100 Days of Happy Photo Challenge: Week 1 & 2

So this last weekend I fell off the wagon. Didn't managed to get anything made for myself and Husband for breakfast. Mainly because of my desire to go walking on Saturday morning  with my Friend/Sister DJ and then when we returned to my home, DJ hung out until about 8 pm. Understand that we got lots of important things done during that day of fun (Dapper Day outfit pieces found as well as Halloween Costumes begun). Then on Sunday was Church, cleaning, and dinner with some long time friends of mine. So no post for today for a BFMH. It will come out again either some time this week or you'll get a double hit of it next week. w00t breakfast!

Instead, today I will showcase my latest personal challenge: #100daysofhappy on Instagram. 

Week 1

Day 1:  7/25: First day of SDCC for my crew.

Day 2: 7/26: A lovely sunset from the pedestrian bridge on the way to dinner with many friends on the Saturday of SDCC

Day 3: 7/27: Favorite Cosplay of the weekend!

Day 4: 7/28: Finally arrived in Michigan and enjoyed a lovely afternoon of Dockside Salsa, Wine, and family. ie brother in law is out on the Sunfish in this picture.

Day 5: 7/29: Being new to the family still, I didn't have to do much "dirty work" while the old dock got taken apart. I sure did enjoy watching Husband and Brother-in-Law take car of business while I listened to the "waves" slap again the rocks.

Day 6: 7/30: Family took a trip to Mackinac Island, where we rented bikes and road around the island. We also hit up the Fort and several lovely eateries including the Pink Pony and one of the Fudge Shops.

Day 7: 7/31: The water warmed up enough to get into the water at the Lake, especially once I had my Gin and Tonic Suit on.

Day 8: 8/1: After a few hold ups on the road, we were finally back in StL and got to enjoy the company of one Furbaby name Hannah the dog.

Day 9: 8/2: Le Grands: A Rally Squirrel Sandwich, a Fitz's Orange Soda, and a bag of Red Hot Riplets...how could this meal get any more St Louis?

Day 10: 8/3: One last meal with the Family, complete with Homemade Brownies, Homemade Fudge Sauce, and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

Day 11: 8/4: Reunited with awesome people like Kris from How to Feed a Starving Artist.

Day 12: 8/5:  Frito Pie! Homemade Vegetarian Chili sure does take it the extra mile.

Day 13: 8/6: A Fridge Full of Love: A photo of my "Aunt" Diane and I at Chuckie Cheese's and a Postcard from our Honeymoon Friends, The Thurmans.

Day 14: 8/7: This was originally a video of my friends' dogs playing with each other, which rarely happens as one is rather shy (Guess what, the Corgi isn't the shy one).

There you have it....with many more to come! I will start posting these on Friday weekly for y'all. You can see lots of other fun photos on my Instagram: @littlecatbock

Vegetarian Ratatouille thanks to what was in my fridge.

Okay, so no, this is perfect ratatouille. It was acceptable for my diet and I already had these things thanks to what I had already made for the week.

(what we had in the fridge) Ratatouille

Ingredients

2 yellow squash, sliced

2 zucchini squash, sliced

1 onion, yellow, sliced

1 can of tomato sauce

salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme

Mozzarella and Parmesan, grated (leave off for vegan or use sub)

Method

Arrange squashes and onion in festive manner within a deep baking pan.

Mix spices into tomato sauce until fragrant (let's say a teaspoon each, or to taste)

Pour tomato sauce over veggies and sprinkle grated cheese over all.

Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.

The squash is not too squishy!

This isn't the best or even a great recipe, but it did the trick for a vegetarian dinner for the week. For the animal lovers out there, adding some chicken to the dish would be simple and satiating.

Not super pretty, but quite yummy.

Until the next vegetarian meal...

If Tuna is the Chicken of the Sea, then Chicken is the Tuna of the Land.

Husband dislikes mayo. Not to say he won't eat something made with it, but he can't know that it is in there or taste it. I make due with Greek Yogurt and Lemon juice to supplement the creaminess and then sharp flavor and thus far, it has been working out great. Until I decided to make Tuna Salad. Tuna Salad really is the only thing that I like Mayo in. I am not a huge fan of mayo either, but there are some things that just need a little kick of it. So I came up with a recipe that I deemed great for my taste buds and Husbands.

Cat's Husband Friendly Avocado Tuna Salad

Ingredients

3 cans of tuna, packed in water, drained

1 avocado, chopped

1/4 cup chopped tomato

1/4 cup red onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup shopped carrot

1 roasted Serrano pepper, deseeded and chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 teaspoons of Mayo (we don't keep it in the house, so individual packets from Disneyland were used)

Combine all the above ingredients. Then add Greek yogurt, until desired consistency is achieved. I think I used about 1/2 -3/4 of a cup. Serve in a wrap or on a lettuce bed.

As Husband is not low carb right now, he had his in a wrap and was well satiated. 

I rocked out the good old Lettuce boats for this one.

This turned out nicely. I think it could have used just some lime or lemon to give it a kick in the seat, it was light yet filling, perfect for lunch. Try it out. 

