Zesty Salad Bowl

Yesterday was the first day of my 30 day healthy lunch challenge and it was a delicious start to the 30 days. I took photos but forgot my cable to put them on my laptop. So it's a double post today :p

This is a good representation of a salad. Not the plain crunchy water you get at some restaurants. Sweet, zesty, and filling. Using lemon juice as the dressing, brings out the flavors and makes the salad light and fresh.

Zesty Salad Bowl

5 cabbage leaves (can be substituted with your favorite lettuce)

1 radish

1/2 red bell pepper

1/4 cup raspberries

1/4 cup blueberries

1/2 cucumber

2 slices of ham, chopped

1/2 grilled chicken breast, chopped

1 cup lettuce (whatever you have on hand), chopped

1 lemon

Carefully, pull the 2 leaves off the cabbage head. Wash and dry them, these will make your bowl. Chop the other three leaves, these will add lots of crunch to your salad without the calories that croutons do! Add the chopped lettuce and cabbage to the bowl. Toss in all the other ingredients except the lemon. Squeeze some lemon juice on and voila! You have a wonderfully delicious salad with lots of flavor and nutrients. 

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

I feel like most things I make center around chocolate. And honestly I see no problem with that. I'm starting a challenge of 30 days of healthy lunches but I still feel that even if you are trying to eat healthy and 'what you should' that you should also indulge every now and then to feed your soul. It's all about balance. And hey, these have vegetables in them.

The great thing about zucchini is that you can put it in a lot of baked goods and it keeps the piece moist and adds fiber. Great flavor and benefits? It's a win win.

These muffins aren't terribly sweet but more of a balance between sugar and spice. You get chocolate's sweetness offset by the muffin's spicy hint of cinnamon.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup almond milk, or whole milk

1 tsp cinnamon, heaping

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 zucchini, shredded

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F

Cream the sugar and butter together till smooth. Mix in the egg. Add the milk, flour, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and zucchini. Use a 1/4 cup measuring spoon to divide up batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Excellent with Italian Roast coffee :)

Great Grandma's Chocolate Pie

This recipe is from my Great Grandmother who is 98 now. She would have bacon and fried eggs for breakfast almost every morning. I don't feel bad about eating bacon anymore after learning that. Not that I felt that bad in the first place. I mean come on...it's bacon.

Intense, smooth, chocolate flavor with a light flaky crust served with fresh whip cream and you have the makings of a very good pie.

Chocolate Pie

1 9''baked pie shell

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp flour

3 cups whole milk

3 egg yolks, beaten

2 tbsp vanilla

Mix the sugar, salt, cocoa, cornstarch, and flour in a saucepan with high sides on moderate heat. Gradually stir in the three cups of milk. Continually stir until mixture thickens and boils. Let boil for one minute. Remove from heat. In another bowl beat your egg yolks and add about half the mixture from saucepan into bowl. Don't add your yolks straight into the pan otherwise you run the risk of cooking your eggs. Add egg and chocolate mixture into the saucepan. Put back on heat and boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla. Cool, stirring occasionally. Pour into cooled baked pie shell. Chill thoroughly, about two hours. Take out of the fridge about 20 minutes before serving. Serve with fresh whip cream or grated chocolate.

Cucumber Rolls

I love food that is contrasting. And these cucumber rolls fit the bill perfectly. Smooth but crunchy. Light but flavorful. Innocuous but addicting.

I've seen similar recipes over the past few years but most of them were with feta cheese. Which I'm a fan of in only certain situations. This is not one of them. Plus, I think making it with cream cheese makes them more crowd pleasing than the feta version.


To make these you need to make thin slices of cucumbers. Having a Mandolin slicer makes life so much easier but you can also use a regular potato peeler. You just need to be more careful of keeping your hand steady so you don't end up with a bunch of slices that are thin then thick or missing pieces.


Cucumber Rolls 

2 cucumbers

1/2 red bell pepper

1 package cream cheese, room temperature

3 green onions. chopped

1 stem of fresh dill, chopped or 1 tsp dried dill

Wash and cut the ends off of your cucumbers. Slice your cucumbers, using each side until you only have the heart of the cucumber left. Save it. You can chops it up into the cream cheese mixture or chop it into a salad or give it to a whiny kid to munch on. Using a spoon, cream or cream cheese so it is easily spreadable. Add the red bell pepper, onions, and dill and mix.  On a flat surface, add about a tablespoon of the mixture to one end of the cucumber slice and roll it up like you would a sleeping bag. Try to keep them nice and tight when rolling and then you wont need toothpicks. Which, since I'm out of those at the moment, is quite handy. If you have any extra cream cheese you can always set out some carrots or celery and use it as a delicious dip!

