Roasted asparagus with balsamic browned butter

I love me some asparagus...but I always make it the same way.  I hate that it tastes the best with butter because I try not to use butter if I can help it.  Same with olive oil.  They both add a lot of taste but you trade off with added fat and calories.  So usually I just steam it, throw some cracked salt and pepper on it, and top it with reduced fat parmesan cheese.  It's great that way and is one of our fave veggies, but I'm always looking for new ways to do it.

Here is one that does include butter but is not too bad for you either.  Here's what you need:

40 asparagus spears, trimmed (about 2 lbs)
1 t salt
1 t pepper
2 T butter (light)
2 t low sodium soy sauce
1 t balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a cookie sheet with your trusty fat free Pam cooking spray so the veggies don't stick.  Lay the asparagus out on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake for 12 minutes or until tender....I had thin asparagus so it didnt' take 12 minutes, keep an eye on it or it will be a little crispier than intended :)

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat, cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned (pictured below), shaking the pan occasionally so it doesn't burn.  Remove from heat and add soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. 

Drizzle over asparagus, tossing well to coat.  Add salt and pepper on top to taste.  We had this on a Sunday evening so it was my cheat meal for the week, which means don't judge the steak and homemade mac and cheese on the plate too! :)  I really liked this, and so did Justin considering he usually doesn't get butter even though its his fave.  Picture that butter popcorn commercial where the guy gets caught by his wife and kid taking a bite out of a stick of butter....that's Justin when I'm not home, I'm sure. 

Anyway, even with the butter, if you have 5 sticks of asparagus the recipe lists this serving size at 45 calories and 3 g of fat which isn't bad for a side (ummmmm, don't count how many sticks I had!).  So have at it, all you butter lovers!

Creamy pesto pasta salad

I have a new favorite appliance and I never saw it coming.  I bought a new Cuisanart food processor and it might be the coolest thing I've ever bought for the kitchen....I realize I'm really flying my freak flag to show the excitement I have for this thing but I'm not sure I care!   I wanted one originally to make spagetti sauce at home and to try to thicken my salsa up a little when I make it next time.  But I saw this recipe for homemade pesto and really wanted to try it as I didn't want to bring my normal pasta salad to the birthday party this weekend, I was ready to debut something new....

Here she is....what a beaut!  It even has a blender attachment....Score!

Anyway, I found this recipe while cruising online and I was a BIG fan of it...I've been killing all the leftovers (as has my boss since I brought a bunch to work).  So I'm glad someone besides me really liked it, since Justin was not really a fan and I know Brandy left a platefull at the party.  Don't worry, Im not that weirdo who watches if people eat my food or not...Justin was the one that pointed it out that she left a bunch so he didn't feel like a jerk telling me it wasn't his fave, haha!  I might try to make it again and not leave it in the fridge over night so the pasta is less dry, maybe add some chicken or something to make it a full meal? Anything to give him another chance to like it so it gets on our "make again" list!  Anyway, this was surprisingly easy with a food processor, it didnt take long at all.

Pesto:
3 cups packed fresh basil
1 cup packed fresh parsley (both of these I have in my herb garden)
3 garlic cloves
1 T lemon juice
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted (these were pretty expensive FYI)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated reduced fat parmesan cheese

Salad:
1 lb gemelli or other short pasta (I used wheat)
1 cup plain 2% greek yogurt
2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (I used Nature's Sweet cherubs)

Start boiling your pasta first since it will take the longest.  In the food processor puree everything except greek yogurt, olive oil and parmesan for the pesto.  With motor running, add olive oil and process until a thick paste forms.  Add parmesan and pulse twice. 

Once pasta is done, strain it and run it under cold water so it stops cooking. 

Combine the pesto with the greek yogurt and blend well. 

Add cold pasta and halved tomatoes.  I put it in the fridge to chill at this point because I made it before the party....but if you have time to make it right before I would serve it immediately as it was so much more creamy at this point because the noodles hadnt soaked up all the moisture.  I still liked the flavor of it when it was more dry but that was J's complaint. 

