Mama's Brunch

I love watching Food Network, I gain a lot of my inspiration for cooking from here. Bobby Flay is a pretty incredible cook, I love his show Brunch at Bobby's. Brunch is my all-time favorite meal. I absolutely love it. When I became a mom I knew I would want to host a brunch with all the mamas and babies. After a few months to get my bearings, I was able to do so. I utilized one of Bobby Flay's brunches as my foundation and tweaked the recipes just a bit to fit in my cooking style.

Orange-Ricotta Pancakes with Fig Compote

3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp  baking powder
salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla
orange zest
butter

Fig Compote
12 oz figs
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup trail mix (or any nuts you have around)
salt
pepper

Mix dry ingredients together. Then combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, vanilla and zest in a separate bowl until smooth. Beat the egg whites in a standing mixer until stiff. Add dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk, fold to combine. Whisk in small amount of egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining egg whites. I heated up my griddle and brushed the surface with butter. Use 1/3 cup to scoop batter onto the griddle. When bubbles start to appear, flip.

Add all ingredients for compote together in a small sauce pan, cook over high heat and stir frequently. Should take about two minutes for the figs to soften and break down. Pour into bowl for serving.




Italian Home Fries

3 Tbsp butter
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small yellow pepper, diced
1 1/2 lbs small new potatoes, diced
8 oz Italian hot sausage, remove from casing
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
drizzle olive oil
salt & pepper

The night before (to save time) I chopped everything up and put it into a ziploc bag. I stuck it into the fridge and the next morning, heated up the butter on the griddle and poured the ingredients onto the griddle pan. I added the fresh herbs once the onions, peppers and potatoes started to cook. The smell is incredible! Once the sausage is browned, cooked through and potatoes are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, your home fries are done!

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Italian Cheese and Tomato Bruschetta
1 loaf of Italian bread
olive oil
salt & pepper
3 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
handful of basil, julienne
10 large eggs
4 oz Italian cheeses

Preheat grill pan over medium heat, slice bread, drizzle with olive oil and place down on pan. While bread toasts, toss tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and julienne basil in a bowl. Once bread is toasted, mound the tomato mixture on top.

Melt butter into a large saute pan over low heat. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and whisk until fluffy. Add in coarse black pepper. Add eggs into the pan, mix gently with rubber spatula. Fold in cheese and after a few minutes remove from heat. Serve eggs with bruschetta.

Orange-Pineapple Mimosas
champagne or prosecco
orange juice
pineapple juice

I love changing up mimosa flavors, find any yummy juice or nectar and top that off in your champagne glass.

Blueberry-Fennel Ice
ice cube tray
water
blueberries
fennel sprigs

I decided to jazz up my ice for serving water, so I put a few blueberries and fennel sprigs in the cube tray. Freeze and it looks pretty with the color. You can use any fruit, herbs, etc.


It was so wonderful to get together with my great mama

friends and to see their babies. Our little ones played and we took some adorable pictures. This brunch is great for any gathering.

Enjoy! xo Lo

Chicken Milanese

Chicken Milanese is one of those iconic dishes that seems to be forgotten or skipped over. I wanted to rejuvenate this recipe a bit.

Chicken Milanese

chicken breasts (2-4)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup flour
2 eggs
fennel bulb
cherry tomatoes, halved
garlic
1/2 cup cream cheese
penne pasta
 salt
pepper

Preheat oven on the lowest setting, 150-170.

Boil water for the pasta, put plenty of salt in the water, once bubbling add in whichever pasta you prefer, I used penne.

Take your chicken breasts and pound them until they are about a 1/2 inch thick. Sometimes the breasts are so large I cut them in half. In three bowls add flour, salt and pepper in one, eggs in the second and panko in the third. Dip the breasts into the flour, then coat with the eggs and dredge in the panko bread crumbs. Once pasta is al dente, drain.

Brown each side of the chicken using olive oil in a hot pan, about three minutes per side. Then place the coated chicken breasts on a baking sheet with a wire rack on it, put in the oven to cook through and keep warm.

In the same pan you browned the chicken in, add in the fennel, let it cook until soft. Then add in the garlic and lastly the tomatoes. Once the vegetables are soft, add in the cream cheese to create a creamy sauce. Retrieve the chicken from the oven. Spoon pasta in bowl, top with crispy chicken and finally the creamy sauce. I garnished with a little of the fennel sprigs. The panko makes this chicken even more crispy and slow cooking makes the chicken extra moist. The bite from the fennel and creaminess from the sauce makes this dish irresistible. Any guest will love this meal.

Enjoy! xo Lo

All Wrapped Up- Part One: Making Frozen Meals for Family

Now that I am 36 weeks pregnant I am making all those last minute preparations for our sweet girl's arrival. Of course, one of my biggest concerns is food...what will we eat? Thankfully, my best friend has rounded up some helpful family and friends who have offered to cook us meals during those first few weeks home with our Halen. But I know they can't provide every meal for us, so I've decided to do a frozen food series for new moms, families on the go or even for family reunions.

