Lunch Lasagna

I want nothing more then I want comforting bowls of pasta lately, but, of course, my body does not appreciate this as much as my belly does.  This is a lasagna that will fall apart.. but it would of fallen apart in my lunch bag anyway... but will have the right flavor profile to fill this need.  With, ofc, some extra veggies in the name of smarter nutrition.

Makes 6 servings at just under 600 cals each, depending on pasta sauce used etc
1/2 a box lasagna noodles - precooked or not as you like (sorry Dad, I am an uncooked noodle heathen here myself)
6 servings sweet or hot or chicken italian sausage
1 jar good tomato sauce
1 jar diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 medium zucchinis, diced
few cloves chopped garlic
9 cups (yes, 9) fresh spinach
1.5 cups part skim ricotta
1 cup part skim motz (do NOT use non fat for either of these... low fat dairy tastes/acts enough like full fat to work.... nonfat is fucking plastic, not food)
4 tbl grated parm (more if not using the good stuff)
1 egg
nutmeg, salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, etc to taste

Cook noodles if you are not a heathen like I am/will notice the texture difference.  You want enough noodles for just 2 layers worth in a small lasagna pan (remember, we are not worried abt the fact this will fall apart, it is supposed to be yummy and fit your nutritional needs, you are sacrificing a bit of appearance to save some cals/carbs here). 

Wilt all the spinach, it should end up being about a cup or 2 when done.

Toss the diced tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchinis, garlic and sausage (removed from it's skin) into a pot and cook until sausage is heated through.  Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed, remembering that you are getting a shortcut on flavor by using premade italian sausage instead of ground meat.

Chop up your now wilted spinach and squeeze out all the water.  Mix with ricotta, nutmeg, egg, and parm.

Put your sausage mixture in the bottom of your lasagna dish (yes, no bottom noodles) and top w a bit of jarred sauce, then a layer of noodles.  Put a bit more sauce on top of noodles.  Now your Ricotta/spinach layer, with the motz on top of that.  Then more noodles, and the rest of your jar of sauce.

Let sit an hour or so before baking, if at all possible.  Then bake at 350 for about an hour.  Let cool, portion into 6 containers (or 5 containers for the week + one bowl for your lunch now).

Greek Pasta Salad for Days

This would be good either hot or cold.  It makes a nice substantial lunch at 665 cals with 44g protein and 46 carbs.  It is not low fat, but could be if you want to use low fat greek salad dressing instead of the olive oil/lemon.

8 servings (ie one box) bow tie pasta
3lbs chicken breast
2oz chopped black olives
5oz baby arugula, or baby spinach, or regular either...some green which is not iceburg or romaine
8oz feta cheese
1/4th cup lemon juice (or more to taste)
1 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Spread chicken breast out onto a cookie sheet, season liberally with lemon, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper and throw in the oven at 350.  While that is cooking, put on water and boil pasta according to directions on the box.  When pasta is 1-2 mins from done, toss the greens into the pot right along with it.  Drain pasta/greens and toss back into pot.  Put feta, olives, and tomatoes into the pot and stir to mix everything.  Dress w olive oil, lemon, and more oregano (or your light greek dressing if using that) . Chicken should be done by now, so take that out and chop it up and add that in.

Portion into tupperwear for meal prep or just store it all in one if you don't like 1000000000 small containers in your fridge. Makes a week of lunches + today's lunch and a few extras for lazy dinners. 

Meal-Prep Tikka Masala

This is NOT authentic Indian food.  It is, however, very tasty and super healthy (comes in under 400 cals with 40g of protein per serving for 6 servings.... make smaller portions and serve with rice if you want more carbs/less protein then I do).  It is loosely based on a chicken tikka masala recipe.

