Recipe: Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

Twice-Baked Potatoes are pretty regular in our house. When I have extra collards leftover, my family always enjoys a Twice-Baked Stuffed Potato, a meal all in itself. But I have not tried sweet potatoes yet.

I looooovvvee sweet potatoes. It was always something I could bond over with my Nana, as the two of us could down a large sweet potato like it's nobody's business. So when Piggly Wiggly has them on sale where I can get 6 LARGE sweet potatoes for 2 bucks, I grabbed those babies right up and get to cooking.

Tonight's recipe is inspired by my Twice-Baked Stuffed Potatoes. I started to look around Pinterest, Allrecipes, and all kinds of other places looking for some inspiration, but decided to just try something on my own. And I am just so happy with my creation. My house smells like Thanksgiving {a week early}, with hints of gingerbread and cinnamon wafting from my oven. And I can't wait to share it with you.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients: 

• 6 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed, pricked, and baked {I did mine in the crockpot.}
• 2 containers of Activia Breakfast Blends, Maple and Brown Sugar 
• 1/2 cup {chopped}  Stacy's Pita Chips Simply Gingerbread {These are limited time only, so grab a bag while they are out}
• 15 almonds, finely chopped OR 1/4 cup 
• 1/2 cup mix of craisins and golden raisins. 
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. Once potatoes have been baked, set aside to cool before handling. 
3. Meanwhile, mix together the Gingerbread chips, almonds, craisins, and cinnamon
4. Once the potatoes have cooled a little, lightly run a knife around the top of the sweet potato, and scoop the insides out, making sure the keep the potato skin in tact as much as possible. All of mine looked like little canoes. Place the scooped insides into a large bowl. 
5. Mix the yogurt with the insides of the potato until the yogurt mixed well. Add the gingerbread mixture, mixing well. 
6. Using a spoon, scoop the potato mixture back into the sweet potato canoes {hehe} until it reaches just the top. Once all the potatoes are full, add whatever is left of the mixture to the top. The potatoes will be overflowing. 
7. If you have anymore of those Gingerbread Pita Chips, chop up about 5 more real fine. Sprinkle on top. 
8. Place into the oven for 20 minutes. 

Here's the directions in pictures: 

6 baked sweet potatoes, set aside to cool

Here are the rest of the ingredients

IN LOVE with these. 

I buy a TON of these and freeze them. Then I pop them into a smoothie. SO GOOD

My sweet potato canoes 

Craisin/Raisin, chopped almonds, and chopped Gingerbread Chips 

Fill just to the top 

Here they are all stuffed right before I sprinkled the tops with crushed Gingerbread chips and baked them. 

This could easily be served as a side dish, a main dish, or even a dessert. After putting the information in my calorie counter, EACH STUFFED SWEET POTATO is just under 300 calories, 51 carbs, 4 g fat, and 8 g protein. 

Please try these and comment here how yours turned out. If you have a recipe you like with sweet potatoes, please share that as well. 

Happy cooking

White Bean and Collards Soup

Collards. I love them. Really, really love them. Anytime I make a batch of collards, whether I buy the leaves from the store {which is almost never} or I get them fresh from my garden or my dad's, I normally end up eating the leftovers in a bowl. By themselves. For real. I love collards. 

So this past Sunday, I made a roast with vegetables for Sunday lunch, and I had to have collards with it. I had an extra ham hock in the freezer as well as a few bags of collards from last year's garden. Saturday afternoon, I covered the collards with water and let them soak on low, with the ham hock, until Sunday afternoon lunch. YUM-O! 

But...

I had a ton of collards leftover. And as much as I love them, it was really almost too much for me to finish off on my own. So I Googled and Pinterested around, looking for some ideas. I could have made my Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes, but we already had stuffed potatoes earlier in the week. I was looking for something different, something I had never tried before. What I found was quite a few variations of a collards soup. So I picked a little here and there, and came up with my own Meatless Monday {that could easily have meat in it} soup. Check below for my family's reviews. 

