Grilled Veggie Quesadillas

Me and my mom like to do "Meatless Mondays" in our house and one of our yummy meals we sometimes make is veggie quesadillas on the grill. Grilling them makes them so much more crispy and delicious! Plus they are super easy.

Start with chopping whatever veggies you like. I used peppers, onion, broccoli, tomatoes, and walnuts ( I love roasted walnuts mixed in with my veggies!) Coat them with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in a 425 degree oven until they are crispy and tender.

Then you form your quesadillas. Take your tortilla and assemble your cheese and veggies inside and put the other tortilla on top. Then just throw it on the grill. Cook until crispy and cheese inside is melted and your done! :)

Enery Smoothie

Sometimes when I know I have a long morning ahead, I will make this yummy smoothie that keeps you full for hours. Great for on the go!

Start with a banana, and add 1 decent sized tablespoon of peanut butter and then about 3/4-1 cup of original almond milk (or whatever you prefer)

Blend that together. Then add ice and blend until smoothie consistency.

Escarole, White Bean, and Sausage soup

Soups in the fall are my favorite thing to eat. Im always trying new soup recipes and this one was super easy and delicious! Good for you too!

Escarole, White Bean, and Escarole Soup

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 Large yellow onion, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

4 Italian sausage links, 2 hot, 2 sweet, casings removed

3 medium cloves garlic

2 15-oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained or
use 1lb bag of dry white beans, but remember to soak overnight.
1 large head escarole(if they are small, two) chopped or teared into 1- to 2-inch pieces, washed, and lightly dried
2 quarts of vegetable broth (You can also use chicken if you prefer)
1-1/2 tsp. red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1-1/2 tsp hot chill flakes (optional)
salt and pepper.

In a large LeCruset, over medium heat cook sausage then drain fat add onion and scallions, and garlic and saute the vegetables until they are tender, and vegetable broth to the pot. Bring liquid to a gentle simmer, cover pot with a lid, and cook for 25 minutes. Add the beans and escarole and sausage to the pot (If it doesn't look like enough broth add more of that too), cover, and continue to simmer the soup for 10 minutes until the escarole is wilted and tender. Turn off the heat, and taste the soup adding salt and pepper as necessary. Serve the soup with a little bit of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Caprese Salad

My mom made me a delicious Caprese salad for lunch today.

She layered sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella and topped with with salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar drizzle. Delish!

 

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

 

Another fall recipe, Check it out.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped, or 1 cup chocolate chips
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 and grease your brownie pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the chocolate and remove from heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then stir until smooth.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 3-4 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat just until combined.

Put about a third of the batter into another bowl and stir the pumpkin, oil, cinnamon and nutmeg into it. Stir the chocolate mixture into the remaining batter and spread a little more than half of it into the prepared pan. Top with the pumpkin mixture, then drop large spoonfuls of the remaining chocolate mixture on top. Swirl a knife through both to create a swirled effect.

Bake for 40 minutes, until just set and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I am so in love with fall and loving every second of this weather.

I also love fall foods and I was so excited to start cooking with some of my favorite ones!

One of my favorite fall recipes is my roasted butternut squash and apple soup.

Such a earthy, sweet fall flavor with a hint of heat. You have to try it!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

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1 ½ tsp. of EVOO

1¼ cups of chopped Vidalia onion

1 large garlic clove

2 Apples (One green, one red)

3-4 cups of peeled butternut squash

½ tsp kosher salt

1-2 tsp. brown sugar (depending on your sweetness preference)

1/4-1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on how much heat you like)

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 cups less sodium chicken broth

½ cup of fat free half and half

sour cream for garnish

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Preheat oven to 400°

Roast butternut squash cubed with olive oil salt and pepper until tender.

In a LeCruset pan, add a tbs of EVOO and chopped onion. Sautee until tender then add garlic and apples , and  spices and cook for about 1 minute or so. Add roasted squash and chicken broth and bring to a simmer until squash and vegetables are tender. Add the half and half and then using the stick emulsion blender, blend until smooth. In individual bowls add a tsp of sour cream for garnish.

Stuffed Zucchini and Grilled Shrimp Scampi

Stuffed Zucchini

My dad got these really yummy and different zucchini at the farmers market the other day. They were round looked like little acorn squashes. We decided to stuff them for dinner.

First thing you have to do is cut the zucchini in half and hollow out the insides of them with a spoon so you end up with little zucchini bowls. (keep the insides)
Place them on a baking sheet and very lightly drizzle olive oil on each one, salt and pepper. You dont want a pool of olive oil in the bowl just a little bit and move the olive oil around with your fingers to coat the whole zucchini bowl.

The stuffing is a mixture of stove top stuffing (you can use any brand you like), onion, yellow pepper, zucchini insides, and sausage.

Cook the stovetop and brown and cook the sausage. (I used 2 sweet sausage links, and one hot but you can certainly use whatever you prefer) You want the sausage to be broken up into really small pieces. Meanwhile you want to chop onion super fine and yellow pepper super fine. Just a little of each, not too much. You also want to chop up a little of the zucchini insides that you hollowed out, but not a lot of that either.

Add the onion, peppers and zucchini to the pan with the broken up bits of sausage. Once the onions are starting to get tender add the stovetop to the pan and mix all of the stuffing ingredients together. Then scoop mixture into and fill each zucchini bowl. Bake at 425 until zucchini outside is tender (about a half hour or so).. and enjoy!

Grilled Shrimp Scampi
My mom makes the best shrimp scampi ever, however it is super fattening and it is baked in the oven. Last night we decided to try a quick, less fattening version on the grill.

First you clean and devain the shrimp. Next cut lemon wedges.
Take skewers and start to put on your shrimp and lemon. I did 2 shrimp, lemon, 2 shrimp, lemon, 2 shrimp lemon so it equaled 6 shrimp a skewer.

Arrange them on a platter in a single layer.
Meanwhile, chop a couple garlic cloves finely.
Melt a couple tablespoons of butter and add the chopped garlic to the melted butter.

This part may get a little messy!
Take the butter adn garlic in your hands and massage it on the shrimp. Be sure to coat it and not let all the garlic and butter fall off.
 Once the sauce is on, lightly sprinkle the shrimp with bread crumbs.

Next step is to grill the shrimp.
When it comes off and it is ready to eat, squirt the grilled lemon onto the shrimp (the grilled lemon has a much more intense and smokey lemon flavor)
Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies

After drinking one of my favorite fall lattes yesterday, Pumpkin Spice Latte.

I was inspired to make a pumpkin treat. I decided to make pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies.

They are super easy to make, and yummy for anyone who loves pumpkin.

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 sticks of softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

2 eggs

2-3 heaping tablespoons of Libbys Pumpkin Puree (about 1/2 can. you can add more depending on how pumpkin-y you want your cookies)

1 cup of white chocolate chips

1 cup of chocolate chips 

You make these like you would any chocolate chips. Combine dry ingredients, and the wet. Add all together and bake at 350 until golden brown :)