Spices:
Cumin (seeds if possible)
Tumeric
Cardamon
Garam Masala/curry powder (the better ones are usually labeled garam masala) (Do not use brittish style sweet curry powder unless you like that cloying shit but omg ewwwww you did not get this recipe from me if you do.)
Corriander if you cannot find fresh cilantro
Salt, pepper, maybe some cayane

Veggies:
1-2 inches chopped Ginger
3-7 cloves chopped Garlic
Serrano Peppers (or other 'green' tasting hot peppers of your liking) - this is to taste
1 large bunch Cilantro (fresh omg not dried) (If you cannot find fresh just use corriander, and add some fresh parsley if possible.)
1 Yellow Onion
1 can/2 cups Chick Peas
1 can Peas (leseur is my favorite)
Large bag (5 servings) Frozen Califlower
1lb fresh spinach
28oz Tomato Puree - or chopped/diced/etc tomatoes, whatever you have in the house rly.... except not ketchup or tomato sauce that has herbs/spices in it already

Other:
2lbs Boneless/boned skiness/skinned chicken breast (Thighs would possibly taste better, but, trying to be healthy this week so....)
4 tbl butter - or use coconut oil if you have, or ghee
Lemon

Note:
You could just use a LOT more chick peas and easily make this a vegetarian dish....vegan even if you use coconut oil instead of butter.

Start with butter/other fat in the pan.  Add your cumin and tumeric and stir it a bit to get them fragrant (I used abt 1 tbl of both).  Toss in your onion and your chopped peppers (I used 2 serranos, with seeds, bc I like spicy.... adjust for your heat tollerance), and salt if you use salt.  Stir a bit to let onions start to cook down.  Now add your cardamon seeds (I used seeds from 2 pods), your corriander if no cilantro (maybe 1tbl), your cilantro, ginger, and garlic.  Stir some more.  Next dump in your tomato product and let cook a few mins.

Next, peas, chick peas, and califlower.  Then, chicken.  At this point, put a lid on it and leave it alone for about 30ish mins (put rice in rice cooker now if you are serving with such, it will be a good timer for chicken).  Just stir from time to time so it does not stick to bottom of pot.

When chicken is done, dump spinach in and stir just enough to wilt it.  Then add about 2-3 tbl of your garam masala, and the juice of one lemon for brightness.  Taste, and adjust with cayane pepper, salt, more garam masala etc as needed.  If you have made it slightly too hot,  serve with rice and raita to balance it out a bit.

Moroccan-ish Chicken and Garbanzos

These amounts make 2 servings (3 if you are not greedaloxes or maybe have a salad with it), it would easily scale up though.

8-10oz chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
1 can (just shy of 2 cups) cooked garbanzos (chick peas for ppl other then my husband who insists on calling them that)
1 can (12 oz) diced stewed tomatoes
2 servings cooked rice (or quinona, or couscous to be authentic)
1 tbl olive oil
cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic powder, ground cumin, salt if you are not avoiding sodium

Season the chicken breast very liberally with the cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, and cumin.  You would not be overdoing it to use 2tsp of each.  Add salt if  you like it, and cut up chicken into bitesized bits and rub the seasoning in.  If time permits, put it in a ziplock w the tomatoes and olive oil and leave in the fridge awhile before you cook it (overnight is fine). Like if you were planning it for dinner yesterday and then decided to eat pizza instead and are now having it for lunch...

When ready to cook, throw throw everything except the rice into a pan (make sure you drain the chick peas) and cook over medium heat, stirring as needed so it doesn't burn.  Serve over rice (or other starch of your choice.. or califlower rice if you really want).

Pork Loin Chops with Cherry Whiskey Glaze

It helps to be really really hungry, but, these should be good even if you did not walk an absurd distance today.

Season 2 pork loin chops per person liberally (maybe a bit too liberally, we won't season the other side) with salt, pepper, garlic powder and sage.

Heat up a pan with olive oil, add some rosemary and wait until it gets a bit fragrant.

Add chops and set a timer for 3 mins (2 if they are thin) and WALK AWAY. Do not poke at them.

Turn chops when timer dings and reset it for same time. 

Open fridge looking for something else to add, and find good cherry jam (the stuff that is just cherries and sugar and maybe pectin).  Maybe other jam might work but... cherry should be in your fridge anyway what are you some sort of bad jam heathen?