My first recipe for my frozen food series is breakfast burritos. My husband and I are huge fans of breakfast...especially me. So I wanted to make sure we'd have something yummy and satisfying when we're up in the wee hours.

Breakfast Burritos

24 tortillas
10 eggs
1 package of sausage
1 can black beans
2 large red potatoes
1 cup (+) colby jack cheese
salsa

When I originally found this recipe it wanted everything to be pre-made, frozen hash browns, etc. Well even though I am trying to save time by making food ahead doesn't mean I want health aspects to suffer. So I bought everything as naturally as I could and cooked it all myself. You can get any tortillas you like, I really like the ones that are half flour, half corn. Eggs, I always purchase free-range, brown eggs. For the sausage, I purchased hatch green chile sausage for a bit of a kick. I love my black beans and think they add not only extra protein to my burritos but they're so yummy. Red potatoes are healthier than your regular potatoes, colby jack cheese melts really well. And any salsa you prefer.

First thing you want to do is dice up your potatoes rather small and cook them in a large bottom

skillet with some olive oil. Once they start to brown, add in your diced sausage (you can also use ground sausage). Once those two are fully cooked and on the crispy side, scramble your eggs and pour them in the skillet. Turn your heat down and gently fold in your egg mixture. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, continue to fold. Once the eggs start to hold together and don't look runny you're about done. Add the egg mixture into a bowl and set up your wrapping station.



 You'll need plastic wrap, two large freezer Ziploc bags, your grated cheese and black beans ready to go. I would tear a few pieces of plastic wrap at a time so I didn't have to stop my process each time I needed more plastic wrap. Lay your tortilla down on the plastic wrap, fill with egg mixture, top with grated cheese, and a spoonful of black beans. Use the plastic wrap to wrap up the breakfast burrito nice and tight and set to the side.

Continue process until you've used all your eggs and tortillas. Then date and label your freezer bags, add the wrapped breakfast burritos inside, let out all the air, zip shut, and add into your freezer.









When you're ready to eat your frozen breakfast
burritos, simply take the number you want out of the bag, heat up add salsa on top and dig in! These are perfect for any mom-to-be preparing for her little one to come home, for a mom on the go preparing food for her family or even preparation for a family reunion coming up (since summer is around the corner!).

Enjoy! xoxo Lo

Who says you can't camp in style??

Every year about one third of our population goes camping. There is quite an extensive list of "must take" when you go on a camping trip. Of course, food is a very important part of this trip away. On Memorial Weekend, my husband and I decided to take a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We were thrilled to immerse ourselves into nature. And to finally put all our collected camp gear to use.

We made the couple hour drive to Estes Park, met up with some friends for lunch. After a couple of Elk burgers our group decided to take a hike with friends. We witnessed a beautiful waterfall, as the winters last breath was leaving the mountains. Before nightfall sprang upon us we needed to set up camp, get our fire going and start dinner. Our campsite was incredible, the campground called it the honeymoon suite and after arrival, we understood why. We had a large site are with gorgeous Longs Peak puffing it's chest at the valleys below. Tall pine trees kept us privately tucked away and we were in heaven. We set up camp and started to ready our evening.

We brought most of the "typical" camping foods but tried to jazz it up a little bit. Instead of regular burgers, we brought turkey burgers. We brought sandwich thins, instead of giant hunks of bread. But of course we couldn't help ourselves with bringing bacon and eggs. (They make everything better.) I wanted to relish being out in the middle of nowhere and not have to have fancy food. But I knew there had to be more creative ways to prepare the food. So as my husband collected firewood, I started with our cocktail for the evening.

I found this awesome peach bellini wine freezer...perfect for camping! All I had to do was fill it with wine, water and then freeze. Talk about simple! I poured each of us a glass and felt excited for the camping trip to unfold. Once I had my cocktail to sip on, I started to prepare dinner. We were having bacon-cheese-turkey burgers. We wanted to use the grill that came on the fire pit, so I had to figure out an easy way to keep all the food on the grill. Obviously the turkey burgers and buns would be fine but the bacon, if left alone would probably fall through the cracks into the fire. I had seen people create a bacon lattice on turkeys and chickens and felt this would be a perfect way to cook this bacon for our burgers. I cut a few slices and laced them together creating a bacon patty.  Then we put everything on the grill and waited patiently. As the flame hissed with bacon grease, we enjoy our mountainous bliss. We watched as the sun faded behind the pine trees and scarfed down our healthy yet hearty camp fire meal. We sat by the fire for quite awhile staring into the flames and talking about how much we'd miss Colorado. (We were moving back to Texas in a few short days.) We would miss the smell of the mountains, the chilly summer rains, being the first ones on the ski lifts, grabbing a local brew at the Dam Brewery, being able to spot the mountains from almost any activity we were doing, the color of the autumn leaves and our cousins.

