FroYo

I came home for the weekend.  The main reason was to spend time with my family and just relax.  However, there was another aspect motivating me to come home.  I had to meet a new member of the family!

ICE CREAM MAKER!  That's right...I, Jodie, bought an ice cream maker.  It is a fairly large appliance and I just don't have the room for it at my fraternity house.  So, I had it shipped home.  It arrived a few weeks ago and I have been itching to meet it since then.  I have also been doing my research and looking for good frozen yogurt recipes.

FroYo (Frozen Yogurt) is my favorite dessert.  Hands down.  I am a huge sweets person, but ice cream takes the cake (no pun intended) every time.  I am also a huge health person, so when I decided to get healthy and work on losing some weight, I had to make a tough decision regarding ice cream.  That is when I developed my love for frozen yogurt.  It is still just as delicious and you feel way less guilty about eating it.  I found some fantastic recipes involving greek yogurt and I decided to try them out on my new appliance.

Greek yogurt is great.  I am a huge fan of any recipe that uses greek yogurt as some sort of dairy substitute.  It is lower in sugar, low-fat, and high in protein.  That makes it a staple in my fridge and a super food in my life.  These following recipes are so basic and so yummy!  All you need is some plain greek yogurt, sugar or a sugar substitute, vanilla extract, and whatever toppings/flavors you want for your frozen yogurt!

Here is what I made:

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt (from Marcus Samuelsson)

Ingredients:
3 cups non-fat plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Using a mixer, mix all the ingredients together until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Make ice cream according to the directions from your ice cream maker.
Enjoy :)

We spiced this guy up with chocolate and caramel sauce that my parents got while on a vacation in Door County. Mmmmm...

Dark Chocolate Frozen Yogurt (adapted from Healthy Food for Living)

Ingredients:
3 cups non-fat greek yogurt (Again, Chobani)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Using a mixer, mix the yogurt, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla until well combined and the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Make ice cream according to directions from your ice cream maker and add the chocolate chips in about 5 minutes before the ice cream is done.

Enjoy :)

Healthy Salmon

Today was a lovely day.  I woke up, worked out, showered, and then spent the day with Mommy.  She was able to take me with her to her yoga class.  This class was amazing.  I always forget about how great I feel when I slow down and just spend time relaxing and focusing on bettering myself.  I am so busy when I am at school that this 1 hour did wonders for me.  That's when it hit me: If I can find an hour a week to do something relaxing and good for me, like stretching or focusing on my breathing, I can probably do wonders for my health.  I need to find a good yoga experience or something similar at school.

After yoga, we went to Target.  Target has to be the best store in the world.  I always have such a fun time walking around and I can never leave without buying something.  Last week, it was the much needed green bow for St. Patrick's Day.  This time, it was socks, shoes, cereal, and make-up.  This was arguably a better Target trip because I'm pretty sure that these things are actual necessities, although the bow is pretty fantastic.

Then there was grocery shopping.  Mom and I already decided on salmon for a good family dinner, but we were working out the rest of the details.


Salmon is fantastic because it is so good for you and you can do basically anything you want with it.  It is also my mom's go-to meal. We wanted to do something healthy and I wanted to do something that I don't have that often at college.  Fish is the perfect solution.

We found a recipe for a healthy chipotle salmon over at The Girl Who Ate Everything.  The recipe called for Adobo sauce.  We read the recipe quickly and then ran out the door to do yoga and go shopping.  By the time we made it to the grocery store, I couldn't remember if it was Adobo sauce or Adobo seasoning.  I ended up finding Adobo seasoning first and purchasing it.  Long story short: our salmon was less chipotle-y and more just healthy and a little sweet.  Here's how it went:

Healthy Salmon

Simple and Beautiful

Ingredients:
Salmon filet (about 5 servings)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
dash of Adobo seasoning (about 1-2 tsp)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, salt, and olive oil.  Rub this mixture over the salmon filet.  Next, sprinkle Adobo seasoning over the top.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake salmon for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how well-done you would like your salmon.
Enjoy :)

Savory Veggie Quiche-Lightened Up!

