Bunny Cake

For Easter Sunday I made a special dessert! This cake was much easier than it looks...

Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix (bake in two nine inch round cake pans)
1 tub of vanilla icing
1 tub of orange icing
Red food coloring
Sprinkles
2 peanut M & M's
1 Reese's peanut butter cup
Black liquorish

Directions:

Bake cake then let cool for at least an hour. If the cake is warm when you start icing, you will peel the top layers of the cake off. Leave one round cake as is for the bunny's face. Next, you will cut the second round cake into three piece to create two ears and a bow tie.

Maple Glazed Pork Chops

Tonight I attempted another one of Paula Deen's pork chop recipes. CLICK HERE! for her maple glazed pork chop recipe. I only used three boneless pork chops so I cut her recipe in half. Also, I used Aunt Jemima syrup because I didn't want to buy an entire new bottle. I'm starting to think this may have made a big difference. I would have like them to have had a little more maple flavor than they did, but I had trouble getting the sauce to thicken as the recipe instructs. The chili powder/maple syrup combo seemed a little odd to me, but it actually wasn't at all. Although this recipe was very tasty I think I enjoyed her blackberry pork chop recipe more because the white wine reduction sauce made the pork more moist. As a side I made sweet potatoes which I baked in the oven for an hour and fifteen minutes at 400 degrees.

Broccoli & Monterey Jack Fritatta

For a healthy filling breakfast after the gym I made a fritatta. I'm starting to enjoy fritattas because they are a nice alternative to omelets and once you get the basics down you can use whatever veggie/cheese combo you like!

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Ingredients:

-scramble 2 eggs & 1 egg white (last time I used 2 egg whites & one egg, but this morning I chopped up more broccoli than I needed so I needed enough egg to make it worth while)

-1 cup fresh cut up broccoli

-1/4 cup monterey jack cheese

-ground black pepper

Directions:

-Spray small oven safe pan & on medium/low heat cook broccoli until soft (covered)

-Then add scrambled eggs and pepper

-"wiggle" the pan so the egg is evenly distributed throughout the broccoli

-add cheese

-cook undisturbed for about 3 minutes or until you can see the egg solidifying

-transfer to oven and cook for 6 minutes 

Don't Hate on Oatmeal!

Not many of my friends at school seem to like oatmeal, but it is one of my favorite go to breakfast meals or snacks. I don't use instant though! I always use old fashion or quick cooking oats making them on the stove with water. To make my oatmeal more tasty I add honey, almonds or fresh banana.  Oatmeal is very healthy, filling and easy to make! 

SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise)

Since this is a food blog I thought it would make sense to add in this little bit of information! I am part of an international business club at Marist called SIFE. Right now we are taking part in a project called Let's Can Hunger co-sponsored by Campbell's soup. Let's Can Hunger is an international food drive that allows each SIFE team to collect food for their community. The end goal/first place prize is to collect 5,000 pounds of food. I don't think our club will come close to that goal because we started a little late, but we do have close to 1,000 pounds! Our team members knocked on the doors of every house and dorm room on campus. We also had a group go out into the community. Campbell's statistics state that 50.2 billion American are battling food scarcity. The food we collected will be donated to the Dutchess Outreach Center where it will then be distributed throughout the Marist community. One of the main purposes of SIFE is to allow business students and professionals to extend their business knowledge into local communities. I am also starting Marist's financial literacy program in which I will develop a program about personal finance. Our club will then go into local schools to teach students about the importance of financial literacy. We are hoping this project will be carried out this fall!

Perks of Marinades

Tonight was just a quick easy dinner. I marinated chicken in sesame ginger marinade for about two hours. I baked it in the oven using a disposable aluminum tin. As sides I made steamed broccoli and brown rice. (Perfect for a tummy ache day) Sesame ginger is definitely one of my favorite marinades! My Aunt Laurie uses when she makes skirt steak which I have also made at school. Over the past few months I've learned that using different marinades is one of the easiest ways to change up your meals and keep things form getting boring. They are also very convenient when you don't really feel like cooking...marinate the meat for a few hours then pop it the oven and voila! A lively meal. 

As a side note: Sometimes it is quicker and easier to cook a small serving size just for yourself, but when you don't have a lot of spare time for dinner cooking larger meals that make leftovers is the way to go. For example, tonight I could have made four to five chicken cutlets with extra rice and had enough meals for dinner this week. 

Light Alfredo Sauce

For dinner tonight I made whole wheat penne with spinach and Alfredo sauce. This isn't one of my favorite sauces, but it's nice to eat something a little different. Between the whole wheat pasta and the sauce it's very filling. 

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon unsalted butter
-1 clove of garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon lemon zest
-3 teaspoons of flour
-1 cup of light cream
-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
-3 teaspoons of dried parsley (I didn't have fresh)
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
-2-3cups of spinach (I used fresh & steamed it, but frozen is probably easier)

Directions:

Melt butter in medium pan on medium/low heat. Then add garlic and lemon zest cooking until garlic softens. Next, add the flour and whisk until mixture thickens. Then add in the milk and keep whisking for about 4 minutes until the mixture thickens. After whisk in cheese followed by parsley and pepper.If you use fresh spinach let it steam while you're making the sauce. I mixed the pasta, sauce, spinach and about a cup of pasta water in one of the pots. I recommend adding in a little pasta water after you mix everything else together. I would have liked my sauce to have stayed a little thicker, the water made it a little looser than I had intended.

At first I didn't think that 3 teaspoons of flour would thicken the sauce, but it did! This sauce was so much better than my first attempt a few months ago.

Nachos!

