Not Completely but Almost [Free]Tatta

I heard on the Today Show today that Thursday is one of the "unhappiest" days out of the week, based on a recent poll. I'm going to have to agree with the newscasters and say that I just do not agree! Like one of the ladies said, "I'm in a great mood today! ... Because tomorrow is Friday". Nothing wrong with that ;)

Because my weeks are getting more and more scattered with travel for work and play, I'm trying to be pretty frugal about buying groceries. There is nothing I hate more than having a ton of great looking produce and letting it go to waste because I end up traveling for the week. On the other note, sometimes when my fridge is full of fresh fruits and veggies, I end up eating waaaay too much because I'm afraid that it'll go bad. So, in an effort to try and just use anything perishable in my fridge, along with buying as minimal as possible I baked a delicious yet simple Frittata on Tuesday night!


In my fridge already was 4 organic eggs, some Jarlsberg cheese slices and 4 slices of Turkey bacon - (clearly I had a hankering for a bacon/egg/and cheese sandwich sunday morning). So I popped on down to the Chelsea Trader Joes which just opened and is the best thing on earth, literally :) Smiles appear on my face when I talk about it :) :)
...and I bought some mushrooms, grape tomatoes, and spinach for ~$5. Unbeatable.

Then I pranced on home, feeling pretty happy with myself and continued to bake the following:

Simple Frittata

Ingredients
- 3 eggs and 1 egg white
- 2 cups of mushrooms*
- 8 grape tomatoes*
- 2 cups spinach
- 2 slices of turkey bacon
- 2 slices of jarlsberg cheese
- coconut oil
- salt & pepper
- Thyme (1/2 Tsp)
*Use as many of these ingredients as you want and feel free to switch them up. That's the beauty of something like this, tons of different veggie combos can taste fabulous.
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Use butter or cooking spray to coat the bottom of a square baking pan (I assume any would work fine)
3. Put bacon on pan and cook until they look browned and crispy; place on paper towel to cool
4. Cut up mushrooms if they are not already sliced, and tomatoes in half
5. Saute cut veggies in 2 Tbs of oil until mushrooms are browned
6. Put veggies into baking pan to cover the bottom
7. Place spinach on top of veggies to add an additional layer
8. Scramble up eggs and egg white in a bowl and add a little water (or milk if you prefer)
9. Add in salt and pepper to your liking, and some thyme (Rosemary could work here to)
10. Add bacon to egg mixture
11. Pour egg mixture into baking dish
12. Pop into oven for 20 - 25 minutes, until egg looks well cooked
13. Take baking dish out and place cheese on top. Throw the pan back into the oven for an addtional 5 or so minutes, or on broil, to get a nice melted and crispy top.

Take out and enjoy!!

I was able to create 4 portions of this meal and use for lunch every day. Couldn't ask for anything better than a $1.25 lunch huh??

Happy thursday all - and feel free to enjoy it since tomorrow is Friday :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

I had to go home to CT last night for a rather lame and embarrassing reason (ahem traffic court), but it ended up being perfect because today is my mom's birthday! So between driving to a no-name town of Lewisboro, pleading down my measly little speeding ticket, and still paying an exorbanent amount of money - yes I am a little biter - I was able to bake some cupcakes for my mom. I feel like everyone in my family has a favorite kind of cake that they don't like moving away from; my dad's is Spice Cake, mine might be Carrot Cake (but nothing really beats confetti), my brother likes anything with sugar, and my mom has been really leaning towards Angel Foods Cake, if there is no chocolate souffle laying around ;). So I whipped together some super simple Angel Food Cupcakes with some whipped cream frosting and whatever fruit and other toppings we had around. Happy Birthday mom!

Cupcakes are HOT

Or at least that was the tag line for the Cupcake Workshop 101 that I took on Sunday night at the Institute for Culinary Education. It was a night of learning all about baking, meeting strangers over a common passion, and baking / decorating some delicious things!

Domestication

Do you ever wonder when the time will come when you are ready to settle down, move to the 'burbs, start cooking dinner for a family every night and seeing your girlfriends once a month when you all get together and sit around reminiscing about our crazy / wild twenties?? While I understand that things can always change on a dime and something I say right now may not be true in the future....right now I'm saying that this time is a looong way off for me.
While I may be too immature (is that the right word?) to start thinking about this now, I can appreciate some of the high points associated with this kind of life - a domesticated life...and I have a genuine admiration for girls my age who are makin' it work!

