St. Patricks

St. Patrick's Day has never been one of my favorite holidays (taunts of erin-go-braless and all), and since we didn't have any family or friends coming over, I was just going to let it slip past. I was content with my decision, and Dan said he didn't mind. Yet, something came over me while driving home, and I picked up a corned beef.

And potatoes.

And cabbage.

And sent Dan out for Guinness.

And then I figured I may as well make the Irish Soda Bread too.

And suddenly, it was St. Paddy's day.

With enough left over to make corned beef hash for breakfast!

Federichi's

I'm not a picky eater, right? I really don't think I am. I like everything. Well, everything except for mushrooms, olives or pork. Three foods out of like a bazillion is pretty good in my eyes.

Except of course when you're invited out for pizza.

"Hey Erin, what kind of toppings do you like?"

"Oh, anything...well, anything except for mushrooms or olives"

*awkward silence denoting that everyone else at the table's favorite toppings are mushrooms and olives

"That's okay, how about sausage"

"Suuuuure, sausage sounds good"

*trying desperately not to sound picky, even though dammit I should have said sausage first

Which is how I ended up with my own pizza.

"How about an appetizer, the stuffed mushrooms look good"

*headdesk

Spinach and Cheese Unstuffed Shells

Did you know there are different sized pasta shells?


I did not.


So of course I purchased the oddly inconvenient middle sized shells.


I decided to go more of a baked ziti route, and layered the boiled shells with sauce, cheese, and garlicky sauteed spinach.


I popped it into the oven and they actually stuffed themselves!

Harold's New York Deli

Predictably, I'm pretty addicted to food shows. They make me irrationally confident in things I clearly have no experience with. Sure I can use a liquid nitrogen tank to make ice cream without freezing my face off.

One of my favorites is Man vs. Food because of course I believe I would be able to hold my own against Adam. Eighteen pounds of sushi? Bring it on. 300 Ghost Chilies? Give me a challenge.

But I digress...While staying in a hotel, Dan ran out one morning to get us breakfast from a nearby deli, this nearby deli.

Featured in Man vs. Food



Yeah. Not knowing this ahead of time, Dan orders us two breakfast sandwiches.

The Jersey staple, Taylor Ham and Egg on a Hard Roll. (This is my flog, so it is Taylor Ham. It will never be pork roll. Ham is classy, Taylor Ham, Taylor Ham, Taylor Ham.)

I couldn't really capture how big the thing was, but trust me, it was a bowling ball, a delicious, greasy, bowling ball. If a sandwich usually comes with one slice of meat, this had eight, most of which I had to pluck off to be able to eat it because, you know, I'm healthy like that.

Spinach Lasagna

I may be alone in considering Lasagna to be a quick weeknight dinner, but since I have never learned to make it the old-fashioned way, my no-recipe, slap-dash way is easy as all get out!

This may have been my tastiest lasagna yet, unfortunately, it's a little sad looking, because I scrimped on the layers.



No Recipe Spinach Lasagna

1. Spread jarred tomato sauce in the bottom of your baking pan.

2. Mix together ricotta and cottage cheese (about 1 cup of each), one package of thawed spinach, a good sprinkle of Parm. cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic powder.

3. Layer no boil lasagna noodles on the sauce-covered pan, then top with a layer of the cheese mixture, noodles, sauce, and keep going until you run out. Top the the whole thing off with more sauce, and mozzarella cheese.

4. Bake until hot and bubbly.

Just a little thin, it's still good.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

I am a recent convert to Brussels Sprouts; I remember as a kid the thought of them used to make me cringe. (I'm forcing myself to write "Brussels" because that's the correct way, but it looks so wonky.)

Then one night at a fancy restaurant, Dan's dinner came with a side of the tiny cabbages, and they were incredible!

Turns out Brussels are only disgusting when prepared how everything was prepared in the 80's. Frozen and microwaved.

I typically roast them, but I was looking for something a little fancier for a New Years side dish (to go with this pork). Dan suggested we just do the recipe that was linked with the pork, and voila:

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon walnut oil (I used Olive Oil)
4 slices thick cut bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and shredded
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
kosher salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste


Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, sugar, and oil; set aside.


In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon, cut or crumble into pieces, and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings in pan (if there aren’t enough drippings to equal 2 tbsp, add a little butter or oil).


Heat drippings over medium-high then add shredded Brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until just tender. Remove from heat and stir in bacon, walnuts, and dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.


We all loved them. I chopped all the Brussels by hand because I thought it would be easier than cleaning the food processor. Do not make this mistake. My fingers actually went numb from holding the knife so long.

FYI: I made this again a week later, just halving the Brussels, and it was just as good.

Party!

Now that our house is done, almost done, acceptable, it was finally time to have our housewarming party! Because we know that having a house full of people you’re trying to impress is the perfect time to try brand new recipes, right?

Our new chalkboard wall serving as menu!

So, I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of them, but in the very front you can see my Drunken Gummies! These babies were a huge hit. They take a bit of time (a little over a week to come together), but are definitely worth it! High Schoolers have all the best ideas!

