Holy Guacamole!

If you're like me, you enjoy the occasional Mexican dish. Actually, if you're anything like me, you could eat Mexican food every day! That being said, I was watching The Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition, and one of their challenges involved learning how to make guacamole. I was inspired by this and decided that I should learn the recipe as well. It definitely didn't disappoint! Here is a link to the original recipe (courtesy of Rachael Ray): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/grilled-guacamole.html

The only changes I made were using 1 tbsp ground Cumin in place of garlic, and I added about a half of a shot of tequila at the very end.

To start, finely chop the onions and place in a bowl off to the side. Add the ground cumin (or garlic if you're going by the original recipe), and soak with the juice of both the lime and lemon.

While the onions are soaking, place a grill pan on the stove and roast the jalapeno's and avocado's until they are slightly charred (about 3-5 minutes).

The next step is probably the most fun! Place a cooling rack over the bowl that contains the onions, and place the avocado's (one at a time, skin on the outside) on the rack. Push the avocado through the cooling rack and into the bowl.

Once all of the avocado's are in the bowl, add in the finely chopped peppers, and the half shot of tequila (not required). Use a fork or potato masher to combine all of the ingredients until they reach a consistency that you enjoy. Personally, I enjoy lots of chunks of avocado in mine.

This is a great recipe for sharing with friends at a party, or for topping your favorite dishes with. Enjoy!

Homemade French Bread Pizzas

Hello everybody! To start, I'd like to thank everyone who has been asking me to start posting on the blog again. It means a lot to me that you have enjoyed reading my posts, I'll do my best not to take such a long break next time :) Now, with that said, back to business! I've realized lately that I haven't been cooking as many original recipes, so last night I tried to bring back my creative side a bit.

Anyone else who is single and living on their own knows that when you get home from work and you're tired, it's very easy to grab a frozen entree and stick it in the oven or microwave and call it a night. Personally, one of my favorites are the Stouffer's French Bread Pizzas. However, after what I ended up making for dinner last night, I don't think I will ever need to buy them again. Here are the ingredients that you will need:

1 French Baguette
1/2 Red Bell Pepper (sliced)
2 Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage links (sliced)
1/3 Jar Marinara Sauce
1/2 Cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (or more if desired)

To start, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is warming up, slice the baguette into 4 sections. Spray a baking sheet with canola oil and bake the 4 pieces of bread FACE DOWN for 5-6 minutes or until they are slightly crispy. In a frying pan, heat olive oil and cook the sausage and peppers over medium heat until the sausage is brown around the edges.

Remove the bread from the oven, and top with marinara sauce, cheese, sausage, and peppers. Place back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy! These are a very simple, quick, and delicious weeknight meal! Feel free to serve with a side salad or another side of your choice.

When life gives you lemons...

They say that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Over the past few days I have been enjoying some delicious turkey tacos that I made (great comfort food for a blizzard). Unfortunately, when I went to enjoy a few more last night, I discovered that 3 out of the remaining 4 shells were broken into pieces. Have you ever been eating hard shell tacos and had the contents of said tacos fall out onto your plate, in addition to pieces of the shells, and you end up eating those scraps with your fork? Well, last night I decided to make that into it's own meal instead. Ground turkey, shredded lettuce, salsa, and broken taco shells. What do you do when life gives you broken taco shells? You make a crunchy taco salad.

"Not so Sloppy" Joe's

As I sit here feasting on my work lunch (PB Sandwich, Carrots, String Cheese), I can't help but think about the leftovers from last night that are sitting in my fridge, just waiting for me to get home (is it 5:00 yet?). If you are looking for something that's delicious, can feed multiple people, and is WICKED easy to make, look no further! I kept seeing the Pillsbury ads for their Grands biscuits featuring this recipe, and I finally caved. Here are the ingredients you will need:

- 1 can of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 can Manwich Sauce
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or whichever cheese you desire)

Start out by cooking the ground beef until it's completely brown, then add in the Manwich sauce and let simmer for a few minutes.

Then, on a baking sheet, spread out each individual biscuit to a thin circle. Fill one half of each circle with the Manwich mixture, and sprinkle the desired amount of cheese on top.

Once filled, fold over the remaining dough and seal the mixture inside. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, or until the biscuits are golden brown. Take out of the oven and cool for a few minutes, and then enjoy! I served mine with some green beans and also paired it with a Smuttynose Old Brown Dog.

Leftovers - A crucial part of Cooking for One!

One of my Facebook friends recently commented on one of my posts about whether or not I take my leftovers to work for lunch the next day, and I realized that this is something that I should definitely post about! Leftovers are a huge part of someone who is living on their own and only cooking for one. It probably seems weird sometimes when I post about these giant meals that I make for myself, but not to worry, the food very rarely goes to waste! Most of the time when I am planning out my dinners for the week, I purposely choose meals that will last me at least 2-3 nights. That way, I save time by not having to cook every single night, and I also save a bunch of money! I typically don't have enough food to be able to bring some in to work for lunch (I usually just brown bag it, got to love good old PB sandwiches!), but it depends on what I make. If I make something really big like Lasagna or Risotto then I will definitely bring it into work and make everyone jealous when I heat it up in the kitchen. Now, about that Risotto that I mentioned....

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Recently I've been realizing that I have become really good at cooking a few select dishes, but haven't cooked anything different in the past few months. So I searched on the all powerful Twitter and found this great recipe for Pork Chops: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/parmesan-crusted-pork-chops-recipe.html?soc=whatscookingsocial_20140607_25477716.

Start out by seasoning the raw chops with the salt and pepper. The recipe says to "graciously" season them, but I would stay on the conservative side as I definitely used too much pepper. Next, cover each chop in the Parmesan cheese until it is fully coated. Then, dip into the egg and bread crumbs until it is fully coated again. Keep in mind that the order is important!

Once all of the chops have been seasoned/coated, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook each side for a few minutes until the crust is golden brown (as you can see in the photo below of the final product, I cooked mine a little too long). The cooking time is probably dependent upon the thickness of the pork. In my case, I used thin cuts so I tried to cook them for a shorter period of time than what the recipe called for.

Feel free to serve with whatever sides you want! I chose rice pilaf and some pickles, but there are many other options that would work well! Great recipe for the summer.

Simple Caesar Salad

If you are like me and you are living on a tight budget, it is sometimes hard to eat delicious food! Sure, it's easy to grab some Ramen noodles or Kraft macaroni and cheese off of the shelf and save a few dollars. BUT, if you think about what you already have in your kitchen, then you may only need a few other ingredients to make something delicious. I knew I had some grilled chicken in the fridge, and some croutons in the cupboard, so I decided to make a nice salad. All I had to pick up from the grocery store was some Spring Mix, Cherry Tomatoes (and any other veggies you want to add), and some dressing. Boom, done. A delicious yet simple and cheap dinner! I enjoyed mine with a refreshing summer shandy.