Eggs Your Way

My favorite meal of the day is breakfast.  I cook eggs different ways for breakfast just about every day and never get sick of it.  It's quick, easy and delicious.  Most of my friends throughout college and even into mid 20's still cook breakfast for dinner.  There will be a whole section of the book dedicated to breakfast because of this.  I'm sure everyone knows how to scramble eggs, but here's one of my favorite morning meals.

BAJA SCRAMBLE

INGREDIENTS

2 Eggs
Fresh Salsa
1/2 Hass Avocado
Freshly Chopped Cilantro
1/4th Chopped Sweet Onion
2 Tblspoons Olive Oil

MAKING THE MEAL

Use a small sauté pan.  Line it with olive oil and over medium heat add your onions.  While that cooks about 2 minutes, crack open your eggs and whip them up in a small bowl.  Once the onions are translucent, add your eggs and cilantro.  Cook another two minutes or so until eggs are fluffy.

Serve on a small dish topped with the sliced avocado and salsa.  Makes for a colorful, nutritious meal.

ENJOY!

Say Yes to the BACON BLOODY

   

Ok so I'm totally stealing the bacon idea from a restaurant I went to recently, but DAMN... best idea ever.  What is it?  BACON IN YOUR BLOODY INSTEAD OF SALT AROUND THE RIM!!!

Duh, why didn't we think of that years ago?!  Maybe we did and I'm just now discovering it.  My world has changed.  Helloooooo Bacon Bloody Mary.  Damn, Gina.

I already had a good bloody concoction, but this just made it epic.  You taste a hint of bacon in every sip.  If you're a fat kid on the inside or out, this drink is for you.  Try it next Sunday when you feel like getting a jump start on your day.

BACON BLOODY

Ingredients:

Spicy bloody mary mix 

1/2 lemon- freshly squeezed juice

Freshly cracked pepper

Dash of Worcester sauce

squirt of Sriracha

Dash of sea salt

Garnishes:

1 piece crispy thick cut bacon

Thin slice of lemon

1 stick celery

Don't be afraid to drink this at night.  Still delicious.  Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Roasted Pepper & Hummus Wrap

OMG she's blogging two days in a row?!  Stop it.  

So I saw a recipe like this in my Cooking Light magazine I subscribe to and it looked delightful.  I created a spin off of what I saw there for lunch today.  It was the perfect light lunch for a busy work day.

This was simple enough for me to prepare in less than 10 minutes on the way out the door.  If you are making it for work, it would be an easy one to prepare the night before as well.

Ingredients

Red bell pepper - thinly sliced

Cucumber- thinly sliced

Crumbled goat cheese

Onion - thinly sliced

Spicy hummus

Wheat tortilla

*No measurements used only because I just stuffed as much of each as I could into the wrap.  And to be honest, you will want seconds, or your friend may steal this from you.  So extras are OK.

Preparation

Lightly brown the bell pepper & onions in skillet.  I didn't use any oil because I wanted them to get the charred taste, I suggest the same.  But using a little olive oil would be good too.  

Once those are browned, assemble your wrap!  I spread the hummus out first, then stacked veggies and topped it with goat cheese.  

Eat up!

Shrimp & Vodka Bow Tie

"Write whatever you just did down immediately, that's making the cookbook" 

- Trinity.  AKA professional recipe tester.

Simple Ingredients

Farafalle (AKA bow tie pasta)

Fresh Basil - thinly sliced for garnish as shown above

1/2 lb cooked jumbo shrimp

4oz heavy whipping cream

8oz package mini pearl grape tomatoes - chopped in half

1/2 cup good quality vodka 

3 garlic gloves - minced

2 shallots - finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Olive oil

Nom Nom Directions

Start boiling water for pasta first.  When it's ready, throw in desired amount of pasta, a dash of salt & start your vodka sauce.

In large sauce pan, coat a few times around with olive oil & throw in the shallots.  Sauté over medium heat for a minute, then add the vodka, tomatoes, garlic, & heavy whipping cream, spices & bring to a boil.  Let the alcohol cook off a few minutes and allow sauce to reduce.  Take the sauce out and pour into a blender or food processor.  Blend together until almost smooth (some chunks are kind of nice).

Put the sauce back in the sauce pan & add shrimp.  Cook for a five minutes over medium heat, allowing all of the flavors to mix together and shrimp to warm up.

Serve immediately and add fresh basil garnish on top.

Enjoy!  And keep reading... more delicious original recipes coming soon!

This Week's Lineup

It's seems there's never enough time in the day to do what you want.  For me it's blogging.  I'm going to try 4-5 new recipes every week starting now, and make the time to blog about them!  Here's my lineup for this week:

1. Hummus & Grilled Veggie Wrap  

2. PB Omelet (this sounds disgusting but I'm going to give it a go)

3. Avocado & Egg Bake

4. Shrimp & Vodka Penne

Recipes starting TODAY!  Cheers.

