Bruschetta!

Bruschetta!

Made bruschetta for the first time!

Ingredients: Tomatoes, basil, feta cheese, onions, minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Also will need sour dough toast

I made bruschetta after a friend gave me a great recipe! I didn't measure, I just used what sounded good to me lol ;) My favorite method for cooking!

Diced about 4 medium sized tomatoes.

4oz of feta cheese

Diced a  wedge of sweet yellow onion 

 

(I use sweet yellow in just about anything, while I enjoy the taste of purple onion, sometimes they can be spicy-the white ones can also be spicy. The sweet yellows seem to be pretty consistent in how they taste)

 

Minced about 3 cloves of garlic

(I like a lot of garlic lol :) ) 

Used a squirt of organic chopped basil 

(comes in a tube marked gourmet garden)

a splash of olive oil

a splash of balsamic vinegar

sprinkle of salt & pepper

Mixed this altogether & put it in the fridge overnight.

I then bought a sour dough baguette & sliced it into about 3/4" slices

 

I toasted those in the toaster oven & topped them with the bruschetta!!

 

Sooooo yummy!!! And easy to make too! Would make a great party favor =D

Jessy's Juice #13

Tuesday 9/25/2012

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Peach, 2 stalks of celery, beet, 2 kiwi, a sliver of ginger root, 3 carrots, lime, broccoli, strawberries, spinach, parsley & cilantro

 Here are some of the minerals and vitamins I received in today's lunch juice :)

Cilantro: (Thiamin, zinc, fiber, Vitamin A, C, E, K, B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper & manganese

Peach: (born, antioxidants, vitamin C, & beta carotene)

Celery: ( Riboflavin, vitamin B6, K, C, A, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese & folate

Beet: (folic acid, iron, calcium & potassium)

Kiwi: (Fiber, Vitamin E, C, K, potassium & copper

Carrots: ( beta carotene, Vitamin A, C, pectin, flourine & potassium)

Broccoli: (beta carotene, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium)

Strawberries: (Folate, potassium, fiber, vitamin C, manganes)

Spinach: (antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium, Vitamin C)

Parsley: ( antioxidants, folic acid, iron, vitamin A & C)

Ginger Root: (Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium)

The lime and the beet were the strongest flavors I could taste, followed closely by the peach and the the combination of green stuff & the carrot. The strawberries add just a hint of sweetness to it.

This juice is a relatively smooth texture, and just about like a thick juice, not quite as thick as a smoothie. Very tasty :)

Homemade spaghetti sauce & homemade meatballs =D

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce w/ Homemade Meatballs!!

9/24/2012

I made my homemade spaghetti sauce again! Came out amazing! This time I also cooked homemade meatballs to go with! Those were incredible too!!

The recipe for my sauce can be found in the blog archive =) If you don't want to search for it, feel free to contact me and I will send it to you :)

For the meatballs, I started with some fresh minced parsley and fresh minced garlic.

 I then mixed 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef, 1lb of ground pork, 6 eggs, 3 cups of dry bread crumbs, 1 1/2 cups of milk and some salt and pepper all together!

 I shaped those into about 2-2 1/2 inch meatballs.

 Heated just a bit of vegetable oil in a pan, the fat from the meatballs really did most of the work after the first set of four meatballs. I cooked them on a low-med setting for about 20-30 mins each batch, using a meat thermometer to check the temp inside & be sure it was at 165 before I removed them and placed them in the sauce.

 I placed each batch directly in the sauce as they finished so the first ones cooked int he sauce longer, the last I let cook about 20mins before I removed the sauce from heat and from the pan to cool for a bit.

I let this sit in the fridge overnight as I prefer sauces the next day because the flavors have all blended together even more over night :) Tonight I will boil some spaghetti noodles & pour this over them! This recipe was given to me by a friend, it was a recipe his mother used from an old Betty Crocker cook book (from the '50s/'60s)

The sauce takes about an hour of preparation and it cooks for as long as you like- the longer it cooks, the better it tastes ;-) I let mine simmer for 3-4 hours

The meatballs take about half an hour of preparation and each batch of four took 20-30mins to cook. So it was about two hours to cook all of the meatballs doing it this way. 

A lot of work and a lot of patience but boy does it sure taste good!!!

Jessy's Juice #12

Monday 9/24/2012

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Cilantro, parsley, spinach, tomato, lemon, beet, broccoli, kiwi, strawberries, cucumber, celery, carrot & ginger root 

Here is a breakdown of the nutrients in today's lunch time juice:

Cilantro (thiamin, zinc, fiber, vitamin A, C, E, K, B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper & manganese)

Parsley: (antioxidants, folic acid,  iron, vitamin A&C)

Spinach: (antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium, vitamin C)

Tomato: (beta carotene & vitamin C)

Lemon: (thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, iron, magnesium, fiber, Vitamin C &B6, calcium, potassium, copper)

Beet: (Folic acid, iron, calcium, potassium)

Broccoli: (beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium)

2 kiwi: (Fiber, Vitamin E, C, K, potassium, & copper)

Strawberries (Folate, potassium, fiber, Vitamin C, manganese)

Cucumber: (Vitamin A, C, K, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese

Celery: (Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, K, C, A, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, folate)

2 Carrots: ( Beta carotene, Vitamin A&C, pectin, flourine, & potassium)

Sliver of ginger root: (Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium, natural anti inflammatory)

In today's juice, the strongest flavors were definitely the lemon and the beet, followed closely by the greens (the celery, spinach, parsley, cilantro tend to just take an overall 'green' flavor when combined), then the cucumber and the sweetness of the strawberries. 

