Sausage Marsala!

I'm not doing a whole recipe for this one, but I wanted to share it because it was so good!

I cooked up some Italian sausage and sliced it, returning it to the pan with half a red bell pepper, half a green bell pepper, some amount of onion, a chopped garlic clove, and two chopped tomatoes (keep the juice!). I added about 1/4 cup of marsala, and every time the dish got toward dry again, I added more. I also added about a tbsp of oregano and pepper. Then I covered and simmered it on med-low for a while while I boiled some farfalle.

It was just so tasty. We had a friend come to visit for a while last night and there was still a bit in the pan, so he picked out all of the sausages! Oh well, at least I have the veggies to go into a salad today!

Chicken Cacciatore!

Chicken Cacciatore

By Jennifer Baca

Prep time: 5 minutes.

Cook time: 20-25 minutes.

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breast halves

3 slices prosciutto

1 clove garlic

1 green bell pepper

1/2 white onion

2 medium tomatoes

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 oz. spaghetti/pasta of your choice

3 tbsp Pinot Grigio

1 tsp of rosemary

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

I'd never made chicken cacciatore. I'd never even ordered it off of a menu. But I found myself going to Google Recipes typing in "chicken" and looking for something I could make, checking for things I have or don't have, and saw a cacciatore recipe. It looked good, but perhaps a little plain, and the author seemed in the early stages of learning to cook so basic critical paths weren't in place. There was another one in the search results page that included prosciutto, which I happened to have a bit left of with no idea what to do with it. However, that one had lots of "Americanized" concepts, and prepackaged ingredients like canned items and spices I'd rather have fresh, and I didn't much trust the author of the recipe. So I decided I'd take a big risk and create my own recipe, using theirs as guidelines.

I have to take a moment and talk about this prosciutto. We get it at the co-op, and this same brand is what we get for bacon. It's fantastic. Mild, and so perfectly cut. You can see the package through the few slices that I had left. We like putting it on pizza, when we make one from home. So good with some fresh peppers and tomatoes, so I knew it'd be good in this dish!

Directions:

First, I sliced up the chicken and cooked it on the grill top.

While it was cooking, I sliced a bell pepper and diced up a clove of garlic, and "voluntold" my husband to slice up half of an onion and skin and chop 2 tomatoes for me :) He was happy to, he likes helping me with prep, as long as he doesn't see when I make all the flavors come together. He leaves the kitchen for that. He says it'd be like seeing the magician stuff the doves up his sleeves.

I sauteed the onions, bell pepper, and garlic together in EVOO, and when they were soft and browned a bit I put them into a bowl to stay warm. I left some of the garlic in the pan so it'll flavor the sauce.

Then my husband reminded me that I'm supposed to have a pot going for pasta! Whoops! Thanks sweetie! While that was going, I turned off the grill and covered the chicken while it still had some signs of being just barely underdone so that it wouldn't dry out while I finished everything up, to compensate for the fact that I really probably shouldn't have started with chicken. Or, I could have done my chopping prep in advance and already had pasta ready.

In the pan that I'd fried the veggies in, I added the prosciutto, the tomatoes, the pinot grigio (Fetzer is fantastic as a cooking wine), about a teaspoon of rosemary, and Italian Seasoning to taste. I probably threw in a dash of pepper or cumin, too, that'd be typical of me. But I didn't note it.

I cooked it all together on medium low, enough that it simmers but doesn't reach a boiling point. I stopped for a moment to drain the noodles, turned around, and my sauce looked like a dried out marinara! I panicked a little. This is supposed to be a juicy sauce! So I added some of the juice we'd saved that came out of the tomatoes during chopping and another tbsp of wine, and it livened it right back up!

Then it was time to serve it all together! It was so freaking good. The meat was tender, the sauce was a fantastic complement to the veggies and for it feeling so sinful, it was really not unhealthy.

Yield: 2 servings

Calories per serving: 378

Carbohydrates per serving: 35

Fat per serving: 10

Protein per serving: 36
WW+ Points: 9

If you try it, I hope you love it!

Mother's Day Dinner - Lobster Colorado!

This is another one of those dishes that seems very unhealthy and really isn't so bad.

It was Mother's Day and what I wanted was to cook something wonderful. I had no idea what I wanted. A couple days before, for my birthday/Mother's Day dinner with my mom, I'd made my alfredo with crab instead of shrimp. It was REALLY good. So this had to top that.

The grocery store had lobster tails on sale, so I looked up lobster recipes. I found Lobster Colorado. I promptly sent out the husband with a list of ingredients. He's gotten much better at shopping for food!
He brought me back the lobster tails, the last pair of fillets the store had, some red potatoes, asparagus, and spinach.

I started by getting the meat out of the lobster tails. I should have had my husband record a video of it because I looked hilarious trying to figure out how to do this as I've never cooked lobster before, but I managed it! I got all of the meat out clean. I chopped it into bite-sized pieces.

Then to the fillets. I patted them down with basic salt and ground peppercorn. I found myself slicing the bacon in half down the middle because it was way too wide for the short filets. I wrapped the bacon around the fillets and secured them with toothpicks. I also chopped up the potatoes and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.

They went into the oven on Broil for about 8 minutes each side.

While they were cooking, I melted half a stick of butter in a pan with some garlic and paprika (and in the mean time chopped and cleaned some asparagus spears and spinach leaves). Once the butter was melted, lobster went in.

While the lobster was cooking and fillets were broiling, I put the spinach and asparagus in a saucepan to slowly "steam".

