Bratwurst Stuffed Shells

I always say this but.. MAKE THIS RECIPE! I was bored and Eva gave me a little time to experiment in the kitchen so I went with it. This turned out to be a totally satisfying dish – probably because I wasn’t thinking about losing the last few pounds of baby weight that I. Still. Have. It’s not the healthiest recipe I’ve made but definitely one of the tastiest!

Bratwurst Stuffed Shells
Serves 2 – 4

2 brats, casing removed (you can substitute for chicken/turkey sausage, but why would you want to??)
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup button mushrooms, chopped
1 Roma tomato, chopped medium
1/4 cup red wine
15 jumbo pasta shells
salt & pepper
1 cup your favorite spaghetti sauce (this is mine)
1 tsp herbs de Provence (or Italian seasoning)
1/4 cup shredded Authentic Mexican Blend cheese
Salt & pepper
Cooking spray

Preheat the own to 350F. In a large pot bring water to a boil. Add salt and the pasta. Cook for about 8 minutes, you don’t want the shells to be cooked all the way through because they will finish cooking in the oven. Drain the pasta and run cold water over it to wash off any starch and they won’t stick together.

way more then 15 shells.. not really sure what to do with the rest..

Heat a medium skillet to med-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, stirring so nothing burns. Add the mushrooms and the brats. I didn’t break them up before I added them to the skillet but you can if you want to make your life easier. It wasn’t as easy to break up with a spatula as I had hoped.

The brats are going to give off a lot of grease so be careful not to burn yourself. Add the tomatoes and continue stirring until the brats are cooked through. Lower the heat to medium and add the spices and the wine.

IF YOU HAVE A GAS STOVE: TURN THE HEAT OFF BEFORE ADDING THE WINE! No one wants a house fire. When you’ve added the wine and moved the bottle AWAY from the range, then turn your flame back on. Unless you’re an experienced chef, then flambe away. In which case, why are you reading this?

Anywhooo, allow the wine to reduce down until it creates this luscious, divine, thick, beautiful sauce. Turn the heat off and taste your creation. Be careful not to burn your tongue in all your haste. I may or may not have burned myself – that is up to you to decide.

With a teaspoon, fill the shells and arrange on a baking dish. I used a small one so my shells wouldn’t roll around.

Spoon the tomato sauce over the shells and then sprinkle with cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Devour.

Shredded Beef

This is an easy one! Even through I am a stay at home mom now there are still days where I don’t feel like cooking. Let alone have time. Did you know that caring for a baby is time consuming? Well, it is. Before I know it, it’s 9pm and all I have to show for my day is a well-fed baby. Which, I have to say, is pretty wonderful.

I do feel bad for that husband of mine sometimes. He deserves to be well-fed, too. He hates the kitchen and I love the kitchen. What do you know? Perfect match!

One of the many reasons I love this recipe is because it takes almost no time to put together and it involves the slow cooker. Every busy person’s best friend. Plus your house will smell amazing.

Shredded Beef
Serves 4

1 3-4lb roast
-Smoked paprika
-Chili powder
-Cumin
-Salt
-Pepper
-Water

You’ll notice I did not put any measurements next to the spices. That’s because it really depends on the size of your roast. You just want to coat the roast in all the spices evenly. Put it in the slow cooker and add just enough water to cover the bottom inch or two of the roast. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. If you’re in a pinch you could cook it on high for 4 hours, but technically low and slow is best.

Some hours later you end up with a fork tender, beautifully caramelized piece of meat. Take it out of the slow cooker and let it rest on a cutting board for 5 – 10 minutes before shredding with two forks.

The possibilities are endless. You can make tacos, quesadillas, a salad, a burrito or burrito bowl, wrap, lettuce wrap, sandwich, even top a baked potato. I’ve done all of the above.

Breakfast Smoothies

Smoothies aren’t something I make a habit of drinking. Honestly, I much rather chew my calories then drink them. I will make Pierre and I a smoothie for breakfast every now and then if I don’t have time to make a REAL breakfast. OR if I’ve been feeling guilty about something I ate the day before. Usually the latter.

When I was pregnant I made a lot of smoothies because I laid in bed until the last possible moment before I HAD to start getting ready for work. This is my absolute FAVORITE smoothie.

Purple Breakfast Smoothie
Serves 1, about 16 OZ

1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup frozen Strawberries
1 frozen banana
1/4 cup Bolthouse Green Goodness juice
1 tbsp Peanut butter
1 tsp ground flax seed
1/2 cup Soy milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (metabolism booster!)

