Simple Cookin' Spring Break

This past week, while I was home relaxing for spring break, my mom and I decided to try a few new recipes for the family.  Each recipe had one main thing in common- simplicity.  We wanted to try easy, delicious recipes that I could bring back to school with me.  Although we had a great time eating at some amazing restaurants over the break, including Corner Table (my one of my new favorites), we enjoyed cooking different dinners on our nights in.

We started our cooking frenzy off with an "omelet bar" on Sunday morning.  This was not only fun and easy, but healthy and filling as well.  I know you know what veggies look like, but the colors in these pictures are just too pretty not to post.

Omelet bar

We added some olive oil and combined the spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and mushrooms

Instead of putting the ingredients INTO the omelet, we made the omelet with the ingredients and added cheese in the middle.

Served with a multi grain English muffin and fresh berries :)

Our next meal was a pasta recipe that I originally found on Pinterest, but altered to my liking (and you can do the same).  We used whole wheat pasta, added shrimp and made a light "sauce" that consisted of olive oil, grape tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  My parents added a tomato basil pasta sauce to give theirs more flavor.  We then made mozzarella and spinach portobello mushroom caps, which are one of my favorites.   

Olive oil, tomatoes, basil and garlic

Then we added the shrimp, since they do not take very long to cook

YUM

Served with mozzarella and spinach portobello mushroom caps

I unfortunately did not get pictures from our other meal, but it was similar to something I have made at school before.  I love seafood, and I specifically love fish.  Tilapia is one of my favorites because it is light and easy to make.  I try to make different variations of tilapia, so this one was inspired by Mexican food.  

Tilapia seasoned with Lemon Pepper seasoning, regular pepper and salt

Served with avocado and pico de gallo and sliced bell peppers on the side. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's that time of the year again.

The one day where it is acceptable to be cheesy and romantic, and the one day everyone simply loves each other.  Even though my friends still make fun of me, I love celebrating Valentine's Day in every way possible.  The apartment is decorated, the chocolates are set out, the desserts are made and I am sitting here in my Valentine's pajamas... I am ready.  This year, the festivities started last night when we had our friends over to our apartment for dessert and wine.  Everyone had to pair up and bring a Valentine's dessert  that they found on Pinterest.  We also asked that everyone wear their Valentine's gear, but that didn't work out so well.


Before everyone came over, a few of us spent the afternoon baking and creating.  Brenna and I chose to make chocolate chip blondies, which neither of us had ever made before.  We didn't cook them all the way through, but they still turned out pretty good, and they were even better when paired with vanilla ice cream.  The recipe is very simple, but I will post it soon.  Cara and Paige came over to bake as well.  While Paige made some adorable pretzel buttons, Cara took a stab at making red velvet crinkle cookies, and man were they good.  Probably my favorite dessert of the night. She will be posting the recipe here soon.

Chocolate chip blondies with Valentine's M&Ms

Our creations

Cara's amazing red velvet cookies

Paige's pretzel buttons

Mel's assortment of cupcakes from Polkadots

Stacy and Jess' chocolate covered pretzels

Holiday Treats

When I went home last weekend, I used my free time to make some simple but tasty holiday treats for my friends.  Once again, I was inspired by Pinterest although the recipes are pretty self-explanitory.


York Peppermint Brownies

Ingredients:

• Bag of snack size York Peppermint Patties
• Box of Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge brownie mix, and all ingredients the recipe calls for
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup oil

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Spray 9x13 pan with Butter Pam spray
3. Combine brownie mix, eggs, water and oil, and stir
4. Pour half of the mix into the pan
5. Place York Peppermint Patties in brownie mix- make sure to push the patties down so that they do not stick out of the mix
6. Pour the second half of the mix into the pan
7. Bake for 30 minutes

Layered Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of white chocolate bark
• 1 package of milk chocolate bark
• 2 cups peppermint candy crunch (or crushed peppermint will work)
• Candy cane sprinkles (optional)

Recipe:

1. Line a cookie sheet with foil
2. Melt one full package of white chocolate bark in microwave.  Melt for 1 minute, stir, melt again in 20 second intervals as necessary
3. Stir 1/2 cup of peppermint candy crunch into the melted chocolate.  Pour the chocolate into the cookie sheet in an even layer.  Let this layer completely harden (10 minutes)
4. Melt the full package of milk chocolate bark in microwave.  Melt for 1 minute, stir, melt again in 20 second intervals as necessary
5. Pour milk chocolate over white chocolate layer.  Let this layer completely harden (10 minutes)
6. Melt the last package of white chocolate bark in microwave.  Melt for 1 minute, stir, melt again in 20 second intervals as necessary
7. Stir 1 cup of peppermint candy crunch into the melted chocolate.  Pour over milk chocolate layer and shake the cookie sheet to even it out.  Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of peppermint candy and candy cane sprinkles on top.  Let completely harden and refrigerate as necessary.

Thank you, Pinterest

I will admit, I spend more time on Pinterest than I should.  In fact, it is almost unhealthy how much I love scrolling through hundreds of random pictures.  Although it may seem like a waste of time, it is the BEST waste of time.

Thanks to Pinterest, I know every detail about my wedding, bake things I know I am not capable of baking, and want to decorate everything in site.  Amongst all of the delicious recipes, I have found a few that my beginner baking skills can handle.  From now on, whenever I (successfully) try something that I find on Pinterest, I am going to post about it.

Recipe adapted from Baby Gizmo Blog

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups crushed butter pretzels
• 1 cup melted butter
• 5 tbsp sugar
• Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix, and all the ingredients the mix calls for
• Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix, and all the ingredients the mix calls for
• Bag of snack size Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Recipe:

1. Crush the pretzels!  If you have a food processor, you can can use that.  I simply put the pretzels in a Ziploc bag and hand-crushed them.
2. Mix the melted butter, sugar and pretzel crumbs.  Press the mix into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.
3. Make the cookie dough according to the recipe on the package.  Press the cookie dough down evenly on top of the pretzel mix.
4. Unwrap all of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and cover the cookie dough with the candy.
5. Make the brownie mix according to the package, and pour evenly over the Reese's.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes, and TA DA!

What have you made off of Pinterest (recipes, jewelry, home decor)?  Please share!