Poached egg & ravioli

This is my latest food addiction:

Spinach/artichoke ravioli
Soppressata
Poached egg

And it's so easy if you have all of those! I get pre-made ravioli and prepare it as directed.  For the soppressata, I use Applegate Farms (raised without the use of antibiotics).  Julienne the soppressata, toss in diced onions/garlic and let it all cook together.  When the ravioli is done, toss in pan with the meat/onion mix and let the flavors meld.  In the boiling water, drop an egg to poach (3 minutes for the perfectly poached egg).  Plate the ravioli mix and top with the egg and some freshly grated parmesan.

So good.

Dessert

My new favorite dessert - and kind of not bad for me either!

Watermelon
Olive oil
Feta cheese

Mint leaves (torn)

Dash of salt

Yep.  That's all.  Build it and eat it and LOVE it.  

STFD!

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the letters STFD - Shut The Front Door!  It was so good.  I haven't blogged for a bit due to a high protein diet I've been on but thought I'd blog about my new eating regime.  High proteins, low carbs, still delicious!  (and vegetarian - NOT vegan)

Black beans make a great starting point for a Southwest style patty.  Or mash.  See below.  Mix it up.  Cook it up.  Eat it up.  Try it again.  Make it your own.

1 can black beans, minced down
1 diced white onion
2 anaheim peppers (I would add jalepeno's but didn't have them - go as spicy as you want.  Anaheims aren't that spicy, at least to me)
Salt/pepper to taste
3 egg whites (voila!  protein!)
Shredded cheese - I used Monterey Jack but cheddar would work as well
Crushed tortilla chips

Mix all that together and cook in just a bit of olive oil.  Serve with your favorite SW-inspired foods - tortillas, avocado, cheese, rice or ???

I ate mine soft taco style with flour tortillas (the last of my allowed carbs for the week), more cheese thrown on top and an avocado, the fruit of the Gods.  The pictures may not give them the proper justice.  So freaking good!!

Shrimp Salad

It's been awhile since I posted but I have been cooking.  This recipe is one of my FAVORITE salad recipes and it's easy to make modifications to for special needs - low carbs, low spice, etc.

1 pound raw deveined shrimp
Cherry tomatoes
Jalepeno pepper
Yellow pepper
Anaheim pepper
Cooked pasta (screwball pasta works great)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Avocado
Salt/pepper
Cilantro

Boil water, cook shrimp until pink (pretty quick, so pay attention).  Combine halved tomatoes, diced peppers, pasta and chopped cilantro.  Add the shrimp.  Mix olive oil/lemon juice/salt/pepper for a quick dressing, pour over shrimp mixture and combine.  Dice avocado RIGHT before serving and toss into salad.  Enjoy!

note: less (or more) spice, adjust jalepeno; carb free just leave out pasta, which I did in the pictures.

Parmesan Chicken

I am on a roll with successful recipe ideas.  Quick - someone get me a cooking show!

I wanted to prepare my chicken with less of a Tex-Mex flair and more Italian.  To my Italian friends and Italian food lovers, I am not Italian.  So this is my spin on a classic.
Shred some parmesan cheese and combine with panko.  I get it - panko is NOT Italian but it adds a nice crust.  I added pepper, garlic powder and dried oregano.  No salt because the parm was bringing the salt factor.  I did a quick egg dip of a chicken cutlet, dredged in the panko and tossed in a pre-heated pan of olive oil and garlic.  I like cooking with cutlets because they cook faster than a full breast and I am impatient.
I served mine with some sauteed onion and more grated parm on top.

Now I just need to figure out dessert...

Pure deliciousness!

I have been tossing around an idea using fresh nectarines and maple syrup for awhile and finally brought it to fruition tonight - Maple Nectarine Crisp.
I cubed three nectarines and sauteed them in 2 tablespoons butter, some generous dashes of cinnamon and a dash of cloves.  Once the nectarines were browned, I poured about 1/4 cup maple syrup and let the concoction simmer down to tasty goodness.
For the crisp, I used some granola and crumbled it with butter.
Pour the nectarines into the ramekins and then throw the crisp mixture on top; for extra goodness, pour the maple syrup left from the sautee over the crisp.  Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes and enjoy.

