On the menu tonight, Balsamic Glazed Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Onions and Shallots!
If you think you don’t like brussel sprouts, try this recipe. While simple, the recipe is REALLY flavorful and So easy to make. The only ingredients you need are brussel sprouts, Vidalia onion, shallot, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Kosher salt and pepper.
When you aren’t sure what side dish to serve, I hope that you’ll give this recipe a try.
On the menu tonight – Focaccia Bread with Onion and Red Pepper!
This is a departure from my usual cooking, I don’t usually bake. I think I might be the only person who didn’t learn to make sour dough bread during the Covid era! So what changed? My boss recently brought in some homemade focaccia with a little olive oil and it was DELICIOUS! I decided that I would give it a try. My boss graciously brought me some sour dough starter along with some printed instructions and links. I also watched a few YouTube videos.
The result was fantastic, especially for my first attempt! My version was topped with a little chopped red onion, red pepper and some sea salt. I hope if you decide to take the leap, and you should, that you will take the time to make your own starter (or get some from one of your friends) and make a loaf of focaccia bread!
1 1/2 cups room temperature water (make sure it's non-clorinated water, use bottled water if you aren't sure)
Instructions
1
Mix the ingredients, gently, with a wooden spoon until you don't see any dry flour (the dough will look kind of kragly, don't worry)
2
Let the dough rest for about 60 minutes, either in a covered container or with a damp towel over the bowl
3
After the 60 minutes of resting, gently fold over the dough a few times (I think I did about 8 folds) and then let the dough rest overnight at room temperature
4
The next morning/day -
5
Prepare a 9x13 baking pan with olive oil. Put enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan as well as the sides
6
Put the dough in the pan and gently stretch it out by lifting it and letting gravity stretch it out... I rotate the dough ball to let it stretch evenly
7
This is your opportunity to put whatever toppings you want on the loaf. I opted for dried rosemary, chopped red onion and red bell pepper
8
Let the dough rest again for another 8 hours, make sure to cover it again
9
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, and when it's ready, sprinkle the dough with sea salt (or Kosher or pink Himalayan salt)
10
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown
11
Pull it out of the oven and let rest at least 20-30 minutes
Usually, if I have meatballs, they are over spaghetti. But, I’ve also had meatballs served as an appetizer. However you want them, these Roasted Italian Meatballs are DELICIOUS!
I made mine with ground beef, pork, and veal, a pound each. If you’re thinking that’s the same mix used for meatloaf, you’re right! You could use the recipe I’m giving for a meatloaf and it would be fantastic. Ask me how I know. 😉 This time, I decided to make roasted meatballs and served them as an appetizer. They would be great in spaghetti or over polenta.
However you decide to serve them, I hope you make this dish!
On the menu tonight, Lemon Water Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp!
This dish was inspired from watching a show about master pasta makers in Italy. Michelin star chef Peppe Guida, showed a really simple dish that he wanted to impart as much lemon as he could in to the recipe. One of the ways he got the dish so lemony was to add lemon juice to the water. Brilliant! It looked so good, I wanted to try to make it. There aren’t a lot of ingredients and none of them are hard to find, at least the way I made it. Chef Guida’s recipe included the leaves from the lemon tree… those may be pretty hard to find. 🙂
The key to making this is have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go before you get started. Once you get started cooking, the dish comes together pretty quickly.
Mrs LOVES lemony food, so I couldn’t wait to get her feedback on the finished product. I have never used so much lemon in any dish I’ve made. She took one bite and LOVED it! When I tasted it, my reaction was the same. I hope that you’ll try my version of Lemon Water Spaghetti with Shrimp.
10 - 16oz peeled, de-veined shrimp (I took the tails off too)
3 Lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 shallot, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (you could use dry, but you'll be happier with fresh)
4 Tbsp butter
3-4 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
3 Tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
1
Prep all your ingredients first!
