Great Source of Vitamin K

While studying for exams, I learned that cabbage is a great source of vitamin K- essential for blood clotting. Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables but I don't know a whole lot of ways to cook it. It's one of the main ingredients in a family favorite- "kielbasa and cabbage" and is essential for "corned beef and cabbage". I haven't really cooked a whole lot of cabbage on my own but I randomly bought one at the grocery store so I had to cook it. I ended up getting a little creative on my own! I steamed about half the chopped cabbage and half a container of sliced mushrooms. Apple cider vinegar is used in the Kielbasa and cabbage recipe so I thought "why not".  I added about 2 Tbs of apple cider vinegar and let that soak up. That's about it. Pretty simple but adding one ingredient can really change the flavor of a dish. Instead of being rather bland it ended up being a little sweeter and letting the cabbage and mushrooms soak up the vinegar for a few minutes allowed them to slightly brown.  I ate this side with some fake chicken nuggets (surprisingly good) and rice pilaf and homemade honey mustard. Really impressed with how it turned out but word to the wise, after an exam, do not eat the leftovers at 10am and then attempt to run 4 miles. Rough, very, very rough. At least the blisters weren't bleeding as badly because I got some extra vitamin K in me!

Studying Carbo-load

I'm in the midst of studying for exams and during my wander of the grocery store yesterday, I bought the ingredients to my favorite pasta recipe, "pasta in a pot". This time I changed it up and decided not to add the meat.  I did, however, have some left over pepperoni from my pizza adventures and decided to throw that in the pot!

I know this recipe by heart but I haven't looked at the recipe in a year or so, so I'm sure it could be a tiny bit different than my mom's.

Ingredients
Half a box of small or medium shell pasta cooked
Onion chopped
Tablespoon of EVOO
Tbs minced garlic
Can of stewed tomatoes
Jar of pasta sauce (you pick--I picked garlic)
Package of sliced provolone cheese
Package of shredded mozzarella cheese
Sour cream
pepperoni slices (for the original recipe, brown 1 lb of ground beef)

Directions
1. Warm EVOO in a skillet and add garlic and onions
2. Once onions are soft, (for those doing ground beef, add the beef and brown and drain beef fat)
3. Pour in pasta sauce and stewed tomatoes
4.  Cover and keep on low while you cook the pasta
5. Preheat over to 375
6. Get a 9x13x2 glass pan and begin the layering
7. Place half of the pasta on the body of the pan
top with half of the sauce mixture
8. Spoon about 4-6 spoonfuls of sour cream on top
9. Place some pepperoni slices around if you are adding them!
10. Cover with a layer of provolone slices on top
11. Repeat second layer with mozz cheese on top
12. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes

Back on the grid!

So this past week I was without a car and without a debit card.  I got into a car accident and had dropped off my car to get fixed. For some reason my debit card was canceled and I was sent a new one...to Massachusetts. So while I was waiting for the money to come back, I was without new food.  This was a great excuse to get some of the random stuff I never eat out of my kitchen. I ate all of ym frozen meals this past week and got a little creative with the breakfasts and lunches. I really enjoyed being "off the grid".  I got a real taste of some "first world pains" but I loved it.  Now that I have my car and debit card back in my life, I took the boo to publix (the greatest grocery store with the NICEST employees). While talking on the phone with friends, I wandered the isles putting odd things in my cart.  I usually need to have a list to go shopping because I end up buying things I don't end up eating but today I just wanted to wander.  I ended up buying the ingredients for my favorite pasta recipe (known by heart) and some other random items like a cabbage.  I'm not sure what I'll do with that yet but I know it'll be good--people who don't like cabbage are weird.

Anyway, I got home from the store and wanted to grab a snack before yoga so I put together my "cooking/baking" for the day.  Homemade snack-trailmix. You can really put anything you want in a trail mix but I decided buy a few things and use some things from home. My trailmix consists of: m&ms, pretzles, raisins, cheezits, whole grain cheerios and lightly salted almonds.

