Little J's Dining Adventures

Quinoa... BURRITOS. You're welcome.

2012-10-04T13:38:00.002-07:00

So I signed up for a 5k 4 days ago because I am awesome like that. But no actually I just wanted to be chased by zombies for some sort of fitness reason so it sounded more legit. You see, it's a ZOMBIE 5k. As in zombies will stumble after me while I run 3.1 miles to the quarantine party where beer gardens and food trucks await me. Can you say Jenny's dream come true?!

But anyways in the interest of being healthy I've started a month long 5k training plan and amped up my healthy eating. For example yesterday my dinner was a big plate of brussel sprouts. I know. I spared you an entry on that. But this recipe is golden! Drum roll please....

BURRITOS! but healthy burritos :)

Normally I make burritos with the following:

Whole Wheat Tortillas (Guerrero)
Brown Rice (Mahatma, dry in a big bag)
Black beans
Salsa
Sour Cream
Lots of Mexican shredded cheese

This recipe cuts down on the cheese and is my first stab at a long-time food goal of mine, cooking quinoa! I love rice so I've always wanted to try this. It was really good! Kind of like a grainier cous cous. For this I used:

1 whole wheat tortilla
1/8 cup dry quinoa
1/4 cup Low sodium black beans (safeway)
1 tbsp Frontera salsa double roasted jalapeno (yummm)
1/8 cup shredded mexican cheese

Just cook the quinoa in a rice cooker with 2 parts water, while waiting prepare tortilla with beans and measure out the cheese. When the quinoa is done, heat the tortilla with beans for 30 seconds in the microwave. Add the quinoa onto the tortilla then put the cheese on top and cook 30 more seconds. Add seasoning to taste and enjoy!

It was sooo yummy too. I even ate 2 of them and I am so full I won't eat again for hours and hours. Yay healthy carbs :)

Food porn!

I wanna add avocado next!!

BTW total calories with these brands was 316 per burrito :)

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Vanilla Chai Glaze... YUM YUM YUM

2012-09-25T22:13:00.003-07:00

YOU GUYS. This recipe rocks. Because pumpkin is the best!!! and so is pumpkin spice. and chai spice is the same idea- cinnamon overload! combined... AWESOMENESS. The cookies taste more like scones because the pumpkin puree makes them so fluffy but they are so so so yummy. And only 79 calories per cookie and 21 for the dip of glaze! 100 total. LEGEN... wait for it... DARY. I got the recipe from here:

http://www.reclaimingprovincial.com/2011/10/31/chai-iced-pumpkin-cookies/

But I tweaked it a bit.

Cookies

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp salt
½ cup of butter (1 stick), softened
1 ½ cups of sugar
1 cup of pumpkin purée
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350°.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until creamy, then mix in dry ingredients until well-combined.

4. Drop tablespoons of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

5. Bake cookies for 15–20 minutes, or until they begin to have just a hint of golden brown around the edges.

6. Remove from oven and cool complete before frosting.

I added a couple extra spoonfuls of pumpkin, because you know, it rules. :)

I also pressed the cookies with a flour covered fork for the second batch and it worked out a lot nicer because they don't flatten at all when they cook. I also made sure to coat my hands with flour before setting the dough in tablespoons on the sheet because it is VERY sticky. ;)

Icing!

2 cups of confectionery sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 chai tea bag

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and add milk

2. REMOVE FROM STOVE

3. Steep chai tea bag in the liquid for 5 minutes, then discard.

4. Combine together with sugar, vanilla, and milk, and mix until a smooth icing forms.

For this I realize the recipe was HELLA wrong because the "glaze" was a chunky floury dry mess so i overcompensated by doubling the milk and half-doubling the butter and it got super liquidy so i had to add about 1.5 more cups of sugar... hence this GIANT bowl of leftovers....

Dip the cookies if you have a real sweet tooth, or drizzle the icing over top with a fork if you’d like to dial it back a little.

The calories per cookie are 79 if you use these proportions and make 40 cookies, which is how many i made. They are smallish. The icing is 21 per cookie and based on these proportions with 40 servings, which is fairly accurate because I doubled the icing recipe and barely used even 1/4 of the frosting and I frosted about 2/3 of the cookies. :) ENJOY :)

Vegetable Bake with Rosemary :)

2012-09-19T20:19:00.002-07:00

This recipe is bomb because all you do is slice up a bunch of veggies and cover them in spices and olive oil then bake them for an hour and they come out delicious! Or you know, I could lay it down for you.

