Recipe 13 and some bacon maple cupcakes

 Made the usual trip to the Leon Springs Farmers Market yesterday. Happy to see some signs of spring: strawberries that were all sold out (boo) and squash! I have to say, the coolest part about my "everything from scratch" resolution is seeing directly where our food comes from. Totally blows my mind every time I shake the hand of the man that slaughtered our chicken. Hah.
An added bonus with these resolutions is that I am now more fitness-conscious. And I'm not sure it's even a direct correlation. I think it's more of a "holy crap, I was in the kitchen for 3 hours Saturday maybe I should go run outside." Either way, the fact that my lazy butt is able to run for 5 minutes straight is an amazing achievement and all couch potatoes should bow before my un-laziness.

 Okay, so this week I had some repeats: spinach mushroom pizza and fish. The sides were good, though. Cooked down some fresh FM spinach with some shallots, olive oil, mushrooms and red bell peppers. Yum! The fish was more of a Lent-y Friday thing, but we had a special surprise Friday when we discovered that it was a rare occasion where Catholics were encouraged to eat meat. So, we made like carnivores and had some awesome burgers from a local favorite, San Antonio Burger Company and had the fish this evening.

Today was a long, lazy day of running, grading papers and... lazing around. So, It only makes sense that I finally decided to try the Maple Bacon Cupcakes I have heard so much about.
Two mistakes: next time, I will use REAL bacon and not turkey bacon (tasted absolutely NO crispy pig in there). And the second mistake: I had about 1/4 a cup of REAL DELICIOUS Vermont maple syrup (which actually comes from trees on my grandparents' property, how cool is that?!). But instead of saving it for the frosting, where you could taste it the most, I used it all in the batter for the actual cupcakes and had to use that crappy artificial stuff for the frosting.

Final score: meh. They were good because it was a carb covered in sugar and we were hungry after pumping iron at the gym, but it was hard to taste bacon or maple. There was a distinct fake maple scent, but no dice. Hope the Breakfast Club at school enjoys them tomorrow...

Hubby's fave: tacos in pasta shells

I really dislike that my husband's favorite dish is something that does not include any veggies whatsoever. Not to mention it's loaded with fat (but it's GOOD).

Hubby's Tacos in Pasta Shells (courtesy of my Momma) got a revamp. The original recipe calls for 3oz of full-fat chive cream cheese, 1 cup of cheese, crumbled tortilla chips, and regular jumbo pasta shells... not cool.

Here's the edited recipe (sans cheese, not for the fat content, but for the forgetfulness thing):
1 lb beef
8oz whole grain pasta
6oz cream cheese (1/3 fat)
3 chopped green onions
1-2 Tbsp chili powder (or more, if you have a Hubby that loves the spiciness!)
pinch of salt

-Cook the pasta as per the package directions.
-Cook the beef, drain, season with chili powder, salt and add the cream cheese & green onions.
-Stir until combined.
-Combine with cooked pasta, top with about 1 cup salsa (we use Texas-Texas Roasted Salsa- yum!) and serve.
If you choose to go ahead and add the cheese, it does make it super tasty! You'll need to bake it covered at 350F for about 10-15min and then uncover it, add the cheese and wait for bubbly deliciousness. You can also crumble tortilla chips on top, but again forgetfulness/healthiness.

Breakfast mini fritattas

Okay, calorie counters, you won't believe me after I tell you the ingredients that went into these babies and then how little they take up of a dieter's daily allowance. You can really have any kind of "filler," so long as you have eggs and cheese! I just listed below what I used this morning.

You will need:
6 slices turkey bacon
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 portabella mushrooms, finely chopped
1 large shallot, finely chopped
8oz baby swiss (shredded or finely cut into squares)

- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Beat together eggs, milk, pepper, and nutmeg. (Those not sensitive to salt can choose to add a small pinch- but I mistakenly added some, forgetting about the loads of salt in turkey bacon. Needless to say, Hubby loved it, I not so much.)
- Cook bacon and finely chop or crumble (crumbling was not possible for me with Butterball's thick turkey bacon)
- Saute spinach, mushrooms and shallot together with a smidgen of olive oil. Drain on paper towels to keep eggs from being runny later.
- In a greased mini muffin tin, pour about 1/2 Tbsp to 1 Tbsp egg mixture, followed by spinach/mushroom mix, topping with bacon and then cheese. If it looks too dry on top, add another 1/2 Tbsp egg mixture.
- Bake until brown and bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy! According to my favorite calorie tracker (which allows you to enter recipes!!), if you go easy on the toppings and make 48, each one is only 31 calories! Awesome sauce!

