Sloppy Janes

Traditional Sloppy Joes call for ground beef but I like to use ground turkey or chicken to make it healthier. I also like to make mine from scratch, so I can avoid HFCS. 

Who am I kidding? I usually have to make the sauce on my own b.c I am too lazy to go to the store and actually buy a can.

But when you make it on your own, you can also add some spices and different flavors and then try to convince your husband it is from a can. Good times!

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground turkey or chicken

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup ketchup

3 teaspoons brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

~Brown meat in a large skillet over medium high heat until cooked through. Drain.

~Combine the remaining ingredients and heat on medium until hot. Serve immediately. 

recipe by:The Good Wife

Pumpkin Lasagna and CSA Potluck

Way back in September our CSA farm hosted a potluck for all the members of the CSA.  We got pumpkin that week and I was burned out of sweet pumpkin dishes.  I decided I would make a pumpkin lasagna with chard and walnuts. Because I had to corral The Good Daughter, I was practically last in line for the food and when I got to my dish, it was all gone. So I take it, it was well received and I hadn't fucked it up.

I made a smaller batch later that week for dinner and it was amazing!  I added some sage sausage in our version and it was so hearty that even The Good Husband had a bite. I am so happy to have a savory pumpkin dish.

The Good Daughter is in love with chickens. They are able to get out of the fence and walk around the property. The first time a chicken jumped out of there, she gasped and looked at me in horror, like she knew that chicken was going to get in trouble.

fields

cows

our party

the chicken coop

  more fields

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 pounds Swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves washed well and chopped
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 cup walnut halves
3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan
1/2 cup milk
9 no-boil lasagne noodles (about 6 ounces)
1 tablespoon butter 

Directions:

~In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to moderately high and add the chard, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 tablespoon sage, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cook, stirring, until the chard is wilted and no liquid remains in the pan, 5 to 10 minutes.

~Heat the oven to 400°. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups of the pumpkin, 3/4 cup cream, 1/2 cup Parmesan, and the remaining 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 tablespoon sage, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. 

~Pour the milk into an 8-by-12-inch baking dish. Top the milk with one third of the noodles, then spread half the pumpkin mixture over the noodles. Layer half the Swiss chard over the pumpkin and top with half the walnuts and top with a second layer of noodles. Repeat with another layer of pumpkin, Swiss chard, walnuts and noodles. Combine the remaining 1 cup of pumpkin and 3/4 cup of cream. Spread the mixture evenly over the top of the lasagne, sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of Parmesan, and dot with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.

Alternative version:
~Brown one pound of sage sausage in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain and allow to cool. Add in with the Swiss chard layer. Bake as normal.

recipe modified from: Food and Wine

Pork Fried Rice

Week 7 of my CSA came with a great bonus - eggs and pork! For the last several weeks, my CSA has been sold out of their eggs. This week I was able to get two dozen eggs from free range, organically fed, Montessori educated chickens. They are a thing of beauty.

The other great bonus is a local farmer will now offer pork, poultry and goat products (soap, lotion, cheese) every week at our CSA pickup. This week, I picked up some goat cheese, pork ribs and pork chops.

It is so nice to see all the produce and now have options for meat so I can go home and just throw a meal together, like this one:

I used the carrots, bok choy, pork, onion, garlic and eggs in this dish and it was yummy. So yummy I was mad there was only enough left overs for one day and that went to The Good Husband.

I used brown rice in this dish, hence the reason the photo is so brown. I also need to start making and freezing bags of rice since brown rice takes so long to cook. We would have been able to eat a whole lot sooner, if I had premade rice.

Another tip with making stir fry is to have all the ingredients chopped, measured and ready to go since the cooking time is so fast. There is no time to cut the carrots while the pork cooks. So have everything ready to go and just dump in the wok.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound pork chops, cubed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon finely diced ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
2-3 small carrots, peeled and diced
3-4 heads baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
2 teaspoons white sugar
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon malt vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cups cooked rice

Directions:
~Heat half the oil in a hot wok until surface seems to shimmer slightly and stir-fry onion and ginger for 30 seconds. Add carrots and garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add sugar and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add pork and stir-fry for another 1 minute. Stir in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add bok choy and peas and cook for another few minutes. Add the cooked rice and cook until heated through.