OK, so these measurements are estimates. I hardly ever measure anything unless I’m baking. And even then its iffy. I mean, really, who measures chocolate chips? I just add as many as it takes to turn what I’m making into straight chocolate ;).

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is I usually add everything to the blender and then milk as I go to get perfect consistency for my taste. No matter your measurements, you will be left with a delicious smoothie. Promise. I think the best part about this smoothie is the frozen bits of peanut butter the blender forgot to break up. It reminds me of when my grandfather use to buy peanut butter ripple ice cream when I was a kid. Is there much better then peanut butter in this world??

Back to the smoothie. The color is beautiful, too! I’ve switched this recipe up a bit from time to time. I’ll add different milks or instead of the Green Goodness juice I’ll add pomegranate or acai berry juice. They all work well.

OR

Mango-berry Oat Smoothie
Serves 1, about 8 OZ

1 mango, skin discarded and cut into pieces (frozen mango would work well in this, too!)
8 – 10 strawberries, tops discarded (Same goes for the berries, frozen would be great!)
1/4 quick cooking oats
1/2 cup milk
1- 6 oz Chobani passion fruit yogurt (MY FAVORITE!!)
1/2 tsp of cinnamon (metabolism booster!)

Again, just toss everything in the blender and add milk as you go. The only downside to this smoothie, for me, was the fact that I didn’t have any frozen fruit and I didn’t want to dilute it with ice. It was room temperature and I didn’t have time to let it chill in the fridge before I had to head out the door. But it was delicious! The oats added a nice denseness that filled me up.

LOVE my Ninja blender!

If you do use frozen fruit be sure to have your milk on standby because that in combination with the oats will result in a thick mixture.

So if you must drink your breakfast these are for you!

Summer Vegetable & Sausage Skillet

This is a winner.

I mean, like first place. It was realllllllly delicious. I basically took a bunch of vegetables that I had in the fridge and tossed them with cooked, smoked turkey sausage and voila! I, of course, paired this meal with cooked quinoa but you can really add it to pasta, rice, couscous or just eat is out of the skillet with a spoon. No judgment here.

Summer Vegetable & Sausage Skillet
Serves 2 – 4

1 small onion, cut julienne
2 garlic cloves, chopped
ANY VEGETABLE YOU WANT! I used:
– zucchini
– corn (I had corn on the cob that I roasted at 400F for 15 –  20 minutes but you can use frozen corn)
– mushrooms
– tomato
1 cooked, smoked turkey sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces (find this in the pre-packaged deli section of your supermarket)
1/2 14.5 can crushed tomato (wondering what to make with the other half? Check out this recipe)
Fresh basil, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil

Add olive oil or cooking spray to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and stir until the start to brown.

Next, add the sausage and brown for about 5 minutes.

In the mean time you can chop your vegetables. Make sure you cut all the vegetables you will be using about the same size so they all cook at the same time.

Next, add the vegetables, if you are using frozen corn you can add it now, too.

Crank up the heat to high and stir until everything starts to caramelize. Stirring is important so noting burns, specifically the garlic.

When everything is looking nice and brown, turn heat down to medium-low and pour in the crushed tomato. This is also about the time my corn was cooked so I cut it off the cob and dropped it in the skillet.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the sauce is heated through. DONE.

This dish is so versatile! You can use any veggies you want, any meat you want (or keep it vegetarian!) and pour it over anything you want! Do you see a pattern here? You can even fill a tortilla with this and call it lunch. OH! OR you could pour it into lettuce cups! OR you could add this to an omelet and call it breakfast. Shall I go on?

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Why do I do this to myself? I just HAVE to check out other blogs and I just HAVE to love reading recipes, don’t I? Well, my friends, the answer is yes. I have an obsession with reading recipes. AND as you know, I LOVE Foodgawker. AND Foodgawker has this handy-dandy “Popular” link. It takes you to the the most popular recipes in the past 7 days, 30 days, and all time.

So of course I had to make these cookies! Man, I drive myself crazy sometimes. The problem is that they were GOOD. Like, really GOOD. And SO easy to make.

I didn’t have instant espresso powder and I’m trying to lay off caffeine anyway, for Eva, so I just used instant decaf coffee . I know – what would my fellow Starbucks co-workers think? But I did make it really strong to simulate the richness of the espresso flavor. I also used whole wheat flour because, you know, I’m so healthy and all.

Please make this with espresso powder, don’t be like me. I also halved the recipe – UHMM I do not want 3 DOZEN of these just hanging out in my pantry. No, thank you.