Layered

All mixed up

Fill up a small glass cup and you've got the perfect pre-yoga snack!

Potato Salad

I had some potatoes that I needed to cook and I wasn't really craving a warm dinner with boiled or roasted potatoes.  The potatoes were getting close to being around too long so I decided to do something about it: Potato salad. I was without car so I couldn't go get the ingredients for my favorite potato salad recipe so I went rouge and decided to create. I did all of this by eye and my suggestion is to add the ingredients as you wish. I think I added a little bit too much mayonaise but that could be because mayo and I aren't friends.

Ingredients
about 10 small yellow round potatoes
mayonaise
relish
mustard (I used deli)
balsamic salad dressing
*Celery and onions would also be great if you had them!

Directions
Boil the potatoes and cut when cooled. You can also peel the potatoes if you do not like the skins. Put the potatoes in a bowl and top with the mayo, relish, mustard and dressing. Add as much as you like and stir.

I had some potato salad with a veggie burger and some sweet potato chips (...it had been a while since I'd been to the store....)

Post Yoga

Went to hot yoga and came home knowing I wanted to eat something healthy.  We won't mention the 12 milkyway dark minis I ate post dinner...

I always have a freezer stalked of frozen veggies and other treats but hardly ever heat them up because I'd really just rather buy fresh.  I decided tonight I needed to get some of that cleared out because I only really had a few spears of asparagus left of my fresh veggies. I cooked up some chicken earlier this morning for lunch and had a bit left over.  Since I have a long shift in the hospital tomorrow, I knew I was going to have to bring something that I didn't have to make at 4:30 in the morning and it had to have lots of yummy and energizing things in it.  Dis is what I came up with.

Ingredients
Package of frozen corn (white and yellow kernels)
Package of frozen peas
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 heaping Tbs of pesto
Can of diced tomatoes
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup cooked chicken
6 fresh basil leaves torn into pieces

Directions
1. cook peas and corn according to packaging
2. Cook quinoa according to packaging but once you put the top on and allow quinoa to simmer, throw the pesto in with it
3. Combine diced tomatoes, peas, corn and cashews into a large bowl
4. Add salt and pepper to taste
5. Add quinoa and top with basil
6. Add chicken on top [I'll be mixing it up with tuna and perhaps a veggie burger in the next few days--the recipe makes about 4-5 servings]

I was a little ravenous and quickly ate my dinner but I think I'll add a little bit of dressing or spices to switch up the taste each time as well.  When you live alone, it's a great idea to make a big batch of something that can be changed a little bit each time so you don't feel like you are eating the exact same thing for days. For lunch tomorrow, I'll be adding tuna, 1 Tbs balsamic dressing and a little bit of feta cheese.

Pizza Take 3

Round three of the pizza adventures.  I didn't want to make anything similar to what I had done before, so I decided to go completely pesto.  It was very yummy (thanks Mae for the new adjective) especially since I was almost out of cheese so I didn't end up overloading the pizza like I usually do.  I often pile too much on and have a lot to handle.  This time it was just pesto, cheese and fresh basil.

Ingredients
3 Tbs pesto
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 of the store-bought dough (taken out of the freezer and put in the fridge to thaw during the day)
about 4 basil leaves torn into pieces

Directions
Roll out the dough as thin as you'd like.  Take 2 Tbs of the pesto and spread on the bottom of the dough.  Top with cheese and basil pieces. Last, spoon the last Tbs of pesto in big drops randomly on top of the pizza for a little extra! Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (made it a little crispier this time!)

Chicken Salad

I've been craving chicken salad for a while but keep forgetting to take the chicken out of the freezer to thaw. Last week at the store, I bought some of that precooked and sliced chicken that people use to put on salads.  On Friday I was craving the chicken salad and decided to take some of the work out of it by only having to make a little sauce for it.  Made this one up on my own and it was pretty delicious. I don't love mayonnaise and I got a little overzealous with my spoonful so next time I'll probably cut back on that.

