Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

 Last week, I made pasta primavera with lemon cream sauce and mint. I found the mint and peas to be completely off-putting. The cream sauce was delish! Today I recreated just the cream sauce and it was great! A hit for 4/5. 

Ingredients

1lb pasta, cooked

1/3 cup pasta water

1/2 C heavy cream

1 C shredded parmesan

Zest of 1-2 lemons

Juice of 1-2 lemons (about 1/3 cup)

Salt & pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot, add pasta, water, cream and parmesan. Stir continuously until cheese begins to melt and sauce is thickened.

2. Add lemon zest, juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve!

Raspberries & Cream

 I have decided that I am now adult enough to just buy the fruit that I think my kids will eat even if it is a little bit more expensive than I would like.  This week we already went through 2 pints of raspberries but the additional 2 pints we have aren't quite as sweet as the first.  This is my recipe for eating raspberries that aren't quite sweet enough in the most enjoyable but easy way.  My dad told me about using brown sugar vs white sugar because he said it was a thing they had at "The Club" where he dined as a businessman in Chicago in the time that he worked. I think the brown sugar makes this dish really pop.

Ingredients

Raspberries

2 T or less half & half or cream or whole milk in a pinch

1 t or less brown sugar

Directions

1. Place raspberries in a bowl. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Pour cream over everything. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Homemade Cheesesteak

 There was too much going on tonight at dinner to take a picture, but I will tell you this, the homemade cheesesteak sandwich I made this evening for myself was delicious.  I loosely followed a recipe I read on the internet earlier and then immediately lost. I was not looking at the recipe while cooking so let's just say I made it up.  I didn't buy hoagie rolls because I already had pretzel rolls in the freezer. They were perfect with this dish!  I also used Colby-Jack cheese instead of the traditional (provolone or perhaps whiz?). I just used what I had but you do you!

Ingredients (serves 2 generous sandwiches)

14 oz shaved beef (they sell this at our grocery store and it comes in the 14oz size for some unknown reason)

Olive oil

Butter

salt

1/2 onion, sliced into strips

1/2 bell pepper, sliced into strips

1/4 C Worcestershire sauce

a few shakes hot sauce

2 slices cheese

Directions

1. Heat a little olive oil and butter in a skillet. When it is glistening, add the onions and a little salt.  Turn the heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally for 500 agonizing minutes until caramelized. You can and should do this step ahead because it takes for.ev.er.  I did not end up getting my onions fully caramelized because I was just hungry.  

2. Once your onions are done, remove them to a plate but keep the pan as it is. Add some oil and butter and brown the meat for 1-2 minutes. 

3. Add the onions back in, the bell peppers, the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt to taste.  Cook, stirring until the meat and peppers are done.  Add the slices of cheese on top and cover. (one thing we do to cover a skillet that doesn't have a lid is put a dinner plate over the top. It doesn't even have to cover the whole pan, just where the cheese is.)

4. Quickly toast your bread if you want to and then serve yourself some of this mix on a bun and enjoy! I added more hot sauce later because I was worried about making it too hot for others!

Chicken & Cheese Baked Taquitos

 Taquitos are one of Hazel's favorite meals but I continuously struggle to master them and make them crunchy enough while still baking vs. frying. Last night, I finally found a method that works for us!  We like chicken & cheese taquitos and also plain cheese taquitos.  I think we'd probably like lots of other fillings, but these are the easiest to make! I made 20 taquitos and this was sufficient for our family of 5. I used the method from this recipe but a different filling.

Ingredients:

3 Cups cooked shredded chicken

2 T Olive Oil

1 T garlic powder (or to taste)

1 T salt

2 Cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

20 small corn tortillas

Cooking Spray

Salsa, guac, sour cream for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 large baking trays with foil and generously spray with cooking spray.  Place tortillas on the trays, only slightly overlapping if need and spray with more cooking spray. Bake for 4 minutes to make them soft and pliable. 

