Who needs Olive Garden

What a busy busy week!! Had a great Friday though!! I made the 50$ bonus this week at work, never thought I would! After work, had a great cardio run with Ms. Erin! And looking forward tio the weekend! I really have been craving seafood! Of course Chris wanted pizza and I sAid no!! Yehh I couldnt believe it either!! I love pizza. Well there is a reason Lol! Shauna and I are going for wine and pizza tomorrow!! Sooo seafood. I lovvvvve alfredo so why not make crab alfredo! Alfredo is one of the simplest things to make. Here ya go!

Crab Alfredo

8oz crab meat
3T butter
3 cloves garlic minced
3T flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2t cayenne pepper (this was alot)
2c of 1/2 & 1/2
4oz cream cheese
1/2c parmesan

Cook your noodles 8-10min. Melt butter and cook garlic 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, pepper, cayenne.  Cook for 2 min stirring often. Add half and half cook and whisk until thickened. Add cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Add crab!! Yummmm! Okay off to plan dinners and a grocery list.

Easy, Quick, Fish Tacos #1

What a lonnnggg lonnnng Tuesday! I had planned to eat leftover something tonight since Chris had a tooth pulled today, but I have been craving fish tacos thanks to my two lovely cousins Sara and Amanda!! We may only see each other once a year or Sara in your case once every few years, but I absolutely love that we can share recipes I love it I love it I love it!! Sharing and exchanging recipes with family is almost as exciting to me as cooking!! It enhaces my cooking experience!! So thanks to all my family and friends for sharing! Also, if anyone has a recipe they're considering making but havent had time, or are not that daring, or whatever, share it and I would love to try it out and write about it!
Well my cousins both shared their recipes and I definitely want to try both!! BUT I didnt get home til 8pm and didnt have some of the ingredients especially fresh fish fillets!! All I had was Van De Kamps breaded fish. They both also called for adobe chilies....which ive always want to use...but dont keep those on hand. SOOO it was time to pull a martha and improvise. I took some of the recipe Amanda shared and brushed my fish as it was cooking with a mix of honey, cumin, and lime juice....boy that alone made it yummy, may have to experiment with that with other dishes!! I then wanted a mayoish sauce so mixed mayo, cayenne pepper, salt, and Tabasco Chipolte pepper sauce...very good as well!! This was quick and easy to make and sooo yummy!!!  Amanda, Sara, thanks for sharing the recipes I will be trying them out in the future...especially the one with the sweet pickle relish...which I LOVE! 

Ohhhhh WOW Salted Carmel Apple Cupcakes........ ohh and Asian Chicken Thighs.

Another nice Monday off in the books! Got some work done this morning, had a meeting, then worked my butt off with Erin at the gym! For dinner tonight I planned to make chicken thighs. I absolutely love chicken thighs!! They are so much more tender and juicy!! I am always looking for a new chicken thigh recipe and came across one a while ago that I decided to try out. It was called Asian Chicken Thighs.

Asian Chicken Thighs

5t olive oil
5 Chicken Thighs Skin removed
1/3c water
1/4c brown sugar
2T orange juice
2T soy sauce
2T ketchup
1T white vinegar
4 garlic cloves minced
1/2t red pepper flakes
1/4t Chinese 5 Spice (this was only 2 bucks at Giant eagle... def adds good flavor)
Sliced Green Onion
Rice or Noodles

Very simple and easy. First put your oil in a pan on the stove and heat up. Add your chicken thighs and cook 8-10 minutes.  Then whisk all other ingredients besides the green onion in a bowl. Pour over your chicken and bring to boil. Simmer uncovered for 30-35 minutes, flip chicken occasionally throughout cooking. The recipe said to mix 2t corn starch with 2T cold water to thicken up but I didn't think it needed it, it thickened up some by the time it was done cooking. This was very good will definitely make this one again.

Okay, enough about dinner, I discovered the most amazing cupcakes ever!! I can't get over how delicious they are!!! This is dangerous! While debating on what time of cupcake to make today... I had a bunch, but went with the one that I had most of the ingredients already at home. To make myself feel better about eating them I bought mini muffin tins hahahha wishful thinking I could eat a whole pan of mini ones! LOL. Chris said they were amazing and let Buddy lick his fingers from some frosting... WELL Buddy did not leave my side as I was frosting all of the cupcakes, he even realized they were great just based on the frosting!!! I guess I have good luck with Apple flavored things because the last apple cupcakes were great too! Not sure what one I like more but this one may win!

