What's cooking good looking!!

Each week I am going to recap some of my favorite meals and recipe links! I am starting to get into more of a routine with cooking/grocery store shopping which has resulted in lots of new culinary delights and some frustration

This past week I have made...

First up was ... I saw this German Sausages with Quick Kraut and Curry Ketchup recipe on the October Martha Stewart issue. It was easy (I cheated by buying shredded cabbage, carrots and chopped onions!!). Super easy to make however I didn't realize the sausages were supposed to be cooked until after the cabbage/combo was ready. Whoops! Check out the recipe here...

Wednesday night I broke out the Crock Pot to try Carolina Charm's recipe for chicken enchilada soup. I should have put the crock pot away when I realized I forgot the first ingredient of chicken stock. Well I was able to make it back from the grocery store in time so that it would be ready around 7. This was super easy to prep especially since I bought the vegetable ingredients chopped. Towards the end I added the cojita cheese which I never used before. Anyway, since it was a late dinner we were starving by the time it was finished. And it was soooooo hot we couldn't really enjoy the flavors. But let me tell you that cojita cheese adhered to my bowls and serving spoons like you wouldn't believe. I had to go out and buy a new scraper sponge and I still feel like my ladle has the cheese still on it. Needless to say I am afraid to reheat the leftovers after I had such a hard time cleaning up after our first serving. My recommendation is definitely make this but leave out the cojita cheese!!

Next up we went back to Martha Stewart with a Pizza with Kielbasa, Apple and Cheddar Pretzel Tart recipe. So again this was a user error. I wanted my pizza stone to get hot for a crispy crust even though the recipe called for using a jelly pan/cookie sheet. Well... What I didn't think about was how to get the pizza from the peel to the stone. Anyway we ended up with this discrete...

Haha so it is not the prettiest but the tastes were still delicious!!

And for dessert...

Hawaiian Pork Chops and Tropical Rice

Hilton Head was awesome! I was even able to accomplish 3 out of 5 of my to dos! The only things we didn't get to do were go to Savannah and the Skullcreek restaurant. However, we did eat at The Old Oyster Factory, The Smokehouse, and a Italian Steakhouse which I can't remember the name of! Definitley recommend Hilton Head if you haven't been there yet! 

Lately I have been eating so much chicken and beef. I tend to get in these little routines and forget about all the other options out there. The other day I was at the grocery store deciding on what we were going to have for dinner and I saw boneless pork chops. BINGO! So of course that sent me right to Pinterest to come up with some ideas for dinner. 

I found a recipe via Pinterest that originated cristinecooks.blogspot.com for a pineapple honey marinade. The only ingredient I had to buy was some fresh pineapple. Below is my version of the recipe. 

Ingredients: 

• 4 boneless pork chops
• Fresh pineapple (I bought the sliced version at the store to use the fresh pineapple juice for the marinade)
• 1/3 cup honey or agave
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pepper (I used enough to lightly dust the pork chops)

Directions: 

• Prepare marinade. Whisk pineapple juice, honey, dijon mustard and salt in a small bowl. 
• In a freezer bag, put pork chops in bag and pepper the pork chops. Pour marinade into bag and make sure that all pork chops are well coated. 
• Refrigerate 45 minutes to an hour. 
• Start prepping Tropical Rice (see below)
• Heat grill, and grill chops for 4-6 minutes on each side. 
• Add pineapple splices to grill in the last 5 minutes and make sure they cook on each side. 

Of course we needed a side dish for our pork chops and I was trying to find something a little different that incorporated some type of fruit. I found a recipe via Pinterest from Hannaford.com for Tropical Rice. I decided that this was a great compliment to the pork chops. Not to mention with Uncle Ben's 90 second rice this side dish takes minutes to prepare!

Ingredients: 

• 2 bags of Uncle Ben's Brown Rice (cooked)
• 1 large mango diced
• 1 medium red pepper diced
• 1/2 vidalia onion diced
• 1/2 cup dried coconut shavings
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Directions: 

• In a bowl, mix all ingredients and serve! Could that be any easier? 

I also served a Asian slaw salad and Hawaiian rolls along with the dinner!

This is such a simple meal to serve! Great for guests! Next time I make this I am definitely going to have a tropical theme and serve the rice in hollowed out pineapples! And maybe some Mai Tai's! Here are some inspirational ideas for my next dinner party using this menu!

Pineapple Serving Bowl

Pineapple Flower Vase

Mai Tai

Happy Pinning!

By Jennifer Shelton

Fiesta Salad

So along with nice weather means lots of ice cream! So instead of cutting out my ice cream consumption I decided that eating salads for dinner would allow me to eat more ice cream. The other night we bought a bunch of chicken and put it on the grill for salads for the week. Which makes life so much easier when you want to assemble dinner quickly.

We had some leftover corn from dinner the night before which inspired my fiesta salad! This is one of my favorite salads and basically I just grab whatever ingredients that I have around the house that sound good to me. 