Just make them – they rock! Plus, it’s Friday and you deserve a treat :).

Basil Lime Salmon

A few years ago I made salmon with just 3 ingredients. Butter, basil and salt. It was probably one of the most delicious pieces of salmon I’ve ever had. I wish I could remember where I found the recipe. You basically take softened butter, chopped basil and salt and mix it all together. Get ready for this – then you slather it all over the salmon and broil it! Oh my. The butter melts into the salmon leaving it juicy and tender and the basil gives it just enough or a  flavor boost.

Wanna know the sad part? I never made it again. I WISH I had the guts to make it again without the guilt of knowingly eating half a stick of butter. I just can’t do it. What’s wrong with me??

Anyway, this recipe is kind of a piggy back to that delicious salmon I had. But without all the guilt and cholesterol.

Basil Lime Salmon
Serves 2

2 salmon filets, about 2 inches thick
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 lime, zest & juice
1 large clove of garlic, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the broiler to low and make sure the oven rack is in the middle. If you don’t have a low setting on your broiler just move the rack to the lowest rung.

In a small bowl, or tiny Mason jar, add all the ingredients except the salmon. Whisk until everything is combined, or in my case, put a lid on the jar and shake shake shake!

the good stuff.

Lay your salmon on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spoon the basil dressing over the salmon and allow it to sit for a minimum of 10 minutes. I actually let it sit for an hour because I was trying to put Eva down for the night. You don’t want to let the marinade sit on the salmon longer then an hour or two because the citrus will actually end up cooking the salmon and you’ll end up with ceviche. Which, let’s face it, is delicious but not really what we’re going for.

When you’re ready, place the salmon under the broiler for 15 minutes. NO LONGER! The last thing you want is a dry, overcooked piece of salmon. Fish takes no time to cook so if your salmon filets are on the thin side don’t cook them that long and if they are thick then 20 minutes MAX!

This dinner was delicious! We paired the fish with a simple salad and baked yucca fries – DELICIOUS! Yucca is super popular in the Hispanic world either boiled or deep fried. I’ve been roasting them in a 400F degree oven for 20 minutes with just olive oil and salt. They are crunchy on the outside and smooth on the inside AND a fun substitute for potatoes in just about any dish. Some grocery stores that carry Goya products will have peeled yucca already in the frozen vegetable section of the grocery store. Unfortunately for me, I have to buy it raw and feel it myself – BUMMER! Promise me you will try these some time!

Stop being jealous of our blue plates..

Oh, and you will have some of the marinade left over which incidentally is perfect to dip your yucca fries into :).

Spicy Turkey Soup

I know it’s summer but I was craving soup – so weird. It’s probably because I keep my house at a cool 72 degrees PLUS have fans on. I don’t know about you but I much rather have a sweatshirt on while sipping hot chocolate than sweating bullets and standing in front of my freezer with the door open.

Anyway, try this now or later. Either way, it’s delicious!

Spicy Turkey Soup
Serves 2- 4

1/2 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 button mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower florets, cut to small bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 14.5 oz can of crushed tomato
1/2 14.5 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp ground sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
1 lime

Heat a soup pot to medium high and add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Stir frequently until they start to caramelize. Be sure not to burn the garlic. If it burns you have to start all over and even wash pot. After about 5 minutes add the ground turkey. Break up the turkey with a spatula and cook until it’s browned and any water has evaporated. Add all the spices and stir well.

Add the wine and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan. When the wine is reduced by half, turn the heat down to medium, add the tomatoes and 14.5 oz of water. I just stored the remaining crushed tomato in the fridge and filled the can with water to get any tomato left on the sides of the can. Add the cauliflower and chickpeas.

Here is where you want to taste for seasoning and adjust to your preference. Put a lid on your soup pot and allow everything to simmer for 15 minutes or until the cauliflower is just cooked through. Make sure you don’t overcook the cauliflower, you want it to hold it’s shape.

The best part about this dish, in my opinion, is the fresh squeeze of lime juice over your bowl before you take that first bite. MMM I loved this.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa

This is a perfect summer recipe! With wonderful vegetables in season, this is sure to please just about every taste bud. The great thing about this recipe is that you can use ANY vegetable you want – just pick your favorites! This is great as a main dish or a side.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa
Serves 2  – 4

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 small onion, chopped medium
1 Roma tomato, chopped medium
1 small ear of sweet corn, cleaned OR 1/4 cup of frozen corn
1/4 cup of canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small avocado, diced
Salt & Pepper to taste
EVOO

Smokey Lime Dressing
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 medium clove of garlic, grated
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/4 – 1/2 cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it, or you can leave it out all together)
Salt & Pepper to taste
EVOO

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with foil (less clean-up!) and toss the onion, tomato, corn and chickpeas with salt, pepper and a little bit of oil. Roast for 25 – 30 minutes or until all the veggies are cooked and starting to caramelize. You want to make sure you cut all the veggies about the same size so they cook at the same pace.

