June Foodie Pen Pal

This was my second month doing Foodie Pen Pals and I had such a fun time picking out again this month that I was looking forward to seeing what my foodie pen pal Kristi sent me.  You can see above that she sent a bunch of good stuff (I'm always amazed how much you can get for $15!).  She sent: Polenta, Potato pancakes, Cheese Bread Mix, Hot Pepper Parmesan Dip Mix, and Homemade Salsa.

I have to admit I was most excited for the Homemade Salsa.  I love me some Mexican food!  I'm not really a fan of bread, but my husband is looking forward to trying the Cheese Bread.  Since I hardly ever have bread in the house it will be a treat for him.  I've never made potato pancakes or polenta, so that that will be a new adventure.  And lastly, I'm a sucker for dips, so that Hot Pepper Parmesan dip mix won't last long! 

Thanks Kristi!!!

PS - If you want to see what I bought for Dawn, you can check out her blog HERE


Here are the details if you are interested in joining next month!
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 

-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 

If you’re interested in participating for July, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by July 4th as pairings will be emailed on July 5th!

Noodles and Company Penne Rosa

 

I'm a fan of the Penne Rosa from Noodles and Company.  Bill usually gets the Pasta Fresca.  It seemed easy enough to make so I wanted to try to make it at home.  I found a recipe through pinterest and decided to give it a try.  I added more mushrooms and spinach than it called for because it didn't seem like enough and because I always feel like I could use more of both when I'm eating at Noodles and Co. It turned out great.  Not exactly the same, but close enough and so easy!  Next time I think I will add even more mushrooms and spinach as they kind of shrink up.  Below is the recipe with the few changes to the amounts that I used.  I also added some chicken (optional at Noodles and Co) since Bill usually likes meat in his meals.

 

Copy Cat Noodles and Company Penne Rosa
From: What's Cooking at the Love's
Prep: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients:
1 lb. box Penne Pasta
2 Tbsp white wine (can use chicken broth)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4-1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 - 3/4 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
1/2 -3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 - 3/4 cup baby spinach
1 (14o) can Italian style diced tomatoes
Slices of cooked chicken (optional)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Boil pasta according to package directions

2. while pasta boiling prepare spinach and mushrooms.  In a large skillet, heat wine, oil, marinara, mushrooms, tomatoes and red pepper over medium heat.  Stir liberally for 5 minutes.

3. Turn tomato mixture to low, stir in cream and spinach.  Then add pasta and mix well until spinach is wilted.  Stir in strips of cooked chicken if adding chicken.  Serve with sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Quinoa with Avocado, Garbanzo Beans, and Tomatoes

 

My brother brought a bunch of avocados from California when he came last week.  Most of them went to batches of guacamole, but one lucky one got made into this scrumptious salad.  It is pretty easy and really filling. We liked it so much I'm making a big batch this week for our lunches.


Quinoa with Avocado, Garbanzo Beans, and Tomatoes
From: Elizabeth's Dutch Oven
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 avocado, sliced/chunked
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 can (14oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
juice of 1-2 limes
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.  Cook quinoa according directions (mine: mixed 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups water, brought to boil and let simmer covered for 10-13 minutes).

2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare avocado, tomatoes, and garbanzo beans

3.  When quinoa is done cooking, place in large bowl, stir in tomatoes, garbanzos and juice of 1-2 limes (I used 1 1/2 and they were pretty juice limes).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in Avocados last.  Serve.

Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Balls

A friend at work brought in these Chocolate covered cookie dough balls and I knew I had to have the recipe.  I made them last weekend to bring to our family get together and they sold like hot cakes.  These are so easy and delicious that I will definitely make them again.  They do make a lot (around 30-40 balls) so I highly suggest making them for a group of people or you will end up eating them all yourself!

Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Balls
From: Chef in Training
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 lbs chocolate disks or chocolate chips to coat (I used the kind marked for fondue and these worked great!)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.  Add vanilla.  Gradually beat in flour, then add sweetened condensed milk. 

2. Stir in mini chocolate chips, mixing well.  Shape into 1-inch balls and place on waxed paper.  Chill 2 hours.

3. Melt chocolate disks in microwave or double boiler.  Using 2 forks dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover.  place on waxed paper and chill to set.  Store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Easy Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

 

A few weeks ago I had a drink at DMK Burger Bar called Madame Geneva's Rhubarb Delight, which is Gin, lime soda, and gingered rhubarb jam.  And man was it tasty!  I've never had rhubarb before and decided when I went to the farmer's market that I needed to try and make some jam.  I found a couple easy recipes for Strawberry Rhubarb Jam that looked to easy to pass up.  It turned out great, although I might try a little less sugar next time and/or sugar free Jello-O because it is very sweet (but still tasty).  Bill made me his own version of the drink I had with the rhubarb jam and it was fantastic.  Although we mainly have been putting in on bread!

Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
From: Frugal Upstate & All Recipes
Prep: 1-2 hours
Cook:  15 min

Ingredients:
6-8 cups rhubarb cut into 1 inch chunks (2 lbs rhubarb = about 5-6 cups)
3 cups of sugar to taste
1 pkg (3oz) strawberry Jell-O

Directions:
1. Wash and cut rhubarb stalks into half inch pieces and place in a large pan.  Mix in sugar with Rhubarb chunks.

2. Cover and let sit for at least an hour (up to overnight) until the juices come out of the rhubarb

3. Cook rhubarb mixture over medium heat stirring and mashing until it is soft and pieces of rhubarb have mostly disintegrated (about 10-12 min).

4.  Turn off heat and stir in dry gelatin mix.  Transfer to jars, or tupperware and refrigerate or freeze.  (I put one in the refrigerator and one in the freezer).

