Happy Sunday -- Spanikopita Inspired Omelettes

Happy Sunday! It is a bright sunny and chilly morning here -- we got down into the 20s last night....brrrrr! It is up to a "toasty" 36 degrees now at 11:00. This morning I decided to make us a hearty brunch to last the day until dinner time. I made "Spanikopita inspired" omelettes along with some oven baked uncured bacon. The omelettes turned out great. I sauteed a minced shallot in some olive oil and then tossed in a few big handfuls of organic baby spinach and wilted it along with the shallots. After the spinach wilted, I added a couple pinches of dried dill, salt, pepper, a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice and then stirred in a few tablespoons of crumbled feta...and "Voila"...I had a healthy Spanikopita-like filling to put in our omelettes. I snapped a pic for you to see below. Enjoy!

P.S. -- Happy Birthday Mom -- I love you!!!

Voila!

Saturday's Dinner at Atlanta Fish Market

Today is hubby's birthday so we celebrated with an early dinner at the Atlanta Fish Market.  It has some of the best seafood, hands down, in Atlanta.  It was very cold and windy here today and only 37 degrees outside when we got home.  We stopped at Whole Foods and picked up a few things on our way home. Youngest son joined us for dinner and everyone enjoyed their meals.  I had my usual favorite -- broiled salmon with lemon juice and olive oil along with their thin green beans.  Hubby and youngest son (neither of which are wheat free) enjoyed their meals as well.  Hubby had fried shrimp and scallops and youngest son had mahi mahi teriyaki (which is sort of a tongue twister).  I snapped a few photos of our meals as well as a picture of some really weird chocolate bars I spotted at Whole Foods.  Some of the oddest flavors I have seen -- they actually sounded pretty gross. Enjoy!

Broiled Salmon w/ Thin Green Beans

Mahi  Mahi Teriyaki

Shrimp & Scallop Platter

Chocolate Bars: Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chips, Salted Chowchilla Almond, Beef Jerky, Peanut Butter & Banana

Saturday Morning's Breakfast...Olé

This morning we had a late breakfast.  It's bright, sunny and chilly outside -- in the mid-30s.  I still had half of a leftover avocado that I didn't use in last night's tacos as well as some leftover shredded white cheddar cheese I wanted to use up...so I decided to make fried organic cage free eggs and serve them on top of a piece of Asiago "Bagel Toast" that I keep in the freezer and pull out as I need it and pop it into the toaster.  I sliced the avocado and topped it with a spoon of salsa and topped it all with the shredded white cheddar.  We enjoyed our breakfast with a cup of hazelnut coffee...it was quick, simple and delicious way to use up some leftovers from last night's dinner.  I snapped a picture for you to see.  Enjoy!

BOOM!

Super Quick & Easy Chicken Tacos

It was a gorgeous bright and sunny day here today and it got up to 61 degrees. The forecast for this weekend, though, is for it to be really cold with highs only in the 40s with possible flurries. I decided since it was so nice out today that we would do our Costco run this evening after work. After we made a couple of other stops, we realized it was almost 8:30 pm and we still hadn't eaten dinner yet. So, we stopped and picked up a rotisserie chicken and planned to have that with a salad for a quick meal. When I remembered I had a big beautiful head of bibb lettuce in the fridge (which has big beautiful soft round leaves), I decided to make some really quick shredded chicken tacos. I laid the lettuce leaves out flat on the counter, hand tore some chunks of chicken breast and placed them on the lettuce, shredded some white cheddar cheese on top and spooned on some fresh salsa and sour cream and then topped with some fresh diced avocado...folded them in half...and BOOM..."Super Quick & Easy Chicken Tacos". We were eating dinner 15 minutes after we got home. Talk about fast food! They were awesome. I snapped a few photos for you to see. Enjoy!

Voila!

BOOM!

Pizza -- Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!  We are having heart shaped pepperoni and sun dried tomato pizzas and Green & Black's chocolate nut clusters for dessert.  I made almond clusters using their 85% cacao chocolate bar and added some cacao nibs for this evening's treat!   :-)   Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Green & Black's Pistachio Coconut Clusters

