New Year’s Resolutions and a Turkey Egg and Cheese Bake

Hello everyone! How’s it going? 

I was thinking today about being healthy, saving money, and New Year’s Resolutions. Have you made any Resolutions this year? I would like to say I did, but I really didn’t. In my mind I made a list of things I need to take care of such as; getting ready for taxes, cleaning my room, cutting coupons and many more. What I also planned on doing is practicing the piano again because I used to be very well at it. Many of the things I planned or thought about haven’t been done.

What about you? Are you following your New Year’s Resolutions or are you planning on getting things done that need to be taken care of?

A few other goals I am trying to set for myself are food goals. I want to bake more bread and learn how to decorate cakes. These are just some of my food goals that I hope to accomplish. 

So enough of goals and resolutions (and if you do have any stick to them, you  can do it!) let’s talk food.

How does a really good BLD sound? BLD if you don’t know is a Rachael Ray term for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. I saw this recipe in her Everyday With Rachael Ray magazine months ago and though it sounded delicious. It’s a Ham, Egg and Cheese bake. It is soo simple your kids can do it with a little help. This is a really nice breakfast and healthy. It has yummy English muffins on the bottom topped with ham, eggs and cheese. You cannot go wrong with that in my book. I made a few changes to make it slightly healthier but pretty much kept it the same. I really hope you guys try this one. 

This is right before you add the extra cheese, omg I could have eaten this than!

Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray

Ingredients/recipe

• 4 to 6 whole wheat English muffins cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
• 8 ounces sliced deli turkey, coarsely chopped
• 2  cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cups milk
• Salt and pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

.

Directions:

1.      Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 13x9 baking dish. Layer the English muffins on the bottom top with, ham, 1 ½ cups cheese and 2 tablespoons chives in the dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Pour into the dish and top with the tomato slices in an even layer.

2.      Bake the eggs until nearly set, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese and 1 tablespoon chives on top and bake until golden.

I cannot tell you how much I love this dish and how good it is. It is also very changeable and you can do almost anything you want with it.

I hope you try this and like it. Enjoy!

I'm Behind and Mac ‘N Cheese Jalapeño Poppers

Hi and greetings to all. It is Thanksgiving week and do you guys have all your holiday plans set? I will be cooking and baking up a storm this week and I also have been requested to make a cake for someone’s birthday. It is going to busy, busy, busy, but I am going to love every minute of it.

So I know I was suppose to update last week with sides and appetizers for Thanksgiving, but I had some car trouble, major trouble, and then my roommate’s car started acting up. Last week was a rough week to say the least. I hope you can accept my apology.  Things are ten times better now and I am back to blogging.

Here is a another appetizer, but it kind of doubles as a side.  Mac and cheese stuffed jalapenos.  I followed the recipe pretty much to a T. The only thing I would do is roast the jalapenos or blanch them for a few minutes to soften them up. Mine were a little too crunchy. Remember to remove the seeds and ribs to take the heat down. I also had left over Mac and Cheese and served that as a side and it was amazing. This is a must try! Very cheesy and fun. I hope you guys like this!

It is from Rachael Ray and the recipe can be found here. Enjoy!

Corn Chowder Pasta

Hello everyone! How is your Monday? I worked all weekend so it flew by and cannot wait until Tuesday because I have a day off to relax. I am super excited about my baking extravaganza that I mentioned a few days ago. In preparing to making everything I have planned I bought 5 packs of butter! Oh yes, 5 packs. I need more too.Thankfully a store had them on sale for dirt cheap which allowed me to get that many.  I go all out for my baking extravaganza, but I will talk about this more this week.

I overdosed on candy again this weekend, I even worked out and had a cupcake after lol. I love my sweets. I tried eating healthy most of the weekend though. I have a super healthy dinner even though it says Chowder in the title. I used whole wheat pasta and chicken broth instead of cream. This pasta tasted so fresh and had a nice cream to it due to the corn. This was really good and a great recipe if you are looking to get more whole grains and veggies in your diet. Rachael Ray made this a few times and I was so glad I tried it. I hope you guys try it it makes a ton!

Look how HUGE this was!

chopped veggies

a few things you will need

brown up the bacon, careful it liked to splatter a bit

No milk here, corn and chicken stock

Its such a beauty, serve right out of the pan

Corn Chowder Pasta

Adapted from Rachael Ray-Summer Corn Fettuccine

Ingridents;

1 pound Lingine
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for drizzling
12 slices Canadian bacon,(if using the smaller size)  chopped (you can omit this)
6 ears corn on the cob, shucked
1 Onion finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 to a 1 cup chicken stock, depends on how thick you want it
2 ts Dried Thyme leaves
A few dashes of hot sauce or 1-2 pinches cayenne pepper
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Bring a large pot of water to boil over medium heat. Salt the water, add the pasta and cook to al dente.
While the pasta is coming up to a boil, scrape your corn kernels off the cob, making sure you are getting the juices from the ears of corn.

Add about three-quarters of the scraped corn and any corn liquid to the pan with the bacon. Add the onion and bell pepper and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook until the vegetables are tender, 5-6 minutes.

Add the remaining corn and chicken stock to a food processor (or blender) and puree until smooth.
Pour mixture into the veggies and simmer over low heat. . Stir in the thyme and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, to thicken. Add the hot sauce or cayenne and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Drain the pasta and add it to your veggie mixture, stir, top with Parmigiano Reggiano.

I actually served this as a side dish to chicken or it can be your main dish. Hope you guys try this.

Enjoy!

Weekend Special Roasted Jalapeno Poppers-Appetizer

How is everyone this weekend so far?  I have been up very early because I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been sipping coffee all day and I am hoping I can make it through my closing shift tonight because I am tired. 

 

I was driving around today and I cannot believe how the leaves are changing so fast! There was one tree that almost had all the leaves missing! It is scary how fast everything is changing. Fall is so beautiful and I enjoy it so much.

 

I wanted to give you guys a really easy appetizer which would be great for a game day party.  Roasted Jalapeno Poppers. I saw this on a 30 minute meal and new it would be amazing.I served these as an appetizer for a dinner party and they were a hit. The feta cheese sounded weird but added a great contrast and depth of flavor. Trust me use it, plus its only 2 ounces it’s not all that much. I adapted the recipe to what I had on hand. It called for a hot shredded cheese or sharp cheddar, but I just had normal cheddar on hand.  I also added more jalapenos because there is so much mixture that I wanted to use it all. One last thing I lowered the oven temperature to they would slowly roast. 

 

These are amazing and I hope you guys try them either for an appetizer or for your game day party.

 

 

Adapted from Rachael Ray's Roasted jalapeno Popper

 

Ingredients:

• 16 large jalapeno peppers
• 2 ounces feta cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 4 ounces shredded Cheddar Cheese
• A small handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated onion

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut 1/3 of each pepper off lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place on a baking sheet. If peppers do not sit flat on the baking sheet, slice a thin piece off the bottom of the pepper so it will not roll around.

Mash the feta, cream cheese, shredded cheese, cilantro, and onion together and stuff the peppers with the mixture. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and the cheese is brown at the edges and bubbly.

Enjoy!