Italian Inspired Noodleless Side Dish

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I'm Kelly. I am one of the Massachusetts reps here at Northeast Bloggers, and I write A Lovely Life, Indeed. 

Getting to our healthiest selves is important to my husband and me, so I want to do whatever it takes to make the journey more fun. He has been doing a great job on the 21 Day Fix; he's making a great effort to clean up his diet and he is working out with a trainer as well. 

One way I am pushing outside the box is in finding ways to make comfort food more 21-Day friendly. We like Italian flavors, so I wanted to find a way to bring that comfort food flavor into a "cleaner" side dish. 

Here's what I did. 

Italian Inspired Cabbage Slaw Saute

3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Olive oil for sauteing
1 bag of cole slaw mix
Spaghetti sauce to coat
Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: feta cheese, chopped bacon or pancetta

Saute the garlic (and bacon or pancetta) in the olive oil. Add the onion, pepper, and cook until softened. 

Add the slaw mix and cook down until it is tender. 

Finally, add the spaghetti sauce to coat and add another level of flavor. 

Make pockets in the mixture to add the sauce. It makes a full skillet easy to mix. 

Before serving, add feta cheese, if desired. You may also add Parmesan cheese. 

That's it. It's super easy and surprisingly flavorful. And, if you're avoiding rice or pasta, you can find the Italian comfort food sweet spot with this convenient substitution. 

Buon appetito!

Do you use vegetable substitutions in comfort food favorites? Please share. 


Thank you to Northeast Bloggers Network for letting me guest post. If you're looking for an upbeat blog about love, travel and the good life, visit me at A Lovely Life, Indeed. Have a great week!

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Recipe Monday: Quiche with Roasted Butternut Squash

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I'm Kelly. I am one of the Massachusetts reps, and I write A Lovely Life, Indeed. 

For Easter, my parents joined my husband and me and my mother-in-law for brunch. Like last year, I made a roasted tomato and goat cheese quiche.  But this year, I added a quiche made with roasted butternut squash, caramelized shallots and pancetta, and goat cheese. 

Delicious!

Here's what I did. 

Quiche with roasted squash, caramelized shallots and pancetta, and goat cheese.

2 cups of roasted butternut squash

8 ounces of crumbled goat cheese, split into 2-4oz. portions.

3 shallots, minced

3 ounces of diced pancetta

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups of half and half or whole milk (I used half and half.)

1 pie crust (I used pre-made refrigerated pie crusts.)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Here's how I made it.

• Preheat the oven to 400. 
• Peel and cut your squash into bite size pieces. I used the pre-cut squash from the supermarket. 
• Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Use just enough olive oil to keep the squash from sticking. 
• Spread into a single layer onto a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for about 30 minutes. Then set aside in a medium sized bowl. 

• For the quiche shell, I used a 9" deep dish pie plate. If I had a tart pan, I would have used it. But, the pie plate worked just fine. *If you do use the tart pan or tart shell, halve the custard (eggs and half and half or whole milk)
• Spread the pie dough into your pie plate. Use dried beans, pie weights or prick with a fork so that the dough doesn't rise. Pre-bake the pie shell for 10-15 minutes. 

• In a small sauté pan, add the pancetta and minced onion in about 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Cook until brown and caramelized, about 10 minutes, more or less. 
• Add the pancetta and shallots to the squash. Mix well. 

Starting to cook it down.

• Add about 4 ounces of goat cheese to the squash mixture. 
• Put mixture into empty cooked pie shell. 
• Beat the eggs and yolks well. Add the half and half and continue to beat until frothy. 
• Pour the egg mixture over the squash mixture in the cooked pie shell. 
• Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, or until the custard is set. 
• Do not eat right away. Allow the custard to set up. Eat at room temperature or slightly above. 

I served the quiches with roasted asparagus, French bread and an arugula salad:

And jelly beans...just because. 

I like the pink and white ones...eaten together though. What's your favorite?

Did you host or attend an Easter feast? What was on your menu?



Thank you to Northeast Bloggers Network for letting me guest post. If you're looking for an upbeat blog about love, travel and the good life, visit me at A Lovely Life, Indeed. Have a great week!

