And she's back folks - Spaghetti Squash

So I've been on a little blog hiatus. I must admit, I have less than two weeks until I'm off to sunny Mexico and I'm desperately trying to lose a few lbs before I leave. This winter really got the best of me and my thighs. So I've really been cooking grilled chicken and salad pretty much every night and trying my best not to think of all the delicious food I want to be cooking and eating!

Jenn from the SSCC (holla!) suggested I try spaghetti squash knowing that I'm a pasta lover. I had never heard of it and was not even sure that Stop N Shop even sold it. But they did! I have to say, while it's no penne rigate, I was pleasantly surprised. You definitely need a meaty/hearty sauce to disguise the fact that your eating squash. Go here to learn more about spaghetti squash http://www.fabulousfoods.com/features/featuring/spagsquash.html. It's great for dieters (esp South Beach and Atkins folks) or people looking to add veggies to their diets.

And no, Brian did not eat it.

Spaghetti Squash
Cut in half lengthwise. Put a little oil in a pyrex dish and place squash cut side down. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 45 minutes. After the squash is cooked take fork and shred the inside of the squash. Beware cooking the whole squash makes enough for an army.

Meat Sauce
1 lb of ground turkey or ground hamburger
1 can of kitchen ready pastene tomatoes
1 can of hunts tomato sauce
1 red bell pepper diced
1 green bell pepper diced
1/2 sweet onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp olive oil

In a heavy sauce pan, brown ground meat for about 7 minutes or until fully cooked. Drain meat in a colinder to remove fat and oil. Add oil to sauce pan and sautee onion and bell pepper for 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee for an additional 2 minutes making sure not to burn garlic. Add both cans of tomato sauce and salt. Let sauce simmer on medium low heat for 25 minutes.

Pork with Sugar Snap Peas

TGIF! Tomorrow, bright and early, Brian and I are leaving for Annapolis. We are going down with my aunt and uncle to visit my cousin, Matt, who is an Assistant Coach of the Naval Academy baseball team. I'm dreading the 8 hour drive, especially since the best part of a road trip is blaring the music and singing at the top of your lungs, and I imagine my aunt and uncle won't be up for that! Brian is probably doing a happy dance about this, because we all know if it were just him and me, I'd be singing for 8 hours straight. My compilation would include a little Madonna, Justin, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Latoya Jackson....okay just kidding about Latoya, but you catch my drift. I'd subject him to show tune after show tune, accompanied by jazz hands and dramatic facial expressions to the point where he'd want to get out of the car and start walking to Annapolis. Maybe this is why he's never wanted to go on a road trip with me?

We get back on Tuesday night so stay tuned for pictures from our road trip.

And for those who care about the recipes...here's a quick week night meal that was mighty tasty. I got the base of the recipe from AllRecipes.com but I added some of this and some of that. Next time I'll add carrots, celery and probably red peppers for some color.

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil

10 ounces fresh sugar snap peas

1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly

1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Hot cooked brown rice

In a nonstick skillet, stir-fry pork and garlic in hot oil for 6 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Remove from skillet. In same pan, cook onions and peppers for 5 minutes. Add the peas along with the soy sauce, vinegar, molasses, ginger and red pepper flakes for 4 minutes or until peas are crisp-tender. Return pork to pan; cook for 3 minutes or until glazed. Serve over rice.

Spinach Orchiette Soup

Our soup days are coming to an end, although you wouldn't know it by the weather we had this weekend. It's almost April and it feels like January. I can't take it anymore. 7 weeks and counting until we're in sunny Mexico though, basking in the sun and drinking frozen concoctions that will make me forget about this never ending miserable winter we've had in New England.

This healthy soup is a cinche to throw together and you can freeze in serving size portions. It's a Cooking Light recipe that was given to me by Stacey (founder of the SSCC)!

Ingredients:

1 cup water
3 (10.5 oz) cans chicken broth (or vegetable)
1.5 cups uncooked orecchiette (I used Campanelle pasta)
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed (or use fresh spinach)
1 cup chopped seeded tomato
3 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp salt
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Bring water and broth to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add pasta and spinach; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in tomato.

