Lox & Eggs Scramble

One of my most favorite foods in the world is Smoked Salmon...aka Lox. When I need to indulge, instead of going for the bag of potato chips or a container of ice cream, I actually CRAVE a bagel, lox & cream cheese. It's tradition in my office for your "team" to get you sweets to share in the office. Generally it's cupcakes or a cake, but for my birthday this year, my team  got me a platter of bagels, lox & cream cheese...in ADDITION TO cupcakes. 

I mean, how awesome is that?! While the cupcakes we had later in the day were tasty, this was by far the best surprise.  Recently my team went out for a successful show celebratory lunch to an awesome place called The Waffle.  I surprisingly decided not to get a waffle when I saw this egg scramble with lox, cream cheese, onion & capers. I prefer my lox w/o capers because they kind of gross me out.

This scramble was right up my alley & tasted amazing.  I knew this was a recipe I would actually be able to duplicate at home & it wouldn't be complicated!  I was a little suspicious of adding in cream cheese to my eggs, but it actually tasted really smooth & creamy. I am happy to say I WAS able to successfully recreate it in all it's deliciousness.   It was SO easy & didn't take long at ALL. We ended up having this for dinner & J absolutely LOVED it & said this might be his favorite breakfast I've made so far.  I will definitely be making this many more times...possibly again tonight!

ABOUT

Serves: 2

Cook time according to Rachel: 15 mins

How difficult was this for Rachel? Easy!

INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
2-3 tbsp fat free cream cheese
1 pkg Nova Lox, sliced into small pieces
1/4 red onion, chopped
salt & pepper to taste                           

DIRECTIONS

Crack eggs in a small mixing bowl. Add in milk. Whisk together until completely combined

In a large skillet over medium heat, add eggs. 

Scramble until they are just a tad bit runny. Aprox 5-7 mins.

Add in onion & Lox

Mix thoroughly. Eggs will be a bit runny due to the onion, so might have to cook a bit longer than usual.

Add in cream cheese right before eggs are done.  Let cheese melt a bit and then mix in thoroughly.

That's it! Serve when eggs are cooked to your liking.

Cool Veggie Dip

Sometimes it's easy to forget that even the simplest of recipes can be delicious!  This recipe was floating around on Pinterest called "Poolside Skinny Dip" and while it is definitely a healthier appetizer...if you eat as much of it as I did, it's not so skinny anymore :)  Absolutely delicious and PERFECT for the summer! You won't have to worry about the cream cheese spoiling in the hot sun because it won't last that long! I served this with crackers, but found myself also dipping in other veggies. This will definitely be a staple this summer!

Cool Veggie Dip
Serves:15-20
Prep time according to Design Life & Style: doesn't say
Prep time according to Rachel: 10 mins (+ 1 hour to cool)
How difficult was this for Rachel? SO EASY!

Ingredients:
I red bell pepper
1/2 can corn, drained (small can ideal)
2 Jalepeno peppers, diced
2 8oz reduced fat cream cheese packages
1 pkg Ranch seasoning

Crackers for serving

The original recipe also called for half can diced olives. I skipped em.



Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients

Mix thoroughly. Chill for at least 1 hour.

That's it!

{Recipe} Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherds Pie

Time to update another recipe!  As the temps start to finally drop (high of 77 here today! Yes, that is cooling off for us) it's time to bust out the foods that warm your stomach & your soul.  Ok, was that too cheesy? Maybe. Anyways, this recipe is amazing. Make it.

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It was always drilled into my head that healthy eating meant a salad, grilled chicken or fish. Sometimes (always) chosing between the 3 doesn't excite me.  I do actually really enjoy fish, but not when I make it. (See Grilled Balsamic Salmon.) I was absolutely STOKED to find this recipe because not only is it really healthy & looked delicious, it was DIFFERENT.