2. Meanwhile, toss chicken with garlic powder, salt and olive oil until the mixture is a little bit wet and well seasoned.  Feel free to add other seasonings that your family enjoys.

3. When the tortillas are ready, flip them over into a stack so the sprayed side is facing out.  Re-spray the cookie sheets if they look dry.  Put 2T of chicken and cheese in each tortilla. we also made some just cheese. Roll the tortillas up and place seam side down on the prepared tray. 

4. Spray the tortilla tops with cooking spray and sprinkle on a little bit of salt, if you like. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn taquitos to crisp the other side and add more salt on top if needed.  Bake an additional 10 minutes.  Serve with salsa or guac or sour cream!

Whipped Feta Dip

 Whipped Feta is in vogue right now ever since feta gained popularity when used in that tiktok pasta dish.  I had a little bit of feta left so I decided to try it!  The dip is good!!

Tbh I barely followed the recipe because I had just a bit of feta but here is the link to what I used. I added chives.

https://www.seriouseats.com/whipped-feta-dip

Crispy Baked Boneless Pork Chops

Recently we almost exclusively sous vide our meat. It is good but I wanted more flavor today. I decided to bread the pork. So good! Best dinner we have had in weeks!

Crispy Oven Baked Boneless Pork Chops

Ingredients

3 C panko or breadcrumb mix

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Garlic powder

Dash of chili powder

Salt

Pepper

Cornstarch

1 egg

4 boneless pork chops

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Spread breadcrumb/panko evenly on a parchement lined baking pan and toast for 4 minutes or until brown

3. Remove from oven and combine bread crumbs, garlic powder to taste, cheese and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Season with salt.

4. Crack an egg in another shallow bowl and beat slightly with a fork

5. Spray the baking tray with cooking spray

6. Season pork with salt, pepper and dredge in cornstarch, then coat with egg and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place each breaded chop on the tray.

7. Spray the chops with cooking spray and bake 20 minutes or until pork registers at 145 degrees. Slice and serve!

Vegetable & Black Rice Bowl with Coconut Green Goddess Dressing

I was reading my February issue of Martha Stewart magazine last night and saw some Asian-influenced vegetarian recipes I thought would be easy to make for lunch.

Later, ravenous after Hip Hop Class, I went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for the meals. Except, I mixed up two recipes in my head. So I decided to make a bit of a switch.

I really wanted to use the cilantro and coconut milk I had bought to make some kind of dressing or sauce. I decided to riff on a recipe I love for Greener Goddess Dressing from Fit Fork Feed since I have a bounty of avocados from our tree.

This bowl is so delicious, filling and made me feel I was being pretty healthy despite the excess use of avocado. It would also be great with a fried egg on top instead of the rest of the avocado..but how could I let that green beauty sit aside?

This recipe feeds 1 generously

Vegetable & Black Rice Bowl with Coconut Green Goddess Dressing

Ingredients

For Serving:
- Black Rice, prepared (I used some that you just heat in the microwave)
- Generous shake of TJs Everything but the bagel Seasoning

For the Vegetables:
- 1 bunch baby bok choy, washed, roughly chopped and stems and leaves separated
- 1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced
- 5oz sliced shitake mushrooms
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- 1 t butter
- salt
- 2 T water or coconut milk

For the Coconut Green Goddess Dressing:
- 1/2 large avocado, more to taste
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves
- salt to taste
- 1 t ginger (fresh recommended)
- juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 - 1/2 C coconut milk
- 1 clove garlic, smashed

Directions
1. Heat butter in a medium skillet or wok. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds
2. Add bok choy stems, mushrooms, bell pepper and cook until just soft
3. Add salt, coconut milk and bok choy leaves and cook until wilted
4. Meanwhile, in a mini chopper or blender puree cilantro with 2 T coconut milk.
5. Add all other ingredients except additional coconut milk and blend. Slowly add in milk to achieve the texture you prefer.  Adding more milk or more avocado will smooth it.
6. To serve: Put rice in a bowl and mix in a little of the dressing. Top with vegetables, extra avocado, sauce and Everything seasoning.