Then it was time to take the fillets out! I took the potatoes off of the pan and put them into a covered bowl to keep warm.Then comes the fun part - putting the lobster on top of the steaks and back into the oven with it! So many times, the lobster fell off before we could get it in the oven.

At this point, take the other half of the stick of butter and add it to the pan you cooked the lobster in. I cooked it at just about medium heat until it started getting a brown color to it. As far as time goes, it turns brown just as the lobster in the oven starts browning on top.

Then it's time to serve up! Pour some of the butter sauce over the lobster & fillets, and I also poured a bit over the veggies and potatoes because it was Mother's Day and I was going to enjoy it!

Health Stuff:
Calories: 495, Fat: 29, Carbs: 19, Protein: 39.
WWPP: 13

Totally worth the indulgence if you ask me!

Rainbow Trout (Meuniere-ish)

After a trip to the co-op ended up with bringing home a great fillet of rainbow trout, I asked my online network for suggestions on what to do with it. I got some fantastic thoughts, from an amandine to one suggestion of pecan crusted with an apple/pear buerre blanc, everything sounded so tasty!

My favorite, and the one I thought would go best with what I had in the house, was the mueniere. Most recipes I looked up suggest parsley or shallots, and I wanted to use some of the cilantro we picked up.

I started water for rice and patted the fillet with coriander and flour. I chopped up a couple tiny clovers of cilantro, sliced a clove of garlic into chips, and tore up some dill. I put a California olive oil in the frying pan and got it warming with some lemon, the garlic chips, pepper, and the cilantro and dill.

Once the basmati rice was cooking, I put the trout in the frying pan and let it cook slowly. I let it cook entirely skin up, then flipped it and removed all the garlic chips, letting the skin sear and get almost crunchy. Honestly, I was too scared to damage the fish.

While the fish was cooking, I chopped up a cherry bomb pepper, put it and the garlic chips on top of some spring greens, and made a homemade balsamic sherry salad dressing to put on top. I also seasoned the rice, very basic and earthy.

It all came out so wonderful. The fish came out so moist but the skin was perfectly crispy. The salad had the little bit of tart and sweet to complement the citrus. And the rice was a great way to reset the palette. I hope you give it a try and enjoy.

By the way, I definitely need a better camera. I'm using my cell phone, and my husband says the pictures don't do it justice. :)

What's Good or Bad?

Many times in my quest to feed my family just a little healthier all the time, I find myself learning that my perception of how good for us something is can be wrong. My hot cocoa powder, for example, is gluten-free. I've been using the same stuff for years and didn't know that.

Since I was a child, I've known a fun "game" to play, that I recently shared with my husband. He was jokingly arguing with me that bacon is healthy because it makes him happy. After a "mom" look, I grabbed him by the hand and led him to the kitchen for something that would get childish delight and "do it again!" demands.

You need a partner for this. Hold your right arm straight out in front of you, palm up. Have a partner put a small amount of something in your hand. Something that you know is good for you, like a small piece of fruit or vegetable. Hold it closed in your hand and, trying to hold your arm up, have your partner try to push your forearm down lightly. You probably won't have too hard of a time keeping your arm up.

Next, remove the healthy item and put something in your hand that's not healthy - like white sugar or coffee grounds. Do the same. I'll bet that you have a much harder time keeping your arm up!

In my husband's case, I was accused of voodoo and paraded around the kitchen to keep pushing on his arm with every little thing. Things he thought were good for him, his body knew better. I've seen someone particularly weak to a food they were allergic to, even though it's healthy for others (strawberry).

So when in doubt, give this a try. If nothing else, it's a learning experience about the things you keep in your home, and you might find a product isn't what you thought it was.

Quick Meal

I had my appendix out, so my husband's been doing most of the cooking while I heal. When I can cook, I have to find ways to make something that doesn't take too much effort. Simply making stir fry has been too much. I also haven't been able to go grocery shopping. My husband, bless his heart, has many strengths. He's a fantastic caretaker, the best father for our child, and a strong loyal rock for me. He's got the best advice of anyone I've ever met, and he will (and has) run out at 3am to get me Tylenol and Sprite when I'm sick. There's nothing this man won't at least try to do. That includes grocery shopping. He can't find anything and ends up spending twice as much as I would have. I asked for cornish hens once, he brought me back a huge hen. It was a tough dinner. If I ask for veggies, I'll get bruised and small ones. So if I don't HAVE to send him, I don't.

We're almost out of food though. So the other night, I had my husband pick up some chicken drumsticks (that, he can do). I had a few veggies worth scrounging (aside from toddler's mixed veggies), and I still had a couple "ends" of boxes of angel hair.

I put the chicken in a skillet, seasoned it with oregano, cumin, coriander, and a bit of regular old dried Italian Seasoning. I added the carrots and cauliflower on top, as well as a small clove of garlic I minced up, poured about half a cup of water in the spaces, and covered the whole bit with tin foil. In the oven it went, and back to resting I went. 20 minutes later, I asked my husband to start a pot of water boiling. Once that was rolling, I boiled the pasta with some California Extra Virgin, uncovered the pan so the skin of the chicken would crisp up, set the table, and drained the noodles.

This noodle dish is a favorite among those who dine with us, though it is much more "bachelor food" than most anything I make. I add about 1 tbsp of butter per 2 cups uncooked pasta. Then I sprinkle in Italian Seasoning, a pretty hefty amount of garlic powder, some pepper, and a pinch of tarragon. Done! Taste it to confirm it's a flavor you like, and adjust as necessary.

With minimal effort, I made a dish that seemed like I "went all out". I'm convinced now that every cook should have a list of easy recipes for when we can't quite manage as well.

I hope you all enjoy.