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.

Breakfast And Dinner Had A Baby Named Awesome

Mmmm breakfast is so good.  But it's dinner time.  So make a breakfast-dinner!  There's lots of delicious protein in this meal, and the bacon grease turns the veggies into sheer tasty awesomeness.  

The Meat

- 2 petite sirloin steaks

- 2 chicken apple sausages, cut into bite size pieces

- 2 eggs

- salt, pepper to taste

The Veggies

- 1/2 green bell pepper, diced

- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

- 1/2 onion, diced

- 2 small yellow potatoes, sliced thinly

- 1 cup spinach, raw

- 3 tablespoons bacon grease

- salt, pepper to taste

The Cheese

- Garlic Jack Cheese

In a large skillet, put the peppers, onion, thinly sliced potato, and sausage with the bacon grease.  Bring the heat up to medium high and fry everything up, stirring every 30 seconds or so.  If you want your potatoes to be extra crispy, don't stir so often.  Cook everything for 10-12 minutes until the meat is cooked through and the potatoes are ready.  Once the veggies are ready, lower the heat and add the spinach, cooking and stirring for an additional 2 minutes until the spinach is sauteed down and ready to serve. Turn off the heat and add the crumbled garlic jack cheese so it gets all melty and delicious.

Using a griddle pan, I cooked up the steaks, around 4-5 minutes per side to get them medium rare.  This time may vary depending on the size and thickness of the steaks.  After cooking the steaks, I made two eggs over easy (our seriously favorite way of making eggs) and served everything together in a big heap of awesome.  Breakfast-dinner, you win.

Pesto Bruschetta Salmon

Who DOESN'T love pesto?  The basil, the olive oil, the garlic...omnomnom.  And Pesto goes so well on so many different things...like salmon!  I mixed diced tomato, onion, and oregano into my pesto to make a bruschetta style sauce with a big of crunch and extra kick to pair with the mild salmon flavors.  

The Meat

- 2-3 fillets of sock eye salmon

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

The Veggies

- 2 yellow potatoes, sliced

- 1 cup green beans, tips trimmed

- 1 cup spinach, raw

- 1 cup water

- 1 tablespoon bacon grease

- salt, pepper to taste

The Sauce

 - 1 (packed) cup of basil

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- lemon juice to taste

- 1 small slicing tomato, diced

- 1/2 onion, diced

To prepare the veggies, I boiled them all together with the water and bacon grease, seasoning lightly.  I cooked everything on high heat in a medium sized pan for around 15-20 minutes until most of the water had boiled away and the potatoes were soft.  

I cooked the salmon fillets on high heat with my griddle pan, flipping every 4 minutes or so until the salmon was opaque and flaky, around 8-12 minutes depending on the size of your fillets.  I seasoned them lightly, and when time to serve smothered the fish with my sauce. 

In a blender or food processor, I blended together my basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese, pulsing and scraping down large chunks to make sure everything was smooth and consistent.  I tossed in the tomato and onion with a spoon.  

*If you don't want to go about the business of making you own pesto, I won't judge you if you buy pre-made pesto from the store.  

This meal is easy to make, slightly less easy to clean up (due to the blender), and all over delicious.

Garlic Jack Cheese, Pesto, and Bacon Steaks

Yay for steaks!  This meal is classic, and the loaded steaks make you want to lick the plate.

The Meat

- 3-4 petite sirloin steaks

- salt, pepper to taste

The Veggies

- 1 cup broccoli

- 2 yellow potatoes, cubed

- 1 white potato, cubed

- 6-8 cloves garlic, diced

- 1/2 onion, diced

- 2 tablespoons bacon grease

- basil, salt, pepper, oregano to taste

The Sauce

- Garlic Jack Cheese, crumbled

- 3 strips of bacon

 - 1 (packed) cup of basil

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- lemon juice to taste

To start I cubed my potatoes, diced the onion and garlic, and tossed all three together into a medium sized saute pan with the bacon grease.  I seasoned liberally and let them cook on high heat for around 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so.  

While the potatoes were frying, I made the bacon on my griddle pan and also pulsed together my pesto sauce.  To make the pesto sauce, I used my Cuisinart Blender and Food Processor.  I blended together my basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese, pulsing and scraping down large chunks to make sure everything was smooth and consistent.  I crumbled the bacon and let it cool a little before mixing it into the pesto sauce.  Last ingredient into the sauce was the crumbled Garlic Jack Cheese.  That cheese is so good, we've been eating a lot of it lately!

After the veggies cooked for 10 minutes, I added the broccoli and lowered the heat.  I let the veggies cook for another 8 minutes or so while I made the steaks.  

To prepare the steaks I used the same griddle pan I made my bacon on, and used the leftover grease to get some extra flavor into the meat.  I cooked my steaks on high heat for around 4 minutes per side, or until the centers were pink when I cut into the steaks.  

When everything was done cooking, I plated the meals, making sure to smother a lot of the sauce onto the steaks - you'll want to ensure you get sauce with each bite, because it is soooooo good.

