Monthly Archives: January 2013

Sausage and Peas Quinoa

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Sausage and Peas Quinoa1So the latest rage on the Internet world of food has been quinoa. KEEN-wah. Say it slowly, it’s ok, KEEN-wah. I seriously must be from the south. I could not even pronounce it. I had to Google the phonetic. Quinoa is a type of grain from South America. I kept seeing recipes using this and I was immediately intrigued.

Sausage and Peas Quinoa2 When I was shopping in my local discount warehouse I found a huge bag of it for a really cheap price. So I said to myself, “we’ll I guess it is now or never.” I am so glad I did. I absolutely love quinoa. I think I am the only one in the house who really likes it. The first time I made it, I added lima beans and lemon. That really didn’t go over well, bit I liked it! On Tuesdays I lunch alone because my husband goes to staff lunch and my kids are in school. So I took the opportunity to make a quinoa for myself. I am so glad I did. This time I decided to do it right. I added some sausage, onions, peas and a little wine. YUM,YUM YUM!

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So come out of the little square food box with me and open your taste buds to a whole new world of deliciousness. And it’s healthy for you too but whatever.

SAUSAGE AND PEAS QUINOA

recipe adapted from here

YIELDS: 2 servings

PREP TIME: 5 minutes

COOK TIME: 25 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 small onion chopped in large pieces

2 sausage links

1 cup quinoa

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 vegetable bouillon cube

1 cup frozen peas

shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In large pot sautée onions in olive oil.

2. Take sausage out of casing then add to the onions and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Mix in quinoa and cook for 1 minute. Stir in water, wine and cube.

4. Add frozen peas, stir and cover for 18 minutes.

5. Sprinkle with cheese and ENJOY!

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Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

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Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

We all know what holiday is coming up in a few weeks, right? Well I wanted to go ahead and throw out to you a quick treat for you. This way of doing marshmallows can be done very easily without a whole lot of time or effort. But they taste great! The mixture of the raspberry, the white chocolate and the marshmallows is divine!

Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

I didn’t have to go find a craft store to make these. I used straws that you can now get at Target. Which by the way I am super excited about because I have one right down the road from me! :)

Secondly you can also pick up all of the other ingredients either at Target or your local grocery store. So it is very convenient as well.

Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

See how cute and pretty they are! The kids are going to flip over these!!I hope you have as much fun making these as I did!

Also look over the next two weeks for more Valentine’s ideas!

RASPBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW POPS

recipe adapted from here

YIELDS: 10

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 10 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

10 marshmallows

15 Hershey’s HUGS Raspberry flavored

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

red gel food coloring

Chocolate Sprinkles

Straws or lollipop sticks

Directions:

1. Cut a hole in the end of each marshmallow. Put your stick in the end and place in freezer for 15 minutes. Prepare sprinkles in a bowl.

2. In the meantime chop your Hershey’s HUGS (makes it easier to melt) put in bowl and melt using double boiler.

3. In a separate bowl melt your white chocolate chips as well and add just a small drop of red gel food coloring to get a pink color. (add more if you want a deeper pink)

4. Once all is done remove marshmallows from freezer, dip marshmallows in chocolate , shaking off excess chocolate as you go. Decorate as you like. ENJOY!

***I removed one marshmallow at a time to keep the other ones cold while I worked. It makes the chocolate harden faster if the marshmallow is cold.***

Raspberry White Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

White Soup and Jane

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I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal on Friday when something caught my attention. It was an article on Jane Austen. I was immediately intrigued.

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You see I discovered Jane through movies a long time ago. And I have been infatuated ever since. I remember my first time hearing about Pride and Prejudice. I was watching this little old movie called…You’ve Got Mail. Anyone remember that? And in the movie there was a conversation about this book. I was not too familiar with it at all. Then in 2005 there came the movie of all movies. Pride and Prejudice. Before this one, I could never pinpoint a movie that I could claim was my all time favorite. Now I can and I do. You think with as many times as I have seen this movie I would actually own a copy but sad to say I really don’t. I did one time tape it off the T.V. but then we got a new DVD player and it no longer has a DVD/VCR combination. So I sadly look at my tape and think of the day that I will actually go out and buy the movie!