OK – here’s the perfect way to cook tender quinoa every time. Put your quinoa in a pot and add twice as much water, so 1/2 cup of quinoa and 1 cup of liquid. I say liquid because you can really use any liquid to cook it. For this recipe I would recommend stock or just water, what I used. Set the heat to medium, put a lid on the pot and set a timer for 20 minutes. You will have perfect quinoa every time!

While the veggies and quinoa are cooking you can assemble the dressing in a medium bowl, whisk. When the veggies are done, just toss them into the bowl. If you roasted an ear of corn instead of frozen corn, just stand up the corn on a cutting board and carefully cut the kernels off of the cob and add to the bowl.

Lastly, add the cooked quinoa and stir everything together! This is SO GOOD!

You could even lay this into lettuce cups to add a cool crisp. The textures and flavors are fantastic!

This is also wonderful cold. I may or may not have eaten the leftovers for breakfast…

My Favorite Cookie (it’s gluten-free!)

OK – I know what you’re thinking, gluten-free foods suck. I’m with you. For the most part, I’ve never come across a gluten-free item that I’ve enjoyed. I think that I just like straight up regular ol’ flour in my foods. Call me a fatty foodie, but I can taste the difference!

The great thing about these cookies is that there is NO FLOUR so you can’t go wrong! They are packed full of protein and deliciousness. AND you don’t have to get your mixer out for this recipe, either! Win Win!

I’ve done a version of this cookie on the blog before but I’m revisiting it because it’s THAT good. When you’re in the mood for something sweet without a ton of calories, this is the cookie for you. Also, you can add just about anything to these and they will taste good. Think baking chips, spices, dried fruit, shredded coconut, flavored extracts, lemon peel, crystallized ginger, Kisses. I mean, really! I could go on or you could just experiment yourself.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields: 16 cookies, approx.

1 cup peanut butter, I use Skippy Natural Creamy but your favorite will do
1 egg
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, you can use white sugar if you want
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. I find that this mixes up best if I use a wooden spoon. In a bowl mix the egg and brown sugar to break up any clumps. Add the vanilla and peanut butter and stir until everything is incorporated and then add the chocolate chips. This dough is pretty thick but it will come together. Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon dollop on a baking sheet and bake for 13 – 15 minutes or until they are brown on the edges and starting to crack on the top.

These are rich and sweet and crumble just right but totally melt in your mouth. UGH! SO GOOD!

Oh, The Stories You’ll Tell!

Well, it’s been a while. Sorry about that. The last weeks of my pregnancy were not super fun and I hardly had energy to cook, let alone create new recipes. But on the plus side – SHE’S HERE! Our little baby is finally here. She was born 100% healthy and stunningly beautiful. Here’s the story…

I had the most wonderful pregnancy a girl could ask for. It was completely textbook and just what you would expect from pregnancy. I had cravings and back aches, leg cramps and hormone surges. My doctor even dubbed me her ‘boring’ case because I never had issues or problems arise where I needed to call her. She called me boring, I called it a blessing. And then it happened. Somewhere around 30 weeks I just about had it. I was short of begging my body to stop getting bigger, the occasional back aches turned into a constant pain. Sleep was a luxury and I might as well have moved into the bathroom.

Then 34 weeks rolled around. Braxton Hicks contractions like you would not believe. All day long sometimes. Some super painful, others I barely noticed. The baby books said that our baby was about to start outgrowing her space and her movements would slow down. Negative. My baby moved a ton up until delivery.

Then I was somewhere around the 37 weeks mark – hey, full term! I almost begged my doctor to induce me but of course she said no way. Something about wanting my body to experience full labor? I don’t remember because I was so upset she said no to begin with. OK, not really, but you catch my drift.

Anyway, my mom flew in from Florida just before my due date. Great! Now I can go into labor! Well, our child had another thing in mind. I tried everything. I mean, EVERYTHING people tell you that will bring on labor. NOTHING WORKED. If you’re thinking “Oh, she probably didn’t try (insert your favorite wives tale here)” Uhm.. you’re wrong. I DID TRY IT!

