Moving, and Kitchen Ideas

Sorry for my lack of posting in the last few weeks!! We are moving next week, and it's been a little crazy & busy! I haven't done too much cooking since we've been packing, so nothing much to post on either!

Normally this time of year, I have long started indoor planting my seeds/seedlings for my spring garden of herbs & veggies. However, since we're moving, I didn't start them...so they don't get shocked and die, or get knocked about too much. So, I wanted to come up with some way to grow something, anything easily and where I wouldn't feel guilty about it dying in the move.

So, I was thinking (actually a month ago, on my anniversary) that if you get flowers and you put them in water, what else can you put in water to last longer? So, the day after my anniversary I was cooking and used some green onions, and you know how you pretty much never end up using them all..., and I put them in a glass of water on the window sill. They're still growing now!  A month later! With the exception of a weekly "haircut" to keep them from growing too much (which is why they look all scraggly in my picture, because they just got their hair cut), they have grown beautifully and non stop! There are actually some new little onion bulbs growing on the roots right now. I just clean out the glass every couple days too keep it from getting to green, and give it a hair cut. All from one $0.89 bunch of organic green onions!

Then, I was thinking about a week ago, that if you can grow green onions in a glass like that, what else can you grow?? So, I cut up some celery and stuck the bottom of that in a container on the window sill. Look!! This much growth in a little less than a week!! It's just started shooting out little roots too! Super cool!

Yesterday, I cut up some pineapple and stuck that in the window sill too. Not sure what will happen with it, but we'll see!! I'm interested to see what else I can throw in my window sill in water and grow successfully! 

Any suggestions? =]

Grilled Mahi Mahi

I've never really liked fish (with the exception of canned tuna...but that doesn't count)....not going to lie about that. I actually despise fish, and would rather not eat than eat fish. BUT, recently the hubby's aunt made some Mahi Mahi that transitioned me...big time, and I couldn't get enough!! Then, right after that Mahi Mahi was on sale at Kroger and I got a giant almost 3 foot long filet with the skin on one side for $7. It's sat in my freezer for about a month because I had no idea how to prepare it, let alone cook it!! Well, like I said we're cleaning out our kitchen, so I finally had to give in. It was wonderful!!

Ingredients
-Mahi Mahi filet with skin on one side, cut into individual portions
-Vegetable Oil
-Lemon Pepper Seasoning
-Saltgrass Seven Spice Seasoning

1. Rub filet pieces on meat side with oil.
2. Sprinkle generously with lemon pepper and seven spice.
3. Grill over Medium High heat meat side down for 4 minutes.
4. Use grill flipper spatula thing & flip and grill skin side down for 4 minutes.
5. Use a meat thermometer and make sure it's above 140*.

This was delicious and was great reheated in the microwave the next day.

Let me know what you think!!

Healthy Quick & Easy Pizza

Everyone loves pizza!! I'll do an "unhealthy" homemade pizza blog post soon, but  here's my healthy one first! I love doing this kind of easy and quick pizza for lunch or dinner if I don't feel like cooking.

Ingredients
-Tortilla
-Spaghetti Sauce
-Shredded cheese (I've done it with sliced too...just ripped it into several pieces and spread it over)
-Whatever else toppings you would like (I had leftover mushrooms from my salad stuff)

1. Set oven for broil.
2. Put tortilla on a greased cookie sheet.
3. Spoon some spaghetti sauce and spread it around.
4. Add cheese & toppings.
5. Broil until cheese is melted.

Super delicious and easy!!

Try it, and let me know what you think!!

Easy Weeknight Spinach Alfredo

We are moving soon, so we're doing our usual thing where we don't want to buy any groceries because that's less to take to the new house. So, we're having to get creative with what we can find in the pantry/freezer/fridge. This includes making random assortments of things...which I'm going to do blog posts on...probably tonight...maybe tomorrow....no worries!! :)

Ingredients
-1 bag of shell pasta (or whatever kind of pasta you have floating around...make sure it's not full of weevils like my first bag was..yuck!)
-1 jar of alfredo sauce (we used Ragu)
-1 can of spinach

1. Cook pasta according to package.
2. Drain pasta and put back in pot.
3. Pour in whole jar of alfredo sauce.
4. Drain can of spinach and add like 3/4 of can to pot.
5. Stir around on medium until hot/warm.


We took some bread we had and toasted them with butter, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder & cut it up for "garlic bread". This was super yummy and took maybe 30 minutes to make...tops! Mostly though because I had to wait for the water to boil twice being that my first bag of pasta had unwanted inhabitants.

Let me know what you think!!

Vegetable Lo Mein

I love chinese food!! Especially veggie lo mein! So, I decided to try to make some...I'm super picky and it was good! The hubby ate 3 bowls full...so much for his end of our "diet". Oh well, y'all try it! Let me know what you think! 