~Make a well in the center of the wok and add the rest of the oil. Add the beaten eggs and stir until eggs are scrambled. Once the eggs are cooked, stir to combine them in the rest of the dish.

recipe modified from this one

Asparagus Crepes with Mushroom Dill Sauce

One of the things I said I love about my CSA is they give recipes every week for the veggies we get in the share. It gives me a ton of inspiration so none of the food goes to waste. This week I was inspired by a recipe for asparagus crepes with mushroom dill sauce. Since I had everything but the mushrooms on hand, this was an easy dish to make. And despite the fact the recipe seems long, I was able to make it in about 25 minutes.

This would be great for Meatless Monday. The Good Daughter and I had it for dinner the other night when The Good Husband was out for a boys night. While I love him and he has come a long way in expanding his acceptable foods list, I think this might be slightly over the line for him.

But I really loved it and TGD did too.

It was also the first time I ever made crepes and I did ruin the first three, so there is a learning curve. But once I got the first one out successfully, I got more confident and didn't ruin any more.

Ingredients:
For the crepes:
1/2 cup pastry flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup milk

For the sauce:
1 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh minced dill
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste

For the filling:
24 stalks asparagus

Directions:
To make the crepes:
~Combine flour & salt in mixing bowl. Make a well in the center & pour in the milk & oil. Beat till smooth. Heat a 6 or 7-inch skillet. When hot, pour in 1/4 c of batter & tilt skillet till it's evenly coated. Cook over moderate heat till lightly browned on the bottom. Flip & brown the other side. Remove & set on a plate. Repeat with the rest of the batter. You should have 6 crepes.

To make the sauce:
~Heat butter in a small pot. Add onion & garlic & saute over moderate heat till onion is golden. Add mushrooms & cover. Cook till the mushrooms are limp & juicy. Sprinkle in the flour & stir till it disappears. Slowly pour in the milk, stirring. Bring to a simmer, then stir in the dill & tarragon. Cook at a simmer till the sauce thickens. Stir in the lemon juice & season to taste. Remove from heat & cover.

To make the filling:
~Trim about 1/2-inch of the asparagus stalks & scrape off any tough looking skin. Cut stalks in half & steam till tender crisp.

To assemble:
~Place 6 asparagus stalks in the center of each crepe, letting the tips protrude from the top & overlapping the halved stalks in the center if necessary. Spoon a very small amount of sauce over the asparagus. fold one end of the crepe in towards the center & overlap the other end over it. Arrange the crepes, folded side down, in an oiled, shallow baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce evenly over the crepes.

~Bake in a preheated 350F oven until just heated through. Serve at once .(Since all of the components of the dish were hot, I didn't bake them. I just served them immediately with the sauce on the side.)

recipe by: Jeanne Veenstra

Chicken Gyros

I love traditional gyros and if the local place hadn't closed AND we had a leg of lamb on a spit, we would have had traditional gyros. However the thing I like about making my own is, I can adjust the sauce according to taste and use chicken, something we do have on hand.

I added more garlic to the sauce (of course) and grated some onion into it as well. While it didn't turn out as thick as our formerly local place, it was a hit with The Good Husband.

Ingredients:
1 seedless cucumber
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, divided
6 garlic cloves, minced, divided
1 tomato, diced
1 small onion
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 rounded teaspoon dried oregano
1 rounded teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
4 (8-inch) pocketless pita rounds
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced

Directions:
~Peel and grate 1 cucumber, then wrap it in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to remove excess water. Stir together with yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, half of garlic, 2 tablespoons grated onion and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to make tsatsiki. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

~Gently simmer oil, oregano, rosemary, remaining garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a small heavy saucepan, stirring constantly, until garlic is fragrant but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss chicken with 3 tablespoons garlic oil and brush one side of bread with remainder.

