Spicy Lentil Samosas

A few weeks ago I decided I really wanted to try making Indian food. I love Indian food! I didn't know where to look for the best recipes, but found this recipe on the way. It was definitely time-consuming, but I love that these are baked instead of fried! They were really easy (just, like I said, VERY time consuming) and made a TON (we had that plateful, above, as well as a bunch more I froze to bake up sometime in the future).

These were pretty good, although not very spicy. I definitely have to play around with the insides recipe to get it perfect, but it's a great starter-recipe! I served this with long-grain rice and some easy chicken curry (I tried to find a legitimate "easy" recipe, which definitely decreased the quality, but at least the samosas were yummy). Great to make ahead!

Spicy Lentil Samosas
Recipe from Eat Healthy Eat Happy

1 c lentils
3 c water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small or 1 large carrot, diced
a 2' cube fresh ginger, chopped fine
5-7 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green chile (optional), seeded and diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika (ideally smoked)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
¼ - ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
12 egg roll wrappers
nonstick cooking spray

Heat the oven to 375. Rinse the lentils well, then combine with water in a medium pan. Put a lid on tilted so steam can escape, and simmer on medium heat about 20-25 minutes. While the lentils cook, get the veggies, ginger and garlic ready.

In a large pan, combine the oil and chopped onion over medium heat. Cook until the onions start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrot and spices and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if things start to stick. Add the pepper, ginger and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. Add some water if it starts to look dry.

When the lentils are done, stir them in. Cook everything together for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed.

Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick. Prepare samosas as shown and arrange on the sheets. Bake 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 10 minutes.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken & Asparagus

Here's a great complete meal idea. Relatively complete--the greens and protein go along perfectly together (the asparagus were perfect!) and I served it as the main course following a crab leek risotto (the grains), so if you were to serve this with a wild rice or some bread then that would be more complete together (if you weren't serving the appetizer). This was a pretty straight-forward recipe.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken & Asparagus
Recipe from ShopCookMake

2 Chicken Breasts, in bone, without skin
14 Asparagus Spears
1 Lemon, cut into 5 rinds
2, four inch Rosemary Sprigs
2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Chicken or Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper

In a small pan, melt the butter in the oil with the rosemary and lemon. Over low heat, cook the seasoned chicken breasts for about 50 minutes (until done), covered. Turn a few times, to cook well in both sides. You may need to add a few pours of stock, only if necessary, to create a bit of a sauce for the chicken to cook in.

After the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan onto a plate ad cover with foil. Let it rest.

Cook the asparagus in the leftover sauce.

Crab and Leek Risotto

This recipe made a ton of risotto! It was pretty good--I'd never made risotto before but overall it was relatively easy to do. I bought a can of crab claws to make this recipe, which was pricey but a cheaper option as opposed to getting fresh crab, but it's probably better fresh.

I served this as an appetizer for a rosemary lemon chicken and asparagus main course. It's best the first day, and was pretty fun to make.

Crab and Leek Risotto
Recipe from Alyssa and Carla

5 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine
1 cup thinly sliced leeks (white and light green parts only)
1.5 cups of risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
8 oz fresh crab meat
Parmesan cheese and parmesan rinds (optional)
Lemon zest from about ½ lemon
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock and wine in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the leeks, a sprinkle of salt and a few cracks of fresh pepper to the pan. Sauté until the leeks begin to get tender but before they start to brown. Add the rice and sauté the grains become translucent.

Using a ladle, add one scoop of the stock mixture at a time to the rice. Stir thoroughly until the stock is absorbed. Repeat until the rice is cooked through but don’t let it get mushy. This will take about 20-30 minutes. If you have parmesan rinds, add them to the rice after about 10 minutes of cooking.

Remove from the heat.

Reserve a few larger pieces of crab meat to garnish the plates. Add the crab meat, half of the lemon zest, half of the parsley and the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan. Stir gently to incorporate. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish the dishes with the remaining lemon zest and parsley and the reserved crab meat.

