Roasted Tomatoes Over Pasta

Looking at this list of ingredients I thought to myself, "I don't know about this, seems too simple." But MAN OH MAN was I wrong about that! Not only is this an incredibly easy dish, its so tasty! Using common pantry ingredients only makes it easier to throw together!

Roasted Tomatoes Over Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 C breadcrumbs
1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Handful basil, chiffoned
1/2 lb. thin spaghetti

Heat oven to 400 F. In the bottom of a casserole dish drizzle one tablespoon of the oil. In a small bowl mix together garlic, bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper. Slice tomatoes in half and place in casserole cut side up, top each slice with garlic-breadcrumb mixture. Drizzle another tablespoon of oil over the top. Roast in oven until breadcrumbs are toasted and tomatoes let out some juice. Meanwhile cook spaghetti according to box directions. When tomatoes are done toss with spaghetti and basil, add additional olive oil if the pasta seems dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Thai Lettuce Wraps from Cheesecake Factory are my favorite dish to get when we go out! I don't even need the cheesecake for dessert when I get these! Unfortunately, my husband is allergic to peanuts so I do not have the option to remake them in their entirety at home. Based on several "top secret" recipes found online I have tweaked them to our tastes. Use which ever ingredients you think would taste best!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

serves 4

Ingredients

6-8 Boston Lettuce Leaves

Thai Chicken Satay (recipe below)

2 medium Carrots, julienned
1 large Red Bell Pepper, julienned

1 bag Bean Sprout3

1/2 package egg based Asian noodles, or whatever you find at your market

Thai Marinaded Cucumbers (recipe below)

Sweet Red Chili Sauce, I like A Taste of Thai

Remove the hard stems from the bottom of each leaf of lettuce. Wash and dry the leaves and arrange in a group on a larger platter. If you have any leftover leaves feel free to fill with the carrots, peppers, and other toppings, makes a really nice presentation! Start building the wraps by placing a piece of chicken, your choice of toppings and sauce. Fold the leaf in half and enjoy! They tend to be very juicy, have plenty of napkins on hand! 

Thai Marinated Cucumbers

Ingredients

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red pepper flake

1 large cucumber – seeded and cut into 1/8 inch slices
1/2 red onion thinly sliced

Combine the vinegar, sugar, water, salt, and pepper in a small pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until it boils and the sugar is dissolved. Place cucumber and onion in a bowl and pour hot marinade over the top, stirring to coat. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours, the longer they sit the better they get! These are also really awesome on fish tacos!

Thai Chicken Satay

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 Bamboo skewers (10-12 inches), soaked in water for prep time

Cut chicken into 3/4″ strips. Marinate in the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a bowl for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Weave the chicken strips onto each skewers, until only about 1 inch of skewer is left uncovered with chicken. Grill the skewers over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, turning halfway through the grilling.

Roasted Red Peppers

After posting the pizza I realized I didn't let you in on the secret of making roasted red peppers! Better late than never!! And roasting peppers is FUN stuff!

Good, charred, bubbled up skin!

First, wash the peppers and PLEASE remember to peel off any stickers! For a gas top stove, set your flame to medium-high, place the pepper directly in the flame and burn it to hell! For an electric stove, set your broiler to high, place the peppers on the top rack, and...you guessed it...burn 'em up! Slowly rotate and get each side equally charred. As soon as they are thoroughly charred place in a paper bag, crumple the top and let sit for about 20-30 minutes. This allows the peppers to steam, which pulls the charred skin away from the "meat" of the pepper. To peel the pepper, simply use your fingers to pull away the skin. Running the peppers under water while doing this will help the process. Seed and slice into thin strips and they are ready to use! Mine last about 3 days in tupperware in the fridge (if we don't eat them immediately).

Glorious, sweet and smokey, goodness!

A very simple, easy way to save money is to try and not buy prepared foods whenever possible. This means doing a little more work yourself, but they payoff is amazing food that you made!

Spinach Pesto Pizza with Roasted Peppers and Portobello

Pizza is always a good quick way to use up leftovers, but sometimes it needs to be mixed up a bit. I get easily sick of the "yooj." I had a leftover portobello cap that I wanted to use, and who doesn't like a good roasted red pepper? Add some feta and pesto, voila! This pesto couldn't be easier to make. Any leftover can be frozen to be used later in sauce, or on another pizza, even a pasta salad!

Spinach Pesto
Ingredients

1/4 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/2 pound baby spinach (about 10 cups)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
kosher salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts and garlic until chopped. Add the spinach, oil,  Parmesan, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Puree until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor bowl as necessary. Mix in lemon zest and parmesan.

