Work has been more hectic than usual lately so I was trying to brainstorm ways to be more efficient when a light bulb went off and I realized that I could save a bunch of time if I started running home from work a few times a week! Not only do I get a great workout in, but the jog home only takes 10 minutes longer than my usual 45 minute commute. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?!? I’m taking the shortest route home right now, but hopefully will start gaining enough endurance to mix my things up eventually. It’s funny, but I don’t usually have much of an appetite after I run…until the next day that is, when I become completely ravaneous and end up snacking all day. Anyway, one night after my run I decided to get some carbs ready in anticipation of my need to recharge the next day and whipped up this yummy pasta dish.

This spaghetti has a bit of a Greek twist because I made a sauce of pureed spinach, onions, garlic, lemon juice, and oregano. I mixed in some tomato paste to give it some depth and a bit of cottage cheese to add some richness without the heaviness of cream a la Cara. The shrimp and feta rounded out the dish nicely, although next time I may also add in some chopped roasted red peppers!

Spinach Sauce Pasta with Shrimp
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Juice of one lemon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
To prepare the pasta, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander, return it to the pot, and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté 5 to 7 minutes or under tender; add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Place onion mixture in a food processor and wipe the pan clean with a damp cloth. Add half the fresh spinach to the cleaned pan and place a lid on top. Heat for 4 to 6 minutes or until wilted. Add the remaining half of the fresh spinach to the pan; stir well and repeat, cooking spinach 4 to 6 additional minutes or until wilted. Place spinach in the food processor with the onion; add in tomato paste, cottage cheese, oregano, lemon juice, and salt and pulse until smooth.

Place shrimp and spinach sauce into a large nonstick skillet and cook on medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, or until shrimp are cooked through and opaque. Add sauce to the pasta and mix well. Scoop evenly into 6 bowls and garnish with crumbled feta cheese. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 430 calories, 9.6g fat, 10.6g fiber, 30.7g protein per serving
Cost: $1.75 per serving

I’ve gotten into the habit of buying one pound logs of goat cheese from Costco and since goat cheese goes bad faster than other varieties, I’m always trying to quickly use it in several different ways after opening the package – there’s nothing worse than wasting goat cheese! So after enjoying it in my Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Potato Stacks, I decided to finally use some in a breakfast dish inspired by the frittata I had with Meghan at Yolk during our visit to Chicago last November!

The frittata at Yolk features “chicken breast, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil, and red diced potatoes all scrambled together and baked. Topped with goat cheese.” Mmm, I love all these ingredients and didn’t want to change a thing, so I put the potatoes, sun dried tomatoes, and chicken all in a frittata, along with red pepper and shallots, and then topped the frittata with goat cheese and fresh basil when it came out of the oven. There’s nothing better than breakfast for dinner and it reheated beautifully for lunch the next day too.

Tuscan Frittata
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 red potatoes, chopped into chunks
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1 cup chopped red pepper
1 cooked boneless, skinless, chicken breast, sliced into strips
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons freshly chopped basil

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and sauté potatoes for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shallots and red pepper to the skillet and sauté 5 additional minutes or until veggies are tender (the potatoes will continue to cook in the oven so it’s ok if they are slightly underdone at this point). Remove from heat and stir in chicken breast strips and sun dried tomatoes.

Meanwhile, whisk eggs, milk, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour egg mixture into the pan over the other ingredients and bake at 350˚F for 20 to 25 minutes or until eggs are set. Evenly sprinkle goat cheese on top and return to oven for 2 to 3 minutes or until goat cheese is warmed through. Remove from oven and top with fresh basil. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 398 calories, 20.7g fat, 2.8g fiber, 28.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.43 per serving

I don’t eat beef very often. In fact, you may have noticed that there are no recipes featuring beef on my blog because it’s a protein I very rarely cook at home. But, every once in awhile I get a craving for a juicy medium rare dry-aged New York strip steak or hamburger smothered in cheese and mushrooms. Well, after making these cute little potato stacks last night, I’ve been completely dreaming of the former because I can just imagine them on the a la carte menu of a fancy steakhouse!

I decided to put some extra effort into our side dish last night and layered pan-fried potato slices with two of my very favorite ingredients – goat cheese and caramelized onions. I’m normally too impatient to wait for onions to caramelize but it was definitely worth doing so for these little guys. They are perfect for serving to guests and oh so tasty!

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Potato Stacks
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large yellow onions, cut into thin strips
2 large potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into 1/4-inch thick round slices
6 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium low heat in a large nonstick pan and cook onions for 30 to 40 minutes, or until caramelized, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, working in batches, heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick pan and cook potato slices until golden brown and cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Mix goat cheese, parmesan cheese, and milk in a small bowl until smooth.

To assemble the potato stacks, top a potato slice with some goat cheese spread and caramelized onions. Do this two more times for each stack so that you have 10 stacks containing three potato slices each. Makes 5 servings of 2 stacks each.

Nutrition: 328 calories, 17.2g fat, 4.3g fiber, 12.5g protein per serving
Cost: $1.01 per serving

I iced a tall triple layer strawberry cake with a classic vanilla buttercream and then covered it in white fondant and decorated it with a pastel green border at the bottom and blue and yellow circles everywhere else.  It was my first time covering a cake in fondant, so I was a bit nervous, but thankfully it worked beautifully on my first try.

