London Broil w/ Tomato-Bell Pepper Pizzaiola Sauce
There is something about large cuts of meat that is just amazing. I always feel like a large tenderloin or roast is always much juicier and flavorful than individual pieces of meat. Lucky for me, my mom belongs to a local farm and receives ungodly amounts of meat. I have had a two-pound hunk of beef in my freezer tantalizing me for months. I had not gotten around to cooking it because I did not want to cook the entire thing for only two or so people. This weekend I finally had the chance to have a dinner party, if you want to call it that, and serve this delicious cut of meat to a group of friends.
Throwback Thursday: Butternut Squash Gnocchi w/ Moroccan Lamb Sauce
I am laughing while writing about this week’s Throwback Thursday recipe. Don’t get me wrong, the dish was delicious, I just had a few mishaps while trying to prepare it. This meal was my first time eating butternut squash. I spent ages trying to find a recipe that I thought would be a good intro for the new veggie. Finally, I decided to make gnocchi, something else that I had never made before. I ended up making the gnocchi way too wet and struggled to make well-shaped pasta. At the time I had no idea that the pasta was too wet and was dumbfounded on how people made their gnocchi have the cute little fork marks in them. To this day I have still not made gnocchi again. It is something I should probably think about doing in the near future.
Throwback Thursday: Spiced Pork Tenderloin w/ Sauteed Apples
There is something peculiar about combining sweet and salty flavors. I used to find my self being skeptical about pairing strange flavors, but recently they have really begun to intrigue me. Pork and apples is an old favorite combination of sweet and salty that never has seemed to bother me, probably because it is so common. Today, I find myself trying to find more unique combinations, but this is one recipe that will definitely still stay in the back of my head.
This recipe is great to serve when you have guests. The shallots give the sauteed apples a unique salty kick which pairs perfectly with a tasty slice of spiced pork tenderloin. A nice scoop of garlic mashed potatoes serves as a great side for this dish.
Baked Lamb & Spinach Manicotti Bundles + Awards!
While continuing my quest for unique Italian meals that aren’t pasta dishes, I came across an article in Clean Eating magazine on ways to make hearty Italian food a bit healthier. Although I didn’t take their advice on using fish instead of red meat, I did take their advice on using low-fat dairy products and whole wheat pasta. For this recipe I was sure to add lots of spinach for added nutrients.
Falsomagro
My roommate recently went to visit her brother in Switzerland. While she was there she ventured over to Italy and was nice enough to get me an authentic Italian cook book. To thank her for the cook book, I told her I would cook her a recipe out of it. I spent hours reading over all of the unique Italian recipes. Eventually, we decided on Falsomagro.
I had never even heard of Falsomagro before seeing it in this book. Vegetarians beware… Falsomagro is a protein loaded Italian meat dinner from Sicily. It is a large flank steak filled with bacon, Italian sausage, eggs and cheese, then rolled up and slow cooked. I am 100% a meat eater, so I was pretty excited about packing as many proteins as possible into a big hunk of beef. I was a bit worried about cooking the meat for so long; I thought it was going to end up over-cooked, but it ended up being surprisingly tender! This is a great meal for a dinner party; it serves a lot of people and is very filling. I served my Falsomagro with parmesan roasted asparagus and potatoes.
Throwback Thursday: Wonton Soup
There are a few classic things that I feel like every cook needs to try at some point, even if you just cook at home for fun. Wontons are one of those things. I personally think they are kind of a hassle, but they are a good thing to know how to make and will expand your culinary skills. This week’s throwback recipe is from the first time I ever made wontons, for a wonton soup.
This soup is light and healthy. It is great if you are feeling a bit under the weather or if you simply want a refreshing lunch on a cold day. The fried wontons give the soup a nice crunch if fried properly. I usually struggle with frying things since I don’t have a thermometer and don’t fry things that often. It’s important to fry the wontons at the right temperature or else they will burn (too hot) or get soggy (too cool). Enjoy!
Savory Pesto, Sausage & Spinach Turnovers
I will start this post by saying that I am aware of my pesto addiction. I find myself putting pesto on everything. The original recipe I found for these turnovers did not include pesto or cheese, but I felt that they would keep them from being too bland. My mom recently posted a recipe for Homemade Italian Sausage that had me intrigued. I was surprised how easy it was to make! I think if you are planning on dicing up your sausage, you might as well just make your own.
These turnovers are a perfect lunch or easy-to-eat dinner. They have lots of healthy veggies and delicious flavor all packed into one little turnover (or one large if you are me!). You want to be sure to strain out the excess liquid after cooking the filling, otherwise you will end up with a soggy turnover.
Also, you will notice that my recipe is in a new format. I finally got my new plugin, Easy Recipe, to work (HUGE thanks to my IT friend Cooper here in Cape Town!). If you are a food blogger you should definitely get this plugin, it helps your recipes get noticed on big search engines like Google by formatting them properly for the recipe search.
365 Days of Slow Cooking Guest Post: Cafe Rio Pork
Today I would like to share with you a great slow cooker recipe, courtesy of Karen over at 365 Days of Slow Cooking. Being a snowboarder, I love slow cooker recipes. I can just put everything in the pot, then head out for the hill for the day. Karen’s site has tons of delicious slow cooker recipes for those who could always use a bit more time. She also has her own cookbook as well! With that said, I would like to welcome Karen!
-Jenny
Baked Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Taquitos
I don’t know if I ever mentioned that my most recent job was at Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (don’t ask me why they decided to make their name so much longer and more annoying to say). After working at restaurants for so long, this job was so slow some days that I would read the cooking magazines at the register and write down recipe ideas; my boss probably wouldn’t have been too stoked, but what can you do!? I am getting off topic though, being a cashier is pretty cool as a foodie for one reason- seeing what everybody is buying and spending all day thinking what you want to make for dinner that night. The other day at work, a lady bought taquitos and reminded me how much I loved them, and how long it had been since I had had them!
I went home that night on a mission to make my own, healthier, taquitos. I added roasted red peppers and green onions to give them some extra flavor. I also baked them, instead of frying them, which makes these tasty things much healthier. I would highly recommend making your own taquitos so that you can add your own twist like I did, it is much more rewarding! I also need to warn you that this recipe makes pretty big taquitos, three were plenty for me and I usually eat like ten!
Throwback Thursday: French Onion Cheesesteak Sandwich
I am a huge fan of French onion soup. I love making it homemade because it is so easy, plus I think mine tastes better than most bought ones. This week’s throwback recipe is one of my random creations, there might already be a recipe for this but I thought I was pretty dang smart for creating this.
One day, after a long day of snowboarding, I was craving French onion soup but I was starving and wanted more substance to it. I came up with this French-Philly hybrid sandwich. It was absolutely delicious, but super messy! You will definitely want napkins handy while eating this bad boy.
On a side note, I am leaving for South Africa today!! I am going to still try to post recipes that I made before I left, but they might not be as frequent. I am also going to have a few foodie friends post guest posts to help satisfy your cravings while I am gone. Also, keep an eye out for posts about my food adventures in Cape Town; I heard you can eat alligator there!
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