2
Wash your lemons, zest them, then juice them (Reserve lemon halves for the pasta water)
3
Bring a pot of water to a boil
4
While the water is warming up, pre-heat a large pan over med-high
5
Add the olive oil to the pan
6
Add the butter and shallots to the pan, cook until translucent (if using red pepper flakes, add that too)
7
Once the water comes to a boil, add two or three lemon halves along with a generous amount of salt and half of the lemon juice along with the pasta
8
Add the wine to the pan, cook to reduce by about half
9
Add the shrimp to the pan (make sure the shrimp are laying on their side and none are overlapping each other), season with salt and pepper. Cook about three minutes
10
Reserve about a cup of the pasta water, then drain the spaghetti once it is al dente
11
Add the pasta to the pan along with the grated Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and half of the chopped parsley. Stir to combine
12
Cut the heat and add the minced garlic along with some of the reserved pasta water. Stir to combine
13
Serve and garnish the plates with more of the chopped parsley
Notes
You could also add basil to the dish.
Scallops would be a delicious variation instead of shrimp.
I’ve been in the mood for a nice bowl of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich, but I wanted to take it a step up from a canned tomato soup. SO, I decided to make my own soup. Holy smokes, it turned out fantastic!
There wasn’t anything complicated about this recipe. You can use whatever type tomato you like, but if you use anything larger than cherry tomatoes, I’d recommend at least halving them. Put the tomatoes, shallot, and garlic on a sheet pan and roast. When the timer goes off, let everything cool for about 10-15 minutes and put in your blender. That’s the most complicated part of the process – not bad right? The key is use fresh everything. It calls for basil, use fresh if you can.
The next time you’re craving a bowl of tomato soup, I hope you’ll try this recipe!
On the menu this morning, Breakfast Casserole with Hashbrowns!
Mrs and I went to an out-of-town wedding, staying with friends, and I offered to make breakfast for our little group. To make sure I didn’t miss getting to hang out with everyone, I made a breakfast casserole ahead of time. So, all I had to do was get up a little early to pop it in the oven to heat it up!
One of the great things about this dish is, once you learn the technique, you can put whatever ingredients you want in this dish (though the way I made it was pretty great, if I do say so myself 😉 ). The base layer is hash browns, but you could also use tater-tots. You’ll want to pre-cook them at least 3/4 of the way. I like them a little crunchy, so I cooked them fully.
Hashbrowns
For the veggies, I used onions, along with red and green bell peppers.
Green and Red Bell Peppers
For the next level, I added the veggies – onions, red and green bell peppers. For the protein, I used chicken breakfast sausage.
While optional, I also used two kinds of cheese – both inside and on top.
Pre-cooked Casserole
At this point, you could cover it and set aside until the day you want to cook it. The egg mixture still needs to be made, added, and then bake. Once you’ve added the egg mixture, bake until it’s melty and bubbly.
Finished Breakfast Casserole
The next time you need to feed a crowd, I hope you’ll try my breakfast casserole with hashbrowns, onions, and bell peppers.
Tonight, I wanted to make a Mexican dish that didn’t have a ton of cheese and tortilla chips. Since it’s cooling off I thought soup would be nice. I wanted Mexican food, but something lighter and without a lot of cheese.
This soup goes together so quickly and easily, it will easily make it in to your regular rotation for meals. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, but you could rotisserie chicken to save some time.
If you want a hearty and tasty bowl of soup, I hope you’ll try this Jalapeño Lime Chicken Soup. Let me know if you make it!
On the menu tonight – Chicken Chili with Ancho and Pasilla Chili Peppers!
We had some dried chili peppers in the pantry and I decided to include them in this recipe. I don’t use a lot of dried chilies in my cooking, so I did a little research on how to use them. Some people take off the stem and throw the whole pepper in hot water to reconstitute, then blend them. Others take off the stem, cut them open to get rid of the seeds, put them in water to reconstitute, then blend. Yet another option is to de-stem, de-seed, and finely chop or even grind and use them as you would any other dry spice. Knowing I would need some liquid for the chili, I opted to de-stem, de-seed, put them in the blender with some water and blend. I didn’t bother using hot water since they’d be going in to a pot of chili that would simmer for a while.
Other than the dried chilies, this batch is very similar to several other chilies that I’ve made. Once I tried the finished product, I will probably always incorporate dried chilies, they added SO much depth of flavor.
The next time you are making chili, I hope you’ll try my recipe and let me know what you think!
