Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Food Facials

I have been experimenting with food facials lately. I like the idea of having everything that you need in the fridge. I have tried three diffrent masks and loved them all.

Honey mask:
Warm some honey and apply to your face let it sit for 20-30 min then rinse. When heating the honey make sure that it is not too hot, it heats quickly and can give you a nasty burn.

Fruit Mask
 1/2 apple
1 avacado
1 T almond oil
1 tomatoe
Blend ingredients then apply to face let sit for a half hour.

Yogurt Mask
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1T pure vanilla extract
1T honey
Mix and apply to face for thirty minutes

With all of these I put cucumbers on my eyes, it makes them less puffy, they smell good and they help you to relax.

You can make up your own facial recipe at home if you want to here is a list of good ingredients to use:

Apples
Peaches
Oatmeal
Avacado
Tomatoe
Lemon
Vanilla
Egg whites
Greek Yogurt
Basil
Cucumber

Make your own mask with whatever you have, its a great way to relax at home and use up some almost overly ripe produce.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Food Facial Trails Introduction

So lately something that I have been thinking about is skincare, probably because I have really broken out as of like yesterday, I hate when that happens. I have heard of a couple different skin remedies using food and that that it would be kind of interesting to check them out. So what I am going to do over the next couple of days is find some recipes that are good for skin care. My skin care regimen will remain the same, I want to see what foods really do make your skin look better. I will have before and after photos posted either here or on Facebook  (depends on how my computer wants to behave.)

So here is what I need from all of you guys. I want your food facial recipes. The ingredients need to be something that anyone can buy in the grocery store. I will do some research and find a few different recipes I will post the recipe and then say what I thought about it after I try it out.  I know that everyone has different skin types. I will try to find something for everyone. Lately I have been going from oily to dry back and forth.

Anyway,  I think that this will be a fun was to use food. Plus, I am starting cosmetology school on Tuesday so its a great kick off for that also ha ha.

Auntie Annes pretzels

I was at the store and saw this pretzel mix and had to get it. Auntie Annes pretzels are my favorite but they closed the ones here in Salt Lake. So I was so excited to find this mix.
The mix is really easy to make you just have to make sure that you follow the instructions. Be careful to follow them exactly cause you are working with yeast and it is kind of tricky to work with. If the water is too hot or too cold the yeast wont activate. I have a trick, I heat up some water and let it sit for about a minute and it has always worked for me. You can also get a thermomiter and look at the tempiture, the water should be about 115 F.
Here is a picture of the box.

 The picture below is the pretzels for some reason it didnt turn out the way that it was supposed to. I will upload a picture on my facebook and you can look at it there. But you can kind of see how nice they turned out. I would recommend letting the dough rest on top of the oven and keep it in a bowl I covered it with tinfoil but you can use plastic wrap.

After you let the dough rise you shape it and then but it in baking soda water. The water needs to be hot, mix the baking soda till its dissovled, put the dough in the water let it soak then take it right out and put it on the baking sheets, make sure you spray the sheet with cooking spray cause they will stick once they are baked.
You can put salt on them, the kit comes with salt and cinnamon sugar.

Sorry again about the picture I really dont know why it didnt turn out right. Anyway, if you want to find out more about Auntie Annes pretzles, buy a baking kit or just find a store nearby and buy one you can find it on the website:  here

I just uploaded the full picture on my facebook so you can see it there.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

pumpkin day! special pumpkin bisque recipe!

Tera Lea and I had been talking about buying a pumpkin for a while and baking it together and using all of it for cooking and baking.

We went to the store and picked out the perfect size pumpkin then took it home and cut it in half. We saved the seeds to roast them which is on of by favorite snacks now. They are crunchy and really tasty.

We cut the pumpkin into fourths roasted two in the oven and boiled two. Personally I like the roasted pumpkin better, it has more of a richer flavor opposed to boiled pumpkin which has been soaking in water, to me the flavor seems slightly diluted.

