One Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff; A Classic Simplified

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It’s turkey hunting season in Vermont.

For those of you who don’t have a hunting obsessed significant other I will explain that this means I will be pretty much on my own for the next couple weekends since I don’t find getting up at 3:30am on the weekends all that much fun, especially if it means my old lady behind needs to be in bed by about 7pm.

…

Spring Vegetable Couscous

By Jessica

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Spring has sprung! Grocery stores and farmers markets are filling with wonderful, luscious, and vibrant colors. Rainbow Swiss chard, purple asparagus, green peas are just the beginning. My favorite part of spring, after the fresh post rain smell is the amazing vegetables that finally start their rotation on our plates. I could seriously eat a salad of some kind for every meal right now and never get bored.

In fact this salad I did eat for several days in a row. It’s super filling and wonderfully satisfying. I swear it’s like I can feel the sun shine in every bite that I take.

I started out cooking the couscous in vegetable broth, just to impart it with a bit more flavor, an added the veggies at the very end of the cooking process to save on dirty dishes. I mean I was going to steam them anyway to why not do it all in one pot? Besides I wanted them still pretty crisp, so just a few minutes in a hot pan was all that was needed. Finish off the flavor with a handful of fresh chopped herbs, maybe a tiny bit of fresh cracked pepper and you have yourself a wonderfully flavorful salad type thing. I did also top it with some fresh alfalfa sprouts for a bit more protein, and a cooler contrast to the warm salad.

It’s really enough to feed a group of 4 without anything else, but
if you wanted to stretch it I’d grill up some meat or veggies and then you
could feed more like 6 or 8.

Spring Vegetable Couscous

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dry couscous
1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1 lb asparagus
1 cup of fresh or frozen green peas
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
½ cup alfalfa sprouts (optional)

Instructions

Cook couscous according to package instructions with the broth substituted for water. 5 minutes before cooking is complete, add asparagus and
peas.
Once finished toss with herbs, and adjust seasoning.
Serve warm or cold with sprouts on top.

Quarter Year Goal Review

By Jessica

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Ok so Last week marked the beginning of May. That puts us one
quarter of the way done with the year. I
think that makes it a pretty good time to check in with all of my goals since
New Years. I’m including, fitness, life, and blogging in all of this so
sorry if it gets a little wordy on you.

Fitness:

I am pretty much on track with where I wanted to be with my
fitness goals. I have fallen back into love with lifting, and I am seeing someamazing results from it. However the
last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion about running events with
friends, and even triathlons. So I think it is time to reassess my goals and plan, maybe add a little more running in.

Life:

Maybe I should re-title this section to wedding/event planning.
I’m way behind on the wedding planning front, as I haven’t done a damn thing. In
my defense I have 17 months, and no I don’t want to hear that it will be gone
before I know it, or it will sneak up on me or any of that crap. I HAVE 17
MONTHS OK? In every other respect I am swamped with friends and family having
babies, weddings, and the usual summer events that I like to go to. So I guess that’s
good? It’s pretty overwhelming to be honest, and I would really love for everyone
to take a chill pill. Life is not pinterest
perfect people, get over it and enjoy the imperfections!!!!!

Blogging:

I didn’t really start off the year with any blogging goals,
but that has changed. I really enjoy watching this little space grow, and have
really fallen love with camera practice. I also really like how this space
helps cultivate my creativity and push my personal boundaries. Ideally I would
want to create a cohesiveness that can extend over to my shop and all of my
social media. I guess you would call this a brand, but what I am really looking
for is a unique style that I can carry with me for a good long while, instead
of redesigning my blog every few months, and not having it match anything. I
also want to challenge myself to create some new posts beyond the basic recipes
and adventures I usually post. I want to show more of myself, and my interests.

Overall I think I am doing ok, and things are going good. I’m going to be adding more running workouts to my routine. I’m going to take every opportunity I can relax, since those moments are going to be few and far between soon. I’m also going to be making a few changes around the blog so keep an eye out.

What are your goals this year?
How are you doing with them?

