Being split between two cities is going to be difficult for me. I have to learn to live without my fully-stocked pantry and fridge, my stand mixer, endless pots and pans, and my million different cake, cupcake, bread, and cookie pans. I’m going to have to adjust to cooking with the bare minimum.
This dish will have no problem in my “new” life. It requires no special equipment and can be tossed together in no time. The leftovers make for a pretty great lunch the next day, too.
I lightened up this dish by making my own Alfredo sauce. The canned stuff (or worse, the packet stuff) scares me and has no place in my kitchen! This homemade Alfredo also passes on the heavy cream and copious amounts of butter. Trust me, this sauce is delish and you won’t even miss the cream or butter!
Lightened Up Pesto Chicken Florentine adapted from All Recipes
8 ounces dried whole wheat penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 3/4 cup lightened-up Alfredo sauce, recipe below (jarred will work as well)
2 tablespoons pesto
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add in chicken strips and cook until no longer pink on the inside, about 10 minutes.
Stir in spinach and tomatoes and cook for an additional 1 – 2 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
Mix together Alfredo sauce and pesto and pour into cooked pasta. Stir in chicken and spinach and mix well to combine.
Serve immediately.
Lightened Up Alfredo Sauce makes 1 3/4 cup 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 ounce reduced fat (Neufchatel) cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook for 2 – 3 minutes or until soft.
Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper and stir until smooth. Cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk and cook for 3 – 5 minutes or until mixture has thickened slightly.
Whisk in cream cheese and Parmesan cheese until smooth.
This summery pasta dish is perfect for those nights where it’s just too dang hot to spend hours sweating in the kitchen. Or for those nights where you need something on the table in less than 30 minutes. Or for those nights where you are just really craving tofu.
What? You don’t crave tofu? I do. I also really hate cooking when it’s hot and humid out. So this dish was perfect.
Cold Peanut Noodles with Tofu and Bell Peppers adapted from Food and Wine
3/4 pound cold tofu, cut into 1/2 – 3/4″ cubes
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 pound Chinese shan dong noodles or other wide, flat noodle
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon Chinese chile-black bean sauce
1″ piece of ginger, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 large bell peppers, thinly sliced
3 large green onions, thinly sliced
cilantro, optional
Toss tofu with 1/3 cup soy sauce in a medium bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions until they are al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water. Place into a large bowl.
Combine the remaining soy sauce with peanut butter, broth, vinegar, chile sauce, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. Puree until smooth. Pour over the noodles and toss to combine.
To serve, place noodles into a bowl and top with tofu, bell peppers, and green onions. Serve immediately.
This post two-for-one deal. It’s a running and recipe post all rolled into one! Let me start the race recap with my Saturday. In my last post I talked about my nervousness and how I planned on dealing with it. So, what did I do all weekend?
Well, like I had said before, Mike and I went to the Cellcom Race Expo and picked up my race packet. We bought a running hat (for him) and some more running capris (for me) there. We then headed over to Hinterland for some beer & food. It was so good. We decided to sit in the lounge and I’m so glad we did. The space is really neat – we snagged a corner booth that had a nice view of the downtown area. The service and food were amazing. We’re already planning on next trip back – I’m sad they are a 40 minute trip away, but it’s definitely worth it.
We drank: Cherry Wheat (Crisp, cool and refreshing. Brewed using tart Door County cherries from Seaquist Orchards) and Bourbon Barrel Dopplebock (Dark amber color. Full-bodied. Pronounced notes of caramel and oak with a smooth bourbony finish. Aged 10.5 months). Both were delish.
We ate: Caprine supreme goat cheese curds with kimchee ketchup and Nueske’s smoked chicken pizza (maple bock barbecue, mango, chives, goat cheese). The cheese curds were different than any cheese curd I’ve had before – they were light and fluffy and the kimchee ketchup was awesome. The pizza was, of course, delish as well. I loved the addition of the mango.
Saturday, we wasted the day away at home and ran some errands. I felt sick with anticipation almost all day. I was refreshing the weather on my iPad every hour (definitely wasn’t helping). I ended up throwing together dinner early at around 5:00 so we could eat early and get to bed by 9:00.
Some people have certain foods they need to stay away from before race day. I’ve found that I can eat almost anything, but it’s best if I stay away from fiber and copious amounts of grease. I ended up making a dish with chicken sausage and bell peppers with a pasta salad side. I loved that this meal was filling, easy, and my stomach handled it perfectly.