Roasted Broccoli Alfredo

This was a great easy dish that was pretty yummy. Because I've been kind of...not really participating in eating what I cook for my boyfriend (still trying to eat somewhat healthier or cleaner), I've been trying to cook a lot of simple dishes (not because I can't eat it! Just because I occasionally have to prepare two dishes, his and my even simpler one...haha). I grabbed a jar of Trader Joe's alfredo sauce and wanted to try it out, so decided on this straightforward recipe that called for a lot of ingredients that I already had. I just used chicken apple sausages from Costco.

Roasted Broccoli Alfredo
Recipe from Simple Green Moms

1 lb. fresh or frozen broccoli florets sliced in half
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 package tortellini pasta (or other pasta of your choice)
4 to 6 links chicken Andouille sausage (optional)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup Alfredo sauce (I used Trader Joe's)
Parmesan cheese (for serving)

To roast the broccoli – Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the broccoli with 2T olive oil, salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil then spread the broccoli evenly on the sheet. Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they are crispy on the outside and soft of the inside. Carefully remove from the oven and set aside.

To cook the sausage - Heat remaining olive oil in a skillet on medium-high. Slice the sausage then cook, turning occasionally, for about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for another minute or so until the garlic is fragrant and the sausage is browned.

To cook the pasta – Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water then toss together in a large saucepan with the Alfredo sauce, sausage, and broccoli.

You can add a little extra milk to make it creamier, if desired. We think it is best served warm, and sprinkled with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese!

Arugula Sausage Rolls

This was a great, easy lunch to whip up for my boyfriend on the weekend. It could also be used for a simple appetizer or a yummy game-day snack! There's nothing fancy about it, but it's just too easy and too good to pass up. The cheese spread (I used Rondole) is delicious. I used chicken & apple sausages from Costco for the sausage...always a good choice.

Arugula Sausage Rolls
Recipe from The Weary Chef

1 can crescent roll dough
2 full-cooked chicken sausages, sliced into half circles
½ c. garlic and herb cheese spread (or substitute onion chive cream cheese)
1½ c. arugula

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Unroll crescent roll dough, and divide dough into eight triangles. Spread about a tablespoon of cheese spread down the center of each triangle, evenly arrange arugula leaves over the cheese, and place sausage over the greens. (You can use a large piece of sausage as shown or bite-sized pieces).Sausage Rolls with Arugula

Fold two corners to the center, and pinch to seal. Sausage Rolls with Arugula

Place sausage rolls on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, and bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Seafood Paella

SO. MUCH. FOOD. It was pretty good. A maleable recipe. I had to add a lot more spices etc to it, but I didn't use the best stock or anything so maybe that was why. I pretty much used the recipe as a guide of what to add, and could have definitely used fresher and better seafood, but used the frozen mix at Trader Joe's since it's a decent deal.

This was very easy to make, and a great dish if you're too busy to cook for the rest of the week and don't mind eating lots of leftovers!

Seafood Paella
Recipe from Abbe's Cooking Antics

1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek - chopped
1 red bell pepper - deseeded and chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
3.5 oz/100g spanish chorizo sausage - chopped
1 tsp turmeric
10.5oz/300g long grain rice
2 tbsp cherry tomato paste/puree
1 ltr hot fish stock
5oz/150g frozen petit pois peas
14oz/400g frozen cooked seafood mix - defrosted

Heat the oil in the pan, cook the leek, pepper and garlic for 5 mins. Add the chorizo and fry until it releases its oils. Stir in the turmeric and rice and coat with the oil.

Add the tomato paste and stir it through the rice. Pour in the fish stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.

Add the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to heat through for a final couple of minutes cooking. Remember the seafood has already been cooked and will turn rubbery if you over heat it.

Avocado Shrimp

I have a bunch of recipes actually sitting around in the queue, but it's been a) so hectic that I haven't had time to post about what I feel about the recipe and b) now a long time since I've made it so I can't even remember what I felt about the recipe!

This was a pretty good one though. I loved the fresh chunks of ripe avocado. Very yummy (I mean, come on, it's shrimp) and very easy. So quick to whip up! Just a little bit of prep, a very short amount of cooking, and voila!

Avocado Shrimp
Recipe from Apple of my Eye

1.5 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, diced
½ tbsp honey
¾ lb. Shrimp
1 avocado, diced
½ tomato, diced
2 limes, juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add in the garlic, sautéing for 1 minute.

Add in the honey, stirring to combine.

