Cinnamon Roll Puffs

I was craving something light and sweet this afternoon, and thankfully today I'm working from home...so I decided to take a little break and rummage through the fridge. Unfortunately, my fridge is pretty much full of dairy products, leftovers and vegetables (no lie, 2 gallons of milk, sour cream, yogurt, eggs, a drawer full of vegetables, and leftover lasagna... I think it's time to go grocery shopping).

But lo and behold, I found a can of biscuits hiding in my door, and it hadn't expired yet, so my brain got to turning...and I came up with these delicacies. While they may not be the exact definition of healthy, you have to give in to your cravings every once in a while, right?!

Cinnamon Roll Puffs

Ingredients:

1 can of biscuits (I used the regular small can with 10 biscuits)

Sugar

Cinnamon

3tbsp butter, melted.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450degrees F.

2. Using your fingers or a rolling pin, flatten each of the biscuits out into a small circle.

3. In the middle of the biscuit, brush melted butter onto biscuits. Then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon in the middle.

4. Fold the biscuit edges up and pinch in the middle to make a little puff, then flip it over to see only the smooth side. 

5. Place on a greased pan, and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until top is golden brown.


These were so good, and the dough reminded me of pretzels..next time, i'm going to just sprinkle some kosher salt on top and forego the sweets!

Cauliflower and Chicken Mac n Cheese Casserole

I posted about a healthy twist to Mac n Cheese the other day, but last night, we decided to change it up a bit, and I must say, it was delicious!! I'm guessing Gus thought so too, there was hardly any leftovers, and it went right along with his Paleo Diet.

This recipe is the perfect size for 2-4 people, depending on how hungry you are, and if you have anything else on the side!

*Just a helpful tip, make sure you have everything ready to go, this recipe moves quick!*

Cauliflower and Chicken Mac'n'Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1/2 an onion, chopped
• 2tbsp. minced garlic
• cayenne pepper
• salt
• pepper
• basil
• 2tbsp. butter
• 3tbsp. flour
• 2c. Milk
• 2c. Cheese
• 2 egg yolks
• extra cheese to sprinkle on top

Directions:

1. Start a pot of salted water on high to bring to a boil.

2. While waiting for water to boil, sauté onion and garlic with butter in pan till fragrant, then add chicken, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, and basil
 

3. Brown chicken on all sides, then remove pan from heat

4.Preheat oven to 350degrees F.

5.Once water boils, add cauliflower, and boil for four minutes, or AT least before it starts to get mushy (I did about 3minutes) Drain, but reserve 1/2c of liquid for the sauce.

6. Set the pot back on the stove, and turn burner up to medium heat. Melt butter slowly, then add flour and whisk for about 4 minutes. *You're making a roux, and you want to cook as long as possible, to get rid of the flour taste*

7. Add milk and 1/2c of cauliflower liquid, and stir constantly until sauce begins to thicken, about 8-10 minutes. Whisk in the egg yolks and cheese until cheese melts, then take off the burner.

8. In a casserole dish, layer your cauliflower and chicken on the bottom, and then pour cheese sauce over the top. Here, you can sprinkle some bread crumbs on top if you'd like, or do like we did, and sprinkle some more cheese..you can never have too much cheese, right?! ;)

9. Bake casserole for about 20 minutes, then serve it up!!

Yoga with a Belly...

As this pregnancy continues (31 weeks now!), I find myself getting larger...and larger...and, weighing in after my two Christmas dinners, I'm up to 24 pounds, holy moly. So I decided an hour of intense prenatal yoga would do the body some good.

Now yoga is very safe, but just like anything during these 9 months, consult a doctor to see if it's okay for you. Yoga can do wonders for your body, it can help:

• Relieve Edema (fluid retention) and cramping
• Reduce nausea, morning sickness, and those mood swings we hear about..
• Relieve tension around the cervix and birth canal
• Focus on opening the pelvis to make labor easier and quicker

I ventured out to world wide web today, haha, to try out some new yoga videos, besides my dvds that Gus got me. I have to say, most of them were EXTREMELY cheesy, very old school with the music that makes me want to laugh instead of breathing in and out deeply. But then, I tried checking out Hulu. I have a Hulu subscription because I refuse to pay 120/month for the few shows that I do watch...besides, Gossip Girl is done for forever, and The Walking Dead isn't even back on for another couple of months!

If you have cable, try out Hulu Plus. I put it on my Roku, and my Playstation3, and they have all kinds of yoga classes on there! Here's a link to the ones I did today, Yoga Zone and Gaiam Yoga. Now, it's no live class, where you can feel the positive energy in the air, but just make your own. And with the calm of this thunderstorm outside the windows, Oliver and I had a peaceful mind and body stretching this morning that hopefully helped lose some of the calories I ingested yesterday :/

Next, I'm going to try some meditiation...but for now, Happy Stretching!

Marsala Pork Chops

So we've been in Alabama the past couple of days, visiting my father, taking our LAST trip baby free!! It was an 8 hour drive, and I just can't imagine what that would be like with a newborn in the back..I think i'd love it, and hate it all at once.

But just because we're traveling, doesn't mean we can't eat healthy! Well, semi-healthy. Gus has been craving Chicken Marsala, and my father's favorite food is Pork chops, so we combined the two, and used Gus's memory. It was delicious, and fresh tasting...soo good. I'm going to go ahead and apologize for the photos, we've been on the road, my camera was dead, so I was using my sister's Iphone..and that's all I have to say about that, ha!