When you use just a small sliver of ginger root like I do, you don't taste it a whole lot. There may be a bit of bite from it but it won't over power it. It's really a nice way to get an awful lot of good minerals and vitamins!!

Sunday's juice!

Sunday Afternoon's juice!

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Apple, pear, 2 kiwi, 2 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 2 prickly pear (a first for me!), sliver of ginger root, beet, 2 slices of cantaloupe, broccoli, cilantro, parsley, spinach, strawberries &li\me!

Apple: (Boron, cellulose, pectin)

Beet: (folic acid, iron, calcium & potassium)

Broccoli: ( beta carotene, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium

Carrots: (beta carotene, vitamin A, C, pectin, flourine & potassium)

Celery: ( riboflavin, Vit B6, K,C,A, pantothenic Acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, folate)

Cilantro: (Thiamin, zinc, fiber, Vit A,C,E,K,B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium,phosphorus, copper & manganese)

Parsley: (antioxidants, folic acid, iron, Vitamin A & C)

Spinach: (antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium & Vit C)

Strawberries:( Folate, potassium, fiber, Vitamin C, manganese)

Cantaloupe: (Fiber, niacin, Vit B6, A, C, potassium, folate)

Lime: (calcium, iron, copper, fiber, Vitamin V)

This tastes a bit like a mixed fruit smoothie lol! The flavors I tasted the most were the beet, the lime & the prickly pear. Followed closely by the cantaloupe, strawberries & celery. 

Most of the fruit flavor and sweetness really covers up the green taste of the leafy stuff so it doesn't taste 'like grass' as some might think lol :) If you juice all green stuff, yes, some might think it tastes 'like grass' lol! But even that mix, I find tasty ;-) 

This had the consistancy/texture of a thick juice, not watery like but not as thick as a smoothie or shake. If you have  blender you can actually make both using the pulp and mixing it back with the juice! 

If you're curious about a certain combination of vegetables/fruits juiced, let me know! I'll juice & tell you what it's like =D 

First time cooking with tofu!

Tofu/Vegan dish!

~My sister told me about this recipe she found online~

For this recipe, I needed tofu, olive oil, mushrooms, variety of spices, zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, and fresh garlic.

 First, I diced the tofu and mixed into a bowl (it was 16 oz, drained tofu) with the seasonings I prefer which are paprika, dry mustard, powdered ginger, Italian spices, extra basil, sea salt & pepper. I used the amount of seasoning I normally would but do to the tofu not really having any flavor, I encourage going over board. You can really use any seasonings at all that you like here.

 Next, I diced all of my ingredients and finely chopped about four cloves of garlic. I always go a bit heavy as I love fresh garlic ;-) The garlic has a touch of red to it because I chopped it after I had chopped the tomatoes and the red bells lol- next time for presentation purposes, I will be sure to chop the garlic first ;-)

 I then heated up some olive oil and cooked the onions until they were beginning to become transparent.

 Then added in the mushrooms and let this saute together for a few minutes

 Next, I added the fresh chopped garlic and let that cook for a few more minutes.

 I then added all of my diced veggies and let this cook together for about five minutes, until the zucchini and the bells were almost cooked through, but still crunchy.

 Then I added the tofu and seasoning mixture. I let this cook together about five minutes, until the tofu was heated all the way through

This is my finished product!! Tasted very good! I kept the recipe as close to the 'vegan' as I could, however I was given the option to fry some egg and add that to it. I think that next time I will do that as the tofu is a very bland taste, if you go over board on the seasonings that will add more flavor to it. Over all I greatly enjoyed this dish :) Thanks sister for sharing it with me!!

Saturday morning juice!

Saturday morning's breakfast juice!

~Juicing with my power juicer express~

Apple, pear, kale, orange, carrots, cucumber, beet, ginger root, cantaloupe.

 You can tell I need to go to the store, lol ;-) Saturday & Sunday I usually just juice once so I will do a random mix of my typical breakfast juice and my typical lunch time juice, as you can see I just had a few leafs of kale left, no spinach or parsley or cilantro.

 Being as I share these with the bunny rabbit, Tom Sawyer, I blame Tom for eating a lot of the greenery lol.

Made about 38 ozs of juice and a bowl of lovely pulp for Tom Sawyer the bunny lol :) 

I always juice my beet last cause he doesn't like the beet, so I juice everything but the beet & a cucumber. Then I empty the reservoir into his tupperware I keep in the fridge for him, then juice the beet and the cucumber.

 I always do cucumber last because it is firm yet has a lot of juice in it so it is good to sort of clean out the blade of the juicer after it has juiced such a variety of other stuff and because it is so water like, none of the juice will stay in the base where the blade is, it all comes out.

Nutritional Qualities:

Kale:(antioxidants, calcium, iron, Vitamin A&C)

Apple: (Boron, cellulose & pectin)

Pear: (Vitamin C&E, potassium)

Carrot: (beta carotene, Vitamin A &C, pectin, flourine, potassium)

Orange: ( natural aspirin and boron)

Cucumber: (Vitamin A, C &K, pantothenic acid, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium)

Beet: (folic acid, iron, calcium & potassium)

Ginger root: (Vitamin B, manganese, potassium, copper, magnesium, natural anti inflammatory)