sweet potato gnocchi

currently listening to "lost and found" by taken by trees

i made sweet potato gnocchi the other week based on this recipe -- adding in 1/2 cup of greek yogurt. i served it with a lemon-butter-sage sauce with tons of minced garlic and fresh cracked pepper and it was.. divine. if you have the time and patience to clean up after making these then they are absolutely worth it! 

stuffed hatch green chiles

currently listening to "one last time" by the kooks

if you know me, then you know that i like my food spicy.. extra spicy. i think we can blame the fact that i grew up watching my dad eating raw jalapenos at dinner and wanting to be just as cool as him. now i douse everything with tabasco, sriracha, red pepper flakes.. you name it. and who knew that spicy foods are actually really great for you? they can curb hunger, strengthen muscles, boost brainpower, and improve your mood! so try to incorporate some spice into your next meal; here's a spicy dish/recipe that i came up with last week for some friends to help get you started:

ingredients:
7 hatch green chiles
2 italian style turkey sausage links
1/2 c freshly cut cilantro
1/2 c diced cherry tomatoes
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice cooking wine
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1. pre-heat oven to 400°
2. slice open one side of hatch chile, making sure to get rid of the seeds and membranes, rinse*
3. combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix
4. stuff each hatch chile with mix
5. secure with toothpicks so that the stuffing doesn't fall out
6. spray glass pan with light cooking spray, place hatch chiles in
7. bake for 30-40 minutes or until hatch chile skins look slightly charred

*be careful not to touch your eyes when you're working with these chiles! 

banana crumb muffins

currently listening to "unforgettable season" by cut copy

baking has always been very fun and therapeutic for me. when i was younger i would spend endless hours baking pies, cookies, cakes, etc with my friends -- i even asked out my then-boyfriend to prom with a "prom?" crusted pie.. i know, i know.. ridiculous. moving right along to college and i started making lots of banana bread slash muffins. to a point where it was basically habit. i'd take some to class and share them with some very happy friends only to find some very unhappy roommates when i got home because they weren't warned far enough in advance aka they didn't have time to create a secret stash. needless to say, i had to make them pretty often. and to this day, i have friends in surrounding cities requesting that i make some before i come visit (you know who you are)!

i base the majority of the recipe off of this, but do add a few of my own touches, which include adding 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of cinnamon to the batter and using whole wheat flour instead of regular flour. one really important thing to remember when you're making these, though, is that the melted butter is at room temperature before you add it to the wet mix (which has an egg in it)... we wouldn't want scrambled eggs now, would we? these are perfect for on-the-go breakfasts or even midnight snacks, so go on, bake a few batches of these.. your friends will love you!

healthy living

currently listening to "on this train (live)" by zac brown band

as bikini season is in full effect, many of my friends have sworn to start crash diets. and while i definitely understand the appeal of fast results, im personally terrified that if i were to give in, i'd put the weight back on (plus some) just as quickly as i lost it. which is why im trying to stand my ground with the idea of making simple changes for a healthier lifestyle, not just a healthy week. what's one change i've implemented? replace a regular meal with a salad.

{a salad i made this week: romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, avocado, and fresh ground pepper with a balsamic vinaigrette} 

after my trip to new york, i felt gross. simply put. i overloaded on pizza, pasta, cookies, etc... i can never turn down really, really good food (portion control is clearly my best friend). so when i arrived back in dallas, i thought "i really need to go on a liquid diet" -- that lasted, oh, about 5 seconds. instead, i opted to exchange a normal lunch or dinner meal with a salad. now, i normally eat side salads and do my fair share of greens throughout the week, but just by replacing an entire meal with a meal-sized salad has really helped me feel less guilt-ridden of my nyc indulgence. be mindful of what you're piling your salad with though; if you load your greens with bacon bits and ranch, that pretty much defeats the health factor. just give this change a go and you'll see how easy it really is!

easy and healthy pasta salad

currently listening to "half of my heart" by john mayer

to follow up on this post..  here's a real simple, healthy, and filling dish i threw together in under 15 minutes. this "recipe" is a huge reflection of my cooking repertoire: i kinda just add a dash of this and a dash of that until im satisfied. after the pasta is perfectly al dente, throw the beans and tuna in then season to taste. that's it. brilliant. 

ingredients: 

two cups of whole wheat penne pasta

one can of white kidney/ cannellini beans

 one can of tuna in water

one tbsp of vegenaise or mayonnaise

  two tsp of spicy mustard

dill

 lemon pepper seasoning

a drizzle of evoo