Eggnog Dessert Bread

I've been trying to fill my days with applications to places but find when you get up at 7 and just head straight into it, by 9 you start to see double on the career websites. So I clean, but there's only so much cleaning I can do in our little place. So I move on to baking. I've been practicing and the results may not be as pretty as other people's endeavors but I'll tell you that it probably tastes just as good! So I spent the afternoon baking some preemptive holiday cheer (the husband found egg nog the last grocery trip). And though not everyone likes egg nog, this bread seriously only has a hint of egg nog flavor, the vanilla and nutmeg stand out the most. Anyway, here you are!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 tsp of vanilla (mine was infused with bourbon cuz I'm fancy)

Another overlooked artist of the 70's, Big Star is a band I find listening too more often than not, their album '#1'  is too good to overlook, please enjoy this little diddly while you mix up your egg nog magic.

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9X5X3 bread pan.
2. In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients, then create a crater in the middle.
3. In a small bowl combine your egg, vanilla and butter, whisk well. Then pour into larger bowl's crater.
4. Combine until a little lumpy. Then pour into greased pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until knife is clean after removing it from middle of the bread.
6. Cool on cooling rack. 
7. While bread cools combine glaze ingredients and mix until lumps are gone.
8. Pour glaze onto bread once cooled down.
9. Serve!

Hope you enjoy this early piece of the holiday season! Happy Eatings Everyone!

Apple and Kale Dinner

How much kale is too much kale? I have been on a kale kick. Kale breakfast bowls. Kale lunch salads. Sauteed Kale for dinner. It's just too good, for EVERYTHING!!! I understand it's a fad or something to eat kale, but what a healthy fad, why wouldn't you want to join? This recipe encapsulates autumn time and everything I love about kale. Allllrrriiigghht, that's 8 times I've said kale now...9 times. I am done and you should enjoy this recipe as much as I did or at least a fraction as much:

Ingredients:

• 1 bundle kale stalks removed
• 1 medium onion sliced thinly
• 1 small apple cored and thinly sliced
• 2 oz goat cheese
• 5 slices bacon diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 

Directions:

1. In a skillet fry up bacon and onion until onion is translucent. 
2. Place kale leaves on top of onion and and cover with a lid, stirring every once and a while so onion and bacon don't burn.
3. Cook until kale is tender. Salt and pepper to taste and add your cinnamon. Stir well so cinnamon gets distributed throughout. 
4. Place on plate or in bowl and top with apple slices and crumbled goat cheese.
5. Serve!

I love cooking with the greats. My favorite jazz vocalists are my companion while I stand over steam, fire and spitting oil. I love it, and I love Rosemary (is is White Christmas time yet?):

Happy Eatings Everyone!

Crockpot Asian Lettuce Wraps

My crock pot is going to need a break soon, it's been working harder than I have lately... OR I can continue to use and abuse it's magical powers. With great power comes great food. Tonight I decided to go for a low carb asian inspired dish. I didn't have some ingredients, but I love the way it tasted anyway. When I look at recipes and see that I don't have a key ingredient I just frantically look up substitutes, or read what the flavor does to the recipe and find something comparable. So here's my tweeked recipe for Asian Lettuce Wraps.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 4 oz water chestnuts
• 1 tsp fresh ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 scallions chopped
• Romain or iceburg lettuce
• 1 avocado sliced
• Sriracha for flavor

There's nothing like sitting back while your crockpot does all the work, watching the sun set on the mountain and listening to some good ol' fashioned country music:

Directions:

1. In a crockpot place all ingredients minus, scallions, chestnuts, lettuce, avocado and sriracha. Cook on high for 1 hour or on low for 2. 
2. When crockpot is ready add scallions and chestnuts, stir and let stand until heated up.
3. Take leaf of lettuce and place ground beef mixture on soft end, roll up into a burrito shape or fold over like a taco. 
4. Add you avocado and sriracha to each wrap.
5. Serve!

