Foods I'm Lovin' Lately

While doing a demo in the demo kitchen the other day, I noticed that one of the chefs was making whipped cream.....with vanilla bean paste! She poured two containers of heavy whipping cream into a Kitchen Aid mixer and started whipping the cream until "stiff peaks" formed. Next she poured some vanilla bean paste into the whipped cream and incorporated the paste into the whipping cream for about 30 seconds.

VOILA!
Delicious

I've been lovin' it with canned pumpkin (my last can!) and butternut squash.




I've been loving it with orange juice popsicles and 2% plain Greek yogurt.



And of course I loved it many times with homemade ice cream, but I don't have pictures to share. When my whipped cream was gone I thought about making more, but then I quickly decided it was slightly dangerous to have a constant supply of a treat that sounds so healthy (sugar-free!) but is secretly not (lots of saturated fat...).

So now I'm lovin' plain 2% Greek yogurt + butternut squash + walnut butter....


Smoothies with frozen blueberries (~3/4 cup) unsweetened almond milk (enough to cover the blueberries), and 2% Greek yogurt....without whipped cream. Oh well! It's still fantastic.


I'm lovin' making popsicles. I haven't done anything really creative yet, but the other day I added yogurt to the popsicles. They were pretty delicious! If you don't have a popsicle maker, just use an ice cube tray and make mini popsicles. They taste just as good.


And to move away from the sweet foods, I'm LOVIN' eggs lately!! Nick is lovin' the fact that I'm lovin' eggs because he's finding that my love for eggs means we eat them more often for dinner. So easy! Most of the time I do one egg, lots of egg whites, and of course tons of veggies on the side or mixed into the egg creation. Or we'll do dipping eggs....


Many people still think eggs are really unhealthy, but I beg to differ. Check out my post about the benefits of eggs if you need some convincing. Clearly you should watch how many you eat per week (I say no more than five, depending on your health status) but give up on the idea that eggs are bad for you. They are a cheap and delicious protein choice.

Oh yeah, I'm also lovin' Cabot 75% Reduced Fat Cheese. And unfortunately, now that Nick has tasted it, he's lovin' it too. Darn it! I wish it wasn't so expensive.

QUESTION: What are you LOVIN' LATELY?! Something else I'm lovin' is broccoli sauteed with EVOO and rice vinegar. Is that random or what?!

Popsicles, Salad, and PUMPKIN!!!

Yesterday was the most difficult day I have had in a very long time. I was hoping to hear about my job, but I didn't. I sat by the phone and my computer all day, literally (because I had nothing else to do.....) and nothing happened. No call, no e-mail. I was told I would hear by today, but it's just not looking good for me. I'm assuming I didn't get the job, so I'm back on the hunt for another :(


Despite my long, torturous day yesterday, one good thing did happen. Check it out! I scored 4 large cans of PUMPKIN!! I met up with someone yesterday who reads my blog and she brought these to me because she had read my sad posts about missing my canned pumpkin (she had some left over from when they actually existed in stores!). Thanks Meloni!! I will be enjoying these for at least the next month, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm planning on making some pumpkin oats right after I hit "Publish".



In more food news, I've been making a lot of popsicles lately (you may have noticed....). I think I really like these because they are already portioned and ready to be served and consumed. Two nights ago I made my simple vanilla fro yo recipe, and added unsweetened cocoa powder, crushed graham crackers, and chunks of chocolate. Before putting the batch in the freezer to harden, I added some to my popsicle molds.




As you can see I didn't even fill the molds. I thought I would make smaller ones! I had also added frozen blueberries to the bottom (see below).

Final product: DELICIOUS

Here's the fro yo. Check out the chunks of graham cracker and chocolate! All I need to do next is add some marshmallows and make S'more fro yo.



Aside from my serious fro yo addiction (actually our serious fro yo addiction) I've been making a lot of salads lately. I tend to go through a salad faze during this time of the year (soup in winter, salad in spring/summer). I first marinated some salmon in low sodium soy sauce and raspberry vinaigrette. Then I cooked the salmon on a skillet on top of the stove. Next I created my very simple salad; romaine lettuce and slices of kiwi.

I then added the salmon on top and topped the salad with even more raspberry vinaigrette. On top of that I crushed some black pepper (a must on all of my salads). Perfection!

Coming Up

Monday I will post another video blog. This time I will be talking about how to choose a good granola! Hopefully I will also have a job update for you. It may be sad :(

Is anyone going to graduation parties this weekend? We have one tonight. It should take my mind off of this whole job thing for a couple hours. Hopefully.

Have a great weekend everyone!