Sugar Cookie Bars

Disclaimer: these are extremely unhealthy.

I rarely make desserts. If Justin had his way, I would bake every day, but the problem with baking is that when you're done, the baked good is in the house. And then I eat it. So, I don’t bake.

The only time I make exceptions to this rule is when I’m baking for a big group of people. This way, I can taste what I made, and then give it away to other people. I got my fix, and other people eat the rest. Win win.

I store up recipes I find for these occasions, and I’ve had this one for quite some time. I FINALLY got a chance to use it this week when I baked for the law school’s Student Involvement fair.

These were a hit. But don’t take my word for it :)

Here’s what you need (from My Life as a Mrs)…

For the cake:

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups of butter

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

5 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

For the frosting:

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

4 cups confectioner's sugar

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons of milk

Food coloring*

*I used green food coloring because the organization I was baking for has a representative color of green. Otherwise, I would have left the food coloring out.

Here's what you do...

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a pan/casserole dish. It needs to be pretty big. The recommended size was 12x17, but mine was a bit smaller. 

2. Cream together the butter and sugar for the cake. Then, add the eggs one by one. Then, add the vanilla and almond extract.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the other mixture a little at a time, beating in between. This will create a VERY dense batter. You may need to use your hands to incorporate the flour mixture.

You can see where I pressed it in with my fingers.

4. Pour/press into your pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clear.

5. Allow to cool while you make the frosting.

6. Beat the butter for the frosting until smooth. Then add salt and vanilla and almond extract and beat to incorporate. Then, add confectioner's sugar and beat until smooth. Then, add milk (and food coloring if yore using it) and beat until creamy. 

7. Frost your cake. Cut into pieces. Add sprinkle if you love colorful things.

8. Enjoy!!

Notice how every photo of the completed cake has a piece missing? Yeah, Justin wandered into the kitchen right as I finished and helped himself. 

Let's be honest. I probably would have done the same thing :)

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Chicken Stir Fry

In case you were wondering, it is true what they say about law school: first year they scare you to death, second year they work you to death, and third year they bore you to death.

I can’t yet attest to the third year being true, but I can certainly say second year is 100% true. This is why I needed some stir fry in my life.

I don’t know why, but when I get REALLY stressed, I want Chinese food. Chinese food, however, is not the healthiest thing in the world. This is why I own a wok and make my own stir fry.

This recipe is super flexible. I added LOTS of veggies, but use whatever you want. And go get a wok if you don’t own one. We got ours for $10 at IKEA (the Swedes are magical people).

Here’s what you need (inspired by Food Network)…

1 cup of uncooked brown rice

2 chicken breasts

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup of reduce sodium soy sauce

1-2 tbsp of sriracha*

A handful of sugar snap peas

1 red pepper, diced

4-6 cloves of garlic, minced

½ big yellow onion, diced

5-6 green onions, sliced

1 cup of shredded carrots

½ cup of frozen peas

*I LOVE spicy food, so I used a lot of sriracha. If you only like a slight kick, I would suggest 1-2 teaspoons instead of tablespoons. Or leave it out entirely.

Here’s what you do…

1. Cook your rice ahead of time. You want it to be cooled by the time you start cooking everything else.

2. Prep your veggies and spray your wok with a non-stick spray. Quickly cook your eggs, and set them aside. You want they to be chopped up in small pieces and pretty dried out.

3. Cook your chicken. I chose to marinate my chicken in a teriyaki marinade I bought at the grocery store, then grill it and chop it into bite size pieces. You could also marinate it and then cook the chopped up pieces in the wok at this point - up to you! Once it's done cooking, set it aside.

4. Add your vegetable and sesame oil to the hot wok. Quickly add all your veggies except your frozen peas. Allow to cook until soft, stirring frequently (about 6-7 minutes).

5. Add your rice and stir frequently for about 5 minutes.

6. Add chicken, egg, soy sauce and sriracha and allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. The wok gets hot and you don't want anything to burn, so just keep a good eye on it.

7. Enjoy!

We had lots of leftover, which was convenient considering we basically did nothing but read all weekend. Don't be too jealous :)

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Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

It's the first week of my second year of law school. Ice cream is a necessity.

For what it's worth, I didn't eat that whole thing in one sitting. I actually only ate a few spoonfuls.

If you don’t own an ice cream machine, I highly recommend you purchase one. I bought mine on sale at Costco over a year ago, and I haven’t regretted it. You can purchase it here although I recommend you wait until it goes on sale - I got mine for $30.

As soon as I bought my ice cream machine, I immediately bought this ice cream recipe book. It has the BEST recipes for an ice cream maker:

This recipe is the vanilla “Philadelphia style,” and I added cookies and cream because…well, why not? 

Here's what you need (adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)...

3 cups of half and half*

3/4 cup of sugar

1 vanilla bean**

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

16 oreo cookies, mashed

*The original recipe calls for 2 cups of cream and 1 cup of whole milk. I used half and half and thought it tasted just fine.

**Vanilla beans can be tough to find and they are weird. They look like this:

You split it in half lengthwise, and you'll see all the little seeds. Those are what you will want to scrape out - I found a spoon worked best.