 

The next day we hiked six miles straight up to Green Mountain. I remember my hands swelling up so much I thought my pinky finger pad would pop. Hydration was important. Thankfully we were mostly shaded by the towering trees. Once we reached the top we sat down to enjoy the panoramic view of mountains and valleys. Tiny, social chipmunks scurried up to see if we had any bits of food for them to munch on. Then we found the seal and took a picture of our wedding rings on it to symbolize our exceptional year in colorful Colorado.

When we returned from our hike we realized there were no showers at our campground. We made a discovery trip into Estes Park and found some showers at a Laundromat. Unfortunately it was cash only and our pockets were empty AND to top it all off the place closed in 10 minutes. We were sweaty and desperate for a shower before hunkering down in our tent. The nicest girl doing laundry must have saw the looks of exasperation on our red faces and paid for our showers. We gratefully accepted, offered a Starbuck's gift card (which she refused to accept) and hurried into our cleansing stalls. After a good scrub and rinse we were as good as new, but hungry. We made our way back to the grounds and cheffed up some good ole freeze dried camping food. I chose beef stroganoff and I served Evan cheesy chili mac n cheese. We cuddled next to our fire and ate in silence.

This may have been our last camping trip in 2013 but we knew we'd be back for more.

 

Have a great end of your summer! xoxo Lo

 Oh and if you see a bear locker on your camp site...use it!

Heart Shaped Love on a Plate

Happy Valentines Day! I know I already blogged about my heart-shaped fried eggs for my fabulous breakfast tacos. But I couldn't resist posting what I lovingly made for my hubby this morning.

Heart-Shaped Pancakes 'n Eggs
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, in a different bowl mix the wet ingredients together then fold the wet into the dry ingredients. Mix til there are little to no clumps in the batter. If the batter is too thick add more milk, if it is too wet add a bit more flour. Grease your pan and put it on medium-high heat. Put your heart-shaped cookie cutter onto the pan and pour the mixture in the cookie cutter just so the batter fills the bottom.  You don't want to fill the cookie cutter up too high or the pancake takes too long to cook. Once the pancake starts to bubble, flip over and lightly push the pancake down, releasing the cookie cutter. Continue until all of your batter is used.

Then use the same pan and cookie cutter for your eggs, re-grease the pan and crack your egg into the cookie cutter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Once the egg is starting to whiten on top the egg is done.

Plate your yummy breakfast together and your honey or sweet kiddos will be pleasantly surprised!

Happy Valentines day everyone! xoxo Lo

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”

Valentines Day is right around the corner...There are some great, easy ways to show your loved one how special they are. You can focus on a sweetheart breakfast, picnic lunch, romantic dinner or sexy little surprises throughout the day.

They always say the key to a man's heart is through his stomach...so my plan was to hone in on breakfast because it is my husband's favorite meal. I wanted to start his day off by showing him how much I love him by creating a fantastic, homemade breakfast in bed.

First I started by creating a potato hash.

Fingerling Potato Hash
6 fingerling potatoes
1/4 yellow onion
2 baby portabella mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp salt

Heat your pan on medium heat with butter, add diced onions, potatoes and mushrooms. Continually stir and add salt. These will cook for about 30 minutes.

Homemade Tortillas
3 cups flour
1/3 cup corn oil

1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt

While your potato hash is cooking make some homemade tortillas...which are WAY better than store bought tortillas. Mix the flour and oil together with a fork til the mixture becomes nice and crumbly. Then add in the salt and warm water, spoonful at a time until the mix morphs into a dough. Knead the dough with your hands for three minutes to smooth it out. Then place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Once the 30 minutes are up, pinch off golf ball size pieces of the dough and roll out on a floured surface. Roll out the dough to a thin, 8 inch disc then place on a saute pan on medium heat and let cook for about 30 seconds then flip. The tortilla cooks fast and will develop little brown spots, to show it is done. This amount of dough should create 10-12 tortillas. After your tortillas are done heat up your black beans and start on cooking the eggs.

Sweetheart Breakfast Tacos
4 eggs
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
heart cookie cutter
1 cup black beans
1/2 cup shredded colby cheese
1/2 cup roasted salsa
potato hash
homemade tortillas

You can use the same pan that your potato hash is cooking in, push the hash to one side, grease the open side with butter, put your cookie cutter down and crack your egg into the cookie cutter. The egg will solidify inside the cookie cutter creating a heart shape. Cover your egg/hash with a lid until the egg is cooked to your liking. We prefer over-medium eggs, make sure the pan is on medium-low heat. The eggs should cook about 2-3 minutes per egg. When the eggs are done start to plate your breakfast tacos. Put your tortilla down first, then potato hash, black beans, shredded cheese, heart-eggs and salsa.