Using my recipe for whole wheat crust, pesto, slices of the leftover mushroom, roasted red pepper slices, and feta cheese I put together a really amazing pizza! Paired with a salad made a delicious dinner!

Spiced Candied Nuts

Naked Nuts, haha!

Caution, these are highly addictive! Make in large batches to share or to hoard and eat alone! I made a batch for a girls' night and am making two more for my dad and my father-in-law for Father's Day. Its okay to splurge on the nuts, I bought bags of walnut pieces, pistachios, and almonds at Trader Joe's for $6 each, I don't think I would be able to put together a good party snack or two gifts for under $20!!

Spiced Candied Nuts

Ingredients
Mixed raw nuts of your choice, about 4 or 5 cups worth, unsalted
2  Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp raw sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne

Heat oven to 400 F. On a baking sheet lined with wax paper or pachement arrange nuts in a single layer. Bake for about 15-30 minutes until nuts are toasted and fragrant, stirring every 10 minutes. Be careful not to let the nuts burn. While nuts are roasting combine maple syrup, agave nectar and vanilla in a bowl large enough to hold all the nuts. In a food processor combine sugar, salt and spices until ground to a medium fine powder. Pour the hot nuts into the syrup mixture, stir to thoroughly coat. Sprinkle half the sugar mixture over the top, stir gently, then add remaining sugar and stir gently to coat. Place nuts back on sheet pan and return to oven for approximately 10 minutes, or long enough for glaze to set. When nuts have cooled, salt to taste. Store in a covered container at room temperature.

Roasty Glazed Goodness!

Feel free to adjust seasonings to your taste, if you like things a little spicier add more cayenne, less spicy feel free to omit or add your favorite flavor. Enjoy! To give as a gift, fill a ball jar with nuts and top with a bow, nothing fancy to get in the way of digging right in!

heh heh, nuts!

Tips and Tricks for Successful Budgeting

I wanted to share some of my tricks for saving money and time when cooking. These will not only help you keep on track with budgeting and meal planning, but can also just make your week easier.

1.  Plan your meals for the week! I know this is said over and over, and I apologize for saying it again, but its true! To the best of your ability think out what you might like to eat each night - what dish or ingredient might work more than once. You do not need to stick to this plan, feel free to swap nights or even rework the menu with what you have on hand. Think of everything you need to make these meals and make a list of the ingredients. Take this list with you to the store and STICK TO IT! The more you do this the less often you will forget to buy ingredients needed throughout the week's meals.

2. Stick to your grocery shopping schedule. If you forget to buy something on grocery day, you know (and I know) you are not going to run into the store and buy ONLY that ingredient. You will see something delicious on sale and buy it, or think that good looking bunch of flowers would look nice on the table. This is not going to keep you on budget, try and eat what you have at home. If you forget to pick something up, see if you can make it work without it.

Grilling chicken for lunches, red sauce for the freezer, and soup for dinner!

3. While cooking dinner think, "is there anything I can prepare quickly to eat tomorrow or the rest of the week?" I like to prep snacks to have on hand. There is nothing better than wanting something to nibble on and already having it ready! While you are cutting veggies for a dinner cut a few extra to have with dip and make more salad for lunch the next day. When waiting for dinner to finish cooking put together a quick fruit salad, no work the next morning!

4. I always plan out how many meals I can get out of cooking once. What leftovers will this give me and how can I reuse them? Can this be frozen and served with something else for a new twist next week? Meatloaf makes great sandwiches, I will make it on a Monday so my husband has something healthy and cheap to take to work for lunch. Same with chicken; if I am already grilling two breasts why not just add two more and have a nice salad or wrap the next day? Besides, packages of chicken come in 4 more often than 2! I find having a variety of different sized Tupperwares on hand is a great way to save different portion sizes. I like these from Rubbermaid! Best part is the lids snap together and stack to save room in the cupboard!

Christmas Present from the Husband

5. Even though you are only cooking for 1 or 2 doesn't mean cut all your recipes in half. Similar to the tip above, why cook multiple times when you can just make something once (and do the dishes once too)! I love to make family sized batches of soup and sauce and freeze them. My meatballs usually last us 2-3 months! Much better than those frozen meals in the freezer section!

6. Freeze! Buy or cook or bake in bulk whenever you can and freeze it! Most meats can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and foil, tuck into a Ziplock bag and it will stay good for 6 months. This is a great thing to take advantage of when chicken goes on sale buy one get one free! Also good for making large batches of beans in a crock pot or leftover from a can. Just toss into a Ziplock bag and freeze flat, easy to break off however many you need.

