Lunch Time: Soup and Sandwich!!

Prior to my transplant in 2010 I woke up every morning starving and ready to eat breakfast. Since then I don't know if it is due to all the medications I now take or what but I just can not eat a big breakfast. If Danny and I go for breakfast with his parents on the weekend sometimes the most I can handle is a bowl of grits and maybe a bagel but not much more.

Thats why I am pretty big into lunch and of course dinner! My usual standby is some sort of soup and sandwich combo with a little variety every once in awhile. I love making homemade soup but I haven't done that in awhile (I have actually been looking recently for a good ham/bean soup) so its the canned version I have been eating lately. 

The sandwich that I made for myself the other day is a sandwich actually made for me YEARS ago by my Aunt (my dads sister.) I think she just made it up....remember a few days ago me telling you how good my grandma was at cooking something out of nothing? Well my Aunt got that same awesome gift! Me.again.not so much....

Ingredients:
2 slices bread
Mayo
Cream cheese
Deli meat (ham, turkey, etc.)
1-2 Slices American cheese
2 Slices tomato
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1. Toast Slices of bread.
2. Take a few slices of deli meat and top with the slices of cheese and heat in the microwave for about 30 sec. or just till the cheese is melty.
3. On the toasted bread, spread the cream cheese on one slice and the mayo on the other slice.
4. Place the meat/cheese on the slice with the mayo, then top that with the slices of tomato, salt and pepper to taste and then top that with the bread slice that has the cream cheese on it.
5. Slice in half and enjoy! 

I know it might sound a little strange but I love it and its something out of the norm of just a regular grilled cheese sandwich (which believe me I eat a lot of!)

YUM!!

And just because I think its cute, my owl soup bowl I got from my Mom for Xmas! 

Well, I am off to make dinner. Look at me with TWO blog post in one day....YAY!! :) 

Quick Snack

The other day while I was waiting for Danny to come home so I could start dinner (he worked later than usual) I was a little hungry but I didn't want to eat something real filling since dinner wasn't to far off the horizon. 

So, I opened up my trusty Macbook and went to my all time FAVORITE cooking blog For the Love of Cooking! I go on Pam's blog several times a week just to go over her many recipes to get different ideas on what I would like to make. She also takes amazing pictures of her food, something I really want to learn how to do better! 

I remembered that on one of my many trips to her blog I saw a simple recipe for what she calls Tomato and Basil Sandwich with a Twist. Its an open face sandwich on bagel thins which I just love because I love bagels but sometimes a whole regular size bagel is just to much bread...the bagel thin is a perfect size for an afternoon snack or a light lunch! 

Anyway, I didn't have all the exact ingredients she used but it was close enough! If you want her original recipe you can go see it here. 

Tomato and Basil Sandwich with a Twist!
Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat bagel thin, toasted
• Philadelphia cream cheese (as much or as little as you like) 
• 1 tomato, sliced
• Basil leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Toast your bagel then spread the cheese evenly over both slices of bagel.
2. Top the cheese with basil leaves then the tomato slices.
3. Season the top with salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

**I have in the past made this with the everything bagel and it was FANTASTIC I just didn't have that on hand this time! 

Enjoy and have a great day!! :) 

Country Fried Steak with Creamy Mashed Potatoes!

Last night I did not cook dinner, instead Danny and I went with his brother and some friends to check out a new "wing night" spot (new to us, not them.) 

We had a wing place that we frequented almost every week with his parents but it ended up closing down. That place had wings for $.45 a piece every Wednesday and the new place we went to last night was $.55. I of course get plain wings and then dip it in ranch because I have such a sensitive palette to anything spicy that even mild is to much for me sometimes (I know I am a wuss, can't help it!) Danny on the other hand gets Molten Lava Hot Spicy Garlic that smells SO spicy that when it comes to the table its like my nostrils are on fire...true story. 

BUT, the night before I cooked and it was de-li-cious!! The previous week when I was at the supermarket I noticed they had cube steak on sale and I though to myself "we haven't had country fried steak in FOREVER" So I picked us up a couple packages. This is hands down one of my favorite meals and its not hard to make it just makes a HUGE mess in my kitchen. By the time I am done cooking there is flour all over the kitchen from dredging the steaks plus grease splatter that ends up all over my stove after frying them in my cast iron skillet. But in the end taking that perfect bite of fried steak with creamy country gravy is SO worth the mess....

I have made several different recipes through the years but its the Pioneer Woman's recipe for country fried steak that I love. When Ree's show first aired on the food network I wasn't really sure what to make of her (and honestly thought she was kind of annoying) but after making a couple of her recipes, this one being one of the first I came to the conclusion that she is an absolute miracle worker in the kitchen! The following two recipes one for Country Fried Steak and the other for Creamy Mashed Potatoes both came from Ree's cookbook "The Pioneer Woman: Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl"

Lets get to it shall we.....