Then I rolled the dice and decided to see if my eggless sugar cookie dough decorations would work well on a cake.  I was inspired by this cake and so happy with how my cute jungle animals turned out – they really spruced up the front of the cake!  Since the dough has butter in it, it’s a bit shiner than fondant, but it also doesn’t dry out as easily.  It’s also a bit more fragile than fondant and the finish isn’t quite as clean and crisp, but boy is it a lot more tasty! I will definitely be decorating with it again.

Anyway, when I saw 30 people were attending the shower I got nervous that the cake wouldn’t be enough, so I decided to whip up a cheesecake as well.  This is the third time I’ve made this cheesecake and I finally nailed it.  I topped a crust of pecan shortbread cookies with a layer of classic creamy cheesecake, and added a layer of eggless chocolate chip cookie dough on top.  Then I crowned the dessert with a layer of homemade caramel, pecans, and chocolate!  It was so rich and sinful and the perfect treat to bring to a celebration!  Congrats Geeti and Puneet!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
8 ounces pecan shortbread cookies, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Cheesecake Layer:
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Toppings:
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350˚F.  To make the crust, mix the pecan shortbread cookie crumbs and butter in a large bowl until well blended, transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch springform pan, and press into a uniform layer over the bottom of the pan.

To make the cheesecake, combine the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Blend in the vanilla.  Pour into prepared crust and bake at 350˚F for 32 to 35 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly.  Cool to room temperature, about one hour.

To make the caramel, place apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until mixture is a caramel color. Monitor closely so the sugar does not burn! Remove pan from the heat and slowly stir in cream and vanilla. The mixture will boil up. Return pan to the heat and boil an additional 2 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to room temperature.

To prepare the eggless cookie dough, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy; add milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in flour and salt; stir in chocolate chips.  Spread cookie dough evenly over cooled cheesecake layer and top evenly with caramel.  Sprinkle toasted pecans and chocolate chips on top.  Refrigerate for several hours or until cheesecake is chilled.  Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.  Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition:  427 calories, 25.0g fat, 1.4g fiber, 5.7g protein per serving
Cost:  $0.69 per serving

During grad school I participated on a Master’s team for awhile, but ended up getting a bit burnt out. I took a break for a few years when we moved to Boston, but I’m very happy to say that I’ve recently gotten back into it! I’m training for a triathlon that I’ll be doing with Shannon at the end of August and I’m really enjoying all my time in the water. I think it helps that I’m not just swimming, but also keeping things interesting by running, biking, and lifting to get ready for the race. Anyway, my favorite post-workout snack in college was a cinnamon raisin bagel covered in peanut butter, so when Apolinaras mentioned he wanted me to make some homemade protein bars, I knew I wanted to highlight these flavors.

Apolinaras forwarded me a recipe for homemade protein bars from one of his weightlifting buddies, which was very amusing because it contained tidbits like, “add/remove with a spoon if you messed up” and “throw in the protein power and mix it all around.” Very entertaining. Anyway, the bars contained just four ingredients – oat flour, milk, protein powder, and almond butter, so I decided to use these ingredients as a starting point and see if I could come up with something a bit tastier. I just mixed the oats, protein powder, peanut butter, milk, cinnamon, and raisins in the food processor and put the mixture into little mini muffin cups. The raisins provided a nice natural sweetness and I thought the bars tasted just as good as those that you can buy, but of course were much less expensive!

p.s. Apolinaras thought my shot of the bars with my swimming suit, googles, and cap was cheesy, but I think it’s cute!

Peanut Butter Protein Bars
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions:
Place oats in a food processor and pulse until a fine powder forms. Add protein powder, peanut butter, milk, cinnamon, and raisins to the food processor and mix until a ball forms. Divide mixture and place into 12 mini muffin cups. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and pop out of cups. Makes 12 bars.

Nutrition: 87.0 calories, 3.4g fat, 1.9g fiber, 4.2g protein per bar
Cost: $0.18 per bar

Happy 4th of July! I wanted to whip up a fun treat to celebrate the holiday this weekend and while I was mulling over the red, white, and blue color scheme, I was reminded of the Chicago Cubs Dessert Sushi I made last year. Suddenly a light bulb went off – I should try making decorations with my eggless sugar cookie dough, which was the base of my dessert sushi! While I like playing with marshmallow fondant and creating crisp cute shapes to top cakes and cupcakes, I don’t enjoy the overly sweet bland taste and have often wondered why no one has come up with a tastier alternative. So, here’s my attempt!

Eggless sugar cookie dough is absolutely delicious so I whipped up a small batch, rolled it out, made cute little shapes with cookie cutters, and topped some Oreos with my designs. The dough is not quite as stiff as fondant, so you have to be a bit more careful with it, but I think it has a lot of potential! It’s also very moldable like Play Doh so I was able to make some cute little American flags. I’m going to try decorating cupcakes with it next time and maybe play around with chilling the dough as well before rolling it out. Overall, I think my foodie arts and crafts project was pretty successful! Ok, I’m off to eat a hot dog and munch on some yummy sweet potato chips from Trader Joe’s – hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Food coloring

Directions:
Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamed. Add milk and vanilla and mix until smooth; stir in flour and salt and knead with your hands until well mixed (if the dough is too sticky you can add 1 more tablespoon flour). Mix dough with desired food colorings. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to create cute shapes or mold dough into desired shapes by hand. Top cookies or cupcakes with your decorations!

