taste of tuesday | turkey parm mini meatballs

Lately I have been spending hours and hours on Pinterest trying to find new recipes. I have a huge collection of great ones we have made before, but cooking the same things every month gets pretty old. Unless it's Avocado Pesto Pasta, that will never ever ever get old. 

If you also spend hours in the "Food and Drink" section of Pinterest, you already know this fact. 99% (or so it seems) of the recipes are deliciously bad for you. Ten pounds of cheese and butter sure sounds good, but I personally am wanting my backside to shrink, not grow after one meal. Hence the spending HOURS on Pinterest - it takes that long to find some good healthy recipes!

Not that this recipe is the best thing ever for you, but I'd like to think it's better than the deep fried mac and cheese that was right above it. 

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Turkey Parmesan Mini Meatballs

inspired by this recipe by the hilariously amazing BevCooks

Ingredients:

1 cup panko

1/2 cup parmesan cheese - split

1 T+ olive oil

1 egg

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

5 cloves garlic (those not obsessed, lessen to two) minced

1 T dried oregano

7 fresh basil leaves, torn/chopped/cut

1 pinch salt + pepper

16 mozzarella balls or cubes 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put 1 cup of panko and 1/4 cup parm into a small bowl. Starting with 1T EVOO, drizzle it over the mixture and mix with hands until fully coated. I added a few more drizzles because most of it felt dry still. Set aside.

Place the egg in a larger bowl and slightly beat. Throw in the bell pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Mix with hands.

Place a couple of tablespoons of the mixture in a greased (I use the Coconut Oil spray from TJs) mini muffin pan. Punch down a little area for the cheese.

The original recipe calls for cubes, but I balled up some fresh shreds because that is what we had. Place the balls in the cheese area, and then cover up completely with the meat mixture. I pushed the cheese down and this was easier. 

Place the panko mixture on top of the meat mixture and pat down slightly. I used lots as you can tell!

Place in oven for 25-30 minutes. Don't get scared if the cheese bubbles out.

Serve over sauce + pasta (we use the organic veggie noodles from HEB) and enjoy!

Linking up for Taste of Tuesday with Ashley and Jessica.

passport to yummsville

If you're visiting from Helene in Between, thanks so much for stopping by! I did a domain switch this morning - so if you are viewing me on put-a-bowinit.blogspot.com, it won't let you follow me :( Head on over to putabowonitblog.com and you should be able to - I would love to have you follow along!

Remember that time I kept talking about Mardi Gras, but I spelled it Mardis Gras? Yea, I'm still embarrassed about that. I've only lived here for 6 years, no big deal or anything. 

We don't really do anything for Valentine's Day. I'm not a fan of waiting for a table at a restaurant or paying an arm and a leg to eat good food while people are making out at the table next to us. But I always like to do a little something for Andre' as a surprise. Usually I make him some baked goodies, but we're trying to not eat so much dessert, so this year I did something I found on Pinterest. Where else would I look?!

original pin via

I knew we HAD to do this. Mainly because on the nights that we want to go out to eat, we spend more time deciding where we want to go than actually eating there. Lafayette is a small-ish city, but there are restaurants galore and we've been to very few of them. 

The original pinner did 50 restaurants that they had never been to. Andre' grew up here, so I'm sure that he has been to some of the ones I did, but I say they count because I've never been to them. 

Here's how I made mine. 

My Steps:
1. Find an old notebook you don't need for anything else.
2. Tear out the pages until you have the amount you need. (I'm re-purposing the pages as scratch paper for work.)
4. I didn't want to write it, so I went on inDesign and used cute fonts. I printed it on sticky back paper and then cut to size.
4. Stick in the book and there you go!
5. As we try out the places, I'm going to do what the original pinner did: green for amazing, pink for OK, and yellow for never go there again. 

We don't eat out a lot (cheaper and healthier to eat at home!), but I think this will make those nights when we do even more fun.

In other exciting (to me) news:
1. You may have seen me complaining about my domain woes. I never got it figured out after HOURS of trying, so I just called it a $10 loss and bought a new one. The original one was supposed to be thebowblog (dot) com, because I just thought my full name would be too long, but I couldn't think of anything else when that one didn't work, so it's now and forever: putabowonitblog.com. (Mouthful, huh?)

2. Over the weekend I noticed that I now have over 100 of you following me! I remember being excited for FIVE people to follow me. If you haven't reached out via email or comment, please do! I love getting to know everyone. 

