I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with family and friends yesterday!


This recipe is from earlier in the week, I just never got around to actually posting it for some reason. There is just something about combining simple fresh ingredients and ending with something so delicious with amazing flavors.
I came home from work wanting something easy and quick. I decided to make a pasta dish, this could be eaten either hot or cold. I have made a variation of this in the summer time and it just as delicious cold.

You will need:
Tortellini pasta - I used a cheese filled one, but really any kind you like would be great
Fresh asparagus - in bite size pieces
Kalamata olives - chopped
Fresh parmesan
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Cook the pasta like normal and about 2 minutes before it is done throw in the chopped asparagus with it. Drain the pasta and asparagus and place in a large bowl. Toss in the chopped olives and parmesan cheese. I dont really measure, its just an eye ball of how much you would like in it. Drizzle with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I used a really tasty garlic infused olive oil for more flavor. Toss everything really well so all the ingredients are mixed well together. If you want sprinkle some more parmesan on top of each serving.

In the summer when I make this I include some fresh tomatoes as well. It is so simple, but has amazing flavor!

I was only able to take a picture of the finished product with my cell phone. So its not the best quality.

Turkish Menemen

Can I just say that Turkey has one of the best cuisines in the world. Every dish has such fresh ingredients, beautiful colors, and amazing taste. I mean look at these pictures! 

It is no secret that my favorite place I have ever traveled to was Istanbul, Turkey. I was lucky enough to study abroad there a few summers back. The smells and tastes of the cuisine always give me a little mental trip back to my time in that amazing city. Travel and food go hand in hand. A places food culture tells you so much about a location; its people, history, culture…and so on.

One of my favorite meals I had while there was a dish called menemen. I recently found a recipe for the dish, so I decided to try my hand at it. The recipe is very easy to make. I will say something was missing though. It was not spicy enough and there was a flavor that just wasn’t there. I think I will have to do some tweaking to the recipe to give it that right taste. Just what, I do not know.

On to how to make Menemen. This recipe is for 4 servings, I made it for 2. 

You will need:

2Tbsp olive oil

3 scallions chopped

2 red bell peppers seeded and chopped

2-4 tomatoes diced

1tsp crushed red pepper flakes

6 eggs, beaten

4 ounces crumbled feta (optional)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Place the oil in the skillet and heat over medium heat. Then add in the scallions and cook until soft, followed by adding in the peppers, cooking for about five minutes. Add in the tomatoes and red pepper flakes sautéing until some liquid from the tomato is gone. 

 Once some of the liquid is evaporated go ahead and add in the eggs and feta cheese if you are using it. Stir constantly until eggs are cooked and coating the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Before serving stir in the parsley. It is typically eaten with pita, and I added a few olives too! 

With the weather getting colder I am hoping to make my favorite Turkish red lentil soup soon!

The New Title

As you can see, there is a new title and look to the page. Although this entry does not include a meal, once I get time and load new pictures onto my computer, I will post about a new recipe I tried this week. 

I decided to rename the blog "Learning and Living Healthy" for many reasons. I think it is very important for each of us to be living a healthy lifestyle. This to me does not just mean eating the right foods and exercising. To me, this means living mindfully healthy as well. I will not claim to be the healthiest person in any way. That is where the learning part comes in. Life is about learning, we are constantly learning and growing as individuals. I think that is what I want this to be about, with some amazing meals thrown in along the way. 

I started weight watchers earlier this year and was successful at losing 15 pounds. Unfortunately since about April (when I moved) I have been at a stand still. Floating around that same number on the scale -- though I try and look at the positive and see that at least I am maintaining. I will be the first to admit that I got so tired of always counting points. I am hoping that by doing this I will be better at maybe not necessarily counting, but portion sizes. That is what its all about people. Portion Control! 

I also hope to learn through people reading this, or by reading other peoples blogs. When people work together more can be accomplished. I'll be learning along the way and hopefully living a healthy life along the journey. 

Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be better not bitter. 

