Fruit and Meat For Breakfast

Another tasty little breakfast that my hubbie really enjoyed!  The dark purple grapes were some of the sweetest grapes I've ever had - tasted just like grape juice!   Thanks Farm Fresh!

The Meat

- 2-3 pieces of bacon

- 2 breakfast links,

- 2 eggs

- salt, pepper, basil to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, sliced

- 1/4 onion, sliced

The Fruit

- 4-6 large chunks of musk melon

- 12-15 grapes

I always start cooking the breakfast links first, since they take the longest to prepare.  I make the entire breakfast on the same griddle pan, using high heat to cook the meat and medium heat for the eggs.

After the links have been cooking a few minutes, roll them over and then add the bacon to the pan.  Flip the strips of bacon after 2-3 minutes and cook until crispy.  Make sure to save the grease for future meals!

After I remove the bacon from the griddle pan, I lower the heat to medium and cooked the eggs over easy.  It only takes 2-3 minutes for the egg to be solid enough to flip, and I usually only let it cook on my "easy" side approximately 30 seconds before removing from heat. While I cooked the eggs, I also cooked the sliced tomato and onions in some of the leftover grease, making sure the onions got soft and full of flavor, around 3 minutes.  

I plated the eggs and meat and put my heaping serving of grapes and melon onto the plate also.  YUM.

Boneless Pork Roast

This meal was a one dish wonder!

The Meat

- 1 1/2 pound boneless pork roast, tied with string

- salt, pepper, marjoram, savory, fennel, rosemary to taste

The Veggies

- 2 heirloom carrots, thickly sliced

- 1 zucchini, thickly sliced

- 2 stalks celery, thickly sliced

- 1 turnip, diced

- 2 yellow potatoes, diced

- 1 heirloom tomato, diced

- 1/2 cup spinach, raw

- 1/2 cup chard, raw

1 cup vegetable broth

- salt, pepper, marjoram, savory, fennel, rosemary to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Chop all the veggies and get a big baking dish to fit everything.  Place the pork roast in the center, and mix all the veggies minus the chard and spinach together around the roast.  Pour in the broth and season everything.  

Place the baking dish with all the raw meat and veggies into the oven and roast for 45 minutes.  Check on the roast every 15 minutes or so, basting with the vegetable stock in the bottom of the baking dish.  

After 45 minutes, add the spinach and chard into the baking dish.  Swirl it around to make sure the leaves get coated with the juices that are in your pan.  Also at this point, I sliced the pork within the string netting and then cooked the meal for 15 more minutes.  The pork was juicy and tender, and the veggies were melt in your mouth soft.  Overall this is a great, hearty dinner!

Mustardy Baked Chicken with Bacon, Chard, and Spinach

The Meat

- 2 bone-in chicken thighs and legs, skin on

- 1 1/2 tablespoons wholegrain dijon mustard

- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon bacon grease

- dill, salt, pepper, savory, fennel seeds, caraway seeds to taste

- 2-3 strips bacon

The Veggies

- 1 1/2 cups of spinach, raw

- 1 cup chard, chopped

- 1 head broccoli, chopped

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, chopped

- 1/4 cup water

- salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare the chicken thighs and legs by placing them in an oven safe baking dish.  Mix together the lemon juice, mustard, and seasoning, and rub the mixture all over the chicken.  Dot the skin with bacon grease and cook for 1 hour.  Check on the chicken occasionally, basting with whatever drippings are there if the chicken looks dry.  Before taking the chicken out completely from the oven, cut open the thickest part of the meat on the thigh to make sure the juices run clear and your chicken isn't undercooked.  

On a griddle pan, fry up the bacon on high heat.  Cook until crispy on both sides.  Save the produced bacon grease for the veggies.  Set aside the bacon to cool some, and then cut it into bite-size pieces to mix into the veggies later. 

To make the vegetables, I sauteed the broccoli, chard, and spinach together in bacon grease and a small amount of water.  I seasoned just with salt and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat, constantly stirring.  Then I tossed in the crumbled bacon and chunks of heirloom tomato.  I continued to cook the mixture on low heat for another 15 minutes, stirring pretty often.  When everything is all done, plate it and enjoy!  If you wanted to be extra fancy, you could melt a slice of swiss on top of the chicken to give this meal a Cordon-Bleu twist.

Lemon Butter Salmon With Turnips and Zucchini

The combination of bacon grease and butter makes this meal so tasty.  Indulge in delicious fats!