Stir in the shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes or until just done. Don’t overcook!

Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add in the diced avocado, tomato and lime juice.

Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Serve hot or cold!

Sweet n Sour Sesame Tofu

Due to my current even-more-conscious-eating 2-week trial, I couldn't eat this, barely tasted the sauce just to make sure it didn't taste like poo...but apparently it was perfect and I nailed it. Wee!

I served this with rice and some spinach that I cooked by first sauteing some minced garlic over sesame oil, then cooking the spinach (about a bag) til almost all wilted, then adding about a tablespoon and a half of soy sauce and the same amount of granulated sugar, mixing that up over low heat til done, and then taking it off the heat and adding about a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.

These dishes went great together. I recommend you try the tofu out at least! Pretty good--I didn't fry every side of the small chunks of tofu perfectly (they were so small and kept breaking!) but used a spatula to turn them as best I could.

Sweet 'n Sour Sesame Tofu
Recipe from The Spice Train

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon dark or light brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon honey
about 1 pound firm tofu
1/2 cup flour
4 scallions, chopped
about 3 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying

Put the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, cornstarch and honey into a bowl and whisk well until fully combined. Set aside.

Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes.

Roll the tofu cubes in the flour, making sure you are coating them on all sides.

Fry the tofu in vegetable oil until golden brown on all sides. Set aside.

Pour the sauce ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a full boil. Keep boiling the sauce until it becomes transparent and thickens. Take off the heat and pour over the tofu.

Serve with rice and sprinkle chopped scallions on top.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers

I made this for Adam last night and it looked soooo good, but I'm going on a little diet so couldn't participate myself. He completely devoured it...so assuming it's good. I adapted the recipe a ton (I used leftover long-grain rice, cut it in half to use just one pepper, and used fresh parsley and added enough salt/pepper/garlic powder to make it taste excellent) but below is the base recipe. I can't wait to try it myself! From the taste I got to make sure it was seasoned correctly, I really missed out!

Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers
Recipe From Nine Months Baking

2 bell peppers (red, yellow or orange) halved and seeded lengthwise
½ pound spicy italian sausage (casings removed)
1 cup bulgur
1¼ cup almost boiling water
1½ cups spinach
1 sweet onion chopped
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp parsley
Olive oil for drizzling
Parmesan for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with foil.

First in a large bowl (because you will use this bowl later on for mixing) add your bulgur and your almost boiling water. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

While bulgur is “cooking” take a pan over medium heat and add your italian sausage, breaking up into smaller pieces and cook until browned.

Once sausage is almost done cooking add your chopped onion. Let sauté until onions are translucent.

Add your garlic powder, salt, black pepper and parsley. Mix.

Add spinach and let cook for one minute and remove from heat.

By now your bulgur should be done. Taking your sausage mixture add to bulgur and mix well.

Taking your peppers, cut side facing up, add to lined baking sheet and place in oven for about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and add stuffing to each pepper being sure to pack it in, drizzle lightly with olive oil and place in oven again for another 10 minutes.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Super yummy and easy shrimp! Hard to go wrong with shrimp. Shrimp shrimp shrimp. Shrimp is one of my favorite foods...sooo good but pretty expensive. I served these super easy critters with some breadcrumb-crusted-parmesan-sprinkled zucchini (zucchini slices dipped in egg and coated with breadcrumbs and then sprinkled with parmesan, baked at 400 degrees for...uh...about 20 minutes? Til crispy, before burnt, and you can flip halfway). Pretty frickin' tasty.

I approximately doubled this recipe. Very easy and hard to get wrong even with approximations.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Recipe from House of Yum

1/2 pound shrimp
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cumin
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat.

Toss shrimp with sea salt and cumin then place in heated pan.

Cook the shrimp thoroughly and then remove from heat.

Squeeze the juice from half a lime over the shrimp and then toss with the cilantro.

Sriracha Chicken

Lately I've been posting things from forever ago in random orders at random times. I'm going to have to continue to do that since I'm super backed up with recipes and never have time to sit down and really go through all of these (aka I don't have time PERIOD to work on this but trying to find bits of time here and there to do what I can), but first while it's fresh in my mind I really really want to share this recipe.

SO.

YUM.

