Wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween. I really encourage anyone with kids to take advantage of the safer ways to trick or treat, like at your local church or at shopping malls!
I haven't had any Halloween candy yet but a mounds bar would be delicious. Oh and I like those 100 grand bars too! In the mean time I'll enjoy this delicious chocolate almond banana smoothie!
Long title but in reality it was the easiest meal ever. Make sure to grill some extra chicken breasts from a previous dinner and save to use for other meals, like this pasta dish. The tomatoes and green beans can be roasted at the same time in a 425 degree oven, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil infused with garlic, sea salt and fresh black pepper. Takes about 20-25 minutes to roast vegetables and in the mean time you can be boiling water and cooking the pasta.
I used a thick noodle like pappardelle and it is infused with lemon pepper. Very light and refreshing. You can find it at my favorite store, Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find it, just use linguine. Boil water and cook pasta till al dente. Strain and add back to pot with chopped chicken, roasted tomatoes and green beans. Mix well and serve with goat cheese.
30 minutes later dinner is ready!
Buon Appetito,
Fallon
Ingredients:
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium sweet onion
2 yellow or green zucchini
1 large garlic clove
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1lb 100% ground grass fed beef (10% fat)
2 tablespoons red wine or tomato paste
Sea salt
Ground pepper
3 whole bell peppers, cut in half and seeded
2 cups of marinara sauce
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Prepare quinoa ahead of time by rinsing 1/4 cup in cold water. Place in a medium saucepan with water just covering the quinoa. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered until liquid is absorbed. In about 20-30 minutes quinoa will be cooked, allow to cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a cast iron pan, sautéed the onion and zucchini in olive oil over medium-high heat. Season with 1/2 teaspoon oregano,1/4 teaspoon thyme, salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, then add in the garlic and cooked quinoa. Mix together and remove from heat. Place the quinoa mixture into a separate bowl. In the same pan add the ground beef and the remaining oregano and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Add in 2 tablespoons of red wine. Cook until the beef is no longer pink and then add in 3/4 of the quinoa mixture. Mix well and remove from heat.
In a medium baking dish, place the 6 bell pepper halves and stuff each with the beef mixture. You will have leftovers of the beef, you can either stuff additional peppers or save for a different meal.
Cover the peppers with your favorite marinara sauce and place in the preheated oven covered for an hour. Once the peppers are soft, they are done. Top with your favorite cheese and serve.
I’m use to having stuffed peppers prepared with the meat raw and then baked. That is the mistake I made but in the end it still tasted delicious.The extra sauce help keep the meat moist.
I also forgot to buy tomato paste and saw an open bottle of red wine, I figured it won’t make the beef tomato-y but it will have a delicious wine flavor. It worked out perfectly. This is the perfect comfort meal if you are looking for something a bit healthier and gluten free!
Enjoy,
Fallon
Gluten free or not, I love wheatberries! I love their chew and how satisfying they are. My favorite way to enjoy wheatberries is by making it with roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries (or cherries), nuts, green onions and a dijon honey balsamic dressing. It reminds of the salad I get from the Wholefoods salad bar. As soon as I moved back to Las Vegas, I made this salad. I knew my body needed to stay healthy and this salad would do the trick. Plus it just reminds me of Fall with all the pretty colors added to the wheatberries.
It has been almost 3 weeks now since the “break-up" and I’m surprised at how well I’m doing. I have my good and bad days, which is normal. I still have many questions I need answered. I just need the closure after being in a serious relationship for 3 years. I really felt like this man in my life, was going to be my future husband. How it ended all so quickly, 1 hour before I was moving back to Las Vegas, yes I have a lot of questions and yes I want them all answered. The healing process is still going. In the meantime, I’ll have more wheatberry salad please!
I also just want to thank all the support I’ve received from my readers, family and friends. Thank you!
Here is my original version of my Wheatberry Salad with Dried Cherries, Roasted Butternut Squash and Toasted Pecans
This time around I added in dried cranberries and sliced almonds. That is what my mom had in the pantry and I figured it would taste just as good. I noticed the jar of mustard had just enough for the dressing and I decided to shake up the dressing in the jar. Clever right? Plus I had extra dressing and just left it stored in the jar!
Happy Fall!
Fallon
(I started this post about 2 weeks ago and just now had time to sit down and get it posted. Enjoy!)
Hey guys! I’m short on time but wanted to share this awesome recipe with you.
I only had spelt flour left and decided to see how these blondies would turn out. They tasted amazing! Also while I was at Earthfare I had picked up some organic cane sugar to substitute for the brown sugar in this recipe. It actually worked out quite well. They were super sweet but just balanced out perfectly with the salted butter. You could easily use unsalted if you want a more sweeter blondie. They were delicious.
