BBQ: Finger lickin' BBQ Chicken, Corn and Potatoes

With it being a holiday weekend AND... the weather here is absolutely PERFECT... I decided to grill out with drumsticks, thighs, corn on the cobb and potatoes. Sounds good, right!?!? Well, we don't have the greatest grill in the world, in fact I think it's about a million years old but it still kinda works. Hopefully in the near future we will invest in a charcoal grill, fingers crossed! We tend to grill ALOT in the late spring and summer so it would be well worth the money for us.

This meal all starts with a fantastic, sauce that I made from a recipe that my bestie sent me last week - perfect timing! Anyway, it's pretty easy to make and fast which is always a plus. It's always great when you can make things yourself because not only can you add the flavors you want, but you know exactly what went in it. I wanted to make something scrumptious for dinner but that didn't need alot of prep/cooking time. We are trying to finish up our DIY dining room table this weekend so time is not on our side for other things :-).

BBQ Sauce

BBQ Sauce - much better than what you can buy in a bottle!

ingredients
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 T (tablespoons) light brown sugar
• 4 T brown sugar
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1 tsp ancho chile powder
• 1 tsp celery see
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp franks hot sauce
• 1 T molasses
• 1 T liquid smoke

directions
1. Mix all ingredients into a small pot and simmer on low for 20 minutes, whisking occasionally.
2. Let cool and store in fridge for several weeks, covered or use it right away like I did :-) If you want to make a really big batch, you can also freeze leftovers as well.

Makes about 2 cups

BBQ Chicken

ingredients
• 2 chicken drumsticks
• 2 bone in, skin chicken thighs

directions
Take chicken out of fridge and let rest for 20 minutes to get the chill off of it. Preheat grill to medium - high. Baste chicken with olive oil and season with sea salt, pepper & garlic powder. Flip and repeat. Grill  minutes on each side until charred and crispy. Move to indirect heat on the grill and baste with BBQ sauce. Grill for an additional   minutes.

Corn on the Cobb

We also made corn on the cobb on the grill. I removed the husks and slathered on butter, garlic powder, chile powder, Salt and pepper. Then wrapped the corn in foil. We threw these on the grill about 20 minutes before we started cooking the chicken so they'd be done at  the same time. When you remove from grill open up the foil and baste with BBQ sauce.


Ranch Style Cheesy Potatoes

ingredients

• 4-5 red skinned potatoes, quartered

• fresh chives and dill, chopped

• 1 cup (or more) buttermilk, warmed

• 4 Tablespoons butter

• salt, pepper, minced garlic, onion powder

• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

directions

1. Bring a large pot filled with cold salted water and the potatoes to a boil. Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes until they are fork tender, then drain. 

2. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes until smooth and creamy. (You can also use an electric mixer). Add buttermilk 1/2 cup at a time and butter until it reaches the consistency you like! Add herbs, onions and seasoning. Top each serving with some shredded cheddar or you can mix the cheese in with the potatoes. 

This recipe will make plenty for 2 but you can use the leftovers to make potato pancakes or eat with another meal later in the week!

Enjoy!

Fancy Schmancy... Braised Short Ribs and Risotto

I'm pretty sure this meal at a restaurant would be pretty pricey and really it wasn't all that costly to make yourself (especially if you get the meat on sale and freeze it!). I originally wanted to make Pioneer Woman's (I'm sure I'll be cooking from her recipes often so I will just refer to her as PW, sound good?) Osso Bucco for dinner. However, after discovering how much veal shanks are I just couldn't wrap my mind around paying that much. 

I was thinking about what could I substitute for the veal shanks because the rest of the recipe sounded so good - and thought maybe... beef short ribs. So I wondered if I could just adapt PW's recipe for Osso Bucco and apply it to short ribs with my fingers crossed that it would turn out delicious! I honestly have never made short ribs before and I've been wanting to. Sometimes, when a recipe calls for an ingredient that I don't have on hand and I find that it's incredibly pricey, I try to find a substitute and it works out 99% of the time for me. So I started googling the Osso Bucco recipe to post on the blog and what do you know... PW has a recipe online for Braised Short Ribs! So I decided to combine both of her recipes (Osso Bucco & Short Ribs) to make this meal. here it goes....

Braised Beef Short Ribs on a bed of
Mushroom, Spinach Risotto

Braised Short Ribs...

2 servings

ingredients
• 4 bone in beef short ribs
• 2 strips thick cut applewood bacon, chopped
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 8 oz guinness or other dark beer
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 sprigs each of fresh rosemary and thyme, tied together
• 14.5 oz whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• Salt & Pepper

directions
1. Add chopped bacon to cold dutch oven. Turn burner to medium high heat and cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on paper towel lined plate, set aside.
2. Season short ribs with sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper (it's worth it!) and let rest on counter for 20 mins or so. In a shallow bowl, dredge all sides of ribs in flour. Turn heat up in dutch oven to high heat. Brown the short ribs evenly on all sides until golden brown... pull out of dutch oven and let rest on plate.

