Tag Archives: february

Burgers, Spuds and Shakes

Beef, vegetarian, turkey, tofu or chicken.  Burgers are always a food of comfort to us all in one way or another. I feel like they are meant to be enjoyed and savored with good friends. Tonight we had the pleasure of sharing our company with our dear friend Krista and her sweet baby girl while Dave, hubby/dadda was working the night shift. (I’ll take any excuse to snap away photos of our Jilly-bean).

The great thing about burgers is that you can build them with any sort of fun toppings just the way you want!

Tonight we opted for some very healthy choices that included pan-fried bacon and sautéed onions, melted extra sharp cheddar and roasted rosemary spuds in the oven. Then to finish off our light meal we toasted marshmallows over our gas range for nutella milkshakes.

Mr. B kept reminding me that I needed to live on the edge a little and indulge. Obviously I didn’t need that much convincing. . .

You know you want to make it…. just do it!

Nutella Toasted Marshmallow Shake

1/2 Cup milk

2 Cups packed vanilla ice cream

2 Heaping Tablespoons of Nutella

Toasted marshmallows, for garnish (optional)

Huzzah for the weekend!!

What are your favorite burger toppings? Share your delicious creativity with us!

Backpackbees

Pan Seared Tuna Steaks

Well Helloooooo there dinner!

Doesn’t this tuna steak look incredible? Simply mouth-watering, juicy and tender! Yum!

The great thing about this meal is that it all happens quickly, in one pan! (As the party typically responsible for nightly dish duty, this rocked my socks off).

Think only a few minutes to prepare and cook then enjoy! Plus, it is such a healthy option and ideal for a light evening dinner.

Mr. B pan seared these steaks on the stove top in our cast iron pan in a little oil and sprinkled reasonably with blackened old bay seasoning. Turn with a spatula or tongs when the color change shows about 1/4th of the way up the steak, cook the same amount of time of the back side, about 15 minutes.

Don’t forget to pair with a perfect side like some bok choy too!

Have any good tuna steak recipes to share?

Backpackbees

Lighter

The evening sky after we get home from work is staying lighter longer. You know what that means? The perfect opportunity to get out and take a walk! The view from inside looked almost Spring like, however looks were a bit deceiving and it was still rather cold out. That darn groundhog! After the initial miserable shock to my bones, I was still really happy to finally get outside again. Ohhhhh how I have been longing to get out in the evenings again and thaw these bones. (This coming from the lady who posted she wanted state of emergency snow only a few short weeks ago).

Keeping on the topic of lighter, tonight we cooked up a lighter and much healthier version of take out sesame chicken and broccoli. We relied on a good ol’ Martha Stewart recipe and slightly adapted it to share with all of you. Remember, use what you have on hand. Don’t be afraid to get creative, if you don’t have brown rice or multigrain, go with quinoa!

Enjoy!

Lighter Sesame Chicken & Broccoli

Recipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

2 Cups (흑미 찹쌀) heukmi chapssal, AKA Korean multigrain rice

3 Tablespoon clover honey

2 Tablespoon sesame seeds

2 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Garlic clove, crushed with a garlic press

2 Large egg whites

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch chunks

1 Teaspoon of ground pepper

1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 tablespoons safflower oil

1 Medium yellow onion, sliced thin

2 Pounds broccoli, cut into large florets

Instructions:

Cook rice according. Sorry guys, we cheat and use our Korean rice cooker.

While rice is cooking, make sauce: In a small bowl, combine honey, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic; set aside. In separate bowl, whisk egg whites and cornstarch together. Toss in raw chicken and coat; season with ground pepper.

In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 Tablespoon of your oil over medium-high heat. Next add in coated chicken turning occasionally, until golden throughout.  Once cooked, add in the sauce you’ve set aside and chopped onion, and toss to coat chicken again.

Last, steam broccoli to your liking. We prefer slightly undercooked and crispy.  Once done plate rice, topped with chicken and broccoli.

Backpackbees

Pancake Princess

Overnight we finally got a little taste of the snow I’ve been asking for. Of course you might be getting tired of the powdery white stuff wherever you are, even looking at any photos of it might be daunting, but I’m still not satisfied with the amount that we’ve had this winter. Like most things… it came to an end and has been melting as we speak. Enter sad squishy face here. Perhaps in the next few weeks we will get some record-breaking, state of emergency stuff!

I woke up snapped some photos, yep neighbors I was the crazy lady leaning out the window at 8AM giddy about the snow.

Anyways, I recently thew out some rancid coconut flour that I think I accidentally should have been keeping in the freezer or refrigerator. Oops. Luckily it was only a small amount, so I didn’t feel as guilty. I know this is record-breaking stuff folks. Just kidding, I have a reason to my madness. I was going to make pancakes. Epic fail. Then I found out that a dear friend was able to locate and pick some up for me and saved this princesses Sunday morning pancakes making! Thanks again Sarah!

I think you are really going to enjoy these! Plus check out all the different people’s dietary restrictions this recipe can cater to. Let’s get mixing! Don’t forget some awesome tunes too!