Marsala Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 pork chops
1c Flour
.5c Milk
2tsp salt
2tsp pepper
2tsp paprika
2 Shallots
2tbsp minced garlic
1c mushrooms
2c Marsala Wine
Unsalted Butter
Fresh chopped parsley, for decoration (and to add a fresh taste to your food)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350degrees F. In a bowl, combine your flour, salt, pepper, and paprika and mix well. Dip pork chops into milk, then straight into flour mixture, and set aside.

2.  Slice mushrooms into thin pieces, as well as shallots.

3. Slice butter into 1/2tbsp pieces, and heat up in pan on the stove. Pan should be hot, we're going to pan sear the pork chops. **You might want to turn on a fan, it could get a little smokey!** Pan sear each piece of floured pork, adding more butter as necessary, so as not to let pork stick to bottom of pan. Set aside all pork into a baking dish.

4. Heat 2 more tablespoons of butter in pan, and saute garlic and shallots until fragrant, then add in mushrooms, and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add marsala wine, and let the mixture simmer for about five minutes. 

5. Pour wine sauce mixture over pork chops, and then bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pork chops. Pork should be 165degrees Fahrenheit, don't let it overcook! Pork can get dry pretty fast.

6. Take out of the oven and serve immediately, with fresh parsley on top :)

Everyone loved this recipe, even my 9 year old little brother. You can't go wrong with a mixture of smothered pork chops, chicken marsala, and having a fresh, healthy dinner!

My favorite Snickerdoodle recipe...ever!

So yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment for Oliver, a standard check up. Usually, I like to reward myself for making it through another weigh in, and hearing the doctor's slightly condescending tone when she says, "Oh, you've gained another pound....". So last night, I decided to make snickerdoodles on a whim!

Now, I used to have a recipe memorized, but because of my prego brain, all I could remember was flour, sugar, butter...a good start, but not enough to make an amazing cookie. So I googled, and googled some more, and found three different recipes that had great reviews...then combined them, and tweaked them a little, and ended up with this crazy delicious, soft and chewy Snickerdoodle: (Excuse the picture, I had a split second to take an iphone snapshot while running out the door to work this morning)

Snickerdoodles

Makes about 24 Cookies

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (1/2c)
3/4C Sugar
1tsp. vanilla
1 Egg
1 1/3C flour
1tsp lemon juice
1/2tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
Sugar and Cinnamon (to roll the cookies)


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400degrees F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla, lemon juice, and the egg, and mix until fully combined.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Cookie dough will be moist, DO NOT add more flour, it'll be okay ;)
4. Have a separate bowl with sugar and cinnamon ready, and roll small pieces (or big pieces, whatever size you'd like) into balls, and roll into cinnamon sugar concoction. Place cookies on well greased/parchment lined pan at least 1 inch apart. Press down lightly on cookies with fingers or a flat cup to flatten the cookies slightly.
5. Bake for about 7-8 minutes, till edges start to get hard, then remove from oven. Cookies will continue to cook on pan, then after five minutes, remove onto a cookie rack.

These cookies turned out so chewy and delicious, I couldn't help myself and had two with a cup of hot cocoa. Enjoy!

Eating Healthy While Pregnant

It's been a while since I've been on here, and it's because I'm very silly...and forgetful now! Of course, it's no excuse, butttttt.... I am expecting a little boy! Meet Oliver :) 

That was him at 18 weeks. I am now 30 weeks, and gaining ounces by the second it feels. I sadly let go of my healthy living lifestyle for a bit, but I'm back to it for a couple of reasons: A. I missed blogging and learning more about myself and new delicious things for me to eat. B. I've hit the 20 pound weight gain mark, and am not feeling too excited about that. 

They tell you that you can't eat all kinds of delicious things when you're pregnant...yep, no more Brie and crackers, or pigs in a blanket [like how I went from keeping it classy, to kicking it old school? ;)]. I've also been told multiple times, "You're eating for 2 now!".

So while I feel hungry enough to eat for 20, I know that it's time to get back to eating clean. My fiance is living a paleo lifestyle, so it's not too hard to keep it healthy in our fridge. Besides my  prenatal yoga and walks, I've cut back on my carbs, and have found a few delicious recipes on the way.

My favorite so far is a spin on a classic...Mac'n'Cheese. I know, i know, "cutting back on carbs my butt" you might be thinking, but check this out:

Mac and Cheese Style Cauliflower

Ingredients

8C. Cauliflower Florets
2Tbsp. Butter
3Tbsp. Flour
2C. Milk
1tsp. garlic powder
2C. grated cheddar cheese
Cayenne pepper
2 egg yolks
Salt & Pepper

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 375degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add cauliflower.
2. Boil cauliflower for about 4 minutes (I get mine to the point of almost tender, so as not to be mushy for the end result). Drain, but reserve 1/2 cup of the cauliflower water. Set cauliflower to the side.
3. In that same hot pan, melt the butter over medium heat, then whisk in the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, as to get rid of the flour taste. Whisk in the milk and cauliflower water, and cook for about 7-10 minutes, whisking every now and then, until sauce thickens.
4. Remove the sauce from the heat, and stir in the cheese, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and egg yolks until the cheese is melted.
5. Layer cauliflower in a baking pan, and pour cheese sauce on top, spreading evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with some grilled chicken or a thick juicy steak (Well done of course, if you're prego!)