Browning the short ribs

3. Turn heat down to medium high and add chopped onion, carrots and crushed garlic to dutch oven (add a little olive oil if pan seems too dry, but there should be plenty of grease leftover from the bacon and meat). Cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
4. Add the beer and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir and add the short ribs meatier side down. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 3 hours or until meat is tender and nearly falling off bone.

Risotto with Mushrooms & Spinach...

2-4 servings 

Risotto

ingredients
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms (I like baby portabellas)
• Olive oil
• 5 oz baby spinach
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano cheese

directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay sliced mushrooms in a single layer on foil lined pan and drizzle with some olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes and toss mushrooms and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and pour in bowl, set aside.
2. Heat beef broth in small pot over low heat and keep warm.
3. Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat and saute spinach until wilted, about 2-3 minutes, chop up and set aside.
4. Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add rice and toast slightly. Begin adding 1 cup of hot beef broth at a time until the rice has absorbed the liquid, then add additional cup at a time repeating until all broth is gone and rice is al dente (soft but with a bite still). Be sure to stir constantly until the liquid is absorbed each time. Add spinach and mushrooms and parmesan cheese.

Risotto is sort of a labor of love, if you do it right, it comes out creamy and delicious. But, you have to be patient and stand by the stove stirring the entire time. Some may say it isn't worth the work, time or effort but I say every once in awhile it's definitely worth it!

So just serve the short ribs on top of the risotto and drizzle with sauce. Serve with fresh warmed baguette for dredging in the sauce - YUM! This is definitely a rich and decadent dinner and I would definitely make it again. Next time, I think I would try it with garlic mashed potatoes!

Enjoy!

Plum Preserves

So I finally found some time to make the plum preserves that I had intended to make for the Honey Soy Plum Chicken. I had all these plums that I needed to use up so I found a simple recipe online: Plum Preserves Recipe and whipped it up.

cooking down the plums...

ingredients:
1 lb plums, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 c sugar
1/4 water
1 cinnamon stick

directions:
1. In a medium pot, combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer. Stir occasionally until the end when it starts getting thicker, then stir more frequently to prevent sticking.
2. Pour into a small container, let cool. When cool, store covered in fridge for up to 1 month, give or take.

Plum Preserves

Now that I've made this, I don't see a reason to buy jelly or preserves unless you are in a time crunch. This literally was so easy and cheap.. plus the flavor is uh-mazing! I'm eager to try other fruits now (when they go on sale that is, lol)!

Enjoy!

Honey Soy Plum Chicken & Noodles

This meal was inspired from Pioneer Woman's Honey Soy Plum Chicken. I modified the ingredients a tad so here is how I did it. I was kinda shocked by how much soy sauce was in the entire recipe so I took it down a notch and only put 8 oz. Last weekend I picked up a pound of fresh plums at the farmers market to use for this recipe. I had all intentions of trying to make the plum preserves that the original recipe called for, but ummm I completely forgot about it so I had to make a mad dash to the store to find something to use! Turns out the mixed berry was a fantastic idea...

Honey Soy Plum Chicken with whole wheat noodles

Ingredients:
• 4 bone in skin on chicken thighs
• 1.5 cups red wine - I used Sugar Bird Sweet Shiraz
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 oz plum preserves - I went to 3 different stores trying to find this nonsense and they had every single kind but plum so I got mixed berry preserves at World Market
• 1/2 cup honey
• 8 oz low sodium soy sauce
• 1 T EVOO
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 red plums, pitted & chopped, plus 1 plum, pitted and sliced thinly
• 4 oz egg noodles - I used whole wheat
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced

Directions:
1. Marinate the chicken with the bay leaves and 1 cup of wine in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the honey, preserves & soy sauce and set aside.
3. Heat a dutch oven over high heat, add EVOO and brown both sides of the chicken, 2-3 minutes per side.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add garlic, stir around. Add remaining 1/2 cup of wine, chopped plums & honey soy mixture to the dutch oven. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 1-2 hours until the chicken is tender and cooked through. Ideally you want the meat to be falling off the bone :-).
5. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, bring a pot of water up to a boil and cook noodles per package directions.
6. Spoon noodles onto each plate, sauce and 2 chicken thighs per person. Garnish with green onions and sliced plums.

Makes 2 servings.

This meal has a sweet and salty flavor to it and we both really loved it!

Enjoy!

Southwest Stuffed Peppers and Rice

I found that this was a super easy meal to throw together and into the slow cooker... set and forget it! Great meal after a long day at work and hardly any cleanup afterwards. If you want to make it spicier add more hot sauce or a minced jalapeno. I was a little apprehensive myself, about throwing dry peppers into a slow cooker without sauce, meaning I thought they would burn on the bottom. But to my surprise they didn't and the filling was so incredibly moist and flavorful!

