Tomato/Kale/White Bean Soup!

It's getting cooler in Norman, OK, FINALLY! I really wanted to enjoy some soup while the weather is cool, and I have been under the weather for the last week and a half. I love Kale, but I wasn't sure if Kale soup would be any good. Boy, was I wrong! This is delicious!

I found the recipe online, not remembering where exactly, but it's nice to find vegetarian and hearty soups/chilis for me and the boy. He can't eat much (I think it's horrible, but he enjoys his diet, and it's for his future success and career), so this was a winner!

Roasted Carrots

Well I just found my new snack! Carrots!

Taken with my iPhone because I wasn't expecting it to be as good as they were. Also I was starving and didn't want to waste time documenting it. Hah!

This recipe is super simple and is ready in 25 minutes. You just need four ingredients, and you'll probably just have to buy one!

3 Bean Chicken Chili

It's FALL! (Well, kind of) and I couldn't resist cooking up something for these upcoming cool nights. Last year I made turkey chili and couldn't find a recipe. So I just looked this recipe up and changed it up a bit. I wanted to use shredded chicken instead of ground turkey, but I bet it's just as good!

INGREDIENTS
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 small onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained
1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained
1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
2 tbsp chili powder

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook chicken and onions in a sauce pan until brown. To shred the chicken you'll want it to cook about 1/2 way and start piecing it apart with forks, then finish cooking it and sautéing the onions.

2. Place all of the other ingredients in a large pot along with the chicken and onion and let simmer for about 45 minutes on medium-high.

3. Top with cheese, onion, or whatever you like on your chili.

Mini Taco Bites

BOOMER!

Who is ready for football season?!?!

I am so excited!! It's my last OU football season as a University of Oklahoma student, and it's bittersweet. I want to go out with a bang!

I think my favorite thing about football season is the tailgating. It's fun, exciting, entertaining, and social. All of my favorite things. 

Not to mention the tailgating food! It's that time of year to cook up some unique finger foods, whether you'll be eating it on the couch at home watching the tube, or 500 feet away from the stadium under a tent with the rest of your tailgating group. 

 Alright. So let's talk tailgating food. Let's talk Mini Taco Bites.

These can be made with any kind of meat, any kind of cheese, any kind of taco topping. You can fill it with plain cheese if you don't eat meat, you can cook up ground beef instead of chicken, I bet even shrimp could be good! Or just a ton of vegetables! Use your imagination!

Quinoa Caprese Salad

I went on a cooking spree tonight and baked three dishes. I don't know if I'm feeling domestic, or just got bored. So I went a little crazy...

This recipe is amazing, I found it on Pinterest (of course) and I love caprese salad AND quinoa.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Guys and gals, welcome to the best page you will ever have come across if you are a pizza fan.

I am just shocked at how delicious this turned out. Shocked and EXCITED!

I came across this recipe on none other than Pinterest. My goodness I just love Pinterest so much. I don't know if anyone has this much love for a social media site. It just feeds my every desire of color, organization, collection, food... It's just so good.

At first I was skeptical, as I usually am when it comes to gluten-free baking. But let me just say, it's magical. I recently went on a diet to get rid of some extra fluff, so I stopped eating processed sugar and gluten. This became tedious and mundane, so I began to look up recipes with unique substitutions for both. It's so much fun! I never thought some of these things could be so delicious, and HEALTHY!

This recipe is so easy, I read it about 5 times before I started making it, just to make sure that I was doing it right.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. To rice cauliflower: Using a cheese grater, grate the cauliflower down to the stems.

2. Place it into a microwave safe bowl and cook it for 8 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

4. Take 1 cup of the cooked cauliflower, and mix in the mozzarella and the egg. Add in the herbs and press it into a greased lipped pan. I used a small 8"x10" jelly roll pan. Brush it will olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes.

5. Take it out of the oven and add preferred toppings. I used cooked chicken breast, half of a red bell pepper, a little bit of feta cheese, pizza sauce, spinach leaves, and topped it with mozzarella.

6. Put the pizza back in the oven with all the toppings and cook on broil for 4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Southwest Black Bean Salad

Hello to all my blogging fans!

I hate to break it to the dessert lovers, but I am currently on an experimental diet to see if I can get rid of this nasty cellulite under my butt. (I know we all have it, but I'm going to try to get rid of it!) With that being said, I can no longer eat starches. So there went all the desserts I love baking. I'm sure this diet won't last long, so hang in there! I've got some fabulous cupcake recipes I am dying to try!

