Insanely Easy Homemade Ricotta.. Oh and I won an Award!!

First I will start off with the blog award since that is more exciting than making cheese. A big, HUGE thank you to Ruth from Spring of a Curiouseed and Maggie from Kitchie Coo for awarding me with the coolest award around town. Please visit their blogs. They are awesome. And funny. Did I mention funny? Anyway, this award is awarded to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. Thank you for making my day ladies!

Now.... time to pass it on to five blogs. I would love to give the following blogs this award!
Oh Cake
Texanas Kitchen
What Would Jessica Eat?
Oh Shine on
Quest for Delish

Now, for the recipe!!
Can I tell you how exciting it is to make your own cheese? I could have put thirty question mark/exclamation points after that sentence to show you how excited I am over this. Who knew making your own cheese was so easy? I found this recipe on the blog Tasty Kitchen, which features step by step directions and pictures to help you along the way. Dear God, I bought a gallon of milk for this. i wanted to make sure I did it right so I didn't ruin it!

Superbowl Video Special: BBQ Chicken Tacos & Blue Cheese Cole Slaw

BBQ sauce.Beer.Blue Cheese. Three of my favorite things. Throw it all together in a Mexican classic and you have a sure fire Super Bowl delight that will wow all of your guests. I first saw this recipe on Closet Cooking. I love the idea of BBQ chicken and blue cheese together. This would also be yummy with buffalo chicken. Check out my video with Three Desert Films on how to make them!

Blueberry Lemon Power Muffins

I am a huge fan of the muffin recipes from Cookinglight.com. They are usually really flavorful and healthy. I adapted this recipe from their Lemon Blueberry Muffins.  I really enjoy having breakfast pre-made for me so I can just grab them and go in the morning. This would be a really yummy recipe for a brunch also. You could even use mini muffin tins and make tiny muffins! Actually maybe that is a bad idea.... you may eat like 15 because they are so small. Either way, if you can resist not having a dozen mini muffins make them!

The Nest's Recipe Swap: Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash

Well folks, it is time once again for The Nest's Recipe Swap hosted by A Taste of Home Cooking! The theme this time around was healthy dishes. I was assigned with Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash, which I got from Jessica and her blog The Jey of Cooking. I was super excited about this recipe because I love Moroccan spices and the play on sweet and savory. First off, when I made this my condo smelled like a Moroccan bizarre. It was amazing. Secondly, it was so easy to prepare. You can cook the squash in the oven or microwave. Since I have started up MBA classes again, time is of the essence. Microwave it is... 

Make Your Own Takeout: Sticky Orange Chicken

Sticky.Sweet.Delicious

Hooray for healthy non-msg ridden Chinese food. Now, don't get me wrong. I am all about Chinese food from time to time. I crave Chinese food often so if I can cook it at home then that is a plus. The only problem I have with this is that most times my version of Chinese food isn't really that comparable to food you find in restaurants. That is...until now! 

WIAW& Toby's Gluttonous Saturdays

Toby w. his cheat day list

So for WIAW this week I wanted to introduce you all to what my husband Toby eats on Saturdays. Toby has been reading the book Four Hour Body. In the book that says if you eat super healthy all week you can eat whatever you want one day a week. If you do this, you will crave those "bad foods" less because you know you can eat them one day a week. Also since you are working out and eating healthy all week, your body will spike your metabolism with the high amount of calories.. bla bla bla. I don't want to bore you, nor quote this guy. Nor do I know if this even works but, really this day entertains me and Toby loves it. We got about 5-7 inches of snow on Saturday in Rhode Island so our food sources were limited. Toby and I planned to go to a restaurant called Fat Bellies ( yeah great name) so he could get a Philly cheese steak sandwich, but the snow filled roads stopped us in our tracks. No really, we made it to the highway and turned around.

Chopped Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Blue Cheese & Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This recipe is in my Bar American Bobby Flay cookbook that I made the chicken cutlets from.This is a great cook book. I highly recommend it. I was introduced to this recipe by my friend Katie who made this for a get together at her house. By get together, I mean a medium came over that talks to dead people came over to do readings for Katie and her friends. Great times. Katie said this salad was a big hit the last time she made it so she wanted to make it again.

Lemon-Lime Funfetti Cupcakes

So for my sister Kellie's birthday I told her Toby and I would babysit my niece and nephew ( Teresa & Anthony.) I read online that you can make these  soda( or diet soda) cupcakes. This also works out when you have no oil or eggs at your house. Just a disclaimer... I did used boxed cupcake mix. Sometimes, it is easy and it works.Whatever, We all do it sometimes. My niece Teresa loves to bake so I thought this was a perfect activity for us to do. This could not be any easier and might I add, lower in fat than regular cupcakes. When I made these before I used lemon cake mix and diet 7-up. Delicious lemon lime combination. I topped it with some fat free cool whip and a raspberry and that made one lean, mean, low-fat cupcake. Some other yummy cupcake combos are chocolate cake and cola, carrot cake and ginger ale or yellow cake with orange soda. The possibilities are endless!

