Lovely Leftovers

Today we ventured down to Reading Terminal for lunch and veggie shopping. We ended up splitting the Turkey/Stuffing/Cranberry on sourdough sandwich from Original Turkey. Delicious! And good eating preparation for Thanksgiving. Iovine Brothers has gorgeous looking fruits and veggies on the cheap so we grabbed a few things for tonight's dinner. I got some amazing corn and black bean salsa from Whole Foods to top it off (store brand so it was cheap!).

Steak Fajitas

(from our kitchen!)

Ingredients:
Leftover Steak, sliced up
2 peppers (any color), sliced long
1 red onion, sliced long
1 long hot pepper or jalapeno, minced
Cabot Cheddar, shredded
Corn and black bean salsa
Tortillas
Olive Oil
Directions:
1. Heat up 1-2 tablespoons oil on medium heat in a large frying pan.
2. Saute the onion and peppers to desired crisp/softness. We like them a bit on the crunchy side.
3. Add the steak to warm it up.
4. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30-60 seconds.
5. Assemble your fajita!

Asiago Butter

One time Mr. Lawyer got this delicious blue cheese crumble on his steak. Wegman's has a variety of delicious finishing butters that my roommate and I use to try. I decided to combine the two to make a delicious topping for our steak. It was amazing. I am currently eating the leftovers with some warmed up buttermilk biscuits (also leftovers) as a delicious afternoon snack.

Asiago Finishing Butter

(from the kitchen of Jenni)

Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons grated asiago (or more depending on how cheesy you want it)
Fresh cracked pepper (about two twists of the grinder)
A pinch of salt
A dash of oregano (mostly for appearances, you couldn't really taste it)
Directions:
1. Mix it all together and serve!

A Picture is Worth...

Someone cooked me dinner tonight....

Breakfast of Champions!

Regional differences: In Upstate NY I would have said that "my kids were squirrelly this week" but here in Philly my students tell me that the proper slang is "my kids are hyped". I have one class that teaches me one slang word a day. This serves a duel purpose: I understand what they are talking about and it gets me major street cred which is useful when it comes to classroom management. I have also learned a handshake. The end of this week was insane, my students were all hyped. As a result Mr. Lawyer made me his famous chocolate chip peanut butter cookies....for breakfast.

Breakfast of Champions!

These cookies were highly sought after in the realm of Syracuse. In fact, there was a backhanded girl fight over them before we started dating. I won. Obviously. Mr. Lawyer would also try to bribe me with them. His method of flirting went like this "Star Wars in on tv. Want to come over? I made cookies." Clearly this worked. 

I interviewed Mr. Lawyer about the origins of these Upstate famous, fight inducing, girl swooning cookies. This is what I learned: it was the first year of law school and he had just started really cooking on his own. He was really craving cookies so he bought the Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix. He just happened to have peanut butter and chocolate chips chilling in his cabinet. So he mixed them in and these amazing peanut butter cookies were born. 

However he left me with this mess:

Not my cookie plate, coffee mug, mixing bowl or measuring spoons. Ah well, at least he knows to soak everything.

Not So Healthy

On the rare occasion we make bacon I always pour the drippings into this special little container that lives in the back of the freezer. Mr. Lawyer always gives me a strange look and is all "wtf, why are you saving bacon grease?" Um hello, for the vegetables. Duh. And now he gets it.
You could always make this recipe without the bacon fat because in all honesty, you don't really need it. Or instead of the butter/sugar route you could do maple syrup which is what my dad always did in order to get us to eat our veggies. Regardless, there is nothing like some sweet carrots to make your day.

Candied Carrots

(inspired by my childhood and the internet)

Ingredients:
2 lbs fresh baby carrots
water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bacon grease
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
Directions:
1. Add carrots, bacon grease and enough water to cover the top of carrots.
2. Cover with a lid and place on medium heat and bring to a boil.
3. Turn heat to low and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the carrots are tender when pricked with a fork.
4. When carrots become tender pour half of the water off.
5. Add melted butter and sugar to carrots.
6. Place lid on pot and cook until completely tender.

Fishy Friday!

I always feel a little giddy when the first thing I hear after the first bite of dinner is "You done good" said in some weird hickish accent. Sometimes it varies and it's "You done it again". That is what this recipe received. Even more amazing is that I actually like it with no major issues (and I am my worst critic!). This fish had a nice light flavor and it was super easy. When I opened the bag the marinade smelled heavenly (I set it up before work this morning). The lime flavor was perfect and reminded me of the many gin and tonics of the summer. The only substitution I made was using agave nectar instead of honey because I accidentally used up my last little bit of honey making that homemade honey mustard sauce. I'm excited to try it again with honey. Normally I don't like the brown or dark bits but that was my favorite part because it resulted in a nice little limey-burst. Served up with some not so healthy carrots and home-made tartar sauce.

Honey Lime Tilapia

(from a lovely life blog)

Ingredients:
4 tilapia fillets, thawed
Juice and zest of 1 lime
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Directions:
1. Mix marinade by combining lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Add fish and marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
2. Combine flour with salt and pepper on a plate. Remove each fish fillet from the marinade and dredge lightly with the flour on both sides.
3. Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook fillets 3-4 minutes per side or until opaque and browned.

