In honor of Bar exam week (three days of exams starting tomorrow!), I'm sharing a delicious recipe that I never would have found if not for law school. That's right, this one comes from one of my law school friends, Leah, who runs a food blog called Food for the Fresh! This recipe magically uses all sorts of healthy stuff and still comes out tasting like a delicious fat-and-carbs-filled dessert. Whole wheat flour, applesauce instead of oil, two cups of zucchini in an 8x8 pan... Magic!
Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups grated zucchini (2-3 medium zucchinis)
12oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
1. Combine the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture into the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
3. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.
4. Pour the batter into a lightly-greased 8x8 pan. Top with walnuts (optional).
5. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted (not through a chocolate chip) comes out clean! Cool on a wire rack.
(eggs + applesauce + vanilla)
(dry ingredients)
(grated zucchini)
(batter!)
(ready for the oven)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
First of all... guess what Jeff and I are doing tonight?! We're renewing our vows! Our church is hosting an event for all the married couples and we're all going to renew our vows and it's my one-and-only Bar studying break for the week and it's going to be amazing. We're both a little older and wiser now than we were on our wedding day, and we've come to appreciate our relationship and its sacramental significance and our role in leading each other to God more and more throughout the time we've been married, so it'll be kind of amazing to renew those vows with (almost) three years of growth (spiritually, emotionally, and otherwise-ly) behind us.
Second of all, let's chat about green beans, shall we? (I tried to think of some witty segue between vow renewal and green beans, but I've got nothing.)
Ohhh my, these are so tasty! I could eat a bowl of them for lunch. Any recipe that makes you feel that way about green vegetables is a good recipe indeed!
Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients:
salt and pepper
1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed
6 tsp olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 tsp dried parsley
Directions:
1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook green beans until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.
2. In the same pot, heat 4 tsp olive oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
3. Return the beans to the pot. Add lemon zest and juice, remaining 2 tsp olive oil, and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Toss green beans to coat, and serve immediately.
(green beans cooking)
(cooked green beans)
(after adding the other stuff and tossing!)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
Jeff and I are big fans of this recipe. It's pretty simple to throw together (as long you remember that it needs to marinate for a while), and salmon is pretty healthy, and it tastes good too! My photos for this didn't come out great (I think they got left on the grill a teensy bit too long), but since it's a recipe we use over and over again (rare for an avid new-recipe-tryer like me), I figured it was worth sharing!
Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
lemon pepper
garlic powder
salt
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.
2. In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil until sugar is dissolved.
3. Place fillets in a large Ziploc bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and flip bag over a few times to coat all sides of the fillets. Refrigerate for 2+ hours (I usually just prepare mine in the morning and leave it in the fridge for dinner).
4. Preheat grill to medium heat. Place salmon fillets on the grill (discard the residual marinade). Grill for 6-8 minutes per side, or until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.
(seasoned fillets)
(marinade mixture)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
[Note: We're heading into Bar Exam crunch time, so posting will probably be a little light for the next couple of weeks. Bear with me!]
I had kind of forgotten about the awesomeness of couscous until this recipe popped up on my Pinterest. I don't normally cook much with lime either, so this recipe was a bit out of the box for us, but we loved it! It came out perfectly, and the lime mixed with the flavor of the cilantro and chili pepper flakes was really just lovely!
Recipe adapted from here.
Sweet Chili Lime Chicken
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breast, cubed and cooked
6 tbsp soy sauce (low-sodium)
6 tbsp sugar
1 tsp chili pepper flakes
juice of 1 lime
zest of 1 lime
Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, sugar chili pepper flakes, lime juice, and lime zest. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Pour the soy sauce mixture into the skillet and bring to a boil. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until sauce begins to reduce.
3. Stir in cooked chicken and simmer for 3 more minutes. Stir often to glaze chicken.
Cilantro Couscous
Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup couscous
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Bring vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in couscous and turn off heat. Let sit for 5-6 minutes, or until couscous has absorbed the broth. Stir in chopped cilantro.
Serve chicken over cilantro couscous with extra cilantro and lime wedges as a garnish!
(soy sauce mixture)
(boiling to reduce)
(glazing chicken)
(adding cilantro to couscous)
(chicken, just about done)
(couscous is done!)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
I had my first Bar studying freak-out Wednesday night (or sometime around 2am on Thursday, to be more technical), complete with a few tears and a proclamation that "I don't *sniffle* even wanna BE a lawyer!!" Not my proudest moment. I am continually in awe of how my sweet husband puts up with me. Anyway, under three weeks to go, and the fear is setting in a bit. I can't wait for it all to be over.
