Weekend of Food & Art

I had a very nice day in the city on Friday except for the freezing cold weather. This is insane. Where the hell is Spring? Before the city we decided to randomly stop at Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken. First time I have been there. The line wasn't too long & the prices were like any regular bakery which was really nice. We purchased some cupcakes(vanilla/resse's/red velvet), cannoli's & a cookie. The cannoli's were so good. I love all cannoli's, but these were extra delicious. Fresh & tasty. "Love at first bite" is right! Two of the people from the show we ended up seeing in the bakery, not Buddy though.

After that delicious cannoli we headed into the city. The MoMa was beautiful all around. I definitely plan on going again. We got there a little later than planned so seeing every room of art was impossible, but we saw most. Here is just SOME of the pieces I loved... (CLICK PHOTOS TO VIEW BIGGER)

     

      

And two of my favorite photograph's...

I got inspired to cook & draw after my long day out. My Saturday included buying some charcoal pencils at Michael's & making some yummy pot pies for the family. I don't think I've used these pencils before. They are a little hard to work with, but I like them & will learn as I go. I started off with something basic & I plan to draw something more detailed next time.

I stuffed them with peas, corn, onions,
potato soup, mushrooms & chicken.

Great Swamp

Just a few photos from our family walk today...

 

Spring Is Coming!

Today was a very productive full filled day & beautiful in the 70's. I did a lot of spring cleaning including: donating clothes, cleaning the kitchen/living room/bedroom/etc. & lots of laundry. I also went to the dry cleaners, stopped at the Christmas Tree Shop & of course made a trip to Starbucks. I needed to go to the store for a broom & a new springy doormat, success! I also saw a grow your own basil pot so I had to pick that up. It was only $1.99 so who knows if it will even work, but I figured it was worth the money to give it a try. I love me some basil! I am not good at keeping plants or flowers alive so hopefully I have better luck with herbs. If all goes well I will pick up parsley & maybe a vegetable. While I cleaned my dog got her vitamin-d in while sunbathing.

 

My friend Rachel came over & we made s'more fudge. It is SO delicious. 43 calories a piece. It's made with semi sweetened chocolate chips, 2 low fat graham crackers, mini marshmallows, fat free condensed milk & a little vanilla. Super easy to make! Great for kids & adults. If you want the recipe leave a comment.

Have a nice weekend...Go to Rita's for some free italian ice from noon to 9pm on Sunday to start spring off the right way! Italian ice is 300 calories or under & they have sugar free options under 140 calories.

The Start of Something Good

I always wanted to paint. It seemed very therapeutic and fun. Ever since the show Work of Art on Bravo it's  been on my mind. Art is such a beautiful thing. Photography has always been something I was passionate about. I am constantly taking pictures. But with being out of work I decided to go for it. To try something new! I went to Michaels yesterday and got a lot of supplies. I didn't get an easel just yet because I was unsure how I would like painting in general. Turns out I love it. An easel will definitely be something I purchase in the future.

This is my very first painting. I am excited to do all different kinds of paintings within some time. I wanted to start with something basic though.

A Helpful Giada Tip

"When you're baking, always use room temperature ingredients." -- Giada

Starbucks - Free Treats!

Starbucks celebrated their 40th anniversary this week, congrats! Personally I don't know what I'd do without my non-fat mocha's from Starbucks. They keep me sane. New treats were added to the menu and they are low in calories! Today until Saturday from 2-5pm with the purchase of a drink you can get a free petite treat. The new treats include different cake pops, mini cup cakes, sweet squares and a red velvet whoopie pie. Click here for the descriptions. They all look amazing and I know the whoopie pie and s'mores cake pop taste amazing. The whoopie pie was better then the cake pop though in my opinion. All the treats are under 200 calories, some under 180.

They also have a new logo and at first I didn't think I would like it, but it's growing on me. I look forward to what their holiday version will look like with the new logo.

Get your asses to Starbucks!! How can you say no to free food? ;)

Tilapia Stuffed Manicotti

I came across the Clean Eating magazine in Starbucks over the weekend and the front cover made me buy it! Amazing advertising that's for sure. I will definitely be checking out that magazine again. What caught my eye was this delicious rich and creamy manicotti picture. I immediately went to the page with the recipe on it and saw it was stuffed with tilapia. I haven't cooked fish yet so I figured something this yummy would be perfect to start with. The recipe has quite a few steps, but it is worth them all.


