healthy dining

After eating our way through France and now focused on getting fit for our April wedding, we're really sticking with our healthy eating kick. The other night we made teriyaki chicken with brown rice. Super simple week night meal and not terrible for you. Just slice and cook up whatever veggies you want, steam some brown rice, dice up chicken and cook it in your fave teriyaki sauce. Then you're done!

back to basics

We're finally back from our European vacation. I'm looking forward to sharing all our photos and adventures in future posts. For now though, I'm recovering from the nine hour time difference, getting back into the swing of things at work and working on eating healthy. After two weeks of indulgence (think lots of cheese, croissants and wine - not to mention all the multiple course dinners), I'm craving fish and veggies.

Well, thanks to my MOH's blog, Wake Up Smiling, I discovered the amazing website Food on the Table and made this for dinner tonight. It seriously makes life easier. Thanks Sarah! :)

Right before I put the Lemon Pepper Salmon Steaks in the oven, yum!

friday night in

My mom gave me a recipe to try a few months ago that both her and my dad loved - Sweet & Sour Cranberry Chicken Stir-fry. So when I decided I would actually cook a few weeks ago, I gave it a shot. You can probably count one one hand the number of times I've cooked for Dave and we've been together almost a year! The ginger and pineapple make it delicious, not to mention it was easy to throw together! Maybe with that combo, I'll cook a little more often...

I pre-chopped everything the night before. That made it a lot easier the night of!

Ready in no time at all, dig in!

Perfect evening on the patio, just the two of us

We topped off the evening with chocolate covered strawberries - yum. Not a bad little Friday night in.

valentine's day

So, my boyfriend's fave cake is apparently Black Forest cake. He's only ever had it in restaurants but it is a chocolate cake with a Kirsch Cherry feeling and whipped cream between the layers. Although I've made a lot of cakes, I've never made this one. The week before V-Day, I did a lot of researching to find the best recipe to use so I could surprise him with a homemade version...well apparently this kind of cake is made with "sponge cake" as opposed to the typical "butter cake." Not a fan of "sponge cake." It dries out super fast and next thing you know I was peeling wax paper off each layer, piece by piece. (not how i imagined the process would go)! However, I think made with a regular Devil's Food recipe, it would come together quite nicely.

The best part of the cake making process was learning how to make chocolate curls from the Pioneer Woman blog. The Black Forest cake recipe can be found here, which I wouldn't make the same way again...

My Valentine made me a wonderful filet mignon dinner with Gorgonzola garlic butter, french bread, salad and champagne. Yum. Plus romantic red roses and chocolates - it made for a pretty great little evening.

thursday night out

Last night was a fun evening with dinner and cocktails at The Grind. If you haven't been, it's known for its Sweet & Spicy burger - complete with candied jalapenos. I've probably been here about 10 times in the last year and a half. I don't know anyone that doesn't like it. Even Bon Appetit magazine is a fan!

~The famous sweet & spicy burger ~

Apparently we chose a good night to go - Thurs. nights are half off their signature cocktails. So, Champagne Cocktail for me and Moscow Mule for my date.

About to dig in!

One happy girl. Cocktail in hand, sitting in a booth with my fave person.

friday night date

Dave and I went to dinner this past Friday night and decided to try out the new O.H.S.O Eatery and nanoBrewery on Indian School Rd. in the Arcadia area. We had both driven by it a million times and were quite curious to try the new place.

We had a great time sampling several beers and figuring out what we wanted to try. Although my meal didn't taste amazing, I enjoyed our appetizer and Dave's brisket sandwich. You can read my full review here.

Our little beer samplers. we each picked one to try - his choice won.

Too much fun

Afterwards, we rented The Help from Redbox. I LOVED the book but fell asleep during the first 15 minutes of the movie.



foodgawker

Foodgawker.com is one of my new fave sites.  It's a "photo gallery that allows you to visually search and discover new recipes, techniques and ingredients to inspire your culinary adventures." Then you can save ones you want to try to your Pinterest board. It's like having a cookbook with photos of each recipe and endless options. It's also a great way to discover new food blogs.

Since I was on vacation this week - I decided to make salmon with ginger sesame glaze and some asparagus sprinkled with olive oil, salt & pepper and Parmesan cheese, then baked. It's much more enjoyable cooking when you've had a relaxing, stress free day.

Here's the photo from Foodgawker and originally from My Kitchen Snippets blog (you can see why I was so enticed to make this judging from the photo)

And here's my version. I think it turned out pretty good:

For the recipe, click here. Also, it called for ginger juice. Not knowing what that was, I grated fresh ginger and added a little extra honey instead. If anyone knows what ginger juice is, please tell me!

easy dinner

After a crazy but fun filled day of Christmas shopping, baking and wrapping I wasn't sure what to make for dinner.  It was cloudy and rainy - again - so something hot and easy sounded good. I decided to try my mom's Beef Stroganoff recipe.  And it hit the spot and really was as simple as she said it would be.

Mom's Beef Stroganoff:



*1 lb. Sirloin Steak
*Egg noodles
*1 Sweet Onion
*2 tbsp. Flour
*1 can of Campbell's Healthy Tomato Soup
*1 can of Campbell's Beef Consomme
*One pack of white mushrooms sliced (I don't put mushrooms in my version)

Cut the meet into cubes and brown in a pan. As it browns, add salt and pepper and then chopped onion.  When it's almost brown, add flour.  Then add the soups (beef one first).  Simmer for an hour and 10 minutes before it's done, boil your noodles!  If you want mushrooms, add them towards the end.

Then combine and you've got a bowl of hot, delicious Beef Stroganoff!

breakfast for dinner

It happens to me all the time - you have a crazy day at work and the next thing you know you have little energy or time for dinner.  But you're starving so you need to figure something out, quick!

Those nights I often turn to baked eggs.  Like last night.  Simple to make and throw in the oven, plus I can get other things done while it's baking. Perfect for a cooking novice like myself. Other breakfast foods I turn to for dinner?  Popovers, pancakes and french toast - yum!

Baked Egg:
*Lightly butter the inside of a bowl
*Pour in a tablespoon or two of cream
*Add an egg + paprika, salt, pepper & some green onions
*Bake at 325 degrees for 15-18 minutes (until yolk is cooked to how you like it)
*Scoop out onto a plate and serve with toast

~Baked Egg~