Put 1 spoonful of jam onto each chop.

Snag bottle of whiskey (atm I am loving Makers Mark) and pour 1 shot or so into pan, also pour 1 shot or so into rocks glass with ice for the cook, ofc.

When timer dings, turn off heat, pop a lid on pan, and reset timer for the same time again.

Walk away. Enjoy your whiskey. Do not poke.

When timer dings your  chops are done.  Hopefully you cooked some egg noodles with some frozen veggie thrown in at the same time so you can just add butter to that and have a whole meal.  If not, maybe just eat a salad.

Lentil Chorizo Soup

I was looking for a nice hearty snowy day kind of a soup and all of the cans in my cupboard fell short.  So, since I had time on my hands today anyway...

1 bag dried lentils (16 oz)
1 yellow onion
2-3 cups carrots, chopped
1-2 cups celery, chopped
Garlic to taste (I like garlic, I put in 5 cloves of it, adjust as needed)
6oz chorizo (soy alternative would work as well)
1 potato
 10 cups water or stock
salt, pepper, bay leaves, cumin seeds, corriander to taste
few tbl olive oil/butter to saute veggies in

Toast cumin seeds a bit in the dry pan before you add oil/butter for your veggies. Saute onion, carrots and celery with a bit of salt and pepper until they are cooked down a bit and carrots are just starting to cook through.  Add garlic, the potato (chopped) and the chorizo (chopped) at this point and continue to cook another few mins to render the fat out of the chorizo.

Next add your water, bay, and corriander seeds.  Pour in lentils and cook for 30-45 mins until desired tenderness,  slightly longer if  you want a thicker soup. 

Serve with crusty bread and put the leftovers in the fridge, they'll be better tomorrow.

Butternut Squash and Kale Lasagna

This recipe is a riff on   Food Network's Gnocchi with Squash and Kale that came about because I had several boxes of lasagna noodles in the cupboard that needed using and I wanted something I could prepare in the morning and pop in the oven later (and have leftovers for the week).

"Meat" Layer:
for omnivores:
12 oz chicken sausage
6 oz cremini (or button if you like white mushrooms) mushrooms
1 tsp thyme
3-4 sage leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbl butter
olive oil and chicken stock to cook them in

for vegetarians:
12-16 oz mushrooms
1 tsp thyme
3-4 sage leaves
veggie stock to cook them in
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbl butter
Soysage, or TVP, or just extra mushrooms

Cook sausage through (soysage or TVP just need to be heated/browned as they are fully cooked) and add chopped mushrooms, butter, herbs, and garlic.  Salt and pepper to taste and cook until mushrooms are nicely browned.

Butternut Squash and Kale:
1 medium sized butternut squash
1-2 cloves garlic
a few cups chicken or veggie stock to cook squash in
splash of olive oil
3-4 cups kale, chopped
3-4 sage leaves, chopped
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
1/4th cup or a bit more grated parmesean

Get out your heaviest sharpest knife for chopping up and peeling your squash. I recommend cutting it into quarters first before peeling it so you have nice pieces you can just put flat side down on your cutting board to work.  Scoop out the seeds and chop it up into cubes.  Cook in the stock with garlic, sage, salt, pepper until tender. Add splash of olive oil, the kale, cheese, and red pepper flakes if desired and continue cooking until cheese is melted and kale is wilted down.  (You can double the squash/kale layer and save the other half in the fridge to use just plain over pasta or rice later in the week if  you like.)

Cheese Layer:
16 oz ricotta cheese (I like part skim)
1 cup shredded mozzarella  or mozzarella/sharp provolone blend
1 egg
1-2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 cup parmesean or parmesean and romano cheese
1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped kale
2-3 sage leaves, finely chopped
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

Mix everything well to combine it, taste for salt/pepper and adjust as needed

Sauce
What? You thought this got tomato sauce? No way.  Sage and walnut pesto finishes off this dish beautifully.
2 cups walnuts
2 cups chicken stock or veggie stock
Large handful sage leaves
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4th cup good olive oil
1/4h cup parmesean
salt, pepper to taste

Put everything except the chicken stock into the food processor and pulse to chop/combine.  Add chicken or veggie stock to thin it out a bit.