(Above photo showing non-rancid smelling coconut flour)

Coconut Flour Pancakes (Gluten Free/Grain Free/Low Carb/Low Calorie/High Protein)
Slightly altered from Foodie Fiasco

Ingredients

2 Egg whites
1/4 Cup coconut flour
1/2 Cup almond milk
1 Teaspoon vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1/8 Teaspoon salt
1/8 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 Teaspoon honey or any kind of sweetener such as stevia or agave that you prefer

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined. Heat a greased nonstick skillet over medium high heat with coconut oil. Pour desired amount of batter onto skillet and cook until golden or color desired. Enjoy!

Have you ever tried coconut flour? If so, what do you use it in?
Are you a pancake fan? Or princess like me? Mmmmm
Do you enjoy toppings or just straight up maple syrup?

Backpackbees

Plunge

Besides the temperatures taking a plunge…

We took the plunge….and finally purchased a Vitamix!

EEK! A VITAMIX!

I’ve been lusting after this bad boy for almost a year and a half. Even after reviewing all the videos and blogger ratings over the past year, I was still blown away by how powerful and smooth anything you put into the Vitamix in person comes out. I’m talking reallyyyyy smooth! Superrrr smooth!

I’ve been craving hummus, perfect excuse to use the Vitamix, right? Right! The blender box included an entire book of various recipes you can use the Vitamix for. hummus was among them and I already had all of the ingredients. So blend away I did.

The Vitamix was so quick to use and just as quick to clean up afterwards. Seriously topping my favorite kitchen gadgets! I cannot wait to find more excuses to blend in this powerful guy. I’m open to suggestions and recipes please.

What’s your favorite kitchen gadget?
Do you blend frequently? If so share some recipes pretty please.

Backpackbees

Things Worth Sharing

Random bookmarks from the past weeks:

Great news Mr. B! “7 Reasons You Might Want to Go for Another Cup of Coffee”

Test your knowledge…your results might scare you. Let’s be honest with one another, how did you match up? I’m not going to lie, the photos of various individuals, necessary really!?

70% of all lemon wedges have microbial growth according to a new study….WOW! Folks, where is the shock factor in this study? Water. (Says the girl quietly ordering future drink by saying, “Hold the lemon please.”)

Can’t wait to debut our recent grownup purchase soon! Hints it belongs in the kitchen. Lordy, you know you’ve crossed over to adulthood when your over the moon about something for your kitchen.

So, any good bookmarks to share lately? Come on…I know you’ve been liking and reading them on Facebook lately. Share!

Backpackbees

Cheer Up Butternut

As you see, there hasn’t been much backpacking for this bee lately, that pesky groundhog seemed to be right again! The last few days we’ve had very tundra like conditions. Complete with icy roads and all. Spring is all the buzz lately at work. When’s it going to perk up? Brighten up? Be green again? It’s positively hard to stay positive during these cold gloomy winter days. They seem so long, so cold, and just so ….well….gray. The bright side is, we’re in that home stretch, right?

Tonight I baked a butternut squash and covered it with coconut oil and cinnamon. Whoa! It tasted very similar to French toast, but obviously much healthier. Try it out! Thank me later. Next time I might add some red pepper flakes or something to spice it up. What do you think?

Also with all the gloominess and the fact my mood had taken a serious nosedive today, I needed something on the quick no fuss side for dinner. A fun salad!

I can’t believe I’m going to admit this in public, but see the flaky stuff? Looks like tuna, right? Wrong. I ventured out and used salmon from a can. Guess what.. I loved it! Why didn’t anyone tell me it was this good? It’s not anywhere close to the ick factor I once thought would appear in that can. Good source of omega 3 too! However the two pieces of peanut butter fudge I devoured that my grandparents sent us most likely cancelled out that healthy meal. Oops.

Do you add anything crazy to your salads? I’m open to suggestions!

Backpackbees

Monday Types

Are you a Monday type of person? Let me elaborate…you know the annoying type that has to start off your work week by asking all of your co-workers, “What did you get into this weekend?” I’ll admit, I was a Monday type of gal until recently when I started to realize how much pressure it seems to put on some people to come up with an awesomely awesome answer on the spot.

It’s like you can almost see the gears turning as they search for something to keep the other party interested. Like they want to blurt out, “We went rock climbing, kayaking, enjoyed a helicopter ride over Seoul tower, and then we enjoyed dinner at a super exclusive restaurant prepared personally by chef Edward Kwon.” Ha-Ha! Then they look at you like and what did you do this weekend?

For me…I just cannot play into this game. We do exciting things here and there. Otherwise, I’m perfectly content and actually look forward to my mundane weekends that consist of not traveling outside a five-mile radius to our home, relaxing with a hot cuppa tea and book, watching past sex and the city episodes with the hubs (don’t tell him I told ya)coffee dates, cooking together in our kitchen, even tackling the laundry monster.

Yep, for all you Monday types…there ya have it.

Backpackbees