I found this recipe a while ago but was cooking with a friend who didn't want deep-fried (I don't really like deep fried either, but luckily my boyfriend does so I get to eat it on occasion) so we stuck with another Sriracha Chicken recipe that I'll post another time (it was also SUPERB).

This recipe was really easy to follow. SO easy to tweak the sauce, which was perfect and I honestly barely measured exactly I just threw things approximately together and heated it up and it seriously tasted as good as those Trader Joe's Orange Chicken things that you get in the freezer isle and reheat and OMG. I mean, different sauce, but same idea. This recipe was really fun and simple to follow. The sesame seeds tossed in at the end was also a great touch.

Chinese Sriracha Chicken
Recipe From Blog Chef

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into chunks)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 eggs
1 cup cornstarch
oil (for deep frying)
Sauce-
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Sriracha hot sauce (to taste)
crushed red pepper flakes

In a medium bowl whisk together sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic salt, and Sriracha sauce, and crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl beat the two eggs. Add the cornstarch to a shallow plate or pie dish. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Dip the chicken pieces first into the eggs and then roll in the cornstarch. Place chicken into the deep fryer, and deep fry the chicken pieces in batches at 375 degrees until golden brown and fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Drain on paper towels.

Pour the sauce mixture into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. In a large bowl toss the chicken with the sauce. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.

Turkey Meatball Spaghetti

Instatips on this recipe: definitely make sure not to mix the turkey etc too much into a mush, make sure to really mince the garlic super tiny, and MAKE THIS.

Adam asked me to make spaghetti and meatballs, and I don't eat beef, so I found this recipe. It was soo good and had just the right amount of spice. I doubled the recipe and it made a TON of meatballs that I ate alone (first time we had spaghetti, then I got lazy and plus it was healthier to just eat the meatballs anyway). So yum. So so yum.

Turkey Meatball Spaghetti
Recipe from Bev Cooks

1 pound spaghetti
1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, whizzed through a food processor until smooth
1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 Tbs. finely chopped herbs (basil, oregano, thyme)
6 cloves garlic, minced and divided
1/2 cup breadcrumbs or panko
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
freshly grated parmesan, for garnish

In a large bowl, combine the turkey, crushed red pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, herbs, panko, a good pinch of salt and pepper, half the minced garlic, and the egg. Mix it all up good with your hands.

Form little balls with your hands and set them aside on a tray. Size doesn’t matter. (sorry) Totally up to you!

Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the remaining garlic and bloom 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a medium skillet, heat the other 2 Tbs. oil over medium-high. Add the meatballs and sear until brown all over, about 8 minutes total. Transfer meatballs to sauce and continue simmering another 20 minutes.

Cook the pasta until it reaches al dente.

Serve spaghetti with a good helping of meatballs and sauce. Garnish with parmesan and more basil, if desired!

Turkey Spinach Lasagna

Here's a repeat for you. I made this summer 2010 and made it again this year--still so yummy! This time I used noodles that needed to be pre-cooked but that worked out fine. I also (according to the pictures) used more cheese on top. Yum. Still a good recipe!

Wild Rice with Asparagus Marinara

Everything in this was great except it was my first time poaching eggs and they were a little overcooked, and the rice turned out terrible. I didn't know what type of wild rice to get but apparently whichever brand I got did not work (second time I made that rice I added a little chicken stock to it and it tasted a little better). Overall a light meal that could be dressed up to look fancy!

Wild Rice with Asparagus Marinara
Recipe from Foxes Love Lemons

1 cup wild rice blend
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 cup vegetable broth, tomato juice or water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 bunch fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 large eggs

Prepare rice according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion; cook 4 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tomato and broth; simmer 6 to 8 minutes or until most liquid is evaporated. Remove from heat; stir in basil.

While sauce simmers, preheat oven to 400º. Toss asparagus with remaining 1 tablespoon oil, salt and pepper. Place on rimmed baking pan. Roast 8 minutes or until just tender.

Fill large, high-sided skillet with water. Heat to a slow boil (about 190º). Add vinegar to water. One at a time, crack eggs into small ramekin and use ramekin to slowly slide eggs into water. Cook 4 minutes or until whites are set and yolks are still soft. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to paper towel-lined plate.

