Tasty Tuesday: Avocado Breakfast Pizza

I love, love avocado.  That's all I'm going to say because words cannot express how much I love it.

So, I've been using my avocado love and incorporating that into breakfast lately.  

The basics include:  pocketless pita bread, half of an avocado, and an egg.

I mash up my avocado, mixed it with a little lemon juice and salt and spread it on a toasted pita.  The day of this pic I had some leftover sprouts, so I tossed those on there.  My original intent with the egg was to fry it but I forgot that's what I was doing and ended up scrambling it.  Still worked though!  The other mornings I make this, I do fry the egg instead.  Personally for me, fried egg on top is easier to eat since pieces of egg  aren't falling off the slice.  And of course, I have to add hot sauce because that just wouldn't be me.  

Hippie Maybe?

Sometimes I wonder if I was a hippie in a past life.  In high school, my big research paper was about the culture of hippies, which I totally aced by the way (and was one of the few with the English teacher we had).  And I'm loving that floral vintage is coming back.  I gave in and bought a wallet from Target when I have a perfectly fine wallet right now.  But that wallet was black and boring.  The one I bought today was distressed leather with flowers all over it.  I fell in love. 

Today, I'm gonna attempt to make these cupcakes for Easter.  Fingers crossed!

And last night, I made these flatbreads that were delish (recipe follows)!! 

Since I'm an android gal (I actually love android by the way!) Instagram was made available and you bet I got my hands on that app.  How much cooler does the flatbread look!?

I've also been eating a pretty nutritious for the past couple of days.  Health nuts would praise me.  Vanilla yogurt, granola, fresh berries.  Nom, nom, nom.

Because I wanted a cool picture, I actually made too much, so this lasted 2 mornings.  I got a store brand granola mix with almonds and honey and it added this great sweetness to it.  Even with the soggy granola the next day, it was still awesome.

Thai-Style Chicken Flatbread/or Naan (this recipe makes for 2 flatbreads, so double it for 4)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut about 1/2 lb of chicken, cut into bite size pieces.  Marinate the chicken with 2 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp honey, and 1/2 tsp cornstarch at room temperature for 10 minutes (The honey is important!  It helps to carmelize the chicken).  Heat a pan over high heat and add the chicken and cook for a couple minutes.  Brush olive oil on the edges of the flatbreads.  Spread peanut sauce on each flatbread.  Top with shredded mozzarella and the cooked chicken.  Bake for a couple of minutes until the cheese melts and the edges are golden.  Top the breads with bean sprouts (the sprouts actually add this great crunch to every bite) and cilantro. 

Stay classy,
Heidi

A Lazy Sunday...

I wish. 

Fact or Faked is on an April Fool's SyFy marathon all day and as much as I would love to just veg out and geek out, I can't.  I just got back from the grocery store, which is usually an hour ordeal and then not even counting the prep work before the trip (I clip coupons and organize my grocery list).  Then, I promised myself I would run for about an hour (gotta train for that race in October!)  Then, I have to clean our bathroom that's gotten pretty sad lately, at least the toilet and shower.  Then I wanted to go through some of my old tshirts and cut up the gross undershirts and re-purpose them for cleaning rags.  Then, I need to fix dinner for when the BF gets home (Lemon and Dill Baked Salmon w/ Roasted Broccoli!)

Looking back at what I just said, I guess I don't have THAT much to do.  I'll be able to veg out when the BF gets home, but still, I just want to be lazy...

Today is April Fool's Day as well.  A small part of me wanted to send mine and the BF's parents a card saying "Congrats, you're gonna be grandparents!"  :)  But then, karma might bite me in the butt

:(   It would've been funny though...

Yesterday, I made another manly breakfast, well, semi-manly.  Bits of sausage, bacon, ham, green peppers, onions all mixed with scrambled eggs, and topped with...wait for it...warmed sauerkraut.  Since the BF already ate at this point, I had this all to myself.  Served with toast and some french roast coffee, it was a good start to any Saturday (well, it was already afternoon by this point, but I don't fully wake up til about noon anyway).  There were leftovers, so the BF got to experience this breakfast this morning. 

Oh yea, I also made this awesome Chinese Broccoli Beef Noodle Stir Fry from Steamy Kitchen.  I couldn't find Chinese Broccoli, so I ended up using regular broccoli florets, but it still tasted good!

I took a picture, but I didn't realize the shot was blurry until I saw it on the computer.  With that said, I'm using one from the Steamy Kitchen site. 

 Mine DID NOT look like this at all, so maybe it was best that my shot came out blurry...

Chinese Broccoli Beef Noodle Stir Fry
from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine, sake (rice wine) or dry white wine (I used sweetened Mirin)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch or cornstarch
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 pound beef sirloin, thinly sliced
1 pound fresh or 10 ounces dried noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 1/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 pound Chinese broccoli or regular common broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks or florets
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
-In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon each soy sauce, oyster sauce and rice wine. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until completely dissolved. Stir in the cornstarch and continue stirring until smooth. Add the sesame oil and beef, and mix well. Marinate for 20 minutes. Drain and discard the excess marinade.

-Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles until 1 minute shy of done and drain. (We'll finish cooking the noodles at the end)

-Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok over high heat and stir-fry the garlic until fragrant, about 1o seconds. Add the beef and stir-fry until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

-Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and when hot, add the Chinese broccoli, stir frying so that the oil coats the Chinese broccoli. Pour in the 1/4 cup of the stock, turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook the Chinese broccoli until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the Chinese broccoli to the same plate.

