One Pot Lemon-Rosemary Chicken

I've been looking for low calorie, clean(er) eating dishes to make for dinner.  Dinner is my favorite meal, mostly because I'm always starving by dinnertime, but also because I like to spend time after work having conversation with others over a meal. 

Working in college athletics, so many of my friends are super healthy, and I love this about them.  My friends are inspiring.  But because they are healthy, I'm not going to get them to dinner at my house with chicken nuggets and fries (well actually, Cody did say Trader Joe's chicken nuggets was going to be his dinner tonight)...

Anyways, I invited my friend Cody over for dinner who I often tease about blending chicken into his daily protein shakes.  (Note: he doesn't actually blend chicken in his shakes, well so he says). That's not the point though.  Because Cody is pretty darn food conscious, I figured I'd try out this lemon chicken recipe.

I must say, this recipe was very good. The chicken was flavorful and for a lack of a better term (and I apologize now for those who might cringe at the word) moist. The rosemary, which is one of my favorite herbs, compliments the citrus from the lemon and pairs nicely with the tender potatoes.  This dish was incredibly simple and easy on the wallet.

Recipe link: 

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2011/10/lemon-rosemary-chicken-and-a-winner.html. 

For a side, on my cast iron skillet, I grilled up some fresh asparagus with a little olive oil and salt.

Hope you enjoy!

Back in the Kitchen means Back to the Blog

Hey, I'm back.  I thinks it's really been well over a year since I have posted a real entry on this thing I call a blog.  It's mostly been just a place to post pics of desserts but I'm thinking I'm gonna change it up slightly by actually uploading recipes or links to recipes moving forward.  For those of you who follow my Instagram, you know I do a lot of posting of my food.  Because I really just love food pics, I figured I'll add the recipe link to the blog in case I maybe inspired just one person to make the same dish :).

I've been on a cooking kick over the past couple weeks and figured maybe I'll start to upload the recipes to my food blog instead of just posting pics. Recently, I've been trying to cook more at home for two important reasons: 1) I spend way too much money eating out, and 2) I want to be more aware of the type of food I'm putting in my body.  Well with the new year and the whole "new year new me" (just kidding)... But really though, eating "smarter" is something I want to consciously be aware of. This doesn't mean no more amazing restaurants... It just means, less take out and less premade meals.  I've tried the whole "eating healthy" thing before and always limited myself to basically a salad... Gets super boring (at least for me) super fast!!!  I used to think that "healthy" eating was bland eating... But that doesn't necessarily have to be the case... So I'm learning.  

My blog has always been dedicated to dessert but since I've been recently finding some great dinner recipes, I want to be able to share them with you, if you are so inclined to visit my less than mediocre food blog. 

I'm a total foodie.  I love food, love flavor, and love everything that's bad for you.  So with that said, these low calorie meals wouldn't be on my blog if I didn't feel they were tasty enough to share.  Hopefully you'll feel the same if you do try some of these recipes out.

Market Foray's Four Course Food Lesson

The Non-Edible Cupcake Pincushion

For Christmas, I made this felt cupcake pincushion for my grandma who loves to sew.  Though you can't eat it, it still looks pretty sweet, right?  

Super Bowl Jack Party

Baby Chick- Deviled Eggs

Ok so this isn't technically a dessert, but they are pretty cute!  Makes you really not want to eat these deviled eggs though!  Check #pinterest for this inspiration!

Cinco de Mayo Piñata Cake

Thanks to my former co-worker, Emily, this piñata cake was such a great addition to the cinco de mayo party we attended!  I don't think I need to walk you through this one, as the picutures explain it all!  I have to say, it's pretty fun to see the expression of your friends when the first person cuts into this cake!

Bruin Ph.D Graduation

Graduation Cupcakes!!!  Ninety cupcakes- four flavors-one two-layered cake.