Nutrition: 784 calories, 35.8g fat, 2.0g fiber, 8.9g protein per batch
Cost: $1.15 per batch

I often joke that I’m a walking advertisement for Costco because I’m always gushing about my latest find or fabulous deal. From their cute greeting cards to their juicy sweet fresh strawberries – I love it all! In fact, I’ve talked about Costco in eleven posts already, and this mention makes it number twelve! When I noticed the Costco Connection magazine features member recipes, I sent in two of my own and look what they published this month! Apparently my Costco karma has come full circle!

To celebrate, I decided to combine two of my favorite things – eggless cookie dough and Oreos. I whipped up a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough and mixed in some leftover Oreos. Then I rolled the dough into truffles and coated the outside of each one in more crushed cookies. Just writing this post is actually making me crave one of these little guys – they are so yummy and completely addicting! The best part is that they are the perfect treat to make on a hot summer day when you don’t want to turn on the oven.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 Oreo cookies

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in milk and peanut butter and then gradually beat in flour and salt. Pulse 10 Oreos in the food processor until coarsely chopped and mix into the cookie dough. Roll into 32 1-inch spheres. Pulse remaining 4 cookies in food processor until finely ground and coat truffles in the crushed cookies. Makes 32 truffles.

Nutrition: 82 calories, 5.0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 1.5g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.10 per truffle

The last part of our trip was spent on the Lithuanian coast in several resort towns by the Baltic Sea. We were there pretty early in the season so it was still a bit chilly at the beach and I just got my feet wet, although Apolinaras actually swam a couple of days!

We spent a lot of time exploring Nida, which has gorgeous sand dunes and a lighthouse that can be spotted from all angles. Apolinaras spent many summers here, so it was really fun to see all his favorite spots.

Another one of the highlights was walking through the Hill of Witches in Juodkrante, which is home to hundreds of wooden sculptures carved by Lithuanian artists.

Many were inspired by folklore and fairy tales and several were interactive.

We felt like kids again and had a blast posing with them all!

We also really enjoyed checking out the Devils’ Museum in Kaunas. One of the most popular customs is the use of art to scare away evil spirits. It’s thought that the devil hates being mocked and leaves when people make fun of him. Therefore many people collect devil sculptures and display them in their homes.

After indulging in traditional Lithuanian dishes like those yummy zeppelins and these fried dumplings stuffed with mushrooms and covered in cheese for the majority of our trip, I was ready for some lighter fare once we arrived in Palanga.

After strolling the grounds of the Amber Museum and the boardwalk, I ordered a crispy pan fried chicken breast topped with grilled pineapple, a berry sauce, and whole walnuts for lunch.

I just loved the flavor combination and was inspired to create something similar after we got home. For my version, I coated the chicken with finely ground walnuts and bread crumbs and topped it with a sauce made from berry preserves and lemon juice for a bit of tang. Then I topped the chicken with chunks of fresh pineapple!

So this ends the recap of our trip to Lithuania.  I’m so happy that we were able to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary exploring Apolinaras’ homeland together!

Walnut Crusted Pineapple Chicken
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, pounded flat until 1/2-inch thick
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup of your favorite berry preserves (I used Trader Joe’s reduced sugar blackberry)
Juice of one lemon
1 cup finely chopped fresh pineapple

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Mix ground walnuts, bread crumbs, and salt in a shallow pan. Put the flour in a shallow dish and lightly dredge both sides of the chicken in the flour. Place the beaten eggs in another shallow dish and dredge both sides of the flour coated chicken in the egg mixture; place chicken in the walnut mixture and coat well on all sides.

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick pan and sear two walnut coated chicken breasts on both sides. Repeat with remaining tablespoon of oil and two chicken breasts. Place seared chicken breasts in a 13×9-inch baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center.

Make the sauce by mixing berry preserves and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Spoon sauce over cooked chicken and sprinkle chopped pineapple evenly on top. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 386 calories, 23.8g fat, 2.7g fiber, 9.0g protein per serving
Cost: $1.92 per serving

So after a few nights in Vilnius, we headed out on a road trip to see the rest of the country. The Lithuanian countryside is just gorgeous. Rolling cow pastures and farmland are interspersed with forests full of pine trees. We couldn’t resist stopping a few times to stretch our legs and take in the scenery.

Our first official touristy break was a visit to Castle Island in Trakai, where a castle built in the 1400s has been restored. I worked up quite an appetite as we roamed the grounds and climbed up all the towers.

Apolinaras couldn’t resist punishing me for whining that I was hungry.

I was in luck though because next up was a fabulous lunch with his family friends who spend their weekends in a traditional Lithuanian village. Their property is protected by national heritage laws, which means they must keep the house and barn in their original working condition. This means no upgrades – including no indoor plumbing! They have a well right outside their door and an outhouse in the barn. I’m not sure this is the way I’d want to spend all my weekends, but we really enjoyed checking out their home.

