Recipe Box ♥

Condensing my Pinterest recipe posts into one, simple, easy list. :)
Hope to have all of these tried and tested by the end of the year!

Breakfast

• Andouille cajun potatoes
• Baked cheddar and eggs
• Banana bread protein muffins
• Chocolate chip protein pancakes
• Crustless quiche
• Egg white, tomato, and mozzarella on wheat bread
• Hash brown egg white nests
• Mini bacon and potato frittatas
• Parmesan roasted potatoes
• Roasted rosemary potatoes
• Sea salt and vinegar potatoes with goat cheese and chives
• Sunny side-up egg with spinach breakfast sandwich
• Toast with peanut butter and strawberries
• Toast with plain greek yogurt and blueberries

Lunch

• Avocado egg salad sandwich
• Avocado and spinach grilled cheese sandwich 
• BBQ Chicken salad
• Chicken and broccoli stromboli
• Chicken caesar wrap
• Chicken parmesan wrap
• Chicken pesto on a baguette
• Crunch lover's chopped chicken salad
• Egg white and spinach feta wrap
• Ham sandwich with Laughing Cow spreadable cheese
• Margherita (tomato and mozzarella) sandwich
• Mini pizza bagels
• Peanut butter and banana sandwich
• Pizza chicken burger
• String cheese bites
• Turkey lettuce wraps
• Veggie cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches
• Zucchini parmesan crusted chicken nuggets

Dinner

• Baked breaded tofu
• Baked ravioli
• Broccoli pesto pasta
• Cauliflower crust grilled chicken and three cheese pizza
• Cheesy smoked sausage and pasta skillet
• Cheesy veggie pasta bake
• Cheesy zucchini rice
• Chicken alfredo lasagna roll-ups
• Chicken and spinach pasta bake
• Chicken broccoli alfredo stuffed shells
• Chicken enchiladas
• Chicken florentine pasta
• Chicken fried brown rice
• Chicken lasagna with roasted red pepper sauce
• Chicken roll-a-tini
• Chicken vegetable soup
• Creamy pesto three cheese tortellini with chicken 
• Creamy spinach tomato tortellini
• Crock pot cashew chicken
• Four cheese white pizza 
• Garlic herb marinated chicken
• Garlic parmesan chicken lasagna bake
• Garlic pesto chicken with tomato cream penne
• Greek yogurt mashed potatoes
• Grilled fennel sausage pizza 
• Honey lime chicken
• Lemon chicken parmesan
• Kung pao chicken
• Oven-made chicken fajitas 
• Oven chicken tacos
• Pad see ew 
• Panda express chow mein 
• Pasta al limone
• Pesto chicken lasagna 
• Pesto and mozzarella stuffed chicken 
• Skinny mexican pizza
• Soba noodles with peanut dressing
• Southwestern chicken wraps
• Spinach and tomato ranch pizza
• Tomato and chicken pizza
• White cheese and chicken lasagna
• Zucchini bake with feta and thyme

Desserts

• Banana chocolate chip muffins
• Banana nut muffins
• Blueberry muffins
• Brownie s'mores
• Buttermilk pancakes with maple frosting
• Caramel apple cheesecake cookie bars
• Caramel pretzel chocolate chip cookies
• Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes
• Chocolate chip pudding cookies
• Chocolate peanut butter mug cake
• Coffee cake
• Cupcakes with cream cheese cookie dough frosting
• Kit kat and caramel cupcakes
• Mini pies
• Mint white hot chocolate
• Molten chocolate cake
• Peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars
• Red velvet brownies with white chocolate buttercream frosting
• Red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate mousse
• S'mores cheesecake bars
• Strawberry chocolate chip muffins
• Strawberry heart mini cheesecake bites
• Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream
• Whole wheat blueberry muffins 

