Asparagus Socca Pizza

Just this Saturday I walked across a stage with my hands on my B.S. in Dietetics. It has been a long...very long...four years but I know it was all very well worth it. I got to spend an incredible weekend with my two brothers, Brad, and my parents. The time we had together was, without a doubt, the highlight of my year.

Simple Bran Muffins

Muffins have become too fancy for me as of late. All these unnecessary, elaborate add-ins. I like them pure. Unadulterated. And these bran muffins are exactly that. Not to say you couldn't use these as a base for fancy nut or dried fruit versions, but they are truly delicious in their simplest form.

Chocolate Yogurt

This may be the simplest recipe I ever post on my blog but it is too delicious not to share. It's chocolate pudding, brownie batter, rich chocolate mousse, it's every chocolate treat you've been craving with one exception. It's healthy!

Citrus & Soy Mushrooms & Snap Peas

When you consume as many pounds (dare I say tons?) of vegetables as we do, you have to get creative. Steamed broccoli is transformed into pesto, asparagus is wrapped in parchment paper, squash get stuffed, and green beans are sautéed with many types of spices. A vegetable is rarely eaten twice in the same way around here, but these have been made an appearance at least three times in the last month. They are just that good!

Broccoli Pesto

Dark Chocolate Yogurt Cake

Chocolate is so very comforting and sometimes, like in the midst of my final semester as an undergrad, it is completely and utterly necessary. Just in time for Valentine's Day, this moist and decadent, yet simply healthy chocolate cake is perfect for dipping into a chocolate fondue or topping with strawberries and whipped cream.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

New Year's resolutions are usually lost on me in about a week. If it wasn't worth changing during the past year there is no way the beginning of a new one will bring about any difference. Yes, I'm talking to you stretching after every run, going to bed earlier, and giving up diet soda! But, when my Mom gave me a gratitude journal on January 1st I knew this was going to be less of a resolution and more of a life altering habit. 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus & Giveaway Winners!

I have a bad habit. One that I like to call "watching educational television". I absolutely love the programs on HGTV, TLC, and of course just about anything on the Food Network. I watch these shows all day on the weekends whilst cleaning, cooking, and eating. The only way I can justify my weekly 4 hour International House Hunters marathon is to say I am doing future vacation research, and those 5 daily episodes of What Not to Wear? Well, I will be entering the corporate world soon and I would hate to not know how long the crotch of my pants should be or if ruffles on my shirt are okay. See...educational!

The Best Gingerbread Cookies

It snowed about 4 inches here yesterday morning, I have all of my presents purchased and wrapped, family is gathering, and there are only 2 days until Christmas. I could not be more excited! One of my absolute favorite parts of winter break, besides Lucy, has to be cooking and baking for everyone. This is most likely due to the fact that I get to use my parents' KitchenAid mixer and gas stove. Ah yes...it's the little things in life.

Broccoli and Cheese Frittata

The ease with which you can mix only a few ingredients with eggs and bake it into a light and fluffy delicious frittata has been one of the greatest discoveries in my college cooking journey. It's affordable, hearty, and quite nutritious. I am a firm believer that all foods are versatile but you can really put anything into a dish like this, add a crust and you have a quiche, or fold it in half and you've made an omelet! Eggs get me excited, what can I say...

Parchment Paper Asparagus & a Giveaway!!!

Happy week after Thanksgiving! I decided to take a few days off blogging to enjoy family and the "break" I have from school. I hope you have all done the same and relished the beginning to this wonderful holiday season. I want to start it off right with what else but a great recipe and a giveaway!

Pumpkin Butter

Nothing brings out the pumpkin hoarder in me more than cold weather. With the average temperature hovering around 40 degrees we haven't even begun to see winter but that didn't stop me from stocking my pantry with 5 industrial sized cans of pumpkin. I can't help it, I discovered what Fall was like without pumpkin last year and I'm determined to never have that happen again.

I think my skin has started to take on a semi-permanent fake-tan orange hue due to the copious amounts of pumpkin I have consumed in the past couple of months. So if that makes you jealous, which it totally should, make this and enjoy spreading it on toast, dipping cookies into it, and my favorite, stirring it into oatmeal. 