Homemade tartar sauce: light mayo, relish, and a splash of lemon juice.

Heavenly Biscuits

In order to feel better about my poor flavorless pork chops I decided to try out a new buttermilk biscuit recipe (previous biscuit recipes include buttermilk with cream cheese and my yummy dill biscuits). They didn't get as puffy as the ones with cream cheese but they were nice and silky. I loved the way they split in the center. It was a great use for that extra buttermilk!

Buttermilk Biscuits

(from a lovely life blog)

Ingredients:
3/4c butter, cut into small pieces
3c flour
2 Tbsp sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4c buttermilk
Directions:
1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and combine with a pastry blender or two forks until very crumbly. The pieces should be no larger than peas.
2. Combine egg and buttermilk and pour into dry mixture. Stir with a fork until just combined. Flour the countertop and turn dough onto the counter. Pat out to about 3/4″ thickness. Fold back over itself to get the cute middle split. Slice into 12 squares or cut with a round biscuit cutter into 12 biscuits.
3. Place biscuits on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment.
4. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until tops are golden.

So yummy and warm.

 With melty butter!

 With some asiago cheese.

Sad Piggy

I found this Pineapple Grilled Pork Chop recipe which is extremely similar to my very favorite Pineapple Chicken Recipe and had excellent reviews. We also had two sad lonely pork chops in our freezer so I decided to give it a go even though my cute little grill is up in NY. One reviewer had baked them in the oven and it came out fine and others had not marinated the chops overnight and they were still flavorful. But not my little pork chops. The oven baking was fine although I'm sure it was missing some yummy grill flavor. However, it was severely lacking in the pineapple-soy flavor. I couldn't even tell it had marinated for 4 hours. We both resorted to some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce. My chicken recipe is always flavorful even when not marinated the whole time. So does chicken soak up marinade better than pork? Was the basting on the grill super critical? All I know is next time, I'll have to make Mr. Lawyer's favorite Modenese Pork Chops to make up for these flavorless pork chops. 

Pineapple Grilled Pork Chops

(adapted from allrecipes)

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) can pineapple rings, juice drained and reserved
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 pork chops
1 pinch ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Mix together the drained pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder together in a large plastic zipper bag, and smush the bag a few times with your hands to mix the marinade and dissolve the sugar. Place the pork chops into the marinade, squeeze out any air in the bag, seal it, and refrigerate overnight. Reserve the pineapple rings.
2. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, and lightly oil the grate.
3. Remove the chops from the marinade, shaking off excess, and grill until browned, the meat is no longer pink inside, and the meat shows good grill marks, 5 to 8 minutes per side. Brush several times with marinade and let the marinade cook onto the surface of the meat. Discard excess marinade. While the meat is grilling, place 4 pineapple rings onto the grill, and allow to cook until hot and the slices show grill marks; serve the chops topped with the grilled pineapple rings

Bite Sized Fall Tradition

Since tonight was leftover crispy cheesy chicken nugget night I decided that there should be some kind of yummy dessert. Enter: Caramel Apples. I inherited this kit from Nyk and dragged it all the way to Philly so there was going to be caramel apples this fall come hell or high water. Now there are two major flaws with caramel apples: to start with everyone knows that the caramel to apple ratio is off. Way off. You never have enough caramel. Also, caramel apples are messy. Enter my genius idea of bite sized caramel apple pieces. On a toothpick. Things are always cuter on a toothpick. Good caramel to apple ratio, no mess, toothpick. Amazing.

Here's the state traveling kit! It was super easy, all you needed was milk and sugar.

Why is making caramel always so scary?!

I'm totally going to have a little kid ate too much sugar tummy ache tonight. 

A Guinea Pig Keeper!

Cheese + Chicken. Need I say more? We have a Guinea Pig Kitchen Keeper! These Cheesy Crunchy Chicken Nuggets were marvelous! Just the right amount of cheese rounded out with a zesty homemade honey mustard. The buttermilk was the only "special" ingredient I had to go out to buy but I suppose it would still work with a normal egg or egg/milk wash. This recipe perfectly showcases why I love panko breadcrumbs: a nice crunchy texture. 

Since it is Tuesday and Tuesdays are the worst day of the week according to the Mister I went with a childhood favorite/comfort food theme: grown up chicken nuggets and white cheddar shells. The perfect little kid meal with a grown up twist!

Crunchy Cheesy Chicken Nuggets

(adapted from how sweet it is)

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1.5 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup freshly grated asiago cheese (I used a tad bit more)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
Directions:

1. Chop up your chicken into bite sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Put in bowl and cover with buttermilk. Let soak a minimum of two hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil, put a wire rack on it and spray it with Pam.

3. Mix bread crumbs, flour, cheese, garlic, paprika, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Take each nugget from buttermilk and dredge in breading mixture, place on wire rack.

4. Bake for 10 minutes, pull out pan and flip each nugget. Return to oven for another 10-15 minutes until cooked.

5. For honey mustard: mix honey and mustard together! Serve with your nuggets.