Breakfast Lunch and Dinner Sandwich

I may be too addicted to Pinterest. I love seeing everyone's awesome ideas, especially when it comes to food. My inspiration for this sandwich came from a photo I saw on Pinterest; however, I was too lazy to find the recipe (as it wasn't attached to the pin) so I made it up.

The results were wonderful! We will definitely be eating these again.

Ingredients:
Eggs- 1 per sandwich
Bread - I used Italian
Tomatoes - sliced
Bacon - at least 2 slices per sandwich
Lettuce
Sliced Cheese - I used Provolone
1 Avocado- sliced
Mayo
Dijon Mustard
1 Onion sliced thinly
Olive oil

First get the bacon cooking. I did mine in the microwave because I was in a hurry. The best way to cook bacon is to bake it in the oven, it gets really crispy and if you have a rack you can get rid of some of the fat (I know its bacon, why get rid of the fat). Just set the oven to 425 and place the bacon in a vessel with sides (unless you want bacon fat ALL over your oven, and plumes of acrid smoke to fill your kitchen.)

Once the bacon is cooking saute the onions in a little olive oil until soft and a little caramelized. Set those aside.

Fry the eggs. Oddly enough in 25 years of living I had never fried an egg, I broke the yolk flipping the first one, then had to cut the second in half when I thought it was done to see if it was (it should ooze but the white should be completely cooked) so i wasted two eggs. The trick is to lube the pan up really well with olive oil or cooking spray, and only turn the egg once.

Lastly butter one side of all the bread. and place them in a frying pan over high heat (butter side down). I reused my pan from cooking the eggs. Half of the bread you are just frying the one side. The other half, once it is in the pan, add a piece of cheese to the top to melt.

Assembly! The bread with no cheese gets a healthy dose of mustard and mayo, then add your avocado, bacon, tomato, lettuce, egg and finally the cheesy bread. Slice in half and serve.

They were wonderful! and really could be eaten any time of day.

Whole Roast Lemon Chicken with Vegetables

Roasting a whole chicken can seem intimidating, but it can also make for an easy inexpensive dinner and the beginning of many extra meals with the left overs. I try to only purchase whole chickens when they are on sale (they can get down to about $0.39 a lb!) then I purchase a few and freeze them. For some reason this is a huge crowd pleaser and people always think its really difficult and impressive. It's pretty simple and awesome comfort food. Plus it is a 1 pan meal.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (remove any giblets or organs inside and toss) rinsed and patted dry
salt
pepper
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning (if you have fresh rosemary, thyme, and oregano you can use that as well, diced fine)
2 large lemons
olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 large onion chopped
1-2 handfuls baby carrots
2 medium potatoes washed well and chopped into bite size pieces.
large roasting pan (I line mine with foil for easy clean up)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
After you have rinsed the chicken tie the legs together and place in the pan breast up.

Rub a liberal splash of olive oil over the chicken and season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Next sprinkle your Italian seasoning or fresh herbs, onion powder and minced garlic on to the chicken. You can also season under the skin for an extra boost of flavor. to do this lift the skin at the back (where you have tied the legs) and run your fingers underneath. The skin should separate from the breasts fairly easily. You can then rub olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and spices under the skin (use about half of the spices under the skin and half on top.

Then slice 1 lemon and cut the second in half. Take 1 half lemon and squeeze the juice over the top of the chicken (careful for seeds). Place the other half of the lemon inside the chicken. Then lay the slices of lemon on top of the chicken.

Add all of your veggies to the pan around the chicken. You can season them however you like, or leave them out if you don't want them.

Place the pan in the oven.
At this point I insert my handy dandy Polder thermometer and set it to tell me when the temp inside the chicken has hit 165 degrees. (place the probe deep into one breast to give the most accurate reading.

 Don't have a fancy thermometer and want one? Get it here:
 http://www.amazon.com/Polder-Original-Cooking-Timer-Thermometer/dp/B0000CF5MT/ref=sr_1_17?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1329781902&sr=1-17

If you dont have a thermometer then the rule of thumb for cooking whole chicken is 20 minutes per pound plus 20 minutes. So a 4 pound chicken would need 100 minutes to cook.

