Ja cię kocham…

Hazelnut Pesto and Grilled Vegetable Pizza

I really wasn’t going to post these dishes because pizza and nachos are easy to make, and you don’t need me to tell you how to make pizza or nachos.   But I decided to pay tribute to fun, festive food consumed when I’m watching football with the hubby.

There is nothing better (well, ALMOST nothing better) than piling on the couch in sweatpants and your favorite sports team’s jersey, turning on ESPN and watching the game with real sports food – pizza, nachos, chips & dip, hoagies, etc.

Yes, I said hoagies.  I’m a Philly girl.  It’s not a sub or a hero.  It’s a hoagie.

As much as I love lazy days when I can go less than a mile down the road and order a pizza, nachos, or a hoagie, I also love the days when I can have my favorite sports meals made with a little lovin’ from my own kitchen.  And I use lotsa lovin’.

The pizza in the first picture – we’ll call it Hazelnut Pesto & Grilled Vegetable Pizza – was made using whatever I had in the fridge.  I did this before when I made my Everything But the Kitchen Sink Pizza.  I enjoy these types of recipes because I get to use up all the leftover veggies lingering in my fridge before they go funky on me.  I don’t do funky veggies.  And I get so upset when I have a few slices of bell pepper in the fridge with no purpose.  I can’t just throw it out.  I’ll just put it on my pizza…

Hazelnut Pesto & Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
olive oil

For the pesto:
2 LARGE handful of basil leaves, stems removed
handful of hazelnuts
1 Tbs. Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the toppings:

4 slices of bacon
1/4 cup eggplant, diced
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup orange bell pepper
1/4 sweet onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
your favorite cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Put all pesto ingredients except for the olive oil into a food processor and start pulsing it.  While pulsing, add the olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Place a medium skillet on medium-high heat.  Add bacon slices.  Cook until crispy.  Set aside.  Leave drippings in pan.

Still on medium-high, add vegetable toppings (except garlic) to skillet.  Saute for 4 to 5 minutes or until softened.

Roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface and brush lightly with olive oil.  Spread pesto onto pizza surface.  Then add sauteed vegetables, garlic, and cheese.

Place in oven for about 10-15 minutes or until edges brown and cheese melts.

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Ja Cie Kocham’s Loaded Nachos

My family has a thing for nachos.  We’re known to order them as our main meal at a restaurant and eat the whole thing by ourselves.

What?  Nachos are AWESOME.  I bet you do it, too.

Nachos can be zapped in the microwave…. I have seen a few friends put tortilla chips on a plate with salsa and cheese and microwave them for 30 seconds, which is totally acceptable but I wanted some pizazz for these babies.

I wanted the works – the salsa, the fresh tomatoes, the scallions, the avocado, the refried beans, the bacon, the beef, and most importantly THE CHEESE.  I seriously made enough for 8 people for Jay and I, and we almost polished off the entire thing on our own.  I couldn’t breathe when I was done and I was even full the next morning… now that’s what I call loaded nachos!

Ja Cie Kocham’s Loaded Nachos

Ingredients:

1 bag of corn tortilla chips
4 slices of bacon
1 – 1.5 lbs. hamburger
1 15 oz. can refried beans
1 jar chipotle salsa
your favorite shredded cheese
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
2 scallions, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a medium skillet placed on medium-high heat, cook your bacon.  Once bacon is crispy, remove it and keep the drippings in the pan.  Add the hamburger.  Cook until brown.

On a large cookie sheet covered in nonstick spray, spread out the nachos.  Add the hamburger, refried beans, salsa and cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes or until refried beans and salsa are hot and cheese is melted.

Crumble up bacon that you have set aside.

Take out of oven and add the remainder of the ingredients, including the bacon that you have reserved.  Serve immediately.

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Other fun recipes for sports watching at home:

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms

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Hot Bean and Cheese Dip

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Petite Pineapple and Prosciutto Pizzas

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White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Dip

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Enjoy yourself and give your sports food a little lovin’ from your kitchen…

Today we had a heat index of 105 degrees F.  And I was outside pretty much allll day looooong.  Needless to say, I wasn’t about to have anything hot for dinner.  I needed something cool and refreshing.  It was a night for salad.  I did it a little differently.  Instead of throwing it all in a bowl, I decided to make a platter out of it and put the lettuce on the side.  So go ahead.  Make a salad platter.  It makes the simplest of meals look beautiful and fancy.