3. I made a facebook page! There's nothing on it because I'm the only one who has liked it so far...but I plan on updating it with this week's posts today. Like away!

Hope everyone has a great Thursday/Valentine's Day :)

Linking up with Steph and Katie for saw it. pinned it. did it!

take a load off, Annie

That song has nothing to do with anything, except that for the one minute of the Grammy's I actually watched, that was on, and I loveeee me somma dat song. Our Sunday TV/DVR schedule is too packed, so we couldn't watch the Grammy's. Well, I guess we could, but that would have involved moving into the bedroom to watch that TV. HA. Not moving from this couch on a Sunday. And in case you were wondering, DUH of course you are, we watch The Walking Dead and Revenge on Sunday nights. Hellooooo best TV shows ever.

This weekend we kicked off MG 2013 with a bang. And by with a bang I mean at a bar on the parade route that was filled with 18 year olds and $10 doubles. Ain't nobody got cash for dat! Nonsense. 

The goal of MG is to catch the good beads. As in, the ones that someone spent $10 on - for one bead. Clearly, I didn't do a good job of that AT ALL, but it was because no one threw any where we were! Tuesday I will make up for this. And I texted the above photo to Helene on Friday, because I had to share that TERRIBLE bead. It was a choker on Andre' - stop being so cheap, float riders! Throw us the good stuff!

And then I danced. This is a rarity - I am awkward, I don't bar dance. Clearly you can see why - I mean, what am I doing with my mouth? I need lessons. (looking at you here again, Helene.)

I avenged the crappy beads with some awesome stunna shades. 

Sometimes I like to pretend like I'm still in college. Taco Bell just never feels as good the next morning, such a shame. 

It wasn't all craziness, though. On Saturday night I made, what I think to be, the best meal I have EVER made. Honey Butter Pork Tenderloin with brown sugar glazed carrots and some homemade garlic knots. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. And then last night I made chicken tortilla soup - thanks to the lovely Alexa for suggesting it! A is coming down with a sickness of some sort, so it was perfectly comforting. 

Also, today may be the only Monday that I will ever be OK with. Only because tonight we are going to watch A's mom ride in the Queen's parade and tomorrow is Mardis Gras. And I get to head out to a tent at 7AM and drink bottomless mimosas for free. I am determined to not let the 90% chance of rain ruin the fun. More beads for me! 

Linking up with Sami and Leeann:

where I pretend to be a food blogger

Around May I found a recipe on pinterest for Lasagna Soup and was so excited for fall weather to roll around so we could cook it. Well, fall doesn't really happen in South Louisiana so we didn't get to try it until mid December. And I don't even think it was cold out when we made it, I just couldn't wait any longer. 

Hands down this is one of the best soups I have ever had. And I'm a total soup lover. Best part? It is really healthy! AKA - no cream or milk or butter. I really didn't think I was going to like it because, lets be honest, I love me some cream, milk and butter. 

We made it for the fifth time Sunday night and made extras so my parents could have yummy and homemade lunches this week. And I decided to pretend I was a food blogger and share the recipe with y'all. Clearly you'll see why I am not one. And that I tend to forget I have a nice fancy camera all the time. iPhone for the win on this one. 

So here we go:

Lasagna Soup

Recipe by Kaitlyn loosely adapted from Bobby Dean

The ingredients:

I doubled the recipe so we would have extras, but for one batch you will need one onion, 1/4 C basil (which is one package), 32oz chicken stock (or one condensed stock pod + 3 cups water), 1/4ish C ricotta cheese, 15 ounce can tomato sauce (plain, no need to get fancy), 1 package Kraft + Touch of Philly motz cheese (trust me on this, it melts better!), one pound ground turkey, garlic powder and salt & pepper. NOT PICTURED: five lasagna noodles, uncooked.

Now whip out your handy (and beautiful) Le Creuset pot. If you don't have one, I HIGHLY recommend getting one. And if you are getting married any time soon, do yourself a favor and add it to your registry. They are pricey but SO SO SO worth it. (I actually got this one for my Mom on Rue for around 70% off! And they have them at Marshall's all the time for a good price.) Anywho, you'll need to chop up your onion. I learned some fancy way from The Pioneer Woman that makes it easier, but in reality, I always look like that while chopping. Amazes me daily that I found someone who would want to be stuck with that for life!

But eventually you will make them all pretty and chopped. But then you'll look anything but pretty. Yikes.

Happens every time. My eyes don't just water, I seriously look like I just spent a good 20 minutes crying my eyes out. 

