Things I Love, and You Should Too.

These are a few of my favorite things!
Aside from the obvious things, like my cats, my family & my boyfriend. Aside from the typical(chocolate, ice cream, vacation time, sleeping in) these are some of the things I love.

1)Coming home or waking up to a clean house. It just puts my whole world back in happyville.
2)Warm from the oven bread. Any kind will do; french, sourdough, banana, zuchinni.
3)Berries fresh from the farmers market.
4)Greek yohgurt, it's an awesome substitute for sour cream and other dense creamy things in recipes.
5)Agave nectar, it's awesome in place of sugar or simple syrup.
6)Epsom salts. Old fashioned I know, but they make my bath into a home spa!
7)Homemade sugar scrub. So cheap, so easy, SO indulgent!
8)My Ninja blender. This thing makes easy work of so many things, from smoothies & margaritas to salsa and more.
9)Mizythra cheese. If you happen to have an Old Spahgetti Factory nearby, lucky you! You can have Spahgetti a la Homer (the only place I know that makes it) but mizythra with spahgetti in browned butter is only one way to indulge in this fabulous cheese. It is nutty and salty and a little goes a long way in pasta, salads and more! Use it the same way you would fresh parmesan.
10)Butter lettuce, otherwise known as boston bibb lettuce. More nutritious than iceberg, sweeter and more tender than romain, I love this lettuce in everything from salads to sandwhiches!

Those are ten off the top of my head for now, I'll add more in another entry.

Soy Vay! That's the stuff!

Oh my, recently I had the bug, the cooking bug that is. Since I've had some time off from work, I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen, not to mention at the grocery store!
My two recent creations I have fallen in love with are as follow.

Pesto Tortelini with Mushroom, garlic and tomato saute topped with my favorite, mizythra cheese

I found these awesomely tasty vegetarian tortelini's at Grocery Outlet, imported directly from Italy you know they were fabulous! I threw in a splash of sherry while cooking up the mushrooms and added the cherry tomatoes at the end just to heat them through. It was so good I had to take a picture, I was proud of myself for this dish, so simple and tasty.

Our friend Dave is a fabulous guy, and as a vegetarian he has some great recipe's that I am in love with. Tofu jerky is one of those that I've not been brave enough to attempt until now. It wasn't quite as good as Dave's, but I am certain that with more practice this will become a staple around here.

This is:

I package extra firm tofu

marinated in soy sauce, sauted till brown, cool then coat in Soy Vey teriyaki and return to pan.

The thinner you are able to slice your tofu the more like jerky it will become , (almost like a meaty texture and very firm) Please take my advice and either water down your soy sauce or use low sodium, no need to marinate it TOO long, 30 minutes will do it in fact. Be aware that any sauce is fine but that if it contains garlic or sugar it will burn, so watch your pan and if your kitchen is tiny like mine be ready for the smoke detector to scare the living daylights out of everyone in your neighborhood!

Some may not believe me but my kitchen truly is quite tiny, barely any room to open the oven door or the refridgerator. I make it work though.

My kitchen is well hung.

I am working with limited income right now, so trying to find affordable healthy & tasty food is becoming like a new adventure! I am having fun with! Tonight it's cheese quesadillas with spicy black beans and(brown) rice with my homemade mexi-corn. Tomorrow it's classic stuffed bell peppers and green salad. Haven't made a menu for friday yet.

Saturdays we traditionally have a big dinner get together with the neighbors and a bunch of friends. It is always a blast and this weekend Jenn is making her Creamy chicken and brocolli enchiladas. They are SO good! I will extract the recipe from her and post it here.

Lucky for my kitchen and my pocketbook I should be headed back to work next week!