Over the Top

Yesterday I got the nicest award from from the lovely Mommy Gourmet. She took a little break from blogging, and I'm so glad she's back.  Check out her blog for some really delicious and creative recipes.  

In order to receive this award, I must answer the following questions with one word answers (I tried!) and then pass the award on to 5 other bloggers whom I believe are also "Over the Top!" (They will then repeat.) I love lists.  This is great. Here's what I got:

Your Cell Phone? bad
Your Hair? long
Your Mother? funny
Your Father? miss him
Your Favorite Food? everything!
Your Dream Last Night? creepy!
Your Favorite Drink? martini
Your Dream/Goal? happiness
What Room Are You In? living room
Your Hobby? cooking

Your Fear? sickness
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? mommy
Where Were You Last Night? home
Something That You Aren't? complete
Muffins? yum
Wish List Item? camera
Where Did You Grow Up? ann arbor
Last Thing You Did? email
What Are You Wearing? jeans
Your TV? excessive
Your Pets? nope
Friends? love
Your Life? fabulous
Your Mood? okay
Missing Someone? absolutely
Vehicle? SRX

Something You Aren't Wearing? underwear :)  jk...shoes?
Your Favorite Store? sur la table
Your Favorite Color? green
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? yesterday 
Last Time You Cried? awhile
Your Best Friend? hubby
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Meijer
Facebook? unfortunately
Favorite Place To Eat? 1913 Room

So here are the blogs I'm passing this on to. This is just a small selection of some of my favorite blogs and ones that I've just came to know :)

Tara @ The Life of Us.  She and I seem to have very similar taste in food and I always look forward to seeing her recipes and reading about her sweet family.  

Lucy @ Lucy's Kitchen & Lucy's Life.  Oh how I wish we lived closer.  I think we'd be real life buddies.  She not only has a love of food, but also a love of lists :)

Joanne @ Eats Well with Others.  Seriously funny blog with great recipes. Joanne is so unique and sweet.  I'm also jealous she lives in NYC.  

All Things Yummy. I actually just discovered this blog.  I am so happy I did though because she has some great recipes.  Go take a peek :)

SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in my Kitchen.  I'm so happy to have found this blog.  I love all the made from scratch recipes and have learned a lot.  Did you know you cook English Muffins on a griddle?  I always thought you baked them.  Nope!

Have a great weekend!!

February Goals

So I've decided to make a list of goals for the month.  I was inspired by Lucy, and since we share a love of crossing things off of lists, I thought monthly goals would be a good way to get me motivated.

1.  Start exercising.  I'm not even putting a requirement on here of how often.  This month if I start...well that's progress.

2.  Finish reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, and blog about it.

3.  Stick to our grocery and eating out budgets for the month.  This is where we struggle the most!

4.  Catch up on old Glee episodes, in preparation for the new season.

5.  Try to not buy more than 5 bottles of wine when hubby and I go wine tasting in Traverse City for Valentine's Day weekend.

6.  Decide if I want to do a garden in the backyard and start the seeds early or buy the plants.

7.  Finalize air and hotel plans for our trip to Italy this October! Does anyone have any hotel suggestions for Rome and the Amalfi Coast?

8.  Post things that I need to sell on Craigslist.

Well, I guess that's it for now!  Can't wait to get some things crossed off!

Have a great day!

Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins

In my attempt to try to eat normal breakfast foods, unlike what I eat here, I am trying to find new recipes that I like.  I also want them to be healthy and filling. These muffins really hit the spot, and they don't taste like ground rock.  Always a plus!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

One Dozen*

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour**

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup honey or agave

1/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup lowfat milk or buttermilk

1 apple of choice, peeled cored and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a muffin tin.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon.  

In a large bowl or mixer, whisk together the honey and oil.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  Whisk in the vanilla and applesauce.

Whisk in the flour in two batches alternating with the milk. Stir in the apple chunks. Pour mixture into muffin tins.  

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, pecans, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle over top of the muffins.  

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Adapted from Ellie Krieger's Apple Muffins

*This made 12 very large muffins for me.  You could probably get 18 smaller muffins if you'd like.  Just reduce the baking time a little.  

**To make an even lighter muffin you could use whole wheat pastry flour.  This is finer in texture.  However, it's a little pricey.  One trick that I do is let the flour run for a couple of minutes in the food processor.  It makes the regular whole wheat flour much finer.  This also works to make regular sugar into super-fine sugar.

Enjoy!!

This recipe is being shared at these great blogs:

Tasty Tuesday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tuesday at the Table

Cupcake Tuesday

Have a great day!