Easy Chai Tea Latte & an Award

 The other day I got a most exciting package; a huge envelope full of coupons for local businesses, of which I saved about half. One of the lucky ones was for a free hot beverage from a drive through coffee place near my apartment that I didn't even know existed. After my workout I headed right over to get a Chai. It was incredible. Perfectly spicy, creamy, and reminded me so much of Christmas that it brought tears to my eyes (okay maybe not). Then I noticed the price I would have to pay now that I had used my one and only free drink coupon, that actually did make me cry. I had to start making my own if I wanted to be able to buy groceries next month.

Raspberry Baked Oatmeal & Giveaway Winners

A couple of weekends ago I woke up to rain drenched streets, shivering leaves, and a gray sunless sky. It was the kind of day that was made for baking. It also happened to be a Sunday, a day on which I almost always find myself pulling out my measuring cups. I'm not sure why, I suppose Sundays are just for baking. 

Cilantro Coconut Sauce Rice Bowl & a Giveaway!

I was pretty busy this weekend so Sunday was an ideal night for something extremely quick, easy, and flavorful for dinner. I just happened to have the perfect meal for that as I was recently asked by  Lundburg Family Farms and Stonehouse 27 sauces to review some of their products. I more than happily agreed and promptly received my goods in the mail. The first thing I did (besides take a picture of course!) was open the sauce. I immediately knew what I was going to make.

Spicy Asian Noodles with Kale

I have a confession.
I like shopping for produce.
Okay, I don't just like it...I obsess over it, I love it.
The produce manager and I are on a first name basis.
Brad will complete an entire grocery shopping trip in the time it takes me to marvel at and pick out all the fruits and vegetables on our list.
You can't deny that there is something exciting about discovering the apples you always buy or the berries you normally pay a ridiculous amount for are on sale. It always feels like a great accomplishment when you pick out that perfectly ripe piece of fruit, which it should, that's no easy task.
 One of my favorite things though, is finding a new fruit or vegetable to try. Last week I happened upon a papple, a pear apple hybrid, and just last year I discovered golden beets, butternut squash, bok choy, and kale.

Zucchini & Goat Cheese Socca Pizza

As the summer garden's produced more zucchini than any person can consume I have received and harvested a lot of this versatile veggie. When you've eaten whole zucchini bread loaves in only a few days, made more stir fries than you imagined possible, and grilled slices for weeks on end, you've got to start mixing things up to keep yourself sane. The nutty garbanzo bean flour that forms the crust and creamy goat cheese topping sheds a whole new delicious light on this prolific plant.

Grilled Corn: Mexican & Jamaican Style

 

This post seems silly with the weather we've been having lately (low 50s and rain) but I know most people still have the warmth of the summer months hanging on longer than we did! With that said I hope everyone is still enjoying the fantastic bounty of corn that hot weather brings. We've been eating it like it's going out of style over here, probably because its seemingly short-lived season ends in October. Through the many ways I've prepared it I found that grilling it and dusting it with spice mixes perfectly compliments the corn's natural sweetness.

Basil Pesto

I could barely contain my excitement when I saw the flyer; a professor wanted a group of students to adopt a garden plot over the summer to plant, maintain, and harvest. I signed up immediately. The thought of free, organically grown, sun-ripened vegetables at my finger tips made me ecstatic. A few of the things we planted that really flourished were zucchini, tomatoes, basil, cilantro, carrots, and a large variety of lettuces. The other gardener's interest in our gigantic crop of basil seemed minimal so I jumped at the opportunity to put it to good use. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars

I needed something simple to ease my way back into the realm of cooking. We recently moved to a different apartment complex so I have some "new" culinary territory to make my own. It's a much bigger kitchen and I love it. As soon as we put my food processor in it's new home I decided on making these bars. I wasn't completely sold on their texture when I first put them in to bake but they emerged from the oven wonderfully chewy. The blueberry studded bars are delicious on their own but the cinnamon vanilla glaze is really my favorite part, and rightfully so.