Assembly:
You will need 1 box oven ready lasagna noodles, an additional 1 cup shredded cheese, some good olive oil, and possibly more parmesean and chicken/veggie stock for assembly.

Put a layer of sauce into the bottom of your lasagna pan. Next comes a layer of noodles, followed by your meat/non meat and a splash more sauce.  Put your next layer of noodles in the opposite direction from your first ones for some added structural integrity. Cheese comes next.  Depending on how deep your pan is, you can put another layer of noodles between the cheese/veggies or not.  Add veggies and a tiny bit of sauce and top with your final layer of noodles.  Pour remaining sauce over noodles and add a bit of chicken stock around the edges if your lasagna looks dry.  Top with shredded cheese, some more parmesean, and give the whole top a nice sprinkling of good olive oil.

You can make this up to several days ahead.  Bake at 350 for an hour or so, until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly and brown.  Enjoy!

Chicken and Herb-Parmesean Biscuits

Because sometimes, you just want comfort food.

For biscuits:
2 1/4th cup Bisquick
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/4th cup grated parmesan
2 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary
pepper to taste
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450. Mix ingredients except for olive oil.  You can either turn the dough out onto a clean dry surface and kneed it a bit and cut it out with a cup or a cookie cutter for round biscuits, or just drop it by spoonfuls directly onto your baking dish for drop biscuits.Brush tops with olive oil so they brown well and bake for 8-10 mins until golden.

For chicken:
4 chicken thighs (with bones/skin)
1 'box' chicken stock (16 oz)
1 baking potato
10 or so cremini (or button if you like white mushrooms, I do not) mushrooms
1 yellow onion
4-6 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
12 oz or so baby carrots (or 3-4 regular carrots, whichever you have in the house)
2 tbl butter
1/4th cup cream/half and half/light cream
 Large handful fresh sage, including stems
Large handful fresh rosemary, also including stems
Smaller handful of fresh thyme
salt, pepper to taste

Put chicken thighs into a large pan with the stock.  Cut your potato up into 8ths or so (peel and all) and toss it in.  Add half your onion (roughly chopped), 2-3 cloves smashed garlic, 2/3rds of whichever type of carrot you are using (roughly chopped), the bay leaf, and the stems from your sage/rosemary/thyme (pay attention to how many stems there are so you can pull them out later).  Simmer approximately 45 mins until potatoes are starting to fall apart and chicken is cooked through. 

Meanwhile,  the other half of your onion up finely and put it in a small sautee pan with butter, salt, and pepper.  While it starts to caramelize, chop up your mushhrooms and add them to the pan.  Once mushrooms are cooked toss in 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped, your fresh herbs also finely chopped, and the remainder of your carrots cut into thin coins.  Add a splash of stock from your cooking chicken and cook for just a moment,  you don't want the carrots to be mushy.

Pull your chicken, bay leaf, and herb stems out of your stock. Get out a potato masher and smash the potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic that are in the pot.  The potato should be sufficient to thicken your stock, but you might need to reduce it just a bit.  Leave it boiling uncovered while you pick the chicken off the bones. 

Chop up chicken and toss it back into the stock once the stock has thickened up to your liking.  Stir in mushroom/carrot/herb mixture and cream.  Taste for seasoning and serve over biscuits (or rice, or mashed potatoes). 

"Restaurant" Steak at Home

The problem with steaks at home is that they are never as good as they are at a steakhouse.  Part of that is the quality of the meat, which you can only remedy by making friends with your butcher, but if  you are stuck with standard grocery store steaks you can still do a pretty respectable job of it.

Start with the steaks.  Choose nice thick ones if you like your steak anything other them medium well/well.  You want to be able to get a good sear without cooking it all the way through.  Bone-in steaks are often more flavorful then boneless, and some fat is actually a good thing.