~Heat griddle over medium high heat and cook chicken until done, basting with remaining oil. Remove chicken from griddle and heat bread, oil side down for one to two minutes until slightly blackened.

~Top each pita with chicken, sliced onion and tomato and serve with tsatsiki.

recipe inspired by: epicurious

Skinny Pizza

I love pizza like a fat girl loves pizza. It might have something to do with why I am fat. But to remedy the fat part, I made this "skinny" pizza the other night for dinner.

I won't lie and say The Good Husband was all over it, b/c he wasn't. He wanted normal fatty pizza. But he ate it anyway and while not as good as fatty pizza, it was still food for ass friendly food.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound turkey sausage
Mozzarella cheese
Pizza sauce
Whole Wheat English Muffins

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 350.

~Brown turkey sausage in skillet over medium high heat. Set aside.

~Split English Muffins and place on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven. Top with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese and cooled sausage. Place back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted and warmed through.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Crab Cakes with Spicy Avocado Sauce

I made crab cakes for a light dinner the other night. It was supposed to be a healthier version of fish sticks. I slaved away in the kitchen making them while The Good Daughter hung out watching SuperWhy!

It was too late to take a decent photo, and coming from me that is a lot. While I liked them, TGD was skeptical.

Me? You want *me* to eat that

I don't fucking think so Mom

While it this was a good dry run, I think I will play around with the flavors next time. TGD did love the avocado dressing I served with it.

Ingredients:
For the sauce
1/2 ripe medium avocado, pitted and peeled
1 tablespoon low-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 fresh jalapeño, stemmed and quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup milk

For crab cakes
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over and coarsely shredded
3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup panko
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
~Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

To make the sauce:
~Pulse avocado with mayonnaise, lime juice, salt, sugar, and one fourth of chile in a food processor until chile is finely chopped. Add milk and purée until smooth. Add more chile if desired, processing until smooth. Transfer sauce to a bowl and chill, covered.

To make the crab cakes:
~Stir together crabmeat, mayonnaise, chives, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, and 1 tablespoon panko in a large bowl until blended well, then chill, covered.

~Melt butter in a medium nonstick skillet over moderate heat, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add herbes de Provence, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons panko and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Transfer crumbs to a plate to cool. Discard garlic.

~Divide crabmeat mixture into 4 mounds on a sheet of wax paper. Form 1 mound into a patty, then carefully turn patty in crumb mixture to coat top and bottom. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat with remaining 3 mounds, then sprinkle remaining crumbs on top of crab cakes. Bake until heated through, about 15 minutes. Serve crab cakes with sauce.

Recipe by: Epicurious

Angry loster and a shitty photo

I went to our local fish market the other day since they are one of the only places in town where I can get fresh sushi rolls to take home. I could get some at the Super Walmart too but Walmart and sushi should not go together.

As I was getting the sushi, I noticed a sale on lobster. I am generally a fan of lobster and while cooking a whole live lobster is a goal of mine, I decided to stick with just a tail this time. The last time I made lobster, I poached it in butter and while it was awesome, I wanted something different.

So I hopped on epicurious and found a recipe for Angry Lobster. With a name like that, it can't be bad. So I got to work preparing the lobster, when this happened:


I should have gone to the prompt care to get stitches, much like my mandolin experience, but I was home alone with The Good Daughter, so I just had to tape it up and move on. This is round 1 with the tape. I bled through this set up two more times before I got things under control. No blood got on the food though.

Moving on to the lobster. This was a firey fried version of lobster and what is not to love about that? I didn't want to add too much heat to this and overpower the lobster, so I was pretty conservative with the spices. It turned out really well, despite the shitty photo. I blame that on the pain.

I also didn't follow the sauce directions at all really. I just cooked some garlic and chili flakes in butter and served it on top of the lobster.

