My new favorite recipe

I had an incredibly delicious salad the other night for dinner, and the recipe was super easy. I LOVE this salad! Really, you gotta try it! It doesn't sound like much, but it is awesome.

YUM!

bibb lettuce

1/2 apple, diced (I used golden delicious)

2 tablespoons sliced celery

grilled chicken breast, sliced

2 tablespoons toasted whole almonds, chopped 

Creamy Buttermilk Dressing 

Ingredients for Dressing 

Makes 1 1/4 cups 

3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup soybean oil mayonnaise

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon minced chives

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper ( I added a little garlic salt and rosemary too)

Whisk ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Thai Glazed Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Another awesome recipe discovery! Not to difficult, although I would recommend getting pre-grated ginger. That part was a bit tedious and I almost grated my fingers off. I would also recommend adding more vegis because the ratio was a bit off. This would also be very good with shrimp instead of chicken. Also broccoli and more carrots and maybe some bean sprouts too. Yum. This one's a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1 pound thin cut chicken breast meat, available packaged in meat case of market
• Grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Seasoning by McCormick)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger root
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and very thinly sliced
• 1 cup packaged shredded cabbage and carrot mix
• 3 scallions, chopped on an angle
• 1/2 cup plum sauce
• 2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cut into half again
• 1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped

Directions

Thinly slice the chicken into strips and sprinkle with grill seasoning.

Heat a large skillet to screaming hot. Add vegetable oil, then chicken. Cook chicken 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the ginger, garlic, peppers, cabbage and carrot mix and scallions and stir-fry another 2 minutes. Add plum sauce to glaze the mixture, toss 1 minute, then add basil and wilt leaves. Add fish sauce and turn to coat. Transfer cooked chicken and vegetables to a bowl. Place spoonfuls of chicken into a piece of lettuce with cucumber and fold lettuce over to eat, like small tacos.

Mozzarella-Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf

 

Looking for something a bit healthier to eat, I tweaked this recipe last night and it turned out to be really, really good! I actually like this version of meatloaf better than any others that I've tried. It's really juicy and tasty, easy to make, inexpensive, and healthy! Quadruple win! If only it didn't take an hour to cook - by the time it was done I was STARVING! So I ate about half of it :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey breast
    (All I could find were turkey burgers, so I only bought 1lb, which made for very small slices... which is how I justified eating half the pan...)
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed well to remove any excess water
    ( I just cooked up a panful of "garlicky greens" and threw in what looked to be enough...recipe for "garlicky greens" to follow...)
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
    (Didn't have this so instead I sprinkled in just a touch of dill and thyme... not really a comparable substitution at all -  but it worked out well!)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces grated part-skim mozzarella cheese (1 cup)
    (I didn't have mozzarella, so I used muenster and it tasted great.)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F. In a large bowl, combine turkey, spinach, onion, bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, egg whites, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Press half of mixture into an 8-inch loaf pan. Top bottom half with cheese. Press remaining turkey mixture over top and flatten. Whisk together ketchup and mustard and spread mixture over prepared meatloaf.

Bake 1 hour, until top is golden and loaf has pulled slightly away from sides of pan. Let stand 10 minutes, then slice and serve. YUMMMMM!

Holiday Mug Flair - Adorable

 

 

This is very likely the cutest way on the whole flippin' planet to serve gingerbread. Would it be insane to attempt to make like 40 of these things for Christmas? Yes. Probably. But they are SO CUTE! Really "not martha" you are so very martha. Don't even try to deny it with your clever little blog name. You are totally martha.

I'll have S'More, please!

Over the weekend, we had some friends over for a night of chili, s'mores and Pictionary. As I write this, I feel compelled to assure you that it was probably ten times more awesome than it sounds. My favorite part of the evening was when we all gathered around the table to roast s'mores - that's right, s'mores. Indoors, sans the campfire, minus the freezing cold temps, and with a sink just feet away to immediately wash the sticky gunk from your hands. Don't get me wrong, I love camping and campfires and roasting s'mores while snuggled under a sleeping bag, but being able to eat delicious roasted mallows without having to plan a trip, or build a fire outside during the middle of November, was pretty darn awesome. I would even go as far as saying that they actually tasted just as good as the outdoor version. I would highly recommend trying it out. Here's how it goes...

* Gather the standard grahams, chocolate bars and marshmallows. Easy.

