Italian meatball soup...not bad for an Irish girl

I have been under the weather lately and wanted to make a soup that would warm me up! I made a version of Italian meatball soup, except with chicken meatballs instead. It turned out really well!

For the meatballs-
Start by mixing one egg, 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs,1/4 cup of chopped parsley, 2 tablespoons ketchup (usually I used tomato paste, but ketchup worked just as well!), 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1 clove of garlic minced, and salt and pepper. Once those ingredients are mixed, add in ground chicken and stir lightly until just combined. Form into small meatballs, roughly 1/2 inch in diameter...but they'll be just as good whatever size you prefer. Once all meatballs are formed, put in the fridge until ready to add to soup.

For soup-
Start by cooking 2 diced, yellow onions on medium heat for 10 minutes. Next add 4 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon Italian dried seasoning, 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir for about 1 minute. Add two cans of diced, fire roasted tomoatoes. Bring to a boil. Add 6 cups of chicken stock. Again, bring to a boil. Once boiling, cook at a simmer for about 30 minutes. Then add meatballs about 20 minutes from eating time. With 15 minutes left, add 1/2 pound of mini-pasta. With 5 minutes left, add 1 bag of baby spinach, 1/4 cup of chopped parsley, and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Serve in a bowl with a little more parsley and parmesan and shredded mozarella cheese. Goes great with some garlic toast for dipping!

All in all, not bad for an Irish girl =)

Italian, French, and Vietnamese...all in one night!

For tonight's dinner, we took some inspiration from this month's feature on Laos in Food & Wine mag. We made an alternate version of their bahn mi (sandwich with French and Southeast Asian infuences). We made our's with chicken breast, spicy lime mayo (mayo, lime juice, and siracha sauce), cilantro, and green onions on a French baguette. Along side for a little more French influence we had roasted red potatoes tossed with Provencal herbs and fresh rosemary. For the Italian side, we had sauteed zucchini with garlic, olive oil, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and diced tomatoes. It was all very different, but for some reason, went well together. The best part is that there's tons of leftovers for tomorrow night :)

San Francisco inspired dinner

After watching a travel show on San Francisco, we decided to make cioppino and sourdough bread. It is definitely one of the places Ryan and I would love to travel too, maybe once Ryan's grad school is done, we'll head out west!

For the soup:
Start by cooking 2 onions and 8 cloves of garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-low heat until cooked through. Next add 1 tablespoon of dried herbs (we used oregano, thyme, rosemary, and basil) and salt and pepper along with 1 tablespoon of dried red pepper flakes. Next add 1 1/2 cups of sparkling wine (we used cava). Cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to evaporate. Next add a 28 oz can of fire roasted, diced tomatoes (we like Muir Glen brand) along with the juices. Add 3 cups of seafood stock and the juice of one lemon. Finally add two bay leaves. Turn heat until medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook with a lid on for about an hour. Taste sauce for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Just before serving, add 2 dozen littleneck clams, 1 pound of white fish (we used turbot...similiar to flounder), and 1 dozen of peeled and deveined shrimp (or whatever seafood looks good that day, mussels, scallops and salmon would be good too). Cook until seafood is cooked (clams are opened, fish is opaque, and shrimp are pink). Serve along side sourdough bread and top with whatever fresh herbs you like best!

Week of Salads, final night

Tonight was a real test in our determination to eat better and spend less. We were so tempted to just get take out or something like that, but we resisted and made a pretty darn delicious dinner.

Tonight's salad: California Salad

Dressing- black pepper parmesan dressing. Wisk together grated parmesan cheese, 1/2 tablespoon mayo, white balsamic vineagar, and olive oil.

Salad-toss together arugula lettuce, one avocado, chicken breast meat, bacon, blue cheese, dried cranberries, and heirloom tomatoes. Mix with dressing right before serving to avoid lettuce wilting. Ryan had the same thing, except with bibb lettuce instead and no blue cheese or tomatoes. That's a nice thing about salads, you can mix them however different people like them and everyone is happy!

Week of Salads, Wednesday Night

Okay, I am so sick of this week! It's only Wednesday, and I am so ready for the weekend already!
So tonight we had leftover chicken breast and turned it into chicken piccata along with a quinoa and herb salad.

For the salad, start by preparing 1 cup of uncooked quinoa using the directions on the packaging, except use chicken stock instead of water. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon choppped basil, 1/2 tablespoon chopped mint, 1 tablespoon chopped chives, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon red wine vineagar, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. When quinoa is cooked, add it to the bowl and toss to combine. It took all of about 15 minutes, and made a tasty side dish!

Week of Salads, Tuesday Night

So along with our salad for dinner, we also made a really yummy sandwich.

For the sandwich, we used roasted chicken breast, goat cheese log, dried herbs, bacob, shaved parmesan cheese, avocado, and a drizzle of olive oil.

For the salads, start with a simple dressing of lemon juice, red wine vineagar, and olive oil. Next add fresh basil, parsley, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, and your favorite lettuce.

Both were quite tasty and made enough salad for leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Happy Tuesday all...only three more "wake up's" until the weekend!

Week of Salads, Monday

Today's recipe is for a dessert salad (a fruit salad). To start with, make sure you are using really quality ingredients since it is all fresh and not cooked. Try to use organic fruits if you can. For the fruit salad, begin with a large bowl and put in the juice of 2 limes and the zest of 1. Next add 2 tablespoons of honey (we use Savannah Bee Company). Whisk the lime and honey together so it becomes a thick, syrupy consistency. Next add 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint. Then it's time for the fruit, you can of course use whatever you like, we used strawberries, blueberries, navel oranges, and grapefruit. Mix all together and serve with a drizzle of honey and a fresh sprig of mint. Enjoy!