I never had plain straight up pumpkin but to me it tasted just like butternut squash.

Tera Lea and I made pumpkin puree just by blending it in the food processor, we also used the food processor to make the pumpkin bisque. Here is the recipe:

2 cups of pumpkin
1/4 cup cream
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1/4 chicken broth ( you can use less)
Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender then heat on stove till warm.

The bisque is really delicious to me it almost tastes like a cheese soup, its really rich and absolutely decadent. If pumpkin is not in season you can buy it in a can just make sure that you get canned pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie stuff. You would want pure pumpkin.

 We also made pumpkin bread, neither of us had a recipe for it so what we did was we went to www.foodnetwork.com then searched for a recipe. We found one by Alton Brown that we used. I loved the way it turned out because the outside was crusty but the inside was light and delicious. I really like to use the food network website when I am in doubt because people rate the recipes according to skill so if you want something easy or difficult you can find it.

Lastly here is my recipe for pumpkin seeds

2 cups of pumpkin seeds
dash of salt
dash of pepper
spritz of cooking spray.

Bake at 450 till golden brown.Make sure that you check on them pretty frequently and stir them so that they end up golden brown on both sides. I use an 8x8 pan instead of a baking sheet cause its easier to stir. Also make sure that the seeds are as dry as you can get them before you bake them otherwise they stick to the pan.

Pumpkins should be in season for a few more weeks. I definitely recommend buying one and roasting it or boiling it. I roast mine at 350 till the pumpkin is soft.  Then I let it cool and take off the skin. To boil to put it in a pot of water let it sit till its soft.  We had tons of left overs, and just pureed them and froze them use can substitute it in recipes for oil just like apple sauce.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

New Recipe Buffalo Chicken dip

Do buffalos have wings?  LOL just kidding! You cannot milk them either, (Tera Lea haha inside joke.)
\
Anyway I have been dieting for a few weeks now and have been trying to come up ways to eat healthy but have the flavors that I love. I have been dying for some buffalo wings. But there is so much butter and they are fried in grease and it just isnt healthy. Plus, I am not a fan of meat on the bone. So I created a little recipe.

4 oz of low fat cream cheese (half a block, I use weightwatchers)
one can of white chicken meat ( I used tyson)
1T of Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing ( I use low fat ranch)
1/4 cup Hot Sauce ( You can do this to taste some people like hot others dont. I used Red Hot brand.)

Warm the cream cheese either on the stove or in the microwave, it only needs to melt enough to incorporate the other ingredients. Add the chicken salad dressing and hot sauce, mix well.

You can serve this hot or cold. I serve it with trisciuts, carrots and celeory sticks. It is always a hit and you can make it as healthy or unhealth as you want. It would be really great with bacon mixed in.

This also makes a GREAT wrap if you have any tortillas, I just add some lettuce and wrap it up.

The Sweet Toothfairy

For months I have been hearing about the Sweet Tooth Fairy down in Orem/Provo area. My friend Britt, has sent me a text a few weeks ago saying that they were opening one in the Valley Fair Mall area, which is right by my house. So I though that I would check it out.

Here is a picture of the store front, The store is set up kind of like an old fashion candy shop I loved it.










Theses are some of the cupcakes that they make. They have a whole big list of fun flavors including Fairy Fetti.

I got a pumpkin cheesecake cupcake it was good. They swirled pumpkin and a creamcheese batter together. I took a picture but it didnt turn out.

They also have cakebites which looked like square cakeballs, lemonbars, cookies and maccaroons.

It would be easy to spend too much money there everything looks really good. Here is the website they have a full llist of all their cookies and cupcake flavors. Check it out.

NYPD Pizza

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. I was broke and that made it difficult. I still should have put up som recipes and stuff but I spent most of my time looking for a job. I finally found one and started last Friday, so I have been busy. I also start school next week so my life will be busy. I apologize for not having any apostraphies, that key has been broken on my laptop.