Five Amazingly Helpful Tips for the Kitchen

 

Thank you stumbleupon for giving me these amazing kitchen tips!Trust me, everyone can learn something from these. And if you knew all of these tips already, I am very impressed with the cook you have become. Congrats!For most people out there, I think this will blow your mind. 

Pizza Making at Gepettos and Some Random Grilled Pizza Tips

Grilled Pizza's  Progression to Yumminess

Can I just tell the world right now," This is the best Groupon I have ever purchased!" There, I said it. I found this gem on Groupon right around Christmas and I thought it would be a perfect gift for my best friend Brittany. The Groupon is for a grilled pizza making class for two and a five course dinner served family style. These classes run a few times a week, which is nice.Now, notice this blog post is entitled Grilled Pizza. There are a few places that are famous for grilled pizza. I believe on the Show Man Vs Food he came to Rhode Island and said grilled pizza started here. I don't know if that is true, but all I know is that if I was looking for grilled pizza I would come here.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

I read it was impossible to make brown foods look good. This was my attempt.

So I am on Day 2 of crock pot cooking. The honey lemon chicken was such a hit I figured I would give the crock pot another try. I found this recipe on All Recipes.com.   I was so excited when I found the recipe since I love beef stew. Beef stew is one of those reasons I love Winter. In fact, it might be the only reason I like Winter. It makes you feel so warm inside, especially when the temperatures are dropping here in the Northeast.

My Own Personal Food Mecca:Eataly

I decided to focus my WIAW post this week on my recent trip to what could be one of my new most favorite places on the planet- Eataly. Sadly, I probably ate as much in this one three hour trip as I would in an entire day so trust me when I tell you, I have plenty to talk about.

Lemon & Honey Glazed Crock Pot Chicken

Hello again Citrus Blog Hop!I have been on a crock pot stint as of late. I have been so tired after work and the gym and I figure it would be nice to have dinner made when I get home with minimal effort. And along came my crock pot. I googled recipes last night and found this stunner from Rachael Ray. This recipe cannot be any easier to whip up, not to mention affordable. Bone in chicken is very cheap these days. I think it was $1.50 for a pound. That is pretty crazy.

Pepperoni & Cheese Monkey Bread

When I tell you.. "this is one of the most ingenious appetizer ever" I am not lying. I first saw this recipe on The food blog, The Sweets Life. You guys are familiar with monkey bread right? It is pieces of dough with cinnamon, sugar and a  yummy glaze. You get it. This is a savory twist on that and I swear to you, I will make this for every party we have. This is perfect party food and it is really inexpensive to make. You can assemble it before hand and then throw it in the oven before guests arrive. I borrowed my sister's bundt pan ( thanks Kel) since I didn't  have one. This is actually a great dish to make with kids too. It is really easy to make so they can easily help and I know they will like eating it. Who doesn't like pepperoni and cheese? Well, I guess if you don't you can fill them with whatever you want. Ham and cheese, veggies, steak and cheese, buffalo chicken and blue cheese. I just thought those up in five seconds. I'm sure you could think of more. You are creative.

Outside the Kitchen: The Waterman Grille

First, I wanted to thank the NCCVB for making it possible for me to win their foodspotting contest. The Newport Restaurant Group gift card I won paid for this dinner, So those of you that voted for my dish- my stomach thanks you!

Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls

Cheesy.gooey.Delicious

If you have been to a party at my house you are familiar with these amazing morsels of deliciousness. It is the perfect hybrid between street food and Chinese take-out. We first came across this recipe at Dave & Busters ( the adult Chuck E Cheese where you can drink lots of beer and play skee ball.)

Bobby Flay's Chicken Cutlets with Prosciutto,Brie & Arugula

The Finished Product- Yum!

I was super excited when Toby and I got a signed Bobby Flay cookbook from my mother in law this Christmas ( Thanks Becky!) It is a great cook book. I was leafing through it today and decided to make an amazing recipe for breaded chicken cutlets, creamy brie cheese, prosciutto, and an arugula salad. 

Our Signed Copy! Thanks Becky!

WIAW & Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

Horray! It is Wednesday. I have been waiting all week to post for #WIAW. For those of you who don't know what WIAW ( What I Ate Wednesday) is get ready to get educated. Basically it is a blog party that is happening at the Blog Peas & Crayons. It gives blog authors a chance to tell everyone what they have been eating( since I know you are all dying to know.) Here are some of the things I ate Tuesday and Wednesday.

