{Recipe} Baked Veggies & Eggs with Turkey Sausage & Cheese

Oh yay, it's Monday.  Anyone else already thinking about next weekend?  Part of what I love about the weekend is actually having time to enjoy breakfast or more likely brunch.  During the week, I usually have a cup of coffee while getting ready then grab something quick for the road. And it's a shame because I LOVE breakfast foods. Bagels, pancakes, waffles, bagels, omelettes, bagels, muffins....I could eat bagels breakfast for every meal of the day.  However, most of the breakfast foods I love aren't exactly the greatest for you.  Wanting to make breakfast over the weekend but knowing we needed to eat better than the banana pancakes I was craving, I went in search of something a bit healthier & came across this recipe.  Overall, I thought this dish was REALLY good (you must like spinach to enjoy this) & it filled me up.  I tweaked the original recipe a bit & added in some additional veggies & turkey sausage. It was also relatively easy to make...I (and by I, I mean Joey because I made him handle the eggs) only had a problem with one egg as you'll see in the photos. But overall it still tasted great!

Serves: 4-6
Cook time acc to me: 40 mins
How difficult was this? Not too bad, only tough part was keeping the eggs from breaking!

4 eggs (we used 5 because there was room)

6 cups firmly packed baby spinach or 1 10oz bag fresh baby spinach

1/2 cup low fat shredded mozzarella cheese

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 lb ground turkey sausage crumbles (I used pre-cooked patties chopped up)

1 medium onion, diced

Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Baking/cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

In a large skillet, place spinach & gently mix in 2-3 tbsp of water.  

Over medium heat, cook spinach until it's just a little wilted, roughly 3-4 mins.

Drain the excess water well, then set aside.

In the same skillet, add onion, red pepper & turkey sausage. Cook until onion/pepper softens a bit. Roughly 3-5 mins. (If your sausage isn't precooked, cook sausage first, then add in veggies)

In a medium-sized baking dish, combine spinach, pepper, onion, turkey sausage & mozzarella cheese. 

Combine thoroughly.

As gently as possible, crack eggs on top of mix.  I was ALMOST successful.  

Lightly season with salt & pepper.

Bake for about 15-18 mins or until the eggs are set (whites are set, yolks look firm around the edges)

Serve with toast or biscuits.  Enjoy!

Adapted from Manila Spoon

Design Confession...

Ok, I'm going to say something & risk hurting a lot of people's feelings, but it's just something I have to get off my chest.  I've been holding it in for a long time & I just can't anymore. Ready? Ok, here we go. I don't like white subway tiles.   I don't like them in my bathroom. I don't like them in my kitchen. I don't like them anywhere else you want to put them. I just don't like them. Not only do I not like them, I actually HATE them. HATE.  There, I said it. I. SAID. IT.  On the contrary, I do happen to like colored glass subway tiles, but I just think the white tiles never look clean & are U.G.LY.   I know most people disagree & LIKE them because they THINK they look clean. Those people are wrong. If you're one of them, I'm sorry. I hope we can still be friends. If you want your place to have a light, airy & clean feeling, you can still achieve that look without the subway tiles & here's how...

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

It should also come as no surprise that I also love a really bold tile too...

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

What kind of tile would you want in your house? Leave it in the comments below!

{Recipe} Oven-Baked Chicken Fajitas

Well, it's time one of my most popular recipes gets a much needed makeover. This is a favorite dish to make during the week.  I've played around with the recipe a bit...adding in shrimp (as you'll see in the latest version) & I've made it with steak. I've made this dish countless times since the original post, it's about time I updated the pics! 

Old:

New:

I love Mexican food. Probably because most Mexican dishes involve cheese and sour cream. It should come as no surprise that Fajita's aren't my go-to dish because they aren't typically covered in melted cheese. However, when I saw the photo of this dish on Real Mom Kitchen and then read how easy it was, I was sold.   This dish was FULL of flavor and pretty healthy (minus the part where I used some light sour cream and yes, I am guilty of adding a little cheese. Just a little!)

