Portabello Pizzas

I like this dinner because it's yummy like pizza, but there's no pesky carby-crust. It's mushrooms! Not bread!!
I cook the mushrooms in a pan for a few minutes on each side. When it sweats out a little bit, I put the sauce and then the cheese, and put it in the oven for a few more minutes, usually at 300.
I've done it with pepperonis for MB, and you could really top it with whatever pizza toppings you might like.
Mmmm, pizza.....

Strawberry Shortcake

My Greatest. Accomplishment. Ever.

This is the first of two posts that were made for my very wonderful, very gracious, upstairs neighbors who let us abuse their deck. They have a great view of the Manhattan skyline, so are the obvious hosts of the July 4th BBQ Gala. To show my appreciation, I made this very pretty item, along with some other little things. But this, this is my baby:





And easy. The whipped cream isn't hard, it just took a lot longer than I had anticipated.

MB Muffin

I said this was an MB McMuffin, but was quickly informed that this was not in fact an egg mcmuffin but rather a sausage, egg and cheese on a muffin.

"If you ordered an egg mcmuffin, this is not what you would get" was the exact response.

Riiiight. I was pretty proud of my breakfast chef. He didn't want to write his post though. I had to, since I was the one that purchsed the egg "how did we ever live without this" ring. Yeah, we have problems.

English muffin, egg, cheese, sausage. Combine.

Mediterranean Tilapia

Tilapia, the blank canvas of fish. I like it, because you can do whatever you want to it and it holds up pretty nicely. This one is very heart-healthy, lots of "good" fats in the form of olive oil and just plain old olives. I do have to say though, I have no good suggestions on pitting olives. Just poke away until the pit comes out.

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon capers, drained
2 tilapia fillets
1 tablespoon oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together the sun-dried tomatoes, olives and capers. Set aside.
Place the tilapia fillets side by side in a baking dish. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the fish flakes with a fork. Check after 10 minutes, so as not to overcook, or the fish may be dry. When fish is done, top with the tomato mixture, and serve.

Creamy Dill Salmon

Cream Cheese. Fish. Mmmmmm.
It was quite the feast- the sauce was very creamy and stood up nicely to the salmon. I would probably add a little bit of jalepeno/garlic/onion (whatever was in the drawer) to give it a little bit more umph. Definitely a make again.

1 Tbsp. oil
4 salmon fillets (1 lb.)
1/2 cup fat free milk
1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) PHILADELPHIA Light Cream Cheese Spread
1/2 cup chopped cucumbers
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

HEAT oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add salmon; cook 5 min. on each side or until salmon flakes easily with fork. Remove from skillet; cover to keep warm.
ADD milk and cream cheese spread to skillet; cook and stir until cream cheese spread is melted and mixture is well blended. Stir in cucumbers and dill.
RETURN salmon to skillet. Cook 2 min. or until heated through. Serve salmon topped with the cream cheese sauce.

Chicken Adobo

I was so excited when I was making this marinade; it smells out of this world. I let it marinade for about two hours, and cooked it in the same dish. It was quite a hit, but we made margaritas along with it, so that might have had something to do with it. I cooked it for about 15-20 minutes on 350; pretty usual cooking time/temp.

Marinade:
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons fresh sour orange or lime juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Plenty of salt and freshly ground pepper
2 large whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), split in half (4 halves), washed, and blotted dry

Black Bottom Cupcakes

MB got PROMOTED!! These are the awesome cupcakes I made!! That we didn't taste!! Because my coworkers are mooches!!!

Enjoy:

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CREAM CHEESE CENTER
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup sugar, oil and water until blended. Stir in the vinegar and vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture until incorporated. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, 1/3 cup sugar and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Fill muffin cups 1/3 full with chocolate batter, then top with a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Bake cupcakes in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until done.

Blueberry Streusal Muffins

I have two favorite kitchen items: my stand mixer and my calphalan one ginormous sauceuse (large, deep pan thingy). Purr.
I like to send MB with breakfast a few times a week, and the super yummy cupcake like muffins from fresh direct were becoming prohibitively expensive. So I searched for blueberry muffins I could make on my own, and found this receipe:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
Stir the flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with milk. Fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping over unbaked muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean

I package them in little two muffin baggies, and freeze them because I made about 18 of them. They last a few weeks and he really seemed to enjoy them (and the one I snuck was pretty good too!).






