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.