Combine 3 T parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and egg; stir well with a whisk. Slowly drizzle egg mixture into simmering soup, and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese (to taste). Serve immediately.

Asparagus Risotto

This has been an interesting week to say the least. I'm rarely speechless but this week I am. When you think you know someone and the suddenly find out you really just never know what goes on behind closed doors, it rocks you to your core. So before you start worrying about me, it's not the husband or any of our family members thank goodness. I'll leave it there....

So what I have been able to do this week is eat. Usually when life gets a little chaotic, food becomes my best friend. Sad, I know, but I'd venture to say a lot of people deal with this same problem. If anyone knows me, I've got an obsessive behavior. I made this asparagus risotto on Monday night and I've been dreaming about it ever since. If I had any left overs, I was going to bring it to cooking club on Tuesday, but I was selfish and wanted to hoard the leftovers in the back of the fridge all for myself. It was that good. I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, http://www.elise.com/. I made one change, only because I didn't have shallots on hand, but other than that followed the recipe. It was a creamy delicious meal that just felt good going down. Very comforting.

Although I will warn you, risotto is not the easiest meal to make. It's not a meal you can make while trying to multi task. You must constantly stir to make sure the rice doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. And there's no real measurement for how much chicken stock to use. You just have to keep tasting the risotto to make sure the consistency is right. If there's to much stock or it's overcooked, it can become a startchy bowl of mush. It's supposed to be a little firm to the bite. Even though this is a little more work that regular rice, it's completely worth it and you'll be happy you tried it. You might even become obsessed like me.

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus
3 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots (i used yellow onion since I didn't have any shallots)
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (or 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/4 cup water)
About 3 1/2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian option), can substitute some of the asparagus cooking water for stock
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

1. Prepare the asparagus by breaking off discarding the tough ends (about the last inch of the spear). Cut into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces (tips longer, base shorter). If your asparagus are especially large, cut into even smaller (bite-size) pieces. Bring a saucepan with a quart of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus pieces for 2 minutes. At the end of two minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the asparagus pieces to an ice water bath to shock the asparagus into a vibrant green color and to stop the cooking. Drain from the ice water bath and set aside.

2. In a 3 or 4 quart saucepan, heat 3 Tbsp butter on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for a few minutes until translucent. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring until nicely coated.

3. While the shallots are cooking, bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan.

4. Add the wine. Slowly stir, allowing the rice to absorb the wine. Once the wine is almost completely absorbed, add 1/2 cup of stock to the rice. Continue to stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, adding more stock in 1/2 cup increments. Stir often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Gently stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 1 teaspoon butter, and the asparagus. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Asparagus

Again, apologies for the lack of posts but recently life and a lack of appetite has been getting in the way of cooking! Not much new to report here - most of you may know that Brian's niece was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Prayers and positive energy would be appreciated. She's such a trooper and I'm amazed at her strength and courage.

This is a quick and easy recipe that one of the SSCC gals (shout out to Jenn) passed on to me! It's one of our favorites!

1 bunch fresh asparagus
butter
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a fry pan. Add asparagus, season with fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Fry to desired crispness (or keep it soft, depending on your taste). Serve immediately

Garlic Green Beans

I was reviewing the recipes I've posted and noticed that I've yet to post any veggie recipes. It's not because we don't eat them, it's just because during the week I mostly serve a salad as our veggie. My taste buds have changed over the years. When I was younger I wouldn't eat any veggies. I blame my mother mostly for this because she would always say "Nikki, eat your vegetables, it'll put hair on your chest." I was scared that I would literally start growing hair on my chest. And to top it off, being Italian, hair was a sore subject for me since I pretty much had to start shaving when I was in the 3rd grade! So to all those moms out there - don't tell your little girl she'll become a hairy beast if she eats her vegetables.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of green beans trimmed

1 tbs minced shallots

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tsp of olive oil

Salt to taste

Cook green beans in boiling water for about 5-6 minutes. Drain beans and either dump the beans in cold water or just run cold water over them to stop them from continuing to cook. In a pan, sautee garlic and shallots in the olive oil until fragrant - about 1 minute. Transfer cooked beans into the pan and sautee for about 3 minutes. Add salt (kosher salt or sea salt) to taste.