Eggplant Parmesan.

I’m back! Its been a while since I’ve posted, due to the fact that this past month I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (meaning NO more gluten). 😦 It has been a hard transition learning how to eat gluten-free, but I am finally starting to get used to it. I felt like making Eggplant Parmesan tonight & since flour is now a NO-NO, I opted for a healthier version of one of my favorite dishes. I decided to roast the eggplant instead of flouring & frying them. Same delicious taste,  just a lot healthier & gluten-free!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 3 or 4 eggplants
• Olive Oil Spray
  
• Homemade tomato sauce or 1 jar of your favorite (make sure you add basil)
  
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven on 400 degrees. Cut the ends off of the eggplant & discard. Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch slices, season with oil, salt & pepper. Arrange eggplant on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes (flip half-way).

When eggplant is soft, remove from oven and set aside.

Lots of Eggplant 🙂

In a baking dish; layer sauce, eggplant & cheese :repeat: repeat: repeat: 
until you are out of eggplant.

Load up the cheese!

Bake for an additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted.

Time to Eat!

healthy & delish !! A perfect twist on eggplant parm. 🙂 Enjoy

Italian Pride!

Yes, that’s right! Dinner Tonight: Italian Sausage, Onions & Pepper Subs! This dinner is fast & if you prep the onions and peppers the night before…its even faster 😉 One of my favorite things about going out in Boston is that I know at the end of the night I will bump into a street vendor selling Italian Sausage Subs! & what a perfect late night snack that is!! Tonight I decided to create my own, one thing that I love about peppers & onions besides the taste…is the way they leave the kitchen smelling. mmMmm MMmm good! 🙂

What you will need:

1. 2 packs of 6 (4 ounce) sweet Italian sausage
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 2 white onions
4. 2 garlic cloves
5. 2 bell peppers
6. 3 green peppers
7. 1/4 tsp basil
8. 1/4 tsp oregano
9. 1/4 cup white wine

Place sausage in a large skillet over medium heat & brown all sides. Remove from skillet & slice.

Prep the onions & peppers by slicing thinly. Heat oil in skillet, stir in onion & garlic, cook for 3 minutes.

When onions start to caramelize, mix in peppers. Season with basil & oregano. Stir in white wine and continue to cook until onions & peppers are tender.

Return sausage slices to skillet, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes, then serve on a sub!

Is your mouth watering yet? 🙂

Those street vendors better watch out, I THINK THEY HAVE A LITTLE COMPETITION!

Dinner Date!

Time & time again I ask my boyfriend to cook dinner and he always answers with, “I can’t I don’t know how.” And I always say all you need to do is follow a recipe!! This weekend he surprised me with a dinner he made all by himself :). He told me I wasnt allowed in the kitchen when he was cooking, but I snuck in to capture it on camera. It was very cute & delicious may I add.

The menu:

• Marinated Grill Chicken
• Salad with Blue Cheese Crumbles
• Corn on the Cobb
• Asparagus
• Caprese Salad

🙂

Salad

Corn on the Cobb

Matt prepping the Caprese Salad.

Cutting the Asparagus

Matt grilling.

How cute!

🙂

Yummy!

TIME TO EAT!!!

 

Thank you Matt!!!! ❤

Gorgonzola Steak!

Tonight I made seared steaks topped with Gorgonzola cheese & baked potatoes! I also made a artichoke hearts & fried pepper frittata, yum yum good!
What you will need:

1. 4 steak fillets
2. 1 package of Gorgonzola cheese crumbles
3. Bag of baking potatoes
4. 4 eggs
5. garlic
6. oil
7. 1 can of artichoke hearts
8. 1/2 jar of fried peppers
9. handful of Parmesan cheese

Since my grill is still out of propane, I decided to cook the steaks in a skillet and then finish in the broiler. First I started with the frittata. Drain the canned artichoke hearts and rinse with water, then chop coarsely. Heat a small skillet on medium, add garlic & let cook for one minute. Next, add artichoke hearts and peppers, cook for 4 minutes.

While artichoke hearts & peppers are cooking, in a small bowl whisk together 4 eggs, salt & pepper. Pour over vegetables and cook for 1 minute on the stove. Top with a handful of cheese & transfer to a 350 degree oven, cook for 5 minutes.

Flip frittata onto a plate, and over with tin foil. While the oven is on, add the baked potatoes and let bake for an hour. Next in a large skillet heat oil, and season steak with your favorite steak seasoning.