Season your steak simply, salt, pepper, maybe a little garlic powder.  Don't go nuts with rubs and marinades.  Letting the steak sit in the fridge for a day pre-seasoned is ideal, but even seasoning it 20 mins or so before you cook it is good.

Don't put a cold steak into a pan.  Let your steaks come to room temperature before cooking them.

You don't want your pan to be cold, either!  Let your pan (preferably a cast iron skillet) get smoking hot before you put your steak in.  Don't use a ton of fat, just use a tiny bit of olive oil or cooking spray.

Cook your steak 3 to 3.5 mins per side for rare (scale up 1 min for medium rare, etc) and do NOT poke it.  Let it just cook.  Flip it when the timer says so.  Just leave it be.

The most important step: let it rest before serving.  Don't cut into the steak for at least 5 mins so that the juices have time to settle and your steak doesn't just bleed out when you cut it.  You can dress up the steak with some compound butter or a bearnaise sauce if you like that kind of thing. 

Beans and Greens

This one is a guest recipe from my dad ^^

Full Meal Beans & Greens

2 bags baby spinach (or any spinach, I like the baby leaves)
1 lb. hot italian sausage, loose or broken up
hot pepper flakes1/2-1 cup chicken broth
lots of your best extra v. olive oil, the stuff you save for salads
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 big can Cannilini beans
sweet onion, sliced thin
garlic if you like it

1/4 cup or more olive oil in high-sided saute pan, get hot, add sausage, hot pepper flakes and onion and brown it up on medium heat. When browned nicely, add spinach a bag at a time, add garlic, wilt spinach nicely by turning in hot oil. Add beans and 1/2 cup of broth. If it does not look saucy enough for you, add rest of broth. Bring up to nice simmer, add some more fresh olive oil, eat with crusty bread to soak up the great oily broth.

Pork Chops with Applesauce... Well, Not Really

I know I know I know, the classics are classics for a reason.  Really I do. I understand that some flavors were just meant for each other.  But... of course we know that I can never leave well enough alone.  Here is my take on this particular comfort food classic.

Apple and Sage Stuffed Pork Loin with a Rice and Snap Pea Salad

1 2lb or so pork loin (or 2 smaller ones)
3 small tart apples like mcintosh, or 2 larger ones like granny smith
small handful fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1/4th cup chicken stock
1 tbl butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4th cup apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbl spicy mustard
2-3 tbl honey
1/4th cup mayo
2 cups cooked brown rice (or some mix of whole grains)
about 3 large handfuls of raw sugar snap peas, cut up into thin slices
1/4th a head of red cabbage, shredded
salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme

Chop up one of your apples into bite sized bits. Toss it in a bowl with your cooked rice, cabbage, snap peas, and one of the shallots.  Mix the mayo with 1/2 of the apple cider vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Dress your salad with this and put in the fridge, this is even better if you make it in the morning and let it sit all day.

Mix the mustard, honey, garlic powder, salt, pepper, remaining apple cider vinegar, and thyme, and set aside.  Chop up your remaining 2 apples and put them in a sautee pan over medium heat with the chicken stock and butter.  Add in the remaining shallot, minced garlic, and sage once it starts to simmer.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Flatten out your pork loin(s) by cutting down the center and fanning them open. Salt and pepper both sides. Set your pork cut side up on the cutting board.  If you are using 1 larger loin you will be wrapping it around the stuffing, if you are using 2 you will make a sort of pork/stuffing sandwich.  Either way, you will want some kitchen twine or a few skewers or a lot of toothpicks to hold it together during cooking. 

When your apples start to get mushy and you can smell the sage cooking,  turn off the heat and drain most of the liquid out.  Stuff your pork and tie/truss it up.  Put it into a baking dish and cover it with your honey/mustard sauce. 

You can put it straight into the oven at this point, but if you have time try to let it marinade at least 30 mins or so.  Cook at 350 to your desired temperature, turning the heat up to 450 for about 10-15 mins at the end if you like to crisp up the outside.  (Personally I like pork medium/medium well but I know some people only eat it well done so cooking time is up to you.)