Salted Carmel Apple Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

2 1/4c Flour
1-1/2t baking soda
1-1/2t cinnamon
1/4t nutmeg
1/2t salt

Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl mix
1/3c salted butter, room temperature
1-1/4c sugar
1/2c apple sauce.
Blend these together. Then add 2 eggs, one at a time 2t lemon juice, and 1t vanilla.

Slowly blend in the dry mix until just combined.  Next fold in 1c of grated Granny Smith Apples (I did this in my food processor).  Divide into your muffin tins.  Bake at 350 for 17 minutes or 10 minutes for mini's

Carmel Sauce

Heat 1 c sugar and 1/4c water on high heat whisking constantly. Once the sugar is dissolved stop whisking and continue to allow it to boil.  Allow it to boil until it turns a dark amber color. You can swirl the pot if you want. Once amber immediately add 1/4c of butter. It will be all crazy bubbly and stuff but mix until melted. Remove from heat, wait 3 seconds and then add 2/3c of cream. Let cool.

Fluffy Carmel Frosting (I used half of this recipe--I always have too much left over)

1c whipped butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 c of your Carmel sauce--- Make sure the sauce is cooled completely (I didn't and it made the frosting not fluffy)
1t vanilla.

Whip the butter with your mixer for 3-4 minutes or until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, Carmel sauce, and vanilla and mix another 3-4 minutes. 

These are the best!! Wish I could share with everyone!

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

Today was another great day! Had a great workout this morning, did some laundry, cooked lunch and prepared dinner. I did some work and Chris and I watched Jimmy Falon that we had on our DVR since we cannot stay up for it. This may be my new favorite show. He is hilarious and I love the Saturday Night Live-ish skits they do! Okay so For lunch I had to make Chris a grilled cheese with bacon, and myself I did grilled chicken breast with Brussel sprouts.  I usually do not like Brussel sprout but wanted to give it another shot and they were on sale and seasoned already! Well turned out I like them!! I threw all of it in pan and added some of my Garlic Expression to it. YUMM!

For dinner I found this recipe awhile ago and wanted to try it. It sounded interesting and had smoked sausage and pork in it! I did not know what the word Cassoulet meant but this is what a goggle search told me: Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked casserole originating in the south of France, containing meat, pork skin and white beans. The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the casserole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides. Well it was very yummy!! Except I do not think I can get Chris to eat it! More for me!!

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

2 slices of bacon
1 onion chopped
1t dried thyme and 1/2t dried rosemary-- I did not have this, I only had fresh rosemary, so I used Oregano and Basil.
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2t salt
1/2t pepper
2 cans of diced tomatoes drained
2 cans of Great Northern Beans (I used one)
1lb lean boneless pork loin roast cut into cubes (I used two boneless pork loin chops)
1/2lb  smoked sausage cute into cubes (I used 1 link of the package)
Parmesan cheese
Fresh Parsley

1. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Add onion thyme, rosemary and garlic to drippings in pan; saute three minutes or until tender. Stir in the crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, and tomatoes; bring to boil; Remove from heat

2. Place half of the beans in a large bowl; mash with a potato masher until chunky. Add remaining half of beans, pork, and sausage, stir ell. Place half of the bean mix in slow cooker. Top with 1/2 tomato mix. Put the rest of the bean mixture then top with rest of tomato mixture.  Cook on Low for 5 hours! Top with Parmesan and fresh parsley. Very yummy and great for a chilly day like today!

Homemade Gyros and Tzatziki

Today was a day full of yummy recipes!!! Chris had to work today so I could make whatever I wanted!! I went with black bean quesadilla! Chris would never eat this Lol. I made just enough for myself so if u make this put as much as you want of the ingredients, theres no wrong or right way!!

Black Bean Quesadilla

Mix black beans, red onion, fresh cilantro, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, and pepper jack cheese. You can also add avocado but I didnt have any. I cooked mine in a skillet with some olive oil! I them mixed alittle sour scream with sirarcha for dipping!

This morning I got my gyro meat cooking. I sliced my chuck roast into strips then added it to the crockpot. Mix 1/4c olive oil, 2-3 cloves minced garlic, 1t oregano, 1/2t salt, 1/4t pepper, 1 fresh lemon juiced (or 2T lemon juice). Pour this over the meat and add sliced onion. Cook on low for 5 hrs.