Sinful Eating/Potlucks

• Baked spaghetti in garlic bread
• Baked tater tot dip
• Cheesy bacon potato bites
• Cheesy hash brown casserole
• Cheesy mashed potato pancakes
• Cheesy potato soup
• Cheesy stuffed garlic butter crescents
• Crescent pepperoni roll-ups
• Crockpot ranch potatoes
• French toast roll-ups
• Mac and cheese bites
• Mac and cheese pizza
• New York style white pizza
• Pepperoni pizza lasagna rolls
• Pizza nachos
• Queso blanco dip
• Spicy chicken ranch dip

August Recipes

New recipes to try this month!
Leggo :)

BREAKFAST

Bob's Red Mill 7-Grain Pancakes

Breakfast casserole -- chicken sausage, potatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese 

Strawberry cream cheese waffle sandwiches

LUNCH

Ham & cheese with mayonnaise on a wheat baguette

Tomato & mozzerella sandwiches

DINNER

Chicken broccoli pesto pasta

Creamy vodka pasta with meatballs 

Chicken fried rice

Tofu with Saffron Road lemongrass & basil simmer sauce

SINFUL EATING

Hash brown casserole

Banana nut muffins

Trader Joe's pumpkin bread mix

Mega List of Recipes To Try! June & July 2014

I've had a lottt of spare time on my hands this month. So naturally, lots of down time full of boredom. One of the things I like to do when I get bored is browse Pinterest. And boy have I had a lot of Pinterest-catching up to do since Step 1 sucked my soul! I decided to break down my "Healthy Cooking" board into separate boards for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack recipes. Plus the Baking Goodies and the Sinful Eating boards. I've also added a bunch of new recipes to each board since there's been so many amazing new recipes popping up on my home screen. 

Here are some of the recipes I really really realllyyy want to try this month! It's probably going to take me until at least mid-July to finish my list since I make a week-long batch of food when I cook (except for breakfast). Here's to spending my summer cooking some healthy (but tasty) noms!  

Breakfast
Egg whites and cheese sandwich on sourdough bread
Hash brown egg white muffins
Sausage & potatoes with red peppers and onions
7 Grain pancakes with scrambled egg whites
Strawberry cream cheese waffle sandwiches

Lunch
Egg salad sandwich
Ham & cheese with mayo on a baguette

Dinner (can also be used as lunches)
Chicken fried rice
Spinach & cheese lasagna
Yellow curry tofu with chow fun noodles

Guilty Pleasures
Chicken alfredo lasagna roll-ups
Hash brown casserole
Trader Joe's Vegetable & Tofu Pad See-Ew
Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

Recipes of the Week: April 28th

It feels like a new "school year" and a fresh beginning since third year starts tomorrow! I'm going grocery shopping tonight and made my grocery list this week around new recipes and tried & true recipes. Tried to take it easy and kind of ease into cooking for myself again so a lot of these things are stuff I've made in the past or easy stuff. I've also decided I want to start cooking myself a "gourmet" breakfast every Saturday or Sunday morning so I'm super excited for that!

Breakfast

• Egg white omelette with toast
• Honey almond granola with milk
• Egg white, ham, and cheddar sandwich
• Banana and peanut butter (on the go option!)

Weekend Breakfast

• Smoked sausage pasta with potatoes

Lunch

• Ham and cheddar with spinach and mayo sandwich and a side of baby carrots with ranch
• Chicken burger on wheat with a side of baby carrots with ranch
• Grilled cheese sandwich

Dinner

• Chicken parmesan with whole wheat thin spaghetti
• Okra masala with brown rice 
• Soup with buttered baguette

Snacks

• Whole wheat baguette with butter
• Spinach feta pesto mini pizza
• Almonds and a banana
• Strawberries with cream cheese
• Soup with buttered baguette
• Baby carrots with ranch
• English muffin pizza

Recipes To Try! -- Week of March 17th

Recently, I've been inspired to cook and prepare meals/snacks by all of the great recipes on Pinterest as well as the huge hole in my wallet and my expanding waistline from all the eating out I've been doing. I've actually prepared some great meals for the week and got ingredients to make some fun snacks for a weekly movie night with my friends.

