Posting meals later this week

I truly apologize for posting no meals on Sunday. we are going through a chicken pox feast at the home and it's been a left-over week! Thank you for patience!

If this food is not fancy enough ;)

You just must check out this blog:
It's French and fancy--just what every three year eater wants (snails anyone?)

The food looks awesome and something I would love to make when my children are all away at college!

Tuesday Tips

Ever wonder how the chefs on TV look so together?
Yes, the education and training help but the biggest help--prep from a sous chef. A sous chef comes in before the show, chops, dices and measures and then places the ingredients separately in little containers.
Today, try to be your own sous chef! If you have a few moments this morning, dice up the veggies for tonight's meal. I sometimes go dice crazy and prep veggies for the the next 48 hours (I don't do longer or the veggies could get bad). True, you will lose some nutrients chopping so soon in advance but when you are finally able to put together dinner, it sure is nice to just drop in the pre-cut veggies. You'll feel like Martha Stewart!
I encourage you to try this with the following recipe. Just chop up the red bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic and tonight's dinner will be a snap!

Chicken Cacciatori

This morning I was prepping for tonight’s dinner and realized I forgot to share this gem. It’s based on Ellie Krieger’s recipe from Healthy Appetite from the Food Network. I added pasta to make it more tempting to card loving kiddos!

Chicken Cacciatori

2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken cutlets
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 pound baby portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (less if you like things not so hot)
Salt and pepper
whole wheat pasta (cooked to al dente)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken and place on paper towels on plates (drains the oil).
Reduce the heat to medium. Add pepper and stir until soft, about five minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until mushroom reduce in size and begin to brown. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the wine and cook until reduced by half. Add the diced tomatoes with juice and spices. Cover and simmer for ten minutes.
Return the chicken to the pan and simmer, covered, for about twenty minutes.
Serve over pasta.
Enjoy!

PIZZA

Pizza. Face it, we all love it and believe it or not, you can make it at home and make it a little better than the standard thirty minute deal. I use my simple sauce recipe for this one.
And don’t shy away from making the dough--once you make it, you’ll see how easy and fun it is (especially for the resident pre-schooler in your house).

Pizza

1 package quick rise yeast
1 1/3 C warm water
3 - 3/12 C flour (you can use a whole wheat/ white combo)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 balls mozzarella, sliced
generous handful of parmegiano reggiono
toppings (ideas include sun-dried tomatoes, baby spinach, grilled asparagus, grilled bell peppers)
simple tomato sauce

Combine flour and salt in large bowl. In a separate bowl, dissolve your yeast on top of 1 1/3 C warm water (the yeast should foam, if not, it may be dead). After one minute, stir yeast and water combo. Make a well in center of flour and add yeast/water. Stir with wooden spoon until a ball forms. Place ball in center of floured surface. Knead (perfect job for the pre-schooler in your life) until the ball is smooth and elastic--approximately 10 minutes). Be sure to add extra flour to keep dough from sticking.
In another large bowl, put in the olive oil and spread around using a sheet of wax paper until the entire inside is covered. Place ball in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in draft free area for one to two hours. It will double in size.
Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place ball on paper and spread out evenly onto sheet. Cover again with plastic wrap and let sit for one hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Remove plastic wrap and pound down any bubbles in to dough. Push dough up on sides to create crust. Cover with sauce.
Bake for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, spread mozzarella slices over pizza, sprinkle over parmegiano reggiono and add toppings. Bake an additional 5 minutes.
Remove and slice immediately. Serve five minutes later.
Yummy!

Old School Pork Chops with Apples, Jamie style

This is yet another winner from Jamie Oliver and ‘Cook with Jamie”--you have bought this by now haven’t you :) (He has a cooking show on Foodnetwork, Saturdays 8:30 am Central time; even the music at the end is good.)
In his book, the stilton is a suggestion but I find it an absolute asset. Yes, it does have a very proud price tag but look at it this way, it’s already got mold in it so it will last longer than your average cheese. I love to pair this with a nice spinach salad including more apples wedges and crumbles of that yummy stilton (and if mommy has some port, try it with the stilton--a dream pairing!).


Old School Pork Chops with Apples and Stilton

4 pork chops
olive oil
2 apples (try macintosh or fuji), unpeeled and cut in thin wedges (you’ll get about 16 per apple)
1 tbsp butter
8 or 9 fresh sage leaves (dressed in a touch of olive oil)
4 tbsp stilton cheese


Preheat oven to 400F. Lay the pork chops out on a board and using a sharp knife, make deep cuts along with fatty side about 1 cm apart--this is a way to render the fat and make it nice and crispy. Sprinkle the chops with the salt and pepper.


Heat olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Place your chops in it and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown (I’m sure you know the look). You’ll notice the cuts fan out a bit.


Lift the chops out of the pan and put them onto a baking sheet. In the saucepan, melt butter and saute apple wedges until lightly brown. Evenly divide apple slices on chops and top with sage leaves. Top each with a nice pat of Stilton.
Put the baking sheet into the oven for 4-6 minutes until everything is golden and the cheese is melty (again you know this look).
Serve with the spinach salad.ENJOY!!!

Asian Style Tiapia

This is a great one to make with kids. It’s messy, silly and you get to dump it into a paper bag. Little ones care tear ends off snow peas.
I adopted this recipe from Dave Lieberman on Food Network.
It’s also quite tasty!

