Pork Carnitas

Mexican is always a fan favorite in our house. Tonight I made slow cooked pork carnitas. Rooms and I have been back on track with the 21 day fix diet (post the holidays). If you don't know what the 21 day fix is.. it's totally worth a google! It's basically a portion control diet but this dinner totally qualifies and is good for left overs. I used pork loin instead of pork shoulder as it is a less fatty piece of meat but it's just as flavorful for the tacos. The recipe below is enough for about 4 people

For the 21 day fix version of this recipe fill up the red container with the carnitas meat and use others for toppings, its great to serve over shredded lettuce! 

What You'll Need:
- 1 1/2 pound pork loin
- 1 bay lead
- 1 1/4 cup of water
- For the rub you will need 1 package of mexican taco seasoning
- 1 lime

What To Do:
Rub the meat with the mexican taco seasoning as well as salt and pepper and place it in the slow cooker. Add the bay lead and water and cook on low for 5:30-6 hours. When it is done you should pull apart the pork easily so you can shred it.

Shred all the pork and place it back in the slow cooker with the juices and add the juice of 1 lime. Serve up with your favorite taco ingredients.

Garlic & Lemon Roasted Shrimp over Corn Risotto

If you are looking for a great date night dinner here it is... garlic & lemon roasted shrimp over corn risotto. This is a great dinner and you can prepare the shrimp ahead of time, making it easy for any weeknight meal as well. These shrimps are flavored with butter, garlic, lemon and rosemary. 

Also I made regular risotto with a twist by adding corn. Don't be afraid of risotto, its pretty easy to make you just have to keep an eye on the rice and keep stirring. 

Lets start with the shrimp... 

What You'll Need: 

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 tablespoon olive oil 

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons rosemary

1/2 teaspoon red pepper

2 large lemons

1 lb of shrimp (peeled with the tails on) 

What To Do: 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

In a large pan melt the butter over low heat add in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for about 1 minute then add in the juice of one lemon (off the heat). 

In the meantime arrange the shrimp in one layer in a large baking dish. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp and sprinkle with salt and pepper. ISlice the second lemon and tuck them among the shrimp. f you want to make this dish ahead of time just cover with the baking dish and refrigerate up for 6 hours. Roast in the over for 12 minutes until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. 

Next up the Corn Risotto 

What You'll Need: 

1 tablespoon butter 

1 cup arborio rice 

1/2 cup dry white wine 

3 cups of chicken stock 

1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano 

1/4 cup frozen corn (during the summer I like to use fresh corn)

What to do: 

Place chicken broth in a medium sauce pan and heat up on low. 

In a deep sauce pan melt butter and add in rice, saute for about 2 minutes then add in wine and let evaporate for 2 more minutes. Add 1 cup of broth and let it get absorbed by the rice (keep stirring the rice). 

Add the rest of the broth to the rice slowly, it should take around 22 minutes to be cooked. Remove from heat, stir in cheese, season with salt and pepper then add in frozen corn. 

Plate: Add a scoop of corn risotto to the plate and top with roasted shrimp. 

Sandwich Night

For sandwich night I made Sliced Chicken Panini with Buffalo Potato Wedges. The sliced chicken sandwiches are easy to make and very filling. The hardest part of this panini is just putting everything on the bread. I like using Swiss or mozzarella cheese for this panini, since both of them melt really well. 

What You'll Need: 
3 tablespoons of butter
1 cup baby portobello mushrooms (sliced) 
1/2 an onion (sliced) 
A pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder 
2 cooked sliced chicken breast (the easiest thing to do here is to use a rotisserie chicken) 
1/2 cup of sour cream
3 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
1 large ciabatta loaf cup into 4 pieces  (for 4 sandwiches) 
4 slices of swiss or mozzarella cheese

What To Do: 

In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter then add the mushrooms and onions, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook until the onions and mushrooms are tender. While the mixture is cooking thinly slice the chicken breast on an angle. 

