Between the previous pancetta and now the pork chops… I guess you could say I’m on a pig-kick, so I think I’m due for a break from the other white meat for awhile.
Billy mentioned pineapple salsa and it gave me the idea to make a pineapple mango salsa to pair with something a bit more bland. Since I was sick of cooking chicken breast I opted for pork chops (they were also on sale, win!)
They were out of this world!
No, but really… you’re oinkin’ for this recipe… so check it out after the jump…
Read More
The other weekend I ventured down to Long Beach Island to experience their annual Chowderfest! We arrived at a friend’s family’s beach house Saturday and rather than all of us paying to go out to eat or order-in, I decided to cook. Since I was mostly feeding a bunch of hungry boys, I decided to double this recipe but I’m posting it with it’s normal serving size (not doubled!). The flavors were light and paired well with the white wine we picked up on our way to LBI. We followed it up with the Nutella pocket cookies for dessert. I had an idea for something like this in mind but then stumbled across a similar recipe on For The Love of Cooking so decided to just use that.
- 1-2 tsp olive oil
- 5 turkey Italian sausages, removed from casings (since I doubled this, I used one package of sweet sausage and one package of hot sausage)
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- 1/2 - 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 cups of grape tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups of arugula
- 10-12 balls of ciliengini mozzarella cheese, sliced in half
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 9 oz linguine, cooked per instructions
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Remove the sausage from the casings and form into small balls. Place the balls into the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and tomatoes then stir constantly for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth to the skillet as well as the oregano and some sea salt and freshly cracked pepper. Break up a few of the tomatoes by piercing them with the spatula. Cook for a 8-10 minutes while the pasta is cooking,
Taste the sauce and re-season with sea salt, freshly cracked pepper, and oregano if needed. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, toss to coat. Add the arugula and ciliengini cheese then serve immediately. Enjoy!
I didn’t take a picture, sorry! However I did randomly create this meal while on the phone with my grandma… It made me feel like I was on a cooking show. “Brooklyn Cookin’ with Uncanny Annie.” Put that in your juice box and suck it, world wide web!
Last night I was famished and craving some sort of fish for dinner, but I’m poor. So, I ended up making a fishcake with some tuna and a super scrumptious veggie brown rice. It was surprisingly awesome for something I whipped up on my own with whatever I had in the kitchen and I’ll definitely be making this again. I made a bunch of rice so I can enjoy it during the rest of the week.
Veggie Brown Rice
- 2 cups brown rice
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 1 yellow squash, chopped
- 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta
- 2 tbl fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Seasoning of choice (I used Mrs. Dash)
Prepare the rice and set aside. Season the zucchini and squash and saute in a non-stick pan. When browned a bit, toss into rice with tomato and feta. Add the lemon juice and mix together. I wanted to add chopped kalamata olives, but I didn’t have any. Would have been yummy though, right?
Poor Woman’s Fishcake
- 1 can of solid tuna in water
- 1oz (little under 1/4 cup) of spring onions, chopped
- black pepper
- crush red pepper flakes
- 1 egg (I used just the whites, beaten)
- breadcrumbs
- olive oil
Mix the tuna, onions and seasonings and form into a patty. Lightly dip each side in the egg and coat in breadcrumbs. Add about 1 tbl of extra virgin olive oil to a non-stick pan and cook patty for about 5-8 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve over your crazy-delicious veggie brown rice.
The other day I made a copious amount of homemade turkey burgers with onion, garlic, tarragon, black pepper and cayenne pepper. The ground turkey was on sale a few weeks ago and was sitting in the freezer… so I decided to just use ALL of it at once.
It was this afternoon while I was nomming on one for lunch that I realized I’m going to be stuck eating these all week. Great. This turkey overload is enough to hold me over until November.
So I took the bell peppers I had stowed away in the fridge and decided to clean them out and saute them in a pan with some olive oil for a little bit (covered so they’d cook faster). It’s way too hot out to turn the oven on just for 3 bell peppers.
Nuked the burgers in the microwave and mushed them up with some additional seasonings (more cayenne, black pepper, basil, parsley, oregano), pecorino-romano cheese and the leftover brown rice I had.
Shoved this little concoction into said peppers, garnished with some hot sauce and fully enjoyed every second of gobbling (pun!) them up. The rice gave a sweetness to the strong flavors in the turkey and the pepper was still slightly firm so I wasn’t eating mush inside of mush.
Just because you’re on the POV(erty) diet doesn’t mean you have to eat crap all the time! This is a prime example of getting creative with whatever you have!
I decided to soak some black beans all day so I could come home and make one of my favorite foods, tacos! It’s amazing how quickly a taco/burrito can go from healthy to absolutely horrible for you. Places like Chipotle succeed greatly in that department and as much as I love super-burritos, I tend to keep things on the waistline-conscious side when it comes to actual mealtime.
Tonight was simple - foolproof, really. A quick solo meal or multiply it for the whole family. The trick to keeping it healthy? Cut out the cheese and only use a tablespoon or two of light sour cream. Cut out the salsa (even though it’s my favorite condiment it contains a copious amount of sodium) and stick to spices.
Grab your sombrero, we’re makin’ tacos!
Read More