Serve this up and your honey will cover you with kisses...after they escape their food coma of course :)

Happy Valentines Day! xoxo Lo

All to entertain you with my dear

Who doesn't love to entertain?? Ok a few of you might not...but who doesn't love to laugh, carry on meaningful conversations, and enjoy delicious food? That's what I thought. When entertaining, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of money or cook for 10 hours to indulge in some fantastic food with wonderful company.

When I invite guests over I always like to entertain with a few nibblies when they first arrive. That way when conversations are starting, wine bottles are opening and the main course may still be cooking, we can snack over some delectable treats.

One of my favorites and one of the easiest appetizers to serve is hummus with veggies, crackers or pita bread. You can either make your own hummus (I  highly recommend) or you can purchase some from the nearest grocery store.

Homemade Hummus
2 cans of garbanzo beans (drained)

2 cloves of minced garlic

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley

1/2 lemon

1/3 cup tahini (smashed sesame seeds)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup water

roasted red peppers for topping

black pepper
paprika for garnish
olive oil for topping

Combine all ingredients into a food processor, blender or in a bowl and use a emulsion blender. Stir as the ingredients smooth out and combine. If the mixture is too dry add olive oil to help smooth it out. Once all blended, add to a festive dish, top with a drizzle of olive oil, add roasted red peppers and paprika. Then cut up some cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, pita bread, crackers...any thing you want to dip inside this lovely hummus.

Another great appetizer, that I made for the Superbowl this year was my deviled egg dip. We love deviled eggs in our house, so I thought, why not create a dip? You use exactly what you would for deviled eggs but blend it all up til smooth and serve with chips, crackers, toast points, veggies, anything you want.

Deviled Egg Dip

8 medium-boiled eggs (being cooked less than hardboiled helps keep the dip smooth and creamy)

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup horseradish dijon mustard

1/3 cup dill pickle relish
1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Add all ingredients into a blender, food processor or in a bowl for the use of an emulsion blender. Blend til smooth, stirring along the way. Add to a bowl and serve with any chip, cracker or veggie like. I chose to serve my dip with the new Pop Chips (regular flavor) they were delicious. If you want to kick this dip up a bit you could add some crispy bacon!

Hopefully I've helped you see that it doesn't have to be difficult to entertain. Pop a few things in a blender and you've got some fabulous dips that your company will adore.

Happy entertaining! xo Lo

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." - John Gunther

I passionately agree with Mr. John Gunther... every week I look forward to my weekend mornings so I can wake up slow in my pillowy duvet, slink out of bed and make coffee...go back to bed, waiting for my coffee. Then finally when I muster up enough willpower I meander into the kitchen to chef up some le petit dejeuner.

There are many different paths you could take while creating a breakfast meal. You could go savory, you could go sweet, you could go with eggs, pancakes, french toast, lox in bagels...there are about a million scrumptious options! I will show you a few of the diverse paths I have trodded down during the morning hours of the day.

Cherry-Blueberry Granola Bars
1 cup uncooked oats (old fashioned)
1 cup flour

1 cup granola (any kind you like- I used vanilla-almond)
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1/3 cup blueberry preserves (the good stuff)
1/4 cup cherry preserves (the good stuff)

I've always wanted to make my own granola bars versus buying them at the store...most of you think, "Yeah if I worked at home." Well you can still make your own granola bars and be busy. These don't take long and are WAY more tasty than any store bought granola bar. Start by pouring 3/4 cup of the oats, granola and flour together in a bowl, mix together and add brown sugar, almonds, agave and butter. Fold everything together so it is all evenly mixed. Pour into a 9x9 inch greased pan. Then spread your preserves over the top (stay away from the edge so they don't stick to the pan) and top with the remaining oats. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve after about two minutse of cooling so you can eat them while they're hot...trust me these suckers are to die for! And who knew they could be so healthy?? Packed with healthy carbs, protein and healthy sugars this is a great option to begin your day on the right path.

Healthy Bacon-Herb Frittata

6 eggs
fresh parsley
fresh cilantro
fresh rosemary
2 chopped bacon wrapped dates stuffed with goat cheese (leftovers!)
1/4 cup colby jack cheese
2 slices of canadian bacon
1/4 yellow onion
4 mushrooms (any kind you prefer, I used button)
salt
pepper
olive oil

This option is magnificently healthy and great for anyone trying to help benefit their cholesterol levels. Many people are afraid of making frittatas thinking they will taste too healthy (I can vouch for that one) or they are too difficult. But this is one of the easiest egg dishes known to man. First you wan to fetch your fresh herbs and give them a fine chop. Save a bit of the cilantro for a garnish and put the rest in a bowl. Slice up your onion and mushrooms, add them to a cast-iron skillet. After a few minutes add in your canadian bacon and bacon wrapped dates. Once carmelized, turn the heat to medium-low. Crack your eggs into the bowl with the herbs. Give a good whisk, add salt and pepper and pour egg mixture into the skillet. Do not scramble. Let the bottom cook over the stove for about 6 minutes. Once the bottom has settled then finish top with cheese and finish in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. The frittata will puff up, once the eggs are cooked you are ready to serve. Remember the skillet is very HOT!

