Cooking with Duchess: Stuffed Salmon

Welcome to my blog segment: Cooking with Duchess! (I am so full of myself, wow.) If you didn't know this about me, I love to cook and have been for almost my entire life. While I could spend hours browsing Pinterest for new recipes, my favorite thing to do is tweak recipes and make them my own. I don't think I've followed a recipe tit for tat in years! In these posts I will share with you my latest creations so you can try them out for yourself!

Stuffed Salmon

I think salmon is one of the best things you can possibly eat. It has vitamins to make your hair shinier, skin smoother, and smile brighter. What more do you need? 

You can choose to add whatever you want to the stuffing, but be sure to add some sort of leafy veggie. That's part of what makes it good for you! My favorite is spinach but you can add kale if you're one of those people.

Make sure that you cut slits into your salmon so the stuffing mixture can stay in place. If you want you can add a creamy sauce on top before serving. Dill anyone?

I served this with my two favorite things: couscous and sautéed veggies. You could also serve with rice, salad, or potatoes au gratin!

Stuffed Salmon

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 small white onion, chopped
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 handfuls spinach leaves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 salmon fillets
1 Tbsp white truffle oil (optional)
1/2 tbsp dill (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Set oven to 400 degrees. In a medium pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil. Add mushrooms and onions and cook until onions sweat. Then add spinach and almonds until spinach has wilted slightly. Top with nutmeg, garlic powder, and salt and pepper, mix and set aside. In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, bread crumbs, and sautéed vegetables. Place salmon in baking dish with slits down the middle of each filet. Spritz with truffle oil and sprinkle on dill. Top with stuffing and bake for 30 minutes.



Until next time my loves x.

Cooking with Duchess: Ballpark Chicken

Welcome to my blog segment: Cooking with Duchess! (I am so full of myself, wow.) If you didn't know this about me, I love to cook and have been for almost my entire life. While I could spend hours browsing Pinterest for new recipes, my favorite thing to do is tweak recipes and make them my own. I don't think I've followed a recipe tit for tat in years! In these posts I will share with you my latest creations so you can try them out for yourself!

Ballpark Chicken

Nothing says summer like a baseball game! My Phillies are currently on a winning streak (whaaaat?) so of course I had to make something to celebrate. Plus Cole Hamels will probably be leaving soon and this makes me so unbelievably sad I can't talk about it, OKAY? Anyway, I was in the mood to experiment and who doesn't love pretzels??

My favorite part of making this was crushing the sourdough pretzel nuggets. I imagined I was smashing the faces of past lovers who lied to me and it just made it that much more fun (shouldn't suppress that anger for too long)!

I used New Belgium's (supporting Colorado Breweries YAY) Snapshot Ale to mix with the cheese and then it was perfect because I got to drink the rest! You could try using a dark lager instead but I feel like pale ales are more of a summer beer. If you try a different type of beer let me know!

Shout-out to McKenna (read her blog) for being my amazing photographer and Vixen for being the cutest little sous chef who licks up my messes off the floor!

Ballpark Chicken

1 3-lb package of chicken breasts
3 cups sourdough pretzel nuggets
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp Dijon mustard (try horseradish Dijon mmm)
1 egg
1/2 jar cheese dip (like Tostitos or Newman's Own)
1/2 bottle pale ale (I used New Belgium Snapshot)

Set oven to 400 degrees. Smash chicken so that it is thin and cut into 2 inch thick strips, set aside. Crush pretzels in a coating tray until desired size is achieved (I did larger chunks). Mix in mustard and cheese until coating is wet. Whisk egg in separate coating tray, then dip strips first in egg and then in pretzel topping. Line the strips in a cooking pan. Stir together beer and cheese dip until frothy, then slowly pour over chicken. Bake for 35-40 minutes.



Until next time my loves x.

Cooking with Duchess: Greek Meatballs

Welcome to my new blog segment: Cooking with Duchess! (I am so full of myself, wow.) If you didn't know this about me, I love to cook and have been for almost my entire life. While I could spend hours browsing Pinterest for new recipes, my favorite thing to do is tweak recipes and make them my own. I don't think I've followed a recipe tit for tat in years! In these posts I will share with you my latest creations so you can try them out for yourself!

Greek Meatballs

We know I'm a sucker for Greek food (gyros and hummus are my LIFE), so when my mom asked me to make something with the ground lamb she accidentally bought (she wasn't wearing her reading glasses) I knew I could come up with something yummy!

Meatballs are great because you can eat them on their own or with something else. I paired these puppies with couscous, tzatziki sauce, and hummus! They were so good my family couldn't stop eating them!