My platter from Left to Right:

Red bell peppers
Green hot peppers
Avocado
Bacon
Chicken
Eggs
Scallions
Mushrooms
Roma tomatoes

I used endive lettuce and ranch dressing.  I know I should have used blue cheese, but I just love ranch!

ENJOY!

Happy Outdoor Grill Season!  In our family it’s always outdoor grill season, but this time of year is particularly fun because Mother Earth gives us fantastic fruits and veggies to grill.

We LOVE grilling corn on the cob.  The flavor is intensely smoky…. mmmmm…  My only advice is that when you grill your corn on the cob you do one of two things – keep the corn in the husk (with cornsilk removed) OR remove the husks and rub the corn with oil and/or juice (such as lime).

I saw this recipe on one of Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals.  Personally, I love her recipes but find a lot of them to be expensive to make.   Sorry Rachael, I do love you, but my pantry is meager compared to yours!

This recipe uses items that are already in your kitchen.  Rachael whipped up her own homemade BBQ sauce to top the corn with and in hindsight, I should have done the same thing.  I used store bought BBQ sauce, which was yummy, but I wish I had tried making my own.   It requires mixing a few staple ingredients together such as brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, etc. in a sauce pan.  Easy enough for me!

The only thing that I did NOT have on hand were scallions to throw on top of my bbq’d corn.  That would have added a beautiful finish to these babies.  There is always next time )

BBQ Corn on the Cob

Source: Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

(including items needed to make your own BBQ sauce, which are indicated with an asterisk “*”)

If you want to use store bought BBQ sauce, omit the items and directions with an “*”…

4 ears corn on cob
2 limes, juiced
A drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar*
2 tablespoons brown sugar*
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce*
1 tablespoon grill seasoning, a palm full*
1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce*
1 tablespoon hot sauce*
2 scallions, finely chopped

Directions:

Heat grill over medium-high heat.

Husk corn and cover with lime juice, drizzle with oil and season with salt.  Grill corn for 10-12 minutes, rotating it every few minutes.  Make sure there are lots of char marks on your corn!

Combine vinegar and brown sugar over medium-low heat, stir in Worcestershire, grill seasoning, ketchup or tomato sauce, and hot sauce. Simmer a couple of minutes.*

Baste corn liberally with sauce and cook 1 minute longer. Remove from grill, cover corn with chopped green onion and serve.

Alright, Philadelphians – I initially wrote “hoagie” in the title but for some reason “sub” was a better fit.  I really want to put hoagie in there given my Philly roots, but it didn’t work.   I just don’t ever see a Philly Deli offering Roasted Red Pepper HOAGIES.  Hoagies are loaded with meats, cheeses, oil, mayo, hot and sweet peppers…. this just isn’t a Philly sandwich.  But feel free to call it a hoagie if it makes you feel better – it tastes just as good. )

This sandwich is great for picnics because the goat cheese lasts a long time in your picnic basket.  Simply wrap it in wax paper and you’re on your way!   It’s also great when you want to have a sophisticated and unique meal at your home without all of the fuss or stress that large and time consuming meals bring about.  Like many of my recipes, this one takes minutes.  You gotta love that!   It goes great with a side salad filled with nuts and dried fruit.

Be creative.  Use this recipe as a template for your own creations.  Add grilled eggplant, portabella mushrooms, chicken… anything to make this sandwich to your liking!  Have fun and enjoy.

If you like this sandwich, check out my Grilled Vegetable, Herb, and Goat Cheese Sandwich!

Roasted Rainbow Pepper Sub

Slightly adapted from: Eatingwell.com

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce jar roasted red, orange and/or yellow peppers, rinsed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 16- to 20-inch baguette, preferably whole-wheat
3 tablespoon olive paste or olive tapenade – or pulse black olives with olive oil and salt in your food processor
4 ounces creamy goat cheese
1 1/2 cups arugula or spinach leaves
1 container of baby portabella mushrooms, sliced and sauteed in olive oil (5 minutes or so)

(PS – this sub is 220 calories per serving!!)

Directions:

Combine peppers, garlic, vinegar and oil in a small bowl; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.  (**Note: go easy on the garlic and vinegar.  A little goes a loooong way!)

Slice baguette in half lengthwise.

