I have been somewhat uninspired to cook lately. Want to know why? Could it be because I still do not have a working kitchen?

This is pretty much what my kitchen looks like right now, only my husband has finished putting the sink in. And the man making the template for the countertop has gone home. Thankfully, because I don’t need someone else to cook for around here. Read the rest of this entry »

Can you have too many quick and easy pasta recipes?

The answer is no, you can not. And you know what else… this recipe has no meat. Just for you Kristin. I love simple recipes like this that take advantage of the produce that is in season.

You will need:
1 lb pasta
bag of baby spinach
grape tomatoes, halved
olive oil
garlic, fresh or in a jar
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

If your bottle of extra virgin olive oil has an illustration of a young man picking olives, feel free to make all the inappropriate jokes you want about him being extra virginal.

I bought this jar of minced garlic solely because I liked the illustration on this one too. Aww, the little farm where my garlic was grown and then hand minced by kindly farmers, using methods that have been passed down for generations. That is what makes me feel better about being too lazy to mince my own.

Step One:.

Cook your pasta of choice. Drain and set aside.

Step Two:

Pour some olive oil into your big skillet. Then dump in your spinach.

Regarding the baby spinach, if you have never cooked fresh spinach before you need to know you will need much MUCH more of this than you think you will possibly want. The next time I make this recipe I am going to double the amount of spinach. But we are a spinach loving family.

A little side story, when we were eating dinner I mentioned us being like Popeye, and my children were all, “Who is Popeye?” And then I was sad that a cultural icon like Popeye the Sailorman has died a small quiet death. Where is the Spinach council? Although, the whole Popeye and Brutus fighting over Olive Oil was weird. And who was the father of her baby? Oh and there was the whole Popeye smoking like chimney. But see, these are things you have to consider when serving this to your children and promising it will make them strong JUST LIKE POPEYE!

Anyway, back to the recipe.

After a few minutes the spinach will have reduced to this:

After a few more minutes, this:

See? You will be all, “What happened to all my spinach? How will I ever get those freakishly large forearms with only this small amount of spinach.”

Step Three:

Toss in your pint of halved grape tomatoes and some garlic. I used about 1/2 tsp of the minced from the jar. I’d probably use 4 little cloves of the fresh garlic. You can use more or less depending on your personal taste and vampire repelling needs.

(Didn’t these used to be called cherry tomatoes? Why do all the stores and recipes call them grape tomatoes now? Is there some PC reason why they aren’t cherry tomatoes anymore? Are cherries offensive? Or are they different tomatoes? We could call them baby tomatoes, but that sounds so violent. Vegetarians don’t like that. Maybe we should be calling them those tiny little tomatoes.)

Step Four:

Heat thoroughly. The tomatoes will get soft and start to leak their tomato juice. After about five minutes it will be done.

Step Five:

Dump your pasta into the skillet . And mix well.

Note: I am STILL cooking on a camp stove.

Step Six:

Serve pasta. Grate cheese over each individual plate.

Enjoy!

Here is a perfect recipe for you to make with some of that extra chicken you grilled last week and then put into the freezer. Remember? Did you do that?

Even if you didn’t, you can grill yourself up some chicken breasts for this so-easy-it-shouldn’t-even-be-called-a-recipe recipe.

Read the rest of this entry »

Can you ever have too many pasta recipes?  No, I think not. 

How do I love thee pasta? Let me count the ways.

Pasta is quick and inexpensive.  It doesn’t require you to use the oven and heat up the house. Adding different sauces can change the entire taste of the dish.  Also, since pasta is such a familiar food, kids are  usually more willing to try it.

This recipe uses broccoli and tomatoes, both of which are in season now.

1lb of pasta, I chose penne
1 package (approx eight) spicy Italian sausage links (chicken, turkey, pork…whatever you prefer)
1 pt grape tomatoes, cut in half
olive oil
freshly grated romano or parmesan cheese

Step 1:
Slice the sausage into discs. Brown them in a large skillet, takes about 8 minutes or so.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I grilled my sausages and then sliced them because I was prepping the food earlier in the day and trying to keep the time I spend cooking at 9pm to a minimum. I then added them already cooked to the tomatoes.)

Step 2: Slice your grape tomatoes in half and toss them into the skillet. They will take about 5 minutes to warm and soften up.

Please notice that I am cooking on a propane camping stove, because I still am in the middle of a kitchen remodel. It is a miracle that my children are not eating PB&J and cold cereal for every meal. I think I deserve some sort of award.

Step 3: Cook your pasta according to the directions.

Step 4: You can steam your broccoli, my preferred cooking method. Or you can toss your broccoli florets into the boiling water with the pasta, my lazy assed cooking method. They only need to be in the boiling water a few minutes. Once they are done, bright green still slightly crunchy, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and put them in the skillet with the sausage and tomatoes.

Step 5: When pasta is finished cooking, drain it and return it to the pot. Dump the contents of the skillet into the pot along with the pasta. Pour in a bit of your extra virgin olive oil and stir well.

Step 6: Serve into bowls grate cheese on top.

It really doesn’t look so yellow in real life. That is just my horrible kitchen lighting at 9:30 pm.

All of my kids loved this dish. And not just because they had been starved and then at football practice for hours. No, even the lazy couch sitters loved it.

Everyone loves a parfait. Isn’t that what Donkey says in the Shrek movie? And just think, you can use the movie tie in to actually get your kids to eat the healthy yogurt parfait.

But what exactly is a parfait?

Behold, the layered goodness that is the parfait. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh my. When I die and go to Heaven, shut-up you in the back, this is going to be served everyday.