Ingredients

-1 lb vermicelli or chinese noodles

-1 package tofu, extra firm, cubed

-1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

-8 oz can of bamboo shoots (I sliced them thinner than they were sliced in the can)

-1 cup celery, chopped

-1 cup bean sprouts

-1 tsp chopped garlic

-1 tsp salt

-1 cup vegetable broth (I used my handy vegetable broth ice cubes)

-1 tsp sugar

-1 cup water

-2 Tbsp soy sauce

-2 Tbsp oyster sauce

-1 Tbsp flour

1. Cook noodles according to directions. Drain, and set aside. 

2. Add mushrooms, bamboo shoots, celery, bean sprouts, and garlic to a bowl on the side. 

 3. Take a wok or a large skillet, and add a small amount of oil. Brown the tofu in the skillet/wok over medium-high heat.

 4. Dump your bowl of veggies into the wok/skillet and saute until your preferred amount of doneness.

5. Add the salt, vegetable broth, sugar, water, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Stir fry to heat through.

6. Add flour to thicken a little. Then, toss the noodles with the sauce/veggie mixture. Enjoy!

This recipe boasts only about 400 calories a serving. YUM!!! 

Greek Steak Pitas & Potatoes

My hubby and I when we were in college loved to eat at this little Greek restaurant in Galveston for lunch about every other week or so. They had these steak pita sandwich things that were SOOO good, and they came with roasted potatoes...mmmm!! Since we graduated and moved, we both have been craving these for  a while. I looked through a bunch of different recipes, and none of them sounded 100% like what we like. So, of course I made my own :) Oh, and I made my own roasted potatoes too. I'll share both the recipes with you! 

The Steak Pita

Ingredients

For Steak Marinade

-1/2 cup olive oil

-2 Tbsp white vinegar

-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

-1 large garlic clove, minced

-1 tsp ground thyme

-2 tsp oregano

-2 bay leaves

-salt & pepper to taste

-2-3 lbs sirloin steak

For Salad

-1/3-1/2 cucumber, diced (depending on how much you like cucumber, I only did 1/3-ish because Dean hates cucumber)

-3 roma tomatoes, diced

-1/2 onion, sliced thinly

-3/4 cup feta cheese crumbles

For Dressing

-4 Tbsp olive oil

-2 Tbsp white vinegar

-1/2 tsp oregano

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1/2 tsp sugar

-salt & pepper to taste

-4 Flatbread or Pita Bread

1. Add all the marinade ingredients to a big ziploc bag, and massage them around to mix. Add the steak and seal, and move around a bit to coat the meat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove meat from the refrigerator about an hour before grilling (because you never want to cook meat that's still cold!!)

2. Cook on grill to desired doneness. I wanted medium, but it was raining and I didn't check it as often as I should have...so oops! I got well done!! But, luckily the marinade is amazing and it was still VERY juicy!! 

3. Mix up the "salad" in a bowl & then mix dressing into bowl with it. (I did this while the meat was cooking)

4. When the meat is done, slice it thinly against the grain. 

5. Take your pita pocket or flatbread (I used flatbread) and top with a few slices of meat, and a generous portion of the "salad". Add a little extra feta cheese if desired. 

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

-1 bag of red potatoes, washed & diced into bite sized pieces

-1 medium onion, peeled & diced into bite sized pieces

-1/2 bag of baby carrots, cut in 1/2

-Olive oil

-Garlic powder

-Thyme

-Oregano

-Salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425*. 

2. Spread potatoes, onions, and carrots evenly on a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle olive oil, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper over them and mix (I just used my hands) to distribute seasonings evenly. Make sure there aren't really any veggies on top of one another and such so that they will properly roast.

3. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until your desired amount of roasted-ness. (I like mine crispy...as you can see in the picture, so mine went for about 50 minutes.)

Easy Healthy Taco Salad

Yum! What's better than Mexican food?? Ok...maybe chocolate. But, for the current point...I love Mexican food!! But, it's SOO terrible for you. So, I decided to create a HEALTHY alternative to satisfy my craving for some good ole' TexMex. It was delicious!! Also, it's less than 500 calories!!

Ingredients (for 1 serving)
-2 handfuls of salad mix (from my last blog post) roughly chopped/shredded
-1/2 avocado, diced
-1/2 roma tomato, diced
-1/3 can of whole black beans, rinsed
-1/3 can of whole sweet yellow corn, rinsed
-1/4 cup shredded light cheddar cheese
-2 spoonfuls of salsa (as "dressing")
-2 chicken strips, or 1/2 a boneless skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced (like fajita meat)**
-Low sodium taco seasoning packet (I just used the Kroger brand)

**I use the Tyson frozen bagged skinless boneless chicken breast strips, because they're easier and smaller portioned.

1. Cook chicken in large skillet, and once no longer pink add taco seasoning plus however much water it says according to the seasoning packet.
2. Layer your ingredients on your plate or bowl, lettuce on the bottom and then sprinkle everything else on & top with your salsa.
3. Enjoy!


This was super easy, super quick, nice weeknight meal! I took a handful of Tostito's "Hint of Jalapeno" Tortilla chips and crumbled them over the top, for some crunch. Even my hubby (who hates his veggies) loved it, and said we need to make it again!

Try it!! Let me know what you think in the comments!!  :)