Dinner Last Week #7

Hey friends, what's new?

I feel like I'm starting to fall back into a normal routine after all of our moving and life events over the last year, but I still haven't managed to find my blogging groove.  If there could only be 1 more day in every week....free day that is.  Anyway, I know every woman/mom on the planet probably suffers from this as well, so cheers ladies!

MONDAY - Grilled Steak and Joy The Bakers Pistachio Crusted Asparagus with Feta

This was actually supposed to be Sunday's dinner but someone rolled in super late (you know who you are)....so we ate it on Monday instead.  No photo of the steaks but I got them at the Sunday Farmer's Market from Lucky Dog Ranch; they were delicious as all of their products are.  I had prepped the asparagus on Sunday (ground pistachios and vinaigrette), so we were ready to roll with that.  You can find Joy's recipe here.  This was a nice twist on our typical grilled asparagus and would do well as a dinner party or fancy brunch side.

TUESDAY - Ravioli with Homemade Steak and Asparagus Marinara aka Monday's leftovers made into pasta

Source

So, I used Trader Joe's Porcini Mushroom and Truffle Triangoli, cooked as directed on the package.  In a skillet I sauteed about 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1/4 cup of olive oil, then added 1 can of tomato sauce.  I turned up the heat to med-high and stirred until the oil and tomato sauce started to come together. While that was happening I chopped up our leftover asparagus and steak, then dumped it into the sauce mixture (including all of the vinaigrette and pistachio mixture in the container). Once everything was warm, I added the cooked trangoli and served with shredded Parmesan.  This was actually way better than we were expecting and made a nice use of our leftovers.






WEDNESDAY - Seriously, I can't even remember

And that's no joke.  So instead I want to tell you about this:

Shutterbean's Quinioa & Tabouleh Salad

You can find this recipe here.  This is a really delicious and hearty salad, plus its vegan, if you dig that.  I first made it on a weeknight, if you do this I recommend at least cooking your quinoa beforehand. It takes a long time for that shindizzle to cool off, so it makes for quicker prep to do it the day before.  Tracy uses pomegranate molasses in her recipe, which I couldn't find....even at Whole Foods (where did you get that stuff Tracy??).  Instead I used regular molasses and about 1/2 teaspoon of grape jelly to sweeten it up.  This salad was so good we made it again for our family at Easter.
P.S.  Please ignore the two large pieces of bread.  The end.





THURSDAY - Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Yep, Taco Thursday strikes again at our house, although these days we're eating them as chicken burritos. Recipe can be found here.

FRIDAY - A bowl of cereal

Does it seem fancier when I italicize it?  We had a great catered lunch at work from Mama Kim's and nobody else was hungry either, so cereal it was.

That's that.  What have you been eating lately?

TCW

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

One of my favorite things about summer is the BBQ.  And another spring/summer favorite is fresh herbs.
I seriously ♥ the herb ladies at our farmer's market.  I mean, 3 bunches of cilantro for $1?!
Heck yeah I say.
Plus, I think having fresh herbs in the house makes me a better cook.  Just sayin.

So let's get to those herbs I was talking about....

I had some herbs.  Thyme, mint, cilantro and basil (not pictured).

So I blended those herbs up with some other good stuff and poured them into a ziploc bag with my pork tenderloin and stuck in the fridge for about 4 hours or so.

And then The Cyclist BBQ'd it.

And then we ate it.  And it was good.
It was so good that we wished we had more of the herb mixture to use as an aioli, so for you, I've doubled the original recipe here so you can do just that.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. thyme (chopped)
2/3 cup mint, roughly chopped and packed into measuring cup
1 cup cilantro (chopped)
6 tbsp. olive oil
Juice of 1 whole lemon
1 cup chopped red onion
2 tsp. sea salt
4 tsp. garlic pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tbsp. sun dried tomato (I bought the bag of sun dried's at Trader Joe's)

How to:

Put everything in your blender and puree.  Pour half over your meat of choice (we used pork tenderloin) and save half to use as an aioli after cooking.

Enjoy!

Recipe is also at Tasty Kitchen.

I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty grub!
Everyday Tastes
Frugal Follies
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Miz Helen's Country Kitchen
The Nourishing Gourmet
Beyer Beware

Marinara #4 - Light & Saucy

It's summer.
Sometimes eating a big steaming bowl of pasta in the summer doesn't sound so good.
Especially when it's 106°.
Like it is here.

But what if you could have some swuass that's light?
Just enough to cover your weirdly shaped pasta but not overly-hearty?
That's the ticket I say!

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp. chopped garlic (I used two large cloves)
2 tbsp. olive oil
6 cups of chopped tomatoes (or fill up your 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup 3 times)
1 tsp. of salt

How to:

Heat up a large stock pot and add olive oil.  Add chopped onions and garlic, and saute until the onions start to become translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook at a low to medium temperature, stirring frequently until the tomatoes cook down (I also use my wooden spoon to smash the tomatoes against the sides of the pot, speeding up the process).  Once the tomatoes are cooked down, pour everything into the blender and blend until smooth.  Stir in salt to taste.  Eat now or freeze for later.

Enjoy!

P.S.  I'll have to share the recipe for those there turkey zucchini meatballs someday too!

