Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 ½ cup water
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 pint sliced mushrooms
• ½ sweet onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 bag frozen veggies (I like the Asian Medley)*
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• parsley

• ¼ cup shredded mozzarella
• 4 large peppers (any color), cut in half, seeds and insides removed
• 2 cups marinara sauce

*All of these veggies are optional. I add whatever I have on hand that seems like it would go well in quinoa and can steam in a pot for about 30 minutes.

Directions:

1. Rinse and drain the quinoa.
2. Put the quinoa, 1 ½ cups water, veggies (fresh and frozen), seasoning and olive oil in a pot. I used a 4 quart pot. I add the salt, pepper and parsley to taste. Mix all of these ingredients together.
3. Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium.
4. Cover and cook at medium for about 30 minutes, until done.
5. Add the shredded mozzarella to the cooked quinoa/veggie filling and mix together.
6. Stuff the peppers with the quinoa/veggie/cheese mixture. I slice the peppers in half for ease of grilling, i.e. 4 peppers give me 8 stuffed halves.
7. Top each pepper with 1-2 tablespoons of marinara sauce.
8. Grill on low for 20 minutes. These can also be baked in an oven set at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The Best Pasta Salad

The name says it all. This is light and delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of small shell pasta
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 pints of grape tomatoes (I like to mix red and yellow)
• 3/4 cup of pitted black olives
• 3 tablespoons of fresh chives
• 1 handful of fresh basil
• 1/2 cucumber
• white wine vinegar (about 5 tablespoons)
• extra virgin olive oil (about 8 tablespoons)
• sea salt (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)

 Directions:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions (al dente).
2. Chop all other ingredients into pieces about the size of the cooked pasta shells (this is time consuming). 
3. Mix together the cooked pasta, veggies and herbs. 
4. Toss with the olive oil, vinegar,  salt and pepper.

Sweet and Savory...

This is my recipe for sweet and savory roasted nuts. I use a mix of whatever I have on hand (walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, and almonds this time.) The rosemary, olive oil and cayenne pepper add the savory. Obviously, the sweet comes from brown sugar and honey. Like almost everything in life, these go well with beer.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup olive oil 
• 1/2 cup honey 
• 1/2 stick butter 
• 1/4 cup water 
• cayenne pepper (to taste for desired spiciness)
• salt (to taste) 
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350degree Fahrenheit. 
2. Melt the butter, water, and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. 
3. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn off the heat. Leave the pot on the stove and add in the remaining ingredients, whisking briskly to combine. 
4. Pour the mixture over your nuts (haha!) and stir to coat them evenly. 
5. Bake the nuts for 15-20 minutes, tossing occasionally. 
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 
7. Stir the nuts to break them up. 
8. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Breakfast Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour 
•  1/2 cup white flour 
• 2/3 cup sugar 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3/4 cup oats (I prefer Irish steel cut oats) 
• 3-4 over-ripe mashed bananas 
• 1/3 cup milk 1/2 tablespoon vinegar 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla 
• 2 eggs, beaten 
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts or Pumpkin seeds (I use whatever I have on hand. Pumpkin seeds, walnuts and pecans all go well with this.) 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F and line 18-4 muffin tins with liners (or spray them with non-stick cooking spray)
2. Mix the milk and vinegar in a bowl.
3. Combine dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
4. Mix the mashed bananas, oil, vanilla, and eggs into the milk/vinegar bowl. 
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently.
6. Add the nuts or seeds. 
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
8. Pop them out of the muffin tins and cool. 

*I don't like to store these in a sealed container as they get kind of mushy. I find that keeping them on a plate in the microwave works best.

Jason's Favorite Chicken

Jason’s Favorite Chicken Recipe 

Ingredients:
•4 chicken leg quarters
•salt
•pepper
•paprika (just a dash)
•basil (a big bunch, roughly chopped)
•1 bulb of garlic, broken into smashed cloves
•1 onion, quartered
•2 pints of grape tomatoes (red or yellow)
•olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
•3-4 potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into chunks

Optional Ingredients:
•2-3 dried chilies de arbol
•1 14oz can of cannellini beans (I’ve never tried this part)

 Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350.
2.Roughly chop the onion, potatoes, and basil. Smash the garlic and remove the skins. Leave the tomatoes whole.
3.Remove the chicken skin, if you prefer. I leave it on as I think it adds great flavor.
4.Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. I don’t measure the olive oil, salt, pepper or paprika-add these to taste. I pour over enough oils to coat the veggies and chicken.
5.Dump everything into a snug fitting pan with the chicken on top.
6.Bake at 350 for 1.5 hours. The chicken skin should be crisp and the meat will fall off the bone.