They served a very tasty lunch of beet soup, sausages and potatoes, and banana sour cream cake. Cold beet soup is a staple of Lithuanian cuisine and is packed with buttermilk, pickles, and dill.

It’s not my favorite, but I did my best with it and then quickly switched bowls with Apolinaras who slurped his down quickly. I hope our hosts didn’t notice! The banana cake was absolutely amazing though.

After lunch we took a long stroll and visited the neighbor’s cow. She was very sweet but I think the clicking of the camera made her a bit nervous.

After thanking our hosts we drove to Druskininkai, which has many mineral water springs and is considered a place of healing. Several of the springs are tapped on public grounds and you’re welcome to drink to your heart’s content. The mineral water was delicious directly out of the ground…

Haha, undiluted mineral water actually has a very strong pungent taste. Apolinaras kept encouraging me to drink more for my health, but I think he was really just amused by the faces I was making after each sip. Druskininkai was one of my favorite places though because the town is full of spas and I got a traditional mud bath and a lovely massage!

Next we headed to the Hill of Crosses, which is a spiritual place where people bring crosses representing their hopes. The first crosses were placed on the hill in the 1800s and now many Catholic pilgrims visit every year. It’s estimated there are well over 100,000 crosses! It was a beautiful and inspiring site, but a bit eerie since we went at dusk when no one else was there and the fog had rolled in.

In my next post I’ll be telling you about our time by the Baltic Sea, but first I need to share today’s sweet treat, which was inspired by that incredible banana cake we devoured. There was a chocolate cake layer covered by a banana cheesecake which was smothered in chocolate cake crumbs. I decided to make mini cheesecakes and give them an American twist by topping Oreos with slices of banana.

Then I topped the bananas with a layer of peanut butter cheesecake and crumbled Oreos. Mmm, these were definitely a winner!

Peanut Butter and Banana Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 Oreos
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Make the peanut butter cheesecake by beating together cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Mix in egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Line 12 cups of a muffin pan with paper cups and place an Oreo in the bottom of each cup. Add three slices of banana on top of each Oreo. Pour peanut butter cheesecake batter on evenly on top of the banana layer.

Crush remaining 4 Oreos in a bag with a rolling pin or pulse in a food processor until crumbled. Sprinkle Oreo crumbs evenly on top of peanut butter cheesecake layer. Bake at 350˚F for 25 to 28 minutes or until set. Remove from pans and let cool to room temp, about an hour, and then place in fridge until chilled, about 1 more hour. Remove mini cheesecakes from paper muffin cups. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 182 calories, 11.5g fat, 0.9g fiber, 2.8g protein per serving
Cost: $0.29 per serving

It’s finally time for our Lithuania trip recap! We traveled throughout the country and I’m going to spread the highlights of our adventure over the next three posts. Lithuania is the same size as West Virginia and sits above Poland and Belarus and across the Baltic Sea from Sweden. We flew into Vilnius, which is the capital and largest city in the country. Apolinaras was born and raised in Vilnius so I was very excited to finally see where he grew up! His mom met us at the airport and we headed over to his condo, where she had stocked the fridge with all his favorite Lithuanian goodies that just aren’t the same in the states (e.g. pickled herring, pickles, kefir). Apolinaras looked like a little boy opening his Christmas presents as he went through the fridge – it was just about the cutest thing ever and so sweet of his mom.

For the next couple of days we explored the city and visited many of Apolinaras’ friends and family members. I absolutely loved Vilnius. Like many European cities, the juxtaposition of gorgeous cathedrals and old winding streets filled with quaint rows of shops and apartments made me swoon. I also loved all the green space. There are parks throughout the city and Apolinaras’ condo is right next to a large national forest.

We climbed up the tower of a fort in the middle of the city to take in impressive views and also visited several churches where Apolinaras played the pipe organ when he was younger. This particular church is where people like to meet each other in the city center and we kept the tradition alive by meeting a few of Apolinaras’ friends there.

One of the highlights was going to a folk art festival with traditional Lithuanian music, art, and food. We leisurely browsed all stalls and picked up some wooden treasures including hand carved wall decorations for our kitchen and an adorable cutting board shaped like a pig.

Lithuanian artisans are also known for their linens, amber, and ceramics, so I got several gorgeous amber necklaces and linen pouches to store them in.

As you can probably guess, I was especially excited to try all the traditional Lithuanian culinary specialities. Most Lithuanian dishes are centered around the bounty of the farmland and dairy industry and contain sausage, potatoes, mushrooms, eggs, cottage cheese, and butter. They also have the best dark rye breads and amazing beer!

The zeppelins really stole the show for me – they are huge potato dumplings (the size of a regular potato!) stuffed with either sausage or cottage cheese and topped with bacon or mushrooms in a cream sauce – talk about the ultimate comfort food! And yes, they do eat a few veggies too, the most popular of which are beets, cucumbers, and cabbage. Oh, and between the 2000 lakes and Baltic Sea, fish is also on many menus and it’s often smoked or pickled.