Drunken Gummies at the booze table, and a fridge full of beer.

Chips and Dips in the Living Room

Cheddar Bacon Dip (Crack). Dayum.

This tasted exactly how it sounds. Cheesy, salty, bacon-ey (why not). It made a ton, and I through the rest into mashed potatoes the next night.

Hummus (store bought) and Veggies

Caprese Skewers

Sliders

Which tasted freakishly like White Castle's sliders!

And Veggie Sliders

There was also Mini Spanakopita which I failed to take a picture of--they were good, but IMO not worth the effort... just buy the things from Costco--and the Satan's Blood Chili from my previous post.

For dessert Dan made a Hot Chocolate Ice Cream, and a Cranberry Pomegranate "Sweet Tart" Ice Cream, which didn't survive for pictures.

I *think* everyone enjoyed everything. There was a ton of leftovers, but I chose to think everyone ate beforehand. I know the booze was a success =)

And a huge thank you to Dan, for cleaning everything up after I fell asleep the minute the last guest left.

Chili

Knowing how we love all things spicy, our good friends brought us back a special treat from their Honeymoon in Miami.




Yup, this is the stuff that rates 800,000 Scoville units. The stuff that idiots eat and post YouTube videos of their reaction.

So you know we had to use it. We made a chili (the worlds BEST chili), figuring we could freeze it to serve at our party later in the month, for everyone to try. This stuff is hot, like CRAZY hot. I tried a tiny little droplet of it on a bite of bread, and felt it for at least an hour. But, when we added the recommended 3-4 drops to the pot of chili, and it was the perfect amount of heat.


I'll admit I'm a chili novice. I usually just use canned beans and tomatoes, tossing a crumbled veggie burger in there from time to time if I'm feeling fancy. So cooking a real chili, a meat chili, was a departure. I googled "world's best chili" and came up with this recipe. 2,372 people can't be wrong.

It was the bomb. The big fat chili bomb!

Here's just a cut and paste of the recipe. We followed it to the letter, except we used regular canned beans because we have no flippin clue what "chili beans" were, and neither did our grocery.

2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese


Directions

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.

2. Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

3. After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.

4. To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

Yes there is a LOT going on. Just do it. It's totally worth it.

It's not easy being green

(green) Poached Chicken with Spinach and Couscous

A tad of a mishap adding Rosemary to my poaching liquid resulted in a rather green meal. Very tasty, and easy, but no exactly something I'd serve to company.

The chicken was poached in water seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and a crap-ton of Rosemary.

The spinach was sauteed with garlic and oil, and I added the water couscous directly to it. Easy cleanup!

Crockpot Chicken

As you can see I've been getting a ton of use out of my crock pot. I like to run it during the weekend to cook up an extra meal for the week.

This one really was just a "dump and run".

I chopped an onion and green pepper and tossed them into the crockpot, and topped with chicken thighs and jarred tomato sauce.

I left it on high for about four hours, then shredded the chicken.
Served over pasta topped with cheese.

Cauliflower Leek Soup

We are officially moved into our new home, which means back to grocery shopping and back to cooking more "me" foods.

Here's one of my first creations: Cauliflower Leek Soup

(because apparently Dan likes to pick up produce that I've never cooked with before). Leeks? Really?

Well, leeks are delicious!

I sauteed one bunch of leeks with one head of cauliflower (both roughly chopped) with garlic in olive oil until they were soft. Added 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of white wine and let it simmer until it came to a boil. I used my new favorite thing ever, the immersion blender, and pureed until it was smooth and creamy.

Voila!

Very tasty, and a beautiful color! I imagine it would be even better if I Paula Deen'ed the damn thing and added a ton of cream and butter.

Weekend Eats!

A good friend's wedding made for a jam packed weekend of eating. Sorry, no pictures from the wedding itself; the food, especially the cocktail hour was amazing, but I was too busy dancing (ok, drinking) to take pictures.


The day before the wedding we arrived at the hotel, to find that it doesn't serve lunch. We set out searching for a generic pizza place, but couldn't find it. We spotted a deli, and were making our way towards it when we noticed a bar across the street. We picked the bar (duh!), which turned out to be The Stanhope House! Score, a blues club, and legendary BBQ joint.

I had the The BBQ Chicken Sandwich, and Dan the Smoked Brisket Sandwich

Oh yeah, fries, coleslaw and HUSH PUPPIES!

Sorry, I got excited. I hate that this place is so far from us, cause I could eat here every farkin week.

After our amazing lunch, we basically partied all weekend, and topped it off by finally trying the new(to us) Sonic on the way home.

Now it doesn't really seem fair to complain about fast food, because it is, well, fast food. But this was a major let down.

I don't know how service can suck at a drive-through, but it did. Service aside, the food was just meh.

I had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich (for someone who doesn't really eat red meat, this was the only option. The website lists veggie burgers, but they weren't on the menu here.)

Which was at least a true (albeit tasteless) chicken breast.




And a side of "Ched R Peppers". Ok, these were pretty good in a greasy, eat after a weekend of hard drinking way, as evidenced by my eating three before taking the picture.

