Picnic Pasta Salad

I was looking forward to warmer weather, but as the snow falls outside I'm pretty sure that is on complete delay until Mother Nature gets some chocolate or something. In the urge for sand between my toes and sun on my face with the blistering chill smacking me hard back to reality I have dived into some summer time recipes to help liven up the dreary cold. 

Recipe

Prep-time: 30 mins
Servings: 5-7

Ingredients

2 Cups of cooked pasta

1/4 Cup of Italian Dressing

1/2 Cup of Black Olives

1/2 Cup of Chopped Onions

1/2 Cup of Tomatos

1/2 Cup of Shredded Cheese

Instructions

Once the pasta is cooked and cooled combine dressing, olives, onions, cheese and tomatoes. Enjoy!

You can also add pepperoni or other kinds chilled meat for a little variety. 

Filet Mignon not Minion

First off autocorrect likes to change mignon to minion therefore on social media I was cooking filet minions for approximately two hours. So here's the disclaimer, no minions where injured in the process of this experiment.

Filet Mignon is something that many people order when at a restaurant because it's a "special" occasion. I know for me it's one of the things I love to order, but I had no clue how to cook it. Knowing that there was about to be a pile of snow dumped on us I figured that cooking to keep the house warm and me entertained was going to be the best use of my time yesterday. So I stopped at the food store (warning, this was a stupid crazy idea) and started hunting down the aisles for something interesting to cook.

I felt like I was on Guys Grocery Games because there were no carts available and I was piling everything into my arms. As I laughed at this realization I made my way over to meat counter. Now here's the thing, this started to turn into a lot of "firsts" for me. I have never actually ordered or asked for anything at the meat counter before so when I asked which was the filet mignon I'm truly not surprised by the small chuckle that came out of the guy behind the counter.

I asked him to pick the best three cuts and off I went. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but my whole goal was "don't overcook" according to the butcher. The end result was being told that my filet mignon was better than any restaurant cut that has ever been ordered. Needless to say, my fears were overrated and I accomplished cooking filet mignon on my first attempt.

Recipe

Prep-time: 30 mins
Servings: 3

Ingredients

2 TBSP of salt
1 TBSP of ground pepper
1 TBSP of ground dried basil leaves
1 TBSP of ground dried parsley 
2 cups of sliced onions (1 cup of sweet onion, 1 of red onion)
2 TBSP of butter
3 6oz filet mignon steaks

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

I used a cast-iron skillet for this so you may have to adjust your settings for a non-stick skillet. 

Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onions until they start to caramelize. Remove the onions once they start to brown for the skillet. 

Combine salt, pepper, basil and parsley to make a dry rub for the steaks. Rub the steaks on all sides and place on medium-high heat into skillet. Turn steaks on all sides after approximately 1-2 minutes. Once you have a slight browning on all sides place steaks in the oven with the onions on top. (Make sure that the skillet you use is oven safe)

I decided not to add any oil or butter to this part because the onions have their own oils. 

Leave in oven for 10 minutes before checking. At the 10 minute mark I lowered the heat to 350 and cooked for an additional 5 minutes. My steaks turned out medium well, melt in your mouth yummy goodness.

Serve with onions on top and enjoy! I served mine with a side of homemade mashed potatoes and steamed carrots. 

Taking a week off

The last week has been extremely busy for me. I thought I would have time to cook and provide another recipe, but this weekend became a hodgepodge of work. But I do promise that I have plenty of recipes in the works, I just need to find the time to stand over the stove and cook. If you have any recipes you would like me to try please leave me a message or comment below and I will be more than willing to try it out!

Happy Cooking everyone!

Super Bowl Dippings

Adamantly I'm not a fan of football. But that's something guys like to watch so I've come to the conclusion that food is pretty much imperative when it comes to football and guys in the same room. Ok, it's not really a conclusion, but more an observation.

