Chocolate Syrup

When I was growing up, every day when I got home from school, my sister and I would make chocolate milk for our after school snack. Most of the time we had powdered Nesquik, but sometimes we had Hershey's syrup instead and that was amazing.On pinterest recently, I saw a pin for homemade chocolate syrup, and thought it looked really easy, so a few days ago I made it. Long story short, I'm never buying this in a store again.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
dash of salt
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Mix the sugar, salt, and cocoa together in a saucepan, then add the water and stir it all together. Heat it over medium heat, stirring frequently until it comes to a rolling boil, then let it boil for 90 seconds while stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla. Stir it all together, and pour into a pint sized jar, then let it cool. Store in the refirgerator.

Seriously, this stuff tastes like the real deal. The original poster said she found it in an old Betty Crocker cookbook, and I guess it is completely logical that it started from something people made on a semi-regular basis, but it had just never occurred to me to make it. I didn't change anything in the recipe.

Rating: 5/5
Why? Easy and in comparison to the ingredients on a Hershey's label, far fewer chemicals. From Answers.com, "Hershey Syrup's ingredients include High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water, Cocoa, Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Potassium Sorbate (a Preservative), Salt, Mono and Diglycerides, Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 60, Vanillin, Artificial Flavoring." Um...I'll take the one I made.

Creamy Garlic Pasta

This pasta should be called "Holy Cow Amazing Garlic Pasta" but that's a bit of a mouthful, although very descriptive. This will definitely be made again and again. But how could it not be amazing when the original recipe comes from a blog called the cheese pusher? I did make some tweaks to her recipe, as I'm pretty sure it would have been approximately 1000 calories per bite, but still.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
4-6 garlic cloves
1 tlbs butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 box whole wheat linguine
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
1-2 Tlbs chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
Mince the garlic cloves while warming the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the garlic cloves for 1-2 minutes, then melt the butter in the pan. When the butter is melted, add the salt, pepper, and chicken broth. Turn the temperature up to medium-high, then bring it to a boil. Add the linguine, and let it boil until it is cooked. Keep a close eye on the pasta, as it can easily burn with this little liquid. When the pasta is cooked, turn the temperature down to medium-low, and stir in the parmesan until it's totally melted. Take the pan off the burner and stir in the Greek yogurt and the parsley.

Seriously, this is amazing. My cats BOTH came and whined by the kitchen wanting some of this, and it's unbelievable. I did cut her recipe in half, changed the heavy cream to Greek yogurt, changed the regular pasta to whole wheat pasta, reduced the salt, doubled the garlic, and increased the chicken broth.

Rating - 5/5
Why? Super easy, super tasty, and keeps the vampires away. ;)

Honey Mustard Dressing

This school year, I have been taking salad to school every day for lunch. It is a loaded salad, with a mix of green leaf lettuce and spinach as the base, and black beans, garbanzo beans, olives, tomatoes, red peppers, and carrots on top. At the beginning of the year, I also brought salad dressing, but soon realized that no salad dressing was that healthy, so I decided to make my own. The original recipe is from allrecipes.com, but I have made some significant changes. I make this once a week and have it every day.

Ingredients:
1/3-1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1-2 Tlbs horseradish mustard*
1-2 Tlbs honey
1 Tlbs lemon juice
dash of milk (optional)

Directions:
In a pint jar, mix all the ingredients except the milk. Stir it well to combine. If the dressing is too thick, thin it out with a little bit of milk. Keep refrigerated.

I like this a lot with the horseradish mustard, but if you can't find it, you could probably use dijon mustard and prepared horseradish, or just use dijon mustard instead. I think the horseradish gives it a nice zing. I also like that this recipe is easy to adjust for taste, with more or less honey and more or less mustard. I also like that it keeps really well. I changed the original recipe from regular mustard to dijon, majo to Greek yogurt, and increased the amount of lemon juice.

rating - 5/5
Why? Quick and easy, and no preservatives.

Roasted Balsamic Green Beans

Since joining Pinterest, I have saved many, many recipes to try. I have actually tried many of them, some successfully, some not so much. This one was definitely one of the successes, to the point that I even ate the mushrooms, which I normally hate. I have modified it slightly from the original.

Ingredients:
6-8 cremini mushrooms
1 lb fresh green beans
1/2 Tlbs olive oil
1 Tlbs balsamic vinegar
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
2 Tlbs grated parmesan

Directions:
Trim the ends off the green beans and cut them in half, then wash and dry them.* Slice the mushrooms into 1/4"-1/2" slices. Put the mushrooms and the dry green beans into a bowl that seals tightly, and add the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Toss it well to coat everything evenly. Put a layer of tinfoil down on a baking pan and spray it with olive oil. Spread the green bean mixture on the tin foil. Try to make sure everything is in a single layer. Put the pan in the oven at 450 for 20-30 minutes, checking often after 20 minutes. Beans should be slightly crispy on the outside. Pull them out and sprinkle the parmesan over the top before serving.

I can easily eat an entire pan of these by myself, and I don't even like mushrooms. In the original recipe, she adds the salt and pepper at the end, but I think it is more evenly coated and tastes better when you add them at the beginning. I also have trouble with the beans sticking to the tin foil unless I spray olive oil on it. Also, you might need to sitir the beans once during the baking process.

* Once you've washed the green beans in a colander, lay them in a single layer on half of a dish towel, then fold the other half over the top and gently press down. Let the beans sit for 15 minutes or so and they will be completely dry. It is important that the beans be dry before you put them in the oven or they will be soggy. I have tried this recipe with frozen green beans and while the taste is good, the beans get soggy easily.

