Sunday Brunch: Egg Sandwiches

Who wants a healthy version of the classic egg and sausage sandwich?  I did this morning, so that's exactly what I made!  I'll go through, step by step and show you how I cut down on the calories along the way!

Let's start off with some reduced fat sausage and shape into patties.  Pop them down in a hot skillet with just a little drizzle of olive oil.  Now while you're cooking your patties, don't let them burn on the bottom like I did while trying to take the perfect picture of your patties cooking in the pan...

They were still good! I just got a little distracted trying to adjust the lighting on my shots and well.. this happened. Any who.

While those are cooking take some sandwich or bagel thins [I used sandwich thins] that are only 100 calories [!!!] and put just a little bit of shed's spread, or I can't believe it's not butter, whatever your poison is, on the inside and lay them out on a baking sheet.

Put those in the oven at 350 to get them warm and crispy.

When the sausage is done and the thins are in the oven, I sauteed some mushroom slices to add on the sandwich. Just because, they are yummy!

Golden, mushroom, perfection. They add a very nice touch to the typical egg and sausage sandwich. 

Check on your thins, if they are looking nice and golden, add a little cheese and flip on the broiler- but be warned! Once the broiler is on it takes less than 2 minutes for them to be done- yup, you guessed right, again I learned my lesson the hard way.

But that's what you have me for! I'm not afraid to share my culinary missteps along with my victories, so that way you know what to expect along the way!

Ok, now the best part. Your scrambled eggs.  I love scrambled eggs, and I will say that I am somewhat of an expert, only because I learned from the master.  Yup, you guessed right it's my dad. But seriously, come eat my scrambled eggs and tell me they're not the best you've ever eaten. I dare you.  Now I will teach you how to cook them the right way- My way!

Melt just a little bit of butter in your pan over medium heat.  When the pan is nice and hot add in 3 eggs.

This is important- Do not scramble your eggs before putting them in the pan, just trust me, it will taste better this way!  Let the eggs start to cook, don't start scrambling them with your spatula yet.  Season them with a little salt and pepper and add your choice of cheese.  Today I used monterey jack, basically because that's what we had.

Ok, now you can start breaking the yokes of your eggs and mixing it up- but just a little bit.  The key is, the less you stir up your eggs the better they will be!

When your eggs look like this, they are done and if you've followed my advice, they will be magnificent!

Ok, so all your components are ready, let's start layering that sandwich. Eggs first.

Then your mushrooms.

Sausage last.

And your sandwich is complete.  You now have a delicious, homemade, lower calorie version of the classic egg and sausage sandwich.  It is very good stuff. 

Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake

I was not joking when I said there is nothing healthy about this dessert.  But... I took some amazing photos.  I knew you would want to see them regardless of the calorie count. 

Oh and there's a cute dog anecdote, and who doesn't love a good dog anecdote.

Sadly the famous peach and blueberry pie did not make an appearance this last weekend thanks to rock hard peaches at 3 different stores.  But I must say, that plan B was certainly delicious.

Not to mention, I love getting the chance to use my parents' kitchen.  There's so much room!  Compared to my little apartment kitchen it was amazing.  All of the nice appliances and fixtures... ah, one day.  Oh and check out the bowl that I put my shortcake in, it is so pretty.  My parents got them in New York while there.  Needless to say I was like, where are mine?  I wanted to steal them and take them home with me.

What you'll need:
Big carton of strawberries
Sugar
Bisquick mix [follow the recipe for shortcake on the box]
One lemon
Carton heavy whipping cream
Vanilla
Powdered Sugar

Let's get out those beautiful strawberries, wash them, and slice them.

Mix your strawberries with a half cup sugar.  Then zest the lemon into the strawberry and sugar mixture, and juice half of your lemon in as well.  It's amazing the effect that lemon has on the strawberries.  It just brightens the flavor so much, it's delicious, you just have to put it in there even if you don't think it's a necessity.  Because it's really not, but it makes such an amazing enhancement to the strawberries, just trust me, you'll be wowed!

And now with your hands all lemony, you should have some fun with your poor dog whose nose is millions of times more sensitive than ours.  My dad decided to put his hands up to his nose and see what kind of face he would make, because Flash is known for his funny faces, and well here are the results..

Hahaha, I love the snarl.  Poor puppy, but not really my mom spoils him like none other. You'll often hear the refrain in our house about Flash being the "third and favorite child".  [It's so true]

When you're done torturing your pets, pop your strawberry mixture in the fridge to marinate. 

Then prepare your shortcakes.  I followed the recipe on the Bisquick box, it worked wonderfully, they came out perfect.

After you mix all the ingredients together, divide batter to make 6 shortcakes on the pan, then pop into the oven.

When they come out of the oven they will be golden brown beauties that you will want to consume on the spot.  But if you're like me, you have to wait because you prepared them several hours early... wha wah waaaaah.