I have been looking for a great pizza place in Utah for a long time and I have finally found one. NYPD Pizza.
I went there today for lunch and it was only 4.99 for a ten inch pizza. Growing up in NJ you get spoiled by all the Ma and Pop pizza places everyone has their favorite, yes we have Dominos and Pizza hut but we hardly ever order from there. I guess that we are pizza snobs haha.

 I have a picture of the pizza but it was too big and it wouldnt let me up load it, here is a picture of the box and the pizza in it. It was still warm.

Anyway definately check out NYPD Pizza there are more then one location here is their website. http://www.nypdpizzeria.com/

They have TONS of speciaty pizzas, with these guys I think that the plain cheese is my favorite. Try it out and tell me what your favorite it.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Copper Creek with the ONE and ONLY Marianne!

Copper Creek is a little pub style restaurant that you'd never notice unless you look for it. I know people that have lived by it for about two years and didn't even know about it until I mentioned it to them. Whenever someone asks me for a good place to eat it is ALWAYS one of the first places that I mention. I have taken my Dad, Kellyn (my sister), Britt, Tera Lee, among. When I started my diet the day before I made sure that I had Copper Creek as my last meal.

Needless to say I am a huge fan of this place. It has a friendly cozy atmosphere and the food is amazing. The only thing I don't like about this place is the left hand turn that I have to make when I leave the parking lot.

Today I walked for about 2 hours and had ankle weights on so I was able to "justify" going there for dinner and Marianne and I were talking about it so I asked her if she wanted to go and of course she said yes.

We met there and ordered. Ordering is hard cause everything that they have is amazing.

Today I ordered the Monte Cristo: ham and turkey with Swiss cheese on white bread, they dip the sandwich in beer batter and deep fry it and serve it with powdered sugar on top and raspberry jam on the side. I know what your thinking "Raspberry Jam?" The raspberry jam brings this sandwich to a whole different level of amazing, you have the saltiness from the ham, a little bit of a bitter bite from the Swiss and then a sweet slightly sour taste of raspberry jam. It just works and it tastes amazing.

Now I know what you are all thinking..."Um Chris you're on a diet." And my response is that I only ordered half the sandwich and I am going to walk another 4 miles before I go to bed so neiner neiner. You can spoil yourself now and then just make sure you don't go crazy.

 I ordered onion rings instead of fries, I have never been a huge fry person but I love onion rings. They beer batter and use bedallia onions so they are sweeter, they also cut the slices of onions thicker so the onion doesn't escape from the breading when you take a bite. ( I hate when that happens.)

I also ordered cheese curds a appetizer. These are something that I get every time I go they are kind of like mozzarella sticks but shaped like nuggets and more chewy almost like rubbery. They dip them in beer batter and deep fry them (ya I know, DIET, but I only had a few). To me they taste like a cross between a really good grilled cheese sandwich and mozzarella sticks.


Marianne knew what she was going to order before she even looked at the menu. Copper Creek is just one of those places.

She ordered the California Chicken Sandwich: Grilled chicken with tomato avocado and lettuce on a roll. It looked good. She also got the Cajun fries which are regular fries but with Cajun seasoning.

For dessert we ordered Mud Pie (DIET!! I know I just had a few bites!) The mud pie is an ice cream cake it has a chocolate cookie crust, vanilla ice cream with swirls of fudge and whipped topping with almonds and fudge. Its good but its huge. I think that its one of those desserts that you share with four other people.

Some other good menu items I want to point out:

Cesar Steak Sandwich: steak strips on a white roll with Cesar dressing. Its good but pricey definitely something that I would just recreate at home by with steak strips and some low fat Cesar I think that it would make a really good wrap maybe with a spinach or whole wheat tortilla that way you can save some carbs.

Pub Club: ham turkey bacon tomato lettuce mayo. Your basic club, when I get it I have them put avocado on and hold the mayo. I have never been a big mayo person, so may as well save the calories right?

