1 cup hot cooked brown rice (I substituted quinoa and it was great!)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, divided
2 TBS pine nuts, toasted
2 TBS cream cheese (1/3-less-fat cream cheese is called for but I used regular because that is what I had)
2 tsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt (I used sea salt)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 3/4 cup)
2 ounces queso fresco, crumbled (about 1/2 cup) (I found this at Wegmans-very tasty stuff)
Instructions
1. Preheat grill
2. Lightly coat poblanos and corn with cooking spray. Place poblanos and corn on grill rack. Grill poblanos 12 minutes or until charred, turning occasionally. Grill corn 10 minutes or until lightly charred, turning occasionally. (mine was already cooked so I just charred it a bit) Wrap poblanos in foi; let stand 15 minutes. Peel and discard skins. Cut a length-wise slit in each chile; discard seeds and membranes. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
4. Cut kernels from ears of corn. Combine kernels, 1 cup tomato, rice, 2 TBS cilantro, pine nuts, and next 5 ingredients (through Monterey Jack); toss well to combine. open each poblano; divide rice mixture evenly among chiles (chiles will be very full). Place on a baking sheet bake at 400 degrees for 7 minutes or until hot.
Turn broiler to high. Sprinkle chiles with queso fresco. Broil 3 mins. or until cheese is lightly browned.
Place chiles on a platter. Sprinkel with remaining 1 cup tomato and remaining 2 TBS cilantro. Serve with hot sauce, if desired. (I served it with some fresh pico de gallo salsa which was jut the right accompaniment)
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed (they usually come trimmed)
3 large shallots
8 ounces fresh cherries, pitted and halved
1/4 cup unsalted chicken stock
2 TBS. balsamic vinegar (I used white balsamic vinegar)
1 TBS. butter (I left this out by mistake. It still tasted fantastic but next time I'm going to try remembering to add it. It was sitting right there and I forgot it!)
1/4 cup coursely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. (I used a "green" 10" frying pan, but you can also use good ole cast iron!)
Add 1 TBS. oil; swirl to coat. Combine 1/2 tsp. of the salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon. Rub pork with spice mixture. Add pork to pan; saute 4 minutes. Turn pork over; place pan in oven and bake at 425 degrees for 15 mins. or until a thermometer registers 140 degrees (I have to be honest here, I never use a thermometer. I just check it to make sure it's done to my liking but some folks might need to use the thermometer for security sake. I recommend doing whatever you have to do to get the desired result!)
Remove pork from pan; place on a cutting board (do not wipe out pan). Let pok stand 10 minutes. Cut into thin slices.
3. Add remaining 1 TBS. oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots and cherries; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt. Place pan in oven.; bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes (do not turn cherries). Carefully remove pan from oven; place over medium-high heat. Stir in stock, vinegar, and sugar; bring to a boil. Cook 4 minutes or until liquid is syrupy (reduced and thicker). Remove from heat, stir in butter. Serve cherry mixture with pork; sprinkle with parsley.
Notes
This was surprisingly tasty. I was making it for company that I thought would appreciate it but honestly it was so tasty that I took the leftovers to my sister's the next day and it was just as good as leftovers! (You can feed sisters leftovers but I don't recommend doing that to new friends or guests)
I threw this together on Memorial Day so I could grill them but then as luck would have it, ran out of gas for the grill just as I was putting them on! Thank goodness for great neighbors as I ran next door and threw the skewers on her grill that was already hot as she took her dinner off. The results: It was off the hook!
2 shakes of dried parsley or about a Tbsp. of chopped fresh
2 shakes dried oregano or about a Tbsp. of chopped fresh
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tsp. dry mustard
Sea salt to taste (just a pinch or so)
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
Veggies
1 red pepper chopped into chunks
1 orange pepper chopped into chunks
1 Vadalia sweet onion chopped into quarters
Several mushrooms brushed clean, stems trimmed and left whole
(substitute, add, delete any vegetables you love here)
For the Beef marinade
*1 package Weber dry black peppercorn marinade mix
1/4 cup olive oil (either will do)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. white vinegar (you can substitute any other vinegar if you have to)
*Note: if you can't find a good peppercorn dry marinade in the stores you can make your own, just put the rest of the ingredients in the bag and then crack a ton of black pepper into it and any other herbs and spices you like on your steak)
Steak
1 Ribeye steak cut into chunks
Instructions
Mix: the veggie marinade ingredients together in a gallon zip-loc bag
Place all vegetables in with the marinade (let sit at room temp for 20 mins. to 1 hour)
Mix: Marinade for meat into a separate zip-loc bag and put meat chunks in with the marinade
Notes
This is so delicious and amazingly easy to make!