These two dishes are perfect to pair together! A little sweet with the fresh, warm granola bars and a little savory with your hot, gooey egg frittata. Your family, friends and neighbors will all be begging for the recipe!

Strawberry-Banana Pancakes
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp  baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk (you can use any kind, whole, skim or buttermilk)
2 Tbsps melted butter
1/2 cup sliced bananas (fresh)
1/2 cup sliced strawberries (fresh)

Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Once both are well mixed, combine. You can either add fruit directly into batter or you can add add fruit once you pour mix into the skillet, I did the latter. Once you have a semi-thick batter use a 1/3 measuring cup to scoop the batter into your hot skillet. Pour in a bit of olive oil first, once your batter is poured drop a few slices of banans and strawberries right on top of the wet pancake. Once the pancake starts to bubble up and the sides are cooked you can flip. Continue til all of the batter is used.

Chive 'n Cheese Scrambled Eggs
6 eggs
1/2 cup colby jack cheese
1/4 cup freshly chopped chives
salt
pepper
olive oil
2 Tbsp water

Chop up your chives and shred your cheese, add to a medium sized bowl. Crack your eggs directly into the bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Start to whisk your eggs together for scrambled eggs. Add in the water and continue to whisk. Grease your hot skillet with olive oil and pour into pan. Move the egg mixture around until it starts to solidify. Continue to "scramble" the eggs until they are fluffy and cooked but not overcooked (you don't want your eggs to brown). Serve with a bit of cheese and chives on top. Fabulous meal full of healthy proteins, calcium and carbohydrates.

All of these combinations of breakfasts are fantastic options to help start off your day right. Sweet and savory are a classic combination for breakfast and will leave any appetite satisfied. So whip out your apron and start a scramblin'!

Enjoy! xoxo Lo

Start your Winter day off right

In order to start your cold, blustery day off correctly a fulfilling breakfast is much needed. Eggs are a fantastic way to fill you up without a lot of calories or fat. Enjoy this simple yet mouth watering breakfast recipe.

Omelete

6 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
salt
pepper
3 English muffins
ground turkey
fresh berries
green onion
shiitake mushrooms

Slice disks out of the ground turkey and cook until juicy and slightly crisp. Chop up your green onions and shiitake mushrooms, add them to a pan on medium-low heat. Scramble the six eggs, whisk in milk, salt and pepper. Toast up the English muffins. Remove the onion-mushroom mixture and pour in 1/3 of the mixture, once the eggs start to solidifiy flip and add in onion-mushroom mixture plus shredded cheese. Flip one half over to create an omelette, leave for one minute then remove from heat.

Plate the omelete top with cheese and a few green onion slices with a side of turkey sausage, English muffins and berries. This meal will jumpstart your metabolism and give you energy to conquer the day!

Enjoy! xoxo Lo

Campfire Cookin'

My husband and I went camping this weekend and realized that many people don't understand how delicious your meals can be cooked over an open-fire with a starry night while spending quality time with those you love.

Our first night we chose something pretty simple:

Beer Brats with Blue Corn Tortillas and Mustard

1 package of beer brats
1 package of tortillas
mustard

First you need hangers, sticks or some long fork skewers to fire roast the brats over the open flame. Once the brats are sizzling and brown you toast the tortillas and add the brat, squirt a lil mustard on top and ta da! Simple and delicious.

We spent that evening laughing and holding hands in the middle of the woods.

The next day we planned a big breakfast:

4 eggs
6 slices of thick-cut bacon
2 red potatoes
2 slices of toast (preferably homemade)

Firstly, when you are cooking while camping you want to start with the bacon because it naturally creates grease that you can use to cook everything else. Place bacon in the pot and set over the open flame, take one strip of bacon and slice it up into little pieces. Place these pieces into a separate pot with the chopped potatoes. Once the bacon is sizzled, remove from pot and add to a paper towel and crack the eggs into the greased pot. Once the potatoes are done, pile them into the serving bowls, add bacon on top. Place bread in a pocket of foil and toast on fire grate. Once the eggs are done place them on top of the bacon/potato pile and lastly grab your toast.

For dinner our last night camping we had to create something out of nothing, we had a backpacker's meal of freeze dried chicken and dumplings. Which didn't seem like enough so we had two red potatoes left, some bacon and some extra barbeque sauce. We decided to bake the potatoes, sizzle up the bacon and crumble it on top of the potatoes with barbeque sauce on top...that was a surprisingly, yummy side dish!