Dinner tonight was fantastic.  We had healthy salmon and then we also made a savory quiche.  My friend Leigh made this great quiche last week and she found a recipe that suggested a potato crust to lighten up the dish.  This is great because it makes the dish so much better for you, and easier to make! Win-Win! I have been craving quiche ever since.

Ages ago, I saved a recipe from Naturally Ella that was for a Roasted Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onion, and Gorgonzola Quiche. This looked so good and incorporated some of my favorite foods.  Since my mom and I were set on making a healthy meal, I figured this was the perfect dish to accompany the salmon.  I adjusted it slightly because we wanted to use some mushrooms and then lightened it up with the potato crust and egg whites! 

Savory Veggie Quiche-Lightened Up!

Ingredients:

1 large russet potato

1 large sweet potato

1/2 cup mushrooms

3 large, sweet onions

1 tsp salt

3-4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese

3 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 1/2 cups skim milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

dash of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel and slice the russet potato into rounds about 1/4 inch thick.  Grease a quiche or pie pan (9 inch pie pan probably works best, I used an 11 inch quiche pan and my dish couldn't fit all the eggs...uh oh!).  Place the rounds on the bottom of the pan and along the sides. Again, I had to cut some of my rounds in half so that I could line them along the sides of my quiche pan. Bake the potato crust in the oven for 10 minutes or until the potatoes start to look translucent.  Set aside to cool.

Oven ready

Done!

2. Peel and slice the onions into 1/4 inch thick slices.  In a medium skillet, heat onions with 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium to low heat for 20 minutes, tossing occasionally.  Add in the 1 tsp of salt and continue to cook for another 45-60 minutes, tossing every 15-20 minutes.  Onions will be soft, brown, and translucent.

Done!

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Peel and slice the sweet potato into 1/4 inch thick rounds.  Toss potato slices with 1 tbsp of olive oil and place on a covered baking sheet.  Bake for about 20 minutes until potatoes soften and start to brown.

4. In another skillet, sauté the mushrooms with 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium to low heat until they are soft and browned.  This should take around 30 minutes.

All ready to saute!

Done!

5.  Once all of these items are ready, assemble the quiche.  Place sweet potato slices over the bottom of the crust.  Cover with the onions and mushrooms and then sprinkle the cheese over everything.

Oven-Ready

Done!

6. Finally, beat the eggs, egg whites, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Pour egg mixture over everything in the quiche pan.  Bake quiche at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until quiche stays firm when shaken.

Enjoy :)

This dish is full of great, healthy tastes and made me feel really great.  I am definitely going to make it again.  Next time, I will probably just make a sweet potato crust instead of double potatoes, and I might use a different cheese or more cheese.

I felt great about all the healthy choices I made today...and then we got gelato...

  

Portillo's

Home Sweet Home

I am home for the weekend in good old Chicago.  I am so happy to have the whole weekend to relax and spend time with my family.  I drove home with a friend on Thursday and when I got home my mom had already brought in dinner.

Portillo's! Portillo's is the greatest.  You can pretty much get any type of food there and all the food is amazing.  From Chicago-style hot dogs to Italian beef sandwiches to pasta or ribs, they truly do it all.  I simply love it.  I always get the chopped salad and of course that is what my mom had waiting for me when I got home.

Also, this is how great my mom is, she had chocolate cake.  Portillo's chocolate cake is FANTASTIC.  I think it is the best cake of all time and I would give anything to figure out how it is made.  Or, perhaps it is better that I don't find out...

Anyways, this meal was epic and it was a great way to start a fantastic weekend with my family.  Has anyone else experience Portillo's before, and if you have, any suggestions for making a copy-cat chocolate cake or for reinventing their amazing house dressing???