Flatbread Pizza - 5 Ingredients!

PIZZA!  Who doesn't love it?  It is by far one of my favorite treat meals and I do indulge myself in the full on cheesy delivery goodness of it from time to time.  But, sometimes I do want the taste of it without totally blowing my workouts that week.  Add this to the fact that I had all these ingredients sitting in my fridge already and you have a 5 INGREDIENT dinner!

I was looking into the fridge, contemplating a weeknight dinner, wanting pizza but not wanting to overindulge this night.  Hmmmm...what looks good?  There's some flatbread to use up, some leftover baked chicken...OK, maybe I can do something with that?  Oh, some spinach that has about one day left before it goes bad!  Let's add that to the mix. What else....?  Ah ha!  Add some pasta sauce and mozzarella into the equation and you got yourself a flatbread pizza!

Three things I love about this meal...

1. It used up items I already had in the fridge that I didn't want to go to waste.
2. It was all of 5 ingredients!
3. It was quick and simple!

You can use this same method and adapt it to whatever you have in the fridge or whatever ingredients you like.  Here's what I did for this particular night:

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast (This was leftover baked chicken in our fridge)
• Pasta sauce (Right outta the jar!)
• Flatbread (We used the Flatout brand; any flavor you like)
• Spinach
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• * I also used some olive oil spray, crushed red pepper flakes and garlic salt but those are pantry items in my house so I didn't count them as one of the five ingredients.*

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Put the flatbread on a baking sheet (put down some parchment paper or aluminum foil for easy cleanup).
• Spray the flatbread lightly with olive oil spray.
• Put in the oven for a few minutes until toasty and crisp all over.
• Remove from the oven and top with the pasta sauce, spinach, chicken and cheese.  This is where I added some crushed red pepper and garlic salt.
• Put back into the oven for about 5 minutes to warm the chicken and melt the cheese.

Enjoy!

Workout Wednesday - T25 BETA

I am proud to say I have been sticking to my Wednesday routine of getting my workout done in the MORNING before I head off to work.  It feels so good to get it done first thing and have time for a nice breakfast before driving to work.  It feels even better after an hour commute to get home and be able to RELAX.

This morning was Day 3 of the BETA cycle of T25.  Today's workout was Rip'T Circuit. Now come on, wouldn't you feel a bit badass accomplishing a workout called Rip'T Circuit?  I know I did!  Upper body, lower body, cardio, abs...it was all working! 

Those endorphins were FLOWING this morning!  Even the radio on my commute to work was killing it...all the songs had me dancing in my seat, not minding the horror that is I4.

What to know what else motivated me to get my butt out of bed this morning (besides my Challenge Group)?  

Yesterday, while getting dressed for work, I experienced that GLORIOUS feeling of putting on a dress that was too tight five weeks ago and having it FIT comfortably!!  I usually weigh myself once a week, if that, so it's awesome to have something NON-SCALE related that shows I'm losing inches and changing my body.

You know what other FABULOUS FEELING I experienced yesterday?  Walking into the kitchen with my "feels-like-new-dress" on and having my husband exclaim, "Damn Casey, looking GOOD!"  There's nothing like it!  I had to take a selfie to capture the moment, haha. The sweat is WORTH it.  Not just for fitting into my clothes more comfortably, but for the overall happier feeling I get when I'm in a solid routine of exercising and eating right.

Want to experience this feeling with me?  There's room in our March Challenge Group and I'd love to share this journey with you!  If this sounds like something you might at all be interested in, send me a message on Facebook HERE!

Stuffed Peppers

Another new recipe venture...this time STUFFED PEPPERS!  This one came about because we do Taco Night at least once a week.  I wanted to put a new spin on it and was reminded of a colorful magazine cover I saw from Rachael Ray with all sorts of stuffed peppers.  I decided it sounded pretty simple so I would give it a go.

I did a quick Google search of stuffed pepper recipes and figured out I basically roast the peppers for about 15 minutes before stuffing them, stuff them with the goods and throw 'em back in the oven to melt cheese.  Easy enough!  