This is really with what to do with leftover collards. So if you don't already have some made, do it. Then come back. You are going to need those collards soaking in ham hock juice for a while. {I guess that doesn't necessarily make it vegetarian, but whatever} 

White Bean and Collards Soup  {If you see *, please see below for further details or information}

Ingredients: 

• About 4 cups of cooked collards, in juices it was cooked in. 
• *1 pound of white, dried, beans 
• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 1 Tbsp of dried Thyme or 2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• {OPTIONAL} 1.5-2 cups cooked country ham, chopped
• Parmesan and Feta Cheese 

Directions: 

1. **Prepare the dried white beans in the "fast soak" style.
2. Pour soaked white beans into a large crockpot. Add leftover collards, onion, thyme, and seasonings. If needed, add some more water. We like our soup chunky, so I didn't add but maybe a half a cup more of water.
3. Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 4-6 hours, or until beans are soft. 
4. If you choose to add the ham, add in the last 30 minutes. Also, at this point, taste. Add more seasoning, if needed. 
5. Serve with Parmesan and Feta cheese on top. 

I served mine with some Homemade Biscuits Like Grandma Made, but I'm willing to bet the soup would go just as well with some Made from "Scratch" Cornbread Muffins. 

NOTES: 

* You could use canned beans, if you like, but make sure you rinse them off first. Adjust cooking time. You want the beans soft, not mushy. 

** "Fast Soak" basically is boil 1 pound of dried beans in 6-8 cups of water for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cover for 1 hour. 

REVIEWS: 

Okay, so my oldest child is my best food critic. He will honestly tell me if something is good or not. He gave this soup a 6. He said, "I would eat it again, if you made it, but it's not something I would ask you to make." 

My husband, after hearing this response said, "No. It was good. I would say it was better than what he said. More like an 8." 

When made this, I did not add the country ham. I just didn't have any. But we all talked about what was good or not so good about the soup, and the response was overwhelmingly in favor of adding country ham to the soup. It was almost like getting a Sunday Dinner Soup {hmmm....new name? Maybe.} without the meat. So next time I'm for real putting the ham in it. 

Food: Avocado-Chocolate Pudding

Yesterday I was browsing the internet looking for more protein shakes/smoothie recipes, and I came across Peanut Butter Fingers, a great website that has all kinds of healthy recipes, including all types of yummy smoothies. So while my spin-off of her Sunrise Smoothie was blending away, I noticed a recipe for Dark Chocolate Avocado Mousse [I'm just linking up all kinds of nifty things from her website]. I rushed to my Piggly Wiggly [yes, I said "my Piggly Wiggly] to pick up some avocados so I could try this recipe out. I didn't have dark chocolate cocoa powder, but the regular stuff was just fine by me. I was just attempting this recipe first. Now let me tell you, her recipe said to throw in the avocado, the cocoa powder, and some honey and blend until smooth. It wasn't working for me. My blender was just spinning away and nothing was getting mixed, and that was because there wasn't enough liquid in my recipe. So I adapted her recipe again. The chick on Peanut Butter Fingers said she literally licked her blender clean. Ummm...YES, you will too. I'm sure hers was just lovely, but I'm telling you, this recipe was incredible. So I snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

What a conversation that one little picture started.

Someone questioned whether or not it was actually a healthy dessert because of avocados being high in fat, and the comments began flying. I quickly threw my ingredients in my calorie counter, came up with some digits, and felt like my recipe could stand against any store-bought pudding. So I'm going to share with you my recipe, some variations you can try, and then the nutrition value.

Sorry this isn't a GORGEOUS picture, but there is no denying the creaminess of that pudding right there. 

Avocado-Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp local, raw honey 
• 1 cup milk 

Directions: [Are you ready for this? SO EASY]

1. Put all the ingredients into a blender in the order above. 
2. Blend until creamy and smooth. 
3. Divide into 4 containers [about 1/3 cup each, give or take] and either enjoy now, put in the fridge for later, or freeze for even a later, yummy snack [can you say pudding pop?]

