Parfait Perfect

An old glass jam jar and Trader Joe's groceries inspired me today. It is the simple things in life that bring a smile to my face. Especially something as fresh and healthy as this tasty treat.


Ingredients:

1. strawberries
2. blueberries
3. banana
4. Trader Joe's flaxseed almond crunch cereal (or any granola of you choice)
5. Trader Joe's strawberry greek yogurt (or any yogurt of your choice)

Always wash your fruit beforehand :) 

slicing my fruit

Layer your ingredients (Yogurt, strawberries, banana, blueberry, granola, repeat)

Beautiful shot of the final product by Maggie Fortson Photography

It is the perfect summer treat. Sit down, soak up some sunshine (I really hope it is sunny outside when you read this) and enjoy :) 

Whole Foods Is My Best Friend

I hate that I have not blogged in a few weeks. Seriously, If anyone in my family is reading this, I would like a camera for my Birthday. Nothing fancy. Just a simply point and shoot camera so I can make posts more often. My sister, who takes fantastic food photography for me, is always busy and I hate to ask to her to take pictures of my food creations all the time.

Now onto more important things. A few weeks ago, I decided I was going to go on a low sugar and carb diet. No, not for weight loss reasons, but hey if I lost a couples pounds I would not be upset. ;)  Anyways, I had been suffering with extreme exhaustion for a couple of months. Even after a few doctors visits, no one could tell me why. So, knowing that what we eat has a major effect on how we feel, I decided to finally try this diet that my older sister swears by. Now, this was not easy for me. You are talking to a recovering sugar addict.  I most definitely think I was born with more than one sweet tooth.

I made it 10 days. I was hoping to make it longer, but the more I did it, the more I realized that it was not the sugar/carbs that I had been consuming that was effecting me. It was the source the sugar/carbs was coming from. Do not get me wrong, I noticed a big difference in how I felt and losing a few pounds was a bonus, but the idea of making this a lifestyle was not for me. I felt deprived and I felt like there was a better way of going about feeling better. So, instead of cutting sugar and carbs completely, I decided to consume them through fresh food. Now, I was not eating processed food before. I am all against that junk, but lets just say that if a cake was made from scratch, I would eat it. Probably most of it, too. Wait, How am I not 2035794659475 pounds? I have the gym, and good genes to thank for that.

So, basically, the point of this post is to share with you some delicious foods that I have been eating that are not only scrumptious, but nutritious.

Breakfast idea #1: "Not quite an egg sandwich"
This is one of my favorite things to eat in the morning because it quick, keeps you satisfied, provides an easy way to get a serving of vegetables, and is just nutritionally great for you.

How to make it: All you have to do is scramble one or two eggs and lay it on a toasted whole wheat bagel that is topped with 2 tbsp cream cheese, a handful of spinach leaves, and 2 slices of tomato. Isn't that so easy! Now, just pour yourself a glass of whole milk, and you are good to go!

Breakfast idea #2: "Granola and banana flax waffles"

This is my favorite because I get all the sweet taste that I love, but the benefits of the whole grains, fruit, and flax seed. 

How to make it: Just pop two organic flax seed waffles in the toaster ( I got mine from Whole foods). Once they are done, top them with half a sliced banana, half a cup natural granola, and a few tbsp's (2-3) of fresh maple syrup. 

Lunch/Dinner Idea #1:

I love salad. It is such a great way to get tons of nutrients from different vegetables, fruits, and meat in just one meal. Here is a salad I made for lunch the other day (sorry for the quality of the photo). 

How to make it: Take about 1-2 cups romaine lettuce + 1 cup spinach leaves and top it with chopped carrots, celery, red onion, blue cheese (or whatever cheese you prefer), and any meat of your choice. I topped mine with sauteed polish sausage. 

Lunch/Dinner Idea #2:

I made this bad boy (see picture below) the other night for dinner and LOVED it. I like this meal because it is very well balanced. You get your carbs form the bread, vegetable serving from the tomato/spinach/onion, and protein/fat from the cheese and meat. 

How to make it: Take one toasted hamburger bun (I recommend Whole Foods onion poppy seed buns) and top it with organic mayonaise, spinach leaves, two slices of tomato, and onion (I like red). set that aside while you cook your meat. I cooked my hamburger on the stove. First I drizzled the pan with a tbsp of olive oil and seasoned by hamburger patty with salt, pepper, and garlic. I let each side cook on medium heat for about 7-10 minutes ( I do not like pink meat). And there you have it... a tasty burger :)

(Thanks for making my burger look so great, Maggie Fortson Photography. Check out maggiefortson.com)

Doesn't that all look delicious! I just love simple, fresh food! Plus, knowing that I am providing my body with wholesome food is a great feeling :)

Homemade Meals In No Time

It has been so great being on winter break. I can not tell you how much I needed this time off from school. My body has been screaming for rest, so the past few weeks I have done nothing but cook, read, watch movies, nap, shop, etc. Though, I know life is not going to be like this for too much longer. School starts at the end of the month, and I need to remember that it is during those busy days that I do not have a lot of time to make a nice meal for my sister and I. However, I have discovered a lot of recipes that take no time at all and do not come from a box that says, "just add water", and I will be sharing one with you today!