Spread one half with olive paste and the other half with goat cheese.

Layer pepper mixture, mushrooms, and arugula over olive paste.

Top with remaining baguette. Cut across into 4 pieces.

Just about every time I purchase a head of cauliflower I use half of it and leave the rest in the fridgie.  Having only two people in the house causes me to place left over veggies in the fridge.  Consequently, within a few days, my entire downstairs REEKS of something foul, which ends up being my cauliflower going bad.  It’s sad that it doesn’t last as long as I’d like.  After buying cauliflower for my Sweet Chile Roasted Vegetables, I had to come up with an additional recipe to use up the rest of my cauliflower.

101 Cookbooks never fails me.  Conveniently, Heidi, the author of the fantastic food blog, posted a cauliflower recipe exactly when I needed it.   It was definitely something that I would never have thought up on my own.  Thank you, Heidi )

Instead of using olive oil, I used coconut oil to saute the vegetables.  Coconut oil reminds me of butter but with a fresh, coconut fragrance that delightfully lingers in the house hours after cooking with it.

Coconut oil can be found at Whole Foods Market.   It’s a tad pricey ($6-8 a container), but it lasts a while.  If you’re a cook that likes to spice things up in the kitchen, I suggest purchasing unrefined coconut oil.

Coconut Curry Caulifower

Source: 101 Cookbooks

Serves: 2-3 as a side

Ingredients:

2 – 3 heads of small cauliflower (or 1/2 head large)
2 tablespoons of unrefined coconut oil
a couple pinches of sea salt
2 tsp. curry powder
1 small bunch of chives, chopped

Directions:

To prep the cauliflower, remove any leaves at the base and trim the stem. Now cut it into tiny trees not much larger than a table grape.  Rinse under running water, and set aside.

Heat the coconut oil and fine grain salt in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cauliflower and stir until the florets are coated. Wait until it gets a bit brown on the bottom, then toss the cauliflower with a spatula. Brown a bit more and continue to saute until the pieces are deeply golden – all told about six minutes.  Stir in the curry.

Remove from heat and stir in the chives, and salt to taste.  Serve immediately.

Omigosh, I know – it’s chicken!  We all thought that I was vegetarian!!!  I didn’t eat meat for MONTHS.  I was absolutely appalled by the thought of meat.  But the truth be told, I’m anemic, and months without adequate iron and protein left me exhausted.  I seriously thought that I had mono again.   Despite all of the multi-vitamins, leafy greens, and other supplements that I was consuming to compensate, I still felt like I was hit by a large truck every single morning.  It got to the point that no matter how gross I thought that meat was, my body craved it.  I fought it for a while, but eventually caved in.  I’m sorry vegetarians and vegans.  I knew deep down that this wasn’t permanent.  I just didn’t know how long my meat-free ways would last.   I still prefer vegetarian meals, and I always have, but if my body screams for meat, I will give my body meat.  And let me tell you, the day after I finally ate meat for the first time, I seriously felt like a million bucks!  I went and ran for an hour.  Fantastic.

Anyway… I was flipping through my Eating Clean magazine and came across a winner.  Long ago, I made an Eat Clean Pad Thai and was not too fond of it, but these two recipes were awesome!!  I’m so glad that I tried them.

Fresh after work on a day that my students were screaming, kicking their peers, and jumping in puddles in their socks in front of their mothers, I needed a real meal.  (And a real drink.)

Here it is!  The meal was perfect for the day that I felt that wouldn’t come to an end ;o)

Stuffed Chicken & Sweet Chile Roasted Vegetables

Source: Eat Clean Magazine July/August 2009

Serves 4

Chicken Ingredients:

Olive oil spray
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded, cored and diced
2 Tbs. bread crumbs
4- 4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breats, pounded thin (I found chicken breasts cut thinly at the market that avoided this step)

Chicken Directions:

Heat a large nonstick or cast orin skillet over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.  Mist with cooking spray and add onion, garlic, spinach, and tomato.  Saute for 5 minutes or until just cooked.  Remove from heat and mix in breadcrumbs.

To stuff chicken:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat again for two minutes.

Place 1.5-2Tbs. veggie-breadcrumb mix in the middle of each chicken breast.  Fold chicken over filling and secure with toothpick.