This saturday I had the pleasure of meeting a girl who is my age who I have a lot in common with, except for the fact that she lives way outside the city with her boyfriend. A bunch of us went back to their place to have dinner and have a few drinks and some conclusions that I drew by the end of the night were 1. This couple rocked 2. Their place rocked 3. They can still party like the best of us and 4. This girl could cook!! Having a fully stocked kitchen and cooking for two definitely has it's perks.
We (/ she) made penne a la vodka and a salad that was so delicious!!



Oh yes and the obligatory glass[es] of wine... :)
It was so great to be in a real apartment and have a home cooked meal on a Saturday night that I could really see the positive in living this kind of life... :)

So much so, I even did a little "faux" baking tonight! One of my family recipes is a yogurt pie, which I will make eventually on this blog. However, this weekend I picked up a little Greek Yogurt and some Agave Nectar and decided to try a slight variation on the classic.
Introducing: Berry Tart Yogurt Pie



It was delicious if I do say so myself! And healthy!

Note to self:

Do not put protein powder in oatmeal after it is already cooked. I made that mistake this morning and literally felt like I was inhaling dry pretzels er something to that extent...it was not good to say the least. Having a crummy breakfast didn't put my day off to a good start, and I don't think that it got the blood flowing to my brain because I walked all the way to work, sat down at my cube, and realized that I had forgotten my laptop on my bed. A-W-E-SOME. 24 minutes and $45 later (I had to buy a new subway card) I finally got the day started..oof!

The day did get a little better though...In 3 weeks I am going to a Charity Ball in Boston!! I am a huge (HUGE) fan of dressing up and getting out on the town ;) so of course I jumped at the chance to 1. Road trip with some girlfriends to Boston for the weekend 2. Donate some $$ to a good cause and 3. play dress up :)

I have waaay too many dresses as it is, but of course I was thinking nothing in my closet would work! ;) My mother might disagree with me.....However, in the spirit of staying on budget (January was difficult to say the least) and the reality that I actually do have plenty of things to wear, I decided to do a little makeover of the wardrobe kind. I have so many long prom dresses back home that are just sitting there, accumulating the terrible attic smell that some clothes can never say goodbye to. So, I figured I would re-vamp one of my favorite dresses and make it into a sleeker, sexier, more mature version of the high school prom dress! I wish I had an old prom photo to show..but alas, they have been burned/buried to keep my dignity ;)

Picture this - but red. Anyhow, I trecked down to the lower east side today for my lunch break to this place called Nelson's to get this dress hemmed. There will be some after photos assuming all goes well - but I did hear some great things.

The highlight of my day was passing this cute little bakery that I have been wanting to try:

I didn't actually make it in (since my hour lunch break was nearing a close!) but now I know right where it is for next time. I'll have to "step inside and find out" what the heck they were talking about on this chalkboard outside ... ;)

Sweet Escapes

I feel like most of the time the weekends just fly by and it's hard to recount what actually even happened. Luckily, that was entirely not the case this weekend. Friday night was lazy, which as any one who has read my past entries knows are my favorite :) This weekend though I was staying in because I had to be up at 6:30 AM on saturday for a super special event....

Snow Tubing and Beer Tasting!! 

Another Groupon.com fabulous find ... this site is amazing in case you haven't checked it out. This particular event was put on by Urban Escapes. They have trips in Boston, NY, DC and Philly and basically offer a chance for city-livers, such as myself, to get out of the concrete jungle for a day and do somethings that they love and miss about the country! Rock climbing, hiking, white-water rafting, snow mobiling; the list goes on and on. My roommate and I definitely enjoy getting out of the city and doing something a little different so we paid the discounted fee and got all of this:

My toes fell off somewhere between the 5th and 6th run, so after lunch I sat with my wet foot on the furnace until I could feel something resembling my pinkie toe. ouuuchhhh. 

In the afternoon we hopped back on the bus and drop to Captain Lawrence Brewery for a little beer tasting with the group! I am a big fan of microbrews and we got a short explanation of how they make the beer there. 

Interesting Fact: a major differentiating factor in beer is water. Soft water is what makes for good beer brewing which is how the major beer cities get started (Munich, NY, etc). I had no idea!

