Classic Vinaigrette Dressing

Five ingredients and one fabulous vinaigrette, sound like a plan? I'm falling in love with the Pompeian brand of Balsamic Vinegar Pomegranate Infused. Vinaigrette's have quickly become my go-to dressings for just about all salads. Strawberry spinach, Greek with feta, Quinoa, you name it! Vinaigrette's are refreshing, a little tangy, a hint of sweetness and complement so many different flavors. The trick to keeping your oil and vinegar mixed is an emulsifier. Sounds fancy doesn't it? Basically an emulsifier helps prevent your vinaigrette from separating. One of the most common emulsifiers is mustard. If you are in to food science take a look at this fun post by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt on Serious Eats. Who knew the power of just a little mustard?

I like my vinaigrette more on the tangy side and use a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to oil.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove minced
Pinch of sugar
Dash of Dijon mustard (about 1/4 teaspoon)

*Note, using more mustard will keep your vinaigrette homogeneous for a longer period of time.

Combine the balsamic vinegar, garlic, sugar and Dijon mustard is a small bowl, slowly whisk in your olive oil. Taste, and adjust flavors to your preference.

My newest T.J Maxx find. You can also use your garlic press, but the pestle and mortar looked more fun. 

Garlic is nice and smashed

Now whisk away!

Mango Lime Quinoa

Hi Friends,

So I realize I haven't posted ANYTHING in a very, very long time. The Hubs and I welcomed our 1st in November. While pregnant, morning sickness hit me for a solid three months. Even the cooking obsessed person that I am couldn't stand the kitchen...(it was rough) Fast forward a few months and our little man was born. Now four months old he loves to smile, chew on his toes and put everything he can in his month. We're probably partial but think he's pretty darn adorable!

With the pregnancy also came a lot of extra weight ugh. I'm not really someone who follows the whole calorie counting thing, rather the hubs and I avoid processed foods, eat desserts minimally and exercise. Four months post pregnancy I'm down 40lbs!!!

But anyway this post isn't about babies and pregnancy it's about one of the most delicious and good for you quinoa recipes you will try. Why I love it...1. It's easy 2. It's delicious 3. It has the perfect springtime flavors that I've been craving since the snow finally melted 4. It's incredibly healthy. If you're not super familiar with cooking quinoa or its health benefits check out this post from my friend Yvonne at Tried and Tasty. She is the queen of quinoa.

Recipe adapted from Moroccan Fish with Mango and Couscous

1 1/4 cup dried quinoa cooked
1 ripe mango diced
1 green onion minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped
5- 6 teaspoons of fresh squeezed lime juice (more or less depending on your preference)
Black pepper to taste

Serves 4

Prepare quinoa according to instructions. While quinoa is cooking, combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Gently incorporate the fluffed quinoa into dressing mixture. Serve warm.

These pictures don't do this dish justice, so you'll just have to believe me and try it!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken cordon bleu is the perfect dish to serve when you want to look like you have slaved for hours in the kitchen but really haven't. This dish pairs beautifully with roasted asparagus, mashed red potatoes and Chocolate Souffles.

Chicken Cordon Bleu
4 boneless skinless chicken breast
4 slices swiss cheese
4 slices of ham
1/2 milk
1 egg
Panko- (Japeneese style bread crumb)- about 1 cup
Garlic powder
Paprika
Black pepper
Oregano
Fresh parsley
Canola oil


Begin by gently pounding chicken breast to about 1/3 inch thickness. It's easiest to start in the middle of the breast and with your meat pallet work your way to the edges until the chicken is evenly 1/3 inch thick. Lay one slice of ham and Swiss cheese in the middle of the flattened chicken and begin rolling from the short end. Secure the chicken bundle with toothpicks. In a separate bowl combine the milk and egg. In another bowl add the panko and season to taste with garlic powder, paprika, pepper and oregano. Dip each chicken bundle in the milk and egg mixture and then coat the secured chicken in the panko mix. Once all bundles are complete, heat about two tablespoons of oil in a skillet on medium heat, add chicken and allow to sear to a golden brown, rotating chicken as needed. Bake chicken in a preheated oven at 375 for 20-25 min. Chicken is done with juices run clear. Garnish baked chicken with minced fresh parsley.