So this week will be simple and easy so you can be prepared for the game. I love artichokes and spinach dip, but the store bought kind doesn't always hold up for me. I have truly only once found a store bought kind I like and have spent my summers eating it by the bucketful.

Recipe

Prep-time: 30 mins
Servings: 5-7

Ingredients

1 cup of cream cheese
1 cup of sour cream
1 cup of thawed spinach
1 can of artichoke hearts
2 cups of parmesan cheese
1 TBSP of lemon juice
1 TBSP of salt

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all of the ingredients together and place in greased casserole dish. Set in oven for 30mins or until a slightly brown crust forms. Let cool and serve.

Simple and easy for game day prep.

Pull Aparts

This recipe started when I was about 12 years old. It's an adaptation of something taught in home economics during middle school. My family loved it so much when I made it at home that over the years, it became our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.

The idea, that I started a tradition in my family at such a young age, seems weird to me. Granted I haven't hit the 3-0 yet, but still to look back and know that my kids will be eating something I made, kind of freaks me out a little right now.

The ingredients are simple which is probably why after unwrapping all the gifts this is the easiest breakfast, besides a bowl of cereal. As an adult waking up at the crack of dawn doesn't seem appealing anymore. The gifts will still be there at 1pm vs. 6am, sleep is more important at this age in my view. My family is spread throughout most of Pennslyvania and getting home for the holidays can sometimes be very difficult along with timing for logistically opening gifts at the same time.  So this makes the holiday morning a little bit easier.

Recipe

Pre-time: 20 minutes

Servings: 3-5

Ingredients

1 container of Grands biscuits

2 TBSP of brown sugar

4 TBSP of melted butter

2 TBSP of Cinnamon

1/2 container of Pillsbury Icing (I used the cinnamon icing)

Instructions

Set oven to 350 degrees. 

Cut the Grands into cubes, I usually do 4ths. 

Melt butter and mix in brown sugar and cinnamon.

Add Grands to sugar mixture, making sure to coat well. Place in a greased pie pan and place in the oven for 12-18 minutes until desired crispness is reached. The center takes the longest to cook, when removing from oven make sure that the pieces are thoroughly cooked before serving. If the center is not finished place back in the oven for an additional 3-5minutes.

Once fully cooked cover with Icing while still hot. Let cool and serve. Delicious bite size treat for any special occasion with simple ingredients. 

Cheese, Ham & Potato Soup

Digging through my fridge and imagination I found inspiration with a block of Velveeta Cheese and leftover ham.

Christmas ham means plenty of leftovers in my house. It's the one time of year I get to enjoy the deliciously succulent taste of spiral ham, something I look forward to every year.

So with Thanksgiving turkey leftovers still lingering in the fridge I wanted to do something different. Not just the typical sandwich lunch or dinner piled high with leftover meat.

While my family loved the soup I had some critiques who despised the taste and asked me to try again. However, they never explained exactly why they didn't like the soup. But that's what this is all about, trying to learn what works and what doesn't.

Recipe

Pre-time: 20 minutes

Servings: 6-10

Ingredients

2 cups of chopped ham

1/2 cup of chopped sweet onion

1/2 cup of peas

1/2 sliced carrots

2 cut potatoes

1 block of Velveeta cheese

1 TBSP of salt

1/2 TBSP of ground pepper

2 cups of water

Instructions

Heat the crock pot to medium high, place all ingredients into the crock pot for approximately 3-4 hours. Set on low for an additional hour, add salt and pepper for flavoring and serve. It's that easy! 

I put everything into the crock pot & went out for the day. I returned to a delicious tasting meal served with toast. 

Cheesesteak Lasagna

I'm from the burbs of Philly, so naturally the cheesesteak will hit my plate every now & then. There is a general battle throughout the city & burbs about who has the better sandwich. I'm pretty sure many tears and blood have been shed over the fight. So when I was craving a cheesesteak in the fridged temperatures I opted to save my skivvies and dine in. However, there was no bread in the house. I wasn't sure where this was going to go, but the plate turned out pretty good and satisfied the cravings that had been bothering me for days.

