bento boxing...

I've been bento boxing it up lately for lunch....

love my laptop lunch box. 

"Laptop Lunches are American-style bento boxes designed to help you pack nutritious, eco-friendly lunches. Our stylish lunch boxes--which come with a book of healthy lunch ideas and creative lunchmaking tips and recipes--are reusable, recyclable, and dishwasher safe. Our eco-friendly lunch 

boxes contain NO phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), or lead."

I haven't used the recipe book, but it's definitely made my lunches a lot more balanced
[except for the days like today where I eat burger king - SO GROSS, what is wrong with me?!] 
bento boxing also helps me have lots of different tastes -- which if you've ever been out to eat with me you know I love ("want to get two different things and share?!" is my mantra)
I'm definitely not good at that whole "portion control" thing so this is definitely helping! 

cheesy garlic bread recipe

Cheesy Garlic Sticks

[adapted from  Jam Hands]

1 premade pizza dough from Publix

Olive Oil for brushing dough

1 ball of mozzarella (not the kind in water, the kind that is vacuum sealed)

1 tablespoon minced garlic, with flavored oil - or if you love garlic like me 2-3.... seriously.

Italian spices

1. Throw that dough! No seriously, prepare the crust. Transfer to a baking pizza stone or pan. Brush dough lightly all over with olive oil.

2. Cut or pull apart the cheese with your fingers and spread all over the dough. [if you're my husband add all sorts of other veggies, pesto, cheeses and balsamic vinegar] 

3. Drizzle the pizza with a little of the garlic flavored oil from the minced garlic, and sprinkle with minced garlic over the entire pizza. Add just a bit of Italian spices to the top, and bake at 425 for 12-18 minutes. 

4. Warm up some tomato sauce and dip, dip, dip!

yum. 

this will be making another appearance in my kitchen very soon!

heaven.

package of croissants + tablespoon of nutella in each = heaven.

next time... I'm making some with cheese.

blueberry crumb bars recipe...

as you know I've been gushing over pumpkin lately, but I'm also trying to cling to the end of summer so I decided to delay my pumpkin baking and make one last blueberry dish for summer... [can I still call it summer even though it's now september? in other news, september?! this summer flew by].  anyways, let me tell you, these did not disappoint. run out, buy some blueberries and make them now!

blueberry crumb bars

[recipe from amybites]

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.


4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

these are super easy and so delicious... they are going to be added into my arsenal of "go-to desserts."

 I brought them into work on Monday for my coworkers and students and they vanished! 

do yourself a favor and make these before the end of summer! 

fried rice recipe...

quazi-healthy-fried rice recipe

[adapted from daily garnish]

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice [1 cup of uncooked]

2 carrots

1/2 white onion

1 shallot [only because I just had it laying around]

1 cup shelled edamame [I used frozen]

4 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon chopped garlic/1 garlic clove

1 egg

step 1: cook 1 cup of brown rice per instructions on rice box/use rice cooker

step 1: prep cutting veggies [dice onion, shallots carrots] while rice cooks

step 2: add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to med-high heat skillet/wok - add rice and onions [and if you're like me and have one laying around cut up shallot], cook for around 5 minutes until rice is "fried" and onions are cooked

step 3: add edamame and carrots [and whatever other veggies suit your fancy] and cook

step 4: mix soy sauce and rest of sesame oil together and add to rice/veggie mixture

step 5: push rice/veggies to outside of skillet and fry and egg in the middle, quickly break yolk and scramble egg into rice/veggies [I accidentally did this before I added the soy sauce/sesame oil and it turned out fine]

step 6: add garlic and butter

step 7: add additional soy/garlic to taste

can you believe I did it all on my own without asking DJ a million questions?!

I was super proud of myself and let me tell you...

it is really, REALLY good!

broccoli slaw recipe...

broccoli slaw

[recipe adapted from amy bites]

Ingredients: 
1 head of broccoli
3/4 bag of broccoli slaw
1 cup of craisins
4-5 tablespoons light mayo
4-5 tablespoons fat free Greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons of honey

this couldn't be easier...

step 1: mix the first three ingredients in a medium bowl

step 2: mix the last three ingredients in another bowl

step 3: mix it all together

ta-da...

let me tell you, yummy.

oh, how [pumpkin] pinteresting wednesday....

with fall just around the corner here are some of my favorite pumpkin recipe themed pins...

pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting...

Source: letsdishrecipes.blogspot.com via annahita on Pinterest

pumpkin pancakes...

Source: blogs.babble.com via annahita on Pinterest

pumpkin rolls...

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via annahita on Pinterest

pumpkin crunch cake...

Source: thepickyapple.com via annahita on Pinterest

pumpkin cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and salted caramel drizzle... [um, triple yum]

Source: mysweetandsaucy.com via annahita on Pinterest

pumpkin bundt cake...

Source: amerrierworld.com via annahita on Pinterest

the pumpkin baking needs to start stat.

is it october september yet? 

check out more fun pinteresting finds at The Vintage Apple!

asian meatloaf recipe...