These were so easy to make and would be great leftovers (just a guess since there were none left when I made them!). They are low carb and would be great over sauteed veggies. Switch it up and let me know what you ate them with!

Greek Meatballs Recipe

1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt

2 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

1 egg

1 16-oz package ground lamb

1 tsp dill

1 tsp oregano

2 tbsp plain breadcumbs

1 tbsp red onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Set oven to 375 degrees. Mix together all ingredients with a spoon (or by hand if you're a true Italian comme moi) until meat and ingredients are well blended. Form meatballs sized slightly bigger than a golf ball and place an inch apart on a baking pan lined with foil. Cook for 35 minutes or until edges of meatballs are crisp. Makes 12 meatballs.

Until next time my loves x.

Recipe: Southwestern Omelette

I have a confession...I'm addicted to cooking, cooking shows, and just food in general. I mean, have you SEEN Chopped before?! When I'm stressed, bored, or just in the mood for it, I cook and bake to my little hearts desire and I love tweaking recipes to make them my own. I figured if I'm going to be doing it regardless, why not share my favorite recipes and cooking secrets with you!

Recently I have been super into working out and eating clean (thanks a lot Spring Break) and I've been creating recipes to stop myself from eating 5 loaves of bread. I workout early in the morning, so when I get home I'm starving. I came up with this recipe one day when I needed to use some groceries before they expired, and I was so happy with the final product!

Do you like eggs? I love them. I eat them everyday.  Not only are they delicious, but they are super good for you and so versatile! I heard one of the new food trends (why is that a thing) is eating eggs for meals other than breakfast.  Sorry to disappoint you hipster foodies, but this recipe is perfect for right after you wake up.  But there is always breakfast for dinner!

Southwestern Omelette

This recipe is super simple to make, unless you suck at flipping eggs (trust me, I was, too).  The omelette itself is just eggs and cheese, and the condiments give it that southwestern flair!

Southwestern Omelette

2 eggs (in the photo I used 6 tbsp of egg whites cause I ran out of eggs)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 Mexican blend cheese

1/4 cup pico de gallo (I used King Soopers brand...it's bomb)

2 tbsp guacamole (optional)

In a small bowl, mix together eggs, salt, pepper, and garlic and onion powder. Pour egg mixture into preheated pan and cook until edges start to solidify.  Flip egg to continue cooking and fill with cheese.  Fold over omelette and top with pico de gallo and guacamole.  Enjoy!

If you're looking for a guac recipe, check mine out! This omelette is so filling and delicious and I promise you won't be disappointed.  

Are you a fan of making omelettes (omg)? Any favorite recipes this month? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time my loves x.

Recipe: Simple Guacamole!

I have a confession...I'm addicted to cooking, cooking shows, and just food in general. I mean, have you SEEN Chopped before?! When I'm stressed, bored, or just in the mood for it, I cook and bake to my little hearts desire and I love tweaking recipes to make them my own. I figured if I'm going to be doing it regardless, why not share my favorite recipes and cooking secrets with you!

I eat avocados more than the average person.  Not only are they full of healthy fats and vitamins, but they taste so damn good and can be used in countless ways! One of my favorite ways to eat them is in guacamole (cue stomach growls and watered mouths). I am anti store bought guacamole (sorry) but never knew how to make this yummy dip at home! My friends all had different ways of going about it from adding avocados to salsa (gag) to the seasoned packets at the store (never tried them but they scare me) and I learned something...restaurants (Chipotle ayyyy) just do it the best! And it's not because of some fancy ingredient but because they keep it simple. So below you will find my quick, simple, and easy recipe for homemade guac!

Simple Guacamole

If I could eat guacamole on everything I would...and I sort of do. I eat it with chips, omelettes, salads, chicken, quesadillas...I'm pretty much addicted. Not gonna lie, every time I go to the grocery store I make sure I include ingredients to make this guacamole. It's just the perfect addition to everything!

You'll need just 5 ingredients to make this guacamole yourself (that's right, FIVE!). The recipe I'm listing is for one serving, but if you want to make a lot just double everything by how many avocados you use!

Simple Guacamole

1 ripe avocado (the mushier the better)

1/4 red onion, chopped

3-4 sprigs of cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 red pepper flakes (optional if you're feeling frisky)

In a medium bowl, mush together avocado, onion, and cilantro with a fork. Add salt and pepper and stir.

That's it. Literally. You're welcome. Now go make some and watch Walking Dead with me so we can cry about how beautiful Daryl is.

Do you have any favorite recipes? Is your guacamole better than mine (doubt it)? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time my loves x.