Southwest stuffed pepper with ground turkey, onion,
garlic, homemade salsa,  corn & cheddar cheese

Ingredients
• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 4 medium green bell peppers, tops cut off & seeds removed
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 c homemade salsa
• 3/4 c frozen corn
• 1 T cornmeal
• 1/8 T Frank's hot sauce
• 1/4 t each of Salt & Pepper
• 1 t dried oregano
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c shredded extra sharp cheddar
• Salsa & plain Greek yogurt to top each pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients together except for peppers and cheese in a large bowl with your hands.
2. Stuff the peppers with the turkey mixture. Wrap each pepper in foil leaving top open and set inside slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low in slow cooker for 5 - 6 hours. When peppers are tender, top each with some cheese and cook on high in slow cooker until cheese has melted. Unwrap peppers, top with salsa and Greek yogurt and serve with rice if desired.

Recipe adapted from Southwest Slow Cooking Cookbook

I nestled the stuffed peppers on top of brown rice & quinoa mixture that I get from Costco. All you do is pop it in the microwave for 90 seconds and it comes out perfect! It was a nice addition to this tasty meal - gives it an earthly flavor or something. Since I made the entire recipe's worth, I did not top 2 of the peppers with cheese as the recipe indicates. Instead I took them out and froze them. When we go to cook them later I will add the cheese once they are heated through.

Some other tips I have for this one is to chop up the tops of the peppers that you slice off in the beginning and add to your stuffing mixture! Also, look for peppers that have 4 bumps on the bottom so they will stay standing upright both in the slow cooker and on your plate!

Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup was chock full of fresh veggies, chicken and spicy flavors! We really enjoyed it. The recipe was inspired from The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup. As I've mentioned before her cookbook is great because it shows you step by step photos in each recipe. I would have loved to have cooked this in my dutch oven, however, I wasn't sure it would be big enough. If you have a large dutch oven I'd say go for it. Some notes regarding the recipe: I used hot rotel, 1/2 red bell, 1/2 green bell & 1/2 yellow onion. I also used all of the seasoning as the recipe suggests at the end and added a dash or two more of chile powder for extra spice. I drained the black beans but did not rinse them so they still had some of the sauce in them when I added them to the soup. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup topped with cilantro, red
onion, avocado & cheddar cheese

We really like to load up on toppings whether it be soup, tacos or whatever. We used crushed tortilla chips, fresh avocado, diced red onion, cilantro, seriously sharp cheddar cheese & plain greek yogurt. I'd also suggest using some fresh chiles such as jalapenos or fresnos.

The recipe makes a good bit and is perfect for lunch during the work week - Yum!

Enjoy!

Spicy Shrimp and Hot Potatoes

Spicy Shrimp & Hot Potatoes

Both of the recipes tonight were inspired by The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Crash Hot Potatoes. I used shrimp that didn't have shells (it's what I had on hand) and adjusted cooking time to about 9 minutes or so. These aren't really too spicy at all... you can adjust the crushed red pepper to make them a little bit more spicy if you wanted to I suppose. But they do have really great flavor... we both really enjoyed it! I had a fresh baguette from the market and we used that to mop up the yummy sauce that is leftover. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad

This recipe is inspired by a favorite celebrity cook of mine... The Pioneer Woman! I love her life and want to live in the country and cook for cowboys :-).  A friend of mine gave me her most recent cookbook for Christmas last year and I must say it is one of the most gorgeous books that I have in my collection. She shows you step by step photos for each recipe, side dish suggestions and substitutes or add-ons for each recipe as well. So, I am inspired by her cookbook for our meals this week! I decided to make her chicken salad for our lunches this week and boy am I glad I did... it's soooo good!

Chicken Salad Goodness:
You can find the original recipe here

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts at room temperature
• 1 bay leaf, bundle of parsley, garlic powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 3 stalks celery, chopped (with leafy tops)
• 3-4 green onions, chopped (white and light green parts only)
• 1/2 cup each olive oil mayo with black pepper, plain greek yogurt & half/half
• 3 cups red grapes, halved
• palmful of fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
• baby spinach or arugula
• spinach flavored wraps

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and add raw chicken breasts, bay leaf, parsley, salt, pepper & garlic powder. Once water comes back up to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until chicken is done. Remove chicken and let rest for 10-15 minutes. Once cooled, dice the chicken.

