Soft-Boiled Egg and Asparagus

Please excuse my absence for the past year or so. I had some health issues that kept me from all of my extracurricular activities. Without getting into the nitty gritty of it all, I was FORCED, against my will, to go on a no carb diet. Being from Wisconsin, where most meals are served with a loaf of bread and beer is a main food group, this is not something I expected to succeed at. However, after more than a few slip ups, (and paying the price dearly for it) I have been converted. There are so many options for meals that aren't centered around a starchy, white base. I have spent more time on Pinterest over the past months than I care to acknowledge, but I have rounded up quite a few delicious recipes that are carb and sugar free. (sugar being the main ingredient I have been forced to avoid, and in case you were not aware... Sugar is in EVERYTHING!) 

I was lucky enough to be started on this diet at the beginning of summer when fresh vegetables are aplenty. Asparagus is one of the first vegetables available and I am obsessed with it. That's putting it lightly. I bought so much at the Farmer's Market, I could barely fit it all in the fridge. I had to come up with some interesting ways to eat all of it and hence, the pictures below. 

I love me some hard-boiled eggs. So easy and delicious, and great for on the go. I also love poached eggs. So decadent and that runny yolk, oh my! Well believe it or not, until recently, I had never had a soft-boiled egg. I don't know why, but I'm so glad to have the rest of my life to enjoy them! And they are pretty easy to make. I've only had one bad experience so far and it was my own fault for trying to take a short cut. Here's a fool proof method for the perfect soft-boiled egg. And while you are waiting those excruciating 6 minutes, sauté some asparagus in olive oil with garlic, S&P. (btw, did you know instead of cutting off the ends of your asparagus, if you gently bend the stalks they will break at the perfect point to remove the stringy, coarse butts!)

Assemble your sauteed asparagus (I cut mine up because it was so thick and is easier to eat) and top with perfect soft-boiled eggs. Sprinkle on some S&P and enjoy that moment when you cut into your eggs and the whites are firm, but the yolk spills out over your plate.... mmmm! And sop it all up with the fresh, crisp summer asparagus. Carb free is not so bad!

Stuffed Peppers

I love peppers... except for the green ones. I've been wanting to make stuffed peppers for awhile but haven't found a recipe that sounds good me. So, doing like I do, I whipped up a lil something and they turned out FABULOUS! Yum.

Here's what in it:

1lb ground sausage

6 white button mushrooms, sliced

half white onion finely chopped

Uncle Ben's instant brown rice

1 tbsp garlic

1/3 c cream cheese

hot sauce

s&p

6 large bell peppers

6 slices of sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Brown sausage over medium heat, breaking up into tiny pieces. Cook mushrooms and onions with sausage. Cook rice, add to mixture. Add garlic, cream cheese, hot sauce, and lil bit of s&p. cook until cream cheese is melted and thoroughly mixed in. remove from heat.

Cut off tops off peppers and remove seeds. Fill peppers with sausage mixture. Place stuffed peppers in a muffin tin (the larger size works best) Bake for 15 minutes, top with cheddar cheese slices, remove from oven once cheese is melted

 Looking at these pictures is tempting me to have another...

A side of thanks

Thanksgiving isn't all about turkey. Side dishes are just as important. I went a little overboard this year by taking on 4 dishes, but I survived and it only took me 3 days to finish the dishes. (Dear Santa, please bring me a dishwasher, I promise to be good... next year) I stuck to the staples this year and might try incorporating something a bit more exotic in the future. I was a little too busy to take step by step photos and too excited to eat to take finished product pics so you'll have to just accept what's here. Oh, and no measurements, since I was cooking for 20, it's all ridiculous amounts of everything.

Acorn Squash

Cut squash in half, remove guts, bake @400 for 40 minutes to an hour, or until squash is soft and when pierced with a fork, meets no resistance. Since I had a lot going on, I let them cool before scooping out. Wow, no burned fingers, who knew?! After removing all skins/scooping out squash, top with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg,  pumpkin pie spice, s&p, mix well. bake @ 350 for 20 minutes or until hot.