For dinner this evening, we had the pot roast leftover from last night.  That gave me time to make some easy peasy "Green & Black's Pistachio Coconut Clusters" for Valentines Day tomorrow.  I've made similar chocolate nut clusters in the past using roasted almonds, dried cherries and coconut with 70% cacao chocolate.  Tonight I wanted to try using roasted pistachios, coconut and 85% chocolate instead.  I broke up a bar of Green & Black's 85% organic chocolate and melted it in a bowl in the microwave (in 30 second increments so it wouldn't burn or scorch) -- it only took about 1-1/2 minutes to melt until smooth.  I sweetened it a little more by adding some drops of NuNaturals liquid stevia to the melted chocolate.  I stirred in a few small scoops of dry roasted, lightly salted pistachios and a few pinches of unsweetened coconut until I had the consistency I wanted.  I then dropped it by tablespoonfuls onto some parchment paper and popped it into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set.  They turned out delicious...with the deep, dark, rich flavor of the Green & Black's 85% chocolate, the slight saltiness and crunch from the pistachios and the hint of coconut flavor and chewiness.  They were so simple, quick and easy and took only 5 minutes to make.  I snapped a few photos below for you to see.  Enjoy!

BOOM!

Tuesday's Pot Roast..."What a Crock"

This morning I remembered to put the pot roast into my crock pot before going to work.  I can't say enough about how nice it was to have dinner cooked for me already when I got home this evening. Oh...and tonight's pot roast turned out MUCH MUCH better than last week's.  I used the cut of meat that I usually use for pot roast.  I used a Boneless Shoulder Pot Roast.  It is perfect if you want your meat "fall apart tender"...but not falling apart.  That way it satisfies everyone and makes nice slices but is fork tender too.  I just threw it together.  In my "pre-wheat-free" days, I use to dump a can of cream of mushroom soup over the top of it before cooking and add sliced onions for flavor.

For today's pot roast, I sliced an onion and put it in the bottom of the crock pot, then placed the roast on top and cut up 3 carrots and placed them around the roast.  I had a bowl of fresh brussel sprouts in the fridge so I tossed them in along with a cup of fresh sliced mushrooms that were left from the weekend.  Basically, I cleaned out the odds and ends in my fridge.  I added a splash of wine and then seasoned the top of the roast with kosher salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, thyme and a little celery salt.  It literally took me only 9 minutes from start to "putting the lid on" and cooking all day long.

Before serving dinner, I removed the roast, sliced it and then added a little salt to the juice in the crock pot and topped the pot roast, carrots and brussel sprouts with the "au jus" alongside the Parmesan Cauliflower Mash left from last night's dinner.  It was great to come home to a home-cooked meal that was waiting for me!  I really need to use my crock pot more frequently.  I snapped a couple photos below.  Enjoy!

BOOM!

Right before closing the lid to cook all day long...it doesn't get much easier!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Parmesan Cauliflower Mash & Creamed Spinach

Well, nothing like a rainy Monday to start off the week!  After all the rain we had last week, I was so excited when Saturday turned out to be such a beautiful, bright, sunny and warm day.  I got adventurous and after our Costco run, grocery shopping and some other errands...I decided to wash my car (yes, with my own 2 little hands) -- and it looked really good...for about 2 seconds.  We also gave our little Bichon a much needed bath as well...and as luck would have it...it has rained non-stop ever since!!!  LOL  Sometimes you take 2 steps forward and 5 steps back.  So...after all that work, both the car and dog were clean for 2 seconds this weekend!!!  Last night we had the family over for dinner and I decided to take the day off from posting (imagine that)!

For dinner this evening, I made my Parmesan Crusted Chicken.  It's so simple to make and delicious too.  I also made my Parmesan Cauliflower Mash to go with it as well as some creamed spinach.  It was a simple and much needed comfort meal tonight.  I am planning to put a roast in the crock pot in the morning (unless I forget to) so I can come home to a "home-cooked meal" tomorrow. According to our weather forecast for the week, we have at least a couple more days of rain to look forward to. It took me months to get around to finally washing my car and then I didn't even get to drive it once before it rained...errrrrr!  The recipes for the Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Parmesan Cauliflower Mash are linked above.  I snapped a photo for you to see below.  Enjoy!

Voila!

BOOM!

Happy Saturday!

It's an absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning here.  So bright and sunny after a week filled with lots of rain.  Even though it's a little nippy out this morning, it is supposed to reach 60 degrees this afternoon.  If it actually gets that warm, I might just venture out and wash my car!  This morning I made myself a big omelet for breakfast since I don't plan to eat again until dinner time.  It was so simple and easy to put together since I cooked extra sausage, peppers and mushrooms last night when I made pizza so I could use them in an omelet this weekend.  I quartered a few grape tomatoes to add to my omelet and shredded some sharp cheddar cheese, and "Voila" -- I had an omelet fit for a Queen!  I'm ready to make my Costco and grocery runs this morning and get back to wash my car this afternoon!   If I'm lucky, I might find some wild caught fish for dinner...or something else that strikes my fancy.  Happy Saturday....Enjoy!

