For a good time make these....

... and then call me for dinner!
Do yourself a favor and put this into your dinner ideas for this week or next! Share them with someone you love- not like- L.O.V.E. !! When I came home from work I wanted to go with something different- as in I've eaten so much chicken I may have feathers soon!  I recently picked up some portabellas, both large and small. My original plan was ground beef and baby bellas, but everything I googled for inspiration ended up resembling beef stroganoff. Not exactly what I was going for!

This was born out of the desperate need to eat beef, not doused in creamy sauce, over egg noodles.  We all draw our inspirations from somewhere, just so happens mine was from a list crossed off, and face full of frustration. Wheels spinning, ingredients flying out of the fridge, and oven preheating dinner was put together in about 40ish minutes!

If you need sweet revenge, make these and eat them in front of whoever is deserving of it. It's the adult thing to do!

Beef Stuffed Portabella Caps
1 lb lean ground beef
2 large portabella mushroom caps- could have used 4 oops
1/2 cup diced onion
3 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp Panko
4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
salt and pepper
basil
garlic powder
rosemary
red pepper flakes
Goat cheese garnish

Pre heat oven to 400.
Use a spoon to clean the inside of the mushroom up. Chop it up to mix in with beef.  Over medium heat cook onions and garlic until fragrant and translucent.  Mix in with beef, panko, and vinegar.  Stuff the mushrooms resembling a GIANT meatball!  Top with garlic powder, sprinkle with pepper flakes, rosemary, and basil!  The key is in the rosemary!!!  I baked these for 30 minutes.

I served this over whole wheat pasta with kale- tossed with olive oil and black pepper.  To wrap it up generously place goat cheese on top. The creaminess of the goat cheese mixed with the rosemary ties the whole thing together. 

Steve's already put in a request for them again!

Go ahead and pin this, spread the spice!!!

Kiwi Mango Vinaigrette

I posed the question on Facebook the other day about kiwi eating. I go for the full kiwi effect- fuzz and all! A friend equated it to a toothbrush for your belly, and I like that!  Many went the way of a fuzz free kiwi.  For tonights dinner, I went without the fuzz!
I needed some fresh and light dinner to balance the festive food filled weekend.  So atop a piece of grilled mahi, resting on mixed greens, went this dressing! Garnished with avocado slices and red onion, it's the kind of dinner that energizes you! Lucky for me there is leftover dressing for lunches this week. Mixed with quinoa, this would be a healthy lunch powerhouse!

Kiwi Mango Vinaigrette
1 peeled kiwi
1 peeled mango
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp honey
1 handful fresh cilantro
salt and pepper- to taste


Allow the food processor time to whirl the mixture into a light, sweet, slightly tangy dressing!

The Main Event

After months of planning, The Bride and her Main Man made it official in front of friends and family.  She was absolutely stunning! She knows how to throw a party, and even convinced hubs to dance with me (a request usually saved for the kitchen or the deck!)
With an early afternoon arrival we nibbled on chicken salad while waiting on the Glam Squad to come do their magic.
Though I haven't done it yet I think it would be equally amazing to go all veg with it and substitute Chickpeas for chicken...

This made enough for  6 people, plus leftovers for post reception noshing!

Leave 5 skinless/boneless chicken breasts marinating in Italian dressing for 4+ hours.
Cut into strips and grill.
Place chicken breasts in food processor  and pulse for a quick chop of the chicken.
For the dressing mix the following together before pouring over chicken;
1/2 cup Mayo (I love the reduced fat with Olive Oil!)
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (tweak to your liking of zingy-ness)
1 packet Good Seasonings Zesty Italian mix
2 tsp Agave Nectar
3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp Onion powder
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp dill
2 Tbsp basil
Mix well, and pour over chicken!  Enjoy on whole wheat wrap, or fluffy soft bun!

Have cheese, will travel!

Blogger says this is my 102nd post.  Missed the big 100 post party... oops! Guess I'll have to make up for it by blitzing the blog to get to 200 posts... and really get down!

Today is the wedding day of a very awesome childhood friend.  We met 20 years ago when my family moved into our suburban utopia, and her family was right down the street!  Cue bike riding, park days, pool playing, and sleepovers that laid the foundation of youth into adolescence!
A couple of weekends ago we celebrated The Bride in Charlottesville style- a rented car took us to wineries and we finished up the evening with dinner and drinks! Needless to say more silly memories were made and random fits of laughter spontaneously erupts when the bride, her sister, and I are able to get together!

To balance out the wine we were tasting I packed some cheese and crackers. I love the versatility of goat cheese. It pairs equally as well with sweet fruits as it does savory herbs.  The spread for crackers originally was a blend of chopped roasted almonds, and dried cranberries, mixed in with goat cheese, and drizzled with honey!

