Eating Dinner With My Family

The pizza dough was on sale so I got two.  Tonight my husband played around with some leftovers in the fridge to make a very tasty calzone. I really liked it and was happy to let him have the kitchen tonight.  He likes to cook as much as I do, and while he has enjoyed this new meal every night mission, he has lamented his lack of creative cooking time.  He says also he is a little sad when we have a meal he loves because he know it's not coming back.  But that isn't true, the year is up and I will relent and allow some repeats;).  Improv Calzone 1 lb of Pizza Dough 1/4 cup marinara sauce 1/8 tsp dried oregano (up to 1/4 tsp if you like oregano) 4 oz diced ham 3 tbsp ricotta cheese 4 oz shredded cheese (we had an assortment) 2 cloves of garlic (minced or through a press preferably) 1 tbsp grated onion Preheat the oven with a pizza stone on the bottom rack to 500.  Roll out the dough in to a 16" round....

I had planned on making a  Chicken Saltimbocca recipe I had gotten from Food & Wine that was contributed by Lidia Bastianich .  I love that recipe and I was convinced it was pre blog so I could safely make it.  WRONG.  I had made it back in October.  Well what am I to do?  I don't want a repeat.  I have another saltimbocca recipe from Publix apron meals,  It is fast but not as good as the recipe by LB.  So to the computer and I found this one from Bon Appetit on food.com. (as always click the title to get to the original recipe when I know the source:)  It was quite good. I made a pasta sauce with some leftover marinara,wine, sun dried tomato pesto, garlic, olive oil, ricotta and cream.  It wasn't too bad and it got rid of 4 things in my fridge!  yay No wait 5 things.  I had accidentally cooked too much pasta a couple of days back so I was using that up too! Chicken Saltimbocca With Lemon Sauce   4  ...

When I first started doing this blog, I wanted to have a way to share recipes with my friends and keep personal notes on the recipes we try because I planned on having an entire year of not repeating a dish.  I wanted to do this for two reasons. I wanted to expand my and my family's palette beyond the dishes that we already loved, and I also wanted to push myself culinarily by trying  to make some things that I may not necessarily tried before because they were out of my comfort zone.  Now that I'm getting close to have completed a year of new recipes (Every day trying a new recipe it isn't very practical, and to never miss a day because of eating out or a special occasion is virtually impossible)  I am looking to what I want to do with the next year of my culinary training and food experiences. Its always been a dream of mine it to eat as seasonal and local as possible and so I would like to...

Much like the souffle, gnocchi has a reputation for being easy to mess up.  This was my first gnocchi and I was a little nervous.  The dish does take a while, mostly because there is an hour of baking before you even begin to make the dough.  Also annoying,  I discovered as I was making it, it was a big sticky mess, and I was kind of hoping it would be the colossal failure I was worried it could be because it was so laborious and messy.  No such luck.  It was unbelievable!!!  The light fluffy pillows of pasta in a nutty, herby sauce.  They didn't look like much but they were yummy!  Another thing I liked about this recipe is that the recipe made enough to freeze half of the gnocchi for a future use.  After I ate some, I realized I could have made the entire recipe and we would probably would have eaten it all.  We may have felt ill after but it just might have been worth it.  If you make the entire recipe and eat...

We all enjoyed this pizza.  The boy had 4 slices! 4!  OMG  Needless to say, he pronounced it a favorite.  My husband was leery of the pizza, but when he saw it come out of the oven he declared that the thought it looked great.  I was worried that it is supposed to be grilled at first and finished on a pizza stone. I loved it too, but I think next time, if I don't start it on a grill, I would put a drop or two of liquid smoke in with the olive oil (or maybe knead it in to the dough) just to try and replicate the smoky flavor you get on a grill.  I think that really would have added to the overall taste.  Even without it, it was a very tasty pizza and I am a little pissed that the boy ate so much of it because I want to have leftovers of it.  There are only 2 slices and I kinda feel like I should save them for him but I also kinda want to just have them myself;) I also didn't make the dough, I got mine from the Publix bakery. Al Forno Inspired Pi...

Well I was looking for a recipe that would use up the rest of the Crème fraîche I left.  I thought this sounded like a good use and I could finally try these amazing looking fritters.  Well the soup was a meh, but the boy loved it.  The fritters were AMAZING.  Love, love, loved them.  They were pretty easy to make too. Next time I make them, I think I might put the grated zucchini in a paper towel and squeeze a bit of the liquid out of them.  I only think this might help with how they hold together.  They were knife and fork food and I wanted finger food:) I think the lemon wedges were unnecessary, as there was plenty of lemon flavor from the zest, but it didn't hurt it either.   Zucchini-Ricotta Fritters 2    medium zucchini (about 7 ounces each),coarsely shredded 2    garlic cloves,very thinly sliced 3    large scallions,very thinly sliced 1/2 c  fresh sheep-milk ricotta cheese 2...