Use your imagination while camping, anything you want to have you can...you just have to be creative.

Enjoy life every moment at a time! xoxo Lo

Autumn-Inspired Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Hello! Hope you are all having a marvelous Monday! I made a delicious Autumn-inspired recipe last night and thought I would share it with you all J 

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Fresh Sage

2 lbs of butternut squash (or pumpkin, or acorn squash or any potatoes)

2 cups flour

¼ cup yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

3 Tbsp olive oil

6 leaves of fresh sage (or any other fresh herb you like)

Salt/pepper

3 egg yolks

Place butternut squash in large pot or Dutch oven and fill with water, have heat on high to boil. Once water is boiling, keep on a rolling boil until the squash is tender. Meanwhile, heat sauté pan and chop up onion, garlic and three leaves of sage, very small. Drizzle 1 Tbsp of olive oil in sauté pan and cook onion, garlic & herb mixture til crispy.

When squash is tender, drain and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Once the butternut squash is cool, cut off ends, slice in half length-wise and de-seed/peel. Chop up into small pieces and place in a large bowl. Mash squash like you would with mashed potatoes. Add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to keep smooth, add in egg yolks, flour, salt pepper and other three leaves of fresh herbs. Fold together with a spatula then you might want to start using your hands as the dough forms.

Once the dough is firm, roll out onto a floured surface and slice into long strips. Then slice the strips into little squares about one inch x one inch. Heat salted water again on the stove and drop gnocchi pillows into the boiling water. Once the gnocchi rise to the top (like dumplings) they are done (about 3-5 minutes) depending on the thickness of the gnocchi.

Once the gnocchi is done, drain and place on a paper towel to air dry (about 5 minutes). Then place them in your bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with crispy onion, garlic & sage and shave chunks of parmesan on top and ta da! So delicious! My husband approved too J

xoxo Lo

Southern Breakfast with a Flair

Every weekend I wake up slowly without an alarm and dream about what breakfast might be. This particluar morning I decided to go with my Southern roots, an egg sandwich with cheesy grits and homemade bread.

Firstly, I started off by cooking my grits, I added water to a sauce pan and once it came to boil I added grits, salt and waited for them to absorb. While that was cooking I took two links of chicken, feta and spinach sausage out of the casing and made a patty then I put that onto a bit of olive oil to cook. In the meantime the grits had absorbed the water, one of the best things about grits is it is so versatile. You can pretty much add anything to them and the flavors will blend in. I decided to make cheesy grits and grated up some colby jack cheese and stirred that into my grits.

Next I flipped my sausage patties and added two thick slices of homemade white bread to the pan to get a nice crispiness to it. Once the cheese melted into the grits I added some salt and pepper to taste and put them on low heat to keep warm. Once the patties were done and bread was crisp, I removed them from the flame and cracked a few eggs into the pan. After my eggs were ready to go I plated my bread, sausage patty then egg on top with my cheesy grits on the side. Poured a mimosa & ta da!

Enjoy xo! Lo

Cakes 'n Eggs

One ridiculously hot Sunday morning...I awoke with a grumbling stomach yearning for an all-around awesome breakfast! While my handsome husband, caught up on his zzzs, I started my into the kitchen.

After assessing my fridge and pantry I scrounged up: eggs, pancake batter (thanks to a friend's wedding favor), blueberries and veggies.

I decided to make fluffy scrambled eggs with a short stack of buttermilk-blueberry pancakes accompanied by Vermont Maple syrup.

For the eggs I started with chopping some onion and mushrooms, then I threw them in the saute pan with a touch of olive oil to get nice and golden. Next I beat up the eggs, added a touch of water and poured that into the saute pan, covering the veggies. I immediately added salt and pepper to the eggs, while stirring them often, to make sure they wouldn't stick to the pan. The heat should be on medium to make sure the eggs don't overcook.

Meanwhile, I was given pancake batter as a wedding favor gift, all I needed to add was water and an egg, once that was beaten up, I decided to add some blueberries. Then I made sure the skillet was hot, added olive oil and poured in the batter using a 1/3 measuring cup. Once the pancake bubbles on the side flip over for a few minutes.

Once the eggs are nice and fluffy, grate your favorite cheese on top, sprinkle with green onion and serve. Pile the stack of pancakes, drizzle with syrup. Ta da! Dive in to an all-around awesome breakfast for anyone!

Whippin' up a snack!

While I was running around my home washing dishes, doing laundry, vacuuming the carpets my stomach started grumbling. I looked at the clock, and completely forgot to feed myself breakfast, during my cleaning frenzy.  So I took a break, peeked inside my fridge, to see what goodies I had, to whip up into something spectacular. I had recently made a loaf of homemade white bread, I had leftover cream cheese, fresh cucumbers and soft-boiled eggs.

