A few years ago, my husband and I went to Florida. We were going to be staying in a friend’s condo for free, which was an amazing deal!
However, when we arrived, it wasn’t everything we expected. Apparently there had been some miscommunication between the owner and family members about who was caring for the condo.
It was… a disappointment to say the least. It was so dirty and disorganized. I don’t know if you have ever been to Florida, but they have these bugs called Palmetto bugs. They are similar to cockroaches and crawl out of the drains and toilets. Blech. When we walked into the condo, there were Palmetto bugs squished all over the floor! And it looked like someone had been living there because there were blankets and clothes thrown everywhere!
We were so excited to have saved a ton of money by staying at this free place on our vacation, so we tried to make it work. We spent three hours cleaning the entire condo which included my husband spending 20 minutes trapped in a bathroom with a giant, angry spider and a game of hide-and-seek with a lizard in the living room.
When I went to vacuum the bedroom, I discovered the entire wall behind the bed was covered in mold (It turned out that the condo next door had a giant leak and was soaking the walls with water to this condo, creating mold)! We gave up after that. Since it was so late, we did stay one night in the condo, but we left for a few hours to get something to eat.
I was dirty and tired and hated the vacation so far.
We found this cute little diner to grab some food and I spotted my meal immediately: the GrownUp Grilled Cheese.
It was everything I needed. Ooey, gooey, cheesy perfection. They took a simple grilled cheese and just took it to a whole new level.
I knew that when I got home, my usual grilled cheese needed an upgrade.
Here are my secret tips to make an amazing grilled cheese!
The ingredients and bread type don’t really have an effect on what I’m about to share with you.
Obviously the harder the bread and the better cheese quality (don’t use American, please) will give you a better grilled cheese. I usually stick with whole wheat bread, sharp cheddar cheese, and a slice of tomato. Sometimes I throw in avocado or a black bean burger. In the sandwich above, I have used mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, and a veggie burger for extra protein.
Steps for an Amazing Grilled Cheese:
Step 1: Butter one side of the bread. Sprinkle powdered garlic powder and grated parmesan cheese onto the butter. Put butter side down in a skillet heated on medium heat.
Step 2: Add your cheese to the bread. If adding other fillings, like tomato, make sure you add cheese on both sides of the filling so the bread will stick. So it will go bread, cheese, tomato, cheese, bread.
Step 3: Put a lid on the pan to allow the cheese to melt without burning the bread.
Step 4: Once the cheese is starting to melt, add the second piece of bread with butter, garlic powder, and grated parmesan. When the piece of bread in touching the pan is a nice golden brown, carefully flip your sandwich and cover again until the bottom piece of bread is a golden brown and cheese is melted.
Enjoy! Guaranteed this will take your grilled cheese to a whole new level and you’ll never go back!
Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Broccoli, and Parmesan
A food that has always intrigued me is spaghetti squash. How do you get noodles from a squash?! It’s almost mind boggling.
I love to try recipes with spaghetti squash because pasta is one my favorite things and if I can replace something that’s not so healthy with something super healthy, awesome!
This recipe is very earthy and hearty. It is a combination of delicious mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, and spaghetti squash. I also added broccoli for more veggies. I’m not a huge fan of broccoli, but I know how good it is for you, so I try to throw it in a lot of my recipes whenever possible.
One of the most difficult things about this recipe is cooking the spaghetti squash. There are many different ways to prepare it. You can actually microwave the entire squash or cut it in half and cook it in a Crock Pot. My favorite way is to slice the squash into rings and then roast it. The squash comes apart in longer strings than if cutting it in half, so it is more like a spaghetti noodle.
I discovered this method from Eat Within Your Means and have never looked back. You can read and see the difference between roasting slices and roasting half the squash here.
For the sake of this recipe, I will be using the slicing method, but if you are comfortable with another way to cook spaghetti squash, do it that way. I will say that slicing the squash is quite a task because it is such a hard squash, so I usually have my husband cut it. 🙂
Spaghetti Squash with Mushrooms, Broccoli, and Parmesan
Ingredients:
1 small spaghetti squash (about 2lbs)
Olive oil
8 oz mushrooms, sliced (I used baby bellas, but button would work too)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 head broccoli, chopped to bite size
1 tbsp thyme
¼ c Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
(If using a different method to cook squash, skip to step 3)
Best Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce
You know how there are those dishes that take you straight back to being a child? It’s spaghetti for me.
