Garlic Parsley Roasted Salmon

Salmon is my favorite fish and my favorite fish to cook.  I especially like it roasted.  It comes out perfect, every time.  (If you like roasted salmon, you could also try Cilantro Lime Salmon or Rosemary Roasted Salmon and Tomatoes).  The thing with roasted salmon however, is that you have to turn on the oven.  It's been so hot in Philly lately that I haven't wanted to turn on the oven, even with the air conditioning on.  Today it was much cooler and I thought I could afford to turn the oven on for a half hour.  It was worth it!
This salmon is simple with butter, garlic, and parsley and a touch of lemon.  How could you go wrong with those ingredients?  Yum!
I made tomato and arugula risotto as a side dish and it was a perfect meal!

Garlic Parsley Roasted Salmon

Garlic Parsley Roasted Salmon

Ingredients:
10 oz salmon fillet, cut into two pieces
2 Tbsp. melted butter
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves, chopped
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper and place salmon on baking sheet.
Combine butter, garlic, parsley, salt, lemon, and pepper in a small bowl.
Use the back of a spatula and spread the butter mixture onto the salmon.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Pasta with Sausage, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes

Phew!  What a long time since I've posted anything!  As I'm sure you know, I tend to start posting again in the summer when I'm not crazy with school; this summer has been nuts though!  Matt and I went back to upstate NY to work at the music camp we always work at and a week later left for our (very delayed) honeymoon.  We spent 10 days in Dublin and London and had a wonderful time.

Since I haven't really cooked in 2 months, I wanted to get back to my roots.  Last time I was in the grocery store I noticed that they started selling Swiss chard and was so excited to grab some!  I found sausage in the freezer and this recipe came right together.  It was super easy and very tasty!

This dish can easily be made gluten free by using GF pasta!
This dish only used 2 sausage links out of my package of 4, so I used the other 2 to make a half-batch of Zucchini Glop (don't let the name throw you off, it's really good).

Pasta with Sausage, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes

Pasta with Sausage, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

Kosher salt

8 ounces small shape pasta, I used rotini

2 hot or sweet Italian sausage links, casings removed (I used sweet)

1 small onion, chopped

1 bunch Swiss chard, roughly chopped (stems and leaves separated) 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the directions on the label.

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. (Don't worry if it's sticking to the bottom of the pan, when you add the chard and onions, you can scrape it off.)

Add the onion, garlic, and chard stems; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. 

Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes start blistering, about 5 minutes.  

Add the chard leaves to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start wilting, about 2 minutes. Lightly mash the tomatoes with the back of your spoon to create more of a sauce.

Add the pasta and cheese; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Weeknight Sausage Pasta

It is Monday of the first full week of school.  I am exhausted.  Matt wasn't even home for dinner, so I needed an easy, weeknight meal, or else it was going to be pizza.  This fit the bill, coming together in about 30 minutes and without too much work.  As an extra plus, it was really tasty! All in all, this was a super tasty, easy dish with ingredients you probably already have in your house.  A+

Weeknight Creamy Sausage Pasta

Weeknight Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
12 ounces pasta (I used farfalle)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb. bulk sweet Italian sausage (or removed from casings)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 large tomato, diced
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
½ cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
5 basil leaves, cut in ribbons

Preparation:
Heat a large pan over medium heat.
Spray with cooking spray.
Add onion, and cook a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add sausage and cook until browned, stirring occasionally.
Add garlic, cook for about 1 minute, stirring.
Add canned tomatoes, tomato, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and pepper.  Simmer 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.
Add cream to sauce.  Simmer 3 more minutes.
Combine pasta and sauce in a large bowl, making sure to get sauce all over pasta.
Top with fresh basil.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Spicy Southern Kitchen

Meatballs

I realized recently that although I use my mom's recipe for meatballs and sauce all the time, I actually have never posted it before.  These meatballs are delicious.  I could eat them all the time.  Now, I actually forgot to take a picture of my sauce (whoops!), so I will post that whenever I make sauce again.  For now, meatballs alone will have to suffice.
For an alternative to pasta, you can make my zucchini rollups as a side for these meatballs!

Meatballs

Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger, or ground meat of choice
2 cloves chopped garlic
salt & pepper, to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs
additional garlic powder to taste

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix ground meat, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, cheese, egg, and bread crumbes together in a large bowl.  If mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs, a little at a time. 

Roll into balls and place on sprayed cookie sheet. 

Spray the top with more pam & season with salt, pepper & garlic powder. 

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until brown.

Add to sauce the last hour.