This dish lasted us 3 nights and even by night 3, I still found myself looking forward to it. One of my biggest downfalls is the struggle with portion control. I always want MORE of the foods I love. For once, one serving of the dish actually filled me up!  I was really intrigued by Gina @ Skinnytaste's decision to sub in sweet potato instead of your typical yellow potato in this classic dish.  I recently tried to make a healthy mashed potato and it just did NOT satisfy...and you won't be seeing that recipe here.  The sweet potato is exactly the topping this dish needed.  The only thing I was missing was the individual dishes that Gina recommends you cook the pies in...because that is tradition. Well, baking it in one large dish worked just fine for me! You will also notice I took some liberties & left out a few veggies that I felt were either unnecessary or veggies I wasn't a fan of.

Sweet Potato Turkey Shepherd's Pie
Serves: 6
Cook time according to Gina: Doesn't say
Cook time according to Rachel: 1 hour 15 mins
How difficult was this for Rachel? Not difficult, just a decent amount of steps...BUT WORTH IT!

Ingredients:
For the potatoes:   
3 sweet potatoes, peeled, diced
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup fat free chicken broth
2 tbsp light sour cream
salt & pepper to taste
For the Filling:
1 lb ground turkey
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
10 oz frozen mixed veggies
2 tbsp flour
1 cup fat free chicken broth
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp freshly chopped rosemary
salt & pepper
paprika

Additional veggies that I omitted from the original recipe: 
8oz mushrooms, diced
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 parsnip, diced              

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add peeled potatoes & whole garlic cloves

While potatoes boil, in a large saute pan, brown ground turkey. 

Season with salt & pepper. Drain & set aside.

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Add olive oil to the pan, then add onion & sauté for one minute.

(Add celery & parsnip & cook about 12 mins)

If you don't add the additional veggies, sauté onion for aprox 4-5 mins until tender.

Add garlic (and mushrooms) and sauté another 1 minute (3-4 mins if w/ mushrooms)

Add flour, salt & pepper & mix well.

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Add frozen veggies, chicken broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce & rosemary. Mix well.

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Add cooked turkey & mix well. Simmer on low about 5-10 minutes.

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In a 9x13 greased baking dish (or 6 small oven safe individual dishes) pour meat & veggie mix. 

Spread to cover the bottom.

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In a large mixing bowl, remove potatoes & garlic from boiling water. 

They should be nice & soft by now. 

Mash potatoes with chicken broth, sour cream, garlic, salt & pepper.

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Spread potato mixture over the turkey & veggie mix. Sprinkle top with paprika.

Bake 20 minutes or until potatoes turn golden.

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Let cool for 10 mins. Serve!

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Best part of this whole thing? I forgot to take a picture of the dish spooned out. Oh well.

Guest Post! Creamy Light Mac & Cheese

Welcome to another Guest Post! Thanks for this recipe Becky! This looks so yummy, I can't wait to try it!!

         

Rachel and I have been friends since our freshman year of college. Neither one of us were big cooks back then, we ate out a lot. Now that we’re all grown up and she’s cooking so much, I thought I’d take a page out of her book and start cooking more often. 

                            

Both my husband/lovely assistant and my growing baby (Note from Rachel, when Becky sent me this post she was 6 months pregnant...now she's due any day!!) appreciate the tasty, healthy meals at home. The first thing I made when I started my good wife/mommy routine was Rachel’s ground turkey enchiladas. 

I figured since I stole a recipe from her, I’d share one with her too! Here it is, “How to Make Creamy, Light Macaroni and Cheese” also known as “Tricking Your Husband into Making Dinner.” Because let’s face it, working full time and growing a baby is hard work.

Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese
From Cooking Light Magazine
Hands on time - 1 hr. Total time - 1hr. 25 min.
Serves 8 (or 1 regular person and 1 hungry husband, with left-overs)

Ingredients:                                                                                                      

3 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1, 1lb squash)
1 1/4 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups fat free milk
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbs fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 1/4 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese (I replaced  the Romano & Gruyere w/ shredded Chedder Jack. Hubby doesn't like "fancy cheese")
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pound uncooked wheat macaroni
cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup panko *we just used regular breadcrumbs and only 1/4 cup
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley *totally forgot this part and it didn't matter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Cube & peel the squash. Never done that before? Me either. This video helped!