Feel free to experiment with different veggies and meat too.
You can increase all quantities to make more servings.
1 medium cauliflower, broken into one-inch flowerets
3 medium cloves of garlic crushed or finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. basil (I use fresh and a lot of it)
fresh oregano too (the original recipe does not call for it but hey it tastes great when you add it!)
2 cups tomato puree (I use a can of puree or crushed tomatoes and it is 28 oz.)
salt & lots of fresh ground black pepper
2 cups mixed, grated parmesan and cheddar cheeses
1 lb. (uncooked) thin spagetti
Instructions
Step 1: Heat 2 TBS. olive oil in a deep, heavy skillet.
add crushed garlic, bay leaf, basil and oregano.
Saute about one minute, then add cauliflower, and sprinkle it with about 1 tsp. salt.
Saute until the cauliflower is tender. You might want to add a little water to it (1/2 to 1 cup) to steam it along. (I like to steam it a little on its own first and then add it)
When cauliflower is tender, add tomato puree, and lower to a simmer. Simmer 15 or so minutes.
Step 2: Cook the spagetti in plenty of boiling water. (8-10 minutes if it is dry pasta. It will only take about 4 mins. if it is fresh)
Drain and toss with remaining olive oil, butter and half the cheese.
Spread onto a platter and pour the cauliflower sauce over.
If you have known me for any length of time you know that I am very much into FRESH and NATURAL ingredients! This is why I love Chobani Greek Yogurt. It is made with the best ingredients with no artificial
additives or preservatives. It also contains twice the protein of other yogurts with 5 live & active cultures, including 3 probiotics!
I know, I know, it’s not Thanksgiving or Christmas or even New Year’s Day so why in the world would I be making a Turkey dinner?
Because I just had a hankering for one! I only had a little bit of turkey back at Thanksgiving and didn’t get my annual dose I guess.
Preparing the turkey is easy. I like mine stuffed! So, I chop some onion and some celery and saute them in some melted butter. In this case I use a stick and a half (oh my!)
I know, it’s a lot of butter but come on, you only do this once a year right?
When the onion and celery have been sauteed for a few minutes they will turn translucent, then I added 2 bags of seasoned
dried bread crumb stuffing.
Stir that around for a couple of minutes coating with the butter mixture. I crack fresh black pepper into it
I like a lot of black pepper but you can season to taste. I then add 1 can of cream corn (I know that sounds strange but it really makes it tasty) and some chicken stock (I like stock better than broth in most cases
as it has more body and flavor IMHO (in my humble opinion).
I also season with some ground sage, crushed rosemary and crushed thyme. (again, this is to taste. Some like these seasonings and some don’t. Just don’t go too heavy on them as a little goes a long way)
As far as how much stock to add, you will have to decide because some like dryer stuffing and others like it moist. I tend to like it more moist so I added enough to make the bread crumbs sort of melt together.
Now it’s time to stuff the bird. If it was frozen you will need to have taken it from the freezer and left it in the frig for several days. It really takes a long time to thaw out. I prefer to use fresh turkey if possible.
I had a little stuffing leftover so I put in a baking dish.
When I am prepping food earlier in the day for this dinner I usually peel the potatoes and put them in a pot of cold water so they are ready to go when the turkey gets closer to being done.
I don’t like to leave too many tasks for the last minute because I’ll be making the gravy and mashing the potatoes at the same time.
I like all the food to land on the table hot!
Let’s talk about gravy:
There are two ways that I make gravy. Remember that chicken stock I showed you earlier? Well, if I want to stretch the gravy a little further I will use some chicken stock. In this case I had some nice pan drippings to start with. I poured them into
one of these gravy fat separators like this:
Here’s a cool one you can get at Amazon:
This is a gravy rooster! I love it! Keeps the gravy piping hot
for the whole meal!