The Chubby: a hamburger with lettuce tomato and Thousand Island dressing in between two grilled cheese sandwiches. I personally have never had this, for me it just seems like too much. But the crazy thing is they have it with two patties of hamburger too. And they have contests to see who can have the most if you win you don't have to pay for your meal.

Its getting late and like I said I need to get some exercise in before bed. But if you are ever in Salt Lake City and are looking for a great place to eat check out Copper Creek. They just recently got a website and the menu is on there check it out.

Monday, June 13, 2011

$250.00 cookie recipe

I was browsing cookie recipes and stumbled upon this, I have seen it before but thought that I would share it.

NEIMAN - MARCUS $250 COOKIE RECIPE


A friend of a friend of a friend had lunch at Neiman-Marcus in Dallas last November, and for dessert she had a cookie. She thought it was the most wonderful cookie she had ever tasted, and asked if the recipe was available. She was told that it was, but there was a charge of two-fifty. She said that was fine. She got the recipe and told them to charge it to her account.
In December, when she received her bill, there was a charge for $250.00. She called Neiman's and told them it was a mistake - that the charge should be $2.50. She was told there was NO mistake that the charge for the recipe was correct. They told her it was not a returnable item and she would have to pay the amount charge to her account or become delinquent.
The bottom line is she paid.
She vowed to get back at Neiman's and wants to give the recipe out to everyone she possibly can. She asks everyone who gets a copy send it to everyone they know. So here it is:

2 c. butter
2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 c. flour
5 c. blended oatmeal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
24 oz. chocolate chips (2 lg. bags)
1 (8 oz.) Hershey bar, grated (yes, this is really 1/2 lb.)
3 c. chopped nuts

Blended oatmeal: Measure and process in blender to a fine powder.
Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add chips, candy and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake for 6 minutes at 375°F.
Makes 9 dozen cookies.

OK so first off way to go for getting them back the recipe is all over the web. Second, I cannot wait to try it out, it sounds really good. I am making them for dessert on Wednesday.
I have been assigned to make dinner every Wednesday night, this week we will be having:

Amish White Bread (I am making them from scratch and doing rolls instead of a loaf)
Oven Roasted Chicken and Vegetables


And you already know what is for dessert. I will be sure to update on Wednesday with recipes.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Pesto Pizza

 Tera Lee called me up and invited me to lunch, on my way to meet Tera Lee I noticed a small little Italian resturant, Fratelli Ristorante, not far from where she worked just off of 90th south in Sandy. I mentioned it to her and we decieded to check it out.

We walked in and immediatley heard soft italian music and were seated in a cozy booth. The lunch menu had a wide variety of choices, after loosing 26lbs I was cautious with my choice but decided that I would try the Pesto Chicken pizza and just take the leftovers home and share, and Tera Lee ordered Gnocchi Di Gorgonzola.
After we ordered we were served beverages and bread, the bread was crusty on the outside but light and soft on the inside. Tera Lee and I caught up a bit and nibbled on the bread and before we knew it out luches arrived.


The Pesto pizza: chicken, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, roma tomatoes, parmesan & mozzarella with fresh pesto sauce on a thin cripsy crust.

Gnocchi Di Gorgonzola: potato dumplings that were soft and light tossed in an Gorgonzola cream sauce topped with spinach and walnuts.

When Tera Lee and I go out to lunch typically we split what we order. I liked them both but in my opinion the pizza won. The flavors blended perfectly the cheeses, the tomatoes and the chicken all with the pesto just worked.

Some of you might not know what exactly Pesto is or maybe have heard of it but don't know whats in it so here is a recipe:

 

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (You can use pinenuts instead of walnuts if you want to)
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper t

Directions

  1. In a food processor, blend together basil leaves, nuts, garlic, and cheese. Pour in oil slowly while still mixing. Stir in salt and pepper.

Here is the link to Fratelli Ristorante, check it out. Also it would be pretty east to recreate the pizza at home it would be fun and delicious you could make it a little bit healthier too by using whole wheat flour for the crust.