Roasted Dinner for Two

I haven't seen much of my roommate lately because of our busy schedules, and I wanted to make her a nice dinner since she doesn't get them without me too often!

Roasted Apples and Potatoes
6 medium sized red potatoes
1 honey crisp apple
10 cipollini onions
1 slice of lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
salt
pepper
a pinch of sage
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put your washed potatoes with olive oil in an 8x8 dish or on your favorite baking sheet. I sliced mine in half and then in thirds. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add your sliced onions, and drizzle on your vinegar. Roast the potatoes and onions for 20 minutes.
Cut your apple in to 1 cm thin slices. Coat with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add honey, salt, oil, and sage to the apples and mix with hands. After the 20 minute roast, add the apples to the top and continue to roast for an additional 10 minutes.




Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 slices of lemon
2 long sticks of rosemary
olive oil
salt
pepper

Oil the bottom of your foil lined baking sheet, and place your chicken on top. Oil the chicken, and add your salt and pepper. Lay down your slices of lemon, and lay the rosemary across the chicken breasts. Roast in the same oven as your potatoes and apples; the rosemary will perfume the whole oven and house! This should roast for about 40 minutes, or until done.



I also made a nice focaccia today, so I'd serve that with it too!

Friday: Ramen

This one is one that Sandra Lee, host of "Semi Homemade" would be proud of. I forgot to make my boyfriend a lunch yesterday so I knew he would be starving when he got home. I needed something quick and easy, and this was absolutely perfect, as well as delicious!

Ramen with Veggies and Teriyaki Chicken
4 cups of chicken stock
2 packages of chicken flavored Top Ramen
1 snow white baby bok choy
1 yellow carrot
1 chinese eggplant
4 chinese long beans
1 1/2 inches of ginger root
1 Foster Farms Island Teriyaki chicken breast, butterflied

Bring the chicken stock with about 1 inch of ginger, cut into chunks, to a boil. Add the Top Ramen and cook for 3 minutes. Add about 1/2 a package of the included seasoning. Too much more than that will be too much flavor, since you're using chicken stock and not just water.
While you're boiling away, chop up the vegetables and saute them in oil that has been infused with the remaining pieces of ginger, cut into tiny chunks. When the vegetables and noodles are both done, add the vegetables into the soup.
While the vegetables and noodles are becoming nice and friendly, cook your chicken in a pan with non stick spray. When the chicken is cooked though, cut it into think strips, then cut them in half. Add this to your ramen as well, and you're ready to serve.

Thursday: Buffalo Turkey Burgers on Home Made Focaccia Rolls

This recipe requires me to bring up the fact that I bought a breadmaker a few months ago. I have not bought a single loaf of bread since I purchased this magical machine. I love it. The whole wheat bread tastes exactlylike the stuff you buy. I love it. And I don't have to buy pizza dough anymore! I love it. Can't say it enough.




Buffalo Turkey Burgers
1/2 package of ground turkey (about 1/2 a pound, and keep in mind this is for 2 people)
1 cup of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
1 tsp cumin
Frank's Red Hot (you're going to use "dashes" and it will vary with how much YOU want)
Enough cheese to cover the top of each burger (I recommend blue cheese or cheddar, but whatever you have or want is perfect)

Combine the turkey, 1/3 of the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and cumin with about 10-15 dashes of Frank's. Mix together completely, but not too much so that the meat will become soft and smooshy - that makes the burgers tough. Form into two separate patties, and then coat with Frank's on both sides by rubbing it on top. You don't want this so coated it's dripping, but just enough so that it is spread all over. Heat up a pan to about medium with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. You don't want too much oil so you're really frying the burgers, but just enough to brown the breadcrumbs and cook your burger.

Place the remaining bread crumbs on a small plate. Push each side of your patties into the breadcrumbs so that they're coated. The Frank's should help it adhere pretty well. You can even add more on the outside of the breadcrumbs before cooking them. It's alllllll you, baby.
Put the burgers into the pan and cook until done, about 6-8 minutes (kind of depends on how thick yours are) on each side. When you flip your burger, add your cheese on top and cover the pan.
As far as toppings go beyond this, it's up to you. Sliced celery, shredded carrots, spinach, lettuce, ranch dressing, whatever you want. Try to think of things that go well with "chicken wings" because you're working with similar flavors.

What do you think?