I hope these tips will help you save money and time! I sometimes screw up, or am just too tired to cook. When all else fails you can ALWAYS make breakfast for dinner!

Roasted Stuffed Mushrooms

This is an easy and quick meal that makes plenty for leftovers! Hearty, healthy and flavorful you will be making this one again!  Using ingredients we normally have on hand makes this even easier. I first saw this printed in Everyday Food, my changes are below.

White Bean Stuffed Portobellos

Serves 2 (with leftovers for 2)

Ingredients

4 large portobello caps (stems removed)

1 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can cannellini beans, drained

2 tsp fresh thyme 

1 Cup bread crumbs

1/2 Cup feta cheese crumbles

1 bag baby spinach

Preheat oven to 400F. In a small bowl combine 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp lemon juice, brush over each side of the mushroom caps, season with salt and pepper, place stem side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes. Flip and drain any juices from sheet pan. Reserve two mushrooms for tomorrow's lunch.

In a saucepan heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat, saute garlic for 1 minute. Add beans, thyme, lemon zest and 1 cup water. Season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until liquid is almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. 

Top each mushroom half with a handful of spinach leaves, then 1/4 cup of bean mixture, layer of feta cheese and top with breadcrumbs. Drizzle mushrooms with remaining olive oil. Return baking sheet to oven and roast until breadcrumbs are golden, 5-10 minutes. Serve with a spinach salad and garlic chiabatta toast. 

For your leftover lunch, warm bean mixture and mushrooms. Top a spinach salad with sliced mushrooms and feta. Top a couple slices of toast with the warmed bean mixture.

OCD Cutting Board

This REALLY made me laugh today, so I'm sharing it with you guys!

You can find it here if your need to make carrots into perfect 1/4 inch dice compels you!

Mushroom, Pepper, and Potato Frittata

This is a wonderful and easy dish to make for company, a quick dinner, or to use up leftovers from the fridge. Feel free to swap out the ingredients for what you have; add spinach, veggies, cooked meat, etc. Also warms up great the next day in the toaster oven!

Mushroom, Pepper, and Potato Frittata
serves 6


Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2-3 red bliss potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pepper thinly sliced
1 clove garlic minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
5 large eggs
5 large egg whites
1/2 cup whole flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

In a medium (10-inch) nonstick oven proof skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add onion, potato, and peppers; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Cover skillet, and cook 10 minutes; uncover. Add garlic and cook, tossing mixture occasionally, until onion and potato are tender, about 5 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, parsley leaves, with salt and pepper to taste.
Add remaining tablespoon oil to vegetables in skillet. Pour egg mixture into skillet. Cook on stove, over low heat untouched for 2 minutes. Cook for about 10 minutes longer, lifting mixture a few times around the edges with a spatula to let egg flow underneath. Continue cooking until frittata is almost set in center.

Heat broiler with rack set 4 inches from heat.Sprinkle cheese over the top of the frittata. Place skillet under broiler; broil until frittata is set and top is lightly golden, about 3 minutes. Run a clean spatula around edges to loosen, then slide frittata out onto a serving plate, and cut into wedges.Serve with a mixed green salad and fruit.

Mushroom and Chicken Orichette

This dish is a staple in our house, some people may turn to cereal on nights they don't want to fuss in the kitchen, I turn to this. It is an easy meal, and there are no end to ways to sub out ingredients for what you have on hand. Use defrosted shrimp in place of chicken, add some spinach, spring vegetables would make a nice prima vera. If you don't have wine or choose not to cook with wine it comes out just as good. The recipe below is based on my measurements, it is not perfect, it even gets better with tweaking. Its an easy recipe to make your own, and impress friends and family!

 

Mushroom and Chicken Orichette
Ingredients
Serves 2

1 boneless chicken breast, split
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbs butter
pinch red pepper flake
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb Orichette pasta, cooked (any small shape works well)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
fresh chopped parsley (optional)
grated Parmesan cheese(optional)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook chicken, you want it to be golden on the outside. Remove chicken from the pan, slice and reserve. Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the pan. Once butter melts add the garlic and red pepper flake. Once garlic is starting to become golden, add mushroom. When mushroom are cooked add sliced chicken back to the pan, turn heat up to medium high and add wine. Cook about 3 minutes, then add the cooked pasta and toss to coat. Serve with parsley and cheese if desired.