Dan had a Double Cheeseburger, which looked pretty fancy, but tasted exactly like a McDonald's Burger.



I did enjoy the drinks, Dan had a super-thick vanilla milkshake, and I had an Ocean Water (Sprite + Blue Coconut flavor).

So, in sum, Stanhope house--worth the forty minute drive; Sonic--not worth the five minute drive.

"40" Clove Chicken

Confession, I didn't make this. My mother did. But if fits my newfound love for all things crockpot. It is super simple, and suprisingly tasty.

3-4 pounds chicken
1 large onion sliced
20-40 garlic cloves, peeled, but intact
Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice the onion and layer it on the bottom of the crock pot. Top with chicken pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the garlic cloves (we definately used closer to 20 than 40). Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve on egg noodles, with plenty of bread to sop of the sauce.

Pizza Party, Second Attempt

You may remember my first attempt at homemade pizza here. Which I was pretty darn proud of.

Well, I tried again, this time using my cousin's suggestion of using way more flour. Success!

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Dan and I both recently turned 30, and some friends of ours took us out to dinner to celebrate. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Weehawken. (If you're interested in the wonky name, a woman named Ruth bought Chris Steak House in New Orleans, with the requirement that the Chris name remained...hence Ruth's Chris).


Anyways, I'm not the biggest fan of red meat, but they have a killer chicken dish so I was more than happy with the choice.

Orange Citrus Mojito

Stuffed Chicken Breast

(Oven roasted free-range double chicken breast stuffed

with garlic herb cheese and served with lemon butter)

And Dan had some big hunk of steak.

I didn't get pictures of the sides, but are served "family style", so we ordered a bunch to share: mashed potatos, asparagus, sweet potato casserole and creamed spinach. I'm sure everything here is prepared following some Paula Deen recipe, because they tasted way too good to be healthy at all, but hey, it's a splurge!

And a pretty view to end the night.

You win some, you lose some

I had a total craving for Shepherd's Pie, but alas had no meat. I figured lentils make a good stand-in in meatloafs, so why not?

I sauteed an onion and pepper until soft, added lentils and water and cooked until the lentils were soft. Tossed in a ton of seasonings, topped with some mixed veggies, and some mixed mashed potatoes and spinach.

Covered the whole thing with lots of cheese and baked until it looked delicious.

But, unfortunately....

It didn't hold together. At all.

Meat Muffins

Oh wow, that sounds disgusting. Meat muffins. Hey lady, maybe try the next size up, I can see your meat muffins.

Anyways.....Here's one of my absolutely favorite, blow your mind with its simplicity, cooking tips.

Instead of the typical meat loaf, make them tiny in muffin tins. I'm sure the regular kind will work nicely, but I use the silicone type, and the mini loafs pop out like perfect little spaceships.

These is my basic turkey meatloaf recipe. I start with Ground turkey, and beef it up (lol) with black beans and dry oatmeal. Add an egg, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes and oregano, and mix well. I like to top it with the classic ketchup/mustard mix, with a little Sriracha thrown in if I'm feeling spicy.

Add mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed spinach and voici, you have dinner!

Spaghetti Stir Fry

I wanted something quick and healthy, and I guess I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go in...So I went everywhere at once.

Italian, Indian and Asian: here you go:

Whole wheat spaghetti, with tofu sauteed in coriander, garlic and ginger, with steamed snap peas.

Rise and Shine

I love me a savory breakfast! Here's a "hash" of potatoes, kale and bacon (turkey of course), topped with a fried egg.

Now that it's Summer, I should probably be moving on to lighter breakfasts--fruit, yogurt, air, whatever skinny people eat for breakfast--and away from things like this. Of course, there's still lunch and dinner =)

Lemon Pepper Salmon

So I was searching for a new way to cook salmon, and came across a pretty decent sounding recipe. Why'd I pick a recipe for sounding "decent", not amazing, or outstanding, or even delish? One, I had the ingredients, and two, I found it on a blog called..... Erin's Food Files.

How could I not go with it? So here you are, Lemon Pepper Salmon with sauteed kale.

Of course I don't measure anything, so for the specifics, go to that other neat, organized Erin. If you cook like the Swedish chef, feel free to follow mine.

SALMON:
2 salmon fillets, thawed
lemon juice
fresh thyme
lemon pepper seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced

KALE:
kale, rinsed, chopped, and thick stems removed
extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
chicken or vegetable broth
salt & pepper

Directions:


SALMON:

Rinse fish and pat dry. Place in a shallot baking dish, and top with remaining ingredients (juice through garlic).

Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes, or when fish is done.

KALE:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until it just begins to golden. Add kale to skillet, and saute for 2-3 minutes. Pour in broth and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Season with salt & pepper, and continue to cook another 10-15 minutes until kale is softened to desired texture.


I served with a baked potato. Want to know my super secret method to the perfect potato? Microwave a whole potato (with a few fork stabs in it) for 5 minutes, until almost done, then wrap in foil and bake at 375 for another 20 minutes. Trust me, perfect. Crispy on the outside, but not dried out at all.