Ingredients:
4 red potatoes
2 zucchinis
one ear white corn
2 cups mixed frozen veggies from safeway (broccoli, snap peas, carrots)
2 handfuls grape tomatoes
1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 tblsp olive oil
garlic powder
pepper
salt
rosemary

Step 1. Slice veggies. Blot moisture off of zucchini

Step 2. Cut corn off ear and roast in iron skillet.

Step 3. Shake potatoes and zucchini in a bag with olive oil and spices.

Step 4. Pour everything in a baking dish, add more spices on top, and cover with foil.

Step 5. Bake at 400 covered for 40 minutes and Uncovered for another 5. Check potato softness to determine if it's done.

YUM. Makes 3 full plate servings at about 480 calories per serving. 350 if you only use 2 potatoes instead of 4 (we decided 4 was overkill for us).

Healthy Snacks!

2012-09-19T20:01:00.001-07:00

I often get asked how I eat all the fattening and sugary filled treats on this blog without gaining weight. Well, I work out. A lot. I also only make these recipes once a month or so and the rest of the time I'm eating almost entirely healthy and keeping track of my daily vitamins and calorie intake. So to appease those looking for healthy options, here are some snacks I eat on a daily basis in addition to the usual salads, crackers, and pieces of fruit :)

Snack #1:
Cucumber slices on whole wheat crackers with fat free cream cheese. Yummmmmmmmmmm. I eat this like every day. Sometimes without crackers. Cucumbers are the best.

Snack 2: Fresh tomatoes! with salt and pepper. Bomb.com.

Snack #3: Carrots and hummus! I also dip broccoli in hummus. Hummus is amazing because it makes your veggies more exciting without adding the fat of ranch dressing :)

Snack #4 All fruit smoothie! I made this one with frozen mixed berries, a banana, nonfat milk, orange juice and ice, but I've made variations with no milk or with a peach instead of a banana, etc. :)

Snack #5: Apples with all natural peanut butter (SO MUCH BETTER than Jiff) and local farmer's market honey. Yes Please.

Seeeee I can be healthy, I can! :) <3

Chocolate Cake Pops!

2012-09-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, Jenny baking is absurd. I'm well known to hate sweets and not having attempted any baked goods sans cheesecakes in about 3 years I was hesitant to attempt these. But with the help of my lovely kitchen advisor (AND the creator of this recipe) Giana, they turned out amazing! And I added my signature touch with some fun facial hair decorations ;)

Chocolate Cake Pops:

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix

1 box frosting mix

chocolate chips

decorations (black frosting, googly eyes, green starbucks sprinkles ;))

Sticks (Sold in baking aisle at Safeway)

cake pop bags (optional)

The ingredients

Step 1: Make the cake! :) Just follow the directions on the box, any mix will do. Let cool before moving on to next step.

Step 2: Make frosting! Add water a bit at a time til you get the right consistency.

Step 2.5: Arrange the cake and frosting for instagramation

Step 3: Mix the frosting and the cake! Add a bit of cake at a time, so it stays super MOIST. what an awesome word. Also, admire Giana's feminine hands.

Step 4: BALLS. On a baking sheet with foil and nonstick spray.

Balls.

Step 5: Put in the freezer until cold. About 1.5 episodes of netflix How I met your Mother's worth of time.

Step 6: Melt chocolate chips in a bowl and dip the sticks in them, then plunge into balls. This helps them to stick.

Step 7. Freeze again. Another 1.5 episodes :)

Like this! Eat all the ice cream in your freezer to make space. ;)

Step 8: Put a bowl in the top of a veggie steamer on low heat for a few minutes and melt more chocolate chips. Make sure the bowl is ceramic so it doesn't melt ;)

Mmmmm chocolate

Step 9: This step is tricky. It works best with 2 people. You must keep stirring the chocolate as you spoon it onto a cake pop so it doesn't burn. Then the second person has about 15 seconds to decorate the pop before it hardens. Decorating is up to you, but I put two eyes on each pop, then used the black cake frosting tube to draw out mustaches and added almonds slivers for noses. You can also just use candies or sprinkles.