I ran across this delicious recipe and got really excited. I looooove black beans, and CILANTRO! My favorite. My absolute favorite. So I whipped this up, but of course a little bit differently than the original recipe.

Mediterranean Fish Tacos

I told my wonderful boyfriend that I have been cooking dinner far too much these last few weeks, so he had to decide on a recipe and help me cook it tonight. It's true, I've been cooking far too much (probably every night, no joke). So I was excited when he came up with these delicious fish tacos!

Black Bean Soup

Well hey there blog readers. It has been a while. A long long while. I am currently in my upteenth semester taking 17 hours and having an internship and a job. Bad decision, by the way. Anyways, back to the point of you being here!

About a month ago, I bought some dry black beans at Wally World and remember the other day that I still had some soaking in the fridge. Oops! Luckily, it takes forever for black beans to go bad, so I went ahead and decided to cook them.

My first thought was black bean burritos, but then I remember that I had tried black bean soup at a local restaurant and LOVED it. So I went on a mission to find a delicious recipe for Mexican-style black bean soup.

I found the recipe here and liked most of the recipe. But if I liked the entire recipe, then this blog wouldn't exist, however... I changed it.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
3 teaspoons chili powder
A large pinch of fresh cilantro
3 15 oz cans of black beans
Black pepper, to taste
Pico de Gallo
Shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large pot, pour the oil and drop the onion into the pan, turn it on medium-low heat, and let it sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, chili powder and cilantro.

3. Puree 1 can of black beans, undrained, and place in the pot. Add another can, also undrained. Drain the last can and pour in to the pot.

5. Let is simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add any extra spices to taste.

6. Serve warm with pico, cheese, sour cream, or any of your preferred toppings.

Rich Tomato Soup

One night, it was cold, and I just wanted some soup. But I was kind of tired of just plain tomato soup, so I created my own recipe to enhance the deliciousness of basic tomato soup. Absolutely amazing and warming!

Sad panda, though, I didn't take any pictures because this was before I started blogging consistently. So until I make it again, no pictures. Don't worry though, it's still great!

Mozzarella-Pesto Wonton Rolls

I found this the same night I was looking for a tomato soup recipe. I did mine a bit different, but as always, they were amazing. I don't have many pictures, but when I make these again, I will include detailed directional photos.  I'm going to make this blog short, because it's probably my 5th one of the day, and it's getting late.

Ingredients:
A block of Mozzarella cheese, cut into little strips
A jar of Pesto (I bought mine a Homeland for about $3)
Wonton wrappers (mine are small, but you can buy and make them larger, which is probably a bit less tedious than the small ones)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. I would advise to set up a little wonton making station to make this quicker. You will want to place the wontons in a diamond shape from your perspective. Also, one more tip, is when you're folding the wonton wrapper, use a bit of oil from the pesto to close it. Wonton wrappers are sealed best with moisture. 

3. Place a strip of cheese onto the wrapper, then spread a small spoonful on the top of the cheese. Fold the wrapper over like you would fold a Subway sandwich paper, or a t-shirt: Right corner, left corner, the top corner, and roll.

4. Place these on a GREASED baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes, then flip them over and bake another

5. Don't panic, the cheese will stick some. That is why it needs to be a GREASED baking sheet. After you take these out of the oven, I advise placing them on a paper towel lined plate to drain some of the excess oil. Voila. Delicious mozzarella rolls for your tomato soup!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

I love making things from scratch. They just taste a million times better. I grew up in Houston, therefore homecookin' and Mexican food are my two favorite cuisines. Mmmmmm.

I happened upon this recipes because a long time ago, I made homemade flour tortillas at my grandma's house, and I could never figure out how to make the recipe again, so I started searching around and found this...

Let me just say: ah. may. zing.  They were just like I remembered. Flaky, delicious, thick, and perfect! And soooo easy to make.

I only have this one photo, but I'll be making them again soon, so I will post a picture then.

INGREDIENTS
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
3/4 c. shortening
3/4 c. hot water

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Using your hands or a pastry cutter or fork, cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly. Add in the hot water to make it moist.

2. With hand or fork, knead dough. Once it's kneaded, cover with a towel and let it rest for an hour.

3. Pull apart 10-12 balls. Using a rolling pin or a tortilla press flatten them to about an 1/8 inch thickness.

4. Cook in a skillet for 1-2 minutes until they are no longer doughy.