Country Fried Steak...aka Chicken Fried Steak by Ree

Ingredients:

1. 3 pounds Cube Steak (tenderized Round Steak That's Been Extra Tenderized)
2. 1-1/2 cups Whole Milk
3. 2 whole Large Eggs
4. 2 cups All-purpose Flour
5. 2 teaspoons Seasoned Salt
6. 1 1/2 teaspoons Freshly ground black pepper
7. 3/4 teaspoon paprika
8. 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I honestly used only 1/8 tsp but we already discussed me being a wimp)
9. 1/2 cup Canola Oil, For Frying
10. Salt and Pepper
11. 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Begin with setting up an assembly line of dishes. Mix the milk with the eggs in one; the flour mixed with the seasoned salt, black pepper, paprika and cayenne in another. Then have one clean plate at the end to receive the breaded meat.
2. Work with one piece of meat at a time. Sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and black pepper, then place it in the flour mixture. Turn to coat. Place the meat into the milk/egg mixture, turning to coat. Finally, place it back in the flour and turn to coat (dry mixture/wet mixture/dry mixture). Place the breaded meat on the clean plate, then repeat with the remaining meat.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the butter. Drop in a few sprinkles of flour to make sure it's sufficiently hot. Cook the meat, 3 pieces at a time, until the edges start to look golden brown, about 2 minutes each side. Remove the meat to a paper towel-lined plate and keep them warm by covering lightly with another plate or a sheet of foil. Repeat until all the meat is cooked.

Now, if you have Ree's cookbook you will see she also has a recipe for country gravy. I will hang my head in shame and say that my gravy actually came from a packet...I know, I know but it was STILL delicious! :) 

We had creamy mashed potatoes that I kind of adapted from another recipe by The Pioneer Woman. In her recipe you make the mashed potatoes and then put them in a baking dish and finish them off in the oven. I skipped the last step and just served them after mashing them.

Ingredients:

1. 2 1/2 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
2. 1/2 stick Butter, Softened
3. 1/2 package (4 Oz.) Cream Cheese, Softened
4. 1/2 cup (to 3/4 Cups) Half-and-Half (i just used whole milk cause that's what I had)
5. 1/2 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
7. 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper

Directions:

1. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes in a large colander. Place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape before adding in all the other ingredients.
3. Turn off the heat and add butter, the cream cheese, half-and-half (or milk), seasoned salt, kosher salt and pepper. Mash to combine.

**I served them at this point but if you want to go ahead with the original recipe you can find it here. 

And here is my final plate! I served them with buttered green beans and a side salad...

P.S....im still trying to decide/learn how to use my new camera. Im not 100% sure if I am gonna keep it yet or get a new one. We shall see.

Pasta in Olive Oil with Pancetta, Shallots and Garlic!!

Well I have FINALLY decided to dust off the old blog and and get back into the habit of cooking and then documenting my food here. Its not that we have been not eating around here, trust me on that one!

It all started with my camera's battery charger deciding it didn't want to charge anything anymore which left me without a working camera. Of course I had my trusty IPhone but unfortunately with all of the meds I am on because of my transplant my hands shake a lot and makes for some VERY blurry pics and I just didn't want to post pictures of my food that tasted SO good but looked SO crappy once I snapped the picture!

Then I had a few months of being in and out of the hospital due to severe nausea caused by a lovely med I am on that just hates me and causes me all kinds of problems! So I literally at one point didn't eat really anything of substance for like a week because everything I ate, smelled,  or even looked at made me sick so the LAST thing I wanted to do was cook and blog about it. Luckily (knock on wood) I am better and working at trying to pack on some of the calories I lost PLUS I got a new camera for Christmas so I am ready to rock and roll!! :)

I have SO many recipes that I have made recently that I want to share with you PLUS I am attempting to channel my inner craftiness and I borrowed my mom's sewing machine so that I can TRY and attempt a few DIY projects around my house. I am so inspired when I read some of these amazing moms out there who can turn nothing into something fabulous and if I can even have a remote oz of that I will take it! LOL I will be trying to take pics of my sewing projects along the way and post about them (good or bad) so keep your fingers crossed for me...

Today, I thought to myself ok today when you make lunch document it so you can get your first blog post of the year up...mid Feb I know but better late than never, right?

So anybody who knows me knows I love to cook but am still pretty terrified if I don't have a recipe and I think its cause I just don't trust myself or something I don't know. My grandma can go into a kitchen, a dash here, a pinch there and out comes a fabulous meal every time! Me not so much.

So when I was hungry this afternoon but didn't want the old stand by of soup and a sandwich I decided I would look through my pantry and fridge and just try and make lunch by "winging it" and I don't mean to pat myself on the back or anything (ok I do!) but I think I did a pretty good job!

Here's the ingredients I came up with:

Spaghetti noodles~ 4oz (about half a box)

Olive Oil~ 2 tablespoons, or more as needed

Parmesan Cheese~ 1/2cup grated from a block of Parmesan

Pancetta~ 4oz (you could use bacon here if you don't have the Pancetta on hand)

1 Shallot~ chopped

4 cloves of garlic~ minced (can you tell I LOVE garlic?)