Twice-Baked Poblanos

I recently received a new meal kit that required poblano peppers but then time got away from me and I didn't make the meal. I stowed the required meat in the freezer and put the peppers in my produce drawer.  My dad is a fan of a little spice so when I realized he was coming over I knew it was time to use the peppers!  All the recipes I saw made them into a meal and we were already having grilled sausages so that would be too much.  I consulted with a friend and we came up with Twice-Baked Poblanos.  Basically Poblano peppers stuffed with mashed potatoes with all the accouterments. 

This recipe is actually quite simple combining roasted techniques and making mashed potatoes. I apologize in advance that I don't know my exact mashed potato recipe because I 100% made it up on the fly but any mashed potato will work here.  I also had WAY TOO MANY POTATOES and I just used 5 russets! Probably you only need 3 potatoes: 4 peppers ratio.  This dish has a little hint of spice but it is not overpowering at all - the perfect bite!



Ingredients
4 Poblano Peppers, seeded and halved
Olive Oil
lots of Salt
4-5 russet potatoes, peeled & cubed
2 Cups Sharp Cheddar, shredded
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 C Sour Cream
1/2 - 1 Cup Half & Half or Milk
2 T Butter

Directions
1. Preheat the Oven to 425, take the half and half, butter and sour cream out of the fridge and set on the counter
2. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup. Place peppers inside-side up on the tray and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
3. Roast peppers for 25-30 minutes or until tender. Take the peppers out of the oven and let rest while preparing the mash.
4. Meanwhile, place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add salt so that the water tastes like the sea.
5. Boil potatoes until tender about 15 minutes, testing with a fork
6. Drain the potatoes
7. Add sour cream, butter, salt to taste and 1/4 C half & half to the potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Continue to add half & half, a little at a time until the consistency comes together as desired
8. Mix in 1 C cheese and bacon to the potatoes
9. Preheat the oven to 350
10. Spoon potato mixture on top of the peppers, top with cheese
11. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted, serve immediately or leave in warm oven until ready to serve

Cheesy Orzo

Did you get an instant pot yet? I admit, I don't use it as much as I thought I would but the other night when we had guests for dinner and a tiny window with which to get dinner ready, I used it. We also sous vide our meat for dinner so it was really hands off!

This cheesy orzo was sooo flavorful. Pretty much the best updated mac & cheese I've ever had.  My 3yo wan't a fan even though she said it was good she didn't want any. My 18m loved it!  So good.  Run don't walk to get the ingredients to make this tonight!

Recipe here and below. I used asiago cheese instead of parmesan and didn't measure exactly cause more cheese is always better, right?

Ingredients:
1/2 onion chopped
3 small cloves of garlic chopped
2 T butter
2 t olive oil
8oz orzo
2 Cups Chicken broth
1/2 t salt
1 C mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 C asiago (or parmesan) cheese
1 Cup whole milk or half & half (I used milk)

Directions:
1. Turn the instant pot to saute and add butter & Olive oil.  Add onions and cook until translucent.
2. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds
3. Add chicken broth and salt and bring to a simmer stirring. Add orzo. Put the lid on
4. Turn off the instant pot and set to manual, high pressure, 4 minutes.
5. Once the 4 minutes is up and it switches to warming, turn to quick release and wait for the button to pop. Open the lid, stir in cheeses & milk, salt to taste, serve immediately

Unicorn Yogurt Bark

We had some friends in town and Hazel was keen on making
this yogurt bark. What a cinch to put together! This is a recipe for eating right away or else it melts like yogurt, which is still good but half the fun is gone.  I used some whole milk vanilla yogurt and some mixed berry greek yogurt and both turned out great. I think you could potentially skip the food coloring and just use lots of different colors of yogurt, but this was much more vibrant with the coloring.