X marks the spot for something delicious!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever had Otis Spunkmeyer cookies before? Well, these aren't like those. Not even close. I wish they were but these are a different kind of goodness. I promise. Crisp with a soft gooey center and just enough chocolate to satisfy your cravings without overloading your senses.

I keep losing my train of thought as there is a party bus outside my house pumping out house music like nobody's business. I wouldn't be so distracted nor annoyed if said party bus was for me. But it's not so it needs to move on and take its tantalizing flashing lights and dance music elsewhere. So I can enjoy my wine and book and perhaps curl up with my cat.....I lead such an exciting life I know.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar (use light if you don't have dark)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 1/4 cups flour

1 - 1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, heaping

1 - 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, heaping

Preheat oven to 350 F

In an electric mixing bowl mix your butter and both sugars together till smooth. Add in both eggs and mix into just incorporated. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl mix the rest of your dry ingredients together. Add too mixing bowl in batches until just completely mixed. For something like cookies, brownies, and cakes you need to be careful not to mix too much.

Using a tablespoon scoop out a heaping mound of cookie dough and eat it. Then moving on, use about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie. It doesn't need to be in a perfect ball or anything. Just plop it on the cookie sheet and move on. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Until the center is just done so you will end up with a nice soft center of melted chocolate goodness.

These cookies will cause happiness but in some subjects violence was displayed. Mostly in response to all the cookies being eaten and the culprit looking something like this.

Fake innocence can obviously be learned at a very young age. Enjoy your cookies!

Strawberry Cookies (Pink Cookies!)

Every time one of my nieces or nephew come over I hear the cry to make Pink cookies! Over and over until I finally submit for the sake of my nerves...or it might be the fact I'm out of duct tape....I really need to go buy some and they get to help make these oh so amazing pink cookies.

Bite-sized and complimented with powdered sugar and a cold glass of milk these wont last very long in any household. Even a child that told me in no uncertain way that she HATED strawberries and anything fake or real to do with them, gobbled these up. These are very moist and easy to make that you can make it with children 'helping' and nothing but a wooden spoon and a mixing bowl.

Pink Cookies

1 package of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 stick of butter, room temperature

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 box of strawberry cake mix

1 cup powdered sugar

preheat the oven to 350 F

Cream the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix until smooth. You can even use a spoon if your cream cheese is melted enough but I just use an electric mixer. Cover the bowl with either plastic wrap or a paper towel and chill for 1 -2 hours. I told you this recipe was easy!

 I (read children) am impatient so I usually just chill for about 15 minutes before rolling the dough into balls but you will get very messy hands if your dough isn't chilled enough. Set out a plate of 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. Add more to your plate as needed. Once your dough has chilled, scoop out a heaping tablespoon and roll into a ball in between your hands then roll each into the powdered sugar till it is completely coated. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. After taking them out of the oven you can add a bit more powdered sugar on top. Let cool then set your little ones or yourself loose on them.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Creamy and savory with a slight kick. These mushrooms will go fast at any event or be just enough to placate the hungry hoards that show up around dinner time known as friends and family so you can finish making dinner.

I love how the softness of the mushroom and cream cheese is offset by the crunch of the red pepper. I tend to notice texture more and more now since my best friend is obsessed by it. I'm big on taste considering it's well...food but her thing is texture. To each their own I suppose.

Cream cheese Stuffed Mushrooms 

1 package of white button mushrooms about 18

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tsp fresh rosemary, diced or 1/2 tsp dried

1 package cream cheese, room temperature

olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 F
If you wipe the dirt off the mushrooms with a damp cloth instead of rinsing them with water you'll avoid them becoming waterlogged and getting soggy when baking but if you are in a hurry rinse and be sure to dry thoroughly. Remove the steams and if you feel like going above and beyond, save the stems and chop them up to add to the cream cheese mixture. Otherwise, just throw them out. Cream you cream cheese with a spoon till there are no lumps and it is easily spreadable. Add your rosemary, garlic, red pepper, and mushroom stems (if you kept them). Mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Brush the mushroom caps with olive oil and stuff them with cream cheese mixture. About a tablespoon each or so depending on the size of your mushrooms should do the trick. Pop those babies into the oven on a large baking sheet and bake for twenty minutes. Transfer to a pretty dish and watch them disappear faster than they show up in your neighbors yard. (you really should stop kicking those mushrooms so they stop spreading :p )