Bare Fridge

My refrigerator is as bare as it could be at this point, because I fly back to Boston tomorrow! I am very excited to be going home for the winter break and to see my family over Christmas. I am hoping I can bear the cold. When I left there in August, it was pretty hot up north, too! Anyway, I wish I could share more recipes before I go. Hopefully I will continue to post when the semester ends and the new one begins. This was a good semester, and I am glad my professor encouraged us to get our creative juices flowing through blogging.

Thanks for reading!

Brown Sugar Cookie Icing

The cookies came out a bit dry. I wasn't  used to the batter being so thin, so I added a bit more flour. They ended up tasting a bit like cupcakes. Tasty anyway.

For the icing you'll need:

1/8 cup butter

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Start by melting the butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Make sure to keep and eye on it. 

Add the confectioners sugar, using a sifter if you have one. 

Mine was a bit clump.

Finally, add enough milk to get a spreading consistency. 

Spread on the cookies, and enjoy!

These would have come our much better if I had used different ingredients. I used fake butter which I think made them the way they are. I got the original recipe here. Perhaps I will try them again in the future and see how they come out! Definitely not a total fail, and I also am not really a big fan of cookies. Oh well! 

Brown Sugar Coookies

I came across these online, and decided to test them out. They seemed pretty easy, and as my food resources are dwindling I figured, why not? I'm not a huge fan of sweets, as I've mentioned before, but they looked too good in the picture. I halved the recipe.

All you'll need: 

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon melted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter, and add the brown sugar.

Add the egg and beat. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. 

Begin adding the flour mixture while alternating with sour cream, and mixing. 

Spoon the batter onto an un-greased cookie sheet, and bake for about 9 minutes. 

Check out the next post to see the icing!

Steak Fajita Burrito Hybrid

My roommate wanted to make tacos for dinner the other night, but I needed to make something new that I could post on my blog. So, I recommended fajitas. I have never made them before, but decided to give it a go. I'm not even sure I made them correctly, because I didn't follow a recipe at all. I pretty much threw some stuff together that we already had!

So, to recreate this you'll need:

1/2 pound steak

1/3 cup barbecue sauce

1 pouch ready rice

1/2 medium onion

1 pepper

3 tortillas

Start by marinading the steak a few hours before you cook.

Chop the onions and the peppers and sauté them over medium heat.

Add the steak, and cover. Let simmer until the sauce thickens. 

Place the tortillas in the oven and bake, just to heat up.

When the steak is almost done, cook the rice!

Add the rice to the tortilla first, then the steak and the peppers and onions.

Top with plain greek yogurt if desired, and enjoy!

The reason I named these guys fajita burrito hybrids is because I added the rice. I was going to add some black beans too, but we didn't have any! My roommate must have eaten them when I wasn't looking one day. So, I suppose they aren't fajitas at all because I didn't even use a fajita seasoning. Oh well, I like the name!

Parma Rosa Helper?

So I am trying to clear out my fridge and pantry because I'll be going home for winter break. I had some left over ground turkey that needed to be cooked, but I didn't feel like having tacos or anything like that. My mom used to always make me pasta with parma rosa sauce when I was a kid. I am absolutely addicted to it. I couldn't find a place in Florida that sold it until a few weeks ago, and she used to mail it to me! So, I decided to just make some pasta with parma rosa sauce, and cook up the ground turkey and throw it it. Super easy...

What you'll need:

Ground turkey

Pasta

Parma Rosa sauce (or any other sauce you like)

1 1/4 cup milk or almond milk

1 tablespoon butter

I like to use almond milk for everything. I think it actually makes things taste a little creamier and sweeter. 

Start by cooking the ground turkey over a skillet.

 It doesn't take long to brown. 

Meanwhile, boil your water for the pasta. 

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. 

Add the milk, and mix. 

Add the parma rosa mix and whisk until smooth. 

Continue to stir until it begins to boil, and then let simmer until you're ready to eat.

Cook your desired pasta according to the instructions on the package. 

Strain the pasta,

add the ground turkey, 

pour the sauce over the top, 

sprinkle cheese over if desired.

Enjoy! I am an absolute carb lover. I could eat and entire box of pasta. So, this may be a very boring meal to some, but so me its wonderful. I decided to call it Parma Rosa Helper because of my weird decision to throw some ground turkey in there. My recipes will probably continue to be strange until I go home! 

Sausage Pepper and Onion Omelet

I have recently developed an addiction to chicken sausage. I put it in everything, eggs, salads, you name it. So I decided to make a simple omelet this week and used some Al Fresco Sundried Tomato chicken sausage. 

