WIWIWEW: What I Wish I Were Eating Wednesday
PIN IT!Hello friends!
Breakfast:
Bacon, egg and cheese toast cups from Martha Stewart. Like, are you freakin’ kidding me here? I would eat all 6 of these in one swift chomp. I SO want to make these this weekend and indulge with a morning mimosa. You hear that stomach? I have no room for your shenanigans!
A nice steamin’ glass of Peet’s coffee. My coffee at work is less than stellar, so some legit coffee would really work to perk me up. Plus, I wouldn’t say no to an apple cider doughnut, I’m just sayin’.
Lunch:
A big ol’ honkin piece of spin dip pizza. As I was writing the post yesterday, I was legitimately drooling like a dog. Now, as I stare at this photo again, I’m faced with the same problem. I am DYING for a piece of this again. Looks like I’ll have to make another pizza pie tonight. Aww shucks 😉
Snack:
Spicy roasted chick peas are the BOMB.COM y’all. They are so flavorful and have the perfect amount of kick. Plus, they are much healthier (with substantially less sodium) than peanuts or cashews! They are super addicting though, I warn you!
Dinner:
This AMAZING spinach, lemon and orzo soup from Cassie at Bake Your Day. It looks so flavorful and comforting, especially on this cold, yucky rainy day. Cassie, will you be a dear and send me some via USPS? or owl?
Homemade garlic bread from Pinterest. I mean, seriously, you can’t have soup without a crunchy, delicous piece of bread to go with it, right?
Dessert:
A bloody severed finger is the perfect end to a delicious day of eating, don’t you think? Check out this recipe guys, it’s the PERFECT scare your friends shitless recipe!!
What are y’all eating today? Anything you wish you could eat if calories weren’t an issue?
Eat Skinny Be Skinny Recipes: Spin Dip Surprise
One of my favorite indulgences, EVER, in the entire world is spinach and artichoke dip. I could drink this stuff, really, it’s gross. No matter where we go for dinner, if there’s spin dip (that’s what we call spinach artichoke dip, in the biz) I’ll order it. Seriously. I don’t care where I am, who I’m with. This stuff is liquid gold to me. However, each time I try to re-create this creamy, spinachy goodness, it falls short. It’s still delicious and I still eat it (I mean, who am I to waste perfectly good food?) but it doesn’t have that restaurant taste. Maybe because I don’t add all those pesky (albeit delicious) preservatives? Either way, I got my spin dip craving on Friday alongside another frequent fatty, although very unrelated craving as well. So, my insane mind decided to mix em together.
Can you guess what I did? Need another hint?
I MADE A PIZZA PIE! If you think there is nothing better than spin dip, you are wrong. Spin dip pizza is the most delicious thing in the entirety of spin dip and pizza. The crunchy crust creates the perfect compliment to the ooegy, gooey, cheesy topping. Plus, the fresh, juicy tomatos and artichokes add the perfect tangy/sweetness. And, of course, I added liberal dashes of crushed red pepper to give every orgasmic bite the right amount of kick.
Plus, each slice has just shy of 170 calories and 6 grams of fat (thank you fat free Ricotta cheese!) So you can indulge and still fit into your skinny jeans. (How do I know this? I shoved my self into my size too small Rock & Republics while eating and they still fit, very snugly, but still fit.) Guys, I’m not lying when I say that I don’t know if I can enjoy spin dip with the same delight anymore. I may always have to eat it in pizza form.
PS. Aren’t the photos amazing? Those are courtesy of my roomie Ryan Hicks, who is breaking into the photography biz. Give him a shout out, won’t you? He’s teaching me his trendy food ways!
Spin Dip Pizza Pie
CLICK HERE FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS RECIPE.
Yield: 1 10 inch pizza
Prep time: >10 minutes
Cook time: 10-12 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 12 inch whole wheat pizza crust
- 1 6 ounce containor (or 1 cup) of fat free ricotta cheese
- 1 5-6 ounce package of frozen spinach, cooked and seperated
- 6 artichoke hearts, drained fully and chopped
- 1 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- Liberal dashes of salt and pepper
- 3/4 12 ounce can of italian seasoned diced tomatos, drained
- 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup of Parmesean cheese
- Liberal dashes of crushed red pepper
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
How to Make It:
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Spread olive oil over crust. Mix three cheeses, spinach, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes together. Using a spoon, spread cheese mixture over crust and cover evenly.
