Oh boy burgers

I must admit, no shame to admit and I loved every minute of it....I had a burger last night for dinner...and man was it tasty. So burgers are not the healthiest meals out there, I get it but who cares right?  Sometimes you just want to eat a burger. 

Let me tell ya...this burger had all the fixings and it was d-lish!!  Juicy, saucy, and flavorful. Man, In n out, you did not disappoint. 

Don't you just love a good burger???  What's your favorite burger joint?

Have a foodilicious day!!

Can it get any better??

Don't you just love a good pasta bake?  Pasta is another feel good, comfy type of meal. Imagining the warmness, the sauce, the cheese, the ground Turkey (don't worry, this was made prior to recent outbreak)...Can it get any better?   I guess you can tell what I had for dinner last night. And let me tell ya, pasta goes hand in hand with the bread. I know, it's like carb overload right. I get it, it's not one of my "go to" healthy meals, sorry it just isn't.  I seriously, would NOT normally eat it with mounds and mounds of cheese....and certainly not a second helping. my goodness SHOCK!!!   But, guess what I did last night...YUM!!  I did actually cut down on the cheese though, can't be too crazy.

At any rate, my contribution was the garlic bread...oh  my word, was it d-lish!!!  Let me tell ya about this bread. French Bread--Good. Butter--Good. Garlic--Good. Chopped herbs---GOOOD!!   (that's for all my FRIENDS lovers out there)  At any rate, this was no calorie bust!! 

Here is a pic of my garlic bread in it's all it's GOODNESS.  Thanks to my pal for providing me with the recipe.

Note: I added fresh basil to the chopped herb recipe.



What's your favorite brand or recipe for garlic bread?

Have a foodilicious day!!!

Are you hungry?

Hungry, hungry oh and did I mention hungry?? Obviously not eating all day causes you to be hungry (what, you didn't know that??  Well, I am here to tell ya)  So, sometimes you want something that is hearty and full of flavor and just comforting.

Enter this beauty:

Chicken & Potato bake.  It had cut up chicken, potatoes, celery, carrots and cut up tomatoes.   This is a regular recipe created by a la mama. It's the perfect dish if you want something hearty and flavorful. it has a great blend of spices and vegetables. It's a win-win situation. 

Do you have a favorite family hearty dish?

Mama Mia Pizzaria

Man, I gotta tell you, I love pizza. I can always eat pizza, it's one of my favorite meals. I know pizza isn't always the healthiest option HOWEVER, I believe the choices that you make on what to have on your pizza can always make it a healthy option.  Also, just portion control your slices and possibly have a salad on the side.

So, this is for you pizza.

Pesto Pizza, Really wanting to try this one.

Here is what I had for dinner last night.

VOILA!!!

. I added basil for an extra kick.  D-lish because it adds a little bit more flavor to the veggie pizza.  I find that I am not a big fan of Boboli sauce. It seems to be too sweet. All in all it was a great and healthy dinner!!

Have a foodilicous day!!

Happy August

Hope you all having a great Monday!!  It's the first day of August and it's fabulous!!   This month I am going to be bringing one item that I add to my dinner and talk to you about the meal.   Some of you may know this but for the rest of you, today is the first day of Ramadan which means I do not eat or drink or anything for an entire month--WAIT, don't you worry, I do eat when the sun goes down, but that means around 8:00p.m.  So, I won't have any fun stories to share about my lunch or breakfast or even snacks...but I will share with you my dinner.

This should be interesting because I will not be really focusing on the entire meal like in the past but just one item that I will be personally making, since this month I will NOT be the main chef in my kitchen.   This should be interesting...

Not this old thing again

I don't know about y'all but I love having {almost} the same thing for breakfast every morning.  I am a very picky breakfast eater so that's probably why I tend to have the same thing every morning.  Here is a view of my plate most mornings:  HELLO WILD PLATE!!! 


2 egg whites, scrambled or omelet style.  1/4 cup of rolled oat {Henry's Market}w/a handful of fruit. 



What do you normally have for breakfast?  Any new ideas you can give me?

Life Happens

Wow, it's been a New York minute! Everything happening so fast and not enough time to make it happen!!  Have you ever felt that way?  I have been busy recently with so many different projects as well as a mini-vacation and a sick family...yikes!!!  So I apologize for the lack of posts.  But, I am back whether or not you are ready...just kidding!!  

I'll be back with tomorrow with my normal posting but for today, ponder these for a bit...and enjoy your day!!!

Cute as a shish kebab?

Normally, I don't classify my food as being "cute" allright, okay maybe I actually do describe my food as being cute, adorable or and just downright charming.  I mean come on, when you have something that looks like this:

 or like this:

How can you not describe them as being adorable? Isn't he just the cutest? Walter is his name.

 

 

Do you find your food cute?  

 

 

 

Here are some more "charming" and edible eye candy. 

 

 

 

 

 Have a foodilious day!!

Did I say fried?

I love eating fried cheese sticks. YIKES!! Did I admit that out loud or worse in print?  Yes, I did. Now, don't get me wrong I don't eat this type of stuff daily (ha, ha, can you imagine?) I don't even eat it weekly but once in a while when I am eating out, I am in the mood for some gooey, cheesy goodness, enter the famous fried mozzarella stick. 

Don't they look d-lish?? 

Well of course, I was on a quest to try to find a healthier option for these suckers so that I could possibly make at home, more often.  I saw a recipe via pinterest and decided to give it a whirl.

Ingredients: Egg roll wrappers & light string cheese. 

Step 1: Wrap the string cheese tightly around the cheese stick and brush with olive oil. 

Step 2: Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Allright, so they don't look like the yummy goodness of the cheese sticks above, but that's not the point right? Right?  Please say right and make me feel better.  AWWWW thanks!!  Well, these were a FOOD FAIL!!  They did not taste good, were too crispy for my taste (although, I am sure most of you are thinking, duh what did you think egg rolls were going to do?) My goal was to obtain the desired fried cheese sticks not an egg roll mess. 

Back to the drawing board.  

Have you tried making a healthy fried version of an appetizer? If so which ones and how did it turn out?

Have a foodilious day!!

My latest obsession

I decided to visit my local TJ (Trader Joes's) the other day for some shopping essentials when I looked at, picked up and purchased an impulse item.  Love when that happens, well actually I probably don't love it as much as the store owner does... more $$$ in their pocket and out of mine, but at least I can put it down on my resume: "IMPULSE SHOPPER" woo hoo!! 

Back to my purchase, I have been reading about this item all over blog land and have been very anxious to try it, enter impulse buy (show us your good angle):





Note: Not personal picture.


Let me tell you a little bit about this obsession. It's creamy, it's unsalted, it pairs beautifully with whole wheat toast and strawberry slices!!  A little goes a long way with this buddy, it's my partner for life!!  A beautiful friendship has been made, can't wait to try it's cousin:

Have you tried Almond Butter? If so which one is your favorite?

Have a foodilious day!!



Don't forget to add the salsa

Salsa (which if you say it really fast or with a thick accent, is truly hysterical) is a fabulous garnish to an abundance of food dishes.  If you notice yesterday, I topped my salsa on this.  D-lish!!  The salsa came straight from good ol' Martha Stewart (shocking, I know, I didn't use a Food Network recipe). I receive her Everyday FOOD in the mail and when I saw her salsa recipe in her June edition, I knew I had to attempt for my Mahi Taco night. 


Ingredients: 2 plum beefsteak tomatoes, 1 med onion, 3 garlic cloves and 3 jalapenos.



The recipe itself called for 1 white onion, as you can see from the first picture those were NOT white. I know cardinal rule, follow your recipe to the best of your ability, however, in my defense, I did buy a white onion which when I went to use was ROTTEN & MOLDY-ewww!!!

Moving away from the moldy onion, the recipe itself was super easy!! I used only 2 jalapenos, for fear of a too hot to handle spicy salsa for the common folk, aka dining companions, aka WEAKLINGS!!!

Back to the salsa, it was not the BEST salsa that I had eaten (and damn those pictures made it look like it would be the best, ha ha, I got suckered) but again in my defense, well really Martha's, she did tell me to use a white onion and 3 jalapenos. Having said that, I will attempt again with the proper ingredients because salsa is just too damn important!!

What's your favorite type of salsa? Store bought or homemade!!!

Have a foodilious day!!

Everything is better with salsa

Look at that Salsa, yummmy!! Garnishing the top of my breakfast burrito. Bringing you more details on the salsa tomorrow on the blog!!  Enjoy your Thursday!!

Shh...it's in the sauce.

Sauces make the dish. Specifically, if it's a dish consiting of mainly sauce no vegetables, no fruit, nothing else but sauce and meat, you want it to be spectacular.

 Last night, I tried my hand on a simmer sauce that I purchased from Trader Joe. Enter the beautiful jar purchased at my local Trader Joes (smile for the camera):

And now making it's debut the dish that held hands with the above sauce.

The recipe itself is very simple. Add 1 cup of water and chicken to sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Easy and Simple!! 

The lowdown on this dish is that the sauce was too watered down. It tasted too much like I just poured tomato sauce out of the can on my rice and chicken. It had flavor but not enough to keep me interested. When expecting masala, I want something rich and thick to satisfy my taste buds.  I was asked, would you attempt again if you were to add less water (okay, so what if i was the one that asked myself)? The jury is still out on that one.

.Not exactly a food fail as it was still tasty enough to consume. 

Have a foodilicious day!!

Warning: Don't read if hungry

Food styling, don't you just love it!! Yes, people actually "dress" up their food to look appetizing. I don't mean they add a cute scarf and dangly earrings, (although that would be cute). I am saying that food can be positioned, cut, garnished or whatever to make it look so darn cute, you want to pinch its' cheeks. Not to mention styled perfectly to make you hungry, even if you just ate.

 A few inspirational "styled" food shoots via pinterest.

Grilled Asparagus positioned perfectly which makes them look crisp and tasty

Olive oil and garlic bread cut at the right angle to ensure all the flavors are there for your viewing pleasure.

Greek Pita wrap with a dollop of Greek yogurt positioned to make you want to take a bite.

Chick pea fries wrapped in beautiful wrapping and photo edited perfectly.

Peach tart. "Crumbed" to perfection.

Chocolate!!  Enough said.  YUM!! 

These pictures make me want to stay in the kitchen all day and cook/bake!! YUM!!  Happy Tuesday!

Happy 4th

Enjoy your cupcake!!!  Have a safe and happy 4th!! XOXO 

I wanted to share a new serving ware that I received courtesy "a la familia". No, that's not a new store! It was a gift from my lovely sister as she knows how much I love these.

I can already picture all the fun things I can utilize this beauty for:

Please ignore the green polka dot against the black damask.  The point is to show off the cake stand not the cupcakes...ha ha!!

Why did I get baked?

Happy Wednesday!! It's the middle of the week , love it!!  Most of you know my little addiction to this. And most of you know that I was on a mini-vacation last weekend. So, having said that, you absolutely know that I was looking for at least one cupcake/bakeshop to review in quest for the perfect cupcake!!

Say hello to:

Sugar Blossom Bake Shop (San Clemente, Ca)

Unfortunately, I do not have any good pictures of the cupcakes (boo picture fail) so you will have to use your imagination. Before I go into my "review" let me kind of tell you what I like looking for in a cupcake shop.

1) I like to see if they have a big enough selection. You need to be able to have a hard time deciding between your cupcakes.
2)  I also enjoy a well decorated cupcake store. Cuteness is a must!!
3) The obvious, tasty cupcakes!!

Back to Sugar blossoms. The place did not have a HUGE collection of cupcakes. (Fail # 1). The decor was semi-cute (Fail #2) and the cupcakes were so not D-lish!! (Fail #3).

Let me tell you what I chose. I only ordered 6 cupcakes, my standard is 12 but this place did not have a huge selection so I was out of luck.   The choices were: mint in chip, red velvet, carrot cake, German chocolate, vanilla and coconut.  My goodness with those simple and exotic flavors you would think that at least one would be d-lish, right?  Uh, yeah....WRONG!!  Each and every single one of them had a distinct taste of, {asking themselves} "Why did I even get baked, so not worth it"  Such a sad cupcake.  No flavor, awful after taste and some tasted old.

My quest will continue.....  have a foodilicous day!!

Rachel Ray is on the prowl.

It's no secret that I love using the Food Network website for a lot of my cooking inspiration.  So, when I had planned for turkey burgers one night, I decided to utilize that website for my recipe choice!!

Enter raspy voice Rachel Ray .....

and her Greek turkey burgers.

Let me tell ya, these burgers were d-lish!!  They were moist, flavorful and healthy!!  As usual, I doctored it up the style your dish way, meaning I cut out all fatty items and made it lean. You can taste the feta and the spinach and the tzatziki sauce: OH MY!!!  I will definitely make this again!!

What is your favorite type of burgers?  Do share!! 

Have a foodilicious day!!

Taking it on the road

 Do you find it hard to eat healthy when taking a trip? Or when just leaving town for the day?  Sometimes its too tempting to look at all the yummy options that are at restaurants. the hardest part,I feel, is when visiting out of state or a not a chain local restaurant.

I always do my very best to choose healthy options because obviously I can't control the cook in the kitchen and how they may prepare the meal. however, when on vacation or a quick trip these might sneak in:





            
       pancake pups pineapple and white chocolate.. they were okay! Not what expected but worth the tr. Would I recommend or get again, nope!!
Have a foodilicious day!!

On the hunt....

Most of you know, I adore a good cupcake.  I am in love with cupcakes!! And is always on the hunt for a d-lish flavor.  Anytime, I visit a new town or my family I will try my hardest to scout the town for the nearest store that sells them so I can get my two cents in on the flavor, texture, cuteness etc....



Cupcake love (San Diego, Ca)


I know what you are thinking, BUT how can cupcakes be healthy? Your such a nut when it comes to healthy foods...well, I am here to tell you that I don't care..so HA!!  Just kidding, once in a while I enjoy eating a good un-healthy cupcake but I am also determined to find a healthy recipe (calorie bust) so I can make my own. So stay tuned!!  Until then enjoy my adventures of finding the perfect cupcake!!

Cupcake Love (San Diego, Ca)