Review Day Tuesday!

Myself and a few of the girls from work decided we needed to get out for lunch and get away from the office for a little bit. We basically did a hop, skip and a jump over to Rey Azteca to get a bite to eat.

The hubby and I have eaten here before, it is actually one of our favorite Mexican places to eat at. We've been to the location in Penn Center and New Kensington and the food has been great at both locations. My hubby grew up out west in Arizona and California and he said it is the closest to west coast Mexican food that he has had out here on the east coast.

They always give complementary chips and salsa. The day we ate there, they served a festive assortment of chips.

I ordered the Fajita Salad with chicken. The salad is served in a crispy bowl tortilla, tender chicken with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes topped with lettuce, tomato, sour cream & guacamole dip.

This is one of my favorite entrees for lunch and is the perfect size for lunch. Their service is also very quick, we were in and out of there with in 45 minutes, as we have an hour for lunch.

If you are looking for authentic mexican food, give Rey Azteca a try. I'm sure you won't regret it!

P.S. Their Camarones Al Majo De Ajo is awesome!

Homemade Saturday

Ok.... I know it's not Saturday today.... I'm making up for yesterday, since we ended up going out to dinner with my mom.

Today the hubby and I did yard work. The hubby tilled the soil for the garden for one last time. Then while I was planting the garden, he cleaned out the gutters.

So here is the garden... No more container garden! :) This year I planted: (I may have went a little overboard)

• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Bell Peppers
• Jalapenos
• Habaneros
• Onions
• Green Beans
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Zucchini
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Butter Crisp Lettuce
• Green Onions

Then in the pots around the garden, are the herbs:

• Basil
• Oregano
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Chives 

Once we were done with our work outside for the day I head in and made dinner, Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers. I saw this on pinterest a while ago and decided to give it a go.

I have to say they turned out REALLY good! Half of one pepper is quite filling too!

The original recipe can be found at Peace, Love and Low Carb.

Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb. Thinly Sliced Roast Beef

8 Slices Provolone Cheese

2 Large Green Bell Peppers

1 Medium Sweet Onion – Sliced

6 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms - Sliced

4 Tbs. Butter

1 Tbs. Garlic - Minced (I used 6 cloves of fresh garlic)

Salt and Pepper - to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.
2. In a large sauté pan over low-medium heat, add butter, olive oil, garlic, mushrooms onions and a little salt and pepper.  Sauté until onions and mushroom are nice and caramelized.  About 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400°
4. Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook 5-10 minutes.
5. Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone cheese.  Fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are nearly overflowing.  Top each pepper with another slice of provolone cheese.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown. 

Now off to watch the Pen's game! :)

Hockey and Pizza

 Dinner tonight, BBQ Pulled Pork Naan Bread Pizza's.... Now back to the Pen's Game :)

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, I made Brown Butter Cream Cheese Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

Tree's Brown Butter Cream Cheese Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 375°
• Melt the butter in a saucepan until brown.
• Cream the butter, cream cheese, brown sugar and white sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add the eggs and beat until combined.
• Turn the mixer on low and mix in the flour, salt and baking soda.
• Fold in the butterscotch and chocolate chips.

• Roll 1/4 cup size balls of dough and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly.

• Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the edges are golden.

Voila! Now time to enjoy one with a nice glass of cold milk! :)

Review Day Tuesday!

Last week my mom and I stopped at Walnut Grill for a late dinner/early lunch after my eye doctor appointment, dilated eyes and all! Luckily I was able to read the menu, although I had to really squint to see it :)

I started off with the french onion soup, topped with provolone. It was good... kind of interesting with the provolone instead of swiss.

 My mom got the soup du jour, which was vegetable.

With our soup, we got a side of bread with Cherry Chocolate butter and Red Pepper Hummus. We didn't know what each spread was at first. When I tried the hummus I knew I have eaten whatever it was before but I couldn't figure it out! The Cherry Chocolate butter was pretty good, once it came to room temperature.

My mom got the classic cheese burger with sweet potato fries.

I ordered the fish taco's which were served in flour tortillas with chipotle aioli, shredded cabbage, cheddar cheese, served with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and also a side of sweet potato fries.

I was really craving fish taco's for some reason... Not sure if it was because I was seeing them all over TV for some reason the week before. They were good... the fish was a tad bit dry but the salsa and guacamole made up for it. Plus there were filling. Overall our food was good... but nothing that really stood out.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day! Today, I cooked dinner for my mom and my hubby's grandma. I also decided to break out the china :)

For our "main" course I made Chicken Florentine Roll-Ups, Fusilli with Creamy Spinach & Parmesan Sauce and Mini Baguettes... 

The Chicken Florentine turned out amazing! I got the recipe from Eating Well. I ended up using boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breast.

 
For dessert, I made a Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake with Limoncello icing................ 
 

Yeah, something went wrong... The cake looks pretty but it turned out more like a pudding... I followed the recipe from Tastebook to a T... The only different was I used lemon greek yogurt instead of plain... I cooked it for an hour too... This is the first time I've baked in the oven.. Maybe the temp is off.. I need to get a thermometer to check it out... Anyways... It still tasted good.... My hubby ate 2 slices and we haven't became ill *lol*

Now it's time to relax and get ready to watch Game of Thrones! :)

Oh and here is the recipe for the Chicken!

Chicken Florentine Roll Ups

Ingredients

• 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), at room temperature
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced soft sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 8 4-ounce chicken cutlets (about 2 pounds total) ( I used chicken thighs)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Mash spinach, cream cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and garlic powder with a fork in a medium bowl until well combined.
3. If using thighs, pound the chicken to make it easier to roll up
4. Place chicken on a work surface. Sprinkle both sides with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place about 2 tablespoons of the spinach mixture in the center of each cutlet. (I had a total of 12 thighs and used 1 tablespoon for each thigh) Roll up the chicken around the filling and secure each roll-up with 2 toothpicks; place in the prepared pan. Pour wine around the roll-ups. Cover the pan with foil.
5. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest roll registers 165°F, 30 to 40 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife and serve.

Homemade Saturday

Thanks to Pinterest for tonight's dinner :) Although these are semi home made, they twere incredibly easy to make and quite filling! The original recipe can be found here on the Betty Crocker site.

Impossible Easy Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Ingredients



Chicken Mixture

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
  1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

Baking Mixture

• 1/2 cup Original Bisquick® mix
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 12 regular-size muffin cups with cooking spray. 

 In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in center. Add onion and chicken broth; heat to simmering. Add frozen vegetables and seasonings. Heat until hot, stirring occasionally until almost all liquid is absorbed. Cool 5 minutes; stir in cheese.

 In medium bowl, stir baking mixture ingredients with whisk or fork until blended. Spoon 1 scant tablespoon baking mixture into each muffin cup. Top with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture. Spoon 1 tablespoon baking mixture onto chicken mixture in each muffin cup.  
 

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. With thin knife, loosen sides of pies from pan; remove from pan and place top sides up on cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes longer, and serve.

 

There you have it! I also had some left over potato skins stuffed with mushrooms and cheddar cheese that we had as our side.

Ok now time to get back to watching the Pens game!!