Moving on. Put some olive oil in a pot and then throw in the onion and the turkey. Season your little heart out with some Garlic Powder. I really like garlic so I sprinkle a lot, but you can taste after the turkey browns and always add more if you like. Cook on medium until browned. 

After the turkey browns (or whitens, let's face it, ground turkey just don't brown), add in the tomato sauce. Then add in the stock (I did the pod + water method). Then season with salt and pepper. Bring this to a boil and then reduce to simmer and let it sit for 15 minutes. 

Then break up your lasagna noodles and add to the pot. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for another 15 minutes. While that is simmering, chop you up some basil. Neat trick, stack the basil and roll it. Then chop away and it's perfect! 

After the 15 minutes, take off the heat and add in your motz cheese (1 C or so), ricotta and basil and stir until melted. 

Then ladle into a bowl and sprinkle some more cheese on top. And, most importantly, serve with champagne. What, you don't drink champagne on Sunday nights? You are missing out. 

Another reason I can't be a food blogger is because that post was all OVER the place. And the longest recipe ever. BUT, y'all should seriously make this and tell me how you liked it. Because I know you will.

pedi-scam

NYC at Christmastime is magical. There are lights everywhere (do they start putting those up in August or something?) and the city just feels like a Christmas wonderland. It's my second year in a row to go at this time, and though I complain of travelling so much for work, I really am SO lucky that I get to experience this for free.

The not magical part? There are people EVERYWHERE. It seems everyone know how amazing it is this time of year. People everywhere = no cabs anywhere. No cabs = standing outside in the freezing cold for even longer.

When we didn't see any cabs pull up, we thought we were being smart by locating a pedicab and jumping it in. It was surprisingly warm under the tarp and "fur" blanket, and it was only a 9 or so block ride.

Our driver was awesome, and he must have been crazy in shape to ride all over NYC with people attached to the back of his bike.

We enjoyed the sights during the ride and joked about how smart we were to take a pedicab - we even got there faster in it because of the insane traffic!

Our driver was very nice and took some pictures for us at the end of the ride. Extra tip for you, kind sir!

At the end of the ride, he plugged in his square and scanned my card. I immediately hit the 25% tip button and only then looked up at the total in the corner.

$193.75 - that had to be wrong!! I changed the tip to 15% and it read $173.45. I looked up in horror and asked our driver if there was some sort of mistake, perhaps it was supposed to say $17.43?

NOPE. The ride is $50 per person plus some sort of cents per block.

I really would have had a panic attack had that ride been on my own dime. Straight up not able to breathe in the middle of the city. Thank goodness I could expense it.

We were all set to brag about our awesome ride, but after that we vowed to not speak a word. Somehow someone at the party brought it up and we asked what she thought of them. Turns out, the city is in the middle of a big pedicab crack down as they are ripping people off right now. Yep, we were definitely ripped off. Seems as though tourists are the only ones who ever take them.

So, word to the wise, wait for a cab. (OR download the Uber app - it is a lifesaver!)

Other scenes from the city:

This is how old people pre-party. Carbolicious.

Baked by Melissa is always necessary. ALWAYS.

Hello, nola. See you again in three hours.

 

We are heading to New Orleans around 1 today. A's team plays in their bowl game tomorrow (Geaux Cajuns!), so we'll be celebrating that all weekend.

 

PS - can you believe Christmas is on Tuesday?! The insanity of EOY for me really takes all the fun out of the anticipation. I am so glad I saved some days off so I could have all next week off. I need to hit the refresh button. I'm looking forward to being able to post more & read more blogs - and keep that up into 2013!

i'm a TJ addict

Well I failed at blogging this week majorly. I like that I get to go on trips for work but being out two days mid-week ALWAYS messes me up. Coming back to 300+ work emails (I really wish that was an exaggeration) just makes the rest of the week SUCK.

I meant to prepare a Wedding Wednesday and a Si.Pi.Di post ahead of time so they would post while I was out, but it's just been one of those weeks. January CAN NOT come fast enough!

Anyways, as you know from my last pathetic post, I was in Chicago the last two days. Usually on my trips I have some "me" time, but I was only there for exactly 24 hours this time.

 

 

I have a goal with every city I travel to. I HATE looking like the tourist, so right when I land, if I have the time, I like to walk around a bit and immerse myself in the city. And I also have a problem. I'm addicted to Trader Joe's and I WILL go to one in every city I visit. NYC - check. Dallas - check. Chicago - you betcha I went.

