Cookies at Piccione's Bakery

I already did a long post raving about Piccione's so I'll keep this short and sweet. I took my family here to enjoy some of their treats. They agreed with me that this bakery is a find! We basically did a tasting of all my favorites, plus some mini frittatas (below). I think that we all agreed that the napoleon and the tricolor cookies (above) were the best things we got. We also tried a chocolate cannoli (below), and a spiral cookie (above).

 I had a cappuccino (below on the right) and my sister had a hot chocolate (below on the left). We both enjoyed our respective drinks.

Basically, this place is still wonderful. And the Tricolor cookies are still amazing and addicting. And now you can see that they are beautiful too!

Momo's Ouzaria Taverna

Momo's is one of my favorites in STL. Last year I was challenged to find a greek restaurant for my friends and I to eat at, and after a bit of research I found Momo's. Momo's is a bar and restaurant that is on North & South Blvd. about a block north of Delmar. It's menu is greek small plates, so that makes it cheap for us college students. Its also really awesome authentic food! However, I fell in love with the falafel (at the bottom) the first time I had it. It's greek style patties, and served in a pita with all the fixings. And can never bring myself to order anything else when I go, despite wanting to try half the menu. Solution? I brought my family. We love small plates style restaurants where we can share and try, and I wanted to share a place that I frequent with them. So my family and roommate went to Momo's the Saturday night of their visit. It was a success! We tried a bunch of dishes. One of our favorites was the saganaki (below), the flaming cheese, which is basically I huge lemony mozzarella stick. And they light it on fire! What's not to like?

We also ordered a lot of other things. Vegetarian wise we got goat cheese (top), eggplant fries, spanakopia, hummus, chickpea red pepper feta cakes, on top of the saganaki and falafel. For the the meat eaters we got sausage and polenta, bacon wrapped olives (top), and grilled octopus. Some of the highlights of the meal were the saganaki, dipping the eggplant fries IN the goat cheese, and the chickpea red pepper feta cakes which were so flavorful they surprised me by being my favorite dish of the night. Apparently the sausage polenta was also extremely yummy according to my roommate and my family.

Thoughts on Momo's

• I love Greek food and I'm so happy to have an easy and inexpensive local place to go!
• This place is normally packed, but we were there on the night of game 2 of the Word Series. With the Cardinals in it this year that meant that many people were at the game or down town at the bars so it was really empty. But normally you need a reservation if you don't want to wait on a friday or saturday night.
• They also have a belly dancer... so don't be surprised when she appears
• This is one of those "small plates" places that actually serves fairly large portions anyway, but they still price their mezzes like small plates. That's why you can get a really decently priced and filling meal here if you don't try the complete sharing experience.

This is one of my favorite STL discoveries! I love that I've been able to share it with so many other people!

Chocolates from Bissinger's Chocolatier

After my Family and I ate breakfast at Crepes Etc. we decided to wander around the Central West End. And there happened to be a special halloween celebration going on. All of the shops in the area were handing out candy to kids trick or treating (in full costume) with their families. It was absolutely adorable. My family decided that we wanted some candy too, and so we stopped in to Bissinger's Chocolatier. Now my family loves chocolate (especially my Mom, see where I got my sweet tooth yet? :) ), especially dark chocolate so we decided to get a couple pieces from the case to try. My Mom got a classic dark chocolate salted carmel (top left), my Dad got a raspberry dark chocolate truffle (bottom right), and my sister and I got a dark chocolate pear-balsamic carmel (the other 2 in the pic above). All were delicious. The raspberry truffle was the best one I've tasted in a long time. And the pear chocolate, which we got on the suggestion of the helpful young lady working at the counter, was absolutely amazing. The sweetness of the pear, coupled with the sweet/bitterness of the dark chocolate and balsamic were all tied together with the saltiness of the carmel making it the perfect gourmet chocolate. I would get these for someone as a nice gift. They were a surprising addition to a wonderful morning!

Thoughts on Bissinger's:

• This is a french chocolatier which is now based in St. Louis, and I was really pleased with the place.
• They have this nice sit down area that serves as a chocolate bar, it was all very chique. It was quiet on a saturday morning, but I can see it hopping on a Friday!

All and all a very fun discovery for a family of chocolate connoisseurs :)

Crepes and Coco at Crepes Etc.