My mom and I kept busy, though. She reorganized and deep cleaned my entire house. She cooked every meal, she massaged my ridiculously swollen feet and legs ever night. We went shopping. We walked. We cleaned some more and nothing. My due date came and then went, all the while still having painful BH contractions. At my 40 week appointment my doctor scheduled me for an induction – something I did not want, not really. As much as I wanted to not be pregnant, I also didn’t want any complications to arise that sometimes are associated with inductions. My mom helped me stop being such a control freak and let God take care of me, the baby and the delivery.

EVENTUALLY my induction date rolled around. Yep – I was 41 weeks pregnant. That’s a whole 7 days overdue. Oh boy was I irritable. And fat. And swollen. And hungry.

The hospital I was delivering at makes you come in at night to be induced. Totally lame if you ask me. So not only was my induction date upon us but I also had the pleasure of waiting until 4-6 pm to hear from a nurse to confirm my ETA for the hospital. 7:30pm. My brain was all over the place that day.

I decided to lay down for a nap around 4pm to get some rest before heading to the hospital. My phone rang at 4:06pm – it was the hospital confirming my induction for that evening. I thanked the nice lady and hung up the phone as I had the most wicked contraction (or so I thought) and felt a very noticeable ‘POP’. My water broke! FINALLY!

In all my giddiness I managed to shower, eat dinner, and make sure I had everything packed. We made it to the hospital around 8pm, get checked in, taken to our beautiful room and then we just wait.

Waiting was horrible. My contractions were KILLER but they weren’t getting any closer. One after another all night long. 9am rolls around and my contractions aren’t getting any closer. The doctor asks me if I’m open to Pitocin to speed things along. Uhm yes, please! It kicked in about 10 minutes after it was administered and my contractions got even more intense, like I thought that was possible! After seeing the pain I was in, my mom and Pierre were begging me to get an epidural. I was seriously more scared about the epidural then labor. I wanted to hang on as long as possible without an epi if possible. It had been 19 hours since my water broke so I decided to get checked.. only 4 cm. UGH. That was the deciding factor for the epi – I was so sleepy and in so much pain that I decided to brave the needle. Once the epi was in I was in heaven! I got to sleep! In the 4 hours that followed I progressed all the way to 9 1/2cm! They left me to work on the last 1/2 cm.

That’s when the fun really began. My nurse walks into my room and says, “guess what?” I’m thinking , oh, time to push! WRONG. “There’s a tornado watch and we have to evacuate you to the hallway!”

[tornado]

SO out to the hallway we went! Oh, and did I mention my epi started to ware off at this point? So here I am, 10 cm and laboring in the hallway of the maternity ward. All the other moms on the floor had their babies already so I was the only one in labor at that point. I don’t remember much about being in the hallway expect that I was super hot and my contractions were really close together. Through all of this my nurse was awesome and just told me to let her know if I felt the urge to push. It as about 5:15pm and the tornado watch was in effect until 6:30pm but kept getting pushed back. Around 5:50 pm I told my nurse I needed to push.

It was between an OR or a triage room (no windows) and the small triage room won. My nurse told me that since it was my first baby I probably would be pushing for a while so I’d deliver her in my room, by the time the tornado watch was lifted. She was wrong! After I get all hooked up – I started pushing at 6:00pm and Eva Sofia was born at 7:32pm in the triage room :). She didn’t cry right away but when she did it was only for a minute. She stopped crying when they put her on my chest and it was amazing. 7lbs 10.4oz and 20 1/4 in – just perfect.

with daddy ❤

I later found out that the on-call doctor who was going to deliver her didn’t get there until 7:15 pm because of the tornado and road closures! I’m glad no one told me while I was pushing that the dr wasn’t answering his pages ;).

It was an unbelievable experience. Pierre and my mom helped me through the entire birth and I loved having them there. You want to know something funny? I use to thing that contractions and delivery weren’t as painful as we say it is. I use to think that because it was something guys would never experience, we could all band together and claim it’s agony just because we could. UHM.. I was wrong. It really IS that painful! I was shocked, really.

Hours old!

going home

I had a such a wonderful delivery (no stitches!) that it hasn’t scarred me away from having more children. Pierre is completely smitten and totally in love with Eva. She’s such a wonderful baby and I wouldn’t change anything about our experience at the hospital or our new found parenthood. She’s 12 weeks today! I can’t believe how quickly it went by. I’m definitely enjoying every day of being home with her and I hope that I can continue to be for a while.

12 weeks already!!

Did I mention that she is the master of funny faces??

Eva Sofia Funny Faces Fuller.