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The cool air and approaching holidays are getting me in the mood to cook and bake a lot more.  There's nothing quite like a simple recipe made in a warm and cozy kitchen.

easy donuts...

The other night, Landon and I had a hankering for some homemade donuts.  We both found some similar recipes and sort of made up our own.  They were delicious and so easy to make!  It literally took no more than 10 minutes from start to finish!

Here's our recipe:

Donuts


Vegetable Oil
1 tube refrigerator biscuits (we used Grands, but next time we'll use the cheap small ones)
Sugar
Cinnamon


Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
Place some paper towels on a plate or tray.
Fill up a small skillet halfway with oil and heat over medium-high until hot.
Meanwhile, take the biscuits and form into donut shapes by making a hole in the middle.


When the oil is hot, carefully place two donuts in and fry for 10-20 seconds. Flip and repeat.
Remove the donuts quickly and place in the sugar bowl to cover them with the mixture before they cool.  Place on the plate or tray that's ready.
Repeat with the rest of the donuts.
Enjoy immediately!


Tips:
*Use small cheap biscuits because our Grands brand was too thick and they didn't get quite done in the middle
*Use chopsticks to flip the donuts. (we didn't have any so we used two wooden spoons instead)
*Watch out, because these are so good that you'll probably eat the whole batch in one sitting like we did. :)

greek style pitas...

One of our favorite meals to eat lately is greek style pitas.  The recipe varies every time, but it's more or less the same.  Here's what I made last night...the recipe is completely flexible.  I learned how to cook like my dad, throwing in ingredients that we have in the house and measuring with my eyes, so it's really easy to adapt.

I hadn't had tzatziki sauce before until we were at my aunt and uncle's a few weeks ago.  She made a delicious bowl of it, so we thought we'd try it out!

Greek Style Pitas
1 bag whole wheat pita bread
chopped kale
2 T. lemon juice
2 lbs. or so of beef (I like to get the beef tips or stew meat since it's already cut up)

Marinade
greek seasoning
italian dressing
soy sauce
apple cider vinegar
(make enough for about 1 cup of liquid)

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced
8 oz. plain greek yogurt
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
2 T. lemon juice
2T. olive oil

Combine marinade ingredients and put into gallon size bag with beef.  Try to do this at least 4 hours before you make your meal.  Place in fridge and shake the bag every so often.

Combine all the tzatziki sauce ingredients into a blender or food processor.  (I used a garlic press for the cloves of garlic.) Blend until well mixed.  Place in a bowl and chill the fridge for at least one hour before serving.

Put some olive oil into a skillet and heat until the oil is hot.  Drain the marinade from the meat and put meat into the skillet.  Cook your meat how you like it, rare, medium, well done. Cover and keep warm.

Place about 3 cups of chopped kale (or spinach) into a skillet with 2T. lemon juice and cook over medium heat until wilted down a bit.

Warm pita bread, then stuff with the kale, meat, and sauce....enjoy!

This recipe is so simple and so good...and good for you!

tasty brunch

my sister Hannah, and my brother Jonah are coming to visit for a few days.
i was thinking about maybe having brunch on Saturday morning, and started looking up some good recipes.

these all look good, how can i choose?

herb-filled omelet recipe

coconut-pineapple loaf cake recipe

corned beef and root vegetable hash recipe

bacon with citrus glaze recipe

banana-nut french toast recipe

i guess we'll just have to have them all right?  maybe not.
the banana-nut french toast and bacon look pretty tasty to me though.

xo

Christmas Supper!

Since Landon and I will be with family for Christmas morning and Day, we decided to have our own Christmas supper celebration on Saturday evening.  We had ham with an amazing honey glaze, carrots, garlic butter mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.
Yes, we are still eating the ham.
It was such a treat to spend a quiet evening at home with a delicious supper, just the two of us and our little bitty tree.
Christmas seems extra special this year.

Al Dente!

I found a great new recipe today and we tried it out for supper...

Whole Wheat Penne with Roasted Tomatoes and Red Onion

It was truly delish, and so easy to make.

Here's what you'll need:

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta until it's al dente!  Meanwhile, rinse and halve the cherry tomatoes.

Toss tomatoes and 1/2 of the onion cut up with 2 tsp. olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Spread on a cookie sheet, then broil in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the tomatoes just start to turn brown.

Once the pasta is done cooking, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and set aside.  Pull the roasted tomatoes and onions out of the oven.

Toss the pasta with 2tsp. olive oil and 1 clove minced garlic or garlic powder.  Add in the tomatoes and onions, and 1T. oregano.  Add about 1/4 cup cooking water to moisten...more if needed.

Serve in a bowl with a spoonful of ricotta cheese.  This dish tastes so good and is healthy and quick to make.

More editing experiments...ahh, I could do this for hours.  It's worse than Facebook!  Speaking of, I am taking a Facebook break for a couple days and I love it!  It has given me a lot more time to do other things and I sort of like being out of the loop for awhile.  I think everyone should take a break from Facebook once in awhile.

Landon and I took an hour long walk tonight after supper...so nice.  I love this weather we're having and getting to spend some quality time with my boy.

Have a great evening!

Love,
Leah

tomato, tomatta

Last weekend I coaxed Landon to go to a Shakespeare in the Park performance up in Noblesville. I'm so proud of Landon for trying out things with me that he normally wouldn't be too interested in. But he's a trooper and I love him for that! I love that Landon and I are different in some areas, and yet we can come together on common ground...meshed together with my lover boy. Love him!

We decided to make some homemade bruschetta and take it as a small dinner picnic at the park. Of course we grabbed some of our favorite Pomegranate soda from Whole Foods to go with...ah I could drink that every night.

I used some vine-ripened red and gold tomatoes and a sweet vidalia onion we picked up at a little farmer's stand near our apartment. Tossing in some fresh basil and balsamic vinegar, and paired with some french bread and parmesan slices, we had the perfect little supper.

We had such a fun little evening watching the Love's Labor Lost and enjoying our supper together in the lovely summer night. I love going out and doing things that don't involve movies or malls or massive crowds, just a simple night instead.

Luncheon on the Porch

Since Landon and I were spending Mother's Day with my mom and dad, we decided to go to Landon's parents' house this past Sunday for a late Mother's Day meal. It was so good just relaxing with them in the afternoon with a lovely homemade meal.

We had grilled salmon and pork chops, green beans with potatoes and mushrooms, fresh strawberries and kiwi, and homemade spelt bread, which is so good and very good for you. After dinner, we had a most delicious dessert of peanut butter pie (ahh, so amazing!) and Chai lattes using the recipe from an older blog post of mine, thanks to Cathy who read the post and tried it out. The lattes were really good by the way and so easy to make.

We sat outside on their porch, the one Landon and I were married on, and had a lovely drawn out lunch in the fresh air. After a wonderful day, Landon and I took a nice night drive back home and I snapped a photo....I LOVE night drives.

Here's to good times and good food with our dear family!! Love them.

Cheers,

Leah