To test if it is done pierce the chicken breast just above and in front of the widest part of the leg. The juice should run yellow/clear not pink or red if it is done.

When the chicken is done remove it from the oven and let it sit on the counter in the pan covered for 15 min. Resting the meat keeps the chicken juicy.

Next carve the chicken: starting at the front of the breast cut down and away from the top of the chicken. Also remove the legs by pulling up on the drumstick and slicing through the joint near the body. (between the leg and thigh). Use a fork to steady as you are cutting.

Once you have enjoyed your tasty chicken dinner. You can remove all the remaining meat and save for chicken pot pies, chicken soup, chicken salad, fajitas etc. I typically just pick the remaining meat off with clean fingers and store it in a ziplock. The bones/carcass can also be used to make soup stock; just boil with chopped veggies of your choosing until reduced by half. Strain well.

Happy Eating :)

Quick Minestrone Soup

I love soup. Its easy to make, comforting and tasty. What I don't like about soup is how expensive each can of Campbells is and the amount of sodium that tiny can contains.

So the other day on a whim I decided I was making a huge batch of soup to freeze. It turned out to be way easier than I imagined. And, the ultimate upside was that I could remove the "yucky" items that end up left at the bottom of my bowl.

Quick Minestrone:
1 can veggie broth (you could use chicken or beef if you want)
2 cans diced tomatoes with juices
2 cans water
1 cup frozen chopped onions
1 can sliced potatoes drained(I cut mine up even further by slicing the knife through them while in the can)
1 can white or great northern beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cups noodles (i used small shells)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning

you could add as many other veggies as you wanted or substitute canned with fresh. other common veggies for minestrone are zucchini, carrots and peas


Dump everything in the pot and simmer over low heat until the pasta cooks through.

This can be served right away or saved and frozen. I went a step further and "concentrated" mine. I let it cook longer until there the liquid no longer covered the tops of the veggies. I then separated it out into servings for 2 and froze it. If you choose this method just add 1 1/2 cup (or more or less to taste) when you reheat.

Sorry no photo today :(

Time for a Change

I hate to say it but... I am officially not 18 anymore. Ok, I can deal with it. 18 wasn't that great anyway, right? right. The one thing I wish I could magically have back from being young was the ability to eat anything I felt like and not worrying about if I would gain weight. Don't get me wrong, I am not health obsessed and am ok with not being stick thin anymore; but, I hate the way i feel and don't want to get heavy either.

SO... I am back on the wagon (at least temporarily) and planning on getting healthy. Currently I am trying to complete an 80% raw diet detox. So far it hasn't been too bad, lots of fruit and veggies and then one cooked item at dinner. I am also trying to help Chad and I not only eat healthier but quicker, cheaper and at home (we are the king and queen of eating out).

I found an amazing blog that so far has been a life saver on this journey. Crockpot365.blogspot.com is that blog. This woman is amazing. She cooked in her crockpot every day for a year, and has some awesome recipes.

So far we have tried two of her recipes:

Peperochini beef sandwiches found here: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2011/01/peperoncini-beef-sandwiches-slow-cooker.html
They were really good! Especially considering it only took 5 minutes to prep. Chad loves peperochinis so I knew right away we would have to try this. He loved them and it made for an easy dinner.

Corn and Crab soup found here: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/10/crab-and-corn-soup-crockpot-recipe.html
I tweaked this recipe a bit adding 2 potatoes and some fresh corn as well as the frozen.  This was slightly more labor intensive getting it into the crockpot but was very tasty. This would make a great starter or cold weather meal. It is nice and heavy but not over the top.

Hopefully I will manage to post more often and share new and exciting recipes with all of you!

Leftover Special

Let me start off by saying I love my boyfriend, he really is the best. With that said, one of his few annoying bad habits is that he down-right refuses to eat leftovers. It doesn't matter what it is, if it's graced our table before he will not eat it again. The exception to that rule is if I can make those leftovers unrecognizable. One of my favorite meals for just this purpose is pot pie. I can use left over chicken, pork or turkey and veggies up quickly and easily!

