Herbs de Province Homemade Bread

This recipe is amazing if you have a bread machine! It is so easy. You can also make it without the bread machine but I find it a lot quicker and less hands-on for me.

Ingredients
1 cup of water
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
5 tablespoons herbs de province seasoning
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions
1. In bread machine add water and oil first
2. Mix flour, white sugar, salt and herbs de province in bowl and add on top of liquids in bread machine
3. Make a tiny well on top of dry ingredients and add yeast
4. Set bread machine to 1.5 pounds


If you don't have herbs de province you can also mix your own spices (sage, savory, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano)

Thanks!
Kristin

Homemade Potato Fries

Today I had some leftover potatoes that I wanted to use up so I made some homemade potato fries for lunch. This was really easy and quick to do! Plus, they tasted like ones that you would get in a restaurant. So, I will definitely make them again.

Ingredients
4 potatoes
a bowl of cold water
seasoned salt
5 cups of oil

Directions
1. Peel and slice potatoes (I used my KitchenAid spiralizer tool for this but I have also done it by hand)

2. Soak potatoes in cold water and refrigerate for thirty minutes
3. Heat 5 cups of oil in skillet over medium-high heat (it should sizzle when you add a potato to test)
4. cook potato fries in batches so they have plenty of space (each batch is 5-6 minutes)

5. Remove from oil and put on paper-towel-lined plate and season with seasoned salt


Enjoy!
Kristin

Hot Toddy Recipe

This week I have had a sore throat so I have been making hot toddies (because they help and are delicious)! I think this is the best recipe by far:

Ingredients
1 shot of Jameson Whiskey
3 tablespoons of honey
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 cup water (boiling)
1 cinnamon stick

Directions
1. Heat water in microwave for 1 minute
2. mix whiskey, honey and lemon juice together in glass
3. Add water and stir
4. Garnish with cinnamon stick

Enjoy!
Kristin

Egg Roll in a Bowl

I really love egg rolls but wanted to go for a *slightly* healthier option (basically, I just omitted the fried shell). So, I tried just creating the contents of the egg roll and putting it over rice and not doing the crispy wrapper. I think it turned out really well! Also, it was extremely easy to make so I will probably put this into the regular rotation.

Ingredients

Rice
1 cup jasmine rice
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Meat
1 pound hamburger meat (i did 93% lean)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 bag shredded cabbage and carrots (the coleslaw premix bag)

Sauce
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon ginger
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil

Garnish
3 green onions

Directions
1. Cook rice according to instructions and mix in ginger
2. Pour sesame oil into skillet over medium-high heat
3. Add in hamburger meat, ground ginger, and garlic salt and mix until meat is browned

4. Add in cabbage and carrots and stir for 5 minutes
5. While cabbage and carrots cook, mix sauce ingredients together in small bowl
6. Add sauce to meat mixture and cook for 5 additional minutes.
7. Spoon meat mixture over rice and add green onions for garnish

Let me know what you think and if anything else should be added to the recipe!

Thanks,
Kristin

Appetizer - Mozzarella Balls

So, I recently bought a bunch of fresh mozzarella balls at the grocery store because they were on sale and are delicious on salads! One of my favorite restaurants down the street makes fried goat cheese balls so I decided to try to make fried mozzarella balls as an appetizer to go with our Italian dinner last night. It was really easy to do!

Ingredients:
5 cups vegetable oil
Mozzarella balls (I had about 15 total)
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs (whisked together)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
marinara sauce

Directions:
1. Dip mozzarella balls in flour and coat completely.
2. Dip coated mozzarella balls in egg mixture and coat completely.
3. Roll mozzarella balls in breadcrumbs and put on a plate.
4. Place plate in freezer for about 10 minutes to harden and set.
5. Put oil into pot and heat on high (about 8 minutes).
6. In small batches (I did 4-6 at a time) place the mozzarella balls in the oil for 4 minutes.

7. Put fried balls on plate covered with a paper towel and allow to cool (5 minutes).

8. Serve with marinara sauce!

This was really tasty and I think we will definitely make this again soon!

Kristin

Teriyaki Turkey with Jasmine Rice

Recently I have been eating a lot of ground turkey instead of hamburger meat. It is a little leaner and I really like the taste. This recipe is great since the majority of the ingredients I already have on hand in the pantry. I only needed to buy the turkey and green onions! It is also really quick and easy to make with minimal cleanup (so that is a major plus in my opinion).

Ingredients:

1 cup Jasmine rice

For turkey mixture
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 small onion (diced)
2 minced cloves of garlic
ground turkey (1 package = roughly 1 pound)

For sauce mixture
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 cloves garlic (minced) to mix with sauce
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water

Added vegetables
1 head of broccoli chopped
1 bag of baby carrots chopped (i just put them in the food processor)
1/4 cup water

Garnish
2 green onions diced (green part only)

Directions:
1. Follow directions on package and cook 1 cup of jasmine rice
2. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add sesame oil.
3. Add diced onion and cook about 6 minutes.
4. In a small saucepan mix together soy sauce, water, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, granulated sugar, garlic and ground ginger on medium heat
5. In a small bowl mix together cornstarch and water until thickened
6. While stirring sauce,  slowly add in cornstarch mixture and stir frequently until sauce is thickened (you can add water if it becomes too thick)
7. Add minced garlic and ground turkey to diced onion in saucepan and stir frequently until mostly browned.

8. Add broccoli, carrots and 1/4 cup water to a microwaveable bowl with microwave lid and cook on high for two minutes.
9. Add vegetables to turkey mixture and stir for about 5 minutes so meat is completely browned.

10. Mix in sauce with turkey mixture.

11. Spoon over cooked rice.
12. Garnish with green onions and serve.

I think you could also add some peas or green beans if you have those on hand!

Thanks,
Kristin

Lasagna with homemade noodles and fresh mozzarella

This is one of my favorite recipes because it is so easy and quick to make. Sometimes I make lasagna in the crockpot but since I made the noodles I decided to cook it in the oven (since I really do the crockpot to help the dried noodles out). It is really simple and pretty cheap to make!

Ingredients:
15 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon orgeano
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 package 93% lean hamburger meat
1 16 ounce container cottage cheese
3 tablespoons parsley
1 egg
1 8 ounce package of parmesan cheese
pasta noodles (i doubled my pasta noodle recipe and put it at the bottom)*
1 8 ounce package of fresh mozzarella

Directions:
1. pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. brown hamburger meat in pan over medium-high heat

3. add in oregano, italian seasoning, salt, pepper
4. add in tomato sauce and simmer for ten minutes

5. mix cottage cheese, parsely, egg and parmesan together (sometimes i add spinach to this)

6. boil noodles for 2-3 minutes
7. take baking dish and coat bottom with hamburger sauce mixture
8. add layer of noodles
9. add layer of cheese mixture
10. repeat steps 6-8 until all ingredients are used

11. add mozzarella to top of dish

12. bake for 30 minutes


*Pasta Noodle Recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
4 eggs
1 tablespoon orgeano
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients with your hands

2. Form ball with dough
3. Allow dough to rest for about ten-twenty minutes
4. either use a pasta maker (i use a kitchenaid attachment) or roll and slice with pizza cutter

5. boil for 2-3 minutes