Ingredients:
6 - 8 cups yogurt of your choice (I used 6 C vanilla & 1 C mixed berry), separated into bowls
Gel food coloring
sprinkles

Directions:
1. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper then make room in your freezer for the pan
2. Mix each cup of yogurt with a toothpick full of gel food coloring to desired color, I used yellow, green, blue, pink, purple and some maroon color
3. Spread yogurt on the prepared pan. Then swirl slightly with the back of a spoon or spatula to get the desired rainbow affect
4. Sprinkle on a variety of different sprinkles
5. Freeze 3-6 hours
6. Remove from the freezer and break into chunks like bark, you can easily do this with your hands. Serve immediately or freeze bark in a ziplock bag

Chicken ‘Shawarma’ Bowls with Homemade Hummus

I want to branch out my family dinners from meat, potatoes and pasta to something else. So on Monday I prepped and prepped and on Tuesday I whipped up dinner in 10 minutes!  I highly recommend this meal.  I took it from Cooking Light and then changed everything..so I'm going to claim this as my own recipe. Bonus - You get my mom's delicious hummus recipe too!

Ingredients:

Hummus
1 15oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
2 t olive oil (more to taste)
2 T sesame seeds
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t salt
pepper
1/2 large lemon (more to taste)

1 clove garlic


Chicken Shawarma Bowls
1/4-1/2 C cooked chicken per person - I used poached chicken or you can use rotisserie, chopped or shredded
Couscous - I used Far East Parmesan, this takes max 8 minutes to make!
Chopped cucumbers
chopped tomatoes
Hummus
Half Lemon
Olive Oil

Directions - Hummus
1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend. If it's too thick add more olive oil or lemon juice to taste
2. Chill and if you want sprinkle with paprika to serve

Directions Shawarma Bowls:
1. Make Couscous according to box directions
2. Put couscous on the bottom of the bowl and add cucumbers, tomatoes, chicken and hummus on top.  Squeeze lemon juice and a dash of olive oil
Enjoy!

Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

My parents made lots of leftover turkey so we could take some home. I decided to use it to make Shepherd’s pie. This particular recipe was simple and fast! I liked it but Joey wished for regular gravy - so you can use that instead of this sauce!

Ingredients
2 C chopped leftover turkey
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 C frozen peas or frozen vegetable mix
1 1/2 C beef broth
2T tomato paste
1T worsteschier sauce
2t olive oil
2 C mashed potatoes
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 C grated cheese
Salt

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 or if you want a crispy top, turn on the broiler
2. In a small skillet sauté onion and garlic until the onion is soft
3. Add salt, tomato paste, Worsteshier sauce, broth and thyme, stir and bring to a simmer
4. Simmer 2 minutes then add peas and turkey. Simmer 2 more minutes. Salt to taste
5. Divide meat mixture between two oven-safe ramekins
6. Top meat mixture with mashed potatoes and add cheese on top
7. Bake 5-10m at 350 until cheese is melted and dish is warmed through
*If broiling, keep a close eye because cheese can catch on fire 2-5m
**If you want to use gravy instead of the sauce, omit broth, tomato paste and worsteshier sauce and replace with gravy.

Happy Eating!

Cheesy Garlic Bread with Pizza Dough!

We've had some pizza dough in the fridge that we have just been putting off using. Today I was making soup and thought it would be nice to have some bread with it - but I didn't want to go to the store.  I decided to try for some cheesy garlic bread.  WOW!

Delicious.

Ingredients
1lb refrigerated pizza dough, at room temperature
3-4 cloves garlic
2 T butter
1/4 C parmesan cheese, shredded
1 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
flour for rolling

Directions
1. Preheat a pizza stone or upside down cookie sheet in the oven to the highest setting (450-500 degrees)
2. Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of your stone and flour it
3. Roll/Stretch the dough out into the shape of your stone - ours is a rectangle on your parchment paper
4. Crush garlic into a bowl and combine with butter
5. Butter the dough with the garlic/butter mixture
6. Sprinkle the cheese over the butter
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and dough is cooked through
8. Cut and serve warm

Pork Medallions & Apples

Hazel is a big meat eater but she likes it even more if she gets to help cook. I recently stumbled upon the perfect recipe to do together, pork medallions and apples!  Hazel likes to help with the pounding, flouring and Apple eating. And, if I'm lucky, she might even do a few dishes while washing her hands!

Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1 C flour (or more if you are working with a toddler)
salt & pepper
1 C apple juice or cider
2-3 apples chopped
2 T butter
1 T olive oil

Directions
1. Slice the tenderloin into 1-inch medallions, salt & pepper them to taste.
2. With a kitchen hammer, pound the meat thin
3. Pour flour on a plate. Dip meat in flour and shake off excess. Set on another plate
4. Heat oil over medium in a large frying pan. Add meat in batches and cook 2 minutes per side and remove to a plate
5. Add apples to the pan and saute 1 minute
6. Add juice and let simmer and reduce 2-3 minutes.
7. Add butter to form a sauce and let melt while stirring.
8. Add medallions back in to warm nestled in the sauce.  Serve warm.

Mini Raspberry Pies

Last week I bought some raspberries at Costco. Many of them were delicious and some of them were hard or weird (probably previously frozen?). Anyway, I didn't want to waste them so I decided to make some mini pies.  As luck would have it, we also had a broken pie crust in the freezer!

I made up this recipe a little bit but I think I can recreate it for you here. The mini pies are pretty good, good enough to serve for an impromptu party. Delicious warm, okay cold - so maybe reheat for a few seconds before serving.

Ingredients
For the pies
1 Pie crust
1 1/2 Cups raspberries
Juice of one lemon
2 T tapioca
2-3 T sugar (depends on how sweet your berries are)
cooking spray
a little water

For the topping
2-3 T flour
3 T cold butter
2-3 T brown sugar
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cinnamon

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 and spray 8 muffin cups with cooking spray
2. Place raspberries in a bowl with lemon juice, sugar and tapioca. Stir and let sit until ready to use
3. Roll out the pie crust (add water if it is dry) on a floured surface and cut into 8 parts
4. Place one piece of dough in each prepared muffin cup and press up the sides
5. Make the topping and mix together with your hands until small peas
6. Distribute raspberry mixture among pies. Top with topping
7. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown around the edges

Jello Jigglers

Jello jigglers are a kid pleaser and so easy! I know jello is full of sugar but somehow I feel better about it than cake, for example. If you have for some reason never had jigglers, you are missing out and must make them right away!

Jello comes in so many colors you can adapt this to practically every holiday! Cookie cutters come in all shapes too!

Don't worry, is you forget the recipe, it is on the Jell-o brand boxes.

Ingredients
2 boxes (6oz each) Jello in a single flavor
2 1/2C boiling water
9x13 pan
Cookie cutters (small ones are best)

Directions
1. Stir the jello mix and boiling water until dissolved.
2. Pour into a 9x13 pan
3. Let set in the fridge at least 3 hours
4. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes or be boring and just cut squares.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Beef Ribs in the Instant Pot

Beef Ribs! One of my favorite things to get at a bbq restaurant are something I've never made at home because it sounds like it takes too much time. Plus, I don't have a smoker. Plus, I don't want to use the bbq for 5 hours.  Enter the Instant Pot. Talk about an all-around useful appliance! With minimal ingredients and only 40 minutes (+natural release time), I made fall-off-the-bone beef ribs. These got an A+ from everyone in my family!  Try it tonight.