Tonight I made nachos! They were really simple to make and only took about 15 minutes total. I also made guacamole. On a side note, tacos are also one of the cheapest & easiest meals to make at college. I wish I had a better picture. I took this one from my phone.

Ingredients

-1/2 pound ground beef
-1 taco seasoning packet (use half)
-Approx. 1 1/2 cup shredded Mexican cheese
-2 avocados
-guacamole seasoning packet
-lime or lemon juice
-1 jalapeno pepper
-Corn chips

Directions:
I first browned the beef & followed the directions on the taco seasoning packet. While the beef was cooking I made the guacamole. I scooped the avocados out of their peels and mashed in a bowl with a fork. Then I added most, but not all of the seasoning. I find the entire packet can be too salty. A guacamole seasoning packet can usually be found next to the avocados or in the vegetable section of a grocery store. Homemade guacamole is definitely on my list of recipes to learn! Anyway, after adding the seasoning squeeze the juice of a lemon or lime on to the avocados. The acid will keep the avocados from turning brown. Next, I sliced the jalapeno down the middle and took all of the seeds out before I chopped it up. 

I used a disposable aluminum tin and filled it with chips. Then I pour the season beef along the top followed by a generous amount of shredded cheese and the jalapenos. I let the tray bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. After, I spooned my guacamole and jarred salsa on top. Voila!

Tasty Tuna

Lunch is hands down my least favorite meal of the day. I never know what to eat! I have promised my housemate Elora that I will figure out interesting lunches for us! Today I decided to give my tuna an extra kick. I added chopped carrots, celery, almonds, shredded cheddar cheese and black pepper. Mayo is one of my lease favor condiments, so I always use as little as possible. Then I laid the tuna on two large leaves of lettuce. Quick, easy and different than what I am use to. 

Super Easy Frittata!

Today for lunch I made my first ever frittata and it was so easy! I chopped up onion, zucchini, tomato and green pepper. You must use an oven safe pan! I scrambled two egg whites and one whole egg. First, spray pan or add a half tablespoon of olive oil. Then cook veggies for a few minutes to soften and sprinkle with black pepper. Next, add the scrambled egg mixture. Don't touch it after the eggs are added, just let it start to solidify. When I could see the edged had solidified I added parmesan cheese and put the pan in the oven  at 350 degrees for six minutes. That's it! I just added more parmesan cheese when I took the frittata out of the oven. 

My homemade Sauce :)

All of my housemates can vouch for my hatred of jarred tomato sauce. Never have I ever eaten jarred sauce and I probably never will. Salsa is probably the only sauce like mixture I will eat  out of a jar and that is probably stretching the term sauce a little too far! Tonight for dinner I am making  whole wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce.

My Sauce:

In a medium pot sautee two chopped cloves of garlic in two tablespoons of oil on low heat. Only about three minutes, be careful not to burn! Then add diced onion, tonight I used about a 1/4 of a medium sized onion. Stir and let simmer until onions are transparent. (Note to my readers: my mother would like you all to know I did this wrong. You're supposed to sautee the onions first then add the garlic. I haven't burned my garlic my way though!) Then add one can of crushed tomatoes and stir. Next, dried basil, oregano and parsley. This is definitely where personal taste preference comes in. I used about a tablespoon of basil, tablespoon of parsley and half tablespoon of oregano. Oregano is my least favorite of the three. I also add fresh basil and then let the sauce simmer on low for at least an hour. My oven/stove at school is awful and gets entirely too hot. I leave the pot partially covered with a lid so no one gets splattered on.

I planned on making mini strawberry shortcakes for dessert, but when I got home from the food store I realized I forget whipped cream. I suddenly had the "brilliant" idea to make my own. A cup of cream and a tablespoon of sugar, easy right? WRONG I usually only buy light cream and I quickly realized why heavy cream would have been better. I also thought using a whisk would work just fine...wrong again. I gave it one last attempt and used an electric mixer. I failed again. As I'm frantically trying to whip the cream & sugar Mike walks in. He tells me I'm crazy, "Alyss you can buy whipped cream why would you make it?!" I was about to say "You like whipped cream! That's why I'm making it!" And then I realized Mike doesn't like strawberries to begin with! Looks like I'll just be having plain strawberries for dessert.

Helpful Kitchen Tips

I've been watching a lot of cooking videos to help to master some basic skills. It's the simple skills & tips along with the right tools that make cooking in college a little easier. My kitchen at school has limited supplies, but we do have a good set of knives like the ones Giada describes in this video. The kitchen basics that I always use are:

- the 3 knives shown in the video (pairing, utility & serrated)
- a cutting board (one for chicken & one for everything else)
- a baking sheet
- a small frying pan
- a medium pot
- a metal colander (which I use to both steam on the stove & drain in the stink)
- tongs
- spatula (I have recently realized that a rubber spatula is MUCH better to use when making eggs)

My first blog! Blackberry pork chops!

Since tonight's dinner wasn't anything special I am going to flashback to last Wednesday. I made a Paula Deen recipe for blackberry pork chops. I usually don't care for pork chops because I think they're dry, but they were delish! I altered the recipe a little - CLICK HERE! for Paula's and my changes are below:  

I didn't use the bone-in pork chops, I got small bone-less pork chop that were not very fatty. I also only used 3 (college portions remember?!). My dry white wine probably doesn't meet the drinking standards for most of the people in my family...Chateau Riviera Chardonnay from College Deli, Poughkeepsie courtesy of Mike after the liquor store closed, but hey it did the trick! I also left out the thyme because I don't care for the taste. This recipe was SO good! I will definitely make it again after I tackle some new dishes. I made it with a side of green beans that I marinated in balsamic vinegar.