I'm about to go slam the last cup of it I had leftover for lunch....and going to enjoy every last bit of it! :)

Oh and although there is a decent amount of olive oil in this recipe, it's really not that bad for you.  One pound of pasta makes a huge batch, but the recipe gives the yield of this amount as 8 servings.  You would have some big old plates of pasta salad if you split this into 8 servings....I would say it yields more like 20 servings or more!  Anyway, for one huge plate full serving it lists 464 calories....so if you get a normal scoop of pasta salad as a side and not a meal, it would be about 150 calories in my estimation.

EDIT:  I made this dish again, as you can tell I really want people to start liking it so I can have it all the time :)  I just made a plain pesto, took the parmesan cheese out so as not to dry it out, and left out the greek yogurt as well.  It turned out even better!!  AND it's not dry, when you stir it, the olive oil comes back to the top and leaves you with fresh tasting pasta...instead of the dried out pesto taste of the previous batch.  So, you're welcome...I solved the riddle.  I also added fresh mozzerella to the mix to give it a sort of caprese salad taste....nomnomnomnom!!!

Tortilla rollups

This has become my favorite party food to bring as an appetizer for potlucks, or even if we have people over in the summer.  They've got great flavor and a tiny kick to them, and I just can't stop popping them in my mouth.  I have to credit my friend Mallory Benton for this recipe, I have a couple other recipes of hers that I can't wait to try once my garden comes up (if it doesn't drown this week)....think baked jalopeno poppers...YUM!! I made them this time for my friend Maggie and her husband's birthday party (how cute is it that they have the same birthday?) this past weekend and the double batch was pretty well eaten through by the end of the weekend!

Anyway, these are a staple for summer parties now and they go pretty fast so I almost always double the batch. 

6 tortillas (the carb balance ones roll easier and they are better for you but I used half jalopeno cheddar and half spinach and herb this time as they didn't have the carb balance kind at Sam's Club)
1 small can of black olives, diced
1 small can of diced green chiles
1 A&E Mexican chip dip
1 Fat free cream cheese
1 2% Mexican shredded cheese

Mix all ingredients up together, except for the tortillas of course.  You want to be sure you dice the black olives as small as possible like so:

Throw together in a large mixing bowl (like I said this is a double batch)....

And stir very thouroughly so the ingredients are evenly dispursed in the mixture:

Take a spoon and spread a thin layer of the mixture on each tortilla....

Roll up each tortilla into a tube, making the roll as tight as possible.  You may have to wipe off excess mixture from the end when you squeaze it out from rolling.

Set the finished tubes on a plate and put them in the freezer for 1 hour to harden up in order to cut them.  If they are frozen solid they are hard to cut but if they are too soft you cannot cut them either so they have to be right in the middle to be cut perfectly. Pretty vague, I know, but you'll get the hang of it :) 

Finished product....

Lotsa pictures in this post, huh?!  I should also mention that I cut the ends off as they are not as pretty and usually don't roll as tightly....the dog loves them, and they taste just fine to me too, I just don't like to make people look at them when they're not as uniform.

P.S. There usually arent many leftovers but these are one of those things are better the longer they sit, they bind better together and the flavors meld.  The cheddar jalopeno tortillas made them a little hotter as well.  Let me know how you like them!

Crockpot asian beef and noodles

I don't think I've had ramen noodles since college...we won't go into how many years that's been.  For some reason, I got super excited to try this because it included ramen though.  I used to live off that and Easy Mac!  Plus, you all know how I feel about my crockpot....dinner done when I walk in the door from work?  Boo-yaaaaaa!

