Honey, Garlic, & Bacon Broccoli Rabe

It has been quite the long while since I posted anything on here. I've posted many of our cooking adventures on instagram with our lovely tags but that is the lazy woman's catalogue. I came up with a side dish the other day for the holidays, and we enjoyed it so much I figured it was a sin not to share it.

I chuckled after perusing the last post I put up on this blog and realized life has a funny way of changing your fitness goals. Back then I was very committed to losing weight and I had been successful. However, having a baby has altered my routine and it has certainly been a challenge getting back to that point I had set as a goal. It's a life-long struggle. This dish is in no way diet friendly, so I do apologize for that...lol! There is that beautiful saying, "It's not how you are between Thanksgiving and Christmas; it's how you are between Christmas and Thanksgiving."

I am a leafy green lover. However, I have never been able to love broccoli rabe. I try it religiously whenever it's served. I fully embrace pushing yourself to acquire tastes that do not come easy. There have been many other foods that I wasn't crazy about the first time but became favorites after repeated tastes. Broccoli Rabe just isn't one of them. This doesn't stop me from buying and making it because my Spanish-Italian husband absolutely loves them. I feel I also owe it to my Spanish-Italian/Mut baby to master a veggie that's a staple in her heritage foods. After numerous methods I gave it another shot this past week and was really excited about the result. I actually enjoyed them! To those other broccoli rabe skeptics out there, this is one recipe I'd love for you to give a shot and let me know if it made a believer out of you!

Bonus: Only 4 ingredients needed! Disclaimer: The pictures are from a trial run so there is far too much bacon and not enough broccoli rabe. If you prefer it that way, nix one of the bunches. Also, in the picture I had used a slab of bacon rather than precut.

This recipe is simple and easy, and perfect for the holidays. it can be used as a yummy side to your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, or it could even be used as a main dish alternative to ham!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of your favorite bacon (cut into 1inch bite-size pieces) (I like center cut) 
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 big bunches broccoli rabe (washed, big stems removed, roughly chopped, shake off excess water or use a salad spinner if available)

Optional for festive garnish: dried cranberries


Directions:
1) Place large non-stick pan on stove over medium heat. Once hot, add bacon and cook until what would be crispy but do not remove.

2)Drizzle honey over bacon and cook until it starts to caramelize.

3)Add crushed garlic and cook until browned. Be careful not to burn!

4)Using tongs to mix and turn as it cooks, add broccoli rabe as it will fit. It cooks down rather quickly if you keep continuously turning the whole batch with the tongs. Cook until just wilted.

5) Plate and serve. Add garnish if desired.

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!

Detox and Skinny Taste

So today I am officially back on track towards losing weight in a fun, healthy way. At the beginning of the summer I was close to losing 20lbs in total but I took my vacation a little too seriously and in only three months gained half of it back. No bueno. But, looking positively, at least I am still not at my heaviest. A new beginning is always more exciting, anyway. Mom and I are pumped to get back on track.

Therefore, with a new fresh start I have been revisiting an old friend. During my successful weight loss, I was feeling great and making recipes by this woman religiously. I can rave all night about this Gina Homolka. She's pretty much one of my heros. I have made over fifty of her recipes and she never ceases to 'wow' me with her ability to lighten up or reinvent my favorite foods. It's healthy eating with an explosion of flavor, which makes it so easy not to miss all the processed junk. I love all the fresh produce she uses. My favorite part about her is that when she creates a recipe, she calculates all of the nutritional facts so that it makes tracking on WW a piece of cake (lol...because cake is yummy.)

Every time I make one of hers, or any other WW friendly meal, I pin it to this board. Feel free to ask about any of these recipes, but definitely, anything by Skinnytaste is a safe bet.

Tonight we made her Grilled Chicken w/ Black Bean and Mango Salsa. Even with 2 servings it was only about 13 points. That's great for a dinner. As usual, we were happy customers.

Also, for my birthday my mom got me a Nutribullet. She and I were looking at a demo a while back and I guess I just happened to mention that I would like to try it someday. Moms are cool like that. Ergo, a new smoothie addiction is underway. They are very high in points, but also very filling. Still reading up on the health benefits and weighing the pros and cons. This week we have been doing the "Toxin Cleansing Blast." 1-2 handfuls rinsed spinach, 1 cored pear, 1 banana, 1 cored apple, 1 cup pineapple, water. It's pretty delicious.

If you're thinking to yourself, "I really hope she isn't making Stephen diet with her. The boy has absolutely no fat to spare," No worries. Stephen eats at least three portions of everything, with a beer on the side. I just like that he's eating three helpings of healthy. Also, he enjoys all of this. We have a blast. =)

Stephen and Sarah's Tortilla Soup Recipe

Stephen and I love to cook together. Early in our relationship, probably 60% of our dates involved either learning together how to cook in my shared college kitchen, much to the dismay of my suite mates, or making a mess in his parents kitchen on nights they allowed us to experiment making dinner for them. As we grew in love together we also both adapted an incredible desire to try new things and take on all kinds of foodie challenges. Now that we are married, it is rare that we ever have the same meal twice. With work, Stephen doesn't get to join me in the kitchen as often. But, with his current occupation, he is always coming home with fresh produce grown locally that I have never heard of and we set to work learning about new techniques and different tastes. (Most recently we discovered Kabocha Squash. So yummy!) To wrap this all up, I decided a while back that I wanted to document some of our adventures on a cooking blog, but life happened at accelerated paces as it always seems to do, and the project got pushed to the side. But, here we are, attempting to make a new start.

I myself am a self-proclaimed cooking blog junky and many things I post on here will be taken from other, much more experienced, culinary magicians. I am learning more and more about healthy food and have grown a huge appreciation for making as much from scratch as possible.

For my first post though, I wanted to share a recipe that Stephen and I created together. It was probably one of the first meals we ever made and it was taken from a very vague recipe a friend had given me. It had a bunch of ingredients but no measurements or directions on when to add them! So from that list we tried and tasted to get some ideas of our own, added some ingredients and garnishings (is that a word?) and without further ado I now present our Tortilla Soup Recipe. Enjoy!

Stephen and Sarah's Tortilla Soup (Makes a large pot)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs 80/20 ground beef
• 3 cloves minced or crushed garlic
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 can (for all of the times I write "can," I just mean regular size) diced garlic & oil tomatoes
• 1 can diced Italian tomatoes (one with mixed herbs garlic, basil, etc)
• 5-6 cans beef broth
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 BIG can of black beans
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 can of pink beans
• 1 T of cumin (more or less, depending on your taste)
• 2 t of turmeric (more or less, depending on your taste)
• 2 packets of taco mix seasoning
• 2 cans of whole kernel corn
• 5 (or more, depending on how much you like the spicy) dashes of Tabasco Green Pepper
• Juice of 1 whole lime
• 6 diced fresh Roma tomatoes 

     For Garnish:

• 1 bag of hearty Mexican restaurant-style tortilla chips
• Sour Cream
• Regular Tabasco (if needed)
• Ripe avocado slices
• Grated/shredded Mexican cheese

Directions: (Really simple. Aside from chopping a couple things, soups are pretty stress-free.)

In a large skillet, brown the beef together with the garlic and onions until the pink leaves the meat. It's ok if the peppers are not cooked through. They will cook down in the pot. Add the browned meat, garlic, and peppers to a large soup pot. 

Then basically just add the rest of the ingredients prior to garnishing and simmer for as many hours as you would like. The more the better. 

When ready to serve, garnish. Enjoy!