 

 

 

 

Over thanksgiving one of the dips we had as this Herb Brie did from TJ's. I was obsessed with it. So naturally, I put my bags in my hotel and marched right on over to TJ's. (I did good this time, my hotel was only 2 blocks away. In NYC I had to walk two miles. Worth it? YES.) I found the dip and some delicious fresh bread.

 

 

No cheese and bread lunch is complete without some wine. And GUESS WHAT? TJ's is kinda known for their wine. And by known for I mean it's SUPER CHEAP. Seriously - that bottle was four dollars...and it was not the cheapest one there. It was pretty tasty I must say. Especially tasty when drank (drinked? drunk?) out of those cheesy clear hotel coffee cups. 

 

This is for you TJ newbies - they have the best candy/dessert known to man-kind. Those Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Butter Cookies? Yea. May or may not have scarfed down a whole tray in five minutes. They taste like super fancy homemade Twix bars. I usually just get the normal Fleur de Sel Carmel's but I had to step it up this time, and I am SO glad I did. I'm sure the cocoa truffles are equally as deelish but I'm waiting to eat them until I give them to my father-in-law the cocoa truffle addict.

 

After my amazing TJ experience I could have just lounged all night and watched HGTV/be a fatass, but I had our company "holiday" party to get to. Fortunately I have great friends all over the place so I was able to meet up with a sorority sister of mine. It was really fun to gossip catch up on everyone ;)

 

Last year the company party was INSANE - and by insane I mean that I fell asleep on the bar (yes, at the party) and got kicked out of the next bar because I tripped. (You guys probably think I have a drinking problem. I seriously don't and this proves it - I don't drink a lot so when I do, I don't know when to stop. EMBARRASSING.) So this year I stuck to water until everyone decided that must mean I am pregnant. Nothing like that to make you switch to champagne ASAP.

 

After the party some of us were hungry so we went to billy goat's.

 

 

If you ever go to Chicago, make sure you stop here for a late night snack!

 

It's true what they say in the SNL skit - they won't get you get a single. And really, the double is like a normal single at most places because the patties are so thin. It's not the greatest burger ever, but the history inside the place makes it a great spot.

 

I'm already planning my next trip - for fun this time - because there is SO much to do there and 20 hours is not enough! Can't wait!





things are looking up

Someone got herself a makeover today! I'm in love with it and keep looking at it every 5 minutes to remind myself of how pretty it is now. Hope you like it to!

My weekend update is terrible today - I did a very bad job at taking pictures this past week, but here goes nothing. Next week I'll use my real camera!

When we got to Houston on Monday night my sister pawned off her dessert she needed to make on me. Considering I had to direct her through the grocery store to find the apples, it was probably a good thing. I made these mini apple pies...and they were SO good. And probably the easiest thing ever. I got a little crafty with it, as you can see. (And these are pre-baked ones.)

They were so good that I made them again on Thursday. YUM!

Work made Tuesday and Wednesday pass by pretty quickly. I got off at noon on Wednesday and headed over to my sister's house to play with my nephew. He went down the slide by himself for the first time.

pretty excited about the slide!

On Thursday the family came over around 10 and we had a relaxing morning playing with Reid and eating WAY too many dips. I didn't eat any turkey due to the disgusting amount of dips I ate. But man, TJ's knows how to make a dip or two. Insert drooling here.

We realized while we were playing that Boo (that's my sister's nickname, long story) dressed Reid in the WRONG bib. Bowden tried to bite it off, but missed and got his hand. Orange and blue are NEVER allowed to be worn together!!

Then we jetted off to the airport. There was no one there, of course, but we didn't account for the fact that there were ZERO parking spots left. In the entire airport. We BEGGED the parking spot guy to let us in and THANK GOD they had one teeeeny spot left. We barely made it, but we did!

Friday bright and early we left Little Rock and headed to Fay-town for the football game.

so jealous of all those people in the sun.

we had seats right next to where my tigers came out of. was fun!



Don't let the picture fool you - I WAS DYING. It was the coldest I've ever been. I took my boots off when we got back to the car to warm my feet. When we got to the restaurant 20 minutes later they were so swollen that my boots wouldn't fit. DEAD. At least LSU won!

We got back Saturday to a houseful of pissed off people thanks to the nasty Florida gaytors. I'd rather go to a shitty bowl game and beat UF than go to a good one (holla Orange bowl!) and lose to UF. HATE HATE HATE IT.

bowden was pissed too, can't you see that scowl?

go link up!