March 2011

Oh Yes I Did.

Make them now.

2011 has been all about stepping outside the box. I’ve made risotto with fruit, homemade naan, bacon granola bars, chocolate chip cookie dough stuffed cinnamon rolls, plus a slew of other recipes I probably wouldn’t have attempted if it wasn’t for this site. I even roasted a chicken. And I definitely didn’t think I’d ever find myself making homemade fruit leather. But since I would single-handedly devour a 12-pack of fruit roll-ups as a kid, I knew it had to be done. I think my roommate and I even had a 48-pack of fruit roll-ups in college… that lasted a week, maybe? Oops. And we all know how much I love my fruit leather from Trader Joe’s. The thing about fruit leather is that it is incredibly easy! Much simple than I ever thought. And it only contains four ingredients. Yes… four. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Head on over to the Tasty Kitchen blog to get the step-by-step recipe. This is so delicious that we devoured it in one day!

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Thought For The Weekend.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Theresa

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Crispy Shrimp Pasta with Arugula Pesto Cream Sauce.

There is one green that I occasionally allow in my life. I actually really enjoy arugula. Well, as much as someone who doesn’t love veggies can like a green. One of the first recipes I ever shared here was arugula and asiago pesto. When prepared this way, I adore arugula. I love it’s peppery flavor and the bite it gives to every dish. In fact, I might be able to eat more veggies if I throw some arugula pesto on them. I need to get on that. It had been far too long since I made a batch, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. Ever since making the crispy shrimp tacos, I can’t get that crispy shrimp out of my mind. We’ve eaten it four times in the last week and a half because it is so delicious, and perhaps most importantly – easy and quick! It is quite flavorful too. So I cooked up the shrimp, boiled some pasta, threw on the pesto, and had a full meal in minutes. There are layers of flavor going on in that bowl. Just the way I like it. Oh… and instead of just [...]

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Spring is Springing.

Sun! What is this? I don’t understand. I haven’t seen it in months. Remember how I wanted those flowers to live forever? I woke up this morning and they looked like this. One must have tried to take the bridge. I’m sure it’s not the cloudy water. I made another Bailey’s smoothie for a late afternoon snack! This time is had cocoa powder and coffee powder. It was delicious. I mean, it is St. Patrick’s Day. And I’m Irish. And it’s thirsty Thursday.

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Whole Wheat Chicken and Parmesan Lasagna.

I have a secret. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have never even considered making lasagna. But then I found these. Whole wheat, no boil noodles. I picked them up and immediately was on a mission. See, lasagna is way down at the bottom of the list for both Mr. How Sweet and me. He claims to hate ricotta cheese (although contrary to what he believes, he has eaten it plenty of times), and I am not much of a tomato sauce fan. Lasagna just isn’t on our side. But I knew if I could make it with chicken (for him) and mushrooms (for me) and tons of cheese (mainly for me), but not ricotta (for him) and a light layer of tomato sauce (for me… again) and these neat whole wheat noodles that I picked up… we may love it. Enter ricotta-less lasagna! It was quite easy to assemble and didn’t take very long at all. I usually have some shredded chicken on hand because, well… Mr. How Sweet might die if I didn’t. It comes in handy at times like these. I topped the lasagna with some fresh basil and it was a total [...]

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Five Things.

1. If you follow along on Facebook, you already know what I ate for dinner last night. It was this beauty: Toasted whole grain bread with tons of mushrooms (inside and out), a bit of Kerrygold aged cheddar and kale chips. It was amazing and I am in love wish mushrooms. My veggie transformation has gone from kale -> brussels -> mushrooms. What do you think will be next? 2. Two years ago, I ran over my glasses with my car while teaching an outdoor bootcamp at 5:45 am. It’s a long story. Since then, I’ve been wearing my backup glasses and let me just come out and say it: I should not be driving with them on. I’m basically blind. So, today I decided it was finally time to get new glasses since I’ve now had two different prescriptions. I love the ones I picked up, but remember when my oven broke earlier this month? I thought that was quite the expense, but clearly it was nothing compared to my new specs. March must be an expensive month. 3. These flowers have been living in our dining room for two weeks. TWO! They are so pretty. I [...]

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One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes For Two.

Let’s face it: sometimes we all need a dessert that only makes two servings. Sometimes we just can’t handle 12 servings. Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves. Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves in two hours. Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves in a matter of minutes. Sometimes it’s the best thing ever. FYI: I have no idea what that is like. Haven’t you always wished you could make just enough dessert for yourself? Or yourself and one other person? Or… just yourself? Me too. But more often than not, I’ve found it to be a hassle to drag out the mixer, cream the sugar and butter, sift the dry ingredients and all that fun stuff for a measly two cupcakes. What can I say? I’m lazy. Well, I was lazy. Until I decided to make these cupcakes for two. This is only my second or third cupcake recipe completely from scratch and completely from my own recipe development, and I am so excited with the result. It is definitely your typical white cake; fluffy and soft, full of vanilla flavor, and the perfect vehicle for some fluffy white frosting. And it only takes one [...]

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Oh Mylanta.

My eyes just about bulged out of my head when I got the mail yesterday. Reader Kristen sent me these: Yes. I know. I almost died too. Kristen told me they lasted her about a week. Um, excuse me… a week? These are never going to last that long. They taste even better than they look. And I am a chocolate snob! I am obsessed. Has anyone else ever tasted these or seen them? I need to buy as many boxes as I can.

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Basil and Goat Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza.

I love stuffed crust pizza. Fact. Is that gross? I feel like I’m the only one on the planet who loves stuffed crust. I love it. I love it in all of it’s greasy, fattening glory. I’ve been wanting to make my own for months now. And when the time actually came, I decided to go outside the box. I had a ton of fresh basil left over from the stuffed peppers I made, and there was no way I was going to let that million-dollar herb go to waste in the dead of winter. And it just so happened that I had enough goat cheese to stuff an entire pizza crust. And Mr. How Sweet hates goat cheese. I might have done this on purpose. Maybe. More for me. Shhhh. I always thought that making a stuffed crust pizza would be tedious and complicated, but the truth is that it is quite simple. As I was rolling out my pizza dough, I rolled it just a bit larger than my planned pizza pan – about two inches or so. You don’t need to do that – just roll it a bit larger than what you’d like so [...]

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