The "Professional" or The "Carl's Jr"

Wednesday: Chilled Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad

It was about 90 degrees today where I live - probably one of the hottest days we've had this summer. If there is one thing I hate, it is eating hot food when it's hot out. So, I decided that for dinner #3, we would have a pasta salad with chicken, nice and cold by the time my boyfriend is home from work and ready for dinner.

Chilled Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad
1 Chicken breast (I use a pre-marinated lemon chicken. However, you can marinate your own chicken in lemon juice, herbs, salt, and pepper. I just like the shortcut!)
1 tbl Olive oil (or use spray, which is almost better for this recipe)
2 cups wide egg noodles, or any other flat-ish noodle
1 cup of frozen vegetables (I had a mix of peas, corn, carrots, and green beans, but you could use any you want. Bell peppers would be great, but my boyfriend isn't a fan!)
2 tbl minced black olives


Butterfly the chicken so it is nice and thin. Cook it with olive oil in a pan at about a medium-medium high heat.
Boil the noodles according to directions. In the last 3 minutes, add in the frozen vegetables so that they can cook, too. Drain the pasta and vegetables and place in a bowl. Add the olives.
When the chicken is done, remove the pan from the heat and remove the chicken from the pan, placing it on a plate to cool in the refrigerator. After it is cooled enough to handle, cut it into very thin strips and add it to the pasta.
Turn the heat down to low-medium low heat. Now it is time to make the sauce for the salad.


The Pan Sauce
The goodies in the bottom of your pan
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbl crushed garlic
2 tbl tomato paste
1 tbl juice from pepperoncini jar (if you don't have pepperoncinis, then use white or red wine vinegar. It cuts through the sweetness of the OJ and adds a unique flavor)
4-5 sage leaves
4-5 sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the orange juice into the pan while stirring to gather up all of the browned bits on the bottom. Add in the garlic and tomato paste while stirring vigorously. Add in your herbs here, and not before, because they make it more difficult to disolve the garlic and tomato paste. Add in your salt and pepper to taste, and then allow to reduce by about a third so that the sauce is slightly thick but still very runny. Remove the herbs from the sauce.
Pour your sauce over the still warm pasta and vegetables. Stir it all together, coating your noodles well. Place in the refrigerator and allow to cool completely.


The Pasta Salad Sauce
What? Two sauces? I know, it's crazy, but the pasta will absorb most of the pan sauce because it is warm. I personally don't like a dry pasta salad, so adding this similar sauce before serving really enhances the flavors and gives that essential moisture. Plus, it's really yummy!

3/4 cup orange juice
2 tbl mayonnaise (I use the kind made with olive oil, and I highly recommend it. It's lighter and the flavor is better, and it mixes well)
1 1/2 tbl tomato paste
1 tbl pepperoncini juice
salt and pepper to taste


Whisk the mayonnaise into the orange juice. It may look a little clumpy, just try and get as much of that out as possible. It won't be 100% smooth, but that's okay. Add in your other ingredients and whisk together.
Place this in the refrigerator and don't add it to the salad until you're about to serve!



Serve the pasta on its own, or over spinach or arugala. Delish!

Tuesday: Herbed Turkey Cutlets with Pan Sauce

This is a recipe that I got from one of my Rachael Ray cookbooks. Last time I made it, I used boneless skinless thighs and basil, and it was amazing, too. I will include Rachael's original recipe as well at the end.

Herbed Turkey Cutlets with Pan Sauce
3 fresh sage leaves
Fresh thyme
1/2 lemon juice
salt and pepper
4 turkey cutlets (2 per person)
1 tbl olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock

Chop the sage and thyme finely. Mix them with the lemon juice and pour over the turkey cutlets. Allow them to marinade while your pan heats up.
Heat up your pan to about a medium high, and add your olive oil. When it is nice and hot, get your turkey and place it in the pan, herb side down. Cook until browned, then flip. If your cutlets are thin, it will be quick to cook them through. When they're done, remove them from the pan and cover them with aluminum foil.
While still over heat, add the wine to the pan while stirring so that you can pick up all of the browned bits of yumminess on the bottom of the pan. When the bottom is cleaned, add in the chicken stock. Allow the sauce to simmer until slightly thicker, and add in salt and lemon pepper.
Pour the sauce over the turkey, and serve with a delicious side!
I served it with Garlic Mashed Potatoes from Trader Joe's... Can't beat turkey and mashed potatoes!