2. While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. In a small bowl mix the mayo, yogurt, half & half together. Add the lemon juice and sugar and stir until combined. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl (that has a lid), mix the cooked chicken, grapes, celery and onions together. Add three quarters of the sauce and stir gently until well coated. Then, add salt & pepper, almonds and dill and stir. Cover and store in fridge for several hours so the flavors can meld together. Keep the extra sauce in the fridge as well in case you need more. Taste the chicken salad and add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

4. Serve chicken salad on spinach flavored wraps with baby spinach or arugula.

There's nothing like having fresh dill around the house. I planted my dill about 3 weeks ago and it's beautiful!

Fresh Dill

Enjoy!

Kale Chips

Thanks to pinterest, I have discovered Kale Chips... a healthy alternative to potato chips... although I still grab some of those on occasion :-). These are really cheap and easy to make. The best place to get Kale is at the farmers market. In my experience the kale that I've bought at local grocery is rather small and more expensive, whereas the bunches I seem to find at farmers markets have twice the size of their leaves. Last Saturday we hit up the Marietta Farmers market and kale was one of the items we picked up. I bought 2 large bunches of kale for a whopping total of $2, Woohoo!

I use one side of my sink to clean the kale by filling up one side of the sink with cold water. I tear the leaves from the stems and toss them in the cold water. I used my salad spinner to get the rest of the water off.

Prepping the Kale

Next, I toss the clean kale with 1 T (per batch) EVOO and spices. For this batch, I kept it simple and used sea salt and freshly crushed black pepper. They're salty, peppery and delicious! Some ideas that I've used in the past are: cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, old bay or a spritz of fresh lemon juice after baking.

Kale Chips

I cook the kale in batches on parchment lined (or foil) baking sheets in a 350 degree oven. Cook on one side for 12 minutes and then flip over and cook for another 3 minutes. They will be done when they are still slightly green and crispy. I store them in a plastic storage container with the lid on. They last about 7-10 days if you don't devour them beforehand! ;-)

Enjoy!

Roast Chicken, Veggies & Cranberry Sauce

I looooovvvve roast chicken, its so comforting and delicious. It brings great memories of my mom making us roast chicken breasts with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. It was one of my favorite dinners that my mom used to make for us. Yum... my mouth is watering just thinking about it right now.

For Christmas last year I made an incredible cherry and chile-glazed ham and everyone raved about it, I have to say it was incredible. I found it in one of my Rachael Ray magazines and the recipe can be found here: Cherry & Chili Glazed Ham. I had extra glaze so I froze it because it was too tasty to waste. I used the leftover glaze on a whole roast chicken for dinner tonight. 

Ingredients
• Cherry Chili Glaze
• Garlic powder, Salt & Pepper
• 1 small onion, quartered plus 2 medium onions
• 2-3 springs fresh thyme & parsley
• 4 carrots
• 2-3 red potatoes
• EVOO
• 1 whole chicken

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and let the chicken set out on the counter to get the chill off. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.
2. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with salt, pepper & garlic powder and add the small onion. Use string to tie the legs together so they stay put. Set aside.
3. Chop the rest of the veggies so that they are all the same approximate shape. Gently smash the garlic cloves to help to release some of their flavor while cooking. Toss the rest of the veggies with salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and EVOO. Spread out on the bottom of a foil lined pan. Season the outside of the bird with salt, pepper and olive oil. Place the chicken (legs and arms up) on top of the veggies.
4. Cook 20-30 minutes per pound. Remove from oven and baste the chicken with the chili cherry glaze during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
5. Cut up the chicken into 8 pieces and serve with roasted vegetables and cranberry sauce (recipe follows).

Roasted Veggies

I know it may seem easier to just buy a can of cranberry sauce, but once you make it yourself you will ask yourself why you did that for so long. It's incredibly easy and tastes so much better. The recipe can be found on the back of the bag of cranberries. I'd suggest around the holidays to pick up a few bags for 3 reasons 1) they are typically hard to find the rest of the year, 2) they are always buy one get one at my local grocery store and 3) you just toss the bag in the freezer and they'll be fine! Seems like a no brainer to me.

Ingredients
• 1 bag of fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Bring water and sugar to a boil then add cranberries and boil gently for 10 minutes. Pour in a bowl and chill in fridge until it's time to eat! Q & I were never really big fans of cranberry sauce until we had it fresh like this so I'd recommend trying it even if you think you might not like it.

Yum!

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!!!

Marinated Strip Steaks, Roasted Broccoli & Sweet Potatoes

Strip Steaks

• 1 thick cut new york strip steak (we get ours from Costco)

• Montreal steak seasoning, liquid smoke, garlic salt, freshly ground pepper
• Canola oil

1. Marinate the steak in some worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, spicy montreal steak seasoning, garlic salt and pepper for an hour. Let the meat rest and come to room temperature before you start cooking. Pat meat dry with a paper towel & season with salt, pepper and a dash of steak seasoning on each side.