So what does this have to do with soup you say? Well there is a line in the book that mentions white soup. So I looked it up online to see what I could find. There were lots of websites dedicated to this soup, so I grabbed one and jumped in. This soup is creamy and thick (well at least the way I made it.) It was easy enough because I made it easy. The directions called for hours and hours of work which I was not willing to do for creamy white soup.

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But to honor the day I made it anyways and also spent the weekend reading the book. Gotta love the ibook on my ipad! Here’s to you Jane and Happy 200th Pride and Prejudice!

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WHITE SOUP

recipe adapted from here

YIELDS: 2 servings

PREP TIME: 1 hour 20 minutes

COOK TIME: 20 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 slices of white bread

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

3/4 cup beef stock + 1/2 cup

2 tablespoons flour

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup half and half

dash of salt and pepper

parsley and slivered almonds for garnishing

Directions:

1. Puree bread, 2 tablespoons almonds, 3/4 cup beef stock and flour.

2. In separate bowl whisk egg yolk and half/half together.

3. Pour egg mixture in pot. Push puree through a strainer with small holes, so you do not get any almonds bits into the soup.

4. Add salt and pepper and 1/2 cup stock. Mix and let it sit over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Turn off and let it rest for 1 hour.

6. Turn back on and let it boil for 10 minutes stirring continuously.

7. Cool down, place in bowl, garnish with parsley and almonds and ENJOY!

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Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

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Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

I was at the grocery store and they had these bananas marked down low for a quick sale. I took the bait and bought them. It was actually a pretty good sale. It was like 3 pounds of bananas for a $1. We have already gone through most of them. I bought them with the intention of making a banana bread. The next day on my Google reader a recipe for banana bread popped up. I said “great, now I am ready to bake!”

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

Well don’t you know I did not have all of the ingredients required to make this particular bread so of course what did I do? You got it! I put my own twist on it and this is what happened……

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

It is so yummy and moist but I really wanted more banana flavor so next time I think I will bump up the amount of banana and decrease the amount of chocolate chips. I will let you know how it goes!

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

BANANA CHOCOLATE NUT BREAD

recipe adapted from here

YIELDS: 1 loaf

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOK TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare 9×5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. In one large bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. In another large bowl mix together banana, sugar, brown sugar, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla.

4. Add wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir well till all is incorporated.

5. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Pour into loaf pan.

6. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

7. Cool before removing from pan. Cut and ENJOY!

Banana Chocolate Nut Bread

Sausage and Vegetable Soup and Charleston

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Sausage and Vegetable Soup

This last weekend was a long weekend because of the holiday and the kids being out of school. So we packed up for an overnight and headed out of town to Charleston, SC. I was quite excited because I had not been there before and the weather looked like it was going to be gorgeous for us. Friday we had a little bit of snow and Monday the temperature was in the 70s. So a big difference in just a matter of days. This soup was something I made due to the pending weather we were about to have. Sausage and Vegetable Soup

This sausage and vegetable soup is a bit like packing for me. Some how when I travel I manage to get the rest of the house packed a day or two before our trips. For me I seem to throw things in at the last minute. And I normally end up missing a few items, or a lot of items. One time I went to Italy for about 3 weeks and had 2 shirts and very few underpants. Luckly, there was a washing machine. This trip I managed to do pretty well for myself, not so much for my 4 year old, but we made due.

It is crazy because for the older kids I try to keep them very organized. I make them both write out a list, then they have to check items off as they pack. I think I spend so much time giving detail to others that I lax in giving detail to myself.

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IMG_8530_newPic#2 Sullivan’s Island

IMG_8457_newPic#3 The Battery

Well this soup was one of those types of soups where I just kind of threw things together to see what I could produce. It was perfect for a cold winter night, while we waited for snow. I did see snow but only because I was looking at the street lamp and nothing seemed to hit the ground.

Sausage and Vegetable Soup

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SAUSAGE VEGETABLE SOUP

YIELDS: 6 servings

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOK TIME: 1 hour

TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 sausage links

3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 small onion, chopped

7 cups water

1/2 vegetable bouillon cube

salt and pepper for taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Using a large pot, saute onion in olive oil till translucent.

2. Add sausage and brown, breaking it into pieces as you go.

3. Add water, cube and vegetables.

4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let it simmer for 1 hour.

5.  Add salt and pepper for taste. Cool for 5 minutes, serve and ENJOY!

Sausage and Vegetable Soup

I linked this post over at Buns In My Oven.