Egg Salad Sandwich -- a delicious way to amp up my weekday lunches instead of boring old turkey & cheese

Creamy Spinach Parmesan Pasta with Chicken -- creamy pasta dinner this week! 

Buffalo Bean Dip -- Saturday move night snack

Decorated Cupcakes -- I recently purchased an open star tip for decorating. Can't wait to try it this weekend!

Thai Curry Chicken with Potatoes -- I have some potatoes that need to be used up soon and just repurchased my favorite curry sauce, so I think this would be a great way to use my chicken, curry sauce, veggies, and potatoes! Yummy and hearty dinner idea for next week.

Weekend Decor & Monday Night Baking

Happy Tuesday! So, despite doing barely any work the past few days, I have managed to get a few "projects" done, which in retrospect have actually helped my mental health since I feel a lot more relaxed, calm, and fulfilled now. 

First off, I FINALLY put up Christmas lights on my headboard like I have been meaning to do for like three months now. I just found a box of white lights from Christmas and decided to loop them around my headboard. Note: the picture does not do these lights justice at all!

They look a little bit gnarly as they are right now, so I may re-arrange them around the posts or straighten them out a bit, but I really like how these are looking so far! My bed is right in the center of my room, and I would definitely say that it's "the focal piece" of my room. The camera didn't capture just how beautiful these look when my lights are off, and they would make a great reading light or a soft light for when I'm trying to relax a bit before bedtime. Super excited I finally put these up! I may try to find some heart-shaped lights or colored lights this summer to maybe jazz things up a little bit, but for now, these plain white lights are definitely staying.

Next, I did some cooking this weekend (my weekly Sunday night baking was a Monday night baking this week). Let me just start off by saying that I have found my new pasta sauce love. Ohhhhhhh my, I picked up the Classico Seasonal Selections Creamy Spinach & Parmesan pasta sauce over the weekend from Walmart and I am IN LOVE.

It tastes so fricken amazing, it's not loaded with too much fat, and it doesn't have a crazy high amount of salt. That being said, it isn't the healthiest pasta sauce in the world, but for how it tastes, it's not bad either. I've grown tired of my monotonous regular marinara sauce and thought this would help jazz up my dinners this week while keeping things somewhat healthy. It's so creamy and delicious, but what I love is the spices in this sauce. It has a bunch of Italian spices I don't even dare try guessing, but they really hit the nail on the head with not going overboard like a lot of other pasta sauces do. This is definitely my new favorite pasta sauce brand. In fact, I went out the next day after using this to purchase another Classico Sauce. My grocery store didn't have this sauce, so I ended up getting the Classico Vodka Sauce, which I'm sure tastes just as amazing.

As for what I made with this sauce....ehh that was kind of boring. I basically tossed some red onions, chicken, and whole wheat penne into the sauce and topped it off with mozzerella cheese. Nothing too fancy, but the pasta sauce was definitely the star of the dish.

As far as the nutritional value of this dish, each serving has roughly 430 calories, 13g total fat, 4g saturated fat, 49g carbs, 29g protein, 430mg sodium and a pot of this dish makes 7 servings and takes roughly 30-45 mins to make (boiling the pasta and all). Not bad at all considering this dish tastes like heaven! A little more carb-heavy and fat-heavy than I would like, but it's much better than eating a plain-jane pasta&marinara sauce dish, feeling discontent, and trekking up to the hospital cafeteria to get a burger and fries. So yeah, this dish may just become a dinner staple. And even my mom liked it, who usually hates Italian food! Big kudos right there.