Next was my favorite, Tzatziki!!! I love tzatziki!! Its easy too! Mix 1c greek yogurt, 1c diced cucumber, 2T fresh dill or 1 T dried dill, 1/4t salt, 2 garlic cloves minced. Mix up and enjoy on ur gyro!!! I was so impressed with this the meat was really tender and had an awesome taste!!

Drunken Pork

TGIF!!! Ready for a nice weekend of working out, shopping, and relaxing!! I also am going to do some couponing!!  Today I decided to do pork. I searched and searched for a recipe and kept coming across the same type of recipes and same ingredients....well then I found one that stuck out. It had beer and im always sceptical of cooking with beer, however decided to try it! We usually dont have beer but Chandra brought some over for a Buckeye game and its been there since LOL! This was such an easy and veery yummy recipe!

Drunken Pork

1c flour
Salt
Pepper
Butter
Mix the flour, salt, pepper. Cover the pork and brown in pan with butter!

1/2c brown sugar
1/2 bottle beer
3T ketchup
Pepper
1-2 garlic cloves minced
Cayenne pepper
Mix up and pour over pork. Simmer 20 minutes! Enjoy!!

Appetizer for dinner

60 degrees in Columbus today!! Wahooo! I love leaving my screen door open in my kitchen when I cook!! Especially after being stuck in an office all day!! All my clients showed today 9-6!!! Ahhhh!! My only free hour was spent from 8-9 and talked the whole time to a caseworker, which means.... lots of work for me to catch up on and no time!! No complaints though!! Sooo by the time I got home I just wanted to turn my brain off and veg out on the couch with some wine! For dinner I decided to make one of my go to appetizers!! I made these long before pizza places made them popular!! Take a crescent roll and separate the trinagles. Add pepperoni and some string cheese. Roll up and then roll in Italian seasoning and garlic salt...this really makes it! Bake 350 until golden brown!! Dip in marinara sauce! I also did some with a chicken strip and string cheese and dipped in Alfredo!!!  Well thats that...im going to plan my weekend cooking now!! Cant wait!

I love Asparagus

First day as a PCC was great!! After work today Erin and I hit the gym! Very proud we went because during the week after work is hard but was home by 730 and felt great!! Lets talk about asparagus! I fricking love it. I think back to when I absolutely HATED all veggies besides corn! I remember trying to hide my carrots and beans in my mashed potatos or whenever!! We couldnt leave the table until we at some of our veggies!! Yuck! Hahhaa! Ooooo times have changed and im thankful. Asides from corn, asparagus and broccoli are my favorites!! Well, asparagus is soooo expensive usually but Meier had it for 1.99 a pound, score!! I always broil it! I put it on a baking sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, and alittle parmesan cheese! Broil a few mintues and waaaala!  To go with this I did teriyaki chicken. I used my tyson grilled chicken breasts and made my own sauce.  You can use any chicken, this was already cooked/grilled so just heated up and basted with sauce! Add some rice and Yummm!!

Teriyaki Sauce/baste

1/2c sugar
1/2c cider vinegar
1/2c soy sauce
1/4t pepper
1/4t ginger
2-3 garlic clovea minced
1T cold water
1T corn startch

This makes a ton!!!!! I had lots left over. For two people I would cut it in half. All you do is heat everything on the stove and simmer stirring often. Do this until thick and brush on chicken!

National Wine Drinking Day

Today is by far one of the best days of my life!!! Ive been working my ass off in my career and finally am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor!! Did not find out until 5pm today but hell yeh!!! Excuse my language but sooo excited.  No more supervision needed!! AND I have a great man in my life!!! I am happy everyday and do not cry myself to sleep anymore and am truly experience happiness in a relationship!! Im sooo head over heels in love with Christopher Kitsos!! AND I always refer to her as a coworker but that is sooo wrong of me...shes one of my bestest friends and great workout buddy and last of all a coworker!! Erin Davis and I celebrated tonight at the wine guy for national wine drinking day. We stopped for wine and ricotta and honey our favorite. ..well we had another new favorite. ..steak bruschetta!! Also my Parents!! They have been there supported me, encouraged me and picked me up when i was down...words cant describe how grateful i am!!  When I got home Chris had a bottle of wine waiting and said he got it before he even heard my great news!! Well we celebrate with wine and tuna melts. I mixed tuna, mayo, sirarcha, garlic powder, salt, pepper, parsley, sweet pickle relish and cheese!! Top with more cheese and bacon and broiled. Delicious.  Mine was open face, chris was a sandwich! Hope everyone had a great day!!!

