Carrot Bread

This is a great alternative to carrot cake. Much healthier and better texture if stone ground wheat is used. After a few days it's prefect with a bit of oatmeal or to be used as french toast, or in a bread pudding.

Ingredients:

• 2 c chopped carrot
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c vanilla or egg nog flavored milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 c stone ground whole wheat flour

Directions:

• Put all ingredients in the mixer except flour
• Slowly add flour
• Grease plan
• Bake mix at 375 degrees until done
• Let the bread cool
• Cut and serve

Enjoy!

Lentil Soup

I never really liked lentil soup all that much until I started eating it at work. During the winter it's perfect to keep you warm. Lentil soup is really simple to make, and the beans don't need the traditional soaking that other dried beans need. With a few other vegetables on hand lentil soup can be very nutritious.

Ingredients:

• Dried lentils
• Chicken bouillon
• Carrot
• Garlic
• Water
• Salt
• Pepper
• Onion flakes

Directions:

• Put lentils, water and spices in the crock pot
• Cook on high for 3 hours
• Add additional water if necessary

Serve with crusty or toasted bread

Enjoy!

Greek Yogurt with Agave and Pecans

This is a nice and simple dessert for the holidays. It's great because it's not too sweet or too fattening for you. You can strain your own yogurt or buy it from the store. Honey or maple syrup can be substituted for the Agave syrup. Toast the pecans to get a rich nutty flavor.

Ingredients:

• Plain greek yogurt
• Agave syrup
• Toasted Pecans

Directions:

• Coat pan lightly with oil
• Roast nuts until fragrant
• Put yogurt in a bowl
• Drizzle with sweetener
• Top with roasted nuts

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad

This is a great way to provide a filling and cheap lunch. Grilled chicken breast and roasted veggies served over rotini with a sauce made of pureed red peppers and Italian dressing. For a bit of sweetness you can also add a small tablespoon of french dressing.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Roasted peppers
• Zucchini
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower
• Italian Dressing
• French Dressing
• Tri colored Pasta

Directions:

• Grill chicken and veggies in vegetable oil
• Cook pasta and drain
• Coat pasta with dressing
• Puree half a roasted red pepper
• Coat pasta with dressing, blended pepper
• Top with chicken and grilled vegetables

Enjoy!

Chili Relleno

Chili Rellenos are amazing. You can use poblano peppers or the cubanelles. I stuff mine with the queso blanco or a good mozzarella. The trick to to fire char them to get the skin to peel off. I don't coat mine in egg or cornmeal, which is traditional. This way you save on the calories but really get the intended flavor of the chili.

Ingredients:

• Peppers
• Cheese
• Hot sauce or enchilada sauce
  

Directions:

• Put pepper directly over flame until blackened
• Rotate until entire pepper is charred
• Place pepper in a plastic bag (this will help steam it and make pulling the skin off easier)
• Peel pepper
• Cut open pepper and discard seeds
• Fill with sliced cheese
• Bake in pan
• Cover with enchilade or hot sauce

Enjoy!

Cider Pumpkin Bread

This is great as a breakfast item or as a snack. I used apple cider in place of milk in this recipe. It gives a nice spice and mild tart flavor. Dried cranberries add to the flavor. Expect this bread to be on the softer side.

Ingredients:

• 2 c pureed pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 4 c flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 c dried cranberries
• 1/2-3/4 c apple cider
• cinnamon
• vanilla extract
• salt
• baking soda

Directions:

• Cream butter, sugar and eggs
• Add liquid ingredients
• Add dry ingredients
• Use mixer to blend
• Poor into bread pan
• Bake at 350 until soft

Enjoy!

Unchicken wings

Being home I was craving chicken wings, or as everyone else calls it "buffalo wings" but I hate all the fried badness that comes with it. I decided to learn how to make buffalo chicken. I used drum sticks since there is a lot more meat on it. I used a mixture of sauces and cooked it in the crock pot. You can leave the skin on and brown first or remove the skin and put the drumsticks right in the crock pot.

Ingredients:

• Chicken drumsticks
• Hot sauce
• Worschester sauce
• Honey
• Garlic
• Onion flakes

Directions:

• Pour sauces in crock pot
• Add a few tsp water
• Brown chicken in a pan
• Transfer to crock pot
• Cook on high for 3 hours

Peel off skin and remove meat from bones.

Enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin

Over Thanksgiving I went to my sister's boyfriends parents house and we had pork tenderloin. It was so good! I wanted to learn how to make it. Well my version was made in the crock pot instead of on the grill but turned out pretty good. I used an extra-lean cut, and this was a bit drier than what I had at their house, not sure if it was the technique I used or less fat, but nevertheless it was still pretty good (pics will follow)

Ingredients:

• Peppers
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• BBQ sauce
• Honey
• Spicy Mustard
• Worschester sauce

Directions:

• Saute the peppers and onions in a pan
• Add spices, vegetables and sauces to crock pot
• Brown pork tenderloin on all sides in the pan
• Place pork in crock pot on high for 3 hours
• Rotate pork each hour

Cut and serve!

This is great with the chinese steamed buns!!

Or with rice!

Steamed Pork Buns

I realize it's been over 2 months since I've posted. Work is ridiculous and even though I continue to cook and cook and cook I haven't had the chance to upload the pictures and recipes of everything I've done since then. I have a lot of pics to catch up on over Christmas. I've been trying to cook new foods the past few weeks, mainly different cuts of meats that I tend to avoid.

This summer we went to Momofuku in Manhattan and they had AMAZING steamed pork buns. I wanted to recreate these after that day.

Here is the recipe I used for the buns (pics will hopefully soon follow) and then I cooked a pork tenderloin for the first time and it also turned out great. That is the delicious filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bread flour
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tsp oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:

• Mix everything in a bread maker and let rise.
• Form into balls
• Cover in light dust of flour
• Steam in steamer for 6 minutes

Cut in half and serve!