Add steak to skillet and cook for 4 minutes on each side, then top with Gorgonzola cheese and place in broiler for 2 minutes until cheese melts.

So good!!! And for dessert Taia made a homemade Apple Pie!!!!! my favorite 🙂 thanks Tay!

* if you don’t like Gorgonzola cheese you could always try this with Blue Cheese crumbles 🙂 *

Seared Balsamic Pork Chops

Now that my computer is working again, I can upload the Balsamic Pork Chop pictures & recipe. This is another recipe that I found on the William-Sonoma website. If you want dinner to be ready in 30 minutes, this is a recipe for you.

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops, each 1 inch thick
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 bacon slices, diced
• 1 red onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 Tbs. firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• Fresh rosemary leaves for garnish

Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the pork chops and sear, turning once, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

In the same pan over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, 5 to 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 1 Tbs. of the fat in the pan.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion and partially cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is caramelized and tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the brown sugar, vinegar, thyme and bacon. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the liquid is thickened and reduced by half, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the broth and demi-glace and bring the sauce to a simmer.

Return the pork chops to the pan. Cook, uncovered, coating the chops with the sauce, for 10 to 12 minutes. Garnish with the rosemary leaves and serve immediately.

While the pork is cooking, I boiled water and made corn on the cobb as a side.

Time to EAT! serves 6-7.

Adapted from http://www.williams-sonoma.com Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

Dinner Party.

Tonight we had a couple of guests over to join us for dinner. Thank you to my sisters who actually helped out with today’s meal! 🙂

*Menu: Stuffed Chicken, Chive Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, Wedge Salad & of course DESSERT!

This meal takes some time to prepare so I split it up: I made the Stuffed Chicken & Asparagus, I put Taia in charge of the Mashed Potatoes & Dessert, Mia in charge of the wedge salad & Madelana in charge of cleaning (hey it got messy, thanks cindy) 😉

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 3 packs of 4 chicken cutlets
• 12 slices Provolone cheese
• 12 slices of Prosciutto
• 1 bag of spinach
• salt/pepper
• 1 bag of potatoes
• butter
• sour cream
• chives
• milk
• 2 bunches of asparagus
  
• garlic
• 2 heads of wedge lettuce
• blue cheese
• 3 tomatoes
  
• bacon bits
• something for dessert-> we chose a cake 🙂
  

Start by stuffing the chicken. Pound cutlets until thin, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Add one slice of cheese, one slice of prosciutto, and a handful of spinach. Roll and secure with a toothpick. Add oil to a large skillet and coat the chicken with some flour cook for 5 minutes on each side. After chicken is cooked place in a baking dish, heat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 10 minutes.

I chose to make a sauce for the chicken, what you will need is 3 shallots sliced, 2 cups of white wine, 2 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 2 teaspoons of tomato paste. Cook shallots until soft then add the rest, cook until reduced by half and pour over chicken before baking. In a huge pot boil water for the potatoes. While you are waiting for the water to boil, peel and cut the potatoes. When the water is boiling add potatoes & cook until soft. When soft, drain & place potatoes in a mixing bowl. Add butter, milk, salt/pepper, sour cream, chive and mix with a mixture. Top with some more chives 🙂

To prepare the asparagus, cut the stems off. Add water to a skillet, like the asparagus boil until green. Drain water, add oil & garlic saute for 3 minutes. Now, add two tablespoons of breadcrumbs and add to oven on 350 degrees & bake for 3 minutes.

To prep the wedge salad, Mia cut the salad into wedges & drizzled with blue cheese dressing. She topped them with tomatoes & bacon bits.

TIME FOR DESSERT: Taia made two cakes, she loves to out due herself 🙂

Watching Tay

Mrs. Betty Crocker

Delish! Marble Cake

Thanks for coming, Come Again!

Time to Clean Out The Fridge!

When we left the Cape this past weekend my mom gave us so much food to take home, leftovers for lunch & dinner two days straight! (thanks mom) She also gave us a bunch of random things to take like frozen sausage, onions, peppers & goat cheese. Since by day three our left-overs were gone, I decided to use up what she gave us considering we didn’t go grocery shopping this week. Sausage, peppers and onions was a given, but what about the goat cheese? I had wheat dough seating in my fridge, so I decided to make a wheat pizza with bbq sauce, caramalized onions & goat cheese crumbles as well.