Firstly, I apologize for the demolished state of the food in these pictures. We were halfway through our meal when I remembered to take them... but that doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the food. Crepes Etc. is a breakfast place in the Central West End. This area recently became more accessible to me because I now have access to a car and the Saturday morning of my visit I shared the area with my family. My roommate had recommended this place, so we got breakfast here. The walls are pink and white stripped and it has the feel of a cutesy french coffee shop. They are famous for their crepes and hot chocolate, but have a full breakfast menu. I got the Crazy Caprese Crepe (above). My sister had the Pumpkin Gelato Crepe (below), and my parents got omelets. My Dad's delicious goat cheese and red pepper omelet is pictured below.

All of the food was really yummy. I very much liked my crepe which was packed with spinach and had pesto on top. However, the highlight of the food was the breakfast potatoes. My family unanimously agreed they were the best breakfast potatoes we'd ever had. They tasted like a combination of has browns and french fries. Yuuuummmmmm! As I said before, Crepes Etc. is also famous for their hot coco. They made their own marshmallows, and serve the drink in gigantic size mugs (see below). Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the marshmallows for you since they were already eaten by the time I got around to taking a shot :)

Thoughts on Crepes Etc.

• This place is obviously popular for good reason! It was packed when we were there and we were lucky to find a table. But the line to order the food moved fast, and they have outdoor seating.
• They have a huge menu of both sweet and savory crepes. I love savory crepes and was super happy that they have some really great vegetarian ones here. 

I loved the food and atmosphere of this place. I was so happy I could share it with my family, and will definitely try to get back here again!

Custom Cookies from Dough to Door

Dough to Door is a business that hedged its bets on two simple ideas. Firstly, that college students like cookies. Secondly, that they are kinda lazy. In my experience both tend to be true (the former more than the later). Dough to Door is a cookie delivery service. They bake fresh, made to order cookies directly to the dorms, or apartments, or housing in the area. In my humble opinion, the owners are brilliant. This is the perfect thing for a cookie craving when you have none of the ingredients, or cookies late at night that you don't want to bake. I've been a very satisfied customer for three years and I'm so happy to support one of my favorite local businesses. My sister loves this place, and so we had to order it one of the nights of her visit! Dough to Door does custom cookies with up to 3 add ins. This time around we went with chocolate dough, Oreos, carmel chips, and dark chocolate chips. They were wondrous. 

Thoughts on Dough to Door:

• They can take anywhere from 30 min to an hr to deliver depending on how busy they are.
• They have a storefront that's actually next to Seoul Taco. It's actually a completely different experience to go there and get cookies at the store. They have a bunch of games including apples to apples and Uno, so you can pass the time with friends while you wait for your fresh cookies to bake. It's almost as much fun as getting the cookies delivered straight to you!
• They have a ton of options for the custom cookies. I really like the plain dough with carmel and dark chocolate chips. I also have gotten the chocolate dough with marshmallows and peppermint patties. Now THAT was deadly.
• They also have fun custom cookie suggestions, if the amount of choices is intimidating. Or just classics like chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, and oatmeal raisin in the case at the store. 

This place adds such a fun and unique element to going to college around here, and I'm so happy to give them business so they can keep making me cookies!

Seoul Taco's Tofu Burrito

Seoul Taco's name says it all. This Loop restaurant is a korean bbq/ mexican fusion joint. Seoul Taco is actually a famous STL food truck that was so successful that they were able to open a loop storefront last year. Which is were I was first able to try this amazing combination of flavors. They serve burritos, taco, quesadillas, and gogi bowls. They all have a unique Korean BBQ twist to them. For example the burritos have kimchi fried rice in them and the tacos have seoul sauce and gogi bowls have a fried egg on top. I took my family here as something different, and they very much enjoyed it. I got the wonderful vegetarian tofu burrito (see above). My sister and my dad got a chicken quesadilla (see below) and taco, my sister got beef and chicken tacos, and my mom got a chicken burrito. My sister LOVED her beef taco, she raved about it all weekend. So it you eat meat and check out Seoul Taco, you'd better get the beef tacos ;) All of the dishes have slightly different flavor profiles, so unlike at chipotle (which I'm totally not bashing because I love that place with all my heart) the dish you chose actually changes the taste of the dish. This place is so unique and delish, check it out if you want something easy on the loop.