Giana's spooning technique

Manpops. Made with black frosting, eyes, and chopped chocolate covered almond noses :)

Step 10: Place in mugs stick side down to let dry without smearing. About 6 to a mug is what I could fit. Place in fridge and refrigerate overnight. This is very important as I tried to eat some after half an hour and they were super melty and kept falling off the stick. They tasted more like dough. If you wait overnight they are extra thick and fudgy! Yummmmm.

Enjoy!

Girly pops in bags with ribbon

Ready for transport!

When the weather gets hot, the hot girls bake in their underwear. (aka blog post with 1 million hits)

2012-08-12T22:30:00.001-07:00

So I was chilling with my good friend Francesca and we realized, zucchini rules. So we made zucchini fries. But it was really hot. So we made them in our underwear. While sipping Pinot Noir. It was very refreshing. Enjoy! :)

Baked Zucchini Fries

(Adapted from http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/01/baked-zucchini-fries/)

About 4 large zucchini
2 c. Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese (the crumbly stuff, not shreds)
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

3. Whisk 2 eggs together in a shallow pie plate and set aside.

4. Cut the ends off the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half so you have two short, stubby pieces. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half, making 2 planks. Repeat with the remaining halves (so you’ll get 16 planks per zucchini). Stack 2 planks on top of each other and cut into strips. When all the fries are cut, blot the pieces with a paper towel.

5. Working with a small handful at a time, dip the zucchini sticks in the egg, shake them to remove any excess, and then roll them in about 2-3 tablespoons of bread crumbs at a time, adding more as needed; you just don’t want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because they’ll soak up moisture from the egg and won’t stick to the zucchini. Place the coated strips on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini strips have been coated.

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the prepared oven then remove from oven, flip the fries, and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the zucchini is not soggy and the coating is crisp and golden brown.

Almost as beautiful as 2 Italian girls in their underwear... almost. ;)

6. Sauce- We used a can of diced tomatoes mixed with dry salsa in a blender, but almost any tomato or ranch-based sauce will do. Enjoy!

Crack in a pan

2012-08-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

BAKED MASHED POTATOES

5lbs potatoes
3 tsp. salt
12 oz. pkg. soft cream cheese
16 oz. container of sourcream
2 tbls. butter
6 tbls. parsley
1 tsp pepper

First, peel potatoes. If you are left-handed and not using a dual peeler this is SUPER FUN GUYS!!

Make sure to cut out all the eyes and spots. Boil potatoes for about 45 minutes until they are thuroughly soft and fall apart when poked with a fork.

Drain into collinder and return to pot. Mash 'em up real good.

Then pour in 1000 calories of cheesy goodness, butter, and pretty green stuff. Basically everything on the above ingredients list.

Grease 2 qt. baking dish with MORE BUTTER WOOO and spread potatoes into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Top with PAPRIKA. aka Salt n Peppa's love child on blue's clues. Makes it extra impressive looking but adds no taste value.

Can be made ahead of time and baked later

Serves 8 to 16 people depending on how many are pigs. ;)

7 Steps to Zucchini Heaven

2012-07-30T18:53:00.002-07:00

Fried Zucchini. Delicious, not nutritious. Solution: Baking! The thing it's almost impossible for me to mess up (unless it's chicken... chicken hates me). Thus, I searched for baked zucchini on Pinterest (the best website ever for recipes... and also pictures of Ryan Gosling. Not that that's why I spend so much time on it or anything... I'm learning to cook Mom, get off my back!). Anyways, this is the first one I found so I went with it. Mangia!

Zucchini Boats

1. Cut a zucchini in half lengthwise and trim a little off the bottom so it sit still in a baking dish
2. Scoop out the center where the seeds are with a spoon
3. Brush the surface with a mixture of crushed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper
4. Arrange halved grape tomatoes into the grooves

5. sprinkle with (LOTS of) bread crumbs and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes
6. Remove and place diced fresh mozzarella in between the tomatoes, place them back in, but now under the broiler til golden and bubbling

7. Remove and add a sprinkling of grated parmesan.

Perfection.

Original Recipe can be found here: http://prouditaliancook.blogspot.com/2010/05/tiny-tomatoes-big-taste.html

Kebabs for America!