I pulled out my ingredients and went for it.  I did not follow a specific recipe for this since I like to "wing it" in the kitchen and this one didn't seem too difficult to figure out.  If you want to see a formal recipe, check this one out here.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained and rinsed
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
• Peppers - choose whatever kind you like but the basic "go to" are bell peppers.  I portion 1 large bell pepper per person
• 1 bell pepper, any color, chopped (this is for extra pepper filling)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced or grated
• Olive oil (or whatever cooking oil you prefer)
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Chili Powder
• S&P
• Grape tomatoes, sliced
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Sour cream (light or full fat, whatever floats your boat)
• Salsa
• Tortilla chips - optional
• Lime - optional but if you have it a squirt of lime over the finished peppers tastes awesome

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Slice the peppers in half length-wise.  This gives you more surface area to stuff.
• Remove the seeds and ribs.
• Season with S&P and some EVOO.  Turn them cut side down.
• Roast in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until just soft and starting to blister.
• Remove from the oven and set aside to cool to handle.

• Meanwhile, preheat a large pan to medium high.  Coat with some olive oil and brown the ground turkey.
• Remove from pan and set aside.
• In the same pan, add your onions and peppers.  Season with S&P.  

• Cook about 5 minutes until they start to get soft (I like mine to have a little browning action happening.)
• Add your garlic and stir.
• Add your corn and black beans.  Season with S&P.

• Cook a few minutes.  Season the whole pan with paprika, cumin and chili powder.  *As always, season to your taste!  You can start with a teaspoon each and adjust from there as you taste.*
• Stir and cook a few more minutes.
• Add the cherry tomatoes and stir.

• Add the ground turkey back in and stir everything together.
• Now you're ready to stuff some peppers!
• Spoon the filling into the roasted peppers, top with cheese if you prefer and put back into oven just long enough to melt the cheese.  At this point everything is cooked and hot so it shouldn't take long.
• Top with sour cream, more tomatoes, salsa, tortilla chips, squirt of lime juice...whatever you like!

Enjoy this high protein, low carb, veggie stuffed dinner!

Challenge Group - What Is It?

You may have seen me posting about these Challenge Groups I am a part of.  OK, great but you may be wondering, WHAT IS IT?

A Challenge Group is a group of like minded people that are on a journey to improve their health and fitness.  We share recipes, "sweaty selfies", encouragement and lots of positive energy.  It's a safe place to talk about our journey, our goals, our questions and our concerns.  For me, it's a group that keeps me ACCOUNTABLE and MOTIVATED every day. When I don't feel like working out, I take a look at all the other strong people in the group posting about their exercise and it motives me!  

We're all at different points in our journey.  It doesn't matter if you're working out for the first time after a loooong time or already have an established routine.  Want to gain muscle, lose belly fat, learn to eat in a more healthy way?  We talk about it all and we're all there to cheer each other on!

These monthly Challenge Groups are 21 days of committing to a Beachbody program, including drinking some delicious shakes (Shakeology).  I had mine this morning and I added some mix-ins that basically made it taste like chocolate pumpkin pie.  And it was still FULL of good nutrition!  SO GOOD!  I mean, just LOOK at that creamy texture!

The Challenge Groups this year have gotten me back into a solid routine of working out and making healthy food choices.  I eat by the 80/20 rule.  80% good for you...20% indulgent (for me, this means PIZZA!)  I was feeling SLUGGISH after the holidays and, although it took me a few weeks at the start of the year, I got into it and feel so much better!  I've even lost some pounds and inches along the way.  GOOD BYE!

The pounds and inches gone are great but what I've enjoyed the most is seeing what my body can do and feeling STRONG.  This doesn't mean I can lift a 100 pound barbell...my feeling of strong is unique to myself.  I feel STRONG after I complete a 25 minute workout without stopping every 5 minutes.  When I started in January, I was stopping OFTEN during those 25 minutes.  Now I'm more comfortable with the exercises and get through them without stopping as often.  This feels GOOD GREAT!

I feel strong when I can hold a plank without dropping.  
I feel strong when I drink my shake. 
I feel strong when I do a burpee.
I feel strong when I do a squat.
I feel strong when I eat my vegetables.
I feel strong when my muscles ache after a sweat session.

All of these thing are a result of MY hard work.  No one else can do it for you BUT they CAN be there to help you along!  That's what the Challenge Group means to me.

Sound like something you might be interested in?  Comment below or find me on Facebook and send me a message! CLICK HERE

Workout Wednesday - T25 Alpha

Today's Workout Wednesday was another round of Total Body Circuit.  I've already written about this one so I decided to explain a little more about the T25 concept.  This is the first at home workout I've tried and I love it!  It's nice to be able to just walk into my living room and be at the "gym."  Especially on those days I am short on time, it helps to cut out the 20 minutes or so I'd spend on a round trip drive to the actual gym.

