Ja cię kocham…

This picture makes me laugh because on the bottom there is half of a head.  This man for some reason thought that we were taking a picture of him.  He made sure to get the perfect pose – and we didn’t take a picture of him.  Poor guy.  We won’t tell him that the picture wasn’t of him.

For Valentine’s Day 2010, Jay and I along with Travis (Jay’s best friend) and Abby (Travis’s fiance) went to The City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

Jay, Travis and I met at Temple University in North Philadelphia.  (Go Owls!)  Abby went to DeSales College, but we try not to hold that against her

To start off our weekend of festivities, we went to Chinatown for an enormous lunch filled with hot tea, rice, and hot chili sauce.  Then we sported our Cherry and White gear and headed to a Temple Basketball game where they ROCKED Rhode Island.  I know it’s Valentine’s Day weekend, but the four of us LOVE sports so much that our lives wouldn’t be complete without at least a basketball game.  I mean, I missed my field hockey game to go to Philly – I had to make it up somehow!

Once upon a time I would stand in the crowded and wildly enthusiastic Wild Cherry student section cheer my heart out for our team.  See all the students behind the basketball net?  Those are some dedicated fans.  Temple Basketball games are an experience.  I recommend them to everyone.

After the game, we strolled back to our hotel, lounged a bit, consumed some drinks and potato chips, and decided on dinner.  We ended up at the Fox and The Hound for some much needed french fries and late night chit chat and we busted a move in our seats to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.  Well… at least Abby and I did.

The next morning (Valentine’s Day) we paired off with our loved ones and went to breakfast.  Jay took me to my all-time favorite restaurant on the entire face of the earth – Sabrina’s Cafe.  There are two locations in the city, and we decided to check out the one in the Art Museum/Fairmount District since it was a few blocks from the hotel.  I discovered my love for Sabrina’s while strolling through the Italian Market in search of fabulous produce and opera singing.  Oh how I adore Sabrina’s.  It makes my heart flutter.

This place is so popular that we had to wait almost 90 minutes for a table.  Typically when we are told that the wait is that long, we go somewhere else.  Not when you’re at Sabrina’s.  It is well worth the wait.  Plus they lavished all the freezing cold soon-to-be customers with warm, buttery, chocolate scones as we waited.  And we all waited patiently.  I’m telling you, this place is worth it.

While we were waiting we found a dying snowman.  He didn’t look to happy.  My guess is because we haven’t been able to feed him snow in over a week, but not to worry droopy snowman, we are getting snow on Monday.  And apparently 40 inches of the white ca-ca in the 3rd week of March.  At least that’s what I’m told.

Oh, and also some cute kid dancing his heart out to some imaginary song in his head accidentally kicked me in the shoulder.   His tough-looking father said something not so pleasant to him in Russian and the kid came over and said sorry.  I was still laughing at the fact that he was prancing around.  I want to hear the song that he was dancing to… it looked like it had to be a good song.

After a very long time withstanding the winter chill, we finally got to thaw out and sit with a piping hot cup of coffee.  And we realized that it was now lunch time.  Thank God they serve breakfast all day.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Then we had to decide what to eat and that was a challenge that I was ready for.  Below is the Valentine’s Day Dinner menu.

Oooh… this sounds good, too…

In the end, I chose a salmon burger topped with grilled asparagus, portabello mushrooms and spicy mayo, sweet potato fries and coleslaw fit for a king or queen!

Jay got peach and blueberry french toast stuffed with nutella and raspberry jam.  I have never seen a more massive plate of french toast in my life.

Clearly we couldn’t eat all of our food, though we wanted to.  So much food for a very reasonable price.  I love you, Sabrina’s.  Thanks for making my Valentine’s Day so memorable.

Then we had to walk it all off by reuniting with Travis and Abby to see the Body Worlds Exhibit at the Franklin Institute.  If you have never heard of The Franklin Institute, you need to go.  It is an ENORMOUS science museum for children and adults in Philadelphia that is dedicated to Ben Franklin’s inquisitive nature and all of his inventions.  Such a cool place.  And it’s right by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Natural History Museum if you want to make a nice day out of it.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my incredible Valentine’s Day weekend.  It was truly amazing.  AND to top it all off, we ended it with a pit stop at Whole Foods and feeding the sheep at Jay’s parents’ house.  Amazing indeed!