Rating - 5/5
Why? It' easy, delicious, and awesome.

Dijon Crusted Halibut

I love fish, especially halibut, and growing up in the northwest, and now living in Seattle, I have easy access to lots of amazing, fresh fish. Halibut is hands-down my favorite kind of fish, and I recently got a Living Social deal to the fish market in Pike place, so when my aunt and cousin came to visit, I pulled it out and we went shopping for dinner at the market. On the train home I found this recipe and I've used it almost exactly here. It was so good that the three of us inhaled over a pound of halibut at one sitting.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup mayonnaise*
1 Tlbs dijon mustard
1 Tlbs horseradish
1 Tlsb lemon juice
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tlbs grated parmesan
1 lb halibut filet**

1 Tlbs butter, melted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tlbs grated parmesan

Directions:
Mix together the first set of ingredients (except the halibut) into a paste, then mix the second set of ingredients in a separate bowl. Put a piece of tin foil on a pan, then lay the halibut, skin down, on the foil. Spread the paste on all sides of the fish (except the skin side), then sprinkle the second breadcrumb mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily (it may be longer than 20 minutes if your filet is thick). Let it sit 3-4 minutes before serving.

I used my fingers to spread the paste, as it is quite thick and I was related to all the people eating it, but you could probably use a knife or a spatula if you're squeamish.

*I really dislike mayonnaise, but my mom left some here that I wanted to use up, so I used it in this recipe. I think it would also work well with sour cream, and possibly Greek yogurt, so I will try that next time.

**My dad does not like fish, so I used the same mixture on some chicken for him, and it was delicious.

Rating - 5/5
Why? This is easy and really delicious....it just makes the fish better than it already is.

Chicken Pasta with Buttery Lemon Sauce

I tend to like slightly tart food more than really spicy food (although I will NEVER turn down good Mexican food...) but I wasn't sure about this recipe at first. I was wrong. This is really good, and better than that, really fast. Original recipe here, but I've made several changes.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
1 cup whole wheat rotini pasta
1/3-1/2 lb asparagus, 1.5" lengths
1 cup frozen peas
1 Tlbs butter
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1.25 cups chicken broth
2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
juice of half a lemon (1-2 Tlbs)
dash of salt
1/4-1/2 tsp ground pepper
dash of red pepper flakes

Saute the chicken in a skillet (or grill it if you are lucky enough to have one of those), then set it aside. Meanwhile, boil the pasta. During the last two minutes, toss in the asparagus and the peas, then drain and set it aside. When the chicken is done, put the butter in the pan and saute the garlic for a minute or so. Mix the chicken broth and cornstarch together, then add it to the pan. Bring it to a boil, then let it thicken, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes. Take the mixture off the heat, and mix the yogurt, lemon, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes together. Add the yogurt mixture to the garlic/broth mixture, and stir to combine. Pour the sauce over the pasta, peas and asparagus. Top with grated parmesan and serve with chicken (this makes two servings).

This was really good and definitely kicky. Also, it is ridiculously fast. Including grilling the chicken, it took me about 20 minutes from prep to serve....just the kind of meal I like after a day of school and meetings. Changes I made were to change the heavy cream to Greek yogurt, increase the amount of sauce and decrease the amount of pasta, increased the amount of pepper and decreased the amount of lemon and salt, and dramatically increased the amount of garlic (although I did have small cloves...there was probably 1 Tlbs chopped).

Rating - 4.5/5
Why? Despite all the changes (I made this on Saturday night with a friend too), I still think it is a little too lemony (I reduced the amount of lemon above). However I do love that it is sooooo fast and easy, relatively healthy, and very filling.

Decadent Chocolate& Peanut Butter Cupcakes

This is is no way a healthy recipe, in any way, shape or form, but oh well. I started with this recipe from pinterest, but did make some changes to it, and will probably continue to modify it.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 package Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
2 Tlbs powdered cocoa
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 package Reese's peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients but the chocolate chips and peanut butter cups together until there are no lumps. Fold in the chocolate chips. In a muffin tin, put in the cupcake liners, then spray the liners with evoo. Put one of the peanut butter cups in the bottom of each cupcake liner, then top with the chocolate mix. Fill the cupcakes liners completely to the top and bake for 20 minutes*. Let cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in pan before removing, and let them cool completely before frosting. I was able to make 24 cupcakes with this recipe.

* Original recipe says 15-17 minutes, but mine were raw in the middle with that time.

Frosting:
1/2 cup of butter - room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk (more or less)*
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Nutella**

Put all ingredients into a bowl and whip on high speed until smooth, then ice cupcakes.

* I used closer to 3/4-1 cup of milk....the frosting needs to be smooth
** I used dark chocolate hazelnut spread I got at World Market. It was excellent. Regular Nutella would also be quite good, I am thinking. The original recipe called for peanut butter, which I'm sure would also be very good.

These were really good, but very sweet. I think I would make the following changes the next time I made these:
1. I would NOT use cake mix. I did not grow up on cake mix, so I don't care for the texture of it. I would probably use this recipe, modified to include peanut butter. It is more moist and less crumbly and not as sweet....and I recognize all the ingredients.
2. I would put a 1/4" layer of batter down before putting in the peanut butter cup. These turned out a little crunchy on the bottom.

Rating - 3.5/5
Why? The reasons above.