Chocolate Covered Candy Canes

categories: Posts, Recipes

 

I love candy canes. Who doesn’t? That’s why I went ahead and bought a box of candy canes for myself. The season for candy canes is pretty much over. I think Christmas marks the end of that season. So I decided to use up the candy canes before it’s too late.

Chocolate Covered Candy Canes Recipe

 

Ingredients

1 box Candy Canes
3 Squares Baker’s Chocolate
¼ cups Chocolate Chips of your choice (Milk or dark work best)
 

Directions

Melt the chocolate in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring between heatings.
Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Dip each candy cane into the chocolate and carefully place the candy canes on the baking dish. Refrigerate for at least 1 hours until hardened. Enjoy!

Be careful unwrapping the candy canes – that’s where I broke a good number of them. They’re still delicious – just broken.

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Gingerbread House

categories: Posts

There’s a video – probably covered with dust in a closet or a drawer or even a box – at my parents house featuring my sister and I as children (probably around 6 years old) building a gingerbread house. It’s my most vivid home video memory. You can only imagine how proud two little girls were to have built a gingerbread house from what seemed to be “scratch.” I think we did a pretty good job, minus the frosting that found its way to the kitchen floor and all over the table. Let’s not forget us licking the frosting off our fingers in between explaining to the camera (aka future us) what we had accomplished.

This year, in our adult life, we decided to recreate the fun with our two younger brothers (both of which are in high school). It was much more fun when we were youngsters. But the outcome was much less messy. And did I mention that my brother took over the whole project and tried to build it himself? I guess that’s what you get when you get other siblings involved – namely the sibling that’s convinced he’ll be a civil engineer and thinks that building a gingerbread house is a test of his ability to become said engineer.

 

We’re obviously not very artistic.

The gaping hole is a “garage.”

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Crustless Broccoli Quiche

categories: Breakfast, Posts, Recipes

 

 

 

A couple years ago, when I was finishing up my Master’s at Syracuse University, my mom came to visit and help me move out. There’s something about moms where they can rummage through your fridge and find random ingredients then turn those random ingredients into deliciousness. Somehow, while I was packing up my things, my mom made this crustless quiche. It was amazing.

This morning was a crustless quiche kind of morning. I’m missing a couple ingredients – namely the right kind of cheese – but I was able to improvise.

Crustless Broccoli Quiche Recipe 

Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 eggs (I used egg substitute
½ package chopped, frozen broccoli
½ cup grated Mozarella cheese
¼ lb shredded cheddar cheese (or 5 slices American Cheese, squared)
¼ cup and 2Tbsp biscuit baking mix
2Tbsp butter, softened
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease a cupcake pan
Beat eggs, milk, biscuit mix, butter and Mozarella
Stir in broccoli and cheddar cheese (or American Cheese)
Pour into cupcake pan
Bake for 40-50 minutes (until eggs are set and top is golden brown)
 
 

 Servings: 4

 

Nutrition Information: Cals 158. Carbs 8g. Fat 10g. Protein 10g. Sodium 239. Sugar 4g.

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With Love, Sunny-Side Up Eggs

categories: Breakfast, Posts, Recipes

 

Yesterday, I took a much needed day off work – well, half day off since I had a couple calls and some papers in the morning. It made all the difference, nonetheless. I was able to get out to the store a buy a couple new dishes and serveware, oh and a steamer for my Tayta.

This morning, I woke up refreshed and ready to face they day – or more like face the hundreds of dollars I need to cough up for servicing my car – aka overcharging me for opening the cap to the coolant and flushing the system out because somehow in one year my coolant has turned to “sludge.” That’s not going to bring my mood down today. Today, I started my day with a little bit of Sunny-Side Up Egg Sandwich love.

Heart-Shaped Sunny-Side Up Eggs

Ingredients

1 Egg
Olive Oil Spray
Heart-shaped cookie cutter
2 Slices Whole Wheat Bread 
 


 

Directions

Spray your frying pan with olive oil spray, and place the cookie cutter inside. Crack the egg and ease it into the cookie cutter. It might seep a little, but that’s okay.

In the meantime, toast the bread (it’s easier to cut that way).

Use the cookie cutter to cut the bread into heart shapes.

Once the egg is finished, remove carefully with tongs and use a butter knife to ease the egg out.

Serve.

Servings: 1

Nutrition Information: Cals 170. Carbs 21g. Fat 7g. Protein 11g. Sodium 170mg. Sugar 3g.

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Spanish-Style Mushrooms

categories: Posts, Recipes, Vegetables & Sides

 

Mushrooms are a favorite in my house. I love mushrooms and so does everyone else. we add them to pizza, omelets, veggie side dishes, burgers –you name it, we add mushrooms.  So when I came across a recipe for these Spanish-style mushroom tapas I was really excited.

 

Spanish-Style Mushrooms Recipe

Ingredients

8 oz Mushrooms (white button and baby bella)
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup Marsala cooking wine
2 Tablespoons freshly minced Parsley
Juice of 1 Lemon
Sea Salt
 

Directions

Rinse the mushrooms of any dirt or grit.
Heat the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium.
Once it starts to bubble, add the garlic; bloom for 30 seconds.
Add the Marsala wine and bring back to a bubble.
Toss in the mushrooms, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
Remove the lid, throw in a pinch of salt and simmer 5 more minutes.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley and lemon juice.5Serve right out of the cast iron skillet, or on mini appetizer plates
 

 

Servings: 2

Nutrition Info: Cals 225. Carbs 16g. Fat 12g. Protein 9g. Sodium 18mg. Sugar 7g.

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Pan-Fried Flounder

categories: Posts, Recipes, Seafood

 

 

 

I don’t really get crazy with the type of fish I use in my cooking. Generally, I use tilapia (more for convenience since I can buy a frozen bag of tilapia filets) and shrimp – if you really want to count shrimp as a fish (and also because I can buy a convenient bag of frozen pre-cooked tail-off shrimp). I love salmon, but sometimes it gets a bit too fishy at home. So, I’ll leave salmon to my mom and the restaurant pros. I’m sure I’ll pick it back up sometime in the future.

Tilapia was starting to get boring. So I found this recipe for pan-fried flounder. Don’t let the name fool you. It’s not deep fried or bad for your health or anything like that, but you end up with a nice flaky, lightly browned filet that goes well with a number of veggie sides. This kind of fried won’t break your diet.

Pan-Fried Flounder Recipe

Ingredients

2 Flounder Filets
2 teaspoons Butter
1 cup of Flour sprinkled onto a dinner plate (this is enough flour for several flounder)
Salt
Pepper
Lemon wedges
 

Directions

Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the floured plate to make a basic seasoned flour.
Lay the flounder on the plate of flour and dust liberally on both sides. This  will turn golden and crunchy later.
Melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a large frying pan.
Add the flour coated flounder.
Fry the flounder for about 5 minutes each side on medium heat until golden. Add more butter if you love butter.
Serve with lemon wedges

 

Serving Size: 1 Flounder filet

Nutrition Information: Cals 254. Carbs 22g. Fat 7g. Protien 24g. Sodium 93mg. Sugar 1g.

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