Ingredients

~10 beef ribs (that's all that fit in my pot)
1/2 Jar Stubbs Original BBQ Sauce (best all around sauce I believe)
salt & pepper
1/2 C water or broth

Directions
1. Place the tray that came with the Instant Pot in the bottom of the pot. Stand the ribs up on the tray campfire style.
2. Sprinkle salt on the ribs
3. Pour water or broth into the pot
4. Pour half the jar of bbq sauce over the ribs
5. Set to sealing and use the Meat/Stew setting and add 5 minutes
6. Cook 40 minutes and let it release the steam naturally for at least 10 minutes. Do the rest of the release.
7. Serve with more bbq sauce on top

Note: You could put bbq sauce on and put it on a foil-lined cookie sheet under the broiler to caramelize it a bit but we didn't take that step so I can't speak to it

Slow cooked BBQ Pork with Tangy Broccoli Slaw

We had a busy day and guests on Sunday so I decided to put something in the slow cooker for dinner.  I decided to make pulled pork which I thought would be easy and crowd-pleasing.  It WAS easy, just dump everything in and cook.  Sadly, as per always for me, the pork did not 'shred' easily. So, I just chopped it up and it was still delicious!  Highly recommended.

Served 5 hungry people with leftovers

Ingredients
For the Pork

5 lbs boneless pork shoulder, netting removed and cut into large chunks
1 jar Stubbs Original BBQ Sauce
3 T Smoked Paprika
1 T Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
1 C water
1 onion, cut into large slices or chunks

For the slaw
1 bag broccoli/carrot slaw
zest & juice of 3 limes
Salt

For serving
BBQ Sauce (your choice, I used a Carolina style which was fabulous)
Hamburger style buns

Directions
1. Put all the Pork ingredients into a slow cooker (onions on the bottom!). Set for 8 hours and forget it!
2. For the slaw, juice and zest the limes and toss with broccoli slaw. Add a dash of salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. When the pork is done shred it (hahaha!) or cut into cubes.  Serve with slaw, buns and sauce.

Slow cooked country style ribs

We bought some country style pork ribs intending to Sousa vide them but we just never se it up do I slow cooked them instead.  I thought these were pretty good butwhat a weird cut of meat! It was like two giant ribs. Joey and I shared one!  Next time I would blend the sauce b/c there were big bits of of chipotles.

Ingredients
Country style pork ribs (2 ribs)
1C BBQ sauce
1/2C preserves - I used four berry
Seasoning rub - I used smokehouse maple
Salt
Garlic salt
3 chipotles in adobo plus 1T sauce

1. Blend chipotles, preserves and BBQ sauce
2. Sprinkle rub, salt and garlic salt all over meat.
3. Place meat inside the slow cooker
4. Cook on low in the slow cooker 6 - 8 hours until tender, serve.

Roast Chicken & Oven Fries

We recently discovered the best roast chicken recipe and we make it nearly twice a month now! Whole chickens are usually cheap $3-5 and feed as many people. This recipe takes a little advance planning but it's worth it! This time I served it with oven fries because I needed to use up some potatoes.

Ingredients

Chicken:
 1 whole chicken rinsed and patted dry
Kosher salt
1/2 orange
1/2 onion or 3 shallots

Special equipment:
Metal rack that fits in rimmed baking sheet
Refrigerator space for the above
8-24 hours

Fries (cut the potatoes day of)
1 small russet potatoes per person, cut into matchsticks
1 T olive oil per potato
Salt
cooking spray
foil

Directions:
1. 8-24hrs before you want to cook your chicken dry it off, truss the legs and rub salt all over the chicken. Use a lot of salt, don't worry, you will rinse before you cook!
2. Place the chicken on a metal rack over the rimmed baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator for 8-24hours- the longer the better.

----
3. Preheat the oven to 450
4. Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Then place back on the rack
5. Stuff the chicken cavity with half onion and oranges
6. Bake the Chicken 40-50 minutes or until juices run clear and cooked through (just use a thermometer). Let rest 5 minutes before carving.

7. Meanwhile toss the potato matchsticks with olive oil and lay them on a foil-lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
8. Toss with salt and spread fries flat
9. The fries take about 25-30 minutes so put them in when you are about 30 minutes into your chicken cooking.
10. Serve the chicken with hot fries.