It’s a party up in here!  This time last year, I posted for the very first time and had no idea what was going to come of this blog.  Little did I know that I would have so many foodie friends (HUNDREDS of you!) and so much support!  Thank you!

And in celebration of Ja cie kocham’s birthday, I’m making chocolate covered pretzels – a boatload of them.   They are festive, easy to make, and I’m probably going to eat them all within a few days.

I’m also going to use this time to recap on some of my favorite recipes of the year:

Breakfast:

Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast – Heaven on a plate.  ‘Nuff said.

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Appetizer:

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms – What a crowd pleaser!  Make sure to double the recipe because these will be gone in minutes!

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Pizza:

Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza – Wish I would have thought of this one sooner!  Seriously melted in my mouth.  I could have eaten the whole pizza by myself.

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Sandwich:

Grilled Vegetable, Herb, and Goat Cheese Sandwich – Perfect for a picnic and requires no refrigeration!

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Chicken Dish:

North African Grilled Chicken Paillards – Add ethnic flare to your chicken with a few pantry staples!

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Lime Chile Steaks with Pico de Gallo and Homemade Guacamole – Home run dish.  Bursting with flavor and super healthy to boot!

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Vegetarian:

Lemon Chickpea Stir-fry – AMAZING.  Nothing is more gratifying than making a very healthy meal that is so full of flavor.  I had several people ask for the recipe because they loved it so much.

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Pasta:

Linguine with Bacon, Baby Spinach, and Sage – I found this recipe on the back of the pasta box.  Always check the back of boxes for recipes.  They tend to be real winners!

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Side Dish:

Grilled Pineapple with Agave Nectar (or Honey) and Coconut – Elegant, healthy, delicious!

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Cookie:

The best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER.  They were huge, fat, chewy, and absolutely sinful!

Thank you for spending time with me in my little corner of cyberworld this year.  Here’s to many more years together!

Image Courtesy of PhotoBucket.com

We are blessed.

We are blessed to have food in our fridge, we are blessed to have a fridge, and blessed to have a home to store a fridge and its food.

Many people are not as fortunate.

As you probably know, the country of Haiti endured a devastating earthquake on January 12 displacing tens of thousands of people from their homes.

In case you did not know this about me, I have my Master’s degree in Global and International Education.   I have studied the trials, tribulations, and successes of developing and developed nations around the world.  Through my studies I have developed a passion for the well-being of children in developing nations.   The minute I heard about the travesty in Haiti, I instantly thought of all of the children that cannot find their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.

They need our help.

Each and every one of us has unique gifts to help people in need whether it’s within our own country’s borders or internationally.  In case you are sitting at your computer wanting to help Haitians but aren’t sure how, I am here to help you.

Be mindful of the sad fact that there are a lot of scams online asking you to donate money to Haiti when there is absolutely no intention of giving that money to those in desperate need.  Through my years of study, I have come across genuine, reputable and effective organizations that thrive on saving lives of those in need.

If you feel the urge to help the people in Haiti or even elsewhere, here are some of my recommendations:

UNICEF
Save the Children
World Food Programme
Global Grassroots
Oxfam International

There are MANY other organizations from which you can choose, but these are organizations that I personally recommend due to knowing employees/volunteers or working with them through my internship with Darfur Alert Coalition.

Take the time to research an organization that best promotes your desire to help.  What you may consider a little bit of money or food goes a LONG way to those who have nothing.

Image Courtesy: 123Greetings.com

Please be safe, be smart, and HAVE FUN!!!

It’s the time of year that we like to reflect on our past in hopes of living a bright and happy future.   Stick with what works, ditch what doesn’t…but most importantly just enjoy today.  Personally, I know that Jay and I have a lot to be thankful for this year.   As much as we seek change, we are also taking the time to appreciate what we don’t want to change – our happy marriage, our wonderful jobs (we are each blessed to have two), our health (I am particularly thankful for this since I was diagnosed with melanoma and just found out that we got it all), and our loving and supportive family.   Oh, and Jay is also thankful for the Three Stooges Marathon on today…

I know we’ll be using our smoker for some heavenly pork ribs along with apple-bacon sauerkraut (not smoked…hehe)!

My friend Lynn posted a fun question on Facebook today:

If someone told you 10 years ago on New Years Eve that you’d be where you are now, what would you have laughed at them for?

• I would have laughed at the fact that I would know how to cook and enjoy it.  Mind you, I was a senior in high school 10 years ago….

