Fervent Foodie

Friday eats

February 4, 2011 4 Comments

Sooooooo… it has been FOR-EV-ER since I last posted about workday breakfast-breakfast-lunch. I guess I just got bored posting about the same things over and over again. But today, I figured what the heck. It’s Friday. Let’s do this.

Breakfast #1

Mary’s oh-so-special eggs!

I absolutely adore this B#1 every day! Sausage, eggs, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, spinach, and garlic? Come on!

Don’t forget the dollop of ketchup of course 🙂

Stats on 1 Servings of my Special Eggs (sans ketchup): 189 Calories, 9g carbs, 9g fat, 23g protein, 1g fiber

Breakfast #2

Oatmeal!

I was in the grocery store the other day and ALMOST bought some strawberries so I could make overnight oats… But it’s so stinkin cold outside that I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Man I miss them 🙁 So for today, it was standard microwaved quick oats with cinnamon and brown sugar… maybe my OO’s will make a return next week!

Stats on 1 Servings of oats: 165 Calories, 31g carbs, 3g fat, 5g protein, 4g fiber

Lunch

And that brings us to LUNCH. Mini cheesy meat loaf and a yumlicious side salad with Newman’s Light balsamic dressing:

Maybe it’s a midwest thing….. but I seriously adore meatloaf.

It’s comforting.

It’s meaty.

It brings me unfettered joy.

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

Stats on 1 mini cheesy meatloaf: 350 calories, 19g carbs, 17g fat (red meat, folks), 29g protein, 1g fiber

So what’s on everyone’s agenda this weekend? Here’s what I’ll be up to:

Eyebrow wax this evening (fun Friday night activity, no?)
Clean.my.house. Seriously. I’m living in filth.
Work.
Get some of my friends and family tax returns done… oh the joys of being a tax accountant
Buy the BF a bday present… I’m thinking outlet mall!
Possibly venturing out on a Luna Bar quest. Must find the new flavors STAT!
Super Bowl of course! Bring on the cheese!

Recipes

Mini Cheesy Meatloaves

February 3, 2011 8 Comments

Helloooooo cheesy meaty goodness!

Continuing on with my Cooking Light recipe rampage, the other night I cooked up some of the Cheesy Meat Loaf Minis featured in a recent issue of the magazine.

Super simple to throw together, and really really friggin tasty.

First up, I measured out all my ingredients like the oober organized little cook that I am (see the list at the bottom of the post).

Here are the goods:

I decided to go with New York style white cheddar cheese. I can’t say that I’ve ever tried that type of cheese before, but holy cow (no pun intended) is it delicious!

Cheeeesseeeeeee 🙂

Next up I sautéed the onion and garlic… The recipe called for 1/2 cup onion and 2 cloves garlic. Of course we all know that means you are actually supposed to use 1 whole cup of onion and no less than 3 cloves garlic.

Naturally.

The recipe also called for toasting of the breadcrumbs… Just be careful not to burn them! (AKA I burnt my first.. and second batch… dangit!)

Once the onions were nice and soft and the bread crumbs were toasty, I tossed all the goodies into a bowl along with 11 ounces of 90% ground sirloin.

Why do I always feel the need to include pics of the raw meat on my blog?

Good question…

This batch made 3 mini meatloaves, one of which I had for dinner along with some steamed broccoli with lemon juice:

This picture makes me start salivating uncontrollably….

Apparently, my body has been secretly feigning for a little red meat in its life!

Mmmmmgghhhhhhhhhh……

Meat.

Stats on 1 mini cheesy meatloafy: 350 calories, 19g carbs, 17g fat (red meat, folks), 29g protein, 1g fiber

Mini Cheesy Meatloaves Ingredients List (serves 3)

1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup bread crumbs
11 ounces 90/10 ground sirloin
1.5 ounces New York style white cheddar cheese, cubed
1/4 cup ketchup, divided (2 tbsp mixed in, and 2 tbsp for basting the tops)
1.5 tsp dijon mustard
1.5 tsp prepared horseradish
3/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg

Instructions: Mix all ingredients (except 2 tbsp ketchup) in a large bowl. Divide into 3 equal sized loaves. Place on cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Baste tops of the loaves with remaining 2tbsp ketchup. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Speaking of droolworthy, I went to El Jalapenos in Barberton for dinner this evening and got a seriously amazing chicken fajita salad. I literally did not stop to drink, speak, or breathe from the moment it hit the table. Check out the insanely huge burrito my friend Allison got:

Insanity!!!

Can’t believe the weekend is here! Woot!