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken, turkey, pork or steak
Left over or fresh veggies (I like to use carrots, celery, onions and sometimes peas or corn)
Canned or fresh gravy
Premade/store bought pie crust

Preheat the oven to the desired temperature on the pie crust box (commonly 400 or 425).

If the veggies are fresh chop and sautee them in a skillet, if cooked no need.

Combine chopped meat, veggies and gravy in a bowl, mix well to coat with the gravy.

Line your baking dish with 1 of the pie crusts making sure to leave room at the edges.

Fill the dish with the meat and veggie mixture.

Top the dish with the second pie crust and trim and excess. Then pinch the edges together to seal.

Then coat the top with egg wash to give pot pie a nice brown color (optional). I also use any extra dough to decorate the top, sometimes I will make flowers or leaves for fun.

I will also make smaller individual size pies in smaller baking dishes. This idea is great for guests. This meal can be a life saver for me as it's quick and easy and it empties out my cluttered fridge.

Back to the Blogging... and Healthy Eating

Hi all,

I realize I have been seriously MIA.  Between starting a new job and commuting an hour and fifteen minutes each way to get there… Well let’s just say I haven’t had a life for the past 9 months.

I am back on the wagon with a new drive to eat health and fast. My good friend Tori introduced me to a great new place to get a quick healthy meal in Huntington Beach this past weekend. The Bear Flag Fish Co.

In downtown Newport Beach, Bear Flag Fish Co. is a modern fish market. They not only offer fish and other seafood by the pound but also make tasty food to eat in house. According to Tori their clam chowder is legendary.

This hot spring day I passed on the clam chowder and opted for the salmon patty sandwich. The patty was made of ground fresh salmon, diced bell peppers, onions and seasoning. The salmon was cooked perfectly (very juicy and tender) and was finished with lettuce, tomato and fresh French bread. This thing was huge! And I still finished almost the whole thing.

They are probably most well known for their marinated poke tuna which is served multiple ways. Just a few of the options are: a burrito, with chips as a "dip" and poke tacos (which Tori had for lunch).

If you are a seafood fan Bear Flag Fish Co. is a must try!

Check out their website here: Bear Flag Fish Co.

Garlic Herb Crusted Steak with Twice Baked Potatoes

The steak crust/rub:
4-6 sprigs fresh rosemary finely chopped
1-2 sprigs thyme finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp capers chopped
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

combine all these items in a large ziplock bag with a tablespoon or two of olive oil
place steaks in bag and allow to marinate for at least an hour.

Grill or pan sear meat to your desired level of wellness

I like to use filet mignon for this meal as its very tender, but any steak cut will work.

Also to make this recipe really over the top you can repeat the rub recipe and whip it into a stick of butter to serve on top of the finished steaks.

Twice Baked Potatoes:
I have to give Chad's mom a shout out on this one because she with a few little tricks helped me take these from good to great. Also, this recipe is veggie friendly.

Ingredients:
3-4 Potatoes
1 wedge laughing cow herb and garlic cheese spread
1 handful shredded cheese, i prefer cheddar or mexican blend
2 heaping tablespoonfuls of sour cream
garlic salt and pepper to taste
paprika (optional)

preheat over to 350
Cook potatoes thoroughly either in the oven, or microwave (I like the microwave because its fast)
Allow potatoes to cool.
Cut the tops off the potatoes and scoop out most of the potato flesh, place flesh in a large bowl. set hollowed skins aside to refill later.
Add all other ingredients, except paprika) to bowl and beat on medium with an electric mixer for about 45-60 seconds or until all ingredients are evenly combined. (you can use a potato masher or fork if you Dont have a hand mixer, but it does make a difference)
Refill potato skins with mixture, you will have enough that they will overflow the skins a bit.
Sprinkle tops with paprika (optional).
Place potatoes in oven for 15-25 min.

As you can see in the above photo I served my steak and potato with raspberries and a tomato and mozzarella salad.