This will seriously blow your mind. When I told the cashier at The Pig what I was doing, she turned her nose up and said she doesn't like avocados, but I'm pretty sure if I let her try it, she wouldn't even know there was an avocado in there. 

Also, in the picture, I divided it in half, not in fourths, and could only eat about half of one of those containers. It was so rich, and it hit the spot, right on my sweet tooth. I have tried the" mix a banana with cocoa powder" thing before, but there was a distinct banana taste to it. This didn't really have any avocado taste to it. It just tasted like chocolate pudding. and that is something I LOVE and am willing to send with my kids in their school lunch boxes. 

Variations: 

• My cousin asked about substituting agave and almond milk to make it vegan. YES. and if you do this, PLEASE let me know how it tastes. 
• Blend some spinach in there as well. Take about 1/2 cup of fresh spinach and toss it in there before blending.
• After blending, stir in some chopped walnuts about [1/4 cup]. I know this will increase the fats in the dessert, but all those fats are the GOOD KIND. And if you are splitting it up between 4 servings, it won't really affect the overall fat grams that much. 

Nutritional Value: 

• TOTAL: Calories: 649; Carbohydrates: 91; Fat: 34 g; Protein: 16 g. 
• If split into 4 servings of  ~1/3 cup: Calories: 162; Carbohydrates: 23 g; Fat 9 g; Protein: 4 g [this is based off the calorie counter in MyFitnessPal.com] 

Links to information on Avocados: 

• Dr. Oz's Chocolate Avocado Mousse recipe
• Livestrong's Healthy Food Duo page [one of my favorite healthy recipe websites]
• 10 Health Benefits of Avocados
• 15 Health Benefits of Avocados 
• and to risk putting up a link that may be biased: Avocado.org
• Here's an interesting link that's not necessarily about avocados. Someone mentioned on Facebook about having too much of anything can be a bad thing. I made [and divided] this dessert with this link in mind. Check it out from Hungry Girl

Please try this, and comment here what you think. Can YOU taste the avocado? Did you try the dark chocolate cocoa? How about substituting a different type of sugar? Does it work just as well? 

Happy Snacking, friends. 

Recipe: "Mediterranean" Quesadilla (a Pinterest-inspired Spin-off)

Each Monday, as part of my New Years Resolutions (yes, I'm still working on them), I try to have a Meatless Monday. Some days I just whip up a meatless spaghetti or loaded baked potatoes (try this one...without the ham). Other days I really try to think outside the box. Check these out:

• Starkist Bolder Burger
• Spinach and Feta-stuffed Calzone
• Waffled Falafels

So yesterday I was determined to do a Meatless Monday Meal. I have been seeing this recipe for Spinach Burgers a LOT on Pinterest lately, and decided I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the proper ingredients, and I didn't have any buns (me without bread?! I know, right?) and I didn't want to make any buns. So a little digging in my freezer and in my fridge brought out some ingredients that I thought would make a good spin-off of that Spinach Burger, and I must say, it was GOOD! My husband ate it up, and then said, "You don't always have to do something fancy. I'll take a meal like this any time!" Oh yeah! It only took a few minutes to make and was oh-so-yummy! 

"Mediterranean" Quesadilla 

Looks a lot like the Spinach-Feta Calzone, huh? But it's not! 

Ingredients: 

• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves 
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 egg whites
• 1 whole egg
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used white cheddar)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp *Mediterranean spice rub
• 1 package FlatOut Flatbread (if you have not seen this yet, you need to get it! Go here to see what I'm talking about)  
• Cooking spray 

Directions: 

1. If you are using a griddle, preheat it to 300 degrees. If you are using a pan, then just wait until your mixture is ready, and then heat to med-high.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the flatbread (and the cooking spray, obviously). I used my hands to make sure the spinach leaves got good and mushed up (that's a technical term right there). I tried to make sure, though, the chickpeas did not get all squished. 
3. Once the skillet or griddle is warmed, spray both sides of the flatbread with the cooking spray and lay it on the griddle. Spoon a portion onto the flatbread on one side. Fold the other half over the mixture, much like you would do with a quesadilla. Cook on each side for 3-5 minutes, or until a golden brown. 