2012-07-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

Strawberries, Bananas, and blueberries on skewers. Simple. Epic. Your Welcome.

Napa, Davis... Gotta complete the trifecta of dining reviews: CHEESEBOARD in Berkeley! :)

2012-06-27T19:24:00.004-07:00

Eat here.

No seriously you guys. One time i ate here and all they had was green tomato and onion pizza and it was still the best pizza ever. My all time favorite was the cauliflower and pistachio!!! Sounds awkward, but sooooooooo good. I went a couple weeks ago on my way to Marin (Slight detour, so worth it) and they had this awesome montalban cheese and arugula with lemon. Also amazing. The best part is they always give you an extra half slice free! or 2 extra half slices if you get a whole pizza. Not that Alex and I ever ate a whole pizza there. That would just be ridiculous. ;)

http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/

Here's the website! They post their flavor day for each day weekly, similar to yoloberry, but all their ingredients are local and organic. They also have salads and beer! and pretty sweet live music. The line is always huge but worth it. Only 20 for the whole pizza.

Food Porn!

The cauliflower and pistachio. Heaven!

Eating half a pizza is totally healthy when it's covered in green stuff, right? ;)

Paesano's Happy Hour

2012-06-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Special guests Moira and Nick were gracious enough to double date with us for this installment, so we could sample many a selection! They were seasoned pros but this was my first visit. Some things I noticed:

BOMB calimari. Not the best ever, but for the price I approved. They polenta fries rocked too.

Bruschetta-- It tasted like hot dogs. Literally, like hot dogs. Vegetarians should eat it if they miss meat but like animals. That similar. I like hot dogs though so of course I ate it haha :)

Fruity drinks were yummy and a good deal, but right before happy hour ended we ordered a round and I needed a second to decide, then when the waitress returned with everyone's drinks and I ordered mine, she told me it was over! Every place i've been too warns you when you are ordering, she even said oh take your time, i can come back. Very misleading since the normal price was twice the cost. Plus they didn't have coke and didn't tell me until they returned with my drink and called it a Jack and Pepsi?! Weird. I would stick to the food and fruity selections, not well drinks.

Other than that though, it's always nice to try something that's not sushi for a change! haha. Here's some awesome food porn from the evening:

Calamari!

hot dogs. No really. ;)

Polenta fries with balsamic ketchup and blue cheese dipping sauce

Firewood Cafe- A Napa Favorite

2012-06-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

Haven't posted in a while cuz I've been swamped with work, so expect a lot of catch up posts in the next couple days. Without further ado...

Firewood Cafe! Loveeeee this place! It's fairly new to Napa, only a few years, but it's quickly become a family favorite in my household. Perfect for light Italian cuisine on a budget. For you Davis folks, it has a similar vibe to Rostini.

Highlights on the menu: PROSCIUTTO ARUGULA PIZZA. So bomb. I prefer my prosciutto pizzas with fig and balsamic reduction, but this is by far the best arugula one I've had. They firewood pizza oven gets the thin crispy crust just right, and the prosciutto is always fresh and delicious.

Looooooook at the cuteness!

They have great pastas too, but the sauces are so rich I usually accompany my pizzas with a salad instead. They have a great deal going where you can pick your toppings and dressings to personalize it! Similar to Pluto's but on a smaller scale.

Then of course, the grand finale... This place has the BEST tiramisu I have ever had in the United States. Even when Alex and I went to Reno to one of the "Top 10 rated" italian places in the country their tiramisu wasn't better. Order it. You won't regret it.

Pro tip, ask for a complimentary dish of assorted olives when you order :)

Yummy salad! :)

<3 Jenny

Baked Avocado Fries

2012-05-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! Here's an awesome recipe Gianana and I decided to try from pinterest! I got the recipe from here:

http://bethcooks.squarespace.com/journal/2011/1/6/baked-avocado-fries.html

Pasted here with my changes:

Ready for breading

BAKED AVOCADO FRIES
1/4 cup flour

1 tsp kosher salt

2 large eggs, beaten

2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

3 firm-ripe medium avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced into 1/2-in. wedges

Preheat oven to 450.

Coat avocado slices in the four, then egg, then panko. Place on a cookie sheet coated in butter for nonstick. Drizzle wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then bake for about 20 minutes at 450, or until they are golden brown.

