Food porn!

Mini red velvet cupcake

Baked kale chips

Ingredients:

• a big bunch of kale, torn into hand-size pieces
• olive oil spray
• salt and pepper to taste

1.) Preheat over to 375 degrees. Lay kale on cookie sheet and spray with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2.) Bake kale for 15 minutes and flip. Spray other side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for another 15 minutes, keeping a close eye for singed leaf edges.

3.) Cool off and ENJOY!!

Mini-Review
Actually really good! A huge bag of kale cost $3 at the local farmers' market so I pick one up whenever we go because we love it so much. Just another way to get in veggies right? I bet a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese over the kale before baking will be even better!

Food porn!

Mint chocolate chip ice cream sundae

Dijon crusted halibut

WARNING: Check out my mini-review before you attempt this recipe! Let's just say not one of my proudest meals.

(1 serving = 1/3 recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs. halibut
• 0.25c lemon juice
• 3 tbs. dijon mustard
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 0.25c fresh parsley, chopped fine

1.) Mix together lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, and parsley.

2.) Pour mixture over halibut fillets in a baking dish - I only have cake pans!

3.) Bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes or until flesh flakes with a fork.
ENJOY (or try to)!

Mini-Review
So dijon is not favorite thing to eat. AT ALL! I absolutely hated this recipe because of the dijon flavor. If you like dijon mustard, then this recipe should be a winner! Couldn't really taste the lemon or parsley and I bet the fish would have tasted exactly the same if we just baked the fish, plain, then slathered it with dijon mustard. EWWWW!!! Anthony and I had to scrape off as much of the sauce as possible then drown the fish in hot sauce to eat it. The only good thing about the recipe: it was F.A.S.T and E.A.S.Y! But it really doesn't matter when it comes out this bad!

Food porn!

Baked pumpkin oatmeal

Stuffed cabbage

I've had stuffed cabbage once in my life and actually really liked it! So when I found a recipe for it, I tweaked it a little and made it healthier. This recipe is pretty simple, but requires a lot more time in preparation and cooking than most of my other 'easy' recipes. Save this one for the weekend.

So why cabbage? Besides the fact that I've never cooked with it before, the cabbage family such, as head cabbage, kale, and collard greens, contain phytonutrients known as glucosinolates that help increase the production of detoxifying enzymes in your body. More information can be found here, here, and here.

Ingredients for filling:
(makes 6 servings; 1 serving = 2 stuffed cabbages)

• 1c cooked brown rice
• 10 cabbage leaves
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 ripe Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• garlic to taste
• 1tsp. dried oregano
• 1tsp. cinnamon
• a dash of cayenne pepper
• 0.5c bread crumbs
• 2 large eggs
• 10 toothpicks, pre-soaked in water

Ingredients for sauce:

• olive oil cooking spray
• 6oz. unsalted tomato paste
• 10 white mushrooms, diced
• 0.5c water
• 0.25c apple cider vinegar
• garlic to taste
• 1tsp. oregano
• 1tsp. cinnamon
• a dash of cayenne pepper
• 0.5tbsp. dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

1.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Turn off heat and blanch each cabbage leaf for a few seconds, until leaf is pliable and won't tear when folded.

2.) Set a large pan over medium heat and cook turkey until no longer pink. About 5 minutes. Add all except about two tbs. of the chopped onions and cook till onions are clean. Set aside the two tbs. of onions for the sauce.

3.) Add diced tomatoes, cinnamon, oregano, and cayenne and cook till fragrant. About another 3 more minutes.

4.) In a separate bowl, mixed together the bread crumbs and cooled brown rice. When thoroughly mixed, add the rice mixture to the turkey mixture. Take off heat and mix well.

5.) To stuff cabbage, place about 0.25c worth of filling in the middle of a cabbage leaf. Roll like a burrito, starting with the two side edges, then the bottom edge. Continue to fold away from you until cabbage leaf is completely sealed. Secure with wet toothpick. When all cabbage leaves are filled, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

7.) To make sauce: Using same pan as filling, set over medium heat. Mist with olive oil cooking spray and add reserved two tbs. of onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes.

8.) Add in tomato paste, water, apple cider vinegar, oregano, cinnamon, cayenne and thyme. Cook until fragrant, about 2 more minutes.

9.) Remove from heat and put about two spoonfuls of sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish (or cake pan if you have no dish, like me). Lay stuffed cabbages in dish and pour remaining sauce over cabbage.
10.) Cover dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. ENJOY!

Mini-Review
Okay... this recipe has major potential to be good and the only thing I would change: the sauce. The apple cider vinegar was WAY too strong and both Anthony and I didn't like it. The only time I had stuffed cabbage it was more of a marinara sauce so that's kinda what I was expecting. I think toning down on the vinegar and adding in more tomato flavor will totally make this recipe good.

Other than that, adding in a couple of egg whites to the filling mixture for more 'binding' power would totally make this recipe work better. Actually, eggs where called for in the recipe - there in my ingredient picture! - but I totally forgot to use them.

Food porn!

Vietnamese pho.