My second favorite thing about the T25 program is that the workouts are only 25 minutes! I've gotten to a point where I don't need to look at the screen to see the demonstration of each move so the workout flies by even quicker when I'm not looking at the countdown clock at the bottom of the screen.

I was powering through the Ab Interval workout last night and that one is HARD...my ab muscles definitely need improvement!  By the time I even glanced at the clock I had less than 6 minutes left in the total workout.  That was motivation enough to get through the rest of it!

The program is a total of 10 weeks.  You spend 5 weeks in ALPHA, building a foundation, becoming comfortable with the moves, getting stronger, more flexible and more excited to move on to the BETA round.

I'm currently in week 5 of ALPHA which means I get to move on to BETA next week. I'm super excited about it because I always feel like a stronger Workout Warrior when I can tackle the BETA workouts.  And, the BETA has my all time favorite DVD in the whole program...Speed 2.0.

I can tell you, mid-way through week 5 of Alpha, I am stronger and faster than I was 5 weeks ago.  I feel better and have even dropped some pounds.  I'm eating better as well and it feels so nice to be back in a consistent routine that includes regular exercise.  

By the way, I did get this Workout Wednesday done in the MORNING before work...AGAIN! Another accomplishment to feel proud of!

Want to know my secret for getting myself out of bed early on Wednesday mornings to sweat before 8:00am?!

After my Tuesday night workout, I take a shower and rinse my hair out but don't actually shampoo it.  This forces me to wash it on Wednesday morning before work and, since I'm gonna take a shower anyway, I might as well sweat for 25 minutes and get my workout done for the day!  

A little weird maybe or silly but hey, I'll take any motivation or trick I can get to pull myself out of bed and get my workout DONE first thing in the A.M.!

Orange Power Soup

Not orange like the fruit...orange like the COLOR! 

Now that we have that cleared up, I wanted to share with you a recipe I made up on the fly that turned out to be AWESOME!!

I had gone to the farmer's market, and as is my routine every time, I went a little crazy at the produce stand.  I can't control myself!  The prices are just too good and the selection is fantastic.  I got four giant organic carrots for $1.00.  ONE DOLLAR!  I used them in two ways...I cut two of them down into my own "homemade" carrot sticks.  I don't like those baby carrots you buy in a bag at the grocery store.  I like making them the size and thickness I prefer and my husband even said they tasted much better than those baby carrots.

The second way was cutting them up, tossing them with my other orange veggies from the farmer's market, roasting them all and turning them into soup.

There are three different vegetables on that tray...all representing the color orange.

I also had some butternut squash and sweet potatoes.  I figured, let's roast all these beauties up and see what happens.  I didn't even know then that I would turn them into soup.  I was surveying the rest of my bounty of vegetables and had another onion to use as well as some garlic.  Any food I can use onion and garlic with, I'll do it!  

My idea continued to unfold...I thought OK, why not sautee up the onion and garlic in a big pot, then add the roasted orange veggies, some chicken stock or water, maybe some white wine and blend it all into a creamy soup.  YES!  I was onto something.

Well, it turned out SUPER delicious!  It's always a success when my not-so-veggie-loving husband enjoys it.  He even said he would eat it again!  It's true he's not the biggest sweet potato fan so maybe next time I'll use regular potato with the carrot and butternut squash. That's the fun of cooking.  You get to experiment and try different options.

I'll try my best to remember the steps I took to make this creation.  As I said, it was completely made up on the fly.

Ingredients:

• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (however garlic-y you want to make yours), chopped
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (I use Pinot Grigio)
• 1 box chicken stock (or, for free, water!  I was out of stock and wound up using mostly water to make it into soup this time.)
• EVOO
• S&P
• Garlic salt
• Cumin (*Honestly I cannot remember the spices I used but I think I used a teaspoon of cumin and paprika.  This is what happens when you make stuff up as you go.  I need to write this down next time AS I cook!*)
• Paprika

Instructions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
• On a large baking sheet, toss the orange veggies together with some S&P, EVOO, garlic salt, cumin and paprika.
• Roast until tender, about 30 minutes depending on the size you chopped them.
• PRO TIP: Chop everything roughly the same size so they all have the same cooking time.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot, sautee up the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes.  Also season this with S&P.
• I had a bit of wine to use up so I deglazed the pot with the wine.  This is optional!
• Once the veggies are done, add them into the large pot and stir.
• At this point I had a tiny bit of frozen chicken stock left so I added that in.  I needed much more liquid to make it into a "soup" so I just added water.  With my other seasonings it was fine since the water wouldn't make it taste bland.
• REMINDER: Season to your taste and taste as you season!  Add a little more seasoning if you prefer.  Just remember, once you add it in, you can't take it out. :)
• I added water in small batches.  I didn't want it to be super soup-y, haha.  I was going for a thick, creamy texture.
• I blended the whole pot of veggies with an immersion blender.
• PRO TIP: If you don't have one of these gadgets in your kitchen, I suggest buying one immediately!  They are inexpensive and so easy to use.  Plus it saves you time, effort and dirtying another dish to transfer the mixture into a blender.
• Blend away until you have nice and creamy orange soup!