Take time to think about that one.  It’s fun!

Happy New Years Eve!

The New Year is quickly approaching, which means many of us are racking our brains with ways to make our 2010 better than our 2009.  Some of us want to volunteer more and spend more quality time with family, and others want to lose weight and/or live a more healthy lifestyle…or you want to do all the aforementioned, plus more!

Let me start by stating what is the obvious to me – my dad is my hero.  Everything he does, aspires to be, and accomplishes is so motivating and so awesome.   His New Year’s Resolutions are a little different than your typical lose weight and save more money resolutions.  Not that those aren’t great… every year I vow to lose the same weight and it never happens.  I tend to lose some weight, rejoice, and then overindulge.  Oops.  Some day love handles… I will defeat you!

Anyway, about my dad…sure he’s running 5 miles a day now (GO PAPS!)…

It must be disclosed that we are loyal Temple Owls fans despite the Nittany head gear

…but what makes his resolutions so intriguing are how personal they are.  And the fact that he sticks to them:

• Don’t sweat the small stuff or even the large stuff
• Let others finish what they are saying before he speaks
• Read one book a week

These are all great ideas!  I am sure that many of you out there in cyber-world also have very cool resolutions that set themselves apart from the traditional ones.

For those of you that are like me and can’t help but want to live a healthier lifestyle each January, this recipe is for you.

The holiday seasons are coming to an end, and I have allowed myself to overindulge a little (okay… a LOT) without guilt.  Seriously what’s the point of eating the food if you’re going to feel guilty about it?  You don’t enjoy it.  So I say if you are eating the savories and sweets this week, please take time to enjoy them.  If you’re going to fret about it, you might as well not do it.

That being said, I am noticing that I am feeling a little more sluggish and run down than usual.  And it’s simply because I haven’t been eating and exercising the way I should be.  It’s amazing how food alters your mood and more importantly your health.  You are what you eat.  This week, I am sweet, fat, and delicious because that is what I am eating.

Well not today!

I had my biweekly bout of insomnia and starting researching new recipes that are easy and healthy.  Just the way I like it.

I came across Oatmeal Pancakes from the Clean Eating Magazine.  These were very good although the texture was initially off-putting.  Pancakes don’t normally feel like oatmeal.  BUT oatmeal is so good for you (Oprah starts her day off with a bowl of it every morning) and it is incredibly filling.  Often I get so excited to eat my oatmeal and then taste it and wonder what I was thinking.  This recipe is a new way to consume that healthy bowl of oatmeal.  I added a little turbinado sugar to the batter so it wasn’t as blah as unloved oatmeal can be.  I’m glad that I did.  Next time I will add vanilla extract, too.

I couldn’t finish the meal!  I am a piggy, and I could not finish one serving.  LOVE that!  And it’s a different type of being full.  When I eat junk and need to unbutton my pants, I feel sleepy and overloaded.  These pancakes fill you but unbuttoning is not necessary!  I still feel light and healthy even though I am quite full.

Try these out!  They are a little different in texture, but they are a great start to a healthy and satisfying day!

Oatmeal Pancakes

Source: Clean Eating Magazine Online -  Nutritional information on website.

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

3/4 cup quick cook oatmeal
3/4 cup egg whites (from 5 or 6 large eggs)
1 Tbs. low-fat cottage cheese
1-2 Tbs. turbinado sugar (not reflected in nutritional value)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 Tbs. agave nectar, honey, or pure maple syrup (Grade B)
1/4 cup berries (strawberries, blueberries) – (I used bananas and added a little almond butter to each pancake, also not reflected in nutritional value)

Directions:

Mist small pan with cooking spray and set over medium heat.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except agave and fruit (and almond butter if you’re using that as well).

Pour into pan in pancake form. When sides start to brown, flip, cooking for about 3 minutes per side. Serve with agave and berries.

That one banana slice decided to be different.  I was just haphazardly slicing them onto the pancakes.  Ha.

Here’s to a healthy and fun-filled New Year!

If I had known all along how easy this was to make, I would have been doing this instead of buying it!   I LOVE Greek yogurt.  I use it in dips, in desserts, and in my baking.  It’s so creamy and full that it makes other yogurt seem weak.  My only issue with Greek yogurt is its expense.  It’s $5 for a teeny container or nearly $2 for a single serving.  I can’t justify that.

Well, I have found a solution.

Are you ready for the easiest recipe of all time (aside from just buying something from the store)??