Let it rest a bit and slice carefully so it looks pretty on your plate next to your salad.  You can make a pan sauce by adding some white wine or chicken stock and a little butter to the drippings if you like.  This isn't really light, but it is at least a bit healthier then the standard pork chop with apple sauce and fried potato pancakes, but still manages to work as comfort food.

Sweet Chili Paper Fish

Have you ever noticed that at least 90% of food that you can grab in a hurry and shove in your mouth one handed on the go is carb based? So if you've been running around like a maniac all day (such as my 'must clean all the things' spree today) you have probably only gotten one food group (well, 2 if you count caffeine in your pyramid).  Here is an easy recipe to remedy that with, emphasis on easy because who has energy left to cook?  (This is written to feed 1 person but scales up very easily for more.  Just make separate paper envelopes for each piece of fish for best results.

Turn your oven on to 450, and put a nice bottle of white wine in the fridge.  Mix 1-2 tbl hot oil (or some neutral oil and smashed up red pepper flakes), 1-2 tbl honey, the juice of 2 limes, and salt/pepper in a small bowl.  Lay out a piece of parchment paper large enough to make an envelope on a baking sheet and put a piece of  fish (in this case I used salmon, but this would be equally good on tuna and would probably even work on a white fish like tilapia. Use whatever you like) in the middle of the paper.  Pour your chili/honey mixture over the fish and seal up the envelope.

Let it sit on the counter a few mins while you chop up a clove or two of garlic and wash/chop a good plateful (remember they shrink) of some hearty green.  I like kale but arugula or bock choy or spinach or really whatever  you like would work.

Put your fish in the oven and wander off for 10-20 mins, depending on how rare/cooked you like your fish.

Come back and pull the fish out of the oven and carefully open the paper, there will be steam when you do so watch your hand.  Put a small sautee pan over high heat and add a splash of chicken stock (or water, or wine) to the pan, put your garlic in as well.  When it starts to simmer throw in your greens.  Toss greens with a fork until wilted (only takes about a min or two).

Plate greens (leaving water/stock in the pan) and dress them with salt/pepper and a smidge of really good olive oil.  Flip your fish over as you plate it because the bottom side got nice and browned and pretty from the honey, if you like pour over a bit of the cooking liquid as a sauce.  Pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy.

One Steak, at least Three Plates

This is a direct result of saying I would cook dinner (and not just for the 2 of us) without having looked in my fridge/cupboard/pantry first.

1. Mention steak as a component of dinner to the people you are feeding, because you are pretty sure there are at least 2 of those in your fridge.

2. Open fridge. Find one steak.

3. Pull it out of the fridge to get it to room temperature while you think.

4. Put some water on to boil because carbs are always helpful for stretching things.

5. Open fridge, find a pound of babybella/cremini/white if you keep those in the house but I, personally, do NOT like white mushrooms.

6. Put a bit of butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat and salt/pepper your steak.

7. Open the freezer looking for reinforcements and find some frozen peas.

8. Season your steak with salt and pepper and toss it into the now hot pan, searing it for 2-3 mins per side depending on how thick it is.  You want medium rare at most.

9.Notice your water is boiling and throw about a pound of egg noodles into it.

10. Chop up your mushrooms while your steak is searing.  Also chop up (or smush in your mortar and pestle if you feel like playing with that) 5 or so cloves of garlic.

11. Look at the boiling noodles and decide not to throw the peas in there, nuke them instead.  Rescue steak before it gets overcooked.

12. Put about 1 cup of beef stock (from bullion works) or chicken stock in a pinch into the pan the steak was in.  Scrape up all the browned bits and let it boil down a bit before adding about a stick of butter (this is NOT health food).

13. Add mushrooms to pan along with garlic and some salt, pepper, and rosemary.  Look at how small the steak is and open the fridge again and find some cooked bacon.

14. Chop up about 3-4 slices cooked bacon and add it to the pan with the mushrooms. 

15. Your steak has rested about 5 mins by now, so chop it into tiny bits and add it to the pan with the mushrooms (along with whatever juice is on the cutting board).