When you are ready to eat your shortcakes, prepare your whipped cream. Start off by putting the heavy whipping cream and 1 Tbs vanilla into your parents' amazing stand mixer [that you would sneak out of the house if you could, but you're pretty sure they would notice...] and get that whipping.  When soft peaks start to form add in 3 Tbs of powdered sugar. 

I promise it won't be overly sweet, because you definitely don't need something uber sweet in a dessert like this.  It's the perfect balance of sweet and creamy for this dessert.

Layer everything together and enjoy your sweet, strawberry dessert!

Thursday thoughts [A place for my ramblings]

As stated in the title of this post there will be ramblings. Read at your own risk.

I know I said this yesterday but I have a serious self control problem when it comes to my homemade peanut butter. I once again sat there eating it with a spoon last night. Must. Stop.

But I can't stop making it... There is no other peanut butter in the world that compares. I know, I know, you're saying enough with the peanut butter already. Ok, moving on if I must...

Here's something funny for you. I went to Houston this last weekend to visit my family and they crack me up.

This picture needs no explanation, only a caption- like father, like son. Haha, I love them. In their defense we did get up rather early that morning to go check out the car show, so the mid-afternoon nap was called for.

Speaking of Houston, they have HEB there. I love HEB. And seriously, what is wrong with the DFW area that we have none??? I am officially starting a petition for one in Lewisville. This is a must have. Especially considering this-

Latin quinoa salad and penne caprese pasta salad that I got from there. It. Was. Heaven. Especially the quinoa. I love quinoa and this was a special breed of awesome! With corn, tomatoes, avocados, and just all around deliciousness- well lets just say I've been dreaming about it since!

Oh don't worry, I know you all want to make it just as much as I do. And when I figure out how, you all will be the first to know! [Well, after Joel and I because I can almost guarantee you that by the time I post it, we will already have demolished it]

Another speaking of, food this time. [Well, I'm pretty much always speaking of food, but moving on...] When we visited my parents we were amazingly lucky to get to eat some of the delicious Salen's hot dogs that they brought back from none other than Buffalo, NY.

These things are so awesome, seriously, the steak of the hot dog world. There is no other time you will hear me talk about hot dogs, I normally don't eat them, they're not healthy. But for Salen's I will make an exception. And I know you're all wondering where's the picture of these beauties? Well my stomach got ahead of me and before I realized it, I had finished my plate and not taken a single picture.

Slap on the wrist for me- bad food blogger!

Since my dad's birthday was this week we were going to make him a peach and blueberry pie. My mom's specialty. But unfortunately, after 3 stores, and nothing but rock hard peaches, and really expensive blueberries, we had to ditch that plan and come up with a plan B.

Enter strawberry shortcakes. Homemade. All the way.

And I will leave you with that teaser about tomorrows post. And be warned, there is nothing healthy about this dessert. Unless you count the strawberries [that were marinated in sugar to get them all nice, saucy, and gooey].

You've been warned! See you tomorrow!

Squashing the Snack Monster

My downfall.... Snacking. Dun dun duuuuuuuunnn... Yup, this is my constant problem, to this day, when I start snacking, I can't stop. So part of the solution is to eat healthier snacks, the other is self control. [still working on that one...]

To start this story you must learn about my recent addiction, love, obsession, call it what you will.  Four words: Home. Made. Peanut. Butter.  It is ah-mazing. I have made a batch of this stuff every week for the last 3 weeks, because yes we do eat it all. And by we I mean me. With a spoon. Every night. It is that good. What's that you say? That sounds like it must be difficult? Nope, not even. It takes 5 minutes and 16 oz. of honey roasted peanuts. 

All you do is put your peanuts in the food processor and process them for 5 minutes. Easy peasy. And the results, omg, the results are delicious. If you don't sit there eating it with a spoon like me, well don't tell me because obviously you have better self control, and well as previously addressed, that's my problem!

Ok, so back to healthy snacks.  I found this recipe for peanut butter granola on Pinterest [my love/hate relationship with which is a whole other story] and just HAD to make it using my ah-mazing home made peanut butter. So here we go!

1. Add your 2 Tbs peanut butter and 2 Tbs honey into a sauce pan.

3. Get them nice and melty- yummmm :)

4. While it's hot mix in 1/4 tsp each of vanilla extract and cinnamon.  Then add in 1 cup of rolled oats.

5.  Mix it up, evenly coating the oats.  Then spread on a baking sheet.

6. Stick them in the oven at 350 for 7-8 minutes.

And you have an amazing, delicious, healthy snack! [That is so much better for you than sitting there eating that homemade peanut butter with a spoon- because I guarantee you it is soooooo hard to stop!!]

Enjoy!

Angel Food Cupcakes

I think I said this in my welcome post, but just to reiterate- I have a HUGE sweet tooth.  That makes keeping my calorie consumption under control rather difficult sometimes.  Enter angel food cake.  The perfect low calorie, no fat, but still sweet dessert.  AND I found out that they have a box mix for angel food cake.  It is so easy to make: all you do is add water!

So keeping with the simple theme, I made the angel food into cupcakes, topped with cool whip and fresh strawberries.  Can you say yum? I can, and did... many times.  As in "oh my gosh Joel these are so good. No I mean like really good.  These are so yummy!" Something like that.