Here's what you do...

1. In a large pot, heat 1 cup of your half and half (or cream if you're using the original recipe) and add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Also, add the seeds (I have no idea what they are actually called) from your vanilla bean.

2. Once, the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and pour into a large bowl. Add your other 2 cups of half and half and the vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled (at least 2 hours).

3. When it is chilled, pour the mixture into your ice cream machine (make sure you freeze the bowl beforehand) and let it churn. It should only take about 20-25 minutes to look like ice cream. About 5 minutes before it's done, pour in your cookie pieces.

4. Enjoy!

A few scoops of this will make any day better...even one filled with things like Evidence :)

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Italian Zucchini Boats with Chicken Sausage

This was such a great dinner.

The next time I have a serious craving for spaghetti and meatballs, I am making this meal because it was a really tasty, healthy alternative.

Sweet Italian chicken sausage can be found at the meat counter at your local grocery store. I know there are also some brands in the meat aisle, but generally chicken sausage behind the meat counter is made in house. Chicken sausage = better than normal sausage. 75% less fat kind of better.

Here’s what you need (adapted from Skinny Taste)…

3 large zucchini

1 lb of sweet Italian chicken sausage, casing removed

1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce*

4-6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 bag of 2% shredded mozzarella cheese

Some fresh shredded parmesan

*I used a jar of marinara instead of my homemade marinara because I wanted it to be a little less chunky.

Here’s what you do…

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Slice each zucchini in half lengthwise, and using a spoon, hollow out the inside. Set aside the zucchini you scoop out.

3. In a pan, sauté your chicken sausage in olive oil until cooked through, about 7-8 minutes.

4. Add onion and garlic and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes. Then, add half of the zucchini your scooped out (you can dispose of the rest). Cook another 3-4 minutes.

5. Spoon a thin layer of marinara in the bottom of a large baking dish. Fill each zucchini boat with your sausage mixture.

6. Pour marinara on top of each boat, then top with mozzarella and parmesan.

7. Cover and bake for 35 minutes. Then, bake uncovered for an addition 5 minutes to brown the cheese.

8. Enjoy!

Trust me on this - these are amazing. 

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Middle Eastern Chicken with a Garlic Aioli

YUM! I love trying new flavors.

This recipe is called Shish Tawook, but I chose not to grill my chicken as kabobs because I struggle with skewers on the grill...so I guess it's just Tawook? I don't know. I just know it is delicious.

These flavors are SO good, and when paired with a garlic aioli for dipping, it’s absolutely perfect. This isn’t super spicy – just REALLY flavorful.

I highly recommend letting the chicken sit in the marinade overnight. You really want to let these flavors soak in!

Here’s what you need (from My Life as a Mrs)…

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

¾ cup of fat free greek yogurt

¼ cup of olive oil

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp of tomato paste

1 lemon, juiced (this is about 2 tbsp)

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of all spice

¼ tsp of black pepper

  

For the garlic aioli (also from My Life as a Mrs)…

1/3 cup of reduced fat mayo

1/3 cup of fat free greek yogurt

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp of lemon juice

½ tsp of salt

¼ tsp of black pepper

For the aioli, mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for at least a few hours so the flavors can blend.

Here’s what you do with the chicken…

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over the chicken in a ziplock bag so the chicken is completely covered and refrigerate for several hours, but preferably overnight. I had some marinade leftover, so I saved it and we ended up eating this recipe the very next day!

2. When you're ready to eat, grill the chicken on high heat for about 6 1/2 minutes per side. Remove and let rest for a few minutes.

3. Enjoy with the garlic aioli for dipping!

We ate this with a REALLY good Mediterranean flavored cous cous (Near East is my favorite brand - 8 grams of protein per serving!):

It paired REALLY well with the chicken. 

I hope you all love this as much as we did! Happy Friday :)

P.S. Ice cream recipe coming soon...

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Grilled Chicken with Bruschetta

Sorry about the long hiatus! We were in Maryland for a week wedding planning like CRAZY, and now I’m finally back. I might have tasted one too many cupcakes…so it’s time to get back on track with some healthy recipes!

When we came back, the tomatoes in our garden were perfectly ripe and ready to be eaten. We grew these tomatoes from seed, and they are SO good.

Bruschetta is easy, healthy, and tastes really good with a lot of different things. I decided to put it over some Italian seasoned grilled chicken, and the result was excellent.

Here’s what you need (adapted from Skinny Taste)…

2 pieces of boneless skinless chicken

3 medium tomatoes

½ red onion, chopped

1 ½ tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 ½ tbsp. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

A handful of fresh basil

Here’s what you do…

1. A few hours before you are ready to serve, chop your tomatoes, onion and basil, and mix them together in a bowl with vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper (hard, right?).  Cover and let sit for a few hours.

2. I seasoned my chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. I grilled it on high heat for about 6 ½ minutes per side.

3. Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes, pour some bruschetta on top and enjoy!

The bruschetta would also taste fantastic as an appetizer with a crusty bread. YUM!

I hope everyone has an excellent week!

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