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Source: Sunny Anderson

Yields 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

4 cups plain lowfat yogurt

Directions:

Line a strainer with a paper towel and place the towel-covered strainer on top of a bowl.  You don’t want the bottom of the strainer to touch the bowl.

Pour yogurt into strainer and place in fridge for 7-8 hours or overnight.  When it’s done, the liquid will be in the bowl and you will be left with the delectable Greek yogurt in the strainer.  Please note that the amount of yogurt will reduce, but you will still have plenty to use.  Discard liquid in bowl.

Enjoy!

This Christmas will be the first time that I host a holiday dinner for a large crowd!  Needless to say the past month has been filled with scouring through recipes, testing them out and deciding whether or not they are worthy of a Christmas Feast.  My main struggle is trying to keep things fairly simple while creating an elegance and charm that sets this meal apart from any other weekend.  Simple Elegance.  Hmmmm…

One thing that drives me insane is an overly crowded dinner table FILLED with decorations, serving plates, glasses, butter, jam, and much more!  I am definitely one that enjoys simplicity and a fairly clear table.  (That was a MUST for our wedding -  a beautiful table with room to see the table cloth!)

Our wedding table scape…

I like to have a separate little table for large platters of food to give guests the room to breathe and more importantly room to eat!

This being said… I have to be honest with you.  I’m “hosting” Christmas dinner at my parents’ house.  I know!  After all of this explaining and these pictures… nope, I’m not having dinner here.  My home, as adorable and warm as it is, isn’t suitable for a crowd of 12.  Half of us would have to eat in the living room and the rest in the dining room and kitchen.  I prefer all of us at one table.  My parents’ house can accommodate such a crowd and my need for togetherness.   This doesn’t mean that I don’t like it when family members sit at different tables.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with people eating in the living and dining room at one time.  A lot of the time this is what happens at my house when we have guests over so please don’t think that I frown upon this.  It’s just for this particular meal I have a vision of all of us together because this is the first time in a very, VERY long time that we have so many loved ones gathered at one time.  I can’t wait for there to be too many family members to fit at one table!

Anyway, I really want to introduce to you these cookies from Nigella Lawson.  I just want her British accent and her incredible ability to speak as if she’s reading from a novel.   Nigella is absolutely lovely in every sense of the word.

These cookies are chocolate shortbread cookies.  Amazingly good but easy to dry out.  So keep a close eye on them.

Nigella’s Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Source: From Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson. Also found on Oprah.com

Ingredients:

For cookies:

2 1/4 sticks (18 Tbsp.) soft butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup boiling water , from a kettle
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Christmas sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and, when you have a light, soft whipped mixture, beat in the 1/3 cup cocoa powder (sifting if it is lumpy) and, when that’s mixed in, beat in the flour with the baking soda and baking powder. Or just put everything in the processor.

Nigella recommends using vinyl gloves when handling the dough due to its sticky nature.  Personally, I didn’t find it necessary.  Pinch off pieces about 1 tablespoon in size, roll them into balls, then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them, well spaced, on your cookies sheet.

Bake each batch for 15 minutes; even though the cookies won’t feel as if they’ve had enough time, they will continue to cook as they cool. They will look slightly cracked on top.  Mine never got that crackly appearance but I took them out anyway because I didn’t want to dry them out.  You’re icing them anyway.

Move the cookie sheet to a cold surface and let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack, with a sheet of newspaper under it (to catch drips while topping them).

To make the topping, put the cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, water and vanilla extract into a small saucepan and whisk over a low heat until everything is smoothly combined. Take off the heat for 10 minutes.

When the cookies are cool, drizzle each one with a tablespoonful of chocolate glaze—it will help “glue” the sprinkles on in a minute. Use the back of the spoon to help spread the mixture, though an uneven dribbled look is part of their charm. After you’ve iced 6 cookies, scatter with some of the Christmas sprinkles and continue until all the cookies are topped. If you ice them all before sprinkling, you will find the cocoa “glue” has dried and the sprinkles won’t stick on.

From Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson.  Copyright © Nigella Lawson 2008. Photographs Copyright © Lis Parsons 2008. Published by Hyperion. Available wherever books are sold. All Rights Reserved.

I discovered Polish Pottery last year at my dear friend Christie’s bridal shower.

This is Christie with her hubby Eric.  (We were making homemade pizzas one night… what was I thinking giving Eric a knife?!?  Hehe.)

