Tag Archives: dinner

4 ingredient fix

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Let’s get back to the basics here. Summer is just 90 days away, we need to start eating right. I don’t know what this Paleo stuff is, I mean I have a vague idea…Its a throwback meal plan in which you eat twigs & berries? FALSE. Its actually a legit lifestyle change and although I may have bought a box of green tea and convinced myself I will make it to the gym at least 2x this week. Let’s be real. Unless it tastes good, I am not going to be sticking to it. Oh and it can’t waste a ton of my precious time either so ya, there’s those stipulations as well 🙂 Anyway, I found the best fit. Quick enough for my whiney tired self to use no excuse not to make (double negative folks, stay with me), as well as, the fact it uses trendy stuff like kale and is gluten free (Shout out to a miss Caitlin Matt, lovely GF blog follower). Tell me you don’t love the fact its 4 ingredients and takes 20 minutes to make. Stop with the excuses & try this puppy out…

  • 1 pound sausage (I did Turkey vs. Pork and I also made sure it was hot Italian so the fennel seeds & other spices were already in there).
  • 1 bunch organic kale (1/2 the bag)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
  • (I added a lil bit of minced garlic. Technically not needed since the sausage was mixed with spices, but I like to jazz stuff up).

Remove sausage from its casing and brown in a large pan. Add the diced onion and continue cooking on medium until the onions are soft. Remove the spine from the kale and chop into bite size pieces. (In order to avoid this work, because god forbid I don’t take short cuts, I bought the pre chopped & washed stuff from Trader Joe’s, its in the salad section). Then, add the kale to the pan with the sausage and onions and stir and cook until it turns bright green and softens to your taste. (Between 5-10 minutes) Remove sausage and kale mixture from the heat, stir in the chopped red bell pepper. Serve warm & feel proud of the fact you are so chic that you are eating kale, are gluten free, and partaking in a Paleo diet. Every single food buzz word for 2014, way to be a grade A trendsetter for the day.

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Happy Eating, XO.

#teamtruffle

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So the best thing I have been hearing from people is that Jess and Sonia have the same voice. No one can differentiate who writes what post, because we have the same sense of humor, writing style, cooking/recipe style. Let me fill you in on a little secret, that was kind of the point & reasoning behind our fab collabo. Anyway, instead of keeping up the cryptic façade of who is writing this post, I will have to go ahead and spill the beans. Only because Jess is obsessed with all things TRUFFLE (you name it: fries, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, popcorn-check out her recipe, it is DIVINE). Having said that, she has now gotten me on the truffle bandwagon. I, too, am now OBSESSED. So in honor of Jess and missing our last face time date, I wanted to share this recipe with y’all.

•Kosher or Sea salt (something course).
•1/2 cup heavy cream (I tried to lighten this up and did half & half, I mean can you blame a girl: butter, cheese, cream. It was getting a lil cray even for my fattie/foodie side).
•3 ounces white truffle butter (should be about $7, I bought a 4 oz package for $7.99. Yes its expensive, yes its different, you tell us worth it or not. Also if you aren’t a fan of truffle butter or have skeptics coming to dinner perhaps use 2 oz. It’s a strong flavor so no one will hate you for cutting back, I stuck with 3 though because its “damn delish”).
•Freshly ground black pepper
•1 (8.82-ounce) package tagliatelle dried pasta (or any other egg fettuccine, Trader joes has a cheap egg papardelle)
•3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
•3 ounces Parmesan (shaved thin with a vegetable peeler or be lazy like me and have them shave it at the cheese counter for you).

Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil & cook pasta.
Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) saute pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Lower the heat to very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over very low heat. When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain & add the pasta immediately (you don’t want the starchy noodles to clump together sitting in a side bowl, not that it happened to me, ok gawsh). Add the drained pasta to the saute pan and toss it with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserved cooking water, as necessary, to keep the pasta very creamy. (I added like 3 tbsp. not even). Serve the pasta & garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan. Serve immediately so the sauce doesn’t over-thicken. Also the original recipe says that this makes 2 portions, but let’s be honest here…this dish is DECADENT! So I’d say it is realistically a starter course or side dish for 4 servings. Yup that’s it, can’t believe how quick such a fancy dish can be? Well, make it and find out for yourself. Make sure to comment below on your thoughts! Or tweet at us with your opinion: #teamtruffle worth the $ or not.

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p.s. less than one month till the dynamic duo’s birthday. #justsaying.

Happy Eating, XO.

Chip Chop

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Anyone wonder why when something is needed quickly, people say “chip chop”? Regardless, this pork chop recipe cooks in a jiffy! (Again don’t know where the word jiffy even came from?) Its a simple week night dinner that doesn’t require any prep work. I grabbed some pork chops on the way home from work and had dinner on the table in no time. No, you can’t sub for chicken or fish on this one. I hear the word on the street is that apple sauce only marries pork, so my apologies if you don’t eat the whitest red meat.