16. Your noodles should be done by now, so drain them and toss them in with the buttered noodles and the mushrooms and steak.

17. Either toss your peas in there or serve them on the side as you wish.

18. Congratulations. You have now stretched a steak to serve at least 3 people, possibly 4-5. Go thriftyness. 

Lemon Chicken with Linguini

This should serve about 4-6 people depending on how hungry they are and how much salad etc you serve it with.

8-10 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Juice of 4 lemons
Chicken stock (homemade if you have it, boxed if you don't.  Or boxed doctored up with a few ice cubes worth of boiled down homemade if you keep such around..)
Olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
large handful fresh oregano
8 or so kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 shallot chopped
1/4th cup feta cheese (or a bit more) crumbled
1 lb whole wheat linguini
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

Heat your oven to 350. Put your chicken thighs, shallots, and most of the garlic into a baking dish and season with the juice of 2 lemons, a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, about 1/4th of the oregano and put in enough chicken stock so they are not covered but will braise rather then bake. They should take about 30-45 mins to cook so you have some time to relax before you start messing with the pasta.

Set up your pasta water to boil and get started on your sauce.  Whisk together the juice of the remaining 2 lemons with some good olive oil, the olives the remaining garlic and oregano, and the feta cheese.  Season to taste.

When your pasta is done toss the hot pasta with your sauce, adding a bit of chicken stock if needed to get the consistency right.  Serve with a good salad since it is really shockingly bereft of veggies.

Asian Sort of Salad Nicose

And this is what happens when I cannot decide what the heck I want for dinner and am standing in the grocery store torn between 2 ideas.

Tuna Steak
Bok choy
Green beans
Red bell pepper
Shallot
Garlic
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Olive oil
Egg yolks
Lemon juice
salt, pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder, red pepper flakes (yes, there is both garlic and garlic powder. and salt and soy sauce.)
Hard boiled egg (can make hard boiled quail eggs if you want to be cute/are serving to guests)

Preheat your oven to 400.  Clean your green beans and chop up your red pepper in green bean sized bits, cut your bok choy into fourths or so  and toss them onto a cookie sheet.  Hit them with some soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped garlic, chopped shallot, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Put it in the oven for 10-15 mins depending on how caramelized you like your roasted veggies.

Meanwhile, heat up a skillet with a tiny bit of sesame oil (a super tiny bit.  Pour a smidge in the pan and wipe it mostly away with a paper towel.).  Season one side of your tuna steak with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and ground ginger.  When your pan is hot place it seasoned side down and season the top, cooking for about 3-3.5 mins per side.  Do not poke at it.  You want it to get a nice sear and be rare/medium rare.

Get out a small food processor or your blender or a whisk and some elbow grease for this next bit.  Whip the egg yolks and slowly incorporate sesame oil and olive oil (if you use 100% sesame oil it will be wayyyy too strongly flavored)  until you have an aioli. Add some lemon juice and season with salt/pepper to taste.

Cut your tuna steak into nice pretty slices (after it has rested, of course!).  Arrange on a platter with your roasted veggies, garnish with quartered hard boiled eggs and dress with your sesame aioli.

Summer BBQ Gone Sideways

This is a relatively easy meal to put together for a summer bbq, with new versions of the old standbys just to keep people on their toes. It is a great menu to host with because 90% of the work is done ahead of time so you can enjoy your guests. Make all your salads and dipping sauces and start your meat marinading that morning (or even the day before) and all you have to do while you have company is cook your ribs and maybe grill some pineapple along side it (the glaze for the ribs would be lovely on that as well).

Start out with some Simple White Sangria Spritzers made with mango, peach, and blueberries, or Watermelon Mojitos - you can make the mojitos as watermelon smoothies/spritzers instead for kids or designated drivers, just leave out the booze and add extra soda. If you've got paper umbrellas lying around they would look at home in either of these drinks.

Serve up Garlic Herb Country Ribs with Summer Slaw or Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad. Add some Rosemary Garlic Potato Salad because what is a bbq without potato salad? A Herbaceous Fruit Salad or Awesome Avocado Salad or Watermellon Feta Salad instead of your basic tossed salad would be a refreshing addition.