*You can leave out the beans and potatoes and toss this dish with pasta or serve with mashed potatoes.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Alright folks, it's been a long time. This recipe will make the whole house smell good, and tastes great too. It has the added bonus of using the left over pumpkin from awesome-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies and 2 oldish apples (from when Jason decided he didn't really like green apples after all). I hate to throw away food and the cool air this morning inspired me.

Ingredients:
Muffins
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (leftover from awesome pumpkin chocolate chip cookies)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 peeled, thinly sliced apples (leftover int he fridge that your husband decides he doesn't like after all)

Amazing Topping of Goodness
1/4 cup raw sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoon of cold, unsalted butter

Directions
Mix the first 8 ingredients (for those of you missing fingers, flour through salt) in a large bowl. Eggs, pumpkin and veggie oil get mixed in another, smaller bowl. Gradually add the pumpkin mix to the dry mix. I'm not a big fan of getting 16 different things dirty to cook 1 thing, but the "two bowl" and "gradually add" part are necessary to avoid a massive mess and to create a yummy muffin.

Once that is done, I sliced the peeled apples right into the mix. Fold them in with a spoon. Folding in means you mix it gently so you have apple pieces, not apple sauce, in the mix. Spoon this bad boy into paper-lined muffin cups. Using the paper-liners means easy clean up, no slippery cooking spray, and minimal crumbs. Don't put these in the oven just yet, you need the Amazing Topping of Goodness (AToG).

To make the AToG mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. I like raw sugar (it looks like brown sugar) because it keeps some crunchiness even after baking. Regular sugar will work just as well, without as much desirable crunchiness. Use a pastry cutter (also known as the back of a fork) to crush the butter into the mix. It will be a crumbly mix when you're done. Don't touch it yet! The warmth of your hands (that's right, you're hot!) will melt the butter and mess the whole thing up. Once you have crumbly consistency, you have my permission to use your hands to sprinkle it over the raw muffin tops.



Bake the muffins (topped with AToG) in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. Enjoy!

Ceviche

Never underestimate the power of RAW! Thanks to Nick and his family I've been getting fresh fish for months now. His dad even cleans and prepares it for me! I get it just a few hours after he catches it.




Ingredients:
2 lbs FRESH Mahi
3 Limes
2 Lemmons
2 Tomatoes
1 Bunch of fresh Cilantro
1 Small red onion
2 Cloves of garlic
3 Chiles de Arbol (dried red chilis)
Salt
Pepper
Oregano

Yes, Ceviche is technically raw fish... but not really. The fish is cooked by the acid of the citrus juice it sits in. I start by cutting up the Mahi into VERY small pieces. This will help it to "cook" through evenly and quickly. Place it into a large Ziploc bag and squeeze in 2 limes and 2 lemons. Season it with salt, pepper and oregano. Below is a picture of what the fish will look like when you start.



The fish needs to sit in the juice until it loses the pinkish color and fishy texture. It will become white and opaque. You can tell when it is "cooked" because the consistency will be close to that of regularly (i.E. heat) cooked fish. I let mine sit overnight and through the next day.

While the fish is hanging out in it's citrus bath, finely chop the tomatoes, cilantro, chiles, garlic and onion. Depending on how hot you like it you can add or remove the chile seeds. Add the juice of 1 lime and season with a little salt. Let this sit for a bit and the flavors will really develop.

A note about the chiles: If you leave the seeds it will cause your mouth to be on fire. I am a wimp when it comes to hot and I only like a little "bite". Removing the seeds will mean a nice heat when you're eating, but not residual 3rd degree burns in your mouth that last for 3 hours after.



When the fish has "cooked" drain the remaining lemon/lime juice from the bag and put the fish into a shallow dish. stir in the tomato mixture and allow about 5 minutes for the flavors to absorb each other.

You can serve this on crostini or with tortilla chips. I prefer to enjoy big scoopfuls on corn tortilla chips with a mint mojito.

Coleslaw

Easy Coleslaw




This is exactly what I wanted it to be; Very easy, and super tasty. It makes an awesome side with blue-cheese burgers or blackened fish sandwiches.

Ingredients:
1 bag pre-cut coleslaw mix.
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I mix 1/4 low fat and 1/4 cup regular. This makes it "healthy" ;)
1/3 cup raw sugar (using the raw sugar makes it crunchier)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Dash salt and pepper
2 teaspoons celery seed

Prep:
Mix together the mayo, sugar and apple cider vinegar. Toss the mixture with the bagged coleslaw. I like the bag coleslaw mix better than the shredded cabbage because the other goodies inside (like carrots) are already cut to perfect size thus soothing my OCD. Season with salt, pepper, and celery seed. Now, the most important step: Leave it alone! It will create a bunch of it's own juices. The longer it sits, the juicier it gets. Enjoy!