My mom made the best homemade spaghetti sauce. I would refuse to eat any other sauce but her’s.
I remember when I would come home on Sunday afternoons after spending the weekend at my dad’s house and as soon as I stepped out of the car, the delicious smell would bring me running into the house.
She always made huge batches of spaghetti sauce and chili. The kitchen would be a disaster. Cans everywhere, sink full of dishes, sauce splattered all of the stove.
Everything she made in the kitchen created chaos. And I loved it.
I would usually make a “spaghetti sandwich” with two pieces of buttered bread and a heaping scoop of noodles and sauce in the middle. I loved to eat for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.
I was that kid that brought a thermos to school with cold spaghetti to eat for lunch.
When we became vegetarian, I gave up on my mom’s sauce because I didn’t think it could ever be the same without ground beef.
After my mom passed away, I decided to pick up her recipe book and explore vegetarian options for her sauce. Below is how I make her sauce now and it’s almost as good as the way she used to make it!
In place of the ground beef, I use mushrooms and lentils to give it a “meaty” feel and to add protein. Its delicious and filling! The recipe below is enough to use for multiple meals or to freeze (which is what I usually do).
Whatever you do to make the sauce your own, do NOT skip the simmering! I know it makes the recipe an all day affair, but I promise this is what makes it so good!
Oh, and also, we had a tradition in my family: whoever gets the first bay leaf does the dishes. I hated this rule as a kid! You get a bay leaf in your mouth AND have do the dishes! Not cool. So if you don’t want this to happen to you, pull out the bay leafs before serving.
Best Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce
Yields about 8 cups of sauce
Ingredients:
2 c chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz can of whole tomatoes
18 oz tomato paste
4 bay leaves
3 tsp oregano
3 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
16 oz sliced mushrooms (if you don’t love mushrooms, omit)
water, if needed
Optional:
1.5 c cooked Lentils
2 lbs ground beef/turkey
Directions:
Peanut Butter Blossoms (with Mini Kisses)
Peanut Butter Blossoms have always been (one) of my favorite cookies. So after I made these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I felt compelled to make a batch of the original just, you know, to compare the two recipes. 🙂
One of my most vivid memories as a child is heading to my great aunt’s house for Christmas. It was always held in the basement where everyone chatted, drank, listened to Christmas music, and played games while I stalked the cookie tray.
As soon as we descended the stairs to the basement, I would lock my eyes on the cookie tray. I would count how many Peanut Butter Blossoms there were and how many times I would need to circle the dessert table to devour them. Being a good child, I didn’t want to eat them all at once. So I had to make frequent trips to the cookie table the entire night to ensure I ate all the Peanut Butter Blossoms I could handle!
As an adult, they are still one of my favorite cookies and I don’t make them very often because, just like when I was a child, I will literally eat them all.
My one complaint about this cookie is that it is hard to eat with a Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you eat the Kiss first? Do you eat around it and save it for last? Or do you just dig in and hope you don’t have chocolate smeared all over your pearly whites?
I was ecstatic when I found mini Hershey Kisses! Not only is it easier to eat, but you can enjoy some chocolate with every bite because you don’t get to just add one Kiss to each cookie, but three! Three kisses to every cookie!
But here’s what I will say… I still love the original, but after making these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I actually like the Red Velvet cookie better. It seems softer, more decadent and it’s a really beautiful cookie!
Peanut Butter Blossoms (with mini Kisses)
Yields about 48 cookies
Ingredients:
½ c softened butter
¾ c creamy peanut butter
⅓ c sugar
⅓ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ c flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
⅓ c sugar for rolling
1 bag of Hershey’s Mini Kisses
Directions:
Secrets for an Amazing Grilled Cheese
A few years ago, my husband and I went to Florida. We were going to be staying in a friend’s condo for free, which was an amazing deal!
However, when we arrived, it wasn’t everything we expected. Apparently there had been some miscommunication between the owner and family members about who was caring for the condo.