2. Preheat a cast iron skillet over high heat, once smoking add approx 1 T canola oil. Sear the steak on first side for 3-4 minutes, then flip and put in a 400 degree oven for an additional 4 minutes for medium. 

3. Take the meat out of the pan and let rest for at least 5-10 minutes on a plate with a dab of butter on top. 

Roasted Broccoli

• 1/2 head broccoli, chopped

• EVOO

• Sea Salt, freshly ground pepper, steak seasoning (spicy) & dried oregano

1. Line a baking sheet with foil and cooking spray. 

2. Dress the broccoli in ingredients listed above and put an even layer on the baking sheet. 

3. Roast in the oven (375 degrees), flipping once for 25 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed

• Salt, freshly ground pepper, butter & ground cinnamon

1. Mark an "X" on the top of each potato and wrap in tin foil. 

2. Roast in 400 degree oven for 1 hour or until soft. Remove from oven, let cool slightly. Sprinkle some salt, pepper & cinnamon with a dab of butter before serving. 

The entire meal makes enough for 2 servings. Enjoy!

Lasagna

Lasagna is not the go to meal if you want something easy and quick to make...it's a once in a while kinda meal in my eyes. Over the years, I've made it so many ways and probably never the same way twice (kinda like everything I cook, lol). I decided since I made a huge batch of sauce last week and had several boxes of lasagna noodles in my pantry, it was time to dive in and make some lasagna! I have a pretty cool lasagna pan that gives you crispy edges all the way around - who doesn't love that, right!?!? Plus, you can make 3 different types of lasagna if you choose to and they are separated...

Lasagna

First thing, make sure you take the ricotta out of the fridge several hours before you are going to assemble the lasagna. Ricotta does not spread well when it is really cold and you will want to throw the container out the window and be done with it, ask me how I know! Make sure your other ingredients are close to room temperature as well, meaning don't use hot sauce or meat when you are assembling or you will be fighting the cheese because it will all start melting on you.

Ingredients:
1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 lb ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella, plus more for topping
3 links roasted red pepper & spinach sausages, sliced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 green onions, sliced
1-2 cups meat sauce
2 eggs

1. Boil the noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and drape the cooked noodles over the edges of your pot/colander to let them cool and to keep them from sticking together. Note: Make sure you salt the cooking water to taste like the ocean!
2. Once ricotta is at room temperature, stir in 2 eggs, 1-2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, salt & Pepper to taste, parsley & green onions. Set aside.
2. Put light layer of meat sauce on bottom layer, then noodle, then ricotta mixture, then sausage, then noodle, Really just layer it how you like it, there's no science here just get it all in there!
4. You should end with a noodle on top and sprinkle the leftover mozzarella cheese on top. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Lasagna with garlic bread

5. I like to let lasagna sit in the fridge for a day or two to let the flavors meld together before I bake it but feel free to cook it up right away. I cooked it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cover with foil for first 30 minutes then the last 15 cook with the foil removed so the cheese gets golden brown.
6. Let lasagna rest for 15 minutes on top of the stove so it'll be easier to serve (when it's that hot, it tends to be soupy and a mess to try and serve right away!)

I also made salads as a side with just romaine lettuce, kalamata olives, celery, queso fresco, pepperoncini, green bell pepper, homemade croutons & Italian dressing.

Side Salad

Another idea that I had while I was making tonight's dinner were Lasagna Rolls! I made another batch of the ricotta mixture and added chopped spinach. All you do is cook up another box of noodles the same method as mentioned above, lay the noodles out flat on a cutting board or other flat surface. Put a light layer of meat sauce, then the ricotta mixture & lastly a light layer of mozzarella. Starting from one end, roll gently (not too tight or the filling will pour out the sides!). Repeat, until you've used up all the noodles. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and set in freezer for one hour. Use freezer paper or saran wrap to separate each serving (I rolled up 2 at a time) and place in gallon freezer bags. Don't forget to label the bags! I completely forgot to take a picture of them because our oven broke in the midst of all of my prepping! Good news though, we got it fixed. So, unfortunately I don't have photos of these little guys but will take some when I make them for dinner.


Enjoy!

Smokey Tomatillo Pork Tacos

Smokey Tomatillo Pork Tacos

I've fallen behind on the blog this week as we have so much going on right now, however, I put together these tacos last week using my trusty slow cooker. You could also use a dutch oven and cook in your oven on a low temperature. I needed to use up the pork tenderloin I had in my freezer and you just can't go wrong with mexican food in our house

What's in it:

• 1.5 lbs pork tenderloin, cut into 3 large pieces

• 18 oz smoky tomatillo sauce (or green sauce)

• 1 medium white onion, chopped

• 3 roasted green chiles, chopped

• About 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, garlic powder

• Pinch of cayenne

• Small flour or corn tortillas

Toppings: • Cilantro • Jalapeno • crumbled queso fresco • fresh salsa • avocado • white onion

Cook in a slow cooker for 6-7 hours on low. Pull the pork out, shred it and place back into the slow cooker for another 20-30 minutes so the meat soaks up the liquid and adds some more flavor. Season with salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Serve on tortillas and the suggested toppings mentioned above.