The recipe calls for:

olive oil cooking spray
10 green onions
10 whole-wheat lasagna noodles
1 carrot
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
12 oz fresh tilapia fillets
4 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp dry dill
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 oz reduced fat mozzarella cheese




-- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8x8 glass pan
with cooking spray and set aside.
-- Rinse the onions & trim off the white tops and discard.
-- Prepare the lasagna noodles. Put the green onions in the boiling water for 90 seconds, remove and set  aside.
-- Grate the carrot and set aside.
-- In a large non-stick pan on medium heat, add the oil and heat for 1 minute. Then add the tilapia to the pan. Cook for 3 minutes covered. Flip the fish and cook for another minute. Once mostly cooked start to break up the fish into pieces. Keep on the heat until the fish is fully cooked then remove from heat and set aside.
-- In a medium saucepan on low heat add the cream cheese, milk, dill & salt. Whisk the mixture constantly until it is smooth then add half of the mozzarella cheese mixture. Whisk for about 30 seconds or until the cheese sauce is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat & take out 1/2 cup of the cheese sauce, set aside.
-- Stir the tilapia, carrots and the remainder of the cheese sauce together. Lay the lasagna noodles on a carving board and add 2 tbsp of the mixture to the end of the noodles. Roll them up and wrap the onions around the bundle, tie in a knot. Place them all in the glass pan.
-- Add the reserved cheese sauce & the other half of the mozzarella cheese over the top of the bundles.

The recipe nutritional facts are 447 calories & 12 g fat per serving.
(2 1/2 bundles)

You can also make different meals with the cheese sauce alone. Or you can just use a variety of vegetables or a different white fish. Instead of lasagna noodles you can use elbow, shells, penne or whatever your favorite is & make it a casserole dish.

I think next time I make this instead of discarding the white part of the green onions I plan on chopping it up and adding it to the mixture. I really liked the green onion flavors and wished it was in every bite. I also would like to try using a different pasta.

All fish lovers should try this recipe out and if you're not a fish fan substitute in something you like!

Frozen Yogurt Shop

I noticed a big sign that said "Yogurt" on Rt 22 in Green Brook yesterday and checked online when I got home what it was. I always wanted a frozen yogurt place around here like I always hear about celebrities going to in the Los Angeles area and in NYC. Well we have one now! It's called Green Cow Yogurt and it just re-opened for the season over the weekend. There is also one coming soon to East Brunswick. If you check their site out here you can see that there is about 60 different flavors, some fruit toppings and multiple dry toppings including some very different ones like captain crunch and fruity pebbles. They obviously don't always have all of the flavors or toppings, but the worker said it changes all the time. It isn't exactly spring yet, but I am sure once the hot weather arrives the flavors will change even more. Yesterday they only had peanut butter, chocolate, cake batter and vanilla. There are more machines that will open when the peak time comes for frozen yogurt/ice cream eaters. I tasted the cake batter, chocolate and peanut butter. They were all amazing! I couldn't even say which one was my favorite because they were all that good.

The nutritional information for all the frozen yogurt flavors are posted on their site. The calories vary on average from about 80-140 calories per serving. (1/2 cup) Some flavors are non-fat which is good, but even the flavors that aren't are not high in fat. It's all self serve so you can have as much or as little as you would like and as many flavors/toppings mixed that you can fit in your cup.

I suggest you all check it out...Enjoy!

Tears Are Only The Half Of It

Since I started learning how to cook I have yet to chop up onions until today. I have cooked with onions a few times before, but always had someone else handling that part for me. I thought the onion smell would linger on my fingers for the whole day like garlic does, but it didn't so that was a plus. There was also a negative to my experience. I always heard that while chopping up an onion your eyes would tear up and you'd cry a little. I never cared about that. The part I was not expecting was the burning sensation in my eyes. It was horrible. So I researched an eye protector for this very problem. I found the same pair on multiple sites. Bed Bath & Beyond is one of them.

 

Check them out here! There is also a pink pair for the ladies. They aren't the most stylish thing in the world, but I am sure they do the job. I need them!

Gave Baking Another Try

Baking has been a frustrating struggle for me. Cooking seems much more easy and carefree. I little of this a little of that, just whatever you feel like adding. With baking your measurements need to be exact and I didn't realize the importance of that at first, but now I know. Instead of using a teaspoon like we would eat from to measure I started to use the real measurement spoons.

Today I made low-cal banana chocolate chip cookies from a cookbook I got recently called Taste of Home: Comfort Food Diet Cookbook. They are very good and don't taste diet at all. The texture of them is more like a muffin, but in a cookie shape.

The reciple calls for:

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

-- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

-- Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg, banana and vanilla to the bowl and beat together. Then combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into the mixture gradually and beat until all ingredients are mixed evenly. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips.

-- Spray baking sheets with cooking oil and add a tablespoon of the batter to the pans about 2 inches apart from eachother.

-- Bake for 9-11 mins or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove the cookies from the baking sheets and put them on wire racks to cool.

The recipes nutritional facts are about 66 calories and 3 g fat per cookie, but I made some substitutes. I used splenda instead of sugar and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter instead of regular butter. With those two substitutes the cookies will end up being even less calories and less fat. It's suppose to make 3 dozen cookies, but I only got a little over 2 dozen out of the batter.

Enjoy! And remember to use those measurement spoons! :)