My Hubbie's Birthday = Veal Piccata

Happy Birthday to my hubbie!  I wanted to make him his favorite, so I went all out and whipped up some veal piccata.  He loves capers and garlic so I loaded up the sauce with extra of both.  The mashed potatoes got whole milk to make them extra creamy, and the spinach was cooked in bacon.  I did my best to make his birthday extra special and full of goodies. :)

The Meat

- 1 1/2 pounds veal, thinly sliced

- 2 cups potato flour

- salt, pepper to taste

The Sauce

- 6 tablespoons of butter

- 3-4 tablespoons of lemon juice

- 1/2 cup pinot grigio wine

- 1/8 cup of capers

- 6-8 cloves of garlic, sliced

The Veggies

- 8-9 small potatoes

- 1/2 cup milk

- salt, pepper to taste

- 2 cups spinach, raw

- 4 slices of bacon, diced

- 1/4 onion, sliced

Okie dokie.  This took some prep but was a lot of fun to do.  Set up your "stations" so you can streamline your productivity, and make less of a mess! On a Pyrex cutting board, lay out yer meat fer beating.  On another Pyrex cutting board, sift the potato flour, salt, and pepper.  Peel and boil the potatoes for around 15-20 minutes.  While they are boiling away and getting ready for beautiful mashed potato-dom, beat the veal with a tenderizer and enjoy it!  Dredge the beaten meat in the potato flour and set them aside for cooking. 

In a large saucepan, sear each side of the slices of veal.  Remove them from heat, they will complete the cooking process in the piccata sauce you're about to make.  In the same pan, pour the wine, butter, and lemon juice together.  Bring everything to a simmer.  After you've brought it to a simmer, add the garlic and let it cook for 5 minutes before adding in the veal and the capers.  Lower your heat and let everything cook for another 15-20 minutes.

In a different large saucepan, cook the diced bacon and onion on high heat.  While that cooks, drain your potatoes and put them in a large mixing bowl with the milk, salt, and pepper.  Use your masher to create creamy delicious mashed potatoes.

Once the bacon is a little crispy and the onions are soft, lower your heat and add the raw spinach a little bit at a time, stirring constantly and adding more as the cooking spinach begins to wilt. When the spinach is ready, plate the mashed potatoes and spinach first, then smother the edges of their sections of the plates with the veal and sauce.  The potatoes especially taste good with the leftover sauce on top.  Generously pile capers and garlic on top of the veal, and serve to happy people.

Country Style Ribs with Apple and Sweet Onion

Sometimes, you want a meal that is simple but bursting full of flavor.  This is that meal.  The thick slabs of meat simmer in the apple and onion mixture, and the hint of maple syrup and cinnamon makes the juicy meat even tastier.  There is something so satisfying about finishing your meal by picking up a bone and gnawing off the rest of the meat that makes both my husband and myself giddy with excitement...and excited we were to gorge ourselves on this tasty dish!

The Meat

- 2 large cuts of country style pork rib steaks

The Sauce

- 1 sweet onion, sliced

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

- 1 Gala apple, sliced thinly into quarters

- 2 tablespoons maple syrup

- cinnamon, salt, pepper to taste

The Veggies

- 1 head broccoli, chopped

- 1 cup water

- salt, pepper to taste

In a large pan, melt the butter and saute the sweet onion for a few minutes on medium heat. Then add the applesauce and thin apple slices.  Season it and let it cook on medium-low heat for around 8-10 minutes so the apples soften and everything gets all delicious.  I used a few teaspoons of cinnamon because we adore it, but you should season yours to taste.  

Prepare your rib steaks by coating them with the maple syrup.  After the apples have cooked for a while, use a wooden spoon to move them all to the perimeter of the pan and lay the two rib steaks into the middle of the pan.  Bring your heat up to medium-high heat and crowd the rib steaks with the applesauce and onion mixture.  Let the rib steaks cook for 8-10 minutes per side until the juices run clear.  Make sure to stir and swirl the apple mixture around and over the rib steaks as you cook them.  

Meanwhile, steam the broccoli in a small pot on high heat with 1 cup of water for around 10 minutes.  Season with a teensy bit of salt.

When the rib steaks are cooked through, put them on the plates and smother them with the apple and onion sauce.  Give each plate some broccoli and that's that!  Time for dinner!

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!

Avocado Omelet Delight

Another morning, another breakfast.  We had gotten some avocados this week, and I decided to make my husband a very happy man by making an avocado omelet for him today.

The Meat

- 4 strips of bacon

- 4 breakfast links

The Omelet

- 5 eggs, whisked

- 6-8 slices of Port Salut cheese

- 1/4 cup onion, diced

- 1/4 cup spinach, raw and chopped

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

- 1 avocado, pit removed

- 4 slices of slicing tomato

On your griddle pan, bring the heat up to high and cook the sausages for around 8-10 minutes, turning them at regular intervals so they cook evenly.  Throw the bacon on for 3 minutes and then turn the slices over and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.  

While the meat is cooking, crack open the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk them until frothy bubbles start to form.  This ensures your omelet will be nice and fluffy.  You can even add 1/4 cup of milk if you so desire, to make them even lighter and fluffier.  Add in the seasoning, chopped spinach, and green onion.

When the meats are finished cooking, plate them and then lower the stovetop to medium heat.  Pour the egg mixture onto the griddle pan, directly into all that delicious bacon grease.  Dot the omelet with the Port Salut cheese and if you'd like, add some of the avocado to the cooking, bubbly pan of wonderfulness.  Let the omelet cook for around 4 minutes or until the bottom is a golden brown and can easily be moved around.  Slowly and carefully use a spatula to fold over the omelet, trapping all that bubbly, gooey awesomeness inside, and then cook the omelet for 3-4 more minutes, flipping it once.  Use the spatula to divide the omelet into two and plate the two pieces.

Layer sliced tomato and more avocado on top.  Serve and take delight in the creamy avocado, soft cheese, and delicious eggs and meats.

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!!