Menu Plan 1/31 - 2/6

Hmmmm....I don't feel like I have much to report about my weekend. We didn't do too much. I scrap-booked into the wee hours on Saturday night with a friend which was really fun. She just bought a Cricut.  Those things are amazing!!!!! I totally want one :) Anyway, I'm lacking inspiration this week in the menu-planning department, but here's what I got:

Sunday: Marinated Flank Steak with Mashed Potatoes and carrots

This is one of the easiest dinners!  I basically just marinate flank steak in a plastic bag overnight. In the bag I put about a tablespoon of minced garlic, 1/4 cup or so of balsamic vinegar, 1/8 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper.  I just let it sit overnight and grill it on the grill pan. It's yummy and quick!

Monday: Dinner out with a friend 

Tuesday:  Salmon Patties and Ranch Potatoes with Broccoli

Wednesday:  Spaghetti with Homemade Marinara

Thursday: Left over Salmon Patties over salad

Friday: Dinner Out!

Saturday: Not sure yet.....

To check out many more menu plans go to Menu Plan Monday @ Organizing Junkie's Blog!

Have a great week!

Prisoners Dancing Video

I got this in an email yesterday and thought it was great :)  I don't know how I feel about money being spent to teach prisoner's how to dance/taping/t-shirts, however, I do think it is a really positive activity.  Also, for all I know everything could have been donated.  The discipline and training that this must have required is amazing!  All in all, I think it's pretty cool!

What do you think?

My husband says I'm weird...

I've always had an aversion to eating breakfast foods.  Occasionally, I do get wild and crazy and I'll have an egg or two at home.  Mostly, I'll just eat it if we go out.  I do love Sunshine Skillets from Bob Evans once and a while.

But then I screw things up by ordering this to go with it.

Yep.  That's a salad.  I like to have a tossed salad with my breakfast when we go out.  It has nothing to do with healthyness or anything.  I just like them with breakfast.

I used to eat rice for in the morning as a child and my mom couldn't handle it.  So, she created a recipe for me with rice, scrambled egg, and sausage.  I loved it. Especially with soy sauce on top. Sometimes I didn't eat the egg though, and that really irritated her. 

Then there are days at home when I think I should eat something healthy for breakfast.  So I choose Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal.  But...then I regress and put parmesan cheese and black pepper on it instead of butter and brown sugar.

My husband says this is very weird.  He actually kind of gagged.  I think it's great. Maybe when we have kids they'll grow up to love oatmeal with parmesan cheese and brown sugar.  Now, that's even too odd for me...

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Last week or so I watched an episode of Sunny Anderson's show on the Food Network.  To be honest, she's not usually my fav.  I think it's because it seems like she makes everything very spicy or very fattening. With that being said, I have found a few of her recipes that I really really like.  This would be one of them.  However, I modified the recipe a lot.  It definitely fell into the really fattening category.  I think it topped out at around 800 calories or so per serving, but I stopped counting at some point.  My recipe isn't exactly healthy, but it's better. Also, I would think that this would make a great freezer meal, because the wild rice wouldn't get mushy.

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil *or butter if you want*

1/4 tsp thyme *or one fresh sprig*

1 bay leaf

2 tbsp salt

4 chicken breasts

1 cup wild rice *this is really expensive.  I don't see why you couldn't use a wild rice mix, or any other type of rice that you like. I splurged and got the wild, which was super good though*

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup frozen sour cherries, fresh or frozen  *the original recipe called for cranberries. However, I couldn't find them at the store.  I think they would be delicious, but you may want to up the sugar a little if you use them*

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 cup bread crumbs

8 oz button mushrooms, quartered

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp flour

2 1/2 cups half&half *you could also use evaporated milk or just milk to make it healthier*

2 cups shredded gruyere cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 and spray a 9x13 casserole dish.

In a large saucepan combine enough water to cover the chicken, thyme, bay leaf, and salt. Bring the water to a boil and add in the chicken. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is done.  Remove from water and chop into 1/2 inch cubes.

If using wild rice, return the water to a boil and add in the rice.  Rice is done when grains start to split open. This will take about 45 mins. Drain wild rice and set aside. If using other rice, just follow the package directions and cook on the side.

In a small pot over medium heat, melt the two tbsp of butter.  Add in the cherries (or cranberries), sugar, breadcrumbs, rosemary, and a pinch of salt. Stir until sugar dissolves and set aside. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add in the mushrooms and onions. Saute until softened, about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Add in the half&half and simmer for a couple minutes until slightly thickened.  Add the gruyere, chicken, and rice into the pan and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper and transfer to the casserole dish.  

Spread the cherry mixture over the top and bake 25-30 minutes until bubbly and a little golden.  Let cool about 10 minutes to thicken up and serve.

*This recipe was really good.  I know the sweetened topping seems weird, but it adds a little tang, that is super yummy.  Next time, I want to try it with cranberries, because they are even tangier.  Also, I can't say enough about how in love I am with gruyere cheese.  However, it's a little pricey.  So, I think another bolder cheese, like swiss or sharp white cheddar, would be great too.*

Too see more great recipes check out these fantastic blogs:

Tasty Tuesday

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tuesday's at the Table

Have a great day!!