Chorizo Carbonara

August 12, 2013January 26, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

I didn’t plan my weekly menu over the weekend so therefore didn’t have a grocery list to go shopping either. My freezer was devoid of protein (one chicken breast and a pound of bacon) so we made a quick pit stop at the local Winn-Dixie with the intention of only buying some meat – whatever was BOGO that week. Even though chorizo was not on sale, Stuart wanted it (if you want to save money, leave your husband at home).

Because I didn’t want to rush back to the grocery store, I had to find a chorizo recipe where I had all of the ingredients on hand. I stumbled upon this Chorizo Carbonara.

This recipe might be the simplest Mexican Monday dinner yet! It only takes 4 ingredients and 10 minutes. It’s a pasta dish, so you know I’m one happy girl!

Chorizo Carbonara

Ingredients:

1/2 lb fettuccini pasta
3 links Mexican chorizo, casing removed
2 large egg yolks
1/2 C heavy cream

Steps

Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.
Brown chorizo in a small, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Drain any excess fat.
Whisk together egg yolks and heavy cream.
Drain pasta. Using two forks, toss with cream mixture – make sure to do this quickly so as not to scramble the yolk and coat the pasta. Add in the chorizo.

*This recipe is adapted from Caroline at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/04/chorizo-carbonara-recipe.html*

Chorizo Gravy

August 11, 2013February 23, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Once upon a time, in our first year of marriage, Stuart was craving a Southern classic: White Sausage Gravy and Biscuits. But I didn’t have any traditional sausage. I did the best I could with what I had – chorizo. It wasn’t technically a white gravy anymore, but it was pretty awesome!

Last week’s Mexican Monday (tomorrow’s post) involved chorizo so I had some leftover and decided to remake this gravy.

The seasonings in the chorizo give the gravy a light orange color and adds tons of extra flavor. Most sausage gravies have a lot of pepper in them, but I don’t add any additional seasonings – the pork takes care of that for me.

Chorizo Gravy

Ingredients:

3 links Mexican chorizo, casings removed
2 tbsp flour
2 C 2% milk

Steps

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, brown chorizo, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Once cooked through, use a slotted spoon to remove the chorizo and put on a paper towel lined plate.
Using the fat in the pot, make a rue with 2 tbsp flour. Whisk.
Whisk in milk. Continue to stir over medium-low heat until milk thickens into a gravy – about 5 minutes.
Stir in cooked chorizo and serve atop biscuits.

Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothie

August 10, 2013August 10, 2013 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Stuart and I are very different people. He is very outgoing, (thinks) he’s funny, and is never shy. He does a great job bringing me out of my shell, but never pushes too hard. Because of him, I have accomplished things I never thought I’d do! (like Tough Mudder!)

And just like our personalities would suggest, my husband likes to get creative in the kitchen with smoothie flavors and spice mixes. I typically need that recipe to reference – but I’m getting better and have my fair share of pork rub recipes!

This tart smoothie is a Stuart Everson Original.

Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 banana
1/2 C raspberries
5-6 strawberries
1/2 pear, peeled
3/4 C plain yogurt
2 tbsp honey
juice 1 lemon
6 oz pomegranate juice

Steps

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Crescent Calzones

August 9, 2013January 2, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

What do you do when your attempt a fancy dinner fails and there’s no time for take-out? Crescent Calzones! (Even better when your husband keeps you calm in the kitchen, makes you laugh, and helps you cook!)

Crescent Calzones

Ingredients:

1 can crescent rolls (will yield 4 calzones)
1/4 – 1/2 C jarred marinara sauce
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C packed spinach leaves
12 slices pepperoni
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Herbs de Provence
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp cornmeal

Steps

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Pinch together two crescent triangles to create a rectangle. Do this four times.
Fill each rectangle with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and spinach. Only do this on one half so you can fold over the remaining dough. With a fork, crimp the dough together. Cut a slit in the top of the dough with a sharp paring knife. Place calzones on a baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal – you could simply spray the sheet with non-stick cooking spray if you want. Note: you can substitute whatever protein/veggies you’d like. It’s a pizza – the limits are only in your pantry/fridge!
Brush each calzone with olive oil. Sprinkle with seasoning and salt.
Bake 12-15 minutes (or according to crescent directions).

