Roasted Brussel Sprouts

If you think you hate Brussel Sprouts, you haven’t tried this recipe! Not only it is incredibly easy, but its also delicious. I never want to share mine when I make them!

So do yourself a favor, and try this out. Buy a bag of brussel sprouts. Cut them in half. Put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Generously add avocado oil, garlic salt and black pepper. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Broil on HI for 10 minutes.

Enjoy the crispy deliciousness that is this incredible vegetable. Don’t share with others. Keep them all to yourself. And if you don’t eat them all and have to put them in the fridge overnight, please don’t microwave them! They must be put back in the oven to be reheated. Please tell me if you try this, I would love to hear about all the people I’ve converted to be Brussel Lovers ❤

Fajita Quesadillas

I have found that Mexican dishes are pretty dang easy to make vegetarian, so I’ll probably be eating a lot of it from now on, which frankly isn’t hurting my feelings one bit. I should have married a Mexican man so that my mother in law could teach me all of the goodness that is tamales, tacos, and enchiladas. That’s my love language right there.

Quesadillas are a crowd pleaser and my house and we often make Chicken and bean quesadillas. For Vegetarian week, I decided to make up my own thing completely, mixing two of my favorite dishes together: Fajita Quesadillas!

Ingredients:

• mushrooms
• 3 red peppers
• 2 green peppers
• half of a huge walla walla sweet onion (or Vidalia)
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• tortillas
• cheese
• black beans, precooked and rinsed
• a few tablespoons of avocado oil
• a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• sea salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Get a sauté pan going on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of avocado oil, and  get the mushrooms, peppers, onions and oil sautéing. Add Worcestershire sauce.
2. After the onions are caramelized and everything is smelling amazing, take off the heat and let the veggies rest while you start the quesadillas.
3. In another pan, get some more avocado oil heating up on medium. Put one tortilla down. Add cheese, beans and fajita veggies and put a tortilla on top. Cook until golden brown on both sides.
4. Remove from heat, let cool a couple mintues. Cut with a pizza cutter. Serve with Guac and Pico De Gallo!

Enjoy!

Lunch with Girlfriends

Its hard to move to a new place, without knowing anyone, when you are used to having constant friendship interactions. In Washington, I was very active in my church and had many friends who I would meet up with for coffee dates, play dates for our kids, church activities, girl nights, game nights, pretty much anything and everything!

Then I moved to Utah…

I was lonely for a long time. Whether self-inflicted, or just out of shyness, I’m not sure. My sister Jamie always told me that I just needed one friend: a gateway friend.

I met my gateway friend Lindsey in spring of 2015 when both of our boys were on the same baseball team. Her husband Jeremy was the coach. Aedan excels in all sports, and even though this was his first year playing baseball, he and Lindsay’s son Braxton became instant friends, and the two best players on the team. This led to a friendship between Lindsey and I. She also happened to live in the same neighborhood I did, even though we were both playing at a different cities rec league. Once we found out we live in the same neighborhood, she started inviting me to join her at our HOA pool. We hit it off, and basically spent every single day in summer at the pool together, where she introduced me to many many of her friends. One of her friends, Nicki, had a similar story to me. We had both moved to Utah from out of state around the same time. Lindsey met her, AT A YARD SELL: that’s how friendly Lindsey is!

Anyway, the three of us really hit it off and spent nearly every summer day together at the pool. When September came and our neighborhood pool had to shut its doors for the season, I was really wondering what the heck we could do to still get together often!

Thus our weekly lunches were born. Every week, usually on Tuesdays, we get together at one of our houses for a lunch and girl time. I enjoy it immensely! I look forward to it every week. I highly suggest you start a weekly lunch with your girlfriends too. It doesn’t cost you any money, like going out would, and you get much needed girl time!

So anyway, to get back to the point of this post within the context of my vegetarian week….

It was my week to host our lunch. I made a fresh loaf of bread, and homemade butter. A veggie salad with boiled eggs. And we also ate my leftover Egg Drop Ramen Veggie Soup. Lindsey brought guacamole! We had a fantastic time, as always! Nothing better then a good meal, and good friends! Try it out!

Ciao!

Veg Week: Day Two

Lets dive right into day two of my Vegetarian Week!

My meal plan for the day: Click the links for recipes!

Breakfast: Mocha Shake

Snack: peaches and handful of pistachios

Lunch: Weekly Lunch with my Girlfriends!

Dinner: Fajita Quesadillas with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

How I’m Feeling: Wow! I woke up with a ton of energy! Either I slept really well or this veggie thing is already making a difference. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if the trend continues. Usually on a normal day, I wake up begrudgingly and walk immediately to my coffee bar. Today, I jumped to start on my day’s  to do list and got a ton of stuff done by 9am! I was really impressed. I wasn’t hungry at all today. I got my house all cleaned and a loaf of bread made early, because I had my weekly lunch with my girlfriends planned. Today was my turn to host. I always have a wonderful time, and I look forward to it every week. I normally hit a wall around 2pm, but today I kept going without a slump at all! I certainly hope this continues. Its amazing what I can get done around my house when I am full of energy. Dinner was fantastic. I might sound totally crazy when I say this, but I’m completely addicted to brussel sprouts. I pretty much cooked that entire pan just for me and didn’t willingly share with my family. I just want to eat them all! So delicious! I wasn’t hungry after dinner! That’s a first for me! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Ciao!