Sadie

Part of this blog is meant to be dedicated to Sadie, since she is the love of our life! Here is a cute picture of her watching me, waiting for permission to play in the backyard. We are truly lucky to have such a great puppy girl!

Asparagus Risotto with Mahi-mahi

We have been on such a risotto kick! It's one of those dishes that is pretty expensive at a restaurant, but pretty near dirt cheap when you cook it at home! This time we decided to make a slight twist to the usual risotto we make, and add asparagus as a flavor.

For the risotto:
Start by cooking 4 slices of bacon, cut into lardon strips. When the bacon is fully cooked, take out and set aside. Add 2 small chopped onions into the rendered bacon fat and cook until tender (10 minutes or so). Meanwhile in a roasting pan, roast 1 bunch of asparagus (with the ends cut off, but save those)and 3 cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and season with grey salt and pepper. Roast veggies for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Back to the rice, once onions are cooked, add 1 cup of risotto rice and stir for one minute. Next, add one cup of dry white wine. In a separate sauce pan, heat 8 cups of chicken broth. Add the removed ends of the asparagus to flavor the broth. Cook risotto until cooked through, adding 1/2 cup of liquid at a time and stirring until it is absorbed. Once asparagus and garlic is cooked, take them out of the oven, and chop half of the asparagus and add to a blender along with the roasted garlic. In addition to the asparagus, add 1 tablespoon each of parsley, basil, mint, and chived the blender as well. Add a small amount of broth to the blender and then puree. You want asparagus puree to be thick and not too liquidly. Once risotto is cooked through, add puree and 1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Serve in a bowl with remaining roasted asparagus, bacon lardons, and additional parmesan cheese.

Mahi-mahi:

Place a 1 pound filet of mahi-mahi to a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over fish and season with grey salt and pepper. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minute or until just cooked through. Just before serving put 1 tablespoon of butter on filet and serve with chopped parsley.

The week of salads, Sunday edition

So like everyone else, we're trying to lose weight in the new year. Vacation and Chrsitmas are not always friendly to the old scale! So in an effort to eat better (healthier and more organic/non-processed ingredients), we are making it a goal to have a different type of salad every night this week.

Sunday night-

On a plate, slice a couple of heirloom tomatoes, alternating colors. Next, top with crumbled blue cheese (we used Maytag, yum!), chopped basil, red wine vineagar, extra virgin olive oil, and cracked pepper. Since it was a smaller salad, we splurged and got really high quality ingredients. It was really delicious :)

Recipe Throwdown: Chicken Milanese

One of my favorite dishes in the world is the Chicken Milanese from Epicure in Sarasota. They do such a great job with simple and delicious ingredients. Since we're trying to be better about eating out, we decided to take on this recipe at home.
We started with chicken breast (boneless, skinless) from Whole Foods and pounded them thin. Next, I did the traditional three-part dredging process before frying (flour-egg-breadcrumbs), and then fried them in about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. On top we served it with arugular, heirloom cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Our's was really good, but Epicure still might have the edge...

NYE dinner update

Here are some pictures from our amazing dinner last night.

For the steak...let the steaks get the "chill off" and put them on a plate with oil, salt, and pepper for about 30 minutes or so before grilling. Every grill is different, but on our's it's about 5 minutes per side for medium rare. Meanwhile, let butter come to room temperature. Once it is softened, mix 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of blue cheese and mix together using the back of a fork. When steak comes off of the grill, immediately top with the blue cheese butter (but let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving, so you don't lose all the juices).

For the mushroom risotto. Cook 4 slices of bacon, cut into strips (we used these same lardons for the salad) in a large pot. When bacon is cooked and fat is rendered, take bacon out and add in 2 small (or 1 large) diced onion. Cook until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of chopped, fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon dried thyme). Add 1 cup aborrio rice and stir into onion mixture for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of red wine (we used cabernet) and cook for about 5 minutes, or until most of the wine is reduced down. Now comes the fun part, the adding and stirring for about 30 minutes. Add 1 ladle of beef stock about every 5 minutes or so, or until liquid is absorbed by rice. Continue doing so until rice is cooked (it took us about 35 minutes). Just make sure the liquid you're adding is hot (not boiling, but hot). In the meantime, saute whatever mushrooms you like in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and peppper. Cook until mushrooms are softened and carmelized. To finish, add 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons chopped chives, and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme to the risotto. Serve with mushrooms mixed in or on top. Enjoy!!

Recipe throwdown...frisee salad

Last night for NYE dinner we wanted to re-create a salad we had in Savannah at Circa. It is a classic French dish, but we added a slight twist to our's. First thing we did was toss 2 cups of frisee lettuce (sometimes they don't have it at Publix, we got it at Whole Foods) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Next we put them on a hot grill and grilled them for about 1 minute, until slightly charred and wilted. Meanwhile we made a salad dressing of parmesan cheese, mustard, mayo, white balsamic vineagar, lemon juice, and olive oil. We also cooked lardons (or little strips of bacon) until just crispy. Once the lettuce was cooked we assembled and enjoyed. We may be biased, but both Ryan and I agreed that our salad was the better!