ABOUT

Makes: Aprox 10 fajitas

Cook time according to Real Mom: Didn't say

Cook time according to Rachel: 35 minutes

How difficult was this for Rachel? Easy!

INGREDIENTS
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
1/2 lb jumbo shrimp, peeled (optional, I also used pre-cooked)
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large green bell pepper, seeded & sliced
1 large red bell pepper, seeded & sliced
Tortillas (corn or flour)
Toppings if desired: cheese/sour cream



DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

In a small bowl, combine oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder & salt. 

In a greased 9x13 baking dish, place strips of chicken (& shrimp, not pictured above). 

Drizzle seasoning mix over chicken. Add in vegetables. Stir to evenly coat.

Old:

New:

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes

Old:

New:

Place chicken & veggies in tortillas with desired toppings. Serve!

Old:

Yeah, there is no new photo of this. Anything in a tortilla is a pain in the ass to photograph.

Yay or Nay: Black Stainless Steel Appliances?

I love hearing people's opinions & feelings on most things, so I'm starting a new series, Yay or Nay? I think it's pretty self-explanatory. So let's get to it!

 Houzz, one of my favorite home websites released their predictions for big house trends in 2016 (uh...2 months ago...I'm just behind) & one of them piqued my interest as it could impact me in the near-ish future.  Say goodbye to your pretty polished stainless steel appliances & say hello black stainless steel.   If all things go according to plan, Joey & I will be moving into a new home in late 2016 (fingers crossed) & new appliances MIGHT be needed.  So I'm intrigued with the black stainless steel. Part of me is all "oh they look so sleek & modern" but another part of me is all "are they ugly?Are they too dark? I dunno." I've never lived in a place nice enough (minus my parents house) to have polished stainless steel appliances unless you count our fridge that is the only stainless steel appliance in my current outdated white kitchen.  If we have a dark kitchen like the first picture below, I could see wanting the black stainless steel. But if you have a white kitchen, black seems too much. BUT what if you have a grey kitchen like I think I want? WHAT. A. DILEMMA.   So I turn to you, yay or nay to black stainless steel?

Source

Source

Source


Source

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

{Recipe} Oven-Baked S'mores

You know what's sad?  I made this recipe so long ago, I can't remember why I made it. I know it was for something...but then again, WHO NEEDS A REASON TO MAKE THIS DESSERT? Certainly not me.  What I do remember though is these are AHHHHMAZING. I mean, just look at it.  Some of the best foods (imo) are the ones that look the messiest.  So clearly, I'm into this.  Before we moved into our condo, we were renting this great house with an awesome backyard/patio.  One of my favorite things to do was roast s'mores over our bonfire.  Since we no longer have our fire pit (well we do, but it's not in functioning condition) this is a great alternative! I can easily see these in our near-ish future again!

Also, since I'm horrible & forgot to mention this yesterday, my little blog got a facelift this past weekend & I'm pretty stoked with the results.  Thank you to Joey for always being super willing to help me out!  Now, back to the serious stuff...

Serves: 9 Bars

Prep/Bake Time: 45-50 mins

How difficult was this for Rachel? A bit sticky, but not too hard!

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 & 1/3 cups flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 king-sized milk chocolate bars

1 & 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg & vanilla

In a separate bowl, stir flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder & salt

Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into butter mixture

In a greased (yeah I used a tad too much cooking spray) 9x9 baking dish, press HALF of the dough mixture onto the bottom of the dish.

Set chocolate bars on top

Spread marshmallow fluff over chocolate bars

Cover with remaining dough. This is where things get a bit sticky.  

Bake for 30-35 mins or until golden brown.  Now, I'm not entirely sure what happened to mine, but I think I didn't spread the top thick enough. But who cares, it was awesome.

Slice & serve!

Adapted from Rachel Schultz, A Homemaking Blog