Roasted Mushrooms

I tried out the roasted mushroom recipe from The Kitchen and they turned out great! Much easier then sauteing in a pan.   I enjoyed these with some bacon wrapped chicken (healthy I know).

Right before they went in the oven

They look a little gross but they were delicious!

A Few Ideas

I haven't tried out any new recipes in the last week or so, I'm starting to get back logged! Here are some of the options I've been eyeing, you should probably try them out and let me know if they're work making!

Roasted Mushrooms with Herbs - this looks amazing! I'm thinking these mushrooms would be excellent with some honey-balsamic marinated flank steak.

via The Kitchn

Make Your Own Curry Recipe Maker - I found a link to this site while browsing through The Kitchn.  I've made curry quite a few times without any sort of recipe, I love all the ideas this gives you!  I also saw a awesome looking recipe for curry yesterday on Everyday Paleo, I need to try this one too!

Red or Green Thai Curry via Everyday Paleo

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas - I'm not gluten free but I love reading the Gluten Free Goddess for inspiration and the pretty pictures. I saw sweet potatoes and enchiladas in the same sentence and was sold on the idea of making these. Maybe for Cinco de Mayo?!

via Gluten Free Goddess

Another NY Times Article

You need to read this! What's the Best Exercise via The New York Times.

Pretty interesting though some of this seems like common sense.   We actually do A LOT of squats and burpees at crossfit, can't really say that they're my favorite.  

Via CrossFit Santa Cruz

Wing Dome

The Kid and I went out to the Wing Dome in Kirkland last night to cheer on Matt while he undertook the 7 Deadly Wings Challenge.  He ate them like a champ and licked the last bits of sauce off his fingers just before the time ran out. I wonder how he's feeling today?!

I didn't eat any 7 alarm wings (extreme spicy is not my thing) but I did try out 4 of the other flavors AND some pickle chips. As usual it's go big or go home if you're going to eat a bunch of unhealthy crap.  The hands-down favorite between The Kid and I was the Sambal Peanut Sauce wings, who knew peanuts and chicken would be such an amazing combination?! I'll have to try to find a recipe for these online...

Channeling our inner Snooki

I didn't get to eat these all myself, I had to share. LAME!

Sweet Potato Latkes

The Kid made me sweet potato latkes last weekend!  Is there anything better than a fried sweet potato?! I've been wanting to try these for awhile now and they were just as good as I thought they'd be.  Enjoy with a little (or a lot of) sour cream.  There are tons of recipes for these online, All Recipes and Epicurious had decent offerings.  Next up - zucchini latkes?!

Delish!



Latkes taste even better if made while wearing this shirt!



Copy Cat

Last week I met Sara at the Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue, and as usual, deciding what to order took forever.  Their menu is extremely overwhelming! Are the multiple pages really necessary?!  I got the avocado egg rolls and just about died they were so good! I HAD to make them at home.  There are a lot of recipes for these online, the one from Food.com seemed the most legit. Instead of making the actual deep fried egg rolls I decided to put all of the ingredients on a bed of crunchy romaine lettuce and use the dipping sauce as a salad dressing. You should stop what you're doing and make this right NOW! I followed the recipe pretty closely but didn't add the tamarind pulp because I couldn't find any at Whole Foods.  The dipping sauce ended up being fairly thick, when I make this next time I'll add a little more olive oil. Yum!

Cheesecake Factory Avacado Salad


Ingredients:


Dressing

• 3 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 pinch powdered saffron
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil (needs more)

Salad

• 4 cups of romaine lettuce
• 1 avacado, peeled, pitted and diced
• 3 tablespoons sundried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro

Directions:  Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor and blend until creamy.  Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl and top with the dressing. You'll probably end up with extra dressing but that's a good thing! Enjoy!

Cooking fail

Cooking an egg in a tomato seemed so simple until the tomato burst....at least it was delicious! Maybe next time I'll try cooking the tomato in a mini muffin tin?  The options are pretty much endless for what you could add into the tomato, I put some pesto into the bottom before cracking the egg.  Yum!

For some reason this makes me laugh

Pesto makes anything better



Weekend Project

I try to eat breakfast at home on weekdays as there aren't very many healthy options in downtown Seattle.  If I don't eat before I reach the office I usually fall prey to the delicious baked goods from Specialty's... bad news bears. 

Recently my favorite lunch buffet place started serving breakfast. Yup, I took a picture.  See that cute little ham and egg cup in the upper left hand corner?  I hadn't seen anything like it before but apparently there are a lot of recipes online for variations of ham and eggs cooked in a muffin tin.  Who knew?  This recipe from Epicurious got really good ratings, I'm considering making it this weekend.  Maybe sub turkey for the ham?

I'm also thinking about making the tomato egg cups I saw at the kitchn.  They look delicious!



Cute little ham and egg cup!



Tomato Egg Cups at At La Casita Inspirada



Ick!

Guess what I found in my Trader Joe's baby spinach AFTER I'd finished most of the bag?!  Yuck.  I know that people eat grasshoppers in some parts of the world but this really isn't saying very much about TJ's quality control.   On the bright side I'm sure there is A LOT worse things to find mixed in with your veggies.

 



BIG Summer Plans

Right now I'm pretty doubtful about spring...but I have BIG plans for summer.  I want to do everything I planned on last year but somehow didn't have time for. Not this year! I'm going to do it ALL (hahaha check back with me in September)!  A few things on my list:

Stand Up PaddleboardingI actually rented boats a few times last summer through Green Lake Boat Rentals but never went paddleboarding.  Wasn’t this the big thing with celebrities last year or the year before? I guess I’m behind the times but it still looks like fun!

Buy An Inflatable BoatI NEED an inflatable boat this year for floating in Green Lake because I refuse to get in the water. It's disgusting! Did you know that back in the day they used to pump raw sewage into the lake?!  Yuck.  I'm picturing myself sitting in this boat on a warm sunny day with some yummy snacks and a good book.  Perhaps in a few years I'll move up to something with a motor!

Go HikingThe last time I went hiking I was in Los Angeles, the time before that I was in San Diego.  I think it’s just about time to go hiking in Seattle!  Anyone have some recommendations for an easy hike that's close by? Preferably with some sort of view, waterfall or other site worth seeing?  I need to spend some time perusing around online for some good ideas - maybe some research at Washington Trails Association?

Hollywood sign!

Blog Love

I've only been to Black Bottle once and I unfortunately did not order the garlic blasted broccoli but both of my roommates have tried it and couldn't stop raving.  A quick Google search for the recipe lead to me to Dana Treat and I've been following her ever since.  She's in Seattle! The pictures are mouth-watering!  It's not really my type of food (mostly vegetarian) but I always want to make everything she posts. Anyone interested in taking one of her cooking classes?!

"Blasted" Broccoli via Dana Treat

The garlic blasted broccoli I made tonight!

Purple Cabbage Slaw

Another great recipe inspired by Everyday Paleo!  I'm really on a cabbage kick lately, not sure where that came from?  The next time I make this I'll be adding more mango and avocado, you can never have enough!

Purple Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

• 3 cups purple cabbage, chopped
• 1/3 cup purple onion, finely chopped
• 1 mango, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Combine in a bowl.   We ate this with some taco seasoned chicken. Enjoy!





Food for Thought

A couple articles from yesterday that I thought were interesting:

Italian Mamma Put Meals on Wheels, Say 'Mangai' to Faraway Offspring - WSJ

The Model Roberta Mancino Raises Her Profile By Showing Some Skin  - New York Times

Fat Stigma Spreading Around the Globe - New York Times