Asian Style Tilapia

olive oil
4 tilapia fillets (approx. 3/4 lb.)
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 lemon, zested and juiced
30 snow peas, ends snipped off
2 small red potatoes, sliced thinly in matchstick size
8 tbs. lite coconut milk
salt and pepper
4 brown paper lunch bags

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cover the paper bags with olive oil (stack together to let olive oil sock in). Season potatoes with salt and pepper. Press lemon zest and ginger into filets; season with salt and pepper. Top each with even amount of potatoes, followed by snow peas. Carefully place a filet in each bag (with toppings); pour in 2 tablespoons of coconut milk in each bag, over fish. Fold well to seal in juices and steam. Place bags on baking sheets and let cook for 20 minutes. Carefully tear open bag and serve in bag.

Eggplant Parmegiano

This recipe calls for the very unhealthy cooking method of frying. I have tried baking but it does not give it the same texture. To make frying as healthy as possible, I fry at a very high heat for a very short amount of time (less than a minute per side) as the less time frying, the better. I am also using store bought Italian style bread crumbs. I used to make my own (see note below) but I found some great bread crumbs from Whole Foods just as good as mine, if not much better.

Eggplant Parmegiano

1 large eggplant, sliced
Generous handful of sea salt
1 C Italian style bread crumbs*
1 egg
1/4 C olive oil
1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Simple Tomato Sauce (see the post below)

First lay out the sliced eggplant over a paper towel and sprinkle with sea salt. Let sit for 15-30 minutes. This removes the bitter taste eggplants sometimes have. Rinse the eggplant slices and pat dry. Set aside.
Whisk egg in bowl and pour bread crumbs on large plate. Beside these two items place a large empty plate. (This is your breading station.). With one hand, dunk and eggplant slice in the egg, using fingers to remove excess egg. Dump on bread crumb plate and using other hand, pat down both sides until the round is nicely covered, shake off excess and place on plate. Continue the process with each slice.

In heavy saucepan, heat 1/2 the olive oil over high heat. When the olive oil begins to smoke, add as many eggplant slices as possible (do not crowd pan). Using tongs, flip over after one minute (or until browned). Cook on other side additional minute and remove from pan, placing on paper towel lined plate. Add more olive oil to pan if needed and repeat until done. (Do NOT leave your stove during this process--it is very fast and needs constant attention). Press another paper towel on eggplant to remove excess oil.

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large lasagna pan, cover bottom of pan with a nice layer of tomato sauce. Place eggplant slices on top of sauce. Cover with more sauce, based on your taste (I love sauce so the more the better for me ;) ).
Place mozzarella slices on the eggplant/sauce. Sprinkle with the Parmigiano-reggiano. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake an addition 10 minutes until bubbly and slightly brown.

Serve with pasta or garlic bread. I also like to add a small salad to get some green into the meal.

* To make your own bread crumbs, take stale bread, crust removed, and chop in food processor. Add dried Italian spices like basil, oregano, garlic powder, dried onion and celery seasoning.


Simple Tomato Sauce

I do not recommend this sauce for pasta but it is great on pizzas and parmgiano dishes! That being said, it is OK on pasta with the above eggplant dish since it is not the focus of the meal.

Simple Tomato Sauce

Large can crushed tomatoes
1 clove garlic, diced
olive oil
glug of good red wine
fresh basil

In a heavy saucepan, heat up garlic in olive oil. Before garlic browns, add wine to deglaze pan. After most of the alcohol has burned off, add tomatoes and basil. Bring to a boil and then turn low to simmer for approx. 20-30 minutes. You can store extra in freezer for next time :)

Chicken Curry Soup

In found the basis for this in Rachel Ray’s magazine. I love the idea of using rotisserie chicken since I always seem to have left-overs from them! The original recipe calls for an entire rotisserie chicken but I think about half the bird, skin removed is plenty.

Chicken Curry Soup

1 tablespoon butter
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
3 tsp curry powder, plus additional for garnish
1 32-ounce container chicken broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 large baking potato , peeled and cut into small cubes
1/2 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup Greek Style Yogurt*

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add bell pepper and curry powder (this smells amazing!), stirring often. Once softened, add broth, cauliflower and potato. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to low medium, add salt and pepper, and partially cover for approximately 30-40 minutes until veggies are tender.
When ready to serve, stir in yogurt and garnish with a bit of curry powder.
Serve with some toasted pita bread or Nan.

* If you can’t find Greek yogurt, go ahead and use whole plain yogurt.

Fusilli with Sausage, Artichokes and Sun-dried Tomatoes

I adore this recipe! It’s from Everyday italian with Giada (with a few minor touches). I actually prefer using the whole wheat pasta--it adds a very nice touch to the flavor.

Fusiili with Sausage, Artichoke and Sundried Tomato

3/4 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped in bite size pieces, 2 tablespoons of oil reserved 
1 lb bulk italian sausage
2 (8-ounce) cans artichoke hearts (rinsed and drained) 
2 large cloves garlic, chopped 
1 3/4 cups chicken broth 
1/2 cup dry white wine 
16 ounces whole wheat fusilli pasta 
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus additional for garnish 
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil 
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente (about a minute less then the cooking time on the box). Drain the pasta (do not rinse). Heat the oil reserved from the tomatoes in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown, breaking up the meat into bite-size pieces. Transfer the sausage to a colander and run under cold water until water runs clear (this washes off excess fat)l. Add the artichokes and garlic to the same skillet, and saute over medium heat until the garlic is tender, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, white wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Boil over medium-high heat until the sauce reduces slightly, stirring occasionally.
Add the pasta, sausage, 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, basil, and parsley to the artichoke mixture. Toss until the sauce is almost absorbed by the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Top with remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano and a couple parsley leaves.

New Format

Yes, we have had dinner at the house since January 24th! I have not however had the time to post what we ate ;(
In an effort to share more meals, I am going to post a weeks worth of meals every weekend. This will really help if you are going out to the grocery store and need just that!
Look for this week's meals by Sunday!!!
Lisa