Green Bean Casserole:

Does this even need instructions? Well, if you've never read the back of a Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup can...  I used french style cut green beans, cream of chicken and mushroom AND cream of mushroom and garlic Campbell's condensed soup, and French's cheddar fried onions. Combine beans (drain first) and soup and half of onions. Bake @375 for 20 minutes or until hot, top with remaining onions, at last 5 minutes. Thanksgiving isn't complete without this dish.

Sweet Potato Casserole:

I'm not a big fan of this dish because once you eat the scrumptious toasted marshmallows off the top, the rest is just kinda boring. So after consulting my 4 year old nephew we came up with a solution... put marshmallows IN it! Brilliant I tell you.

 Peel and cut up sweet potatoes, place in baking dish with some pads of butter and s&p. Bake @400 for 45minutes to an hour or until potatoes are soft. Mash potatoes add a few marshmallows, some cinnamon, nutmeg and a little bit of brown sugar, stir until the marshmallows melt. Top with pecans, brown sugar and marshmallows to cover. Return to oven, bake until marshmallows are nice and toasted, about 5 minutes, but don't burn them please!

The pecans and brown sugar under the marshmallows add a fabulous crunchy chewy caramelized layer that is too die for!

Bacon Mac N Cheese

I can't believe we have never had mac-n-cheese at our Thanksgiving before. Seriously, how did we survive? I used this recipe from Panera because they definitely do it right, and doubled it. (Holy macaroni that was a lot of macaroni!) I topped it off with pepper bacon bits which I found at my local grocer (1lb of pepper bacon, chopped into tiny pieces, fried until crunchy). Yum. I heard my Grandma was raving about it, which is the greatest compliment since she is the greatest cook :)

I am thankful that everything turned out and everyone loved everything. There's no better feeling than making people happy by feeding them massive amounts of food.

Prosciutto wrapped Asparagus

One of my all time favorite appetizers. Simple, delish and festive for holiday parties!

Trim ends of asparagus to remove hard stalk. Wrap asparagus with thin layer of prosciutto, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake @350 for 10-15 minutes or until asparagus is tender.

Cauliflower Cod

This is one of those totally made up, I don't know what to make tonight, what am I in the mood for, threw some stuff together in my head, and it turned out better than I could have expected. This is a mixture of a recipe for mashed cauliflower, I found @ siriously delicious, a fabulous food blog I love to stalk, I mean follow, and a previous dish I had.

Cod can be kinda bland unless you deep fry it in beer batter and smother it with tartar sauce (I am from Wisconsin, and Friday night fish frys are a requirement for residency.) But trying to save my arteries from complete blockage, I whipped up this healthier baked dish. I apologize for no measurements, but that's how I do.

Oh, and one more comment about this dish, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and after serving this for my family a couple weeks ago, I was over at my brother's the other night and saw a fridge full of cauliflower...

me: "what's up with all the cauliflower?"

my sister-in-law with a guilty look on her face... "I was going to try and make that fish thing you made..."

me: BIG smile. I love it!

What it takes:

Cod, frozen or fresh

I used frozen, that's all they had at my grocery store, worked just fine

lemon

thyme, fresh or dried

salt and pepper

1 head of cauliflower, leaves discarded, florets broken up

cream cheese

wasabi paste

parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375

place cod on a cookie sheet or in a 9x9 baking dish. slice lemon, squeeze juice over fish and place pieces around fish, sprinkle with chopped thyme. add a lil salt and pepper. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until fish is thoroughly cooked and flakes easily.

Meanwhile...

Steam cauliflower florets in a double boiler or (here's a trick I learned) in a bowl with about an inch of water in the microwave for about 5 minutes, or until you can easily stab florets with a fork with no resistance.

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the cauliflower, cream cheese (I used half a brick of Philly), a bit of S&P, and about 2tbsps of wasabi paste. Mix well until it resembles the consistency of mashed potatoes. If you have an immersion blender, it works great for this.

Once cod is baked, remove from oven and top with mashed cauliflower and parmesan cheese. Return to oven under the broiler (I put my on medium, because I otherwise I WOULD burn it). Broil until cheese is nice and golden brown, about 2-5 minutes.

OMG I want this right now!

*You might have some mashed cauliflower left over, I did, and that's fine because it's amazing all on its own.