Mist skillet with cooking spray.  Place stuffed chicken into skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Sweet Chile Roasted Vegetables:

Source: Eat Clean Magazine July/August 2009

Serves 4

Roasted Vegetables Ingredients:

2 Tbs. agave nectar (or honey)
2 tbs. water
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar (if you have white balsamic, use that)
1/2 tsp. chile powder (I used chipotle chile powder, YUM)
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper
1 medium head of cauliflower
24 pieces thin asparagus, ends trimmed
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

Roasted Vegetables Directions:

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients except for veggies.  Set aside.

Cut cauliflower into florets about 1 inch in size.  Place them into a large mixing bowl, add half of marinade to bowl and toss gently.  Arrange cauliflower in a single layer onto one baking sheet.  Using the same mixing bowl, repeat with remainder of veggies, arranging them in a single layer on the other baking sheet.

Place veggies into oven and rost for 12-15 minutes, until tender or a light goldern brown color.  Serve immediately.

I discovered this Godsend in college.  I struggle with meal-making decisions because I want something light but I want something that fills me.  Normally an hour after a light meal I’m already hungry, and I end up snacking my face off until bedtime.  Yeah, I know.  The light meal was pointless if I am going to snack all night. )

But then my Mom came to the rescue with a fantastic recipe.  It was fantastic in so many ways.  Being young, I didn’t really know how to cook, but this recipe looked simple enough.  It was fantastically inexpensive, which was great because I worked in the school library for pennies.  And all in all, spaghetti squash is simply a fantastic vegetable.  It has all the qualities of pasta without all the pasta.  Make sense?  You could fill up on this stuff, eat some more, then eat some more and there is no guilt.    It’s light because it’s all veggie, but for some reason it fills you up for hours.  No need to snack after this meal.  I’m satisfied.

Feel free to add your favorite pasta fixings to this dish.  It’s very versatile and super easy to make, and its bright contrasting colors make this particular recipe irresistible to the eye and to the mouth )

Spaghetti Squash with Red Bell Peppers and Basil

Serves 4 as main dish; serves 6-8 as side dish

Ingredients:

1 large spaghetti squash
3 cups of veggie or chicken broth
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste (if broth is not overly salty)
Fresh basil, for garnish
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Poke several holes in the spaghetti squash.

Microwave for 10 minutes.  Using an ovenmit to protect your hand, slice in half and allow to cool so that it’s manageable to touch.

Scoop and discard the seeds.  Then using a fork, scrape the insides of the squash into a large skillet.

Add veggie broth and onion, and peppers to skillet.

Cook uncovered on medium-high until all of the broth is absorbed by the squash, about 10 minutes.  Add desired amount of cheese, red pepper flakes and salt.

Upon serving add basil.  The heat of the squash browns the basil quickly so make sure to add the basil immediately before serving!!

Enjoy!

Forgive my absence on here.  Life has created a whirlwind that has picked me up, whooshed me around, and before I knew it, it was the end of April.  Where has the time gone??!

No worries, though.  I have plenty of recipes to be posted in the next few days or week….  I won’t let you down.  Promise.

Lucky for me red peppers are on mega sale this week.  They are always so painfully expensive, but THIS week they were more than 50% off!  SCORE!  As soon as I saw them, I piled them into my cart with a huge grin on my face.  Stuffed peppers dinner!  Yes!

This recipe was literally thrown together with whatever I had in my fridgie and cabinets.  Don’t you just love those experimental meals?  You hope and pray that it turns out okay since there is absolutely no recipe in sight.   And guess what.  These stuffed peppers were delightful!   The pineapple gave them a hint of summery sweetness while the red beans gave them the heartiness I need in a meal.

Get creative with your pepper stuffing.  Throw in whatever you would love to eat in your rice!  Or do what I do and just throw in whatever you got.  You won’t be disappointed.

Stuffed Peppers with Pineapple Rice

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil or cooking spray
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 3/4 c. vegetable stock (or whatever amount of liquid that your rice calls for)
2 c. instant brown rice
1 c. diced pineapple (Dole has the Pineapple “tidbits” that are perfect!)
1 can small red beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 Tbs. fresh rosemary, chopped
Pepper to taste (If your veggie stock isn’t salty, then add salt to taste)
3-4 red bell peppers with tops cut off and discarded, seeds and ribs removed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat oil on medium in large skillet.  Saute garlic until fragrant.  About 3-5 minutes.