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Geoffrey Z's Pesto Chicken

Hi everyone! I'm Kelly. I am one of the Massachusetts reps, and I write A Lovely Life, Indeed. 

I love Food Network shows. And I think that Geoffrey Zakarian is a hunk. He's handsome when he's rendering judgement on Chopped and he's even hotter when he's cooking on Food Network's latest offering, The Kitchen. 

He hit a home run recently when he prepared a Spring-inspired, pesto salmon. So easy and so intuitive, as far as flavor palates are concerned. I had to try it.

We had leftover chicken breasts in the freezer, so before buying fresh salmon, I opted to use what we had, and I thawed the frozen boneless breasts. 

Thank you, Geoffrey, for a fabulous, Spring-inspired dish that offers versatility with protein, allowing me to mix it up, depending on what we have on hand or what's on sale any given week. 

Geoffrey's Pesto Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 container of pesto
Dijon mustard
Melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat your oven to 325.
• Using a pastry brush, lightly brush melted butter onto your baking sheet. 
• Season the pan with salt and pepper....I know, odd, but it works. Perfectly seasoned protein.
• Place the chicken breasts on the seasoned baking sheet. Brush the chicken breasts with a light coat of melted butter. Season the tops with salt and pepper to taste.
• In a small bowl, mix about 3-4 tablespoons of the pesto with about 2-3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard. You can eye-ball it. The pesto is the star. The mustard enhances it...truly.
• Mix until well blended. Depending on your pesto love, or the size of the chicken breasts, you may need to mix up more. It's better to make more than make too much and waste it.
• Spoon the pesto mixture onto the chicken. 
• Bake the chicken 30-40 minutes, or until cooked through. It smells amazing and tastes even better. 
• You'll have oil on the bottom of the pan. If you're a bread eater, I'm guessing it's a fabulous dipping oil. I'm not, so I can't vouch for it. But I don't leave the chicken sitting in the oil...too much. It's olive oil from the pesto, but still, I don't care for the extra oil.

Geoffrey served his pesto salmon with a cucumber salad. 

I served mine with spaghetti squash, sautéed with garlic and olive oil. 

What dishes do you look forward to each season? What's up for Spring? Inspire me. 

Cheers!

Thank you to Northeast Bloggers Network for letting me guest post. If you're looking for an upbeat blog about love, travel and the good life, visit me at A Lovely Life, Indeed. Have a great weekend!

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Game Day Party Ideas Round Up!

Are you ready for the BIG game? We've got you covered with some great appetizer ideas, easy ways to decorate and more! All the post featured here are from our Northeast Bloggers members so check them out and pick up a few (or more) ideas for your Game Day party!

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Maple Bacon Green Beans

Thanksgiving is a little over a week away and I can't believe it! Does anyone else feel like this year has flown by?! I can't wait to see my family and friends and EAT! The food is my favorite part of the holiday season, if we're being honest...

However, my family tends to always make the same traditional Thanksgiving dishes year after year. Not that I don't absolutely love the food, but I feel like it would be nice to spice things up a bit. Green bean casserole is not really my style but maple bacon green beans ARE my style!

 

 Ingredients:

• A bunch of fresh greenbeans
• Maple flavored bacon
• 1/2 cup of minced onion
• Garlic powder
• Sea salt
• Pepper

Steps:

1. Boil water for the green beans
2. While it is boiling cut the ends off of the beans
3. Cut 4 maple bacon pieces into half inch sections and saute in a saucepan
4. Once the bacon is crispy add in 1/2 cup of onions and cook until translucent
5. Cook green beans until 90% done and then add to pan with onions and bacon
6. Add in a dash of garlic powder, pepper, and salt
7. Stir thoroughly and cook for additional 8-12 minutes

 

What Thanksgiving dish would you enhance?

Party-Perfect Banana Pudding

Hi! I’m Christina (one of the MD/DE state reps) and I blog over at Mom’s Messy Miracles.

We love party food. I mean, who doesn't really? With the baby, we have a ton of the little glass baby food jars left over that I've been saving for craft projects. Did you know they also make perfect party portions? We made this yummy banana pudding this weekend that is perfect for any party!

