Greek Yogurt War

Greek yogurt is on my mind...pretty much all of the time.
Apparently, so is rhyming.

We blindfoldedly (ooh! new word!) taste-tested 3 popular Greek yogurt brands (all in Honey flavor): Fage, Oikos, and Voskos. I occasionally eat Chobani, but I couldn't find the Honey flavor at Publix or Whole Foods.

So we seriously rolled out of bed and I blindfolded Brandon...Ehhh this seems backwards...

We had three separate spoons so the flavors wouldn't mix, and I fed him a bite of all three and made him describe them. Then he blindfolded and fed me. Is this rated R content? I think so. If you're under the age of 18, please x out of this window and go back to playing on www.webkinz.com. If you're over the age of 18, please admire the following photos:

NO, I don't share. Nor do I give out samples.I'm very pleasant in the morning:

Here's how we described the yogurts, in the order that we sampled them:
Brandon

Oikos: thick, mild honey flavor, tangy
Fage: more honey, no tang, not as thick, less "Greek", sweeter
Voskos: honey tastes like applesauce, not thick but thicker then the previous, tangy applesauce

Christina
Fage: too sweet, not creamy, bad aftertaste, watered down
Voskos: not much honey, sweet, fermented rotten apples, more like regular yogurt, eww this tastes like old apple juice
Oikos: tangy, thick, creamy, slight/just enough honey

WINNER!

We refused to finish the Voskos -- gah it was awful! I'll give the brand a chance and try another flavor but ehhh that honey was disgusting.

I added some almond butter & strawberry jelly to an English muffin and we headed to the beach!=

The Guacamole Obsession Continues...

...all summer long.

We've made it oh, I'd say about 10 times this summer? No big deal. Well, the taste is. It's really easy, just kind of messy. Making your own guacamole is so much tastier and healtheir than the store bought "guacamole dips." Yeah, watch out for that word dip--that's just a nice way of saying they added a crap ton of sour cream or, even worse, mayonnaise. Ew. It hurt to type that. Soybean oil, I despise you. We usually make guacamole with mangoes butsince it's always a huge juicy mess, we tried fresh pineapple chunks this time...El guacamol fue fantástico! For all you non-bilingual losers, that means the guacamole was fantastic.

Guacamole essentials:

Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
1 medium tomato, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped pineapple, plus 1 tbsp juice
juice of 1 lime, plus a 1 tbsp lime zest
2-3 tbsps fresh cilantro, chopped
salt, pepper, cumin to taste

Directions:
1. Using a big spoon, scrape out the inside of the avocado from the casing & pit.
2. Mash with the back of a large fork or a sturdy whisk.
3. Add tomatoes, garlic, pineapple & juice, lime zest & juice, and cilantro.
4. Gently combine ingredients.
5. Season to taste.

Using leftover corn tortillas from when I made Enchiladas Verdes last week, I made baked tortilla chips. I no longer want packaged tortilla chips in my mouth. These were awesome.
All I did was stack 3 tortillas at a time and cut them into triangles using a pizza slicer. They're soft, so I didn't need Brandon's bulging biceps to cut them, like I do with everything else.

Then I liiiiiightly brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with a bit of salt, pepper, and cumin. There's a few to the right I added flax seeds to, just for experimental purposes...I say that as if every single recipe isn't an experiment...The flax seeds didn't stick to the chips very well. Whoops. I baked them at 450* for 10-15 minutes, or until I was starving and tired of eating guacamole on a spoon. Yeah, I did that. It was sitting there looking beautiful, I couldn't resist.

Before going in the oven:

Out of the oven, nice and crunchy:

The beautiful guac:

Just slightly excited:

For dinner, we picked up two steaks so I could make Steak Madeira. It is in my blood to make Chicken Marsala, which I do quite often, so this was a nice change. Madeira wine is similar to Marsala wine, just not as sweet. While Brandon grilled the steaks, I made the sauce.

Madeira Wine Sauce:
Ingredients:
Olive oil
2-3 cloves of garlic
8oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Madeira wine
1 cup Low-Sodium Beef Broth

Directions:
1. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened and slightly brown.
3. Add mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until tender.
4. Add Madeira and beef broth.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat just a little.
6. Reduce the sauce in half or until it has thickened.

I sliced the steak into thin strips, then added them to the broth to soak up the flavor while it continued to thicken.Giving Brett a sample:

To go with the steaks, Brandon whipped up some sweet potatoes with milk, a little butter, and maple syrup.