Chicken Chili with Ancho and Pasilla Chili Peppers
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Chicken Chili with Ancho and Pasilla Chili Peppers
Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken (light or dark meat, whatever your preference)
1 dried Ancho Chili Pepper
1 dried Pasilla Chili Pepper
1 Vidalia onion, diced
1 Jalapeno, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans tri-blend beans (you could use whatever bean you like, including Great Northern, Cannellini, Kidney, etc)
1/4 cup masa harina (optional, use this if you want a little thicker chili)
1 can diced tomatoes or 1 can Rotelle tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp chili pepper
1 tsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Garnish:
chopped scallions
diced red or white onion
grated cheddar cheese (I used medium cheddar)
sour cream
Instructions
1
Prepare the dried chili peppers, cut off the stems, de-seed, rough chop and put them in a blender with 2 cups of water
2
Blend the chilies until smooth and you don't see any chili pieces
3
Pre-heat a large pot over med-high heat
4
Add the olive oil, the onion, and jalapeno. Cook 3-5 minutes
5
Add the dry spices to the pot and mix them in with the onion and jalapeno to bloom them, just a minute or two
6
Add the chicken and break it up so it can caramelize in the pot, 3-5 minutes
7
Add the beans, tomato sauce, tomatoes, blended chili peppers, and garlic. Mix to combine
8
Let the mixture come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer
9
Keep a cup or two of water handy in case it starts to reduce too much
10
Simmer at least 30 minutes
Notes
When I'm preparing to cook, I will pre-measure the dry spices in a small bowl. That way, you don't waste time searching for this or that spice and measuring when you need it. The last thing you want to do is accidentally dump too much of one of the spices in to the pot.
On the menu tonight – Greek-Style Spinach Rice with Shrimp and Dill!
Mrs wanted a Mediterranean style dish tonight and this is what I came up with. There weren’t too many ingredients involved and it came together really quickly! The recipe I’m posting calls for the rice to be cooked in the pot. I took a short-cut and used a package of microwave rice – it turned out fantastic.
Even with the prep work, I don’t think it took 30 minutes to put this meal together. I loved how light it was!
If you are looking for something a little lighter and quick, I hope that you will make this dish and let me know what you think.
2 medium shallots, cut in half length-wise and thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2cups long grain white rice, rinsed and drained
1 lb large shrimp, peeled (tails pulled), de-veined, and patted dry
1 cup fresh dill, lightly chopped
1 tsp lemon zest
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
6-8 oz Feta cheese
Instructions
1
Pre-heat a large skillet over med-high heat
2
Add the butter, then add the spinach
3
Cook a minute or two until the spinach is bright green and a little wilted. Transfer the spinach and any liquid to a bowl and set aside.
4
Add the olive oil and another pat of butter, then add the shallots and a little salt and freshly ground pepper.
5
Cook the shallots until translucent, about two minutes.
6
Add the rice to the pan and let it toast about two minutes, then add the water (2 1/2 cups), along with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, stir to combine.
7
**Note - if you are going to use the microwave rice shortcut, just add the cooked rice to the pan with the shallots.
8
Bring the rice to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.
9
Cook until the liquid has been absorbed, about 15-18 minutes
10
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper
11
When the rice is done, remove from the heat.
12
Quickly add the shrimp to the pan, cover the pan/pot and let stand for 10-15 minutes.
13
Use a fork to fluff the rice and mix everything together, re-cover and let stand for another 5 minutes or so.
14
Add the spinach, any liquid in the bowl, the dill, and the lemon juice.
15
Fold everything together, taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
16
Drizzle with a little olive oil and crumble some feta cheese on top, then serve.
After looking at the ingredients in a store-bought salad dressing, I thought I would try to make my own and see how it tastes. Turns out, It is AMAZING!
There aren’t too many ingredients and the best part is you can actually pronounce every ingredient. Also, it will only take you a few minutes to do the little bit of chopping required. The rest of the time is letting the dressing rest in the fridge.
I hope you will take a few minutes one day to make a batch of Ranch Dressing, it is SO much tastier and healthier than the store-bought versions.
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