(They're extra brown on the top because of the brown sugar topping)

Chicken Parm

I am scared to cook without receipes. I want to be one of those people that can look in the fridge and say "Hmmm, let's throw these three unrelated but awesome ingredients into a great dish." Chicken parm, however, is cooking for dummies. I had an egg that was almost ready to get tossed, breadcrumbs leftover from the meatballs, sauce and cheese. So, I dumped the chicken in the egg, coated it in breadcrumsb, cooked it in a pan, then finished it off in the oven topped with sauce and mozzarella. This, like the meatballs, was an MB dinner, as I just got in from a run and was feeling like some chicken on a salad was the best course to take. MB, however, loves cheese, sauce and breadcrumbs.

Lemon Chicken

I feel like each of my posts are turning into nostalgic trips through my sort of boring history. This one is no exception.

The very first "receipe" I made for MB and I upon our sinful cohabitation in Oct. '05 was Chicken Scallopini with Lemon Caper Sauce. I thought it looked gross, but MB had this cute "she's trying to take care of me" look on his face and told me it was lovely. I still think it looks kinda icky but tastes pretty great. I wind up putting lemon slices in while cooking, it gives it a little extra zip.

You'll need:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
3 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 cup fat free chicken broth
1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp drained capers, 1/2tsp olive oil

You dredge the chicken in 2 of the tbsps of flour, pepper and chili powder. Combine the other ingredients (except the olive oil).
Cook the chicken, turning once, in pan (my personnel favorite the subject of an upcoming post).
Take out the chicken, and cook the sauce until it thickens.
I add lemon slices while the chicken is cooking. It makes the pulp fall out and become part of the sauce.

Meatballs!

While on the plane to England for my semester abroad, I vowed to no longer eat meat. That was six years ago, and I haven't eaten a cow or pig since. I'm still a gigantic chicken and fish fan, though. However, my sweat Meatball is a protein lovin' red-blooded American male, so he definitely misses the meat stuff. In connection with this blog (and because organic ground beef was on sale) I took the big step and made that for which he is named: meatballs. Most have been frozen, three have been saved for the "testing" which I am sure will occur sometime after my glass of pinot has rendered me comatose on the couch.

The basic receipe is as follows:

2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tsp of worstesheeeeer sauce
1 1/2 tsps of salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 pounds lean ground beef.

Beat eggs and add everything except the meat. Mix together then add meat. Shape into 1 inch balls and bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.



In theory, you can freeze them for three months. Except that this batch didn't last that long. At all.

Chicken and Chickpeas

My favorite meals are ones in which I dirty only one pot. In this receipe (taken and slightly modified from Freshdirect), I got away with one dirty pot and a messy cutting board. I got a little lazy, and didn't make the couscous that was called for, but it turned out to be more of a soup than anything else. The ingredients made about three hearty bowls, so we had dinner and some leftovers for when one of us works late.

All you need is:
1 lb. chicken (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

Can of chickpeas

10 oz. box of frozen carrots and 10 oz. box of frozen squash (thawed)

1 cup of water

1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/2 tsp of tsp of cinnamon, 1/4 tspof paprika

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Chopped cilantro

All you have to do is:

Combine water, chickpeas, ginger, paprika, carrots, and squah and bring to simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Dump in the chicken and cilantro. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

We're big cilantro fans, so we used a bunch. You could also use parsley (which I didn't have). I was sort of skeptical about the chicken cooking time, but it really didn't take much time at all. And this is how pretty it looks:

Valentine's Day

So when Meatball and I started dating, his birthday came up fairly early. Some of our first (and best) dates revolved around sushi so I found a sushi making class at the Jewish Community Center all the way uptown. Now, we have a nice ritual of sushi making on Valentine's Day. Here is this year's attempt:














Look how skilled MB is with his knife skills! We made three or four rolls, and we couldn't finish it all. They might have been a bit on the larger size, but there's nothing wrong with that. My sushi rice skills still need a little bit of work; it was a little vinager-y. You couldn't taste it though, it was only when I stuck my nose in the bowl did I notice it.

And here, some finished products:

Oh, yeah

And running. Running, too. At some point (November '07), I'm going to run that marathon. So, this morning was 4 miles.

First Shot

So this is going to be my place to basically talk about my exploits in the kitchen, though the blog's name probably suggests more. Its totally funny though, see? Because I'm not really a cook, so there's a good chance someone may be harmed in the making of the subject matter. And I'm sort-of, almost, kind-of a lawyer.