For leftovers: I left the rest of the juice with the meat so it stayed moist and flavorful.

Enjoy!

Honey Mustard Wings & Parsnip Fries

Tonight we roasted wings and tossed them in homemade honey mustard sauce! They ended up being at the top of our favorite homemade wings list!  And..... they were finger licking good!!! OMG you gotta try these!!!

To make the sauce (I guess you could buy honey mustard but why would you???), just melt 1 Tablespoon of butter, 1/4 cup of honey & 1/3 cup of dijon mustard in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let sit at room temperature once the ingredients have melded together while the wings are cooking. Here's what it will look like when it's done....

Honey Mustard Sauce

The wings can be roasted at 425 degree oven. I put the wings on a cooling rack on top of a foil lined baking sheet. This technique is fantastic because the heat circulates all the way around the wings, the fat  drips off onto the foil, and you won't have to rotate the wings halfway through the cooking process. I cooked them for a total of 55 minutes (we like ours extra crispy!!!)

Honey Mustard Roasted Wings

I also made parsnip french fries to go with the wings... just decided to make them as I was popping the wings in the oven. I was looking around in the fridge to see what we had to go with the wings and noticed I had a few extra parsnips laying around from a past recipe and then it dawned on me - roasted parsnips, and fries - yum. No recipe just going with what I know... and they were delicious. I'd say even better than regular fries and so much healthier!!! Here's how I did it:  Cut up 2 large parsnips in medium sticks. Put on a baking sheet and toss with EVOO, sea salt & freshly ground pepper... roast in the oven for about 25-30 minutes (425 degrees). Toss once during cooking so they evenly brown. They are sweet but also have a little kick to them.

Parsnip Fries

You will have extra honey mustard sauce from the wings and we dipped our "fries" in the extra sauce. I also served celery with the meal as well!

NOM NOM NOM!

Naan Pizzas

This week I am cooking from the pantry, freezer & fridge. Last night I made pizzas using naan that we had in the freezer (I bought ginormous package from Costco). Just threw a bunch of favorite flavors (see toppings below) and made our own pizza. I cooked them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Sprinkle some corn meal on the baking sheet to help the crust get crispy on the bottom. They were so good, I think I will make these whenever we want pizza in a pinch! For seasonings, I used rosemary, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper. I can't wait for my herbs to get established so I can start using fresh herbs in everything! 

For Q's pizza, I used leftover red sauce and sliced up one link of sausage from the sauce I made earlier this week. So he had some meat on his pizza and that always makes him happy! 

Q's Pizza:  Red Sauce, Red Onion, Artichoke Hearts, Jalapeno,
Kalamata Olives, Garlic & Italian Sausage

For my pizza, I decided to go meatless and make a white pizza with a few veggies I had around the house. One trick I've learned about ricotta is to let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes so it is easier to spread. Oh and since I have a love affair with garlic I added one large garlic clove (shaved with microplane) before adding the veggies on top of the ricotta.

My Pizza: Ricotta, Mozzerella, fresh garlic, red pepper
flake, olives, artichoke hearts, & red onion

Happy Eating!!!

Homemade Sauce - An All Day Affair!

I've been itching to make some sauce for many months now. When I make sauce I make a ginormous batch so I can freeze it and have homemade sauce on hand when I need it! I think one of the most time consuming steps in making sauce is browning the meat. I'm half Italian coming from my mother's side of the family and grew up watching my Nonni, Grandmother & mother make their own version of "sauce". I can't say that I have an actual recipe per say as much as I know the basic techniques and just taste as I go and add whatever I think it needs. Because of this, I think it comes out a little bit different each time I make it.

So, you will need a big enough pot to both brown the meat and cook the sauce in as you want all the tasty tidbits that the seared meat leaves behind for added flavor. I inherited my grandmother's giant aluminum pot so it's super light and works like a charm and it reminds me of her every time I pull it out.

It's always a superb idea to use a tasty red wine (preferably a wine that you love to drink) to deglaze the pan after searing all the meat and before adding the tomatoes. One of my go-tos is Red Curtain Shiraz for both drinking and cooking with. This time I tried a new wine, Anakena Carmenere and it turned out to add a tasty flavor to tonight's sauce.

