Honey-roasted BLT's with red pepper aioli

Ahhh. Tomatoes! If there is one thing that makes these sweltering Mississippi summers worth it, it's a big, red garden tomato. Growing up, my mom introduced me to a perfect summer snack. A big plate of ripe tomatoes with salt, pepper, and mayonnaise. It doesn't get any better!
Well, except for maybe a super duper BLT! We loved Ina Garten's California BLT's so much, we've eaten them probably 4 times since I blogged about them. Last night, I decided to put a new spin on the recipe...plus I needed to use up that leftover aioli!

Honey-roasted BLT's with red pepper aioli

6 slices white bread (Pepperidge Farm Hearty White), toasted
9 slices center cut bacon
2 Tbsp honey
1 avocado, sliced
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 cups torn romaine lettuce
2 large, or 4 small tomatoes, sliced and sprinkled with salt and pepper
mayo


Preheat oven to 425. Place bacon slices on a rack on top of a baking sheet. Drizzle each slice with honey. Bake at 425 for about 20- 25 minutes, until brown and crispy. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels. Spread mayo on bread slices to taste. Arrange 3 slices bacon, 2-3 tomato slices, 3-4 avocado slices, and 3-4 pieces lettuce on each sandwich. Top with remaining bread slices, cut in half and serve with red pepper aioli as a dipping sauce.

Yummy!

Butternut Squash Lasagna and Zucchini Casserole

I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week, so I made two "big pan" meals so we could have leftovers for lunches and dinners later. Both of these are delicious, FULL of colorful veggies, and from....COOKING LIGHT. I should branch out more, but Cooking Light has the best healthy recipes!! So, here we go...

Butternut Squash Lasagna
Cooking Light

I followed the recipe exactly, with no adaptations. Except for the fact that, in one of the pans, I got a little mixed up on the layers! Ooops! It all got in there, though!



I even made the Smoky Marinara. You could, I suppose, use a canned marinara. But, why when this is so easy and tasty?? Look for the fire roasted tomatoes in the organic section at your grocery.

Smoky Marinara
Cooking Light



Zucchini Casserole with Red Pepper Aioli
Cooking Light



I adapted this one a bit. It really sounded like too much liquid to me. I used two 6 oz cans of tomato paste in place of one of the cans of diced tomatoes. I added 1/2 cup of tomato juice at the end, but only used about 10 oz of chicken broth. It turned out just right, not soupy at all, which I feared would have grossed me out. The layers of bread were not soggy at all. Actually they kind of melted into the casserole, the perfect binder. Whatever you do, do not skip the aioli! It is magical. You will have a lot leftover...put it in the fridge and dip some raw veggies in it later!!

Doughnut Muffins

Yes, you read that right...doughnut muffins. Oh my. I came across this jewel while reading the "What's Cooking" board on The Nest. Basically, it's doughnut batter baked in muffin form, drowned in butter, and covered in cinnamon sugar. Ahhh. I made these last night for Justin's breakfast this morning, but he ended up eating a few for dessert! I mean, how can you just leave something like that sitting there until morning? My kitchen smelled amazing, like Krispy Kreme when the red light is on. There are many forms of this recipe on the internet, mine is adapted from one on allrecipes.com. I decided to use powdered sugar on top, instead of granulated sugar. We all love those little powdered sugar doughnuts, right?!

Doughnut muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups.
Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg and mix to combine. Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk until combined. Fill the prepared muffin cups about half full.
Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are lightly golden, 20 minutes.
While muffins are baking, place 1/4 cup of melted butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with the cinnamon. Remove muffins from their cups, dip each muffin in the melted margarine, and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Let cool and serve. With milk, duh.

Homemade gnocchi!!

I'm super excited to tell you all about this gnocchi, but I guess I'd better start at the beginning of the week, so you'll know WHY I made the gnocchi.

Sunday is one of my work days. Usually I am so tired after 10 hours of helping folks out of bed and moving heavy arms and legs that I don't want to do much cooking...especially if I don't have anything planned and prepped already. So, Sunday, I called Justin on my way home from work with my usual "What do you want to eat?" (hoping he would suggest ordering a pizza). He said "Oh, just whatever we have..." Ugh, I really didn't want to cook and we were low on groceries, so I said "Well,I will just fix a salad or something." I drove home trying to scrounge up the energy to throw together some sort of dinner salad.

Well, to my surprise, I walk in the door to find THIS going on:



Yep, that's my husband and a rack of lamb. Probably the sexiest thing I have ever seen. Just saying.

He got the recipe from his Men's Journal magazine. He went to the grocery store (The Fresh Market!!) and got all the ingredients himself. Then, he cooked this fabulous dinner for me. So sweet, right?

I know.

Here are the recipes for my amazing dinner:


Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Asparagus with red pepper dressing
Both from Men's Journal


Strawberry Mint Smoothie
From The Fresh Market

He picked up the recipe for the dessert smoothie while he was at the grocery store. It was all delicious. I love you baby!!

As I was cleaning up after dinner, I saw a pound of potatoes, a huge bunch of basil, and some cherry tomatoes on the counter. I know I didn't buy this stuff, so I asked Justin what they were for. If you read further into the asparagus recipe, you already know the answer. He said he bought all the ingredients, but just didn't have time to make all that gnocchi by hand.

My next thought was, "What kind of MEN'S magazine has recipes for rack of lamb and gnocchi, anyway?" Justin said these were part of an article titled, "Five recipes every man should be able to cook"

EVERY man? Not that I disagree, (I mean, wouldn't that be awesome?) but that's a bit excessive, right?