That's it!! Stinkin' simple, and can be ready in 15 minutes (for a family of 5). I paired it with some steamed carrots and sliced bell peppers from my garden. 

And here's a free one: I'm big on rubs. I have all kinds filling up my pantry shelves, and one of my favorites is my Mediterranean one. You can put it on chicken, pork, potatoes, or mix it in something you want a little kick to. 

*Mediterranean Spice Rub

In a small jar (mason jar!!!) mix together these spices: 

• 3 Tbsp dried rosemary
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt 

Mix together and use! :) 

Tuesday's Food: Crockpot Spicy Tomato Soup

I looked at the text my husband just sent me, and then looked at the pantry again. This past week had been an expensive one for us, and if we were ever going to save any money for our 10 year anniversary trip to New Orleans, we were going to need to cut corners...again. With just his income (and the little bit I get from Bounty...see here, here, and here for details), I have to be creative and frugal as the Home Manager. So as he texted me with the latest update on our budget (he does it on his lunch break...crazy guy), I knew that a quick trip to the store to pick up stuff was just going to have to wait until the next payday.

Lucky for me, though, two weeks ago I went on my monthly BOGOF grocery trip. I go about once a month and pick up pretty much just Buy 1 Get 1 Free items...with the exception of milk and eggs...which generally aren't ever BOGOF. :( I'm not particularly good at couponing, but I'm pretty good at taking all the sales papers of my local grocery stores and making lists of all the BOGOF stuff we would actually use. Check out my loot!

So you see on the bottom right all those cans? Those are all tomato-something. And that was where I got my inspiration for last night's super-frugal, completely husband approved, and kid tested (and liked!) dinner.

I searched my favorite crockpot website A Year of Slow Cooking, and found her Tomato Soup Recipe. The problem was I didn't have all the ingredients she had, and I was really going to try to make something at home without having to go by the store. So, I grabbed what I had and made a pretty decent soup! Check it out:

Crockpot Spicy Tomato Soup 

Ingredients:

• 2  (14.5 oz) Cans of Diced Tomatoes (One of mine was Oregano and Rosemary diced) 
• 1 (10 oz) Can of Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies (if you don't like spicy, then just add another can of regular diced or maybe one of those herby ones like I had above) 
• 1 (14.5 oz) Can of Stewed Tomatoes 
• 1/4 cup of oregano (yes! I love this stuff!) 
• 2 Tbsp of rosemary (fresh is preferred, but dried will work just as well) 
• 1 Tbsp of Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp of Onion Powder 
• 1/2 cup of Fat Free Sour Cream

Steps: 

1. Gently dump all your tomatoes in a blender. (If you have one of those nifty tools that you can stick in your soup to puree, do it! I would have done this with mine, but I killed my hand blender on making a smoothie...for real, I did.) Blend until the tomatoes run smooth. 
2. Gently pour into your crockpot. Blend in all the spices. Leave the sour cream until the very end. DONT put it in at this point. Trust me. 
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 
4. About 10  minutes before serving, gently stir in the sour cream. 

Serve with grilled cheese (that you make in your waffle iron...if you haven't done this yet, it will change your life!), a few croutons, and a dollop of sour cream. I had some leftover garlic bread from spaghetti last week, and I just chopped that stuff up and put on top of the soup. See below: 

It was YUMMY! And I had enough to freeze for another meal another time. 

