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I hope you enjoy the blog and let's get cookin!
Kristin


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Escarole and Tortellini Soup with Italian sausage.

Escarole and Tortellini soup with Italian sausage.

Very Easy to make.
You will need:
1 lb of Italian Sausage out of the casings
1 about a head of Escarole depending on size
8 oz of tortellini
1 yellow onion diced
1 TBLS of minced garlic
48 oz of beef broth
salt and pepper

1. Remove sauage from casing and cook until brown with onion and garlic
2. Add beef broth bring to a boil
3. Add and cook tortellini for about 4 minutes
4. Add escarole and cook until wilted
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Garnish with parmesan cheese

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

weight loss foods

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/41903/top-weight-loss-foods-for-2010/

Check out the best foods you can eat to help you lose weight!  My favorite of course is the full fat cheese!!!  Apparently the protein it supplies to your body is really good!  I'm so thankful for that.  The French knew all along!  Others that made the list were grapefruit, coffee, pork chops, salmon, apples, eggs, beans and milk.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

"It's good flour!"

Note to all, when drenching veal scallopinis in flour, don't be afraid to pan fry them well.  I made the mistake of removing the veal from the oil before it was browned on all sides because I didn't want to overcook it.  It was so thin!  I justified taking it out because I was making a red wine reduction and was going to put the veal back in the sauce to cook for a few minutes at the end.  While the sauce was amazing, the veal was well edible. OK, let me be honest, it tasted like flour and was a bit pasty too... Sean's so sweet, he wanted to make me feel better so he said, "It's good flour at least."  Hahaha.... Just the encouragement that I needed. 


Any hints to cooking veal are very welcome!

New Year Resolutions yuck!

This time of year, we all feel the pressure to diet, so help me with some of your low fat, but still so yummy recipes!  It's not fair that "French Women Don't Get Fat;" they eat bread all day long, wine with every meal and cheese for dessert!  I guess I need to move there... now I just have to get my husband on board.  Any suggestions?

Ideas for veal?

I have a few pieces of veal scallopini that I was going to make for dinner tonight, do you have any ideas??

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Easy Tostada

Using just what I had in the house and some left overs, I made an amazing tostada.  Like I wrote in my last post, last night I made chicken and black eyed peas for a New Year's Day get together, so I used both of those in this tostada.

To make 1 tostada, you will need:
  • 1 cup of pulled chicken breast, cooked
  • 1/2 of a small onion finely sliced
  • 2 tsp of lime juice
  • 1/4 tsp of paprika
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper
  • about 1/2 cup of beans- I used my left over black eyed peas which were already seasoned, but black beans or pintos would be great too!  (you might want to season them up with cumin, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika) 
  • 1 tortilla
  • about 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
  • a few drizzles of olive oil
  • 1/2 tomato, sliced
  • 1/2 avocado, sliced
  • a tbls of sour cream
You will need two medium sized frying pans.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil in both pans.  In one pan, saute onions until soft.  In the other pan, pan fry the tortilla about 5 minutes each side on medium heat.  It will start to brown and bubble up a little.  When the onions are soft, throw in the chicken, beans and spices on low heat.  Because the chicken is already cooked, we just want to heat it up, not over cook it.  Add the lime juice, salt and pepper as well.  When the tortilla is starting crisp up, sprinkle on the cheese and allow it to melt.  Remove the tortilla and place it on a plate, top it with chicken, beans, and onions.  Garnish it with tomato slices, avocado, and sour cream!  Enjoy and buen proviecho!

Friday, January 1, 2010

German Chocolate Cake... From scratch!

Today I made a very traditional New Year's Day fare, collard greens, black eyed peas, corn souffle, chicken in a honey balsamic glaze, and Sean slow smoked a pork butt and sausage!  Yummm...  To top off the meal, I decided to undertake making a German chocolate cake from scratch because I wanted to see if it would taste any different from my usual boxed cake mixes.  Let me tell you, baking is a lot of work, I have a new respect for bakers and pastry chefs!  Explain this to me, why when you make a cake from scratch do you have to separate the yolks from the whites, but when you do a box mix, you can just throw the whole egg into the mixure.   After separating my eggs, melting a chocolate bar into water on the stove, alternate adding the buttermilk to the flour, whipping my egg whites into fluf, blah, blah, blah.... The cake was AMAZING!!!!  IT WAS REALLY BETTER AND WORTH THE WORK.  I can't take credit for the recipe, but if you are interested, it was a Better Homes and Gardens recipe. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  Keep sending me your recipes.