-Add the remaining cup of stock and the remaining 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine to the same skillet and bring to a boil over
high heat.

-Add the noodles and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, leaving the noodles lightly moistened,2 to 3 minutes. Return the beef and broccoli to the skillet and toss to mix the ingredients thoroughly. Season with pepper to taste and serve.

Stay classy,

Heidi

A "Man" Breakfast and Some Mexican For Ya...

I'm so glad it's spring, although the weather lately has been more summerish (we're talking like 80 degrees!)  It's been nice though.  I love my short sleeve tops!  But with spring comes rain, which it has been doing since yesterday.  Not too thrilled with that.  Rain makes me feel kinda blah and I don't want to do anything productive.

Yesterday morning, I made what I called a "man" breakfast.  I had eggs and leftover chili, so what do I do?  Make omelets covered with chili!  It was...different.  It took a couple of bites to get used to, but it was good.  Towards the end, I was starting to get a little sick from all the protein, but like I said, it was still good!

Over the week, I also made an awesome dinner, courtesy of Pinch of Yum's Chicken Tamale Pie recipe (recipe follows).  O.M.G. it was good, and so incredibly easy.  I bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded that for the pie.  The sweet from the corn and the savory from the meat and sauce just went so well together.

I'm going to use the picture from the website since I was too excited to eat this to take a picture.  And hers looked way better than mine anyway.

How amazing does this look!!??

I came home the other day, and saw this.

One of the animals, not sure which one, sure does love sleeping under the covers while we're gone. As you can see there's a perfect little animal tent going on there...

Chicken Tamale Pie from Pinch of Yum
Serves: 8 
Total Time:  45 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 cup fat free milk

1/4 cup egg substitute

1 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning, divided

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 (14 3/4 ounce) can cream-style corn

1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained

1 (10 ounce) can red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

3/4 cup shredded white cheese

cilantro and crumbled Cotija cheese for topping

Instructions

-Preheat oven to 400°.

-Combine the first 7 ingredients (milk through green chiles), using just 1/2 tablespoon of the taco seasoning, in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a round pie plate coated with cooking spray.

-Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. While corn is baking, toss the chicken in the remaining 1 tablespoon taco seasoning. When corn is done, pierce entire surface liberally with a fork. Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken and sprinkle with cheese.

-Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into pieces and top each serving with cilantro and Cotija cheese.

Stay classy my friends,
Heidi

K is for Kimchi

Courtesy:  wikibooks.org



Yummm!!!!!!

Dr Oz. gives kimchi his seal of approval.  If you don't know, kimchi is pretty much a vegetable that's fermented in spices.  It sounds disgusting, and I think it is a bit of an aquired taste.  There are also variations of kimchi.  My mother, who is Korean, makes an awesome cucumber kimchi.  That's what I grew up on.  Put some of that with rice, and MMMM, I was in heaven for a few minutes.  Traditional cabbage kimchi, I wasn't always a fan of.  It wasn't until recently when I started eating at a local Korean restaurant that I fell in love with it.

Lately, I've been cooking a lot from Jaden Hair's Steamy Kitchen, both her site and cookbook.  I've found bunches of her recipes that have been delicious, easy and fast.  I stumbled upon a recipe that I already had ingredients for, so no need for the store, which is my kind of recipe!  This particular one had two of my almost favorite foods:  fried rice and kimchi.  I couldn't find the recipe on the website, but it is in her cookbook the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. 

*Note:  I've learned from various sources throughout my recent years that the best fried rice is used with leftover rice that was in the fridge.  The rice dries out in the fridge, but when it's fried, the moisture goes back into the rice, leaving an amazing fried rice.

Korean Kimchi Fried Rice

Serves 4

(I cut this recipe in half since it was just two of us) 

4 c. previously chilled cooked rice

2 tbsp high-heat cooking oil

1/2 c diced red bell pepper

1/4 c chopped green onions

1 tbsp finely minced garlic

Chopped kimchi

1 tbsp soy sauce

1-2 tsp kimchi juice

(I didn't have much in the jar, so I also put in some Sriracha sauce)

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

With a fork, gently separate the grains of rice.

Set a pan or wok over high heat.  When hot, add 1 tbsp of the oil and swirl to coat.  Add the bell pepper and green onion and fry for 15 seconds.  Add the garlic and fry for another 30 seconds.

Add the rice, toss with all the ingredients, and spread the mixture out all over the cooking surface.  Let fry, untouched for 1 minute.  Add the kimchi, soy sauce, kimchi juice and salt. Toss very well to mix all the ingredients.  Again, spread the rice out all over the cooking surface and let fry, untouched for 1 minute.  Repeat the tossing, spreading and 1 minute frying until each and every grain of rice is heated through.  Taste and adjust with additional soy sauce if needed.

Dish out the fried rice, rinse the pan and dry thoroughly.  Return the wok to high heat.  When the wok is hot, add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and swirl to coat.  Crack the eggs into the wok and let fry for 1 minute.  Then turn the heat to medium-low and continue to fry the eggs until the whites are completely set and the yolks are still runny.  (The BF and I aren't fans of runny eggs, so I just fried them and it worked out great!) 

Top each portion of fried rice with an egg and garnish with additional kimchi.

~~~~~~~~

Now, I wish the recipe was on her site because my picture looks nothing like the pretty picture Jaden took of her dish.  It actually doesn't look nearly as appetizing, but looks are deceiving because it was so good!!!

You can kinda see the egg under there!  Also note my kitchen must have, Sriracha sauce (specifically the one with the rooster)!!!

Stay classy my friends,

Heidi