Chicken Sausage & Peppers
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
12 ounces fully cooked chicken sausage*, cut into 1 1/2 – 2″ pieces
2 bell peppers, sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add in onions and cook for 3 – 4 minutes or until they start to soften.
Add in sausage and bell peppers and cook until sausage is heated through, 3 – 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*I used Johnsonville’s Chicken Sausage – Chipotle Montery Jack in my dish. I’ve had this type before and love it so I used it again instead of trying something new.
Easy Spinach Pasta Salad
12 ounces farfalle or other small pasta
1 teaspoon garlic olive oil or plain olive oil*
3 cups baby spinach
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
3 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Cook pasta according to package directions in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain and immediately toss with garlic olive oil. Toss warm cooked pasta with spinach, onion, tomato and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
*I used a garlic evoo from a local store, The Olive Cellar. Love the place and will never buy olive oil (or balsamic) from any other place.
After eating a fair amount of this, Mike and I turned in for the night. He tried to calm my nerves by playing the Fun Run episode from The Office. It worked 🙂
Now, that brings us to Sunday: race day. Mike and I rolled out of bed at around 4:00 that morning and I nervously ate a banana and some Quaker Oatmeal Squares. I chugged a little water and then we were off to Green Bay. We weather was beautiful at first. Here’s a picture of me – all happy that it was race day and ready to conquer Cellcom once again.
I got about 2 miles in before I realized just how hot and humid it was. Last year was hotter, but this year was much more humid. I do not handle humidity or heat very well. Put the two together and well… I’m a goner. Let’s just say that there aren’t many pictures I want to post of my grossness mid-run. I will, however, share with you the pics Mike snapped during my last mile in Lambeau Field!
I may look happy and full of energy in the above photos, but miles 2 – 12 were killer. I was dragging and just mentally d-o-n-e with it all. After I crossed the finish line and found Mike, I loaded up on brats and beer. I got my picture taken with a complete stranger (??) and then changed into dry clothes before heading back out to Lambeau and cheering on the marathoners and snapping a few more pics.
I wish I could say that everything was perfect. That I hit my goal time. That I PRed. But none of that is true. I debated sharing my time with the world because I was embarrassed at first. Then, I realized that all runners have good days and bad days. I just happened to have a bad day. And even though my time was 2:27 and I finished nearly 15 minutes after my goal time, I still did better than the person I was just 2 1/2 years ago. I used to be someone who couldn’t run for 20 seconds straight and struggled through Day 1 of Couch to 5k for a solid week.
Nothing quite beats a good plate of spaghetti and meatballs. I have been looking for ways to use up the cans of marinara I have in my pantry. You see, last summer our garden did really well. However, we planted mostly tomatoes. This meant that at the end of summer we had roughly a bajillion tomatoes in our garden. And as much as I love tomatoes, there was no way we could eat all of them. I decided to make salsa and marinara with the tomatoes. In hindsight, I wish I had canned whole tomatoes, because now I have a lot of marinara and salsa to use up.
So, this summer we plan to plant even more tomatoes. And I promise to be much smarter about how I go about canning them!!
I saw this recipe on Prevention RD and was intrigued – I’ve never put ricotta into my meatballs before. Since I’m always looking for new things to cook up, I decided to give it a try. The result? Absolutely delish. They were wonderful and tender and best of all, I was able to use up a jar of marinara 🙂
Ok, so this recipe was a total accident. A wonderful, delicious accident. You see, last weekend we went shopping and bought four types of cheese. Yes, four. I was supposed to buy cheddar, cheddar jack, mozzarella, and smoked gouda. But instead of buying smoked gouda, I accidentally bought buffalo jack. So, we went back to the store and got smoked gouda. So we ended up buying five types of cheese this weekend. They are now sitting happily with 3 other types of cheese in our fridge. I guess we really, really like cheese or something.
I had plans for four of the cheeses that we purchased, but since I wasn’t planning on buying a buffalo cheese, I obviously didn’t have anything to do with it. Yet. As I was making barbecue sauce it suddenly dawned on me – buffalo chicken mac & cheese. Bingo.
I encourage you to make this delicious, messy goodness. I definitely do not encourage you to calculate the nutritional info for this. It will make you cry. If you can’t find buffalo jack cheese, feel free to sub in a sharp cheddar.
Welcome to Wisconsin, folks.
Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese adapted from Food Network
1 pound whole wheat macaroni
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 pound cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, shredded
3/4 cup Frank’s Red Hot or hot sauce of choice, divided
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced, divided
1 jalapeño, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 cups skim milk
2 cups shredded buffalo jack cheese, divided
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly coat a 9×13″ baking dish with olive oil. Set aside.
Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in celery and onion and cook until soft, about 3 – 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and chicken and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 2 more minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup of the hot sauce and 3/4 of the sliced green onions.
Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a small pan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and mustard until smooth. Whisk in milk and remaining hot sauce and cook, stirring frequently, until thick, about 3 – 5 minutes. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups of buffalo jack cheese and 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese until smooth.
Spread half the pasta into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with half the chicken mixture and half the cheese sauce. Repeat with the remaining pasta, chicken, and cheese sauce.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small dish and toss with panko to combine. Toss with remaining 1/2 cup buffalo jack cheese and 1/4 cup cheddar cheese. Sprinkle panko cheese crumbs on top of casserole.
Bake in preheated oven until bubbly, 30 – 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with remaining green onions before serving.
My work hours are still really unpredictable. Because of this, I like to find foods that I can make in big batches and freeze. I rely on meals like this to get me through super busy weeks. I ended up making a double batch of the meatballs and freezing half of them for later. I mean, let’s be real – this dish is super easy to make after the meatballs are cooked and it sure beats a bowl of mac & cheese or ramen for dinner!
After I typed up this post I went digging through the freezer to find the rest of the meatballs… there were none. I guess I cooked them up already. Sad, sad day. Guess I’ll be making some mac & cheese 😉
Meatballs in Creamy Dill Sauce
for the meatballs:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 slice of day-old whole wheat bread, processed into crumbs (or 1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs)
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 egg
for the sauce: 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoon flour
2 cups beef broth
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
cooked egg noodles or other pasta of your choice for serving
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine beef, bread crumbs, skim milk, salt, pepper and egg in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Roll into 1″ balls and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until browned and no longer pink in the middle.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent and slightly browned. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in beef broth, mushrooms, and meatballs. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove sauce from heat and stir in Greek yogurt and dill until well combined.
Serve meatballs and sauce over egg noodles. Serve immediately.
One of my favorite stress-relievers is reading cookbooks, cooking magazines and trolling the internet for recipes. Well one day I stumbled upon this recipe for sweet potato gnocchi on the Food Network website. It was perfect. I had sage I needed to use up! I scribbled out a grocery list and was about to head out the door when it struck me – butternut squash gnocchi. Why was I buying sweet potatoes when I could sub it with something else?
I’ve had this butternut squash sitting on my kitchen counter for months. I’m fairly certain it came from one of our last CSA boxes in… October? Yikes. Good news is that it’s stayed nice and healthy and squash-like. I wish all produce lasted this long!
So, that’s how this butternut squash gnocchi came to fruition. This was a fun weekend project for me. The process of making the dough and then cutting and shaping the gnocchi was strangely therapeutic.
I decided to make it with two browned butter sauces. I wish I could tell you that one browned butter is better than the other, but they are both delicious. Do yourself a favor and make both! And of course, Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all have a chance to spend some time with those that you love.
Butternut Squash Gnocchi
1 medium butternut squash, 2 – 3 pounds
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 egg, whisked
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place squash on baking sheet face up. Lightly coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 90 minutes, or until squash is fork tender and lightly caramelized.
Let cool slightly before scooping out flesh into food processor. Blend until smooth.
Place pureed squash in a medium pot over medium-low heat and cook for about 30 minutes to cook off excess moisture. Move to a large bowl and put in fridge to cool completely.
Once cook, combine 2 cups of squash puree with 1 teaspoon of salt and egg. Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Move dough to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 6 sections. Roll each section into a long rope about 3/4″ in diameter. Cut into 1″ sections. Gently roll gnocchi with the back of a fork along the tines. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In small batches, cook gnocchi until it floats to the top of the water and is tender, about 6- 8 minutes. (Gnocchi may float to the top before fully cooked)
Toss cooked gnocchi in browned butter sauce, recipes below, and serve immediately.
Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat and cook until milk solids have browned, about 5 minutes. Add sage leaves and cook for about a minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Toss with gnocchi and serve immediately.
Sage Browned Butter
1 stick unsalted butter
20 sage leaves
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Melt butter in medium pan over medium heat until milk solids have browned, about 5 minutes. Add sage and broth and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with gnocchi and serve immediately.
I often find myself with a pantry and fridge full of random items. In this instance it was a pathetically small amount of orzo and some goat cheese. The perfect solution – a creamy orzo side dish! I loved this so much. I wish I had been able to make more of it so I could eat it as an entree and not a side dish. I honestly cannot even remember what I served it with. Chicken of some sort? Hmm…
In all honesty, I will most likely make a huge pot of this and eat it as a main entree next time.