Sunday Baking: Egg White Muffins

So since I have recently been doing nothing but sitting in my cave for Step 1 studying, I've been really missing doing fun stuff like cooking, baking, decorating, SHOPPING, etc. I even have been neglecting watching beauty videos and keeping up with my fav beauty gurus! Crazy, huh? 

So this Sunday when I was feeling a little stressed, I decided to make the most of my snow day (I was stuck at home) and do some baking. Instead of making something sweet like last week (made chocolate chip muffins!), I wanted to make something more savory this weekend. So after perusing Pinterest and deciding that I needed a grab-and-go hot breakfast option, I ended up to making egg white muffins with turkey sausage, spinach, and cheddar cheese. And boy are they delish! However, there is much room for improvement and I can see ways for improvement and variety next time I make these.

For starters, I used frozen chopped spinach which in retrospect I shouldn't have used because it was liquid-y once thawed. I think that's why my egg muffins turned out a little liquidy/slightly soggy. Next time, I will definitely be using fresh spinach to remove that liquid factor. Next, I chopped up some turkey sausage and put them into each muffin cup. Definitely glad I did so because they give it a little zesty flavor and add more protein. Since this dish was a last minute decision, I didn't have very many other things to put into my muffins except some shredded cheese. Once I poured the equivalent of roughly 1.5 egg whites into each cup, I sprinkled on some cheddar cheese on top of each muffin cup. 

Like I said, definitely impressed with the way they turned out but I already see some things I can improve on next time. For one, I plan on using fresh spinach instead of frozen spinach to remove that liquid-y ness. Second, I cooked these for 20 minutes this time and they were a little bit undone (but still good enough to eat), so next time I will leave these in there for a full 30 minutes. The turkey sausage is definitely a keeper, but I want to add some onions and peppers next time to give the muffins a little more flavor. I also want to somehow tweak this recipe so that it has less sodium. Right now there's about 230mg sodium per muffin, which isn't too bad but I can only eat one at a time. Ideally I would like them to have less than 150mg sodium per muffin. On the bright side, each little muffin packs only 75 calories and a whopping 10 grams of protein! 

Definitely love this recipe though because these muffins are SO easy to make and because they make a portable delicious hot nutritious breakfast on busy mornings! And they're super versatile. The options are endless with these -- adding more veggies, different cheeses, different meats, sauces, etc. I will definitely be making more of these in the future, possibly even as early as next weekend! :)

Oh and I'm also considering making each Sunday evening a baking/cooking adventure to destress a little bit and to prep meals for my busy, busy, busy weekdays!

Cupcake Inspiration

I was at Barnes and Noble with my mom and brother today and while they were checking out the kids section, I decided to peruse the crafts/cooking section of the bookstore. Immediately my eyes drifted to the "cake" books in the cooking section, which were all super girly, pastel and bright, mostly pink, with pretty covers. This book, however, attracted me the most with its sleek packaging, beautiful cover, and interesting contents. It's Betty Crocker's Just Cupcakes and it comes in this really pretty pink binding that almost resembles a binder. And the cover is just so freaking attractive, I can't stop staring at it!! I'm such a sucker for packaging. The cover for this book screams sunshine and rainbows to me, and it literally brightened up my entire day. Yummy cupcakes with pink ribbons, come on! How can you not feel a bajillion times happier after seeing that? 

I peeked inside, expecting to see some crazy expert-level cupcake recipes. But I was actually surprised to find how easy some of the cupcakes were to make! I really liked this book because it had something for bakers of all levels and interests. Some of the recipes focused mainly on cupcake decorating, while others focused on fancy cake batter ideas. It also had an index of classic recipes (yellow cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, frosting, etc) for those new to baking. It also had some recipes made with boxed cake mix for people who just want to focus on cake decorating rather than cupcake recipes. Needless to say, I loved this book for its diversity in contents and the fact that it had something for everybody and all moods. And even the decorating ideas were so well explained and the pictures were clear cut. Among the recipes that caught my eye were the Easter bunny cupcakes, Halloween-themed cupcakes, the confetti cupcakes, turtle cupcake cake, and the classic recipes. 