- Add artichoke hearts, tomatoes, garlic and more red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.
- Bake pizza for about 10-12 minutes on a pizza plate, or until crust is browned and cheese is melted.
- Eat and repeat, my friends. This stuff is good!
What I wouldn’t do for a gigantic slice of this AMAZING pie right now. Like, I’d probably sell a kindey or something. The metly cheese and tangy, yet savory artichokes make the world’s most perfect pizza. Totally worth a kindey. I mean, that’s why we have two, right?
Nutritional information per slice: 170 calories, 6.2 grams of fat, 50 grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of protein.
Celebrate National Pasta Day with My Favorites!
I love these national “insert food item here” days. I think they were solely created to give food bloggers inspiration, don’t you? 🙂 Either way, I’m ALL OVER national pasta day. I’m pretty sure I could eat pasta for the rest of my life and die the world’s happiest person. Spaghetti (or psgetti as I used to call it) has been an absolute staple in my life for about as long as I could eat it. So to celebrate my love for spaghetti (and lasagna, macaroni, bow ties, pasta salad, noodle casserole, etc) here’s a roundup of my absolute FAVORITE pasta dishes! This obession just further solidifies the fact that I need to go back to Italy.
If not for the pasta, at least for those views, right?
Spaghetti with Chunky Marinara
Bacon, Goat Cheese & Squash Pasta
Goat Cheese, Spinach and Chicken Pasta
Happy pasta day, carbivores!!
Fun in the Fall: An Adventure in West Virginia
WEST VIRGINIA, HEY HEY! Isn’t there a song that has those lyrics or something? No? I’m crazy? That’s fine. I’m totes okay with that. Whether there is a song or not, I spent my Saturday trapezing in the countryside of Harpers Ferry, WV for a spooky Living Social adventure.
Honestly, the whole week leading up to it I was convinced my kidneys were going to be harvested and I was going to get murdered by a backwoods redneck. Safe to say, I made it through unharmed and with lots of photographs. Including a few of me harassing pumpkin people. Y’all know how I feel about statues.
The living social adventure took place at Ridgefield Farms, an adorable little pumpkin patch and orchard. We came to the event, very prepared and ready to rock.
The ride over was great! We laughed and got caught up on life. Plus, once we were out of the concrete jungle that is DC, the scenes were quite lovely!
Montañas and rivers, GALORE! Yay nature!
After we got there (and Melanie was rest assured because it wasn’t a tin foiled trailer with a large man in a dirty white t shirt scratching his belly) we decided to head to the patch and do some pumpkin pickin’.
Why, you are a very handsome fruit, I think I’ll pick you..
Although there were no cannibalistic rednecks, there were, in fact, really creepy pumpkin people everywhere. I was certain this creepy one with the beard was eyeing me all night.
Melanie really liked him. I’m pretty sure I would never EVER be around those things at night. Chucky anyone?
“Oh father, it looks like uncle jimbo is drunk again.”
“Oh no! I just accidently urinated in that fountain!”
After we were done picking the best plump fruits in all the land, we headed over to eat some gruel er, dinner! It actually wasn’t bad at all! Mel even approved.
After we grubbed, we decided to partake in a few s’mores. Luckily, they had my favorite kind of chocolate, so I was happy.
“Chesnuts roasting, on an open fire…” oh wait. wrong season.
After we were filled to the gullet with s’mores, we wandered about the floral fields to snap trendy photographs. In all honesty, the farm was completely gorgeous. I love being outdoors, especially in autumn, and the falling leaves, beautiful plants and decor really made me feel all cozy, warm and nostalgic inside.
There was this incredible fog that was floating over the field. Well, either fog or a school of ghosts.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve been poppin my collar.”
