A Breakfast Treat

Hello! It has been a few weeks since we got together to cook. We had been planning to make a quiche for a for awhile but kept rescheduling. Finally, we had the perfect opportunity -- brunch! It was also perfect because we didn't have to eat the whole thing ourselves like we usually do.

We made a green chili quiche. We found the recipe in a recent issue of the Food Network Magazine. As always, we took our own spin on it and decided to skinny it up a bit. It called for milk and heavy cream which we didn't do want to. Also for our readers doing Weight Watchers out there, one serving of the quiche was 6 points plus. The recipe serves 4.

We used:
4 eggs
1 cup of skim milk
1/2 cup of light cream
2 scallions, chopped
1 can of green chiles
1/2 cup of chopped pepper jack cheese
Handful of spinach
A reduced fat pie crust

We combined the ingredients together and poured them into a pie dish. We baked at 400 for 30 minutes. It was delicious and our friends loved it! We served it with coffee.

Next time we would add more veggies or perhaps bacon or sausage. This dish was excellent as is. We highly recommend it for brunch. It would also go great with mimosas.

Happy Spring!

All that glitters is not gold

It's quinoa. Quinoa goes everywhere just like glitter. We just made a dish using quinoa and we got quinoa EVERYWHERE.

Tonight, we decided to recreate Skinny Taste's dirty brown rice with shrimp recipe, found here: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/02/dirty-brown-rice-with-shrimp.html.

Dirty rice is a traditional NOLA dish, typically made with brown beef, rice and peppers.

Per usual we took our own spin on the dish. We subbed quinoa for the rice which in hindsight we would have done a little differently. The hamburg to quinoa ratio was 98:1.

Here's how we did it:
-1/2 cup quinoa and 1 cup of water. We added salt, paprika, thyme, chicken bouillon, and a bay leaf to the water.
-Bring quinoa to a boil, then simmer and cover on low for 10 minutes or until the water evaporates.

-Simultaneously, in another pan, saute garlic, onion, green pepper and scallions in oil for about 5 minutes. Then add in a pound or so of hamburg and your spices. We used: salt and pepper, thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper and another bay leaf. Brown up the 'burg and then the best part: add a poundish of peeled shrimp. Once the shrimp are cooked, mix everything and add the quinoa. Then serve and eat.

Things we'd do differently:

We would either increase the quinoa to meat ratio or skip quinoa an use rice or even try spaghetti squash. Also add more veggies such as red pepper. The recipe did call for celery but we don't care for celery so we didn't add it.

We only used a quarter teaspoon of cayenne but would use more to increase the kick.

We would also add garlic powder.

This would be a good dish to feed a crowd as it makes a lot. Very easy to clean up besides the quinoa  glitter.

Until next week!

Our Bout with Beef

Beef Stroganoff is a classically rich dish. We were craving comfort food on this warm spring day, but realized we can't eat mass amounts of sour cream with warmer weather and beach trips approaching. We had a recipe and decided to make a number of substitutions...a few too many substitutions. 

We started by sauteing a diced onion and one package of sliced baby bella mushrooms in olive oil for about ten minutes, until the onions browned. Meanwhile, we seasoned cubed steak with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. The meat was added to the vegetable mixture and cooked all the way through. Once this was complete, we turned off the heat and added plain Greek yogurt. We opted for yogurt instead of sour cream, hoping to reduce the fat amount. Unfortunately, the texture of the dish was compromised. The sauce was a little watery and the yogurt began to separate. 

Traditionally beef stroganoff is served over egg noodles but we wanted to use a vegetable instead of carb heavy pasta. We cut up a head of broccoli and partially boiled it. This was drained, and transferred to a skillet with olive oil and sliced garlic. The broccoli was cooked in the garlic oil mixture until the garlic browned. 

All in all this dish had a lot of positives and an equal number of negatives. The healthy alternatives were a good idea in theory, but because of the number of them we felt that it barely resembled the actual dish. When a situation like this happens, we tend to add extra ingredients to give the recipe more flavor. We ended up with broccoli, topped with beef stroganoff, topped with mozzarella cheese...an undesirable menu. 

 

Until next week where we "experiment" with shrimp-its all about learning from mistakes.

PS If you're looking for a twist on cocktails, check out our BFF Kata's new blog: http://alcoholidays.wordpress.com/

Hungry Hungry Hippos

jkjk. But we ate pretty late so we were pretty hungry. Almost as hungry as hungry hungry hippos.

We're extremely sorry for the long hiatus. Tori casually went to China for half of February which didn't leave us a lot of time to cook and blog and wine. Becky was forced to eat candy while she was gone...

China was a great experience. Tori actually cooked with a hot pod over there. A hot pod is essentially a boiling pot of water placed in front of you and you individually cook veggies, noodles and lamb. Wasn't really a fan of the lamb but she gave it a go. It was all about trying new things and going with the flow. Very zen.

While Tori was gone, Becky was cooking up a storm. She experimented with ricotta sausage lasagna, chicken noodle soup, baked pesto pasta, and breaded chicken legs with garlic roasted broccoli.

Onto tonight's dish!

Tonight, we used a recipe from skinnygirl.com for tortellini mushroom soup. We eliminated some ingredients such as garlic and halved the broth to make it heartier.

