I have had a grudge against mushrooms for quite some time and as a vegetarian, this made no sense.
So this weekend I decided to cast aside my negative feelings toward fungi and cook up something delicious in the kitchen.
Success.
What you need
Portabella caps
1 serving quinoa
2 garlic cloves
1 yellow onion
Broccoli (sliced)
Yellow squash (finely diced)
Red pepper (finely diced)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Balsamic salad dressing
** Please note: You can add literally any vegetables you want to this. Spinach would be really good too but mine was slimy :(
What you need to do
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Cook quinoa according to instructions -- should be 1 part quinoa, 2 parts water
Take the mushroom caps and remove some of the gills gently cleaning the mushroom top as you go. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes
I put the squash, red pepper, garlic and onion in my food processor together, diced them up and put them in a sautee pan over medium heat with olive oil for 7 minutes, stirring continuously.
Add the broccoli and cook for another few minutes
Remove from heat, add the quinoa, mix together and stuff into the peppers, sprinkling with salt and pepper. You can add a slice of cheese on the top if you want! I didn't and it was still delicious.
Put stuffed portabella in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and drizzle balsamic dressing all over that bad boy. YUMMY!
Macaroni, cheese and cupcakes....
Does it get any better than that??
Sorry in advance to my dairy-free friends and those of you participating in the Whole30 challenge. I respect your dedication but my love for cheese and crackers has trumped my need for a sculpted body.
(( Maybe next year ))
I got this recipe here on the Curvy Carrot. I really, really like her website, she cooks some really delicious recipes. Check her out when you get a moment! I then added a few extras to my recipe but for the most part, it is the same.
Mini Mac and Cheese Pies
Servings: 12
Ingredients
2 and 1/2 cups Ritz crackers, crushed finely in a food processor or by hand
****I used roasted vegetable Ritz and they were fabulous!
4 cups white cheddar cheese, grated and divided
8 tablespoons Earth Balance natural spread
1 package cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked)
4 cups cheddar cheese
6 Tbsp herb goat cheese
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
4 large eggs
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch red pepper flakes (or paprika)
Parsley, for garnish, optional
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Generously spray 8 cups of your muffin pan with cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine the crushed Ritz crackers, 1 cup of the
shredded white cheddar cheese, and the melted butter, mixing well until
the mixture holds together and resembles coarse sand.
4. Divide the mixture among the 8 muffin cups and, using your fingers
or the back of a spoon, firmly press the crust into the bottoms and up
the sides of each muffin cup.
5. In another large bowl, combine the cooked (and still hot!)
macaroni with 1/2 cup of the shredded white cheddar, the cheddar cheese, goat cheese
and the butter, mixing well.
6. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, almond milk, sour cream, salt, and red pepper flakes, mixing well.
7. Add the egg/almond milk mixture to the cooked macaroni, mixing until smooth
8. Place about 2-3 tablespoons of the macaroni mixture into each
muffin cup (you will probably have a little leftover macaroni. Save it and make it into a casserole
9. Top each muffin cup with the remaining white cheddar.
10. Bake the mac and cheese pies until lightly golden on top, about 20-25 minutes.
11. Let cool slightly before removing from the muffin pan, garnish with parsley, and serve immediately.
Enjoy!!!
Have you ever loved someone so much just the thought of them makes you want to well up all sappy-sue and cry?
Your heart is squeezed so tight at the thought of their smile lines you feel in the depths of your humanity that it will explode at any moment.
I feel that every day.
(( e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y ))
As a single parent it's hard to imagine loving anyone as much as you love your child. How is there room for anyone else? I'd love to know how married couples or couples happily co-parenting just short of marriage do it, they must feel like their hearts are outside their bodies all the time...ready to just POP
We love a lot of things in our lives before we love our kids.
We love parties, we love drugs, we love staying up late and sleeping in till noon... We love to sit on our couch all day with a hangover, watching three seasons of LOST because we can. We love to go on spur of the moment trips to see the Grand Canyon or travel across the globe to taste traditional Indian food. We do things selfishly because we can. There is nothing else holding us back from packing a bag and moving on just as quickly as we came.
And then the baby comes, and life starts to slow down. You are bound to a small, needy creature who asks for all of your time, all of your money and all of your energy. He cries because he wants to be touched, he stares deeply into your eyes because you are his first love, his best love. Now we can't go out and party, or we can but we shouldn't, not yet. Boxes of diapers replace that free floating cash you stored away for an eighth of weed and sleeping until noon becomes a running joke between you and your mom friends.
(( because that's what dads do....har har har))
Now we stay up late watching trashy reality TV because it doesn't require a lot of brainpower or thought and for once you are actually sitting down... so pat yourself on the back for that one.
And then one day it happens. Your baby is now almost two and would prefer to be at Nana and Papa's house eating cookies and watching Thomas the Train. You are free to go about your evening, no longer bound by the creature you covet so, if only for one night. You dance, you sing, you drink too much and it is GREAT. But still, at the end of that night that tiny creature is the last thing you think about before you fall asleep and the first thing in your mind when you wake up.
I can't think my son enough for coming into my life. I can't thank him enough for being the greatest star in my sky. I hope that at the end of the day I make him proud. I hope that I can rise above the anxiety and mess that sometimes surrounds our lives and be thankful that at least we had each other. It isn't easy to guess where we might be tomorrow or the next day or the next, but I have the most amazing partner, friend, child, companion to go through it all with.
((Now take a nap, mommy is tired))
