iFoodography

It's that time again!

This is becoming one of my favorite posts of the month...

It's fun for me to look back at the past month and see all the good eats, good drinks and good times husband and I had over the past month.

I sure do hope you all enjoy them too. 

First up this month...my bestie from Spokane (hi Amy!!) came to visit for her birthday and we hit up Le Montage Bistro (holy yum!) and one of my favs...Sweet Hereafter for some drinks.

 Montage wraps your leftover in cute little foil animals!

Then husband and I took a trip to Bend!

We ate at The Blacksmith...

And at Chow (best breakfast ever!)

 And drank lots and lots of beer!

Then we went to a Blazer's game!!

And husband ran the Shamrock 5K for St. Paddy's day!

I got this new scarf in the mail from fashionABLE (Check them out...what an awesome organization!!!)

And I made doggy treats for a special furry friend!!

That's all folks! 

Until next time....

Check out other iFoodography posts here, here, and here!

Homemade Doggy Biscuits

Hey there! 

You know who just does not get enough love in our house? 

Porter. 

Who's Porter? 

Let me introduce you to our furry son....and my sou chef (or at least he thinks he is...I swear I can't keep this guy out of the kitchen for the life of me!)

He must know where all the good stuff happens ;) 

Anyways, I digress.

This guy has the life. He sleeps all day, is fed two square meals a day, gets to go for long walks in the park, and his rents (that'd be me and husband) make him homemade doggy biscuits. 

What's he gotta do in return?

Well...a few tricks here and there, and lots of sloppy doggy kisses is really all we ask in return (although I let husband get most of those sloppy doggy kisses, I think I like human kisses better ;))

So if you have a furry friend in your life...go make him some of these!

Doggy Biscuits
2 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
1 c vegetable stock stock
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 1/4  c all purpose flour (plus more for rolling out your dough)
1/2 c cornmeal
1 cup peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, the oil and honey. Add in the vegetable stock.

In a large bowl mix together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and cornmeal. Slowly pour in the vegetable stock mixture and then stir in the peanut butter.

This dough is fairly sticky so make sure you have lots of extra flour on hand for when you roll it out. Roll the dough out onto a counter top to about 1/2 thick. Cut into shapes or use a cookie cutter.

Place on baking sheets sprayed with cooking oil.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

Let your favorite furry friend enjoy!

Honey Mustard Champagne Vinaigrette

I've been on kind of a salad kick lately.

I haven't posted any recipes really, because really, who can't make a salad? Throw together your favorite ingredients and serve over a bed of greens and you're good to go right? 

No? Maybe I'll post a few of my favorite salad recipes up here in the near future. 

We'll see. 

But you know what is super easy to make at home with a few key ingredients that you probably aready have in your pantry and out of sheer laziness you buy it instead?

Salad Dressing. 

Or better yet, this salad dressing. 

It's so good. 

You might not ever buy salad dressing again. 

And you'll have me to thank for it.

Your Welcome. :) 

PS. Serve this dressing over some mixed baby greens, tomatoes and green onions along side this beauty this weekend and everyone will love you come Easter morning . ;) 

Honey Mustard Champagne Vinaigrette 

• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 c champagne vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 or 3 dashes hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Drizzle over your favorite salad. 

This makes about 3/4 of a cup of salad dressing. You can store it in an air tight concealer and refrigerate for about a week. Shake well before using again.

Enjoy! 

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Happy Monday!

Are you all gearing up for Easter Brunch this coming weekend? 

Well, if you are, or if you're just starting to plan, I'm here to help! 

I think one of my favorite brunch recipes ever has to be a quiche. 

Quiche(s) are so simple to throw together, can be made with a huge variety of ingredients, and best of all, you can make it the night before, stick it in the fridge, and heat it up when you're ready to serve it come Sunday morning. 

How easy peasy is that?

You know what else is great about quiches....it's a super great way to use up leftover produce you have in your fridge from the week before, so it doesn't go to waste. 

Which makes it a pretty easy pantry meal too. 

Try this out come Sunday, with oh, I don't know...maybe some of these Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Waffles ... your family will love it!

Broccoli, Spinach and Cheese Quiche

1 (9-inch) prepared pie shell (unbaked), recipe follows
1 c grated Cheddar
1/2 c crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup red onion, diced
2 c broccoli, roughly chopped
2 c spinach
1 tblsp olive oil
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 eggs
1 c half and half

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs and half and half. Set aside. 

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add in onions and sauté about 3-5 minutes. Add in spinach and cook until the spinach has just wilted. Pour into a bowl to cool.

Add in your broccoli and cheese and mix well. Add in your cooled spinach and onion mixture. If you want, you can reserve about 1/4 cup of your cheese and sprinkle on top. 

Line your baking dish with the pie crust (see recipe below). Pour in the egg mixture. 

Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven down to 300 and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until a fork or toothpick entered in the center of the quiche comes out clean. 

Flaky Pie Crust

1 cup flour
6 tablespoons butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons cold water

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and butter  with a fork until the crust is crumbly. Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until mixture will hold together. Refrigerate for about an hour. 

Roll out your pie crust (with as little flour as possible) and line your baking pan with the crust. The dough will be very fragile, so if it isn't sticking together, you can roll out smaller pieces at a time and line your baking pan in sections. I did this and it worked out fine. Trim the edges, or if you want a more rustic looking quiche, leave the extra crust. 

Portabello "Beef" Stroganoff

This next recipe sure isn't going to win any beauty pageants around here. 

But you know what? Food doesn't always have to look pretty to taste good. 

At least in my kitchen it doesn't ;)

Think about it...some of the tastiest comfort foods around are down right ugly. 

You can add this to the list. 

This lightened up "Beef" Stroganoff is so good. And because I used greek yogurt in the sauce and portabello mushrooms instead of beef, it's pretty darn good for you too!

Oh and you know what else...it's super easy to make too!

Winner! Winner! Chicken (or not) dinner!!! 

So if you're in the mood for an easy, quick, tasty Saturday evening meal....well, look no further! 

Happy Saturday folks! Enjoy the weekend ;)

Portabello "Beef" Stroganoff

3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 c Greek Yogurt

1/2 c Half and Half
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 ounces pasta

Cook your pasta according to the package directions and set aside. 

Melt butter in a large fry pan over medium heat and add in the onion. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in your mushrooms and cook until they are soft and have browned. Remove both the onions and mushrooms and set aside in a bowl for later.

In the same pan, stir in vegetable broth, scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan and bring the broth to a boil. Let cook until it has reduced by about 1/3. Add back in your onions and mushrooms and turn the heat to low. 

In a small bowl stir together half and half, greek yogurt and your flour. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the greek yogurt mixture to the mushroom sauce. Blend well. 

Return the pan to the burner and cook until the sauce thickens. Serve over pasta and if you have it, garnish with a little parsley (I didn't have it so I left it off) 

Enjoy!

Tofu Wontons with Spicy Sauce

How's everyone's week going? 

Mine's off to a good start, but you know what made it even better? 

These wontons.

They. Are. So. Good. 

Like, really good. 

This Weekend...

Husband and I had so much fun this weekend! 

I just had to share it with you all...

We started the weekend off with a Blazer's game! They played the New York Knicks.

It was SUPER FUN! 

And the best part...Blazer's Won!!

Get Your Irish on!

So I was going to try and be all on top of it, and post a bunch of recipes in honor of St. Paddy’s day on Sunday. 

But I wasn’t so on top of it. 

So I didn’t. 

Woops. 

Tofu Pad Thai

I'm not sure if you noticed, but husband and I haven't been eating a whole lot of meat over here in the PDX. 

This is slightly on purpose. 

Ok. It's a lot on purpose. 

Beervana

Husband and I took an impromptu trip to Bend this weekend. 

It was so much fun! 

It was a first for both of us. We've been hearing from, well pretty much everyone, how great Bend is, so we thought we should check it out. 

And you know what? Everyone was right. 

Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Is there anything in the whole wide world that smells better than homemade bread? It's pretty hard to compete with dontcha think? ;) 

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I have a secret to share. 

I love cupcakes. Like, really really really love cupcakes. 

I loved cupcakes before it was cool to love cupcakes. 

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Tacos

Happy Monday Folks!

All I can say about this next post is yum. 

Yum. Yum. Yum. 

You guys, these are soooo good. I don't think I will make any other kind of tacos ever again. The sweetness of the butternut squash combined with the spicy flavors of the red peppers, onions, black beans, cumin and rice is such an absolutely perfect combination. You get two completely different explosions of flavors in your mouth at the same time and it just makes you go yum. 

Aleph

I've finished Julia Child's My Life in France, and, as predicted it's only made me want to visit Paris even more than I did before. 

I loved reading about her life, her adventures learning how to cook at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and her life with love, Paul. I also, couldn't help but read each line in her cheerful peppy voice, (think Meryl Streep in Julie and Julia). 

It was good. Really really good. 

That being said, I'm so excited for my March "Book of the Month." Paulo Coelho is by far, my favorite author of all time. Husband and I love all of his books. If you're ever looking for a great book to read, pick up anything by him, and I promise, you won't be let down. 

The upcoming book for March is Aleph. It's a story about self-discovery. The main character sets off on an adventure in hopes of re-discovering his faith. So many of Paulo Coelho's books are about self-reflection and discovery and ultimately tell a great moral story. 

I can't wait to tell you all about this book when I'm done. 

And if you want to read along with me, grab your book and a nice big glass of wine and settle in. :)

Find my previous "Book of the Month" books here and here.