Pre-cooking

I highly recommend them! I used Italian seasoned Panko mix from Progresso and 3 avocados, and drizzled the fries with olive oil instead of a spray. It goes great with a variety of sauces, I tried ranch, hot sauce and peppers coated in oil and all were great. The original recipe also suggests sour cream and I really want to try them with marinara.

Pure deliciousness.

Enjoy!

Pita Pizzas!

2012-05-25T16:05:00.001-07:00

As a recent college grad (11 months is totally still recent so shhh), I'm pretty lazy in the kitchen. Part of this blog existing is to motivate me to cook more. But today I came home exhausted from work and stuck to my fallback-- Pita Pizzas! I like to pretend that I single handedly thought of these and invented them last year, but I'm sure some other lazy bum has made them before me. Basically you just take a whole pita and pretend it's pizza crust. Add the veggies you would normally stuff into the pita on top instead, and use either pesto or tomato sauce as a base. Or even olive oil if you're out of ingredients! Today I made one with tomato sauce, spinach, mushrooms, olives, grape tomatoes, and feta cheese because that's what I had lying around. I also added fried zucchini on top that i sauteed in olive oil, then put salt and pepper on everything. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until the spinach shrinks up and it looks nice and toasted. Yum!

Here's the one I made today, and some others from the past are below.

Pesto pizza with parmesan, feta, and bacon bits.

Tomato sauce, Prosciutto, mozzarella, feta, parmesan, spinach pizza, before it's cooked.

Same pizza after the oven. Melty cheese and shrunken spinach. Yum!!

Variation Using BBQ sauce instead of Tomato Sauce

Variation with BBQ sauce olives, mexican cheese, tomatoes and parmesan

I hope this has been a wonderful lesson in laziness and utilizing the same ingredients in multiple recipes! haha. Because the one I made today was basically the pita from last week but warmed up with tomato sauce :) Happy cooking!

The Second Best Thing Invented by the Greeks... PITAS!

2012-05-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Healthy Eating. Gross. Right? WRONG!

Foodgasm acheived based on this super yummy yet very healthy meal: 320 calories, and full of vitamin D, veggies, whole wheat, and fiber.

Ingredients:

Wheat Pita Pocket (Sara Lee was on sale)

Hummus (Athenos Garlic and Artichoke)

Baby Spinach

Sliced black olives

Sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms

Grape Tomatoes

Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, crumbled

Salt and Pepper to taste

Spread one tablespoon of hummus on each half of the pita, then stuff each slide with other ingredients. Spinach goes in first, then cheese and veggies, salt and pepper last.

YUMMMM and so very filling :)

A variation with Mozzarella instead of Feta for a Caprese-like Pita

If there's one thing Italians know how to make, it's pasta sauce. And mine is the best.

2012-05-17T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ancient family recipe I tweaked by using canned mushrooms. Used it for a lasagne and it came out amazinggggg. May or may not have eaten the whole thing in 2 days. :)

DONDI’s HANGB PASTA-MEAT SAUCE

½ oz Dried Italian Mushrooms 2 lbs. Ground meat (Beef, Veal, or Game)

3 tbls Olive Oil 1 cup Dry Red Wine

¼ cup Butter 2 (28-oz.) cans Contadina Seasoned Crushed

4 cloves fresh Garlic, finely chopped Tomatoes, w/Italian Herbs

1 lg. Onion, finely chopped 2 tbls dried Italian Seasoning

2 med. Carrots, finely chopped 1 tbls dried Basil

2-3 Celery stalks, finely chopped 1 tbls dried Oregano

½ lb. Italian Sausage, ground Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste

Soak dried mushrooms in 2 cups of hot water until they are reconstituted, then strain thru a cheesecloth lined sieve, retaining the strained liquid, chop the mushrooms along with the other veggies. Melt butter with oil in a large saucepan. When butter foams, add onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Saute over medium heat until lightly browned. Add ground meat & sausage. Cook and stir until meat in no longer pink. Season with salt & pepper. Increase heat and stir in wine and reserved mushroom liquid.

Cook until liquid has evaporated. Press tomatoes through a food mill or sieve, to remove seeds. Stir tomato pulp into the meat/veggie mixture. .Add all the spices. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours or until sauce reaches a medium-thick consistency. Stir occasionally during cooking to mix and prevent sticking. Makes 5-6 cups of sauce. Leftover sauce can be frozen.