Enjoy!

Creamy Italian Dip

We had so much time off for the Pope being in Philly that we decided to have a party... obviously!  Matt and I hosted an Italian themed party... with lots of Italian foods because that's probably what they eat at the Vatican, right?  Anyway, for an appetizer I served this dip with crackers as well as some olives.  It was the perfect start to our meal!

Creamy Italian Dip

Creamy Italian Dip

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
2 small tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp. Italian Dressing
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp. basil, chopped

Preparation:
Spread cream cheese onto bottom of pie plate.
Combine tomatoes and dressing; spoon over cream cheese.
Top with remaining ingredients.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Kraft

Chicken Piccata

Chicken piccata is a dish that I often find myself ordering at restaurants because I don't make it at home.  Why?  Who knows.  Well, now I need to find something else to order at restaurants because this turned out great and I can't wait to make it again!

Chicken Piccata 

Chicken Piccata 

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, pounded thin, cut in half
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 cup chicken broth
1.5 lemons
¾ Cup Heavy Cream
¼ cup capers
Chopped parsley, for garnish
1/2 pound spaghetti

Preparation:
Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Season flour with salt and pepper, to taste and dredge chicken in flour.  Place the chicken in the skillet. Cook for about 6 minutes on each side, or until it is cooked throughout and no longer pink. Remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate.
Turn the heat to medium low. Add broth, juice from lemons, heavy cream, and capers. Bring the sauce to a boil and return to medium low heat. Test the sauce and season with salt and pepper as needed, (you probably won't need much salt because the capers are so salty!). Allow the sauce to cook and bubble for about 3 minutes.
Serve the chicken over cooked pasta and spoon the sauce over both. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic

Pork Florentine

Pork Florentine sounds very fancy, looks very fancy, but is not that hard to make, my favorite!  Plus it's healthy because of the spinach... right?  (Definitely not, but that's okay).
The great thing about florentine is that you can florentine just about anything... don't eat pork?  No problem!  You can make chicken florentine or salmon florentine or tofu florentine!  (I haven't tried that one, so let me know how it goes!)  The florentine sauce is super yummy and a great splurge for a chilly fall night.

Pork Florentine

Pork Florentine

Ingredients:
10 oz of baby spinach leaves, chopped into large pieces
1 lb of thinly sliced boneless pork chops (about 4 to 5 chops)
4 tablespoons of flour, divided
½ of a white onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of chicken broth
½ cup of heavy cream
1 cup of grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
3 Tbsp. Olive oil

Preparation:
In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the spinach and saute until wilted. Lightly season with salt, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Season the pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Place 2 tablespoons of flour in a shallow bowl and lightly dredge the chops, shaking off any excess flour. Add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the pork chops and cook until brown on both sides and completely cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.
Add a tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and cook until fragrant, about 45 seconds.
Slowly add the chicken broth and heavy cream, stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper and let simmer until sauce thickens. (This happened for me in about 2 minutes).
Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the spinach and Parmesan.
Plate the chops, top with the spinach cream sauce and eat.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Egg Me On

Creamy Sausage and Arugula Pasta

A few weeks ago Alouette cheese was on sale at the grocery store plus I had a coupon, so I bought some.  After looking at the expiration date this week, I realized that I had to use it up... but how?  I decided to make it into a sauce and put it over pasta.  I was a little nervous as my made-up recipes have about 50/50 a success rate.  However, this one turned out to be a success!  It was a little rich, though I believe that if you use chicken broth instead of milk in the sauce it would cut the richness, or you could use chicken sausage instead of pork sausage.  Yum!

Creamy Sausage and Arugula Pasta

Creamy Sausage and Arugula Pasta

Ingredients:
1/2 pound medium shape pasta (I used veggie rotini)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 lb. ground bulk sausage
1 6 oz. bag arugula
1 6.5 oz. container roasted red pepper spreadable cheese (I used Alouette)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup saved pasta water
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:
Cook pasta according to directions on package.
Add oil to large skillet.
Add onion.  Cook until slightly translucent, about 4 minutes.
Add sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking it up as you go.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, add container of cheese and 1/4 cup of milk.  Whisk together until smooth.  Add the rest of the milk and the salt and pepper (to taste).  Whisk again. Add sausage to cheese sauce.
When pasta is done, add pasta water to sauce.  (If sauce is still thick, add more milk until it's the consistency you would like.)
Add arugula to pasta pot.  Add drained pasta and sausage cheese sauce.  Mix well.
Enjoy!