Back in the days before I had to go gluten and dairy free this was one of my most favorite summer meals. I think out of all the foods I have had to give up, it is the only dish I truly miss. Read the rest of this entry »

Nataly emailed me last week asking if I had any no cook recipes in my repertoire and could I pretty please share them.

My first thought was, “Well, I can pour a mean bowl of cereal!” Because who among us doesn’t try to convince our children that it was THEIR idea to have a bowl of cereal for dinner every now and then.

But I got thinking about summer schedules and the heat and how most of us want to be out enjoying the weather, not tied to our hot stoves once we get home from work. So I thought I would offer up some tips to making summer cooking easier. Read the rest of this entry »

This  past week at BlogHer I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie who writes the blog, A Year of Crockpotting.  January of this year she made a resolution for the new year to use her crockpot every day for the entire year.  She recently was a guest on the Rachel Ray show talking about her blog.

One of my favorite things about her blog is that she does not hold herself out as a cooking expert. She is just a person who decided to stretch her cooking wings this year. To force herself to cook better meals for her family. (She also has a celiac daughter, so her recipes are gluten free. Don’t let that scare you, you can substitute in your glutinous products should you desire.) And since she is experimenting daily, she also writes about her failures, meals that did not taste good. Things that she will not make again…. Swiss Chard soup anyone?

Today she had a Blueberry Buckle recipe based on one of Oprah’s favorite things. Stephanie was able to adapt the recipe for crockpot cooking and bake individual sized ramekins inside her crockpot.

One of  her recent recipes, Crockpot Peach Compote with Brandy, reminded me of Delicious Peach Cobbler that I make sometimes.  Yes, Delicious is part of the name.  I love to make this for dessert, especially now that we are dealing with overlapping baseball and football seasons. We eat dinner really early, but then the kids are ready to eat something again before bed. This peach cobbler on top of some vanilla ice cream is a nice treat.

You will need:

1/3 cup buttermilk baking mix (I use a GF baking mix)
2/3 cup dry quick oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups sliced peaches (fresh is best, but you can use canned just not the kind in the syrup)
1/2 cup water

Grease your slow cooker. Really well. And then when you think you have it greased well enough, grease it some more.

Mix together all the dry ingredients, dump in crockpot.
Stir in the peaches and water, mix with the dry ingredients.
Cook on low for at least 5 hours.
Serve over vanilla ice cream.

So, go on over and check out Stephanie’s blog. I promise there is a recipe there for everyone.

What was it I said earlier this week about the best chicken marinade? This is the steak version.

For a long time I was very into using Montreal Seasoning.  I used it on every kind of steak-like meat that I made.  I think my family rejoiced when I decided to move on to something new.

You will need:

1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon-style prepared mustard
1 onion, sliced *
2 cloves garlic, minced *

*I was in a rush today and so I used dried minced onion and garlic powder. It came out just as delicious.

Dump all the ingredients into a large ziploc bag. Squeeze the bag to mix the ingredients thoroughly.

I did use fresh squeezed lemons though, my children wouldn’t have it any other way.

Put the steak into the bag with the marinade mixture. Put it in the fridge and allow to marinate all day. The acidic ingredients tenderize the meat. The longer you allow it to set, the more tender it will become.

Put on a hot grill and cook about 5 minutes on each side.

I served it with some crusty rolls and a side salad.  The photo is blurry because I had to take it quick before someone stole the food  right off of my plate.

I love fajitas.  I have a friend that I go shopping with every year for Christmas presents and we always go out for fajitas.

This recipe is quite possibly THE best chicken marinade, EVER. In the history of marinades. I have to force myself to only make it occasionally, so that I don’t get sick of it. That is how good it is. It is also a versatile marinade. I use it for making chicken fajitas. For grilling chicken and putting it on a salad. Or for grilling and making it into a sandwich on some nice crusty bread.

Tonight when I was putting away the leftover food I asked my son to wrap up the rest of the chicken and he said, “Can’t I just eat it?” So you know it must be good, because Lord knows teenage boys just don’t eat anything. Oh wait, nevermind. It is delicious though. I promise.

These are the cast of characters, minus the soy sauce which I inexplicably forgot to put in the photo.

I usually double this recipe and use it for a huge family pack of chicken breasts. You can do that and then freeze half of the chicken with the marinade in a ziploc bag. Or you can use the recipe as is and make a “normal” sized package.

I fillet my chicken breasts in half to make them less thick so that they will cook evenly on the grill.  Really you should do this too so that your chicken doesn’t get all burnt on the outside.

You need:

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 T Worstershire sauce
1 cup honey
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp garlic powder

crushed red pepper, optional and to taste

Mix in a bowl or ziploc bag.  Add the chicken.  Let marinate overnight.

The next day slice up an onion and a couple of peppers.  Saute them until they are tender.

There is my chicken marinating in my IKEA bowl that I love.

My son took over doing the peppers and onions.  Maybe because he was tired if me taking photos already and wanted to just eat dinner.

After the chicken is cooked, I slice it into strips.  Served with sour cream, salsa, grated mexican cheese, and whatever other fixin’s strike your fancy.  Don’t you love my paper plates?  We are so  class-ay.   Honestly, without a working kitchen I can’t tolerate all the dishes for every single meal.  Al Gore would forgive me, I know he would.

Heat your tortillas and wrap ‘em up.

Insert a photo of wild children eating their fajitas.  This recipe received 18 enthusiastic thumbs up.

Here I am cooking on my grill, roughing it like a regular frontier woman. My life is soooo HARD.

No really, it is so HARD.