Gravy Roosters are a rare breed as I have only seen 2 in all my days
but they are worth hunting down. LOL
Once I strained the gravy to get most of the fat out of it there wasn’t that much left of the drippings
so I put them into a frying pan and then I added a bunch of the chicken stock to it. I peppered it
This is when you can add some salt to if you like. You put it over a fairly high heat until it just starts to bubble. I take a glass measuring cup and put about a cup of water in it and whisk in
enough flour to thicken it enough to make a runny paste. Now this is also according to taste.
For thicker gravy make the paste thicker, for thinner gravy make it thinner.
You can also flavor your gravies with something you can get at the store called “Gravy Master”
but I usually don’t use that. It gives it a rich dark color and more flavor if you find your gravy needs a boost.
Now right before I made the gravy I made sure the potatoes were cooked. I had turned on the flame under the pot and heated it to boiling. Then turned it down a little until they were fork tender.
I then melted 1 stick of butter in
a glass measuring cup (I know, more butter, but remember it’s once a year!) I add some milk (how much milk will depend
on how thick or thin you like your potatoes) to the butter and I heat that up too.
(Remember I want everything to land on that table hot, this is why I heat them. Otherwise they tend
to cool the potatoes off before you can get them on the table). Once the potatoes are done I drain the water off and add my butter and milk mixture then take a hand beater and beat the heck out of them.
I use a hand mixer like this one and I really like it because the parts get stored with it and it eliminates that messy drawer thing and losing them.
This time I decided to roast some veggies to go with dinner. I cut some brussels srpouts in half and put them in a pan along with some fresh asparagus. I drizzled olive oil over the top of them and cracked some black pepper
and then added some fresh chopped garlic. My only mistake was starting them at the same time as
the asparagus roasted a lot faster so I would recommend giving the brussels about 15 mins. head start.
I popped these babies in right about the time we took the turkey out to rest.
By the way, you can’t always believe those poppers. This one lied! It popped
after only 2 hours in the oven and this turkey weighed over 13 pounds!
I left it in for another 2 hours and it was perfect! I did turn the heat down
a bit for the last hour.
Hint: if you like your outside skin dark and crispy like we do, don’t cover the bird
If you like it less dark and crispy you can cover it for the last hour and it won’t brown as much.
So here it is: Turkey dinner all on the table piping hot and boy was it delicious!
Oh, and don’t forget some great wine! This wine was a gift at Christmas and boy was it tasty!
I found this recipe in the November 2012 issue of the “Coastal Living” magazine.
Ok, so when I posted it on Facebook via Instagram I caught some serious backlash because it is not a “healthy” dish! My recommendations are 2 fold: 1) Don’t make it every day 2) Don’t eat the whole thing all at once!
2 TBS. butter (first bad ingredient)
2 leeks, sliced (and soaked in a bowl of cold water to remove all the grit)
3 garlic cloves (kind of counteracts some of the “bad for you” ingredients, just a little )
1 TBS. chopped fresh Rosemary
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cracked pepper
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, very thinly sliced (another not so great for you ingredient, but there are worse…stick around)
2 cups heavy cream (holy moly! Yup, this one is probably the worst in the bunch)
1 cup whole milk (bad ingredient again, only not as bad as the last one)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyere Cheese (I don’t know, is aged hard cheese really that bad for you? I think even lactose intolerant folks can eat it if it’s aged long enough so it can’t be all bad, right?)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated parmesan cheese (Not too terrible for you)
Ok, this was really yummy!
First let me mention again that I almost NEVER make a new recipe I find exactly the way it is written and if I do, I NEVER measure. Cooking is very forgiving and allows you to improvise, experiment,
and substitute without worry of ruining things. Baking is a science and must be precise or cakes don’t turn out, etc.
So get creative and have fun!
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a large, deep skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leeks and garlic; saute 5 to 7 mins. or until tender. Stir in rosemary, sea salt, and pepper.
2. Add potatoes, cream, and milk to leek mixture in pan, stirring gently to combine. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes or until potatoes are barely tender.
(Do not overcook. Potatoes will be pliable, but not fully cooked)
3. Spoon half of the potato mixture into a lightly greased 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cut Gruyere cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Top with remaining potato mixture; sprinkle with
remaining cheeses. (May be covered and refrigerated overnight. Let come to room temp. before baking)
4. Bake 20 to 30 mins. or until potatoes are tender and top is golden brown. Garnish with rosemary if desired.
July 24th, 2014 
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