To make the sauce add sour cream, ketchup and parsley in a small bowl. 

Lightly butter the bread. Build each sandwich: add the sauce, 1 slice of cheese, mushrooms/onion mixture, sliced chicken and more sauce. Grill each sandwich for about 3 minutes. You can either use a panini press or grill pan (what you have a home). 

Buffalo Potato Wedges

These buffalo potato wedges are the perfect side for any buffalo lover. The are ready in only 40 minutes and are simple to bake in the oven, below is the recipe, hope you enjoy! 

What You'll Need: 
3 tablespoons hot sauce ( Franks!!) 
3 tablespoons melted butter 
1 teaspoon salt
4 potatoes cut into 8 pieces


What To Do: 
1. Preheat the oven to 425. In a small bowl combine hot sauce and butter. Cut each potato into 8 wedges, add 1/2 the hot sauce mixture to the bowl and toss together. 
2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange the potatoes and roast for 40 minutes. 
3. Remove from the oven and toss with remaining hot sauce/butter mixture. 

Chipotle BBQ Wings

Sunday's are for football, drinks and wings! Today I made Chipotle BBQ Wings, they were really simple to make and a great crowd pleaser! 

What You'll Need: 

- 24 wings

- 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chipotle 

- 1/2 teaspoon salt & pepper

What To Do: 

1. Spray a baking sheet with pan or any kind of cooking oil an place the wings on the baking sheet in a single layer. 

2. Bake in the oven on 400 for 45 minutes then turn the oven on broil and leave the wings in for about 5 more minutes (to get them extra crispy). 

3. While the wings are cooking you can prepare the sauce. In a large bowl combine, BBQ sauce, worcestershire sauce, chopped chipotle and salt & pepper. 

4. When the wings are done cooking place them in the bowl with the sauce and mix around until all the wings are lightly coated. Then Enjoy! 

Chocolate Cake

With all the holiday's I've had some time to relax and do some fun things like.. Bake! Although once we get back into the work flow it's back to healthy eating, for sure. Yesterday I made this decadent chocolate cake from Ina Garten's new cook book "make it ahead." I made a few tweaks to her recipe, she makes this cake with gluten free flour but I used regular flour instead and I used cooled coffee instead of coffee granules. But it came out great and looks so good! 

What You'll Need: 
- 1 Pound & 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate such as Lindt, broken into chunks 
- 1 1/4 sticks of butter (unsalted cut into pieces at room temperature)
-1 tablespoon flour
-1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
-1 teaspoon cooled coffee 
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-4 large eggs, separated
-1/4 cup heavy cream

What To Do: 
1. Preheat the oven to 425 and grease an 11 inch tart pan (with a removable bottom) or you can use an 8-inch spring form pan. 
2. Place the pound of chocolate in a large heat proof bowl over a pan with simmering water (keep stirring the chocolate until it is melted). Off the head add in, butter, flour, sugar, coffee and salt. Then add in egg yolks until smooth. 

                    

3. Whip the egg whites in an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Fold them into the chocolate mixture (very carefully with a rubber spatula) until everything is combined. 

4. Scape the mixture into the pan and bake for 15 minutes -- then turn off the oven and leave the cake in there for an hour. The cake will sink in the middle. 

5. Carefully release the sides of the pan and slide the cake onto a flat serving cake stand. 
6. Place the 3 ounces of chocolate and heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Again keep stirring until the chocolate melts. Pour the chocolate onto the sunken part of the cake. 
7. Allow the cake to cool before serving (I like a cold chocolate cake so I even put it in the fridge)

This cake looks so good and tastes even better! 

Cannoli Cups

As we are in the high point of the holiday season, its time to attend many holiday parties or maybe even host your own. I attended a work holiday part this past weekend and wanted to bring the perfect dessert as a thank you to the host. I found this recipe online for cannoli cups and thought it was the perfect thing to bring. Let me start off by saying I could live off cannoli's or at least the filling so I may be a little bias in my love for these. This dessert is super cute looking and perfect for the holidays! I also found cute holiday cupcake boxes at michaels and used them to bring the dessert in (all you have to do is assemble the box without the cupcake liner inside and it makes the perfect dessert box for any shape/size dessert)! 