Well I had bought some ground beef and pork for a recipe that would use up some of our left over ham. While the recipe (Carne Fria) called for a full pound of each, I decided to only make half the recipe and was planing to freeze the rest.  Well when I was looking for recipes for tonight's dinner, I found this one in my to try file that would use up that meat. (as my darling would say: Fate?) I have yet to feel really proficient in cooking meatballs, but they do come out ok.  The whole time though, I am thinking, this is not going right. This recipe was very simple.  I didn't like the look of the tomatoes in the produce section, so I used the canned san marzano (sp?) plum tomatoes in place of the fresh.  I think they would have made a superior sauce if they had been really good tomatoes.  This was well received all way round.  My husband was annoyed that he liked the meatballs because he doesn't like olives.  (there are only two in all the meat but i...

Tonight I get to go see my once and future belly dance troupe perform.  I took classes for a while from my wonderful and lovely instructor Yana. I danced right up to my 9th month of pregnancy.  I even danced 8 months pregnant at my shower.  Now that the baby is two, I think I can go back to the classes with kid care.  Daytona Beach Belly Dance was having their winter Hafla, and I can go see these wonderful ladies.  YAY!  My husband is left to cook.  He made a plain cheese pizza, but since there were some chives I had cut from our garden (and forgot to top a dish I made for school with:o) that needed to be used, he topped the pizza with them.  Really awesome.  (I ate the pizza the next day)  I think chives should be a topping at all pizza places! As we get our dough from the deli most days, and cheese pizza is not something you really need a recipe for, I figured I would just take this time to say how awesome fresh chives are on pizza....

This is one of the family's favorites.  I love the spiciness of it but it can be easily adjusted to suit any taste.  It is quick and simple.  It is often served on pasta, but what I love about this recipe (that I can't for the life of me figure out were I got it) is that it is served with just crusty bread.  No additional cooking.  I usually pick up some at the bakery, but I did find frozen baguette dough from France in the freezer case of the grocery that are pretty good and not too many chemicals in them.  It is a nice back up to have on hand.  (for any meal not just this one)  I even skipped the salad.  There is so much tomato in this, I called it the veggie and then called it a night. Oh I almost forgot, turn on your fan in the kitchen, when you are cooking the shrimp, the pepper makes the air spicy and it will tickle the back of your throat! Shrimp Fra Diavolo 1 1/4 lb Shrimp,Shelled And Deveined 1/4 c  Extra Virgin Olive Oil ...

Well, I had bought pizza dough for last night's leftovers, but realized I could use up the French bread instead, so tonight we are having some pizzas I have been wanting to try.  I have  to say they were pretty yummy. I thought I would not love the salad with  apples on the pizza,  but it was really delicious.  I did a few things differently.  I didn't make the dough for the Fontina one; I worked thyme into the dough I bought from the bakery.  I also crushed up the tomatoes in the Gouda pizza.  I would have been OK with whole, but my husband isn't a fan, so when they came out of the oven, I mushed them up a bit with a wooden spoon.  I also didn't make individual pizzas, just two big ones. (less time consuming) Oh and I used olive oil in place of the grapeseed.  I wasn't buying an expensive bottle of oil I don't have any uses for. Fontina, Prosciutto And Caramelized Onion Pizzas        ...

Well I saw that it was national pasta day in one of my daily emailed recipes, so I dug this one out of my to try file. WOW! The cards were so stacked against me liking this dish. I'm not a the biggest fan of pork. I really don't like seeing certain meats raw (pork & chicken). Proportionally, there was too much meat to pasta. Too little sauce and cheese to the too much meat was also making me leery. I picked this recipe out for the carnivorous males in the family. I figured it would be pretty tasty as it was a F & W staff favorite. Well, holy cow! It was freakin' awesome! It was not too labor intensive either. It was a long process, but mostly inactive so not too difficult. I'm thinking that for the days one is short on time, a crock pot might even be an alternative after the reduction of the wine. I halved the recipe and there was still plenty for 8 servings, so despite the fact that the full recipe says for eight, so not true. It is so good, you ...

Well the end result was tasty, but I had some issues. First of all, it took much longer for the meat to be cooked then the recipe said.  Perhaps my chicken wasn't thin enough, but it was pretty thin.  Because I cooked it longer the sauce became a tad salty. (definitely use the low sodium broth)  All in all delicious.  Everyone loved it.  It is not that hard to make either. I served it with a salad and some pasta shells.  The sauce was simple.  I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan, and sauteed some onions in it.  Then I added a couple tablespoons of flour and cooked the roux for a few minutes.  Add milk (and minced garlic) and cook until the right consistency, then add freshly grated parm, salt, and pepper. Chicken Saltimbocca 4    six-ounce skinless,boneless chicken breast halves, butterfled Salt and freshly ground pepper 8    large sage leaves 4    thin slices prosci...

I made this for the boys because the girls and I were going to a wine tasting and this dish has a variable cooking time. That way they could eat whenever they were ready.  I recommend cooking it at least an hour.  I think the meat becomes more tender.  The hardest part about making this is pounding out the meat.  Getting it thin is important.  It helps make the rolling easier and it cooks better. Other than that, the dish is really easy despite the fact it looks "fancy."  You can always play with the fillings too, but then it wouldn't be a Braciole but a roulade:).  To keep it easy on me, I gave them a baguette with butter and a salad (that they didn't eat) as sides. Braciole 3 c  tomato sauce 1 1/4 c  flavored croutons 1/3 c  grated Parmesan  2    eggs 1 T  chopped fresh parsley 1 T  chopped fresh oregano 1 t  finely chopped rosemary 1 t  finely chopped thyme 1 ea garlic 1 lb...