Congratulations to Dr. Marc and Dr. Gina!  #UCLAbruinGrads

Future Softballer Baby Shower

I was so honored to be asked to make softball inspired cupcakes for one of my best friend's baby shower.  Since my friend is also one of my former college softball teammates, we have a good feeling her daughter is going to follow in her mama's footsteps!  These strawberry and vanilla cupcakes were decorated with "team Liliana" pendants, softballs & hearts, and softball gloves w/ baseballs, all made from edible molding clay aka fondant :)

Birthday Request: Banana Cream Pie Cupcake

As a request from the birthday girl, this banana cream cupcake is semi homemade but more than semi delicious.  Had really no idea how this would come out as I really had no clue how I would make this taste like a banana cream pie.  I really wanted to be able to capture the vanilla waffer cookies, the vanilla cream, and the banana (bananas have a tendency to overpower other flavors, just and FYI). So for these, I went semi homemade... Box cake mix (vanilla).  Made the cake according to the directions.  For the frosting I added a ripe banana to a container of store bought vanilla frosting (the amount of banana can be judged by taste).  The vanilla and fresh banana gave the frosting a really smooth flavor with a nice creamy texture.  Once the flavor was right, I crushed vanilla wafers and mixed that into the frosting (again, do this to taste).  Once each cupcake was frosted, I sprinkle the top of each cupcake with the remaining crushed wafers.

For not having a real plan, I have to say these came out better than I thought.  I'm pretty sure our birthday girl liked them, along with my coworkers, as they did not last long in the tray! :) if you love banana cream pie, I recommend you try this super simple additions to store bought products!  

Apple Pie Pops That Ended Up Being Apple Pie Cookies

I sort of failed at the whole pie pop thing as these were just too heavy to be on a stick...  

Honestly, no real recipe here.  Bought a box of prenade pie crust dough, a can of apple pie filling, and pureed an apple.  Mixed the puréed apple with the pie filling, used a cookie cutter to cut circles into the pie crust, placed about a tbs of filling in the middle of one dough circle, placed another dough circle on top and pinched the ends together with a fork.  I brushed egg over the top of each pie cookie and sprinkled raw sugar on top.  Baked at 425 until brown.  While they were pie pops as anticipated, they did taste like mini apple pies!  

Hand Dipped Chocolate Pretzels for Mother's Day

Thanks to my love for chocolate covered pretzels... In the midst of making 9 jars full of these little devils, I probably ate a full jar's worth in the process!  Happy Mother's Day to all the moms (in every sort of way) out there!!!!!

A Healthier Take on Shrimp Scampi

Butterless Shrimp Scampi

4 tsp olive oil
1 pound med shrimp, peeled with tails removed
6-8 garlic cloves crushed or minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2- 3/4 cup white wine
1/8-1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 can of separated artichoke hearts
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper


In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Saute the shrimp until pink. Add the garlic and stir. Remove shrimp and set aside.
In the same skillet, combine the broth, wine, lemon juice, parsley, artichokes, salt and pepper; bring it to a boil. Allow sauce to reduced by half.

Add shrimp back and pasta of choice. Garnished with the lemon wedges and sprinkled with parsley.

Makes 4 servings

Original recipe taken from a blog:Smoked and Grilled but slightly altered to cater to our personal tastes.

Deck the Halls with Appetizer Wreaths

Made this for an appetizer for Christmas. Besides getting the "oooohs" and "ahhhs" it was pretty tasty. Can't go wrong with pillsbury crescent rolls and cream cheese.

👍Thank you tasteofhome.com!

Recipe:
Appetizer Wreath Recipe
Prep: 20 min. Bake: 15 min. + cooling
Ingredients
2 tubes (8 ounces each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Daisy Brand Sour Cream
1 teaspoon dill weed (I actually hate full so I barely used any)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1-1/2 cups chopped fresh broccoli florets
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
Celery leaves

Directions:
Remove crescent dough from packaging (do not unroll). Cut each tube into eight slices. Arrange in an 11-in. circle on an ungreased 14-in. pizza pan.
Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing to a serving platter; cool completely.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, sour cream, dill and garlic powder until smooth. Spread over wreath; top with broccoli, celery and red pepper. Form a bow garnish with celery leaves. Yield: 16 servings.

