Something good and something bad: Part I

Bloggers! Oh hai!

So...thoughts on health food. Although I do enjoy eating healthy, it is nicer to eat vegetables with a little extra something on them. Anyone who says they crave plain celery is fooling themselves. Unless my stick of celery has 75 tablespoons of peanut butter on it, I ain't eatin' it.

So here is a lovely healthy dish, with a little extra something (cough gouda cheese cough).

Asparagus and Pea Quesadilla Lasagna

What ya need:

whole wheat tortilla

asparagus (about 5-6 stalks)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1 tsp. minced garlic

2 slices cheese (I used Gouda)

garnishes: green onions, gorgonzola cheese, parsley (I just used green onions).

What ya do:

*Blanch the asparagus by putting the stalks into a pot of boiling water for about five minutes, and cook the peas (I used frozen so you could be a cheater like me).

*Mix the garlic with the ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.

*Spread mixture on half of the tortilla, layer vegetables, top with cheese slices and place the other tortilla half on top. I did multiple layers!

*Place the quesadilla/lasagna creation into a casserole dish or on a baking sheet, whatever is easiest. I used aluminum foil as well, for easy clean up. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until the top of the quesadilla is lightly browned and the cheese has melted.

*Garnish with green onions, parsley or gorgonzola cheese!

-Ok, so then obviously we needed a super unhealthy dessert to balance out all this crazy nutty healthy stuff going on. My friend Kristin had a birthday party, which was a great excuse to drink booze and eat junk. So I decided to use up the box of thin mint cookies in the freezer that I was avoiding. It's great to use things that you have already..sometimes I'll just pick one item in my pantry and research different ways to use it.

Thin Mint Truffles

What ya need:

1/2 box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies (1 sleeve) + 3 cookies

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened

What ya do:

*In a food processor, process 1 sleeve of Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies until they resemble course sand.

*Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add the cream cheese. Mix together by hand until fully incorporated. Scoop out by the tablespoon (or use a small scoop) and roll into a nice ball in your hands to form truffles.

*Pulse the extra 3 cookies in the food processor until it resembles course sand and place in a small bowl. Roll the truffles in the processed cookie crumbs to coat. (Instead of saving the extra cookies, I pulsed all of them and rolled the truffles in hot chocolate!)

*Chill coated truffles for at least an hour to set up.... or overnight for flavors to really develop with the cream cheese.

Happy eating!