Waking up to Muffins
Having two dogs is much like having two kids sometimes! Early weekend mornings I am reminded of this more and more. When you normally get up for work during the week between 5 or 5:30 or 6 or so, the dogs (or kids) think that …
Recent Posts
Tomatoes to Salsa
Salsa…. one of my FAVORITE foods – always has been & always will be (if I had to name my top 2 foods it would be salsa & chocolate, hands down… just not together – although I do have a gourmet chili-chocolate bar that I …
Light & Fresh Tomato & Orzo salad
The other night we went out for wings at a local bar that has a million (ok, maybe like 100+) different beers from around the world. I love going there for wings, but unfortunately it is very close to the college & therefor during the school year we almost never go because there are too many college kids (and at age 27, I already can not deal with that type of bar crowd – I’ve always been such an “old lady” at heart!) BUT – I am not posting about wings, I’m posting about eating before wings. I don’t know about anyone else, but I always eat before going for wings so I don’t eat too many wings & then get sick and things like that.
We had a ton of fresh cherry tomatoes & I was browsing my favorite site: www.foodgawker.com when I came across a beautiful picture for Orzo Tomato Salad from “The Hazel Bloom” who has a very real and down to earth approach to her blog which I like – so check out my inspiration for tonight at her blog and was sold! I had to run out to the store (the poor puppy had eaten the last of her dog food that morning) so while I was out I bought my first ever box of orzo (I know I have eaten it out before – just never grew up having it or cooking it, I’m now quite pleased with it though). Came home & mixed it up – cut up those fresh tomatoes, mixed in the 2 cups of cooked orzo, fresh basil & mint from outside, a can of garbanzo beans and our light dinner was ready. I let it sit out for much of the afternoon just because I wanted it room temperature & it was fabulous. Thinking I’m gonna try it again with our big tomatoes we have right now: the flavors and textures and everything in this dish just worked (entree, lunch, side, whatever) – just enjoy it!
Fresh Stuffed Tomatoes
I promised you that you would see that goat cheese & the tomatoes again – so here we go! We had a few beautiful looking tomatoes & the goat cheese (which honestly, not sure if I will buy again – it was fun to work …
Italian Inspiration
Rich called me the other day from work & asked if we could have bruschetta as an appetizer when he got home from work. Since I was home all day, making something to be ready as soon as he walked in the door wasn’t a …
Fresh Veggie Panini
A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to make something really “fresh” for dinner. So when I went to the market & saw both portabella mushrooms & eggplant on sale – I decided Paninis is was! I found some great inspiration from Panini Happy and got started.
I marinated the eggplant & mushrooms in some Olive Oil & Basalmic Vinegar then threw them on the George Foreman. I put some fresh hummus (more on that another day – I love making my own hummus) on the Olive Oil/Rosemary bread I had picked up at ShopRite, then layered on my grilled eggplant, mushroom, garden fresh tomato, & mozzarella. After about 5 (10?) minutes on the greased George Foreman – dinner was ready!
Earlier in the day I had thrown together a nice fresh salad – one I have been creating & playing with different variations all summer. This one was a can of (rinsed) black beans, a can of corn, can of Rotell tomato with green chilis, chopped stalk of celery, chives (onions – whatever) a few dashes of hot sauce, some (1/4 cup?) lime juce, some (1/4 cup?) olive oil, salt, pepper & you are good to go. I have been playing with other beans, cilantro, tuna, whatever in this – makes a great quick snack or lunch or side dish… think I will try to keep playing around with variations of this salad during the school year, it will be perfect for days that dinner was so good & there are no leftovers for lunch, or we are too tired to cook something, or get home from school and need a snack before diving into cooking – whatever… it is healthy, cheap & easy!
I hope to also keep using the George Foreman more as well, I seem to often forget that I have it and don’t use it!
Hope you enjoyed another “back-blog” of mine – taking things I cooked over the summer and blogging about them, soon I’ll have finished some of the highlights of the summer & will move onto “new” things 🙂