Rosemary Bread (Macaroni Grill)

  

 If you have ever eaten at Romano's Macaroni Grill you know that the best part of the meal is their fresh baked rosemary bread, well now you can make it at home. This is very easy to make but like most bread recipes you must prepare way in advance since there is about 2 hours of dough rising time. So to repeat, this bread is absolutely delicious! You should make some today.

Quinoa Pudding

 This is a lovely take on tapioca pudding but instead of tapioca it uses quinoa, therefore giving it a hint of a "healthier" take on pudding. This is a delicious recipe and I love the way the pudding looks with the tricolor quinoa. This pudding is high in protein and super yummy.

Thai Fried Quinoa

 I recently bought my first bag of quinoa and the first time I cooked it the basic way and served it as a side but this time I wanted something more interesting. One thing I can say is that I love quinoa, this tricolor mix is the best and it is so amazing how quinoa is tasty and yet completely healthy, it truly is a super food. I highly recommend this tricolor mix of red, black, and white quinoa because it is so pretty to cook with.

Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

My friend Jill made these twice over the holidays and I fell in love. They are so very delicious and I love that they incorporate fruit, nuts, and chocolate. YUM. I decided these would be a perfect Valentines treat for my workplace and they were. I highly recommend these for all to enjoy.

Biscuits and Gravy

I had honestly never eaten biscuits and gravy until I met Nick and it is not something I could eat regularly but every once in awhile it is quite the treat. His grandparents make it for us every time we visit and I have realized how much Nick enjoys this breakfast, therefore I decided I would make it for him. It is much simpler and easier to make than expected. 

Indian Chicken 65

As a result of my recent obsession with Indian food, I made a trip to the local Indian market to buy myself all kinds of Indian spices including: coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin powder, garam masala, cardamom powder, turmeric, mustard seeds, curry leaves, and some naan. I am now equipped with all the various spices I need to successfully cook Indian food in my home. I decided to cook up some chicken 65, which is a spicy and less saucy tomato based chicken. This recipe was so simple and easy to make and it was delicious, the only thing I will do differently next time is double the sauce because we like ours saucier to eat with rice.

Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

I love scones and I love the combination of orange and chocolate and so when I stumbled upon this recipe online, I knew I had to make it. They were delicious and Nick keeps begging me to make them again.

Baked Avocado Fries

 I have made beer battered avocado tacos once before and although they were delicious, it was quite a bit of work. I decided I would give breaded avocados another try but this time by baking them. Honestly, I don't think I will ever do the deep fried version again, this was much too easy and very very tasty and much healthier. 

Basil Coconut Curry

 

I have been a little addicted to Indian food lately and so I finally made a plan to learn to make Indian food at home, the only problem being that I haven't found a local Indian market to buy all the necessary ingredients yet. Luckily I found this recipe for basil coconut curry that is made with ingredients I already have in my house. I decided to give it a try. I should've known from the listed ingredients that it was a spicy dish but I did not realize until we sat down to eat it, thank God both Nick and I have a high tolerance for heat. I really enjoyed this dish, it was unlike anything I have ever had in an Indian restaurant but still very enjoyable.

Lazy Cake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I was already making tons of things for Super Bowl, I decided to be lazy with my dessert. I found this recipe called "Lazy Cake Cookies" and it was so simple and really required no effort to make some delicious cookies. I definitely recommend this recipe to any busy person. 

Meatloaf Parmigiana

 

I came across this recipe on Pinterest and found that it belonged to one of my favorite food bloggers, Joelen. I decided to give it a go except I used ground beef because I do not like ground chicken. I thought it turned out absolutely delicious, like one giant meatball but better! I didn't let mine rest after I removed it from the oven so the slices did not stick together but if you do let it rest a bit, it will help the meat to not fall apart. I served it with spaghetti just like I would with chicken parmigiana.

Pineapple Salsa

Another one of my recipes for Super Bowl. I love sweet salsa and so this year I decided to create a pineapple salsa with all my favorite ingredients. It turned out really good and other than the fact that I forgot to wear a glove while cutting my jalapenos resulting in a burning hand, it was a great salsa. 

Pizza Bites (Mini Muffins)

Happy Super Bowl Day! 

 

Besides Thanksgiving and Christmas, Super Bowl is a foodies paradise. I have always loved Super Bowl and not for the reason most people love it, I love the food and I love watching the commercials. Every year I look forward to Super Bowl and making something that usually I wouldn't get away with making due to their goodness (fattiness). This year I created lots of good things but this was by far my most favorite concoction this year. All the goodness of a slice of pizza in a lovely bite sized muffin. Plus they are incredibly easy to make.

  

Pictured: Lazy Cake Cookies, Pizza Bites, Mini Cupcakes, Chili Cheese Dip, and Pineapple Salsa