Recipe:

1(16 oz) package frozen stir fry veggies
2-2.5 lbs beef roast
1 (12 oz) bottle stir fry sauce (any flavor but I use the spicy szecuan for some KICK!)
3/4 cup chicken or beef broth (I used low sodium chicken)
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 packages beef or chicken ramen noodles (I used chicken)

Throw the frozen veggies in on the bottom after you have lined your crockpot with the disposable liner.  Throw the meat on top of that.  Mix your stir fry sauce, broth, and crushed pepper together and drizzle it on top of the meat.  Should resemble this:

Cover and cook on low for 9 hours (or you can do high for 4.5-5 hours but I like leaving stuff in all day while Im at work).  At the end of your cooking time, add the ramen (broken up) as well as the sauce packets to the crockpot for 10 minutes.  Pull meat into smaller pieces and stir before serving.

I can't get over how good this was...had some kick and great flavor! I will say it's probably not the healthiest thing on this blog though.  Next time I would leave the spice packets from the ramen out as they didn't add much extra except for tons of sodium, and I would also add an extra bag of frozen veggies in the bottom as I wouldve loved some more of those.  I really wish I would have known how to do this in college!!

Sesame ginger tuna kabobs

Sam's Club is my BFF.  Literally.  I love buying in bulk and having a deep freeze full of fun stuff to throw together...but we have already discussed my food hoarding issues so we'll leave it at that.  Anyway, I went last week and got a MAMMOTH bag of sushi grade ahi tuna steaks and a GINORMOUS bag of cod for later.

I have always wanted to sear some tuna steaks but almost started a grease fire the one attempt I had at it...so Im nervous about that form of cooking for now.  The swordfish kabobs turned out so well a while ago that I thought tuna kabobs could be just as good since they are a pretty substantial fish.  I love that J is just as happy with these kabobs as he would be with steak as these are soooo much better for us!

This recipe can't get any easier.  I used my lawry's sesame ginger marinade...

...and threw some of the tuna steaks in it in the fridge the night before I cooked them....

From there you can choose what else you want to have on  your kabobs.  I had onion, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, and red potato on hand so that's what we went with last night. I cut the tuna into one inch cubes and  cut the rest of the veggies up into managable pieces as well.  I then threw all of ingredients back in the marinade container and shook them until they were covered with flavor.  Next step is layering them on the skewars...I also sprinkled them with crushed red pepper when they were ready for the grill.

I will say that the next time I do kabobs, I will do a stick or two of potatoes, and a stick or two of the veggies, and then a stick or two of the meat.  Especially when grilling seafood (this was sushi grade so I could've eaten it raw) as it doesn't take near as long to cook the meat as it does to cook the potatoes through.  We found our meat a little overdone so next time I will start the potato skewars first so they have time to get going.  P.S. If you don't have a kabob contraption such as this one, you're a loser.  Maybe not a loser, but you are really not getting the meat cooked like it should when its sitting on the grill, and that pretty much means you're not winning if you ask me!

All in all, even though the meat was more done than I would have preferred, these were muy bien just like the swordfish ones!  I really love the taste of the grilled veggies.  Last night was our first dinner out on the deck this year and wowza have I missed that!  I am a happy camper today, summer puts me in such a good mood :)

Chicken salad

When we were at Indy this year, we ate at Champs one night and Amanda had the most amazing chicken salad sandwich I have ever had...Im sticking with the fact that it was just an outstanding sandwich and not that the margaritas before were contributing to the wonderful taste in my mouth!  Justin absolutely loved it and asked why I never make chicken salad at home...like I never cook.  I honestly didnt know I liked it that much and didnt think it would top his list of faves either, so I have never made it before. 

I do know that depending what you throw in there, it can be a pretty hefty calorie hit.  So I looked up a bunch of recipes online (there are TONS) and tried to form one of my own out of others ingredients.  I stayed pretty plain for this first batch as I didnt want to ruin it, but I think it came out well.  I will probably continue to play around with it in the future until I perfect it....

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup fat free mayo
2 T spicy mustard (pictured below)
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onions
crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste

First I seasoned and baked the chicken breast in the oven.  You could throw it on the grill too if you have it running...whatever strikes your fancy.  I used (very liberally I might add) lawry's, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper to season the chicken before baking.  The oven was set at 425 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.