Well have fun my little slow cookers and food lovers. Happy Eatings Everyone!

Slow Cooker Sausage and Cabbage

So the move is over, and the nesting has begun. So what do you do when you're time is limited and filled with things other than cooking? You take out your crockpot, dump your ingredients and forget about it until the timer goes off. Which is exactly my plan, so now I have time to hang those pictures, fill those book shelves and wash those jackets. So seize the day and stop worrying about getting dinner on the table, it's fall and your crockpot is here to help you out.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp brown mustard
• 1/2 small cabbage head cored and cut into wedges
• 1 kielbasa sausage link cut into 4th's and put to the side
• 1 medium onion sliced thinly

I've hopped on the Beyonce train. I usually don't gravitate towards pop music let alone mainstream pop music, but talent is talent and I am not going to deny myself the pleasure of her beats anymore:

Directions:

1. In a crock pot combine all ingredients except for sausage. And cook on low for 7 hours or high for 3 1/2.
2. After cook time add sausage and cook for another 30-60 minutes.
3. Serve!

Happy Eatings Everyone!!!

Cheesey Spaghetti and Broccoli

I know it's been two weeks since my last post, the move is still in process and taking up most of my time. This also means that my fridge and pantry shelves are dwindling in supplies and my options are very slim, but that has never stopped me before. So I found a recipe for a veggie bake online, but didn't have the right noodles so I decided to turn it into a basic spaghetti, taking the sauce in the recipe and thickening it and doing it stove top instead. It was really easy and super tasty.

Cheesey Spaghetti and Broccoli

Ingredients:

• 2 cups broccoli
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 diced onion
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese
• 1 can condensed cream of celery
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 oz spaghetti noodles

Instructions:

1. Boil noodles according to package instructions.
2. In a sauce pan combine all other ingredient and stir until thick.
3. Serve!

Alright I know it's not all clean eating over here right now, but good is good! Happy Eatings Everyone!

The Easiest Crab Soup On Earth

I get cravings for very few things, pad see ew, bacon, and crab. But besides that I usually crave an easy recipe, don't you? There's nothing better than coming home and knowing its not going to be another hour of work in the kitchen, prepping, chopping, washing, sauteing, ect. An easy recipe that only require tossing everything into a pot and then waiting for 30 minutes, 30 minutes that can be used to put your feet up and catch up on OITNB. So here you are all of you hard workers, an easy, put your feet up recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1 lb crab or imitation crab meat
• 2 cups milk
• salt and pepper 
• 1 tbsp garlic powder

Sometimes artists are just overlooked or are mistakenly put into a 'One Hit Wonder' category. Putting 'that guy who wrote the coconut song' HARRY NILSSON in that category would be one of those mistakes.

Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan stir in all of your ingredients.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Turn down the heat and cover for 30 minutes. 
4. Serve!

Happy Eatings Everyone! Please remember to take some time for yourself every once and while, we forget to do that so often. 

Creamy Broccoli and Chicken

My days have consisted of packing, planning and Star Trek. C'mon Kirk give me something that packs my house up for me! I am sure he would if he were real and knew how much I needed it. Anyway, I am taking a break from all this planning and packing to watch more and to get something in the oven, with the rains finally back and dealing with moving to a new city, I've been craving comfort food. So let me ignore the boxes and give you delicious recipe to enjoy. Engage:

Creamy Broccoli and Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1.5 lbs chicken breast
• 2 cups chopped and steamed broccoli
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper

Eh hem, it's pronounced MAD-EL-LYN. Yo La Tengo takes my heart over and over and over:

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Salt and pepper your chicken breast and place them in a baking dish.
3. Sprinkle green onions and garlic on top of chicken and dollop butter evenly over each breast.
4. Then top with your steamed broccoli.
5. Pour cream of mushroom over the top evenly.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Serve!

Happy Eatings Everyone!