Breakfast, Snack, Dinner, and Dessert All in one day!!

Today was a great day!! Finally a Monday that I can just sit at home and do nothing; no trainings, and no part-time job!! Soooo I finished watching the second season of American Horror Story, and relaxed with Buddy!! In between episodes I of course had planed to cook. I first made Home-made Cheez-Its!!! They are sooo very easy to make, but I definitely need to invest in a cute little fluted pastry cutter!

Homeade Cheez-Its

8 oz cheddar cheese:  You can use any kind you want. The block Cheese was on sale so I bought Cheddar Chipolte Cheese and shredded it myself.
1cup flour
4T unsalted butter, softened
1t salt
2-4 T ice water

YEs that's IT!!!  Okay so first mix together the shredded cheese, half of the salt and the softened butter. Add in the flour and mix until it looks like little fluffy clumps. Then start your mixer and add the ice water one Tablespoon at a time until a soft dough forms. I did three and it was perfect. Divide your dough into two disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about thirty minutes. Then you take it out and roll it out on a floured surface into about 1/8 inch thickness. Use your fluted pastry cutter if your cool enough to have one.  I just found this round little thing and used it. Preheat your oven to 375. Lin a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and spray with PAM. Place your cheez-its on the foil. Then stick a toothpick in the center of each and sprinkle with the rest of salt. Bake 7-10 minutes!! Simple enough! Pretty tasty too!

I have been on a cupcake kick lately, but told myself I would make them every other week and since I made them last week that was out. BUT i wanted to make something for tomorrow to take to work and for Chrissy of course. I did not get my license on Friday because of a stupid date error, so I am hoping this will be taken care of by tomorrow, which is a great excuse to make something Yummy!!

Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

1box Lemon Cake Mix
1/3c butter or margarine softened
1 egg
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1c powdered sugar
1/2 lemon-grated
2T lemon juice or 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon. (I used 1/2 fresh lemon)
2 eggs
1t vanilla

In a mixing bowl blend cake mix, butter and 1 egg. Once mixed up press in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Next in a different bowl beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually blend in the powdered sugar. Stir in the lemon peel and lemon juice until smooth. Reserve 1/2c of this mixture and refrigerate for later use.

Beat the remaining 2 eggs into what you have left of the cream cheese mix, add vanilla, and then beat until well blended. Spread this mix over the cake mixture. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. I did 25. Cool completely then spread reserved cream cheese mixture on top!! I am not usually a huge fan of lemon stuff, but this was just the right amount of lemon!! I LOVE IT!

After cooking these two lovely treats, I had some leftover lunch. I sat and tried to do some work but again was stuck on American Horror Story, which I finished! Once Chris got home I took him to a friends house who he has not seen for a while because they were going to a concert (which I did not wish to go to ). Sooo Erin and I were back at it again at the gym!! We kicked some ass today! We did our workout the trainer gave us for the first time without him and did great! Sooo proud of us! Once I got home I had my Dole Shaker (I had another coupon!). Then dinner.....hmmm just me for dinner... what to do. I decided to make a Quesadilla. I put chicken strips, a little bit of bacon, cauliflower, green pepper, and some cheese. Very yumy may I add.  Then I wanted to make some breakfast meals so I chopped some onion, green pepper, and bacon. I scrambled one egg at a time and added some of the veggies, bacon, and cheese and poured it into the muffin tin!! Now I have breakfast for a few days!! I have also done this with a whole egg without scrambling them. They last a few days in the fridge and have also froze them!!

 

Crabby, Steaky, Granola

Today was such a productive day! After returning from the gym I made myself a smoothie. I had frozen raspberries from this summer in the freezer and a banana. Well I added these two things plus some peanut butter and almond milk to the blender and YUMM. Good post-workout smoothie. After clipping coupons I talked Chris into going to the store with me. We went to Meijer and man did they have some good sales! Anyways when we got home I made lunch, Crab Ragoons and Pickles N Cheese Rolls. 