This is what you'll need:

1 egg

3 tablespoons egg whites

Dollop milk / almond milk

Pam

Peppers

Onions

Chicken Sausage

Spray the skillet with pam and let heat up over medium heat.

Meanwhile, cut up the onion, pepper, and sausage.

Let everything cook through, and heat up.

Meanwhile, crack the egg into a mug. 

Add the egg whites, and milk, and scramble!

Turn the heat down a little, and pour the eggs over the peppers, onions and sausage.

Move the skillet around a bit so the egg cooks all around. 

When the egg is cooked through, sprinkle some cheese on top if you'd like! 

I like to turn the heat down very low, and cover the skillet so the cheese melts, but you don't overcook the egg. 

Flip it in half, serve, and enjoy!

I was never a big egg lover when I was a kid, but that has changed quite a bit. Eggs are so fast to cook, and so delicious. I also like to make this with the Al Fresco breakfast sausages which come in a few different flavors. They're not too bad for you either! This omelet only has 6 weight watchers points in it, and it is quite filling!

Ricotta Gnocchi

I've always loved gnocchi. Although I have never really been able to say it correctly. Regardless, I have made it in the past and it is delicious and I decided to make it again. I have never tried to make the potato based one, but I am a fan of cheese more so anyway. 

This is what you'll need:

2 eggs

8 ounces ricotta cheese (part-skim)

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup flour

Mix all ingredients except flour in a medium bowl.

Add the cup of flour and mix.

Section the dough into 4 sections. Put down wax or parchment paper and cover your hands in flour. 

Roll out the dough.

Cut the dough into small pieces, about 3/4 of an inch.

Continue to do so with the 3 other sections of dough.

When all the gnocchi are formed, make a little indent in the center with your finger. 

The dough should not be gooey to the touch, and should spring back to shape slightly when indented. 

Bring water to a roaring boil, and drop each gnocchi in separately to make sure they do not stick together. 

When they start to float to the top, they're done! 

They shouldn't be hard, but definitely not too soft. 

The boiling usually takes about 5 minutes. 

Place them in a strainer to get rid of excess water. 

Meanwhile, heat up whatever desired sauce you would like.

I just used jarred spaghetti sauce that I had opened in the fridge. 

Pour the sauce over, add some cheese to the top and enjoy!

The first time you make gnocchi it can get pretty messy. Flour gets everywhere. My roommate suggested putting wax paper down, which was genius. The dough did not stick to the counter, and cleanup was much easier this way! Just roll up the wax paper and toss it! They seem like they would be kind of tricky to make, but they could not be easier! I am going to try to attempt sweet potato gnocchi in the near future, definitely good for the fall!

Turkey Pot Pie

I had an incredible amount of leftovers from thanksgiving, and although I would have kept eating sandwiches for a month, I decided to also make mini turkey pot pies. I am very pleased with how they came out! They were so easy to make, the biggest challenge was keeping the cats off the counter and away from the turkey while I was cooking. 

What you'll need:

1 pie crust

4 mini pie pans (or 1 large one)

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons butter

1 small chopped onion

2 stalks celery

2 carrots

2 cubes chicken bouillon

1 cup frozen peas

1 teaspoon oregano

2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 cups cooked turkey

Start by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.

Add the vegetables to the skillet and cover until soft. 

When the vegetables are soft, add 2 cups of water and the chicken bouillon cubes. 

Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, melt the other 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan. 

Add the milk, turkey, and flour to the melted butter and mix. 

When thickened, add to the saucepan. 

Let simmer until thickened. 

Cut the pie crust into quarters, and spray the mini pie pans with pam.

Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. 

Spoon the mixture into the mini pie pans, and let cool. 

Place the pie crust on top, and squeeze the edges so it doesn't drip out the sides. 

Cut a few holes in the top to let steam escape.

I decided to freeze 3 of them and only eat one. I wrapped the 3 i was freezing tightly in saran wrap and again in foil to make sure they did not get freezer burn. 

I placed the one pie into the oven at 350 degrees and baked it for about 20 minutes over a cookie sheet. 

The inside was already warm from the stovetop, I just wanted to brown the crust. The original recipe said to bake for 15 minutes at 425 and then drop the heat to 350 for an additional 15 minutes. I did not do this because my pie was so small. 

Take out of the oven, and enjoy!

I definitely didn't cook the prettiest one, but it was delicious regardless! I also threw the extra pie crust pieces into the oven to dip into the gravy of the pot pie. I will definitely be making these again in the future!