 

 

Egg Drop Ramen Veggie Soup

So this meal has a very long name, but I promise it took almost no time and barely any effort to make. And it was incredible!

Egg Drop Ramen Veggie Soup

• One Package of Ramen Noodles (not your 10 cent package of top ramen, okay?)
• 1/4 head of cabbage, sliced with a mandolin slicer (Seriously, if you don’t have a mandolin slicer RUN to target and get one. Its about $10 and saves your vegetarian life, I promise)
• 3 radishes slices thin with a mandolin slice
• 1 carrot grated
• 3 or 4 mushrooms sliced thinly
• 2 or 3 green onions thinly chopped
• handful of frozen green peas
• 16 ounces of vegetable broth (that you made earlier, thanks to my post)
• 32 ounces of water
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 3 eggs

Okay, so here’s the deal. Get your vegetable broth and water to a boil. While its getting hot, whisk your 3 eggs together in a separate dish. Once the broth is boiling, add the eggs in there and start whisking immediately. Your eggs will cook immediately and now you have egg drop soup! You can totally stop here if you’d like! Egg drop soup is a great recipe for sick people! If you want something more substantial, then carry on.

After the eggs have dropped, add your ramen to the pot. As its cooking, start slicing veggies. First add the carrots and cabbage, those take the longest to cook. Then add radishes, and green onions. After a minute or so, add the frozen green peas until heated thoroughly. Take the soup off the stove and add the mushrooms! And voila, its done! Too easy. Add salt and pepper if you wish! Enjoy!

Ranch Dip

If you are following my Vegetarian week, you will see that one Day One I ate celery and ranch dressing as one of my snacks. I wanted to share with you the recipe I found for this amazing Ranch that is totally guilt free!

I found this recipe off of pinterest, and I tweaked it slightly. Click Here to see the link to the ordinal recipe by The Foodie and the Fix.

Here is my version.

• 1 cup of cottage cheese
• 5 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder
• 2 teaspoons of garlic salt
• 2 teaspoons of dill

Pile all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste if you wish. To be honest, I was afraid to try this recipe because I hate cottage cheese, but surprisingly it actually taste like real ranch, and its a way better option then the oils and other nasty stuff hiding in commercial ranch dips/dressing. If you would like to use this as a dressing instead of dip, you’ll need to add a few tablespoons of milk until its thinned out to your liking. Enjoy!

Veg Week: Day One

Hi Friends! I am going on a kitchen adventure, and this is day one. I’m talking about my Vegetarian Week.

My Meal Plan for the Day (Click the links to see recipes!)

Breakfast: Mocha Protein Shake and Small handful of Pistachios

Snack: Apple and 2 tablespoons of all natural no sugar added peanut butter

Lunch: Chipotle Bowl Salad

Snack: Celery and Ranch Dip

Dinner: Egg drop Ramen veggie Soup

How I’m feeling: Honestly I was exhausted today. I couldn’t do much of anything. I did my normal cleaning and cooking, but beyond that, I just wanted a nap. I woke up with a headache, and drank as much water as possible to counteract that. I didn’t get a workout in today. I also didn’t drop any weight yet, which isn’t a shock. I enjoyed the food! Especially the Egg Drop Soup I made for dinner. I went to bed hungry, which was a big struggle for me. Sam and I usually have a little snack together before bed. I watched him eat, while I drank water. Bummer, but I know that is one habit I really need to break! Pointless eating needs to go! Luckily I was so tired that I went right to bed with NO problems! Hoping tomorrow I have more energy!

Ciao!

 

 

 

Goals for 2015!

“If you don’t have goals, you aren’t growing. If you aren’t growing, you’re dying.” -Anthony Robbins

“Where there is no vision, the people parish.” Proverbs 29:18

I am a notorious list maker, planner lover and goal maker. If I don’t have something to look forward to, or work towards I go insane. That’s probably why at the beginning of every year I set out to write my list of goals for the coming year. It’s incredible what happens when you write words down, and think on them throughout the year. Honestly, everything I wrote last year happened. I am writing my list publically this year to prove that words are powerful!

My goals for 2015:

1. I would like to run at least a 5K race, if not longer races. EVERY MONTH. On the months where weather doesn’t permit, I will run an indoor 5K at my gym.
2. Up my writing on and off this blog. I have a passion for writing, and I want to spend more time in that. Specifically, I want to blog about food at least twice a month.
3. As the chef of the family, and the caretaker to everyone’s health, I have decided to implement “meatless Mondays” as I dabble in Vegetarian cooking. I have had some great friends and family who are vegetarian come forward with some incredible recipes. I can’t wait to start this! And this will coincide with my food blogging as well! If anyone has any good recipes PLEASE comment! I am SO new to this, I need help.
4. I want to get my photography business off the ground here in Utah. Click here to see my Facebook page! Since the move, I haven’t had any sessions nor have I even thought about it. But I’m ready to get back to another passion of mine.
5. I am dying to get back to school. Since we aren’t considered “residents” of Utah until we’ve lived here a year, it’s been a long wait. However, I should be able to return to school in the fall, and get this associates degree DONE with for good!

 

What are your goals for 2015? Have you ever had the experience that what you write come true? Make some goals! You will be amazed what that does for you! Wishing you a fantastic 2015!