 

Also, let’s get interactive here, what are some good sides that go with pork chops? Give me suggestions on accompaniments for this dish! Email us: damndelish@gmail.com on what you would serve with this dinner. Pasta? Rice? Potatoes? No starch and just veggies? Would LOVE to hear from the readers. Jess and Sonia are lonely emailing just one another. Ok back to food, go make this one, its precious. (total prep & cook time is only 20 minutes!)
  • 2 1/2 cups of applesauce (The original calls for 4 cups and that is WAY excessive. Trust me even with 2 1/2 you will have plenty leftover, plus if you don’t want to take my word for it, know that 2 1/2 cups is pretty much an entire small jar anyway).
  • 2 onions (Original recipe calls for 1 onion so that should be fine, but I increased it since they cook down a lot).
  • 1 1/2 cups of white wine (I had some left over from the fancy pants chicken piccata recipe)
  • 4 (1-inch thick) pork chops
  • 3 tbsp. butter
Season pork chops with salt and pepper generously & place in a large skillet over medium-high heat. In the spaces between the chops, add the butter and onions. (you are going to need a pretty big pan by the way, I switched half way through because mine wasn’t big enough) Cook and stir the onions while the first side of the chops cook until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn the chops and continue cooking until the no longer pink in the center, 5 to 7 minutes more. Pour white wine into the skillet; bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan (this is what Food Network calls de-glazing the pan. Go ahead, show off, use it in conversation some time to act like you are a culinary king). Stir applesauce through the onion and wine mixture. Simmer until the liquid thickens somewhat, about 5 minutes. Plate the pork chops and top with the apple and onion mixture to serve. Oh and sorry there is no picture, there may or may not have been excessive wine consumption stopping us from remembering to take a photo prior to inhaling our meal.
Editor’s note: I did enjoy how quick and easy this was, but I also felt as if something was missing. Try variations on this by adding a pinch of cayenne, cinnamon, & garlic powder to the apple sauce mixture. Remember not to season the chop itself much more since it will burn the outside when searing and leave the inside undercooked. Having said all that, not one person didn’t finish their plate. So maybe don’t mess with it-keep it a simple & clean dish. Just some food for thought. ha get it!?
Happy Eating, XO.

Fig, Mustard & Pear Champagne Glazed Chicken

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An ode to my favorite grocery store under the Sun. Trader Joe’s. Cheap, fresh, organic, tasty, you name it…this place is THE best. Anyway, this blog is primarily easy recipes. Easy sometimes is mistakenly synonymous for quick. And while we appreciate the pace of most of the recipes, some of them such as the Sunday Simmer are best made “low and slow”. This is by far one of the easiest recipes because its mix, pour & roast however the total cooking time is 2 hrs. So if you need a quick week night dinner, keep scrolling. However, if you have some time to get laundry or other cleaning done…this recipe is clutch. Plus all ingredients are from TJ! So here you have it ladies & gents…Fig, Mustard & Pear Champagne Glazed Chicken.

  • 1 TJ’s Whole Organic Chicken (bone chicken = more scrumptious than non bone chicken, you better recognize! check out Mama Z’s whole chicken recipe too).
  • 1 jar TJ’s Fig Butter (I used the little that was remaining as a spread with goat cheese & crackers on wine night so obviously a multi faceted purchase here).
  • 1 jar TJ’s Whole Grain Dijon Mustard (this is used in dressing recipes, the crab cake recipe, etc…aren’t you happy to have to buy one less thing this time around, your welcome).
  • 1 bottle TJ’s Pear Champagne Vinaigrette (keep this around for an endive salad coming to the blog this December. We always want you to be able to use leftovers. Plus, we hope you like the dish enough that you wont have leftovers because you will re-make it at least once more!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the fig butter, 1/2 cup of the mustard and 1 cup of the vinaigrette. Rinse and thoroughly pat dry the chicken (moisture on the chicken will prevent the glaze from sticking to it). Place the chicken in a baking dish and spread 2/3 of the glaze mixture generously all over the chicken. (I did so, too generously. What I mean is that there was so much of the glaze that was on the pan surrounding the chicken that it started to burn & made my fire alarm go off. Crisis was averted by opening a window and switching to a clean pan, but it messed up the heating/cooking temp of the chicken & probably could’ve gotten an extra 20 min the oven to make up for the mid cooking swap). They say the rule of thumb is 20 min per lb. (I didn’t put much thought into that and just pulled it out when it looked done). Anyway half way through I basted the chicken with the remaining 1/3 of the glaze mixture, so moist & divine this chicken came out!

This serves 4 people and I served it with the roasted potatoes recipe under sidekicks.

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Happy Eating, XO.

You fancy huh?

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Lamb Chops scream special occasion. They don’t however have to scream hard work. This is one of the easiest recipes and will please any meat loving man on the planet. I mean ladies, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. So keep this puppy on hand the next time you are in the dog house. Right, like we women ever screw up?! Oh and another great thing is that some of the ingredients overlap from other blog recipes and so you should already have them lying around the pantry!

  • 1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint (buy it! use it in a berry salad or a mojito if you have leftovers).
  • 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of dry mustard (I bought this for the recipe, but I doubt if you used Dijon mustard it would change the flavor greatly. Perhaps it would lower the heat kick and make it more tangy, so try to use the dry mustard if you can but don’t be afraid that you will ruin the dish if you are in a pinch).
  • 2 teaspoons of honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (not to be a snob but try & do freshly ground if you can, if not no worries)
  • 8 (4-ounce) lamb loin chops, about 1 inch thick, trimmed (have that done at the store, I wouldn’t even know how to advise you on how to do that yourself).
  • Cooking spray

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well.
Place lamb in a single layer in a shallow dish; rub spice mixture evenly over both sides of lamb. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.
Place lamb on a grill pan coated with cooking spray (or in a non stick pan. I don’t have a grill pan so whatevs).
Cook 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. (I did this on high heat at first since I wanted a crust to form. I then cut to medium heat for the remaining 1-2 minutes. Also I would say 5-6 minutes on each side if doing in a non stick pan vs. grill). Regardless it cooks fast so serve immediately. I served with a side of cous-cous, but anything works!

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Happy Eating, XO.