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 -45 minutes

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1/2 package of lasagna noodles

7 strips of Steakumms

1/2 of a green pepper chopped

1/2 white onion chopped

1 cup Swiss cheese

1/2 mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup of milk

1 TBSP of butter

Instructions

Boil noodles until al dente. Pre-heat oven at 375 degrees. 

Place onions and peppers in skillet on medium heat, cook until desired tenderness is achieved. Place Steakumms in skillet with peppers and onions. Cook until meat is brown and crumbled. Remove meat and veggie mixture from skillet.

Take milk and butter in skillet, bring to a boil. Add cheese and continue to stir until mixture is creamy. Add in the meat mixture to cheese sauce.

Take noodles and make one layer at a time alternating noodles and meat mixture until all noodles and filling are used.

Place in over for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Surf n' Turf

I'm an attempted perfectionist. I fall short most times on my attempts, but at least I'm trying. So when it comes to food it's either hit or miss for me. Even in restaurants I either love it or hate it. The summer I graduated college I spent time in Italy studying abroad. Before leaving everyone told me, I would love the food so much I wouldn't want to come home. But when I found little to enjoy everyone started to complain. Honestly it was annoying, I can't help that I know what I like and what I don't. I don't stop myself from trying new food, but I don't give it raving reviews either unless I love it. Or in the trending terms it has to be "food orgasmic". So what I put on my blog is something I truly loved in my cooking. 

Tonight I was lost on what to cook. I was tired of the normal holiday food that's been floating around for the last few weeks and wanted something different. I scoured the cabinets for inspiration, looking for something to inspire me and while I was just about to settle for a box of Rice-A-Roni, I found a few items ready to expire. With near ready to expire products in hand my imagination kicked in as I was not about to let money go to waste. 

I love bruschetta and pesto. These are two items that normally hit my plate at any restaurant I experience. However, a few of my family members aren't so excited about them as me. So I try to avoid making it when cooking for the bunch. However, tonight all I had were a few items I loved ready to expire and a bunch of hungry family members waiting patiently for my brain to make a masterpiece. 

I had a pack of gnocchi, bruschetta chicken spices, and pesto sauce all ready to expire in the next week waiting to be devoured. I decided chicken and gnocchi would be the best concept to a quick dinner for the masses. But I didn't stop there when I found a package of frozen shrimp hanging out in the freezer. Therefore, my chicken and gnocchi quickly turned into surf n' turf with gnocchi. With all the items family members dislike I worried that my meal would be a disaster. But it turned out to be one that required a referee to dividing the last helping. 

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 -45 minutes

Servings: 3-5

Ingredients

10-20 Frozen Shrimp

3 Chicken breast

1 cup of pesto oil

1 TBSP of Salt

1 package of Gnocchi

1 package of McCormick Chicken Bruschetta Mix

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

3/4 cup Heavy Cream

1/4 cup of water

3 TBSP of Butter

1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese

1 handful of Mozerella Cheese

Instructions

Place pot of water on stove and bring to boil. Place Gnocchi in water and let cook for 10 minutes.

Place shrimp in saucepan and add in 4 TBSP of Pesto Oil. Let shrimp cook until pink. 

Put McCormick Mix, in bowl and mix in 3 TBSP of olive oil. Take defrosted chicken breast and rub the olive oil mix onto chicken. Place chicken in a saucepan with a bit of olive oil in the pan. Let the chicken cook for 8-10 minutes on medium-high, turning to cook evenly.

Drain Gnocchi from water and let sit.

Remove the chicken from pan, making sure it's cooked all the way through. In the same saucepan, you just cooked the chicken remove any leftover spices that may have been left in the pan. Add heavy cream, water and butter together until it starts to slightly boil, whisk in the rest of the pesto oil until it's an even mixture. Remove from heat and add in cheese. Mix the cheese in until fully melted. Add the shrimp into sauce and let sit.