Apolinaras’ mom made us several delicious traditional Lithuanian dishes during our stay including crepes stuffed with cottage cheese and topped with jam, potato dumpling soup, and fried potato pancakes, but my favorite meal was this lovely baked cottage cheese tart that also contained rice, eggs, and raisins. We ate it for dinner, but many people also eat it for breakfast and I knew I wanted to recreate something similar once we returned home. I mixed fresh blueberries and lemon zest into my version and enjoyed a big slice for breakfast last weekend. Next up are our visits to the countryside and resort towns by the Baltic Sea!

Blueberry Cottage Cheese Squares
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups 2% cottage cheese
2 cups cooked brown rice, at room temperature
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon, finely chopped
1 pint fresh blueberries (about 2 cups)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Mix cottage cheese, brown rice, eggs, sugar, and lemon zest thoroughly in a large bowl until well combined. Gently fold in blueberries and pour mixture into a greased 8×8-inch square pan.  Bake at 350˚F for 45 to 50 minutes or until tart is set. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 318 calories, 4.4g fat, 3.7g fiber, 19.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.20 per serving

You may have noticed that I’ve been on a bit of a Mediterranean kick lately – chickpeas, roasted red peppers, and feta have all been making me very happy and this dish is no exception. I wanted to come up with a fun vegetarian main dish to serve at an upcoming dinner party. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best to practice dishes before the actual event so I spent a bit of time brainstorming and finally decided to stack slices of roasted eggplant in between layers of a roasted red pepper and chickpea spread, feta, and pine nuts. I really loved the contrast of the crunchy pine nuts with the creamy chickpeas and I’m already looking forward to serving these cute little stacks!

Also, I’m working on going through our 2000 (!) pictures from our trip to Lithuania right now and I’ve already whipped up several dishes inspired by our trip, so stay tuned for a recap!

Mediterranean Eggplant Stacks
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants, ends trimmed and cut crosswise into 12 1/2-inch thick round slices
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Sprinkle eggplant slices evenly with 2 tablespoons salt on both sides and let stand for at least 30 minutes on paper towels. Rinse the slices with water and pat them dry. Place 1/4 cup olive oil in a small dish and use a pastry brush to coat both sides of each slice of eggplant. Place eggplant slices on two large greased cookie sheets in a single layer and roast at 375˚F for 22 to 25 minutes or until tender but not mushy.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat high. Add onion and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute.

Place cooked onions, chickpeas, roasted red peppers, red wine vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in food processor and pulse until well blended.

To assemble the eggplant stacks, evenly layer a slice of eggplant, approximately 1 tablespoon of the red pepper chickpea spread, 1 teaspoon of feta, and 1 teaspoon of pine nuts. Repeat 2 more times, so each stack contains 3 slices of eggplant. Makes 8 eggplant stacks.

Nutrition: 308 calories, 20.6g fat, 7.3g fiber, 7.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.11 per serving

I recently noticed that while I’ve posted over 25 desserts, there’s only one lonely salad hanging out in my recipe index. Aww, poor salad. It’s funny because although I actually always enjoy digging into a lovely pile of greens at a restaurant, I’ve never quite gotten into the groove of making salads at home.  This is mostly because I’m usually too lazy to chop up all the different kinds of veggies needed to turn lettuce into a main course! But I couldn’t help but be inspired to get out my knife this week, after seeing all the fresh summer produce at the market.

We had the best sweet corn on the cob and it was just begging to be used in a salad, so I mixed the corn up with spinach, grape tomatoes, and shrimp, and made a lovely red pepper dressing that really complemented all the ingredients. I wanted to add some chopped avocado too, but they weren’t quite ripe enough. I’ve got to start making salads more often!

Summer Spinach Salad with Red Pepper Dressing
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper, chopped
2 medium shallots, chopped (1/4 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces baby spinach
2 cups cooked fresh sweet corn (from 2 ears of corn)
2 cups grape tomatoes
2 cups cooked shrimp

Directions:
To make the dressing, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat and sauté red pepper and shallots for 5 to 7 minutes or until softened; add garlic and sauté one additional minute. Place cooked veggies in a food processor with remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, and salt, and pulse for several minutes or until smooth.

Toss spinach leaves with red pepper dressing, sweet corn, grape tomatoes, and cooked shrimp in a large bowl until well combined. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 338 calories, 19.2g fat, 5.4g fiber, 20.6g protein per serving
Cost: $2.19 per serving

We’re back! Our trip to Lithuania was amazing and I’m going to work on sorting through all our pictures this weekend so I can share a recap with you. There were two things I couldn’t wait to do once we returned home though – one was sleeping in our own bed because we splurged on the best mattress ever and I always miss it when we travel, and of course I was also itching to get into the kitchen.

Since Lithuanian cuisine is pretty heavy, I was craving a healthy meal after we had settled in and restocked on groceries. I made this excellent Mark Bittman recipe that I found on Adrienne’s blog a few months ago and was inspired to make a dish of my own featuring chicken sausage, spinach, and chickpeas. I decided on a Mediterranean twist and added in roasted red peppers, feta, pine nuts, and lemon juice. This definitely hit the spot and got high ratings from Apolinaras.

p.s. The winner of my Ad Hoc cookbook giveaway was number 27 – congrats Erin!