Fresh Parsley~ about 2 tablespoons....just to add some pretty color! 

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of large salted water to a boil.
2. While that gets started go ahead and put the oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and minced garlic, stirring occasionally. Then add the pancetta and cook until nicely browned (about 10 minutes.) Turn off the heat.
3. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until tender. Drain it (or I just scoop it out and put it right in with the olive oil and pancetta) reserving some of the starchy pasta water.
4. Toss the pasta with the pancetta, shallot, garlic and olive oil. Stir in the cheese and parsley. If the mixture is dry, you can either add a little of the pasta water (which I did) or a little more olive oil. Taste and then adjust the seasoning if needed with salt and pepper.

**You most likely wont need a ton of salt because both the pancetta and parmesan have a salty flavor but I did end up adding a little bit to mine in the end! 

Well, there you have it. Nothing fancy but very flavorful (how could it not be with ALL the garlic...but can you really ever have too much garlic??) and I for one had a second helping!! 

I hope that since I have been away for so long I still have some people willing to check out my little old blog from time to time and I promise that if you come back and read I will post! 

Just heard the hubby pull up so I am off to start dinner! Its the Pioneer Woman to the rescue for tonights menu....more on that later....

Grilled Pork Chops with Peach Salsa and Caprese Salad Stuffed Tomatoes!

If there is one word to describe this dinner it would be DELICIOUS! Even my husband who the only way I know if he really likes something (because for the most part he will eat whatever I put in front of him) is if he goes for seconds. ACTUALLY said the words "Wow this is really good Babe" **talking about the pork chops with peach salsa** As for the stuffed tomatoes, everyone else loved them...him not so much but he isn't a huge fan of caprese salads in general so I was expecting that comment from him, but he still ate his entire plate! :) 

I was really proud of myself for even trying the pork chop recipe because I have always thought (due to a very traumatic...ok maybe not THAT traumatic but to me as a kid it sure seemed like it) I didn't like Peaches. But ever since my transplant I have been noticing that I like things now that I never liked pre-transplant. 

SO I told myself that I was going to start trying new recipes that I wouldn't normally choose to see if I like whatever food happens to be in it that I don't eat. If I don't like it, ok I won't make that recipe anymore. If I do, well then I just found something I can add to my list of likable foods! 

This was my first dinner with my new venture and boy was it a WINNER and guess what...I LIKE Peaches!! Who knew?? LOL

Ok so here are the recipes for both which I got from good ol' Sandra Lee by watching the Food Network...but don't worry I didn't have Cocktail time OR do a table scape. :) 

Grilled Pork Chops w/Peach Salsa 

Ingredients

Peach salsa:

• 1/2 red onion, diced (reserve the other half for Online Round 2 Recipe Orzo Soup with Pork)
• 2 peaches, halved, pitted and diced
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• Pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pork chops:

• 5 pork chops, end cut
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 
  

Directions

Salsa:

In a bowl toss all of the salsa ingredients together and set aside.

Pork chops:

Heat an outdoor grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.

Brush the pork chops with the oil. In a small bowl combine the chili powder, salt and pepper. Generously sprinkle the rub over both sides of each pork chop. Grill the chops until cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. (Set 1 chop aside for Online Round 2 Recipe, Orzo Soup with Pork.) Arrange the chops on a serving platter and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Serve the chops with the peach salsa.

Caprese Salad Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 5 beefsteak tomatoes
• 1 (1-pound) block mozzarella
• 1 (16-ounce) package orzo, cooked according to package instructions
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cut the tops off of 4 tomatoes and with a spoon remove the pulp from the inside, to form a bowl. Dice the pulp and half of the remaining tomato (reserve remaining half for the Round 2 Recipe Grilled Margherita Pizza). Dice the mozzarella to measure 1 cup. (Reserve the rest for the Round 2 Recipe Grilled Margherita Pizza.)

In a bowl, combine 2 cups of the orzo (reserve the rest for the Online Round 2 Recipe Orzo Soup with Pork), diced mozzarella, diced tomato, vinegar, olive oil, basil, and salt and pepper, to taste. Divide the mixture among the 4 tomatoes and serve.

There was A LOT of this orzo left over after stuffing the tomatoes!

SO good...I LOVE tomatoes! 

and here it is ALL put together in its yummy wonderful-ness! :)

As always, let me know if you try this recipe and what you think! I have SEVERAL dinners back logged that I have to type out and post then I have one recipe this week that goes in my "try new things" category so we will see how well that turns out! I can only do one weird recipe a week to try...im not that adventures! 

**watch these two recipes when you go to buy your ingredients because she has you buy more so that you have enough food for what she calls "round two recipes."  If you don't plan on looking those up (she tells you what they are in the directions of each) you can get away with buying less ingredients of some things**

Good Night! Xo