Breakfast for Two : )

"Remember the saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?" It's true. In fact, breakfast may help control Americans' increasing problem with overweight and obesity. A number of studies show that people who successfully maintain a significant weight loss eat breakfast just about every day." (http://www.amerymedicalcenter.org/amery2.nsf/View/breakfast)


Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day. There are so many different options to choose from. I myself don't really care for cereal, so I make sure I allot extra time to make myself a hearty breakfast. Pictured above is a typical breakfast for me. By kick starting your day with protein, fruits, and whole grains will help to decrease the amount of calories you will eat later in the day. It will also get your brain and body into gear from fasting while you sleep. 


What you will need(Serving for 2)-


4 Eggs(you can just use the whites if you want to be really healthy)
4 Pieces of whole grain toast
1 Orange
1 Kiwi
1 Handful of Grapes
Juice or pictured above is milk with a carnation instant breakfast.


For the eggs you can cook them any way you like, I personally like variety. However my tip when cooking scrambled eggs is to add a splash of milk to the egg mixture. This makes your eggs much more fluffy, and they don't dry out as quickly if you are cooking them at a higher temperature. While the eggs are cooking you want to wash and cut your fruit. I am big on presentation so you can arrange them nicely, the more color the better : ) Once the eggs are almost done, which should take no longer than 8 minutes, pop the toast in the toaster and butter when done. Enjoy!

Forget Panera! Soup and Salad made by Yours Truly.

Lunch could possibly be one of the best things. Its a lighter fair but you can do so much with it. Both of these are made from scratch, don't be deterred its wicked simple. This is a traditional french onion soup, accompanied by a chicken caesar salad. 

What you will need for the Chicken Caesar Salad(4 servings)-

Two Chicken Breasts
Romaine Lettuce
Caesar Dressing
Parmesan Cheese
Croutons

What you will need for the French Onion Soup(4 servings)-

Beef Stock
1 Large Sweet Onion
Salt and Pepper
Brown Sugar
Worcestershire Sauce
Minced Garlic
Flour
French Bread
Swiss Cheese

The Chicken Caesar Salad is super simple. Take the chicken and start by rinsing it. Then cut it up into a little larger than bite size pieces, when it cooks it will shrink. Then put some oil in a frying pan and add the chicken. Put some salt, pepper, a little minced garlic, and any other seasonings you fancy. Cook these by moving them around until they are browned. Then take your romaine lettuce and cut it up into salad size pieces. Toss with 2ozs of Caesar dressing. Place the chicken on top, and garnish with croutons and Parmesan cheese.

For the French onion soup this will take you 20 minutes in prep time and about an 1 hour and a half to cook(don't fret there is an ample amount of simmering time). First cut the onion up into 1inch slices, they will shrink as they caramelize. Once you have cut all of the onion, place it into a pan, add 1 table spoon of brown sugar, 1 table spoon of flour, and 1 table spoon of oil. Mix and continually stir this at a medium temperature. Once the onions become soft and a light brown color they are done, this process should take around 30 to 40 minutes. After this is complete you want to add your beef stock, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, salt and pepper, a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and cover for 45 minutes. At this point I let it cool to room temperature, then refregerate to allow the flavors to blend together. If you are ready to eat it the final step is to put a generous ladle of soup into a oven safe dish. Top the soup with 2, 1/4 inch slices of french bread and place a slice of swiss cheese on top of the bread. Place this in the oven, and set to broil. When the cheese is bubbly and browning its done.

Sit back and enjoy lunch!

Homemade Pizzas!

Ahh, ninja pizza!

A couple of weeks ago the Coe House Closed for the season. My boyfriend had been working there at the time so they gave away any remaining food they had to their employees. He came home with two industrial sized bags of mozzarella cheese. Its beyond me how anyone would be able to use these before they reach expiration. This is when I decided I need to make LOTS of pizza. What better night to fill up all my friends bellies for a good night of drinking than Thursday. I ended up making three pizzas, and had one left over for a late night snack. I must say this was much better than grabbing a slice at PHOP at the end of the night.

What you will need-
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce
Prepared Pizza Crust(much easier than making your own!)
Oil
Toppings of your choice- I used shredded ham from the deli, Pineapple, Onion, Peppers, and Olives

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Take the crusts out of the package. Use one table spoon of oil and spread it all over the crust(this helps to brown it, but not burn it). Then apply the sauce as liberally as you personally like. I usually use a spoon to spread the sauce, moving it in a circular motion to spread it more evenly. Next you will add the cheese on top, again however much you like. For your toppings you can choose whatever you like. I love, love, love, Hawaiian pizza. All you need to do is spread your toppings evenly.

Then just place the pizza to cook directly on the rack for 22 minutes. Let it cool, cut it, then ENJOY!

Taco Tuesday!

Yum Tacos!

 Taco Tuesday is an easy meal that takes little to no time at all. Plus it feeds a good amount of people inexpensively, so be sure to invite some friends : )


Ingredients-

• 2lbs Ground Beef
• Totilla Shells
• Queso Cheese
• Shredded Cheese
• Shredded Lettuce 
• Tomato
• Salsa 
• Avocado
• Taco Seasoning 
• Black Olives
• Sour Cream

Take the Ground Beef and scramble it in a pan over medium heat and add the taco seasoning. While this is cooking cut up all the toppings( Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado). I like to put them in individual dishes to create and assembly line for making your taco. I can't tell you how to make your taco because we all have our own flare!

Tis' the Season for Apple Crisp with a Twist!

