Dessert: Cookies or Ice Cream?

....or both!

Homemade chipwiches for the win. Thanks to my momma for sending me some fabulous Trader Joe cookies. We are TJ deprived in Chucktown...until July.
~A

My Love Affair...

My lovely roommate introduced me to someone who has completely changed my life. I can barely describe how he has improved my evenings. He keeps things hot and heavy, even while I'm at work. He waits for me, cooking dinner while I'm away. I can't believe that I didn't know how exhilarating and easy he was until the last few months...

Mr. Crock Pot

But seriously. I LOVE using a crock pot. My dearest mother claims to own one but I haven't seen it thus far (sorry, busted), so this year is the first time I've really gotten to know him. I've modified several recipes and cut down the prep time by hours, literally. I love using it on Mondays, especially when the weekend has been long and I'm too tired to cook a full dinner when I get home...

Today's recipe is for super easy crock pot spaghetti sauce. I went to a spaghetti dinner last night, and I was excited until I realized there was ground chuck in the sauce... (aka, something I don't eat!) So, spaghetti night got pushed back a day for me.

The original recipe is one my mom made when I was a kid, so it always reminds me of back when. I have modified it for the slow cooker. It can be used in loads of other dishes (so double the recipe and freeze some) such as lasagna, chicken parm, or as a base for pizza. It's a sweet type of marinara sauce, but can easily be made into a meat sauce.

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef or turkey (optional-only if making meat sauce)

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cans (1 pound each) diced tomatoes, not drained

2 cans (6 oz.) tomato paste

1 cup water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp dried oregano or basil or Italian seasoning (~2 Tbsp. if using fresh herbs. I used fresh basil from my garden!)

1/2 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf (optional)

1.) Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent, but not brown. (If making meat sauce, brown meat at this stage). Transfer to crock pot.

2.) Combine all ingredients in crock pot and set on low for several hours.

3.) Remove bay leaf and serve however you want! We ate it over angel hair with Parmesan and sides of cheesy garlic bread and arugula/goat cheese/ craisin salad. Delish.

Alright, so presentation wasn't the main point tonight :)

Bonus: Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread

Slice any type of french bread. Place on a cookie sheet. Put a thin layer of margarine on each slice, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Broil on high for two minutes.


Xoxo,
~Anna

P.S. Link to our crock pot! (Super cheap and completely worth it!) Yum. Buy one. Peer pressure.

End of Soup Season

With spring here, Anna and I tend to make less soup, so I thought I would share some of our soups we make during the colder months of the year. To me there is nothing better than a warm bowl of soup and fresh bread for dinner. I especially like to make hearty soups when football season is going on. With people coming over to watch football on our ghetto 1990s big screen TV, it is easy to feed a lot of mouths with a giant pot of soup. (By the way, I am a HUGE Auburn Tiger lover!!) War Eagle! Anyways, here are a few of the soups we make:

 

Roasted Vegetable Soup

During restaurant week in Charleston, my friend Charlotte and I went to Circa 1886 for a spectacular dinner. As an appetizer they gave us a small portion of soup. It was the most delicious soup I have ever tasted. My Roasted Vegetable Soup is inspired from the soup at Circa 1886.

• 1 butternut squash, 1 sweet potato, 2 turnips, 2 large carrots, and 1 onion peeled and cut into large chunks
• EVOO
• cinnamon
• salt/pepper
• box of chicken stock

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Put all of the cut up veggies on a baking sheet. Toss with EVOO, S/P, and cinnamon. Bake for about 35 minutes or until browned and soft.
3. Place all of the veggies in a large soup pot and add the stock. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Season and enjoy! I like to eat it with cornbread. The recipe for the cornbread is on the back of the Martha White Cornmeal.

Other soups Anna and I make include: Asparagus Soup, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Potato Soup, Chili,  Artichoke Soup, Pasta and Sausage Soup, and many more. We will get to these recipes later!