A few weeks ago, there was a sale on polish sausage at my local grocery store. Being the polish sausage lover that I am, I about skipped up and down the meat department with joy when I discovered this. Yup, I like it that much.  Woops, I mean LOVE. Whenever I make polish sausage, I cook it on the stove and serve it on top of some pasta. Well, I wanted to do something different, so when I found a recipe for a polish sausage casserole, I had to try it. It is super easy, extremely affordable, and can feed a whole family.  


Before I share this recipe, let me just make a disclaimer: I am currently watching the office while I type this so I apologize if "that's what she said" randomly appears for no reason. ;)
Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 32 oz. shredded potato (frozen or fresh)
• 16 oz. polish sausage sliced into thin rounds
• 1 lb asparagus 
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the oil (or melted butter) in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Spread the chopped onion and then the shredded potatoes evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Bake this first layer in the oven for 20 minutes, to crisp it up.

(Thanks to my brother, andrew belle, I now how a fantastic knife to cook with)

While that is baking, you will begin making your cheese sauce. Here is what you will need: 

Cheese Sauce Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp dry mustard 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1 cup low fat cheddar cheese 

Cheese sauce cooking directions:

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Then add the flour, dry mustard, and salt & pepper. Whisk the mixture together, allowing it to slightly brown and become smooth and just bubbly. Pour in the milk and whisk until smooth and thick. Then add the cheese and whisk again until the cheese has melted, remove from heat.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and cover the top of the potatoes with the thinly sliced polish sausage. Place uncooked asparagus over the top of the sausage and pour the cheese sauce evenly over the top of the asparagus. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the casserole and put into the oven to bake for 40 minutes. 

I hope you like it! If you are wondering, I got this recipe off of food.com. Now, eat up and have a wonderful afternoon. 

**My twin sister, Maggie Fortson, has been so busy editing photos for her photography business and still takes the time to take photographs for my blog. Thanks for all the help, Maggie. Check out her work at www.maggiefortsonblog.com

Childhood Is Calling

I do not know about you, but there is something about cupcakes that scream childhood. I do not even know why? It is not like I sat around eating cupcakes when I was little. In fact, I did not even like frosting as a kid. I used to wipe the frosting off. Now I can not get enough of it. Funny how things change.

So, for Christmas this year I got a bunch of wonderful gifts. The gift that inspired this particular blog post, however, came from my older sister, Kate. Check it out: 

Considering the fact that I am on winter break, and have nothing better to do, I decided it would be a great time to bake some of these delicious treats. The cupcake I chose to make this first time around was the 'White Christmas Cupcake', which I renamed 'White Chocolate Snow Cupcake.' Ps. Wouldn't be amazing if snow was really made of white chocolate? It is probably for the best that it is not though. I would be in a sugar coma as we speak if that were the case. 

However, enough of me babbling on and on. Let's get baking! To start you will need...

Cupcake mix:                                                            White Chocolate Frosting:

1 1/4 c. cake flour                                                      3 oz. white chocolate chopped

3/4 tsp baking powder                                               1/4 c. unsalted butter

1/8 tsp salt                                                                  4 oz. cream cheese at room temp. 

3/4 c. whole milk                                                       1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla extract                                                    1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/4 tsp pure almond extract

6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temp. 

1 c. sugar

3 large egg whites at room temp. 

We will begin with the cupcake mix. First, preheat your oven at 350 degrees and a line 12 cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. Next, you are going to need a large bowl where you will sift in the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. set aside. In a small bowl, stir in the milk, vanilla, and almond extract. 

Using another large bowl, blend the butter and sugar together until smooth with an electric mixer on medium speed. (~3 min). Now, alternate mixing in the dry ingredients and liquid ingredients with the blended sugar and butter (continue to keep mixer at medium speed). Once all these ingredients are mixed and smooth in texture, stop the mixer. 

See how easy this is?! The batter is already done! Just fill the paper liners with 1/3 c. of batter and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes. Once they are finished, let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the cupcakes from the pan and onto a wire rack (or plate) where the can cool completely. 

Now for the best part, frosting! First, you will beat your three large egg whites in a large bowl until they become foamy (~30 seconds).  Then, increase the speed on your electric mixture to high and stop once the egg whites have become shiny and smooth. set aside. 

Using a small cooking pot, place the white chocolate into it. While the chocolate is melting, mix your butter, cream cheese, and vanilla extract in with your beaten egg whites. blend on a low speed (~1 min). Then, add your melted white chocolate to the bowl and continue to mix until blended. To finish off the frosting, add the powered sugar and continue to blend until all the ingredients are completely mixed with one another. 