Voila!

BOOM!

Friday Night Pizza...

I am so glad Friday is finally here!  This evening we had pizza for dinner.  It was quick and easy to make.  I browned some Italian chicken sausage and sauteed some diced red bell pepper and fresh mushrooms while the crust was baking.  It turned out really good.  I love having pizza on Friday nights for some reason -- it always seems to taste better on Friday nights!  Maybe it's because when my kids were young, we always looked forward to our weekly Friday pizza nights.  We used to take them to a place called "Shakey's Pizza" and the kids would stand on a big wooden bench and watch the pizza bakers make our pizza and toss the dough in the air over and over again from behind a big glass window.  That was back when families actually enjoyed each others' company while they sat around and shared a simple pizza together.  It makes me sad to watch many families eat out "together" now.   Everyone is looking down at their phones -- Mom, Dad...and the kids with few words being spoken as they sit "together" so "far apart" -- each of them electronically engaged and communicating with someone not sitting with them at the table.  To me...there is something so sacred about "the family meal"...it's so much more than just sharing a meal -- it's where families get to share their day, their thoughts, or silly jokes...and more importantly where you share yourself with those that you love most.  Friday night pizza will always be special to me.  Enjoy!

Link to the recipe:   Almond-Flax-Parmesan-Herb Pizza Crust

Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake

This evening we had leftovers for dinner -- we have a ton left from both the roast I made in the crock pot Monday night as well as the stuffed peppers and mushrooms I made last night.  Rather than completely take the night off from cooking -- I decided to do a little baking instead!  I have wanted to make a coffee cake for a while now...so I decided that tonight would be the night!  I wanted it to be "not too sweet"... I wanted a "crumbly streusel-type topping"...I wanted it to "include nuts and chocolate"....and I wanted it to be "fragrant" too!  Usually cinnamon takes care of the fragrance part of most coffee cakes...but I wanted something even more fragrant this time.  I decided that cardamom would be the perfect "fragrance" as well as flavor for my coffee cake...so I made Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake!   I added some fresh orange zest and extract to the cake and topped the streusel topping with chopped Green & Black's 85% chocolate bar.  So...what's not to love here???  I didn't start baking until 8:00 tonight....so I am making a late post this evening because I wanted to taste a piece with a cup of coffee so I could "review" it for you.  One word....awesomely awesome (I lied...that's two words).  It is moist, tender, light, fragrant, flavorful and just really hits the spot with a cup of coffee.  It isn't overly sweet and the smell of orange, chocolate and cardamom is heavenly.  It provides a good dose of aromatherapy too while you eat it -- so, it even makes you FEEL awesome too!   :-)    Alright...enough of the awesome stuff -- it really is good.  I snapped a couple photos below as well as the recipe.  Enjoy!

Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

2-½ cups blanched almond flour

⅔ cup Swerve sweetener (or sweetener equal to ⅔ cup sugar)

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1-¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

1-½ teaspoon grated orange zest

2 large eggs, beaten

6 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

½ cup water

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure orange extract

Streusel Topping:

½ cup blanched almond flour

⅓ cup Swerve sweetener (or granular sweetener equal to ⅓ cup sugar)

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick), diced

½ cup chopped walnuts

2 ounces 85% cacao chocolate bar, chopped (approximately 1/2 of a 3.5 oz. bar)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease or spray a 9-inch square baking pan with butter or oil.  In a small bowl or cup, mix ½ cup water with 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder until dissolved and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, Swerve (or other sweetener), baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1-¼ teaspoon cardamom, 1-½ teaspoon orange zest; and whisk to break up any lumps. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, ½ cup of water that was mixed with 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder, vanilla extract and orange extract.  Pour into the large bowl with flour mixture and stir with whisk, just until combined.  Pour batter into the prepared baking pan.

Streusel Topping: In a small to medium sized bowl, add almond flour, Swerve (or other sweetener), 1 teaspoon orange zest, cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon cardamom, and mix until blended.  Cut 4 tablespoons butter into the dry mixture using a pastry cutter or dough blender, until crumbly.  Stir in walnuts (the mixture will be crumbly).  Spread the crumbly topping mixture over cake batter in pan.  Sprinkle chopped chocolate bar over the top of crumbly mixture.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Let cool approximately 20 minutes before cutting.

       

Stuffed Pepper Bake...