At this point, you may notice that cutting up and peeling squash requires a little muscle, this might be a good time to bring in your lovely assistant. Make sure you tell him that you need someone manly…they like that.

After your lovely assistant has finished peeling and cubing the squash, you can retire him for now, but don’t let him go far. If you’re like me and you accidentally manhandle the garlic, causing cloves to fly all over the kitchen, you’ll need him again. Lovely assistants are very useful for digging out that pesky clove that got stuck inside the trash can peddle.

Once you’ve cleaned up the garlic clove explosion, combine squash, broth, milk, and garlic in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over med/high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until squash is tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 min. Remove from heat. The official recipe didn't say to, but I stirred it periodically to keep the milk from getting a skin.

You’ll need the blender now, and you probably keep it in a hard to reach place. For example, ours is at the very back of a bottom cabinet. That makes pulling out the blender a task for your lovely assistant!

Place the hot squash mixture in the blender. Add salt, pepper, and Greek yogurt, be sure to do this part yourself. Husbands/lovely assistants will believe that you’re doing all the work if you handle the adding of ingredients. Remove the center piece of the blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid to blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid *I used two folded paper towels so I wouldn't yucky up one of my towels, which worked fine. Puree until smooth. Blending is fun, but since he’s already in the kitchen, why not just have your lovely assistant handle this task?

Place blended squash mixture in bowl; stir in Gruyere, pecorino Romano *or chedder jack which works and is yummy, and 2 tbs of Parmesan. Stir until combined. Again, since he’s still in the kitchen, assign this task to your lovely assistant, but make sure you do the actual adding of the cheese and stirring. He’ll perceive that as you doing the cooking.

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain well. Add pasta to squash mixture and stir until combined. Again, make sure you do the stirring. Men think stirring=cooking. Have your lovely assistant spread mixture evenly into a 13x9 in. glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and cook for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat; stir in remaining 2 tbs of Parmesan cheese (you’ll notice I didn’t “remove from heat” before adding the Parmesan, didn’t make a difference). Sprinkle evenly over the hot pasta mixture. Lightly coat topping with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Ovens are hot, here’s one last task for your lovely assistant! Sprinkle with parsley, serve immediately *unless you forgot the parsley, then just eat it!

Looks yummy right? It really is and the best part is that the average serving of macaroni and cheese has over 600 calories, but this healthy version only has 390! Best of all, it still tastes like macaroni and cheese! Yay! The best part is that, since you worked so hard on dinner, your lovely assistant will probably volunteer to do the dishes.

{Recipe} Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Sandwich

Do I even have to try and sell this dessert?  If you're going to make these, beware, they are ADDICTING.  I ate one and the rest I stuffed in my co-workers faces. These were WAY to dangerous to leave in the house. Creamy on the inside and chocolate-ly chewy on the outside. I don't even want to say anything more besides MAKE THESE.  I found this recipe at a fun new blog, Heat Oven to 350 . I will definitely be making these again!  

ABOUT

Makes: aprox 20 bars

Cook time according to Heat Oven: 65 mins

Cook time according to Rachel: 70 mins plus 1 hour fridge time

How difficult was this for Rachel? Not too hard, just a lot of steps!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
2.5 tsp vanilla extract, divided
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
                                 
DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, shortening, brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla,  1/2 cup granulated sugar, salt & cider vinegar 

Beat in 1 egg, baking soda & flour. 

Stir in chocolate chips & set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese w/ remaining sugar until thoroughly combined.
Beat in egg & remaining vanilla

Insert picture here.

In a 9x13 greased pan, spread 1/2 of the cookie dough evenly across the bottom. 

It is a bit tricky, seemed best to add dollops of cookie dough throughout the pan & then spread all the dollops together

Then add the cream cheese mixture on top of the cookie dough

With the remaining cookie dough, flatten chunks of dough between your hands into discs & then place them on top of the cream cheese layer. 

Heat Oven said the discs didn't have to touch but just be near each other, but...

THEY LIED. But honestly, I kind of don't care that the top layer wasn't a solid cookie.
Bake for 35-45 mins or until the top is brown & cooked through.

Fridge for 1 hour, then slice & serve!