Sorry I've been gone for so long! I was away for a few weeks house sitting, and have had limited access to my computer.  I am back though now, so be sure you'll be seeing more posts from me soon!

I really felt like baking this weekend.  I wanted to bake something with pumpkin, but alas, I can't find any pumpkin anywhere! So, I settled for the next best Fall inspired ingredient- the apple!  I made, my very first, homemade apple pie. I even made the lattice crust design myself!

It was quite easy to make this:

Ingredients:

6-8 apples (I used 3 different kinds- Gala, Fugi, and Golden Delicious) peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons of flour

2 tablespoons of butter (Chilled and cut up into small pieces)

Pie crust (I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts)

Directions:

First thing pre-heat your oven to 375

After all the apples are sliced, throw in a bowl and cover and toss with the lemon juice.  After that add the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and toss together.  Let that sit for about 20 minutes. Then add the flour, mix together until you can't see any flour.

While the apple mixture is sitting, get your pie plate out and roll out one of the crusts into the bottom of the pie plate.  Pour apples into the crust and dot all over with the chilled butter.  Now, you can take the other pie crust, place it over, crimp and make some slits in the top. It definitely needs slits to let the steam out.  I decided to make the lattice top, and this is where I found how to do this: http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-8435990.html

It was my first time making this lattice, so I think I did pretty good! Before I put it in the oven, I just cracked an egg into a bowl, whisked it, and took a brush and just brushed the whole top of the pie crust with the egg wash.  I then dusted the top with white sugar.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour (Cover the pie crust edges so they won't burn) Cover with foil, or with this handy item: http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=7928&categoryCode=BK

Then remove the foil or pie shield 15 minutes before the pie is done.  Take out, let sit and cool completely. Eat with vanilla ice cream or alone. Delicious!!

Lemon Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

I found this recipe here: http://patentandthepantry.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/lemon-rosemary-olive-oil-cake/#comments and followed it completely, I added just a dash of allspice.  This came out really yummy though:

Pre-Heat Oven 425
Take 5 thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breast
(cover each breast with saran wrap and pound until a little bit thinner)
onto each breast put some arugula and goat cheese and roll up, insert toothpick to close up seam. Follow this instruction for the rest of the chicken. Salt and pepper both sides of chicken.
Then add some oil so a hot pan and put chicken in (seam side down) for 2-3 minutes. Then turn off heat, flip chicken over and finish in oven for 12-13 minutes.
Done!! So simple and so delicious!

I paired this dish with a cucumber and red onion salad.

Strawberry Watermelon Smoothie

Yum! Quite refreshing as well I might add. Went for a 3 mile walk/run this morning and this was a delicious treat afterwards.

Ingredients:

Strawberries (I used a whole pint, cut up)

Watermelon (cut into cubes, about 10 pieces)

1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

3/4 cup of ice

Juice of half a lemon

Juice of half a lime

Method-Throw everything into the blender:

Blend together and enjoy!!!

Pan Seared Salmon with Watermelon Salad

Tonight we had pan seared salmon and I placed it over a bed of spinach and arugula.  I added chopped cilantro, slices of red onion, cucumber, avocado, crumbled goat cheese and fresh watermelon. I topped it off with some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

The salmon was 4 oz filets that were frozen. I took the frozen fish (right from the freezer) and put it in a pan (skin side down) that had some hot oil and covered on medium-high heat for 5 minutes. I flipped them over and let them cook another 4 minutes. I added to the oil, dried rosemary, salt, and italian seasonings ( right before I flipped).

I then removed the salmon from the skin and placed it over the salad greens.  I also squeezed half a lemon over the top of the whole thing. It was very refreshing and my husband wanted seconds! Give this a try, it's really simple and flavorful as well.  Enjoy!

Nutella and Crunchy Peanut Butter on Toast

Ingredients:

Nutella

Crunchy Peanut Butter (or smooth if you prefer)

Slice of bread (I used wheat, but you can use whichever you like)

Method:

Toast 1 slice of bread, put peanut butter on first, then top with Nutella spread. Done.  Easy and Yummy breakfast!  You should probably eat some fruit and a small glass of milk with this, but I don't have either so water will have to do.

Curried Chickpeas over Coconut Rice

So a friend of mine gave me her curried chickpeas recipe so I tweaked it a little and instead of serving it with regular white rice, I added coconut milk and shredded coconut to the rice.  I topped the whole dish with cilantro, toasted coconut and chopped roasted peanuts.  It really came out wonderful and delicious! I believe this whole meal was also vegetarian! Go me!

Ingredients for rice:

2 cups of white rice

2 1/2 cups water

1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk

2 tablespoons of shredded coconut (you can find this in the baking isle of your supermarket)

Method of cooking rice:

Put everything in pot together, bring to a slight boil and then cover and leave on simmer for 15-20 minutes. After that time (make sure all liquid has been absorbed), take off heat and let steam for another 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients for the curry:

2 tablespoons of curry powder (or more to taste)

Olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)

1 1 lb 3 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

bunch of cilantro, chopped and reserve a little for the top of finished dish

Salt

Pepper

toasted coconut (optional)

chopped peanuts (optional

Method of Cooking Curry:

Heat oil in pan, add chopped onions and let cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in curry powder and chopped garlic. Stir together until combined and let cook for until 2-3 minutes.  Add in can of chickpeas, diced tomatoes, and chopped cilantro. Stir together, turn heat to (low) simmer, and cover. Simmer until rice is done or longer.

That's it! Then put the rice in a bowl and top with curried chickpeas and garnish with cilantro, peanuts and toasted coconut.

First I'd like to mention that for lunch today, I just had a sort of yogurt parfait. I just took some low fat vanilla yogurt and topped it with fresh blueberries and granola:

Yum!

So for tonight's dinner, it's a few all american dishes.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Lima Beans tossed in garlic and butter

Pan fried chicken cutlets

Dinner is served!!

Voila!

So yesterday my husband and I ordered in Chinese food. I wasn't hungry at the time but figured I could always save it for later.  I got steamed broccoli, zucchini, and green beans.  It came with some sort of white sauce on the side and a small container of white rice.  I was so stuffed from lunch (a friend of mine took me out) that I couldn't even try and eat this until today. I decided I didn't like the white sauce that came with it and the veggies steamed are a bit bland.  So, I decided to spruce them up a bit and it turned out great!

So what I did to spruce this up was heat some olive oil in a pan, then I added 2 cloves of minced garlic. I then added the veggies and some salt and adobo seasonings.  I let is sauté for about 7 minutes, moving the veggies around the pan occasionally.  I took the container of white rice, heated it up in the microwave for 1 minute and to that I added the zest of 1 lemon:

I then poured the veggies over the rice, added the juice of half a lemon and a bit of salt and pepper to taste.  That's it! It came out delicious and still remained healthy.  Enjoy!

I want to apologize for my lack of posts! I haven't been home for a few days and so that's why.  I will probably start again tomorrow hopefully! I was visiting my friend and the puppy I had to give away. Here are some pictures of him, because he is oh so adorable and wonderful, as is my friend!! She is giving him an excellent home and awesome puppy adventures!!!

This is Teddy! Isn't he so sweet!!!

He is so fun and full of energy!! He is getting SO big!!  He makes me happy :)

"Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use."
– Ruth Gordon