Recipes

How to make your own ground meat

February 1, 2011 14 Comments

So, did everyone else know how crazy easy it is to make your own ground meats? I had no idea until I saw a blurb in Cooking Light about putting chicken breast in a food processor. Sound odd to anyone else? I was intrigued so I decided to give it a go over the weekend.

Take a looksie at these chicken tacos I made!

I don’t mean to brag, but that may be the most beautiful taco I’ve ever laid eyes on. What’s even more beautful was how super easy it was to make. First I started by tossing 1 jalapeno and 2 tsp minced garlic into a food processor:

I gave that a good pulse:

Then added 8 ounces chopped chicken breast:

And literally 10 seonds later I had my very own homemade (slightly green tinted) ground chicken breast!

Isn’t it funny how something so simple can give you such a great sense of pride and accomplishment? 😀

I threw the ground chicken into a pan and seasoned with S&P and some cayenne pepper:

The meat cooked up in no time!

Next I sliced up some fresh avocado. Delicioussssssssnesssssss:

I used some Tumaro’s Low Carb tortillas (only 60 calories a pop) for my taco base, then added 2 ounces of the chicken, some chopped red onion, tomato, shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro, a little dribble of fat free sour cream, about 2 tbsp of avocado, and a little drizzle o’ lime:

A little overboard on the toppings? Perhaps…

I also added some Frank’s red hot for good measure (its hiding under the veggies)

8 ounces of chicken made me enough for four tacos. I ate two for dinner, and wrapped the remaining two up in plastic wrap for dinner the next night (by the way, the tacos were equally delicious cold 🙂 ).

So tasty and SO colorful!

Stats on 1 taco: 194 calories, 21g carbs, 7g fat, 19g protein, 10g fiber

Stats on dos tacos: 388 calories, 42g carbs, 14g fat, 38g protein, 20g fiber

Recipes

Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich

January 31, 2011 12 Comments

Yesterday morning, I was the picture of perfection and actually woke up at the time I had intended and did NOT sleep through my alarm for a solid hour. Let’s hope I can keep this up all week!

I rolled out of bed, and headed straight to the gym for a 30 minute round-and-round on the ~~hamster wheel~~… elliptical. Then, straight from the gym (in all my sweaty glory) to the grocery store to buy all my foods for the week. Silly me forgot to pack a Luna bar or nourishment of any variety for my grocery conquest.

Bad news bears.

Needless to say, I was FAMISHED by the time I got home, and I was unfortunately facing a dilemma. Issue #1: I wanted eggs. Hot and dippy with ooey gooey smooth-as-butter yolk. Issue #2: I was also craving sausage…. as in Mary’s special eggs. I wanted yolk, but I wanted sausage. And I’m not talking sausage on the side. I’m talking sausage all up in my yolk.

It was at this precise moment that I concocted my PERFECT breakfast sandwich. The best of both of my worlds.

The Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.

First, I sautéed half of a Honeysuckle Hot Turkey Sausage link (casing removed) in a pan:

Hello sausage! Ima eat you.

THEN I cracked an egg right on top of this mound of sausage:

The egg white dribbled down around the sausage and formed a glue to hold the whole shebang together. Once the underside was cooked, I flipped her over:

Whattttttt????? Insane.

And once that side was cooked (though not TOO cooked –we’re going for oozy yolk here) I slid the egg/sausage combo onto a toasted whole wheat English muffin:

World = Rocked.

Ah.my.gawd.

Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber

What you’ll need:

1 link turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
1 egg
1 English muffin
5 minutes to eat your face off

Ramblings

New Toy!

January 27, 2011 7 Comments

Ok guys… Who noticed how disturbingly good looking my dinner pictures were yesterday???

Clear and crisp?

Lick-your-screen-delicious???

I know, right?

Whelp, these nice photos were courtesy of my new toy!!!

A light box! I’m so excited! Sayonara grainy dimly lit blaze food pics!

This lovely new light box replaced the light box that I attempted to make a few months back… but that experienced a career ending injury:

Poor guy Sad smile

Let’s take a look at some comparison photos.

First up, standard kitchen table shot:

Kitchen table shot with flash (note how everything looks weirdly shiny and bright):

Light box photo:

This is the standard no-flash shot versus the light box shot:

The pictures on the left is the best of TEN photos I took on the kitchen table (amidst much frustration I might add) while the picture on the right is the FIRST photo I quickly snapped in the light box.

Time = money, baby.

I’m pumped to play around with this new toy! Open-mouthed smile

I’m also pumped to eat these leftovers for dinner tonight!!

« Previous 1 … 63 64 65 66 67 … 104 Next »