DJ and I are lovers of all Asian cuisines + lovers of meatloaf so what better way making a great dinner than by combining both of those things and creating an Asian Meatloaf - we wanted to get some ideas of what to do/make so we turned to our good friend Google [GIB] and stumbled upon a good recipe to base ours off of from Oishii, we were already planning on heading to the Gwinnett International Farmers Market so we were able to get everything we needed from there...

pre-chopping... [we ended up not using the shallots]

 chop-chop...

 we love some garlic...

 sauces galore....

 panko breadcrumbs...

 one big loaf...

 glaze...

 ollie waiting for a dropped piece of meatloaf...

 glazed...

We doubled the original recipe because we wanted leftovers [yup, we really like meatloaf]

Asian Meatloaf

[adapted from this recipe]

For the Meatloaf:
3.5 TBS. red miso, dissolved in a little water to form a paste, divided

1 lb. ground pork

1 lb. ground beef

2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs [we didn't measure, just poured them in to the consistency we wanted]

2 eggs

5 green onions, white & green parts chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

a thumbnail-sized piece of ginger, peeled and minced

4 cloves garlic, minced [we clearly put a lot more in!]

4 TBS. soy sauce

3 tsp. fish sauce

3 tsp. rice vinegar

3 tsp. mirin

a squeeze of honey

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 healthy pouring of Soy Vay - we used Soy Vay instead of the honey/brown sugar but ours was a little salty so next time we're going to add them...

For the Glaze:

We just mixed these to taste:

Sriracha

Ketchup

Mai Poi
Chili Paste
Hoisin Sauce

The recipe called for:

1 TBS. chili paste (such as Sambal Oelek)

squeeze of honey

squeeze of hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)

1/2 tsp. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients other than breadcrumbs. Mix with your hands until combined. Add breadcrumbs until you achieve the consistency you want.

Shape the meat-mixture into a loaf-shape on a greased baking sheet.

Bake the meatloaf for about 30 minutes, remove meatloaf and add glaze, bake for an additional 30 minutes or so until your loaf is cooked! Presto...

perfection...

Gwinnett International Farmers Market

This weekend we finally ventured out to the Gwinnett International Farmers Market [right of I-85 Pleasant Hill Exit] and were not disappointed! We headed over to get a few ingredients for our Asian Meatloaf [recipe coming soon] and were blown away. First off, this market is extremely inexpensive, I was very happy with their produce prices as well as their dry goods. They have a great variety of produce, seafood, Latin and Asian food products. If you're cooking any Latin/Asian food and there is a "hard to find" ingredient in the recipe, I guarantee it you can find it here!

we also grabbed a quick lunch at their "food court" and were equally impressed. We got Korean Pork [with soup, rice and kim chi for $5.99] and Fried Dumplings [12 for $4.99] and had to take leftovers home because the portions were so big.  The food was fresh and tasty and we're already planning on what we're going to get the next time we go...

all in all a successful trip to the Gwinnett International Farmers Market and we can't wait to go back!

motown philly back again...

does anyone else always think of this dance when they hear Motown Philly? [Full House anyone?] without fail, for the last decade [more? we're old] I always think of Stephanie Tanner when I hear that song... ANYWAYS, back to our trip to Philadelphia... after we stuffed our faces with cheesesteaks we took a historic walking tour and saw some amazing historic sites. The one thing that stuck out to me after the walking tour was what an amazing man Benjamin Franklin was - he truly was a renaissance man and I think I may have to check out a book or two on his life, I'm just intrigued [I know, I know - I'm a history dork]. Here are some of my favorite shots from our walks around Philly...

oh yeah and my personal favorite...

silly gator.

oh yeah, my new favorite thing Philadelphia Water Ice... we experienced some on our way to the airport, amazing! we found this little hole in the wall Pop's Homemade Water Ice and was seriously one of the best things I've ever had, if you're in Philadelphia definitely pick up some water ice and if you have a car [it's a bit off the beaten path] make sure to check out Pop's!

okay, I'm craving italian ice now.

no bueno.

wonder how long it would take me to get to Pop's....

philly cheesesteaks AKA I love cheez whiz...

So after two days of fist-pumping in NJ we headed to Philly and of course our first stop was to visit the site of one of the greatest debates of Philadelphia history [at least in our gluttonous minds]...

Geno's...

 ...or Pat's...

Both of these fine [cash-only] establishments are on the corner of 9th Street and Passyunk Ave...

The lines were tremendous and wrapped around the buildings at both places so DJ and I waited in one line [Pat's] and bought two cheesesteaks and DJ's folks waited in the other [Geno's] and bought two cheesesteaks... then we got back together and split one of each... now as an extreme expert in cheesesteaks [I think I've maybe had three before this trip] I have to say the clear winner is....


Pat's...

oh cheez-whiz, you get me every time. But seriously, Pat's was much cheesier [hence much better]. Truth be told, I wasn't blown away by either and everyone said we shouldn't even go there and go to Jim's because those are the really the best... but we were tourists and wanted to do the touristy famous thing, so we did. In hindsight, I'm glad we did but next time I'm definitely going to Jim's! This type of thing makes me want to create a food bucket list [eat this here, eat that there, etc but that involves traveling and traveling involves money, maybe next year....].  

have you experienced Geno's, Pat's or Jim's? 

where is your favorite Philly cheesesteak from?
what would be on your "food bucket list"?