Lasagne

8 oz noodles

8 oz ricotta cheese

1 egg beaten

2 TBL grated Parma. cheese

3/4 lb. Mozzarella or Monterey jack sliced thin

1/4 cup Parma. cheese.

Cook noodles according to pkg. directions. Drain and cool a bit. Blend ricotta with egg and 2 TBL Parma. cheese. In a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish spread about 1/2 cup of sauce. Over this layer 1/3 of noodles, half of the ricotta mixture and 1/3 of the Mozza or Jack cheese. Cover with sauce. Sprinkle with grated Parma. Repeat. Top with remaining Noodles, cover generously with sauce, remaining Mozza or Jack, and Parma.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

The place I probably spend the most frivolous money at any given week... MIKUNI

2012-05-06T19:57:00.003-07:00

Davis has no shortage of sushi buffets. Nobu, Fuji's, the appropriately titled Davis Sushi Buffet... all solid places to get tempura sushi in mass quantities for cheap. But if you want melt in your mouth deliciousness... Mikuni is where it's at! I cannot recommend their platters enough, $50 each on mondays! Feeds 4 comfortably or 3 to capacity with forcing yourself the last few bites ;) Great deal and super delicious varieties. But I mostly go there for happy hour! No, not that kind of happy hour, though they do make some sweet drinks and sake. They have $3-$5 rolls from 4-6 on weekdays! Amazingness, you can get a simple roll for $4 or $5, $1 miso soup, and unagi of the day for $4! plus tempura, edamame, and FLAMING SHROOMS are all on the menu too. Flaming shrooms are tempura mushrooms stuffed with crab and cheese and covering in spicy sauce. Best thing EVER. Wow now I really want to go back. Good thing I'm going on tuesday! (All my tip money goes to this restaurant).

Pro-tip-- Sign up for the Mikuni card and you get a point for every dollar you spend. If you are a frequent eater like me, it's awesome cuz you get shirts and gift cards and points towards vacations and such after a few hundred points, easy if you go with bigger groups! They give you points based on the total bill, not just your plate. :)

Food Porn!

Flaming Shrooms

Una-Cali Roll

Soft-Shell Crab/ Spider Roll

Fried Shrimp & Avo Roll, Una-cali Roll, Judy Roll (Spicy Tuna and Crab)

Judy Roll, Unagi Nagiri, Miso, Flaming Shrooms, and Una-Cali Roll

Pank Shrimp and Tuna Roll and Unagi Nagiri

Albacore Pepperfin

Triple chocolate Mouse Dessert

Crab Avo Roll with Salmon, Yellow Tail, and Tuna on top, Spicy Crab Handrolls

Al Pacino Roll!

Bacon Roll! (Sorry for the bad pic quality! Pre-iPhone ;))

Enchiladas! Because anything covered in cheese is amazing.

2012-05-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

Sooooo I have no rights to this recipe as I got it from a dear family friend, but I have to say these are the best enchiladas EVER and got me to eat again while I was on an emo-induced hunger strike so clearly they must be phenominal.

Loooook at the cheese!

The best part about this recipe? It used a cooked chicken and canned sauce! Easy Peasy. There is no way you can mess this one up. And it's only 350 calories per enchilada :)

Without further ado, the recipe:

2 Packages Flour shells from Safeway and they say “Hand Made” on the package (they come 8 to a package). In a pinch you can sub Guerrero fajita size flour ones that come 20 to a pack.

2 Large Cans “Green Enchilada” sauce

1 Whole Roasted Chicken from Safeway

3 Bags Lucerne 4-cheese Mexican blend

2 small cans sliced black olives

Cut chicken off of bone and dice into smaller pieces.

In microwave, heat tortillas for about 12 seconds (enough to allow them to fold easily)

Pour a little bit of Green Enchilada sauce in a pie plate or regular plate and coat the tortilla

After coating tortilla place in chicken, olives and cheese and then roll it up and place it into a backing dish

Repeat the above until you run out of ingredients, usually about 15-16 enchiladas.

Now take the remainder of the Green Enchilada sauce in the can and pour it over the enchiladas. I usually use two rectangle baking dishes and thus one can per dish.

