Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

Another easy dinner. I steamed seeded peppers prior to stuffing. I prepared the quinoa according to the package directions. I rinsed a can of black beans and added them along with some sauteed onions, and diced tomatoes to the quinoa. The filling was seasoned with cayenne pepper, and chili pepper, salt, black pepper, and a little Parmigiano cheese. There was a nice level of heat to the filling.
The peppers were filled and baked for about 20 minutes or until heated through. I did make some of that sauce. It was a nice addition!

 

Monday, August 29, 2016

White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad, and Pane Bianco

We had Roast Chicken last night so tonight we had Chicken Salad. This recipe is from Cooking Light. 369 calories per serving! And it was simple to make.

Ingredients-
Salad:
2 cups coarsely chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup sliced fresh basil
2 (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method-
To prepare salad, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; stir gently to combine.
To prepare dressing combine vinegar and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over salad, tossing gently to coat.

And if you are only consuming 369 calories per serving than there is room for bread! I made the Pane Bianco recipe again from the King Arthur Flour site. This time, I added olives. Nice choice. The salty taste from the olives was a nice addition.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Archie's Favorite Dinner

Yes, I spoil my cats. Tonight we had Archie's favorite dinner. Roasted Chicken. He just loves it. And fortunately so do Chris and I.
And I made gravy. Just used the pan drippings and added a little flour and wine and ground thyme and some water. Nice!

We also had one of my summer favorites. Zucchini Fritters. Grated zucchini, about a pound, that has been salted and strained for about 10 minutes. Added 1 cup flour, 1 egg, some grated lemon peel, 3 diced scallions, salt, and pepper. Mix the ingredients together into a batter. Heat vegetable oil in skillet. Fry until browned on both sides and drain on paper towels. And don't forget to salt the patties after they come out of the oil!
Please sir may I have more chicken?

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Rib Eye Steak, Homegrown Tomato Salad, and Yogurt Pie

On Thursday I received an email from Ferraro's Meat Market for a one-day special. $4.99 a pound for Rib Eye steak. This was the best steak of the summer. It was like eating butter. They were grilled perfectly, thank you, Chris.

The Homegrown Tomato Salad was quite a surprise. The surprise was that there were tomatoes! I have 2 tomato plants on the deck. One is an heirloom and the other is just a basic tomato plant. The basic plant has been producing a tomato here and there. Yeah, we have 2 tomatoes so far. The heirloom had produced nothing. On Friday I was watering the plants and I noticed something hanging on the side of the deck. Tomatoes! Heirloom Tomatoes! Two of them!
And then I noticed something red on the basic tomato plants. Yup, it was a tomato. I was so excited I put a photo of them on my Facebook page as the cover photo!
 
They were dressed simply in olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, fresh parsley, salt, and pepper, and some diced up fresh mozzarella. The perfect summer salad.
And of course lots of zucchini at the store. We grilled up some tonight.

And yes there was a dessert too! On of my Mom's go-to recipes. Yogurt Pie. Easy as pie. Graham Cracker crust filled with a mixture of yogurt, I used peach and Cool Whip. Light and easy!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

There's No Crying In Baseball And No Meat in Pasta e Fagioli*

I think I may have finally found my favorite Pasta e Fagioli recipe. The best part is that was not from a recipe. I had cooked cannellini beans in the freezer along with some cooked pasta. All I needed was the sauce. And you know what sauce I made. Yes, that sauce. The Marcella Hazan Tomato, Onion and Butter Sauce. Oh, this was the perfect sauce for this and the flavor was spot on.  After I made the sauce I added the thawed pasta and beans. Seasonings were added, a little oregano and crushed red pepper. We had it with the bread that I made this weekend. True comfort food.

*Quote from Chris Borzillo, August 24, 2016.

There's No Crying In Baseball And No Meat in Pasta e Fagioli*

I think I may have finally found my favorite Pasta e Fagioli recipe. The best part is that was not from a recipe. I had cooked cannellini beans in the freezer along with some cooked pasta. All I needed was the sauce. And you know what sauce I made. Yes, that sauce. The Marcella Hazan Tomato, Onion and Butter Sauce. Oh, this was the perfect sauce for this and the flavor was spot on. We had it with the bread that I made this weekend. True comfort food.

*Quote from Chris Borzillo, August 24, 2016.

Honey-Soy Pork Shoulder

A while ago Chris posted a video for this recipe on my Facebook page. I could not find the darn video to link to this post. It was posted on the Tasty Facebook page. If I find it again I will update this post. It was super easy and over the top delicious. Chris walked in after work and asked what smelled so good! Dinner.

So here is the recipe, as I remember it!

Ingredients-
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
boneless pork shoulder
onion
1/2 orange

Method-
Mix soy sauce and honey. Place in a zip-lock bag. Cut pork into large cubes. Place in the zip-lock bag with soy sauce and honey. Marinate for 2 hours.

Cut onion into wedges. Place in slow-cooker. Pour contents of ziplock bag into crock pot. Cover and set on high for 4 1/2 hours.