Sine I was only working with one tail, I cut this recipe way down. The following are the ingredients to make 3 whole lobsters.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons coarse salt plus more to taste
3 2-pound live lobsters
1 cup peanut oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
1 cup lobster or chicken stock
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 loosely packed cup fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup julienned Oven-Dried Tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
~Combine the flour, chili powder, cayenne, and salt in a plastic bag. Set aside.

~Remove the meat from the lobsters and place it into the seasoned flour. Shake to coat well. Remove the lobster from the flour and shake off any excess.

~Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.

~Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over high heat until smoking. Add the lobster pieces, cut side down, a few at a time, if necessary, and sear them for about 4 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Transfer the lobster to a baking sheet, and when all of the lobster is seared, place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.

~While the lobster is baking, prepare the sauce. Return the sauté pan to medium heat and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Sauté for about 3 minutes, or until the garlic is golden brown but not burning. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in the butter and remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the lemon juice, basil leaves, and the tomato julienne. I pretty much eliminated this step. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

~To serve, spoon sauce over lobster and serve immediately.

Recipe inspired by: this

Orange Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

I went a little crazy last week and everything we had for dinner was some sort of "Asian" dish. I use quotes, b/c let's face it, it's white girl Asian cooking at best. The Good Husband is hit and miss when it comes to Asian food. He will like something I would never in a million years think he would like - pad thai, summer rolls - and he will hate a dish that has only ingredients he likes. He is totally food bipolar.

But this is a healthy little dish that he was neutral about. And it didn't take that long to make either, which is good when you have a kid that can only watch 30 minutes of TV a day, then wants to be right next to the stove as you are cooking.

Ingredients:
For the sauce:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of soy sauce
4 tablespoons of orange juice
1 teaspoons ginger, fresh and grated
5-6 minced garlic gloves
2 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon hoisin sauce
3 teaspoon corn starch

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin
Canola oil
1 package broccoli slaw
1 cup cooked brown rice

Directions:
~For the sauce - Add all the ingredients in a screw top jar and shake to combine. For a ticker sauce, add corn starch by the teaspoon until desired thickness. Set aside.

~ In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown the chicken in oil until cooked through. Add the sauce, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add broccoli slaw and toss to combine.

~ Serve with cooked brown rice.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Chicken Taquitos

I have finally joined the 21st century and bought a smart phone. After taking two weeks to defeat Angry Birds, I turned to cooking apps and fell in love with Epicurious' app. This chicken taquitos recipe is a healthier version of the one found here. While my stomach would love a fried taquito, my ass would not appreciate it.

Even though they weren't fried, they were still pretty tasty and the Epicourious app is now 1-0. Download this thing if you have a smart phone. You will love it too.

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
8 oz light sour cream
1 (4 1/2-ounce) can chopped green chiles
2 cups frozen organic corn, thawed
1 small red onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced I used a combo of red and green
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Juice of one lime
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
24 whole wheat, low carb tortillas

Directions:
~Grill the chicken until done, allow to cool and shred with a fork.

~Combine the remaining ingredients, expect for the tortillas and mix thoroughly until well blended. Place a rounded tablespoon of the mixture onto each tortilla and roll tightly. Seal the edge with egg white and place seam side down on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

~Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes until the edges turn brown.

Makes 6 servings

recipe by: The Good Wife

Roasted Veggie Sandwich

I've had this recipe for a while. I saw in a wedding magazine in their shape up to fit in the dress special. I have been making it ever since, since it was tasty. However, I have no doubt that 7 years removed from the original article and recipe, it is not as healthy as it once was.

But it still is tasty.

Ingredients:
1 small eggplant, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 each red, orange, yellow and green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 olive oil
salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste
hummus
feta cheese
alfalfa sprouts
2 pieces of whole grain bread

Directions:
To roast veggies: Toss the veggies in the orange juice and olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning. Roast in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until tender and slightly charred.

To assemble: Spread hummus on two slices of whole grain bread, top with feta cheese, roasted veggies and alfalfa sprouts.

recipe by: The Good Wife

BBQ Pork and Coleslaw

This is another recipe The Good Husband saw and wanted to try. So far he has been pretty good about picking out winners.