Thoughts on this restaurant:

• The flavors here are really intense and wonderful. But they can be a little spicy. Like a lot of Asian spice flavor profiles the food here has a slow burn spice, which intensifies throughout the meal. It doesn't bother me, and spice usually does. But it did bother my Dad, who's really sensitive to spicy food. If this is an issue for you, eat here with caution.
• The burritos are super filling, but they are so yummy that both my mom and I ended up finishing them. It's a really good place to go if you're hungry. 
• The pricing is comparable to chipotle. So not the cheapest thing ever, but still extremely reasonable.
• The seating at the storefront is pretty limited, so you might have to wait for table to open up. When the weather is nice they have outdoor seating, which helps with congestion.

This place is a real life food truck success story, that can now be enjoyed at a nice stationary central location. If you're even the tinseist bit curious about Korean/Mexican fusion check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Jilly's October Cupcakes

Jilly's Cupcakes is something that my sister and I discovered randomly watching Cupcake Wars. She was visiting me here in St. Louis a couple of summers ago, and we were watching the show when we realized that the Jilly's Cupcake guys were from St. Louis, I think they mentioned the science center and the Cardinals. I immediately looked up the shop online, and low and behold, it was in St. Louis! Their main store front is on Delmar, many blocks west of the loop. It was too hot and far for us to go get cupcakes that day, but we eventually got to try these award winning treats (Jilly's is actually a 2 time winner of cupcake wars)! And it was totally worth the wait. To put it simply these are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. My Mom now compares every cupcake she eats to Jilly's, and finds them lacking. She's very blunt about it, and it's hilarious. But really these cupcakes are works of art. Very yummy works of art. They are gorgeously decorated and frosted, and the cake is to die for! My Dad says his favorite thing about them is that the cake is so amazing, he thinks that most cupcakes focus on the frosting, but in his opinion Jilly's does both really well. My favorite thing about them is the unique flavors and fillings. If you haven't already figured it out this shop is one of my family's absolute favorite things. And they came to visit me this weekend (aka the reason there will soon be a ton of stl food posts). October is a special time for my family because my Dad and sister's birthdays are 3 days apart at the end of October. This time they landed the week before they came to visit, so I surprised them by picking up some birthday cupcakes for them, that were waiting at my apartment when they walked it. We all very much enjoyed the treat!

The store front is really cool, it has the cupcakes displayed in trays and a plastic window to the bakery area in the back. They also have a peace, love, cupcakes decal on the wall that I think is super cute. Jilly's has an interesting cupcake flavor system. They have monthly special cupcakes that change every month, along with their daily selections. My favorite Jilly's seasonal cupcake is the Pumpkin Pie one (duh), which has an actual slice of pumpkin pie on top! They usually have them in November so I'll hopefully be posting about them next month. The ones I got this time around (pictured at the top of the post in clockwise order starting on the upper right) were the Twisted Pink Velvet, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Oreo S'more, and Carmel Apple. All but the Twisted Pink are the October monthly flavors. My family's favorite is the Twisted Pink so I had to get that one. Its a pink velvet cupcake with carmel in the center (my Mom is crazy about carmel and she loves it!). Otherwise I try to get seasonal flavors since they are only available for a limited time.

Some Thoughts about Jilly's and their awesomeness:

• Some of the ideas for cupcakes are the most creative thing ever. In September the monthly theme was little kid snacks. They had a nutter butter cupcake, a chocolate pretzel cupcake (this was the most decadent thing ever), and a poptart cupcake. They managed to capture all the flavors of these snacks in their creations and still make them feel refined!
• Also I was a big fan of their chocolate merlot cupcake (which was featured on Cupcake Wars), and their snowcone cupcake as well!
• If you can't tell by the pictures these cupcakes are huge. They are sharing size. My family will usually share 2-3 between four people if that gives you any indication. Also sharing is better because then you get to try more flavors!
• They close around 6p, with times varying depending on day. But they do tend to run out of some of the popular flavors towards the end of the day so get there early!
• Jilly's recently started selling their own brand of ice cream at Shnucks (local stl grocery chain) based on their cupcake flavors. I have yet to try it, but its on my list.

