Yummy yummy yummy I got food in my tummy :)

When I first get an idea to cook something I usually call my mom. I have not had a lot of experience in the kitchen, I haven't even been cooking a year, so I never really know if the ingredients I'm using will even work together. That's where my mom comes in...and every time she tells me what I'm planning sounds good.
Here and there she will make suggestions but she never leads me astray. Between the two of us I think we make a pretty good team. It is too bad I can't convince her to go into a business with me. I know if it were not for my mom always cooking every meal I would consider cooking as sticking two pieces of bread in the toaster with a slice of cheese in between. I'm more than certain she got her gift of cooking from her mother, my grandmother. Without their gifted minds and hands I could have never made this blog and shared, what I consider my talent, with the rest you you.

Here are some things I have been making recently. The pictures aren't as good as they look in person so you will just have to make them and find out for yourself :)

TACO SALAD
preheat oven to 350F
Serves 3-4



Taco Meat:
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup taco seasoning
1/4 Cup water
1lb ground turkey

In a frying pan brown ground turkey. Once browned, drain the grease from the pan and add the taco seasoning and water. stir until mixed with the meat and let cook on low for 15 minutes.

Tortilla crisps:
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 (or small) flour tortilla
salt

While the meat is cooking, slice tortilla into strips and toss in a bowl with olive oil and salt. Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake in the oven for a few minutes. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.

Salad Assembling:

lettuce
Salsa
Tortilla strips
Taco meat
Pepper Jack and Cheddar cheese

There are a couple of ways you can assemble the salad. The way I did it for this picture was by layering lettuce on a plate with the taco meat, salsa, cheese and tortilla strips on top. You can also make this meal by mixing all the ingredients together so that the lettuce is coated with everything. I mixed it all together after I took the picture which is what I'm guessing most people would probably do.


TOMATO, SPINACH ROTINI
Makes 1-2 servings

I just made this for myself for dinner tonight, it hit the spot.

Ingredients:
3T Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Spinach
1 Tomato
1 garlic clove
1tsp dried basil or 1T fresh basil
salt & pepper
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Rotini Multi grain pasta (or your favorite kind)

In a frying pan, on low, heat 2T olive oil and add the spinach. Dice the tomato and chop garlic. Mix into the pan with the spinach. Add the basil with some salt and pepper for flavor. Once that is started, begin cooking the rotini. When the rotini is finished cooking, turn stove off and coat noodles with olive oil. Add the tomato spinach sauce to the noodles until covered and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :)

(plate compliments of Pansy and Stanley Stolar. Thanks Grandma and Pop!)

(healthying) some comfort food

Living alone is not as bad as one might believe. Especially when you have a cat like mine that will sit across the table during meals.

This next dish is one i made a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted chicken fingers for dinner but I decided to turn it into a salad to (healthen) it up and get in my greens :)


Preheat oven 350
Ingredients:

lettuce/ bag of salad
honey mustard salad dressing
chicken tenders
1 egg (or 1 cup of buttermilk)
crackers
pepper
1/2-1 cup shreeded parmasan cheese
sliced almonds


To make the chicken fingers...
I took a couple of handfulls of crackers (such as ritz or natures promise) and crushed them up in a food processor. You could also place them in a zip lock bag and roll the bag over with a rolling pin the crush them. Mix in parmasan cheese and season with ground pepper.

In a small mixing bowl beat one egg.
Dip chicken tenders in the egg and cover with cracker mixture. You can do this by placing the tenders in the ziplock bag and shacking it until tenders are completely covered.

Lay chicken tenders on greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for about 15 minutes.

When ready, slice tenders into strips and layer on top of salad. You can add almonds to this too and drizzle with honey mustard dressing.

A lot of time to make up for...

new kitchen :)


With all that has been going on in this last month I had gone and forgotten my password and user name to sign into this account. But now I'm back, I'm ready to catch my 2 followers and my mom up on what I've been cooking. Living in a new apartment, with a great kitchen, the juices have been flowin' and inspiration has hit. I'll start by sharing what I cooked for dinner tonight:

Scrumptious Island Chicken Quesadilla
Since the first time I made this recipe I have made some changes that I have added down below.

Servings-2
preheat oven 350

1-2 Chicken breasts
Salt & pepper
1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese

1 mango diced
1 cup of diced pineapple
1/2 avocado diced
1/4 red onion chopped
1/2 jalapeno chopped
1 lemon wedge

2 flour tortillas

In boiling pot filled half way with water, poach the chicken breasts for about 20 minutes.
Add salt for taste.
When chicken is fully cooked, remove from heat and add pepper jack cheese until mixed in with the chicken.
Layer chicken/cheese mix on tortilla and cover with another tortilla
Place quesadilla on baking sheet and place on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20minutes or golden.

While the quesadilla is in the oven dice the pineapple, mango, avocado,jalapeno and red onion. This is your salsa. Place in a bowl and drizzle with lemon wedge.