What's in it:

• 2 large onions diced

• 4 cloves garlic, smashed

• 6 skin on chicken drumsticks

• 2 mild italian sausage links

• 1.5 lb ground beef

• 1 lb ground pork

• 1.5-2 cups red wine

• (3) 6 lb cans of San Marzano whole tomatoes with basil

• blend of italian seasonings, salt, pepper to taste

• 1 bunch of basil with stems

1. Browning the meat:  Heat up the pot over medium-high heat, once hot add EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil, learn it) about 2 turns of the pan. Season chicken with salt & pepper on all sides and brown, remove and let rest on paper towel lined plate. Add sausage and brown on all sides, let rest on paper lined paper plate. Add ground meat and break up with a spatula so evenly distributed around the bottom of the pot. Let it develop a brown crust, stir and add salt, pepper to taste. Add basil stems to the meat and pour in wine to deglaze, scrapping bottom to get up all the tasty bits. 

2. Turn the pot off, gently pour the tomatoes into the pot with the ground meat in it. Turn the heat on to medium-low. Season and gently mash the tomatoes with the potato masher. Add the sausage links back to the sauce. Cook on medium low, stirring occasionally every 30 mins - hour for 6-8 hours. It is important to start tasting the sauce about 2 hours into cooking, adding salt & pepper to taste. Also, it's important to taste to check for bitterness, if it's bitter just add some sugar. The longer it cooks the sweeter it will get. 

And in goes all the tomatoes... stir with a potato masher to combine
and mash up the big chunks as you cook the sauce down.

3. Add the chicken drumsticks into the sauce during the last 3 hours of cooking. Add the fresh basil leaves during the last 30 mins of cooking. 

With this much sauce, I will most likely make a lasagna to freeze or eat next week. The night that I made the sauce I made some corkscrew (fun shape!) pasta and an italian salad. 

Sauce with corkscrew pasta

Last year around Thanksgiving (while making stuffing), I realized you can just as easily freeze bread cubes to use for croutons. I just pick up a baguette and chop into cubes, bake the cubes on a baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. Then, place in a storage bag in your freezer until you are ready to use. The night you want to make croutons, take however many out that you want let sit at room temp for 5-10 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 - 350 degrees. Toss the cubes in olive oil, S&P, garlic powder & oregano (any herbs would be nice). Scatter on a foil lined cookie sheet and bake 5-10 minutes, tossing halfway through. Keep an eye on them because you don't want them to go too far and become solid rocks. I like to sprinkle them lightly with parmesan right when they come out of the oven so the cheese melts into them. 

Iceberg lettuce, red onion, carrots, hard boiled egg,
olives, croutons & italian dressing

Enjoy!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo this year I decided to have our own little mexican food fiesta at home. We spent the day working on our dining room table that we built, planted some veggies, board games and cooking some yummy mexican food!

It all started off with some salsa... I've come to realize it's really not that difficult to make your own salsa instead of buying those jarred salsas. All you need is a food processor or a blender really. The salsa will last in the fridge in a tupperware for at least 2- 3 weeks. It's great to have on hand to use in most cooking as well. And.. the longer it sits the better it tastes! You have the power to make it as spicy or mild as you want! C'mon now!

Fresh Salsa
• 2 cans hot rotel, undrained
• 2 cans organic diced tomatoes, undrained
• handful cilantro
• 1 tsp each cumin, salt & pepper
• 1 lime juiced
• 1 tsp honey or sugar
• 1 jalapeno sliced and quartered
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped

Salsa

Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until the bigger chunks are broken down, then puree until the thickness is to your liking. Pour in a bowl, cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use. I'd recommend letting the salsa sit in fridge for at least and hour so the flavors can meld together.


Carnitas
(original recipe found here)
• 3 lbs pork shoulder cut into 2" chunks, extra fat trimmed
• 1 large orange, juiced and cut in half
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 tsp each of dried oregano, cumin, pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp of coarse salt
• 2 cups water
• 1 large onion, peeled & quartered
• 1 red fresno & jalapeno, thinly sliced
• 1 small white onion, finely diced
• 1 avocado, chopped
• small corn or flour tortillas
• cilantro leaves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Put all ingredients in a large cast iron dutch oven on the stovetop and bring to a simmer. Cover, and place in middle rack of the oven. Cook undisturbed for at least 2 hours.

In the meantime, chop up your favorite toppings. I used 1 small white onion (finely diced), 1 red fresno sliced thinly, 1 jalapeno sliced thinly. Let the toppings sit at room temperature until meat is ready. Don't cut up the avocado until right before you are ready to serve the Carnitas.

Once the meat is fork tender, gently pull it out of the dutch oven and remove any excess fat that might have hung around after cooking. At this point, go ahead and turn the broiler on in your oven. I left the meat chunky but you can shred it if you want too. Remove everything from the pot except the liquid and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes until it is thickened. Place meat back in pot and coat with the glaze. Spread the meat on a foil lined baking sheet and broil on one side for 5 minutes. Gently toss the meat over and broil for another 5 minutes. Serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Carnitas

We used the leftovers for breakfast this morning with eggs and tortillas... yum! It was simple - I warmed up the carnitas in a dry non stick skillet, serve them in a shallow bowl. Top with your favorite style egg, cilantro, crumbled queso fresco, salsa, chopped onion and avocado.