Nutritional Facts
1 serving (1 slice) equals 125 calories, 9 g fat (5 g saturated fat), 21 mg cholesterol, 166 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 3 g protein.

*published as Appetizer Wreath in Quick Cooking November/December 2004, p13

S'more Cookies... Got ya saying "I want s'more"

I found this recipe and it was so amazingly good, I had to share!!!! I made them for co-worker gifts and they were a huge hit! The best part is you can really taste the graham cracker in the cookie batter too! If you LOVE s'mores, you will LOVE this cookie!!!!

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash of cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Courtesy of Baked Perfection

Crispy S'mores

Line your cooking sprayed baking dish with graham crackers, add a layer of mini marshmallows. Bake for a few minutes until marshmallows are puffed up and melty. Add mixture of rice crispies and melted chocolate. Smooth out on top of marshmallow layer and refrigerate until cold. Use a knife to cut and serve!

Chocolate Chip with an Oreo Surprise

Pinterest is my new best friend! I love some of these baking ideas! I cannot take credit for this idea as I found this in Pinterest, but this was an amazing idea.

Basically, you roll up an Oreo in between cookie dough and bake the cookies as typically required. Like with any cookie, I don't necessarily go by time but by appearance and color. Needless to say, I brought these to a family party and when my little cousins and my grandpa bit into it, they were pleasantly surprised!

Chocolate Banana Cupcake

My mother-in-law is really into fitness and so is her twin sister. So for their birthday I decided to go the "healthier" route (hehe) and fill their birthday desserts with some potassium. :)

I made a banana cupcake and debated on a peanut butter or chocolate frosting. I think these would be amazing with a peanut butter frosting but I decided to go with a classic chocolate. The bananas made this cupcake so moist and soft. I saved one banana from being smashed up in the batter and I sliced it up and made banana chips for a garnish. Banana chips are funny. They take a while so if you decide to make some be prepared to let them bake for a few hours. I however, didn't have hours so I cranked up my oven to 400 and let them bake for an hour. These weren't the best, but it still looked good :)

Note: find an actual banana chip recipe... My strategy was a hail Mary!

Mint Chip Cupcake

So my summer mission has been to create specialized cupcakes. Regular chocolate, vanilla etc... are just too typical, and if I'm ever going to get my own #foodnetwork show or at least become a contestant on #cupcakewars, then I need to develop more flavors. ;)

The first request I got was for a mint chocolate chip cupcake. I used a chocolate base cupcake with a splash of coffee. I filled each cupcake with a chocolate mint ganache and then topped it off with a mint frosting folded with chocolate shavings. I tipped each one off with a piece of chocolate; however, I would have preferred a mint leaf. The mint chip frosting tastes like ice cream cold! :)

Variation: top cupcake with mint ganache then add frosting. The min ganache was also delicious cold!

Halle J's Big Day

Halle J is one of my closest friend's baby girl. In fact I consider Halle a niece and her mom my sister. For her first birthday, her mama allowed me to design the cupcakes for miss Hal's big celebration. Heidi decided she wanted to have a cupcake themed party. What a great theme! Do you realize how many cupcake things there are for decorative purposes? Heidi had wooden cupcake centerpieces made that spelled out Halle's name; it was adorable! So for the cake...

Cupcakes are SO appropriate! However, a simple cupcake would just be too ordinary...so I decided that these cupcakes needed to be decorated with another cupcake to truly capture the theme.

The giant cupcake was made for the smash cake. I used a regular cupcake to top off that one, and for the regular cupcakes, I used mini peanut butter cups to mock the base of a mini cupcake. I used a variation of star tips to swirl the cupcakes tops and colored sprinkles to add a splash of fun!

Halle gave me the thumbs up after she dove into her birthday cake!