I love food.  In fact, that's probably pretty obvious when you scroll through my blog posts and see how many are about recipes that I love.  My most recent obsession is the avocado.  I love it.  It's so creamy and it has such a mild flavor.  My favorite way to eat avocado is on a sandwich.  My recipe is really simple.  Not much to it at all, but this sandwich is really satisfying.  

It's so satisfying, that I ate half the sandwich before I even remembered that I was going to take a picture of it.  Oops.

What you need:

1 Haas avocado

1 tomato 

1 Tbsp Hellman's lite mayo

2 slices of bread

Salt and pepper to taste

Toast your bread first.  It makes the sandwich easier to handle.  Slice up your tomato.  Halve the avocado and twist it apart.  Slice the avocado while it is still in the peeling, then squeeze it to get the slices out.  Layer the avocado slices and tomato on the bread.  Lightly salt and pepper the tomatoes.  Spread the mayo on the other piece of bread.  Voila!  It is finished.  

I think it would also be nice (and more decadent) to add a few slices of bacon and some melted mozzarella on here.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Good eats!

Ain't nothing like some cheese and marinara!

As a college student, eating good food can be hard.  My roommates and I don't share groceries, so purchasinsg fresh produce, breads, and dairy products can be difficult since they don't last long after you buy them.  I wanted to share a meal that is easy, inexpensive, uses fresh vegetables, and tastes GREAT.

Here is my version of Eggplant Parmesan:

Ingredients

1 medium size eggplant

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

3/4 cup egg substitute

Vegetable oil

1 jar marinara sauce

2 cups of finely grated mozzarella cheese

Directions

Slice the eggplant in 1/2 inch slices.  Coat each slice in egg substitute and then cover with bread crumbs. In a frying pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan, cook eggplants slices on medium high heat until browned on both sides, flipping once.  Lay the slices on paper towel after cooking to drain excess oil.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish with marinara sauce.  Layer eggplant, more sauce, and 1 cup of cheese.  Repeat this one more time so that you have 2 layers.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  

You can eat the eggplant parmesan alone or serve it was noodles or your choice.  Eat up!

Oh, the excitement!

Oh, the tastiness!

This stuff also heats up well in the microwave.  Although I could probably eat the whole dish...I think I will just have it again tomorrow night.  And maybe the next day for lunch.  :)

"Because you don't live near a bakery doesn't mean you have to go without cheesecake." -Hedy Lamarr

This past week my mama bought us a new spring form cheesecake pan since our last one managed to get warped.  So what did I do?  I went home and I made a cheesecake.  For my birthday in June we went to eat at a restaurant named Nami's and for dessert my mom ordered a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.  Since she loved it so much, I decided I would search for the best recipe and try to recreate what she had at Nami's.  

If you've never checked out www.pillsbury.com, you're truly missing out.  There is an abundance of delicious and simple recipes.  In fact, I love pillsbury.com so much I've blogged about them a couple of times.  Anyway...I found the recipe I was looking for at: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/white-chocolate-raspberry-cheesecake/3628c6b0-d06c-46a5-b1db-a31d73741aec/

I've made cheesecakes before, and they usually crack or either don't completely set up in the middle.  BUT...this recipe was perfect.  Because of the lack of ingredients at my local grocery store, I had to skip out on the chocolate wafer cookie crumbs and fresh raspberries, but the cake was great none-the-less. 

I'm not sure why the cheesecake looks so yellow in the picture, because it was more of an off-white color.

So...if you're looking for a great recipe, I assure you that this one will be a hit.

Souplantation

This summer I ate at a restaurant called Souplantation several times while in California.  Souplantation is also known as Sweet Tomatoes in some areas of the US.  Unfortunately, I've never seen either one around here, but supposedly there are four in the state of Georgia.  If you've ever been to Sweet Tomatoes, you know how good it is.  The restaurant is buffet style.  You walk in a first you can make yourself a salad.  They have every topping you could possibly think of and they have a few prepared salads for you to choose from.  The salad is my favorite part of the dining experience.  They have soup, pasta, and delicious dessert, but nothing can beat the salad.  My favorite prepared salad is the sweet broccoli salad.  I was thinking about how good this salad was earlier today and I decided to look up some recipes.  Luckily, I came across the supposed exact recipe that Sweet Tomatoes uses!!!  I can't even describe the excitement that I am feeling.  I can't wait to go home and make this for my family this weekend.  I hope they like broccoli!

Ingredients:

1 head raw broccoli

1/2 cup crumbled cooked bacon

1/2 cup cashews

1/3 cup raisins 

1/4 cup chopped red onion

Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise 

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Wash broccoli and pat dry. Chop off bottom 2 inches or so of stems and break head into florets. Place in a large bowl; add bacon, cashews, raisins and red onion. In a separate small bowl for the dressing, combine mayonnaise, sugar and cider vinegar; stir until smooth. Toss broccoli mixture with dressing. Let set approximately 10 minutes before serving. Serve on chilled salad dishes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

   

Its' a bird! It's a plane! No, it's the Pillsbury Doughboy!!

I love cooking, or at least trying to cook.  When it comes to making something delicious the quick and easy way, Pillsbury is the way to go.  You can come up with all sorts of recipes using Pillsbury products but if you aren't creative enough to do it yourself, just check out the Pillsbury website: http://www.pillsbury.com/

I have made several things using some of the recipes that I found here.  I've made pizzas, pinwheels, fajita pockets...You name it and there is a recipe for it.

Just look at some of these pictures taken from the pillsbury website (if you make it, it will still look this good) and see if your mouth doesn't start watering.  Mine is!