Lemon and Green Onion Orzo

Tonight I was late on figuring out dinner...oops!  So I had to look at what I had and quickly whip something up!!  I decided on cilantro, grapefruit pork chops, bbq'ed bell peppers and some orzo.  The bell peppers were just tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and thrown on the grill till they were charred and a little soft...SUPER easy!  I will share a quick and easy marinade post soon which will include the cilantro grapefruit.  For tonight I will share with you the orzo!  It is simple, tastes so bright and fresh and is really sooo delicious!

Here is what you need:
1 lb box of orzo (its a little pasta, shaped like rice but a bit bigger)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 lemon, just the zest
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper

Start by boiling a pot of very salty water.  Toss in the pasta and allow to cook per the boxes directions, normally around 9 minutes.  When pasta is ready strain well.  Put pasta back in pot and stir in butter and olive oil.  Next add in the green onion and lemon zest.  Once combined add the parmesan cheese!  Once this is all together taste and add salt if needed and some fresh grated pepper!  That's it! 

****Fun hint:  This is a great cold pasta salad as well!!  If you are going to serve it cold rinse pasta with cool water after it is cooked and before you add the other ingredients.  I'm not sure why this works (does something to the starch in the pasta) but my hubby taught me to do it, so I do!!

Garden Tomato Pasta

So I have said it over and over my family LOVES pasta and I make it often because I can put almost any veggie with it and my little boys eat it all up!!  With all the tomatoes coming in from my mother-in-law's garden I needed to make some new pasta dishes other than just the regular old pureed tomato sauce!  Here is the recipe for my current favorite!  Casey said it was the best pasta dish I had ever made for him...but it was midnight and he was starving!  I hope you have some fresh tomatoes at your house or can get some because right now they are delicious and you just can't beat the homegrown taste :)

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
4 cups (about) chopped tomatoes
1 cup torn basil leaves, plus a little more for garnish
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 lb angel hair pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or the good old green can if your in a bind :)

Start by turning the pan on high and adding the oil.  Also, fill a large pot with water and salt it to taste like the ocean.  Turn on high heat and wait for it to boil.  To the saute pan with hot oil add onions.  Stir around for about 2 minutes, you want them to cook but not get too brown.  Season well with salt and pepper!  Turn heat to medium and add in garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the garlic becomes soft.  Your pot of water will probably boil by now so add in angel hair pasta and cook according to the directions on the box...mine said 4 minutes.  When pasta is done strain.  Turn saute pan's heat to low and stir in tomatoes and basil.  Cook on low for about 5 minutes.  The juices from the tomatoes will come out and you want all the ingredients to melt together.  My tomatoes are super sweet so there is a really great balance to the sauce.  Then your sauce is done!  Add in the angel hair and use tongs to toss the pasta with the sauce completely.  Use Parmesan cheese and a little fresh basil to garnish and you are ready to enjoy!

The sauce

Fresh, beautiful and delicious! 

Chocolate Filled Peanut Butter Cupcakes

When it's time for the chef's birthday  I am always trying to out-do last year's cake.  I want to make something he loves and something that is so good he looks forward to it all day!  So, I took my hubby's love for Reese's Peanut Butter cups and turned it into some awesome cupcakes!!

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients called for on box

For Filling:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

For Frosting:
2/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
about 4 TBL milk

Start by making your filling.  Add all ingredients together and stir together well!  This will need to sit in the fridge for an hour or more so it can harden (mine was in the fridge overnight).  Then mix chocolate cake according to the box.  Line your cupcake tins and put in one tablespoon of the chocolate cake batter into each.  Now, get your hardened peanut butter filling from the fridge and shape into 24 little balls. They are pretty gooey, but below you can see what your going for.

Now place a peanut butter ball into each of the tins.



Next fill cupcake tins with remaining batter.  The peanut butter will be completely covered.  Put into a 350 degree oven and let them bake.  I normally put them in for about 4 minutes less than what the box says.  They need to be cooked but you want them to be moist and delicious so DON'T OVERCOOK THEM!!  Now, let them cool completely before adding the frosting!
For the frosting start by mixing the softened butter and the peanut butter until smooth.  Next add the vanilla extract and add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and allowing for the sugar to be fully combined before adding the next cup.  The frosting will be pretty thick...this is where the milk comes in!  Add milk a teaspoon at a time, mixing well in between, until you reach the desired consistency.  I like the look of piped on frosting, or you can spread it on, whatever you prefer!  Now, enjoy!!  If you aren't going to eat them for a while I would put them in the fridge, but allow them to sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so before eating so the frosting and filling can soften up!

This is the finished product!

Here is what the inside looks like!!

Grilled Tomato Skewers

If you are friends with me on facebook I'm sure you have seen the pictures of my boys and I picking tomatoes from my mother-in-law's garden!  She has CRAZY amounts of tomatoes, I have never seen anything like it.  We pick hundreds at a time and there are still a ton left!  So with all these tomatoes around the house I have come up with some tasty ways to enjoy them!  Today, I just have a couple of minutes so I will share a quick recipe that is as easy as they come, but look beautiful for your family dinner at home or your next party!  I hope you try these, they are super yummy!!