Balsamic Chicken and Strawberry Quesadillas

We have been on a super quesadilla kick lately in our house, perhaps because of the excess of tortillas we have in our fridge.  However, I didn't want to put in regular old toppings, so when my sister brought home strawberries from work this week, I figured these would be perfect!  My Mom's friend also had given us basil and a banana pepper from her garden, so we threw those in too.  They were delicious!
Also, sorry for the poor picture quality, I had to take it on my phone.

Balsamic Chicken and Strawberry Quesadillas

Balsamic Chicken and Strawberry Quesadillas

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, cooked and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 pint strawberries, diced
1/2 small red onion, sauteed and diced
1 banana pepper, diced (optional)
2 Tbsp basil, julienned
1 Tbsp parsley, julienned
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 brick mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 Flour tortilla shells

Preparation:
Pre-heat skillet over medium heat.  Place one tortilla shell on skillet.  Layer cheese, strawberries, chicken, basil, onion, parsley, and top with more cheese on one half of the tortilla.  Drizzle balsamic over, a small amount goes a long way!  Fold over the empty half of the tortilla onto the full half.  Flip to brown both sides.  Repeat until you're done with tortillas!
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Your Home Based Mom

Rosemary Roasted Salmon and Tomatoes

Today I splurged and cooked salmon, it was very fancy... though when I told the kids at school, they told me in fact, that I was not fancy because they had salmon all the time; such is the problem with working at a private school.  Alas, my fancy meal was delicious!   I bought salmon filets without skin, which is probably the best way for this recipe.  If you do have skin-on filets, either take it off or you should quickly crisp up the skin in a frying pan before putting it in the oven.  (No one wants flabby skin.)
I took a few liberties with this recipe, as I don't have fresh herbs, but it turned out great!  The original recipe also called for thyme instead of rosemary, but I thought with the tomatoes, I would go a little more Italian than the recipe said, but I suppose that's why this is my recipe instead of the original!

Rosemary Roasted Salmon and Tomatoes 

Rosemary Roasted Salmon and Tomatoes 

Ingredients:

1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 (6 oz.) salmon filets, no skin

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425. Line a rimmed baking dish with foil.
Toss tomatoes, 1/2 tsp. rosemary, olive oil, and 1/8 tsp. salt and pepper on baking pan.  Roast 10 minutes.
Remove from oven.  Push tomatoes to one side.  Add salmon.  Sprinkle with remaining salt, pepper, and rosemary.  Roast 10 minutes, or until salmon is cooked through.
To serve, spoon tomatoes over salmon.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Woman's Day Everyday Cookbook

Eggplant Parmigiana

Before I went to the grocery store this week, I decided to check out the farmer's market.  I haven't been down there before, and my friend Hilary was visiting, so I figured we could check it out together!  Among other things, I got a lovely looking eggplant!  When I got home, I found out that mozzarella was on sale this week, so it seemed like fate.  Eggplant Parm!  Of course, I had to call my mom for her recipe. Bonus, this recipe is much healthier than normal eggplant parm because the eggplant is baked instead of fried!  Hooray!

Eggplant Parmigiana

I halved the recipe and Matt ate the whole thing.  Well, actually he ate the whole thing except for two bites.  Trust me, it's super good.

Eggplant Parmigiana 

This picture is my updated picture, because the light was better!  I served it with some arugula salad for a yummy dish! 

Eggplant Parmigiana 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp. skim milk

1 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs

1 13/4 -2 lb. eggplant (or 2 1 lb. eggplants)

2 tsp. olive oil

1 jar of your favorite sauce

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used fresh mozzarella that I shredded)

Grated parmesan cheese (I used grated 4 cheese blend that had parmesan, asiago, fontina, and mozzarella)

Pepperoni, optional

Preparation: 

Preheat oven to 375, spray 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.
Meanwhile, lightly beat eggs and milk in shallow bowl. Place the bread crumbs in another shallow bowl.  Dip eggplant in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs and arrange in a single layer on the baking pans.  Lightly spray the eggplant with the cooking spray, season with salt & pepper & spices.  Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for 10 more minutes.
Spoon sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Top with a layer of cooked eggplant, pepperoni (if using), mozzarella cheese,  repeat. Top with mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.  Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly about 30 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Italian One Pot Dinner

This dinner is great.  It took me about 20 minutes from start to finish, which is great after working all day!  I'm sure Matt's favorite part about this dinner was that he only had to clean one pot!  Literally everything in this dish is thrown into a pot and cooks for about 10 minutes.  Excellent!

