasty veggies. You can make it even healthier by using fat free milk and fat free cheese. It is also totally customizable to your tastes!
Start by sauteing whatever veggies you want to use. I went with leeks and tomatoes as suggested by the recipe, but you could do onions or shallots, bell peppers, corn, spinach, anything you want.
Add the quinoa and allow to toast a little bit to get extra flavor. (more…)
What, you may ask, is “Rainbow Booze”? This is what a call all the fun, fruity, and candy-like alcoholic recipes that I made for a recent party (okay, not that recent – I am really behind on this post…) I had been wanting to try out these things for awhile, but not by myself, so I hosted a party and let the taste testing begin!
My favorite recipe was probably the Spiked Rainbow Jello Mold. I just love alcoholic jello, I don’t know why.
All you need is six boxes of Jello in rainbow colors, some unflavored gelatine, sweetened condensed milk (optional – only to make the jello more opaque), and some very cold alcohol. I think flavored rum is the best way to go because it has the least alcohol taste. I used coconut rum, but you can use whatever you like. (Full recipe below.)
Next up were two candy based concoctions – Gummy Bears infused with Rum, and Vodka infused with Jolly Ranchers. (more…)
This is a super quick and easy weeknight meal that works any time of year. Orange zest and juice tie the kebabs and pasta together and the sweet and tangy sauce for the chicken is delicious. Couscous cooks ridiculously fast, but you could use quinoa instead if you have more time to cook. You could also add whatever vegetables you like to it to change it up. (more…)
In my ever-continuing quest to find healthier foods, I stumbled across this recipe. Cupcakes, that are diet-friendly, in my favorite tropical flavor combo, made with only 5 ingredients! Yeah – these are awesome.
For the cake part, you only need 2 ingredients (only 2!) – cake mix and canned crushed pineapple. That’s it! The pineapple takes the place of the eggs and oil making these super low-fat. (more…)
I LOVE roasted beets – sweet and rich and beautiful, like healthy edible jewels! One of my favorite ways to serve them is in a salad with watercress and fresh mozzarella. But I have made that so many times that I wanted to try something a little different. This version uses goat cheese, a slightly more complex dressing, and a different method of roasting.
Usually I just wrap the beets in foil and roast them. This method involves first placing the beets on a bed of salt and herbs. It imparts just a little bit more flavor to the beets. (more…)
I recently had a lunch date with my friend Melissa of Smells Like Brownies. As a long time vegetarian, I wanted her help to learn ways of using quinoa other than just as a substitute for rice. She suggested that we make this Quinoa salad, chock-full of roasted veggies with a balsamic dressing. I couldn’t wait to try it! Roasted sweet potatoes and red onion, hearty kale, sweet and tangy apples – all the beautiful flavors of Fall. (more…)
Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed us without incident, I can catch up on posting! Thanks to everyone for praying and thinking about us out here on the East Coast.
I have been trying to expand my repertoire of fish dishes beyond just salmon and discovered a really easy way to cook halibut. Wrapping it in parchment paper with with various other ingredients and baking it leaves it moist, flaky, and flavorful. Plus the presentation is really cool!
One combination that I really liked was lemon, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, olive oil, and basil. I made this right at the end of summer with super sweet cherry tomatoes – look at those colors! (more…)