Power Breakfast

Sometimes tinkering around in the kitchen with no real recipe works out.

I sauteed up some onion, garlic, and a package full of baby bella mushrooms then dumped in a (rinsed) can of cannellini beans and diced tomatoes. Let it simmer for a bit and voila! A healthy fiber and protein packed dish that made an excellent and filling breakfast...which a big squirt of hot sauce for a nice wake up call!

Soup & Salad

I felt inspired to whip up a batch of my Tomato-Barley Soup.It was a clean out the kitchen pot of soup so I swapped the chicken broth for turkey stock, there was less barley and I added a good shot of sriracha. 

Yum yum!

Don't forget the grilled cheese croutons!

Baked Gnocchi

I could not get a pretty picture of this dish....not in the baking dish, not in the bowl, and not an action shot. I was also really hungry and impatient. The baked gnocchi was perfect for my snow day, it was warm and filling. It was like a nice warm hug for my tummy. The smoked paprika was a little strong so I decreased the amount to 1/2 teaspoon. This dish was definitely better the next day after the flavors had more time to mix together and mellow out.

Gross.

But seriously, how are you suppose to photograph gnocchi? You can also see my carpet and a piece of garlic bread that I threw on a coaster. I'm just keeping it classy these days.

Baked Gnocchi

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:
1 package fresh store-bought gnocchi
3 strips of bacon, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 of onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 can (15 oz) tomatoes, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Shredded mozzarella, enough to top
Directions:

1. Fry bacon until crisp, pour off the fat. Saute the garlic and onion for 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes and smoked paprika.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook gnocchi according to directions. Drain and add to the tomato sauce pan, mix well.

3. Transfer the sauced gnocchi to an oven safe container and top with mozzarella. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees until the cheese is melted and golden. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Tomato-Barley Soup

I am in love with the sight of this Le Creuset pot on my stove.

 I wanted to make tomato soup and grilled cheese last night (with my homemade chicken stock!) but I didn't have enough cheese for the sandwiches (the horror!). To make the soup more filling I decided to add in barley instead of orzo (because I also didn't have orzo). It was delicious and satisfying. The homemade chicken stock makes a big difference. Just what we needed for a chilly and thrilling Friday evening at home!

Tomato-Barley Soup 

(Adapted from my Tomato-Orzo Soup)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons good olive oil
3 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 (28-ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup barley

Directions:
1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the chicken stock, tomatoes, salt (to taste) and 1 teaspoon pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Use an immersion blender to blend soup to the desired consistency. For a chunkier soup skip this step.
3. Add the barley to the soup and simmer until barley is cooked, about 45 minutes. 

4. Top with parmesan cheese or grilled cheese croutons!

1st Married Meal!

Our 1st homemade meal as a married couple was my Tomato-Orzo Soup except I swapped out the orzo for ravioli. Yum yum!

It was delicious.

Barley Zucchini Boats

Mr. Lawyer went to the grocery store by himself yesterday. He doesn't shop from a list, that's never a good idea! Drives me crazy. Then he comes home with random things like 2 zucchinis. Luckily I always wanted to make a zucchini boat recipe. For some reason I couldn't get barley out of my head so I found this recipe and then tweaked it to make it a smidgen healthier. 

The original recipe called for half a pound of ground beef or turkey which I swapped up for only two links of sausage. You could easily omit the meat and make it vegetarian. I left out the added salt and cut out some of the butter. I liked how you cooked the barley in the tomato sauce so it held a lot of flavor. It got the manly seal of approval!

Barley Zucchini Boats

(adapted from tasteofhome.com)

Ingredients:
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
2/3 cup medium pearl barley
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 medium zucchini (8 to 9 inches)
2 spicy sausage links, casing removed
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:1. Drain tomatoes, reserving juice. Set the tomatoes aside. Add water to juice to measure 2 cups; place in a saucepan. Add barley and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until tender.
2. Meanwhile, place zucchini in a Dutch oven and cover with water; bring to a boil. Cook for 6 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain; cool slightly. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving
a 1/4-in. shell. Chop pulp and set aside.
3. In a skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic in oil until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add barley mixture, pepper, tomatoes and zucchini pulp; mix well. Spoon into zucchini shells.
4. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and butter; sprinkle over zucchini. Place in two greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dishes. Cover and bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Crockpot Lentil Soup

Another yummy soup recipe courtesy of pinterest. I loved the lentil and chickpea combination. I also used my immersion blender for the first time! It was much better than using a blender and splattering soup all over the kitchen.