Enjoy it better than I did with some vanilla ice cream.

Now that's a spicy burger!

I crave spicy foods.  And by spicy, I mean a temperature on the tongue that would make the bulldog cry.  Poor boy.  I had the brilliant idea tonight of taking my burger up a notch with - wait for it - a jalepeno.  I KNOW!  Absolutely crazy.  Not to be outdone, my friend garlic went in as well.  Five cloves worth.
I diced the garlic and jalepeno before adding to the ground beef - grass fed, raised antibiotic free of course - and though I included the jalepeno seeds, the burger could have been hotter.
I also did the unthinkable - I cooked the burger in a tiny tablespoon of butter.  Nice richness added to the burger that way.  Easy little trick.  Beef + butter = TASTY!  At the end, I cut some grape tomato's in half and tossed them in the remaining butter and beef juices to sautee down and tossed some pepperjack cheese on top - just in case the burger wasn't spicy enough.
Serve with avocado on the side and have a drink ready if you're like the bulldog!

Egg use for Ami...

This recipe is entirely for Ami, who harvests her own eggs.  OK, she doesn't actually harvest but her kids do.  She's a city girl with chickens.  Egg collecting is not in her cards.
To use eggs, I go immediately for something sweet.  And that sweet is an angel food cake.  Most people eat the boxed or pre-made variety but there is something amazing about from scratch.  Ingredients are:
12 egg whites (save the yolks for other recipes, I'll post some)
1.5 t cream of tartar        1 vanilla bean
Beat these together until the eggs form a soft peak consistency.  Slowly add 1 cup of sugar and beat until hard peaks form.
Separately, sift together 1.5 cups POWDERED sugar and 1 cup (minus 2 T.) flour.   Fold dry into the egg mixture.
Pour into an angel food cake pan (or two bread pans) and bake at 350 for roughly 40 minutes.  Once it's done, invert over a bottle to cool for an hour.
Carefully get it out of pan, cut, serve and eat.  I put some sweet cocoa (Gheradelli) in half to make it partially chocolate.  Yumm!

Pachonga Chicken

Two things you need to make a delicious chicken--panko bread crumbs and cumin.  Pachonga Chicken is tossed the panko, cumin, some salt and some pepper.  Then fried up in butter--don't freak out.  You don't (or shouldn't) eat it everyday.  And it's nothing an extra mile on your run won't cure.  =)  I cook my chicken with some sliced onions and an anaheim pepper, both of which are tossed in cumin.  And cooked in butter.  The mix of flavors really lets the chicken goodness out.  It's amazing how simple seasoning with simple butter can turn a chicken breast into a comeback meal.  Repeatedly. Come. Back.  I serve with some fresh avocado, maybe some tortillas, maybe some melted butter on the side.  It's all about your flair and adding what you like to eat.

Enjoy the grub!

A-Mazing!

I was definitely NOT kidding when I say I'm obsessed with grilled cheese sandwiches.  I always have on hand a supply of bread, cheese, butter and other potential toppings.  Seriously.  Look in my fridge.  Three types of bread right now, four different cheeses, some meats and other yummy stuff.
Last night I made such an incredibly good one, I was thinking about it at work all day.  Start with hearth bread from Whole Foods, add some monterey jack cheese and top it with a spicy plum chutney.  Let's just say the sweet/spicy from the plums mixing with the cheesy goodness--HOLY COW, I WANT ANOTHER!

Try it and enjoy!

First blog...

It's officially official.  I have a food blog.  The purpose will be primarily sharing recipes, tricks, food and other ideas from the kitchen.  And with that....

Almost everyone knows I'm FASCINATED with grilled cheese sandwiches.  Some would say it's a disorder. I'd agree.  But since I love a nice, cheesy sandwich, how better than to kick off my blog with a new one.  Tonight, I made a fresh mozzarella and Applegate Farms (no antibiotics used) hot soppressata on a rosemary sourdough bread.  I'm a fan of butter on my grilled cheese, so spare not.  And eat away.  I have a million grilled cheese ideas but if you have one of your own, toss it my way and I'll check it out.