We used:

4 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoon butter
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 colored carrrot
A blend of bella and shitake mushrooms
A package of cheese tortellini fresh from Trader Joe's

We added:
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan

and a bottle of Riesling.

First we diced all of our veggies and sauteed them in butter until tender. Then we added the chicken broth and water. Brought it to a boil and added the tortellini. We tasted it and it was a little bland probably because of the low sodium broth. So we added salt, pepper and parmesan. Next time we would use a beef broth to deepen the flavor.

The veggies really enhanced the flavor of the broth to give it that authentic homemade taste. In total this meal took 20 minutes. It was very quick which was great because we were hungry hippos.

As a side note, the recipe said it served 4. The package of tortellini served 3. As a main course for 2 hungry hungry hippos, it served 2.

Stay tuned for next week's beef stroganoff!

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

aka the BEST thing we've made to date.

We can't recommend this recipe enough. We're obsessed. It tasted exactly like pad thai and was super easy to make.

Tori's mom found this recipe for us on pinterest! Big shout out to her!! Thanks Mom! The recipe came from Closet Cooking. http://www.closetcooking.com/2014/01/spaghetti-squash-shrimp-pad-thai.html

We followed the recipe almost exactly, with a few modifications and other ideas for how we would make it next time.

We were worried we wouldn't have enough spaghetti squash or enough sauce, but once we pulled everything together, we had more than enough. We probably could have made 3 servings, but it was so good we clearly split it.

First we halved the spaghetti squash and baked it in the oven for 30 minutes at 400. Then we set it aside.

Next up, we made the sauce. We used soy sauce, a squeeze of lime, peanut butter, brown sugar and chili sauce.

Then we sauteed fresh shrimp, carrots, garlic, green onions, cilantro and cloves. Once the shrimp were cooked, we added the egg to the middle of the pan.

After mixing the ingredients and scrambling the eggs we added the spaghetti squash and the sauce. We mixed them all together and added a handful of peanuts.

Then we dug in and it was DIVINE.

Modifications we made or will make next time:
-We did not use bean sprouts, mainly because we couldn't find them anywhere but we didn't really need them.
-We also didn't use shallots
-We only used the juice of one lime instead of a quarter cup.
-We won't use carrots next time, they didn't add a lot of value.
-We would crush the peanuts next time as the recipe calls for.

Next time, we also will try it with chicken or beef or maybe all 3!

The Time We Cooked and Had To Order Take Out...

The time we learned how spicy Adobo Peppers actually are.

Tonight we wanted to try Garlic Chipotle Shrimp Tacos. It was our first time making shrimp. Becky found a misleading recipe in a magazine. It was described as a subtle smokey flavor. We practically needed a fire hydrant while attempting to eat them

Ingredients:
-1/2 pound of shrimp
-1 can of Chipoltle peppers in Adobo Sauce....WAAYYYYYY TOOOOOO MUCHHH. If you would like to try this we suggest reducing the measurements to 1 tablespoon.
-Diced onion
-1 ripe avocado
-1/2 lime
-Green Leaf Lettuce

We peeled the shrimp, let them soak in the sauce (mistake) and then sauteed the mixture with olive oil and onion for about 2 minutes. We plated them with the lettuce, topped them with avocado slices and a squeeze of lime.


We adapted the recipe by actually only using the adobo sauce because we were too lazy to get the food processor out and it was still way too hot. We also used lettuce tacos wraps instead of actual taco shells. Go Paleo!

It looks really harmless but looks can be deceiving. Those shrimp sure had a kick to them. Our eyes watered, sweat was coming out of our pores. We decided we couldn't finish this meal and it actually wasn't going to be that filling regardless. It was more of an appetizer. OOPS. So we decided to venture out in the rain for a better taco experience.

Unfortunately, no such luck. Becky got pork tacos and Tori got the grilled steak plate. But neither of these were tasty.

On the plus side tonight, we learned just how spicy adobo sauce is and what neighborhood restaurants to avoid. Peace Out!

Bacon Wrapped Meatballs

Hello Cooking World! We're sorry for the long hiatus we've been celebrating the holidays and been doing lots of cooking and eating.

We thought to start we would share some standouts of what we've been cooking! Becky made a chicken and leek pie, veggie pad thai, and pumpkin pancakes. Tori made buffalo chicken in the crockpot, quiche cupcakes, sugar cookie martinis!

But now we're back in action cooking our way through January. Tonight we're making bacon wrapped turkey meatballs with a side of roasted butternut squash. We were inspired from a recipe we saw on Paleomg.com. We're paleo'ing it up tonight because Tori is doing the Whole30 diet for the month of January. We're also not sampling wine tonight because of the diet.

Back to the recipe:

Slice and dice a butternut squash, season to taste- we used sea salt and olive oil. Cook at 400 for 30 minutes.

Turkey meatballs- pound of ground turkey mixed with 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 an onion, salt and pepper, and garlic salt. Then the best part, wrap the meatballs in bacon - 1 piece for each meatball. Cook at 400 for 35  minutes. We made about 10 good sized meatballs aka now we have leftovers!!

These bacon wrapped meatballs were DELISH. Highly recommended! Becky topped hers with Parmesan cheese.

 Until next time friends!