Spring Sangria & Mothersday

By Jessica

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Spring is a time of celebration, rejuvenation, rebirth, and
celebration, did I say that already? Well it’s kind of what I am going for
here. Recently we celebrated the 60th birthday of someone near and
dear to my heart and I made this amazing Spring Sangria. It was a hit at the
party and I thought it might also be a hit for your mom this Mother’s Day.

Fresh Spring Sangria

1 bottle Spanish White Wine

1 lime, sliced

1 lemon sliced

½ cup sliced strawberries

1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced thin

1 (12 oz) can of seltzer

2 cups mint simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a large picture. Stir to combine
and serve over crushed ice.

Mint Simple Syrup

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 cup packed fresh mint leaves

In a small saucepan combine all ingrediants over medium
heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes stirring
occasionally, until all of the sugar has fully dissolved. Remove from heat and
let cool before using.

The recipe makes a good sized pitcher but I promise you that
it goes really quickly. It’s super light and fresh, so it’s good for a spring
brunch. And since we are talking about brunch why don’t you check out these
amazing brunch ideas for mom?

Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast - Amazingly sweet and scrumptious make-ahead french toast using King's Hawaiian bread!

Baked Blueberry Lemon French Toast From Damn Delicious

The Yellow Table’s Orange Zest Scones with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Orange Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Drizzle recipe via www.thenovicechefblog.com

Orange Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Drizzle from The Novice Chef

Ham and Asparagus Vol au Vent with a Creamy and Grainy Mustard Sauce

Seasons & Suppers’ Ham Asparagus vol au vent with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Roasted Asparagus Sandwiches from The Candid Appetite

Clean Greek Chicken or Fish?

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

If you have been following my fitness journey (I’m not even
sure if that’s the right thing to call it, my fitness ramblings maybe? Whatever)
then you saw earlier this week I posted a 2 week clean eating menu plan that
included Greek Tilapia. I got the idea/recipe from one of my all time favorite
magazines Oxygen. I have been reading this religiously for years now, and
I love it. This was one of the featured reader recipes.

Now when I went about making this we had plenty of frozen
tilapia and a random piece of chicken in the fridge that we needed to cook. So I
made the same recipe both ways, it worked out because Chuck isn’t a huge fan of
fish, so I figured we would both be happy with this. Upon making these guys we
both agreed that the chicken version was better by a long shot. Like a super
long shot. I think it was the savory chicken juices, and tomato mixture that
did it.

Then I had to decide which to post on here, the one that I
told you I was going to post or the super delicious one I liked better. I
couldn’t decide, and it’s my blog anyway so today you get both. Maybe we can
have a vote to see what you guys like better?

Any who, this is a pretty quick and easy meal that is full
of flavor. I would serve it with something simple like quinoa, or brown rice
since there is a little extra broth that’s packed with flavor anything else
would probably be just too much.

Greek Chicken

1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp dry white wine

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved

1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp chopped red onion

2 tbsp chicken broth

½ a lemon

2 ounces feta cheese (optional)

Prepare the chicken breast into paillard form. In a large skillet
heat oil over medium high heat and sauté garlic until it begins to become
fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the white wine and cook for an additional
minute. Generously season the tilapia with salt and pepper before placing it
into the pan. Cook the chicken for about 3-5 minutes a side, or until it turns
opaque and the juices run clear. Reduce the heat to low and add the onion, tomatoes,
and olives to the pan along with chicken broth. Cook for another 5 minutes or
so, until the vegetables are tender. Squeeze half a lemon over the top and
serve warm with crumbled feta on top, if desired.

Greek Tilapia

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp dry white wine

32 ounces Tilapia

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup kalamata olives, halved

1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp chopped red onion

½ a lemon

2 ounces feta cheese (optional)

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat and sauté
garlic until it begins to become fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the white wine
and cook for an additional minute. Generously season the tilapia with salt and
pepper before placing it into the pan. Cook the fish for about 2 minutes a
side, or until it turns opaque and the edges can be flaked with a fork. Reduce
the heat to low and add the onion, tomatoes, and olives to the pan along with a
couple tablespoons of water. Cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the
vegetables are tender. Squeeze half a lemon over the top and serve warm with
crumbled feta on top, if desired.

One Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff; A Classic Simplified

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