Tonight I was really in the mood to cook. I always enjoy cooking (except for rare occasions)...but tonight I was really itching to try some different things.  I wanted to make stuffed peppers tonight...but I didn't want to wait 2 hours to eat. Usually, I make my stuffed peppers on the stove in a large pot or dutch oven and cook them standing up in a little liquid (broth, tomatoes, etc.). Tonight I wanted to try precooking the filling first and baking them in the oven so I made "Stuffed Pepper Bake"...which is stuffed peppers baked in the oven and the filling is pre-cooked to cut down on time. They turned out really nice and stayed intact. Sometimes when you cook them on the stove, they sort of fall apart when you take them out of the pot.

I picked up some absolutely gorgeous red bell peppers this weekend -- they were HUGE!  I also bought some beautiful large whole mushrooms.  As much as I wanted to chop some of those mushrooms up to add to my pepper filling/stuffing...I decided I'd better not or hubby will call a 911 and proceed to dismantle the beautiful stuffed peppers into a heap of crumbly mess while trying to hunt down every last one of them (no matter how small)!  In case you haven't seen me mention this before in my previous posts -- he has a serious aversion to mushrooms -- one of the worst cases I've ever seen...LOL.  Basically I browned a little over 1 pound of ground sirloin with some chopped onion and seasoned it to give it a "spicy sausage" type flavor.  I wilted a bag of baby spinach and quartered some little grape tomatoes and mixed in some shredded mozzarella to serve as the "glue" to hold the filling together and crumbled feta cheese to add more flavor to the "stuffing".  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I made cauliflower "rice" too and added a cup of that to my meat filling.  Now how does that sound for healthy???  I have wanted to make cauliflower rice for a while now and just kept putting it off for some reason.  It was extremely simple to do -- you can cook it quickly on the stove top or steam it for a few minutes in the microwave -- I chose to steam it plain in the microwave since I wasn't eating it like rice (I was using it in a recipe as rice).  I only used 2 large red bell peppers and halved them to make "pepper boats".  I heaped the stuffing in the pepper halves, topped them with a little shredded Parmigiano Reggiano and poured about an inch of chicken stock around the bottom of the casserole dish and baked them lightly covered with a foil tent for about 30 minutes. The peppers turned out great -- you had a melange of flavors -- the sweetness of the red bell peppers, the spiciness of the seasoned beef and the saltiness of the feta.  Oh...I also found a way to get my mushroom fix tonight!!!  I had about 1/4 of the stuffing mixture left that wouldn't fit into my peppers....so I cleaned out 8 large mushroom caps and loaded them up with the rest of the "stuffing" and baked them in the oven after the peppers came out.  I had one stuffed pepper half and one stuffed mushroom...and I was "stuffed" too after eating dinner!   :-)   I snapped a few photos to post below as well as the simple recipe.  Enjoy!

Voila!

BOOM!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms...Oh yeah!

Stuffed Pepper Bake

Ingredients:

2 large bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of ground sirloin
1/2 diced medium onion
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Few dashes of cayenne, or to taste
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
6-oz fresh baby spinach, wilted and chopped
1/2 cup quartered grape tomatoes
1 cup cauliflower rice, optional (see note below)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano (or Parmesan)
1 cup chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a large nonstick skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat and add diced onions and cook for a few minutes.  Add ground sirloin to the pan with the onions and brown well, breaking it up as it cooks.  Cook off all juices.  Add sage, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, cayenne, red pepper flakes and stir into meat mixture.  Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

While meat mixture is cooling, place bell pepper halves on a microwave safe plate and cook on high for about 3 minutes to soften and make pliable (I cooked them 1 minute at a time and checked for doneness after each minute).  You don't want to completely cook them, just par-cook and soften a bit.  

Add wilted spinach, grape tomatoes and optional cauliflower rice to the bowl with the meat mixture and toss to combine.  Stir in mozzarella and feta cheese and mix well.  Fill par-cooked pepper halves with the stuffing mixture and place in a shallow casserole dish.  Pour stock around the bottom of the casserole dish so they are sitting in approximately one inch of stock.  Sprinkle Parmigiano Reggiano or parmesan on top of stuffed peppers.  Cover and tent lightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and run under broiler for a couple minutes, if desired, until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.  Serve in shallow bowls and spoon broth on top of or around peppers, if desired.   Serves 4.

*Note:  Cauliflower Rice Recipe:  Using the large side of a box type grater or a food processor, grate a small raw head of cauliflower and place in a microwave safe covered dish and microwave on high for 4 to 5 minutes until al dente.  If desired, you can season with butter, salt and pepper.  I used it plain for this recipe.  The cauliflower rice can also be sauteed for a few minutes in a tablespoon of olive oil on the stove top if preferred.