Breakfast Sandwiches

These are probably the strangest breakfast sandwiches you've ever seen. They aren't cute. You don't love them already--I can tell. It's okaaaaay. Because I know what they taste like. Until you do, don't judge them. They're chubby and have an unusual combination of ingredients. But they're healthy, and just one of these babies kept me full for hours.

With the unused ground turkey from last night's pasta dish, I formed little patties and browned them in a pan over medium-high heat. Brandon fried two little eggs and placed them inside toasted high fiber English muffins. We used Egg Beaters for this recipe, but feel free to substitute other eggs as desired.

So what's that white stuff on the top bun? And that red stuff on the bottom?

Goat cheese & home made strawberry jelly.

Don't laugh.

Don't run to the bathroom.

Just try it.

***Special thanks to Callie for helping me edit this post! :) Check out her hilarious blog!

Cheesy Ground Turkey & Vegetable Pasta

We're planning a trip to Italy right now, so I have pasta on the brain. This was really easy to throw together and bake. You've got your meat, your veggies, your carb, and your...er, cheese! Getting calcium in the form of cheese is never a problem for us. We loved the orecchiette because they scoop up different flavors, so every bite you have is different!

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups orecchiette pasta
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 medium sized carrot, sliced and quartered
1 medium sized zucchini, sliced and quartered
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 14.5 oz diced tomatoes w/ garlic, oregano, basil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
fresh basil
shredded cheddar
crumbled goat cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*.
2. Cook pasta as directed.
3. Cook ground turkey as directed.
4. Arrange cooked pasta and turkey into an 8x8 baking dish.
5. Add vegetables, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and toss.
6. Add as much cheese as you'd like on top.
7. Bake covered for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Brandon surprised me (or tried to, but I saw the bag before he could) with cupcakes! One was Red Velvet flavored and the other was Lemon Blueberry. Both of these are from Cupcake in Mount Pleasant. Check out the site and all the awesome flavors they have! We've been eating these a lot lately. Brandon's favorite is the Carrot Cake and mine is Peanut Butter Banana fluff.

Almond & Banana Pancakes!

Breakfast for dinner yeaaaaah!

I refuse to make pancakes out of the box. Most boxes contain trans fats, and homemade ones are so much better! Here's my recipe:

Recipe
1 cup old-fashioned oats (I used a packet of Quaker Oats High Fiber Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal MMMM)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon (cinnamon helps stabilize blood sugar)
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
3/4 cup fat-free milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup almonds, smashed
Cooking spray

Directions
Whisk first 6 ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk yogurt, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until blended. Never overmix pancake batter! Yuck! Fold in bananas.
Heat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cupfuls in skillet. Cook pancakes on one side until bottom is golden-brown and the top side begins to bubble (about 2 minutes). Turn and cook another 2 minutes. ENJOY!

We also made bacon--Brandon found the healthiest bacon I've ever seen. Haha. By that I mean, lower calorie, lower fat, and lower sodium than regular bacon. It was Maverick Ranch's Nautral Applewood Smoked Bacon! So good!

First one in the pan--always a fail for me:

I ended up slicing the bananas and placing them in the batter:

Brandon's monster pancake:

Bacon!!

Plated:

Naughty Sunday

Typical lazy Sunday...

We didn't feel like cooking today, but wanted something sweet. I had made a blonde brownie recipe before that I really liked and wanted to try again. This recipe comes from the blog http://smittenkitchen.com/ The writer, Deb, has some awesome dessert recipes. Her blondies recipe is very simple and you can add whatever you'd like to it. The first time I made them with bananas and they came out very moist. Today I omitted the bananas and they came out just as delicious. The recipe can be found here:

Beating the eggs into the sugar:

Brandon's serving with ice cream...haha

Thanks Deb for the great recipe!!

Happy Birthday Megan!

today is brandon's sister's birthday. she's 20! (one more year, honey). brandon made 4 different types of burgers, corn on the cob, and asparagus. and i made the healthiest cake that i know of: angel food cake. one type of burger was an asian burger. the meat was mixed with sweet chile sauce before it was grilled. it was topped with a roasted red pepper and some ginger coleslaw from whole foods. the other burgers were topped with either boursin, american, or blue cheese. everyone just added the toppings they wanted and enjoyed them on some whole-wheat buns.

megan and her friends at the table, with brett:

let me tell you what brett is thinking: "hurry up and take the stupid picture so i can eat. i ran like 6 miles today at the gym and there's a burger in front of me. i want it in my mouth." right b?

as for my cake...i stole the recipe from my hero, alton brown. all i have to say about angel food cake is eggs eggs eggs and whip whip whip. angel food cake recipes call for TWELVE egg whites. yep. at least you get your practice cracking eggs. and it involves so much whipping with the electric beater my hand went a little numb. just kidding. but it did get tingly. the recipe can be found here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/angel-food-cake-recipe/index.html

isn't alton so cute?? and bald?!