WELL....I have always wanted to try making gnocchi. Giada makes it look so easy on the Food Network! All the ingredients were there and Jacob and Jessy were coming over for dinner, so why not now?!

After looking at the recipe, I quickly realized that this would be an all day event. So, I got started early.

You can find the recipe for the gnocchi in the asparagus link above from Men's Journal...

Here is how you do it, adapted from Men's Journal:
1. Bake 1 pound of potatoes (any kind, really. I used Yukon Golds) for an hour.
2. Cut them in half and scoop out the insides.
3. Put the hot potatoes through a potato ricer.
4. Mound the hot potatoes on a clean countertop and make a well in the center.
5. Put 1/2 cup flour then 2 egg yolks then another 1/2 cup flour into the well.
6. With a bench scraper, chop everything together quickly until a dough forms.
7. Shape dough into a ball and roll in flour.
8. Pull off a section of dough and roll it into a snake.
9. Cut the snake into 1/2 inch pieces.

10. Roll each piece into a ball in your hand

11. Place the ball on your floured counter top and roll it with a fork or gnocchi paddle into an oval shape with indentations. (I don't have a gnocchi paddle, so i used a fork)




12. Once all the gnocchi are shaped, drop them into boiling, salted water. Scoop them out when they float to the top and dunk them in an ice bath to cool.
13. Take them out of the ice bath and drain on paper towels.
14. Refiridgerate or freeze until ready to use.

All of the above took about 2 and a half hours. Making the actual gnocchi dish was quick and simple. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of our dinner.

I made Steak Diane, Gnocchi with tomatoes and basil, and Strawberry goat cheese salad.

The salad is my creation (and one of Jessy's favorites). Here is what goes in it:

Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad

4-5 cups fresh mixed baby greens
1 pint strawberries, halved
1/2 pint blueberries
1 small package goat cheese, crumbled
3 Tbsp. toasted pecans
4 Tbsp Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (I use Ken's)

Toss together and serve!

The gnocchi was delicious. Much better texture and taste than the store-bought kind...but a lot of work!

Green Monster

This may totally gross you out, but I am currently obsessed with this spinach smoothie recipe. I know, it sounds terrible. It is actually really good though, and there is NO other way I am eating 2-3 cups of spinach for breakfast! Just trust me, and try it. I is yummy and an easy way to sneak in some veggies!! Check out this amazing blog for other recipes, and more info about the "Green Monster": Green Monster Movement

Green Monster, from Green Monster Movement

1 cup almond milk (use any milk you like)
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 frozen banana
2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
ice

Blend until completely smooth. If the green is scary, throw in some blueberries and it will be pretty, pretty purple! :)

Also, I found this yummy little concoction at Kroger:


Looks like swampwater, but tastes delish! And it is FULL of healthy green goodness. Spirulina, sprouts, wheatgrass...the list goes on and on. As my grandaddy used to say to get me to eat veggies from his garden "It'll make you pretty!"

Now, aren't you just itching to eat (or drink) something green?

Banana "soft serve"

I just came across the most amazing thing. It is all over the internet and I'm sure some of you already know about it, but I have to pass this on. Banana "soft serve". Sounds good, right? Well, it gets better. The only ingredient is one frozen banana! I know, I was skeptical, too. Honestly, though, the texture is exactly like soft serve ice cream with a delicious natural banana flavor. No added sugar, no dairy, no fat! Perfect summer snack or dessert. If you have a sweet tooth like me, this is a life (and figure) saver!
How to do it:

Chop up a ripe banana and put it in a zipper bag. Throw it in the freezer. Let it freeze at least 24 hours. (I usually have several bags of bananas in the freezer door for smoothies) Fire up your food processor. Pulse the banana a few times till finely chopped. Then let it go full speed for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides frequently. The banana will become light and fluffy and start to resemble ice cream. Scoop into a bowl and thank me later! :)

Chicken Francais

I am tired tonight...so here is a recipe and a pic from last night! This one is from Cooking Light. Here is the link: Chicken Francais

Turned out pretty good. I am just not a chicken lover so much...I'm sure most normal people would love this, though!

Vanilla- Glazed Pork Chops.....yummmmm.

When I saw this recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook, I thought it sounded so different and inventive that I HAD to try it!! The vanilla sauce was amazing, and the pork chops tasted sooo good after their red wine sauna! :)Try this...but DO NOT substitute vanilla extract for the vanilla bean! The real vanilla totally makes this recipe. I used boiling onions because that is what they had at the farmer's market. I ended up cutting them in half because they were a little big, but it turned out fine. I served this with a baked sweet potato and, of course, red wine. I couldn't find a link to the recipe, so I just copied it from my Cooking Light cookbook:

Vanilla-Glazed Pork Chops with Cipollini Onions
Cooking Light

Ingredients:
4 (4oz) boned center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas black pepper
1 teas vegetable oil
Cooking spray
12 cipollini onions or small boiling onions, peeled (about 3/4 pound)
1 (3-in) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 cup Madeira wine
1 T brown sugar
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 teas cornstarch

Directions:

1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add chops and onions; cook for 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Scrape the seeds from vanilla bean; add seeds, bean and wine to pan scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until pork and onions are tender. Remove pork and onions from pan with a slotted spoon; keep warm.

2. Combine the brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Add to wine mixture in pan, and bring mixture to a boil. Cook the mixture for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Discard the vanilla bean. Serve the vanilla sauce with the pork chops and onions.



Last week, I got to make a cake! It has been a while since I made one, so I was pumped when my friend, Jessica asked me to make on for a baby shower. Look how cute it turned out! So fun!