***Once again, my camera deleted the pictures I took! However, I was able to capture two pictures before the food was gone & one on my camera phone***

What you will need:

• package of Italian sausage
• 2 1/2 white onions
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 bag of prepared wheat dough
• 3/4 cup of bbq sauce
• 2 handfuls of goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• oil spray
• cooking spray
• flour

In a medium skillet, cook sausage until brown. Cut two onions in half and then slice each half, do the same for the peppers. Add them to the skillet & cook until soft.

 

Preheat oven on 400 degrees. Roll the pizza dough into a ball and add flour so that it doesnt stick. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and roll the dough intil it fits in the baking sheet. Spray top with oil spray and cook for 15, watch carefully incase bubbles form(pop with a fork or knife). While dough is baking, in a small skillet heat butter on medium. Slice 1/2 of a white onion & them add to skillet, cook until onion caramilizes. Next, take dough out of oven and top with bbq, onions and sprinkle with goat cheese. Place back in the oven & cook for 15 more minutes.

 

& Dinner is Served. 30 minute meal, take that Rachel Ray!

Turkey Chili!!!!!!

Yummy, one of my favorites…turkey chili! My sister Taia hates chili so since she was working late tonight, I decided it would be a perfect night to make it considering the twins & I love it.
What you will need:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 2 packets of chili seasoning

(By accident I grabbed one taco seasoning 😦 )

• 2 peppers one red, one green
  
• 1 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cans of red kidney beans
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
  
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• 1 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• cheddar cheese

Start by browning the ground turkey over medium heat, add garlic. Chop the onion & peppers and add to pot.

Now add tomatoes, beans, chili seasoning, tomato paste stir together & cook over low/medium heat for 20 minutes. (Make sure to stir every 5 minutes).

2 steps & your done! how easy was that? Top chili with cheddar cheese, I also added tortilla chips to my bowl to scoop the chili with! 🙂

Lets Eat! a healthy dinner ready in 20 minutes, you cant beat it!

Going Greek!

Tonight’s dinner: Greek Chicken with Spinach & Salad. I love oven roasted chicken drumsticks, especially with lemon & garlic (it reminds me of my grandmother, no one made oven-roasted chicken better then her). 🙂 I sided the chicken with my favorite…spinach & salad.

Lets go…

What you will need:

1 pack of 8 chicken drumsticks

3 lemons

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

5 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon of oregano

salt/pepper

2 packs of spinach

****I am so mad! I took pictures of this meal to post & none of my pictures saved on my sim card 😦 ****

Start by washing chicken & preheating oven on 355 degrees. Next season chicken with salt/pepper, oregano, garlic & the juice of 3 lemons. Then drizzle oil & water over the chicken, let cook for 1 hour and 40 mins. (rotate chicken after an hour). As the chicken is cooking, in a medium skillet heat oil and garlic. Cook spinach until it is soft and then add salt & pepper. Prepare your side salad & enjoy the wonderful smell coming from your kitchen :). ENJOY!

Steak Strips with Caramelized Onion & Balsamic Demi Sauce.

Yum! Tonight’s dinner was super fast & super delicious! This is an impressive dish to make if your entertaining and it really takes no effort at all! I had four steak strips that I decided to  pair with caramelized onion & a balsamic sauce. For sides, I choose baked potatoes and asparagus :).

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

a pack of four steak strips (or a steak flank)

salt/pepper

1/2 of a large white onion

oil

garlic

a bunch of asparagus

3/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

steak seasoning

4 potatoes

Serves: 4

First things first, set the oven to 400 degrees. Wash potatoes and drizzle/spray with oil, then wrap in foil and bake for an hour.

Next, in a medium skillet heat water & asparagus. When asparagus is cooked and turns green, remove water from skillet & add oil, 2 gloves of garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes & then set aside.

Season steak your favorite steak seasoning and set your broiler on high. Spraying your baking dish with cooking spray and place steak in oven (you can move the potatoes to the bottom rack). Cook steak for 4 minutes on each side.

While you are waiting for steak to cook, in a small skillet add 2 tablespoons of oil. Slice onions in long strips and cook for 8 minutes on medium heat.

When the onions are caramelized, remove from heat (use the same skillet to make the balsamic reduction). Add 3/4 cup of balsamic vinegar to skillet, when the liquid boils reduce heat & cook for 4 minutes.

Dinner is READY!

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone thought you ordered this from take-out  😉 just saying.