Toppings....

Feel free to eat this plain or top with something fun!  This night I happened to have kale on hand so I crisped it up in the oven to make kale chips. I liked the idea of some crunchy texture on top of the smooth soup.  I also added a bit of Parmesan cheese, a touch of fried onion (again for the crunch factor) and a little drizzle of EVOO.

I am DEFINITELY making this one again!  And, it's a giant bowl of VEGGIES so you can totally eat a second helping. :)

Put An Egg On It - Taco Tuesday Edition

A couple years ago I discovered how to make fried eggs.  I had never tried this myself nor had I ever really eaten eggs this way.  I was always a scrambled eggs girl.  Well, no longer! Don't worry, I still enjoy a good scramble but a fried egg has become my go to. Fry up an egg and put it on anything and you've got breakfast, lunch or dinner!

I use this method all the time and in this instance I happened to take some leftover filling from Taco Tuesday and put TWO eggs on it.  A little dash of Crystal hot sauce (yum!) and I had myself a super filling and nutritious meal.

The filling was made of corn, ground turkey, black beans and onions, all seasoned with cumin, chili powder and paprika to make it taste like tacos.  Reheat in the microwave, cook up an egg or two and WHAM BAM, you have a meal done in 5 minutes!

Since there's not really a recipe to this, I'll share with you how I make my fried eggs.

Ingredients:

• Egg(s)
• Olive oil cooking spray
• S&P

Instructions:

• Lightly coat a pan with some olive oil cooking spray. 
• Pan should be at medium heat.  The secret here is to cook it low and (kind of) slow so it all gets cooked evenly but you still have that rich, delicious, runny yolk.

**If the thought of the runny yolk freaks you out, feel free to cook it through.  My husband doesn't like it runny at all so whatever you want, go for it!  It's your kitchen after all.*

• Crack an egg (or two) into the pan and let it do it's thing.
• I usually cook mine for 3-4 minutes and when it's 95% done, I flip it over, turn off the heat and get it onto my plate.
• Season with S&P.

**The flipping over part takes some patience, practice and a little skill.  After MANY attempts, I've gotten to the point where I just give the pan a good flick of the wrist and the egg flips in mid-air.  Makes me feel like a chef when I succeed at the flip, haha!  You'll find a method that works for you.**

Workout Wednesday - Indoor Skiing

Today's workout happened to be Lower Focus again...the same one I did last Wednesday. In an effort to share something new with you, I'm going to tell you what kind of workout I did on Monday night instead.  (By the way, to hold myself accountable, I DID get my Lower Focus in at 7:00am this morning!)

Monday night my husband and I went to a new indoor skiing and snowboarding place here in sunny central Florida.  Obviously we don't have snow here and the only skiing I've attempted in my life took place on the water.  When my husband suggested this I was a little dubious about the idea but hey, it sounded like a good excuse for a Monday Date Night. :)

Here's where we went!

Verdict?  It was pretty fun and I didn't fall so overall I would call it a success!  (It didn't hurt that they also have a gelato bar inside and the owner let me sample a few flavors.) I would even like to go back and try a harder session or longer one.  I could certainly feel the muscles in my legs working but it didn't hurt as much as others were feeling it.  I think my conditioning from my T25 workouts helped.  My legs are feeling STRONG as a result of all those squats and lunges I've been doing over the past four weeks.

And let me tell you, I am GLAD I pulled myself out of bed this morning and got my workout DONE.  Work was a doozy today and my drive home was longer than the normal 60 minutes it takes me.  It feels great to be able to get home now and just relax. Even better, I'm mixing myself up a HEALTHY chocolate shake for dinner.  Tastes like dessert...yummy!

Taco Tuesday!

Who doesn't love some TACO TUESDAY??  We certainly do!  Tacos are on our menu at least once a week.