Sample ingredients can include: grilled chicken, grilled steak, shrimp, avocado, jalapeños, jicama, peppers, pepper jack cheese, mango, black beans, corn, cilantro, red onion, etc! 

Now you can always make a creamy BBQ Ranch dressing, but since I am trying to cut down on calories (to eat more ice cream) I adapted a recipe from SkinnyTaste that I found on Pinterest. 

The recipe is for a bean salad, but since we were making this a meal I made it into a salad. 

Dressing Ingredients: 

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Salad Ingredients: 

• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Red onion
• Grilled chicken
• Corn
• Black Beans
• Cilantro
• Red Pepper
• Pickled jalapeños
• Shredded cheddar cheese (or pepper jack if you have it)
• Whatever else sounds good to you (avocado, mango, etc)! 

Toss the salad with the dressing and you have a super simple dinner! You can also add fresh jalapeños if you like more hotness! I served this with black bean mango salsa and of course a fun cocktail! 

Happy Pinning!
By Jennifer Shelton

Grilled Flank Steak with Black Beans, Corn and Tomatoes

Since the weather has been nice in NC, and I am loving the fact we can grill outside I decided to find some recipes that are quick and easy for the grill. Searching through my pins I found this recipe from skinnytaste.com for grilled flank steam with black beans, corn and tomatoes! I decided to make this a salad since we are "trying" to eat healthier. Granted I did also serve this with a side of guacamole and chips, so overall not sure how healthy this meal really was.

What I loved about this recipe is for the salsa part (black beans, corn, tomatoes, etc) you can really customize based on your taste or what you have lying around the kitchen. I am a big fan of spicy so next time I might dice up a jalapeño and definitely some avocado or jicama. Or maybe add just a lil garlic too.

When making this recipe I totally underestimated the number of limes it takes to get 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice. I bought 2 and barely had 1/8 cup. So I had to add some lemon juice to make up the difference.

This recipe was adapted from skinnytaste.com.

Ingredients: 

Steak Marinade

• 1 1/2lb flank steak
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• fresh cracked pepper to taste

Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salad

• 3 tbsp red onion, minced (I used half a red onion)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (suggest 5-6 limes)
• 2 medium vine ripe tomatos, diced (I used 3 tomatoes)
• 1 cup corn kernels (I just used an entire package)
• 2 tbsp finely minced cilantro
• kosher salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions: 

• Season steak with the crushed garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Make sure to gently massage into the meat for even distribution. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. 
• Combine red onions, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper in a medium bowl and set aside for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, black beans, corn, cilantro and other ingredients you choose. Set aside. 
• Heat a lightly greased grill or grill pan on high heat. Grill steak on high heat, 6-8 minutes on each side until your desired degree of doneness. Let the meat rest about 5 minutes before slicing. Slice the beef into thin slices across the grain, place on a platter (or in my case salad) and top with the corn, black bean and tomato salad. 

Let me know how you have adapted this recipe to make it your own!

Bon Appetite and Happy Pinning!!!
By Jennifer Shelton

Dinner Ideas - Pesto Baked Ziti

My mother-in-law is still recovering from her hand surgery so I wanted to make something for dinner that was easy to eat (no knives required) and also something that would provide them with leftovers. I remember seeing a recipe for Pesto Baked Ziti and decided that I would try it out.

This was SUPER simple to make! Boiling water and making sure the sausage was cooked through was the hardest task!

The only tweaks I would make would be ...

• Use penne instead of ziti. I think the cheese and sauce would cling to the penne better. 
• In the directions they tell you to layer the pasta, meat, and cheese. I think stirring it in together would make me it slightly easier to serve and make sure you get even distribution of ingredients!

This recipe is from The Neelys and you can find it on my Pinterest Page.

SHOW: Down Home with the Neelys
EPISODE: That’s Amore
Ingredients:

• Salt
• 1lb ziti - (I personally am a huge fan of DeCecco pasta!)
• 1lb hot Italian turkey sausage, casing removed - I used regular Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped - to make things simpler I bought chopped onions at the grocery store (they were on sale!!)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes - debating on if next time I would add a 1.5 cans
• 6 ounces of pesto (I really should have made this homemade but I was being lazy!)
• 1 (9-ounce) package of washed spinach
• Butter, for baking dish
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella, plus more for topping
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan, plus more for topping

Directions: 

• Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
• Make pasta (remember to salt your water!!) and drain in colander
• In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté sausage. Add onion and garlic and sauté until sausage is cooked through. Make sure to break up the sausage so it resembles ground beef. Add the can of tomatoes and pesto. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. 

• While the sauce is simmering, in a separate bowl mix the spinach, ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan in a separate bowl. 

• Butter a 4-quart baking dish, add the pasta, then sausage mixture and cheese mixture. Top with a sprinkle of mozzarella and Parmesan. 

• Bake completely through and golden and crisp on top, about 20 minutes. 

Would love to hear if you liked this recipe and any ideas on how to make it better!

Happy Pinning!
By Jennifer Shelton