vegetables – Page 2 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Vegetable Pizza To Love

Posted on September 8, 2013 by LFFL

Made with organic whole wheat pizza crust, pizza sauce, mushrooms, green & red bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, 5-cheese Italian, sharp cheddar cheese, and pizza seasoning.

I just LOVE a homemade pizza. There’s nothing like homemade. BUT I had no patience to make my own pizza dough—so the dough is store-bought from Whole Foods.

I just layered and lumped all the ingredients together and called it a day. Notice that it’s not even flat like most pizzas. I had to make a HUGE MOUND of veggies and cheese. It’s a mini-mountain.

There was nothing to making this and the reward was a lot of pizza cheesy gooey goodness all for me! I just sliced it right down the middle both ways for 4 huge slices of love. With slices that big you need two hands or a fork and knife. All that matters is that it ends up in your mouth.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try making your own homemade pizza.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always save yourself some time if you need to by buying store-bought pizza dough. If you have the time and the patience, I’d highly suggest making your own dough from scratch though.

Cheesy Quiches

Posted on September 2, 2013 by LFFL

4 Cheese Quiche — Spinach & Cheese Quiche

Made with sliced mushrooms, onion, frozen chopped spinach, eggs, milk, Miracle Whip, pie shell, and real bacon bits.

This is one of my favorite quiches. I can literally eat the entire thing myself within 2 days.

Of course I added MORE cheese and MORE bacon bits than what the recipe calls for—it’s what I do.

Recipe for—4 Cheese Quiche

Made with scallions, fresh parsley, eggs, Parmesan cheese, Swiss cheese, milk, and salt & pepper.

You probably have to eat 8 of these for just ONE good serving—but who cares?

Recipe for—Cheesy Crustless Mini Quiches

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make yourself a quiche and do NOT follow the directions to a science. Throw in extra cheeses and bacon bits and what not for your liking. You can’t go wrong.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You can pour an entire bottle of bacon bits into the mixture itself like I did AND put them on the top. This gave it SO much more flavor than just sprinkling the bits on the top only (like the recipe stated). Sometimes the recipes don’t know any better than you—so go with your gut.

Sweet Potato Love

Posted on August 31, 2013 by LFFL

Made with fresh sweet potatoes, brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, salt & pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla extract, brandy, and orange zest.

OH, I’ve fallen in love!! These are the BEST SWEET POTATOES EVER!! I can’t begin to tell you how delicious these are. You’ll have to try them for yourselves.

Recipe for—Candied Sweet Potatoes
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brandy
zest of 1 orange
3 1/2 lbs medium-sized sweet potatoes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish with vegetable cooking spray.

In a saucepan, mix the first 8 ingredients with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5-7 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Add the vanilla, brandy, and orange zest. Cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off heat, cool slightly; set aside.

Peel and slice sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch circles and arrange in prepared baking dish. Pour candy sauce over the sweet potatoes, cover with foil, and bake for 40-50 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes uncovered until sweet potatoes are fork-tender, basting periodically with sauce.

Makes 8 servings.

Made with canned candied yams, butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and miniature marshmallows.

I love the crunchy marshmallow topping on this. I love to peel the browned marshmallows off with my fingers and just eat them.

Recipe for—Whipped Sweet Potato Bake

Made with fresh sweet potatoes, olive oil, red onion, red bell pepper, green onions, chopped garlic cloves, smoked paprika, salt & pepper, and fresh parsley.

Recipe for—Sweet Potato Hash

So, if you have nothing else to do today, definitely make those LOVELY candied sweet potatoes! They are to DIE for!! And make the sweet potato bake if for no other reason than to peel those crispy brown marshmallows off with your hands and pop them in your mouth. So fun!

Take-Away Life Lesson: The sweet potato is your friend.

Balsamic-Glazed Salmon

Posted on August 5, 2013 by LFFL

Made with Alaskan wild caught salmon seasoned with olive oil, salt & pepper; topped with a glaze made with balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and garlic; on top of snap peas, edamame, shallots, and garlic; served with corn and spinach.

How simple can it get?

Recipe for—Balsamic-Glazed Salmon

So, if you have nothing else to do today, eat a simple and healthy dinner like this.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always use wild caught fish rather than farmed. It’s supposed to be better for you.

Triple Salad

Posted on July 11, 2013 by LFFL

Fried Chicken Salad with lettuce topped with strips of fried chicken, tomatoes, cheese, green onion, and homemade croutons with Ranch dressing.

I was on a salad kick the last 3 days at the diner. And even though I got them all to-go each day, these were rare moments that I did NOT set the car up like a dining table for the drive home.

I figured it’d be a big mess if I dared try eating a salad while driving. Plus you can’t really smell a salad wafting through a car like you would, say, a hamburger. So the temptation wasn’t as great.

Cobb Salad with lettuce topped with grilled chicken, bleu cheese, tomato, bacon, red onion, cheddar cheese, and hard-boiled eggs with Ranch dressing.

And every time I called my order in ahead of time, they would ask if I wanted the ‘lunch’ or ‘dinner’ portion. Why is this even a question??? HELLO, it’s ME! You knew who I was when I said my name.

Isn’t dinner bigger? DINNER, PLEASE!! Let’s wake up over there, people!!! In what world do I want the smaller size?