After our photography session, we went back to the picnic table to watch peeps carve their pumpkins. We didn’t carve any but it was fun to see who won the carving contests! Plus, as it got darker, they lit up the picnic area with lights. Thankfully. I’m not all about the sitting in the dark in the middle of the woods thing.
After we saw who won, it was our turn to go through the haunted house, the haunted tractor and through the corn maze. This is where I had very high expectations. The event itself was $60 dollars and it was advertised as being “really scary.” I’ll start with the haunted house. It wasn’t scary, at all. It was pitch black and people were just pounding on walls. Totes lame. So, eager to actually get scared, I had higher hopes for the tractor ride. Sadly, it was also really lame. They had a few people with chainsaws just jumping out but there was nothing remotely terrifying. No randoms popping out, no scary cornfield characters. It was just, so dumb. The corn maze was the biggest disappointment. There were NO scary people jumping out, no scary scenes, no sounds. So boring.
However, it was nice to get away. Like I said, the farm was gorgeous and it’s good to get out of the city! What fun fall things have y’all been doing?
Claire
Tags:a realistic life, fall, haunted corn field, haunted maze, Living Social, Ridgefield farms
Bacon, Roast Squash & Goat Cheese Pasta
Bacon makes everything better.
Is there a more true statement than that? I’ll argue NOT. As you know, bacon is one of my favorite meat products (I’m sorry Babe, you just taste too damn good) and I just can’t stop loving it. I know it’s not THAT healthy but I’m all about moderation. I’m the “realistic” nutritionist after all 🙂 And guess what?
So I’m not giving it up. Although I could eat a pound of bacon for dinner and be the happiest little grease monkey around, I decided to, instead, mix it with my other sweet loves; goat cheese and butternut squash. I could, easily, eat these in glutton for the rest of my life and die (at 30) quite happy. However, I treat bacon and goat cheese as a speciality, as a treat, something to reward myself with. Reason #1: I’m portly enough. Reason #2: I’m broke. After my rough days last week, I decided to make something special on Sunday, something that would be a great kick off to a BRAND NEW week. So, I bought goat cheese and I bought bacon (and a vat of wine, obviously) and whipped up a delicious dinner.
A goat cheese, butternut squash and bacon pasta served with a dash of basil and extra virgin olive oil. Easy, simple but still really flavorful. Plus, it tastes EVEN BETTER the next day. I’m serious. I had it for lunch and nearly had a foodgasm at work. I know, totes appropriate.
Whether you are having a rough day, rough week or just have a strong hankerin’ for bacon, this dish is perfect for you! Because, as y’all know, bacon makes EVERYTHING better.
Bacon, Squash & Goat Cheese Pasta
Yield: 4 1 cup servings
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 15 minutes
What You’ll Need:
- 5-7 slices of bacon
- 4 cups of chopped butternut squash
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 5 ounces of fresh goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 package of whole wheat linguine
- 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- Liberal dashes of salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon of basil as garnish
How to Make it:
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice a large butternut squash into fourths and place into a deep baking dish. Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil over squash. Liberally coat in salt, pepper and basil. Roast for about 40 minutes or until squash is softened. Put aside to cool.
- In a large pot, heat 5 cups of water to a boil with salt. Add pasta and cook until ad-dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Chop bacon into bite size pieces. Place bacon in a medium pan and cook for abot 3 minutes, or until the bacon starts to crisp up. Drain out about 1/2 the grease and put back on heat.
- Add in choppd onions and garlic. Cook on medium heat until onions and garlic are carmelized and bacon is crispy. Add in chopped squash, salt and pepper and more basil. Take off heat.
- Crumble goat cheese over the squash mixture and serve over noodles. Add more basil as garnish.
And enjoy every single bacon filled, goat cheese laden delicious forkful. Because you only live once, might as well enjoy it. (and eat bacon).
Nutritional information per cup: 385 calories, 9 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
Claire
Tags:butternut squash, dinner, easy, Eat Skinny Be Skinny, fall dinner, fall pasta, fall recipes, harvest, low fat recipes, recipes, skinny girl, yummy food
