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.

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!

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.

Coffee and Spice Rubbed Lamb Chops

This lamb recipe is to die for, especially if you like coffee.  The marinade is easy to make, and it only takes around 30 minutes to totally infuse the lamb with the rich flavors of the coffee and spices, but you can marinate the lamb for 3-4 hours if you want it to be really bursting with flavor.  Rub the marinade liberally all over both sides of the lamb and let it sit before cooking.

The Meat

- 2 bone-in lamb shoulder blade chops

The Marinade

- 1 tablespoon ground coffee beans (your choice of roast)

- 2 teaspoons crushed garlic

- 1/4 cup of olive oil

- 1/4 cup Port wine

- savory, crushed mint, thyme, sea salt, pepper, cumin, rosemary, and bay leaves to taste

The Sauce

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1/4 cup whipping cream

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/4 cup Port wine

- 1/4 cup vegetable stock

- 8 crimini mushrooms, sliced

- 1 stalk fennel, diced

- 1 shallot, diced

- the leftover marinade (especially the coffee)

- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, dissolved in a teaspoon of water

The Veggies

- 4-5 yellow potatoes, peeled

- 1 1/2 cup water

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1/4 cup whipping cream

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/2 head of broccoli, chopped

When it is time to make dinner, scrape off as much of the marinade as possible and save it for your sauce.  To start the sauce, melt the butter and put the olive oil, fennel, mushrooms, and shallot into a simmer sauce pan.  Saute for 3-5 minutes on medium low heat and then pour in the Port, cream, leftover marinade, and the vegetable stock.  Let this cook for 30-40 minutes on low heat.  In the last 5 minutes, add the dissolved tapioca starch to thicken the sauce slightly. 

Cook the lamb chops on high heat on your griddle pan.  I cooked mine for 8 minutes per side, keeping the inside a little pink since the lamb will continue to cook for around 5 minutes after you remove it from the heat.  You want the internal temperature to reach 125 degrees.

Boil the potatoes for 25-30 minutes on high heat in a covered pot.  Drain and put the hot potatoes in a mixing bowl.  Add the cream and butter, mash them up into some fantastically creamy potatoes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Steam the broccoli for 10 minutes until the leaves are bright green and the stalks still maintain some firmness.  Place the broccoli on your plates, and spoon some mashed potatoes next to it.  Layer the chops partially over the mashed potatoes and generously cover the lamb with the sauce, making sure to get the potatoes too.  

I hope you'll love this lamb dish as much as we did!

Thai Basil Curry Crockpot Goodness

I. Love. My. Crockpot.  We received it as a gift for our wedding in the spring, and ever since then I use it regularly to make delicious curries and slow-cooked meats.  I love it because I will make the meal right before I go to bed, and when we wake up in the morning, we open the bedroom door and our entire home is drenched with delicious aromas.  Then I send my husband off with his Thermos.  This is a great Thai curry with lots of savory spice and hints of coconut.  

The Meat

- 1 pound of beef stew meat

The Veggies

- 1/2 head cauliflower

- 8-10 carrots

- 3 yellow potatoes, skinned and chopped into large pieces

- 1/3 eggplant, chopped into large pieces

- 2 summer squashes, chopped into large pieces

The Sauce

- 1 cup coconut milk

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 teaspoon onion powder

- 2 tablespoons Thai chili paste

- 1 tablespoon coconut oil

- 1-2 teaspoons tamarind puree

- 1 teaspoon tapioca starch

- 2 teaspoons lime juice

- salt, garlic powder, lemongrass powder, basil, coriander to taste

Chop all your veggies the night before, and toss the raw meat and veggies in the crock pot.  I make my veggie pieces extra large, because they get so soft in the Crockpot that if they are small they will literally cook away to nothing.  Mix together the sauce (or, you could be lazy and buy World Foods' Thai Basil Curry Stir-Fry Sauce.  It has sugar in it, but is gluten free, and has no artificial preservatives or genetically modified ingredients.  Use the whole jar).  Pour the sauce over the veggies and meat, turn the Crockpot on "low" heat, and let it cook overnight (around 6-8 hours).  Go to sleep.





When I wake up, the first thing I do is open my eyes and wish I could sleep later...then I get up and go turn the Crockpot setting to "warm." I send my husband to work with a Thermos of curry and some crunchy apple slices and nuts.  The veggies and meat are SO soft, they melt in your mouth.  I use a slotted spoon to get the curry from the Crockpot to the bowl/thermos, because there is usually greasy liquid at the bottom of the Crockpot.  It is tasty too though if you feel like splashing some into your meal.