At Christie’s bridal shower, I was instantly drawn to the stunning deep cobalt and white pottery all over the house.   The hostess told me that she had registered for Polish Pottery for her wedding.  Dang it – why didn’t I think of that?!?!   Polish Pottery is incredibly durable and can go from your oven to your table to your dishwasher.  And it’s hand painted with love from Boleslawiec, a 13th century town on the far west side of Poland.  Boleslaweic (Bo-le- swa-vitz) is famous for it’s high quality pottery.

I chose the more traditional pattern of Peacock and Nature/Mosquito for my collection, but there are MANY other patterns to choose from – there are even Christmas patterns!  You can get all kinds of pieces.  Platters, coffee/tea serving items, place settings, and much much more are all available.  Several pieces are on display in my kitchen and in my “china” cabinet.  Of course, I use them frequently, but its too pretty to hide in a closet.  They need to be on display.

Jay and I registered for Cobalt Blue Fiestaware for our wedding, and the Polish Pottery matches perfectly with it.

Click here and here for online Polish Pottery websites.  I get monthly 10-25% of coupons for the online stores, which is fantastic!  You can also find it in local stores that sell pottery.   These are the kind of pieces that last a lifetime and can be passed on to your children and grandchildren.  Given that my family has strong Polish roots, I’m absolutely excited to add these pieces to my collection.

Happy 100th post, Ja cie Kocham!  This blog was started merely for me to keep track of my own recipes.  I’m notorious for cooking something and not being able to find the recipe for future use so this blog was initially meant to serve as a private food diary for me.  Well, that lasted all about a month when my friends and family kept asking to see it.  So I gave in and made my Ja Cie Kocham visible to the public.  And here I am 100 posts deep.

To make this post even more special it happens to fall on my beautiful puppy’s 1st Birthday.

We don’t have children of our own (yet) so Noodles gets all of our energy and love.  We HAD to celebrate her birthday!  What kind of parents would we be if we didn’t?   I know it sounds corny and quite frankly even ridiculous – I have seen those crazy Dog Moms on Oprah and Dr. Phil that treat their dogs like humans and even chew their food for them – but rest assured that we’re not THAT crazy.  We just love any excuse to celebrate.  And yes, we love our Bean!

And Bean loves her Peanut Butter!  (I let her lick the spoon after I was done scooping the peanut butter…)  She also loves getting presents…  she waits patiently… well, as patiently as a birthday puppy can!

When we first got Noodles, she was so little and had lots of black hair.

As you can clearly see in her more recent posts, her dark black hair has turned a whitish-gray.  She’s half Maltese and half Yorkie so I guess the Maltese in her is coming through!

So let’s talk about these dog cookies.

1. They are so simple to make.
2. You can’t screw them up.  It’s impossible.
3. The original recipe CLAIMS to yield 10 “biscuits”, but mysteriously I ended up with 36!
   
4. And you can eat them, too.  They are not sweet at all so I added some chocolate
   

Please note that Noodles is watching Mommy partake in a cookie….

Peanut Butter Banana Doggie Cookies

Source: Allrecipes

Yields A LOT of cookies…

**Feel free to make the cookies really thick to cut back on the amount and to appease your larger doggies.  My dog is little (10 lbs) so I made the cookies thin so she could easily consume them.**

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 egg white, lightly beaten, for brushing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Stir together the egg, peanut butter, banana, and honey in a medium bowl; blend thoroughly. Stir in the flour and wheat germ; mix well.

Turn dough out onto a floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter, place on prepared baking sheet, and brush tops with egg white.

Bake biscuits in preheated oven until dried and golden brown, about 30 minutes, depending on size. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Today we had a heat index of 105 degrees F.  And I was outside pretty much allll day looooong.  Needless to say, I wasn’t about to have anything hot for dinner.  I needed something cool and refreshing.  It was a night for salad.  I did it a little differently.  Instead of throwing it all in a bowl, I decided to make a platter out of it and put the lettuce on the side.  So go ahead.  Make a salad platter.  It makes the simplest of meals look beautiful and fancy.

My platter from Left to Right:

Red bell peppers
Green hot peppers
Avocado
Bacon
Chicken
Eggs
Scallions
Mushrooms
Roma tomatoes

I used endive lettuce and ranch dressing.  I know I should have used blue cheese, but I just love ranch!

ENJOY!