It was… a disappointment to say the least. It was so dirty and disorganized. I don’t know if you have ever been to Florida, but they have these bugs called Palmetto bugs. They are similar to cockroaches and crawl out of the drains and toilets. Blech. When we walked into the condo, there were Palmetto bugs squished all over the floor! And it looked like someone had been living there because there were blankets and clothes thrown everywhere!
We were so excited to have saved a ton of money by staying at this free place on our vacation, so we tried to make it work. We spent three hours cleaning the entire condo which included my husband spending 20 minutes trapped in a bathroom with a giant, angry spider and a game of hide-and-seek with a lizard in the living room.
When I went to vacuum the bedroom, I discovered the entire wall behind the bed was covered in mold (It turned out that the condo next door had a giant leak and was soaking the walls with water to this condo, creating mold)! We gave up after that. Since it was so late, we did stay one night in the condo, but we left for a few hours to get something to eat.
I was dirty and tired and hated the vacation so far.
We found this cute little diner to grab some food and I spotted my meal immediately: the GrownUp Grilled Cheese.
It was everything I needed. Ooey, gooey, cheesy perfection. They took a simple grilled cheese and just took it to a whole new level.
I knew that when I got home, my usual grilled cheese needed an upgrade.
Here are my secret tips to make an amazing grilled cheese!
The ingredients and bread type don’t really have an effect on what I’m about to share with you.
Obviously the harder the bread and the better cheese quality (don’t use American, please) will give you a better grilled cheese. I usually stick with whole wheat bread, sharp cheddar cheese, and a slice of tomato. Sometimes I throw in avocado or a black bean burger. In the sandwich above, I have used mozzarella cheese, tomato slices, and a veggie burger for extra protein.
Steps for an Amazing Grilled Cheese:
Step 1: Butter one side of the bread. Sprinkle powdered garlic powder and grated parmesan cheese onto the butter. Put butter side down in a skillet heated on medium heat.
Step 2: Add your cheese to the bread. If adding other fillings, like tomato, make sure you add cheese on both sides of the filling so the bread will stick. So it will go bread, cheese, tomato, cheese, bread.
Step 3: Put a lid on the pan to allow the cheese to melt without burning the bread.
Step 4: Once the cheese is starting to melt, add the second piece of bread with butter, garlic powder, and grated parmesan. When the piece of bread in touching the pan is a nice golden brown, carefully flip your sandwich and cover again until the bottom piece of bread is a golden brown and cheese is melted.
Enjoy! Guaranteed this will take your grilled cheese to a whole new level and you’ll never go back!
Pregnancy: 30 Week Update
I can’t believe I only have 10 weeks left before this baby is here! (If the baby follows my husband’s family history, it may be a lot less than that!)
I’ve had such a great pregnancy but the last couple of weeks have become a lot harder. I’m pretty much over being pregnant and am longing to able to move around without waddling or struggling to get up again.
I’m seeing the doctor every two weeks now and am starting to get my hospital bag ready.
This weekend we finished putting together the crib and will be working on the dresser this week so I can get everything organized! Very excited to everything ready!
Total weight gain: I stopped getting on the scale at 20lbs. I don’t think I’ve gained much more, but I just don’t want to know anymore. 🙂
Maternity clothes? 100% I still wear some of my pre-pregnancy yoga pants, sweatpants and sweatshirts.
Stretch marks? I noticed I was getting a couple red marks around my love handles. My belly has been really feeling the stretch the last couple weeks, so I’ve been lotioning up 2 to 3 times a day to hopefully avoid any more stretch marks.
Sleep: I sleep very well. I get pretty tired during the day and like to naps. I also tend to wake up when I need to roll over to my other side because it’s becoming quite a struggle!
Workouts: Going up and down the stairs to get the laundry has become a workout! I am doing at least 50 squats and 50 kegels every day no matter what though.
Diet: As I’m getting bigger, it’s getting harder to eat. I’m still eating what I was before, just less.
Best moment this week: Putting our crib together and prepping for the baby!
Miss anything? Sushi. Hard Cider. Being able to breathe easily and rolling over.