Almost Paleo Chili

 

My recent decision to change to a mostly paleo diet is still holding strong.  From February 1st- 26th (the beginning of my epic trip to Honduras) I have made a pact with the Crossfit crew to eat paleo and Crossfit 5x week.  I'm on week two, day 1.  It's hard.  And I've definitely cheated with the paleo thing already, whoopsie!

This recipe has been past down to me from my late Grandma Barbara.  I am all about the original recipe, but over the years I have began to alter it a little.  I've made it a bit heart healthier, and given it a bit more Mexican flare.  I think it's great.  Here's where the recipe stands today...

Ingredients.

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can whole tomatoes

2 cans black beans (Paleo kids-remove beans/ sub steak)

1 package ground turkey

1 green bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

3 garlic cloves

2 yellow onions

1 can black olives

Herbs & Spices.

5 tablespoons chile powder

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon black pepper

Dash of oregano

Handful chopped parsley

Handful chopped cilantro

Cook it.

Chop up all the veggies.  Line a large pot with olive oil a few times around.  Throw in all the veggies and cook over low heat until the onions are translucent (about 10 minutes).

While that is cooking, in another pan sauté the turkey meat.  Cook thoroughly adding salt & pepper.

When the veggies are done cooking, add the turkey, beans, and tomatoes to the pot.  Add all of the herbs and spices and lower the heat to a simmer.  Cook for 40min- 1hour covered.

Serve with freshly baked cornbread if you aren't doing a silly Paleo diet!  Enjoy!

Spice Up Your Life

Love me some spices. I think a lot of people that are just beginning to cook are a little afraid of them though. How much spice do I use? What do I buy and for what? The only way to find out is to just go for it! I'm pretty notorious for making things too spicy, but that's how I like it! I've made bland dishes, and dishes so spicy that I sweat while eating. You can't win 'em all, but you should try 'em all. Go buy some new spices for your cabinet. Here's what's in mine...

Well that's nice Steph, but what should I buy?
Here's some staples I just can't live without:
salt & pepper
seasoned salt
red pepper flakes
oregano
basil
parsley
curry powder
Buy and use these and you can make almost anything taste fantastic.
Thanks for reading!

Homemade Tortilla Soup

My friend Nicaela introduced me to La Siesta about a month ago, and the BEST tortilla soup of my life! Ever since then I dream about tortilla soup. Fresh cilantro, melty cheese, chunks of warm avocado... heaven in my mouth.

I can't say that I completely came up with this recipe. The truth is I googled how to make tortilla soup and stole bits and pieces of other people's recipes. I think this is completely acceptable though. After all, nothing is really original any more. And more than anything, I'm just trying to teach you how to cook!

So if you love tortilla soup as much as I do, try this one...


Ingredients

1 bunch of cilantro
2 chicken breasts
1 anaheim chile- Beware. I didn't remove the seeds and it was EXTRA spicy! If you are sensitive, remove the seeds.
1 yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
3 plum tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 can sweet white corn or 1 cob fresh white corn
1 avocado
2 corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded Oaxaca cheese
vegetable oil
salt & pepper

How to cook it

I was really surprised how simple this recipe is, yet how fancy it looks! No need to be intimidated on this one kids.

Start by putting the chicken broth in a large pot over high heat. While that is warming up, get out a griddle pan. Over medium heat place the garlic (peel on), onion (chopped in half and peeled), whole anaheim chile, and whole tomatoes on the griddle pan. Cook these until they are golden brown or have some nice grill color on the outside like pictured below. This will take about 5-8 minutes, turning frequently.



When the veggies are done cooking, remove them from the pan. Throw all of the veggies into a blender. Make sure to peel the garlic and chop the tomatoes, chile and onion into quartered chunks. This is going to sound weird, but I stole this from another recipe and it totally makes it great! Also throw in one corn tortilla into the blender along with some of the chicken broth. Blend everything together until smooth. Add the blended veggies & the corn to the simmering chicken broth.

Next cook your chicken. I just threw it on the same griddle pan I cooked the veggies on. Season it with some seasoned salt & pepper and grill until done. Shred it up into bite sized chunks and throw into the soup.

Once everything is in the soup you can let it simmer for as long as you want. I cooked it about an hour and was impressed by all the flavors.

The last step is to add the garnishes when serving. Make sure you add these garnished to individual cups rather than the whole pot of soup, they will get soggy and ruin the soup! I fried up a fresh corn tortilla on the chicken pan with some veggie oil until it was browned then chopped it up into tortilla strips. I think this is the best way to go, it really adds a lot of flavor. Chop up some cilantro, throw some cubes of avocado, and the shredded cheese in it and you're done!

It involves a lot of small tasks at the end, but the garnishes make the soup. Suck it up & do it.

Happy New Year!