Ingredients
1 cup of precooked chicken torn into pieces

1 Tbs mayonnaise
2 pickles chopped
1/4 cashews
1/2 Tbs balsamic dressing
Salt and Pepper

Combine the ingredients and mix well!


I put the chicken salad in my last spinach wrap and had some Cape Cod feta and rosemary chips and a few mini peppers on the side!

Post Clinical Veggies

I'm doing 12 hour shifts for my clinical rotation so when I get home after being in the hospital all day, all I want is to relax and not think about my careplan for a few minutes.  Cooking always takes my mind off the things that are stressing me out.  This Thursday I decided to make a bunch of veggies since I had had quite a few pieces of chocolate from the nurse's station that day.  I made a little mixed greens salad with red/orange/yellow mini peppers and some avocado.  I like to put fresh ground pepper on my salad and either use balsamic or lite caesar dressing. Along with it I roasted some asparagus and boiling some potatoes.  For the asparagus, I cut off the ends and rolled them in about 1/2 Tbs evoo, salt and pepper.  I roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes on 400.  While those were cooking, I boiled a few yellow potatoes for 20 minutes as well. Once out of the oven, I sprinkled my new favorite, Rosemary, on both veggies, grabbed some ketchup and had a nice healthy post-clinical meal and hunkered down to do my careplan!

Homemade Nutter Butters

This week was the last meeting of my seminar class for the spring semester.  In honor of this momentous occasion, we decided to have a little party. I found this recipe on Decorate This! at the beginning of Lent and decided I had to try these out when Lent was over.  Seeing as I shouldn't eat an entire batch of nutter butters by myself, I thought this party would be the best excuse to make them.  This was a complicated recipe and unfortunately, I still am in the habit of looking at the picture, buying the ingredients and hunkering down to bake when in reality I should really read the instructions first.  This recipe called for two hours of dough refrigeration and two hours of freezing the dough once you cut it. I made some changes with these instructions because A. I like my sleep and B. I was making these the night before and had to be in class all day before the celebration so the only time was to do it that night. I also did not have the time to do the intricate buttercream recipe for the inside of the nutter butters so I went out on my own with that one!
Nutter Butter Cookies (adapted from Bouchon Bakery by way of Decorate This!)

Cookie Ingredients 

1/4 salted peanut halves
1 1/4 cup + 2 1/2 T all-purpose flour
1 3/4 t + 1/8 t baking soda
3/4 t baking powder
7.4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup + 1 T lightly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 vanilla bean
1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder

2. Place the butter and peanut butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium speed until it has the consistency of mayonnaise and holds a peak when the paddle is lifted [I don't have a stand mixer so I did this all by hand :)]

3. Add the sugar to the peanut butter  mixture and mix for about 2 minutes until fluffy.

4. Add the eggs and vanilla bean insides and mix on low speed until just incorporated (15-30 seconds). 

5. Add the combined dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed for 15-30 seconds after each addition.

6. Add the oats and peanuts and mix on low speed until just combined

7. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to 1/4" thick.

8. Use a 3" cutter to  cut the dough, you may need to refrigerate to cut fully [I don't have any cookie cutters yet so I used the top of my pam container instead- great size and easy to cut with]

9. Bake at 325 for 16-18 minutes

10. Cool completely

11. I refrigerated over night to frost in the morning!

Frosting 

*I didn't have confectioners sugar to make frosting but had some left over frosting from birthday cupcake and decided to mix peanut butter and frosting instead!

1. I mixed 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 cup of vanilla frosting and whipped together until fully mixed.

2. Choose cookie pairs of equal size and frost one of the pairs

3. I had more than enough frosting and put a heaping tablespoon between each pair.

Spinach Wrap

I bought a package of spinach wraps this weekend and have been trying out different wraps throughout the week. 

Monday: lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and cracked pepper with an oil based caesar dressing.