Food cravings: Nothing. I am having more food aversions this trimester than ever before. I’m getting full so fast that I’m just eating small amount all day.
Anything making you queasy or sick? No, but some foods are becoming very unappealing.
Gender: Boy
Labor signs: Nope. But my belly has been pretty tender the last few days from stretching to fit a bigger baby!
Symptoms: The inability to move around easily! It’s getting harder for me to get off the couch, bed, out of the car, etc.
Belly button in or out? Still in and not yet flat.
Wedding rings on or off: Still on.
Happy or moody most of the time: I’m feeling really great about getting the nursery organized and the crib ready!
Looking forward to: Finishing the shopping! We still need a few things for the baby and I will be so relieved when everything is finished.
Easy Apple Turnovers
If you read my recent recipe for Apple Walnut Spice Muffins, you will know that I have a bunch of Granny Smith apples to get through before they go bad.
Not only did I recently discover that my husband doesn’t enjoy green apples, but I also discovered he has never had a turnover! What?! Crazy talk, I know.
I’m not a huge pastry person. I’m a dessert girl, yes, but not so much into danishes and such. But my husband is, however, we rarely have them in the house.
So when I learned that he had never had a turnover and since I have all these apples just hanging out, I made these Apple Turnovers.
They are so, so easy to make and really delicious!
Eating them warm with a scoop of ice cream on top is like perfection!
I can’t wait to try this recipe with other fillings!
Easy Apple Turnovers
Yields 8 turnovers
Ingredients:
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
2 tbsp butter
1 c brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp flour
1 package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
1 egg
Optional: White sugar for topping
Directions:
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Let’s talk about food fails for a minute.
I cook a lot. I bake a lot. However, I would never claim to be a chef or a “good” cook. I like things that are easy and that are delicious. I like to feel good about what I’m making and what I’m eating.
This also means experimenting with different recipes, ingredients, cook times, etc.
Most of the time, I make some really delicious food.
…And sometimes, well, my plans go awry and the dish, cookies, whatever, comes out awful.
It seems like it goes in streaks. I will repeatedly make dishes that fail. And yes, I do get discouraged. I just want to order take out. I don’t want to try anything new because it might suck.
So what do I do?
I make something I know is good. Something I have made hundreds of times. Like my favorite Peanut Butter Banana Bread! I feel good making it and eating it!
I tell you this because I don’t want you to be discouraged. You CAN cook. I promise. We all fail. We are not perfect. So do something that makes you feel good, something that picks you back up, and try again.
Oh, and then make this bread, because it is delicious and will make you feel better! 🙂
Peanut Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients:
1 ½ c bananas (about 4)
2 eggs
⅓ c plain yogurt
⅔ c peanut butter
1 ⅔ c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Directions:
*If you want to cook in a traditional loaf pan, cook for 45-50 minutes.
Apple Walnut Spice Muffins
My husband loves all food.
You know when you order food at a restaurant and they bring it out on lettuce or with a lettuce garnish? Yeah, he eats the lettuce.
I love that he loves all food. He always tells me how great any dish I make tastes and will eat up every bite. There is hardly ever any leftovers because he will eat anything.
…Or so I thought.
I make him lunch almost every day. I don’t mind. I like that he can think of me while he’s eating lunch. And I think it’s awesome that he has no idea what’s in his lunch box everyday!
But recently I discovered something. Every time I put a Granny Smith apple in his lunch box, he brings it home and puts it back into the fruit bowl.
At first, I thought maybe I had just packed too much food or he had snacked at work… But then it started happening every day… So one day I asked him why he always bring the green apples home. His answer?
He hates green apples.
How weird is that? I guess I get it. They are a bit sour… But that is the reason I love them!
Now I have this whole fruit bowl full of green apples. There are simply too many apples for one person to eat!
*Enter a bunch of apple recipes*
This recipe is for a delicious Apple Walnut Spice Muffin! It is semi-healthy and perfect for breakfast. In this case, I did not peel the apples. I was a little worried that the skin would be a little tough after baking, but it isn’t. If you don’t enjoy the skin, go ahead and peel your apples. But you don’t need to.