The Meat

- 2 fillets of boneless, skinless salmon

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

- 1 teaspoon bacon grease for frying

- 1 teaspoon lemon juice

- green onion, diced for topping

The Sauce

- 4 tablespoons of butter

- 2 cloves garlic, diced

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

- salt, dill to taste

The Veggies

- 2-3 turnips, thinly sliced and cut

- 1 large zucchini, thinly sliced

- 3 mushrooms, thinly sliced

- 6 Padron peppers, diced

- 1 tablespoon bacon grease

- salt, pepper, dill, basil to taste

- 1/2 heirloom tomato, sliced

- fresh mozzarella to taste

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

- salt, pepper, basil, oregano to taste

Begin by dicing the veggies and putting them in a large pan.  Add the bacon grease, season everything, and bring the heat up to medium.  Saute all the veggies for around 15 minutes, until the turnips and zucchini are soft.  

Melt the butter in a small saucepan on medium heat, and cook the chopped garlic until it is soft and has brown edges.  Add the salt, dill, and lemon juice, and bring it down to a low heat to let all the flavors meld together.

Cook the salmon on a griddle pan, using high heat.  Season the salmon while the bacon grease warms up in the pan.  Sear each side of the salmon, a minute per side, and sprinkle the seared sides with the lemon juice before letting them sit longer, around 4-5 minutes per side.  The salmon should be pinkish, opaque, and flake apart with a fork.  Watch it so it doesn't overcook and dry out.  

Toss the mozzarella and tomato in oil and the seasonings, then add them to the vegetables.

Put the cooked vegetables on the plates and place the salmon next to/somewhat on top of them.  Drizzle the salmon liberally with the lemon butter and garnish the dish with the diced green onion.  Enjoy!

Another Great Lunch To Go

My husband loves bringing his salads to work.  He eats lunch in a local park and always texts me to tell me how much he loves his salads to go.  They are so easy to make, they only take me around 15 minutes in the morning to prep.

The Meat

- 1 lemon chicken sausage, sliced

The Veggies

- 1/2 cup spinach

- 1/4 cup lettuce

- 1/2 cup arugula

- 1 stalk celery, chopped

- 1 mushroom, sliced

- 1/4 onion, diced

- 1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced

- 1/3 pear, chopped

- 1/3 heirloom tomato, chopped

- a small handful of walnuts, chopped

The Dressing

- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

- salt, pepper, basil, marjoram, dill to taste

First slice the sausage raw and cook the pieces on a griddle pan, around 4-5 minutes, turning them so they cook evenly.  While they cook, you can start to chop your veggies.

Put the spinach, lettuce, and arugula in the main section of your Sistema Klip It Salad Box, and then put the meat on top of the lettuce.  Organize all the toppings on the upper section, so that way your salad veggies will stay fresh and your lettuce won't wilt.  Mix together the dressing in a little bowl and pour it into the dressing container.   Clip shut the container and off you go! 

Poaching Up Some Goodness

I love using my poaching pods, and try to bust them out every now and then to shake up our breakfast routine.  By layering some tomatoes. onion, and mushroom fried in leftover bacon grease and some creamy avocado on top of the poached eggs, I added a bit of a gourmet flair to our usual Wednesday morning routine. 

The Meat

- 2 breakfast links

- 2 pieces bacon

- 2 eggs

The Veggies

- 1/4 heirloom tomato, sliced

- 1 mushroom, sliced

- 1/8 cup onion, diced

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

The Garnish

- 1/2 fresh avocado

Fry up your breakfast links on high heat, turning them occasionally, for 7-8 minutes.  Cook your bacon in the same griddle pan, turning once, approximately 3-4 minutes per side.  In the leftover grease on the pan, add your onion, tomato, and mushrooms.  Season and lower the heat to medium.  Stirring often, fry up the veggies for 2-3 minutes, getting them soft but not too crispy.

Lightly grease your poaching pods and break open the egg into each one.  Bring a pot of water with at least 3 inches of water to a boil.  Once the water has reached a steady boil, turn off the heat, and slip the poaching pods with your raw eggs into the hot water.  Cover with a lid and let them poach for at least 4 minutes (I cook mine for 4 and then check to see if they are cooked enough - if they aren't, I leave them in for another minute).  

When your eggs are poached, pull out the pods and slip the eggs onto your plate.  Layer the veggies on top and then spoon all the avocado over them.  Plate your bacon and links and eat your morning meal!

Insalata Caprese

This is a really easy appetizer, but you can make it whenever you want for a light and satisfying lunch, too.  Ultimately fresh basil works best, but since I was making this in a pinch, I just used lots of dried basil from my spice rack.  I also usually don't use the boccini mozzarella balls, but instead get the larger slices, but again...in a pinch, it'll work!