Off I go to search for some recipe inspiration~ 

Crock Pot Chicken

I dont know about you, but I LOVE my crock pot! There is nothing better than coming home to a house that already smells delicious and you don't have to do any extra work to make a yummy meal. I decided to throw something in my crock pot today and then I would get a few different meals out of it this week to take to work for lunch or eat for dinner when I get home.

I cannot bring myself to eat chicken breasts, however I can eat them if they are shredded. I try to always have a bag of frozen chicken breasts in my freezer for a quick shredded crock pot meal. Todays meal was totally made up and not at all measured so I wont be able to give exact measurements. I also didnt take any pictures of the process other than the end result, I wasnt sure if this would be good or not!

What you will need:

Frozen chicken breasts (I had 4 left so I used them all up)
1 packet of dry ranch mix
paprika
chili powder
cumin

Place all ingredients in the crock pot, I throw the chicken in frozen all time. Like I said I didn't measure the paprika, chili powder, or cumin I literally just dumped! Then I put it on low for 8 hours. About a half hour before it was over I took two forks and shredded the meat up really good and then let it continue cooking to soak up the liquid more.

Let me tell you when I came home the house smelled SO yummy, which is usually a pretty good sign that the meal will taste good too!

I decided to put the shredded chicken on some soft yellow corn tortillas.

Then I just used what toppings I had on hand. In this case, cheese, light sour cream,hot sauce, and spinach.

Let me just say, these were so yummy. Healthy too. The tortillas I used were only 2 weight watchers points plus! In all the meal was about 6 points.

I am using the left over chicken tomorrow as a topping for my spinach salad with salsa as the dressing.

One Year Later!

Holy Cow, it has been over  a year since I last wrote anything on here. To be honest, I forgot about it. Somehow I stumbled across this blog the other day and thought why not bring it back to life!

The title - it will have to change as I am eating meat now, though not a ton of it. So any ideas for a title would be great, I have no clues on where to go with it.

In the last year I traveled to Switzerland to visit a good friend (which is I believe where I last left this blog). The trip = amazing! Must get back there some day. I also started the "new" job that I talked about and this past spring I bought a house. So I guess I have had a pretty busy year.

I still LOVE cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. Its not always fun to only cook for yourself, but that doesn't mean you cant eat amazing. I try to cook for my family when I can, cooking for others is always more fun I think.

I am hoping to revamp this sucker in the future - new name, maybe new design..who knows. What I do know - new recipes! If tonights experimental dinner turns out good, it just might be put up on here later!

Busy bee

It has been a very long time. I have been cooking, but not a whole lot of new recipes.
Also so much has been going on lately within what feels like a matter of seconds, ok really days, I applied for, interviewed for, and was offered a job! Im so excited to have finally after 2 years of searching found a full time "career" type job. Or as I like to call it a "big girl" job.

I leave in 2 days for a vacation to visit a friend in Switzerland and 3 days after I get back I start my new job! My plan is to when I get back make Sundays a big cooking day so I have meals prepped and ready for the week. Im also on the hunt for healthy vegetarian crock pot recipes. If anyone knows of any please share.

I will probably post about the food in Switzerland when I get back, because one of the best parts of traveling is food!

Spinach angel hair

It sure has been awhile! Life has been busy I suppose. 

One of my favorite things about summer are the farmers markets and all the fresh local produce. This weekend I went to my favorite farmers market that I grew up going to every summer. One of my purchases was homemade pasta - spinach angel hair was one which is what I cooked with tonight for my lunch tomorrow at work. 

While I was cooking the pasta I went out to my little herb boxed garden and picked some fresh basil and oregano. 

I also had bought some fresh asparagus at the farmers market so decided to use a few of those. I was only making one serving of this otherwise I would have used more of everything. I cut the asparagus into about 1/2 - 1 inch pieces and dropped those in the last couple minutes of cooking time with the pasta. 

I also had earlier in the day eaten locally grown corn and had one ear left so sliced the corn off the cob and also cut cherry tomatoes in half. 

When the pasta was al dente, I drained it and placed it back in the pot and threw in the veggies, the chopped herbs and then drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar - I didnt measure how much I added, I just tasted and then based it off of that. Then I finished it off with some fresh cracked pepper and some feta cheese. Im ready for lunch tomorrow already!

Yummm.