Remove the pork and shred, think pulled pork.

Strain the broth through a fine strainer. Return the strained broth to the slow cooker. Add the pork and add the juice of 1/2 an orange. Keep warm while you prepare rice. Serve the rice on the side.
 
The side dish was a Tomato Salad. Again a really easy recipe. I had some cherry tomatoes from Bishop's, a tomato from our plant on the deck, and a tomato from a friend of Chris, it was a beauty. The tomatoes were seasoned with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, fresh parsley, oregano, basil, and thyme. It was summer in a bowl.


 

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

No Recipe Sausage and Peppers

Well if you have never made Sausage and Peppers before I guess you could follow this as a recipe. Line a baking pan with foil, easy clean up is always important. Spray the foil with cooking spray. Cut up Italian sausage, sweet or hot. We prefer sweet. Cut up peppers. I used red, yellow and green. Cut up an onion. Toss all the ingredients with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and parsley. Preheat oven to 375˚. Place pan in oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes stir the contents of the pan. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes. Watch it so the veggies do not get burnt. Next, add a can of crushed tomatoes to the pan and stir. I use about 1/2 of a 28 oz can. Return to the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
That's all there is to it. I made this on Sunday and Chris just had to heat it up when he got home. We made short work of the whole pan of sausage and peppers!

Monday, August 22, 2016

Baked Frittata with Zucchini, and Pane Bianco

Tonight we had a perfect summer dinner. Tonight's recipe came from Memorie di Angelina. I love this blog. A lot of the recipe remind me of what my Mom and Aunts use to cook. This recipe was delicious and light. I, of course, omitted the garlic. And my basil plant is a little empty looking so I opted for dried basil and the oregano just seemed like it should be added.

Baked Frittata with Zucchini-

Ingredients-
4-6 medium zucchini, trimmed and sliced into rounds
6-8 eggs
100g (3-1/2 oz) grated Parmesan cheese or more to taste
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Method-
In a skillet large enough to contain all the zucchini rounds in one layer, heat the olive oil. Add the zucchini.

Fry the zucchini until lightly golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a cooling rack and allow the excess oil to drain off.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and grated cheese together. Add the fried zucchini rounds and basil leaves then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Take a non-stick pie plate or baking sheet with edges at least inch tall (I used a 9x11 cake pan), grease the bottom with a bit of olive oil, then add all of the egg mixture, making sure that the zucchini rounds are evenly distributed.

Carefully transfer the baking dish to a hot oven (400˙F), taking care not to spill the egg and zucchini mixture, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked through and lightly browned on top. If the eggs are cooked but the top is not brown enough to your liking, you can run them under a broiler for a minute or two.

And there was the bread. King Arthur Flour is doing a bake-a-long. Yes, I am in! This weeks challenge was Pane Bianco. What an amazing bread this was! The texture of the dough after it rose was just so workable. I filled the bread with roasted cherry tomatoes,  shredded mozzarella, Parmigiano cheese, dried basil, and oregano.
 
I could have put more tomatoes in but the flavor was perfect. We made half of the loaf disappear quickly! Looking forward to the next baking challenge. Can you tell I am going through The Great British Bake Off withdrawal...

Baked Frittata with Zucchini, and Pane Bianco

Tonight we had a perfect summer dinner. Tonight's recipe came from Memorie di Angelina. I love this blog. A lot of the recipe remind me of what my Mom and Aunts use to cook. This recipe was delicious and light. I, of course, omitted the garlic. And my basil plant is a little empty looking so I opted for dried basil and the oregano just seemed like it should be added.

Baked Frittata with Zucchini-

Ingredients-
4-6 medium zucchini, trimmed and sliced into rounds
6-8 eggs
100g (3-1/2 oz) grated Parmesan cheese or more to taste
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Method-
In a skillet large enough to contain all the zucchini rounds in one layer, heat the olive oil. Add the zucchini.

Fry the zucchini until lightly golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a cooling rack and allow the excess oil to drain off.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and grated cheese together. Add the fried zucchini rounds and basil leaves then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Take a non-stick pie plate or baking sheet with edges at least inch tall (I used a 9x11 cake pan), grease the bottom with a bit of olive oil, then add all of the egg mixture, making sure that the zucchini rounds are evenly distributed.

Carefully transfer the baking dish to a hot oven (400˙F), taking care not to spill the egg and zucchini mixture, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the eggs are cooked through and lightly browned on top. If the eggs are cooked but the top is not brown enough to your liking, you can run them under a broiler for a minute or two.

And there was the bread. King Arthur Flour is doing a bake-a-long. Yes, I am in! This weeks challenge was Pane Bianco. What an amazing bread this was! The texture of the dough after it rose was just so workable. I filled the bread with roasted cherry tomatoes,  shredded mozzarella, Parmigiano cheese, dried basil, and oregano.
 
I could have put more tomatoes in but the flavor was perfect. We made half of the loaf disappear quickly! Looking forward to the next baking challenge. Can you tell I am going through The Great British Bake Off withdrawal...