Don't worry, It is ALMOST time to eat them! Once your cupcakes have cooled completely, take a plastic icing dispenser and fill it with the delicious frosting you just whipped up! If you do not have one, you can use a blast baggie and just cut a small hole in the corner to release the icing onto the cupcake. 

 Once I finished icing my cupcakes, I took a little coconut and sprinkled it on top. It creates even more flavor and adds a "snow-like" effect :) 

Hope you enjoy them! Mine were "to die for", so I can only expect yours to turn out just as great!

Once again, Thank you Maggie Fortson Photography for capturing these edible delights :) Check out her work at maggiefortsonblog.com

I Wish My House Was Made Of Sugar

It never fails. I plan out holiday activities with my family and think it will be perfect and it never goes as planned. I made my older sister promise me she would come build these little gingerbread houses we bought at Target the other night with me. I thought we could turn on a Christmas movie and get to building. I should have known that it would not turn out that smoothly.

(This is what it should look like)

We playfully fought over the frosting and ruined a few of the houses in the making. It was a mess. After a while we just gave up on trying to get our little homes to look good and goofed around. They kept falling apart on us! It just became one big joke. The box made it look so easy and cute. It was definitely not easy and they did not turn out too cute. Only two out of the five survived the construction process.

(The three that did not survive)

Besides the fact that they did not turn out as perfect as we had hoped, it was still so much fun. My sister and I just laughed and licked frosting until until our teeth were red. Actually, only my teeth turned red. That would happen to me and not her.

(behind the scenes of our gingerbread house photo shoot) 

After we cleaned up our LARGE mess, we went to let our dogs out. The snow was coming down pretty hard so we let them run around a little without leashes. They loved it, so we decided to join them. We ran up and down the streets chasing them and had a blast. Seriously, running on the snow covered streets at night with christmas lights all around has been the highlight of this holiday season thus far for me.

Fun can not always be planned or scheduled. I always learn that it is the unplanned, spontaneous events in my life that create the greatest memories.

Thanks for building the gingerbread houses and running around in the snow with me, Kate.

Home Cookin'

Whenever I go home I know I am in for a good meal! So, being the super cool person that I am, I decided to go to my parents' house last Friday night to hang with them and have dinner. My mom made a wonderful meal! The funny thing is is that my mom never tries too hard. She can put together an entire meal in no time, make it look so beautiful and taste fabulous!

One of the dishes she made the other night was pizza. It is my favorite. The best part was that she had leftovers to send home with me later that night. It made for a great lunch the other afternoon when I got off of work.

It is a very simple recipe and the amount of the ingredients is really up to you. So get messy and get to cookin'

-Pre-made pizza dough (whole wheat is my favorite)
-Organic pizza sauce
-Mozzarella cheese balls slices thin
-Veggies to top (my mom uses zuchini, mushroom, green pepper, white onion, tomatoes)

Directions: Once you are done putting all the ingredients on top of the pizza (anyway you like it. I dont have to eat it. you do) place it in the oven at 375 for about twenty minutes.

        

The best part about this pizza dish is that you can give it a completely different taste by changing up the vegetables or the type of cheese you use.

Thanks for the wonderful dinner the other night mom. Your meals always hit the spot! ;)

It's Snack Time, Everyone!

Today was one of those days. You know what I am talking about? The kind where the minute you wake you up something goes wrong. That is at least how mine usually go. You see, every Thursday I get to sleep-in but today I did not. Why, you ask? My dog, Jack got sick. I won't go into details, but lets just say cleaning up after his mess suppressed my appetite for quite a few hours. Okay, for about an hour. What can I say? I LOVE to eat :)

Anyways, my day continued to go downhill when I later smashed my finger in my coat closet door. Then, to top it off I had to call off work for this evening because I had to take care of my dog. Honestly that last problem was fine with me. I needed the night off.
During the day I had been busy running errands and didnt have time to make a meal. By the time i did it was too close to dinner so I decided to make a snack. What a great concept by the way, a snack. I wonder where that word was derived from? Anyone know? oops, I am interrupting myself again. Story of my life. Ask anyone who knows me.
Today I decided that fruit and cheese sounded perfect, but then my eye caught the 'triscuit' box on the top shelf of my kitchen cabinet. I could think of nothing better but to combine the three! It was perfect.

After I enjoyed this simple, tasty delight I decided to go online and check out what other people like on their triscuits. I found this website that gave me quite a few different ideas. Check it out:

http://www.squidoo.com/TRISCUIT

Moral of this story: Next time you are having a rough day, grab a box of triscuits and create something bold. I dare you.

Let me know how you like to spice up your triscuit crackers. Oh, and if anyone from the triscuit company reads this, you owe me a ton of money for bragging endlessly about your product. please? ;)