Tell one of your guests to bring some desert or just serve ice cream with some grilled fruit and you've got a party that even you get to enjoy.

Garlic Herb Country Ribs

Ingredients listed per 2-3 ribs, scale up accordingly.
Marinade:
1 clove garlic
1/2 shallot 1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbl garlic powder
1 tsp fish sauce
3 tbl soy sauce
3 tbl oil
3 or so coriander seeds
Black pepper to taste

Smash the garlic, coriander seeds, and shallot up in the mortar and pestle with the kosher salt (the salt helps make a paste out of the garlic, this is the only reason there is both salt and soy sauce in the recipe, so if you are not using a mortar leave the salt out and add a splash more soy). If you are making a big batch you want to start with just a few cloves of garlic/bits of shallot in the mortar and add more as you go, otherwise they all just jump out and escape when you try to grind them up. Toss into a baggie with the pepper, garlic powder, and wet ingredients and swish it around to mix. Throw your ribs in there and refrigerate at least a few hours.

Honey Herb Glaze:
1/4th cup honey
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
5-6 basil leaves
10 or so cilantro leaves

Smash up the herbs in your mortar (or just chop very finely) and place in a small bowl with your honey. Microwave for 30 sec to 1 min to liquify the honey a bit more and mix well, adding your vinegar. Let stand at least 1 hour if not longer.

Chili Garlic Dipping Sauce:
2-3 cloves garlic
1 small shallot
palmful red pepper flakes or several dried chillies or some fresh hot pepper
1 tsp vinegar
Black pepper
1 tbl kosher salt
Mayo to taste

Smash your garlic, shallot, salt, and chili flakes/peppers up in the mortar and pestle. Put into a small bowl and add vinegar, then dilute with mayo until your sauce is the right level of spice for you and your guests.

Honey Herb Dipping Sauce:
8-10 cilantro leaves
5-6 basil leaves
1 clove garlic
1 tbl kosher salt
2 tbl honey
1/4th cup mayo

Smash up your garlic, salt, and herbs and mix them with the honey and mayo so that people who do not like spicy things can't be crabby about not having a dip.

To cook:
Put the ribs either on a moderate grill or on top of a cooling rack placed on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350. Brush periodically with the honey glaze (reheating it to get it to a brush-able consistency if necessary). Serve with dipping sauces, plan on 2-3 ribs per guests if using country ribs, more if you are using a less meaty cut (although I don't know that this recipe would go well with beef ribs, stick to pork).

Balsamic Brown Sugar Porkchops

3 parts balsamic vinegar to
1 part brown sugar to
1/4th part each salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried sage

 Mix up your sauce and slather it on some thick cut pork chops. Let the chops sit and marinade for at least an hour before throwing them into a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 mins (they are allowed to be a little medium well, the last case of trichinosis in the US was over 40 years ago, you don't have to cook your pork dead). I like these with salt potatoes and a simple salad.

Honey Lime Salmon

Preheat your oven to 450 or so. Put your salmon filet (which you have checked for pin bones) skin side down into a pan or onto a piece of foil. Whisk together the juice and zest of 1 lime, a few tablespoons of honey, and about 1/4th a cup of soy sauce. Pour the dressing over the salmon. Pop into the oven until it reaches your desired done-ness (I like about 7-10 mins for medium well) and serve with some Spicy Thai Cucumber Salad. and maybe some couscous or rice.

Ham and Cheese Waffles

2 cups Bisquik
1 egg
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cheese (I like very sharp cheddar)
1/2 cup thinly sliced ham, cut up into little bits
Chives and black pepper to taste
2 tbl butter

Heat up your waffle maker.  Sautee the ham shards in butter until they are slightly crisped up.  Mix all the ingredients, being careful not to over mix because you do not want the batter to be tough. Cook according to the directions on your waffle maker.  serve with Summer Slaw. and maybe some fried eggs on top if you are feeling decadent.