We had this right after Halloween, when the weather was just started to hint at the coming winter and we were longing for something that reminded us of warmer days.

This dish was both easy and tasty. The BBQ pulled pork was easy enough to make. It was the coleslaw that really made this dish. I failed making coleslaw before, so this was a huge improvement.

I normally don't like my foods to touch, so I was also shocked at how much I liked it considering I would never allow my coleslaw to touch my sandwich on my plate normally.

I did modify the original recipe as well. The original called for BBQ chicken, but we had pork chops in the fridge that needed to be used. I also didn't make them "sliders" since 1.) I hate how the term is used too often and incorrectly in the food world and 2.) I like the big kaiser buns.

Ingredients:
Slaw
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup chopped green onion
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice (from a jar of pickles)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) package shredded cole slaw mix

Pork
1 cup bottled barbecue sauce
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 cups roughly shredded pork
Kaiser buns

Instructions:
~For coleslaw, whisk all ingredients together, except coleslaw mix, in a large bowl. Add coleslaw mix and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

~For shredded pork, cook pork in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or until fork tender. Shred. Combine barbecue sauce, vinegar and pork and stir to combine.

~To serve, place pork on bun bottoms, spoon coleslaw on top, top with remaining bun and serve.

recipe modified from: Relish Magazine

100 Mile Dinner

There is a movement to eat local that seems to be popular these days. There are also a ton of variations of the "eat local" motto. Some practice eating things produced within 100 miles of you. Some have wider regions they consider "local". It's all about what you consider local.

I try to eat local a majority of the time. When The Good Husband and I do go out to eat we try to eat a non-chain, locally owned places. I'm not fooling myself into thinking that everything they cook there is 100% locally produced but at least my money stays close to home and the business pays taxes to the fire, police, library and schools I use.

To me that is local enough.

This was the local meal that didn't know it was. Really, I didn't think anything about it until it was on the table and I realized everything - excluding one ingredient was local. I smirked to myself and thought how easy this eating local thing is.

The 100 mile dinner - give or take a few miles - included:
Pork patties bought from a local farm
Butter crisped herb potatoes from the farmer's market
Broccoli and cheese sauce from the farmer's market and local cheese farm
Side salad of blue cheese and walnuts from the farmer's market and local cheese farm
Glass of local wine

Roast Beef Panini

This is dinner for one of those nights where all you really have is the energy to make is a pb&j. Since a panini is the grown up version of a sandwich, you don't have to feel guilty for making such an easy dinner.

I like to serve seasoned oven fries with this and a side salad and call it a day.

Also, don't let some fancy cooking magazine tell you you need a sandwich press. You don't. You can save kitchen space and money and use a grill pan and a grill press and you will be fine. Or you can use a grill pan and a smaller pan to smoosh down the sandwich. Add a can of something - corn, green beans, tomatoes - to weight the pan.

But if you are just dying to spend $60, you can always just send the money my way.


Ingredients:
2 slices of french bread
Canola oil
Roast beef
Cheddar cheese
Horseradish Mayo (mayo with horseradish to taste)
Sliced red onion

Directions:
~Heat a grill pan over medium high heat.

~Brush one side of the slice of bread with canola oil. Spread the mayo on the opposite side of the bread. Place the oiled side down in the grill pan. Layer cheese, onion and meat on the bread.

~ Brush one side of the slice of bread with canola oil. Spread the mayo on the opposite side of the bread. Place the bread, mayo side down on the sandwich in the pan and using either a grill press or a small pan, toast the sandwich until golden brown, about 5 minutes each side, turning once.

~Serve immediately.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Birthday Dinner

The Good Husband's birthday was yesterday and I try to make his day special by making all his favorite foods. For breakfast he had eggs and 'taters. We then went to a local craft festival and had a small lunch of fresh fruit, sun tea and donuts.

