Little Bit o' honey

SO I heard recently that if you eat local honey then you'll have less problems when pollen season comes around, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Let's whirl the honey on an apple and brie sandwich shall we??

Here's what you'll need:

Whole Wheat English Muffin

ounce (or so) of brie

an apple of your choice in slices

2 tbsp of honey

Preheat to 350

Put your english muffins on your well loved pizza stone!

'

I love brie. It's soooo good to put on a crusty piece of bread along side some veggies and hummus for lunch...mmmm. Anywho, if you are unfamiliar with brie it's a very soft cheese. It spreads really easily! It comes with this white rind on it. If I'm just spreading some, I'll take the rind off (just slices right off). But, if I'm melting it for any reason I'll leave the rind on. Just slice the brie and put it on your english muffin. Then slice up your apple.



Put your brie and apple slices all pretty like on your english muffin. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Just until the cheese is all melty and delicious!

See the pretty shine? We don't want bubbly and gooey, it's gooey all on it's on. Just warm it up so that when you touch the cheese it leaves an indent.

Drizzle a tbsp of honey on each half. Eat immediately!

This is so good to me! Just the right amount of sweet. I love it with granny smith apples for that little bite of tart flavor. This is such a quick and healthy breakfast or lunch!

How YOU doin?!

Hey guys!
I am super sorry about being totally absent. I've been feeling a bit down and have not been in the kitchen at all. But I'm feeling a bit better now and being in the kitchen makes me feel better so I'm just feeding (tehehe) off of it all today.
Anywho, I've been trying to exercise and eat better lately so I have a few recipes that are low cal and maybe you can also replace your snacks with something more filling but with less calories.

I've already confessed my love for all things pinterest and this one is all over the place there.

Here's what you'll need for some kale chips:

bunch of kale

evoo

s&p

whatever flavoring you like* I used cheese, you can use any kind really. Or maybe you're feeling a bit sea worthy you could do old bay or maybe some italian or really anything. Your imagination's the limit.

Preheat to 350

I happen to love kale. It's so robust and filling. It has a great flavor and takes to alot of things. I love it in soup it does a great job of adding some substance to it

*Let me explain this picture. I was by myself but I wanted to be able to show you how to rip the kale off. It didn't work out too well for me.*

Despite the terrible picture, you hold the stalk. Start at the bottom of the leaves and pull upwards. The kale just pulls away from the stalk super easily, it's quick work. I then tore the pieces into bite sized/finger food sized pieces.

On a greased baking sheet drizzle the kale with a bit of EVOO. Just enough to lightly coat. Add your topping of choice. I had some outrageously delicious Jalepeno and Habanero Cheese. It is so great but it's insanely hot (obviously) so I can only eat about a rice sized piece at a time. I thought that maybe doing this could infuse that great flavor but ease off on the heat. Add your s&p. I choose coarse sea salt and I'm glad I did. You don't need a ton of it but it imparts great flavor.

Bake for 12-14 minutes.

The kale will be super crispy and light.

These are so good. You just pick at it like popcorn. The flavor is so fresh! I'm so glad that I picked that 8th dimension of hell cheese because it added just enough of everything to make it over the top. At 43 calories for a cup, you can eat this stuff all day long for about 97 calories. It satifies my salty craving!

It was about time

for me to get a cold, so I have one...uggg.

This whole week has been a bit of a blur of congested ugginess. I've been so slack and I apologize!

This past weekend I did some serious cooking. It had been a while and I needed it. Maybe I'll feel more like it this weekend too.

I heart Pinterest. I hope you are on it because it's fantastic. If you are, find me!! I'm asb0521.

So I found this recipe on Pinterest and it's definately added to the plus pile. We're making Vegetable Tian!

Here's what you need:

1 yellow onion, sliced or chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 potatoes of your choice

1-2 zuchinni

1 yellow squash

3 tomatoes

1/2 cup grated cheese of choice

2 tbsp EVOO

Thyme

S&P to taste

Preheat to 375

Saute your onions with your EVOO until they are translucent then toss in your garlic and cook together for about 2 minutes.

So in your casserole dish put a layer of your onions. I choose a smaller dish and I should have put a bit less onions.

Slice all your veggies so that they are all about the same size.

Layer them all pretty like around the dish. I love love love the way this looks!

I did about 3 sprigs of Thyme, It's up to you really!

Drizzle about a tbsp or so of EVOO then top with your thyme and S&P to taste, then cover and cook for 35 minutes.

I added a few bread crumbs, optional little crunch. Sprinkle on the cheese, I picked Mozz.

Leave uncovered and put back in the oven for about 25 minutes.

It looks so great that the hubs couldn't keep his fingers off it!

I served Pot Stickers with it from over at The Traveling Spoon.

It was fantastic! All the flavors melted all together so great. The potatoes were my favorite!

The hubs loved this and it warms up really great. The thing I like most about this recipe is that you can really taste all the deliciousness that the veggies have to offer. Just going with a light seasoning makes all the flavors just do their thing.

This is so easy that it's silly but it tastes so great!

Ultimate Leftover Recipe

So the main reason that I make meatballs is so that I can make the Meatball Sub Casserole that comes the next day. I don't usually make the meatballs for this recipe, here's my logic:
I am NOT a fan of leftovers or warming anything up. SO whatever I can do to make the leftovers more fun I am all for it. Since I love this casserole I save that for the leftovers so that I know I'll eat them.
Takes a long way to get there, but it works in my brain!