Decadence in a green grape

This is another pin that I pinned with in the first month of my Pinterest account. Now, 2 year later, I finally made it! This one doesn't look like much either, but it turned out to be much more work than I expected. 

Super Decadent Green Grapes

Ingredients

1 container of green grapes

8 oz Goat Cheese

1/4 cup Honey

1 cup almond meal

Method

Wash and pick the grapes off the vine they might be on.

Pinching off a bit of goat cheese (1.5 teaspoons let's say), roll the grape in your hands with the goat cheese to coat the grape with said cheese. You may not get all the sides fully coated. This is ok. The honey takes care of them.

Dab honey on the cheese coating and then roll in almond meal.

Skewer with a tooth pick, if desired. Serve with an air of refinement.

I didn't toothpick mine. I couldn't find my toothpicks. What a horrid hostess I am. Anyway, I actually through mine in the freezer for a little while as it was incredibly warm in my home when I made them and didn't want my hard work to melt off. 

It was expressed that most people liked them more when the grape had reach room temperature, so perhaps just throwing them in the fridge would have worked better for the taste buds of the guests and Husband.

They were very well received by all, but me. I just feel like it was too much work for a D&D night, so I will probably make them again, but for a holiday party or something. For something super important.

Mini versions of things aren't always mini on flavor.

Today's taste explosion was something I pinned early in my Pinteresting "career", like the first week. I finally had an event that would accommodate such a snack. I give Mini Taco Cups!

They are super easy. Cook up a pound of ground beef with taco seasonings and chopped onions Then using Scoop Tostada Chips, arrange meat in the "cups" and sprinkle cheese over. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 or until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa, dip, etc.

Nothing to shake a stick at, but it has a good flavor and my guests noticed the extra mile that was taken my building them. I served with with chipotle pepper tomato salsa, salsa verde, and a bit of left over sour cream mixed with salsa verde to make a little creamy dip.

Perfect for a movie night or, in our case, D&D night.

BFMH: Chewy Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

So technically these bad boys were made for last weekend as well as the Quesadilla, but I figured that it could count for this week as I won't be cooking. I made these bad boys for the weekend for Husband, Aaron, and myself (and probably Z as we will be meeting up with him).

Chocolate Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup oats

2/3 cup cocoa powder, preferably dark cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup of butter, softened

1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used vanilla flavor)

1 large ripe banana

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup White Chocolate Chips or other mix in of your choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine your white whole wheat flour, oats, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine your softened butter, Greek yogurt and banana. Mix with a mixer until smooth. Add in sugar and brown sugar and mix until well combined. Mixture may have a slightly curdled appearance due to the yogurt, don't worry, this is okay. Add in your eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Slowly add in dry ingredients to wet ingredients, stirring until combined, but not over mixing. Add in your chocolate chips or other mix ins.

Drop your cookies onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat (if you do not have these, make sure to lightly spray your pans with cooking spray and remove cookies immediately after taking out of the oven, to avoid sticking). Use approximately two tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie (a large cookie scoop). Leave 2" of space between cookies.

Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Husband and I agree, this photo makes it look like corn poop. Trust me though, super yummy!

I ended up adding Butterscotch chips as my other mix in of your choice and it turned out very nicely. I had made so many of the cookies that I took them to the Softball game to feed the players and it seemed like they guys liked them too. 

Success!

Was the Buffalo Chicken wing invented...

Last week, I made easy yet totally decadent Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Boats...

Look at this recipe, it is SO easy.

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Boat

Recipe:

2 good sized Chicken Boobs (Frozen or thawed)

1 tablespoon of Coconut oil (I used frozen thanks to me smoothies)

1 bottle of Buffalo Sauce

1/2- 3/4 cup of Non Fat Greek Yogurt (varies on if chicken was frozen or )

Hot Pepper Sauce i.e. Frank's Red Hot (optional)

1 Heart of Romaine Lettuce

Blue Cheese for Garnish

Method:

Put Oil and Chicken into Slow Cooker for 4-5 hours on low. Top with about a 1/4 cup of buffalo sauce

With 2 forks, shred chicken when tender.

Add Greek yogurt bit by bit, stirring in portions of yogurt, until the chicken saturated and coming together. 

Add more Buffalo Sauce to taste as well as additional Hot Sauce if desired.

Tear leaves from the heart of Romaine, wash thoroughly, and pat dry.

Scoop chicken into Lettuce Boats and garnish with blue cheese.

Those boobs have a long day ahead of them...

Crockpot Action: Engage!

Boom!

Like I said, these were extra easy and very little work, especially if you used store brought Buffalo Sauce, or you can use my recipe. A perfect low carb and rather healthy way to get a Buffalo Sauce finger food fix.
Try it out sometime!

Until the next meal...


**Today's title comes from Calvin Trillin, Third Helpings:Was the Buffalo Chicken wing invented when Teressa Bellissimo thought of splitting it in half and deep frying it and serving it with celery and blue-cheese dressing? Was it invented when John Young started using mambo sauce and thought of elevating wings into a specialty?”**