* Buy a can of sterno from the party store. This only cost me $1.49. Cooking food over a flaming-strange-goopy-blue chemical sounds slightly hazardous, you say? I thought the same thing, but I did a tiny bit of research, and it's basically alcohol in a gel form. As long as you don't ingest the actual goo and you don't spread the highly-flammable stuff all over yourself, you should be just fine. Be aware that you cannot just blow this stuff out. You have to save the lid so you can snuff it out. Be careful. They are very real, very hot flames ;)

* Get some little sticks or use a fondue set, like I did! Make sure that the sterno is on a heat-resistant surface, light it and roast your heart out! Enjoy the fact that you are enjoying s'mores and yet your clothes will not stink like smoke for the next two weeks.

 

Not your average sushi rolls

I LOVE this idea from not martha :)

It has been years since I last consumed anything from a Hostess box, which is probably a good thing. Judging by how long those suckers stay "fresh" I would predict that those indestructible chemicals consumed in my youth are probably still being stored inside me. I think I just may have break my streak to willingly partake in some trans-fat deliciousness, however, and plan a sushi party just so I can make these!

Best Mac and Cheese Ever...

Made this on Friday night and it was sooooo incredibly good! Perfect comfort food for cold snowy fall days... or any day for that matter!

Ingredients: 

1 box (one pound) penne rigate
3/4 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 lb Gruyere cheese, shredded
1/2 cup shredded Asiago or Parmesean cheese
3 TBS unsalted butter
3 TBS all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Heat oven to 350*. Coat a 2-quart broiler safe oval baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of water to boiling.  

Once water boils, add penne. Cook for about 6 minutes and drain. In a large bowl, toss together all three cheeses, set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in medium size saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smoth and slightly bubbly. In a thin stream, whisk in milk. Stir in onion powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer three minutes. 

 

Remove from heat; whisk in 2 1/2 cups cheese mixture - Not all of it! Just about half...
 

In pasta pot, stir together the pasta and cheese sauce. Pour half into prepared dish. Sprinkle with one cup of cheese. Spoon remaining penne into dish and top with remaining cheese. (layering the cheese.)
 

Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. Increase oven temp to a broil and cook three minutes until top is lightly browned. (I really like the crispy top, so I might let it brown for even longer next time.) 

 

Cool slightly before serving and ENJOY!!!

Yummmmmmmm...

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Last Friday was Jacob's birthday and there were several creative projects worth sharing, including my favorite Black Russian cake recipe. It's very moist and has a chocolaty-bitter-boozy-raspberry-heavenly flavor to it. Here's how I do it...

1 (18.25 ounce) package moist yellow cake mix
1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix (this is the big one guys)
1 c. oil
1/4 c. vodka
1/2 c. kahlua
3/4 c. water
4 eggs
more kahlua :)
confectioners' sugar
a bunch of raspberries (frozen, fresh, or in a pie filling)

All you have to do is mix up the package of cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, water, vodka and kahlua in a big bowl. Then you bake it in a greased and floured bunt pan at 350 for 50 minutes. While it's in the oven, mix up some kahlua and powdered sugar (maybe a cup or so?) Also mix up your raspberries in a separate bowl with some powdered sugar to create a berry topping (you can add some water too - you want them to be sort of saucy). Leave the cake in the bundt pan and poke the bottom with a fork to create some holes and pour the kahlua glaze over the top. Let this sit for at least an hour, so it can soak in. When you're ready to serve it, put the cake on a platter and put the raspberries all over the top and sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it beautiful. Then enjoy!


Mmmmmm... it's sooooo good! I think I actually like it leftover better, because the kahlua sort of does this caramelizing thing in the cake and it's just glorious.

I was really happy with how Jacob's birthday present turned out. It's sort of non-practical and artsy, so I also gave him a camp chair and a manly plaid shirt, so I wouldn't feel guilty about giving him something that I might like more than he does. He is from Petoskey, MI , which is at the very, very top of the lower part of Michigan right on the edge of beautiful Lake Michigan. He is always talking about the lake and it's beaches, so I decided to give him a little portable piece of Lake Michigan. I got my inspiration from Design Sponge and ended up basically copying what I saw because I loved it so much. I definitely might love this more that Jake does... is that bad? Anyway, I had this artist from Etsy custom-create this beautiful glass pyramid box for me. She was so incredibly helpful and nice, and her prices are fantastic! I highly recommend her. Inside of the box I placed objects from that beach that Jake's mom collected for me including some driftwood, a seagull feather, a genuine Petoskey stone, a skipping rock and some beautiful beach sand. I think it turned out well. He said he loved it. Maybe when he becomes a teacher, he can use it as a paperweight. Right now, it's sitting by the window and reflecting light all over out living room :)