I found a lot of recipes for this dessert on line and I mix a few together to come up with this one. I found a few that made there own pie dough ( I am sure that is wonderful ) but the way I made these they can be ready in just about 30 minutes! You can also make the filling and cannoli cups ahead of time and just assemble right before serving them! 

What You'll Need: 

Filling- 

• 12 oz whole milk Ricotta 
• 8 oz Mascarpone cheese
• 2/3 cups of powder sugar
• 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (for topping) 

Shells-

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 sheet pre made pie dough (I used pillsbury pie crust 

What To Do:

1. Mix together ricotta, mascarpone and powder sugar in a large bowl and then cover and chill for 30 minutes or until you are ready to use.  

1. Flour a surface to roll out the dough. Then roll out the dough until about 1/8 thickness (I know its hard to tell what 1/8 is but basically its pretty thin). 

2. Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar and press into the dough. 

3. Cut in 2 1/2 inch rounds using a biscuit cutter (I didn't have one so I used the top of a grated cheese container and it worked great). 

4. Place the round into a mini muffin pan. Pressing each one down and lightly spraying with vegetable oil. This should make 24 mini cups

5. Bake in the oven on 400 for about 10-12 minutes. 

6. Let the cups cool then using a piping bag- pipe the ricotta mixture into the cups and garnish with mini chocolate chips. 

Hope you enjoy this holiday treat! 

Asian Meatballs

These asian meatballs were extra saucy and really good. They can be ready in under 30 minutes. I made them this week for dinner and served them with brown rice and zucchini, but they would be really good mixed in with asian noodles or a great quick appetizer. 




What You'll Need: 
Meatballs 
1 lb ground pork (or beef) 
1/2 cup panko 
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger 
1 egg
3 gloves garlic 

Sauce: 
2/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic (minced) 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ginger 
1 teaspoon sriracha 

What To Do: 
1. Preheat the oven to 400. 
2. In a large bowl mix together all meatball ingredients and combine. Then form in 12-15 meatballs. 
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes until browned. 
4. While the meatballs are baking whisk together all the sauce ingredients until combined. Once the meatballs are done cooking dip the meatballs in the sauce. 

Sunday Meatballs

I made these meatballs a few weekends ago but haven't found the time to blog them.. since this is a post that demands some food respect! Meatballs have always been one of my favorite foods and for as long as I can remember my mom would make meatballs on sunday! So I have attempted to carry the tradition on. Meatballs aren't too hard to make at home but it's one food I will never order when we go out to dinner, since I am incredibly picky about them! 

I recently fell in love with a place where all they make is meatballs & pizza... Millies! and when rooms my husband ate my meatballs he literally said that they taste like Millies. I am not 100% sure about that statement but they are were pretty good so I hope you enjoy & make them at home! 

What You'll Need: 

(Meatballs) 

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 large egg 
• 1/4 cup of parmigiano-reggiano
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 3 cloves of garlic crushed 
• 2 tablespoons parsley 

(Sauce) 

• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped 
• 1 large can crushed tomato 
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes 

What To Do: 

1. In a large bowl mix together all the meatball ingredients, gently combine ( honestly your hand are your best tools for this one) form into meatballs (this will make a a dozen large meatballs but you can totally make them smaller).
2. In a large pan add some EVOO and brown the meatballs in batches then remove to a paper plate. Use the same pan to make the sauce so you get all the meatball dripping goodness! 
3. Add another turn of EVOO into the pot then add in garlic and onions an cook for 5-10 minutes until tender. Add in crushed tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and red pepper fakes, bring to a simmer. 
4. Place the meatballs into the sauce and cover cooking for 30 minutes then garnish each dish with parsley and some parmesan cheese and service up with some pasta! 

