Breakfast Sandwiches

I had egg mcmuffins every day for 2 weeks straight. Well 2 work weeks. I’m ashamed. But I’m making breast milk and I need to eat. And often. I can’t seem to keep the calories on. McDonald’s is conveniently on the way to work after I drop off the baby in the morning. Every time I eat it I feel guilty. I probably could just make these for the week and bring it to work instead. So I did.

Egg McMuffins are literally egg. muffin. cheese. canadian bacon. And that is the recipe. Let’s call them Egg MieMoffins.

Assembly line. Cook all the eggs. Slice the muffins in half. Lay down the cheese. Stack.

So easy, and not really that time consuming to make. Wrap in parchment paper, stick it in a ziplock and then thrown them in the freezer. Why didn’t I think of this before? Husband likes biscuits instead. Going to do those next time.  The possibilities are endless. I could do bacon, or sausage patties. I wonder if I save money in the long run though. But at least I know what’s in it!

Salted Caramel Apple Mini Pies

I like to joke that my dog went apple picking and brought home apples…but it’s sort of true.

Bawse stayed with friends while we were in Pittsburgh, and they took him and his “girlfriend” on an apple picking adventure. When they dropped him off, along with him were lots of apples… have apples, make apple pie!  

And because I love salted caramels, and happened to have some one hand, why not?

Chop the apples into cubes.

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tbsp of all purpose flour

Stir stir stir. THEN DONE. Isn’t that crazy easy? I couldn’t believe it either. I never made apple pie filling before. I thought it would be more complicated.

Store bought pie dough, because I have a baby and “ain’t nobody got time for that”. Cut into circles and made these cute mini pies.

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They are super cute…but the crust to filling ratio is off. I love more crust than pie, but this was just too much. I’ve decided my new favorite way, is to just make them like pizza slices!

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I used Freutcake’s Recipe for these, but just cut the dough the way I wanted. Enjoy!

Roasted Shrimp Orzo

I’ve been in a cooking rut. But because I’m nursing I need to eat. A lot. I’m literally withering away because I’m producing milk and it’s taking all my calories and turning it into fatty milk for my baby. We are still using Blue Apron for dinner.  But I miss picking out my own meals, and eating what I WANT to eat versus what I have to eat. However, in order to not waste food, I need to create my own meal plans before I cancel or skip orders.

My friend Rosie came by with lunch one weekend and it was delicious. So tasty, healthy and yet so simple. I decided to go ahead and make it myself for our dinner and lunches one week. It’s filled with fresh herbs, which gives it great flavor and without the extra sodium.

This roasted shrimp orzo pasta is delicious. Lemony, bright and eaten cold makes it a perfect lunch.  Shrimp is roasted in the oven with just a little salt and pepper.

Dressing is salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice.

Red onions and cucumbers add a crunchy texture.

Salt and pepper, easy peasy.

Stir in some feta and voila! She used Ina Garten’s recipe and its perfect the way it is!

Curry Crabs

I’m back! Thank you for waiting patiently. After being hacked again I did not want to go through the trouble of putting my site back up for it to get hacked a third time. Hopefully this is it!

Even though work is demanding, and baby is demanding, and my house is a mess…I still get chances to cook. To close out the summer (What? I know, its fall) I was stuck with almost half a bushel of cooked blue crabs. I used it as a chance to work on my cookbook (based off my maman’s recipes).

What. Haven’t heard about that thing in awhile right? Well now that I actually have a child, it’s even more important to keep that kitchen legacy alive. Before I was writing it for my future children.. and here I am 4 years later with one. Oh wow. It’s been 4 years since I started and I still have made 0 progress. Okay that’s a lie, I’ve got a few recipes written. Lao food is complicated and takes me awhile to write and test over and over!

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Would any of you be interested in being my help kitchen? I would email you the recipes I’m working on, and you tell me if you can understand how its written, and if the directions make sense? Leave a comment or email me! miemo {at} miemonster {dot} net!

Blue Apron

The hardest thing to think about during my work week is always, what’s for dinner. You spend all day at work, sometimes you don’t pre-plan your meals and you just want to eat. Then you go down the hole of eating out always. I think that is where 20-30 year olds spend their money.

Well, as someone who is 8 months pregnant and has no energy after a full work day, let alone enough strength to stand in the kitchen, I fall into that hole. Lucky for me, my husband cooks as well. He mentioned that his coworker who is also a new parent uses Blue Apron, and thought we should give it a try. This eliminates: 1. food waste because they give you just enough to make your dishes, 2. grocery shopping because they send you the main ingredients and 3. figuring out what to eat because they send you 3 meals, you just pick what day you want to cook what.

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They send you a box with ingredients and recipe cards for 3 meals. They’ve got like 3 ice packs in there and it should be good until you get home. But refrigerate right away! Our first week’s subscription landed on Cinco de Mayo, so they sent Mexican food for that week. Fish Tacos, Mole Chicken Quesadillas, and Pozole.

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I loved how everything was packaged. I felt like we were getting a Chopped basket…except without the challenge! The fish tacos were sooo delicious and full of flavor. I was definitely impressed.

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If you aren’t that great of a chef, fret not. The recipes are simple enough, and it will help you sharpen your skills. The challenge for me, is forcing myself to eat what is there and try new things. Surprisingly enough, I’m a picky eater. Well maybe not picky, but particular. I never had a raw golden beat before.  Nor do I like raw onions and shallots. But I went ahead and ate everything in front of me.

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I like that they only offer 3 meals. I think it is the perfect amount, because maybe you have leftovers Monday, and want to go out Friday! The produce that comes in looks fresh and healthy, which is more than I can say about produce found in our local grocery stores. Overall I am happy with this service. This will come in handy when we’ve got a new born in the house as well!