WOW - I don't know what I liked more, the dinner or the leftovers as breakfast. Luckily we still have some leftover to enjoy over the next day or two!

Enjoy!

Mushroom Swiss Burgers with Perfectly Cooked Carrots

Last night I made some really tasty burgers for dinner. I usually just buy the packaged breads at the grocery store but the fresh hamburger buns looked really great at Publix this week so I grabbed a package. I've learned that you CAN freeze bread and it comes back out of frozen land tasting just great. Since I'm only making 2 servings at a time, this is a game changer and I am not throwing out moldy bread anymore - WIN! I wrap each individual bun in saran wrap then toss in a gallon freezer bag that way I can take out however many I need without have to unwrap them all and it keeps them safe from air (which causes freezer burn, so I've heard).

So I adapted the burger recipe from Rachael Ray's Worcestershire Burgers with Swiss, Mushrooms & Ranch Dressing. The seasonings and various ingredients in this particular recipe really bring out the flavor in the meat. I would suggest sticking to a chuck meat as the recipe suggests as the leaner meats will not be as juicy for a burger. We used a lean beef and while it was still delicious the texture and juicy elements were not there. So next time we will go with a ground chuck or something of that nature.  Two things to remember when cooking that I've learned is to get all of your ingredients ready to go before starting the cooking process AND make sure you read the entire recipe at least a day ahead of time to make sure you aren't supposed to marinate something overnight, etc! Ask me how I know!!!!

I only used 1/2 lb beef for 2 burgers because I find anything bigger is just too much meat for us. All the other ingredients I cut in half exactly. Here are some other changes I made:

• 2 slices swiss (I couldn't find emmentaler cheese at my local grocery store)
• 8 oz baby portabella mushrooms (I buy these whole and slice them myself... I've found the mushrooms lose something when they are pre-sliced and you are paying for them to be sliced so it's more expensive)
• 1/2 small onion finely chopped (versus shallot)
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (versus sour cream)


I've learned over time that cooking mushrooms in a pan is quite a science... I used a cast iron skillet, melted the butter then added the shrooms. I stirred them up until they were somewhat evenly scattered in the pan and let them be so they could brown nicely. I stirred them again only halfway through the cooking time that the recipe indicates. Don't ever season the mushrooms with salt until they have browned as this slows the process of browning down. Sometimes, you may never reach that stage because the salt draws out all the moisture in the mushrooms.

I cooked the burgers tonight in a secondary cast iron skillet over high heat. Make sure you get it hot before you add the oil and definitely before you add the burgers. I'd suggest 4 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook 2 minutes, add the cheese and cook additional 2 minutes and remove from pan. Top with the mushrooms and smear some yummy ranch sauce on the lid of the burger...

Worcestershire Burgers topped with Swiss,
Mushrooms & Scratch Ranch Dressing

Lastly, I made the carrots simultaneously as the mushrooms (which can be tricky so make sure you have everything ready to go before you start cooking). I cooked this side dish from another Rachael Ray recipe which can be found here: Perfectly Cooked Carrots. As the recipe title suggests, we do agree these were perfectly cooked carrots and sooo tasty! I left the smashed garlic clove in as you can break it up as you are stirring the carrots around but feel free to remove it. 

Burgers, Mushrooms & Carrots

I had extra mushrooms even though I cut the original recipe in half so I served them on the side. I also had extra ranch dressing that you can dip your burger in as you are eating! The entire meal was so good and worth the legwork to prep all the ingredients. I would definitely recommend it... Enjoy!

Spicy Pineapple Chicken thighs with Rice & Peas

Tonight's dinner had a tangy, sweet & had a hint of spicy flavor to it... I made this meal compliments of my take on Rachael Ray's Spicy Pineapple Chicken. I decided to use 2 large bone in, skin on chicken thighs, I prefer these to the boneless because they have more flavor and you get the crispy skin element to the dish. I cooked the thighs at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then let rest on a plate tented with foil for 5 minutes. While the chicken was resting I made the glaze in a cast iron skillet.  I made my own honey mustard by mixing mayo, dijon mustard & honey, let it sit in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Super easy to make sauces like this when you only need a small amount versus buying the bottled ones and then they sit in your fridge for who knows how long. I also cut the ingredients for the rice side dish in half since it was just the 2 of us eating tonight!

Spicy Pineapple Chicken thighs with Rice & Peas = YUM!

I made the full amount of the glaze to dip the chicken in because it was so good and drizzled a small amount over our rice as well. Q & I both give this dinner an A+ and would definitely make it again!

Enjoy!