Beef and Guinness Stew

It all started when I went to my favorite Irish pub for dinner and ordered the beef and Guinness pie. Jason told me how good it was. It was fantastic, except for one thing; the restaurant has recently started doing frozen take-out for some of their more popular dishes. Guess who got the frozen reheat served to her? (Me! Me! Pick me please!!!!) It was still frozen on the inside. That's bullshit! What really kills me is that they sell it for a fraction of the price when you do the takeout.
In my bitterness of feeling betrayed by all that I loved about the pub, I though, "I can make this and freeze it myself. Then, if I want freakin' left-overs, I can eat them at home for free. " A little internet research later, and a quick consult with Mr. Jamie Oliver (we're not actually friends, I just checked the cookbook) I came up with this recipe. Pretty tasty!

This one is involved so I'll start you off with the full list of ingredients:

Ingredients
• olive oil
• 2 red onions, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbs. butter, plus extra for greasing
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
• 4 large mushrooms, sliced
• 1 package stew meat
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 can of Guinness Stout
• 2 heaping tablespoons plain flour
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 package puff pastry

In a large pot, heat a about 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium low heat. Add the onions cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, butter, carrots and celery. Cook this for about 10 more minutes.

In a separate pan, quickly brown the stew meat. Add it to the veggie mix along with the rosemary, salt and pepper. Fry fast for 3 or 4 minutes, then stir in the flour (it'll make a thick gooey paste.) Pour in the Guinness, plus 1 1/2 cans full of water and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and cook for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. If it looks like it needs to thicken up, uncover it. If it gets too dry or thick, add 1 cup of water.

Add the mushrooms and cook for about 10 more minutes (this way they don't turn into mush.) Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Fill oven-proof bowls about 2/3 of the way with the hearty stew.



Cover with puff pastry and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees or, serve with thick slices of a good crusty bread.



Enjoy!

Cream Puffs

Alright folks, here you have it; Cream Puffs
These are oh-so-satisfying and impressive looking. They're a bit of work, about 8 million calories, but not actually hard to make.

First, the filling:
1 large (5.1oz) package of Jello Instant Vanilla Pudding mix. I KNOW, I KNOW! It feels like cheating but I promised they'd be easy. Nobody ever asks what the filling is anyway and if they do you say "Vanilla Creme".
16oz heavy cream (2 cups or the small container)
1 cup milk

Mix all of this together and then refrigerate it to set. If you do this first it'll be ready to go by the time the puffs have cooled.

The Puffs
1 stick of butter
1 cup of water
1/4 teaspoon of salt (Haha! I laugh at you again if you think I measure this. I just add a "dash")
1 cup of flour
4 eggs

In a decent sized pot bring the butter and water to a rolling boil. This is when I scramble around for the other ingredients, which are thankfully few. It gets to boiling rather quickly. Bring it off the heat and add in the flour and salt. You can mix this up easily with a spoon to form a pretty satisfying ball of dough reminiscent of playdough, without the cool colors or creepy smell. I throw the whole thing into my 50lb Kitchenaid mixer. (On a side note, that monstrosity was given to me by my cousin Nino. He found it at a garage sale on Singer Island or some such. It lived in my car for a year because I couldn't motivate myself to carry it up to my then 3rd floor apartment. Once I did, it got a major cleaning with the Magic Eraser (it really is magical!!!) and some bleach. It is now my FAVORITE kitchen appliance. Love it! Thank you Nino!)

Back to the task at hand, I put the dough in the mixer and add the eggs one at a time, making sure it gets really well mixed in between. It has to mix continuously so that the eggs don't cook in the hot dough, but rather later, in the oven.

You end up with this beautiful golden sludge that smells like eggs and butter (irresistible to me). Drop it by heaping tablespoonfuls onto an un-greased cookie sheet. I like to put down parchment paper, but you don't have to.



Pop those bad boys into the oven for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees. I get really excited every time I make these because they puff up so impressively and I feel all accomplished. This is why I love food.



The next oh-look-at-me-I'm-a-real-chef thing you get to do is fill the puffs. Put the filling into a large ziplock bag. I set my bag up in a tall container and just scoop it in (see "exhibit D" below:)



Try to squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can and then get all the filling onto one side. The goal is turn turn this into your own pastry bag. Snip a small piece of the corner off the bag and you have the perfect tool for squeezing the filling directly into your mouth. It's also good for filling the puffs. I make a small hole in each puff (once they've cooled) and squeeze in the filling (it's like putting toothpaste into a balloon. Is that weird? That's the best description I can think of.) I like mine pretty full so that they kind of explode in your mouth. Give them a good dusting of powdered sugar, thus ensuring your 8 million calories, and enjoy!