I'm really really thinking about purchasing this book sometime in the spring. I hesitate to get this now because I have a lot of reading material I want to catch up on and a lot of Pinterest recipes I want to try first before investing in this one. I most likely will end up getting this book sometime in the middle of the black hole called Step 1 studying because it is just too damn attractive to pass. And I'm sure seeing the cuteness that is this book will cheer me right up out of my study slump. 

Now, making cupcakes from scratch again has LONG been on my bucket list. Last time I made cupcakes from scratch was back in high school, and I really really miss it. There's just something therapeutic about baking and cake decorating. This book really inspired me to want to try and bake cupcakes from scratch again. I brought this up to one of my good friends and he suggested that I try making some from scratch for his Superbowl party on Sunday. After Pinteresting around, I found an allegedly-delish yellow cake recipe and a really adorable decorating idea for football-themed cupcakes. I think it would be such a cute idea to try making these! And the ingredients really shouldn't cost more than $5-10. And plus, a willing audience to test my baking creations? I'm sold! 

Egg & Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

I finally got around to making a breakfast sandwich! I've wanted to try making my own ever since I fell in love with the breakfast power sandwiches from Panera. It was actually quite simple to make it, especially since I'm at my parents house and they have a little sandwich pressor. Even without one, I'm sure it would be just at delicious made on the stovetop or toaster oven. 

At 315 calories, 8 grams of fat, 37 grams of carbs, 26 grams of protein, and 605 mg of sodium it is honestly one of the most satisfying and filling breakfasts I've ever made. I'm a huge fan of warm, toasty breakfasts as opposed to cold ones and this one is super healthy, but delicious at the same time. And ridiculously easy to make as well!

Recipe:

9 tablespoons liquid egg whites (about 3 egg whites)

2 slices of whole wheat bread

1 slice of mild cheddar cheese

Pam cooking spray

A sliver of butter

I first cooked the egg whites in a Pam-coated saucepan. Once cooked, I cut the omelette in half and put each half on a slice of bread. I topped one of the slices with the cheddar slice. After putting the sandwich together, I put a little bit of butter on the outer parts of each slice of bread. I cut the sandwich in half and put it in the sandwich press. Without a sandwich press, it's easy to make it on a saucepan so it's nice and toasty/melty/warm. 

So that's it! It's pretty basic and there's definitely a lot of room to experiment with different toppings, veggies, toast options, cheese options, etc. This sandwich also took me like 15 mins tops to make. Definitely looking forward to making a snazzier sandwich next time, maybe with spinach or onions or even some sausage for more protein! 

Recipes to Try! -- Week of January 20th

1. Lemon-Infused Water: I have a lemon sitting my fridge, and this is the perfect way to use it! I'm sort of getting bored of the drink-water constantly thing and this should be the perfect way to zest up my water so I'm actually looking forward to drinking it.

2. Ham & Cheese on English Muffin: Been meaning to try this for a while now! I absolutely love warm egg sandwiches in the morning and it's easier to make than I thought. The only time-consuming part is cooking the eggs, but once that's done, then it's just a 5 minute prep to make this wholesome sandwich. 

3. Red Potatoes: I don't have the Cajun seasoning that this recipe calls for, but I do have 3 red potatoes cut up and frozen. Not sure if they're going to thaw out just fine, but I really want to try, since potatoes = <3 I even have some frozen sweet potato fries that I may whip up with the red potatoes

4. Chicken Stir-Fry: Now for my dinner recipe this week! I've always wanted to try a stir-fry and the comments on this recipe all say that it's super simple and yummy. I bought a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies, water chestnuts, and sugar snap peas that I'm going to throw in with some chicken. Super nutritious, protein-filled, and (hopefully!) flavor-filled! Now I only need to remember not to overdose on the soy sauce...