Anna's Asparagus Soup and Ciabatta

~ Charlotte

Sunday Italian

Most Sundays on Sullivan's Island consist of eating lots of food with our friends. Italian food is cooked all the time at our house. Homemade pizzas, pasta, wine, and bread are staple items for Anna and me.  This Sunday I decided to make my own ravioli. I have always bought ravioli from Trader Joes and Whole Foods, but decided to make it homemade this weekend (with the exception of using premade wonton wrappers). Now I must say I used a recipe from the Food Network. ("Five Recipe Fix" did the job Sunday night) They turned out amazing and easy...

 

Ricotta and Pea Ravioli

•  Square wonton wrappers
• 12 oz ricotta
• 1 1/2 cup peas (blanched)  (I just used the frozen peas that you can throw in the microwave)
• 3 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• zest of 1 lemon

1. Pour the EVOO in a small pot. Add the lemon zest and cook on low for for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for at least an hour. Cook bacon in a separate pan and set aside.
2. Mix the ricotta and peas in a food processor. Save some peas to add as garnish.
3. Spoon about a 1/2 tablespoon of the mixture onto one wonton wrapper. Dip your finger in water and wet the outer edges of the wonton, then fold to make a triangle and press sides together. Repeat until the ricotta/pea mix is gone.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the ravioli for a few minutes (4-5) until cooked through.
5. Place ravioli on plate. Top with the lemon infused EVOO, bacon, and peas. I like to top with Parmesan too. We love Parmsan :)
6. EAT. 

To go along with dinner we had a simple arugula salad, bread, and some olive oil I got from Tuscany, Italy during the summer. YUM!

~Charlotte

It's Always Dessert Time

Right now at the grocery store, there are three packs of strawberries for $5! This is exactly the kind of deal I look for to base a meal (or dessert!) around. I got my first only acceptance into dental school relatively recently, and I wanted to celebrate with some neighbors. After looking around for various recipes, this was the somewhat trifle based recipe I found. I halved the original recipe and instead of serving in one big dish, I put it into martini glasses! Sometimes presentation is all you need to make a really, really good dessert into an awesome one.

So here goes!

Amazing Strawberry Deliciousness
Ingredients:
1/2 an angel food cake, torn into pieces (also on sale, just my day!)
1 8 oz. package of light cream cheese
4 oz. frozen light cool-whip, thawed (that's half of a container)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 quart of strawberries, tops removed and slivered
1 can strawberry glaze

Directions:
1.)Layer the pieces of the angel food cake onto the bottom of whatever dish/glasses you decide to serve it in.

2.) Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and until really light and fluffy. Fold in the cool whip. Spread mixture over the angel food cake.

3.) In a bowl, combine strawberries and glaze. You really only need enough glaze to completely coat the strawberries. Spread over cream cheese layer. Chill until serving.

Serves 6-8, depending on serving size. 

That's all there is to it! For such an easy recipe, it was absolutely delicious and not super expensive. A nice mix up from the ordinary brownies or cookies. Everyone raved- always my goal! Maybe an idea for your next dinner party??

~Anna

PS...Half of a leftover angel food cake for breakfast? I'll take it!

Welcome To Our Blog!

After talking about making a blog for weeks months, it's finally happened!


Let us first introduce ourselves:
We are two recent college grads who decided to take a year off of life and enjoy ourselves before finding permanent jobs/heading back to school. We decided this would be accomplished best living two blocks from the beach, and so we headed down to a completely new area, Charleston. I'm Anna and my roommate is Charlotte. We have both enjoyed cooking throughout our lives but throughout the course of this year we have started cooking up a storm. After many requests for recipes, instruction, and wonder at how we do it all (on a pretty limited budget, nonetheless) we decided this would be a great medium to share.

A few caveats:
*For people our age, we do spend a lot of money on groceries. We do not live on Ramen (although I have been known to make those often enough at 2 a.m.)
*Not huge fans of red meat. I don't eat any, Charlotte will eat it rarely, but we won't have too many "steak and potato" recipes here.
*When we cook, we love a combination of homemade and prepared foods. Spicing it up is often the only thing you need to do!
*Although we tend to use low fat ingredients in many of our recipes...sometimes anything but heavy whipping cream won't cut it!
*Most of our recipes are "modified" originals, but we've tried em and love em. We will try to give credit whenever we can!

Other than that, feel free to use our recipes in your home and give us any feedback you might have! Thank you so so much in advance for stopping by! :)