Leek, Eggplant, and Tomato Pasta

Now that school is back in full swing, things have started to get a little crazy. I'm finally starting classes for my specialty, pediatrics, and I couldn't be happier, but it is a ton of work and takes a ton of time. I just keep telling myself it will all be worth it to see PNP after my name!

I'm still trying to make time for things that I enjoy doing however, like making and photographing recipes for this blog. I also went bowling this weekend and bowled an abysmal 46 and 59. Yikes.

Anyway, this recipe was something new for me. I got the leek and eggplant in my bi-weekly delivery from Boston Organics and had no idea what to do with them. I don't think I've really ever cooked with these two ingredients. But I was down for a challenge. I also got cabbage and butternut squash in my delivery that I am still trying to figure out.

While I know that I like everything I got in my box, they are not things I would normally buy for myself. That's one of the reasons I enjoy getting the delivery - it forces me out of my comfort zone and forces veggies into me since I don't want to waste anything.

Recipe Redo: Carne Bistec

Originally posted in April of 2012, I thought this recipe could do with a little picture update!

Well, time seems have gotten away from me. Sorry about that, but I'm back. Trying to balance school and work has proven to be a difficult task. But I have finally gotten into graduate school, so I'm not nearly as worried about everything as I was.

This recipe comes courtesy of Skinnytaste, by far one of my favorite websites and my blog inspiration. It is delicious, just make sure you are on the heavier side with the spices. I served it with brown rice, but Gina suggests serving it with a sunny side egg on top. With a side salad, it is a complete and delicious meal!

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

It's pumpkin (and apple!) season!

But first, let me explain my absence over the past week. As I've said before, I moved last weekend. The apartment was quite a mess when we got here and we had to do a lot of cleaning, etc. to make it ready. All of my furniture was moved in last weekend, but I planned on moving the smaller items over in several trips over a few days. 

Well, on Tuesday, my car decided it didn't want to run anymore. The transmission, alternator and gas tank all needed to be replaced, and the cost to replace them FAR exceeded the value of the car.This presented a problem since I was half moved into my apartment and half moved out of my dad's house. I didn't really have enough in either place to be comfortable. Add that to the fact that i start clinical this week 40 minutes away from my apartment and have to get there too early for even the commuter rail. 

So on Thursday, I bought a new car. However, the title had not gotten to the dealership yet, so I could not actually use my new car. So that meant a weekend of not moving, not grocery shopping, not seeing friends, and generally sulking around my dad's house. 

But! I get the car tomorrow and just in time to start clinicals on Wednesday. I also started classes again today with a nice 13 hour-long day. Ugh. 

Anyway, this chili was the first meal made in my new apartment. My cooking stuff and normal photography stuff is still at my dad's but I decided to post anyway. But now that I will have transportation again, I can move that stuff over. 

Also, pumpkin!

Black Bean, Corn, and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I just got back from a fabulous week-long vacation on Cape Cod! My family used to go every year, but we haven't been since 2006. It is so much fun to relax on the beach and generally do whatever you please. Of course, trying out new restaurants is a must. I think we went out for ice cream every night we were there. Absolutely no counting points on vacation for me!

Even though I enjoy everything vacation has to offer, getting back to a normal eating pattern after vacation feels really good, and this is exactly what I wanted to do with this recipe. It is packed with fiber from beans and vegetables and protein from the quinoa. It is also meatless, so perfect for vegetarians or Meatless Monday.

My recommendation is to prep everything before you get started. There are a fair amount of steps involved in making this, but it does move fairly quickly.

Chicken Caesar Burgers

I've been sitting on this recipe for a good nine months now. Why? I have no idea. I made them, photographed them, did out the nutritional information and then...nothing. I was looking through my draft folder and there it was. I decided to make them again and take new pictures. So, finally, here it is.

A note about these burgers: they are...tricky. Chicken burgers have a tendency to dry out because there is not a lot of fat in them. These definitely do not because they are kept moist by the dressing and Worcestershire sauce (side note: I love what Worcestershire sauce does to meat). That being said, these burgers are pretty sticky and don't hold together as well as a traditional burger. I ended up making them on my contact grill. I originally started them off on my regular indoor grill (another side note: I am terrified of the gas grill and I am convinced that if I use it, it will blow up), then ended up converting it to the contact grill midway through because they were too difficult to flip.

