Entertaining Made Easy

Entertaining does not have to be a difficult task at all.  With these tips and pictures from my Halloween party, I hope you can find entertaining a little easier and more enjoyable.

Easy Quiche

My Aunt Amy's quiche recipe is one of my favorites.  It's easy (because it's crust-less), delicious, easily customized, and makes outstanding leftovers.  It's great for feeding a crowd for brunch, and a good standby for any meal!  I have adapted it a bit, and it's a very flexible recipe, so feel free to play with it.

Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes

These stuffed tomatoes are sure to be a hit!  Stuffed with wholesome brown rice, homemade cheese (see previous recipe) and fresh herbs, they make an excellent appetizer or snack. They impress even more when the tomatoes are homegrown!

Easy Homemade Cheese

Fresh cheese is a wonderful treat, and making homemade cheese never fails to make me feel pretty darn proud of myself.  Like the vast majority of my recipes, there is a lot of room for personalization.  It comes together in a snap, it typically wows a crowd, and its versatility makes it a great starting point for a lot of other recipes.  The best part about this cheese is its simplicity.  The basic cheese only has two ingredients.  Seriously.  Two.  You read that right.

Sangria

I don't know about everyone else, but I really enjoy sipping on a nice cold drink with a friend or family member on a hot summer day.  One of the most delicious, and certainly most beautiful, of these drinks is sangria.  A great thing about sangria is you can make it however you want, based on your tastes and/or what you have on hand.  A pitcher of sangria is very eye catching and typically goes over very well at any gathering.  Below are some ways you can mix up this simple and delicious beverage.

Gardening

Chives and Strawberries - so low maintenance!

Salutations, Dear Readers.  Since we are in planting season, I thought I would do a snippet on growing edibles.  My favorite way to get fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits is to grow them myself.  If you think you don't have enough space, think again!  Container gardening is a great, low-maintenance way to grow your edible plants.  If you have the space, that's awesome too--use it!  There are tons of creative ways to grow pretty much anything with any amount of space.

Key Lime Fish

Hello Dear Readers,

I apologize for being absent for a while, but I have been living up to being as busy as suggested in the title of this blog.  I went on a lovely vacation to the Florida Keys and I would like to share with you a delicious dish I had while I was there.  The name of the dish there was Key Lime Mahi, but since freshly caught mahi are scarce in the midwest, I will have to do with what I happen to have in the freezer.  I used talapia, but any mild white fish will work.  It wasn't quite the same as the mahi, and some effect was lost with the absence of a beautiful sub-tropical sunset, but it was still pretty good.

Roasted Chickpeas

This is one of the most addicting, irresistible snacks in my book.  Chickpeas are good for fiber, protein, and other nutrients.  Made this way, they are packed with flavor, with crispy outsides and creamy insides.  They are super easy to make too!

Rosemary Pork Chops and Potatoes

This is a very simple and flavorful recipe that is a nice standby.  The ingredients come together in a snap and the end result is very tasty!  I don't have measurements below because I don't measure, I just kind of add ingredients to taste.

Banana Bread

This recipe makes very good muffins

My grandma's banana bread recipe is delicious and easy, and it is well loved by many members of my family.  In addition to the original recipe, below are also the ways my mom has adapted it to make it healthier.

Fruit Cookie

Now this is by no means original, but this is a reminder that you can do a super easy, delicious dessert that never fails to wow your culinary audience.  This fruit cookie (AKA fruit "pizza") comes together very quickly, and there is a lot you can do with it in terms of seasonal toppings and design.  Not only is it very tasty and visually striking, but most of the dry ingredients are probably already in the pantry!

Kitchen Essentials

There are a few items in my kitchen that I just would not want to live without.  They make cooking so much easier and make for far better end results when cooking.  For some items, there just is no substitute.  Here are a few essentials to keep handy:

Introducing Boozy Bites

Salutations, dear Foodies.  I am introducing what I will from here on refer to as Boozy Bites.  I absolutely love cooking with alcohol.  I'm a big fan of wine in general, but for blog purposes, I will focus on the fact that it goes very well with so many recipes.  I have not yet developed much of a taste for beer, but I do love cooking with it.  And cooking with alcohol is certainly not limited to beer and wine.  Alcohol adds a certain depth to the flavors of a recipe and somehow makes it more special.

Time Saving Tips

With a full time job and a life to live, I'm always looking for ways to save time in the kitchen without sacrificing quality or flavor.  Here are a few tips I use to make life a little easier when it comes to culinary adventures.

Individual Frittatas

I happened to get some wonderful farm fresh eggs from a friend, and had some leftover spinach from the lasagna I made earlier tonight, so I decided to make some easy-to-grab breakfast treats with the leftover spinach and a few other ingredients.  These are great because you can put whatever you want in them, and they are a quick, satisfying, and healthy microwavable breakfast on the go. I'll be honest, I didn't time this one. I put it in the oven while the lasagna was cooking after I decided to make them.  Here is how I made them:

Veggie Lasagna

Delicious gooey layers

This is a recipe that, as with so many of my recipes, I made with stuff I happened to have on hand, and there are tons of variations.  I typically don't measure anything (some ingredients were leftover from other recipes), so make with stuff to your taste! I had spinach so I did a more Florentine approach.  Here is what I did:

Greetings!

Hello home cooks, and thank you for stopping by!

My name is Jillian.  I created this blog to document my culinary wanderings and to share some of my more brilliant creations with you lovely readers.  I work full time and lead a busy life, but cooking is nevertheless a big part of my life.  I like to eat right, and I love using fresh ingredients.  My meals tend to be simple and have bold flavors.  I love entertaining, so here you will find a wide variety of recipes, from beverages and party snacks to desserts and everywhere in between.  I hope that in reading this you will be encouraged to make new healthy, balanced and delicious meals while leading your busy lives, rather than turning to bad-for-you convenience foods!

Admittedly, not all of the recipes you will find here are totally healthy.  But you will find most of them are, as I tend to focus on produce when meal planning.  In any recipe I post I will note what worked well, what didn't work so well (for new recipes), and I will suggest variations wherever I can.  From time to time I will make posts that are not recipes at all, but tips and tricks I have picked up.  I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Cooking,
Jillian

Cheers

Quick disclaimer...this blog is in no way intended to offend anyone or rip anyone off.  The photography is all my own, and the recipes are my own creations unless otherwise specified.  If you find something similar out there, I'm telling you right now that I don't copy and paste or "borrow" anyone else's ideas and make them my own.  If a recipe is an adaptation from something I found, I will give credit where credit is due.