Insalata Caprese

- 1-2 medium sized heirloom (or slicing) tomatoes. sliced thickly

- 14-16 boccini mozzarella balls (or one large slice of mozzarella per slice of tomato)

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 2 tablespoons Moden balsamic vinegar 

- salt, pepper, basil to taste (or put 1 leaf basil per slice of tomato)

Slice the tomato and mozzarella. Layer them with basil on the plate.  Season, and drizzle the dish with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It's that easy.  

A Marsala Meal

What. A. Meal.  

We had friends over for dinner on this beautiful, warm Friday night, and I decided to go all out, formulating a fantastic meal around a main ingredient - Marsala wine.  I use a sweet, superiore Marsala when I cook.  It is a versatile cooking wine, since it goes so well with tomatoes, cream, fish, veal, chicken, and so many vegetables that it is hard to go wrong.  I made boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a Marsala cream sauce and I also used the Marsala to make stuffed onions.  Since one of our guests was vegetarian, I separated some of the sauce and made some rosa bianca eggplant steaks as a substitute for the chicken.  Add some of my standard roasted sweet potatoes and turnips into the mix and we had ourselves quite the meal!

The Meat

- 6-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (approximately 2-3 thighs per person)

- olive oil for cooking

The Sauce

- 1 1/2 cups of whole milk

- 1 cup of Marsala wine

- 3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste

- 4 tablespoons butter

- salt, pepper, marjoram, oregano, parsley to taste

- potato starch to thicken

The Veggies

- 1 medium sized rosa bianca eggplant,  sliced into steaks

- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

- salt, pepper to taste

- 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces

- 1-2 large turnips, chopped into bite size pieces

- olive oil, salt, pepper, dill to taste

- 7-10 small onions

- 2 stalks celery, diced

- 1 large scallion, diced

- 1 1/2 cup spinach, raw and chopped

- 6-8 lare white mushrooms, diced

- 6-8 cloves garlic, diced

- 1/2 cup Marsala wine

- 1 tablespoon tomato paste

It is a several step process to make the stuffed onions, and since they took the longest, that is what I started with first.  Begin by peeling the onions and cutting off the ends - don't cut off too much, though, because you don't want the layers to separate.  Bring a pot of water to boil on the stovetop and once you have a rolling boil, drop in the whole onions for 12-15 minutes.  

In the meantime, take your chopped celery, garlic, sliced scallion, and mushrooms and put them into a large pan with the tablespoon of olive oil.  Saute for a few minutes, then season.  Separate a small amount out to use in your Marsala sauce for your chicken. With what is left, add the walnuts, spinach, tomato paste and the Marsala wine.  Bring the whole mixture to a simmer and allow it to cook for around 8-10 minutes, helping the alcohol burn off and infusing the stuffing with flavor.

When the onions are soft from boiling, take them out of the water and let them cool for a little while.  Use a small paring knife and gently cut through the center layers - you are using the knife to help separate the inner layers of the onion, not butchering them!  I also cut a small X on the side I would be pushing the centers out from, to help create a larger opening for the onion inners to go out, and later, my stuffing to go in. Hold the onion in both hands, and using your thumbs, gently (GENTLY!!!) push the inner layers of onion out into a bowl.  You want to leave around 3 of the outer layers intact, as your stuffing "shells." Place the intact outer layers in an oven safe baking dish.

Return to your stuffing and bring the onion innards with you!  Chop up the cooked onion that was leftover from creating our shells, and mix it into the stuffing mix.  Saute on medium heat for only a few more minutes, and then spoon the mixture into the onion shells in your baking dish.  You will have to use your fingers to really get as much stuffing in there as possible, so watch out for burnt fingers, and try to be as careful as possible so you don't split your shells.  Layer any leftover stuffing on top and around the stuffed onions.  Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and getting a little crispy.

I put the onions and my sweet potatoes and turnips into the oven at the same time, since they both needed around the same amount of time to cook.  I had chopped my sweet potato and turnips before, lightly brushing them with olive oil and seasoning them.  When you put the veggies into the oven, add a 1/2 cup - 1 cup of water to the bottom of your glass baking dish to ensure the veggies don't dry out during their cook time.  Cook them for 40 minutes on the center rack of the oven (right next to your onions!)

To prepare your chicken, you will need your meat tenderizer.  Lightly tenderize the chicken thighs with the smooth side of the tenderizer.  Set the chicken aside, they are ready to be seared.  In a large pot, pour the milk and Marsala wine together.  Add the butter, tomato paste and seasoning, and bring your sauce to a simmer, stirring often.  This will simmer the entire time you cook the rest of the meal.  You'll be dropping your seared chicken into the sauce as well, letting them infuse with flavor and in turn, help flavor the sauce.  When it was time to add the chicken to the sauce, I separated a small amount and kept it apart to keep it vegetarian for our guest.  If you aren't serving vegetarians, you can omit that step.