Pot Roast...Crock Pot Style

This evening we had a really quick and simple dinner...courtesy of my crock pot!  Usually I use a boneless shoulder pot roast and they always turn out "fall apart tender" and very flavorful.  This time I decided to see how an eye of round roast would turn out in the crock pot.  Eye of round is an extremely lean cut of beef -- it looks like a beef tenderloin -- but it's not even close to being like one. As a matter of fact the difference between them is like night and day.  The tenderloin is an extremely tender cut of meat while the eye of round is a much tougher cut.  I wanted to see how one would turn out in the crock pot (as in...could the crock pot transform this eye of round into the tenderness of a tenderloin).  The answer was a big fat NO!!!  LOL  It was definitely not "fall apart tender" whatsoever.  I wouldn't say it was tough either...but it was a bit drier than what you would typically expect to get out of a crock pot.  I didn't follow any specific recipe...just sort of added things as I went along.  I diced an onion and minced some garlic and placed it in the bottom of the crock pot.  I then sat the roast on top and seasoned it with some salt, pepper, paprika and thyme and  dumped a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes over the top which took me all of like 5 minutes to do.  I covered it and then cooked it for about 9 hours on low.  When I got home, I removed it from the crock pot and sliced it into thin slices and then topped it with the herbed chunky tomato "gravy". If I were to rate it against other pot roasts that I have made, I would probably give it a 7 out of 10. It wasn't tough (you could cut it with a fork)...but it wasn't going to fall apart either. While this roast made nice neat looking slices...personally, I am more of a "chunky, fall apart, not so pretty" pot roast kind of gal. I served the pot roast with the leftover cheddar topped broccoli from last night. Basically all I had to do was "slice and serve" for dinner tonight -- how awesome is that? I snapped a couple pics for you to see. Enjoy!

Voila!

BOOM!

Sunday's Baked Fish and Broccoli w/ Cheese

This weekend was a busy weekend.  Hubby had a training class all day on Saturday which gave me some time to get caught up on some projects around the house.  Today we ran lots of errands and did some much needed house cleaning!    We had a few minor repairs made around the house this afternoon too.  Last night we had our leftover Green & White Pizza for dinner so I didn't have to cook.  I had hoped to do some baking this afternoon but ran out of time.  Tonight I made simple baked fish for dinner and just popped some buttered steamed broccoli topped with cheddar cheese into the oven to go with it.  Neither hubby or I were very hungry today for some reason.  We didn't eat dinner until about 8:30 tonight.  I am getting ready to prep a roast to put into the crock pot for tomorrow's dinner.  I really need to use my crock pot more frequently -- I always love coming home to a house that smells like someone cooked dinner for me for a change!  :-)   I snapped a photo of tonight's simple dinner.  Enjoy!

BOOM!

Friday Night's Green & White Pizza AND Green & Black's Chocolate

Well, it's finally Friday night -- I thought it would never get here! Tonight I was in the mood for "white pizza"...which is essentially a pizza without red sauce; just cheese, garlic and herbs. If you've never had it before, it is really good and a nice change from the regular "tomato sauce & cheese pizza". I also had a bag of fresh spinach that I wanted to use so rather than serve spinach salads on the side I decided to lightly saute and wilt the spinach in some garlic infused olive oil and add that to our pizza instead. So...what we ended up with was "Green & White Pizza". I thought that the perfect (and simple) dessert to accompany the Green & White Pizza dinner would be "Green & Black's 85% Chocolate"! I thought they would go together like salt & pepper and what better way to end the week than pizza and chocolate!  :-)   Now, don't worry...I didn't eat the entire chocolate bar, only a small piece...and I didn't eat the entire pizza either -- only 2 small pieces of that. It was absolutely delicious and so simple to make. I used my Almond/Flax/Parmesan Herb Pizza Crust as the base for my pizza. After making and pre-baking the crust, I brushed the top of it with some garlic infused olive oil. I scattered freshly shredded mozzarella cheese on top and dropped some little dollops of ricotta cheese over the mozzarella and sprinkled it with a couple teaspoons of Parmigiano Reggiano and then added the wilted fresh spinach. I popped it into the oven to finish baking for about 10 minutes. After pulling it out of the oven I sprinkled some spicy red pepper flakes on top. It was like being in a cozy little Italian bistro instead of my kitchen table! I snapped a few photos below for you to see and the recipe for the crust is linked above. Enjoy!