Breakfast To-Go

When you're on the go and don't have much time, these little egg white muffins make an easy to go breakfast treat.

     I always see pictures on Pinterest of egg muffins and I recently saw one that included a sweet potato crust (Here's the link to that recipe that inspired my creation, definitely a lot more fancier looking then mine!).  I didn't take the time to click on the link and follow the exact recipe, which I probably should have, but the ones I made still turned out pretty good!  Scroll down to see instructions.

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  2. Sauté greens in olive oil or coconut oil spray.  3. Shred sweet potato.  4. Season with your favorite low sodium or salt-free seasoning.
I used Flavor God - Garlic Lovers

                        

5. Take 2 whole organic brown eggs and about one small container of egg whites and whisk together with the sautéed greens.  6. Place shredded and seasoned sweet potato in muffin tin.  7. Use a ladle to pour egg white mixture on top of sweet potato.  8. Pop into oven for 20 minutes, check to see if there is a bit of a golden crust on top, if not leave in for another 5 minutes.  9. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan if you'd like

10.  ENJOY! - Sweet Potato, Arugula, Egg White Muffins

**DISCLAIMER**I know mine do not look anything like the pinterest post that inspired me, but I'm still learning!!  #DontJudgeMe ;-)

Blue Apron: Steak and Couscous

"People who love to eat are always the best people" ~ Julia Child

Thank God my sister is one of those people!  She introduced to me to an organic food home delivery service called Blue Apron.  She was able to hook me up with a free trial and I loved it!

For $60 dollars, you get three dinners (or you can make them for lunch if you really want to) for two people.  It comes with all the ingredients and HOW TO recipe sheets.  AND you have the ability to skip the service any time you  want to.  I generally use it about once a month, and I think it's totally worth it.  Sometimes my husband and I go out for dinner on the weekend and spend about $40 - $50 depending on where we go, so $60 is definitely a bargain.  To be honest we always have a little extra, so I get to share with my BFF.  

Last weekend one of the recipes that came in my magical box of ingredients was Grains of Paradise-Crusted Steak with Israeli Couscous Salad .  Probably the fanciest thing I've ever made, seriously.  I'm a simple gal, and I love that Blue Apron allows me to try ingredients I'm not aware of, or rarely use.  I haven't learned how to plate like an Iron Chef, but I'll keep practicing.  Hope you all give Blue Apron a try!!

Steak and Couscous

Can't have steak without a little wine (Danza del Sol Cabernet)

Foodie Adventures in Portland, OR

My husband and I recently went on a mini trip to Camas, WA for a little adventure.   However, for the most part we ate our asses off in Portland, OR since its only a 20 min drive over the bridge.  We started off with brunch at Petite Provence located in the Alberta Arts District (one day when I have a fancy pants camera I'll take better pics and they will speak for themselves). My husband had the Salmon Benedict, and I had the poached eggs with risotto cakes.  The eggs were perfectly poached, and bursting with delicious golden yolk as I pierced it with my fork.  I definitely recommend!  I'm sure everything else on the menu is just as amazing!

Smoked Salmon Benedict on top of a flaky croissant 

Risotto Cakes & Eggs w/ roasted potatoes and squash

Later we headed over to the Alphabet District with some friends and had dinner and drinks at The Fireside.  I didn't get a picture of everything since it was dark and I'm not going to lie, sometimes I get embarrassed photographing my food :-P  Anyway, I had a grilled flat bread pizza that was topped with pesto, thinly sliced zucchini, balsamic, sprinkled with pecorino & romano cheese, and the bread was perfectly grilled so it had a nice and crunchy texture.

The cocktails were very unique and refreshing (try the Pink Lady or Summer's Cup).  The rest of the menu is very eclectic and for those willing to try something different :-)

Zucchini Flatbread Pizza @ The Fireside 

Next day we had brunch again of course, brunch is the best meal of the day!  We headed over to Mother's Bistro & Bar, located in Downtown Portland.  Sorry for the crap pic I used from my SnapChat app.  My omelette was fantastic, lots of meaty mushrooms and lots of spinach, and the cheese added a creamy texture that was perfect! Roasted potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and seasoned just right :-)

Brunch @ Mother's Bistro & Bar

Lastly we absolutely had to make a stop at VooDoo Doughnut, famous for their creative and interesting flavors and names.  Why oh why did I not bring a magical pink box home with me??  This place is open 24/7!  And for the most part there's a line, but luckily it goes by fairly quickly.  I got the Maple Blazer Blunt doughnut and my husband got the Grape Ape.  I'm not crazy about grape flavored things since most of the time they taste like Dimetapp, but this was actually pretty tasty.  My Maple Blazer was basically a cinnamon sugar doughnut with a maple tip, and red sprinkles.  Nothing too crazy besides it being shaped like a blunt, ha!  I still enjoyed it, and the interior of the shop is just fun to be in and look around.  I would definitely visit again and recommend if you're in the area #TheMagicIsInTheHole

VooDoo Doughnut!!!!  Grape Ape & Maple Blazer Blunt

Chicken Mango Habanero Sausage and Veggies! "Pizza"

I love pizza!! Unfortunately, Pizza Hut and Dominoes don't help my waistline, so here's a pretty healthy version of a pizza you can make at home. 

