Pesto Gnocchi with Green Beans & Tomatoes

For Friday night's dinner Steve and I decided to try a new dish alongside a favorite of ours - RIBS! Steve makes a mean rack of ribs - so he takes care of creating his secret sauce, slow cooking them and then grilling them on the BBQ. To balance all of the meat we were about to consume we choose to try to different take on the average salad - pesto gnocchi with green beans and tomatoes.

This is a super simple recipe - only a few ingredients and only a few steps (the perfect combination for a weeknight meal). Here are the ingredients that you will need:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cans green beans (you can also use fresh green beans - I just prefer the canned ones)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• salt
• 1 package (16 oz) potato gnocchi
• 1/2 cup pesto
• 1 cup bite size cubes of fresh mozzarella
• Freshly grated parmesan

And here is how you will bring it all together:

1. Set a large pot of water over high heat. Heat a large skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and green beans to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes, then toss in the tomatoes and continuing to cook until the green beans are tender (but still crisp) and the tomatoes are browned on the outside. Remove from the heat.
2. Salt the water after it reaches a boil. Drop the gnocchi in and cook until they float to the surface (4 to 5 minutes). Drain and add the gnocchi to the pan with the green beans and tomatoes. Stir in the pesto and mozzarella. 
3. Sprinkle grated parmesan over each serving.

This recipe was very easy and depending on how much you like pesto - you can either add more or less to match your desired taste. Give this one a try when you are looking to try something different from the average salad or side for a rack of ribs.

Bon appetit & enjoy!

This recipe is from:
Cook This, Not That! - Kitchen Survival Guide
The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution
David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding
Rodale Inc. 2010
Page 210

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

As you probably know, Steve and I try to attend the Halifax Club's monthly cooking classes - and the last one we went to a few weeks ago was the Greek cooking class. We had a great time and we had the opportunity to make the Mediterranean Couscous salad at the class. The dish turned out really well at the class, so we decided to make it this past week. The recipe we were provided with from the cooking class was meant to serve 8 people and we choose to keep the recipe as it was provided to us - because we loved it so much we knew we could (and would) want to each enough for 8 people.

Here are the ingredients that you will need:

• 2 cups instant couscous
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1/5 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups small zucchini cubes
• 2 cups small eggplant cubes
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 large roasted red pepper, peeled, seeded, diced
• 1 English cucumber, seeded and finely cubed
• 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 7 ounces of Greek feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons of finely chopped Italian parsley
• 3 tablespoons of finely chopped mint
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• Pinch of salt and pepper

And here is how you bring it all together:

1. Put the couscous in a heat proof bowl, pour the boiling water over it, stir with fork and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set the bowl aside until needed - the couscous must be left for a minimum of 5 minutes.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a heavy saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot add zucchini/eggplant and season. Saute for several minuted or until the vegetables are starting to become tender. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds. Remove the vegetables from the pan to a baking sheet and spread out to cool quickly.
3. Uncover the couscous and dump into a large bowl. Using fork, break the couscous grain up. Add zucchini, eggplant, roasted red pepper (see the 'Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Stuffed Chicken' recipe for how to roast red peppers), English cucumber, olives, feta cheese and herbs then toss.
4. Pour the red wine vinegar into a small bowl and slowly whisk in the extra virgin olive oil. Season to taste and pour the dressing over the salad. Toss the salad with the dressing and season to taste prior to serving.

NOTE - The salad is best served just after it is made, ingredients can be prepared in advance but the salad should be assembled at the last minute.

This recipe took more time than our usual weeknight meals - simply because of the process to roast the red pepper and to chop up all of the veggies. But the work was worth it! The couscous salad was delicious! We are so glad we went to the cooking class and now have a new recipe to incorporate into our cooking practice.

We choose to eat the couscous salad with kebabs done on the BBQ - great combination!

Definitely give this recipe a try! Or consider joining Steve and I at one of the upcoming Halifax Club cooking classes - we'd love for you to join us!

Bon appetit & enjoy!

Chicken in Basil Cream

Steve and I stocked up on chicken the other week when it was on sale and so we had a few chicken dishes over the past week. We had made this recipe - Chicken in Basil Cream - before but somehow it never made it to the blog. This is a very easy recipe - the only time consuming part is waiting for the sauce to thicken to the desired consistency (but if you are like me and Steve it is easy to pass that time while you review the activities of your day - just remember to give the sauce a stir every now and again).