Creamy Lemon Orzo
1 cup whole wheat orzo
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup cooked peas
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
Cook orzo according to package directions.
Meanwhile, whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
Drain orzo and return to pot. Stir in yogurt sauce and crumbled goat cheese and stir until cheese is melted.
I’m not really sure what happened. I grew up living, breathing, speaking, and eating Chinese. Now here I am at 25, barely able to string together a sentence in Mandarin. My Chinese cooking is even more pathetic. I’ve tried countless times to watch and learn from my mom. The Wonder Woman who can throw together 6 dishes with ease, and in under an hour, too. It’s impressive (and kind of scary).
Unfortunately for me, she seems to invent most of her recipes or just has them stored in the depths of her brain. I tried to recreate a dish that I grew up with, zha jian mien, a sort of Chinese bolognese. This is my take on the classic Chinese dish. I’m not sure it even tastes close to what it’s supposed to, but Mike and I enjoyed it very much!
Zha Jiang Mein (Chinese Bolognese)
1 pound Chinese noodles (I used Shan Dong noodles)
1 pound ground pork
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot soybean paste
2 tablespoons black bean sauce
1 pound extra firm or baked tofu, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium seedless cucumber, julienned
Black vinegar or rice wine vinegar, optional
Cook pasta according to package directions.
While pasta is cooking, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and pork is cooked through.
Reduce heat to medium and add in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, black bean sauce, and soybean paste. Stir until well combined.
Gently mix in tofu and frozen peas. Cook until heated through, stirring frequently.
Portion out 1 1/2 cups of noodles into bowls and top with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Garnish with cucumber and a splash of vinegar, if desired.
Before I went to bed on Friday I checked the weather for Saturday at 8 am. 4°F and an inch or so of fresh snow on the ground. I had an 8 mile run scheduled and I couldn’t decide which was worse: running for 8 miles in the unbearable cold or 8 miles on the dreadmill.
I woke up Saturday at 6:45 and checked the weather as I ate my pre-run Greek yogurt. Currently -6°F and 1°F at 8:00 am. I grumped around the house until 7:30 when I decided to just suck it up and at least try. Worst case scenario? I run the shortest loop with the running group (4 miles) and run the other 4 at the Y.
I quickly searched the world wide web for guidance on what to wear. I normally peek at the Runner’s World What to Wear Running App, but that never seems to work out for me. And guess what? There aren’t a whole lot of people out there talking about running in the cold. Some blogs talked about running in the “cold” where cold = 30°F. Pfft! To me, that’s nice running weather.
So, what did I end up wearing and how did it work?
Basically, I looked ridiculous. It turns out that I dressed pretty darn well for the weather. I was cold at first, but warmed up after about 2 miles. I kept slipping the Wooly Mitts on and off. I think the only part of me that was a little too cold were my thighs. My shins were pretty well covered between the higher socks and my tights, but the tights alone were not enough for my legs! Maybe next time I’ll try compression shorts under the tights.
I’m proud to say that I made it the entire 8 miles in the cold. I might even dare to say that I was enjoying the cold by the end. Moral of the story? Get outside and just run; you will end up loving it 🙂
The best bet after a nice, cold run? A warm bowl of soup and a long, hot shower. Sick of the soup you’ve been slurping down? Try this Chinese Noodle Soup!
Noodle soup, or as my family calls it – noup. Inspired by a Kung Fu Panda viewing with my lovely family last Christmas.
Every bite of this put the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. It’s so hard to get us all together now that we’re growing up. It’s little things like this that bring joy into my life (and my stomach). It’s just a bonus that this is soup-er (har har) easy to throw together!
I entered this into fellow blogger Branny Boils Over‘s Souper Bowl, Round 2 fundraiser. For every entry she receives, she will donate $1.00 to the ASPCA. As a dog owner (and lover) I couldn’t resist.
Chinese Noodle Soup serves 6
8 ounces dried Chinese noodles
1 pound lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot chile sauce, such as Sriracha
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups thinly sliced bok choy
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks, for garnish
Cook noodles according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey, scallions, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, breaking up the turkey. Cook until turkey is no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Add broth, bok choy, soy sauce, vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and chile sauce to pot. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until bok choy is tender.
Return turkey to pot and stir to combine.
To serve, place noodles in bowl and top with broth. Garnish with cucumber and serve.
DoughSeeDough 