Ingredients:  

Veggies galore

F&E Mango Habanero Chicken Sausage

Pesto as a base instead of tomato sauce

 Naan bread (or Pita)

Shredded Parmesan 

Low Fat Ricotta cheese

Ingredients

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Chop the veggies.  It's really up to you what veggies you want to use, I just happened to have most of these in my fridge.  And you can choose how thick or thin you would like them, but I think the thinner the better.

Veggies Chopped

2.  Next you get the chicken sausage and chop it up.  This one has a bit of a spice, so beware if you don't like spicy things!  Fresh & Easy has other delicious flavors, but this one is my favorite.

3.  Next you get a spoonful of Ricotta cheese and spread it on the Naan.  Depending on how big the Naan bread is you can use about a spoonful and a half.  Afterward I got about a tablespoon of pesto and spread it over the Ricotta and slightly mixed it together, so it becomes a delicious mixture of pesto and Ricotta.

4.  Start layering your veggies and chicken sausage on top of the Naan bread.  I started with the chicken sausage on the bottom, added the veggies on top, and ended with a bit of Parmesan cheese. 

5.  Get a cookie sheet and cover it with aluminum foil and spray with some olive oil spray or butter spray.  Place the pizzas on cookie sheet and spray the top of them as well.  Pop them in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes depending on how toasty you want them.

Ready to be Baked

6.  Take out of the oven carefully and enjoy!!!

Ready to Devour!

Hearty Kale & Mushroom Soup

I hate being sick, even if it is just a sore throat.  A sore throat means I can't thoroughly enjoy the food I usually eat, which puts me in a crappy mood :-/

Whenever I start to feel remotely ill I get to the market ASAP and throw a ton of veggies in my basket.  I get home, start choppin', and pretty much just come up with some kind of hearty veggie concoction.

Last week's concoction consisted of the following:

1 bunch Kale

1 package Shiitake mushrooms

3 carrots chopped

3 celery stalks chopped

2 small golden potatoes

1/4 red onion diced (chop more if desired)

2 Roma tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 garlic cloves thinly chopped 

Juice of 2 1/2 limes

Himalayan pink salt to taste 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Step 1 - Grab a fairly large pot throw in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté mushrooms with diced garlic cloves.  After about 5 minutes throw in the celery and carrots and sauté for an additional 5 minutes.

Step 2 - Throw in chopped kale to the pan of sautéed veggies.  When it is wilted after a few minutes I put in about 3 1/2 cups of water (add more or less to your liking).

Step 3 - Add some Knorr Chicken Bouillon, about 1 tablespoon (again, more or less to your liking).  I also added some salt free Fresh & Easy herb and spice mix, about two teaspoons (Mrs. Dash would work as well, and ground ginger.

Step 4 - I added the diced gold potatoes just a few minutes after I added all the seasonings.  I should have sautéed them along with the other veggies, but I was just going with the flow and forgot that I had potatoes.

Step 5 - Let soup simmer for about 15 minutes or so, until potatoes are soft.  While you are waiting on the soup to simmer, you can start on the aji (which is a similar to a pico de gallo, except I married a Colombian and they call it aji).

Instructions for Aji

Dice tomatoes, red onion, chile

Chop cilantro

Juice the limes and mix all together

 Add salt to taste

Step 6 - Serve a bowl and add as much aji as your heart desires (but don't hog it all! ;-) ... Enjoy!!

Yum!!

Nutty Homemade Granola

(Belated Mother's Day Treat post!!)

I never know what to get my mom for mother's day because she's picky about clothes, perfume, and accessories.  And even though I myself love gift cards, I don't like to get my mom something so impersonal. So, I know she loves breakfast food, and she likes to make her own granola, so I made her some yummy, homemade granola!  I am so glad I subscribe to Adrianna Adarme's food blog, A Cozy Kitchen, because a week before mother's day she posted her mother's day gift box.  My goal was to make my mom a similar gift box with homemade items including granola, lip scrub, a personalized mug and a box of organic tea, but I only got as far as the granola because I'm world's biggest procrastinator (don't judge me).

I followed the recipe as posted "Nutty, Seeded, Grain-Free Granola", however I used dried cranberries and golden raisins instead of the golden berries and goji berries.  It turned out just as delicious!  Try it!!

Fresh out the oven!

With the dried cranberries and golden raisins added, yum!

Blue Corn Chip Chilaquiles

If you're Mexican (or not) and you don't love chilaquiles, what's wrong with you?!  Tortilla chips, queso fresco, cilantro, poached egg, green sauce, red onions = Yum Yum in my Tum Tum :-)

Traditionally, chilaquiles are made with red sauce, well at least that is how I grew up eating them.  My mom always made red sauce from scratch and fried the tortillas in corn oil, so not exactly super healthy, but still delicious.  When I was younger I would exclude the egg and just have a side of beans, but I was lame back then and have learned the gloriousness of a poached egg.

My bestie and I got together on a Saturday morning to make this delicious version of chilaquiles.  I used the green sauce recipe from Pati's Mexican Table, so all credit for the green sauce goes to Pati Jinich.  The idea of using blue corn tortilla chips came from Pinterest, and pretty much because it sounded tasty.

I couldn't find blue corn tortillas at the grocery store, and ain't nobody got time to make blue corn tortillas from scratch! So my friend bought some blue corn tortilla chips from Trader Joes that worked out quite well. I had two servings, who wouldn't?

For the toppings we used:

Crema Mexicana

Cacique Queso Fresco

One poached egg

Red onions marinated in some lemon juice

Chopped cilantro for garnish

                                  

Nom Nom!!