Avocado Fries- a new adventure!

Another Pinterest find :) These. are. delicious. Here's the recipe and some better pictures. It calls for a cookie sheet, which I didn't have, so I just crumpled up tin foil a bit and sprayed a little cooking spray to keep the fries from sticking and allow the heat to get to them evenly. It worked :)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups panko crumbs (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 firm-ripe medium avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced into 1/2-in. wedges
Grated parmesan for serving (optional)

Just:
Preheat oven to 450.

Coat avocado slices in the flour, then egg, then panko. Spread on a cooling rack that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, then place on a cookie sheet. Spray/lightly coat the top of the wedges with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then bake for about 20 minutes at 450, or until they are golden brown (I turned my oven up to 500 for the last 5 minutes).

Review: Awesome :) These would be great dipped in a little sour cream or just on their own. Squeezing a little lemon juice on them would also be a lip-puckering good time. Enjoy! Again, sorry for my lame pics, but the site has better ones!

Next Up- Lemon Garlic Tuna Burgers: Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy (mmm)

Inspired by Rachael's Pinterest also, I made this recipe from Can You Stay For Dinner? It can be found here. It was easy to make, made many meals, and is absolutely scrumptious. I've since made these again and stocked up on tuna to make it once again in the near future. The recipe says that it makes 4 patties, but I thought they were too big, so the 2nd time, I made them smaller (which is how I got about 8 patties instead of 4, and they were perfect)

Ingredients: (Note: I love how Andie prices everything out on her blog)
2, 6 oz cans tuna fish, drained and flaked 1.98
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs 0.30
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions 0.20 (I used a yellow onion)
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley 0.20 (I used spinach)
2 cloves garlic, minced 0.10
1/4 teaspoon each, salt and pepper 0.02 (Skipped the pepper)
juice of half a lemon 0.35 (Didn't skip this!)
3 tablespoons sour cream 0.30
1 egg 0.15
4 English muffins 1.25
4 leaves romaine 0.50
1 small tomato, sliced 0.99
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Total: $6.34, or $1.59 per burger

Combine tuna, bread crumbs, green onion, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon, sour cream, and egg, and mix well with your hands. Form into 4 patties (they will be wet), place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. Serve the burgers on toasted English muffins with romaine and sliced tomato. Spread additional sour cream on each burger, if desired. Note: I also served this with avocado, and it was spectacular.

Nutrition info for 1 burger (not including bun):

Calories: 175.3, Fat: 3.7g, Sodium: 323.4mg, Carb: 9.7g, Fiber 0.4g, Sugars: 0.4g, Protein: 24.2g

Long Time, No Share- Sorry!

I have been baking/cooking in Florida, but I haven't been blogging about it and for that I must apologize. It's no excuse, but my beloved digital camera crashed a few months ago and while I've tried a few things to see if I can fix it (to no avail), it seems that I'll have to get a new one. I have snapped a few shots with my 3G iPhone (no flash, no zoom, not really a great picture-taker, but still something), and luckily, the sites that have inspired my recipes have some great pics you can check out. So let's catch up on some recent favorites. First, let me say that I'm LOVING reading 2 healthy blogs- one is Peanut Butter Fingers and the other is Can You Stay For Dinner? . Both Julie & Andie are fabulous writers and positive sources of motivation/inspiration for my 2012 healthy lifestyle. Since I'm following these blogs, I found out that Fitness.com has their Fitterati Blogger Awards voting going on now, and you can go find the best blogs for healthy eating, exercise, and more here. Awesome :) I've also been using Pinterest to keep track of recipes I find that I want to make, as well as those that I've made (I'll be updating/moving some of these around after I write this post). Enjoy, and please don't hesitate to send a text or give a call if I go this long without posting again and tell me to get my hiney in gear. Thanks in advance :)

First up...Spinach Mini Muffins (inspired by my sister Rachael, who found the recipe at Eatingwell.com)

These should take about 40 minutes total (prep and baking)
Ingredients:
12 ounces fresh spinach, (I labored over fresh spinach for way too long, and while they turned out delicious, I think next time I'll definitely use frozen spinach- and hopefully my Quick Chef or an alternate food processor)
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese (I used ricotta)
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
2 large eggs, beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (skipped)

Prep:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pulse spinach in three batches in a food processor until finely chopped (or, if you want to spend a really long time on it, roll up spinach leaves together and chop, chop, chop until you have about 10 cups!). Transfer to a large bowl. Add ricotta (or cottage cheese), Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
Coat 8 cups of the muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the spinach mixture among the 8 cups. I used mini muffin tins and this recipe made a LOT (like, enough to refrigerate and freeze to enjoy the following week).
Bake the spinach cakes until set, about 20 minutes (about 15 for minis). Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a clean cutting board or large plate. Serve warm, sprinkled with more Parmesan, if desired.


Note: Baby spinach is immature or young spinach—it's harvested earlier than large-leaved mature spinach. We like the sturdy texture of mature spinach in cooked dishes and serve tender, mild-flavored baby spinach raw or lightly wilted. Baby and mature spinach can be used interchangeably in these recipes (yields may vary slightly); be sure to remove the tough stems from mature spinach before using.

10 ounces trimmed mature spinach=about 10 cups raw
10 ounces baby spinach=about 8 cups raw

Nutrition (love that Eatingwell.com has this info, be sure to cut it into 1/2 or even 1/3? for minis)
Per serving: 141 calories; 8 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 123 mg cholesterol; 6 g

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (170% daily value), Folate (46% dv), Vitamin C (40% dv), Calcium (30% dv), Potassium (16% dv).

Review: I thought these were delicious and very mini-quiche-like and the recipe made so many! They'd be awesome in a little crust, but were great the way that they were. The only thing I'd change is that I used Pam in the tin and did not use papers and the bottom of the muffins tasted a little Pam-my. I'd probably do something different next time to avoid that. These were nice as a snack or a side dish and I'll definitely make them again.

Italian Wedding Soup

Per Jason's Request (and quite delicious)

1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 egg slightly beaten
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon parm. cheese
1 teaspoon italian seasonings (basil, oregano, etc whatever you have)
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped spinach
1/2 cup orzo pasta
grated parm. cheese (for garnish)

1. In a medium bowl combine beef, egg, breadcrumbs, cheese, and seasonings. Shape into 3/4 inch balls (I tried to make mine a little smaller even).
2. In a bowl bring broth, spinach and pasta to a boil. Slowly drop in meatballs and stir gently so they don't break apart. Bring to a gentle boil for about 10 minutes.
3. Serve with parm cheese sprinkled on top if desired. Makes about 4 servings, took about 25 minutes to make. And it was great!

Frosted Maple Cookies

I had to make something unique for a cookie exchange and these were the ones chosen! Jason said the house smelled like waffles :)


Frosted Maple Cookies
Makes about 60 cookies
Cookie:
3 Cups of Flour
2 Cups Brown Sugar
½ Cup Butter (softened)
1 Tsp. Maple Extract
12 oz. White Chocolate Morsels
2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1 Cup Shortening
2 Eggs
1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
½ Cup Chopped Pecans
Topping:
A pecan half for each cookie (about 60)
Frosting- 2 cups powdered sugar, 2-3 tbsp. Milk, 2 tbsp. Butter, ½ tsp. Maple extract, mix until smooth
Beat together all the ingredients (stir in the chips and pecans last). Drop by rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown and transfer to a plate to cool. Once cooled top with maple frosting and a pecan half. Enjoy!