Red Lentil, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika

(Pinterest find! From kalynskitchen.com)

Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion, diced small
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 cup red lentils
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed
5 cups chicken broth
2 cans petite dice tomatoes with juice (14.5 oz. can)
Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in frying pan and saute the diced onion until it's soft and starting to brown lightly, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, dried thyme, salt, and black pepper and saute 2-3 minutes more, or until spices are fragrant.
2. Add onion-spice mixture to CrockPot, then rinse out the frying pan with 1 cup of the stock and add to crockpot along with red lentils, rinsed chickpeas, and rest of stock. Cook on high for 2-3 hours, or until lentils are starting to soften and dissolve into the soup.
3. When lentils are starting to soften, add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes with juice. Cook for 1-2 hours more on high, or until the lentils and chickpeas are both quite soft. Then remove about 1/2 the soup to a bowl. Puree the soup you removed using an immersion blender, food processor, or blender.
4. Stir the pureed soup back into the soup in the CrockPot; taste and add more salt or fresh ground black pepper if desired. Let soup cook about 15 minutes more before serving.

Jersey Salad

We stopped at a farm stand on our way back from the Shore. The Jersey tomatoes and corn are delicious! Mr. Lawyer made a quick chopped veggie salad of cucumber, red onion, corn, red pepper, and dill with a little oil/vinegar dressing. The salad was served on top of thick slices of Jersey tomatoes. It tasted like summer!

It's veggie time!

Giant Stuffed Mushrooms!

Mushrooms are delicious and amazing. But when I said I was making a vegetarian stuff mushroom, I got a look from the boy. Luckily I had one spicy chicken sausage left in the freezer so I was able to augment this dish with some meat and it was a hit. I do think the spicy sausage added a lot to the dish. The tangy earthiness of the goat cheese went perfectly with the rich earthiness of the portobello. I imagine these would be ten times better if they were cooked outside on a grill.

Sausage, Tomato, and Goat Cheese Stuffed Portobellos

(Pinterest find! adapted from a food centric life)

Ingredients:
4 large Portobello mushrooms, cleaned and de-gilled
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot or onion
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 ounces of plain goat cheese
1/2 cup roasted tomatoes

1/3 cup sauteed sausage
Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler. Mix together olive oil, lemon juice, and shallot. Coat the mushrooms in olive oil mixture, salt and pepper to taste, and broil them for 5 minutes.
2. Layer the sausage and tomatoes into the mushroom,. Top with blobs of goat cheese.
3. Bake for 12 minutes or until hot at 375.

For the tomatoes I used grape tomatoes cut in half, lightly coated with olive oil, tossed with 2 cloves minced garlic and a pinch of thyme. They were roasted at 375 for 25 minutes and they were delicious. Especially with a little balsamic drizzled over them.

Cheesy Caprese Dip

There were a couple different versions of caprese dip floating around on pinterest, one added cream cheese and parmesan for a more creamy version. For the sake of time and less calories I went with the basic version: mozzarella, tomato, and basil. It was very good but a little messy due to the stringy nature of the cheese. It was super easy and required little effort and had minimal ingredients. Some of the comments mentioned that it could get soupy due to the liquid releasing from the cheese and tomatoes. By the end of the night one dish had a little extra liquid but the other did not. I tried to do my best to seed the tomatoes and wrapped them in a paper towel overnight to absorb the leftover liquid (I did a lot of prep work the night before). The brand of fresh mozzarella I purchased didn't have any extra liquid in the packaging like some do, I'm sure that helped eliminate some liquid.

Caprese Dip

(Pinterest find! Adapted from howsweeteats.com)

Ingredients:
1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved and seeded
1 ball of fresh mozzarella, cubed
Your desired amount of fresh basil, chopped (I put in a fair amount)
Directions:
1. Cut grape tomatoes in half and scoop out the insides. Dry the tomatoes as much as possible with a towel. Cube the mozzarella and chop the basil.
2. Mix everything together and place in an oven safe dish.
3. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes until melted and then broil until golden.

**You can always add more or less tomatoes or basil depending on your tastes**

Perfect Sunday Afternoon

Nothing like a chilly, lazy Sunday afternoon with soup simmering on the stove and football noise in the background. We liked this soup more than the Tomato-Basil Soup I made in the spring and Mr. Lawyer declared it a keeper. It was quite tasty and while turning your grilled cheese into croutons is completely unnecessary, it was fun. We used a delicious Pepperidge Farms sourdough and Cooper cheese ("because that's what mom always gets"-Mr. Lawyer), a winning combination.

Recipe Notes: 1/2 cup of orzo doesn't look like a lot but it will puff up and soak up some liquid. The original recipe called for 1 tablespoon of salt which is a ton! I changed it to taste. I also used diced tomatoes and it was fine. If you wanted to be more healthy you could probably omit the cream. I was tasting as I went and the soup tasted fine before adding it, I don't think it made it very creamy texture wise. Obviously I omitted the saffron because I'd rather pay our utility bill this month.