With an early primping start to today's wedding festivities I'm loading up a cooler with chicken salad (recipe soon....mmm) and some easy snacks! Today's goat cheese medley has roasted pecans, dried cherries, and an agave drizzle!  Its tasty AND pretty- with a slight pink hue after spending a brief couple of seconds in the food processor.  Easy and tasty always make a wonderful match.

In an oven set at 400 degrees roast chopped pecans for 5- minutes.
In a food processor, pulse dried fruit (cherries today), pecans, and goat cheese.
Form into ball, or log, or whatever fanciful shape you desire...a goat cheese dove perhaps?!

Time to get ready for some celebrating!  Congratulations to two wonderful people! I feel so incredibly lucky to be there to celebrate the day with you!

A rainy Saturday night

While running Saturday errands, we decided to do smaller nibbles for dinner. Without the desire to settle for 1 particular style, we opted for an assortment of foods that would typically be meal starters.  To kick off a rainy evening of grilling, guitar, wine, and beer, we ate smoked salmon sushi rolls.  The smoked salmon with red peppers, cucumber, and avocado were perfect with  wasabi soy sauce. Ever the novice sushi roller, several attempts were made to create the rolls cylindrical appearance.  They were a great way to start the night with my favorite person!

Spring Back

With Spring's arrival it was time for our annual backpacking trip- see hubby's recap! Easter weekend offers one of the first chances for us to get away, sleep in our tent- jam packed with 2 pups- that kicks off our year of travel! Energized by a quick birthday hiking adventure last weekend, we set out to push a little further, hike a little harder, and sleep amongst towering trees and brightly lit stars.



While trips are amazing, so is the feeling of getting home to the creature comforts we've been without for a few days that makes us appreciate them that much more, and planning the next adventure.  So with screaming calf muscles and serious cravings for anything not from a wrapper or crammed into bar form, I loaded us up on protein tonight.

I made these amazing meatballs a few weeks ago- a spin off of burgers one of my dear friends created a few summers ago!  Tonight's version was tweaked a bit more.  One of hubby's friends hooked us up with fresh ground deer burger- not a fan of venison, leave it out!  Feeling adventurous, seek it out! What is more perfect than something so free range and organic...?!  I'll jump off that soapbox!

When prompted with meatballs for dinner, a lukewarm reception is expected. Nothing is sassy and exciting about a meatball. It conjures up vision of crockpots, toothpicks, and indigestion inducing sauce.  But throw in some roasted garlic, fresh spinach, and a grill and the luke warm reception is replaced with mouthwatering, and second helpings! 


I served mine with sauteed onion, mushroom, and asparagus quinoa- and substituted israeli cous cous for hubby's quinoa! 

Grilled Spinach and Feta Meatballs
1 lb. ground chicken
1/2 lb. ground deer burger
1/2 cup feta
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2/ Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves roasted garlic (chopped)
1 Tbsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt

Mix well together and roll into 2 inch balls. Place on foil sprayed with cooking spray.  Heat grill to high heat and cook meatballs on foil, on the grill.  Roll every five (or so) minutes until they are well cooked.  Mine were on about 20 minutes.

If only all of life's ordinary- at times boring- situations could be solved by a grill... what a tasty world it would be!

Hollandaise

This winter has lacked that whole "wintery feel" with repeated weeks of 50 and 60 degree temps. So what better time to start a yard reconstruction project than on a Saturday night- by the glow of truck headlights- only to finish during the only snowstorm we've seen this year.  Totally normal right?!  The  true feat of the weekend has been the relaxed vibe that settled in, sometime Friday afternoon-while a stylist set free the split ends of my hair!!  One dinner date at Emilio's later, with sangria obviously accompanying the boiled octopus tapas and the stress of the last few weeks drifted away.
Enter Saturday morning. While cruising cooking light online, I came across and ultimately started craving this.  Not having Canadian Bacon didn't discourage my morning masterpiece. Not really feeling the heaviness of traditional Hollandaise sauce, my goal was to create something lighter while keeping the full flavor intact.  Thankful to the many vegan recipes dedicated to egg/butter free Hollandaise Sauce- this blend of ideas was created and savored, mentally stored for my next fancy feeling feast- and 1 less chicken loses it's life! Win-win for everyone, don't you think

Holy Healthy Hollandaise
1/4 cup drained and rinsed Chickpeas
1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
Splash Worcestershire
Salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 Tsp Turmeric
3 Tbsp Coconut Oil
1/4 cup water

Give it some alone time in the food processor- enough to take the grainy texture from the chickpeas and make it smooth.  Warm in a sauce pan and server over everything... eggs.