Citrus Blog Hop: No Bake Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake

Hello Cheesecake...

No- Bake and Cheesecake. Two of my favorite words. This is a perfect dessert for people that do not like to bake or for people that like to make desserts ahead of time. I saw this recipe on Pinterest( of course duh) and it was originally posted on the blog, My Baking Addiction. This recipe could not have been any easier.I added this recipe to Oh Cake's Blog to share the #citrus love!

Outside the Kitchen: Perro Salado

 I could not have been more excited to be spending time with our foodie soul mates Renee and Evan who accompanied us to my own personal Mexican Mecca, Perro Salado!

Zucchini Feta & Onion Fritatta

When I tell you this is one of the easiest things I have ever made, I am not lying. I had some eggs, cheese and leftover veggies and I came across this wonderful recipe! Feel free to substitute any veggies you have on hand or if you like egg whites instead feel free to use those. I love goat cheese, but had feta on hand so I used that instead. I would call this meal a B-L-D meal, which in the words of Rachael Ray means you could eat this for breakfast,lunch, or dinner. I made it for lunch and although the serving size is just one, you can easily multiply this for a crowd. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars

These are delicious! Even better- they are preservative free!

We are on Day 6 of healthy eating for the week. I found this recipe on Pinterest ( my new obsession)  originally posted on How Sweet Eats. After seeing how easy it is to make your own granola bars, I couldn't help but think," why have I been spending $4 for a box of eight granola bars?"

Quinoa with Roasted Balsamic Mushrooms

 Quinoa is like the most delicious super grain. As I said in a post from a few weeks ago for quinoa cakes, quinoa has a ton of nutrients and is a nice switch from brown rice. I really like the texture of it. I found this recipe on my Whole Foods app ( why haven’t I used it this much before) and it could literally not be any easier to prepare. 

Mistakes Even Healthy People Make: Learn How to Not be Caught in a Nutritional Conundrum

Since I am on a healthy theme this week, I wanted to include some tips for healthy cooking and eating. Some were really surprising to me. Some made me jump for joy( the fact about bacon) and others left me wanting to be more aware when cooking. Check out some of these nutritional conundrums we all get put in once in awhile. For the full list visit the Cooking Light website, where I found this information. 

Coffee Rubbed Pork Loin with Charred Onions & Pineapple

I adapted this recipe from my Whole Foods iPhone again and what a great recipe! On our recent shopping trip we picked up some coffee rub, which is pure magic when paired with pork or beef. It wasn't in the recipe, but I always feel the need to add something to a recipe if it sounds good to me! Plus I think a bold rub like that would be perfectly paired with the cool mango and pineapple salsa. I also picked up a mango habanero marinade that I used as a sauce for the pork.OMG. Best addition ever. This sauce is amazing and it was only three dollars! The sweetness of the sauce pairs perfectly with the smokiness of the pork.The pineapple and onions is such a nice combination with the pork. I added a bit of chopped jalapeno while the mixture was baking. This was so simple. You literally throw everything in the oven. God, I love easy cooking.

"Meaty" Eggplant Bolognese

Might I add.. This may be my best picture to date!

So day #2 of healthy recipes. I was pretty exciting to make and eat this dish because I love eggplant and it is super healthy! Eggplant has a ton of fiber, which keeps you fuller longer. When paired with whole wheat pasta you get even more fiber. Not to mention this is delicious. Eggplant has a meaty texture so trust me when I tell you, you will not miss the meat! I'm not sure which is better, the fact that it is healthy or that there is red wine in it. Adding a touch of red wine to tomato sauce makes it super decadent so I say 1 Point red wine.  I found this recipe from my Whole Foods iPhone app, which is awesome for finding tons of healthy recipes. You can also make grocery lists from it to send to your phone. Pretty awesome!

A Healthy Start to Your New Year: Egg & Veggie Tostadas

Attention Readers: I have officially left my couch. Hurray! I went to spin and after working up a sweat I figured I should eat healthy too. I notice when I work out more I make better eating decisions, which is never a bad thing. I usually eat fairly healthy, but this week since lots of people are making resolutions to eat healthier I am planning on writing a weeks worth of healthy recipes! I had a few in my repertoire, and I have found some really good ones to try.So check in this week and see what healthy recipes I am cooking up!

5 Genius Ideas to Help You in the Kitchen in 2012

Happy New Year everyone! I am currently still on my couch in my pajamas and bathrobe trying to recover from a crazy New Year's Eve. While I recover slowly( but surely)  on the couch I want to give you some awesome tips that I read in Rachael Ray Magazine that blew my mind!  These tips should help you be the best cook you can be in the kitchen this year!