It was hot as hell yesterday. Summer has officially hit central Illinois. It is supposed to remain in the 90s this week with something like 80% humidity. How wonderful.

So this means that I will shun the oven for favor of cooking things on the stove and the grill since we don't turn our A/C on until at least the end of June. TGH wanted steak for dinner so I cranked up the crappy grill pan I have and slaved away.

You can always tell when I cam cooking either steak or on the grill pan since I set the smoke alarms off every.single.time. The Good Baby is used to the screeching by now. It's the one way she knows dinner is ready.

So we had a great grilled dinner of local, grass-fed, organic steak topped with blue cheese from the Farmer's Market, grilled asparagus and organic polenta with purple spring onions and blue cheese. Yeah, I went a little crazy with the blue cheese, but damn, if that stuff isn't moldy heaven.

To grill asparagus:
Trim and wash asparagus. Heat a grill pan on medium high heat until hot. Place asparagus on the grill and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for a few minutes on each side, turning often.

To make polenta:
Ingredients:
4 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup corn meal
1 green onion, chopped
blue cheese crumbles

Directions:
~Bring the water to a boil and add butter. Stir until dissolved.

~Slowly whisk in the corn meal, breaking up any lumps that might form with the whisk. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, switching to a wooden spoon to stir frequently. Cook polenta on low for 30-40 or until thicken and the sides pull away from the pan. Add the onion and blue cheese to taste. Serve immediately.

NOTE: I didn't stir in the blue cheese, since I had to leave some sans cheese for TGB. I should have dished her plate first and then stirred the cheese in but I didn't think about it. Oh well.

Farmer's Market Salad

I told you here, that I scored strawberries, spring purple onion, blue cheese and mesclun mix at the Farmer's Market the other day. I pondered what I would make for dinner with everything and on the way home wished I had walnuts to make a yummy salad. But lo and behold, I had a package hidden in the back of the fridge. Score!

A blue cheese and walnut salad with seasonal fruit is a favorite of mine. Now normally a blue cheese and walnut salad is good on its own. Add fresh strawberries and the dish only gets better. But what made this dish great was the blue cheese. F**k me softly with a chainsaw, if it wasn't the best blue cheese I have had in a long time. It was amazing and I hope they have it next week.

It was such a nice simple dinner and a great way to kick off the Farmer's Market season.


Ingredients:
5-6 strawberries, sliced
1 spring onion, sliced
1/4 cup walnut halves
4 oz blue cheese crumbled
1 handful mesclun mix
The juice of one lemon
A hearty drizzle of olive oil

Directions:
~Combine the first five ingredients and toss to combine.

~Dress salad with lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Philly Cheese Steak

The Good Husband is a picky eater. He used to only eat burgers and fries and nothing else. Then he was introduced to a Philly Cheese Steak and now that is his go-to dinner. If any place has it on the menu, TGH will order it.

I should make a very important distinction here. TGH has never been to Philly and has never had a real Cheese Steak. He has only had Cheese Steaks from Midwest kitchens. I have only been east of Indiana once and that was to go to the beach, so I haven't had a real Cheese Steak either.

So I don't want to offend anyone that has had and knows how to make an authentic Cheese Steak with this recipe of a fake Cheese Steak. This is the kind of Cheese Steak you will get from a Midwest kitchen for someone who has never had a real Cheese Steak, made by someone who has never had a real Cheese Steak.

But, hey, it tastes as good as the ones from the state fair.

Ingredients:
2 lbs rib eye, sliced thin
2 green bell peppers, sliced thin
1 large onion, sliced thin
Canola oil
Hoogie Rolls
Sliced Provolone Cheese

Directions:
~Place meat in freezer for 20 minutes to allow the meat to firm. This will make slicing easier. After 20 minutes, remove from freezer and cut as thin as possible on a bias. Slice onion and peppers.

~On a very hot griddle, heat a few tablespoons of oil. Sautee the onions and peppers until soft and golden brown. Remove the onions and peppers and add the meat, cooking until no longer pink. Add the onions and peppers back to the griddle to heat through.