And just a side note, my oldest child likes to think he can handle hot stuff, especially since his mama can barely handle black pepper. So when I served him this soup last night, we had a competition to see who can eat the most without having to drink anything....and I won. Just saying. :) 

And one last side note: don't make this while wearing white. You will want to test the soup at some point, and inevitably the spoon will slip out of your hands, fly through the air in slow motion and land on the floor with a large SPLAT! Then you will have to quickly remove all the whites you have on and run to your laundry room to quickly apply a stain-fighter agent (white vinegar or peroxide)...just because you wanted an early taste. Just leave the soup alone. 

Food: Starkist Bolder Burger...a "Meatless Monday" Meal

Every Monday, I try to make a Meatless Monday meal for my family. Not only does this help save us money from having to buy expensive meat for every day of the week, but it is healthier, gives us an opportunity to try new foods, and gives me an excuse to use the food I'm finally getting from my garden. And because I only do it once a week, my husband doesn't complain about it so much (like he did a few years ago when I gave up meat for Lent and tried to make a new vegetarian meal every night).

So when this past Monday came along, I was all ready to make black bean burgers for dinner, but I didn't have all the stuff I needed (namely black beans), and I didn't have to the time to make it to the store, but I did have tuna. Ok, I know. Tuna is a fish. Isn't that meat? I don't know. Joe and I have debated it. I have researched it. I have looked for the answer, and I get a legitimate amount of "yes" and "no" on whether fish is meat or not. My personal opinion? I think if you can keep it as a pet, name it, and have to feed and clean it, then it's meat...unless you have a pet rock, but that's a different story. :)

So anyway, I decided we would have a "kind of" Meatless Monday with Tuna Burgers. I don't not really like fish anything. I'm not a seafood (or fresh water food) kind of girl. I know! I live in Charleston, and I don't like seafood? What's wrong with me?! Sigh. My life story. :) Back to the burgers. StarKist has these little seasoned tuna packets that Joe and I love to take with us when we go backpacking. They are light, easy to eat out of, filling, and actually pretty good. On the back of one of the packets (Herb and Garlic Tuna) is a recipe for StarKist Bolder Burgers. I tried it one day, and actually really like it! This past Monday I did not have the Herb and Garlic tuna, so I had to adjust the meal just a little, but I want to share it with you.


Almost Starkist Bolder Burgers (original StarKist recipe found here)
 Makes 4 LARGE burgers or about 6 smaller burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 large can of StarKist Tuna (10 oz) 
• 1 1/2  cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup non-fat ranch salad dressing (I have also used 1/2 plain yogurt too) 
• 2 Tbsp spicy mustard
• 1 Tbsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning 
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 

Steps: 

1. In a large bowl, mix tuna, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, dressing, mustard, seasoning, and egg. Go ahead, use your hands. 
2. Form into patties. Place the rest of the bread crumbs on a plate. Coat each side of tuna patties with the crumbs. 
3. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. They should cook about 3-5 minutes on each side until they are brown.  

Serve on french bread rolls. I like to have a side salad and some sort of steamed veggies to go with it. This meal makes a great lunch OR dinner. Really. It's filling. These would also be really good as mini-patties as an appetizer (oh my goodness! I just thought of that, and watch out, friends who come over for parties! I am going to do this for sure!).  If you suddenly have guests, this is also a really great meal to have ready in a bind. Most of these ingredients are found in most pantries anyway, so it's worth trying. 

Give these a shot. It only takes a few minutes to make (15 minutes TOPS), so it's a great go-to meal on those last minute days. Please check out the links below for information on Meatless Monday and other Meatless Monday meals I have tried. 

1.  Meatless Monday
2. Waffled Falafels
3. Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Calzone
4. Twice Baked Stuffed Potatoes  (this link has meat in it, but I made it a few Mondays ago with the ham, and it was still good, just add some more seasoning)
5. Crockpot Pesto Fish (another fish recipe) 

Tuesday's Food: Waffled Falafels

My husband likes falafels; I like using my waffle maker. Since it was Meatless Monday, I decided to give making falafels in my waffle maker a try! One of my favorite creative recipe websites is The Waffleizer: a website that has quite a few different recipes using your waffle maker but not necessarily making waffles. She (he?) didn't have a recipe for falafels, but said she just used a mix from a box. So off to the store I went to find said falafel mix to make a surprise meal for my hubs.