Mediterranean Chicken Sausage and Chickpea Skillet
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 12-ounce package chicken sausages, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
16 ounces fresh baby spinach
Juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium high heat and cook chicken sausage slices 5 minutes or until browned; remove from the pan and keep warm. Add onion to the pan and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until softened; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute. Place half the spinach in the skillet, cover with a lid, and heat 3 to 5 minutes or until wilted. Stir well and repeat with remaining spinach. Mix in lemon juice and salt. Stir in browned chicken sausages, roasted red peppers, chickpeas, feta, and pine nuts. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 658 calories, 27.4g fat, 16.0g fiber, 38.3g protein per serving
Cost: $2.82 per serving

I’ve been meaning to tell you about the very cool Culinary Arts High School Program my mom runs at Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa for awhile now, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity since I won’t be cooking up any recipes to share while we’re on vacation!

This is the sixth year my mom has taught the program and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of all the cooking experience her students get – they are truly ready to tackle culinary school or directly enter a restaurant upon graduation. In fact, students that complete both years of the program receive 33 college credits at the Des Moines Area Community College (and enter as sophomores if they choose to attend after graduation) and many of these credits transfer to other culinary schools as well.

Students commute from their high schools to attend Culinary 1 and 2 classes for 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day. During the first year they learn basic cooking skills and are servers at the Central Campus Café and during their second year they expand upon their basic skills and do all the cooking for the café, where the menu always includes two kinds of soup, side salads, several kinds of sandwiches, a daily special, and a few desserts. And the prices are right – a daily special of a grilled chicken breast, rice pilaf, green beans, a homemade roll, and your choice of a soup, salad or dessert is just $5.25! My very favorite thing on the menu is my mom’s chocolate cake, which is also my go-to chocolate cake recipe (and is shared below!). They serve 40 to 80 people a day and all the proceeds go back into the program – for ingredients or trips to competitions!

Yes, that’s right, the students also get to battle it out at Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Skills USA culinary competitions for scholarships! For FCCLA, a three person team has one hour to prepare a three course meal. My mom’s students rocked this year’s menu of corn chowder, Maxwell Street-Style pork chops with Roesti potatoes, and a lemon tart with Chantilly cream, became state champions, and will be attending nationals in July! At Skills USA individuals compete in the culinary arts, commercial baking, or food and beverage service categories. This year the students found out the menu at the competition and had three hours to whip up a Waldorf salad, beef stroganoff, and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce for culinary competition and dinner rolls, coffee cake, cream puffs, and a decorated cake for baking section. For the food and beverage service competition, students are given a menu and have to set up a table and serve food and beverages to the judges. My mom’s students placed in all of these categories this year and will be heading to nationals in June, where the winners get a full ride to the culinary school of their choice! As you can see, this is a really valuable program for those high school students that know they want to pursue a culinary career.

And of course I have to finish up by bragging a bit about my mom. She was recently selected as the Des Moines Rotary Teacher of the Year and received the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart Educator Excellence Award. And these accolades are very well deserved. She is always working with her students on the weekends and over the summer to make sure they all graduate and do well at competitions – her dedication is truly inspiring.

If you live in Iowa and would like to support her program, you can visit their café, which is open from 10:55am to 12:30pm most Wednesdays and Thursdays from October through May (the menu and directions to the school are posted here). And they are always looking for local chefs to mentor students for competitions, perform demonstrations, donate expensive ingredients, and provide internships.

And as promised, here’s my mom’s chocolate cake recipe that they serve at the cafe. I’ve been completely spoiled by this recipe and can’t order chocolate cake at restaurants anymore because I’m always disappointed – this version beats them all!

My Mom’s Chocolate Cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cold coffee (use regular strength coffee and nothing too strong like Starbucks!)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting:
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
6 ounces butter (12 tablespoons), at room temperature

Directions:

For the cake, heat oven to 350˚F. Grease two 9-inch round cakes and line with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of a mixer. Mix buttermilk, coffee, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until well combined. Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl and mix again briefly. Add cake batter evenly to prepared pans and bake at 350˚F for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes and remove cakes from the pans. Remove parchment paper and cool completely. Cakes can be wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap and frozen in the freezer until needed, if desired.

For the frosting, add vanilla to the milk and set aside. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa together in a large bowl. Beat butter in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup of the sugar/cocoa mixture to the butter, then part of the milk mixture, alternating until the ingredients are well mixed. If the frosting is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time to thin it out, mixing well after each addition until desired consistency is reached.

To assemble the cake, spread 1/4 of the frosting on top of one cake layer. Place other cake layer on top and use remaining frosting to cover and decorate the cake.

p.s.  My mom has requested I skip the nutrition stats for this one and I agree!

We arrived in plenty of time and spent about an hour and a half in line before being escorted over to have our books signed. Chef Keller was very warm and down to Earth. My mom asked about his Bouchon Bakery Nutter Butter recipe and he metioned that a cookbook featuring items from the bakery would be out in the fall!

The book itself is gorgeous and full of pictures and recipes that make my mouth water. I‘m having a hard time deciding what to make first, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! And of course I wanted to share a bit of this experience with you, so I’m giving away a signed Ad Hoc cookbook!