Now spread a vast amount of the cheese (about ¼ to ½” thick worth) over all of the enchiladas.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

DELICIOSO! :)

Rostini's Italian Kitchen

2012-04-23T22:32:00.001-07:00

I'm Italian. That means I talk with my hands, make pasta from scratch, and have never been to the Olive Garden. As such, I have high standards for my Italian cuisine, and few restaurants acheive them. Napa winners are Mary's Pizza Shack, Genova Delicatessen and Firewood Cafe and a Sacramento winner is The Hot Italian. However in Davis, there are slim pickings (Don't even get me started on how lame Cafe Italia is). Zia's is ok, but not open late, and only offers sandwiches. Thus imagine my joy when Rostini's opened! Owned by the same people who own Mary's?!?! Whattttt!

I could eat this every day if it weren't for bikini season's fast approach.

I've been here about 5 times and every time it is delicious and service is fast, even when super busy. The menu is limited, but they perfect what's on it. I highly recommend the Chicken Alfredo, the meatballs (get one on the side!) and the sandwiches. My favorite entre, however, is the Prosciutto Pizza with Fig Confit and Balsamic Reduction. Molto Delizioso! Mangia mangia! I can eat this whole pizza in one sitting, and it's only $11 for 6 slices. Yes Please.

Food Porn:

The tomatoes are amazingggg and yes that's fresh foccaccia :)

Roasted Vegetable Salad

Another shot of the Prosciutto Pizza

Meatball!

Greek Salad

Cheating on Healthy Eating (Sort of)-- Chipotleeee!

2012-04-19T20:44:00.001-07:00

I always used to hate Chipotle. Something about the long lines, assembly line of food, and expensive prices convinced me Dos Coyotes or Guad's was better. And then I met my friend Dan. Dan was OBSESSED with Chipotle. It was rather funny. He was to this day one of the best guys I've known and so fun to be around. I think of him every time I go to Chipotle, even though I'm sure he would scoff at my healthy choices of brown rice, black beans, and Chicken. It's allll about the Barbacoa I'm sure. Anyway, Food porn:

Roasted Chicken, Black Beans, Brown rice, Chili corn and green salsas, cheese, and guac. Yummm

And only 620 calories without guacamole! (I worked out twice today so I splurged :))

Rating-2 for ambiance, lines, and lack of parking, 8 for deliciousness. 7 Overall.

Love you Dan and missing you every day! <3

"I LOVE SUSHI"

2012-04-15T18:25:00.002-07:00

Last week I went to "I LOVE SUSHI" in Santa Cruz for my dear friend Giana's sister's 21st birthday! I was not sure how great it would be since they are both vegetarians (gross ;)) so imagine my surprise when they have a roll just for me on the menu! the "Jenny Love" roll! It was DELICIOUS and covered in mounds and mounds of fresh fish.

Not only was the food awesome, but the restaurant was SO CUTE! Lookkkk!

Did I mention we got Miso soup, pickled cucumber, crab sushi, an orange, and a refill of sake on the house?! EAT HERE, you will not regret it.

Sexual.

Plus, they have free dum dums on your way out the door! :)

Little J's rating-- 4.5 stars (Better than all sushi in Davis and second only to Sushi Sake in Reno ;))

The Greatest Food I have Ever Eaten

2012-04-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Go ahead. Judge me. But there is just nothing better than an artichoke. Unless of course you deep fry that artichoke and cover it with salt. Then you have 36 bite size pieces of heaven in one day. Not that I ate all those in a 7 hour period plus lunch and dinner or anything....

Food Porn!

Ingredients- Thawed bags of artichoke hearts, canola oil, flour, egg, salt. Simple, yet divine. Calorie info purposefully excluded--Easter Cheating! :)

Assembly line of preparation

Goes great with Nonna's Ambrosia Salad!

Full Easter Dinner- Ham with Raisin Sauce and Marshmallow Yams included. Yummmmm

Pure beauty.

Stay tuned for the next installment, in which I eat more veggies manipulated into unhealthy snacks by my Italian family! (Nonno's Antipasto ;D)

Couple's Cook Off

2012-04-01T21:34:00.016-07:00

Let the games begin!

In the first corner, Alexander the Great, a dude who notoriously doesn't enjoy the taste of healthy alternatives such as wheat bread and lack of mayonnaise or butter on anything. I suspect his meal will be more delicious, but then he is a man so his metabolism makes me hate him. :)

His opponent-- Semi-professional part-time food blogger Little J!