In conclusion these are the best cupcakes ever. You should try them, they will change your life :)

Veggie Bean Egg Scramble

This was my last day to use my Egg Beaters, so eggs were my choice of dinner for tonight. I heated some of my grilled veggies in a pan along with spinach and kidney beans then I added the remaining beaters and scrambled it up. I added a bit of mozzarella and a touch of bbq sauce and mixed it with the hot scramble in the bowl. The result was a delicious protein rich meal. Because there wasn't that much of the beaters left and I had a lot of veggies it turned out to be more of a vegetable dish than an egg dish, but I found that I almost liked that better.

All and all, a very yummy easy meal that utilized all the left over things that I found in the fridge!

Yogurt and Cereal

I don't usually eat breakfast. Eating early in the morning makes me feel sick, and I usually don't have time for something involved anyway. However, on Friday's and Sunday's I get to sleep in and wake up at a time where the idea of eating doesn't make me nauseous. One recipe I sometimes make is my fried egg sandwiches. Another is the easy meal pictured above. I like yogurt a lot, but usually don't find it filling enough for a meal. I like eating cereal for a snack dry, but usually don't have enough milk in the apartment to eat a bowl of it. Solution? Mix yogurt and cereal! I have this delicious Kashi cereal that is cinnamon flavored. I goes really well with the yoplait strawberry-banana yogurt that I like. I also add banana slices if I have them.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• We don't usually have fresh berries at the apartment because they are expensive and don't keep, but they would be good in this recipe. Also peaches or nectarines would also be yummy with the cinnamon cereal.
• I want to experiment with different combinations of yogurt, and fruit.
• Cinnamon is super healthy! It has lots of health benefits including preventing Alzheimer's, reducing the bodies response to high fat foods (good to eat in combination with yogurt and bananas).
• This is a no cook meal! So super quick prep. It goes really well with a cup of coffee.

This is a really cool way to eat cereal, and it is yummy anytime, not just for breakfast!

Veggie Bean BBQ Ranch Quesadilla

One of my favorite things to eat at Wash U was the made to order quesadillas at Ursa's, a late night restaurant by the dorms named after one of my favorite constellations (actually most Wash U eateries have a bear-themed word play since that is out mascot). But this year I have not had them at all. There are 2 reasons for this. The first is that I don't live on campus anymore and the second is that Ursa's changed its menu. I think I speak for much of the student body when I say those quesadillas will be missed. Fortunately, Hello Kitty (our aptly named panini press and all purpose grill) means that I can recreate Ursa's quesadillas in my apartment. Like lots of my recipes this can be made with different ingredients and flavor combinations. This time I did a BBQ-ranch one, with my grilled veggies, spinach, mozzarella cheese and kidney beans. This turned out perfectly. Quesadillas are great for when you are craving something hot and salty, but it you stick veggies and protein in them they actually make a pretty decent meal.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I use one tortilla and fold it over (see above). 
• I can stuff it fairly full because Hello Kitty does a really great job of melting the cheese evenly and keeping the whole thing together (look at those beautiful grill lines!)
• I also like making Caprease Quesadillas (stole the name from Ursa's) they have tomatoes, spinach, basil, and mozzarella. I like to add Red Wine Vinaigrette and sun-dried tomatoes as well. 
• I like to make these with my Trader Joe's BBQ chicken, but beans are good for protein if I want to keep it vegetarian.
• I cut it with a sharp knife to make sure I get nice put together pieces.

I love quesadillas and I'm so pleased that this is a meal I won't have to give up in my new apartment!

Peanut Butter Nutella Marshmallow Taffy

Yes this creation looks gross, but it's actually homemade candy. Inspired by my love of marshmallows and peanut butter, I one day decided to stick the two ingredients in the microwave and see what happened. The resulting dessert was a sweet peanut butter candy with the consistency of taffy. I loved it, and it became my late night sweet craving indulgence. I sometimes add Nutella as well (see above), but the peanut butter is essential for the right texture. I've experimented enough with this treat to have the formula down to an exact recipe. For this candy to turn out the ratio of the peanut butter and the marshmallows has to be just right. For a one person sized portion I use 2 marshmallows and about a tablespoon of peanut butter (pic 1 below). Nutella is optional and you can add as much as you want. It does make the consistency a bit stringier. I then stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds (pic 2 below). Then I mix up the mixture with a spoon until it has a well distributed consistency (pic 3 below). I like to knead the candy a bit to make sure this is the case. Then I enjoy my treat! it hardens fairly quickly, but then the consistency is more hard taffy-like so its still a very enjoyable treat.

