New Recipes!

Happy Saturday! I hope y'all have had a good week! My went sent by surprisingly fast, considering it was my first week back after being got for a week on vacation. I think I was ready to get back and get things done. I have to day off today and it has been so nice. I was able to sleep in, run some errands and go for a run outside!
Yesterday was Mitch's first day back and he started ICU and he really likes it. He only has one patient compared to having 6 on his previous floor. He said it is more calm, but really sad since they are all in such bad condition...  he is liking so much better than his previous floor. I am happy he is enjoying it.

Not much has one on this week.. so I have nothing too exciting to share, but I do have some new recipes for y'all...

First, Tuesday night we cooked out steak and we wanted fresh green beans to go with them. We both would rather buy the fresh veggies from the store or farmers market than buy them in the can, but for some reason we have not had any luck cooking the green beans. We have tried multiple times and they just don't turn out good. So, I can across this recipe from another blog and thought it sounded really good... and I was right! They were delicious and I am so happy I found a way to cook fresh green beans that we both like. Here is the recipe...

HONEY BALSAMIC GREEN BEANS
16 oz green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and freshly cracked pepper
*Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Add the beans and blanch them for two min. Immediately remove beans from the water and add them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Drain.
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and green beans. Cover and cook for 10 min, stirring occasionally. Uncover, then stir in the vinegar, honey, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. Cook to desired degree of doneness, about 6 min.
Transfer beans to bowl and serve.

These are delicious, easy and I highly recommend you try them!

The next is one of my favorite things... coffee!! I am always looking for new and fun coffee ideas and a friend at work told me about this.

COLD BREW COFFEE
1 cup ground coffee
32 oz (1quart) container
strainer
large coffee filters
*Place ground coffee in container and fill with 1 quart cold water. Cover and let sit for 12-15 hours.

Place strainer over large bowl and place a coffee filer inside strainer. Slowly pour about half of the coffee and let sit until strained. Replace filter and repeat.

Now you have your coffee and you can either use it to make hot or cold.
To make hot: Place equal place of coffee concentrate and water in cup and heat.
To make cold: Place equal parts of coffee concentrate and milk in a glass. If you want iced, then add ice... but I like this because since it is already cold you don't really need ice so it doesn't end up watering it down. This makes the coffee very strong so I add a little extra milk when I make my glass.

Mitch's orange juice bottle has now become by coffee container.. ha
I always go down to Ozark Natural Foods and get their cold coffee in these glass bottles and so I am just reusing them since I can make my own now! I put a little over half milk in the jar and then the rest coffee. I also add 1 pump of Starbucks hazelnut syrup.

You can make it as strong as you want or add more creamer/half and half to weaken in. I love it because I can drink some, put back in the fridge and there is no ice that melts and waters it down!

The next thing isn't a recipe, but it is something that I have come to love and cook with. It is called Teaoli and it is just olive oil, but they have different flavors! When I went to visit Summer on Edmond and went to the tea house, one whole side of the store was these different kinds of olive oil. You could sample them all and I ended up getting the butter flavored.

It is so nice, because it is plain olive oil, but tastes like butter. I put butter on almost everything and I know it is so bad for me. I use it to cook in all the time too. So this is a good substitute! I put it on my popcorn and cook all my veggies, etc in it and it taste just like melted butter!! Yum! If you want some, you have to order it and here is the website:
www.teaoli.com



I hope y'all enjoy some of these.. we sure do!
Last night we tried a new recipe, chicken picatta and sweet potatoes. It turned out pretty good and then we went out for ice cream with Caleb.
I hope y'all enjoy the weekend and this beautiful weather!!