Oh. And in the interest of full disclosure, all these recipes I've been posting lately were stockpiled from at least a month ago. I wrote a bunch of posts in May when I had a week off and scheduled them throughout the summer. Lest you think I'm Superwoman or something, here I am, openly admitting that I'm doing ZERO cooking at this point. And very little cleaning. Bar exam trumps everything else. On the plus side, I've also done zero shopping since May except one trip to Goodwill where I spent $11 on a dress and a giant ampersand (remind me to tell you about that later), and we've eaten at restaurants only three or four times all summer long (depending on whether the ever-so-fancy Subway counts), so we're saving lots and lots of money! And I've lost some weight unintentionally because I keep doing things like eating an apple for lunch so I can keep studying. So, if you want to shed pounds and save dollars, the Bar exam may be a good choice! Haha. Moving on...
I had some leftover ricotta cheese in the fridge, so I did a Google search for what I could do with it, and I found this recipe. I'm so glad I did because it's so delicious, and pretty easy too! Apparently "real" authentic calzones use ricotta and no marinara on the inside, and that's just how I like them!
Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tbsp dried basil leaves
1 egg, beaten
marinara for serving (optional)
Directions:
1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, sugar, and salt. Mix in 1 cup of flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour, until dough is smooth. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until dough is elastic.
2. Lay dough in a bowl coated with 1 tsp olive oil. Flip the dough over, cover, and let rise for 40 minutes (it should almost double in size).
3. While dough is rising, combine ricotta, cheddar, pepperoni, mushrooms, and basil in a large bowl. Mix well and set aside in refrigerator.
4. Punch the dough down and separate it into two parts. On a lightly-floured surface, roll each part into a thin circle.
5. Fill each circle with half of the filling mixture and fold over. Fasten the edges by folding them in and pressing them with a fork. Brush some of the beaten egg on top of each calzone.
6. Place the calzones on a lightly-greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Serve warm with marinara dipping sauce.
(dough, before rising)
(filling mixture)
(dough circle - obviously, it doesn't have to be a perfect circle)
(filling)
(ready for the oven!)
(yummm!)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
I thought I didn't like eggplant until I made this recipe. I wouldn't have tried it in the first place, except it was a Friday during Lent and I had to make something without meat! But it turns out I do actually like the stuff, provided it's breaded and served with basil and cheese. Haha! You could totally do this recipe as just eggplant parmesan (without the bread), but we love it as a sandwich!
Recipe adapted from here.
Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup marinara sauce
1 cup seasoned croutons, crushed
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 hero or hoagie buns, sliced
fresh basil leaves
olive oil spray.
Directions:
1. Coat a baking sheet with foil and olive oil spray.
2. Place marinara in a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, stir together crushed croutons and half the cheese.
3. Dip eggplant slices in marinara, then in crouton mixture (you may need to press on some of the crouton mixture to coat).
4. Place eggplant on prepared baking sheet. Lightly coat with olive oil spray.
5. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, or until breading is lightly browned and eggplant is tender.
6. Toast buns for a couple minutes in an oven or toaster oven. Heat remaining marinara in the microwave. Assemble sandwiches by placing a few slices of eggplant on each bun and topping with marinara, fresh basil, and remaining cheese.
(marinara and crouton-cheese mixture, reading for dipping!)
(coated eggplant slices)
(ready for the oven!)
(ready for assembling sandwiches!)
(sandwich assembly)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
My grandparents have a big beautiful garden. If I'm lucky, they share the things they grow with me! My favorites are their homemade salsa, the green beans, and the poppyseeds!
Whenever I get a container of poppyseeds from them, I usually go crazy making baked goods - citrus poppyseed cake, or poppyseed muffins. But the last time I got some, I tried this recipe my mom gave me, and I discovered that this casserole is delicious!
Recipe from my mom.
Ingredients:
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
16oz sour cream
3 tsp poppyseeds
31 Keebler Town House crackers, crushed
1/4 cup butter, melted
Directions:
1. Combine first four ingredients. Spoon mixture into a lightly-greased 11x7 baking dish.
2. Stir together cracker crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over casserole.
3. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
(mixing up ingredients in a bowl)
(mixture spread in an 11x7 dish)
(cracker-butter mixture on top)
(out of the oven!)
Ta-da!
Enjoy!