There are two ways to enter to win:
1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what your experience was like at one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants or let me know which of his restaurants you’d most like to try.
2. Tweet about this giveaway (using @cakebatterbowl) or post about it on your blog or Facebook page. Please leave a separate comment for this entry.

Entries must be in by Tuesday, June 1 at 11:59pm EST. Good luck!

I’m sitting in Heathrow right now taking advantage of the free internet from Starbucks before we head to Vilnius via Helsinki in a couple of hours! I’m a planner by nature and usually take charge of organizing all the details of our vacations, but this time Apolinaras has done everything and I have to admit that I could get used to just going along for the ride and not worrying about the details! We’re touring the entire country and visiting many of his family and friends – I’m so excited!

Before we left, I was frantically finishing up a couple recipes for contests and didn’t have much time to whip up any treats for my blog, but I found this goody that I made back in December that was just waiting to be shared. Puff pastry shells are filled with a sweetened goat cheese and topped with balsamic strawberries, which makes for a very tangy dessert.

We’re going to be here for 2 weeks and while I won’t be posting as often as usual, I do have a couple of fun posts ready to go – one of which involves chocolate cake and one of which is a giveaway, so stay tuned!

Balsamic Strawberry and Goat Cheese Tarts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (10 ounce) package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
6 tablespoons high quality balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups chopped strawberries
6 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Directions:
Prepare the puff pastry shells according to package directions. Let shells cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes, and remove tops.

Meanwhile, heat balsamic vinegar and granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and a thick syrup forms. Remove from heat and mix in chopped strawberries.

Mix goat cheese, milk, and 6 tablespoons powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop goat cheese mixture evenly into the cooled shells, followed by the balsamic strawberries. Sprinkle remaining 1 teaspoon powdered sugar over the filled pastry shells. Makes 6 tarts.

Nutrition: 345 calories, 18.4g fat, 1.5g fat, 9.0g protein per tart
Cost: $1.75 per tart

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed that I’ve been raving about Apolinaras’ spinach and lentil soup. He has tweaked the recipe to perfection and it’s so good that I find myself filling up a bowl with it instead of ice cream for my late night snack. Don’t let its humble appearance and short ingredient list fool you – it’s completely addicting!

Since Apolinaras doesn’t follow recipes or measure ingredients, I tagged alongside him while he was making it this weekend so I could jot down exactly how he crafts his masterpiece. In the true spirit of my hubby, it’s super easy to put together. You literally just put everything in a pot and allow it to simmer! You can’t beat something that is this good for you and easy to make.  I’m very happy that I can now make this myself on the days that he’s too busy to get into the kitchen!

Spinach and Lentil Soup
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup lentils
1 pound fresh baby spinach
2 teaspoons lemon pepper spice blend
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of one lemon

Directions:
Place chicken stock, lentils, baby spinach, lemon pepper spice blend, and olive oil in a large stockpot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils are tender. Mix in lemon juice. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 156 calories, 7.9g fat, 6.5g fiber, 8.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.53 per serving

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day celebration! My parents have made it a tradition to visit us in Boston over the holiday and this year the highlights were visiting Castle Island, attending a cookbook signing with my mom (more on this in a future post!), and heading out for a couple of jogs with my dad, who has done several half marathons and is an amazing and inspirational runner. We jogged around the Charles River and Boston Common on Friday and then did a 5K race on Sunday morning that benefited the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. My dad was nice and slowed down his usual pace so he could run alongside me both days, which was really fun. I never know how fast I’m running outside (although a smartphone with RunKeeper is on my current wish list), so I was completely shocked that my official 5K time was 27:19, which is an 8:49 minute per mile pace! I crushed my first 5K time by almost 5 minutes and I thought this course was more difficult than the first one because there were a couple of hard hills. I recently started training for my first triathlon, which I’ll be doing in August with Shannon, and I’m excited that all my extra time at the gym is already paying off!

Anyway, in honor of Mother’s Day I wanted to come up with a recipe for my mom. I’ve mentioned before that she loves pancakes and I was recently inspired to make a version inspired by Banana Boats, my favorite Girl Scout campfire treat, when I smelled a bonfire during a recent bike ride. Does anyone else remember these? You split a banana open and stuff it with chocolate and marshmallows and then wrap it in tinfoil and put it on the fire until all the components are warm and gooey – yum! So for these pancakes I put chocolate chips and mini marshmallows in the batter and then topped the pancakes with banana slices. They are delicious with syrup or a peanut butter drizzle!

Banana Boat Pancakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 banana, sliced
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Stir in the egg, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla extract until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.

Pour 1/4 cup scoops of batter onto a greased nonstick skillet over medium heat. Flip the pancakes when bubbles start to appear on top, after about 3 minutes. Cook the other side until golden brown. Makes 9 pancakes.

Top pancakes with banana slices. Mix peanut butter and milk in a small bowl until smooth and drizzle over pancakes. Makes 3 servings.

Nutrition: 593 calories, 24.8g fat, 4.3g fiber, 14.3g protein per serving
Cost: $1.67 per serving

Get this, my mom told me today that the reason I didn’t remember having mac & cheese growing up is because I didn’t like it! Apparently I always refused to eat it and would push it away and eat cereal for dinner instead! I mean I know I was an extremely picky eater growing up, but what kid doesn’t love mac & cheese?