Place chicken, shrimp and gnocchi on a plate, serve and enjoy!

Caramelized Onions and Grilled Cheese

Is there a food you go to when your sick? Comfort food as they call it. For some, it's mac 'n cheese others mom's homemade chicken noodle soup. For me, it's mom's grilled cheese sandwiches.

While we are in the middle of the holidays I have found myself down & out which calls for comfort food. So I went straight for the ooey gooey goodness of grilled cheese, but instead of a simple American cheese, bread & butter sandwich like I was used to growing up I opted to "adultized" this sandwich.

I caramelized some onions and threw it in the middle of two different cheeses for this amazingly delicious sandwich. 

Recipe

Pre-time: 15 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients

2 slices of Swiss cheese

1 slice of Provolone cheese

2 slices of bread

1/4 cups of chopped sweet onions

1/4 cups of red onions

2 Tbsp of butter

Instructions

Chop your onions and throw them into the skillet on Medium-High with 1 Tbsp of butter. Let them cook until slightly brown. Remove from skillet and set to the side.

Butter bread and place in skillet on medium heat. Place one slice of Swiss cheese on both ends of bread. Add the Provolone cheese to one side and the caramelized onions on the other. When cheese starts to melt combine both sides of the sandwich together and continue to cook on both sides until cheese is fully melted and bread is to desired tenderness. 

Remove from heat, let cool slightly and enjoy!

Do you have a favorite way of making a grilled cheese sandwich? Leave it in the comments below!

Apple Pie

Apples are a staple in my family. Mostly my dad loves them, but I'm finding if cooked right my taste for them is changing.

So over the Thanksgiving holiday I knew that I needed to please the masses with dessert options. Yes, there was the traditional pumpkin pie, but I decided to go for an apple pie as well. I had hopes that this would be as good as a dutch apple pie you can find at any local store, but it was found to be even better.

I'm not sure if the main reason is because it was made with all natural ingredients or from hard work, but none the less everyone loved it over the pumpkin pie which in my house has never happened.

You can find the recipe for the dog biscuits also shown Here!

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients for Crust

You can either buy the pre-made crust of follow the instructions for homemade crust here!

Ingredients For Filling

3-4 medium Granny Smith apples peeled, cored & sliced
3/4 cups of sugar
2 TBSP of flour
3/4 Tsp of cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of ground nutmeg
1/4 Tsp of salt
1 TBSP of lemon juice

Instructions

Pre- heat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon just in a large bowl assuring that the apples are covered well.

Place crust in pie pan, add apple mixture and begin adding a top layer of dough however you would like. I chose to make a basket weave. 

Place in oven for 40-45 minutes. I added a butter wash to the top 10 minutes before removing from the oven. 

Let cool and enjoy!

Homemade Pie Crust

This is a simple pie crust that I found very easy to make & brought back many memories as a kid baking with my mom.

You can reference this anytime you want to make some kind of pie that requires a dough crust just as I do!

Ingredients

2 sticks of cold butter (some may use shortening, but I prefer butter)
3 cups of flour
1 TBSP of salt
1 TBSP of sugar
1/2 cup of water

Instructions

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. 

Cut up butter and add it to the flour mixture. You can mix this in a food processor or kitchen aid mixer, however I don't have the luxury of either so I went old school by using my hands to mix. Slowly add the water until you get a ball of dough.

Cut dough in half, place one-half on floured surface and begin to roll out with rolling pin. Remember to add flour to your rolling pin as well.

Take the first rolled out piece of dough and place it in your pie pan, there should be extra overlaying the edges to assure that you are able to cover the whole bottom of the pan. You can cut the extra off and add it to your second ball of dough.

Take the second ball of dough and roll it out just as you did the first. This will become your top layer of crust for pies such as apple or cherry. Once rolled out you can cut into strips to make a basket weave top layer or you can cut a hole in the center depending on your preference. 