Italian One Pot Dinner

Italian One Pot Dinner

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable to make it vegetarian)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
10 oz. fettuccine (I used spinach fettuccine, but you can use regular or whole wheat)
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained!
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 oz. asiago cheese, optional

Preparation: 
Over high heat, add all ingredients to pot, making sure to break fettuccine up, so it can be easily submerged.
Make sure all ingredients are submerged, place a lid on top of pot.  Allow liquid to come to a rolling boil, then remove lid and turn the heat to medium.
Allow for boiling to continue, without lid, for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove from heat and sprinkle each portion with fresh asiago cheese.
Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted from Budget Bytes

Mediterranean Pasta

Today I basically Re-created the Mediterranean pasta I made last week, except I added roasted red peppers and chicken to make it a non-vegetarian meal.  I also used spiral pasta instead of linguini.
So, first I cooked the chicken with salt and pepper.  Then I added garlic and a bag of spinach.  I added feta and roasted red peppers to the bowl, then the chicken and spinach.  Finally I added the pasta and some olive oil.

Mediterranean Pasta 

Mediterranean Pasta:

Ingredients:
1 large bag spinach
Half jar of roasted red peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
1 lb. pasta (whatever shape you would like)
1 container feta
2 chicken breasts
Salt
Pepper
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil, to taste

Directions:
Cut raw chicken into bite-sized cubes.
Cook chicken and season with salt and pepper.
When done, remove and put in large bowl.
Add garlic to pan as well as bag of spinach. When spinach is cooked down, add garlic and spinach to bowl.
Meanwhile, boil pasta.  When that's done, also add pasta to bowl.
Next, add the feta and peppers.
Finally add enough olive oil to coat the pasta, and toss.
Enjoy!

Chicken Fettuccine with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta

Okay, so the title makes this meal sound much fancier than it actually is!  Tonight I had to work until 5:30, so I needed a very quick weeknight meal, and this was the quickest one I could think of!  (It actually would have been quicker, but I cooked the chicken breasts whole instead of cubing them first.)

Chicken Fettuccine with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta!

Chicken Fettuccine with Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta:

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 box frozen spinach
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
4 oz. feta cheese
1 Chicken flavored Pasta Side
1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper

Preparation:
Cook the chicken and flavor with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  (I actually used Paula Deen's house seasoning because I already had it made up, but obviously you can just use the ingredients separately.)
Cook the pasta according to the directions.
Once chicken is cooked, add tomatoes and spinach to the chicken pan to heat them up.
Add chicken mixture and feta to a bowl and stir.
Enjoy!

Spanikopita Meatballs with Tzatziki

Look at these lovely formed meatballs!  (Don't worry,
they're not cooked yet!)

My mom makes these quite a bit, so today I decided to try my hand at it!  (Plus we had ground turkey in the freezer.)  This recipe actually can be credited to Rachael Ray, but with my mom's help, I tweaked it a bit.  First of all, it's supposed to be made with ground chicken, but was ground chicken on sale this week?  Nope, ground turkey was.  (I made it with ground turkey.)  Next, the turkey meatballs themselves are a little bland without the tzatziki, so I added extra garlic, salt, and pepper.

The mixture, before making them into meatballs. 

The tzatziki itself was great, though I didn't have any coriander (who does on a budget) so I added extra cumin.  I also didn't have enough Greek yogurt (guess I should have had Cheerio's for breakfast) so I just finished what we had.  

I finished off the meal with some spaghetti tossed in olive oil and garlic.  Delicious!!  

The finished product!!  (Okay, this actually doesn't look that
good, but trust me, it was.)

Spanakopita Meatballs with Tzatziki

Ingredients: 

Meatballs:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
3/4 cup crumbled feta
1 pound ground chicken

Tzatziki:
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1/3 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp. dill
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp. cumin
Salt

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400.
For meatballs:
In a bowl, combine onion and three cloves of garlic.
Squeeze the water out of the spinach until completely dry.  Add it to the garlic and onion.  Add feta, chicken, and garlic powder with a liberal drizzle of olive oil.  Mix well and form 18 meatballs.  Place the meatballs on a baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, or until they are golden brown.
For Tzatziki:
Place yogurt, garlic, cucumber, dill, lemon juice, cumin and salt in a bowl and mix well. Serve with meatballs as a dipping sauce.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Food Network

P.S.- If you're an avid reader, then you know I made Mexican chicken soup a couple of days ago.  Well, I had some leftovers for lunch today and it was much better.  The spices have time to strengthen and the overall flavor was better.  Just a tip if you wanted to make it!