Homemade Cherry Pie Lara Bars

I really love the Cherry Pie Lara Bars.  The other flavor of Lara Bars are ok, but Cherry Pie Bar is my favorite, which is surprising because I don't like regular cherry pie, or pie in general.  But when I saw this recipe at Debbie Does Dinner, I knew I would have to try them.  Turns out, they are so easy to make and only 4 ingredients!  I ended up sending them to my May Foodie Pen Pal Tiffany, and she liked them as well.  I will definitely be making these again and again!

Homemade Cherry Pie Lara Bars
From: Debbie Does Dinner
Prep time: 10 min
makes about 20 balls (depending on the size)

Ingredients:
6oz whole pitted dates, roughly chopped
6oz dried cherries
9oz pecans (or almonds)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

Directions:
1. Place dates and cherries in food processor.  Pulse until processed to a paste.  Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Add nuts to processor (no need to clean in between) and pulse until finely chopped.

3. Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon to the bowl with the fruit paste.  Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the past.  Shape into balls or small bars on wax paper.

May Foodie Penpal

This month I participated for the first time in Foodie Penpals.  Each month you get paired up with someone and you buy $15 worth of goodies and ship them to them and you get a similar package from someone else.  It was a ton of fun to buy for someone else and I was so excited when my package came from Becky.  I would highly recommend it and will definitely do it again next month!

Check out what I got in my package!
The Bee's Knees Honey Peanut Butter
M&M's Salty & Sweet Snack Mix
Badia Nutmeg
Rosa Mexicano Granadilla Sauce
Lindt A Touch of Sea Salt

It was so perfect!  I haven't tried everything yet, but I'm excited to.  I scarfed down the Sea Salt Chocolate because it mixes two of my favorite foods... chocolate and salt! Bill loved the Sweet & Salty mix... he ripped into it before I even took a picture of everything.  I'm excited to try the peanut butter, nutmeg and Granadilla Sauce.  On a recent trip to NY for work I checked out Rosa Mexicano and loved it, then the next week I got this sauce in my package from the same place, what a pleasant coincidence!  I'm really looking forward to giving it a try!

Thanks Becky for the thoughtful and delicious package!

PS - If you want to see what I bought for Tiffany, you can check out her blog HERE.


Here are the details if you are interested in joining next month!
-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 

-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. 
If you’re interested in participating for June, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.
You must submit your information by June 4th as pairings will be emailed on June 5th!

*If you're from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I'll see if we get enough interest this month!

Quick Creamed Spinach

This is a quick and easy side from my South Beach Diet Cookbook.  You could probably easily make this with fresh spinach as well and it would probably be even better!

Quick Creamed Spinach
From: South Beach Diet Cookbook
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen spinach (16oz)
3/4 cup fat-free milk
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese, cut into chunks and softened
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
pinch ground nutmeg
salt & pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Place the thawed spinach in a colander set over a large bowl; squeeze to extract the juice.  Pour 2 Tbsp of the juice into a cup and reserve  Discard any remaining juice.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the spinach juice, milk, and cream cheese.  Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring and pushing the cream cheese against the pan to break up (The mixture should be well combined but will not be smooth.) Remove the pan from the heat.

3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the spinach, stirring to coat. Stir in the milk mixture and cook until bubbling, about 3 minutes.

5. Season the spinach with nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve hot.

Flank Steak with Chimichurri

Bill likes Chimichuri, so when I saw this in my South Beach Cook Book, I knew I needed to try it.  It was so easy, healthy, and delicious!  I need to get another parsley and cilantro plant this summer to make this with fr

Flank Steak with Chimichuri
From: South Beach Recipe book
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tsp plus 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb flank steak
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tsp ground cumin

Directions:
1. Heat the broiler.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the mustard, 4 tsp of vinegar, 2 tsp oil, 1/4 tsp salt, ginger, and half the cayenne.

3. Place the flank steak on a broiler pan and brush the top with the vinegar mixture.  Broil 4 inches from the heat, without turning for about 7 minutes for medium-rare.  Remove from under the broiler and leave the steak on broiler pan.  Cover loosely with foil and let stand for 5 minutes.

4. While steak is broiling, in food processor (or blender), combine the cilantro, parsley, garlic, cumin, remaining 1 Tbsp vinegar, remaining 2 tsp oil, remaining 1/4 tsp salt, remaining cayenne, and 2 Tbsp water.  Puree until smooth.

5. Thinly slice the flank steak on an angle against the grain.  Divide the steak among plates and top evenly with the chimichurri.  Serve warm.

Crock Pot "Rotisserie" Chicken

 

 We buy the ready made Rotisserie chicken at the grocery store somewhat regularly because it is easy, delicious, and I don't have to touch any raw chicken (which I hate doing).  But when I saw this easy recipe for making it in the crockpot, I knew I had to try it.  After I got over handling the whole raw chicken, it was very easy.  It turned out perfect and delicious.  The only thing is that I am gone all day, and my day is longer than 8 hours, so my chicken was falling off the bone and probably a little less moist than it should be, but it was still delicious!  I will definitely make this again.

Crock Pot "Rotisserie" Chicken
From: goodnessgracious
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 6-8 hours

Ingredients:
Whole Chicken
Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Fresh Rosemary
Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Rinse whole chicken off (remove insides if included) and douse it in Lawry's Seasoned Salt and place in crock pot.

2.  Add rosemary (as may sprigs as you want, I think I used around 7).  Can also add any additional ingredients you want... Garlic, onion, celery.  I just kept mine simple.

3. Cover and cook in crock pot for 6 hours on high or 8 on low.