For apple pie I added 1 TBSP of Cinnamon as well. 

Crab Mac N' Cheese

Lobster Mac N' Cheese is a big thing in New England. When I visited Maine last year, I figured it was a must try, since we don't really have them here in the Philadelphia area.

Honestly I don't love lobster, I'm a crab kind of girl. So when I bought a container of pre-shelled crab I couldn't decide what to make until someone asked for Mac N' Cheese.

This isn't anything like what you will find in New England and was probably one of the hardest and easiest experiments so far. My biggest task was learning how to make the cheese sauce, the worst part was not have many different cheese's within the house to really go all out on this. But in the end it worked out & my family loved it!

Recipe

Pre-time: 30 mins

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1/2 container of crab meat (about 4oz)
Box of pasta
2 - 3 cups of cheese (I used cheeder, swiss, mozzarella and feta)
4 tsp of flour
1 cup milk

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Bring noodles to a boil, drain and add butter or olive oil to prevent sticking. 

Add 1/2 a cup of milk to a sauce pan, add flour and stir in rest of milk on medium heat. Once milk is boiling add cheeses and continue to stir.Add crab meat to cheese sauce once cheese is melted.

Pour cheese over noodles and place into a casserole dish, add a layer of cheese on top and place in oven for 20 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy!

Let me know how this turned out for you in the comments below!

Stuffed Peppers

Some of you are wondering why is she still writing about cooking for a single gal when I'm in a relationship. Well here it is, we don't live together and honestly I'm still trying to learn his favorite foods.

This one was a complete surprise to me since my amazing boy friend is Russian.

I was looking for something quick one day on a shopping trip to satisfy the growling stomach. Somehow I threw in ready to cook stuffed peppers, but not the ones you microwave.

I found myself falling in love with the savory taste that these provided and was determined to make them myself. I know plenty of people out there have posted recipes for stuffed peppers, but this was my first attempt and despite the angle of cutting the pepper, the BF & family devoured these suckers!

 Recipe

Pre-time: 30 mins

Servings: 3-6

Ingredients

2 lbs of ground beef

2 cups of brown rice

1/4 green pepper, chopped

1/4 white onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

16 oz of original tomato sauce

1/2 of cheese (I choose mozzarella)

3 large peppers (Orange, Red and Yellow are the best)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Cook rice until done. Core out peppers (removing all the seeds) and cut in half (or keep whole). 

Place in simmering water for 2 minutes, flipping once until pepper is slightly soft. Move peppers aside into a baking tray.

Brown the ground beef in skillet, add chopped green pepper, onion and garlic to skillet. Let onion and pepper soften. Add rice and tomato sauce and let simmer until liquid is almost gone.

Scoop beef and rice mixture into peppers and top with a sprinkle of cheese.

Place in oven for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

I didn't serve this with anything, it was a dish in itself, but you can serve it with mashed potatoes or even a helping of extra rice. 

Let me know how this turned out for you in the comments below!

P&P Dog Biscuits (Wheat Free)

This inspiration came from the left over pumpkin I had when making pumpkin bread. My fur baby is highly allergic to wheat or anything containing wheat so I'm always on the hunt for something to satisfy those big brown eyes with a delightful wheat free treat.

I was sent this recipe by a co-worker and now one of my step-doggy's mom (Hi Cody I miss you)!

These treats are very simple and easy to make with any left over pumpkin you may have from your fall festive baking. 

Charlie's first taste!

Recipe

Pre-time: 15 mins

Servings: depends on your fur baby

Ingredients

2 TBSP Peanut Butter ( I choose Skippy)

1 Eggs

2 Cups Canned Pumpkin

3 Cups Oats

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix ingredients together in a mixing bowl. I find getting my hands in the mixture really helps to mix it all well.