What you need:
Skewers
Cherry tomatoes
Olive Oil
Salt&Pepper
Smoked Paprika

In a large bowl combine tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika.  Toss until the tomatoes are well coated.  Now, its time to skewer the tomatoes.  I try to have tomatoes that are the same size on each skewer, but will mix different varieties. If you have a tomato that is much larger than the others, that one will get grilled but it will prevent the smaller tomatoes from reaching the grill.  Place on a well heated grill and turn while cooking to get some beautiful grill marks on all sides of the tomatoes.  Let them cook until the tomatoes start to pop!  Then they are ready to eat!  These are perfect on their own, or to be removed and stirred into a rice or pasta dish.  Enjoy!

Jambalaya

Tonight I made a jambalaya simple enough for a busy mom, yet tasty enough for a chef!  That is always my goal when cooking, big flavors, tasty ingredients and easy :)  One of the best things we did when planting out back was to put in a Laurel Tree, there is a never ending supply of bay leaves!!  I just send out the boys and say I need a cooking leaf and they pick it and throw it in the pot.  It adds so much flavor...yum!
There are tons of recipes out there fr jambalaya, this is what I came up with  a while back from researching other recipes.  I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper (any color...I used green today), diced
3 ribs celery, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
8 oz andouille sausage, sliced
3/4 cup long grain rice
3 cups chicken stock
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Start with your olive oil in a pan and turn heat to high.  Add in onion, celery and bell pepper and saute until caramelized and they start to get soft.  Add in garlic and continue to saute.  Season with salt and pepper, also add in bay leaves, cayenne and paprika.  Make sure it is combined well and stir in sausage and rice, cook for about a minute and then add chicken stock.  reduce heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then when liquid is absorbed and rice is tender you are ready to eat!!

SpEGGtacular Tomato Sandwich

Being married to a chef means there are few times where we have dinner as our family of 5...but it does mean that we get lots of breakfasts together!  So, I make all the regular breakfast items (normally I'm too sleepy to be too creative) and every once in a while I will make something special or fun.  Today when I asked Casey what he wanted for breakfast he said an egg sandwich.  So, while I was tempted to make the regular, same old plain sandwich I normally make (scrambled eggs and a little mayo on sandwich bread)  I thought I would spice it up today :)

Ingredients:
Sourdough bread
2 thick slices of tomato
2 eggs
basil
butter
salt&pepper

Melt a tab of butter in a non-stick pan.  While the butter melts heavily salt and pepper both sides of sliced tomato.  Put the tomatoes in the hot pan.  It should sizzle :)  Sear it for about a minute and then flip it over to sear the other side.

Take your tomatoes off the heat and set aside for later.  Wipe out your pan and add another tab of butter so you can fry your eggs!  When the butter has melted crack 2 eggs into your pan.  Grind pepper and add salt to your eggs and turn the heat to medium low.  I have a hard time flipping my eggs so, I do it my own way....do it how you do it best :)  When my whites start to get firm I use my spatula to separate the two eggs, then I slowly flip each one over.

I like my eggs with the whites cooked, but the yolks runny.  While the eggs are finishing up throw your sourdough bread in the toaster.  Put a thin layer of mayo on your bread and then add your tomato slices, next the eggs and finish with a basil leaf.



See how beautiful this looks??  Put the slices together and pick it up and eat it if you dare!!  Its going to be messy!!  Or, eat if with a fork and knife like I did!  Either way you are going to love how the yolk oozes all over the tomato and bread and coats it with its warm, yellow goodness!

Grilled Corn on the Cob

I'm back!  Things have been crazy the last few weeks!  First the whole family was sick, then Casey and I went on a little trip...plus we have been enjoying SUMMERTIME!!  So, the blog has been neglected :(  That doesn't mean I have stopped cooking, I have been cooking a bunch and have about 10 blog posts running around in my head right now!

I just thought I would share a quick tip on making the MOST delicious corn on the cob ever!  A lot of us will be barbecuing this weekend and this is such an easy way to make corn on the bob taste soooo good and you can just throw it on the grill with the rest of your food!  Better yet, prep it outside, and you have absolutely no mess in your kitchen!

Ingredients:
Corn on the Cob
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

So simple...start by peeling back the leaves of the husk.  You don't want to remove them, just peel them away so you can get rid of the silk (hairy stuff).  Once you get all the silk removed rub the cob with olive oil.  I put some some salt and freshly ground pepper in  a little bowl and then rub your salt&pepper mixture heavily on the corn.  Next, pull the husks back over the corn. 

This is what it looks like in steps: 1.corn, 2.husk peeled back and silk removed, 3. olive oil, S&P, 4. Husk pushed back up

Then you throw it on the bbq and let it cook.  I put mine on for about 10 minutes (it was pretty high heat), but you need to leave them on until tender.  This corn is seriously delicious!  It gets steamed in the husk, yet has a yummy charred bbq flavor!  This is our favorite way to eat corn at our house!