Sunday, August 21, 2016

If It's Sunday It Must Be Pizza?

Bad blogger. We have been eating dinner every night but the heat has made eating seem more like a chore. So this is my first blog post since last week. And what did I make tonight?
Pizza! It's just one of those traditions I grew up with that I can not seem to kick. Tonight we had onion, bacon and zucchini pizza. It was delicious and the best way I know to end a fantastic weekend.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Penne with Sweet Summer Vegetables, and Herbs

I had this recipe saved from 2012. I feel bad that I waited this long to make it. What a fantastic summer dish. All the vegetables were purchased at Coles Farm Stand. Roasting them they had even more flavor. They were tender and caramelized. The recipe originally appeared on the Food52 site. I did make a couple of little changes. Here is the link to the original recipe. What I did differently, to begin with, was  to cut the recipe in half. For the ingredients, I did not have a full pint of cherry tomatoes so I used a nice big ripe tomato. I did not use the garlic and I was out of pine nuts. And the best part was that Chris loved this dinner.  (Shhhh, this was a meatless meal!)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Summer Tart with Zucchini, Tomato, and Bacon

Did you know that if you put bacon in anything it just might taste better? I love making tarts. Yeah, it's all about the crust. Well, the funny thing about this one was the crust was not perfect. I do not know what was done incorrectly but it was not as easy to work with as it always is. I used my usual recipe, the only difference was I added fresh thyme to the dough. Perhaps it was the weather?

Anyway, a troublesome crust was not about to stop me from making this tart. I sauteed Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Patty Pan Squash in a little olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Also sauteed some shallots and onions.
I rolled out the crust into a kind of a rectangle. I brushed the crust with Dijon mustard. I had seen that done on a recipe somewhere online. It was the perfect addition. I put some sliced cheddar down on top of the mustard and then layered on the vegetables. Next I added sliced tomatoes. An heirloom tomato, a yellow tomato, and a variety of cherry tomatoes. I topped the tart with cooked bacon.
The tart went in a 375˚ oven for about 35 minutes, until the crust began to brown but not burn.
This was a perfect summer dinner along with a simple green salad.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Three Pork, Three Zucchini, Three Onion and Three Cheese Pizza

 See if you can guess who had which half of the pizza? 

Chris had the half that had the bacon, prosciutto, and pork tenderloin. 

My half had zucchini, yellow squash, and pattypan squash. There was a shared layer of sauteed shallots, onions, and scallions. And there was also Parmigiano, shredded Mozzarella, and Fresh Mozzarella.

So What Are You Making For Breakfast?

The weekend started off with making Chocolate Pudding for the first time. Today I made my first batch of Granola. It has been on my bucket list forever. Everyone does have a food bucket list, right?

I saw a recipe that I was going to try on the NYTimes Cooking site. The recipe I found was called Eleven Madison Park Granola. At  the restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, in Manhattan, guests are presented with a small gift: a jar of granola. The Eleven Madison Park recipe called for things like pistachios, and pumpkin seeds. This being a week in between paychecks did not allow for either item to be purchased. I happened to have walnuts and unsalted sunflower seeds. Easy substitution. Instead of dried sour cherries, I opted for dried blueberries.

I loved the results. Chris loved the results. Granola is a pricey item at the store but this was very inexpensive to make. Okay, I did have everything on hand already but I did not need pistachios or hazelnuts or Macadamia Nuts or Pepitas (I had no idea how expensive they were!). Next time I will go to a store that sells macadamia nutspistachio, pepitas, and hazelnuts in bulk. That would be more cost effective. And buying in bulk allows you to buy the amount you need and gives you the option for trying something different.
I tried some on top of vanilla yogurt. I added some fresh blueberries too. Delicious. There was a taste of sweetness and a little bit of salt. I am sold. This is something that will be in a jar on the counter on a regular basis! Chris requested this in place of his name brand Granola bars. It's just another way to try to lead a healthy lifestyle. When I was looking around for recipes I visited the Nuts.com site. Lots of choices there. I found lots of ideas on the 25 Healthy Snacks page. There are Snacks For Work. And Snacks For the Movies, I like the bring your own snacks section. A No Bake Pistachio Cookie! Who needs popcorn!

Don't Break the Bank Granola -

Ingredients-
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup shelled walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp cup maple syrup
2 tbsp cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dried blueberries

Method-
Preheat oven to 300. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, walnuts,  sunflower seeds and salt.

In a small saucepan set over low heat, warm the sugar, syrup and olive oil until the sugar has just dissolved, then remove from heat. Fold liquids into the mixture of oats, making sure to coat the dry ingredients well.

Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and spread granola over it.

Bake until dry and lightly golden, 30 to 35 minutes, stirring granola a few times along the way. During the last 10 minutes add the shredded coconut. Stirring it a few times during the last 10 minutes (the coconut can burn so keep an eye on it).

Remove granola from oven, and mix into it the dried blueberries. Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to a storage container. Makes about 3 cups.