the cake came out so light, yet moist, and heavenly. no wonder why they call it angel food cake. i topped it with some sliced strawberries and we wished the no-longer-a-teenager a happy birthday. soooooomebody forgot to buy candles, so she blew out the flame of a lighter. haha.

brandon's serving. with ice cream. haha.

the little nugget and me with her cake:

normal people:

a better one:

Goat Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Chicken with White Wine Lemon Sauce

sooo i (christina) created this recipe all by myself--you can tell it's me typing because i hate using capital letters. brandon is much more proper than me and loves punctuation. sometimes if he's sitting next to me when we're blogging (and i'm typing) i feel the need to use punctuation. boooooooring. but i will tell you that i am a grammar FREAK. (there's some caps for you). brandon is too. grammar is not a joke. seriously, people, start writing and speaking correctly. nothing gets on my nerves more than bad grammar. i have a list of what i find to be the most annoying grammar mistakes that people commonly make. that's a post for another day. i don't know where this obsession with perfect grammar came from. oh, wait, yes i do. when my grammy answers the phone and the person calling asks, "may i speak with meredith?" she replies, "this is she." growing up, i would think "ew. she sounds so weird." and then oh, around 10th grade, i learned why this is correct. sorry, but i don't have time to tell you why right now. look it up. anyway, it sort of became an obsession. i promise during my teenage years i used an inappropriate amount of slang and acronyms (i referred to my best friend nicole as my BFFL), but i KNEW right from wrong. holy moly. did i just start a new blog? sorry. onto the food.

we love chicken. we love cheese. we love wine. we love spinach. why would we not combine them into something oh so delicious?

i thought about the aforementioned ingredients, looked up some recipes online, and created my own. i would like to tell you a hundred times how delicious this is, but i also don't have time for that. but i will SHOW you!

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breasts
2 oz goat cheese
fresh spinach leaves
salt & pepper
1 lemon
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 oz mushrooms
2 cups white cooking wine
2 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
fresh thyme

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*. Using a mallet or the back of a pan, flatten chicken breasts until 1/4" thick. Lightly salt & pepper. Across each flattened breast, lay a few pieces of spinach and crumbled goat cheese. Roll up each breast and stab those babies with a couple of toothpicks so they stay together in the oven. Now, here's the fun part. Take the lemon and grate a little zest atop each breast. This gives just a little hint of lemon flavor that really ties in with the sauce...Bake chicken for 25-30 minutes.
2. Place a large pan over medium-high heat and add cooking spray. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and let those cook for just a couple minutes. Add the chicken, wine, thyme, and juice from the lemon. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and let it reduce to about half. If you want to thicken it, you can sloooooowly whisk in some flour towards the end.
3. When the sauce has thickened, pour it over your cooked chicken.

we wanted corn with this recipe, so we just boiled 2 ears. we cut the kernels off the cob and brandon sprinkled them over our chicken. he likes to make things pretty. i just like to eat.

Shrimp, Spinach, & Goat Cheese Risotto

Brandon had been craving risotto for over a week and since I had never made it myself I decided we should try it together. I spent some time looking at recipes online, decided on some ingredients I wanted to use, and Brandon picked them up at Whole Foods. Making risotto is a laborious process, but definitely worth the effort. I alternated arms so I could get buff. Haha. It came out really good. We actually used the juice of a whole lemon, but I adjusted the recipe below because that was a bit too much. You could use fresh dill in place of thyme if you'd like. We will definitely make this again.

Here it is in the pot:

And in the bowl:

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
  
• 1 pound small shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped sweet onion (about 1/2 medium)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
• 3/4 cup white cooking wine
• 4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme
• 5 oz bag of fresh spinach, coarsley chopped
• 2 tbsp lemon
• 2 oz crumbled goat cheese

Preparation:

1. Coat a medium pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes, or until done. Remove from heat and keep warm.
2. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine and cook until nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.
3. Add broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed before adding the next. When adding the final 1/2 cup of broth, add shrimp, spinach, thyme, lemon juice, and cheese. Salt & pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings; about 1 1/2 cups each.

Christina's 25th Birthday

today i am old. brandon did all the cooking. i sat. he grilled sesame crusted tuna, pineapple and placed it over warm spinach with a citrus vinaigrette. he also grilled sweet potatoes that had marinated in ummm something.

for dessert he made dark chocolate covered strawberries, raspberries, and, my favorite, blueberries. mmm!