                                               

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I experimented with this a lot last year to see if I could use different ingredients to get different flavored taffies. This made me realize that peanut butter is essential for it to turn out. It doesn't have the consistency if you substitute almond butter, apple butter, carmel, or just Nutella alone. 
• I've found that adding melted chocolate or Nutella to the peanut butter marshmallow taffy can give it different flavors but doesn't replace the peanut butter in the recipe. 
• One of the greatest things about this recipe is that the clean up is basically nonexistent. The way that the taffy forms gathers up all the melted marshmallow and sticky peanut butter off of the sides of the bowl, so it all condenses into the candy leaving no stickiness behind (see the pictures above)

This is such an easy candy to make, but its not pretty so make it for yourself or people you aren't attempting to impress.

Pumpkin Cookies and Hot Chocolate

My roommate and I have started a new tradition in our apartment. We bake cookies and catch up on TV shows together, it's a practice that I really enjoy. We have yet to try cookies from scratch, but in the mean time we stumbled upon a little pumpkin (!!) flavored secret. Pillsbury has these pumpkin cookies with cream cheese chips in them. We were a bit skeptical at first but decided to buy them on a whim because they were pumpkin and I couldn't resist. They. Are. AMAZING!!! Eating them gooey out of the oven tastes like warm pumpkin bread. The purchase was a good choice. I haven't seen these in stores before so they might be new this year, or it might be because I'm now doing weekly grocery runs and I'm there a lot more often. In addition to the cookies I made myself a cup of coco for last weekend's TV night. I really like the Ovaltine hot chocolate mix because that is what my mom uses and what I drank when I was little. I make it either with skim milk or hot water using the microwave. This week I just used hot water because I was out of milk. I'll be making a lot more hot chocolate as it becomes winter, and I start to crave it on cold nights before bed. Cookies and coco is definitely a comfort thing for me. My family has a tradition were we always have them after playing in the snow, but I like making it part of TV night traditions as well. 

Fruit and Spinach Salad

So talking about adding fruit to salads in a previous post had me craving it, so I made one of my favorite salads last night. Spinach salad with cranberries, apricots, kidney beans, roasted veggies, and balsamic vinaigrette. Sometimes goat cheese or cheddar cheese is a good addition as well, but last night's didn't have any. If you haven't already figured it out by the content on this blog I have a serious sweet tooth. I like sweet desserts, as well as sweet meals. This salad can definitely be classified as sweet! The balsamic and fruit give it the sweetness while the spinach and other veggies give it a nice freshness.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• This is a really great way to get fruit (cranberries & apricots), veggies (spinach, peppers, zucchini), and protein (kidney beans) into a delicious and easy to make meal. Because I was using veggies from my roasted vegetable supply I didn't even need to chop anything. Truly a 2 minute meal!
• I used dried fruit in this salad, but I also like salads with fresh strawberries or nectarines. 
• Balsamic is a good basic dressing to use with a fruit salad because it compliments the sweetness of the fruit. Poppyseed dressing or raspberry vinaigrette are also good choices. 
• Nuts such as almonds or pecans are really great in fruit salads and also a good source of protein!

If you eat a lot of salads I've found adding fruit is an awesome way to switch it up, and keep salad from becoming a boring meal. I find cooking with fruit brings out creativity in me :)

Matcha Tea

Matcha, how I love thee. One of my friends introduced me to matcha last year. And I started craving it shortly after. Matcha is Japanese green tea extract, it does't actually taste like green tea, and it has much more caffeine. Most people have encountered it in Starbuck's Green Tea Frapiccinos, so if you've had one then you've had matcha. That's the main ingredient that they use in them to give them the flavor as well as the color. Actually matcha is a rather common ingredient in green tea flavored things. Green Tea ice cream is basically matcha ice cream. I love Trader Joe's Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream, which has matcha, and I recently tasted green tea pocky (also matcha flavored) and very much enjoyed it. I have matcha in the form of milk tea powder, similar to my regular milk tea one, but the matcha kind comes in individual packets. I like to drink it when I need a caffeine boast but don't want to drink coffee.