Sauce
1 T butter
1 scant T flour
1- 1 1/2 cups milk
2 deli sized slices swiss or motzeralla cheese
black pepper
Garlic powder
Fresh parsley

In a small skillet on medium heat, melt butter and whisk in flour. Cook for two minutes, constantly whisking and then gradually pour in milk, whisking to prevent lumps. Continue stirring. Within a couple minutes your sauce will begin to thicken, when sauce coats the back of a spoon reduce heat and add cheese. Depending on how you like the consistency of your sauce you can add more or less milk. Season to taste with black pepper, garlic powder and minced fresh parsley.

Watch out for toothpicks!

Crepes

These crepes are out of this world! Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Most recently we ate them for dinner. These crepes are thicker than your traditional French crepe but in my opinion more delicious and easier to flip. I love that you can throw the ingredients in the blender and voila 1 minute later a beautiful smooth batter that cooks to a golden toasty brown on your griddle. I have filled these with blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, peaches and bananas...honestly you really cannot go wrong. Last week I found fresh pineapple on sale and filled ours with pineapple, bananas and homemade whipped cream. We ate the entire batch. Yikes! But really the batter by itself is fairly healthy. Not Green Smoothie healthy but still pretty good. Enjoy!

1 cup cottage cheese- I prefer small curd 4% milk fat
6 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend on high for 1 minute (you may need to pause and scrape the sides half-way through). Scoop out the batter in 1/4 cups onto a heated griddle or skillet. If using an electric griddle turn your heat to about 375F or if using a skillet on the stove, turn your heat to medium-high. Tilt the griddle to spread out the batter until thinned, cook until browned on the bottom and then flip.

Serves about 4, or 2 if your really hungry and thoroughly enjoying your meal.

Ready to flip! Notice the air bubbles coming to the surface and beginning to pop

Perfect golden brown

At this point my husband is saying "can we please stop the pictures and start eating". :) 

Green Smoothies

I'll admit it, I was skeptical of the whole "green smoothie" movement. I liked my yogurt fruit smoothies and didn't know if I wanted to introduce those green vegetables into my morning blend. It took some convincing from my friend Yvonne at Tried and Tasty and when I finally took her advice there has been no turning back. Green smoothies have become our morning ritual, as neither one of us are big coffee drinkers and provide a great energy boost for the start of the day. Here is a smoothie blend I've come up with. The ingredients are more of an approximation so have fun playing with the ratios and fruit blends.


1 large handful of fresh spinach
1-2 leaves of bok choy- cut into small pieces
2 heaping tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 frozen bananas- broken into small pieces
1 1/2 cup fruit juice- I love using the Dole pineapple orange blends


Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Yield: 2 smoothies

Spinach, Bok Choy and Frozen Bananas!

I'm in love with the ZOI traditional style yogurt

Cheesecakes for Two with Cranberry Reduction

There is something special about cranberry's during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Perhaps its due to the fact cranberry's are readily found in the stores around that time, and other than in November or December cranberry's are either non existent or exorbitantly priced. I was craving cheesecake for Thanksgiving dessert and thought the tart cranberry would be the perfect complement to the sweet and creamy cheesecake. There is also something delightful about ramekins when cooking for two. While an entire cheesecake in the fridge is temping...I just couldn't rationalize it. I used two crumbled sugar cookies mixed with about 1 tablespoon of melted butter for the crust and found my filling from The Weekend Gourmande. Follow the filling directions as indicated and bake in two 10 oz ramekins or four 5.5 oz ramekins. After a filling meal the 5.5 oz size was perfect for us.

To make the cranberry reduction, start with 8 oz of fresh cranberry's, about 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. (*if desired you can add additional sugar) Combine the sauce ingredients in a pan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sauce thickens to your desired consistency. At this point, strain the thickened sauce. After the cheesecakes have cooled, spoon the sauce over each individual cheese cake and serve. If you need your chocolate fix, lightly drizzle melted hot fudge over the cranberry sauce.

*The pictures do not do this dessert justice :)*

Chocolate Souffles

 The first time I saw a recipe for a souffle was in the Bon Appetit magazine some years back. My grandmother had a subscription and when she was finished with the magazine she would mail me the copy earmarked with recipes she thought would be good to try. The article was titled something along the lines of "Souffle Simplified" and showed step by step instructions of the magnificent dessert. Those images stayed with me and I promised myself that one day I would conquer the souffle. Fast forward 7 or so years and while I no longer have that particular recipe from Bon Appetit I found a delicious recipe for chocolate souffle from My San Francisco Kitchen /. I used four 5.5 ounce ramekins and baked mine for approx 14 minutes. Absolutely phenomenal! Enjoy! My next endeavor...savory souffles!