One Dozen Eggs

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Cilantro and Onion Salsa

It seems that we end up eating tacos quite often. Usually once a week at least. Sometimes it's just regular tacos with ground beef. Other times it's pork or chicken. Regardless of what type of filling our tacos have I always like to have something fresh to go with them, so generally we have tacos on Thursday nights because the Farmer's Market is Thursday morning. I will make guacamole, pico de gallo, or salsa depending on what I can get that looks good that particular week.

Well this past week sucked for produce. In Florida we're at that in between stage. The farms in GA are just about done and nothing here has started producing yet. Grrrrr. I was able to get some nice cilantro but the tomatoes were crap.

So what was I going to do for tacos tonight? Then I remembered a delicious condiment type thing we had when we were in Cozumel that came with the carnitas. I think I did a pretty close re-creation and Tony loved it...

Cilantro and Onion Salsa

Ingredients:

1 red or white onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, picked and rough chopped
1 jalapeno, small diced (more or less depending on the heat you want)
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Cover and refridgerate for about 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
Serve with any type of tacos, nachos, or with chips.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Every once in a while you make a meal that is good. I mean so good that you think maybe you should start a food blog so that you could blog it. You know, post pictures and post the recipe? And then you realize that Hey! You already have a food blog to do all that on but the last month was too crazy and you didn't get a chance to photograph or post any of the great meals you made...

Last nights dinner was enough to make anyone start a food blog. I had been texting a friend (Love you!) on Sunday to try and give her some dinner inspiration when I found some myself. Took til Tuesday night to follow through but it was worth the wait.

I was inspired by a pinterest post for Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups but seeing as it was a busy weeknight I knew this was gong to be too much time invested for me so I had to change it around and this is how it went...

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Ingredients:

6 no boil lasagna noodles
2 1/2 Cups alfredo sauce (you can make your own but I was tight for time so used some Bertoli garlic alfredo sauce)
2 Cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite sized pieces (I had roasted a chicken the night before but rotisserie chicken would work well for this)
1 Cup thawed frozen spinach, drained and squeezed dry
salt
pepper
3 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese
parsley for sprinkling on top to make it look pretty

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º
Grease a 8X8 casserole dish and spread a small amount of alfredo sauce on the bottom of the dish
Place 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom (you'll have to break them to fit) and spread alfredo sauce on the noodles.
Evenly spread the chicken and spinach, salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with about half of the mozzarella cheese
Cover with the remaining 3 lasagna noodles, top with the remaining sauce and cheese. Sprinkle with some parsley to make it look pretty
Cover and bake for about 45 minutes, uncover and bake for about 15 more.
Allow to rest for about 15 minutes and serve with a salad for a delicious week night meal.

I used the baking time to help out with homework and finish the laundry so it was time well spent!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Perfect Cupcakes for Back to School!

I bake. I bake alot...

One of the reasons that I bake so much is that I like for the kiddos to have snacks to take to school in their lunch that isn't completely full of artificial ingredients. When I bake something for them I generally know what they are eating. But I have always had a problem when trying to send cakes or cupcakes with them to school.

Then it hit me! All over Pinterest (follow me there) I kept seeing posts of Mason jar cupcakes. Great idea but I didn't have any mason jars and wasn't going to go and buy some just to make cute cupcakes in. Then it hit me. I can use the same idea using the cute little Mini Round Glad® Food Storage Containers!!!

Banana Cupcakes

Genius I say! And the kids love them. Lauren asks for them everyday!!! They get to take cupcakes to school with no mess or worries about squishing and gooeying eveything up!!!

Simply make your cupcakes as you usually would in the oven using a cupcake tin (not these Glad® Food Storage Containers!!!) and once they are cooled remove the paper line and drop them into your Glad® Mini Round container. Do not put the frosting on them until you have put them in the Glad® Mini Round. Once they are in there then you can put the frosting on them using a pastry bag!

Be sure to attach a spoon to the Glad® Mini Round container so your kiddo will have something to eat it with at school. A ribbon would have been really cute but an elastic band works just as well!

Banana Cupcakes (from Mom’s Who Think)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda (add to pureed bananas)
3 pureed bananas, very ripe

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 stick butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups.
2. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Sift flour several times, then add the salt and baking powder to the flour.
3. To the creamed butter mixture, add the milk and flour (alternating, beginning and ending with flour).
4. Add vanilla and mashed bananas (with the baking soda added to the bananas) to this mixture.
5. Fill cups 1/2 full with batter. Bake 20 to 23 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Cool completely. Peel off paper baking cups and place in Glad® Mini Rounds and frost

Frosting Directions:
1. Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth, add sugar and vanilla and blend well. Spoon into a piping bag with tip and frost cupcakes.

**If you have any really cool Back to School recipes, tips or ideas head on over to Glad's Facebook page for a chance to win a "Lunch Kit" for your kids entire class just by sharing!!!

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I keep trying to eat healthier. I know I should but the cakes, cookies and candies just keep screaming my name. I've gotten so bad that I even put frosting on muffins and cookies half the time right now.

But I was craving something that was good for me so I wanted to make this Orzo Mediterranean Salad and bought all the ingredients to do it (sort of). When I went to make it for my lunch I found I was out of orzo. Coulda sworn I saw some just the other day :-( But I did find some Quinoa...

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup zucchini , cubed ( I threw it in with the quinoa to cook in the last 5 minutes of cooking)
1/2 of a red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, pick your favorite, coarsely chopped
8 pieces of sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (you could use white)
1/2 tsp. dried basil (or 1 tsp fresh, chopped)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
feta cheese, crumbled, to taste (I like ALOT!!!)

Directions:

1. Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of water for about 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Add the zucchini in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Allow to cool.
2. Combine red, pepper, olives, sundried tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cooked and cooled quinoa and stir well. Stir in feta cheese and basil just before serving.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Banana Walnut Muffins

I love a simple recipe. I mean a recipe that doesn't require me to pull out any special equipment, hunt and gather any hard to find ingredients, and comes together quick and easy and still tastes delicious. Especially now that the kids are back in school (YES, already!). And that's actually how this recipe came together. School lunches...

I found a half eaten banana in Lauren's lunch box last night. Cut off the chewed end and saved it. Then remembered that I had some others in the freezer and a bag of California Walnuts that was sent to me while I was away on vacation last month. So this morning I gathered everything together and made these delicious little banana walnut muffins!

Fast, simple and delicious...

Banana Walnut Muffins (from Simply Recipes)

Ingredients

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional/I skipped this but would love to try it next time)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

Directions

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso (if using) and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Yield: Makes 12 muffins.

***A big thanks and shout out to the folks at California Walnuts for supplying me with walnuts!!! Check out their website for some cool ideas and info.

Monday, August 6, 2012

So we were away for a while...

We hit the highway July 1st and didn't stop til July 28th...
4700 miles, time with family and friends, many shared meals, and countless rest area breaks. Here's the month in photos...

Swimming with cousins at Grandma's house in PA...