Crab Ragoons

6oz of imitation crab meat, chopped (this was on sale for .99cents)
Egg Roll or Wonton Wraps
4 oz cream cheese
2t Siriracha
2T mayo
2t green onion, finely chopped
Pepper to taste

Mix all these ingredients together. I put the crab meat and green onion in my food processor and that worked great! Get out a muffin tin and grease. Add the wraps to the muffin tin and then add crab meat. You can leave them open (however you need to trim the wrap), or close them up. After doing this next time I will fry them... they did not get crispy enough in the oven, so I fried them up alittle in some oil.  You bake them 350 for 15 mintues if you choose to bake them. I've made various renditions of this recipe and must say I enjoyed this one; however, I may add a few shakes of soy sauce to the mix next time.

Pickle N Cheese Rolls

While I had my oil heated up, I had a few baby pickles left from the salami rolls. Soooo, I took an egg roll warp and added a pickle and a slice of cheese then rolled it up. You could probably use any cheese, but I used this cheese I bought on Friday called Sartori MontAmore...my new favorite cheese by the way.OMG these were sooooo freaking good, better than just fried pickles!! Must make!

After we ate lunch I got my dinner going in the crock pot. Here is the freezer meal from a few weeks ago.

Salisbury Steak

1lb ground meat
1 envelope onion soup mix
2T ketchup
2T steak sauce
1/2c bread crumbs
2 Eggs

Mix all of these ingredients together and form into patties. Place in freezer bag and store! Once your ready to cook this Mix 1c beef broth with 2cans of cream of mushroom soup. Add to crock pot with your patties an Cook 4-6 hours!! Just a note... after cooking they somewhat look like they are not done, but with the ketchup and steak sauce it makes it look that way. If you wanted to be safe you can fry the up alittle in the pan or pop it in the oven, but I just eat them up!! YUMM!! Green Giant veggies were on sale again too!! Yayyy we were just running out!

I had some many intentions on making more snacks then just one, but realized I have ALL day tomorrow so I saved two out of the three to make tomorrow. I did decide to make my own granola bars though.  I needed something healthy to eat after work before going to the gym and this is what I came up with for now. Homemade granola bars!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars

1/2c butter
1/2c brown sugar
1/2c honey
1/2c creamy peanut butter
2t vanilla
3-1/2 cups quick oats
1c crispy rice cereal (I didn't have any but used 1c smashed chex cereal)
2c chopped up pretzels
2/3c mini chocolate chips
OPTIONAL:  I added a little bit of Wheat Germ and almonds.

In a kettle on the stove heat first five ingredients. Once it starts to bubble cook for 2 minutes stirring throughout.

In a separate bowl mix the oats, cereal, and pretzels. When the mixture is done cooking pour it over the oat mixture. Stir. This is when I added the wheat germ. Line a baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Make sure you PAM the foil. Spread your mixture onto the sheet. Sprinkle with mini chips and almonds. Use a measuring cup bottom to push the mixture down in sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30mintues prior to cutting them up. I have a ton!! Sooo excited and they are delicious!!

Quinoa Breakfast

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!! Chris and I are staying in tonight! Gt my steak and shrimp marinating and two movies to watch...Just waiting on Chris to get home from work. I wanted to share my breakfast and lunch recipes! I cooked my Quinoa last night and this morning added a few things and whallla!!  Healthy meal!!

Cinnamon Banana Quinoa
Add 3T of butter and 1/4 t or more of cinnamon to your already cooked quinoa.  Microwave for 30 sec then stir add more butter or cinnamon if u want.. heat another 30sec stir. Add banana and drizzle with maple syrup!!! Yummmm.

I also for lunch did a cold quinoa.  I added mandarin oranges to the cooked quinoa.  I then mix some of the mandarin juice with honey and a pinch of salt. Pour over your quinoa and refrigerate 1hr. You can add dried cranberries and sunflower seeds too!! Very yummmy. No picture tho sorry!

Pot lucks

Another long day today!! Yuck! I cant express enough how much I hate getting home late!! Tonight we had tacos!! Even had some of my homemade taco seasoning fro a while back. The food I wanted to share today is something my co-workers always request I make for pot lucks! One of my coworkers is moving to bigger and better things so we have a farewell "potlunch." If I dont make these people always ask where they are. It is soooo easy and yummy. Im not sure what to call them but people just say the "Pickle things." All you need is salami, cream cheese, and the baby/tiny pickles! Spread the cream cheese on the salmi then place a picckle and roll it up!