Lemony Shrimp Scampi with Orzo

August 7, 2013January 26, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

My favorite Food Network star is Giada De Laurentiis. (If I could be her for a day, I would!) I record her show Giada at Home and sit with my laptop on the couch and take notes. That’s me furthering my education – Food Network. 😉

This recipe was on the episode “Viewer’s Choice 2” and it looked like a perfect weeknight dinner. I was hoping to have some friends over for dinner the night I planned to make this dish, so I was prepared for making the full 4-6 servings. It ended up being just being the two of us, but none of the food went to waste! I took it to lunch the next day, and we even used it as a side dish later in the week too.

Lemony Shrimp Scampi with Orzo

Ingredients:

1 lb orzo pasta
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 shallot, chopped
1/2 C white wine
5 C arugula or spinach or other (I simply used a store bought organic salad mix)

Steps

Cook orzo in boiling pot of salted water until al dente.
Whisk together 1/3 C olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
In a large skillet, saute shallots in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. Add in the shrimp and season heavily with pepper and salt. Once shrimp are pink, curled, and cooked through remove and set aside.
Deglaze the skillet with white wine and add in your greens. Once the greens are wilted and most of the wine is evaporated add in the cooked orzo and shrimp.
Toss with the vinaigrette from step 2.

BLT Salad

August 6, 2013January 26, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 4 Comments

How do you make Salad Night exciting? Bacon! Bacon makes everything better, right?

The game of sandwich to salad and salad to sandwich is a fun one to play – caprese salads make great panini so why not turn the BLT into a salad?

This BLT Salad is better than the American classic BLT Sandwich because this salad has a balsamic-mayo dressing!

BLT Salad

Ingredients:

1 1/2 romaine hearts, chopped
2 on-the-vine tomatoes, seeded and diced
6 slices of bacon
2 handfuls croutons
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
zest of 1/4 lemon
S+P

Steps

Cook bacon until extra crispy (in your preferred method – in the oven, on the stove top, or in the microwave). Transfer to a paper towel to absorb extra grease. When cool enough to handle, break up the bacon.
Whisk together mayo, balsamic, lemon zest. Season with S+P to taste.
Assemble salad and top with dressing.

*This recipe is adapted from Lyndsy at http://www.dinnervine.com/2012/09/blt-salad/*

Turkey Enchilada Meatloaf

August 5, 2013January 26, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

What is more comforting than meatloaf? But what is also more boring than meatloaf? Not much. This meatloaf recipe gets a makeover into a Mexican Monday favorite. The refried beans keep the loaf moist and the pepperjack cheese gives it a slight kick. Top it with enchilada sauce and sour cream instead of ketchup or barbecue sauce and you’re in for a flavor overload.

In a pinch I have substituted taco sauce in place of the enchilada sauce and it gives it just a little bit more heat. I guess in that instance it’d be called Turkey Taco Meatloaf!

Turkey Enchilada Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb ground turkey
1 C refried beans
1 C shredded pepperjack cheese
1 large egg
1/4 C breadcrumbs or panko
1/2 tsp each chili powder and cumin
1 C enchilada sauce (or taco sauce!)
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C honey

Steps

In a large bowl, combine turkey, beans, cheese, breadcrumbs, seasonings, egg, and salt and pepper. Put into a loaf pan, cover, and set in the fridge for at least 10 minutes. You can also prepare this the night before.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk together enchilada sauce, sour cream, and honey.
Top meatloaf with about 1/2 – 3/4 of the sauce (save the remainder for leftovers or topping your meatloaf slices) before putting in the oven. Bake uncovered one hour.

*This recipe is adapted from Carrian at http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/2013/04/turkey-meatloaf-enchilada-style.html*

French Toast

August 3, 2013August 3, 2013 ~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

Now, before you open this blog post with a preconceived notion of French Toast, I must warn you, Alton Brown would probably smack me silly for calling this breakfast dish French Toast. But, this is the French Toast that I grew up on, and so did Stuart!

You do not need fresh stale bread (oxymoron much?), you do not need to make it the night before, and you do not need to turn on the oven! What you do need are eggs, milk, vanilla, and sandwich bread. I like to sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top before eating too.