Check out my new Fiesta bowl totally rocking this soup!

Tomato-Orzo Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

(Adapted from Ina Garten, Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons good olive oil
3 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano (I used diced)
Large pinch of saffron threads (I omitted this)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup orzo
1/2 cup heavy cream
Grilled Cheese Croutons
Directions:
1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the chicken stock, tomatoes, saffron, salt (to taste) and 1 teaspoon pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, fill a medium pot with water, add 2 teaspoons salt and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and cook for 7 minutes. (It will finish cooking in the soup.) Drain the orzo and add it to the soup. Stir in the cream, return the soup to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Serve hot with Grilled Cheese Croutons scattered on top.

Grilled Cheese Croutons

Ingredients:
4 (1/2-inch-thick) slices country white bread
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated
Directions:
1. Heat a panini grill. Place the four slices of bread on a cutting board and brush lightly with the melted butter, being sure to butter the corners. Turn the slices over and pile Gruyere on two of the slices. Place the remaining two slices of bread on top of the Gruyere, buttered sides up.
2. Grill the sandwiches on the panini grill for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned. Place on a cutting board, allow to rest for 1 minute and cut into 1-inch cubes.

Soup Love!

I know it's not really soup weather but I really wanted some. Plus it seemed to fit the whole salad theme we were going with and I already had all the ingredients (how the hell did MORE celery end up in my fridge?!). This soup was good! And the crock pot makes it easy. I also got to use my sweet soup and sandwich tray so it's a winner in my book. I added some leftover noodles to my bowl and it was even better, I highly recommend it!

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

(Pinterest find! From Utah Mama Blog)

Ingredients:
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
1 cup finely diced onions
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
4 cups chicken broth
½ bay leaf
½ cup flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup butter
2 cups half and half, warmed
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Leftover noodles (optional)
Directions:
1. Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf to a large slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-7 hours, until flavors are blended and vegetables are soft.
3. About 30 minutes before serving prepare a roux. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup. Add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Add all back into the slow cooker. Stir and add the Parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. Add additional basil and oregano if needed.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for another 30 minutes or so until ready to serve.

A Spicy Creation!

There are lots of things I miss about my New York home and one of those things is Pastabilities. Delicious pasta, bread and sauce. Clearly it's heaven. When one of the parental groups visited last month they brought me a container of Pastabilities Spicy Hot Tomato Oil and I was in heaven for about three days. In those three days I had that sauce every day as an after school snack and I did not share one single drop of it. Hey, it's not my fault the boy wasn't proactive enough to get some before it was gone!

Lately I've been hankering for some more but for obvious reasons their recipe is a closely guarded secret. I found two versions online that other people had made but I wasn't really thrilled about certain parts of each one. So I took what I liked from each one, smushed them together with very little measuring, and BAM! I have created a decent representation of my beloved Spicy Hot Tomato Oil. It's a bit chunkier than the original (I imagine that the restaurant strains or purees it but I am obviously too lazy for that), I was hesitant with adding bucket loads of oil, and I think I need to kick the spice up a tad more but overall it satisfied my craving! Plus it's Boy approved. I apologize for the lack of measuring with the spices but that's really something you should do to taste anyway!

My Attempt at Spicy Tomato Oil

(from my kitchen!)

Ingredients:

2 cans (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

2 cups olive oil (I would go back to one as a personal, a trying to be healthier preference)

1/2 cup garlic, sliced

2 ounces asian chili oil (contains pepper flakes)

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

1/3 cup honey

Directions:

1. Pour olive oil into a pot and heat to medium. Add garlic and cook until golden.

2. Add in tomatoes, chili oil, cayenne, and honey.

3. Let simmer for a bit.

4. At this point I blended half of it and then poured it back into the pot. This still leaves some whole garlic slices.

5. Try not to eat it all.

Not the most attractive picture but it's suppose to be oily, after all it's spicy tomato oil not sauce! The container I had from NY separated like this too so I'm taking that as a good sign. Having the slices of garlic is also authentic. Overall I think it's a great imitation of the Spicy Hot Tomato Oil Recipe!

For comparison here is a picture of the real deal, Spicy Hot Tomato Oil right from Syracuse.

Fast Fish!

This dish was fast and good. It was a light dish and loaded with veggies. Perfect for detoxing after a week long eating fest! I ended up using my Hendrickson's Sweet Vinegar and Olive Oil salad dressing because we didn't have any Italian (and the last thing I need is another bottle in my fridge!). It added a nice sweetness to it but it would have been interesting to have the zestiness from Italian. I think I'm finally getting the hang of cooking fish and knowing when it's done. This batch was perfectly moist and only semi-mangled.