~Split the hoogie rolls and spoon in a generous helping of meat, onions and peppers. Place 2 slices of Provolone cheese on top and melt until a broiler for a few minutes until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

As you can see from the recipe that I make a ton of the filling. I like to freeze whatever I don't use, along with several slices of cheese, so that on nights when I don't feel like cooking, I can throw the mixture on the griddle and have dinner in a few minutes. You can freeze the rolls too, but I need my freezer space, so I usually just pick those up fresh.

recipe by: The Good Wife

The Godfather Sauce, a dish you can't refuse.

The Godfather is in my top ten favorite movies of all time. In high school, a friend and I were obsessed with this movie. We would ask each other all sorts of obscure movie trivia about the film (Which order does Apollonia say the days of the week in English?).

This so would have been one of those questions. Actually it might have.

But for some reason it was so funny to me to make this sauce from the movie that The Good Husband was entirely sick of me making jokes about it throughout dinner. That, or he was scared I was going to whack him.

For anyone that has never seen The Godfather, it follows the Corelone mob family in the late 40s. This scene takes place between Michael Corelone, son of the mob boss Don Vito, played by the young and smoking hot Al Pacino, and Peter Clemenza, Don Vito Corleone's caporegimes or high ranking made member of the Corelone family, played by the late Richard S. Castellano.



Ingredients:
Olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 pound Italian link sausage, cooked and diced into bite sizes
1 batch homemade Italian meatballs
1 cup of red wine, I used Pinot Noir
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
~"You start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic." I actually sauteed the garlic on low heat for about 10 minutes until golden.

~"Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste. You fry it. You make sure it doesn't stick. You got it to a boil, you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. Add a little bit of wine. A little bit of sugar. And that's my trick." Yeah, basically all that.

I served this sauce over regular spaghetti but the next day TGH made a killer (heh) meatball sub.
recipe by:Peter Clemenza

Italian Meatballs

I used this recipe to make my Godfather Sauce, but it is a good universal meatball recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground lamb
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup flour

Directions:
~Combine beef and lamb in a large bowl. Add garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.

~Add bread crumbs and wine to meat mixture. Mix to just combined, careful not to over mix the meat. Roll into about 16 2 inch meatballs. Roll the meatballs in the flour.

~Heat oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs until golden brown, turning once.

~Combine cooked meatball with marina sauce and simmer on low for 15 minutes until heated through.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Roasted Asparagus with Poached Egg and Balsamic Reduction

For the asparagus I recieved in my CSA box, I was torn between this recipe and beer battered asparagus. This won out (I don't want to get The Good Baby drunk, you know) and I will say that it was mighty tasty.


I have never made poached eggs before and honestly I was a little intimated by them. But after following the directions in the recipe to a tee and double checking with my Joy of Cooking, I was able to produce two decent poached eggs. One egg was a little more done than I would have liked but the other one was near perfection.

Everything in this meal, from the balasmic reduction to the Parmesan cheese was simple and perfect. All around a nice dinner.

Ingredients:
1 medium thick asparagus bunch, tough ends removed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon light-brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
4 large eggs
2 ounces shaved parmesan

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet with a rim, toss asparagus with oil. Season with salt. Bake until asparagus is lightly browned and tender, 15 to 18 minutes (timing will vary depending upon thickness of asparagus).

~In a small saucepan, cook balsamic vinegar and sugar over medium-high heat until syrupy and reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 6 minutes.

~Meanwhile, bring a large skillet with 2 inches of water to a simmer over medium heat. Add cider vinegar and season with salt. Break one egg at a time into a cup, then tip cup into pan. Simmer until whites are set and yolks are soft but slightly set, about 3 minutes. With a slotted spatula, scoop out eggs one at a time and drain on paper towels. With a paring knife, trim edges.

~Divide asparagus among four plates and drizzle with reduced balsamic. Top with shaved Parmesan and an egg.

recipe by: Martha Stewart