Another great thing to do with matcha is bake with it. I make an excellent and very much enjoyed Green Tea Cake with this matcha mix. I'll post it next time I make it (which will probably be in a few weeks for a potluck I have coming up)

Thoughts on MATCHA!!!!

• The package pictured above is about $10 dollars on amazon and has 16 packets in it. So basically a cup of matcha tea for 63 cents each... a super good deal!
• I brew it at 190 degrees, and I have found that a combination of stirring it very well and letting it sit for a bit is the best for getting the strongest taste. 
• Like I said this has a good amount of natural caffeine in it, so coffee drinkers who are looking to cut back, this is a great alternative. 
• Matcha is generally an acquired taste. Its a bit strange at first, but most people I know who try it eventually grow to love it. My mother excluded who thinks it tastes like grass...

All and all, if you haven't tried matcha you should! And keep an eye out for an upcoming post about The Famous Green Tea Cake!!!

Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed peppers are a really great thing to make as a flexible snack or meal. Peppers are basically a natural bowl. They're already hollow, you just have to remove the stem and the seeds attached to it and you have ready to fill edible bowls. I became an expert at doing this without any utensils this summer, but a knife (doesn't even have to be a sharp one) helps. This recipe has 3 steps. 1. Slice peppers in half. 2. Remove the seeds. 3. Fill with desired materials. Done! Super easy and a nice change from salads. I usually stuff my peppers with hummus and some combination of veggies, cheese, and dressing. This time I stuffed them with some leftover quinoa that my roommate made, and some tomato basil spinach. Delicious! One great thing about stuffing peppers is that I can be as complicated or simple as I want, and depending on the size this can be a great meal or snack. Mini peppers are good for snacks and apps, and a full sized stuffed pepper makes an awesome and filling vegetarian meal. 

The picture directly above is a meal I made last year. It's a full sized red pepper. The stuffing is hummus, feta, spinach, carrots, red wine vinaigrette, and cucumber. The great consistency comes from mixing it all together in a blender. This is great if you want to put a ton of different veggies in, but are having a hard time getting them to mix well. This was a really filling meal. Eating one of the halves left me feeling satisfied.

These guys are not the most picturesque of the stuffed peppers but they made a nice after school snack. I stuffed these peppers with black bean and corn salsa and then put some smoked gouda on top. I microwaved them for about a minute. This was yummy, but I think it would have worked better with shredded cheese.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I love making these! They are super quick, I'd love to try the recipe for a party or something. 
• I know that there are versions where you cook the peppers, I have yet to try one because I like crunchy raw peppers and I'm hesitant to spend more time on this dish when it's so quick to do this way.
• I've considered doing this with other veggies, like tomatoes or cucumbers, even though it would take a little more time to clean.

This is a super easy and flexible recipe that allows me to be as creative as I want!!

Black Bean Burger

I mentioned these guys in my previous spinach burger post. Black bean burgers were the first piece of evidence in my identified veggie burger theory. The first "veggie" burger that I ever had that I actually enjoyed was the black bean burger made at the Grill in the DUC at Wash U. These burgers don't pretend to be meat. They are a flavorful combination of beans, corn, peppers, and chipotle spices that is so amazing and flavorful that you won't even notice that you're being "tricked" (and I put tricked in quotes because I love my veggies) into eating your veggies. Anyway this summer I found out that Morning Star Black Bean Burgers taste identical to the ones they make at Wash U, so I have a ton of them in my freezer to make whenever I feel like. And a wondrous way to make them. And now I must introduce Hello Kitty.

We were not allowed to have any form of hot top or panini press in the dorms. But when we moved into the apartment this summer, my roommate brought this new friend with her. After living here for 3 months we both agree that the Hello Kitty panini press is the most useful object in our apartment. Reasons: 1. It heats up quickly and is rather easy to clean. 2. This means we can toast sandwiches, wraps, and quesadillas, all of which you can tell that I very much enjoy due to my previous posts. 3. It's basically an indoor grill, I've used it to grill veggie kabobs, chicken sausages, and the black bean burgers featured in this post. It can also sometimes serve as an oven for frozen foods when we don't want to wait for the actual oven to heat. I make spanakopita on it, my roommate makes mushroom puffs. 4. The panini press is adorable. Convinced yet?