After the chicken is done and cooled off, I shredded it with a fork and added all the other ingredients.  This mustard I use on everything is this shizz...I literally don't buy any other kind anymore, it add so much flavor to anything. 

Here is the finished product ready to head to the fridge to chill:

I have been making Justin's lunches for work for him for a few weeks so that he doesn't have to eat garbage from fast food joints or gas stations....and he's lost about 15 lbs because of it!  I've been making him ham or turkey sammies but you can't expect a boy to live on those every day all summer, so this was an experimental batch to leave for his lunches and see if he liked it.  I asked him to send me a pic of it when he was eating it the other day and this is what I got...

I guess that means it's good??  :)  He did say he added cheese and it was better without so I would just throw some on a roll and have at it.  Next time I may throw in some hard boiled eggs as well....maybe a little fresh dill or basil from the herb planter?  We shall see.  Sidenote: when did I become a grandmother with my gardens, planters, and making my own recipes?? lol

Cheese, Spinach, and mushroom stuffed shells

This was a make-ahead meal that I did on Memorial day afternoon when we got back from the Indy 500 (vrooooooooooom!!).  I figured it was going to be a tired week after the long weekend away and wanted to have as much carbs as possible on hand all week to prepare for the dam to dam race I was signed up for on this coming Saturday (12.4 miles).  Well, the race is not in the cards now due to a car accident I was in (not my fault) on Tuesday, but make ahead meals were still great to have on hand so I didnt have to cook all week with my sore body!

This is adapted from a recipe I was given by my Aunt Kris in Arizona...she takes food pics too and is a freak just like me! :)  I've been wanting to try it and then Mama K dropped 2 bags of these shells off last time she visited becuase she found them on sale...perfect!  I made 2 batches and left one in my fridge and froze the other to bring to a friend who just had a baby...just an FYI that this does freeze well.  The batch for us had all of these ingredients, the batch for the new mother omitted the red and black pepper and the chiles as she is breastfeeding.

Ingredients:
1 container low fat ricotta cheese (I tried using the fat free one time in my manicotti and Justin vetoed that one, sometimes fat free just doesnt cut it! It was dry and chunky instead of creamy like cheese should be.)
1 container fat free cottage cheese
1 cup reduced fat parmesan cheese
1 can sliced mushrooms (drained)
1 can spinach (drained)
2 cans diced green chiles (not drained)
1 T crushed black pepper
1 T crushed red pepper

1 bag pasta shells
1 large can of your fave spag sauce (use 2 if you like your pasta really saucy like I do)
1 lb ground turkey italian sausage
1 bag turkey pepperonis
1 large onion (diced)
1 cup 2% mozzarella cheese
1 T italian seasoning

First you mix all the first group of ingredients up in a mixing bowl and stir until they are thouroughly mixed:

From there, the name explains itself....just stuff the uncooked shells.  I just used a normal spoon and stuffed them with as much as they would hold like so:

You will need your 13x9 baking dish that most of my recipes call for, which means I used the disposable one with fat free Pam sprayed in the bottom.  Just lay the shells face down or face up, however they lay the best.  Continue this until you run out of mixture or shells. 

A little food photography experiment:

Looks yummy close up, doesnt it?!  Next step (which you could actually be doing simultaneously as you are stuffing shells), is to cook your sausage in a skillet.  When it is done, add your onions and pepperonis to saute all of them together, and add your sauce as well.  Simmer until you are ready to pour on top of your shells, and then sprinkle some 2% mozzerella cheese on top of your creation.  Add some italian seasoning on top and cover with tin foil.

Sidenote: Can anyone tell me why some of my pics turn and how I would go about turning them the right way??  Drives me bonkersssssssss!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 40-45 minutes to ensure the shells have softened and cooked in the sauce.  All that's left to do is SERVE!