What’s For Dinner: Mushroom Florentine

EL9b85bJ7ERAwigh.jpgI have not been cooking a lot lately. You probably noticed on the blog and on my instagram, and when I do, it’s something fairly quick since I don’t have the stamina to stay on my feet for too long. I found this recipe while perusing on pinterest and gave it a shot. Pretty good! This is definitely going into my weekday meal catalog of things that are quick and easy to make after work. Need a meatless pasta for the weekday? Look no further than the Mushroom Florentine.

I made this recipe exactly the way she wrote it, except I didn’t go by her cooking times. I just watched and felt my way through the recipe through instincts with those.

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One thing I like to do before I start cooking, is read the recipe all the way through, then prep all the ingredients. I feel like things go much faster and smoothly when all your ingredients are measured out and ready to go. First I freshly grated gruyere.

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Slice the mushrooms.

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They say to mince the garlic, I like to grate them. But be careful, this makes it cook faster, so I add them at the last possible moment. I do this because even though I love garlicky foods, I actually hate biting into it directly.

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After I prep those, I get my pot ready for pasta.

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While I wait for the pot to boil, I whisk together the  flour, milk, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Then heat up a pan with olive oil.

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Brown the mushrooms, then add in the garlic. When the garlic is fragrant and not burnt add in the liquid.

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Simmer until slightly thickened.

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Then add cheese, and stir until melted.

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Add spinach and stir until wilted.

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Once everything is wilted and well mixed…your pasta should be done and drained.

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Stir in pasta and add more cheese if you’d like. Remove from heat and enjoy!

Mushroom Florentine from She Wears Many Hats

Minion Cupcakes, Never Again

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Let me preface this by saying, I love my niece. I love being the one that bakes her cupcakes every year for her birthday, even though I’m really not a fan of decorating cupcakes. Every year my sister picks an awesome theme and they go all out. This year, it was Despicable Me, and she had minion everything.

Ashley pinned a picture of a twinkie topped cupcake, and asked if I could do it. I say…yes. Thankfully I got help from my baking guru friend Diem. I could not have done it without her!

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We made funfetti cupcakes topped with a blue buttercream. I ordered Wilton Candy Eyeballs which I used to decorate the twinkies. We used black gel icing for the details, and chocolate jimmies for the spiky hair.

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It’s a pretty simple thing to do, but since we made 48 it was a long and tedious process. First we cut the twinkies in half, then with a little frosting, stick one or two eyes on them.

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After that, I poked holes into the top of the twinkies (which are now hard by the way from sitting out of the package) and inserted chocolate jimmies for spiky hair.

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Using a small tip and black piping gel, I outlined the eyes to make goggles and finish their face.

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After that we frosted the cupcakes, and pressed the twinkies on top! I personally don’t like eating twinkies, but everyone seemed to enjoy them!

Citrus Quinoa Chicken Bowl

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We are trying to eat healthier. My brother just found out he had some health issues and needs to start with his diet. So since he lives with us, I thought it’d be a good idea for all of us to eat better. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try.

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Start off with a simple dressing. Citrus and honey and some cilantro.

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Mix it together.

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Roast some garlic.

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Peel and segment an orange.

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Cook quinoa.

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Chop chicken breast.

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Cook the chicken breast in olive oil, roasted garlic and some seasonings. After chicken is cooked, toss everything together with avocado chunks and dress it the way you like. I overdressed this one, but the hubs loved it! WIN. I used this recipe I found on pinterest from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

What are some of your favorite healthy recipes?

Sun Noodle Ramen Kits

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RAMEN!!! I love ramen. Ever since I had my first taste at Toki Underground, I’ve been hooked. It changed my whole outlook. I should have known there was a non instant version that I was missing out on. But that was ALL I knew. My friend Lorri in NYC shipped me a bunch of ramen kits by Sun Noodle and I’m obsessed.

The kit comes with two individually wrapped servings of fresh noodles and a pack of tare that you dilute in hot water. The rest is up to you!

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I can only eat cooked sprouts, but lucky me, these sprouts for the ramen are cooked. I made a sauce that was sesame oil, black pepper, soy sauce to taste.

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Dropped in some sprouts into boiling hot water for a minute. Then drained.

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Tossed it into the sauce and added some green onion and called it a day. This is probably something I made up, but it worked with the soup!

I went to the local asian market, and picked up slices of char siu and crispy pig. I blanched some chinese broccoli. I also cooked a can of bamboo shoots, stirred them in some chili oil, sesame oil, oyster sauce and soy sauce. I also sliced up a sheet of seaweed and boiled a couple of eggs (since I can’t eat them poached or soft boiled).

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I also picked up a jar of pickled red ginger. And put the bowls together how I wanted it. ALMOST PROFESSIONAL RIGHT?

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I used a tonkatsu broth for mine. OMG SO GOOD. MY FAVORITE.

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He and my friend Anna both went for the spicy sesame. They both said it was one of the best ramen they’ve had. AND IT WAS INSTANT at HOME. Ok, I did fancy it up a bit with extra ingredients, but restaurant quality noodles and soup at home was just super amazing to me. I’ve got a couple of these in my freezer in case I wanna do another ramen night.

THANK YOU SO MUCH LORRI for introducing me to these. My life is changed again, by ramen.

 

 

 

Loco Moco

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I’m not Hawaiian. But I wish I was. They live the good life. Even though it’s pretty expensive to live there, from my understanding you don’t need much. Sometimes I crave Hawaiian food, but can’t find anywhere around here to satiate my hunger, so I have to figure it out myself. There was a Hawaiian themed bar I tried out, they failed horribly. Never again. Any whoo. I found this recipe on Food Republic. I of course didn’t follow it to the T and ended up with a not so wet gravy, but it was good all the same.

Wash it down with some pog and you are good to go!