Roasted brussel sprouts and Asaparagus

I decided to roast brussel sprouts, asaparagus and a small butternut squash to have with dinner last night. I have never roasted brussel sprouts before but am so glad I did. They turned out great. Such a simple way to cook them. I will be doing this again for sure.

Ingredients

• brussel sprouts, cleaned and trimmed
• asparagus, ends taken off (if stems to thick use a veggie peeler to thin them down)
• butternut squash, cubed
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread brussel sprouts on cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Use your hands and mix the brussel sprouts around to ensure they are all covered. Put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Toss squash and asparagus with olive oil (I did this part in a bowl while the brussel sprouts were in the oven), salt and pepper. Add to the oven with the brussel sprouts and roast for another 10-15 minutes.

Greek Salad

I love Greek salad, I think I could eat it every meal of the day. The longer it sits the better it tastes, the only problem with that is that I'm impatient and don't like to wait so it's usually gobbled up pretty quick. I personally don't like kalamata olives (or any black olives for that matter) so I don't add them to the salad. I also don't add any lettuce. For this salad I used red pepper and it tasted great, usually I use green peppers but I used them the other night in the spaghetti sauce. The dressing is simple to make and tastes great. I highly recommend this salad!

Ingredients

• 1 English cucumber, diced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• feta cheese, crumbled (I use cows milk feta but whatever kind you prefer use)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice (I use fresh lemon juice)
• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Combine cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and onion in a large bowl.

Put dressing ingredients in a mason jar with a lid or a gravy shaker (a bowl and a whisk would work too!). Shake until combined.

Pour dressing over vegetables. Top with feta cheese. Toss lightly to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (if you can wait that long!). Enjoy.

Baked Spaghetti

I love spaghetti and love to play around with the sauce. Ryan loves baked pasta so I decided to do a baked spaghetti loaded with veggies and cheese. I did add ground beef to this dish to make it a little heartier for Ryan after a long day at work, but it would have been just as delicious with no meat added. It turned out delicious. Noodles and cheese, really who could complain about that!

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 carrot, grated (I used the small grate on my box grater)
• 1 small zucchini, grated (I did the large grate for the zucchini)
• 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1lb. extra lean ground beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large can tomato sauce with garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes with olive oil and roasted garlic
• 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• spaghetti noodles, cooked
• cheese, grated (I used marble cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan would have been great on top as well)

Heat oil in skillet, add onions and celery. Cook 5 minutes. Add peppers, carrot, zucchini and garlic. Cook 3-5 minutes. Add ground beef, salt, pepper and oregano. Cook beef through. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to an hour. Add chopped basil and stir.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine noodles and sauce. Spray an oven safe dish with a non-stick spray. Add pasta, top with cheese and bake 30-45 minutes. Until cheese is bubbly and the pasta is warm through out. I served with some warm buns, a salad would have gone nicely with this as well.

The BEST Chocolate cake!

I love to bake however when it comes to decorating cakes I'm hopeless. No matter how hard I try it looks like my four year old decorated the cake for me. So making this chocolate cake from scratch made me a little unsure because then I was going to have to frost it (and for me even frosting a cake does not always go well) but I decided to go for it. I am sure glad I did. This is cake is not only easy to make but it tastes great. I found the recipe at http://thenonpareilbaker.blogspot.com and adapted it slightly. It is orginally a Hershey's recipe, so how can you go wrong!

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare two 9 inch cake pans by greasing and flouring them.

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be on the thin side.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake 30 minutes. Cool in the pans 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

I frosted the cakes with a really simple buttercream frosting. I like chocolate cakes with white frosting so that is what I did for this cake.

Frosting Ingredients

• 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk

In your mixer (or with a hand mixer) with whisk attachment combine sugar and butter on low. When blended add vanilla and milk. Whisk one minute until completely combine. Frost cake and enjoy!

Swiss cheese and Basil stuffed chicken breasts

Tonight for dinner I decided to make chicken breasts stuffed with Swiss cheese and basil. I served them with Yukon Gold potatoes that were smashed with sauteed leeks and parmesan cheese, we also had asparagus on the side that I had pan fried in butter and olive oil. Everyone asked for seconds which was a good sign! We followed up dinner with the a great chocolate cake I made (recipe to follow tomorrow).  All in all it was a great dinner!

Ingredients

• boneless skinless chicken breasts (however many you need to feed your family, I used 3 for 2 adults, a 4 year old and an 18 month old)
• Swiss cheese
• fresh basil
• panko
• parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


In a bowl combine panko and parmesan cheese. I didn't measure it, I just used what I thought I needed which was probably a cup of panko and a couple tablespoons of grated parmesan.  In a seperate bowl beat an egg lightly.


Lay chicken breasts on cutting board covered in plastic wrap, top with more plastic wrap. Hammer out chicken until flat and as even as possible. Season with salt and pepper. Top with a piece of Swiss cheese, a basil leaf and a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese. Roll.

Dip chicken in egg and then dredge in panko. Lay seam side down in a baking dish that has a drizzle of olive oil in the bottom so the chicken will not stick. Bake 45-60 minutes. Mine took closer to 60 minutes, they could have been rolled a little thinner for a quicker cooking time.