Don't let that scare you off, though. They are quite tasty. To serve, I like to put an extra dollop of dressing on the burger and also pile on lettuce, red onion and an extra sprinkling of Parmesan. Delicious.

Recipe Redo: Lemon Caper Tilapia

This recipe was originally posted in December of 2011. From time to time, I am going to go back and redo some of the recipes that I made back when I didn't really know what I was doing. I still am not the best photographer, but I can at least make it look like something you might want to put in your mouth.

Originally, I thickened this recipe with cornstarch, but I remade it using butter, and the results were a lot better. So while this has more fat than the original posted recipe, I think it is worth it.

This dish is so light and flavorful and is definitely one of my favorites. It is satisfying enough to keep you full for a while, but does not weigh you down. I like to serve it with rice and spinach and spoon some of the lemon juice over both of them.

Beet and "Fried" Goat Cheese Salad

I've never been one to crave beets. I've never even been one to particularly like beets. I just kind of tolerated them. But now this has totally changed.

Every other week, I get a delivery of organic fruits and veggies from a company called Boston Organics. It is a great way for me to get more fruit and veggies in my diet. One week, in the delivery, we got a delivery of beets and beet greens. I really had no clue what to do with them. I never made beets myself before and didn't even know what my preferred method for eating them was. I decided I would try to roast them. While it took way longer than I was expecting, I really enjoyed putting them on my salads.

Then a couple days later, my dad came home with something called Love Beets, and I really did fall in love. They were the perfect size for snacking, and that's what I did. I also used them in this recipe, but you can also roast your own beets or prepare them in any other way. To roast, just rub the scrubbed clean beets with some olive oil and salt and place in a foil packet in a 375 degree F oven. When the beets are done roasting, you should be able to pierce them with a fork. I would start checking for doneness around 30 minutes, but it can take upwards of about an hour. The skin should come off easily when done.

 I found this dish to be filling enough for a main meal, but you can also make it smaller for a side dish.

Chicken Breasts with Dried Cherries

Earlier this month, I celebrated my (25th!!?? how did that happen) birthday. As part of my present, my dad took me to a knife skills class at Williams Sonoma. It was a ton of fun and I really enjoyed spending time with him. This class is definitely not something he would have done on his own.

This is one of the recipes that we made that night. It was totally delicious, and I had been thinking about it ever since I took the class. I made a few modifications to the recipe that they handed out to us in the end, but the same great flavor was there.

The recipe calls for dried cherries, but when we got to the end of class, we realized that we had used cherry flavored dried cranberries. Oops. That's what I used in this recipe, even though I'm keeping the name.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

Happy 2013! I'm really looking forward to sharing new recipes with you this year. For me, 2012 was a great year, despite the major surgery that kept me from blogging for several months. I am having part 2 of the surgery this spring, but hopefully I will be a little more prepared and have some recipes scheduled to post while I am away. Also, since I know what to expect, hopefully this surgery will go a lot smoother!

Also this year I got into and started nursing school! I absolutely love it, but it keeps me on the go all the time. The new semester starts in a couple weeks, but hopefully I won't completely disappear like I did last semester!

This recipe incorporates one of my favorite foods: buffalo chicken! I love it, but I don't eat it all that often. For the hot sauce in this recipe, I uses sriracha, because I love it. It is loaded with sodium, though. Feel free to use your favorite hot sauce in this recipe!

Herbed Chicken and Dumplings

What screams comfort food more than chicken and dumplings? This recipe if perfect for a cold wintery night. Unfortunately we haven't had any of these days yet in MA. Now that I am on break until mid-January, I could go for a nice big snowstorm because I don't have anywhere to go! Knowing my luck, we will probably get one as soon as I go back to school and they won't cancel!