So first thing first, dump your box mix and water into a bowl and mix it with your beaters...

 ...until it looks like this ^  Then prep your cupcake pan by putting in liners- I would say they are a must for this kind of cupcake, it can get really sticky!

Spoon in the batter into the cups, I put a little too much in these, they poofed up and over.  So I would suggest putting in a little less!

Put them in the oven at 325 for 18 minutes, then pull out these amazing looking delectibles!

Is your mouth watering? Mine was! You're almost done with this really simple dessert! When the cupcakes are cool, top with cool whip and fresh cut strawberries.

Ta Da! Easy, Sweet, low calorie, Satisfying. What more can you ask for?

Delish Fish! [Tacos that is]

I get into these patterns [I won't call them ruts because I don't get bored of them] where all I want is a certain type of food. [I'm sure Joel does get bored with them though, haha] Most recently it has been any Mexican inspired cuisine. Enter my craving for tacos. But not your boring everyday tacos, GOOD tacos, seafood tacos. Since shrimp is rather expensive and I am almost positive I could never make a crawfish taco as good as Fuzzy's, it's got to be fish tacos!

And as I said I was inspired by my friend, Erin's, pineapple salsa. Just another amazing piece of this delicious journey. You can definitely say that my craving was satisfied.

So your pineapple salsa is tempting you in the fridge saying "Eat me! Eat me!". And if you're anything like me you can't ignore a delicious dish in the fridge... Let's go on then and make some fish tacos!

Just a little FYI- for this recipe I made just enough for Joel and I. If you're feeding a larger crowd I would suggest one piece of tilapia per person.

What you will need [Fish Tacos]:
2 pieces of tilapia (or other mild fish)
1 1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp cumin
A bit of paprika
Garlic powder to taste
Smidgen of salt
Pepper to taste
[Don't you love my precise spice measurements?]
Whole grain tortillas
Monterey Jack cheese (for topping)
Sour cream (for topping)

1. I used the tilapia that comes in individual vacuum sealed freezer pouches. Can you say awesome? I love that we can take out just what we need and it's not all frozen together!

2. Once your fish is thawed, cut it into about 1/2 inch cubes- mine are definitely not perfect! But they cooked pretty evenly.

3. Toss the cubes with your spices and coat them all evenly. Like I said, I am oh so precise with my measurements, basically I put a little of this and that, smell it, when it smells good to you it will taste good!

4. Get your pan hot and add olive oil. I cooked the fish over med/high heat (a 6 on our stove)

5. Cook the fish through, it took me a little less than 10 minutes.

6. Remove the fish from the heat, serve on warm tortillas. Top with cheese, sour cream and of course your amazing pineapple salsa!

This meal is so light- it's the perfect summer dish in my mind. The pineapple salsa was not too heavy on top of something with such a mild flavor as tilapia. To top it off, this is a great week night meal if you make the salsa before hand. It took us less than 30 minutes to put it together, and it was delicious!

If you like fish, look forward to more healthy fish dishes because now I have like 6 more fillets in the freezer!!

Enjoy!

Summery Salsa

I must give credit where credit where credit is due- my friend (and registered dietician) Erin, gave me the inspiration for this meal! She posted an extremely yummy looking picture on instagram of some amazing fish tacos. [you can follow me on instagram lindsay_loo0] So I asked her what she used to make them and adapted it to my liking.

I can't think of a more perfect summer dish than some nice, light fish tacos with a summery pineapple salsa! Doesn't that sound amazing? And I've had them so many times at Fuzzy's and most recently some ah-mazing ones at Greenhouse, I just had to figure out how to make some myself!

Today we will make our salsa for the tacos and tomorrow we will make the tacos themselves!

What you will need [salsa]:
1 large red bell pepper
1 small jalapeño
1/4 of a red onion
1 small can of pineapple chunks
1/4 of a bunch of cilantro
2 Tbs of lime juice

1. Let's get chopping!

You'll need to chop up your bell pepper, jalapeno, red onion, cilantro and pineapple. If you like a good amount of heat, don't seed your jalapeno- I did not, and the salsa had a definite kick.  If you want a little less heat, I reccomend seeding half of it.  Mild- seed the whole thing.  I think next time I will probably seed half of it.  I like heat, but that was a little bit much!

2.  Once everything is all chopped up, just mix it together!  I added 2 Tbs of the pineapple juice from the can and 2 Tbs of lime juice [to try to cut the heat a little bit.

3. And voila! You will have this deliciousness waiting for you!

4. I let all the flavors mingle and get to know each other for a few days in the fridge- 24 hours is probably sufficient, but trust me, letting it marinate made a huge difference! You taste just a single  piece of pineapple and you can taste all the other flavors of the salsa. It. Is. Spectacular.


So simple, so delicious, so much better for you because you made it yourself!  Tomorrow, I will finish off the the fish tacos and present you with this perfect dish of summer flavors! Enjoy!