Ingredients:

• 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups cold milk
• 3 bananas sliced into thin wheels
• 1 tub of frozen whipped topping
• about 25 vanilla wafers cookies (crushed)
• 25 whole vanilla wafer cookies
• 25 clean empty baby food jars

Directions:

1. Mix vanilla pudding and milk.
2. Let set according in fridge for at least 5 minutes.
3. Fold in frozen whipped topping.
4. Place one spoonful of pudding into jar.
5. Put a thin layer of crushed cookies into jar.
6. Put a layer of 3 banana wheels into jar.
7. Add another spoonful of pudding into jar.
8. Put 1 whole vanilla wafer cookie on the top.

Enjoy your awesome party food that looks super cute!


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Pumpkin Dip Recipe

Hi! I’m Megan and I blog over at Soup of the Day. I am also one of your DE/MD State reps!

Fall is my all-time favorite season. There is nothing better than a cup of hot apple cider, leaves crunching under my boots and the sight of carved pumpkins on every city stoop. Speaking of pumpkin, this is the time of year when everyone goes crazy for it, literally crazy! I went to buy pumpkin for this recipe and I had to go to THREE different Baltimore grocery stores to find canned pumpkin! The signs were there but they were totally cleaned out!

You might want to stock up next time you go to the grocery store because I have a feeling you will want to make more than one batch of this!

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin. I won’t eat pumpkin pie and I don’t like PSL’s (horrifying, I know), but I LOVE this recipe and friends who enjoy pumpkin like it as well. I think it’s safe to say you can’t go wrong with it. ENJOY!

  Ingredients: 8 oz canned pumpkin 8 oz cool whip 8 oz cream cheese 2 cups of 10x sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon ginger Steps:

1. Beat cream cheese until creamy
2. Add all ingredients EXCEPT cool whip- beat until well mixed
3. Fold in cool whip until blended
4. Refrigerate (for at least two hours before serving)
5. Serve with ginger snaps

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Guest Post: Healthy Berry Smoothie Recipe

Today's guest post comes from Kate who writes the blog Kate the {almost} Great!  Kate is sharing  delicious and healthy smoothie recipe with us today!  Bonus- she even includes the nutrition information!

Smoothie Ingredients:

1.5 cups of milk - I use vanilla almond milk
1.5 cups of frozen berries - mine are a mix of raspberries and blueberries
1 tablespoon of ground flax
1 tablespoon of almond butter (or any nut butter)
1 cup of spinach

Smoothie Instructions:

Put in a blender in this order so that they all mix well - milk, flax seed, berries, almond butter, spinach. If you don't use frozen berries, be sure to add ice cubes on top.

Smoothie Nutritional Facts:

 Thanks Kate!  Hop over to her original post on her blog here for more information and tips on other smoothie combinations!

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The Friday Five Hop: International Bacon Day

Welcome to the Friday Five! We invite you to link up your Friday Five post with us below.  Friday Five has no theme or questions, just any post of five things!  Today's guest Friday Five comes from one of our state reps Megan!

Happy International Bacon Day!

My name is Megan and I am one of the DE/MD State reps and the voice behind Soup of the Day! I live and work in downtown Baltimore and if you know anything about the city you know we have AMAZING brunch options at our restaurants. Since moving to the city 2 years ago I have made it a weekend custom to get brunch at LEAST once and I always opt for the bacon when ordering.

My boyfriend and I are huge bacon fans (what’s not to love) and even attended the first ever Baltimore Bacon Festival for my birthday when it came to town in April. We gorged ourselves on bacon and chocolate covered strawberries and bacon pretzel bites just to name a few. I’ve also been known to throw down some yummy bacon inspired recipes in the kitchen like that time I made maple bacon donuts and popcorn. SO GOOD!

In honor of one of my favorite foods and it’s special day I have compiled some of the most mouth-watering bacon recipes I could find on Pinterest. I really should have labeled today’s post as NSFW because you’ll be drooling at your desk, promise ya.

Sweet Bacon Tater Tots

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

Chocolate & Bacon Covered Pretzels

BBQ Bacon Pizza

BLT Dip

And now it's your turn!  Share your Friday Five post below and then visit others in the hop and leave them a comment or two!

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