God is Good

What a longggggg tuesday! Didnt leave until after 7 today, and did not feel like cooking....surprising I know! Although I didn't feel like it I had planned to make my chicken parm meatball, easy enough, heat and enjoy.  Well after my last client I checked my phone and had a lovely message from Chris letting me know how much he loves me. After that I called him and he said he had dinner for me!! It was like he or someone was reading my mind! This got me thinking about how thankful I am for Chris, and everything/everyone in my life!! God has done sooooo much for me over the years!! He helped me through some rough times. And to top off my reflection on the drive home, my dad gave me great news about my aunt!! Again, God is AWESOME! This week is just going so well, and by Friday I will have my independent license!! WAHOO! So dinner tonight came from a place called Cajun Island. We use to eat here because it was close to the bar we would go to and had spectacular food! Well, the mall that it was in shut down. We found out he opened close to us and this is what Chris got me. Blackened Chicken with bow tie pasta. I barely made a dent in this it is huge!! But we love leftovers here!! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Gyro Pizza

I can't believe that it is Monday evening already! Where did today go! I had to work my once a month job today, then had to take care of some student loan stuff and other bills. By the time I was done with all of that, it was time to go to the gym! Erin and I had our meeting with the trainer today, went well, figured out I have horrible posture and lots of knots! Well that's more motivation to get in shape too! Today for dinner I made Greek gyro pizza. For some reason making this takes me back to a good memory with my lovely brother! It really has nothing to do with the recipe, but brother and I went one time a few years ago to this little Greek restaurant that maybe sat 12 people! I know I tried hummus because Jonny made me, but I cannot recall what I had for my main course. However, we had a glass of Greek wine that we have loved over the years. It is a red wine, not to dry, but just right! It is Nema Kouros. The only place I have seen it to buy is at The Andersons, and always do! That was such a great time I had with my brother. I miss him a lot and wish we were closer as well so we can go out to eat every once in a while and just enjoy each others company. So yes, I thought of my brother while making this meal tonight! On another note, I have never made this for Chris before (and we've been together for over 2 years!) and he has a little bit of Greek in him, so thought I would give it a go. This is sooooooooo good!

Greek Gyro Pizza

1 pkg of refrigerated pizza crust (I buy the Pillsbury thin crust)
Sour Cream
1lb ground Turkey
1T oregano
1t salt
3 garlic cloves minced
Red Onion (sliced thin)
Cucumber (chopped)
Tomato's (chopped; we of course did not use this since were not fans of tomato's)
Black Olives
Mozzarella cheese
1 container of Feta cheese

Spread your crust into a cook sheet and bake on 400 for 7 minutes. While your crust is cooking, cook your ground turkey with garlic. I was sceptical about ground Turkey but this recipe made me think otherwise! Also add your salt and oregano. When your crust is done let it cool slightly. When it is still warm spread some sour cream over the crust, as much as you like. Then sprinkle a little mozzarella cheese. Add the ground turkey. Then you top with all your veggies. Add feta to finish it off! It kinda looks like a mountain but it is great! Then throw it back in the oven and cook for 12-14 minutes. Enjoy!!! As you can see by my picture I divided our pizza since I do not like olives and Chris does not like onion!! Definitely a easy recipe and not to bad for you either!
Ohhh the wine! I'm a big fan now of BLACKSTONE!!! It's very reasonable too (about 8bucks) and have loved every one I have bought! This is a Malbec! Delicious!! Wish I would have had a bottle of that Greek wine but maybe next time!

Cookies, Cupcakes, and Crock Pot!!

Sunday!! I love Sundays sooo much! It doesn't matter if I lay on my couch all day or spend time with others.... at the end of the day I just feel so much happiness! Today was one of those days!! We had Lauren spend the night for the first time last night, and I now officially have my spare room ready for guest, so come visit!!! We woke up early this morning of course thanks to Buddy! I of course had to make breakfast. I bought texas toast last time I was at the store so French Toast it was! However, I found a new recipe for french toast that just added a few different ingredients. I did not take a picture...but here is the recipe!

Fabulous French Toast

Texas Toast
5 eggs
1/4c heavy cream
1t vanilla
1t cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
1T honey

Mix it all up make as you would any french toast!! Sooo Yummy with a side of bacon! :)

After breakfast the three of us watched some movies!! Very diverse mix of movies, but it was so nice just spending time together!! I'm soo excited to have a family of my own some day!! For lunch I just made a DiGiorno pizza (it was stuffed crust too!!). They were on sale at Kroger and I had a buy 2 get one free coupon! Continued with the movies, and while watching one, I stopped to make some treats! I first made a cookie then a cup cake. Here they are as followed

Milky Way Salted Carmel Cookies

I made this recipe by the directions I found, but I will advise, use your own chocolate chip cookie recipe. I did not care for this one. I always use the recipe that comes on the Crisco sticks! The only other ingredient that you will need it the mini MilkyWay simple Carmel. Open these and cut them in half, then dip the end of the candy you cut in sea salt, and roll up in your cookie dough until you cannot see it anymore. Bake at 325 15-17 minutes! This added a nice kick! You cannot tell my the pic really but the milky ways are inside!!