Here are the ingredients that you will need for this recipe:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (we used 2 because ours were very large)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (I just use a whole can of Campbells' chicken broth)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 jar (4 ounces) sliced pimientos, drained - optional (we do not use them)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

And here is how you will bring it all together:

1. Place milk and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with crumbs.
2. In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook chicken in butter on both sides until juices run clear, about 10 minutes. Remove and keep warm.
3. Add broth to skillet. Bring to boil over medium heat; stir to loosen browned bits.
4. Stir in the cream and pimientos; boil and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat.
5. Add parmesan cheese, basil and pepper; cook and stir until heated through.
6. Pour over the chicken.

This recipe is very simple and delicious - just like we aim for in all of our recipes! I had never had a basil cream before we tried this recipe at our home - but once we tried it once we have made sure to make it many more times.

If you are looking for a new sauce to add to your chicken (and you like breaded chicken - honestly, who doesn't!) I encourage you to try this recipe!

Bon appetit & enjoy!

The recipe is from:
Taste of Home - Winning Recipes / Reader's Digest Book
Reiman Media Group Inc. 2010
Breakfast & Brunch
Chicken in Basil Cream
Page 229

Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Stuffed Chicken

Just writing the title of this dish makes me want to eat it. A few months ago Steve and I tried our hand at a stuffed chicken breast dish - and it didn't go quite as well as we had hoped (we couldn't seem to get the chicken to look presentable once it was all stuffed). However, we thought that we shouldn't give up on stuffed chicken recipes and decided to give it another try.

We had read a few recipes and had developed a few thoughts on what we wanted to include in our recipe - we decided to make roasted red peppers, use feta cheese, and mix it all together with a healthy dose of balsamic vinaigrette.

Here are all of the ingredients that we used:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 red peppers
• 1.5 cups of feta cheese
• 1/2 cup of balsamic vinaigrette
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Pepper to taste
• 10 toothpicks
• Cooking spray

And here is how we brought it all together:

1. Cover a baking pan with tin foil and then grease the foiled pan with cooking spray; use cooking spray to cover all sides of each red pepper; place red peppers on the baking sheet in the oven on broil - leave in oven until the red peppers have blackened
2. Remove blackened red peppers from the oven; place in a metal bowl and cover bowl tightly with saran wrap. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes
3. Remove the cooled blackened red peppers from the metal bowl and begin to remove their skin; discard red pepper skin and remove the seeds from the inside of the peppers; cut the red peppers into small cubes and place into a bowl (this bowl will be used to mix all of your 'stuffing')
4. Add feta cheese (break apart with fork), balsamic vinaigrette and basil to the red peppers (in the bowl mentioned above; mix the ingredients together (add pepper to taste if preferred)
5. Place each chicken breast on a surface that is well lined with either waxed paper or saran wrap; then cover the chicken with the wrap that you used on the surface
6. Use a blunt object (meat tenderizer, rolling pin, or if you are me - a can of green beans) and tenderize each chicken breast until it is the perfect thickness to still allow to keep its form, but thin enough to allow for lots of stuffing to be added
7. Add the stuffing mix to each flattened chicken breast - filling so that the breast will be full but not overstuffed - you need to remember that these need to close; begin pulling the sides of the chicken breast together and closing with toothpicks (take your time with this step - it may take a few tries to get your breast to close). You can also leave some of the mixture out and place it over top of the stuffed chicken breasts when they are finished cooking
8. Place each stuffed chicken breast in a baking dish and brush olive oil over each one; place in oven and cook for 375F for 25 minutes
9. Remove cooked stuffed chicken breasts from the oven (check to ensure they are done) and enjoy!

This recipe was excellent - and we didn't follow a set recipe (this was a rare occasion). We really enjoyed roasting the red peppers (despite us setting off our smoke detector several times) and we were so pleased with how the chicken looked at the end and tasted. We are definitely going to make this recipe again and will soon start to look at what other combinations we can use to stuff our chicken with. This recipe is one we both loved and highly recommend!

Bon appetit & enjoy!

Our Herb Garden is Growing!

It has been just over 2 weeks since Steve and I rolled up our sleeves and planted our own herb garden. We planted dill, basil, chives and thyme in one planter; and rosemary in its own planter. We are happy to share that all 5 herbs have started to grow - some much faster and taller than others, but that is just how nature intended it to be.