Rachael's Recipe
6 fresh sage leaves
Fresh thymefrom 6 sprigs
the juice of 2 lemons
salt and pepper
8 turkey cutlets (2 per person)
2 tbl olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cut flat-leaf parsley

You cook the food exactly the same way I did, except you add the cream when you add the chicken stock, and add the parsley at the very end.

Monday: Soyaki Salmon and Stirfry

**I kind of forgot I was doing this when I began making dinner so I didn't take the greatest pictures. I'll try harder for #2!

Last night was the first night of my 7 days of dinners. I made Soyaki (it's from Trader Joe's) Salmon with stirfry veggies that I bought at the farmer's market and brown rice.


Stir Fry Veggies
2 small bok choy (I used snow white)
3-5 stalks of chinese broccoli (you could use regular broccoli, too)
4 chinese long beans (these are like really long string beans, so you could use those or more stir-fry traditional snow peas)
1 carrot (I used a yellow one)
1 japanese or chinese eggplant (they're small!)
Water chestnuts (as much or as little as you like)
1 inch of ginger, cut into thin slices

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add in about 1/2 of your ginger slices to perfume and flavor the oil. Cut your veggies in similar sized pieces. When it is REALLY hot, add in all the veggies and then turn the heat down about 1/4 of the way. I did not add the veggies in stages because the greens off the broccoli and the bok choy are pretty thick and benefitted from the cooking time. Cook them until they are tender, spending lots of time stirring.



Soyaki Salmon
1/4 cup Soyaki (obviously, if you didn't have this you could use regular teriyaki sauce and it would be fine!)
2 portions of salmon

Marinade the salmon in your sauce for as long as you can for no more than about 1 hour. Heat up a pan and place your salmon in and cook until finished! If you want, the ginger oil adds an extra little something for the fish as well!

And, of course, while you're making all of this, cook your brown rice according to package directions!


I served this meal in bowls all piled on top of each other. Yummy!

A Week of Dinners

For the next seven days, I do not close at work (honestly, it's more days than that, but a week is a nice goal for me to keep up!).
So, my goal is posting what I make for dinner for the next seven nights! Recipes included, naturally :)

Pan Roasted Herbed Turkey

Who says you can only eat turkey for Thanksgiving? I bought some turkey breast at Sprouts the other day and decided to cook it up for a meal at work. I still have all of that fresh thyme and rosemary from the farmer's market, so i wanted to make sure I used that too!

Pan Roasted Herbed Turkey
1 turkey half breast per serving
4 sprigs of rosemary ps
3 sprigs of thyme ps
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in an oven safe pan. If you don't have one, don't worry, you can just do the whole thing in the oven.
Cut a slit down the middle of the turkey, and make sure to only go about half way through. Season your turkey with the salt and pepper. Chop up all of the rosemary and thyme except for one sprig of each and sprinkle it over the turkey. Put the remaining sprigs into the slit you created.

Sear the unherbed side of the chicken for about 5 minutes in your pan on the stove top. After, place the whole pan in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the turkey is fully done.
**BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU TAKE IT OUT OF THE OVEN!!! Don't forget that the pan handle will be hot once you pull it out. I did, and i burned myself. Ouch!

Once you're done, serve with your favorite side dish - maybe something that reminds you of Thanksgiving?

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Salmon

My parents went to Canada in July and brought back a ton of fish that they caught and froze. I have had it for a bit now and I have not found the time or occasion to cook it - until last night. It was perfect. I'm sorry I don't have my usual array of images, but I didn't even think about it until I was done, and this was too delicious to pass up.

Lemon Rosemary Roasted Salmon
1 portion of skin-on salmon per person
1/4 leek per person, chopped in half moons
1 lemon, sliced to cover the lemon, plus some of its juice
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
salt and pepper
**Preheat the oven to 400

Heat up an oven safe pan with olive oil, and place the salmon skin side down into the oil. Add the salt and pepper, then rosemary with the lemon slices on top. Sprinkle the leeks around the salmon.
Let the skin cook for about 5 minutes, then put the salmon, pan and all, into the oven for about 10-15 minutes. You can check the doneness of the salmon by flaking it with a fork on the thickest part and making sure that it is a more opaque pink.
Take the salmon out and remove it and the leeks from the pan, and put your freshly squeezed lemon juice on top. Serve with an appropriate side, such as roasted rosemary potatoes (see previous recipes!).

Meatball Soup

I had a bunch of veggies from the Farmer's Market that I wanted to use together, so I decided to make a soup out of it!