**I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty recipes!
The Healthy Home Economist
New Life on a Homestead
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
My Sweet & Savory
Beyer Beware
Delightfully Dowling
Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
All the Small Stuff
Real Food Forager
Growing Home
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
The Tasty Alternative
The Kings Court IV
Gluten Free Homemaker
This Chick Cooks
Lady Behind the Curtain
It's a Keeper
Frugal Follies
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Miz Helen's Country Kitchen
Pennywise Platter

Asian Turkey Burgers

The last time I went to Costo I bought a crapton of ground turkey.

Apparently I thought there was going to be a turkey shortage or something.

Needless to say, we were tired of turkey.  Turkey Tired I Say!

That's OK though.  It forced me to get creative.

I threw that plain old ground turkey in a bowl and added some new friends.  Mint.  Green Onion.  Cilantro.  Jalepeno.  Ginger.  Sesame Oil.  Soy Sauce.  Garlic.  And one old friend - ripped up bread to hold those patties together.

The end result was a new and tasty turkey creation!

We enjoyed these over wild rice, topped with Sriracha and sliced avocado, but they'd be good on a bun too!

Recipe as follows....enjoy friends!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground turkey (I'm usually cooking for 2 1/2, so a half a package works for us, if you have a bigger family you can double this recipe up, or make extra patties to freeze)

1/4 cup chopped mint

4 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp. diced jalepeno

1 1/2 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced or squished in a garlic press

1 tbsp. sesame oil

1/4 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium, always)

1 piece of sandwich bread ripped up into small pieces

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 sliced California avocado 

How to:

Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mash together with your clean hands.  

Form patties, the recipe above will yield 2 big patties or 2 regular sized patties plus one small kid sized patty.  The patties will be very wet.  I usually make a ball with the meet then toss it down onto a piece of parchment paper to flatten out, then do patty formation.

Cook in a frying pan (or a grill pan) at a medium heat until cooked through.  A good tip is to wait to flip until you see that the sides are starting to show as "done".

Top with sliced avocado.

Enjoy!

You can also find this at Tasty Kitchen!

I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty recipes!

The Healthy Home Economist - Monday Mania

New Life on a Homestead - Homestead Barnhop

Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's - Melt in your Mouth Monday's

All the Small Stuff

Real Food Forager

Growing Home Blog

Cookin' Canuk - Join Dine & Dish and Cookin’ Canuck for the California Avocado 4th of July Blast, sponsored by the California Avocado Commission

Penne, Portabella and Prosciutto

I thought up this dish the other day.  Later this week I will be trying a new recipe that calls for Prosciutto; I knew I would have extra so I was trying to think of another way to use it up.  This recipe was inspired by The Pioneer Woman's Portobello-Prosciutto Burgers, but I wanted to make pasta dish.....so here goes....

The Suspects: Penne, Prosciutto, Portabella's, fresh basil, red onion, garlic & diced tomatoes.

I also used salt & pepper, red chili pepper and olive oil (to be shown later).

First, mince the garlic, slice the onions & chop the portabellas...

Then, heat up your pan (I used a 13 inch skillet with a lid), once hot, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

I added the portabella's first...

....then the onions & garlic....

...add some salt & pepper and red chile pepper....

...I cooked this on medium heat for a bit, then added the whole can of diced tomatoes (do not drain)...

...put a lid on it and let it simmer at a low heat while you do other stuff.

Like, start your water boiling...

(Note - I probably should have done this earlier, like before I sauteed the vegetables, but I was busy taking pictures and playing with all my new kitchen stuff from the wedding!)



Oops!  Can't forget about the prosciutto!  I cut it in strips (horizontally) and added it to the sauce.

Now put the lid on and let it simmer at low heat while you do some more other stuff.

Like, slice up some fresh basil (love that smell!)

Once your water is boiling, add the pasta...

(I used the whole bag, I'm Italian, I don't know how to cook "small")

Once your pasta is just about done, add the fresh basil to the sauce...

(when I type "sauce" I hear it in my head as "swuaas", can't help it)

YUM!

Once your pasta is done, drain it. 

Now, I usually rinse my pasta in HOT water to remove the starch and keep the pasta from sticking.  Mr. O (The Cyclist) swears that putting olive oil in the boiling water solves this, but I disagree.  I hate it when the pasta sticks in clumps so I'm a firm believer in my rinsing method.  However, I did not rinse the penne, it wasn't sticking and we were hungry.  It took a little longer than anticipated to make this because I waited too long to start boiling the water.

So, plate the pasta in your pasta bowl first, then add some swuaas to the top and a little grated Parmesan if you have it....

...and Viola!

Reviews:  Mr. O & I thought this was good.  At first Mr. O suggested I add a little spice, but as we ate this the spiciness kicked in.  The portabella's tasted great!  The Prosciutto gave a little added meatiness without making it a heavy, meaty sauce which is no good in the middle of a hot summer.  I think this is a swuaas that the longer it simmers the more flavor it will have, so maybe it was good that I accidentally delayed on boiling the water.  We eat a lot of pasta so I am always looking for ways to make it a little different, this is probably something I'll make again.

I have posted the full recipe at Tasty Kitchen Penne, Portabella, Prosciutto