To cook the chicken, I took my largest pan and heated up some oil.  I sauteed some celery, scallion, garlic, and mushroom in the pan to get it all flavorful, then I tossed the sauteed veggies into the pot with our simmering Marsala sauce.  I seared my tenderized chicken thighs on high heat, adding oil as needed, and flipping them a few times to make sure they got nice and brown on each side.  

It was at this point that I separated out some of the sauce and put it in a smaller pot to continue simmering.  I placed my seared chicken into the larger pot with sauce, allowing the chicken to finish cooking in the sauce.  Add to both pots some potato starch to help thicken the sauce a bit.  I added a teaspoon to the smaller pot and a tablespoon to the larger pot.  I let the chicken and both sauces continue to simmer on lower heat for around 20 minutes until my meal was all set to be served.  During that time I used my griddle pan and some olive oil to cook the rosa bianca eggplant steaks.  Season the thick slices of eggplant lightly and brush them liberally with olive oil.  Cook on medium heat, turning every so often, for around 15 minutes or until the eggplant is soft to cut and golden brown on the edges.  When it is time to serve then, pour the Marsala sauce all over the eggplant steaks. Garnish both sauces with green onion.

This meal was so great, we scraped all the dishes clean!  Enjoy!!

Grilled Swordfish In Creamy Mustard Sauce

This swordfish dish is really good, especially after last night's heavy meal!  The sauce goes really well with the fish, squash, and cauliflower.  

The Meat

 - 2 fillets of swordfish

- salt, pepper to taste

- 2 teaspoons lemon juice

The Veggies

 - 1 zucchini squash, sliced

- 1 summer squash, sliced

- 1 yellow heirloom tomato, chopped

- 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped

- 1 cup water

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

The Sauce

- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard

- salt, pepper, dill, red chili flakes to taste

Chop and season the veggies.  Steam the veggies in a pot with high heat for 20 minutes.  It doesn't get any easier to make delicious veggies!  





Grill the swordfish fillets on a griddle pan with a little bit of lemon juice squirted over the skins.  Season the fish with the salt and pepper and cook it on high heat, skin down, for 5-6 minutes and then flip the fish and grill up the other side of the fish. 





Mix together the sauce by stirring the mustard into the Greek yogurt and adding the spices.  Smother your cooked fish and veggies with the creamy smooth sauce and serve yourself something awesome! 

Apple Cider Spare Ribs

Mmmmmm these ribs were extra tasty!  Marinated in apple cider vinegar and some organic habanero chipotle sauce, they are juicy and meaty and pair very well with the softness of the summer squash.  

The Meat

 - 2 racks of pork spare ribs

- 1 cup apple cider vinegar

- 6-8 liberal shakes of chipotle habanero sauce 

- marjoram, salt, thyme, rosemary, pepper to taste

The Veggies

- 2 summer squashes, sliced

- 1/2 onion, sliced

- 1 cup spinach, raw

- 1 heirloom tomato, chopped

- salt, pepper, thyme, dill to taste

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Marinate the ribs in the apple cider vinegar and chipotle habanero sauce at least 30 minutes before putting the ribs in the oven.  Cook the ribs bone-side down in the marinade for 30 minutes, and then up your oven's temperature to 350 degrees and cook the ribs for 30 more minutes, turning them bone-side up for the remainder of the cooking time.  

Throw the veggies into a large saucepan with the water, oil, and spices.  Put the heat on medium-high and cover the pan with a lid.  After around 20 minutes they will be all soft and then your meal will be good to go.  

Enjoy!

Wilted Spinach Salad with Sausage

Another easy lunch.  We never get tired of eating salads, and I try to make them in different ways all the time to keep us from getting tired of them, haha. 

The Meat

- 2 chicken sausage

The Veggies

- 1 heirloom carrot, sliced

- 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped

- 1 green onion, diced

- 1 heirloom tomato, sliced

- 2 cup spinach, raw and chopped

- shredded mozzarella to taste

The Dressing

- 2-4 tablespoons of olive oil

- 4-6 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar from Modena

The Fruit

- 10-12 large chunks of musk melon

- two handful of grapes

Cook the chicken sausages approximately 8-10 minutes on high heat until the centers are no longer pink.  Slice them up.

Toss together all the salad fixings, and drizzle the oil and vinegar on top of everything.  Put the sausages on top and throw on some cheese.  Put the fruit to the side (the melon will soak up some of the balsamic vinegar from the bottom of the plates and taste extra good).  Enjoy your lunch, just like you do everyday.