Thai Chicken Pizza- sharing the recipe!

 Many of my FB friends have been asking about the Thai Chicken Pizza recipe from last week- so here it is! (Credit has to be given to Rachel Ray- but I have made a few edits that I think make it awesome.)

Now, for the pizza dough, you can get the Pillsbury, but we made 2 pizzas with some FM pre-made whole grain pizza crusts. They were awesome! But the buttery taste from the Pillsbury was definitely something I missed :(

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough
- 1/2 cup Hoisen sauce
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 10 oz Monterey Jack cheese (about 2 cups)
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 BIG Tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tsp hot sauce (I recommend Sriracha sauce- the red sauce with a rooster on the bottle & a green cap)
- 2 tsp McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning
- 2 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips (or 1/2 pound cutlets)
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 scallions (I always go overboard, with green onions and garlic, we used 6 scallions for this)
- about a 1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup roasted peanuts
- (Optional- 1 cup bean sprouts)

Preheat oven to 425. Form the pizza dough on a pan. Top with hoisen sauce (this is your pizza sauce), sprinkly with red peppers and top with cheese and red bell peppers. Bake about 15min until cheese is bubbly.

While baking, combine vegetable oil, soy sauce, peanut butter, hot sauce and grill seasoning in small bowl. (Zap for about 10sec in the microwave if it doesn't mix well. Another hint- use the same Tbsp from the oil for the peanut butter, it will come off easier!) Coat chicken with mixture and cook over medium-high heat until cooked through.

While chicken cooks, mix honey and vinegar in medium bowl, coating cucumbers with the mix.

When pizza is done baking, top with chicken, scallions, cilantro, cucumbers, and peanuts. Add bean sprouts if desired. Cut and serve!

Chipotle Sweet Potato Chicken Soup

Besides the fact that I am probably the WORST vegetable chopper ever (notice the not quite chopped strips of onions)- I love making this soup. It is chunky, and it makes about 6 servings, with each serving only being about 200 calories. Awesome!
All you need is chicken stock, an onion, a sweet potato, 2 carrots, about 3 chicken breasts, some cilantro and green onions, and chipotle chili powder. Chardonnay gives it a better taste (especially for lunch the next day!) but I've made it without the wine before and it still tasted great.
We are enjoying 70 degree weather here right now, but to me, soup is always good, even if it's the middle of the summer (because, let's face it, you're probably already sweating by the time you finish cooking anyway).

Now, if I can remember to put the FM chicken in the crockpot, Thursday should be Walnut-crusted chicken with quinoa. Nervous about making quinoa, but I'm sure it will be delicious!

An attempt at Chai Cupcakes

Like very weekend for the past 3 weeks I made a batch of homemade Chai Tea because every week I finish an entire batch (8 cups). They are great as chilled lattes at work!

Well, I had heard from a friend that you could make Chai cupcakes, and the thought just wouldn't go away. Unfortunately, I made some delicious, but overpowering orange cinnamon icing, so they really just came out tasting like carrot cake. This was a good thing because my husband is crazy for carrot cake, so I am not left to finish off the cupcakes alone.

Anyway, we'll just call these Spice cupcakes, since they really didn't taste like Chai...

This week's dinner recipes will include: Walnut-crusted chicken with quinoa and sweet potato chicken stoup. More to come later!

Thai Chicken Pizza

My husband and I LOVE this recipe. Although the "pizza sauce" is supposed to be duck or plum sauce, I've always used Hoisen sauce instead, since it's sweet and always on hand at our house. With 3 chicken breasts and 2 packs of Monterrey Jack cheese, we ended up with 4 mini-pizzas (using the whole grain, organic pizza crusts I picked up from the FM from Phoenix Rising awhile back).

The peanut butter/tamari sauce blend that coated the chicken is what really makes your mouth water- awesome! The bean sprouts are kind of a love/hate thing for me- what a mess! But man, these pizzas are GREAT.