Here are a few pictures of their progress:

This is where our herb garden currently resides.

Week 1 - Everything is sprouting!
Herb order (front to back):
Thyme, Chives, Basil, Dill

Week 2 - They're really growing now!

Week 2 - Even the Rosemary has started to grow!
This herb was the last to sprout.

Grilled Steak with Red Wine Butter

Since Steve and I have bought our BBQ and furnished our patio we have been trying to barbecue as much as possible. One of the recipes that we had found a few months ago, and were waiting to try, was this Grilled Steak with Red Wine Butter recipe - found in the 'Cook This, Not That! - Kitchen Survival Guide' book that Steve and I have used many times (and referenced many times) for this blog.
The recipe was very easy to make and allowed us to try something new - we had never made our own flavored butter before and were eager to try it - it was very simple and added so much to the recipe.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 shallot mined
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
• black pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 2 strip loin steaks

And here is how you will bring it all together:

1. Combine the wine and shallot in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons (it will have a thick, syrupy consistency)
2. let the red wine syrup cool, this stir in the softened butter with the rosemary and a few cracks of black pepper. Once fully incorporated, spoon the butter onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold the wrap over the butter and twist the ends to create a log of red wine butter. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
3. Preheat a stove top grill pan. Season the steaks with salt and pepper and cook until medium-rare. Remove the steaks and slice a coin of butter over the top of each.
   

This was a great steak recipe and we are going to use the red wine butter again, and probably try our hand at a few other flavored butters too. Give this one a try next time you are firing up the grill!

Bon appetit & enjoy!


This recipe is from:
Cook This, Not That! - Kitchen Survival Guide
The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution
David Zinczenko & Matt Goulding
Rodale Inc. 2010
Page 29

Ridiculously Good Honey Garlic Ribs

On Friday Steve decided it had been one of those weeks that we just needed to finish off with a great BBQ - and what better way than to make ribs! I have to admit that Steve was the sole chef on this kitchen creation and so I invited him to write the recipe for this blog post (the rest of this post is Steve's):

First I created a sauce with some ingredients that were laying around the house.

1 bottle of Heinz Garlic BBQ sauce
About 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of honey
About 2 table spoons of brown sugar

I mixed all of these into a bowl and added more honey or brown sugar to taste.

I then put the ribs into the slow cooker frozen, ideally should have been thawed, and poured in the sauce mixture along with 3 cloves of garlic and a bit of water to make sure if didn't burn. The sauce didn't completely cover the ribs so I cooked them meat side down and with the membrane on the back of the ribs intact. I set the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. After about 3 hours the ribs looked like they had cooked a bit quickly so I reduced the heat to low for the remaining hour. I would recommend cooking the ribs on low for a longer period of time (6-8 hours) if possible.

Once the ribs were done in the slow cooker I took them out and removed the membrane on the underside of the ribs. If you just slide a knife along the underside you'll notice there is a thicker membrane, which if left on can leave the ribs tough, but just take the time to remove it completely.

I preheated the BBQ to about 300 deg and when the ribs were ready to put on I turned the heat down to low-medium. I then drained the sauce from the slow cooker into a bowl and basted the ribs with the remaining sauce while on the BBQ. I cooked the ribs for total of about 10 minutes per side but flipped every 5 minutes, basting with more sauce on each flip.


***
Courtney here again.
Steve's recipe turned out amazing and the ribs were so delicious - I can't wait to have these again. Give Steve's ribs recipe a try next time you go to BBQ.

Bon appetit & enjoy!

Starting Our Own Herb Garden

Since Steve and I have moved into our new place, we have talked about how we would one day like to have a herb garden that we could incorporate into our cooking routine. During the winter months it was easy to talk about getting the herb garden ready, but not actually acting on it. However, once April came we decided we needed to start putting our talk into action.

Given that we do not yet have a yard of our own, we knew that our herb garden would probably start inside our home and then eventually work its way out to our patio. We also knew that we wanted to grow a few different herbs and would need enough space on our patio to accommodate the planter. I took some time and measured the true size of our patio, determined the location of all of our patio furniture/BBQ/etc and then determined how much size could truly be allocated to a good size planter (that could fit 4-5 herbs). Once I had the very basic blueprint laid out I showed it to Steve and we agreed that we now had a plan for our soon-to-be herb garden.