To serve, divide asparagus between 4 salad plates. Divide rice over asparagus. Top rice with tomato sauce, and place eggs on top. Serve immediately.

Lemon Chicken

In trying to find a really good lemon chicken recipe for my boyfriend who loved it growing up, I decided to try out this one. It was a little less crispy than ideal--so far the Chinese-style lemon chicken that my mom gave me the recipe for and that I grew up loving has been my favorite. I served this with broccoli and rice.

Lemon Chicken
Recipe from Passports and Pancakes

3 chicken breasts (a little less than a pound, can easily adjust other ingredients based on amount of chicken)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 /2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
2 lemons (1 can be the previously zested lemon :) , halved
Rice and vegetables for serving

Stir together the flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Coat each chicken breast completely with the flour mixture. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt oil and butter together. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the chicken breasts to the skillet.


Cook for 5-7 minutes and turn the chicken. Add the zest, the juice of both lemons, and all 4 of the lemon halves. Cover the skillet with a lid, turn heat down to medium, and cook until chicken is completely done. This will take another 6-10 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken breasts are. Slice the chicken breasts in the pan, stir to coat with the sauce, and serve over rice with a side of your favorite vegetables.

Bruschetta Chicken

A very simple and yummy recipe. This time I lost track of time and overcooked the breasts a little bit but usually I don't do that...haha...they were still good though. Very healthy! I made this with my roommate Happy for our weekly Wednesday Girl's Night. She made a delicious spinach risotto to go along with it.

Bruschetta Chicken
Recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny

3 or 4 chicken breasts
4 or 5 small tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/8. tsp sea salt
Handful basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (if you choose to bake your chicken rather than grill). Sprinkle some salt and pepper over top, cover and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (depending on the size of your breasts) until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, combine chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and basil in a bowl. Refrigerate until chicken is ready to be served and spoon over top of the chicken. Enjoy!

French Onion Chicken Sandwich

I wanted an easy, laid-back, delicious meal and this looked delicious so I gave it a shot. Also seasoned the chicken before I cooked it up. It was pretty good! Yes, simple, but super easy! Might want to try flavoring the onions a little differently or adding some kind of extra sauce, or not burning the buns...haha. But pretty yummy and the onions smelled spectacular!

French Onion Chicken Sandwich

Recipe from Foxes Love Lemons

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large white onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved crosswise and pounded to 1-inch thickness, if necessary

Nonstick cooking spray

4 slices Swiss cheese

4 hamburger buns

2 cups baby spinach

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sugar; cook 25 minutes or until onions are deeply caramelized, stirring frequently. This step can be done up to 3 days in advance. Re-warm onions in microwave or in a small pan on grill before proceeding.

Preheat grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. Spray chicken with nonstick spray. Transfer chicken to hot grill rack; cover and cook 10 minutes or until chicken loses its pink color throughout and internal temperature reaches 160º, turning once.

Place cheese slices on chicken pieces. Cover and cook 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown. Build sandwiches using hamburger buns, spinach, chicken and caramelized onions.

Czech Pork Chops with Bread Dumplings and Cabbage

Wowowow can I make this again right now? Can I eat this every night for the rest of my life? PLEASE?

It takes a little longer than I'd usually like to spend on a meal but TOTALLY 100% WORTH IT. When I went to Prague a few years ago, my favorite meal was pork butt with bread dumplings and sauerkraut. This came pretty darn close and was absolutely 100% what I was looking for. Make this, please. Please please please. And invite me over to try. Ohh wow yum.

Czech Pork Chops with Bread Dumplings and Cabbage

Recipe from K&L Food Blog

For pork:

4 pork chops

salt, pepper

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vegetable oil

For dumplings:

2 cups plain flour

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

pinch salt

pinch sugar

10g fresh yeast

1 bread roll (I used 4 small dinner rolls)

For the cabbage:

About 2 pounds white/green cabbage

2 tbsp butter

3 tbsp onion

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

1 cup vegetable broth

cumin, sugar

vinegar

salt, pepper

For the dumplings: Mix bit of flour (about a fourth of a cup) with yeast, sugar and some lukewarm milk, leave for few minutes until yeast start to rise. Cut roll into cubes and place in the bowl along with rest of the milk and egg, mix all ingredients. Now add flour, yeast with milk, salt and stir everything together. Knead the resulting dough just as you would when making bread. Let the dough rest in a warm place to rise for an hour. Now divide the dough into 2, 3 parts and form rolls, leave again to raise for 30 minutes. Boil one at a time in a large pot with boiling, salted water for around 7-8 minutes on each side, then take out and cut with very sharp knife or length of thread.