Recipes 8 &9, if you're keeping track

Due to the unusually cool weather last week, I made chili and the most disgusting cornbread ever. I blame it on the website I found a substitute recipe for when I had no flour to make it with (I was waiting for some organic whole grain flour I ordered from Nuts Online, but the 0.25" snow made it arrive later than projected.) Luckily, we're having leftovers tonight (Round 2!) and I'm making regular cornbread the way it's meant to be- tasty.

I made spinach enchiladas last night. I have to give major credit to my sister in law who pointed out that a local restaurant, Los Barrios (owned by the parent of a current student), sold a recipe book that had recipes very much like my husband's grandmother makes. And, since she only speaks Spanish and doesn't write anything down, I jumped on the deal. They were delicious, but I think because I used fresh spinach, they seriously needed some salt.

I have to say, in the spirit of Valentine's day, if you ever find yourself married to someone of a different culture, don't be afraid to butcher the food they are used to. If they really love you, they will patiently wait until you get it "right."

In other news, the weather is very spring-like this week. The high the past few days has been just shy of 80. I am not complaining :)

Adventures with raw milk, snow, green onions and chai tea

I, like my online orders of baking supplies, am using the excuse of the southern "Arctic Blast" for why I am late this week. (Please ignore the fact that it was 82 degrees outside exactly a week ago.)

Last week's FM trip was a new one for me. After reading about all the benefits of Raw Milk (no chemical treatments, if it comes from grass-fed cows, there's usually no hormones or antibiotics, etc.) I decided to try it out. I dropped $7 on a gallon. Yikes! Once I got home, however, it slowly dawned on me that there might be risks to drinking non-pasteurized milk. Sure enough, just Googling "raw milk" provided enough info to scare me into spending 2 hours of my Saturday cooking my milk, and then of course skimming it since we were a little wary of 3.5% fat milk. On the plus side, I made some butter out of the skimmed layer (kindergarten style, shaking a glass jar until my elbow hurt). But, after that experience, we went back to store-bought milk this week.

In other news, I have discovered the secret to green onions. I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say that I made FM green onions last for 4 weeks before they became slightly limp and not at all mushy. The trick is to wrap them individually like a jelly roll in a damp paper towel, and then store them in an open plastic grocery bag (not the produce bags, the regular thick ones) in the fridge. It was AMAZING. (Yes, I am thrilled by the little things in life.

Unfortunately, there was no FM to partake in this morning. Yesterday, the entire city shut down due to about 0.25 " of snow. For you northerners, that's like a blizzard for us south Texans. So, apparently many of the farmers were still stuck at home this morning, since it tends to be cooler in the Hill Country. So this was the first time since December that I have had to shop for everything at the grocery store. Let me tell you, I am constantly amazed at all the things we have become so good at providing in the middle of winter. But, I stuck to my list, which only included produce that I could have got at the FM (except for the hubby's usual apples, he will not give those up!)

In response to the cold weather, I found this Chai Tea Recipe online last week and have just been waiting for the opportunity to make it!

 The tea came out great, but let me tell you, it sure did look weird steeping in the pot with bits of smashed ginger floating in it.

The high today is supposed to be around 65, but we're supposed to get another cold snap on Tuesday. If you're living in a winter wonderland, stay warm! And stay tuned for this week's Chili & cornbread, and spinach enchiladas a la Los Barrios.

Meaty "Not-sagna"

So, Rachel Ray claimed that her "Not-sagna" takes less time to prepare than regular lasagna... um, not really.
But, it was just as good!

Grass-fed ground beef, fresh onions, fresh basil, Organic spaghetti, with some ricotta... It was pretty good!
Only thing I forgot was the french bread. And, I'm a little annoyed that making your own tomato sauce (for pizza or pasta) always makes it come out pretty runny. All the recipes online tell you to add a can of tomato paste, which kind of voids the whole "homemade" thing.

Hubby ranked this at a 6 out of 10, and said last night's meal was an 8/10.

When he told me what he thinks is closer to a 10, I was a little surprised. He likes the simple throw together stuff. So, soon enough, I'll be doing some REAL "30 minute meals."

In other news, check out this insanely huge head of cauliflower the hubby found at our local grocery store:

Speaking of food, anyone else seen the news on Taco Bell's latest lawsuit?