My parents are visiting this weekend and my mom said she always marvels a bit over the fact that I now enjoy cooking and have a food blog, since she always struggled to diversify my palate. It wasn’t until I went to college that I really started trying new foods, and a trip through Europe after graduation solidified my foodie ways. I actually kept a travel journal during that trip and have a list of 32 new foods that I tried for the first time – things like raspberries, duck, prawns, quiche, lobster, salmon, cherries, mussels, and crepes. How did I go 21 years without thinking I’d like all these things? It sort of makes me sad thinking about it, but I am doing my best now to make up for all that lost time!

One of the 32 items was lamb – I had it twice during our trip and now have finally tackled making it at home myself. I’ve braised it a couple times this year and recently bought a Frenched (bones exposed) rack of lamb at Costco for $18 and crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t mess it up. Thanks to my trusty meat thermometer it turned out wonderfully and for a fraction of the price it would cost at a restaurant! Some of the almonds fell off the crust because I manhandled the pieces a bit while I was trying to figure out how to cut around the bones on the rack, but it was still very tasty and I’ll know how to do things more delicately next time around. I served it over a fennel, artichoke, and chickpea mash that is very versatile and would also be great with chicken – yum!

Roasted Rack of Lamb with a Fennel, Artichoke, and Chickpea Mash
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Fennel, Artichoke, and Chickpea Mash:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 bulb fennel, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14-ounce jar roasted artichoke hearts, drained
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
Juice from half a lemon (2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Roasted Rack of Lamb:
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
Juice of half a lemon (2 tablespoons)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 16-ounce Frenched rack of lamb, with 8 bones per rack, trimmed of all but a thin layer of fat
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds

Directions:
For the fennel, artichoke, and chickpea mash, heat olive oil over medium high heat and sauté onion and fennel for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and sauté 1 additional minute. Add fennel mixture, artichoke hearts, chickpeas, lemon juice, and salt to a food processor and pulse until smooth, about 2 minutes.

For the lamb, heat oven to 400˚F. Mix mustard, lemon juice, and garlic in a small bowl. Pat lamb dry and season with salt. Heat a large heavy skillet over high heat until hot. Add oil to the pan and brown the lamb on all sides, about 2 minutes per side, for 6 minutes total. Rub seared lamb with mustard mixture and coat with almonds.

Place lamb in a 13×9-inch pan and bake at 400˚F for 15 to 20 minutes or until lamb reaches 145˚F when a thermometer is inserted diagonally into the center of the meat for medium. Tent with foil and let rest for 10 minutes and then cut into chops. Serve over fennel artichoke mash. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 492 calories, 21.5g fat, 11.3g fiber, 35.1g fat per serving
Cost: $6.33 per serving

Cinco de Mayo is almost here! I’m planning on making a recipe from my new Rick Bayless cookbook on Wednesday, but couldn’t resist starting the celebration early by whipping up these tasty breakfast tostadas this weekend. I will always have a fond spot in my heart for Cinco de Mayo due to Wheel of Fortune. I know you’re thinking, huh, what’s the connection there? Well, a couple years ago while we were still in Chicago, I auditioned for the show when the Wheelmobile came to town. Thousands of people showed up and they packed about 500 of us at a time into a theater in Joliet. About 20 people were randomly called up to the stage in each group, and if your name wasn’t picked, you could wait in line all over again for another chance. It must have been my lucky day because I was immediately called up to the stage and solved the puzzle, which was “Cinco de Mayo!” I was rewarded with a tshirt and a spot in a call-back audition. I aced the written puzzle test, but unfortunately didn’t get picked for the show, which I attributed to the fact that I would have towered over Pat Sajak. It was a cool experience though and the term “Cinco de Mayo” now always makes me smile.

Anyway, for the breakfast tostadas I crisped up some whole wheat tortillas under the broiler and covered them with scrambled eggs. Then I made a chunky salsa of sorts from black beans, corn, roasted red peppers, avocado, and lime juice, to top the eggs. I covered the tostadas with cheese and popped them back in the broiler until the cheese melted – yum! You can also drizzle a bit of salsa on top if you have it around. They were very filling and I had a whole one for dinner one night, but half a serving definitely filled me up for breakfast. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Breakfast Tostadas
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 whole wheat tortillas
16 large eggs
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked corn
1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and chopped
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup salsa, if desired

Directions:
Heat broiler. Place tortillas on several cookie sheets and broil on each side for 1 to 2 minutes or until toasted.

Place eggs in a large greased nonstick skillet and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked, stirring frequently. Top crispy tortillas evenly with scrambled eggs.

Meanwhile, mix black beans, corn, roasted red peppers, avocados, lime juice, and salt in a large bowl. Spoon 3/4 cup of mixture evenly over eggs on each tortilla and top with cheddar cheese. Return tostadas to the oven and broil for one minute or until cheese is melted. Top with salsa, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition: 773 calories, 40.1g fat, 16.2g fiber, 46.1g protein per serving
Cost: $2.38 per serving