I got this recipe from Cooking Light and had some trouble with figuring out the points. On the Weight Watcher's site, they have chicken thighs as being way higher in Points+ than the nutritional information states. I know there is no way boneless skinless thighs have almost 19 grams of fat and decided to ignore the nutritional information in the tracker and use the information everywhere else. I normally figure out the nutritional information independent of the points and then enter it in the tracker to see if they match up. I skipped that part because clearly something is going on in the tracker!

Kielbasa with Pasta, Beans and Spinach

I love sausage of almost any type, but it isn't always Weight Watchers friendly. When I saw this recipe using some of my favorite ingredients, I knew I had to try it out! I adapted this recipe very slightly from the Weight Watchers cookbook Fresh, Fabulous, Fast. It really lived up to the title. I was in a rush because I wanted to get the recipe photographed the night I made it and I was quickly running out of sunlight. The downside to the change of seasons! Luckily it came together in under a half hour and I was able to snap the pictures you see here.

And don't worry, the apple and pumpkin recipes are coming soon!

Couscous with Pan Seared Chicken

Hello!

Well, my blogging break lasted a lot longer than I expected. Here is what I have been up to over the past few months. In June, I had surgery on my leg that involved the breaking and realignment of some of my bones. I was non-weight bearing for six weeks after that and then I was put into an air cast boot. Today I got permission to start weaning off my boot, but the past few months have been really difficult for me mobility wise. I was not able to get into the kitchen with my crutches, and even the past couple weeks that I haven't needed crutches, I still needed to be off my feet when it was not necessary.

To complicate things, I moved into an apartment a couple weeks ago and started nursing school. All of this resulted in an "overuse injury" of my leg, so standing up to cook was out of the question. Nursing school is also a lot of work, so trying to figure out my schedule with that has been a little difficult.

With all that aside, I hope to get back into the blogging groove now! This first recipe reminds me a lot of my Brown Rice with Chicken and Broccoli  and my Turkey Picadillo. The mix of flavors may seem a bit strange, but trust me, they work.

Chicken Paprikash

I was actually kind of nervous to try this recipe out. I'm not sure why, it is actually really simple to put together. I have had this on my "to make" list for a few months and finally decided to go with it. I think my hesitation came from being completely unfamiliar with Hungarian cuisine. Absolutely no experience. But I like chicken, paprika and onions, so I figured I would like this. And I did! I love how the chicken nearly falls off the bone after it is done cooking. Also, the sauce over the egg noodles was delicious. It kind of reminded me of Swedish meatballs, which is another favorite of mine.

Inside Out Cheeseburgers

Normally I prefer a hamburger to a cheeseburger any day. I tend to go for simple flavors and I have been known to eat bread plain and pancakes without syrup. I visited my grandmother this weekend and she made fun of me for a good 20 minutes when she walked into the kitchen and found me chowing down a plain bread roll. It was one of those rolls found at the bakery and was seriously good just the way it was. Apparently, bread is usually eaten with some sort of topping.

Anyway, I think my hamburger over cheeseburger preference has come from the type of cheese I have had on them before. I'm not a fan of American cheese at all, and this seems to be one of the standard cheese to put on top of cheeseburgers and a lot of my experience has, unfortunately, come from McDonalds. Not the best way to represent. So when I found this recipe in the Eating Well Healthy in a Hurry cookbook, I knew I had to try it. It stayed far away from the American cheese and had a twist by stuffing the cheese into the burger instead of laying it on top. I paired these with some light hamburger buns. Serve these on their own for a nice lunch or pair with corn on the cob and a side salad for a satisfying dinner.

Chicken Shawarma

Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish of meat slowly grilled over a spit all day and then shavings are cut off and eaten. Rumor has it that this dish is mentioned in the movie The Avengers, so this post is timed very well on my part. I already knew I was posting this today before the movie even came out, so it is a happy coincidence. I have yet to see The Avengers, but that will be fixed tonight!

Unfortunately, I don't own a spit and fire pit, and I don't have the time to sit and watch my meat grill all day. So regular grilling will just have to do. I actually grilled these on my George Foreman grill to cut back even more on time and because the weather has been way less than optimal for grilling. I also used my favorite Joseph's Whole Wheat, Flax and Oat Bran pitas to assemble these on. They are only 2 Points+ for one pita and they are delicious.