Whole Grain Snickerdoodle Blondies
Original recipe from BakerGirl and adapted from Ice Cream Before Dinner
Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups organic spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups whole cane sugar (reminded me of light brown sugar)
2 sticks salted butter, softened
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon-sugar topping:
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat to 350 F degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt and cinnamon. In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and set aside.
Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and turn on. When butter has been beaten a bit, add in the sugar and mix until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition, wiping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary. Add in the vanilla and beat.
Slowly add the flour mixture with the mixer on low speed. Beat just until combined. Transfer batter to the prepared pan. Use offset spatula to smooth it. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar topping evenly over the surface.
Bake for 25 -30 minutes or until surface of blondies spring back when touched.
Allow to cool on a wire rack and share with all your friends!
Fallon
PS: I LOVE ALL THE FEEDBACK from my last post on my current love situation. I was so impressed by all the hits I received from that post, sadly that was more popular then my bacon jam so far this month! I’m so fortunate to be keeping myself very busy since I’ve been back home but a moment doesn’t go by where I think, “I just don’t understand what happened.”
Today I don’t have a delicious dessert to share or a wonderful meal I’ve made. Sadly my appetite hasn’t been blog worthy. I’m lucky I get myself to eat because I know that is important, along with working out. Getting myself to the gym, has been my life saver this past week. I call this post the unhappy ending because it is very sad. I loved him dearly and did my all for him. All I wanted was for him to be happy. I thought we communicated well but I guess not well enough. I guess if you know how to cook and make cannolis it still doesn’t matter. I’m no longer in a relationship and I’m single. Surprised? Um yes me too. Everyone I know is surprised and to give you a great reason why, I don’t really have a great reason. Call this a bad dream but it actually happened. In my 3 years of devotion and support to him, it came to an end just like that. And quickly it did.
I’m glad to have wonderful friends. They have reached out to me this past week and we have cried and laughed. My family, who I love dearly has been very supportive and helpful. I know I’ll get through this. I want to think maybe I have this one chance to make it all better but I know in reality it probably won’t happen. I’m thankful for my blog and the wonderful individuals I’ve met through here as well. I’m glad I have a way to express my feelings, happy, sad or angry.
I’m sad, confused, and surprised. Am I angry? No. If you can’t make someone happy after doing everything you could for them, then what else is there to give?
At the end of the day, I’m glad I was able to enjoy a bit of the military experience. What these people do for our country amazes me. They work very hard and give up their life for our country so we can have our freedom.
I love you all. I’m getting through this. The unhappy ending might have ended, but a whole new story is in my near future.
Happiness doesn’t come easy for everyone. So I ask you, what makes your happy happen?
Fallon
My life has completely changed as of October 1st, 2011. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you bacon jam. For dinner we had appetizers at The Polka Dot Pig Gastro Pub with our good friends Carrie and Tommy. Earlier in the day we had a lovely picnic near the Augusta Canal which involved lots of good wine, cheese, bread, meats and fruit. It was lovely. With our full stomachs we couldn’t think of a heavy dinner, so appetizers it was.
It was then I discovered bacon jam. I really wanted to try the Braised Pork Belly which came with jalapeno grits and bacon jam. My boyfriend totally ignored me and decided fried artichokes be a better alternative. Luckily we were all sharing and I would be trying the pork belly from our friends. Little did I know what I was about to experience but I instantly fell in love. I fell in love with bacon jam. Chunks of extra crispy bacon swimming in a jam of brown sugar, maple syrup and other delicious ingredients I couldn’t yet decipher.
My boyfriend then thought I went a little crazy when I seriously asked our waiter, “Do you guys sell jars of bacon jam?” Mike was like,”OMG What?” with laughter of course! I on the other hand was very serious. Sadly they didn’t sell jars and he wouldn’t tell me their secret ingredients. My girl Carrie then jumped in and was like, “She needs a jar of this bacon jam now. I will buy it, whatever it is.” Of course I don’t know if I would survive after a jar of bacon jam but I went with it. Why not? The waiter ended up giving me a small cup to go of bacon jam. I was happy. :)
Today I was on a mission to see if bacon jam was something I could actually create at home. Which is possible from here or here. And if I’m too lazy to make my own bacon jam, I could just buy it! Watch out.. bacon jam might be my new idea of Christmas present giving this year. I promise you, if it has changed my life, it will probably change your life!
With lunch today I decided to have a little picnic feast at home featuring BACON JAM! Also with crackers, gouda cheese, garlic Swiss cheese, breaded chicken breast, and fruit leathers.
I <3 Bacon Jam,
Fallon