Tonight's challenge will be a standard bean and cheese burrito.

Ingredients-

Tortilla (Wheat or Flour)

Beans (Black or Refried)

Cheese (Mexican 4 cheese and Pepper Jack)

Avocado, sliced

Sour Cream, Low Fat

Guacamole, home-made

Salsa, Pace

Butter (optional)

Round 1-

Tortilla!

Jenny chose a wheat tortilla- high in fiber and calcium, low in calories and sodium.

Alex chose standard flour- low-fat and cheap :) He also rubbed butter all over his. Shame.

Winner of Round 1 for healthy eating- Little J

Round 2-

Beans! We could all use a little more protein in us, right ladies?

Alex chose nonfat refried, while I chose low sodium black beans.

Round 2 is a tie because we both think our own beans taste better, and they have differing health benefits :)

Round 3-

Aesthetics! There's no denying the perfect brown crisp of Alex's "burrito" (the man can't fold his laundry either), but it's hard to tell what's in there. A surprise in every bite? Also he ate two because, again, men have magical weight gain prevention powers. Damn them.

Round 3 to Little J!

Just look at that perfectly presented melty goodness!

Final Round--- TASTE!

There's no denying Little J's burrito was delicious, but the creamyness of Alex's beans and extra extra cheese was not surpassed.

Damn, the surprise was gooey awesomesauce.

Winner goes to Alex!

In short, it was a night of battling deliciousness I highly recommend :)

***(Total calorie intake per burrito was 495 for Little J and 585 for Alex- but Alex saved on fat while Jenny saved on sodium. Your choices should depend on your personal diet needs!)

Look, carrots!!!! ;)

Spinach and Artichoke Spreadable Cheese Stuffed Mushroom Caps

2012-03-29T21:34:00.007-07:00

Sometimes you're just really freaking lazy, and happen to love cheese.

This is what I do during those times to avoid succumbing to fast food. Takes only 20 minutes to make!

Ingredients

Alouette Spinach and Artichoke Spreadable Cheese

Portabello Mushrooms (whole, small from the vegetable aisle)

Bread Crumbs

Butter, Pam, or Oil for non-stick

Directions

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Wash mushrooms and remove stems.

Place mushroom caps hollow side up on tin foil lined, buttered baking sheet. Fill each cap with a spoonful of Alouette Artichoke and Spinach Spreadable Cheese and sprinkle with seasoned bread crumbs (I used Progresso Italian Style because it's delicious).

Bake 12-14 minutes. Add more bread crumbs if desired. Serve.

Yummy in your Tummy

Kiss Me-- I'm Italian!

2012-03-26T21:11:00.008-07:00

Yesterday I had an intense craving for fresh pesto. Italians are all nodding in understanding at this point-- sometimes you just gotta make a basil-olive oil-pine nut smoothie and spread it on everything :) I used my family recipe, and then improvised on the pasta. Tada!

Pesto

6 cups loosely packed basil leaves

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. salt

3 large cloves garlic minced

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup pine nuts

Mix everything in the liquefy mode of your blender except the Parmesan, then add that in the end.

Pasta con zucchini, pomodori, e funghi

2 boxes of Eating Right whole grain rotini (or barilla if you're rich).

2 packages of sliced fresh button mushrooms

1 package red cherry tomatoes, cut in halves.

4 fresh zucchinis

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for sauteing)

Ground Black Pepper

Salt

Garlic Bread (Optional)

Red Wine (Mandatory)

Boil water, then add pasta as per box directions.

Put pesto in pot on low low LOW heat to keep sort of warm. don't cook it or the oil will burn off!

Saute mushrooms on medium heat in olive oil until browned, set aside on paper towels to absorb grease.

Repeat saute method with zucchini, adding in tomatoes in last 2 minutes of sauteing. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the mixture as it cooks. Set zucchini and tomatoes aside on paper towel.

Mix all together and sprinkle with parmesan cheese! Goes great with safeway garlic bread and a bottle of Robert Mondavi Zinfandel :)

Serves TEN filling servings! Aka both me and my boyfriend/ cooking helper had 4-5 servings of leftovers :)

That's amore!