I bet your asking why I am baking so much..well I like to take some goodies into my hard working coworkers on Tuesdays/Mondays! And for Chris of course!!! He is a cookie monster!!!

Since making those apple pie cupcakes I have been trying to find another interesting cupcake to make! Well landed on one. And if you love orange flavored you'll love these!!!

Orange Cream Cupcakes

1 box of white cake mix

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding

6 T orange jello powder (save 1T for frosting)

3 egg whites

1/3c vegetable Oil

1c orange soda at room temperature

1 8oz cream cheese softened

1 cube (1/2c) of salted butter softened.

1/2t orange extract

3cups powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mix, vanilla pudding, and 5T jello. Beat in egg whites, vegetable oil, and orange soda (I added a small container of vanilla Greek yogurt as well). Mix on medium for 2mintues. Pour into your cupcake liners and bake 15 minutes.

The frosting portion of this recipe makes a lot, beware! I have a tone left over! Mix your cream cheese and butter, then add the extract, 1T jello, and powdered sugar. Mix well and frost!! These are tasty little things!! Lots of orange here... I may only do 1/4t orange extract next time to the frosting! But very good!

After making breakfast this morning I put my Pot Roast/Beef Stew in the crockpot! I made this last weekend and froze it so all I had to do was dump it in the crock pot!

Freezer Meal Beef Stew/Pot Roast

I placed my pot roast in a freeze bag. Then add your veggies in layers. I added carrots, celery, onion, red potato's. Then you pour one envelope of onion soup mix. The last layer is a can of cream of mushroom soup. Then you throw it in the freeze!! I took it out Friday night and put it in the fridge. This morning I then just plopped it in the crock pot with 2cups of beef broth. I literally cooked this ALL day on low, and after 8 hours put on keep warm! Delicious!!

We then took Lauren home and on the way back from where she lives we have to drive by....... the Racino!!! We have not been there since my parents were down last, and I had free 15 to play! Well it started off not so good... but of course we had fun... then when we decided to leave and were walking towards the front, there it was!!! I love Lucy!!! I told Chris this was meant to be, we need to play for my  mom!! OMG it was sooo much fun!! It made me think of my mom, and all my lovely Aunts!!! Chris gave me 20 bucks which turned into 60 plus!!  Can't wait to play with momma!!!

Non-stop day!!

I feel like today I have not sat down!!! For all good reasons though, grocery shopping, gym, cleaning, etc. Chris' daughter came for the night so we decided to do dinner and a movie! Can never go wrong with steak and shrimp! I do have a quick snack to post that turned out yummy!

Orange Yogart freezies

1-1/2 cups vanilla greek yogurt
1 pkg orange jello. Mix up and put in microwave for 2 minutes stiring after each minute. Then place in cupcake holders and freeze!! Yummy!

Spicy Broiled Pork

Yayyyy!!! Its Friday!!! Today Erin and I made a commitment and joined the gym!!! Im sooo proud of us for doing this, especially with our crazy work hours!! When I got home Chris says that he wants chicken wings!!! And it sounded gross to me LOL, especially after working out! Soo I made myself dinner and he went and picked up wings! I found a nice simple recipe.

Spicy Broiled Pork

4 boneless pork chops ( I only had 2)
Salt and Pepper
2T brown sugar
1T Finley chopped onion
1t chili powder
1t garlic powder
1/2t yellow mustard( I used 1/4t ground mustard

Put foil on a baking sheet then put cooling rack on top. Salt and pepper your pork and broil for 4-5 minutes.  Mix all the rest. Take pork out then rub the mixture on both sides of the pork. Broil another 4 minutes and flip 1/2 through. You may need to adjust timing based on thw thickness of your pork. Enjoy!!

I really liked this! It had really good flavor! I served it with another green giant side!! FYI this weekend is devoted to baking so stay tune!!!

Hawaiian Kielbasa

Today was a much better day and went by real fast! On a side note, if anyone tried to comment on my blog before and had problems it should be fixed so feel free to comment away!! Let me know how the recipes turned out for you or if you added, subtract thing Id love to hear!! Okay back to the food! I always make kielbasa the same way so wanted to do something different! I looked for recipes and everything was slow cooker or potatos and kielbasa...well I decided to get created! I did not really measure things...and will try to get better at that to help out more! BUT cooking for me is all about having fun so adding this and that to make something Yummy is rewarding and challenging!!!

Hawaiian Kielbasa

1 pkg Kielbasa, mine had skin on (I love the skin!)
1c crushed pineapple ( I had chuncks and just put it through my food processor. ...did I mention I love my food processor)
1/2c BBQ sauce ( all I had was honey chipolte bbq sauce)
1/4 brown sugar
Squirt of lime juice
Squirt of saracha to give it a kick
1/4t ground ginger
1/4t garlic powder

I then thre all of this in a pan and cooked/heated. The juice from the pineapple made the sauce thin and I wanted thick, so I mix 2T water and corn startch and poured it in! I wanted broccoli so steamed some and added that to the mix! Perfect!!  I served it over white rice! Chris said without my asking "this is real good." Success! I love making that man happy, especially with food too makes me feel great too! Enjoy!!

I may have to bake something tonight because im watching the taste and their doing a making challenege!!!

Brrrrr Burger time

What a day!! I just wanted to go to bed as soon as I got home! The drive to work and home were not fun/scary then the one client today and group just frustrated me! AND tomorrow I have three two hour assessments back to back, Ahhhh! I just want to curl up in my nice warm bed and wake up to Saturday!!  I also miss my family today, it feels like forever since Ive seen my little niece, brother and parents! Stupid snow and an hour and a half drive!  So what did I want today for dinner??? Something not good for me! Hahaha! Kroger had two gourmet burgers on manager special this Monday so thats what it is. I hate cooking burgers when its not a grill, but turned my oven on and in it went! They were Monterey Jack something...but delicious! I added my own flare by putting it on garlic cheese bread and making fancy sauce (mayo + ketchup) One happy girl!!  Now cuddle time with Chrissy and Buddy!!

Okay needes to add an addition! Homemade frosty!! Chocolate syrup vanilla ice cream and almond milk!!! Now Im. COmplete

Chicken Parmesan Meatball Deliciousness!!

As I mentioned in Sunday's post I cooked everything on Sunday including these little delicious treats! I must say if you have not made these you need to!! AND you can freeze them!! All I had to do when I got home tonight was heat them up in the oven and heat the marinara sauce! I know ground chicken sounds kinda of ekkkie, at least it did for me at first, but actually it is pretty inexpensive and very good! I love chicken, but chicken breast are so expensive and I just can't bring myself to buy it! I will but the thighs, drumsticks, and ground chicken any day!! So do not be scared away by ground chicken because it is great!! I do not have exact measurements for the recipe other then the ground chicken, but I will try and provide you with what I can!!

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

1lb of ground chicken
1-2cups of Panko Bread Crumbs (seasoned or not doesn't matter)
1/2c Parmesan Cheese
1 small onion chopped
3-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 red pepper finely chopped (see note below on what I do)
2 eggs beated
String Cheese
1/2c Shredded Mozzarella
1c (or more) Bread Crumbs
Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Parsley, Italian Seasoning

1. Mix your panko and Parmesan cheese, and a small amount of olive oil together in a bowl and set aside

2. What I did to make sure the pepper was finely diced was I put the onion, garlic cloves, and pepper in my food processor and chopped it all up together! Works great. Okay so Mix your ground chicken, eggs, onion, garlic, red pepper, seasonings, mozzarella cheese, and bread crumbs. I can't remember how much bread crumbs I used, but use more or less to make the mixture not as runny. You're gonna have to get your hands dirty so mix it real good with your hands!

3. Form into balls. I make my pretty large (I made 12). The reason I make it large is because you will cut your string cheese into small pieces and roll it up in your meatball. This is why I feel it is bigger because you want to make sure you cover all of the cheese.

4.  Once you have your meatball roll them in your panko and Parmesan cheese mixture. Place in a muffin tin and Bake on 350 for 30-40 minutes! After I did this I let them cool then froze!!

Today I took them out popped them in the oven for 15 minutes, heated up some Marinara sauce and wala!!! Enjoy!! Again a MUST make!!!