Protein Breakfast Smoothie

Morning fellow foodies! Looking for a quick stick to your ribs breakfast? Protein. Smoothies are just the trick. I guarantee this breakfast won't leave you reaching for a mid morning snack. :)

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Tip:

-Peel your bananas and place in freezer safe ziploc bag. Keep bananas frozen and then you won't even need to add ice to the smoothie! 

-To cut sugar use both unsweetened coconut milk and whey protein. Whey protein has over half the sugar content of regular protein powder!

Carbonara

This post is per the request of my best friend. While this is probably the most requested recipe from friends, it for some reason hadn't made it to my blog. SO here ya go!

Ingredients:

4-6 slices bacon, diced
1 cup grated parmesan(NOT the shelf stuff, we are talking fresh parm)
1/2 box thin spaghetti
1 egg
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
salt


Fill medium pot half way with water and bring to a boil. Add a heavy pinch of salt and pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook according to package directions. (DON'T OVERCOOK, PEOPLE!)

In separate bowl whisk egg with parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Preheat large skillet to medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy, add garlic while bacon is cooking. Remove bacon from pan.

• Okay here is the semi tricky part, but it will save your egg from scrambled. Ain't nobody want scrambled carbonara! 
• Slowly add some of your hot pasta water to your egg/parm mixture. You are tempering your egg, or bringing it to the pasta's temperature so that you won't get scrambled eggs. 

Directly from pasta pot(DO NOT DRAIN YOUR PASTA) move cooked pasta to skillet with bacon grease. Toss together to coat. Remove pan from heat. Add tempered egg mixture to pasta and toss to combine. (I highly recommend tongs for carbonara. Makes your life oh so much easier. If you don't have tongs. Shame on you. Haha)
Serve carbonara topped with crispy bacon and extra parm.

(not my carbonara....)

Tips:

• use tongs
• temper your egg
• toss in a green veggie to add some color. I recommend peas or spinach
• salt your pasta water. This will add much needed flavor to the entire dish
• Tend to cook with bacon? Keep it in the freezer. When it is time to cook, cut bacon vertically while frozen and toss into heated pan. Makes for easy dicing! 

Reese's Peanut Butter Pie

Oh yes, you read that right, I created a pie today using Reese's peanut butter cups AND peanut butter cookies. You. Are. Welcome. 

This pie uses the same basic steps of my Snickers pie, just subbing different cookies and candy. Oh the possibilities with this base recipe are endless. 

Ingredients: 

1 bag mini Reese's cups

1 box peanut butter sandwich cookies

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 Tbs peanut butter

1 pie plate

Place cookies in food processor and blend until fine. Combine cookies with melted butter and press firmly in pie plate. Put pie crust in refrigerator while you prep the rest of the pie.

In a microwave safe bowl, place unwrapped Reese's cups and peanut butter. Microwave on high at 40 second increments until melted. (I actually didn't completely melt the cups, I like the idea of little bites of Reese's cups in the pie)

In separate bowl combine 2 cups heavy cream and 1/4 cup sugar. Mix on medium speed until semi firm peaks. (do NOT over mix your cream) 

Slowly fold melted chocolate mixture into heavy cream. Pour mixture into pie crust and return to fridge. Refrigerate 3-4 hours until serving. 

Serve topped with more whipped cream and maybe a little chocolate syrup? If you want to guild the lily, top with chopped Reese's cups too! :) 

Finish product picture to come tonight after I serve at family dinner.....are you salivating yet???

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

While this next recipe doesn't look the most appealing, it it extremely tasty and actually quite healthy. Also vegetarian friendly!

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower, cut into similar pieces
4 red potatoes, cut into similar pieces
1 small onion, diced
2 slices thick cut bacon, diced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry
3 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 cup water
1 cup chicken stock
salt/pepper to taste
crumbled goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In bowl, combine cauliflower, potatoes, cumin, curry and olive oil. Place on foil lined baking sheet and bake 15-20 minutes or until potatoes and cauliflower are golden brown.
Preheat dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot to medium heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy. Remove bacon, leave bacon grease. To the same pot, add onion and cook until translucent. Add cauliflower and potatoes then coat with water and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Puree soup by either using an immersion blender or placing soup mix
ture in blender and blending.
Add corn and cook another 5-10 minutes or until heated through.
Serve soup topped with dollop of goat cheese and cooked bacon.

Serves 2.

Almond Crusted Tilapia with Garlic Wine Sauce

Sorry I have been incognito for a while! I have made a bad habit of creating meals and forgetting to either write them down or blog. So often I forget about fish for weeknight dinners and quickly realize what a great go-to meal it can be. I served this dish with a baked sweet potato and sautéed green beans.

Note: this meal serves ONE!

Ingredients: 

1 tilapia filet (Publix sells them frozen and individually packaged)

1/4 cup almond meal/flour

1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

1 egg

2 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 cup white wine

2 Tbs butter

salt/pepper to taste

olive oil

In small dish combine almond flour and bread crumbs. In another dish whisk egg. Salt fish on both sides. 

Preheat small sauce pan to medium heat and add garlic and wine. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add butter, salt and pepper. Reduce to low heat and allow to simmer while you prepare fish. 

Preheat small skillet to medium heat and add 2 Tbs olive oil. Coat fish on both sides in flour, egg, then flour again. Sear in skillet about 2-3 minutes on both sides. (fish doesn't take long to cook at all!)

Serve tilapia with delicious wine sauce. :) 

Serving Size: 1

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