Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Scallops and Spinach in Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

4 oz. bay scallops
1 c. fresh spinach
1 serving linguini
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 c. white wine (I used a Sav. Blanc)
1 pinch salt

Directions:

Boil water and cook past until al dente. Drain and set aside.

Heat a pan over medium high. Add butter and olive oil, then sear the scallops quickly (no more than 30 seconds per side). Remove scallops. Add white wine and salt, bringing to a simmer for appx. 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium. Add spinach, and pasta, stirring until pasta is cooked through. Add scallops and then serve!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

John's Birthday and BBQ Chicken!

So, I made some golden cupcakes for John's birthday this Saturday (he turned 23 on the 23rd...so it was his GOLDEN birthday! Exciting!). He also requested the same cake that I had made my mom on her birthday, but since I got that recipe online I tried to find a suitable replacement in The Joy of Cooking...and I did! It was a white sponge cake made with coconut milk...and it was good on the first day...but 2 days later it was a little dry (though the flavor was still there). The frosting was the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Frosting...and that was a success. The cupcakes were cheating, boxed cake and frosting (although it was kinda Semi-Homemade with added coconut milk!).





































So, I also made a bunch of BBQ Chicken Drumsticks tonight to have for the rest of the week. Here's the recipe!

1 med. can of tomato sauce
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. hot sauce
Dash each: chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, paprika

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Bring these ingredients to a boil, then leave on medium-low. Clean and dry the chicken drumsticks, placing in a large bowl. Cover drumsticks in the sauce and then place on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour, turning and recovering in sauce every 10 minutes. Yum!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Lasagna (Inspired from Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients:

1 package oven-ready lasagna noodles
1 jar tomato sauce
1/4 white onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 links Italian sausage, casing removed, browned
1 bunch kale, cleaned and chopped
2 tubs ricotta cheese
1 package mozzarella cheese
1/2 tub parmesean cheese
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Bring large stock pot of water to a boil. Boil kale for appx. 8-10 minutes (until tender). Drain and set aside.

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add sausage, to heat. Add sauce and kale.

In a bowl, combine ricotta, 1/2 package of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 package parmesean cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper.

In lasagna dish, layer as follows. Noodles, sauce, cheese...until full. Then top with remaining sauce, mozzarella and parmesean cheese.

Bake for 1 hr. Broil for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010

Caldo Verde

So, my news years resolution is to only cook from my cookbooks (instead of finding recipes online, which i have been doing for, oh, 2 years now). So! My first "new" culinary adventure was to make this Portuguese Greens Soup, which is from The Joy of Cooking (75th Anniversary edition...thanks mom and dad!) Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 c. chicken stock
2 large potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. olive oil
3 links Italian sausage, casing removed
4 c. washed, dried, chopped kale
2 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Saute onion and garlic in large stock pot in olive oil. Add chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 20 minutes. In a skillet, brown the sausage in olive oil, then add to soup. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add kale, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice and enjoy!