This time around I felt like doing a healthier spin on the tacos and tried them in lettuce wraps for the first time.  It's not a tortilla but it was still tasty!

This one I bulked up a bit by adding some onion, corn and black bean mix to the wrap.  Feel free to use your own taco recipe, ingredients, toppings, etc.  A healthy, quick and delicious Taco Tuesday!

Here's what I happened to do this night...

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1 can of corn - drained
• 1 can of black beans - rinsed and drained
• 1 medium sized onion, diced
• 1 packet taco seasoning (I have these in the house to use up but feel free to use your own blend if you'd like)
• 1 head of iceberg lettuce - washed
• Cumin
• Chili powder
• Paprika
• EVOO
• S&P
• Salsa
• Pickled jalapenos
• Light sour cream

Instructions:

• In a large pan over medium high heat, brown up the ground turkey and add the taco seasoning packet when brown (there are directions on the packet for this.)  Keep warm on stove top.
• Meanwhile, in a separate large pan, over medium heat with a couple turns of EVOO, sautee up the onions for about 5 minutes until soft and starting to turn brown.
• Add corn and black beans to the pan with the onions.
• Season all with S&P, cumin, chili powder and paprika.  As always, season to your taste but a teaspoon of cumin, chili powder and paprika should be a good starting point.
• At this point everything is cooked (quick and easy!) but you can let the onions hang out with the corn, beans and seasonings over medium low while you prep your toppings.
• Peel off large leaves of the lettuce that you'll use as your taco "shell."
• Fill the lettuce leaf with turkey, onion, corn and bean mixture and top however you like!
• This night I topped with some salsa, a dollop of light sour cream and some pickled jalapenos.

Happy Life - Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

Sometimes it's easy to overlook the simple things in life that can make you smile or bring a happy moment into your day.  Here's one I had that I wanted to share with you.

When we bought our house last April I noticed a big tree in the front yard.  Our neighbors mentioned that it was a fruit tree.  Oh, what kind of fruit I wondered??  They thought it was grapefruit which I'm not the biggest fan of but OK, still exciting to have a mature fruit tree in the yard.  Fast forward several months and some tiny fruit started to form on the branches. With anticipation building, I finally was able to pick one off and cut into it.  It was an ORANGE!  This little moment made me so excited.  I love oranges!

A few more weeks passed and the oranges got bigger and brighter on the tree.  I finally decided to pick some and juice them to see if I could get fresh OJ from them.

They were juicy little suckers!

I was able to squeeze a whole glass of fresh, from my own yard, orange juice!  

And it didn't hurt that it gave me an excuse to buy another kitchen gadget.  One other small thing that makes me happy...gadgets for the kitchen. 

So, in the midst of this crazy thing called life, look for the small things, the simple things, to make this life a happy one.

Zoodle Bowl

A couple of years ago I learned about these awesome things called Zoodles which are basically zucchini "noodles."  At the time I was really trying to cut back on my carbs but I am a pasta loving girl so it was difficult for me.  When I discovered how easy it was to make zoodles I knew I had to try it!

Even better, I didn't need some big complicated piece of kitchen equipment either.  The first time I tried them I just used a knife and made my own thin cuts of zucchini.  They came out OK but then I discovered the Veggetti and I've never looked back.  You can find this thing everywhere...Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Walmart, online and it's only around $15.00 and takes up no space in your kitchen.

It is very easy to use and makes the cutest little noodles. :)  The first time I made my zoodles and turkey meatballs with tomato sauce it truly felt like I was indulging in a big bowl of spaghetti.  I'm not gonna say that the zoodles on their own taste like spaghetti (let's be real, they don't) but if you season them up and mix it with a good sauce you get the same feel as pasta.  I was hooked!  Ever since then I've been making these zoodles on the regular.

It was another busy week and as I stared into my fridge wondering what to make for dinner I realized I had some zucchini and leftover ground turkey pasta sauce.  No brainer! That led to this dinner I affectionately called "Zoodle Dump" since I basically dumped a bunch of things into it from the fridge.

I had some leftover olives and peppadew peppers in the fridge I wanted to use.  I figured, why not throw them in with my zoodles and sauce?  You're looking at a big bowl of healthy "noodles"...ground turkey, homemade tomato sauce, zucchini, peppers and olives with just a touch of ricotta cheese (also had a container of that I was trying to use up).

There's really not a recipe for this as you can adapt it to add whatever you want to the zoodles.  This is my fool proof way I always cook my zoodles though, no matter what I'm adding to them.

