Simple Salad with Salsa

Here’s a simple salad for you guys to try out! 2 cups of lettuce, half cucumber chopped, half green pepper chopped, (you can also put tomatoes but I left that out because I don’t like runny tomatoes all over my salad) 1 Tbs guacamole, 1/2 or a cup of salsa depending on taste, and if you want, cheese. I didn’t put cheese in mine because I’m tired of cheese. 

Crossfit Zone Diet Breakfast Sandwich Melt

1/2 pita bread, 1 egg (scrambled or fried), 1 oz (1/4 cup) of cheese, 1 oz sliced ham (11 small slices of ham,) serve with 1/2 apple and 3 macadamia nuts. I decided to make a "cheese melt" out of this sandwich since I had no apples or nuts. Also, for appearance sake only, I used two slices of bread. But usually for this recipe, you should get a pita pocket or one slice of bread only. Heat up the toast or bread while cooking the egg in a pan. I put 3/4 Tbs of light mayonnaise to give myself the fat I need to workout since I had no macadamia nuts. Then put slices of ham on the toast when ready, put the egg on top and sprinkle the cheese onto the egg, heat the toast again. and there you are! A breakfast sandwich melt! If you click the link below, be sure to scroll to page 6 for the details of the breakfast sandwich and other recipes you would like to try! :) 

Grandma's Apple Pie (Pi Day)

Here is a very punny picture that I call an Apple Pi pie. Well, that was a lame attempt at being funny. Getting down to business. This is basically the grandma's apple pie recipe that has been handed down for generations and has been used in every holiday imaginable from Christmas Day to the next Thanksgiving Feast!
Ingredients: Pastry for a double-crust pie (9 inches),  6-7 cups of thinly sliced and peeled tart apples (about 2.5 pounds). 1 Tbs lemon juice, 1 cup granulated sugar. 2 Tbs all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, dash ground nutmeg, 2 Tbs butter, 2% milk, and additional sugar. 
Directions (yields 6-8 servings): Line a 9 inch pie plate with a bottom pastry; trim the pastry evenly with the edge of the plate and set aside. In a large bowl, toss the apples with lemon juice. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Arrange half the apples in the pastry shell; sprinkle with half of the sugar mixture. Repeat layers. Dot with butter. Roll out the remaining pastry to fit the top of the pie; place over the filling. Trim, seal and flute edegs. Cut slits in the pastry and cut out part of the pastry to make the Pi sign on the top of the pie. Brush with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar. Cover the edges loosely with foil. bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil; bake 30-35 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Serve warm if desired or cool on a wire rack! Dig in and enjoy! 

Nutella Crack Pie (Yes...it is the name of this recipe)

In honor of Pi Day, I decided to post up a second pie recipe :) Of course, this could have been used during World Nutella Day but that was on February 5th so that’s too far away! 

Oat Cookie Pie Crust: 9 Tbs. butter at room temperature, 5.5 Tbs. Brown sugar, 2 Tbs. Sugar, 1 large egg, 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. rolled oats, 1/2 cup flour, 1/8 tsp. baking soda, 1/8 tsp. baking powder, pinch of salt. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit, line a large baking pan with parchment paper, and spray with nonstick spray. In a mixer, beat together 6 Tbs of the butter, 4 Tbs. of brown sugar, and 2 Tbs of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat in thoroughly. Add the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat until well blended. Spread the oat mixture out onto a parchment lined baking sheet and cook for 15-18 minutes until done. Remove and cool cookie completely. When the cookie is cool, break into crumbs and add to a large bowl along with 3 Tbs. butter and 1.5 Tbs. brown sugar. Rub together with fingertips until crumb mixture is moist enough to hold together in a clump when squeezed in your hand. Spread the mixture out into a lined baking tart pan, or two depending on the size and using fingers, press crumbs onto the bottom and sides to form a pie shell (Use the flat bottom of a cup or glass to help press in). 

Nutella Crack Pie Filling

Get 1.5 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup plus 3 Tbs. brown sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1 cup of Nutella, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, 8 egg yolks, and powdered or confectioners sugar for garnish. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and salt. Whisk Nutella, cream, and vanilla on low speed. Whisk in the egg yolks on low speed so there is not too much air, and combine it well. It will appear to be very loose.

Divide the filling into pie shells and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and continue to cook for about 15-20 minutes until the center is not too jiggly. Cool on a rack and then keep it in the fridge for a couple hours. It’s best served when chilled! 

Worcestershire Grilled Chicken

I used a recipe found on the Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce bottle wrap. Now instead of using ground beef, I used chicken. All I did was marinate all the chicken in 1/4 cup of Lea and Perrins Reduced Sodium Worcestershire Sauce, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of  ground black pepper and left it in the fridge for an hour.  Then, I grilled the chicken to perfection :) Voila, there is your grilled chicken for salad! 

Peppermint Crisp Fridge Tarts

Happy Pi Day! I figured I'd start with a tart. 

Ingredients: It serves 6-8

Now you will need about a cup of whip cream like Cool-Whip. You also need 2 packets of Graham crackers and dessicated coconut (dried coconut :D Don’t worry, I had to google the definition too lol!) Then get one and a half cups of caramelized (Dulce de leche) condensed milk. then you need 1.3 tbs of granulated sugar, 3 crushed peppermint crisp bars, and get 3-4 drops of peppermint essence or whatever you feel tastes better.

Whip the Cool-whip and then add the caramelized condensed milk, granulated sugar, and the peppermint essence. Beat until well mixed and then stir in 2/3rds of the crushed peppermint crisp bars. Place a layer of whole graham crackers in a buttered 29X19X5 cm baking pan. Spoon 1/3 of the caramel mix over the biscuits and spread it evenly. Continue in layers, finishing with a layer of filling on the top. Refrigerate this for at least 4 hours. Decorate by sprinkling the remainder of the crushed peppermint crisp on top. Cut into squares and serve! 

Home-made Guacamole

I promised you I would give you the Guacamole recipe in the last post so here it is! 

Things you need: 2 avocados, 1/2 minced red onion, 2 tbs cilantro chopped, 1 tbs lemon, 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper, 1/2 ripe tomato. It would be great if you had a coarse mortal and pestle as well. 

I made a modified version for myself. First off, I had no tomatoes or cilantro. So I just put in the 2 avocados. They were not as ripe as I’d hoped so I ended up mashing most of the avocados with my hands (yes I did wash my hands) and then I chopped up 1/2 a red onion and dumped in with the avocados and mashed them together. Then I squeezed in half a lemon because I love sour things.  Putting in tomatoes would make the guacamole taste sweeter and tangier but because I had none, my guacamole came out slightly sour but nevertheless fresh and amazing paired with the corn tortilla and 1/4 cup of cheese! The guacamole came out great and it was the simplest thing I made!

Here's the link to the regular home-made guacamole if you don't want the modified version!

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_guacamole/