Cracker Topped Baked Tilapia

Whenever I make tilapia, I tend to make it the same way. By the way, I fully plan to get around to re-photographing that picture one day along with a bunch of others, including the ones this week. I was looking around for a way to change up my routine and saw this recipe on Recipes.com and I thought it was perfect. I served it with some couscous and spinach.

I try not to keep crackers around my house because I must admit, I have a thing for Ritz crackers. Or any type of cracker, really. I can go through a whole sleeve of saltines in one sitting.  Having the box sitting around the house was a temptation that was way too hard to resist. The crackers came out on the drive home from the supermarket. Oops. If your like me, I warned you.

A note about the nutrition information and the Points+: I only used about 1/2 (if that) of the cracker mixture. The nutritional information is for the entire thing, which you may or may not need to use.

Swiss Steak

Is there anything more comforting than coming home to a house that smells like delicious food? I don't think so, and this recipe is sure to deliver. By about two hours into the cooking time, I was ready for it to be done. Sadly, I still had about six hours to go, but the smell was sooooo good! As soon as that timer went off I was sticking my spoon in to take some out. The steak nearly melted as I was pulling it out it was that tender. Which, of course, is what swiss steak is all about. The name does not refer to the country at all, but the process of cooking it. Basically, the process involves taking a tough cut of meat and slowly cooking it to make it tender. The perfect job for a slow cooker!

I served this along with the Dijon and Herb Roasted Potatoes I posted earlier and some steamed broccoli. It was very delicious and very filling.

Greek Turkey Meatloaf

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the most un-photogenic recipe ever. Seriously, I tried. But there was just no getting around how ugly this is. Don't let the looks fool you, though. This meatloaf is delicious. The flavors all blend together to create something wonderful. My favorite parts were the little slightly burnt pieces of feta sprinkled throughout. Can you say flavor??

I'm hoping to get back to blogging on a more regular basis. I've been in a bit of a funk recently due to a set of bum knees and even more recently seemingly constant migraines. I'm not working until I have surgery to correct my knees and I finally think I have a solution to the migraines. Since this semester is almost over and I'm not working, I thought it was a perfect time to focus even more of my blog so I don't just spend my days sitting around and feeling sorry for myself.

Back to the meatloaf. I served this with an Orzo and Spinach Salad (recipe tomorrow!) and it was perfectly filling. Seriously, you need to try this meatloaf out quickly. I swear it tastes nothing like the picture looks.

Sausage, Kale and Lentil Soup

This soup is really simple to make and packed with delicious flavor. I found the recipe on Martha Stewart and of course modified it to make it light. I found it to be really filling because of all the fiber from the kale and lentils and the protein from the sausage. One bowl was all I needed to be satisfied for the rest of the night. It is low in points, which makes it even more delicious!

This is the first time I have ever cooked kale myself. I've eaten it many times, but something about the stems and the huge leaves seemed daunting to me. I was really happy to find out that there was nothing daunting about working with kale. I plan on trying out other foods that I've been avoiding for similar reasons soon.

Bistro Chicken and Pasta Salad

I've always seen the title "bistro" on menus and such, but I'm not quite sure what qualifies something as such. A quick Google search of "what is bistro" offers up many different interpretations, so this still remains a mystery to me. But, when I saw this recipe on Kraft I knew I had to try it. All the flavors blend really well into each other and I found it to be plenty filling. I'm normally not one to eat raw tomatoes but I decided to try them in this recipe and I am glad I did. I thought about making it without them, but then I think the recipe would not have turned out as well.

I ate this salad at room temperature and it was delicious. For leftovers, I would not reheat it, but just eat it out of the fridge. Or if you have time to let it sit out for a bit, get the chill taken off. It makes a fabulous lunch or dinner.

This recipe calls for grilled chicken. I used my George Foreman Grill to grill up some chicken tenders that I seasoned with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and onion powder. Using pre-cooked grilled chicken will work or cooking the chicken any other way will as well. I just like the slightly charred taste that grilling gives it.