Instantaneously, I knew I wanted to pile them all up together, into a delightful mid-morning snack. First I toasted my fresh bread on a grill pan until it was crispy and golden. Next, slice your cucmbers and egg. Lather on your luscious cream cheese, top with cucumbers and the slices of soft-boiled egg. Sprinkle with a touch of salt and pepper and voila! Dig in...you can thank me later :)

xo Lo

Egg-tastic Omelet!

I am so used to making fried eggs that every now and then I try to think of other ways to fix my eggs. On this morning I had leftover pork chops from the night before, queso fresco and dill. Omelettes are super easy, first you want to heat up or cook the inside goodies.

I poured a lil olive oil into the saute pan and added the chopped up porkchops, onion and mushrooms. Once they were cooked, I set them aside on a plate. Next, make sure the saute pan is oiled then crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk them up, add a tidbit of water and continue to beat the eggs. When the pan is hot, pour the eggs into the pan. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and let cook for a few minutes. Once the sides start to bubble, take a large utensil and flip the omelet over. Then load up your inner goodies (for me it was pork, queso fresco, onions and mushrooms) but you can put anything in a omelet. It's important to add cheese that way there is glue to keep everything together. Flip half the egg over so it looks similar to a taco, once cheese melts plate your delicious omelet and dig in!

xo Lo

Impromptu breakfast sandwich!

Every weekend my husband and I peer into our fridge to figure out what breakfast masterpiece we'll create. We are breakfast people. No toast and OJ for us, we want meat, eggs, potatoes...the whole shebang!

On this lovely Saturday morning, we had leftover smoked salmon, whole wheat bagels, cream cheese and eggs. Instead of creating a regular bagels and lox we layered the bagel with a fried egg. Super simple! 

First thing you want to do is toast your bagel on a grill pan or in a toaster. Next fry up your egg in a bit of olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Next smear your cream cheese on your bagel, I always add some capers then layer on your smoked salmon then top with the fried egg. When you bite into this open-faced sandwich, instantly the yolk will flow, the velvety taste will be combined with the smokiness of the salmon and creaminess of the cream cheese. D-elicious! I hope you will enjoy your next impromptu breakfast sandwich!

xo Lo

Refreshing Picnic Lunch

Summer days are perfect for lazy, picnic lunches under an Oak tree. Too bad in Texas that would only be possible @ 7 am or 9 pm...but luckily the Northern states have gorgeous summers which are perfect for picnics.

If I was living in say Connecticut, upstate New York, Northern California or Washington state... I would make these lovely, refreshing, healthy items; tropical fruit salad, field green salad with strawberries and soft-boiled eggs as well as homemade, freshly baked sesame seed French bread.

Tropical Fruit Salad

3 kiwis sliced
2 mangos sliced
2 bananas
3 Gala apples
3 nectarines
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest

After slicing up all the fruit, place in a bowl and toss with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to keep the fruit fresh and tasty. Super easy and healthy.

Field Green Salad with Fresh Lemon Vinaigrette

2 cups field greens
1 English cucumber
handful of strawberries, sliced
2 Roma tomatoes
3 soft-boiled eggs (bring eggs to boil then turn off heat & let sit for 15 minutes)

Agave-Lemon Vinaigrette

1 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch salt
pinch pepper
1 tsp parsley
1 Tbsp agave nectar

Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl, whisk in olive oil, agave nectar and seasoning.

Once you assemble the salad, drizzle the fresh dressing over the top. The lemon will bring out the flavors in the strawberries, tomatoes and cucumber.

Sesame Seed French Bread

5 1/4 cups organic unbleached flour
1/2 cup organic low-fat milk
1 cup warm water
2 packages of active dry yeast
3 Tbsp of butter
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
pinch salt
pinch pepper

Add milk, sugar, salt and butter into a saucepan over low heat. Let butter melt and sugar dissolve, add active dry yeast packages to lukewarm milk mixture. Once the yeast has dissolved, pour into mixer. Add in 4 1/2 cups of flour and warm water- mix on level two for one minute. Slowly add in the rest of flour 1/4 cup at a time. Keep mixing at level two until the flour begins to stick together and pulls off all extra dough off the bottom and sides of bowl. Knead dough on level two for one minute then place dough into a greased (with butter or Pam) bowl. Cover bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm, room temperature area to rise. Let dough rise for one hour. Once dough has doubled in size place on floured surface and punch out dough. Split dough into two halves. For one half I cut three long strips and braided them for a pretty bread design. I drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and sesame seeds then placed on a greased baking sheet into the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

For the other half I rolled the dough out, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled on salt, pepper, oregano and basil then rolled the dough up almost like a jelly roll. This would fold in all the spices. Then I placed in a greased bread pan, drizzled the very top with olive oil and sprinkled with stone-ground oats for a nice finish.

Pack all these homemade items up in a picnic basket, grab a blanket, ice tea and spend a lazy day outside snacking on these refreshing, healthy foods!