Ingredients:

• Zucchini - quantity varies but I use at least two small to medium ones per serving.  Try to pick smaller, firmer ones as they have less seeds and may be less watery.
• EVOO
• S&P
• Crushed red pepper
• Garlic, chopped - optional (I throw this in when I have it on hand)

Instructions:

• You can leave the skin on the zucchini if you give them a good scrub.  If the skin freaks you out, go ahead and use a vegetable peeler to take the skin off.  There are extra vitamins and nutrients in the skin though and I promise it doesn't taste weird!
• Twist your zucchini through the Veggetti (There will be little bits that fall out the other end.  I usually toss those into the sauce I'm making as well.  No waste and added veggie content!)
• I make a big pile of zoodles and then run a knife through them so the zoodles aren't so long.
• Heat a pan over medium high heat and add some EVOO.
• Toss the zoodles into the pan and season with S&P, crushed red pepper flakes if you like spice and garlic if you like.
• Cook for just about 3 minutes.  The zoodles are thin and don't need to be cooked to death.  
• PRO TIP: Turn the heat up if it's getting too "watery" for you.  Zucchinis have a high water content and can release a good amount of liquid when they're cut into.  The higher heat will help the liquid evaporate.
• Toss with whatever sauce, meatballs, etc. you want and enjoy!

Workout Wednesday - T25 Lower Focus

After my healthy dinner of zoodles and turkey meatballs last night I succumbed to the siren call of the ice cream we have hiding in the back of the freezer.  Oooops!

In order to renew my energy and get my Wednesday started off right, I committed to getting my workout in BEFORE work.  This is a big deal people.  I'm not typically a morning person but knowing that the workout was just 25 minutes long spurred me out of my cozy bed and I got my butt moving.

Today's workout was T25 Lower Focus, or as they should call it, More Squats and Lunges Then You Ever Thought You'd Do in 25 Minutes!  Feel the burn!  This is a workout guaranteed to stick around as an accomplished feeling of SORE days later. Beware of any stairs you may need to climb.  It's gonna hurt. :)  You know you worked hard and your muscles are feeling it!  BUT, it's also a workout guaranteed to make you feel PROUD and STRONG when you get through it.

And if that doesn't motivate you to try a morning workout, think about this.  After a long day at work you can just come home and RELAX because you already got your sweat on!

Pierogi Party

I'm married to a wonderful man who is half German and half Polish. His mom makes delicious pierogis from scratch and one time when we were back in Missouri visiting them, she showed me how to make them.  It was such a fun experience to see how they're made and I loved the idea that I was learning a classic and authentic recipe from her.  When we got back to Florida I did make a batch with my husband but sadly, that was the first and last time I had made pierogi from scratch.

It wasn't that it was overly complicated but it IS time consuming.  I need a lazy Sunday to attempt that again.  It is one of my goals to make them on my own again soon but during this busy weekday I had a box of store bought frozen pierogis in the freezer and that was my jumping off point for this dinner.

Here's what I did for this super quick and easy weeknight dinner.  It was basically four main ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of frozen pierogi
• 1 package baby portobello mushrooms, wiped clean and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• Spinach (I use the bagged, pre-washed spinach...time saver!)
• Sour cream - optional
• Parsley - optional
• S&P
• EVOO

Instructions:

• In a large pan, sautee the frozen pierogi over medium high heat in a little EVOO, about 8 minutes per side until they get some nice brown color on them.  PRO TIP: There are instructions on the box they came in so you can read that too. ;-)
• In a separate pan, sautee your mushrooms over medium high heat in a little EVOO until they are brown, then add your onions and season with S&P.  Cook for about 5-8 minutes.
• Put some spinach on a plate, put the hot pierogis on top (this will wilt the spinach a bit) then top pierogis with your onion and mushroom mixture.
• You can add a dollop of sour cream to your onion and mushroom mixture at the very end to make it a little creamy.  Sour cream is a traditional topping for pierogis and tastes DELISH!
• I had some parsley on hand I wanted to use up so I added some of that to the end as well.

Onion and mushrooms browning away!

Getting some brown color starting to show up on the pierogis

That's it!  So easy it barely needs a recipe and it's certainly easy enough to pull together on a weeknight.  Don't be afraid to take some help from the store.  Frozen pierogis turn into a nutritious (vegetarian) dinner when served with added veggies like the spinach, mushrooms and onion.

If I knew how to say "cheers" in Polish I would type that here.  I'll ask my mother-in-law and get back to you!