Steve and I spent the rest of April actually becoming more interested in buying the patio furniture and BBQ than we were in the herb garden, and before we knew it, we had everything bought and on the patio - except for the herb garden. So finally this past weekend I made it my #1 priority to go out and buy everything I could imagine we would need for our little patio garden. My mission took my directly to Canadian Tire where I was able to pick up everything I needed (planter, 3 bags of soil - I did overestimate how much I would need, gardening tools, and of course our seeds). I decided to buy 5 types of herb seeds: dill, rosemary, basil, chives, and thyme. And as my co-workers will know, I did have a slight mishap when leaving Canadian Tire and ended up having the cart full of gardening supplies (including very heavy bags of soil) come crashing down on me right in the parking lot (very painful and very embarrassing). Luckily a few very nice Canadian Tire shoppers helped me right up and helped me get everything into my trunk. And then I was set to head home and begin setting up our little garden.

Steve and I had a great time getting everything ready (I really enjoyed it because after my little accident I had to stay on the couch with ice on my leg and was able to 'direct' the entire gardening process!). We decided to plant the rosemary in a different container because we had read that it can grow similar to mint and try to take over other herbs (a trouble maker!).

So for right now our herb garden lives just inside our patio windows where it can receive lots of sun and some protection for the 'harsh' Nova Scotia spring elements. Once we feel our little garden is ready we will move it out onto the patio - but for now we are very protective new herb garden parents. Which is strange, because we also can't wait to use the herbs in our cooking creations - not what you'd want to hear a new parent say about their new addition...

That point is neither here nor there, but we will make sure to post pictures once the herbs start to grow and will keep the blog updated on their progress.

Tortellini in Creamy Rose Sauce

There are always certain days of the week that you just need a good creamy pasta dish to help make it through till the weekend. And you will probably recall that Steve and I usually opt for the amazing spaghetti bolognese recipe that we love so much, for when we find ourselves craving a great pasta dish. However, we recently decided to try our hand at something new - tortellini.

Steve and I each subscribe to a number of websites that send us regular meal ideas - sometimes they are good and sometimes it is very easy to just hit delete. But last weekend when we were making a list of dishes we wanted to make for the coming week, Steve received an email from KraftRecipes.com and thought that we should give it a try. The recipe was called Tortellini in Creamy Rose Sauce.

As you should be able to notice by now, we look for two main criteria when deciding if we want to make something 1. Will this recipe be delicious 2. Is this recipe complicated (if it is, it usually does not make it onto the weekday meal list - however, we do tend to tag some of the recipes that we are interested in and may seem complicated for special occasions). And of course, this recipe passed the initial judgement test of sounding delicious and relatively simple to make.

We really enjoyed the recipe - Steve enjoyed it slightly more than me (simply just our preferences). However, we both agreed that we would make this again - our only suggestion is that we would make double the sauce. Give this one a try when you are craving a great pasta dish!

Bon appetit & enjoy!

Hearty Italian Pot Roast

Steve and I both appreciate a hearty home cooked meal on Sunday nights and when time permits we like to pull up our sleeves, peel potatoes, cry when cutting onions, and make a roast for Sunday dinner. And last Sunday (April 29) that is exactly what we did.

I spent some time over that weekend looking into a variety of pot roast recipes - both in the oven and in a slow cooker. In the end I chose a recipe that was a little different that anything I had had or made before, and was in the slow cooker - I am somewhat fascinated by the slow cooker so it tends to win over the oven.

I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's website and thought it would be delicious and relatively easy to make. The only main difference between this recipe and how I would typically made a pot roast is that this one incorporated tomatoes (note - I am not a fan of stewed tomatoes; however, I thought that the flavor the added tomatoes would give would be worth adding them). To get the complete recipe and the directions visit Martha Stewart's website.

As I suspected, this recipe was very simple to make - simply browning the meat, cutting the veggies, opening the can of tomatoes, adding spices, and placing it all into the slow cooker for a little less an 6 hours. The taste that the tomatoes added was a nice new addition; however, I would have expected there to be more flavour because of all of the added tomatoes. In the future I will try to find a way to really pull out the tomato taste and perhaps add a few more spices as well. Overall it was a great dish and one that we most likely will try again - and you should try it too!

Bon appetit & enjoy!