After searching 3 different grocery stores for the waffle mix, I finally decided to just make the falafels from scratch. If you normally make your falafels from scratch, then instead of frying the little balls, just form them into patties, and cook them in your waffle maker instead. If you don't make your falafels from scratch, or have never made falafels, then check out the recipe below....and then check out my review.

Homemade Falafels

What You'll Need:

• 1 can chick peas
• 1/3 cup parsley (I don't like parsley so much, so I did about half parsley and half oregano to make 1/3 cup) 
• OPTIONAL: 1 medium onion, chopped (I did not do this because the hubs doesn't like onions) 
• 2 Tbsp cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 CUP cumin. (Yes, that says CUP)
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper
• 3 Tbsp water
• Olive oil 

Instructions: 

1. Drain and rinse the chick peas. Dump in a large bowl or blender. Add parsley, onion, cilantro, garlic, baking powder, salt, cumin, and red pepper. Blend until it makes a thick paste. 
2. Add the water and blend well. It will not be smooth, but close to it. 
3. Using two spoons, form into little balls (see pic #1 below). NOTE: after cooking the first round, I ended up combining two balls to make 1 large patty. I would suggest the same if you are going to use the waffle maker. 
4. Add a little olive oil to your waffle maker, place the balls or patties in the maker, and cook until crispy (2-3 minutes). Drain on a paper towel. 
5. Cover the inside of pita bread with humus and add the waffled falafel (and tomatoes and cucumbers if desired). 

REVIEW: 

This went over well with half of us, and not so well with the other half. It was just a bit too spicy for Jed and me. 

As for the experience, we have made falafels before, but from a boxed mix. They turned out great, then. This time, about half of my falafels fell apart in the waffle maker. It honestly could just be the recipe and the type of waffle maker I have (Belgium waffle maker). I ended up making mine with crumbled falafels instead of a the full cooked item. It was still good (just spicy). I will make this again, but with a mix next time just to see if it turns out different. 

If you give this a shot, let me know how it worked for you! 

Pre-cooked falafel balls. Normal size for frying, but I ended up combining two to make one large patty

Final product. We also had about a Tbsp of hummus on the side to dip whatever in. YUM! 

Tuesday's Food: Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Calzone

Oh, Pinterest. You have done it again. In my search for Meatless Monday meals, I found a recipe for Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Focaccia. We are pretty big fans of all of those ingredients in my house, so it seemed like a winner to me. I adjusted the recipe just a tad, and I'm going to share it with you. This recipe was incredible and filling. All family members ate a huge helping. So if 3 boys and 1 picky girl like it, you should too! :)

Spinach and Feta-Stuffed Calzone
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
15 oz baby spinach
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2/3 cup golden raisins
3 Tbsp pine nuts
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground chili pepper
Homemade Pizza Dough (try this recipe and you'll never go back!)
Cooking Spray
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp water
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Prepare pizza dough according to directions. Place on a pizza stone or greased cookie sheet. Spread out to a large rectangle (15 x 12 inch). *You can always use refrigerated pizza dough, but you must really try the homemade stuff. It only takes a few minutes. 
2. Preheat oven to 450. 
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute for 1 minute. Add half of the spinach and stir until the spinach wilts (about 1 minute). Add the remaining spinach; cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until spinach wilts. Remove from heat and stir in feta, raisins, nuts, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and chili pepper. 
4. Spread spinach mixture lengthwise over half of the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold the other half of the dough over the filling, pressing the edges together with a fork. Cut 5 (1 inch) diagonal slits in the top of the dough. 
5. Combine milk and water and brush evenly over the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan. 
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

I had to take a quick photo of it before I forgot, so it's not the best quality, but believe me, it's yummy! 