Here's what you need:

Your leftover meatballs from here

1/3 cup chopped scallions (optional)

1 loaf Italian bread , cut into 1 inch slices

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayo

1 teaspoon italian seasoning

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup shredded cheese (of your choice

1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

*if you are feeling extra saucy (tehehe) then you can make your own*

Preheat to 350

Start with a GOOD loaf of bread. You'll be glad you did. I am a fan of the French Loaf that is in the Bakery at Wal-Mart. It's a tasty, tasty magical thing full of yeasty goodness.

Cube up your delicious bread and line a casserole dish. If you were being super on top of things then you could make two smaller ones and one goes straight to the freezer!

In a bowl goes your mayo, cream cheese and spices. Mix well!

Make sure that your cream cheese is softened. If not the next step will be miserable for you!

Spread the cream cheese mixture over your bread cubes. It should go on rather easily. Sprinkle some of your cheese. I happened to have some Romano, tasty!

Add your meatballs and then

Pour your sauce over the meatballs and add your shredded cheese. I went a little nuts with the cheese but I do love cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. If the meatballs are hot, 30 is fine. If they are leftover meatballs then you might want to go more like 45 minutes.

Serve with Roasted Parmesan Green Beans for a fantastic dinner!

You'll be so happy about this recipe after one taste. You could make it ahead and bake at the last minute and it freezes great!

I guess it's the mayo, cream cheese concoction that makes it so great! It's such a great cold weather comfort food. It's one of my tired and true recipes to make the hubby say, "Wife, you are a GREAT cook!"

Deborah's mushrooms

So in Research and Development's family we get together for everyone's bday. We either go to the place of the birthday person's choosing OR someone prepares lots of goodies that the birthday person loves.

Usually part of my goodies for my birthday are Deborah's mushrooms. I do truly love them!

So for Deborah's birthday she had Deborah's mushrooms.

These are delightful apps. They are super easy and extra delicious. These are so delicious that they converted a self proclaimed mushroom hater. In fact, he asked for extra.

Here's what you need:

1 lb sausage

1 package of cream cheese

1 tbsp minced onions

1 tsp garlic powder

1 package of mushrooms, washed and capped

Preheat to broil

Wash and cap your mushrooms how you see fit. I do not rinse mine, some do. It's all about preference.

Start with delicious sausage. This was brought in from Spring Hope, NC. It is only the absolute best sausage ever. So very tasty. I miss it...ho hum

Brown your beautiful sausage and then drain.

Combine your cream cheese, minced onions and garlic powder. Then add your sausage and mix well.

This is so good that Research and Development threatened to eat it with a spoon.

But I suggest you wait until the end.

Spoon the mixture into your mushroom caps and broil until browned. That takes about 20 minutes or so.

Eat, eat them ALL!

I lucked out and got a beautiful batch of mushrooms that were huge. Not the ideal size for apps, but at home with the hubs they were perfectly fine. The flavor of the delightful sausage is so important so pick a sausage that you love. So creamy and delicious. It's one of my favorites!



I'm addicted to wraps!

Everything wraps. If I can neatly roll it up into a hand held meal I am ALL for it. Plus, this saves alot of calories. (I've also been watching the calories! I am using the MyFitnessPal app for the iPhone..I LOVE IT! They have every possible food. You can also scan barcodes and create your own recipes and it'll calculate the calories for you! It's fantastic and it's making me drink MORE water, which is great.)

Anywho, a while back I made some chicken pastry. I happen to be one of those weird folks that doesn't want chicken in my pastry (thank you very much). So after making the stock with a ton of chicken, I strained most of it out. I then shredded the chicken and froze it.

I am also in love with garbanzo beans (Research and Development calls then Bonzi beans). So I found this nifty recipe for Rockin' Moroccan Garbazno Pita's and decide to try it.

Here's what you'll need:

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 pd shredded chicken

4 tbsp olive oil

4 minced cloves of garlic

2 rinsed cans of garbanzo beans

1 medium onion sliced thinly

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Wraps

sour cream (optional)

In a pan larger than the one I used combine your olive oil, cumin and chili powder and heat thoroughly.

Add your chicken and incorporate the spices into the chicken real good!

Add your delicious onions and

And wonderful, great gaaahhhhlic!

Add your garbanzo beans and heat through. This is such a quick recipe, especially if your chicken is already cooked. You don't have to shred the chicken if you don't want. You could have cubed or sliced chicken. I found that the shredded chicken made making the wraps super easy.

Ok, let's build the wrap

ALRIGHT! Here's what we have:

Whole Wheat Wrap

A tablespoonish of your favorite hummus

A small bed of delicious arugula (you could use spinach or leaf lettuce)

Rockin' Moroccan Chicken

A bit of shredded cheese

If you like it add a dollop of sour cream. It really makes this recipe. If you don't like it...you are SOOOO missing out!

Now, Research and Development has a very serious problem with the wrapping of a wrap so here's how it goes:

First of all don't put a ton of things in the wrap. Just a little bit and in the middle. ALSO, don't go all the way to the edge, leave some wrap on both sides because the sides you will fold up like above.

Now, while holding the sides in place with your middle finger, reach back with your thumbs and bring the part of the wrap closest to you up and over the chicken.

Now, while holding, roll the wrap and tuck everything in at the same time. At this point your wrap will hold itself together if you leave it seam side down. If you want to get fancy schmancy with it add a toothpick to both sides and cut in half. I go for it without the tooth picks, the wrap will stay together perfectly!

I was very pleased with this. It was so quick and easy. If you have the chicken already cooked it takes almost no time at all. All you have to do is slice some onions and heat. What a great quick and easy home cooked meal. So much better than a drive-thru and sooo much better for you. Tons of protein for the hubs. At 516 calories it's just the right size! I added a little green salad to the side and that was a 15 minute dinner...no.kidding!