Fast Fish Skillet

(adapted from Kraft Food & Family)

Ingredients:
4 tilapia fillets (1 lb.)
1/4 cup Italian Vinaigrette Dressing made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
1 tablespoon pesto
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, cut lengthwise, then crosswise into slices
1 cup grape tomatoes
3 Tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil
Directions:
1. Brush fish with 2 tablespoons of dressing. Cook in skillet on medium heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with fork. Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm.
2. Add remaining dressing, pesto, vegetables and tomatoes to skillet; cook 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring frequently. Spoon over fish.
3. Top with basil.

There were a ton of veggies! I just dumped everything on one big platter.

Margherita Pizza

Around lunch time I realized that we did not have any dinner plans so I hastily whipped out a Food Network Magazine "50" insert. These amazing inserts come in every issue and have a different theme each month. I went for the 50 pizzas but previous themes have been pancakes/waffles, eggs, nachos, holiday drinks, panini, burgers, etc. The idea is they give you the basic recipe, for example in 50 pizza it's the pizza dough, and then 50 different ways and combinations to make the dish. The outcome was sufficient. It was fine but did not have any special flavor pop, we added some garlic and red pepper flakes after the fact. This was influence by the fact that I only had a fresh tomato to use and didn't used canned ones. It was good in a pinch but I would keep looking for a more flavorful Margherita Pizza recipe (in fact there's a yummy looking one from Tyler Florence I just found).

Margherita Pizza

(Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups flour

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 1/3 cups warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

1/2 pound diced mozzarella

Fresh Basil Leaves

Oregano, Salt, Pepper to taste

Pizza Dough Directions:
Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Make a well and add 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe unless noted.

Directions for toppings:
Stretch dough into two thin 9-inch rounds. Top each with 1/2 cup crushed San Marzano tomatoes, dried oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil; bake until golden. Sprinkle with 1/2 pound diced mozzarella, torn basil and salt. Bake until the cheese melts, then drizzle with olive oil.

How to make a pizza:
Step 1: Place a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 500 degrees.
Step 2: Stretch 1 pound dough on a floured pizza peel, large wooden cutting board or parchment paper.
Step 3: Top as desired, then slide the pizza (with the parchment paper, if using) onto the stone or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.

I also ran out of flour and had to cut the dough recipe, it took forever to rise, I didn't have a stone or parchment paper, and the lack of flour made the sticky dough a pain to roll out. But it came out okay and we're not starving. Mission accomplished.

Easy Appetizer

Pita Chips

(Adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

Pitas

Olive Oil

Desired Seasonings (such as pepper, garlic, and basil)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut the pitas into quarters or eighths using a pizza cutter, then separate the triangles. Divide them up into two piles, thinner and thicker slices.

3. Mix olive oil and seasoning.

4. Place one group of slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil mixture

5. Bake for approximately 7 minutes.

6. Repeat with second batch.

It’s not necessary to divide the triangles before baking but I like too because the thinner ones bake more quickly. I would recommend keeping an eye on them the whole time as they can burn very quickly. I used ¼ cup olive oil with ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon dried basil, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder the first time I made these. The second time I used Pino’s Press Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and sprinkled some red pepper flakes on some of them for a little kick. Feder's Fresh has the most amazing pitas that I can't get enough of and have been using for this recipe, delicious!

Pico de Gallo (Salsa Fresca)

From Everyday Food Magazine

Ingredients:

2 medium Tomatoes

1 small Onion

1 Jalapeno

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon lime juice

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Chop everything up and let it sit for at least 15 minutes, add the cilantro before serving.

I made this using the left over produce I had from the Turkey Chili so it wasn’t a full batch. I was lacking the jalapeno and cilantro and had to substitute lemon juice for lime but it still yummy! Just not spicy.

Philly Chili

I do believe it’s finally time to start this blog up. New city, new start, new food! Our first official meal in our new place:

Turkey Chili!

The Turkey Chili is a crockpot recipe and therefore very simple. I got it out of a magazine left in the office a few years ago, not sure which one. It was aimed towards kids so it’s not too spicy.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

½ cup chopped onion

1 can pork and beans

1 to 2 cans of chili beans (depending on your preferences)

1 can undrained diced tomatoes (or equivalent in fresh tomatoes)

1 can condensed tomato soup

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon chili powder (plus more to taste)

Directions:

1. Brown onion and turkey. I like to add the chili powder here.

2. Throw everything in the crockpot on low and go about your day.

I have made this recipe several times and it always comes out wonderful. It’s a sweeter chili but that makes it flexible for everyone. Using fresh tomatoes makes it a touch sweeter but more yummy. You can add red pepper flakes, Tabasco, etc to each bowl depending on your tastes. It makes a large batch so I always end up freezing some for a chilly day when I don’t feel like cooking.