Once you have a gooey dough, take out spoon fulls and roll into 1/2 inch balls, placing them onto a cookie sheet evenly spaced apart and flatten. I have also smoothed out the whole dough and use cookie cutters for this as well. 

Place in oven for 15 mins (making sure to turn once), let cool and Fido, Spot or Charlie (my baby) will enjoy!

To keep these fresh place in the fridge, they will last three times longer.

Pumpkin Bread

Fall has arrived, winter is vastly approaching and I'm bundling up in numerous layers ready to snuggle next to a fire place. The only problem, I don't have a fire place! So I bake a lot throughout the fall and winter months. It give a great heat source to the house and yummy treats to share!

One of the big hits in my house is Pumpkin Bread. Now I have to give credit where it is due, this is not my recipe. When I lived in Florida for my internship after college the family I stayed with, someone who I saw as a second mother growing up, shared this amazing recipe with me.

We both have our ways of making it, replacing this and that for our reasons, but in the end the bread is amazing and truly I swear some days its just as good as a cake.

Recipe

Pre-time: 60 mins
Servings: 8-16

Ingredients

 2 Cups Sugar

3 Eggs

1 Cup Cooking Oil

2 Cups Canned Pumpkin

3 Cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Cloves

1 cup Raisins (Optional)

1 cup Chopped Walnuts (Optional)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour pans, this makes approximately 2 loafs.

Place dry ingredients in bowl, mix in eggs, oil and pumpkin on a low speed.

Pour into pans, place in over for approximately 45-50 minutes. 

Simple, easy to make Pumpkin bread that will have everyone going nuts.

Enjoy!!!

Back in the Kitchen with Chicken Taco Wontons

It's been a while. I've done some cooking, just haven't really felt the need to put it up here because box cooking isn't something you need to read about. Just read the instructions and you have exactly what I made.

But, I'm back with a great new recipe and a vow to add one new recipe a week.

This week I made Chicken Taco Wontons. I know you're probably thinking "Applebee's already did this." But, mine aren't like Applebee's. Heck I didn't even get the idea from them.

I have been looking for wonton wrappers for a while now, with no idea what I was going to do with them. As they sat in my fridge for a week, I debated about doing Asian food. However, I'm drawn to cooking Asian food naturally for some reason and I wanted to jump outside my box a little.

So I took some chicken, boiled it with taco seasoning and waited for more inspiration. As the chicken boiled in the seasoning I grabbed two peppers and an onion from my garden stash (I spent the summer growing veggies!!!).

Once the chicken was cooked and the sauce was pretty much gone I felt as though something was missing. So I took some BBQ sauce and threw it in for experimentation.

Turns out after 25 mins of wrestling with the wonton wrappers that I made a pretty good appetizer type of meal. After all who doesn't love a finger food?

Recipe

Prep-time: 45 mins

Servings: 4-8  

Ingredients

4 boneless Chicken Thighs
4 Tbs of Taco seasoning
1-2 Cups of water
2 Tbs Hickory BBQ sauce
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
Small green pepper
Small red pepper
1/4 of onion
1 package of Wonton wrappers
1 cup of Chedder Cheese

Instructions


Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. 

Place thawed out chicken thighs into sauce pan along with water and taco seasoning. Let chicken cook until ready to shred. 

Chop peppers and onion while chicken is cooking.

Once chicken is cooked, remove from sauce pan and begin to shred. Let the leftover water and seasoning simmer. Once the all chicken is shredded toss back into pan along with chopped peppers and onion. Let simmer for a few minutes until the veggies become tender. Add in BBQ sauce, salt and pepper, mixing well. 

Lay out wonton wrappers on a cookie sheet. Place a small amount of chicken in the center of the wonton, top with cheddar cheese. Follow instructions on how to close the wontons with water.

Once all wontons are closed spray with butter and pop into the oven for 5 minutes. Turn over spray with butter again and pop back into over for another 5 minutes.

Serve with sour cream and salsa (I didn't have any) to enjoy!