Tuesday: Rice, beans. tomatoes

Wednesday (pictured): pesto, rice, beans, tomatoes, avocado and cracked pepper

Tomorrow I'll be having lettuce, avocado, yellow potato and tomato

The rice I used is actually a broccoli cheddar Uncle Ben's mix I made this weekend for my roasted chicken. Living alone, I have lots of leftovers all the time so I was trying to think of inventive ways to use my rice.  Although it isn't mexican flavored rice it tastes just as good in a mexican-themed burrito. Spinach wraps also give your wrap a healthy look to onlookers and they are very delicious!

Spread a Tbs of pesto on the wrap- doesn't have to cover the entire wrap because you will be rolling it and the pesto will be in each bite.

Rice, beans, tomatoes, avocado and cracked pepper piled on!

I've gotten pretty good at rolling my wraps from all those burritos I see made at Chipotle. 

**The easiest way I find is to turn the far end of the wrap towards you, causing the contents to fall closer to you instead of being in the middle of the wrap.  Next, fold the sides in about an inch and with a good grasp on the wrap, flip the wrap over (while holding the sides in) and pull back towards you so that the contents are packed in.  You should have about 2 inches left for the wrapping part. Finishing rolling the wrap and roll it in some tinfoil for transport to the work/school fridge!

Pizza pizza

I'm a big fan of buying fresh dough from the grocery store bakery and making my own pizzas! Tonight I tried cutting my dough into four servings so I couldn't overeat like I normally do.  Hopefully  I will have a few more posts in the next week or so with my different pizza adventures.  I don't want to have the same pizza four times so let's hope I can get creative with what's in my fridge!

Ingredients
-Prego pasta sauce (I always buy something different- all are good)
-Pizza dough made fresh in your grocery store's bakery (can freeze up to a week past it's expiration date or keep in the fridge one day past the expiration date) [I froze two chunks and refrigerated the last for dinner on Wednesday]
-Fresh basil (as much as you want, torn into pieces)
-pepperoni (as much as you want, I made a pepperoni layer on top...yum)
-mozzarella cheese
-sliced fresh tomatoes (I have been buying sweet campari tomatoes a lot lately) [they're the perfect size and SO delicious]

Directions

Divide the dough into four servings and freeze/refrigerate the remaining three servings. I took the dough out of the fridge for an hour prior to flouring and rolling. Roll the dough to the thickness you would like [still don't have a rolling pin so what did I use? The jar of spaghetti sauce..yes, I may have had prego imprinted on the crust of my pizza but hey. it worked]. Top the pizza with the sauce and as much of the toppings as you would like. Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 18-25 minutes [I did 23]. Let cool for 5 minutes and then slice and eat!

The Adult Version of the Hotdog

I love everything there is about hotdogs.  Sadly, my love for hotdogs isn't exactly socially acceptable as an adult. This doesn't however deter me from eating them.  But when I'm trying to fit in with society's norms I like to make kielbasa. My mom has a famous kielbasa and cabbage recipe but last year I became a fan of pan cooking kielbasa with some veggies. Not a whole lot to instruct on for this one but I usually throw some garlic and a tiny bit of EVO in a pan and cook some onions first.  Then I add the kielbasa and brown each side.  For this meal I had some steamed cauliflower and a little side salad.  If ya love hotdogs and want to impress, swap it out for some kielbasa!

"Just Make Yourself a Dang Quesadilla!"

I don't usually choose to order quesadillas when I go to mexican restaurants but I bought a really nice block of cheddar cheese and have been grating it to use on anything.  After a test last week, I was starving and needed something delicious and warm.  I had also bought a roasted chicken at the grocery store and had been eating slices of it for the past few days. I sliced up some chicken and grated some cheddar cheese and threw the ingredients into a wheat wrap.  I don't have a panini press yet but I treated the quesadilla like a grilled cheese sandwich and pressed it on top with a plate to make sure the cheese got completely melted.

 

Changed things up a bit and put my directions and ingredients above. Cheese and chicken and other contents to your heart's desire.  I dipped my quesadilla in some nice salsa from whole foods!