 This past weekend I went apple picking at Carter Hill Orchard in Concord NH. When I got there there were barley any apples in front of the orchard I had to hike myself about a mile in to find these huge apples! Seriously this picture doesn't do them justice. This week I will be making Apple Crisp, perfect for this time of year. Now you don't need to go crazy at the orchard and get two dozen apples, unless you are intending on making LOTS of Apple Crisp. I myself have done this and ended up having to make 4 Apple Crisps and 1 Apple pie, my friends were very appreciative of my mistake.

To make this you will need:

7-8 Medium Apples
1 cup of Quaker Oats
1 cup of Brown Sugar
1 cup of flour
1 cup of Butter
1 dash Cinnamon
1 dash Nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Take your apples and core them. If you don't have a apple cutter then you will just cut around the core and cut the slices into a half moon shape. I like to leave the skins on because that is where all the nutrients come from, it also gives it a nice color. If you don't like the skins then you will have to peel the apples before coring them.

In a dish mix all of your dry ingredients, the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and the oats. In the microwave melt down your butter.

I didn't have a big enough dish for my apple crisp so I improvised. However I really like the way these turned out and I suggest you try them(If not use a 9 by 13 pan). What I did was took two muffin pans and placed aluminum muffin cups in them. In the bottom of those I took brown sugar and put about a teaspoon of brown sugar in the bottom. This will make it a more gooey apple crisp. Then take your apples and divide them amongst the muffin cups. Once you have done that take the dry mixture and add the butter, stir until crumbly. Then spread the mix evenly amongst all the cups.

Cook these in the oven for 15 minutes. When it is done serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

A Simple American Staple, Yet Wicked Delicious!

My roommate Mandy and I ready to dig in!

Another weekly dinner at the Russel street residence. This week I didn't accommodate to my vegetarian roommate, I did however satisfy all the red meat fans in my house. This meal is simple and takes about 30 minutes tops to make.

What you will need:

1 box of Rice Pilaf
1 bunch of Asparagus
1 packet of Hollandaise Sauce
1 18 ounce steak (For you men out there this may not be enough but for ladies this is more than plenty)

The rice pilaf you just follow the box directions, just be careful not to burn it. You also want to start by cooking this first because it will take the longest time out of anything in this meal.

Next take you asparagus a cutting board and a knife. A trick I use with cutting asparagus is to leave the rubber bands wrapped around it, that way you can cut all at once rather than individually. You want to cut from the base of the stock about a half inch. Then take the rubber bands off and place it into a pot with about a 1/4 cup of water. Let that sit there and now you will prepare the steak.

Set your oven to Broil

If you have time earlier in the day you can sit you steak in a marinade. However I rarely have that time and I enjoy the flavor of red meat alone. Take the steak out of the package and salt and pepper both sides of the steak. Salt is a tenderizer so it will make the meat soft not chewy. Place the steak on either a cookie sheet or a broiling pan if you have one. I personally like to line the pan with aluminum foil to avoid messy clean up later. Put the steak in the oven on the center rack. You will leave the over slightly ajar(This VERY important). You will cook the steak for 8 minutes each side(This is for a medium steak).

When you are beginning to cook the second side of the steak, put the asparagus on high and cover it. This will steam the asparagus and you will do this for about 8-10 minutes. You can test to see if it is done by sticking a fork into the stalk and if it is tender take them out.

Lastly you will take the hollandaise sauce and mix that with 1 cup of water on the stove. You will continuously stir this until it is a creamy mixture. By this point you steak, asparagus and rice pilaf should be done. You want to serve immediately, and make sure you cut with the grain of the steak to serve otherwise the steak will be tough. I paired this meal with a Riesling, however that is generally used for fish or chicken. A nice Merlot or Cabernet would pair perfectly with this meal.

Vegetarian Meal for my Roomates

Have you ever been stuck on what to make for dinner? Being a College Student it can be hard to find the time to make a healthy meal, never the less be able to afford it. I have compiled tons of different recipes that are healthy and affordable in my years here at PSU. Each week I will be posting a new recipe for all you readers out there to try out. Hope you enjoy : )

Pictured above is all the ingredients needed in this recipe

You will need:


2 packages of Cherry Tomatoes
1 package of Basil
1 bunch of Spring Onions
1 package of Fresh Mozzarella Balls (Small)
1 bottle of Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette
1 box of pasta (any style is fine)



Prep Time- About a Half Hour

Take the cherry tomatoes and slice the top of them, just enough to expose the inside of the tomato. Once you have done that you will core the inside of the tomato. This is best done with the tip of a peeler.

When you have cored all the tomatoes, you will now begin to stuff them. I like to do this in an assembly line fashion because it saves time. Take a small piece of basil leaf and push it into the hollow of the tomato, then stuff a motzerella ball on top of the basil. Set this in a side dish and repeat until all desired tomatoes are stuffed.
At this point you should start to boil the water for pasta and cook as directed. Preheat oven-350                           

Final product of the stuffed tomatoes

While the pasta is cooking. Take a cutting board and chop up the spring onions. When you have drained the pasta and placed it into a serving bowl, add the spring onions. Take the stuffed tomatoes and arrange them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Once it is melted remove them and add them to the pasta. Then drizzle about a cup of the Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette over the pasta and mix until pasta is coated. You can garnish with Parmesan cheese, it adds a nice flavor and texture to the dish. The total cost of this recipe was $18, divided amongst 4 roommates it cost about $5 per person. Now is that a deal or what?