Before getting married, we had to go through Pre-Cana. One of the workbooks they had us talk through included a chart for chores. We’d agreed that Stuart would always make breakfast and I would tackle dinner. But then I became a “semi-professional chef” (Stuart’s words) and I knew I had to learn the breakfast world too. I haven’t tackled eggs yet, but I am a pro at waffles (our friends little boys have indicated they are the best they’ve ever had) and pancakes. I typically leave the French Toast to Stuart, as his father is the French Toast maker in their family too, but last weekend I stood at the griddle while he went on a run.

*Note: These amounts are all eyeballed. I prefer to use more milk in the egg mixture than my husband does.

French Toast

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C milk
pinch of salt
8 slices sandwich bread
butter for greasing

Steps

In a bowl wide enough to fit a slice of bread whisk together eggs, vanilla, milk, and salt.
Melt butter over a hot griddle, or in a skillet over the stove.
Dip bread in egg mixture, flipping to coat both sides. Place on griddle and cook until browned.

We always argue about syrup – my family and I like to keep our syrup in the fridge while Stuart and his like to heat it up. What’s your preference?

Nut-Free Basil Pesto

August 2, 2013July 27, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

When I found a recipe that called for pesto I opted to make my own instead of buying it. So I scoured the internet and happened upon this recipe for Nut-Free pesto. My father has a nut-allergy so I found this to be an exciting discovery.

Even though I wasn’t cooking for anyone with a nut-allergy that night, it’s nice to know that these meatballs can be prepared anytime we’re hosting company.

Nut-Free Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

4 C spinach
2 C basil
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 C parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/3 C + 1 tbsp olive oil

Steps

Puree all ingredients except olive oil in a food processor.
While the machine is running, stream in the olive oil.

*This recipe is from Maria and Josh at http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/spinach-basil-pesto/*

I used this pesto in mini meatballs – ground turkey, pesto, panko breadcrumbs – on top of linguine pasta with jarred marinara sauce for a quick dinner that still tasted from scratch.

Four Hour Quilts

August 1, 2013August 1, 2013 ~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

Conveniently, my quilting hobby was born in time for the baby boom that occurred in within my circle of friends. These lucky children instantly became guinea pigs. The perfect baby quilt is the Four Hour Quilt (FHQ). I’ve completed 3 baby sized FHQs so far and even though the pattern is the same, each quilt has its own personality.

Here’s the How-To for a Four Hour Quilt:

For a baby quilt that finishes to 40×48″, you will need 67 4 1/2″ squares (this is a total of approximately 1 yd of fabric). You can use as many different fabric choices or as few as you like. I typically choose 3-4 different fabrics for these squares. The strips for the inner border are cut to 2 1/2″ and the outer border to 4 1/2″. I typically use the same fabric for both borders, but you can be as creative as you want! (this is a total of 1 3/8 yd of fabric)

The center of the FHQ is assembled from 35 of the 4 1/2″ squares in 5 rows of 7.

Once your center is sewn together, measure the sides and cut two of your inner border strips to fit the top and bottom. Measure again after the top and bottom are sewn on and cut the other two inner border strips to fit. You now have a framed center.

With the remaining 4 1/2″ squares, sew 4 rows of 8. Treat these new rows as if they were the border for the FHQ center.

Repeat the border process, attaching the 4 1/2″ outer border strips to the outer squares. Your quilt top is now complete.

Create a sandwich with the quilt top, batting, and backing (1 1/2 yd of fabric). With something this small I use my sewing machine to do simple quilting – the stitch in the ditch method is always a good go-to.

Once you have your quilt, trim it, and bind it (5/8 yd of fabric). And don’t forget to give it a name! 🙂

Below are the 3 FHQs I’ve done to date. The first (forgot to take a final photo w/ binding) was for my friends little boy, Evan, on his first Christmas. I’m told he kisses every animal on the quilt before going down for his nap. ❤ The second was for my best friend’s daughter, Elle, on her first Christmas. The Chevron FHQ was for a friend back home who didn’t know if she was having a boy or girl, but I had it ready before Mason was born. She’s sent me pictures of him playing on it.