Well tonight's is a bit of a pantry raid.  I had the frozen shrimp that needed to be used and a lemon and the pasta.  Thought I had garlic, but it was gone so I had a quick grocery run.  I am still so over the fridge thing:/  It is still a tasty meal.   Shrimp Scampi With Linguini 1 lb linguini 4 T  butter 4 T  extra virgin olive oil,plus more for drizzling 1    large shallot,finely diced 5 ea garlic,sliced Pinch red pepper flakes optional 20    Shrimp (large),about 1 pound, peeled and deveined Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 c  dry white wine 1    lemon,juiced 1/4 c  finely chopped parsley leaves [Note: Use a Marborough Sauvgion Blanc ] For the pasta, put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When it has come to the boil, add a couple of tablespoons of salt and the linguini. Stir to make sure the pasta separates; cover. When the water returns to a boil...

Ok, this is my Husband's recipe, and as I am writing this, he is still undecided as to wether or not it is a family secret recipe.  I don't know what to tell him.  It is that good, but I hate keeping secrets.  (the non-fish taco kind:)  It started out as a Cooking Light recipe, but we intervened and fattened it up so it is no longer a 'light' dish.  It originally was a ham and swiss stromboli; my brilliant husband added salami and cream cheese.  (I know I can say that much as of yet lol)  I don't cook this one ever.  First of all, the recipe hasn't been written down yet. Secondly, I am not the baker/ dough maker of the family.  (along with not being the fryer either)  It is delicious, often requested and ever so fattening!  It is not a quick or easy recipe, but not too taxing either.   (espically since I never make it!) Well I think I have an answer on wether or not this is a public recipe, it is going to be a someda...

Tonight's dish is another family favorite.  I find this dish amazing for so many reasons.  First of all, I don't care for sasuage; the boys don't care for squash, yet somehow we all like this dish.  It is a perfect example that you should never say never when it comes to ingredients.  Sometimes it will be the quality that has put you off in the past.  (not true here for us becasue it's the same products we have been buying)   Sometimes it will be improper preperation.  (I do credit the recipe here a little but it is still me cooking it so that does keep it fairly consistent)  But most often it is just the recipe.  This one makes all the peices work.  I think I got this dish from the Fine Cooking emails, but I think I also saw it on the food and wine website so...  It is from Scott Conant.  I thought I was going to hate this guy when I saw him o...

Well when I should have been browsing my recipe database, my darling husband was playing Icewind Dale on the computer.  As a result, I was totally unprepared when I was shopping during the boy's karate class.  As I wandered aimlessly around the grocery, I saw pizza dough in the deli case. Well we all love pizza and I was worn out and wanted to do nothing, and, as before, the "easy" pizza meal was more work than so many other dishes.  Why this time you ask?  Well, I couldn't decide on the type of pizza, so I decide on four kinds.  I like White Pizza. so that will be one.  We had a Buffalo chicken pizza at the Mellow Mushroom when we were on vacation, and my husband really liked it so I thought we would do that too.  Well the boy likes pepperoni pizza, so what the heck we will have a third.  OH, wait, I wanted to try to make that pizza I saw on the Best Thing I Ever Ate, Potato Pizza.  OK so we are having four kinds of pizza tonight.  That...

Well I am going to start off by saying right now I am totally prejudice when it comes to this recipe but I'm still going to be a catty... witch because I don't feel like being tactful.  I try to always be diplomatic when it come to the recipes.  First of all, someone may like them.  I just personally may not care for them, and while that is OK, there is no need to slam the recipe.  Two, these people are paid to cook or teach cooking for a living, were I am simply a good home cook, so who am I to criticize their work with anything but a kind eye?  I cannot extend that courtesy here.  Let me start at the beginning.  I have had this recipe hanging around for a long time.  I know I originally put it in to the 'to try' database because I have been looking to find a way to replicate a fish with brown butter dish I had a long time ago.  Long before I was interested in cooking and eating well.  This recipe is from a chef I us...

I have been on a quest for a great meatball recipe.  The two leading contenders up to this point, are one that is pretty easy yet fairly tasty, and one that is more labor intensive but not as much more tasty as it is more work.  Tonight's dinner started off bad.  It began with it taking SO much longer than anticipated.  Then the meatballs fought back with grease splatters.  I got hit on the arms, face, eye and neck.  (ouch!!)  The directions were a bit vague for me too.  What exactly is "hand crushed tomatoes?"  It must be somewhere between the way crushed tomatoes look in a can and what a tomato looks like when you hit it with a hammer.  Do I tear up the pieces or just smoosh it?  In the end, I think it wouldn't have mattered, but during the process, I would have liked more info.  I want to hate this recipe! I REALLY want to hate this recipe.  Well, EXPLETIVE, I didn't.  It did have a few things I thin...