Now back to the Black Bean Burger part of this post. These burgers don't need a bun, but the sandwich thins work well for that, especially when I toast them while i'm grilling the bbb (black bean burger) (see above). Usually I eat them with barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese. This time I put some of my roasted veggies, bbq sauce, and ranch on top. The meal turned out to be a huge monster of a burger and was really yummy and filling. 

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I love, love, love being able to make these on my own. They are one of my favorite new foods that I discovered at Wash U and it's a comfort to know that they won't be lost to me when I graduate. 
• I could add spinach, avocado, and/or smoked gouda to it along with my other toppings. 
• These burgers are fairly healthy, 120 calories each. The sandwich thins are 100 calories each. Taking the veggies and the sauce into consideration the whole thing is maybe under 300 calories, and certainly under 400. I don't fry the patties. The toppings are vegetables... so it's a really healthy meal that just feels like junk food. 

All and all, one of my favorite vegetarian options. It's fabulous meals like this that make me consider giving up poultry along with read meat and seafood...

Simple Balsamic Salad

I like salads. They are an easy healthy flavorful vegetarian option. I can make them sweet, or savory. Add in fun things like egg or fruit, or beans, or nuts, or cheese. I haven't made a ton of salads at my apartment this year because I tend to have a hard time keeping spinach in a state were it doesn't taste weird raw. But, when I get a new batch of spinach I have about a week where salads are good to go. Sunday night I roasted my biweekly batch of veggies (see below). They make a simple salad simply delicious. I added some of them to this spinach salad along with carrots and balsamic dressing. I shook it up and done. Super simple, but tasty and filling.

Thoughts on this dish:

• Not many comments, except that this specific salad is also yummy with kidney beans added for protein! 
• I also really enjoy the combination of dried cranberries and balsamic on a spinach salad, for a sweet meal.

I used to eat salads for dinner almost every night when I lived on campus because Wash U's salad bars are so yummy and easy. I miss my salads... I'll have to make more.

Spinach Rolls

This recipe is my childhood. My mom has been making these for special occasions as long as I can remember, and I've loved them for as long as I can remember. I liked spinach rolls before I actually realized I liked spinach, I think when I was old enough to realize that I'd been eating spinach in this form for years I just ignored it because spinach rolls were so tasty. Anyway, these rolls are some of my all time favorite food. I learned how to make them in high school, and they are super simple. I would make them in the dorms, and now that I have an actual kitchen its just become even easier to make these yummy apps.

The recipe is very simple. Cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, veggie dip mix, and frozen spinach. You mix it all together and then spread it on tortillas. Roll 'em up, and slice them! So this is a no cook recipe. They're bite size and perfect for a party, an appetizer before dinner, or a snack. they also keep rather well so you can eat leftovers of these for a couple of days after you make them. They're actually better the second day in my opinion.

Thoughts on this Dish:

• I've been making these for years now so I have a lot of my own tweaks.
• Firstly, I try to get low fat or fat free of all the ingredients to make them a bit healthier. They taste the same and it makes me less guilty about chowing down on these.
• I like to pop the frozen spinach in the microwave for 3 minutes or so, so that it is defrosted. It tends to heat unevenly though, so I have to watch out when I'm squeezing the water out of it because sometimes its scalding. 
• Quite by accident I realized that Feria Del Sabor tortillas are the best for this recipe. They don't crack as much and are easier to roll. They also don't get soggy and the tortillas don't have to be refrigerated.
• Also pick the peas out of the veggie mix!!!! First of all peas are gross, sorry if you disagree. But even if you like peas normally in this case its very true. They are hard freeze dried peas, and will stay that way in the tortillas making them impossible to slice, and icky if you get a crunchy pea in one of the rolls. Seriously, the peas ruin the recipe.
• When you initially roll them stick them in the fridge for half and hour before trying to cut them. This allows the rolls to harden up and little and results in nice easy cutting instead of a falling apart mess. Trust me, I've done it before. 

Actually the ease of this delicious recipe made me realize that cooking does not have to be hard and time consuming to be yummy. I've made this for lots of my friends and almost every one of them loves it!