My friend, Chrissie, introduced me to this recipe and you can find her variation and many others here. Or you can see the original recipe here. I have tweaked it quite a bit to make it easier and also, I don’t have a mixer of any kind, so everything can be mixed with hand and it still comes out yummy!
Oh! Here’s a little delicious muffin trick my mom taught me: (once cooked) cut the muffin open, put a slice of butter between the pieces and microwave for 10-20 seconds. AH-mazing!
Apple Walnut Spice Muffins
Yields 12 muffins
Ingredients:
½ c butter
½ c white sugar
¼ c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c plain yogurt
2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
2 c diced apples (peeled or unpeeled, the choice is yours!)
1 c chopped walnuts
Directions:
Easy and Healthy Enchilada Soup
Winter is finally here in Michigan. Sad face.
I have really enjoyed the mild, 40 degree, no jacket days. I didn’t miss the snow or the car doors freezing shut or not being able to breath when you walk outside.
But I knew it couldn’t last forever. Now we are at highs of 15 degrees and snow every day.
The good news? It’s soup weather!
I love making soup because it is so easy. I love when you can throw a bunch of stuff into a pot (or Crock Pot) and walk away. It is also very healthy and filling!
I had some beans and some tomatoes, so I figured I would throw together this delicious soup! One issue that I did have is that this recipe calls for a can of enchilada sauce. I usually always buy mild sauce, but for some reason, I bought hot enchilada sauce! So my soup came out extra spicy! If you like spice, get it hot, if not, stick with mild.
Adding yogurt/sour cream and avocado really help chill out the heat though.
And that is one thing I really love about this soup… There are so many ways to dress it up! You can add cheese, yogurt/sour cream, tortilla strips or avocado! Personally, I do them all! It makes for a really hearty, delicious meal. Sometimes I will serve a side salad, but this soup is filling enough to stand alone.
Enchilada Soup
Ingredients:
1 tbl olive oil
1 med onion
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 14.5 oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 14.5 oz can pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
1 14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 10 oz can of enchilada sauce
6 oz frozen corn
2-3 c vegetable broth
1 tbl cumin
1 tsp red pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste
Optional for topping:
Plain yogurt/sour cream
Cheese
Tortilla strips
Avocado
Directions:
Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms
My husband and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. We have too many other anniversaries to celebrate. We will usually spend the day together, maybe throw a quick “Happy V-day around.” But nothing out of the ordinary.
However, I wanted to make a special Valentine’s Day treat because… well, I’m pregnant and I need cookies. So really they were for myself and not for my husband!
I have always loved Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, but they are often hard to eat because of the giant Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you try and bite into the Kiss or do you just eat the whole thing at once? Either way you are going have issues. You either get chocolate all over your teeth, so this becomes a cookie you only eat in the privacy of your own home or you are stuck eating most of the cookie without any chocolate. Not cool.
So I was ecstatic when I wandered down the baking aisle and found MINI Hershey Kisses!
My husband dislikes Peanut Butter Blossoms for the exact reasons I pointed out earlier, so he wasn’t too excited when he discovered what I was making. But do not fear my friend! I have a surprise up my sleeve! Actually, three surprises! Three mini Kisses!
It made the cookies so much for enjoyable and I will never make a Peanut Butter Blossom with regular Kisses again!
Now this recipe is extra special. It is made for Valentine’s Day. It is a Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossom and it is beautiful!
You can find the original recipe from I Am Baker. I have changed it slightly, in that, I am not a fancy baker so I have adjusted the recipe to make it a little easier. Also, I don’t have a stand mixer or even a hand mixer (I have no idea where the arms went…) so I mixed everything by hand and it came out perfect!
I did run out of red decorating sugar for the last few cookies, so I used regular white sugar. They don’t have the same kind of dazzle, more like a muted pink, but they looked pretty mixed in with the red cookies.
Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms
Yields about 40 cookies
Ingredients:
1 bag Hershey’s Kisses (or mini Kisses)
½ c (1 stick) butter, room temperature or softened
¾ c peanut butter
1 ⅓ c sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk (I use almond cashew milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp red food coloring
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ c all purpose flour
pinch of salt
¼ c red decorating sugar
Directions: