Roasted Cabbage

Cabbage is nutritious--and cheap! I recently found this recipe for roasted cabbage on Pinterest. I feel like I've made cabbage a thousand different ways, but I had never tried roasting. It was full of flavor and so ridiculously easy.





Roasted Cabbage Wedges
A Martha Stewart Recipe via Pinterest

Yield: Serves 6

Ingredients
1 tablespoon plus 2 more tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Place 1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds, in a single layer on sheet and brush with 2 tablespoons oil. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds. Roast until cabbage is tender and edges are golden, 40 to 45 minutes.


P.S. Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!

Salted Chocolate Brownies

This recipe is from Eat Skinny Be Skinny. These are most definitely some of the BEST low-fat brownies I've ever made (and I've tried several recipes). Icing on the (brownie) cake? They were so easy. I hope you enjoy.

Salted Chocolate Brownies

Yields: 12 – 14 brownies
Prep time: >10 minutes
Cook time: About 22 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons condensed milk
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8 inch x 8 inch glass pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and cocoa. Make a well with a spoon and set aside.
3. In another medium bowl, add chocolate and butter. Microwave on high for one minute, stir, and microwave for another 30 -60 seconds. Add sugar and mix until creamed. Add in condensed milk, egg, egg white and vanilla, stirring until fully combined. Pour the chocolate mixture into the well of the flour mixture and stir until there are no flour streaks.
4. Pour batter into the greased pan. Sprinkle additional salt over the batter and bake for at least 22 minutes. Chill brownies for at least an hour so they firm up. Enjoy!

Nutritional information per brownie: 125 calories, 2 grams of fat, 31 grams of carbohydrates, >1 gram of fiber and 1.8 grams or protein.

Pinterest = Delicious

Have you joined the Pinterest army? Are you pinning in your sleep?

If you use Pinterest, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

If not? Then prepare to be initiated into this quirky, fun, highly-addictive culture of pins, boards and re-pins, from which your world will never be the same.

Pinterest is an enormous online pin-board. A place to keep the mountains of links, photos and ideas you find online. In addition to the things you pin, you have the ability to see what others are pinning, follow their pin-boards and re-pin others’ pins. You can click here to get the lowdown.

Why am I singing the praises of Pinterest on Simple . Chic . Savory, a cooking blog? Because there are bucket loads of amazing recipes being pinned and shared. The site features a search tool which you can use to search for anything—including recipes. If you’re like me and e-mail yourself recipes or bookmark them in your web browser, Pinterest is also a great alternative. You can create pin-boards to organize your recipes in one place online.

Follow me on Pinterest at pinterest.com/mrsmiller.

Insanely-Easy Oven Fried Chicken

Easy, delicious and quick. This chicken was perfect.

Insanely-Easy Oven Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed
• 2 egg whites, beaten lightly
  
• 3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
• Salt (to taste)
• 1 tbsp Mrs. Dash seasoning
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• Olive oil

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
• Spread thin coat of olive oil in bottom of baking dish
• On one plate, place lightly beaten egg whites
• On a separate plate, mix potato flakes, salt, Mrs. Dash and pepper
  
• Dip chicken into egg whites and then into the dish containing the potato mixture.
• Place in the coated baking dish
• Using either a kitchen oil sprayer or simply a drizzling method, lightly spray the top of the chicken with a bit of olive oil (this helps it crisp and keep from burning)
• Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until chicken is fully-cooked

Coconut-Garlic Shrimp and Rice

Coconut-Garlic Shrimp and Rice

This recipe was inspired by a dish I recently saw online. The idea of the flavors really spoke to me, so I played around with some ingredients and ended up with a fantastic, one-pot meal. Beware sensitive tongues, it was a bit spicy. You could certainly omit the red pepper flakes and it would be much more mild. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 green pepper, chopped

1 banana pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

½ cup chopped onion

½ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried cilantro

Sea salt

1 pound pre-cooked shrimp (thawed)

14-ounce can of coconut milk (reduced fat)

14-ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chilis

1 ½ cups instant brown rice

Directions

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add green peppers, banana pepper, garlic and onion. Sautee for 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, cilantro and salt. Stir to combine. Add shrimp, coconut milk, diced tomatoes and brown rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer while covered for 20-25 minutes until you reach a stew or jambalaya-like consistency.

Currently Craving

Here are a few things my kitchen is currently craving:



















These adorable condiment spoons from Crate and Barrel.




















Epicurean Pizza Cutter from Williams Sonoma. We make pizza nearly weekly and I love the idea of slicing it with this rustic tool.

















The ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer. Today is National Coffee Ice Cream Day. Pretty sure this would be amazing for whipping up a cold treat. It's always a good time for ice cream.




















Vintage kitchen towels. I have a set my husband's late grandma made for us and I cherish them. However, I just can't bring myself to use them. Perhaps I'll try to make a set like these for myself.

Orzo

I wanted to share my new-found love for orzo. It's such a versatile, satisfying side dish. I can't believe I've waited so long to try it.

So far, we've made it adding Italian cheeses; served it cold as an orzo salad; and prepared it (as seen above) mixing roasted red peppers, olive oil, sea salt and feta.

I don't generally follow a recipe, but I plan to do so and share them here. I simply follow the cooking suggestion on the package and get creative with whatever add-ins I happen to have in my fridge and pantry.

I hope you'll find this suggestion useful, as the same old sides can leave a lot to be desired. Do you have any orzo recipe suggestions? I would love to hear them.