Cheddar and Beer Fond..DO

This sunday I wanted to make something different/fun to eat. So I made cheddar and beer fondue. My husband bought me a fondue pot a couple of year ago and I'm pretty sure we made some standard chocolate in it but that's about it. So I pulled it out today and channeled my inner melting pot for this dish. I made and served the fondue in the fondue pot but I have seen recipes on line where you melt the cheese in a pot over the stove and then serve, so use whatever you have should work! This could have not been easier to make but it is SO good!

With the fondue you have to have plenty of dippers. Of course you can do standard chips and bread but some other things I really like to serve with fondue are the following:  rye or pumpernickel cubed instead of regular sour dough, carrots, cauliflower and surprisingly apple! But honestly anything is delicious dipped in cheese. 

What You'll Need: 

• 10 oz cheddar cheese shredded 
• 1/2 cup gruyere shredded 
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup beer
• 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 1/2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

What to do: 

1. Add the beer to the pot and bring to boil then slowly add in handful of cheese and flour and whisk together. 
   
2. Then add in mustard and worcestershire sauce

Cherry Pie Bars

One of my father-in-laws favorite things is cherry pie, being his birthday this past weekend- I decided to make cherry pie bars for his party. Although it wasn't the most appealing dessert I've ever made, it was simple to make and really good! I cut them into bite size pieces so people could eat them somewhat gilt free! There also really festive looking with the read cherry filling for any fun holiday event! 











What You'll Need: 

   For the Bars: 

• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling 

  For the Glaze: 

• 1 cup confectioner sugar 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• 3 tablespoons milk

What To Do: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a mixer, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add eggs. Beat in extracts. Gradually add flour.
2. Spread 3 cups better into a greased 15x10 baking pan. Spread with pie filling then drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over filling. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. 
3. Cool the bars completely then in a small bowl mix confectioner sugar, vanilla and milk until it is a drizzle like consistency and drizzle over the top of the bars. 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This past weekend I went to PF Chang's for the first time with some of my besties. We ordered chicken lettuce wraps and they were awesome! I decided I would try to make them this week for dinner. Over the past few weeks we have been doing the 21 day fix in our house (at least on the weekdays)! If you haven't heard of it you should look it up, it comes with a meal plan and 30 minute work out dvd. If nothing else it helps you eat the correct portions. But either way this recipe for dinner fits perfect into the 21 day fix diet since it is high in protein and low no in carbs; but it will become a staple in our non diet life as well. 

This meal is also super quick it will only take about 15-20 minutes to make (beat that rachael ray haha)! 

What You'll Need: 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground chicken 

2 cloves garlic (diced) 

1/2 onion (diced) 

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1/2 tablespoon garlic chili 

salt and pepper

1 head of butter lettuce

What To Do: 

• Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add ground chicken, season with salt and pepper and brown in the pan. Remove any excess fat then sir in onion, garlic, hoisin, soy, rice wine vinegar and garlic chili. Cook for another 3-5 minutes make sure to sir the sauce!
• Serve up with lettuce and rice if desired! I served this right in the pan so everyone could make their own chicken lettuce wraps! 

Thanksgiving = Buffalo Cheddar Beer Stuffing

As the biggest food holiday is past us, I figured it's time to post my thanksgiving masterpiece. Last week I posted a recipe for cheddar beer bread, it was so good but I made it for this thanksgiving stuffing recipe so I couldn't eat much of it! I used the bread to make this buffalo stuffing. Just a warning the heat level on this is pretty good, so you might want to use less hot sauce if you are making this for people who don't love buffalo things. Lucky for me, that will never be my problem, everyone around here likes love buffalo everything! 

What You'll Need: 

1 loaf cheddar beer bread, cubed

1 onion, diced

1 large carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced 

2 cloves garlic, chopped

10 tablespoons butter, divided

1 1/4 cups hot sauce

3 cup chicken broth 

2 eggs

4 sliced cooked turkey bacon

What To Do: 

1. Make the bread a few days in advance or else toast up the cubes so the bread is crusty and will soak up all the hot sauce! (honestly if you don't have time to make the bread I am sure store brought bread crumbs would come out good too but its really easy)

2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet then add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic. Saute until everything is very tender. Remove from the heat and place in the bowl with the bread.

3. Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a large bowl, add the hot sauce, chicken broth, eggs and seasoned salt (just a pinch). Whisk to combine and then pour the mixture over the bread cubes and gently toss t. Transfer to the prepared baking dish (9 by 13 pan) and bake 45 minutes on 350 or until just golden on top. Remove and top the stuffing with crumbled turkey bacon & garnish with parsley! (You can also make this ahead of time and reheat when ready to serve.. that's what I did) 

Bacon Maple Cupcakes

Nothing better than Bacon! 

We have the partial snow day to thank for this one! To start off tomorrows festivities right I made bacon maple cupcakes (stay turned for more thanksgiving blog posts in the upcoming days!)

What you'll need: 

This will make 12 (pretty large) cupcakes!

For the cupcakes: 

• 3 slices of bacon (chopped)
• 1 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted) 

For the icing: 

• 3 slices of bacon (chopped) 
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 cup unsalted butter 
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

What to do:

Place one package of bacon (if you use the whole package you'll have a few pieces left over for snacking on) in a layer on a sheet pan. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place in the oven for 15 minutes then let the bacon cool on a paper towel 

Once the bacon has cooled crumble 4 pieces (into small pieces) and put into the bottom of a bowl and add in milk, egg, maple syrup melted butter once combined add in flour sugar , baking powder and salt. This dough will be pretty wet. 

Use an ice cream scoop and scoop into cupcake pans, then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool. 

In a mixer, whip butter on high for a few minutes then slowly add in powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add in maple syrup and vanilla. Then fold in 3 pieces of bacon (chopped). 

Frost the cooled cupcakes and garnish with a small slide of bacon! 

Beer Bread

Cheddar Bead Bread anyone! I’ve been dying to make bread ever since I got this sweet rachael ray bread pan. In full disclosure everything I post of my blog is 100% my own but I found this recipe on another blog that I love! Since baking is a science,  I can’t just throw some things in a bowl and come out with a good result, at least on my first try. But I thought this recipe was so simple and easy, especially because it doesn't involve yeast.. just beer (something we always have in our house)! 

What You’ll Need:

3 cups of flour

¼ cup brown sugar

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 can of beer (honestly don’t get fancy-- I used a fan favorite in our house, bud light)

½ cup cheddar cheese (shredded)

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 375, Spay a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. 

Add flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Once combined pour in the beer and stir until combined (the dough will be sticky) then fold in shredded cheese! Pour the batter into the load pan and bake for 45 minutes (until golden brown)!

Chocolate Chip Ice-cream bars

This recipe has been floating around pinterest for a while, and looks awesome but does anyone really make it? That question is answered today.. because I did! It is chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sandwiches. This is made with no bake cookie dough ( no egg!) After making these I would totally recommend it - they were delicious and you can make them ahead of time and store in the freezer! 



What You'll Need: 
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla 
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 cups of ice cream


What to do: 
1. Microwave butter and sugars in a large bowl until melted, about 1-2 minutes. Sir the mixture together until it is melted then sir in milk and vanilla. 

2. Add in flour and salt then sir in chocolate chips. 

3. Take a 8-inch pan and line with parchment paper (or non stick foil) then press 1/2 of the mixture onto the bottom and roll with a rolling pin or use your hands until this is smooth. Then place a layer of parchment paper in between and do the same with the second half of the dough. Place in the freezer for an hour or 2. 

3. Remove cookie dough from the freezer than pull up the top layer (carefully!) Gently spread softened ice cream over the cookie dough then place the layer of cookie dough on top. 

4. Freeze again for up to 2 hours then cup into 16 bars. I wrapped each in plastic wrap and kept in the freezer until we wanted to enjoy!