Add veggie stock to skillet, bring to a boil.  Add rice and cook according to directions.

Toss in the rest of the ingredients except for the peppers.

Fill a baking pan with an inch of water.

Divide the rice evenly among the peppers and fill them to the top.  Place stuffed peppers into the baking pan with water and cook for 30-45** minutes or until peppers begin to wrinkle and rice begins to brown on top.  Feel free to top the peppers with cheese with about 5-7 minutes left to cook.  I opted not to because I was looking for a more low-fat meal.

**IMPORTANT FYI – Many recipes call for 40-50 minutes but my peppers were done in 30 so use your judgment.  It doesn’t hurt to check them at 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

There are days when I want a light meal, but I want something that can hold me over.  Normally when I eat a salad, I am hungry an hour later.  It’s frustrating.  I want to eat healthy, but I want to be satisfied.   This soup really did the trick.  It’s made from fresh vegetables and it’s incredibly hearty.  After having it for lunch, I was full for the rest of the night.  There isn’t much that can keep me from eating dinner, but I was so full I just couldn’t do it.

So if you’re looking for something light, healthy, and filling, you’ve met your match.

Fresh and Hearty Carrot Soup

Source: 101 Cookbooks

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds carrots
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cups+ vegetable stock or water
juice of 1/2 a lemon
fine grain sea salt (as much as you need)

olive oil, toasted sesame oil, or red chile oil for a finishing drizzle
cayenne pepper to garnish

Directions:

Take the tops off the carrots and give them a good scrub.

Cut them into 1-inch segments and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat.  Add the garlic and onions and saute for a few minutes or until the onions start to get translucent.

Add the stock and carrots and bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes or until the carrots are tender – longer if your carrot pieces ended up larger. But try not to overcook. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes.

Puree with a hand blender or regular blender to the consistency that you are looking for then stir in the lemon juice.

Now salt to taste. If you used a salty veggie stock, you might just need a little salt. If you used water, you’ll need quite a bit more.

Finish with a drizzle of great extra-virgin olive oil and cayenne pepper.

This intensely satisfying breakfast is for my darling husband, Jay.  Jay LOVES Saturday and Sunday morning breakfasts in our home because we like to go all out.  Being as busy as we are (both in grad school and both working) we adore lazy weekend mornings filled with jammies until at least noon, no real urgent plans, and a large homemade breakfast.

Jay loves pancakes.  He has his own special recipe that makes them light and fluffy with the capability of melting in your mouth.

Jay loves carrot cake.  For our wedding we had a mixture of carrot and red velvet (my absolute favorite cake) as our wedding cake.  As far as Jay is concerned, carrot cake simply cannot be beaten.

During my typical daily perusing of food blogs, I came across a carrot cake pancake recipe from Joy the Baker.  Joy knows baking, and if you are going to indulge in any baking recipe at all, it must be Joy’s.  She is a pro.

Made from freshly grated carrots and a mix of whole wheat and unbleached all purpose flour, these pancakes are incredibly filling.  Your eyes are easily bigger than your stomach for these babies.

Joy made a very important observation.  She said that the carrots in her pancakes were a little too crunchy so I alleviated that by finely grating mine.  The results were great!

Noodles loves her carrots and she’ll eat them chopped, grated or whole!

Since I have a complex with crunchiness in my baked goods I FINELY chopped my pecans to the point that they were almost a powder.  I wanted the flavor without the chunk.  Again, it worked well!  No funky chunky pecan bites in my pancakes!

I also prefer my nutmeg to be freshly grated with a microplane.  The flavor is fresher, bolder, and a little goes a long way…

These pancakes very easy to make and incredibly filling.  If you enjoy a good carrot cake then these pancakes are perfect for you.

Homemade Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Topping

Source: Mildly adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 10-12 small pancakes or 5-6 large pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
2 teaspoons baking powder (aluminum-free if you can!)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup packed natural cane sugar (brown sugar works well, too)
1 cup milk
2 cups finely grated carrots – (as fine as you can)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Spread
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 dash ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flours, pecans, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, combine egg, brown sugar, milk, carrots, and vanilla; mix well.

Stir carrot mixture into dry ingredients until moistened. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on the top of pancake; flip and cook until golden brown.

For topping, blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Sprinkle with cinnamon, and serve with pancakes.

Not the most glamorous shot, but you can see why I became full so quickly!!  Yum!