Enjoy xoxo Lo

Wiatrek-Style Brunch

Every Saturday morning my husband and I love to cook brunch, while our coffee is brewing in our French press I look in the fridge to see what I have to work with. Our brunch philosophy is to grab onions, any other veggies, saute and throw some fried eggs on top...yum! Today we had, smoked bacon sausage, red potatoes, yellow onion, button mushrooms and eggs. The first thing I did was to dice up my potatoes and onions to get them on the grill pan. It is important to cook the potatoes first because they take awhile, the smaller you cube them the faster they will cook. To make yummy home fries, you want them to be crispy on the outside and a little soft on the inside. Next I decided to chop up and saute the rest of the onion and button mushrooms.

Once my base was on it's way I chopped up the sausage to add that to the extra onions and mushrooms. Add some salt, pepper and continue to stir your breakfast items. Once everything is almost done, put a bit of olive oil into a hot saute pan and crack in your eggs. Add salt and pepper to taste then flip after they start to bubble. Once you flip them, turn off your heat. I plated by putting the sausage, onion mushroom mixture on the bottom, potatoes in a sidecar plus your luscious fried eggs on top.

When you cut into this egg, the yolk will flow all over your sausage, put that and some potatoes all on your fork and dive in!

xo Lo

Kickin' Lake-Style Fare

My husband and I are huge fans of the lake, we try to go as often as we can. Our family has a lake house off Lake Buchanan that we like to call our home away from home. Every time we go, I love to come up with recipes that I can share with our family. This weekend I wanted to make margaritas, deviled eggs, noodle salad and a banana bread. The night before we left I started assembling my dishes that way I didn't have to spend all my time inside at the lake.


Banana-Walnut Date Bread

I usually make banana bread but this time I had chopped walnuts and dried dates in my pantry so I decided to incorporate those.

6 ripe bananas- mashed up
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried dates

Heat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar til creamy in mixer, add eggs and mix well. Slowly add flour, baking soda, salt. Blend together. Lastly add bananas, nuts and dates- finish mixing. Pour mixture into two greased, floured loaf pans and top with a few dates and walnuts. Bake for one hour- you'll know when the bread is done because if you stick a butter knife down inside and it comes out clean, they are done.

Noodle Salad

1 cup of tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup of tri-color bowtie pasta
3 cups of chicken stock
5 stalks of celery finely chopped
1 yellow onion finely chopped
1 package of frozen peas
5 hard-boiled eggs
3 roma tomatoes
3/4 cup mayo
1/8 cup olive oil
salt
pepper

Bring chicken stock to boil, add in pasta. While that is cooking put another saute pan on the stove to boil a dozen eggs (for your deviled eggs) and an additional five for your noodle salad. Once the eggs are in the boiling water, turn off the heat and set your timer for 12 minutes. Next, start chopping up the celery, onion and tomato. After a few minutes check the pasta you want it to be slightly past al dente (which means it is soft but not mushy), once your pasta has reached that point you want to drain in a colander. Keep the extra liquid, you can use it in the future for soups, stews, making rice or more pasta. Next add in the frozen peas that way they can thaw out, add the chopped onion, celery, tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil and mayo.  Once the hard-boiled eggs are done chop them up and add to noodle salad, mix up the salad and taste. You may need to add more salt, pepper or mayo. What you don't want to do is add too much mayo because then it throws off the entire dish. This noodle salad will impress any friends or family, especially on the lake!


Bacon-Tomato Deviled Eggs

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs
8 cherry tomatoes
6 strips of Hickory smoked bacon
1/4 cup mayo
salt
pepper
paprika

Once the eggs are boiled, let them cool and slice in half, scoop out the yolk into a bowl. Chop up cherry tomatoes, fry up bacon. Add cherry tomatoes and crumbled bacon into bowl (save a few bits of each for the garnish). Add mayo, salt, pepper, paprika to bowl. Mix up the yolk mixture til nice and creamy (yet a bit chunky) you want all the yolks to be creamy not chunky, the only chunks should be from the tomatoes and the bacon. Spoon the mixture into the egg white halves, place some of the crumbled bacon and chopped tomatoes on the top plus a sprinkle of paprika. This delicious appetizer will gone in a matter of minutes!


Agave Margaritas

2 Tbs of agave nectar
4 limes
1 orange
1 Tbs kosher salt
Margaritaville Silver Tequila

The first thing you want to do is chill your glasses in the freezer. In your shaker add ice, 1 Tbs of agave nectar, lime juice, fresh orange juice and tequila. Shake it up. Take out your margarita glasses dip the rim in the remaining agave nectar, dip in the kosher salt, fill your glasses and bottoms up!

This lake-style fare will surely impress any company you have or you may be visiting. Please feel free to ask any questions or leave any commentary.

xo Lo