Market Fresh Meatball Soup

1 Box of chicken broth or stock
1 1/2 carrot
10-15 baby summer squashes
4 Sprigs of rosemary
4 sprigs of thyme
1/2 cup of broccoli florets
2 leaves of kale (per serving)
4 meatballs (per serving) **I used Trader Joes Turkey Meatballs, because I didn't have the means to make my own when I made this soup. Use your favorite kind or make your own!


Cooking your Soup
In a large pot, warm up a table spoon of oil. Add in your carrot and squash first, and let them soften a bit. Then add in your herbs and broccoli.
Don't add in your kale - place your prepped kale in the bottom of your bowl, and set aside. This is important so that you won't overcook it!
Add your stock to the soup and cook your meatballs however you need to. Once your soup is warm, ladle some hot soup on top of your kale, and cover so that it steams and cooks the kale. After this, serve up your soup and enjoy!

Farmer's Market

I wanted to post some pictures of the Farmer's Market that I go to. I think I'll do this periodically, just so you can see how wonderful it is :) Next time, I'll try to get some fruits :)

Garden Fresh Pizza

One of my neighbors has a lot of vegetables that she grows in her garden. Yesterday, she left a basket with 2 Japanese eggplants (aubergines), a bunch of tomatoes, a cucumber, and 2 green bell peppers. I knew I wanted to use the aubergine as soon as possible, and I still had some squash blossom to use. So, this pizza was born. Pretty simple, but it is delicious!

Garden Fresh Pizza
1/2 Japanese Eggplant
4 squash blossoms
1/4 cup broccoli
1 pizza dough
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup crumbed goat cheese
1/4 cup pizza sauce

How to prepare the Japanese eggplant
You have to salt eggplant to get rid of the bitterness. However, Japanese eggplants are a little different, and it works better if you soak them in salted water after you slice them up. Slice them in thin circles, then dump them in the salted water, and allow the water to turn kind of a brownish color. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes for these little guys.


Build your pizza: sauce, cheeses, veggies. Cook according to your dough directions, and enjoy!
**I decided to tear up my squash blossoms to get a better distribution over the pizza.

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms
4 oz of goat cheese (soft)
An herb of your choice - I used fresh thyme
4 squash blossoms

Get Stuffed!
Prep your herb, whether it is removing it from the stem then chopping it or whatever you must do! You want it to be pretty small so that you don't get a huge bite of it.
Mix in the goat cheese and combine thoroughly.
Slit the blossom down one side so that it is easy to get the cheese into.

Stuff your blossoms with the cheese mixture.
Then, while lightly squeezing the blossom, roll the flower around the cheese so that it holds together tightly.


Cooking
Heat up olive oil in a pan that you can just cover the blossoms about half way. Fry them on one side and then flip, until the cheese is melted and soft. Pat off excess oil and let cool for a moment, then enjoy!

**this makes 2 servings!

Gnocchi al Pesto e Pomodoro

Gnocchi with Pesto and Fresh Tomato
Pesto
Gnocchi
Fresh tomato
Lemon juice
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Speckled Green Potatoes!
Sorry I didn't document the making of my pesto! However, you can use any pesto recipe you want for this. I used pistachios, basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Right before you use it, hit it with some lemon juice. Simple, and delicious! Or... you could just buy it :)

Gnocchi are little potato dumplings, in an essence. I love them, and I have not eaten them since i was in Florence, Italy and had the most amazing gnocchi pesto ever. They only take a few minutes to cook in boiling water, they just float to the top.

Once the gnocchi is finished cooking, drain it and cool down your cooking pot.
Put the gnocchi back in, and then mix it with enough pesto to just coat the gnocchi. Add in chopped tomatoes, and you can add some parmesan cheese if you want. :) But, most importantly, ENJOY!

New Mexico Pizza

New Mexico Pizza!
Pizza dough (again, if you're willing to make it, go ahead!)
Salsa - I used Trader Joe's Peach salsa. It's very sweet, and I thought it would be most delicious.
Cheese - I used mozarella because that is what I had, but I think that monterey jack or pepper jack would be the best.
Olives
Hatch green chiles
Chicken (of course, optional)

Minor construction:
Get your dough out and then add as much salsa as you think you need to get a good layer going.
Next, add the cheese and olives!
Spread out the chiles all over the pizza. I used an entire one of the tiny cans. I love the stuff.
Sprinkle your chicken around in tiny pieces on top, and pop it into the oven according to your directions!


Viola!