Category Archives: Food

There are just a few things things I look for in a weeknight dinner:

1. Fast (ready in 30 minutes or less)

2. Tasty

3. Healthy

I usually can get two out of three of these, but rarely am I able to get all three in one dish. Like, if it’s fast and healthy, it probably tastes like cardboard. Or if it’s fast and tasty it’s probably because I loaded it up with salt, butter and cheese. Or, if it’s tasty and healthy, it took me like two hours to make. Not okay when all I want to do is watch Criminal Minds.

In fact, I spend at least an hour scouring the internet and my cookbooks to find recipes that meet these three criteria so I can plan out my dinners and grocery list for the week. It’s a chore, I tell ya. But, much like wiping down the toilet (barf) on a relatively regular basis, it is alas a necessity. Healthy food is important, y’all.

Enter my new favorite nom, this shrimp and avocado rice bowl.

You guys this is gooood! So good, in fact, that I’ve eaten it for dinner two nights in a row. I actually didn’t have edamame like the recipe called for, so I subbed frozen peas (that I thawed but did not cook, just tossed with the hot rice to warm ‘em up) and some chopped green onion, and I have to say that I think my substitution was for the best. I loved the sweetness of the peas and the bite of the green onion. I ate this warm the first night and had the cold leftovers the second night. I’m not sure which I like better. They were both great.

I plan on making this in a big  batch for lunches next week and using quinoa instead of rice. Also, I did use fresh shrimp when I made this the first time, but for an even easier prep, you could just buy the precooked, frozen shrimp and add the spices that you would add to the shrimp to your dressing instead. You probably have to read the recipe to make that last sentence make sense.

Anywhoziwhatsit, what fast, tasty and healthy recipes do you have up your sleeve? I’d love to get that extra hour back; then I can maybe even wipe down the toilets. Fun!

First of all, let’s get something straight. I refuse to call the pasta you see below bowtie pasta. Do you know that the first time I ever ordered it at a restaurant, I was at a Darryl’s with my parents and I ordered the bowtie pasta, except that I did not call it bowTIE pasta, I pronounced it bowTEE pasta. emphasis on on the O. Go ahead, say it out loud. To this day, my mom says she cannot order bowtie pasta in a restaurant for fear of ordering bowtee pasta. And neither can I.

Anywhizzle, I used farfalle pasta to make this dish for dinner last night and it was delish. I allow myself one highly indulgent, carb loaded, cheesy, greasy dinner per week and this definitely met that criteria. I will be making it again, maybe next week, and I highly recommend you do the same.

There is bacon:

And healthy stuff like leeks and garlic and… erm… egg yolks:

And le peas:

And le pasta, doi:

(oops, I mean la pasta)

And a husband that brings you a bourbon while you are cooking if you are lucky:

And there’s also parmesan cheese and parsley that all comes together to look like this:

And it is wonderful. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long without carbonara in my life. For shame.

Also, Cole was looking at me so cute while I was chopping up the bacon, so I couldn’t resist giving him a piece. He insisted I make a video of it.

Please excuse the garlic bits that are stuck to my fingers and the partially open drawers. This is real life here, people.

Happy weekending, mofrickas!

After last week’s group juice cleanse (which was amaze by the way, I’ll let you know when the next one is which will probably be sometime closer to when I am required to wear a bikini), I decided to be as healthy as possible with the rest of my diet. So, when a major chocolate craving hit Saturday afternoon, rather than just make any ole disgusting brownie, I decided to make gluten-free brownies which basically means they are healthy so you can eat as many as you want or so I hope since Jason and I literally at half the pan on Saturday night (these are good, people).

I already had a million weird flours on hand that you need to make gluten-free stuff since I tried to make gluten-free bread a few weeks ago (verdict: it was gross and has been set aside to feed ducks at the lake). Rather than let all this “flour” crap go to waste I knew that gluten-free brownies were the answer. I followed this recipe but made a few teeny modifications using the range of flours I already had (and subbed earth balance for butter to be more “healthy”). Since I had already spent like $60 on my first round of gluten free ingredients, I did not want to have to run out and buy more weird flours. Anywho, the brownies were really good and I couldn’t really even tell that they weren’t the flour-filled brownies I’m normally used to. So, what I’m really trying to say is that if you want brownies, but don’t want gluten, then you should make these.

(all the weird flours required for gluten-free baking)

(really good brownies)

And for the record, I am not gluten intolerant. I just have a habit of clinging to whatever diet fad is popular.