There were five types of beer that we tasted: Liquid Gold, Pale Ale, Imperial IPA, Brown Ale, Espresso Stout. My favorite type of beer in general is Guiness, so it was no surprise that the Brown Ale was so good!!!  My roomie and I ended up walking out with a growler (yeaa picture a 40 of good beer) of Brown Ale, and a little buzz ;)

Getting out of the city even for just one day was a really great way to relax, have a great time, and let loose! 

Tonight I'm doing a little laundry, which had to get done and trying out a new recipe to fulfill my sweet potato craving that has been taking ovaaa lately.

[Faux] Sweet Potato Pie 

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes 

2/3 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped 

1/2 cup organic skim milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt 

6 to 8 tablespoons melted butter (just used about 1 pat) 

1/2 cup granulated sugar (used Stevia packets and just sprinkles) 

1/2 package of phyllo dough

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the mashed sweet potatoes, toasted pecans, milk, vanilla, and salt.  Mix well, until fully combined.

2.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3. Place one sheet of the phyllo dough down and brush on a thin layer of butter, sprinkle sugar on top. Add another sheet of phyllo dough on top and repeat. I did this with three layers all together, but you can do up to four. Then cut the sheets in half.    

4. Place a heaping spoonful of the sweet potato mixture at the bottom of the dough and roll the phyllo up diagonally to make a triangle (remember folding a flag a girlscout camp? exactly like that).  Fold the triangle of phyllo over straight, then diagonally, continuing the pattern until you reach the end of the sheet and the filling is completely enclosed.  I cut the "flags" in half so the dough eventually was exposed but this was just to make the pastries/pies smaller. 

5. Place them on a tray and throw 'em in the oven for about 20 minutes or until they are browned. Finito!

Final Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of sweet potato but this wasn't my favorite dessert evaaa. I kind of just liked spooning out the insides. ;)

Happy sweet sunday folks

Pancake Breakfast!!

Spelt Pancake Recipe

1/2 cup spelt flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

sea salt - just a pinch!

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbs flax seed

1/2 cup organic skim milk

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and slap it on the griddle! It made about 5 silver dollar pancakes. 

I didn't have any syrup so instead I just used some strawberry jelly and some almond butter. On the side I had a banana w/ almond butter and raisins (seriously an unbeatable combo). Such a delightful sunday breakfast!

As Promised...Sweet Tooth Recipes

Chocolate Covered Popcorn w. Sea Salt

3 tbs veggie oil

1/2 cup of unpopped popcorn kernals

2 - 3 tbs of butter (or to taste)

12 oz dark chocolate

1 tbs kosher salt

Heat the veggie oil in a medium sized sauce pan. Once hot throw in the popcorn kernels and cover with lid. Once the kernels start popping make sure the hold the lid down and continuously lift the pot up and shake.

You want to be sure that all the kernals are touching the bottom of the pot so that none of them burn. Same as you would in a microwave, once the kernals stop popping (i.e. about 15 seconds of no-poppage) take off the heat. In a separate pan, or in a double broiler, melt the chocolate and butter together. Pour over the popcorn until evenly covered. Place the popcorn on a tray and sprinkle with sea salt. Let it cool (or throw in fridge). Finito!

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Sugar Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter,
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6 ounces dark chocolate chips
6 crumbled candy canes
1/4 cup white chocolate

1. Line a cookie tray with wax paper and preheat oven to 325°F (convection).

2. Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl. 

3. Beat butter in medium bow until smooth and then gradually beat in sugar. Continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Next, beat in vanilla, then egg yolk. 

4. Gradually add the flour and salt mixture, just until blended.

5. Drop dough by spoonfuls into the cookie tray and space them as evenly as possible. Use water to wet the tips of your fingers and press dough to form even layer over bottom of pan. Pierce dough all over with fork.

6. Bake the sugar cookie base until light golden brown - this took about 18 minutes, but will vary based on your oven.

7. Once finished, take the tray out and immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Once you see that the chocolate is starting to melt, spread it into an even layer using a spatula. Then, sprinkle the chopped candy canes over the top.

8. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler, or over boiling water until smooth. Using fork, drizzle white chocolate all over cookies. Chill until white chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

9. Once the cookie is cooled, you can easily take it off the wax paper and break it up into as big or small pieces as you want!