For pork: Clean and wash meat, then season with salt and pepper. Place on a pan and fry on oil on both sides, then pour the broth and cook for few minutes until soft and tender. At the end thicken the sauce with flour and some water, season again.

For the cabbage: Wash cabbage, shred it finely. Place in a saucepan, and cover with broth, simmer. In another saucepan, melt butter, fry chopped onions until golden. Add cabbage, salt, pepper, cumin, sugar and vinegar, sprinkle with flour and cook until soft. 

Tilapia with Strawberry Salsa

Week 2 of Happy and I cooking together (this time girls only!), we decided to make tilapia. WOW. SO EASY. WOW. SO GOOD. I will be making this again asap because it was soooo yummy. I love fish, and I love fruit, so fish + fruit = omnomnom. And it looked beautiful to boot! While I whipped up the fish and salsa, Happy handled the rice and salad--the rice was soo good, she stuck in a whole 2 cups of fresh mushrooms to make it magical.

The recipe calls for grilling the fish and the original calls for baking--I pan fried mine easily.

Tilapia with Strawberry Salsa

Recipe from Pasta Princess and More

2 tilapia fillets

1 tbsp butter

1 tsps lemon juice

5 large strawberries, de-topped and finely chopped

1 tbsp finely chopped white onion

2 tsps lime juice

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped or 1 tablespoon Thai Red Chili Sauce

Mix the strawberries, onion, jalapeno, ginger, lime juice and red wine vinegar together. Stir well and let sit in the fridge for at least 15 mins so the flavors can mingle.

Generously season each fillet, pour lemon juice over both and place 1/2 tbsp of butter on each. Grill until fish turns opaque and flakes easily.

Serve with a spoonful of salsa.

Gordon Ramsay's Pork Chops with Sweet 'n Sour Peppers

My roommate, Happy, and I have decided to do this awesome weekly girls-night event where we cook together and (ideally, though I've been on a little break) drink wine and watch horrible reality television or gossip or just whatever, have girl time plus cats. Sounds like a great idea! The first night we did this we actually also had my boyfriend, Adam, joining us, which was fine because we made way too much food. This recipe was absolutely FAAABULOUSS probably because of all the butter buuut you can make it healthier. Pretty easy too!

Gordon Ramsay's Pork Chops with Sweet 'n Sour Peppers

Recipe from My Kitchen of Love

For the pork chop:

2 pork chops

Olive oil, for frying

2 garlic cloves, crushed with skin on

Small bunch of thyme

Few knobs of butter

For the sweet & sour peppers:

Olive oil, for frying

1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

2 red peppers, thinly sliced

Sea salt

Ground pepper

1 tbs caster sugar

3 tbs red wine vinegar

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Small bunch of basil leaves, shredded

Heat some olive oil over a large frying pan on high heat, then add onion and peppers. Season with salt, pepper, sugar and saute for 4-5 minutes until soft and colored.

Add the vinegar and let it bubble for a few minutes until it has reduced. Turn down the heat, add the extra virgin olive oil and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Stir in the shredded basil and continue to cook for 30 seconds, then turn on the heat. Transfer to a bowl and leave to infuse.

To prepare the pork chop, use the sharp knife to make cuts into the fat, making sure that it’s not into the meat. Season with salt & pepper on both sides, rub and push well into the skin.

Heat the frying pan over high heat until hot & add a dash of oil, then tip in the pork chops, garlic and thyme and fry for 2-3 minutes until colored. Turn and fry for another 2-3 minutes, pushing the thyme under the chops and breaking up the garlic a little. Towards the end of cooking time, add in a generous amount of butter (you’ll love it later), lightly tilt the pan and baste the chops with melted butter as they are cooking.

Transfer the chops over a plate, with herb and garlic on top, leave it to rest for 5-10 minutes, continue basting with butter now and then. Serve the chop on top of the peppers and onions.