I told the hubs that I could always add meat next time if I made it for a non-Meatless Monday meal. He said, "NO!...I mean. It's perfect just the way it is." Yup. My meat and potatoes man just said no to meat because the meal was THAT GOOD! 

For real. Try it. You will like it. No, you will LOVE it! :) 

Happy Cooking, everyone! 

Tuesday's Food: Pesto Fish

So it's been a while since I've done a crockpot recipe from Stephanie O'Dea's website "A Year of Slow Cooking." But I had fish, and since I don't really do fish, I was looking for a quick and easy fish recipe. Luckily Stephanie was there with her "Sole with Pesto" recipe. Again, I made a few adjustments. So check out mine and check out hers. See what you think!

Ingredients:
4-5 pieces of white fish (I used tilapia because it was on sale at The Pig)
5-6 Tbsp pesto sauce
Parmesean cheese, grated
White cheddar, grated (my new favorite)
aluminum foil

Steps:

• Mix the pesto (about 1 Tbsp per piece of fish) and cheese (you can see how I had already started this in the background of the above picture) 
• Lay a piece of fish on a piece of foil and top the fish with a dollop of pesto mixture (Some of them I did a little on top and on bottom)
• BTW, notice that my fish is frozen? That's right, I got it frozen and cooked it that way. 

• Fold the foil over the fix. I do this like you would fold the opening of a four-flap box. Just make sure it's "sealed" so juices don't run out (don't want to have to clean up the mess) 
• Place in the crockpot and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. 

And that's about it! I served mine with wild rice and steamed green beans. It went so quickly that the only  picture I got was a half-eaten piece of fish before I remembered to take a nice pretty shot. My boys ATE IT UP! For serious, they literally were licking the plate and told me I'm the best mom EVER! And I even liked it. 

Give it a shot and let me know what you think! 

Tuesday's Food: Lemon and Dill Fish and Spinach

It's Tuesday! You know that means I'm going to share another one of my crockpot recipes. I missed last week's post, and I'm so sorry for that, so today I'm going to post something nice for you fish lovers out there.

Just a note: I don't like fish. I know, I know. I'm from Charleston, and I don't really like any creature that lives in the water, with the exception of alligator. It's the smell. I have a very sensitive sense of smell. I know I need fish, though, so every once in a while (my goal is once a week) I make fish for the family. I figured one of these days I'll be able to handle fish without drowning it in vinegar or some other seasoning.

Now, on to the recipe. I got the crockpot recipe from Stephanie O'Dea's website (here), and I made a few adjustments. So here is my twist of the recipe:

Lemon and Dill Fish and Spinach:

1/2 pound to 2 pounds of fish. (It is suggested to have salmon, but all I had on hand was halibut) 

--2 lemons

--12 oz of fresh spinach

--1/2 t black pepper

--3/4 t kosher salt

--2 t dill

--1  bottle of Apple Crisp Cider (again, I had Hornsby. The recipe called for white wine, water, or apple juice) 

Directions: 

1. Wash spinach and place inside the crockpot. 

2. Place fish on top of spinach. 

3. Mix seasoning together and then sprinkle on both sides of the fish. 

4. Slice the lemons and place them on top of the fish. 

5. Pour the bottle of the apple cider (hard cider) on top (if you don't want to use cider, you can use 1/4 cup of water, white wine, or apple juice). 

6. Cook on low for 2 hours. 

I served mine with steamed potatoes (that I cut up and put in another smaller crockpot for the same time the fish cooked), steamed broccoli (that I served sprinkled with white cheddar cheese), and sliced homemade bread. YUM! 

If you like fish, I really think you would like this. It didn't make my house smell fishy (more like lemon), which is saying a lot for someone like me. I loved how healthy this meal was, and I was able to use the leftover fish to make "tuna" sandwiches the next day (mixed with 1/2 cup of crockpot yogurt,  a Tbsp of salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 2 T of italian dressing, and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese).