Orange Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Sure the name is a little strange. Oranges? Sour cream? Chocolate chips? Together?! Believe it! These muffins are a nice little switch from your normal breakfast routine of oatmeal, cereal or pop tarts.

The orange flavor in these muffins is very subtle, but definitely noticeable. I've found that the sour cream addition makes these kinds of snacks very moist and fluffy. I knew as soon as I saw it in the title that these would be decadent little breakfast treats. And the chocolate? Well, who can go wrong with chocolate? It's a nice little boost in the morning and pairs nicely with the orange. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. orange zest
• 1/4 cup butter melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus extra for garnish
• 2 tbsp. flour

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking, and salt.

In a separate bowl combine the orange zest, butter, vanilla, orange juice, sour cream, and eggs.

In a small bowl toss together the chocolate chips with the 2 tablespoons of flour until they are well coated.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until most of the dry ingredients are moist. Add the chocolate chips and fold to incorporate.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan and top with a few extra chocolate chips, if desired. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the center of the muffins springs back when lightly pressed and the tops are golden brown. Cool in the pan for 3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Evil Shenanigans

Spaghetti Squash

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Spaghetti squash. The carbless and healthier alternative to spaghetti.

The great thing about it is that it practically has no flavor, so whatever you choose to put on it will take over. I've had it with regular marinara sauce and this picture is when I made it with pesto. If you don't have anything special on hand to put on top, it's also great with plain ol' butter, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Whenever I'm craving some pasta and choose to steer clear and be good, this is my back-up. It might not taste the same or have the same consistency, but if you really pretend, you can fool yourself. Enjoy!

This is what it looks like after you cut it in half and scrape the insides.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1/2 cup pesto, or whatever sauce you desire

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Prick the squash all over with a knife. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour.

When cool enough to handle, cut the spaghetti squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and string from the center.

Gently scrape the insides of the spaghetti squash with a fork to shred into strands. 

Top with your favorite sauce and serve.


Source: Home Cooking

Crockpot Fiesta Chicken

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Here's another dinner that I was able to throw into the crockpot before work and have a minimal amount to do when I got home. The hardest part was actually stopping by the local Chinese food restaurant to pick up some rice. Do you know how hard it is to go in there and not order something? Hard.

Since I've started training for the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler (which I'll be doing on April 1st), most evenings after work I have to do a long run or go to the gym. Crockpot meals are great for nights like these because I don't have to worry about what I'll be making for dinner and when I'll have time to make it. And when the end result is as delicious as this, it makes me want to work out and make crockpot meals more often! This kind of tasted like the inside of a taquito to me. It was creamy, a little mild from the salsa, and it had a nice surprise of crunch from the corn and the beans. Normally this is made using black beans, but since I had none in the pantry and Chris is OBSESSED with kidney beans, I decided to use those instead. You can use whatever you want, but this combination was awesome. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 chicken breasts, frozen
• 1 (15 1/2 oz.) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained
• 1 (15 oz.) jar of your favorite salsa
• 1 (8 oz.) package 1/3 less fat cream cheese

Take 5 frozen, boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot. Add the kidney beans, corn and salsa.  Keep in crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Once it is cooked, shred it into small pieces.

 

Add the cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about a half hour. After the half hour is up, stir in cream cheese so the mixture is combined.

 

Serve over rice or in warm flour tortillas.

Source: Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Stuffed Baked Tomatoes

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New favorite side dish alert! You want to know why? Cheese, basil and tomato are all baked together until warm, gooey and delicious. That's why.

Ketchup is my all-time favorite condiment, so it's no surprise that tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables (or fruits?). These were very easy to put together and I already had all of the ingredients on hand, which makes it a future dinner staple in this house. Plus, it's packed with a ton of flavor and it's still healthy and low-carb, which is perfect for this "wedding is in three months" diet I'm currently on. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 3 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 400° F. Scoop out the inside of each tomato half with a melon baller and roughly chop the scooped pulp. Combine tomato pulp, mozzarella, basil, Parmesan, garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Place tomatoes, cut side up, on a baking sheet. Spoon in tomato mixture and bake until cheese is melted and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Source: South Beach

Steak Diane

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I usually always buy Chris one big gift for holidays such as his birthday and Christmas and then a bunch of smaller gifts. Sometimes they're serious and sometimes they're gag gifts. My parents gave us a beautiful crystal decanter that has just been sitting on our bar, so one thing I decided to get Chris this past Christmas was a bottle of Johnny Walker Black to fill it up. Some people might think this is cool, but to us it was definitely more of a gag gift. Chris had always joked that when he bought a house, he would come home from work, put on his sweatpants, pour a glass of whiskey/scotch and relax. If you could only see his facial expression when he takes a sip of whiskey...well, you'd know why this is funny.

He's had some friends over since Christmas and the bottle is surprisingly dwindling down, but I still wanted to put it to use before it was all gone. When I made this steak, I decided to substitute the cognac or brandy for some of this whiskey. It tasted really good! Since I'm not a steak person, if we have it for dinner it needs to have a really yummy sauce to accompany it. And this one fit the bill. I just did a light drizzle on top, and the flavor really took over. The shallots and scallions gave the sauce a little kick and the lemon added some zing. I also decided to add some beef broth to loosen it up. Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 (6 oz) sirloin steak
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 4 tbsp. butter, divided
• 3 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. shallots, minced
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. fresh scallions, minced
• 1/2 tbsp. whiskey
• 1/4 cup beef broth
• Extra scallions, for garnish

Season both sides of steak with salt and pepper.

Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a heavy skillet; add steaks and cook approximately 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare; about 2 minutes longer per side for medium. Remove steaks to serving plate and keep warm.

Add into pan drippings, mustard and shallots. Sauté over medium heat 1 minute. Then add 2 tbsp. butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and chives.

Cook for 2 minutes. Add brandy and beef broth; pour sauce over steaks. Sprinkle remaining scallions over the top.

Source: Adapted from Vanilla Sugar